Book of the Month! Featuring Christmas, Summer Road-Trip’s and Dystopian’s…

Welcome to November's book of the month and monthly round up! This is a feature to sum up for you my reading and recommendations for the past month and to share with you the exciting things that have been going on on the blog and books I’m looking forward to in the following month.

November's BotM is Wonder by R.J Palacio

I was lucky enough to be able to read an early proof copy of this, sadly most of you are going to have to wait until 1st March to get your hands on it but I would certainly write the date in your diary! I predict that this book is going to be HUGE. There is already an early buzz for it gathering in the blogosphere. This is the story of wonderful Auggie Pullman an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face. This is a book written through the eyes of a young boy with a facial disfigurement and also from the perspective of those who know and love him. I was completely touched by this book, for more information check out my review here.

Best Plot: The Pledge by Kimberly Derting
Best Writing: Wonder by R.J Palacio
Best Cover: One Minute to Midnight by Amy Silver
Best Characters: Wonder by R.J Palacio
Best Ending: Last Christmas by Julia Williams
Best Romance: Saving June by Hannah Harrington
Most un-put-down-able: The Pledge by Kimberly Derting
Most Memorable: Wonder by R.J Palacio
Best Moral: Wonder by R.J Palacio

Books read this month
69.) Wonder by R.J Palacio (5*)
70.) Crossed by Ally Condie (2.5*)
71.) Last Christmas by Julia Williams (4*)
72.) The Pledge by Kimberly Derting (4.5*)
73.) Saving June by Hannah Harrington (4*)
74.) One Minute to Midnight by Amy Silver (4.5*)

Top 3 Most Recommended Books: Wonder, The Pledge and One Minute to Midnight

Bookish Highlights of the month
I was really happy to bring back In My Mailbox this month, and also to be able to share with you the first official The Hunger Games trailer which I thought looked amazing. The Lauren Kate cover reveals were also very exciting and I was excited to make a start on my Christmas book to-be-read pile as I do love a good Christmassy read!

Bookish Lows of the month
Reading Crossed was a bit of a disappointment to be honest and reviewing it was pretty tough. I also didn’t read as many books as I would have liked *damn you crazy Christmas build up!!*

Book’s I’m looking forward to in December
A couple of the books I was most excited for this December I already got for review like Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare (I’m currently reading it now SO good!) and Torn by Cat Clarke (eep! Can’t wait!) Other than that I can’t say there are any I’m super excited for, by the looks of things everyone’s waiting for January to unleash all the awesome. There are some AMAZING sounding books coming out in January, lucky for me it’s my birthday month so I won’t be too broke after buying all of these books! (All links lead to the books goodreads page for more information)

So there you have it my November reading summed up for you guys I can hardly believe it's December already! Have you read any of the books I’ve read this month? What were your thoughts on them? Leave me a comment and let me know and don’t forget to treat yourselves to Wonder when it comes out – You won’t regret it! Here’s to another month of fab reading ahead and hopefully getting in some of those must reads before the year is out!

Review for Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Saving June by Hannah Harrington
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: May 1st 2011
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Grief, Suicide, Music, Summer, Road-trip
Rating: 4/5 stars
Source: Netgalley

Goodreads Summary:
" ‘If she’d waited less than two weeks, she’d be June who died in June. But I guess my sister didn’t consider that.’

Harper Scott’s older sister has always been the perfect one so when June takes her own life a week before her high school graduation, sixteen-year-old Harper is devastated. Everyone’s sorry, but no one can explain why.

When her divorcing parents decide to split her sister’s ashes into his-and-her urns, Harper takes matters into her own hands. She’ll steal the ashes and drive cross-country with her best friend, Laney, to the one place June always dreamed of going California.

Enter Jake Tolan. He’s a boy with a bad attitude, a classic-rock obsession and nothing in common with Harper’s sister. But Jake had a connection with June, and when he insists on joining them, Harper’s just desperate enough to let him. With his alternately charming and infuriating demeanour and his belief that music can see you through anything, he might be exactly what she needs.

Except June wasn’t the only one hiding something. Jake’s keeping a secret that has the power to turn Harper’s life upside down again."

Review
Saving June has some of the most honest and fleshed out teen characters that I’ve come across in a long time. Harper’s voice is like my own was at that age and the way Harper and her friends interact mimicked my own friendships as well. Each character in this book is going through a growing pains of some sort. Harper, Jake and Laney have all been dished their fair share of pain and like all teenagers are trying to find a way to make their peace with the world despite everything it’s thrown at them.

