The Memory Book – Lara Avery

Two young adult novels out this month featuring Memory in the title. Having limited time, this is the one whose first page drew my attentions and held it the whole way through.

The Memory Book is exactly what it says. It’s a fiction about Samantha McCoy, 17, the smartest girl in school, a champion debater and she’s been diagnosed with a memory loss disease, a kind of dementia. She writes The Memory Book (or types it on her laptop) to her future herself, as a way to remind her who she is and what she did.

Sammie is a very determined girl, and her voice is snappy-smart but without the snark, a combination that I liked. I was a bit wary about the disease element (yeah, there are a few of those around and once you’ve read a few they can get tiresome: sorry, I’m feeling jaded) but I thought that it actually worked really well. A bit like many young adult novels featuring very ill teenagers, this is a novel about making the most of your life while you can and I felt that The Memory Book really pulled this off.

Interestingly, it made me think a bit quite a bit about dementia, not so much in young people, but in old people and how it might affect them in the little and big ways. Of course, it also made me think about giving life your best shot always.

There’s an interesting thread in the novel about first love and crushes (obviously!) although they left me wondering whether or not Sam ever really decided which was which. But does that matter anyway, whether it’s a crush or love (that’s me thinking through after reading as it’s not directly raised in the novel)?

I imagine this would appeal to readers who are competitively determined – or who like debates. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is on a debate team, or trying to get on a debate team. Samantha McCoy is exhausting!

Yep, I really enjoyed this novel: page-turning, thought-provoking and poignantly wistful.

Publication details: Quercus, 26 January 2017, London, paperback

This copy: uncorrected proof for possible review from the publisher

Wing Jones - Katherine Webber

Wing Jones - Katherine Webber

Katherine Webber's debut novel, Wing Jones, is a delicious mix of ingredients. Based in 1990s Atlanta, the main teen characters are all mixed race or black, there's an inter-racial relationship, there's binge drinking and suspenseful moments of gun-toting. But, there's also - and primarily - a naive and painfully vilified fifteen year old girl who is relentlessly bullied, is mocked by her loving Ghanaian and Chinese grandmothers, has a girlhood crush on her popular brother's best friend, and she calls on her dragon and lioness to help her through the most tragic events of her life.  Wrap all of this up in Jessica Ennis 'this girl can' attitudes to sport and sprinkle with happy bliss. Then you've met Wing Jones.

Wing Jones is a pleasure to read. Katherine Webber's writing flows, and she creates immediately likeable characters. Prejudiced attitudes to race and what constitutes criminal activity form central parts of the story without being tackled as 'issues'. The tragic event*, which provides a plot turning point, covers an issue I don't think I've seen in YA before (I'm sure it is out there though) and is tragically very real. Curiously, and despite these elements of the plot (which were my favourite), the overall tone in Wing Jones is cosily warm and those who love cute couples will no doubt be charmed.

*See below for small plot spoiler about the tragic event......


Publication details: 5 January 2017, Walker Books, London, paperback
This copy: uncorrected proof from the publisher for review

Caution: Plot spoiler follows.


Plot spoiler


Plot spoiler.


Tragic event: drinking and driving

London Belongs To Us - Sarra Manning

London Belongs To Us – Sarra Manning

London Belongs To Us - Sarra Manning

London Belongs To Us is a madcap all-night rush around London. Sunshine – or Sunny, as she’s known – has a pouffed up Afro and a pretty lush boyfriend. But oh-oh, looks like he’s been up to no good and she wants to sort his story – and herself – out!

Just as her name suggests, Sunny is a wonderfully warm character, as are many of the characters, including the effervescent French Godard boys. The novel, as a whole, is equally warm and dotted with humour throughout. It’s also packed full of quippy, teen dialogue that runs the risk of grating but it’s really oh-so-softly smooth.

Each chapter of the novel is preceded by a quirky checklist or graph – they’re quite fun. And each chapter begins with a few italicised paragraphs giving a bit of background to a specific area of London (so the novel takes you on a bit of a race around lots of its boroughs).  They were quite funny but they didn’t persuade me to love London in quite the way Sunny does (it's a big claim she makes and maybe I wanted her to open her arms a bit wider; I definitely ended up feeling a little bit more like Jean Luc).

