Shine by Jeri Smith-Ready

About the book

Shine is the third and final book in the Shade trilogy by Jeri Smith-Ready. The book was released on 7^th June 2012 by Simon & Schuster and it is 416 pages long.

Synopsis (Taken from Goodreads.com)

Life can change in an instant, and no one understands that better than Aura. It’s been almost a year since her boyfriend tragically died. She’s finally letting go of Logan’s violet-hued ghost, but not her search to uncover the truth about her past.

As the first in a generation that can see ghosts, Aura is convinced she has a connection to the Shift. She’s trusted Zachary, ever patient and ever by her side, with all that she knows. But when the government threatens his life in an attempt to learn Aura’s secrets, she will stop at nothing to protect herself and the one she loves...even if that means betraying her own heart.

What I thought

I absolutely loved the first two books in this trilogy but due to uni work and a stack of review books to get though, I only bought this one in January, months after it was released. However, I couldn’t wait to start reading it once it finally came though.

Jeri Smith-Ready hasn’t been afraid to give us some exciting but also heart breaking plots in the previous books in this trilogy and she definitely doesn’t stop with this one. Things with the DMP are heating up and they’re hot on the trail of Aura and Zachary. The DMP try to control everything possible to do with ghosts and shades but after the events surrounding Logan in book two, they know something is seriously wrong. There are some absolutely shocking things that happen in this book and although they aren’t good things, I loved the twists and turns.

As the protagonist, Aura is as fantastic as she has been throughout the whole trilogy. She has been through so much by this point and although she does break down now and again, it was so good to see her bravery shine through. Aura isn’t afraid to take on the DMP and challenge the things they believe is right and she doesn’t. She isn’t afraid to stand up for herself or her friends, both living and not. What I loved so much about Aura was that she saw the bigger picture and everything wasn’t about her.

Then there is Zachary. As much as I loved Logan, Zachary also has a place in my heart. Much research has gone into Zachary’s heritage and where he comes from so as a Scottish character, he is very believable. His accent and the language he uses are fantastic and very real. I really liked how Aura didn’t understand some of his words and was a bit confused by what he was saying at times. Certain things made me feel much more sorry for Zachary than I had done in the past and his parts of the plot were great, even though they were sad too.

Shine gave me everything that I wanted in this final book and more. The plot mixes time spent in America and getting to know the DMP more, with time spend in both Scotland and Ireland. The history and background information is so strong in this book and so much is elaborated from ideas used in the first two books. I feel as though everything in Shine was wrapped up very nicely and nothing was left unanswered. Overall, I don’t think I could have asked for a better finale. 

Geek Girl by Holly Smale

About the book

Geek Girl is the debut novel by Holly Smale. The book was published on 28^th February by Harper Collins Children’s Books. Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy for review.

Synopsis (Taken from Goodreads.com)

Harriet Manners knows a lot of things. She knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a "jiffy" lasts 1/100th of a second, and the average person laughs 15 times per day. What she isn't quite so sure about is why nobody at school seems to like her very much. So when she's spotted by a top model agent, Harriet grabs the chance to reinvent herself. Even if it means stealing her Best Friend's dream, incurring the wrath of her arch enemy Alexa, and repeatedly humiliating herself in front of the impossibly handsome supermodel Nick. Even if it means lying to the people she loves.

As Harriet veers from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly enthusiastic father and her uber-geeky stalker, Toby, she begins to realise that the world of fashion doesn't seem to like her any more than the real world did.

And as her old life starts to fall apart, the question is: will Harriet be able to transform herself before she ruins everything?

What I thought

As soon as I heard about Geek Girl, I knew it was a book for me! I couldn’t wait to read it.

Holly Smale tells the story of Harriet Manners, a girl who is not ashamed at all to be a geek. In fact, Harriet couldn’t be happier about her geek status. She isn’t popular nor does she want to be. Harriet is content with her one and only friend and not so content with her weird stalker who is also a geek. However, she would very much like to stop people making jokes about her and thinking that being a geek is a bad thing. Harriet’s voice was a fantastic way to narrate this story. She’s such a strong character with such strong opinions about things.

