The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey

457 Pages

Rating: 4/5

Format: paperback (library copy)

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The Fifth Wave is a dystopian novel in which humans are being destroyed in waves. Cassie, her father and her brother have survived until now but as they anticipate the fifth wave things start becoming more difficult. When Cassie and her family are separated she does everything she can to reunited them, but it's not quite as simple as that.

I picked this up when I was at the library last mainly because I'd heard people talking about it online. For a while I wasn't convinced by it. I found the beginning to be a little repetitive and I think the same book could probably have been written in less pages but overall it was definitely a good book. I found I couldn't put the book down for the last 100 pages or so and didn't really want it to end when it did, but at the same time I doubt I'll read the rest in the series (I didn't actually realise it was a series until I started reading it and added it to my goodreads). 

Overall it's a good book but I didn't find it particularly mind blowing.

This book is great for anyone who likes dystopian novels like The Hunger Games or Divergent and if you enjoy that type of book I'd definitely recommend it.

Have you read The Fifth Wave? What did you think of it?

Lucy x

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

325 Pages

Rating: 5/5

Format: Paperback

Buy it: thebookdepository

Eleanor is the new girl in town and doesn't fit in at all. Park is the boy on the bus who tries to be as invisible as possible. They slowly open up to each other and fall for each other with the help of mix tapes and comic books. As it says on the back of the book, 'they fall in love the way you do the first time, when you're young, and you feel as if you have nothing and everything to lose.'

I've been reluctant to read Eleanor & Park for a while. I've seen so many reviews online saying it's incredible and I didn't want to go into it with high expectations just for it to not meet them. That being said, after I read Fangirl a few weeks ago I knew I had to read this. Eleanor & Park is one of those books that deserves all of the hype it gets.

By far my favourite thing about Rainbow Rowell's writing is how realistic her characters are. Her characters are flawed. They are not perfect. They have traits about them that are not desirable and that's what makes them so fantastic. I find I get much more attached to a character who is imperfect because they just seem all the more real. Eleanor, Park and all of the people around them feel so real that I couldn't help but love this book.

I had been warned by a commenter on a blog post where I'd mentioned that I wanted to read this soon to have tissues at hand for the ending so I was on the look out for something sad to crop up the whole way through the book but I still didn't think it would play out as it did. Although I'm much more of a fan of happy endings, as most of us are really, I completely see why the ending was necessary and it just added to the realism of the whole story.

I would definitely recommend this book. It warns on the back of the book that it's not suitable for younger readers but for anyone older than about 14 I would recommend it. It's a fantastic and realistic book that deals with very real, very important issues.

Have you read Eleanor & Park? What did you think of it?

Lucy x 

84 Ribbons by Paddy Eger*

345 Pages

Rating: 3/5

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As someone who has always loved dance, particularly ballet, I was interested in this book as soon as I saw the cover, but I have to say I was a little disappointed. While this is a good book, it wasn't as good as I was expecting which is possibly partially my fault for having expectations that were too high.

84 Ribbons is the story of Marta, a teenager in the 1950s, as she moves away from home to join a ballet company. While she's always dreamed of becoming a professional ballerina, her experiences as one aren't exactly what she had in mind. She makes two friends immediately who continue to be her best friends and, of course, there is a love interest.

This book deals with some important issues surrounding the ballet community such as eating disorders and ballerinas overworking their bodies and these issues are dealt with well. My only problem with the way the author deals with these sensitive topics is that they sometimes feel like unnecessary stereotypes. We only meet a handful of dancers throughout the book and the majority of them struggle with one of these two issues. While ballet is undoubtedly a physically demanding profession and it is likely that things were different in the 1950s than they are today, it would've been nice to see more characters who were strong dancers with healthy eating habits, as the majority of dancers do not have eating disorders and reading this book felt like the opposite.

While it was by no means my favourite book, I feel like it is a decent book and I didn't necessarily dislike it. I just wouldn't rush out to recommend it to all of my friends.

Have you read 84 Ribbons? What did you think of it?

Lucy x

*I received a copy of this book for review via netgalley

The Coldest Girl In Coldtown by Holly Black

419 Pages

Rating: 4.5/5

Buy it: thebookdepository

This was another library find that I picked up purely from hearing good reviews about it online and, although I wasn't really expecting much, I was surprised by it! I found it really engaging and it's definitely the type of book that is easy to lose yourself in. I've been struggling a bit recently with finding the motivation to read more than about a chapter without getting bored but I sat and read about 200 pages of this when I woke up today because I couldn't put it down.

The book starts when Tana, the protagonist, wakes up the morning after a party to find herself in a bathtub still in the house of the party. She wanders through the rest of the house expecting to find her friends awake and cooking breakfast but instead finds everyone who had been at the party dead, other than her ex-boyfriend who has been chained up in the same room as a vampire. She very quickly finds out that her ex-boyfriend was bitten by a vampire and when trying to escape, Tana comes very close to being bitten too. So close that she's not sure if the infection has been passed on to her. The story then follows Tana, Aiden (her ex-boyfriend) and Gavriel (the vampire who had been chained up) as they head towards the Coldtown, a quarantine to keep the vampires from infecting humans and what happens once they are inside.

I thought this book was brilliant. It was fantasy that has been written in a way that makes you almost believe it's not. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone in search of a good YA read with believable characters and a strong plot that is not centered around romance. There is some romance in this book but it definitely takes a back seat for the majority of the book.

Have you read The Coldest Girl In Coldtown? What did you think of it? 

Lucy x