Numbers by Rachel Ward

On the Back of the Book

Since the day her mother died, Jem has known about the numbers. When she looks in someone's eyes, she can see the date they will die.

Life is hard, until she meets a boy called Spider. Suddenly her world seems brighter.

But on a trip to London, Jem foresees a chain events that will shatter their lives forever...

My Thoughts

Numbers suffers from something I may have to call Synopsis-itis. The synopsis gives you such a small glimpse into the book and the intricate story that it can be easily misconstrued. This isn't a love story, there may be a love story within the pages but it's secondary. At the heart of this book is life and death... and everything in between. It's not a story for everyone but for those who don't want to read yet another paranormal romance or urban fantasy this is worth a shot.

Jem is a strong main character and by that I mean that she's real and you can see her and you can feel her emotions. She's angry at the world and everything in it but as she develops and the walls come tumbling down you see her mature and you realise that she's a wonderful character to be in the head of. The other main character is Spider, he's the same age as Jem and the two of them meet down by the river one day. Spider is another of those characters that is so real it feels as though you can reach out and touch them.

This book is definitely a really good book and there's no doubt about it. The whole thing played like a movie in my head and I know that when that happens I'm going to adore the book. For me this was more than words on a page, it was an adventure and a lesson on life in Britain in the aftermath of terrorist attacks. The final 70 pages were a breeze to get through. The climax was just so anti-YA and that was refreshing.

My Rating

4 stars - This book isn't perfect but it's pretty close. The initial pace is quite slow but as events unfold the pace picks up quickly and you're thrown in the deep end a bit.

A Final Note

There is sex and swearing in this, including the F-word. I wouldn't recommend giving this to an under 14.

Also my friend Tara over at Basically Books has also recently reviewed the book you can find her review here

• Book summary from the back of the book
• Image from Google

The Georgia Nicolson Series: An Overall Review

My Thoughts

I've been really positive of the whole series in my single reviews, uncharacteristically so. Now though I've compiled my top 5 pros and my top 5 cons so you know what I like and don't like about the series. I thought it would be a nice change to just repeating myself again.

Pros

1. Well written
2. Funny
3. Well edited
4. Believable characters
5. Quick, summery reads

Cons

1. Major continuity issues
2. Is repetitive in places
3. Use of British slang (Non-British readers seem to find it confusing. I don't know why though, but then again I'm British.)
4. Georgia can be very self centred and stupid
5. Can get a tad bit too silly in places

Best Book

...And That's When It Fell Off In My Hand

Worst Book

Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me?

My Overall Rating

4 Stars  - A series is only as good as its worst book (so this was nearly a 3.5). The series is its own worst enemy in places with the dodgy continuity, sometimes repetitive and sudden, unexplained changes. Saying that though, this still remains one of my favourite serieses. For me the pros outweigh the cons and I thoroughly recommend the entire series.

• Images from Google
• Collage of the series created by me. Don't use without my permission.

Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? by Louise Rennison

On the Back of the Book

Oh yes, the hilariosity goes on for one last time. Here it is... maybe probably... pants for the memories!

• My marvy Luuurve God boyfriend has got the full Humpty Dumpty with me for accidentally twisting with Dave the Laugh.

• Which is not actually my fault. I cannot be expected to control my body parts, they pop out unexpectedly and so on.

• For instance my lips do ad-hoc puckering up every time Dave the Laugh comes near them, I don't know why.

• Ditto jelloid knickers.

Anyway shut up about Dave the Laugh, he has got a GIRLFRIEND.

Not that I care. Or do I?

Oh I don't know, so many boys, so little time...

My Thoughts

As finales go, this wasn't the best I've ever read. For me this is probably the least entertaining of the ten books. I was getting ready to scream at the book for Georgia to do what she should have done from the beginning. There weren't as many laugh out loud moments as the jokes were stale and the book was a bit too long. I did like the end though, I thought it was the perfect ending.

