I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Paperback, 387 pages
Published February 16th 2012 by Bantam Press (first published October 31st 2011)
ISBN 0593059824 (ISBN13: 9780593059821)

Blurb: "I've lost it. :( The only thing in the world I wasn't supposed to lose. My engagement ring. It's been in Magnus's family for three generations. And now, the very same day his parents are coming, I've lost it. The very same day. Do not hyperventilate, Poppy. Stay positive!! :)

A couple of glasses of bubbly with the girls at a charity do and Poppy's life has gone into meltdown. Not only has she lost her engagement ring, but in the panic that followed, she's lost her phone too. As she paces shakily round the hotel foyer she spots an abandoned phone in a bin. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number with the hotel staff. It was meant to be!

Except the phone's owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn't agree. He wants his phone back, and doesn't appreciate Poppy reading all his messages and wading into his personal life. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, phone messages and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents, can things get any more tangled?"

Sophie Kinsella's books never fail to make me laugh and this is no exception!

Poppy is a great character, who I related to really well although sometimes her actions were a bit extreme and bordering on the ridiculous. Having taken the random phone and offering to forward messages to Sam (the owner of the phone) while she waits to find her ring, she starts taking matters in his life into her own hands. While this is funny it also kind of annoyed me as in real life that would never be acceptable behaviour. However, this is the only thing that I can critique the novel on. The conversations between Sam and Poppy were definitely my favourite parts of the novel.

This is a lovely, light-hearted read which is really good fun. Be warned you will probably laugh out loud causing weird looks to head your way!

9 out of 10

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Paperback, 272 pages
Published February 28th 2013 by HarperCollins Publishers (first published January 1st 2005)
ISBN 0007523165 (ISBN13: 9780007523160)

Blurb:
"Before. Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. Then he heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.

After. Nothing is ever the same."

It took me a while to get into this novel as it was not what I was expecting, the style of the novel being very different to John Green's The Fault in Our Stars. In fact, it actually reminded me of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (which I will review at some point!) in terms of the personality of the main character and the writing style.

This novel is about a group of misfits at boarding school in America. In forming close friendships they get drunk together and try to come up with the best prank their school has ever seen. I felt that at times Pudge was pressured by his friends into keeping up with them, however, it did not feel too negative but rather that they were broadening his horizons.

Pudge becomes friends with the Commander and Alaska - the most beautiful, smart and crazy girl he's ever met - until she unexpectedly leaves the school (can't tell you how or why) and her friends are left to deal with her absence and the guilt they feel over the events leading up to this.

I can't say any more without revealing big events in the plot so I have to leave it at that. However, I will say that this book is moving and insightful. It was a really interesting read - particularly reading the last words of famous people (Pudge's strange hobby) - which I enjoyed a lot.

8 out of 10.

The First Last Kiss by Ali Harris

Paperback, 496 pages
Published January 17th 2013 by Simon & Schuster
ISBN 0857202936 (ISBN13: 9780857202932)

Blurb: "How do you hold on to a love that is slowly slipping away from you?
Can you let go of the past when you know what is in the future?
And how do you cope when you know that every kiss is a countdown to goodbye?

This is the story of a love affair, of Ryan and Molly and how they fell in love and were torn apart. The first time Molly kissed Ryan, she knew they'd be together forever. Six years and thousands of kisses later she's married to the man she loves. But today, when Ryan kisses her, Molly realises how many of them she wasted because the future holds something which neither of them could have ever predicted…"

I ended up really enjoying this book, however I was initially put off by the way in which the story jumps around, and to be honest I'm still unsure as to the order of some events in the story.

The story flicks back and forth between the present, where Molly is moving house, and variuos different points in her relationship with Ryan. Which would be fine except the parts in the past are not in chronological order but swap illogically between late and early in their story. Admittedly, they do put dates at the beginning of each chapter which rewind or fast forward signs but I still found it quite confusing. I usually don't mind time changes, but I do like them to be in order!

The main characters were likeable, on the whole, and were well-developed. Although Molly's inner-younger-voice which kept telling her that she was settling for less than she had planned was annoying at times.

Once the story was more established and I had figured out what was going on, the story was lovely and moving and seemed to reflect really well the turns a relationship and lives lived together can take.

Also, I love the cover design!

6.5 out of 10.

Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite

Paperback, 384 pages
Published by Penguin

Blurb: "At a club in Missing Mile, N.C., the children of the night gather, dressed in black, looking for acceptance. Among them are Ghost, who sees what others do not. Ann, longing for love, and Jason, whose real name is Nothing, newly awakened to an ancient, deathless truth about his father, and himself.