This book explores so many different themes religion, suicide, sex, politics and music to name a few. Harrington isn’t afraid to tackle the big stuff and not only that but to put opinions out there through the eyes of angry teens who are demanding answers to why crappy things happen and are taking no prisoners. Saving June documents not only a physical journey as the three friends road-trip to California but also a mental one as Harper, Jake and Laney come to terms with both the beauty and hurt in this world and discover what it means to truly be alive.

Reading this book really felt like you were in Harper’s head that she was this real living person actually going through and experiencing all of these things. Hannah Harrington’s prose is so organic and heart felt and Harper’s observations on the world around her reads so true and honest that it’s impossible to read this book without it touching you in some way.

Music plays a big part in this story and Jake’s love for it and how he’s certain there’s a song for every situation makes him this really passionate guy who I totally swooned over. Jake’s kind of intense and damaged and the way that he feels about music is so contagious that you want to go and listen to a song he’s mentioned just because he likes it, you want to hear what he hears. A nice touch to the actual book itself is that all the playlists are at the back of the book and I’m totally going to download each song and re-live this book all over again through the music.

Saving June is in its simplest form a book about a girl who sets out to save her sister and instead ends up saving herself. If you’re a fan of books about summer road trips, intense and complex relationships, music or heck just life in general you’re going to love this book. This is one of the most honest accounts of one girl’s journey I’ve ever read and so lastly I would like to thank Hannah Harrington for taking me along for the ride.

Cover Reveals for Lauren Kate’s Rapture and Fallen in Love PLUS Sneak Peak!

I do love a good cover reveal and I think we can all agree that Lauren Kate’s in particular are always very exciting in deed! The cover’s for all of her books are absolutely stunning and so it gives me great pleasure to be bringing to you today the cover reveal for not only Rapture- the thrilling final instalment of the Fallen series- but also Lauren’s upcoming Fallen in Love a book made up of four romantic short stories featuring the characters from the Fallen series. The stories include Love Where You Least Expect It: The Valentine of Shelby and Miles , Love Lessons: The Valentine of Roland; Burning Love: The Valentine of Arriane; and Endless Love: The Valentine of Daniel and Lucinda. I’m not usually a fan of short stories but think this one will be fab as we already know and love all of the characters! Plus this will be coming out just in time for Valentine’s Day so I think this will be perfect for some romantic reading! Exciting stuff right? So without further ado check out the covers!

Rapture by Lauren Kate

Fallen in Love by Lauren Kate

Pretty right? I think they can both stand proudly next to the rest of the Fallen series and The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove! If that wasn’t enough excitement you can also read a SNEAK PEAK of Fallen in Love RIGHT HERE, right now. I’m so excited for both of these books and can hardly wait first for the 2nd February for Fallen in Love and then for 12th June for the much anticipated Rapture!

What do you think of these new covers? And if you read the sneak peak of Fallen in Love let me know what you think in the comments!

Review for Crossed by Ally Condie

Crossed by Ally Condie
Publisher: Puffin
Release Date: 24th November 2011
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Source: Received from the publisher for review

Amazon Summary:
"Rules are different outside the Society.

Chasing down an uncertain future, Cassia makes her way to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky-taken by the Society to his certain death-only to find that he has escaped into the majestic, but treacherous, canyons. On this wild frontier are glimmers of a different life and the enthralling promise of rebellion. But even as Cassia sacrifices everything to reunite with Ky, ingenious surprises from Xander may change the game once again.

Narrated from both Cassia's and Ky's points of view, this hotly anticipated sequel to Matched will take them both to the edge of Society, where nothing is as expected and crosses and double crosses make their path more twisted than ever..."

Review
I was a huge fan of Matched when it came out last year and have been pining for Crossed ever since. I went into this book with high expectations, the back of the book talks about a rebellion rising and the picture of Cassia breaking out of the bubble made me think things were going to EXPLODE in this sequel but sadly I was left disappointed.

I started this book really confused. It’s been a long time since I read Matched, as I’m sure it has been for a lot of people, and I couldn’t really remember the ending. With a lot of books this isn’t really an issue as authors are usually pretty good at re-capping past events. Yeah that didn’t happen with this one, and so I spent the first hundred pages kind of confused. Luckily as I read on I managed to figure stuff out on my own and snippets came back to me but if your memory of Matched is a bit fuzzy like mine was I would really recommend re-reading Matched before starting Crossed.

