Month: Jun 2020

BOOK REVIEW: CLAP WHEN YOU LAND by Elizabeth Acevedo

Francesca Lucy6 Comments

*Thank you to Hot Key Books for the e-arc*

I don’t throw the term ‘one of the best books I’ve ever read’ around often, but it’s impossible not to consider this one of the most beautiful, poignant stories I’ve ever read, both in terms of the writing style and the dual stories.

‘Clap When You Land’ follows Yahaira and Camino, two half-siblings who don’t know that the other exists, and who find this out quite drastically following the death of their father. When they each find out that their father had two families and, effectively, two lives, they are heartbroken and confused, and having to deal with that in addition to their loss is a pain that they both face very differently and very beautifully.

I couldn’t choose a favourite character of the two. Both are strong and independent, and I think it makes the book all the more heartbreaking that they both try to be strong throughout it all. It made me more emotional to think about how much they were trying to hold it together than I think it would be to see them both fall apart. Both Yahaira and Camino are two of the most emotionally mature, and yet still believable, teenagers I’ve ever read. The other characters in the story also had an incredible amount of depth to them that I was certainly impressed by, and I found myself becoming invested in the plots of all of the characters, rather than just Yahaira and Camino.

The writing style in this book is something that totally blew me away. I have never read a book in verse before and, when I first started, I was a little sceptical about whether I would be able to read an entirely (relatively long) novel that is written this way. Within pages, though, I was completely hooked. It was so easy to get pulled through the book and I was halfway through before it even felt like I’d started. It’s such an easy book to read, despite the intense and meaningful plot.

The lives that are portrayed in this story are extremely contrasting, but both were equally captivating, and I finished this book in a day because I literally couldn’t put it down. The combination of Yahaira’s determination, Camino’s strength and an incredibly beautiful verse writing style definitely made this my most memorable book of the year so far, and I know for a fact that I will be picking up everything I can by Elizabeth Acevedo.

If you’ve read this book, I’d love to hear if you were as completely gripped as I was. Also, if you have any similar recommendations, I would love to hear them! This is a style that I think I might be quickly falling in love with….

RATING: 5/5

MID-YEAR BOOK FREAK OUT TAG 2020

Francesca Lucy2 Comments

Hi! I’m supposed to be studying right now because I have two reports due at the end of the month but, instead, I’m here, freaking out about books. As usual.

I’ve seen so many booktube videos of this and I feel like I’m missing out, so I wanted to join in the fun here! And also stress myself out trying to remember everything I’ve read so far. So… the book freak out tag.

BEST BOOK YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2020

Spoilers for what will (probably) be my next blog post but Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo is absolutely the best book I’ve read this year. I cannot stress enough how much you need to read this book if you haven’t already.

BEST SEQUEL OF 2020

I- I haven’t actually read a single sequel in 2020, and it’s taken this tag to make me realise that. But, if this redeems me at all, I’m desperately checking the post every day for copies of Good Girl, Bad Blood and One of Us is Next so I’m assuming that one of them may be my best (and hopefully not only) sequel of the year…

NEW RELEASE YOU HAVEN’T READ YET BUT WANT TO

All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban has been catching my eye for months now. It looks twisty and creepy and absolutely my type of book. I’m definitely hoping for a This Lie Will Kill You, One of Us is Lying kind of thing.

MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASE OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR

I feel like there are a million books coming out in the second half of the year that I want to read, but the first one that springs to mind is Skyhunter by Marie Lu. She could literally write an instruction manual and it would be my new favourite book so her brand new, dystopian, action thriller is absolutely my most anticipated read of 2020.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

Hart and Seoul by Kristen Burnham. I wrote a review of this book for Netgalley, but couldn’t bring myself to share it on here as I hate being overly negative. When I read this book, I was hoping for a cute, funny romance and the entire thing just kind of fell flat. I found it problematic and honestly a little difficult, so it was really disappointing after getting my hopes up so high.

BIGGEST SURPRISE

The Rules by Tracy Darnton. This book was pitched for fans of three books that I absolutely love (One of Us is Lying, We Were Liars, and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder) so, in that respect, I was really hoping I’d like it. I wasn’t entirely sure when I read the blurb, though, and I was really worried that it wasn’t going to be as exciting as I hoped. This book turned out to be one of the best books I’ve read this year and I absolutely take back those doubts- it’s fast-paced, full of twists and a definite page-turner.

FAVOURITE NEW AUTHOR

Based on my reads so far this year, an author that I’m really excited about is Hina Belitz, author of To Lahore With Love. I absolutely loved this book (except for the fact that the recipes in every chapter made me hungry for the entire story…) and would definitely give anything she comes out with a try.

NEWEST FICTIONAL CRUSH

Hmmm, this one is surprisingly difficult. Maybe Xavier from Loveboat, Taipei.

NEWEST FAVOURITE CHARACTERS

I didn’t want to repeat any books in this tag but I don’t think I could possibly say anyone except Camino and Yahaira from Clap When You Land. Read. This. Book. Please!

BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY

The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu. I’m pretty sure I cried during the book, but I know for certain that I cried during the author’s note…? I should probably be ashamed to admit that but, as mentioned re. Skyhunter, literally any book she writes could become my new favourite book. *fangirling over*

BOOK THAT MADE YOU HAPPY

Again, Again by E. Lockhart, another one of my auto-buy authors. This probably isn’t one of the happiest books I’ve ever read (in fact, it’s pretty not-happy-at-all for the most part) but it had sweet moments and it mostly just makes me happy that E. Lockhart came out with a new five-star book this year.

FAVOURITE BOOK-TO-MOVIE ADAPTATION YOU’VE SEEN THIS YEAR

Umm. I’m not sure if re-watching a movie should count, especially if I’ve seen the movie a million times, but I probably need to go with Love, Rosie for this. It’s so different from the book but the characters are completely spot on. Also, it’s adorable.

FAVOURITE REVIEW YOU’VE WRITTEN THIS YEAR

When I look back at my reviews, I’m almost never happy with them, so this is kind of tough! One that I kept pretty short and sweet was Not Your Idol vol. 1, so maybe that. Also, before this year, I never even considered reviewing a manga, so that was a fun thing to try.

MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK YOU’VE BOUGHT OR RECEIVED THIS YEAR

I’ve got a couple of gorgeous new hardbacks this year, but the gold, Penguin Classics style ARC of Anna K is absolutely the prettiest book I got this year. I like the book’s final cover and I like the US ARCs, but when I opened up my parcel from ReadersFirst and saw this gold cover, I would not shut up about it.

BOOK YOU NEED TO READ BY THE END OF THIS YEAR

Six of Crows. And about a million others, but mostly Six. Of. Crows.

Hope you enjoyed my bookish meltdown! I’d love to hear what your favourite book of 2020 so far is, so definitely leave a comment and let me know, if you’d like to help me expand my already worryingly large TBR pile.

KPOP READATHON TBR

Francesca LucyLeave a comment

Hi! I’ve been on a slight involuntary hiatus recently, but it seems like I’m coming back with a bang.

Right now may be a terrible time for me to join a readathon (because, as you may or may not have noticed, I haven’t finished or reviewed a book in quite a long time), but when I saw that Noura at theperksofbeingnourablog.wordpress.com created a KPOP themed readathon, I knew it was something I had to join.

In case any kpop fans are interested, I’m obsessed with about a million groups (Super Junior, BtoB and SF9 are my ults), so it took a while to decide which group to use for my prompts. As may be obvious from the picture here, I’ve chosen Team Day6.

It took me a while to choose which books to read (and I’ve tried to pick some pretty short ones so I actually stand a chance) but I think I’ve finally got my TBR set!

Day and Night: Read a book during the night or day (pick 1 timing):

I work 9-5:30, so picking night for the timing of this was pretty straightforward. But the specific book I have chosen for this is The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant, because Netgalley… and also because it looks kind of amazing.

I’ve seen a few great reviews of this one so I’m really excited to see what it’s all about. Plus, it’s about a criminal underworld and it’s inspired by Les Mis so, honestly, it might be my most anticipated read of the month.

Zombie: Pick a book with zombies or other creatures:

I was really struggling to come up with a zombie book but my twitter mutuals came through (THANK YOU). I got a bunch of recommendations, including:

Dread Nation, Girl With All The Gifts, Wranglestone, Rot and Ruin, World War Z, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, The Walking Dead, The Enemy, Deadinburgh and A Ritual of Bone.

Then I was recommended Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard, which I actually already have a copy of, from a few years ago. So, I guess that’s fate. Zombie books aren’t normally my thing so I’m really excited to step out of my comfort zone with this one!

Tick Tock: Read a book within 10 hours:

For this one, because it publishes next month and is absolutely at the top of my TBR, I have chosen Seawife by Amity Gaige. It definitely seems short enough and exciting enough to get done in 10 hours (I hope!).

Also, as a slight side note, the cover is stunning. Completely unrelated but… important.

Love Me or Leave Me: Read a book of your choice:

This was actually the hardest one to choose, for some reason. But I let Netgalley pick for me in the end, and I’m going with Girl With Three Eyes by Priya Ardis!

I read My Boyfriend Merlin about five years ago and got completely obsessed so, although I forgot about it for a while, seeing this on Netgalley brought back all the feels. I’m so excited to see what this one’s all about.

1 to 10: Pick 10 books and ask someone to choose which one you read:

This was such a fun prompt. As a fun lockdown activity, I laid out ten books (very similar lengths, very different genres) in front of my mum and got her to choose for me.

In case you’re interested, the ten books were: Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella, Across the Universe by Beth Revis, Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams, Milkman by Anna Burns, Heartstream by Tom Pollock, The Truth About Keeping Secrets by Savannah Brown, The Survival Game by Nicky Singer, Baby Doll by Hollie Overton, A Life Discarded by Alexander Masters and Lie With Me by Sabine Durrant.

After a very lengthy period of deliberation, she chose Across the Universe.

Afraid: Book you’ve been afraid to pick up:

1984 by George Orwell. I have had ridiculously high expectations for this book since I first picked up a copy about ten years ago, and I’ve always been too scared to actually read it in case it disappoints. Here goes nothing 🙂

And that’s it. If you’re doing the readathon too, I’d love to hear what team you’re reading and which book you’re most excited about. Also, please let me know if you’ve read and loved any of the books I’ve picked; I’m going to need all the positive motivation I can get to get through six books in a month!