London Belongs To Us is a sweet little escapade of a novel with great dialogue, warm romantic fun and a fair bit of super-sass girl power too.

Publication details: Hot Key Books, 2016, London, paperback

This copy: review copy from the publisher

London Belongs To Us has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal 2017

More of Me - Kathryn Evans

More of Me - Kathryn Evans

More of Me - Kathryn Evans

This was the first debut I’ve discovered on this year’s Carnegie nominations list and I was very impressed. Seems a silly thing to say – being impressed by a debut – but, there, I was: More of Me is a lovely solid novel that weaves a gripping and fascinating concept into time loved high school frolics and dramas.

The story concept is intriguing and it maintained my interest the whole way through. Teva is sixteen. She’s just stolen her previous self’s life both literally and not so literally. Horrifyingly and painfully, every year, a new Teva tears her way physically out of the previous Teva. So Teva lives with her mother and no siblings  - but lots of younger Teva’s. But nobody else knows. So, obviously, things are going to be socially tricky and emotionally, mentally, physically torturous for the Teva who is soon to be 17!

More of Me delivers a quietly funny sixth form school story full of boyfriend troubles, friendship circles and worries about personal statements and career choices as well as a sci-fi element exploring the essence of Teva’s being (and maybe even stretching to touch upon self-harming). By weaving the two strands together, the novel also convincingly manages to look at the different stages of childhood and captures the changing emotional and intellectual moods and swings of the teenage years very lovingly.  Talk about an identity crisis!

For all the horror that the concept involves, the novel is actually a light pageturner and probably easily suitable for readers of all ages. I really enjoyed this one. And, there is no cliffhanger!

There are some great book group questions that Kathryn Evans has posted on her website (there are spoilers though so read the book first!).

More of Me won the Edinburgh International Book Festival First Award 2016 and has been nominated for the 2017 Carnegie Medal.

Publication details: Usborne, 2016, London, paperback

This copy: review copy from the publisher

Love, Lies & Lemon Pies - Katy Cannon

Love, Lies & Lemon Pies by Katy Cannon

Review by Little M

(Review first published on Manchee & Bones)

Love, Lies & Lemon Pies by Katy Cannon is a fantastic romance novel. What is quite strange about this particular novel is that I wouldn't normally choose this sort of book. However, I have really opened my mind to these sorts of books now!

Love, Lies and Lemon Pies is about a teenage girl, Lottie, who is coping after the death of her father. Lottie is sent to the headmasters' office one morning and he pushes her into joining the Bake Club. Bake Club helps Lottie and also the trouble maker, bad ass, Mac to see the world in a different way. Lottie finds her feet again in the real world, not the world where she pushes everyone away from her. And for Mac, well, Bake Club shows him there is more to life than blowing up buildings and working at a garage.

Love, Lies and Lemon Pies is a romantic, creative novel that contains the recipes which the Bake Club actually use. I have even tried out a recipe myself. They are amazing. It is a fairly easy read and I read it within a day, I loved it that much!



Publication details: Stripes Publishing, London, 2014, paperback original
This copy: review copy from the publisher

Jamaica Inn - Daphne du Maurier

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

Review by M

 

This novel counts towards the Classics Club Challenge

 

I read Rebecca when I was a young teenager and loved it. It’s down as a reread for me and number five on our original Classics Club list of fifty. But, I’d never owned a copy so I bought it. It came as part of a Virago Modern Classics’ du Maurier bundle that included Jamaica Inn.

So, instead of a Rebecca reread, I started Jamaica Inn, not sure if it would be my sort of read (whatever that is!). I flitted between it and a number of other books (mostly review copies that I felt obliged to prioritise). Then, I saw a television trailer for a forthcoming BBC adaptation of it. This also prompted a renewed media interest in the ‘literary’ legacy of du Maurier with some sides hailing her as a popular and iconic storyteller while others question her literary merits. Remembering that my working definition of ‘classics’ is written stories that carry across generations (for any reason), my Easter reading plans were altered.

Jamaica Inn is a gothic romance which isn’t typically my sort of thing for all sorts of reasons (but mostly because of unhealthy gender relationships), so I haven’t read many. You realise from the first few pages of Jamaica Inn what you’re in for: an ever darkening story in an ominous setting with some nasty characters – but surprisingly some lovely ones too.

