My August Wrap-Up
22:30
I apologise that this post is going up over a week late (and yes, I am aware that my July wrap-up also went up four days late) - my sense of time is not warped, I promise. I was away on holiday in the last week of July and again in the last week of August; I only got back yesterday and whilst the idea of merging August and September did cross my mind, I wanted to share my month in books like I always do. And yes, I do indeed cover the new Harry Potter release...*cue fan-girly screaming*
Side Effects May Vary
- by Julie Murphy
1.0/5.0 stars
~
If there was ever a story about a toxic relationship, this is it. If I could give this book zero stars, believe me, I would. It's about sixteen year old Alice who's diagnosed with leukaemia and with limited time left to live, she starts to complete a list of things to do on a so-called "bucket list". But instead of ticking off ambitions like travelling to Disneyland or climbing a mountain or breaking a world record, her list includes executing revenge on her ex-boyfriend, and salvaging her relationship with her best friend, Harvey for whom she has unresolved feelings. Just as she feels like she has her scores settled, she receives the news that she is in remission. No longer counting down to an expiration date, Alice is faced with the consequences of her actions and the knowledge that some things, once said and done, you can't take back.
I was fooled by the synopsis of Side Effects May Vary. Whilst it seems to be about a girl ticking off things on a bucket list after being diagnosed with a terminal illness, it's more about her relationship with Harvey. Or rather, his unrequited love for her. And so one of the biggest problems with this book is that there is little to no plot. I also found the writing style to be horribly disorienting; it's written between past and present, alternating between Alice and Harvey's narratives and it was tediously unnecessary. I spent half my time mentally forming a timeline of events which was annoying as hell.
And the biggest problem? I loathed the characters. Alice was a bitch. There's no other way to put it. I'm sorry, but the cancer card isn't a get-out-of-jail card. It doesn't let you act out and punish people that you feel deserve punishing, and then let you off the hook. And you don't get to be so damn ungrateful and unhappy that you are in remission with a second chance at life. You don't get to use people and mess around with their feelings simply because you're running on limited time, then turn around and throw it in their faces the second you find out that you have your whole life ahead of you. You don't get to tell your best friend who's been in love with you his whole life that you love him, and the second you find out that you are going to live, ignore the living hell out of him. What the eff is that!? Is that love? Because if it is...my God, I hope I never experience it for as long as I live.
This book pissed me the hell off. Alice used and used and used Harvey - and the worst part is, he freaking knew it and let it happen anyway. I mean, there could have been some redemption with Alice's character growth, but that doesn't even happen. I didn't miss the point of the book - was there a point? - but I'm sorry to say, it didn't come across well for even a fraction of the book, if at all, and I was too pissed off to even care. Ultimately, there is no story. It's just a portrayal of an emotionally abusive relationship that you should know well enough to steer away from. And when that's the only thing a reader can take away from your book, it's a problem.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
SCREENPLAY
SCREENPLAY
- by J K Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne
My Goodreads Rating: 5.0/5.0 stars
~
My Goodreads Rating: 5.0/5.0 stars
~
Of course. Of course I rated it five stars. Because it's J K Rowling and Harry freaking Potter. I am morally obligated to give it five stars. It's instinct. But...all (obvious) bias and fan-girling aside, I thoroughly enjoyed returning to the magical world that I hold, and always will hold, so dear to me.
Full review here
Paper Princess // Broken Prince
THE ROYALS SERIES
Full review here
Paper Princess // Broken Prince
THE ROYALS SERIES
- by Erin Watt
3.5/5.0 stars
~
Disclaimer: I liked both Paper Princess and Broken Prince...but I wouldn't recommend them to someone looking for a book/series to read. Yes, I am totally on the fence. They were fine as a I-randomly-picked-this-up kinda read, and by fine, I mean that I'm ashamed to admit that I stayed up till 2am binge-reading them, but I mean, they were just fine.
The Royals series follows Ella Harper, the daughter of a father who abandoned her and a mother who constantly moved them around the country until she was diagnosed with cancer then died. Left to fend for herself, Ella struggles to make ends meet and will do whatever she has to in order to survive and achieve her dream of graduating and landing herself a secure job. But then Callum Royal shows up in her life, her unknown guardian who legally can take her under his wing after her father's sudden death, and she is uprooted from the life she knows to live a plush and fancy life in the Royal palace, the mansion in which Callum and his five sons live. But the Royal boys hate her and they make no efforts to hide their hostility towards her. Enigmatic, living life dangerously close to the edge, and hiding more secrets than the Palace can hold, they inexplicably draw Ella into their wild and mysterious lifestyle. One Royal in particular has her tied around his little finger. Reed Royal. Deliciously broken and destructive, she is drawn to him like a magnet, but she doesn't belong in his world and before long, they're toying with each other in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse. Life in the Royal Palace is certainly keeping her on her toes and in a world reeking of deception, lies and betrayal, she has to choose between high-tailing it from a life she doesn't want, or trying to fit in with the filthy rich that test her every step of the way.
