Review: No Virgin by Anne Cassidy

Expected Publication: November 3rd 2016 by Hot Key Books

Source: I received a free copy of this book from Hot Key Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads description: A raw, powerful, moving tale about a girl attempting to deal with the aftermath of a sexual attack.

My name is Stacey Woods and I was raped.

Stacey is the victim of a terrible sexual attack. She does not feel able to go to the police, or talk about it to anybody other than her best friend, Patrice. Patrice, outraged, when she cannot persuade her to go to the police, encourages Stacey to write everything down. This is Stacey's story.

A tautly told and important book, perfect for readers of Asking for It by Louise O'Neill.

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As soon as I read the synopsis I was interested in reading this story. The topic of rape and sexual assault is such an important one that more people need to be made aware of. This is a shorter book so it was a very quick read for me. The pacing was excellent and the story pulled me in to the point where I didn’t want to put the book down.

However, I did find it difficult to relate to the characters, which is where the book was a little bit of a let down for me. While I sympathised with her situation, I just found Stacey to be very unlikeable. She acted childish and immature at times, had a tendency to overreact in certain situations and showed extremely poor judgement in trusting a complete stranger!

I also have mixed feelings about the ending. While a part of me thought that it was probably a fitting ending to this short book, a bigger part of me was left feeling unsatisfied at the end because I still had so many unanswered questions about how things ultimately turned out.

Despite that though, I still feel like it is an important book to read, particularly for teenagers because it depicts just how easily young girls can find themselves in a vulnerable position where they could end up a victim of sexual assault. The aftermath of the assault also felt like a very accurate portrayal of the victim’s feelings of shame, self blame, self doubt over whether it was her fault or not and why so many rapes go unreported to the police.

Overall, I gave this book a 3 out of 5 rating. While I had perhaps been expecting a little bit more from this book, I thought that the author did a great job in giving a realistic portrayal of the difficult but important subject of sexual assault, particularly within the shorter page length.

Review: The Cabin by Natasha Preston

Expected Publication: September 6th 2016 by Sourcebooks Fire

Source: I received a free copy of this book from Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads description: There may only be one killer, but no one is innocent in this new thriller from Natasha Preston, author of The Cellar and Awake.

When Mackenzie treks to a secluded cabin in the woods with six friends, she expects a fun weekend of partying, drinking, and hookups. But when they wake to find two of their own dead and covered in blood, it's clear there's a killer among them.

As the police try to unravel the case, Mackenzie launches her own investigation. Before long secrets start to emerge, revealing a sinister web of sins among the original seven friends. The killer is still free. Every one of them is a suspect. And Mackenzie starts to realize that no one is innocent…

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This was a super quick read which is exactly what I want from a mystery thriller novel. It ended up being much more dark and twisted than I was expecting, which I was fine with for the most part, but there were some disturbing things that just made me uncomfortable. I was drawn into the book, but rather than being captivated by the story, the main motivation for me to keep reading was that I just wanted to know who the killer was.

I did have some problems with the characters. They were all at least 18 but they seemed younger than that from the immature way that they were portrayed. It seemed like all they wanted to do was get drunk, do drugs and sleep around, which isn’t exactly a good message to send out. I found it very difficult to connect with the characters, and for the most part, they were just very unlikeable. I can appreciate that no one is perfect and that their flaws make them more realistic, but they just said and did things that I didn’t like. And it only got worse as the book went on and each of their deep dark secrets were revealed. Some said horrible, despicable things while others did morally questionable and possibly criminal acts.

I did like that I was continually kept guessing as to who the murderer actually was. I’d decided who the killer wasn’t early on in the book but I was always second guessing myself when it came to who it was. I didn’t know who to trust and I actually didn’t work it out in the end and I definitely did not see those twists coming.

However I really wasn’t a fan of the ending. It just came out of nowhere and left on a cliffhanger which I do not cope well with. I like to have some kind of closure and now I’m forever going to be wondering what ultimately happened in the end.

Overall, I gave this book a 3 out of 5 rating. The plot sounded very intriguing and had the potential to be great. While it definitely wasn’t the worst book I’ve read, I do have to say that there are YA mystery thrillers I’ve read that I enjoyed more than this one. 

Review: A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston

Expected publication: October 6th 2015 by Disney-Hyperion 

Source: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Goodreads description: Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next. And so she is taken in her sister's place, and she believes death will soon follow. But back in their village her sister is mourning. Through her pain, she calls upon the desert winds, conjuring a subtle unseen magic, and something besides death stirs the air in it's place. Lo-Melkhiin's court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments. She sees everything as if for the last time. But the first sun sets and rises, and she is not dead. Night after night Lo-Melkhiin comes to her, and listens to the stories she tells and day after day she is awoken by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unlock years of fear that have tormented and silenced a kingdom. Lo-Melkhiin was not always a cruel ruler. Something went wrong. The words she speaks to him every night are given strange life of their own. She makes things appear. Little things, at first: a dress from home, a vision of her sister. With each tale she spins, her power grows. Soon she dreams of bigger, more terrible magic: power enough to save a king, if she can put an end to the rule of a monster.