 

Twenty-three year old Mary Yellan’s mother has died and she has moved to live with her aunt Patience who lives at Jamaica Inn with her violent husband, Joss Merlyn. Nobody stops at or visits Jamaica Inn and something sinister, criminal and maybe even evil is going on. As a murderous story about smuggling cartels unfolds, Mary struggles with her own inner conflicts about trust, loyalty, gender and romantic feelings for an awful man.

As a gothic romance, Du Maurier’s writing  gets the balance right. Jamaica Inn is chilling and dire without being horrificly graphic, and there's a not-too-sweet dose of a properly infuriating romance too. While Jamaica Inn’s story is generally predictable (but other reviewers say differently!), the final pages surprised and ultimately disappointed me (more thoughts on this below because of spoilers).

From a gender perspective, Jamaica Inn is interesting. The roles of men and women, while mostly taken for granted (the setting is the 1820s), are also speculated about particularly by Mary Yellan and possibly by Jem Merlyn (the writing/publication is 1930s). This is also enhanced by contrasting parallels between the behaviour and gendered demeanours of Joss and Patience with those of Jem and Mary. Patience is acutely passive and scared witless in contrast to Mary Yellan who is headstrong and determined, but blames much that is wrong with her life on being a woman (of course, there is some truth in this). Because of this, she connects personal independence with being a man (some things still haven’t changed) and she anguishes about gendered identities, emotions and bodies.

Compared to Wuthering Heights, I do think Heathcliff comes off better than Jamaica Inn’s Joss Merlyn, Cathy comes off worse than Mary, and the plot and ending for Jamaica Inn (for me) is preferable to Wuthering Heights.

Classics Verdict: Gothic romance still isn’t doing it for me but  it's growing on me. Du Maurier’s novel is convincingly atmospheric and much better done than the BBC’s television adaptation. Would I unhesitatingly recommend it to the next generation? For me, it’s not a must read but for readers who enjoy this sort of thing, perhaps yes. Also, it reminded me that at heart, I am a bit of a romantic.

 

Publication details: 2003, Virago Press, London, paperback (orginal publication 1936, Victor Gollancz)

This copy: own

 

 

Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert

 

Further thoughts (contains SPOILERS!!)

 

The ending confused me and either I’ve missed something or the characterisation was a bit off. For much of the novel, Jem seems besotted with Mary and makes some big decisions and sacrifices for her sake. Why then does he stubbornly thwart her? Does he think that putting her off is actually better for her because he is not able to give her what he thinks she will want? And then, when she gives up her wish to return home in order to accompany him, why does he not change his direction and concede that to her? Is this about gender power relations and maintaining the masculine status quo for Jem? Is this about Mary giving in to her body’s ‘weakness’ or about choosing what she wants for herself? Is it about a dark cycle of bad relationships taking Mary down a similar path to her Aunt Patience (or is Jem much more wholesome than Joss – and will he remain like that)? I'd have gone with Jem.

 

 

 

 

 

End of spoiler!


I finished reading Jamaica Inn minutes before I watched the recent BBC adaptation. I don't think I've ever been so freshly close to as text as this when viewing a screen adaptation. That may have influenced my response to the BBC's version, but many important plot and characterisation elements were changed to the extent that much of du Maurier's Jamaica Inn was lost. The novel is far more subtle and explores Mary's conflicts in much greater depth. I much preferred du Maurier's novel.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blindsided - Natalie Whipple

Blindsided by Natalie Whipple

 

Review by Little M
 

This is the sequel to Natalie Whipple's Transparent. Fiona McClean is a daughter of one of the most famous syndicate gang leaders. However, she is not normal like most girls. She is invisible. No one can see her and she can't even see what she looks like. A drug was made which gives humans mutant powers. In Fiona's case, she is invisible. This drug can also be given to enhance their abilities, this is where the syndicates comes into play. This time Fiona and her pack (gang) need to stop her father, the army and another syndicate from recreating this drug because the missing element has now been found.

I really liked both novels so much. Fiona really is a headstrong character.  However, my favourite characters must be Miles and Spud. Miles is Fiona's brother who has the ability to let off scents. Some are fruity others could be eggy. He can be quite funny but he is also mega protective over his sister and girlfriend, Spud.Spud is the infamous hacker who is on most of the syndicates kill or wanted lists. She is hilarious once she has hacked into something and her presence just really grew on me.

