Review: All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher

Title: All I Know Now
Author: Carrie Hope Fletcher
Edition: Sphere, 2015

Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis

We all know that growing up is hard to do, and sometimes the only thing that makes it better are the reassuring words of someone who has walked that bumpy road just a few steps ahead of you and somehow ended up as a fully-functioning adult. Carrie Hope Fletcher is that person.* Thanks to her phenomenally popular YouTube videos, Carrie has become an 'honorary big sister' to hundreds of thousands of young people who turn to her for advice, friendship and, most of all, the knowledge that things will get better. Carrie has created a safe and positive space for young people to connect and share their hopes and concerns online, and now she will share her most personal thoughts and experiences in her first book, ALL I KNOW NOW. Part memoir, part advice guide, it will include Carrie's thoughts on some of the topics she's asked about most regularly: bullying, body image, relationships and perhaps the scariest question of all: what does the future hold for me? With warmth, wit and a sprinkling of hard-won wisdom, Carrie will provide the essential tools for growing up gracefully ...most of the time. *Although she did recently post a video about how to pee in a onesie. So the definition of 'adult' is a bit flexible here ...

Review

I've been watching Carrie's videos for a while now and actually only just realised that there's only a one or two year age difference between us. This means that I've read All I Know Now at the age she was when she wrote it.

For me, it wasn't about looking to Carrie for advice, although she gives it in abundance, it was more about finding out about the things she believes in and the journey she's made to get where she is. Having watched her videos, I already knew I admired her – her success, her outlook on life – and I wanted to know more. So when my housemate turned up with a copy of her book I knew it was time to read it. 

March TBR

March is here! 2016 sure isn't waiting around, and the pile of unread books currently in my room is slowly getting smaller. And on that note, here are the books that will finally be opened and, hopefully, enjoyed this month.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

FINALLY. I thought it took a long time to get a hold of The Dream Thieves but that wait was nowhere near as long as the wait for this one. But it's okay because I have it now and I am looking forward to every single page. *grins*

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

You'd think after spending months on a project solely focused on Red Queen I'd be sick of the series but I am NOT! I am so unbelievably excited to read this monster of a book (seriously, it's ridiculous...the size of a hardback, but with a paperback...paperback, but huge. Just huge). I might even try something new with the review for this so stay tuned!

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

I'm going to get myself back to what I really, really LOVE. A bit of good old romance. *sighs happily*. I'm so excited because this book is so pretty and summery and, you can't see it here, but the spine has stripes, and for some reason it makes me really happy.

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Firstly, do not google 'Peter Pan book cover'. There are SO MANY. Maybe half of which my friend owns. Speaking of who, her obsession with Peter Pan seems to be rubbing off on me. It's not like I don't know the story, I think most people do, but I want to read the original version, the one that's inspired said friend to write THREE (edit: FOUR) different adaptations. 

Reading Roundup

February has come and gone sooo quickly. I've spent most of it chilling, thinking "It's cool, my deadlines aren't until March," and suddenly March is a weekend away. I guess I better get my head down. Before that though, since I tried out a pretty in-depth TBR for February, I'm going to try a little roundup, summarise my thoughts and linking you all to the reviews if you missed them. Anyway, here's how my February has gone:

Slated

Rating: ★★

It kinda pained me to give a book such a low rating. I get super passionate when I love a book, and super passionate when I really don't, but when it comes to writing the latter kind of passion in a review, I'm constantly thinking about the author whose work I'm being critical of. I've got to be honest though, that's what reviews are for, and I've tried to balance my negatives with the positives. Find it here.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Rating: ★★★

Not my favourite John Green book, but it was good. After having it sit on my bookshelf for months, it was a little bit disappointing. I mean, all I was really expecting was good old John Green, but I guess meaning to read something for so long just builds expectations from nothing. You can find my review here.

The Heir

Rating: ★★★★

I got pretty dresses. I got royalty. I got romance. I had my issues but I got what I wanted. Plus, I read it in 48 hours max. It must have been good. I'm aware that my review might not quite match up to my rating. But I did love it. I just chose to put a lot of focus of the problems I did have. You can read it here.

We All Looked Up

Rating: ★★★

I loved the concept, and the apocalyptic feel. The friendships were slow to get going which, at first, I was disappointed by, but now that I've finished the book, I realise that it made it realistic. People don't normally just instantly become friends, and that stood in this book. You can read my full review here.

All I Know Now

It's this month's LUCKY BOOK!! All that means is that it wasn't on my TBR but I finished all the books that were. It's probably going to carry over and I'm enjoying it so far. Being only a few years younger than Carrie, I'm reading it having finished school, but so much of it is still so relevant. 

