SAINT ANYTHING BY SARAH DESSEN

BOOK TITLE: Saint Anything
AUTHOR: Sarah Dessen
PUBLISHER: Penguin
RELEASE DATE: May 5th 2015
NUMBER OF PAGES: 448
MAIN GENRES: Young Adult, Contemporary Romance

This review includes minor spoilers, proceed at your own risk .

I think that my thoughts about Saint Anything could easily be described in one sentence: I stayed up until 4AM finishing this book.

Yep, that's right. I, being the teenage bookworm that I am, sacrificed a solid 4 hours of sleep last night in order to finish this young adult romance. And I had to get up at six this morning, on the weekend before my exams begin..


*Yawn* I'm so tired.. But at least I have my priorities in check..

With that in mind, I think it's safe to assume I loved this book. I did. I don't know how Dessen does it, but all her books grab my attention from the first page, if not the first sentence. She's one of those authors who's so great at normalcy that every scene is just so realistic and she's written some of my favourite books of all time, such as The Truth About Forever and Just Listen.

Sydney Stanford has always been second best to her brother Peyton. This is clear right away, I mean there is literally a portrait of her brother hung "directly across" from the front door. It's the "first thing you see" when you walk into the Stanford's house. Now if that isn't favouritism, I don't know what is.

In fact, for the majority of the novel, Sydney's parents basically ignore her in favour of her brother. The brother who doesn't even live with them. Because he's in prison for drink driving and putting a boy named David Ibarra in a wheelchair.


Drive safe, kids. 

But her brother wasn't always a delinquent. Once upon a time he was just her big brother who would walk across sinkholes on a tree trunks, watched cartoons with her on the weekends and was a pro at Hide and Seek.


Now you see me.. Now you-- POOF!

However, soon the siblings' roles were reversed. Peyton who was once able to "find the invisible place" became the centre of attention, whilst Sydney became all but invisible.

I find that Dessen always touches on important subject matters, and for Saint Anything it was the feeling of invisibility. This is something that I'm sure a lot of readers are going to be able to relate to. I think it's safe to say that we've all felt invisible at some point in our lives, although perhaps not to the same extent as Sydney.


Why can't you see me? I'm right here.

As always, I loved the romance aspect of the novel. The relationships, like the novel itself, come across as effortless, which I totally love. Not to mention the love interest Mac was a Micheal Moscovitz, by which I mean he was my exact type. In a band, best friend's brother and a nice guy. Plus, he delivers pizza. My favourite food. It was basically love at first read.

I think what I especially liked about the relationship between the two of them was that it was a helthy one. So often in YA the protagonist falls head over heels for a guy and ends up depending on him for everything. I hate that; it sends such a bad message to the reader. What Dessen portrayed instead was relationship in which each person supports the other when needed, without suffocating them.

"He left me enough space to stand alone, but stood at the ready for the moment that I didn't want to."

Plus, being the sucker for cheesiness that I am, his admission of "You weren't invisible, not to me." abso-bloody-lutely slayed me.


Killed with kindness cuteness.

You guys know by now that I'm a helpless romantic, and so I obviously took a liking to Layla, a fellow romantic. Not only that, but damn was that girl a great character. I really loved the relationship between both her and Eric too.

The only thing I didn't like about the novel was Ames. Every singly appearance he made put me on edge. I understand of course that that was most likely the intended reaction; however, I was so entirely creeped out by him.

I think that where I'm so used to reading New Adult romances I was kind of thinking that something seriously bad was going to happen between him and Sydney.


Me, every time Ames appeared.

So to conclude, Saint Anything is a novel about letting others see you, and having the patience to do so.

It's a novel about family, and how that doesn't necessarily mean biology.

It a novel about sight, forgiveness and most importantly, love.

And I loved it.

Over & Out, T xx
PS: HAVE YOU READ ANY OF SARAH DESSEN'S BOOKS? IF SO, WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE? 

GIRL ONLINE BY ZOE SUGG

BOOK TITLE: Girl Online
AUTHOR: Zoe Sugg
PUBLISHER: Penguin
RELEASE DATE: November 25th 2014
NUMBER OF PAGES: 352
MAIN GENRES: Young Adult, Contemporary Romance

This review includes minor spoilers, proceed at your own risk .

I know what people are going to say. They're going to say that Zoe Sugg only got a book deal because she's deemed famous now, and that she doesn't deserve to be published as much as some other people do. They'll say it's unfair. I disagree.