This series...oh, man. The sheer drama that spills from its pages in unreal. It's a far-fetched, dramatised look at the life as the wealthiest of the wealthy. For the most part though, I enjoyed seeing it through Ella's eyes. She's a likeable heroine who is everything you want in a female lead and I found myself instantly invested in her story. It was entertaining - to say the least - to watch her navigate the tricky world that is set up by her entering the notorious Royal Palace. Ah, the Royals. They rule their home, they rule the school, and they rule Ella's new life. Or so they think. Ella puts up one hell of a fight and the constant high-school drama, the slowly-but-surely shifting relationship with the Royals, and the slow-burn relationship with Reed Royal that ensues makes for one addicting read.
It's hard enough creating an alpha-male hero who is broken, misunderstood, and yet strangely magnetic - but to create five and make each one of them distinctive yet equally damaged and likeable - that's talent. They get their fair share of stage (page?) time and I was suddenly so caught up in their messy, mysterious worlds that I couldn't put the book down. And whilst this book has virtually no plot and the drama and plot twists are heightened to a whole new level, I have to applaud the characterisation because every single character that the reader is introduced to has purpose, personality, and is so well-fleshed out that buying into them is as easy as abc. I found myself hooked, not by the story line, but by these multi-dimensional, complex, at times hilarious characters that made me want to know more about the demons that drive them to insanity. At some points in the book, I just had to sigh and think, really?? Some of it is just so...implausible that I felt ridiculous reading it. But by that point I was so invested, not just in Ella and Reed, but also the intriguing rest-of-the-cast who make this book with their smart and witty dialogue, kickass action/drama, and alluring schemes and secrets.
It didn't leave its mark on me; it didn't have a wow factor, no, I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it and no, I wouldn't re-read it, but when the third book comes out, I'll probably read it to finish off this rollercoaster of a ride that had me addicted when it really really really shouldn't have.
Disclaimer: I liked both Paper Princess and Broken Prince...but I wouldn't recommend them to someone looking for a book/series to read. Yes, I am totally on the fence. They were fine as a I-randomly-picked-this-up kinda read, and by fine, I mean that I'm ashamed to admit that I stayed up till 2am binge-reading them, but I mean, they were just fine.
The Royals series follows Ella Harper, the daughter of a father who abandoned her and a mother who constantly moved them around the country until she was diagnosed with cancer then died. Left to fend for herself, Ella struggles to make ends meet and will do whatever she has to in order to survive and achieve her dream of graduating and landing herself a secure job. But then Callum Royal shows up in her life, her unknown guardian who legally can take her under his wing after her father's sudden death, and she is uprooted from the life she knows to live a plush and fancy life in the Royal palace, the mansion in which Callum and his five sons live. But the Royal boys hate her and they make no efforts to hide their hostility towards her. Enigmatic, living life dangerously close to the edge, and hiding more secrets than the Palace can hold, they inexplicably draw Ella into their wild and mysterious lifestyle. One Royal in particular has her tied around his little finger. Reed Royal. Deliciously broken and destructive, she is drawn to him like a magnet, but she doesn't belong in his world and before long, they're toying with each other in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse. Life in the Royal Palace is certainly keeping her on her toes and in a world reeking of deception, lies and betrayal, she has to choose between high-tailing it from a life she doesn't want, or trying to fit in with the filthy rich that test her every step of the way.
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It's hard enough creating an alpha-male hero who is broken, misunderstood, and yet strangely magnetic - but to create five and make each one of them distinctive yet equally damaged and likeable - that's talent. They get their fair share of stage (page?) time and I was suddenly so caught up in their messy, mysterious worlds that I couldn't put the book down. And whilst this book has virtually no plot and the drama and plot twists are heightened to a whole new level, I have to applaud the characterisation because every single character that the reader is introduced to has purpose, personality, and is so well-fleshed out that buying into them is as easy as abc. I found myself hooked, not by the story line, but by these multi-dimensional, complex, at times hilarious characters that made me want to know more about the demons that drive them to insanity. At some points in the book, I just had to sigh and think, really?? Some of it is just so...implausible that I felt ridiculous reading it. But by that point I was so invested, not just in Ella and Reed, but also the intriguing rest-of-the-cast who make this book with their smart and witty dialogue, kickass action/drama, and alluring schemes and secrets.