As far as characters go I was bored of Masimo in this one, he was a bit of a plank. His grasp of the English language seemed to lessen with every book, that may be due to him hanging out with Georgia though. Speaking of, Georgia was incredibly dim for the majority of the novel, it annoyed me a bit. Jas' epiphany was pretty awesome. It made her a better character. Rosie was bonkers... as always. Sven was awesome... as always and finally Dave the Laugh was the best of them all.

I'm actually a little sad as I write this. Over the past couple of weeks I felt as though I truly was a part of Georgia's life and now she's left me. I realise I seem to have picked up Georgia's love of being dramatic but for me that's testament to how good a write Louise Rennison is. While this is probably my least favourite of the series I still think this is well written. The main problem for me was the lack of new material.

My Rating

4 stars - If this book had been by any other author it would have got 3.5 but I am slightly biased when it comes to Louise Rennison because she's one of my all time favourite authors. I'm filled with sadnosity as I finish my reviews for the series but I loved every second of my Georgia Nicolson buddy read/read-a-thon.

A Final Note

There's a tiny amount of swearing so not for younger teens. There's also a traumatised budgie... I think you should read the book.

• Book summary from the back of the book
• Image from Google

Stop In The Name Of Pants! by Louise Rennison

On the Back of the Book

I am officially the girlfriend of a Luuurve God. Yippee!!!

• He is quite literally gorgey porgey beyond belief. Times a hundred

• I will never again be on the rack of boynosity, hanging around the cakeshop of luuurve, trying to find a spare eclair.

• So tell me this. How in the name of giddygodspyjamas have I ended up snogging Dave the Laugh? Again!!!

• And it wasn't just matey-type snogging. I was a 'phwoooaaar'  snogging situation verging on number five!!!

• Why won't he stop sneaking into my brain?

My Thoughts

The penultimate Georgia Nicolson book had me in tears and surprisingly they weren't tears of joy. I'm not saying they were tears of torture and this book is awful, I'm saying that there was a moment of such sadnosity that I found myself crying into my cat's tail (don't worry he was asleep, he'll never know). For the author to be able to make you go from laughing to sobbing in the space of a paragraph shows incredible talent.

Georgia has to deal with some serious issues in this book and she deals with them wonderfully. Her loyalty and dedication when they're required is admirable, I'd have done exactly the same thing in her shoes. I think that's pretty much all I can say about that without spoilers. I have to say after the last couple of pages of this I'm not the Masimo fan that I was. but of course what happened had to in order to make way for true luuurve.

I love this book. In fact I love this series. The writing, the characters, the editing, they're all much better than a lot of other YA books. With this book I laughed, I cried, I had a jolly good time, all in the space of a couple of hours. Not bad at all.

My Rating

5 stars - This is a fabulous book that is thoroughly enjoyable. I love everything about this series and I can't wait to finish it all over again.

• Book summary from the back of the book
• Image from Google

Luuurve Is A Many Trousered Thing by Louise Rennison

On the Back of the Book

I may or may not have accidentally acquired two boyfriends...

• This means I have to be on high beauty and glamorosity alert at all times, even in the loo.

• I must be prepared. But no one must know. I must exude glamour but in a natural just-tumbled-out-of-bed way.

• So just a hint of foundation, lurker eradicator, touch of bronzer, and leave it at that.

• Oh yes, and a touch of lip gloss, mascara and a tiny bit of eyeliner.

• I don't suppose they would both consider a time-share girlfriend...

My Thoughts

The cliffhanger at the end of book 7 made fo ra good read this time out. Georgia's big decision wasn't that big in my opinion, the answer was always pretty obvious. That aside this was a really funny book, it's well written and the characters are filled with fabnosity. All in all, I liked this much more than '...Startled By His Furry Shorts'.

Jas is on top form in this book, she's absolutely mad with all her weird little obsessions. Another thing I love about her is her relationship with Tom, to most readers it may be plain and ordinary but that's precisely what I like about it. It's more realistic. Sven has a couple of spectacularly funny moments. Dave the Laugh isn't really mentioned in this book but after his idiotic behaviour in book 7, that really didn't bother me.