Now before anyone starts furiously typing that I'm wrong, I'd like you to consider this: Everyone deserves to succeed. Yes, I agree that it is unfair that many people are unpublished. And yes, Zoe was fortunate enough to be approached concerning a publication deal. However, these two things are not mutually exclusive. Penguin didn't decide to only publish books by Zoe Sugg. It they had I'm sure they'd of changed their name by now to Penguinella or something equally as amusing. She didn't steal someone's spot on the shelves of book stores.
She earned it, as did all the other writers who's books sit beside hers.

Right, now that we've established this, let's move on to what's really important: the actual content of the book.



I won't say that Girl Online is the best book I've ever read because that would be a lie. I read around 100 books a year, and while that may not seem like a lot to some of my fellow book reviewers out there, I feel that based on that number I can safely say that I know a good book when I see one. Well.. when I read one.

For me, Girl Online was a great book. It had everything I look for in a Young Adult novel. An interesting plot, a protagonist I could relate to and character development. Admittedly it wasn't flawless. I personally found it to be predictable at times and a little cheesy, but then that's really not uncommon for Young Adult reads. I found it heart warming and enjoyed the book as a whole, and honestly? I'd read it again in a heartbeat.

This read was a little different for me. Like most people, I like to immerse myself into a different world when I read, and so the majority of the books that I choose to read aren't based in the UK because I find it hard to fully immerse myself in a book when things seem too familiar.. (Is this just me? Let me know in the comments!)

I think it probably goes without saying that Girl Online hit a little close to home for me. I mean the protagonist is a teenage Brit who suffers from anxiety, has next to no self esteem, is incapable of talking to members of the opposite sex and blogs. I mean honestly, if my name was in the dictionary that would be  it's definition.


Note to self: Stop being so honest.

And whilst Girl Online does maintain a Young Adult vibe through the romance aspect of the novel and the writing as a whole, Zoe addresses some topics that are very important to me, such as anxiety and cyberbullying and the effects that they can have on an individual.

I know that anxiety is currently considered a 'hot topic' or sorts, which I believe is due to the fact that Zoe has talked about it on her blog and YouTube channel. And as with everything, people have seemed to become bored of the topic and sometimes forget that it's something that really does affect many members of society. So I'm happy that it's being addressed more and more in literature too because I think it's important for people to understand that yes there are different forms of anxiety, and they should all be understood.

I'm glad that Zoe managed to show multiple ways that anxiety can affect someone life and didn't just focus on the panic attack aspect of anxiety (although that too was well covered). For instance, when Penny experienced her Glass Slipper Moment (read the book to understand), all she wants to do is crawl into a hole and live there for the rest of her days.


There's no place like hole. *Snorts*

I think that by writing a protagonist who suffers first hand from anxiety, Zoe was able to comfort those with anxiety whilst allowing those who are fortunate to not suffer from it to understand how it feels to experience anxiety on that kind of scale.

Furthermore, a round applause for some of the secondary characters.


Brava! Brava!

My personal favourite was Noah for obvious reasons. You guys know I'm a sucker for musicians, I mean really is there anything more attractive that being able to play an instrument? No. No there isn't. Truthfully though, I liked that Noah was an actual developed character. With Young Adult novels I frequently find that the love interest is a little one dimensional and I was glad that Noah was given a backstory and some character development.

But really, the award for best secondary character has to go to Elliot. If nothing else that for his fashion sense because the boy knows how to work his vintage, which is always a plus in my books.


I'll wear your Grandad's clothes, I'll look incredible.

I think I'm going to round off the review here because I think I'm starting to ramble a little bit. If you have any questions concerning the book feel free to comment below or send me a message (you can find my contact details above in the 'Contact Me' tab)

So to conclude, I'd recommend Girl Online to anyone who's looking for an easy romantic read. If you like Sarah Dessen or Cathy Cassidy then I'd say this is definitely one for you!

Have a lovely day wherever you are!

Over & Out, T xx

PS: HAVE YOU READ GIRL ONLINE? WHAT DID YOU THINK OF IT? LET ME KNOW BELOW!

DEEPER BY ROBIN YORK

BOOK TITLE: Deeper
AUTHOR: Robin York
PUBLISHER: Piatkus
RELEASE DATE: January 28th 2014
NUMBER OF PAGES: 391
MAIN GENRES: New Adult, Contemporary Romance

This book includes adult themes, and therefore so does this review.

This was a very hard read in many ways.
Don't get me wrong, the writing style was really sublime. But the subject matter, the very serious issue of revenge porn, is something that is so very emotional that it's almost difficult to read. I definitely would not recommend this if you react badly to this kind of topic. That said, I'm happy that I read something as serious as this because I think that it really allows you to see, and more importantly feel, the way that revenge porn affects a victim.