When Harriet is ‘spotted’ at The Clothes Show, her life changes completely. Harriet never wanted to be a model, that’s her best friend’s dream, and she definitely never thought she had the look for it. Seeing Harriet thrown into the world of modelling was hilarious as she has barely any social skills and dresses nothing like anything in the fashion magazines. However, Harriet believes that trying modelling will stop people from making jokes about her. I loved seeing how Harriet coped with all of the new things going on in her life and the new people she had to meet.

What really made this book for me was Harriet’s individuality. At such a time when peer pressure can completely change a person, Harriet refuses to be anything but herself. I found her to be extremely brave when voicing her opinions and not wanting to do certain things, especially when these things concerned the modelling world. It was great to see a character being completely themselves the whole way throughout the book, no matter what happened.

Although the modelling/ geek aspects of this book were great, there was more to it as well. Harriet’s new life means than people get hurt along the way. Lies are told, people are deceived and all kinds of crazy things happen. It was really interesting to see the friendship between Harriet and Nat change over the course of the book. Nat has always wanted to be a model so you can imagine how she feels about Harriet being spotted instead of her. I liked Nat as a character though and felt that she was justified in all of her decisions and reactions.

Overall, Geek Girl is an utterly fabulous read full of interesting characters, fun situations and a sweet building romance!

Book to Film Review: Love and Other Drugs

About the film
Love and Other Drugs is a comedy/ drama/ romance film that was released in 2010. The film is based on the non-fiction book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman by Jamie Reidy. The film has a run time of 112 minutes and has a rating of 15 due to language and sex scenes

Plot
Jamie has a reputation for being a player and it is well deserved. He even gets fired from his job at an electrical store due to his playboy antics but with the help of his brother, Jamie manages to land a job as a pharmaceuticals salesman, which as it turns out, he is pretty good at. In order to be a huge success, Jamie must convince Dr. Knight to prescribe Zoloft instead of Prozac so that other doctors will follow his lead. Using his reputation to help him, Jamie gains access to Dr. Knight through his female reception staff. 

While trying to do his job and get closer to Dr. Knight, Jamie meets one of his patients, Maggie Murdock, who comes over quite crazy to begin with. What Jamie doesn't know though is that Maggie has Parkinson's disease and this is what is standing in the way of them getting to know each other and have a relationship. While trying to finally be successful in a career, Jamie must deal with his feelings for Maggie and decide whether or not she is worth the fight.

What I thought

When I first saw the trailer for this film, I wasn't overly impressed and not really that bothered about watching it. I do love Jake Gyllenhaal though and he was the only real reason why I changed my mind and decided to watch it. The trailer for this film makes it out to be much more of a comedy than it actually is. Yes, there are some quite funny parts but it isn't really what the film is about. I was expecting some lame rom-com with similarities to many other films I have seen in this genre but I certainly wasn't prepared for what I was about to watch. Love and Other Drugs is so much more than your average rom-com. 

I don't really know too much about Parkinson's disease so when this part of the film was revealed, I didn't completely understand what was going on. As the film carried on though, Maggie's symptoms are shown more thoroughly and I could understand why, as a character, she acted how she did. The progression of Maggie's symptoms are quite slow as the film does span over quite a few years but it was interesting to see what changes happened over time and how these would affect a person's every day life. I certainly know more about this disease for watching this film. Also, the fact that Maggie had Parkinson's was a complete shock and I wasn't expecting this twist in the plot as it isn't mentioned at all in the trailer. 

Anne Hathaway is completely amazing as Maggie. Hathaway is an actress who I have liked in nearly everything I have seen of hers so I had quite high hopes for her performance in this film and I wasn't disappointed at all. I think that this was quite a hard role to play and it could have been butchered by some other actress and because of this, Hathaway was a perfect choice. Never was her character overplayed. Hathaway showcased the symptoms of Parkinson's really well and even the slightest movement would show just how much pain she was in and how much she was struggling, even when she was determined for no one else to know this. Maggie is someone who wants to be strong and independent with a fire inside of her but then at other times, it was so clear how vulnerable and scared she was of what was happening to her. Although Hathaway didn't win the Oscar for this film, I was glad to see that she did win one award, a Satellite Award. Better than nothing! 