It didn't leave its mark on me; it didn't have a wow factor, no, I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it and no, I wouldn't re-read it, but when the third book comes out, I'll probably read it to finish off this rollercoaster of a ride that had me addicted when it really really really shouldn't have.
Chasing the Stars
- by Malorie Blackman
1.0/5.0 stars
~
It physically pains me that this book is written by the author of Noughts and Crosses. I'd like to think it doesn't exist and that I never read it. Because believe me when I say that Chasing the Stars was laughably dreadful. Just utterly, laughably dreadful.
Olivia and her twin brother, Aidan, have been travelling alone in space for three years and are headed towards Earth after their entire family and crew were wiped out by a virus leaving just the two of them to survive. But when they receive an emergency signal from a planet that shouldn't be inhabited, they find themselves on a rescue mission to save a colony that are intending to travel towards a planet in the opposite direction to Earth. Despite their best efforts, most of the community is killed and only a few survive to come on board Olivia and Aidan's ship. Nathan is one of them. Tensions are tight on the ship and as Olivia battles her instincts to save a group of strangers, all of them are wrought with worry, suspicion and fear as mysterious murders start to stack up amongst them. No one should trust anyone, but Olivia and Nathan are falling head over heels in a world where love isn't enough to survive and where their union could cause more damage than not, and where a happily-ever-after may not be written in the stars...
I'm just going to put this out there - this review is spoiler-heavy because I can't talk about it without addressing the pure ridiculousness that this book is steeped in. And I wouldn't recommend you to pick up this book in a million years so a) you've been warned and b) despite my recommendation, the review may be worth it for the laughs.
I'm not a sci-fi fan and a love story in space is so far out of my appeal that I had no intention of reading this book until my cousin lent me her copy and I felt bad saying no or giving it back without having read it. So with my apprehensions and low expectations, I went into it a little hesitantly. And when I did, I read a love story worse than Twilight. If you don't believe me, this is how it goes...
Girl in space with just her twin brother for company and zero human contact for three years
What. The. Actual. Eff.
I'm sorry, I just can't. I can't put into words how mind-blowingly stupid the whole thing was. I mean, two eighteen year olds who have had no outside human contact for YEARS decide they're soul mates within five minutes, have sex, get married then get a divorce because of some stupid, baseless jealousy issue that could have been resolved if they had just talked for like, two minutes. Also, the guy is an A-class asshole. Even if I had bought into their stupid, far-fetched romance (and let's face it, no reader in their right mind could), I couldn't have sympathised with the ending because by the time I got to the end of the book, I was hoping he'd have been killed off. He's possessive, has anger-management issues way off the scale, and must be bipolar because one moment he's saying that she's his soulmate and there's no life without her and his life's meaning was to find her, and the next he's saying that he hates her and can't bear to stand the sight of her and "wait, do I really love her?"
IF YOU ARE SOULMATES, THAT SHOULDN'T EVEN BE A QUESTION. LOVE IS UNCONDITIONAL AND PURE AND NOT WORTHY OF ASSHOLES LIKE YOU WHO HAVE NO RESPECT OR GENUINE FEELING OF LOVE FOR THEIR SIGNIFICANT OTHER.
The insta-love man. Unreal. There's writing about how loneliness and isolation can lead you to feel something that may or may not be love for another human because you've been starved of human contact and feeling for so long - and then there's this. At least sparkly vampires and hormonal wolf-humans were mildly tolerable. AT LEAST THE VAMPIRE-HUMAN MARRIAGE AND ITS CONSUMMATION TOOK FOUR BOOKS TO TAKE PLACE.
God, man. It was so laughably awful that I can't even laugh about it because how does this exist in literature. No world-building, no character development, no plot direction...how can somebody who wrote Callum and Sephy's epic love story, write this. I'm done. I'm just...speechless and so done man.
~
It physically pains me that this book is written by the author of Noughts and Crosses. I'd like to think it doesn't exist and that I never read it. Because believe me when I say that Chasing the Stars was laughably dreadful. Just utterly, laughably dreadful.
