Sunday 30 June 2013

Stacking the Shelves #1

Meme hosted and created by Tynga's Reviews
My first ever Stacking the Shelves! Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!
I will try to do this once a week so... here it goes.

I borrowed:



Thursday 27 June 2013

Book Review: Holding Your Breath by Caroline Green



Thanks to Readgig for providing this book to me!

Tara has the power to find missing things and people, but it’s only been a source of trouble for her so far and she’s relieved when her family move house so she can make a fresh start and try to forget about the odd images in her head.

Making friends at her new school hasn’t been easy, especially with mean girls like Melodie Stone running the show. Then Melodie disappears. Tara’s not too sorry, but she starts to see strange images of a captive girl who she gradually realises must be Melodie. Tara tries but fails to ignore the pictures in her head and finally goes in search of Melodie, with the help of Melodie’s attractive half-brother. She finds herself trapped with her former enemy, and Tara and Melodie must work together to get free, with the help of Tara’s gift.


This is the first time I've ever read a book from Caroline Green and this made a good impression on me so, I'm looking forward to read other books from her. Hold Your Breath contained mystery, suspense, supernatural powers and also romance. I thought it was a great read but, the only problem was that it was a bit too short. However, I understand that if the author did make it longer, it would've gone downhill and boring.

I really liked Tara. You instantly connect with her and sympathize with her. She has gone through so much pain and when she moves to a new place, strangers who don't know her-judge her. She stays out of the 'mean girls' way to avoid getting picked on; she is still a person who doesn't have any friends apart from her family. Even though, she has this a gift or power that doesn't really happen in reality- she still experiences real life problems.

Melody is the usual popular, mean, rich princess. She has her own posse who follow her around and do whatever she tells them to... so basically, I felt like they were worshipping her which is kind of stupid because why would you degrade yourself like that? Anyways, she goes missing but everyone thinks she gone to Brighton and her posse cries and weep. Tara has this feeling that things do not appear as they seem but, she doesn't totally trust it due to previous experiences.

Leo who is Melody's brother is the hot guy who works as a lifeguard and connects with Tara. He brings relief to the story and I got all fluttery inside by reading about him and Tara. It was so cute!

There is a massive twist and that shocked me since, it was so twisted... and why would anyone want to it! Things got out of hand and people got hurt.

Overall, I thought that the book was very gripping and it projected the emotions well.

Ratings: 3/5

Book Review: Firewallers by Simon Packham

Thank you Readgig for my copy!
 
Can her life get any worse? Jess returns from a nightmare day at school to find her dad's suspended from work and gone into hiding. To escape the slobbering newshounds all eager for the full story, Mum drags Jess and her sister off to a remote Scottish Island. Modern technology's forbidden, and there's only a bunch of teenage uber geeks for company. Without Facebook or even her mobile, Jess feels totally disconnected from everybody back home. And why are they there anyway? What are they really running away from?
 
It was quite a good read. At first, I thought this book was going to contain a bit of supernatural because of the secrets and mystery but eventually, no supernatural beings appeared in the book.
This book was very great at setting the scene as I just felt weirded out throughout the whole time Jess was on the island like I was actually there.
 
I felt like the pace of the story was really fast and due to that, I didn’t get to know the characters as well. I basically didn’t particularly like anyone or absolutely hate anyone... maybe just felt sorry for them.
 
I would’ve liked if relationships in this book was further explored but overall, it was a fun book to read and the story is very unique.
 
Rating- 3/5
 

Saturday 1 June 2013

Review: Reason To Breathe by Rebecca Donovan

"No one tried to get involved with me, and I kept to myself. This was the place where everything was supposed to be safe and easy. How could Evan Mathews unravel my constant universe in just one day?"

In the affluent town of Weslyn, Connecticut, where most people worry about what to be seen in and who to be seen with, Emma Thomas would rather not be seen at all. She’s more concerned with feigning perfection while pulling down her sleeves to conceal the bruises - not wanting anyone to know how far from perfect her life truly is. Without expecting it, she finds love. It challenges her to recognize her own worth - but at the risk of revealing the terrible secret she’s desperate to hide.  From Goodreads


 This was me throughout the whole book and I cried. It took me a few hours to finish the book and I was sleep deprived. It was 2am and I bawling my eyes out...
It was that heartbreaking.

This is a story of this girl who gets abused my her aunt. Her dad died and her mum started drinking and wasn't fit enough to raise her own daughter. Her father's brother (so her uncle) took her in and for some reason his wife, Carol hates Emma... really hates her. She doesn't tell anyone as she doesn't want to tear Carol away from her children who Carol actually loves.

Emma doesn't talk to anyone apart from Sara- her best friend. Then, she notices the guy, Evan who's been new for a week and he takes an interest in her and she is so confused. He's persistent and she's keeps on pushing him away and there is this connection between them. It's adorable!!

This book was so heart-wrenching and so dark. I get so frustrated with Emma because she doesn't open up and never tells anyone and leaves people to fill in the blank spaces. 

The ending was cruel. It was cliffhanger. I cried for 30minutes in my bed wondering what happened. Re-read it tons of times. 

I hope whoever is reading this has read it already or is planning to read it. It is an amazing book and if you don't read it then... your lost.

Rating: Infinity out of Infinty
     

   

Reason to Breathe (Breathing, #1)
     
   
The next book in the series: