Tag: blog tour

THE ARC by Ben Oliver – BLOG TOUR & GUEST POST

Francesca LucyLeave a comment

Hi! Today’s blog post is very exciting, as it’s my stop on the blog tour for The Arc by Ben Oliver! When Chicken House reached out about this blog tour, I was so quick to say yes because The Loop and The Block were two of my absolute favourite reads of last year. So, first things first, thank you to Chicken House for the early copy and the opportunity to be part of such an exciting blog tour 🙂

Before I share my thoughts on The Arc, feel free to check out my blog tour reviews for books one and two here.

Synopsis of The Arc (please note, there will be some spoilers for books one and two below):

Luka Kane is dead, executed in front of a crowd of Alts who cheered despite the fact that the truth of their oppressive leaders had been revealed to them.

But one Alt, Chester “Chilly” Beckett, did not celebrate; his eyes have been opened to the truth. Luka’s corpse is dragged away, but Chester remains determined to find out what is going on in the Laboratory on the 65th floor.

There, he finds three subjects tortured in an attempt to extract a regeneration formula… and one of the subjects is, impossibly, a face he never thought he’d seen again. A bold escape sets in motion a race against time as Happy’s plans to release planet-eating nano-bots into the world draw nearer. The Loop team must reassemble, survive Happy’s final attempts to rid the world of the rebels, and figure out how to halt the apocalypse before humanity is destroyed.

Review:

This book is everything I hoped it would be after the ending of The Block. The plot twists made me scream, and the introduction of an Alt as a protagonist added such a fascinating perspective that we didn’t really explore in the first two books. Chester was fascinating as he developed, from his very first appearance on page one when he realised what he was doing but was not entirely sure why he was doing it.

It was also really great to see so many familiar faces from the rest of the trilogy, including one in particular that I’m sure readers of books one and two would be especially thrilled about. One of my favourite things about this series is just how much the characters grew throughout the first two books, and it was great to see this progression as they took on Happy one final time in The Arc. It was as action-packed as I hoped, full of futuristic tech, and a great ending to a really enjoyable trilogy.

Now onto the most best part of the post! Thank you very much to Ben Oliver for providing the following fascinating insight into where he writes:

“Where I Write” – Ben Oliver

I’ll be honest, I’ve answered this question in the past and made something up about liking to write at my office at home because it’s comfortable and I know where everything is, but the truth is kind of boring: I’ll write anywhere!

I quite like writing in hotel rooms, I don’t know why but I always find myself getting lost in the world when I write in hotel rooms, maybe it’s because I’m staying somewhere so unfamiliar that my work-in-progress is a little bit of familiarity and comfort to cling on to.

I also like writing in cafes and coffee shops (I wrote most of The Arc in a Starbucks in a retail park next to a gigantic Tesco). I think the background noise of a cafe is somehow great for focusing my mind and cutting out distractions. I don’t like writing to music (especially songs with lyrics), but I do like the background hum of a coffee shop.

I’ll write in my car if I have long wait to pick someone up. Sometimes I stay late and write after work (I’m a teacher of young people with additional support needs), I can write in waiting rooms, at the beach, on trains, planes, boats. I think my final answer is, I’ll write anywhere, I just love writing, as difficult as it can be, as infuriating as it can be, I love it and I’ll do it anywhere. And the best part is I can do it anywhere because writing is not only the act of putting words on the page, it’s the act of imagining the characters, figuring out the plot, building the world, coming up with twists and turns, figuring out arcs, adding little details that bring it to life, and that can be done (sometimes literally) in your sleep.

And that’s it! If you’ve read The Loop, The Block or The Arc, I would love to hear your thoughts – and I highly recommend you check out the rest of the stops on the blog tour as well for some wonderful reviews and some other great posts from Ben Oliver 🙂

BLOG TOUR STOP: THE ISLAND HOME by Libby Page

Francesca Lucy3 Comments

First of all, a HUGE thank you to Orion for gifting me a beautiful copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and a spot on this blog tour! If you want to hear more about this wonderful book, I fully recommend checking out the rest of the tour 🙂

The Island Home follows two women, Alice and Lorna, as they are thrown together during Lorna’s visit to her childhood home.

Alice, a yoga instructor and farm-owner on the Isle of Kip, has loved island life since the day she first moved, and very voluntarily got wrapped up in its sense of community and the comfort of knowing that all of her neighbours are there to support her. Lorna, meanwhile, is visiting from London out of obligation and wishes nothing more than to get in and out of Kip, the island she grew up on, full of former neighbours and lost family, as soon as possible.

When Lorna reaches the Isle, though, she starts to remember the good as well as the bad, and decides to use the time to make amends with her brother (Alice’s husband) and some old friends that she left behind. What follows is a moving, heart-warming story about community, belonging and friendship.