I can't help but feel that I'm repeating myself but it's really hard to review books like this without giving away any spoilers. Once again this book is exceptionally funny and I found myself having to stop reading every so often just so I could recover from the hilariosity.

My Rating

4.5 stars - I really loved this book however I don't feel that I can give it 5 stars because the plot was pretty obvious but other than that book this book is fabby and marvy and a book that every teenage girl should read.

A Final Note

Just a quick note that there is one occurence of swearing that is once again aimed at the poor kitty cats.

• Book summary from the back of the book
• Image from Google

...Startled By His Furry Shorts by Louise Rennison

On the Back of the Book

Why did I admit I wanted Masimo to be my proper boyfriend? Why?

• One minute he was snogging me , and the next he was snogging Wet Linsay, stick insect and drip...

• Perhaps I should tell him he can go out with her as well as me...

• But then I might snog him just after she has, which would mean I have practically snogged her!!! Erlack!

• I would rather snog my cat, Angus...

• He has certainly got nicer legs...

Well more of them anyway!

My Thoughts

Georgia is living in the Cake Shop of Aggers after telling Italian stallion, Masimo that she wants to be his only one and only. Normally this would mean plenty of hilariosity as Georgia wallows in her misery but there was something lacking for me. I'm not quite sure what it was but I think it's the same thing that was missing in 'Dancing In My Nuddy-Pants'.

Characterwise I think Rosie is definitely my favourite in this book. Her adventures with Sven never fail to have me in stitches and this makes her a joy to read about. I also said in my last review that Mabs and Jools were a bit quiet but in this book Mabs has more lines and is generally more involved in the story but Jools is still very quiet. Also I didn't like Dave the Laugh in this one, he was a complete idiot.

There are plenty of moments where you can have a giggle and the writing is good but I still wanted more from it. I don't know what I wanted though and that's a bit of a problem to be quite honest. I read this book incredibly fast but that's probably due to the layout of the books more than anything.

My Rating

4 stars - Whilst this book is really good and qualitywise surpasses most other books that fall into the same category as this one I genuinely don't like this as much as the majority of the series. Whatever it lacked though it made up for with a cliffhanger of gigantic proportions.

• Book summary from the back of the book
• Image from Google

...Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers by Louise Rennison

On The Back of the Book

We are going on holiday to Hamburger-a-gogo land and Masimo the Luuurve God is there. Let the overseas snog fest begin!

• I've whittled my wardrobe down to six cases... and a rucksack... and my shoes - only eight pairs...

• Oh the tension, the tension...

• I'll just have a little zizz and then plan my cosmetics routine...

• Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

• ...Just woke up from a horrible dream - a customs official charged me excess baggage for my nose.

My Thoughts

This book is pretty funny, Georgia's continued attempts to woo Masimo have left me in stitches yet again. There are moments when you just have to sit there and wonder how Georgia has managed to survive, she's completely insane. Her Hamburger-a-gogo trip  (holiday in America)  is a laugh a minute, it's enough to make you question the sanity of her world.

The characters are fab and marvy but I find myself wondering why Mabs and Jools are barely mentioned. We are mainly told tales of Rosie, Jas and Ellen. It would be nice to hear about the other two's [mis]adventures with boykind. Also when it comes to the holiday, Georgia's vati and Uncle Eddie are particularly hilarious. They're almost as good as Libby.

Overall a thoroughly enjoyable book. I've read my copy quite a few times (and believe me, it shows) and I never seem to enjoy them any less. They're quick reads that make you want to read even more.

My Rating

4.5 stars - It's not quite on par with "...And That's When It Fell Off In My Hand" but it's still a very good book. I recommend that every teenage girl sits down and reads these at some point.

A Final Note

I'm not entirely sure if it's this book or the one before but there's a bit of swearing when Angus has a bath.

• Book summary from the back of the book
• Image from Google

...And That's When It Fell Off In My Hand by Louise Rennison

On the Back of the Book

"So he didn't put hi s arm around you, so that's nil points so far. What kind of good-night kiss was it?"