Review: We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

Title: We All Looked Up
Author: Tommy Wallach
Edition: Simon & Schuster UK, 2015

Rating: ★★★

Synopsis

Before Ardor, we let ourselves be defined by labels - the athlete, the outcast, the slacker, the overachiever. But then we all looked up and everything changed. They said the asteroid would be here in two months. That gave us two months to leave our labels behind. Two months to become something bigger than what we'd been, something that would last even after the end. Two months to really live. (Taken from Waterstones.com)

Review
I was so excited when I read the blurb of this book. I was looking forward to tension and action and high emotions, everything getting tightened like a wind-up toy before being let go as the asteroid arrived. This concept held so much potential...and I feel like it didn't quite reach it. The anticipation of a collision fell flat for me, maybe because of the way so many chapters started with 'a few days later...' or even 'a week later...' There's such a limited amount of time left, and yet there are empty days, days where nothing of note happens to any of the four characters the book follows. I felt like it reduced the impact the asteroid was supposed to be having on them.

Speaking of which: I liked these characters. The premise of the book required them to be labelled, suggested they were stereotypes but that didn't seem to be the case, even in the first few chapters before they had a chance to explain themselves. The friendship they developed was realistic. It wasn't like 'oh my goodness, two months to live, now we're all best friends'. It took time and had its difficulties which made it all the more rewarding, and sad, at the end when their friendship really blossomed.

We All Looked Up shone a pretty accurate light on what would happen if a meteor really did hurtle itself towards Earth. It's horrible to think that we'd all descend into chaos, but it's probably the only realistic scenario. The book touched on subjects like death, and how we fear it, life, and how short it is, but somehow it wasn't too heavy.

I've given We All Looked Up three stars because the speed of the book felt a bit slow, the missing days kind of hindered the anticipation of it all, and it felt a little strange that their parents were mostly out of the picture, some explained and some not. On the other hand, I did enjoy the concept and the relationships between the characters. Thoughts?

Favourite Quote

"The best books, they don't talk about things you never thought about before. They talk about things you'd always thought about, but that you didn't think anyone else had thought about. You read them, and suddenly you're a little bit less alone in the world."

Review: The Heir by Kiera Cass

Title: The Heir
Author: Kiera Cass
Edition: Harper Collins UK, 2015

Rating: ★★★★

Synopsis

Kiera Cass's Number 1 New York Times bestselling Selection series has enchanted readers from the very first page. In this fourth romantic novel, follow Illea's royal family into a whole new Selection - and find out what happens after happily ever after. Kiera Cass's #1 New York Times bestselling Selection series has enchanted readers from the very first page. In this fourth romantic novel, follow Illea's royal family into a whole new Selection-and find out what happens after happily ever after. Eighteen years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won Prince Maxon's heart. Now the time has come for Princess Eadlyn to hold a Selection of her own. Eadlyn doesn't expect her Selection to be anything like her parents' fairy-tale love story...but as the competition begins, she may discover that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought. A new generation of swoonworthy characters and captivating romance awaits in the fourth book of the Selection series!
(Taken from Waterstones.com)

Review

Considering I've read the rest of the series, it's a little bit backwards for my first review of it to be The Heir. It's pretty simple though; I read the first three last summer, before this blog was a thing, and although I'd love to review them all together, I'll need to re-read them in order to give a proper review. So, until then, here's my review of The Heir.

I'm going to start with my biggest question: why is The Heir a part of The Selection series? This question makes me think so many things at once I don't know where to start. Plus, I have a lot of feelings about this series in general.

Review: Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

Title: Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Authors: John Green and David Levithan
Edition: Penguin Books Ltd, 2013

Rating: ★★★

Review

I've been thinking about what to write about this book for a day or two now and haven't been sure how to go about it. For me, three stars is 'yeah, it was good. There was nothing wrong with it. I didn't love it. It was fine.' How do I expand on that? I'm writing this review right now and I'm still not sure so I'm just going to plough on, and hope something comes out. 

I'm going to start with Tiny Cooper because, let's face it, he's pretty hard to ignore. I had no problems with his character, no problems with his extravagance until it started to encroach on the story. There were times it felt like the story was Tiny's and with a title like Will Grayson, Will Grayson, it upset me a little. I needed Tiny to remain a supporting role and let the Wills come centre stage. 

Review: Slated by Teri Terry

Title: Slated
Author: Teri Terry
Edition: Orchard Books, 2012

Rating: ★★

Review

First things first, this review is going to be hard to write. One of my favourite things about reading is the fact that I can share all my favourite books with my friends. And get recommendations in return. It's great when you love their books as much as they do (commence communal fan-girling). But when you don't...it's awkward and hard to admit. On that note: I'm SO SORRY AMY.

Let me start with how big this book is. It's 440 pages, a good 100 pages more than what I normally pick up, but I really think it could have been cut down by at least a third. So many of the scenes felt either super dragged out or unnecessary all together.