The majority of books I read have very dark content and themes, so it was so refreshing to get completely sucked into such a moving, heart-warming book. It wasn’t always happy and some quite difficult themes were explored, but Libby Page’s writing is so consistently positive and uplifting that, despite some of the tougher content, the book had an overall really heart-warming and comforting tone. So many characters were just so kind and good that it was hard not to feel like I was part of their lovely community and feel supported as Alice and Lorna did when things got slightly tough.

Alice and Lorna had fairly similar voices, making it difficult at times to differentiate between the two, but this also made it easy to love and root for both of them on their individual journeys. At the beginning, Alice is a welcoming and kind character who embodies community spirit wholly in a way that I rarely read, whilst Lorna is a strong, independent, self-reliant woman who shows just what you can be capable of alone. As the story went on, however, it was lovely to read about how their mindsets started to become more similar and watch as they formed a really sweet bond.

This book is the definition of summer reading and would be so perfect as both a beach read and a book to cheer you up on a miserable day. I certainly found myself getting absorbed in the lifestyle of the characters on the Isle of Kip, and would absolutely recommend you do the same.

Rating: 4/5

The Island Home published in HB and ebook on 24th June, by Orion.

BLOG TOUR REVIEW: THE LOOP AND THE BLOCK by Ben Oliver

Francesca Lucy3 Comments

Blog tour posts are my favourite posts, and I’m so excited to be part of this one! The Block by Ben Oliver came out on April 1st and I was lucky enough to have a read of this and its predecessor, The Loop, courtesy of Chicken House (thank you!). This is a super exciting dystopian series about an AI-run prison, a ravaging war and the potential end of humanity, and I’m so excited to share my thoughts on it!

So, to begin:

The Loop tells the story of Luka Kane, a sixteen-year-old inmate in a dystopian, AI-run prison, whose repetitive and torturous life is completely upended by the prospect of a war raging outside of his prison block. As the world outside descends into chaos, so too does the inside of the prison, and the question arises of whether now is his chance to escape and, more concerningly, whether it would be safer just to stay inside.

There is so much that I loved about this book that I don’t know where to start. The Fifth Wave was one of my favourite books when I was growing up, and this is the first book I’ve ever read that matches up when it comes to telling the story of teenagers acting as saviors in a ravaged, dystopian world. The storyline was painful to read at times – as can be expected from a book containing young people trapped in a prison – but the pace and action were so intense that I couldn’t bring myself to put it down.

Luka is a driven, independent character who knows what he needs to do and will let none of the obstacles life throws at him stop him from doing it. His fellow inmates (the ones that aren’t terrifying, murderous or completely out of control) share a similar drive, and I think I enjoyed reading about them just as much as I liked Luka. Even the warden, who definitely gave off completely unavoidable damsel-in-distress vibes at various points, was a developed and interesting character.

Basically, I loved this book. It was an incredibly fast-paced, unique combination of genres with a hero that you can root for and a cast of characters that immediately intrigue. If, like me, you’re slightly older and read The Maze Runner, The Fifth Wave and all those other mildly disturbing dystopias when they first became popular, this book is absolutely for you. And if this isn’t a genre that you’re familiar with yet, The Loop is definitely a wonderful place to start.

Rating: 4/5

The Block review

*Some spoilers for The Loop will definitely follow, so be warned…*

As expected from the sequel to The Loop, The Block is an action-packed, at times gruesome and wholeheartedly entertaining story of Luka’s continued mission to save the world. Once again, he has found himself imprisoned, but this time it’s far, far worse. Instead of the young offenders’ institution, Luka is struggling to cope with the long hours of torture, lack of interaction and psychological manipulation of The Block, and he knows that if he doesn’t break out soon, he’s going to lose his grip on reality and risk humanity altogether.

I found The Block as gripping and unique as its predecessor. It still definitely had elements of older YA (The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, The Fifth Wave) but it also felt completely unique with its newly added aspects of virtual reality. The addition of various new technologies to this story fascinated me and I found myself completely invested as the characters made their discoveries about the disturbing dystopian world that they found themselves in.

In terms of characters, there was a lot of growth for so many people in this story. Luka fully developed into his role as a leader and he did it so. well. Likewise, although they went through so much suffering in The Loop and could have made the decision to give up and hide, the whole troupe’s experiences seem to have only made Luka’s friends much stronger as they find themselves becoming the faces of a struggling rebellion and searching for ways to save the world. The new characters – there are lots that I could focus on but I need to shout out Apple-Moth, in particular (an adorable companion drone that joins them on their mission) – were so entertaining too, and I definitely felt like part of their squad as the story went on.

I loved The Loop, but this is definitely one of those rare occasions where I loved the sequel even more! It was fast-paced, action-packed and sometimes slightly horrifying, and I cannot wait to pick up book 3 as soon as it comes out.

Rating: 5/5

BLOG TOUR STOP: The Wing Thief by Samantha Atkins

Francesca Lucy6 Comments

I’m forever looking for an excuse to read middle-grade, and books about fairies have been my favourites for a long time, so when I heard about this book, I was so excited – and being part of the blog tour is even more exciting than that! My contribution is an honest review, and I can’t wait to share it 🙂

Thank you to Smashbear Publishing for sending me an e-ARC of this book!

The synopsis:

Let me ask you a question. It’s a pretty straight forward question, but one that you shouldn’t rush to answer. Do you believe in magic?

Vista wanted two things: adventure and freedom. But nothing could prepare her for the fall that would change everything. In a single moment, Vista’s comfortable life in the Home Tree is over and she must find a way to survive in the forest alone. She soon learns that not everyone can be trusted and now she must race to save the family she left behind.

In a forest filled with magic and trickery, just how far can a flightless fairy go?

This book is such a fun read.

It’s been a long time since I read about fairies that weren’t inherently cruel tricksters (a curse of reading predominantly YA: Holly Black, I’m looking at you) and it was such a nice burst of nostalgia to read about an adventurous, kind-hearted and strong-willed fairy without a cruel bone in her tiny body. Vista is an inspirational, excellently role-modelling character with impressive ambitions and dreams, as well as a natural disposition to do what’s right. She surrounds herself with pure, helpful companions that remind you of the good in even the most fictitious worlds. Grecko the Gnome is the obvious favourite, with his kind heart, innocence and very strong sense of trust, and I found myself growing as attached to him as I was to Vista.

The plot of this book was really entertaining, and I especially loved that we got to see both the villain’s side and the hero’s side as they went on their very different quests. The contrast of seeing the villain preparing cruelly for his plan and seeing Vista initially just trying to create a new life for herself on the forest floor was fascinating, and seeing Vista’s mission reveal itself as the story went on kept this book exciting all the way through. To top it off, the world-building was great as well and I was sucked into the magical forest in no time too, with Samantha making it so easy to picture the Home Tree, and the entirety of the woodland.

Obviously, I’m a little (or a lot) older than the intended audience of this book, but I felt like a child again as I shared in Vista’s wonder and fear and adventure. I can imagine Vista becoming a favourite character for so many young girls and honestly wish that I had more people to recommend this book to. It’s a sweet and easy read, even if you’re traditionally too old for it, and it’s an action-packed and readable adventure if you’re not.

Rating: 4.5/5

The Wing Thief is out on 31st January 2021! And if you’re looking for more reasons to read it, keep an eye out for the rest of the blog tour 🙂

BOOK REVIEW: SEA WIFE by Amity Gaige (BLOG TOUR STOP)

Francesca Lucy1 Comment

Hi, welcome to my first ever blog tour review! Firstly, thank you so much to Grace Vincent at Fleet for the advance copy of this book, and HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY to Amity Gaige! This was such a fascinating read and I’m so excited to be part of the blog tour.

Seawife tells the story of a woman named Juliet, whose husband convinces her to join him on a year-long trip around the Caribbean, living almost entirely on the ocean. When their voyage is over, and tragedy has struck, Juliet must adjust back into life on land and to parenting their two children in a more conventional way.

All the while, though, her mind is still on their journey across the ocean and her husband’s sailing obsession, and we learn the specifics of their trips through a combination of Juliet’s story, Michael’s logbook and, occasionally, their daughter Sybil’s thoughts and prayers.

It might just be because this isn’t a genre that I’ve really looked into, but I have never read a book like Seawife. The style and subject matter were both so completely new to me that I found myself getting quickly sucked in, and I ended up so glad that I gave this book a go! I was definitely intimidated by all of Michael’s technical terminology at the beginning, but the story is written in such a compelling and accessible way that I was genuinely interested in the technicalities of sailing by the time I finished (something I really never thought I’d say!)

Juliet speaks of the sceptics of her voyage in this book and, I admit, I also didn’t understand the allure of a life on the ocean until the story really got into it. I never would have considered the possibility of abandoning life, school, work, etc, to live in a 44 square-foot floating home, but I was very quickly hooked on learning about their new lifestyle. Their life story is beautiful, fascinating and completely believable, and it definitely made me re-evaluate my initial thoughts. By the end, it seemed strange when the characters were on land, and I wanted to hear more and more about their life on the water.

The characters in this book- primarily Juliet, her husband Michael, their daughter Sybil and their son George- were all really interesting, both in terms of their personalities and their relationships with each other, and I found myself deeply invested in the lives of each of them. I think Sybil may be my favourite character, overall. She was believable as a young child, funny and enthusiastic, but also grown-up in a way that her lifestyle would make her. George was adorable as well. Michael and Juliet were both strong-willed, firm in their beliefs and completely genuine and seeing the complexities of their marriage was fascinating.

Overall, I found this story to be a compelling depiction of the dangers and the allures of a life at sea. It’s thought-provoking, gripping and completely absorbing and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who has ever wondered about life on the ocean, or even just anyone who wants some good, old-fashioned escapism.

RATING: 4.5/5

You can find out more about this book on the Little, Brown site, and I would definitely recommend you pick up a copy from The Hive (support your local indie!) or Waterstones.