"Well, you know, he put his lips on mine and-"

"For how long?"

"Er... about er two seconds."

"Two seconds??"

"Yes yes, how many more times?"

"He put his lips on yours for two seconds?"

"YES JAS!!"

"Well that's not a kiss, is it? My aunties do that."

Then I finally snapped. "Well that is because you have lezzie aunties - my aunties don't put their lips on mine."

"I have not got lezzie aunties!!"

My Thoughts

I have to say that two of my all time favourite moments of the series are contained within this book. For that reason alone, I think that this book is more than worht a read. Georgia's attempt to get over Robbie's departure to Kiwi-a-gogo land is fabulous. I love Georgia's misery, she's so dramatic with it. The only thing I love more is when she's hearing the call of the horn. Well whatever excuse makes you sleep at night.

The Luuurve God has landed! That's right ladies, form an orderly queue because the half Italian, half American, new lead singer of The Stiff Dylans, Masimo, has arrived in Georgia Land. I like Masimo more than I like Robbie, who was a bit too serious for my liking but he's still not as good as Dave the Laugh.

This is a return to form after 'Dancing In My Nuddy-Pants' which lacked something for me. This one is filled with moments where you either want to laghat Georgia or despair of her. It's the perfect thing to read on a miserable summer as it makes you all cheerful inside.

My Rating

5 stars - The best in the series so far. The only reason it took me so long to read it is because I had to keep stopping because I couldn't laugh any more. This book contains British humour at its best.

A Final Note

This book is called "Away Laughing On A Fast Camel" in Hamburger-a-gogo land (America) because "...And That's When It Fell Off In My Hand" was deemed to be too rude. Why? What are you naughty Americans thinking of?

• Book summary from the back of the book
• Image from Google

Dancing In My Nuddy-Pants by Louise Rennison

On the Back of the Book

The Sex God's friends think I'm a bit weird. I don't know why. I've always been the height of sophisticosity around them.

• Apart from the time Dom asked what I wanted to do at college and I said, "Backing dancing"...

• And when I danced around in front of his dad because I thought he was a talent spotter...

• And when I put my fot through Dom's bass drum...

• But apart from these minor hiccups I've exuded sophisticosity, I like to think.

My Thoughts

I love this series (I think I may have mentioned this in my previous reviews) but for me this is the weakest so far. It wasn't as funny as the previous books. I found the lack of major events really made the book lose some of it's humour. I just want to prove my point on the major event front, in book one Georgia was trying to woo Robbie, in book two she had to win him back after he dumped her and in book three there was the whole Angus and Naomi fiasco. In this book there isn't really anything like that.

When it comes to characters I don't think there was anywhere near enough of Dave and I missed Sven's weirdness. I was upset to see Rosie miserable, that's not good. Saying all that though, Georgia's narration is still very amusing and I love how much of a drama queen she is.

Even though it's down in quality compared to the rest of the series this is still a really good book. I did notice a couple of grammatical errors that slipped through the net. There are many, many laughs contained within the pages. The quality of this diary series is far superior to that of, say, The Princess Diaries, which I find drags more.

My Rating

4 Stars - A solid read. It's perfect to take to the beach when it's nice or just to read anywhere really. Essentially I'm telling you to read it.

A Final Note

Lets just say that this book isn't 100% clean. It's not major swearing but I personally wouldn't give it to anyone under 13.

• Book summary from the back of the book
• Image from Google

Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas by Louise Rennison

On the Back of the Book

Read more crazy confessions of Georgia Nicolson in her hilarious, bestselling diary.

Ellen's brother says if  you pull out a girl's breast and let it go... it goes nunga-nunga-nunga!

• My nunga-nungas are like two sticky-out beacons attracting all the sadsacks in the universe...

• My nose is gigantic. It must have grown overnightMy eyebrows are approaching the 'It's a moustache! It's a hedgehog! No it's Georgia's eyebrows!!!' stage...

• I've just inspected my legs. I look like I've got hairy trousers on.