I love Jake Gyllenhaal in everything he has ever been in and as I said earlier, he was the reason I watched this film. While he is good as Jamie, making the most of his natural charm and crooked smile, he was outshined by Hathaway. Unfortunately, I think many other actors could have played this role to the same ability and it wouldn't have mattered who, as the story is more about Maggie than him. The chemistry between the two was fantastic though so it was nice to see main leads being able to work together so well. Unlike many rom-coms, this one is not aimed at teenagers. There are many sex scenes throughout the film and while I don't think they were all needed, it did make a change to see a film so realistic. The sex part of Jamie and Maggie's relationship has a big impact on their lives and characters so at least these scenes were used well within the story. Also, shots of Gyllenhaal's bum did not go unnoticed! 

Jamie's brother, Josh, was the downfall of this film for me. Due to Love and Other Drugs being classed as a romantic comedy, I feel as though this character was only used to provide some extremely cheap laughs. As a character, he is crude and too in your face and grated on me immensely. From the off, I couldn't stand him and was hoping that he wasn't going to play a large part in the story and while he doesn't, he is in it quite a lot for someone without meaning. I would have much preferred for this character to have not been in the film at all and for more time to have been spent on Maggie's condition and what effect it had on her life and relationship with Jamie. 

As much as I enjoyed this film, it does have its problems. It is quite long for what it is and I think it was quite drawn out with time wasted on scenes which weren't needed. Some of Jamie and Maggie's problems are revisited over and over again and by the end, I was kind of bored of seeing them argue about the same things. Surely different problems could have been thought of or researched in relation to Maggie's illness and used better than a couple arguing about silly things which didn't really mean anything. The mix of romance, drama and comedy didn't work perfectly and I would have much preferred for this to not be a comedy at all. Sometimes the crude jokes ruined the feel of the whole film and made it seem quite disjointed at times. 

This film was not what I expected at all considering the way it was advertised. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed it and probably more than I would have if it had been what I thought it was. Love and Other Drugs is a great film and one not to be missed!

Giveaway: The Vincent Brothers by Abbi Glines

So, it appears that I somehow pre-ordered two copies of this book so I was slightly confused when I opened my Amazon package that came this morning. I can't be bothered to send one of them back now that I have them so I figured I would do a giveaway, especially as I loved the first book so much.

Here's the synopsis for The Vincent Brothers. 

Sawyer Vincent is still heartbroken over his breakup with Ashton Gray - made worse because he lost her to his brother - but Lana McDaniel thinks she might just have a cure. Lana's lived in her cousin Ashton's shadow all her life, but now she's taking the lead and is determined to make Sawyer her man. But can she be sure that Sawyer's not just using her to get back at Ashton? And what if Sawyer sees through her new sexy version of herself and discovers the shy, geeky girl she used to be?

The Vincent Brothers picks up where The Vincent Boys left off - with twice the fun, twice the excitement and twice the sexy.

Want to win a copy? Just enter below. The giveaway will last for a week and open to anyone in the UK. 



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Anthem for Jackson Dawes by Celia Bryce

About the book

Anthem for Jackson Dawes is a stand-alone contemporary young adult novel by Celia Bryce. The book was published on 3^rd January by Bloomsbury and the book is 240 pages long.

Synopsis (Taken from Goodreads.com)

Megan Bright and Jackson Dawes are two teenagers who first meet each other on the hospital ward where they are both being treated for cancer. Megan is scared and worried about her illness, but Jackson seems to be an old hand, having been on the ward for ages. And everybody loves Jackson! He is a whirlwind of life and energy, warmth and sparkle. Megan will need to borrow some of Jackson's extraordinary optimism to face her and Jackson's future.

What I thought

I love a contemporary young adult novel so was pleased when Anthem for Jackson Dawes turned up from the publisher. However, reading the synopsis also made me really weary due to the subject I was about to read about.

Protagonist Megan Bright is a young girl with cancer. She doesn’t really know how to cope with that fact and she is pretty much hoping it will just go away. However, once she is admitted to the hospital, on a children’s ward for patients with cancer, it all becomes much more real. As soon as she steps foot onto the ward, she immediately wants to go home. As a children’s ward, it is decorated for the younger children, with big, bright elephants everywhere. Megan doesn’t think of herself as a child and is dreading being stuck with little kids. More than anything though, she hates how having cancer has completely ruined her life. She just wants to hang out with her friends and have fun again.

