Today I thought I'd share some book reviews of all that I've been reading this Summer.
It's one for all of you bookworms out there - A little update on my pages I've been flicking through and my thoughts on them.
The Kissing Booth (1 & 2) by Beth Reekles
I read this on my kindle (hence the lack of book in the photos), after watching the Netflix film (and falling in love with it, obviously), I was excited to get stuck into it - I am a lover of YA fiction and high school romance. I ended up reading both books - The Kissing Booth and The Kissing Booth 2: Going the Distance - I sped through them, finding them to be a light easy read, but also I found the characters to be frustrating. There's no denying that I enjoyed the books, but I found them to romanticise quite a toxic relationship - which reading it as a 28-year-old woman I can recognise that but feel the 15-year-olds that these books are aimed at might not. They're perfect if you want a light-hearted read, that makes you feel young, but remember there's nothing romantic about an up and down, secret relationship, with a lack of communication as these books make it seem.
A Map from Here to There by Emery Lord
A Map from Here to There is the sequel to The Start of Me and You - However, I went into reading unaware of this (oops) and although I've read The Start of Me and You, it had been a while so I could have done with a little refresher on it. Although young adult fiction is usually my favourite genre - I found this one to be a little too much on the young side for me. A lot of the characters' worries revolved around choosing a college, and the impacts on that on her relationship alongside and juggling having schoolwork, a social life, and an internship, which isn't very relatable for me as a 28-year-old woman, however, if I read this at 17 I'm sure I would have felt differently about it. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it for some light reading - I love Emery Lord's style of writing, so if you also really enjoy YA fiction I'd recommend checking out some of her other books (my favourite is When We Collided and you can read my review on it here). It has the themes of friendship and mental health running throughout it which I really liked.
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
I've never read anything like this before - it felt like a children's book, which is aimed at adults with deep themes but a simple yet, beautiful writing style. Being in the perspective of a child made it different from most of my usual reads. A Monster Calls is the story of a young boy, with a sick Mum, and who is having a tough time at school. A monster begins visiting him, the monster tells him stories as he tries to navigate his way through all that life throws at him. It's beautiful and touching.
We of the Forsaken World by Kiran Bhat (AD - Gifted)
We of the Foresaken World is not my usual style, but as I was offered a gifted opportunity with this book, I decided to give it a go, and I really enjoyed it. I found it to be a lot more intense than my usual read, and found myself completely swept up in it. I did find reading it took a lot of focus - it's not one to read with your mind elsewhere. We of the Forsaken World tells several stories of interesting characters from a future world, in different locations which all knit together. Each story is touching and gave me plenty to think about from stories about tribes, the impact of oil spills, the story of a one-armed woman and more. It shows a world, both so similar to ours, and completely different to everything we know. The characters felt relatable and a world away. It's unlike anything I've ever read before, and it's a book which took some time for me to digest. It explores environmental issues and humans stories. I really enjoyed this, if you're looking to read something which will get you thinking, this could be it.
Find Me is the sequel to Call Me by Your Name. I really enjoyed reading it, it had the same beautiful style of writing as Call Me by Your Name (you can read my thoughts on that here) however, it felt very far removed from the original story and I enjoyed it much more when I stopped thinking of it as “Call Me by Your Name: 2” rather than it’s own thing. The book is split into three separate love stories. There aren’t individuals chapters beyond this, which at first I found frustrating but once I got used to not expecting chapters to end, I realised the format worked for this book. With each section, the location and the perspective changed. A first I found it difficult to grasp which character point of view I was reading from (especially in relation to Call Me by Your Name) but trying to figure that out, kept me hooked. Throughout the book, links were revealed. I found the writing style to be as beautiful as I had expected and I loved each individual love story. Just a warning, if you're reading for Elio and Oliver - they don't come into the story until much later.
Have you read any of these? What did you think?
I did have a little impromptu blog break, so I've got a whole new pile of books to update you with my reviews on, so you can expect more book blog posts coming soon.
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