For me, the subject matter and it's effects was executed so well that the other aspects of the novel fell flat. It definitely took me a while to get into the book and to like some of the characters, such as West, the male protagonist.

I won't lie, I didn't like him at all for quite a few chapters. I don't know if this was intentional, that he was portrayed in a way that made the reader progressively accept him in the same way that Caroline did, or if I am simply too judgmental in my voice of male protagonist. Most likely the latter, I'm pretty picky.

My least favourite aspect of the novel was actually the relationship between Caroline and West. There were times when I found myself rolling my eyes or just staring blankly at the page, hoping for some kind of punchline. For instance, this little gem surprised the hell out of me:
"That’s how it looks to me. Like the stars are in Caroline, and the whole world is just me and her.
Because I’m stoned.
And because I’m in love with her."

Also I'm not a hundred percent sure how I feel about the ending, because I'm not sure I can really consider it an ending.. Truthfully, I was expecting another chapter.

I feel as if Deeper focused mainly on Caroline and her gradual fight to overcome the revenge crime of which she was a victim. I'm hoping that the sequel will focus more on West's own issues because lord knows the boy had plenty..

I would also love to see more of the relationship between Krishna and Brige!




Over & Out, T xx

PRE-READ REVIEW : FALL WITH ME BY J.LYNN

A normal pre-read review just wasn't cutting today, so we're tying something a little different.. Interview style!



Q: Tabatha, will you be reading Fall with Me?



Yep. Yes. Indeed. Absolutely. Absofreakinglutely. Of course. Affirmative. YES GIVE IT TO ME NOW.

Q: So I take it you're excited for the fourth book in the series then?

Let me put it this way, if Ms J. Lynn were to approach me at this exact moment in time with the ultimatum of Fall with Me right now or a lifetime supply of pancakes I'd choose the book.

And let me tell you, I take pancakes seriously.

Very


Very


VERY

Seriously.


Um.. Next Question?

Q: Right. Is there anything in particular that you're excited about?

Actually yes! If you've read any of my reviews you'll probably have guessed that I'm obsessed with romance. Literally, you can hand me any book (or film for that matter) with even the slightest hint at romance in it and I'll give it a shot.



When I read Stay with Me I knew straight away that there was going to be a book about Roxy and Reece (loving the name choice by the way, I'm a sucker for alliteration).
There was obviously something between the two and I really cannot wait to see their relationship develops!

Q: Anything else you want to add?

Yes, I thought I'd mention how much I enjoy and appreciate the fact that J. Lynn addresses a serious topic/issue in each book of the series!


Over & Out, T xx

PS: If there are any questions that you want me to answer it my typical cat gif fashion ask me below ! ♥

COVER REVIEW - DARK DEBT BY CHLOE NIELL

Hey guys, so Cover Reviews with Cute Cat Gifs are something I've been doing for quite a while on Goodreads, but have never actually ended up uploading any to my blog, but I feel as if they're slightly more informal, maybe..?

I'm going to give it a go though, because they're actually pretty popular (as far as my reviews go, haha), and I'd really love it if you'd leave some feedback in the comment section below!

So without further ado, I present to you my first Cover Review with Cute Cat Gifs on Blogger:


Hey! Hey you!



Please take a second or two to prepare yourself for the unsolicited cheesiness that is this cover review/reaction..

Picture this:
It's just an average afternoon on Goodreads. I'm just minding my own business, scrolling through my to-read shelf when-


Oh!

I notice that Dark Debt's cover has been released. At this point I don't even pause to scrutinise the thumb-sized image. I just click; pounce, if you will.


Gimmegimmegimme

Unfortunately, everything from here just kind of goes downhill..


(I think the picture says it all..)

The cover does nothing for me. And before anyone feels that they have to give me the 'Don't judge a book by it's cover' speech, don't. please don't.



There isn't a specific part of the cover that I don't like (although I'm not too sure of the colour scheme for this one), it's just all of the different aspects of the cover added together that displeases me. For instance, for me personally, the title doesn't look quite right where it's been placed in relation to the image and the model looks nothing like out previous Merit's, which for some reason always irks me..


*Sigh*

I really love this series (I meant with Ethan-freakin'-Sullivan, who wouldn't?), so it's a real disappointment for me because the way books look in my bookshelf plays a huge role in whether or not I actually get a physical copy or just the ebook..



Over & Out, T xx