Olivia and her twin brother, Aidan, have been travelling alone in space for three years and are headed towards Earth after their entire family and crew were wiped out by a virus leaving just the two of them to survive. But when they receive an emergency signal from a planet that shouldn't be inhabited, they find themselves on a rescue mission to save a colony that are intending to travel towards a planet in the opposite direction to Earth. Despite their best efforts, most of the community is killed and only a few survive to come on board Olivia and Aidan's ship. Nathan is one of them. Tensions are tight on the ship and as Olivia battles her instincts to save a group of strangers, all of them are wrought with worry, suspicion and fear as mysterious murders start to stack up amongst them. No one should trust anyone, but Olivia and Nathan are falling head over heels in a world where love isn't enough to survive and where their union could cause more damage than not, and where a happily-ever-after may not be written in the stars...
I'm just going to put this out there - this review is spoiler-heavy because I can't talk about it without addressing the pure ridiculousness that this book is steeped in. And I wouldn't recommend you to pick up this book in a million years so a) you've been warned and b) despite my recommendation, the review may be worth it for the laughs.
I'm not a sci-fi fan and a love story in space is so far out of my appeal that I had no intention of reading this book until my cousin lent me her copy and I felt bad saying no or giving it back without having read it. So with my apprehensions and low expectations, I went into it a little hesitantly. And when I did, I read a love story worse than Twilight. If you don't believe me, this is how it goes...
Girl in space with just her twin brother for company and zero human contact for three years
Girl saves a bunch of strangers from a planet
In five minutes of them coming on board, she falls in love with one of them
He falls for her too - instant chemical attraction (that I didn't feel in the slightest but hey ho)
He suddenly can't stop thinking about her - in fact, he calls her the South Pole to his North Pole
(or something to that effect)
Few days in, they're alone together in a holographic planetarium and he confesses his undying love to her
She reciprocates
They have sex (actually, he half-rapes her but she seems to think it's making love so we will too)
He asks her if he can take somewhere and if she'll take a risk with him - naturally, she says yes
A FEW PAGES LATER WE FIND OUT THAT HE TOOK HER TO GO GET MARRIED
(By this point, the book is getting so stupid, I want to chuck it against the wall)
Her brother hates him and so convinces her that he's cheating on her
She believes him - doesn't bother to ask him about it and instead freezes him out - she hates him
He's confused about why she's locked him out - when he finds out why, he's angry because the accusations are untrue and unfounded
He hates her to the point where he decides he no longer loves her
When she finally realises the truth, she apologises but he hates her too much and so there's no closure as the two decide that they're over, and they don't love each other
THEY GET A DIVORCE
She drops off the colony on the planet they want to go to, she says goodbye to him and they have a bitter-sweet "yeah it was good while it lasted"
THEN HE SENDS HER A MESSAGE AFTER SHE LEAVES SAYING HE LOVES HER
What. The. Actual. Eff.
I'm sorry, I just can't. I can't put into words how mind-blowingly stupid the whole thing was. I mean, two eighteen year olds who have had no outside human contact for YEARS decide they're soul mates within five minutes, have sex, get married then get a divorce because of some stupid, baseless jealousy issue that could have been resolved if they had just talked for like, two minutes. Also, the guy is an A-class asshole. Even if I had bought into their stupid, far-fetched romance (and let's face it, no reader in their right mind could), I couldn't have sympathised with the ending because by the time I got to the end of the book, I was hoping he'd have been killed off. He's possessive, has anger-management issues way off the scale, and must be bipolar because one moment he's saying that she's his soulmate and there's no life without her and his life's meaning was to find her, and the next he's saying that he hates her and can't bear to stand the sight of her and "wait, do I really love her?"
IF YOU ARE SOULMATES, THAT SHOULDN'T EVEN BE A QUESTION. LOVE IS UNCONDITIONAL AND PURE AND NOT WORTHY OF ASSHOLES LIKE YOU WHO HAVE NO RESPECT OR GENUINE FEELING OF LOVE FOR THEIR SIGNIFICANT OTHER.
The insta-love man. Unreal. There's writing about how loneliness and isolation can lead you to feel something that may or may not be love for another human because you've been starved of human contact and feeling for so long - and then there's this. At least sparkly vampires and hormonal wolf-humans were mildly tolerable. AT LEAST THE VAMPIRE-HUMAN MARRIAGE AND ITS CONSUMMATION TOOK FOUR BOOKS TO TAKE PLACE.
God, man. It was so laughably awful that I can't even laugh about it because how does this exist in literature. No world-building, no character development, no plot direction...how can somebody who wrote Callum and Sephy's epic love story, write this. I'm done. I'm just...speechless and so done man.
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