Although a children’s ward, there is another teenager battling cancer. Jackson Dawes is a bright and colourful character and someone who lights up the children’s ward. Jackson was a pretty special character for me. Although he obviously had cancer, he didn’t seem to let it get to him. He spent most of his time making the other patients happy, cheering them up or generally making the ward a more fun environment to have to be in. However, as this is a short book, I didn’t feel as though I got to know Jackson nearly enough. As Megan is the main character of this book, more time is spent with her and what she is going through. I think I would have quite liked if this book had been told through a dual narrative so I got to know Jackson better.

The same goes for other characters in the book really. Even though Megan is the protagonist, I don’t feel as though I got to know her well enough either. While she does develop, it wasn’t nearly as much as I wanted her to. While it was clear that meeting Jackson had a big impact on her life, I still wanted more. I wanted the two characters to be able to spend more time together and for each of them to develop. There was also some wonderfully written minor character who again, we just didn’t get to see enough of to make them as good as they could have been.

However, although I had problems with the characters, the story was very emotional. I’m sure you can imagine that some bad things happen over the course of the book and I did cry a little bit. I can only imagine what a mess I would have been if the characters had been more developed or if the book had been longer. With such a big issue being tackled, Celia Bryce does attempt to lighten things up a bit though with some much needed humour and adventure. To take their minds off their problems, Megan and Jackson explore the hospital even though they’re not supposed to. This was also a really good way of giving the book more scenery.

Unfortunately, Anthem for Jackson Dawes was a bit of a mixed bag for me but it was a nice short read. 

Film Review: Sucker Punch

About the film

Sucker Punch is a fantasy/ action film that was released in 2011. The DVD was released in the UK on 8^th August. The film has a rating of 12 and a run time of 109 minutes.

Plot

After attempting to shoot her stepfather, Babydoll is locked away against her will in a place that appears to be a mental institute. However, the institute is a front for a different kind of establishment altogether where girls are forced to do things against their will and a man gets extremely rich because of them. Not content with her new life there, Babydoll talks four other girls into trying to escape with her. If Babydoll and her new found friends do not succeed, she faces having a lobotomy. Along with the help of a Wiseman, Babydoll and the four other girls go on a fantastical journey attempting to collect a set of items while fighting dragons and zombie Nazis along the way.

What I thought

Before watching this film, I had no idea what it was about. I just thought it looked cool more than anything, due to the film poster.

From the very beginning of the film, the soundtrack is something you cannot help but notice. The opening sequence starts off with Emily Browning’s version of          "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", originally sung by The Eurythmics. I didn’t know who was singing this while watching the film but I did make a point of looking up the soundtrack afterwards. The whole film has a quite angry girl vibe to it when it comes to the music played. The whole soundtrack matches the tone of the film perfectly, capturing the feelings and emotions of the characters. Other songs include "White Rabbit" by Emilíana Torrini, "I Want It All / We Will Rock You Mash-Up" by Queen featuring Armageddon aka Geddy as well as "Search and Destroy" by Skunk Anansie.

Music is something which plays a large role in this film in other ways. In the envisioned brothel, Babydoll is urged to dance and when she hears music and prepares to dance, this is how she is transported into another world. The first time this happens, she is taken to Japan where she meets the Wiseman. Here, he tells her that she will need to get hold of certain items in order to gain her freedom. However, as soon as he tells her that, some massive crazy warriors appear and try to kill Babydoll. By this point, I had no clue what was going on and didn’t really understand the film at all. Playing Babydoll is Emily Browning, an unheard of actress to me at the time. However, I felt like she was probably the best out of the girls in the film. She appears to hold her own in the fight scenes although I highly doubt that she did much of it herself.

Characterisation wise, Sucker Punch is let down. The girls in the film are all quite flat and bland, with the slight exception of Babydoll. The actresses playing the other girls are Abbie Cornish as Sweet Pea, Jena Malone as Rocket, Vanessa Hudgens as Blondie and Jamie Chung as Amber. However, it does appear that they were mainly cast due to their looks and not their acting ability and they weren’t very convincing for the most part. Hudgens has been cast mainly as the nice girl before in previous roles so maybe she thought this would be the role for her to break that stereotype. Unfortunately, I do think that these four other girls, for the most part, weren’t needed in the film at all. Although they add something extra to Babydoll’s life in the institute, I think she could have quite possible done everything on her own had the story been changed a little.