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This book was marketed as a retelling of A Thousand and One Nights and I was so excited to receive a review copy of it because I have really been in the mood for fantasy and fairytale retellings lately. Based on the Goodreads description, this book intrigued me and sounded like something that I would really love. Unfortunately, while I did still enjoy this book, it did not quite meet my expectations.

The one thing that was probably my biggest issue was the lack of character names. Lo-Melkhiin was just about the only character who had a name! The main character (and the one who is telling the story) is never mentioned by name and it made it difficult to connect with her. Plus it was just plain annoying not knowing what to call her! She also refers to all the secondary characters as my sister’s mother or (the one that really irritated me) my father’s father’s father and so on. Those characters were referred to quite a lot so it was really getting on my nerves by the end. I also found it weird that Lo-Melkhiin’s people all referred to her as “lady-bless” and I was almost cringing every time it happened.

I found the plot to be very slow moving in parts and it wasn’t until well into the second half of the book where things began to pick up for me. The writing style also confused me and it took me a while to get used to it and even longer before I could work out what was actually going on with the plot. Also, the magic in this book wasn’t explained at all and that only added to my confusion while I was still working everything out in my head.

I did like that there were sections that were told from Lo-Melkhiin’s perspective. It was an effective way to provide some insights into his character and also provide some plot twists. These sections really helped me to understand what was happening with the plot and once I had figured out Lo-Melkhiin’s secret, I felt that the story got better from there.

The ending felt a little rushed to me, compared to how the rest of the book was drawn out. It was also fairly predictable but I still liked it and it had been along the lines of what I wanted, so it actually redeemed this book a little for me.

Also a very minor issue that I had was the formatting errors that were in this book. I realise that it was only a review copy and that some mistakes are to be expected, but there was weird spacing and random capital letters at the start of every chapter. The author’s name or the book title randomly inserted right in the middle of a paragraph also didn't help matters.

Overall, despite all the issues that I had with this book, there were still some good qualities about it. The plot, while slow moving at times, did keep me interested and I wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen. I gave this book a generous 3/5 rating and I recommend it to those who still want to read this book despite reading this review. Who knows? Maybe you’ll end up loving it. 

Review: Downcast by Cait Reynolds

Goodreads summary:
What would you do when faced with an impossible truth? Written with heart and passion, Downcast by Cait Reynolds is ripe with twists you never saw coming and love that defies the odds in this intense new Paranormal Romance retelling one of mythology’s greatest love stories.

It’s the start of Stephanie Starr’s senior year of high school, but sadly, this is no life of the prom queen. Stuck at the bottom of the high school social totem pole, Stephanie is forced by her domineering mother to wear lumpy linen dresses and eat organic tofu for lunch in a world of mini-skirts and pizza. 

What Stephanie doesn’t anticipate is gorgeous and cocky Haley Smith who breaks social convention and pursues her with a determination that is both terrifying and flattering. Afraid that Haley is simply trying to set her up for massive humiliation, Stephanie does her best to push him away. But the more attention he pays to her, the more she runs, and the more everyone else begins to notice.

Instead of a loving family to support her as the mean girls make their play, Stephanie’s mother begins to unravel mentally, her possessiveness of Stephanie spiraling to new and frightening extremes. Stephanie is forced to grow up, find herself, and learn the truth about her past in order to save her mother, her friends, and her town. When the truth is revealed, nothing can prepare her for the outrageous reality of her existence…and nothing can save her from her fate.

Except Haley.

Review as posted on Goodreads:

I recieved a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

*CONTAINS SPOILERS*

My initial thought about this book was that it had a very Twilight vibe about it. Boy and girl meet and despite the strange behaviour of boy, they fall in love and drastic events follow. Despite Stephanie's feelings for Haley easing their way to fruition (untimately building up to sex [and I hope to God that's not the reason this book has been receiving 4 and 5 stars]), this book still only takes place over a period of two weeks, adding this book to the long cue of insta-love YA novels that are highly popular at the moment.

This book is a retelling of the Greek Persephone and Hades myth, and the characters are essentially just Hades, Persephone, Demeter, Zeus, etc, with new names. Therefore I do understand Haley's immediate attraction to Stephanie. He is Hades, who upon seeing Persephone, falls instantly in love with her. Stephanie, however, has no clue that she is Persephone, due to events that took place millenias ago. Despite some not so subtle hints forced upon her, it still takes her nerdy friend to come up with the possibility that she is actually a goddess (or an X-Men mutant, lol). 

Whilst this book has an okay overall storyline, I did find a few things lacking. It was a very quick, easy read, with short chapters (which is why I continued with the book until the end), though it seemed very obvious to me that this is the first book written by Reynolds. The writing style seemed somewhat inexperienced, a few characters were quite flat, and the climax to the story was just a lot of yelling at one another with no real action taking place (Breaking Dawn, anyone?). 

Despite all of this, I would still be willing to see where the rest of the series leads. 3/5 rating.

(Side note: understandably, ARCs have errors, but this one was ridiculous. I really hope these were cleaned up for the final publication.)