February | In books

One ticked off my Blogger’s Bookshelf challenge! The Bell Jar was my first step into the world of Plath and I was certainly impressed. Much easier to read than ‘Catcher…’ and definitely much more captivating, the story follows Esther Greenwood in 1950’s America as she slowly descends into depression and emotional breakdown. Plath is a poet and it definitely shows in her writing (The Bell Jar is her only novel), that being said it’s not flower-y and it’s never forced. It’s helps to know that the book itself is semi-autobiographical and that Plath is painting a realistic of mental health. She makes Esther feel human not this other-worldly character which was refreshing to read compared to my usual moany-female-YA-protagonists. Her situation towards the end of the book improves, but the ending is definitely bittersweet and is a great reflection on the true nature of mental illness and life in general. Recommended read!

Pandemonium | Lauren Oliver
The sequel to Delirium, it took me a while to actually get on to read this and I have to admit the first few pages was mostly spent trying to remember what actually happened and who the characters are (I clearly read too much Dystopian lol). I have full review on Blogger’s Bookshelf here, but I did enjoy it a lot more than Delirium. I was great, fast-paced and the cliffhanger? Oh lordy. Very excited to get Requiem very soon!

The Named | Marianne Curley
This was a random one I picked up in the Kindle store. It wasn’t a bad read and I’m starting to think I should be wary of reviewing YA novels as technically the target audience is much younger than myself. The story follows that of Ethan, who is a Guardian of Time, and his brand new apprentice Isabelle. Ethan is a part of the Guard that protects the world from the Order of Chaos, who like to mess up points in time to cause widespread…well chaos. Isabelle is brand new to the guard and Ethan has to train her up for her first mission in two weeks, which won’t be easy. Not to mention the fact that the two have known each other since childhood when Isabelle harboured a crush for Ethan since then. Despite the obvious YA tone, world they live in is rich and detailed with much more that I expect will be revealed in good time. I’m just left wishing I could hear more about it rather than their, rather obvious, romantic dilemma but all in good time I suppose.

Struck By Lightning | Chris Colfer
I’ve been dying to read this one for a while. I’m a huge Chris Colfer fan and so insanely impressed by all of his achievements (from Glee to writing and starring in the SBL movie to writing other books etc etc all before the age of 23). Again this is another one for the Blogger’s Bookshelf review pile so go check it out once it’s up on Monday! My overall feelings on the book were good. You see Chris’ natural sarcastic humour through the writing, but as a stand-alone novel without the film to back it up? It won’t shake the literary world. This however has got me more motivated to read The Land of Stories – Colfer’s first full children’s book – and to gear up to see the movie (once it actually freaking comes out in the UK ¬_¬)

Smart Mouth Waitress | Dayla Moon
I didn’t realise this book was part of a series until I put it in to GoodReads. This was a cheap-y Kindle buy, but I gotta say I really liked it. It turns out this series (‘Life In Saltwater City’) is actually a series of stand-alone books. This particular book (which is the second in the set) is all about a seventeen year old girl called Peridot (or Perry) stumbling through her romantic life, whilst balancing a job as a waitress, her famous musician mother, bipolar dad and typical teenage brother, in Vancouver. The relationships in this one are great, they feel believable, even though some of the situations Perry gets into may not be, and there’s plenty of character development for the majority of people in the book. It’s a quick chic-lit read, the writing is humorous and there are dozens of extremely recent pop culture references in there. If I’m honest it was nice to take a break from the crazy genre that is Dystopia/Utopia to read about a girl with pretty normal, albeit rather amusing problems.