Crossed is told from both Cassia and Ky’s perspective which I think had both its pro’s and con’s. In Matched I really liked both Ky and Xander but if I had to pick one I’d probably of gone with Xander. This book really gives us a chance to get to know Ky better and I was really touched by the parts where we see Cassia through his eyes. However I didn’t think that Ally Condie did a good job at making Cassia and Ky’s voices distinctive from one another. Despite stating their names at the beginning of each chapter their voices were so similar that I had to constantly flick back to see whose perspective I was supposed to be reading from because there was no distinction between them other than a name stated at the beginning of each chapter.

There were some things I did like about this book. I really liked the introduction of some new and interesting characters particularly Eli and Indie. I also liked getting to know Ky better and watching Cassia develop from Society Cassia in to Rebel Cassia. I can’t take away from the fact that Ally Condie is an extremely talented writer who writes some incredibly moving and beautiful scenes but unfortunately a dual narrative clearly isn’t her strong point and I really hope she tells the last book from just Cassia’s perspective.

When I got to the end of the book the first thing that came to mind was- is that it? This whole book is basically Cassia wondering around some canyons. There’s no answers, no action and the book ends right where Matched left off and leaves us none the wiser regarding anything really.

Crossed for me was a really pointless book. Absolutely nothing happened plot wise. This is a book entirely based on character development. I hate to say this but I was bored and when I finished reading I felt like this book was a huge waste of my time mostly because I didn’t learn anything different that I didn’t already know from having read Matched. This is a bit of a circle book where the author takes us on this great long journey just to end up back where we started. I was disappointed with this one but as there’s only one book left in the series I will still be checking it out and hope that Ally Condie will finally give us some answers.

Review for Wonder by R.J Palacio

Wonder by R.J Palacio
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: 1st March 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Children’s, Middle-grade, Adult, Fiction, Contemporary
Rating: 5/5 stars
Source: Received from the publisher for review

Summary:
"Wonder is the funny, sweet and incredibly moving story of Auggie Pullman. Born with a terrible facial abnormality, this shy, bright ten-year-old has been home-schooled by his parents for his whole life, in an attempt to protect him from the stares and cruelty of the outside world. Now, for the first time, Auggie is being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. The thing is, Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all? Through the voices of Auggie, his big sister Via, and his new friends Jack and Summer, "Wonder" follows Auggie's journey through his first year at Beecher Prep. Frank, powerful, warm and often heart-breaking, "Wonder" is a book you'll read in one sitting, pass on to others, and remember long after the final page."

Review
I’d only read a few pages of Wonder when I realised that it was going to be one of *those* books, one of those rare and wonderful books that can make you both laugh and cry on the same page, that you read with a lump in your throat and a smile on your face, that as soon as you finish reading you eagerly pass on to somebody else just so you have someone to discuss it with. Yes Wonder is one of *those* books.

What I love about Wonder is how simple it is. This is a book about a ten-year-old boy whose face is deformed. And that’s it. There’s no huge complex plot, no far away land, magic, or fantasy creatures. This book doesn’t need any of that stuff to hook the reader, August’s voice is enough.

Auggie believes that he is just an ordinary ten-year-old kid but that’s the one thing I’d have to disagree with him on. But Auggie’s face isn’t what makes him different it’s his huge, brave, heart and big personality. Auggie is the kind of character who touches your heart and who you fiercely want to protect and want the best for. He’s such a special little guy who I think we could all learn a thing or two from.

Wonder is full of fleshed out and vibrant characters and although the majority of the book is told from August’s perspective the book is also told from several other characters point of view. Each protagonist has a unique outlook on Auggie and tells their story and how having August in their life has affected them in both good and bad ways. Before reading this book I’d never given much thought on what it would be like to know someone like August and the bullying a friend might go through for hanging out with him, or how a sibling might constantly come second to a little brother who has much greater needs than a normal child. This book is a real eye opener not only to what it might be like to be in Auggie’s shoes but also for what it’s like for those who know and love him.

R.J Palacio is such a talented writer. Not only has she created such warm and likeable characters but she writes with such honesty as well. Whilst this book is definitely sad in parts Auggie is such an inspiring, happy go lucky, funny kid and at times he’s simply a ten-year-old boy observing the world around him. Yes this book made me cry but it also made me laugh out loud too.

Wonder is a book for everybody young or old. It’s an important and special book to be shared and discussed by both adults and children. This book makes you want to be a kinder person and I can’t help but feel that if everyone were to read it the world would be a nicer place. This is one of the best books I’ve read all year and I would whole heartedly recommend it to absolutely anybody.