Others are coming to Missing Mile tonight. Three beautiful, hip vagabonds - Molochai, Twig, and the seductive Zillah (whose eyes are as green as limes) are on their own lost journey; slaking their ancient thirst for blood, looking for supple young flesh.

They find it in Nothing and Ann, leading them on a mad, illicit road trip south to New Orleans. Over miles of dark highway, Ghost pursues, his powers guiding him on a journey to reach his destiny, to save Ann from her new companions, to save Nothing from himself..."

So, I'm back, after another long gap in reviewing, but don't worry the reading did not stop! Unfortunately, one of the books I read in the interim was this...

This was a very strange, dark and twisted book. The synopsis makes it seem interesting, but it does not warn you that all of the characters have serious issues. Strangely, it also doesn't mention a couple of key characters (although I suppose they are limited for space in a blurb). So there is also Steve who is Ghost's best friend and Ann's ex-boyfriend, and Christian, who is the oldest vampire in the novel and who knows secrets about Nothing's past.

The only character who is even vaguely likeable in this novel is Ghost, who is some form of psychic, who is thoughtful and loyal to his friends. However, even he has a violent side. Everyone else in the novel has serious issues, and I found it difficult to relate to their actions which were extreme, and were awful - no matter how isolated they were feeling.

I don't want to go into specifics in case anyone actually wants to read this. However, this whole novel revolves around drugs, sex and murder. Most of the characters are bisexual but there are only a couple of instances of heterosexual sex in the novel and one of these was rape. The novel continues with more sex - including male group sex and incest - and blood-drinking (complete with gory descriptions which is fair enough) and murder.

Despite all this, I will admit there were times where the prose was well-written and had good descriptions. However, it took me weeks to read this and I do not recommend it. Although the concept in the book that vampires were born and not made was interesting. I only continued because I hate not finishing a book!

2 out of 10.

The Farm by Emily McKay

Paperback, 420 pages
Published November 21st 2012 by Penguin Books

ISBN 1405909250 (ISBN13: 9781405909259)

Blurb: “For Lily and her twin sister, Mel, there is only the Farm . . .

It's a prison, a blood bank, a death camp - where fear and paranoia rule. But it's also home, of sorts. Because beyond the electric fence awaits a fate much, much worse.

But Lily has a plan.

She and Mel are going to escape - into the ravaged land outside, a place of freedom and chaos and horrors. Except Lily hasn't reckoned on two things: first, her sister's ability to control the horrors; and, secondly, on those out there who desperately want to find and control Mel.

Mel's growing power might save the world, or utterly end it. But only Lily can protect Mel from what is to come...

The Farm takes you into a terrifying future where civilization has ended, and leaves you there - fearful, gasping and begging to escape.”


I do love a good dystopian thriller so I was very excited to start reading this one. This one was really good but just fell short of amazing. I thought the idea was really clever but I have to admit that the presence of vampires in the story threw me a little. I don’t know why really as I’m usually enthusiastic for a good vampire story. I suppose it was mainly because there had been no mention in the blurb of vampires that it caught me by surprise. There was a different blurb on the back of my copy of the book which seemed to suggest zombies rather than accidentally (maybe) genetically engineered humans. Also, I was a little confused as to why the humans accepted having their blood taken to satisfy the Ticks when they knew they were mindless savages. However, the politics of the vampires definitely helped to explain many events in the book. The ticks seemed scary and the author successfully created tense moments

I really liked Lily as a character, mostly due to her determination to keep her autistic sister, Mel, safe in their dangerous new world. Although her continuous list of ‘if’ plans were a little annoying…

However, there are quite a lot of inconsistencies and the strange plot twists were sometimes unnecessary.

Carter was a great character and I could completely understand why he kept Lily in the dark about the truth until later in the book.

Joe and McKenna were an interesting addition to the book and showed how such dramatic events can change people and how people are not always as they appear to the outside world.

The chapters which were from Mel’s point of view were interesting observations. I don’t know how accurate the style is but it was really beautiful and mysterious and I liked that this portrayed autism in a positive light.

There is probably more to be said about this book, but yet again I have left it a few weeks to write this as I have been busy, so I can’t remember everything I thought about it at the time.

Despite all of its flaws the book was still enjoyable and I definitely cared a lot about the characters. I just think the author overcomplicated the whole thing. 7 out of 10.

Sorry I haven't posted recently by the way, I've been really busy! I just checked on goodreads though and I've realised that I have read twenty books since this one - I don't know how I'm going to catch up with my reviews! I'm definitely going to try to post more often anyway :)