Then there are the bad guys. While Blue, the guy running the brothel should have been really creepy and evil, I just didn’t feel it. Even though he put the girls in positions they clearly did not want to be in, he just didn’t come across as horrible enough in my eyes. I wanted him to be as bad as bad could be and he wasn’t. However, there are some great fantasy bad guys in the times where Babydoll goes to another place. Although extremely surreal, the big, strange monsters the girls need to fight were very entertaining and they gave a little excitement to the film.

Sucker Punch is a visually stunning film, shot in low colours, giving it a very dark and sad feeling to the whole thing. However, the script and plot does not match how nice the film looks. While the fight scenes were exciting, the script lacked severely and the characters were extremely weak. The film looks as though it was designed more as a comic book or video game and with those genres in mind, rather than thinking about what a film should be. Don’t get me wrong though, I did enjoy the film. It was confusing and a bit different but I think it could have been so much better had more thought been put into it.  

Echo by Alyson Noel

About the book

Echo is the second book in the Soul Seekers series by Alyson Noel. It was published by Macmillan Children’s Books on 22^nd November 2012 and the book is 416 pages long. Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy.

Synopsis (Taken from Goodreads.com)

She inherited a magical destiny—and a mission to stop a powerful family of dark sorcerers. She never expected to fall in love with one of them.

There’s still so much Daire Santos has to learn about being the last Soul Seeker….and about herself.  As her magical training becomes more intense, so does her relationship with Dace.  But when she learns that his connection to the evil Richter family goes far deeper than she ever imagined, she begins to question if love really can conquer all.

Dace is painfully aware that he wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the Richters’ dark magic—and now his brother Cade is determined to use his love for Daire against him.  Dace is willing to sacrifice anything to protect the girl he loves —including his own life.  But will Daire allow it?  And what if defeating Cade costs not only his life, but his soul too?

What I thought

I really loved the first book in this series, Fated, because it was something so different to Alyson Noel’s other books. I really enjoyed the plot and setting and couldn’t wait to get on to book two.

In Echo, Daire is learning how to become a Soul Seeker. Although she has already had some training, she doesn’t know everything… not by a long shot. Unlike in Fated, Echo doesn’t have to spend numerous chapters letting the reader know backgrounds and information about what is going on. I felt like Fated was very much a ‘set up the story’ kind of book whereas Echo was able to just jump right in to the plot. It takes no time at all for us to be reunited with Daire and Dace, a couple in a very new relationship having to figure out what is going on in the world.

In Echo, Daire and Dace are faced with the massive problem of ridding the Lowerworld of the Richters. However, Dace’s twin brother Cade is determined to stop this from happening and he reveals some shocking truths which change everything. I really liked how Noel really dove right into the life of a Soul Seeker in this book, which made it extremely exciting. Not only do we get to learn more about what Daire can actually do but it is also put to use more this time around. Something which I loved in Fated, and also again here, was the use of Spirit Animals which again, is explored in more depth this time around.

As good as the plot was, it was Daire and Dace’s relationship that really made this book for me. As two people apparently destined to be together, their relationship was beautiful to read about. Not only were they wonderful together, their passion for each other shining through, but they were also great on their own. Each character was so strong in their feelings about each other that they didn’t care about voicing it to other people, which really made me like the both more. The strength of their feelings for each other, mixed in with some absolutely stunning scenes, makes for a super romantic relationship.

Although we get to know a hell of a lot more about Daire and Dace, other characters are around much more as well. Daire’s mother pays a visit which opens up a lot about the past and about what can happen from this point. Also, due to events from Fated, other minor characters are focused on more which was a good thing for me. Xotichl, Auden and now also Lita are in Daire and Dace’s close group of friends. While Lita was a bit of a bitch before, she has become much nicer and I think she added a lot of humour to this book, which was needed considering the seriousness of the plot.

As this is only the second book in the series, there is a lot left unanswered and also a huge cliff-hanger. The third book, Mystic is out in July and I’m pretty desperate to get my hands on it. Alyson Noel has created such likeable characters in an utterly magical setting that I cannot get enough of.