The Hot Key ring on this book says Blindsided is:

• Superpowers, I definitely agree with this;
• Romance is another, and yes this one fits too;
• Kick-Ass, this one I'm a bit confused about because I'm not sure if it means it's really actiony or adventurey though I think it should say action or mutant because this would say a bit more about the book.

Overall I really enjoyed it and I read on the 24 hour readathon.


Publication details: Hot Key Books, January 2014, London, paperback
This copy: review copy from the publisher

All the Truth That's in Me - Julie Berry

All the Truth That’s in Me by Julie Berry

Review by M

 

All the Truth That’s in Me has been nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2014.

All the Truth That’s in Me had me from the first page. I loved it very much. That has as much to do with the story as it does with the writing.

Judith went missing when she was a young teenager. She returns a few years later, mute, to her community in Roswell Station. Nobody knows where she has been or why and she can’t tell them. Set back when the United States of America was still in its formative years and western ways of life were quite different from today’s, there is no loving welcome for her and she is treated with suspicion as a cursed outcast by her community. While this is bad enough, Judith has no time for wallowing in self pity and is treacherously defiant about the loss of the love of her whole life.  All the Truth That’s in Me reads like a eulogising ode: To Lucas, from Judith.

At face value, this is an unrequited love story, smouldering and intense. It’s mournful and yearning, in the way of odes, elegies and praise poetry. But, through its praising and its questioning, Judith’s narrative is also suspenseful and the whole story turns on a couple of whodunit questions.

 

A girl has been murdered and Homelander invaders threaten. Rumours taken as truth for answers abound.  As the story progresses, many readers will fill in the story’s gaps correctly. For me, these came as light relief from what was otherwise a very intense and absorbing read.

All the Truth That’s in Me is a short novel (perhaps even novella?) and the reading experience is similar to last year’s Carnegie shortlisted, The Weight of Water. While The Weight of Water was written as poetry and was a light-but-substantial read,  All the Truth That’s in Me is not a poem and it is darkly, deeply intense.

The overwhelming feeling that this novel is a poetic ode or eulogy, to Lucas, is further enhanced by this ‘verselike-diary entry’ structure. Again, this also gives it the quality of a testament, which narratively it is, in more ways than one.  The chapter structure feels like verses from the Bible and is thematically very fitting as Judith’s community is deeply and often rigidly religious. With references to Greek myths, I also can’t stop thinking of Keat’s Ode on a Grecian Urn. I love it when a novel sends me off on a search.

This is a little book but it is quite as long as it should be. I dare any of you not to fall head over heels for Lucas (and that’s something I may never have said on this blog before!?). Judith’s ode does its work and I loved it. It was enormously satisfying. Far and away, All the Truth That’s in Me has been one of the most captivating books I’ve read all year.

This novel has adult themes suited to the ages of its characters who, at times, are about eighteen and twenty-something. But, these issues are treated in a way that makes this novel easily suitable for secondary school shadowing groups. Visions of things that might not have happened in the story may fill the mind of the reader in much the same way that they did the judging minds of Roswell Station’s community.

 

This novel may also prompt some readers to find out more about Joan of Arc.

Publication details: 2013, Templar, Surrey, hardback

This copy: review copy from the publisher

 

All Our Yesterdays - Cristin Terrill

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

Review by Little M

Em is in a cell and Finn is in one next to her. They haven't a clue if they will get out alive. But then she finds a piece of paper which says that she has been here before. It also says she must escape to save the world and kill the boy who she loved, the boy who is now known to them as the Doctor. Marina is a safe and very privileged girl who is falling in love with the genius James who lives next door. What she doesn't know is that her whole world will come crashing down very soon and it will destroy her life. Em has to travel back in time to save Marina and kill the boy Marina loves!

This is a time travel, action, adventure, sci-fi, romance novel and it reminds me a bit of The Tempest by Julie Cross because it involves time travel. However, I haven't read many time travel books yet so it may be very similar to some others.

I liked how All Our Yesterdays was written especially the way the author wrote it from two points of views in two different times.  I really enjoyed this novel at the beginning but towards the end events made me change my mind because I found it too predictable. I also didn’t really connect with the characters.

 

Publication Details: Bloomsbury, August 2013, London, paperback

This copy: uncorrected proof received for review from the publisher