My Thoughts

The hilariosity continues in book three of the Georgia Nicolson series. There are plenty more laugh out loud moments just waiting for you in this book.  The quality of the writing is once again magnificent. A couple of things missed the editing process but my brain automatically corrected them. In fact the only reason I noticed is because doing this blog has made me more aware of stuff like that.

The characters are on top for in this book. Georgia is hilarious, as always but I want to talk about a few of the other characters. Poor Jas, she takes a lot from Georgia and this book is no different. I love Sven, Rosie's boyfriend, he's bonkers, Libby is adorably scary but one of my favourite characters has to be Dave the Laugh, considering the fact he was brought in as a red herring is a crime against dudes like Dave everywhere. He's way better than Robbie.

Overall this book is everything that it's predecessors are. It's not something to be taken seriously as I suspect Georgia has the tendency to over exaggerate a little, okay a lot. Still this book is the perfect summer read.

My Rating

5 stars - This book is the perfect way to waste away a few hours. I just love chilling out with some snacks and a Georgia Nicolson book. I thoroughly recommend the entire series.

A Final Note

There's one occurrence of swearing in the book. It's not the F-word though, which is all too common in YA today.

• Book summary from the back of the book
• Image from Google

It's OK, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers by Louise Rennison

On the Back of the Book

Read the crazy confessions of Georgia Nicolson in her hilarious, bestselling diary.

What is the matter with my life? Why is it so deeply unfab?

• It's a day and a half since I snogged the Sex God...
• I think I have snog withdrawal. My lips keep puckering up...
• I tried snogging the back of my hand, but it's no good...
• I wonder if the Sex God is having second thoughts about me because of my nose...
• I have a HUGE nose that means I have to live for ever in the Ugly Home.

My Thoughts

The second Georgia Nicolson book picks up right where book one ends. I love how even the simple things always seem to lead to disaster for our heroine. The writing is excellent and I love how the characterizations seem real and extreme at the same time. Another thing I've always loved is the craziness of it and even though it's a bit bonkers I can easily see the events taking place.

I love the simplicity of the book, there's no stupid, immortal war or a stupidly heavy love story. This is a book from a time I like to call 'Before Twilight' and boy was that time good for the YA genre. I guess you can say that overall I really enjoyed the book. There were so many laugh out loud moments and at times I found myself having to stop reading in order to control my giggles.

My Rating

5 stars - When I read a book like this I forget about the world and everything in it. For me, a morning doesn't get any better than reading a book of this quality whilst snuggling up with my cat.

A Final Note

I believe that in America this book is actually called: On The Bright Side I Am Now The Girlfriend Of A Sex God. What a catchy title! Not.

• Book summary from the back of the book
• Image from Google

Divine By Mistake by P.C. Cast

On the Back of the Book

I get this bizarre mirror world filled with a horse/guy I have the serious hots for, creatures who are terrorising civilisation, deodrant-less armpits that probably stink and no toilet paper. This sucks.

The only excitement Shanon Parker expected while on holiday was a little shopping. Finding herself flung through fire into the world of Partholon (and left with a massive headache, thank you very much.) She's now being treated like a goddess.

Somehow Shannon has stepped into another's role in another world. And while there's an upside - who doesn't love lots of pampering? - it also comes with a ritual marriage to a centaur and threats against her new people. Can Shannon survive this new world and ever find her way home?

My Thoughts

This is a book of two parts for me. The first 300 and something pages are boring and don't really add to the story, they should have been condensed to make a shorter, but better, story. The beginning annoyed me so much I made a list of things I didn't like:

• The chapters were either too long or too short. They needed to be in a middle ground.
• The story is too slow, it takes ages to get to where you want to be in the story.
• Shannon is annoying.
• The author [P.C. Cast] feels like they're trying too hard. Everything feels false.
• Shannon is obsessed with penises and sex in general.
• What's with all the John Wayne? In fact a lot of references were very out of date. I'm 20 years old, I've never seen a John Wayne movie.
• I get that Shannon is/was a(n) English teacher. I don't need to be told every two sentences.
• Rhiannon is a b*tch I get it, lets move along.
• Dragon print was lot #12 not #25. I can't believe that mistake made the final cut.
• Human/horse/person/man/guy - this is annoying he's a centaur, call him a centaur! I'm not freaking out about it.
• Too repetitive... again. I am not stupid, I can hold information inside my head for more than a minute. Unlike you evidently.
• Why are you insulting the Queen? The Queen is not "stiff" she is dignified and even then, in the UK we don't all go around acting like the Queen. Get your stereotypes straight! I'm offended.
• I don't think love should be based on penis size. I'm sorry but for me it's about the person's heart, it's how they treat you.
• The goddess thing is reused in House of Night. Seriously, I'd like to pay money for an original plot and now I feel HoN isn't original. Great job!

As you can see I get sarcastic when I'm annoyed. I was very annoyed at the majority of this book.

Now I didn't really find myself attached to any of the characters. They could have dies and I wouldn't have batted an eyelid. I did however dislike Shannon, the main character. I realise I touched on this in my list but allow me to go into detail. She's selfish, she's a nymphomaniac, she's whiny, she's a bit dim and to top it all, she feels fake. When I read of her actions it's as though she's not doing it to be nice but to spite Rhiannon. In my opinion that makes her no better and if she's like that in the next book then my intense dislike may turn into hatred of this fictional excuse of a woman.

I liked the action (once I'd got there) as it developed in the last couple of hundred pages. I would have liked more information on the Fomorians and why they acted like they had. If we can have a book that consists mainly of filler then surely I can have a chapter or two from Nuada's point of view.

My Rating

3 stars - Or more accurately 2 stars for the awful beginning and 4 stars for the awesome end. This book needs some serious editing, especially early on in the book. I was disappointed, the back of the book sounds amazing. I definitely won't be recommending this one.

A Final Note

It's an adult book so there's swearing (which apparently called cussing in the US of A), violence, sex and rape. (I've put rape separately as some people react in different ways.) It's not for the faint hearted, or the impatient.

• Book summary from the back of the book
• Image from Google

Haunted by Kelley Armstrong

On the Back of the Book

Eve Levine - half demon, black witch and devoted mother - has been dead for three years. She has a great house, an interesting love life and can't be killed again - which comes in handy when you've made as many enemies as Eve. Yes the afterlife isn't too bad - all she needs to do is find a way to communicate with her daughter Savannah and she'll be happy.

But fate - or more exactly, the Fates - have other plans.  Eve owes them a favour, and they've just called it in. An evil spirit called the Nix has escaped from hell. She feeds on chaos and death, and is very good at persuading people to kill for her. The Fates want Eve to hunt her down before she does any more damage, but the Nix is a dangerous enemy - previous hunters have been sent mad in the process. As if that's not problem enough, it turns out that the only way to stop her is with an angel's sword. And Eve's no angel...

My Thoughts

This is yet another Kelley Arstrong book where I've been left feeling that the plot itself is superior to the characters. The story has such a strong basis and the idea of it alone had me ready to spend night and day reading it. However in actuality the book just didn't have the characters to pull it off.

If I'm honest I was expecting a lot more from Eve than what I got. What happened to the feisty woman who got herself killed trying to defend Savannah? All I got was a woman hanging on to the past and trying to recapture it. I mean I can understand that she misses her daughter but surely she'd be kicking ghost butt as opposed to mooching around. I really wanted the Eve that we'd been told about. The other characters weren't much to write home about either. At least with the Paige books there were some amazing side characters. In this one we got Kristof the lovesick puppy. I wasn't impressed.

Overall this book could have been so much more than it was. Also it was disjointed from the rest of the series. I'm pretty sure you could skip it and go straight to Broken. If I'd paid £7.99 for it that would have annoyed me. Thankfully I found my copy in my local second hand book shop for £1.90 which is a bagain. Other than my complaints of characters and disjointed ness it was really good and I found myself in the weird position of wanting to read it, but not wanting to read it.

My Rating

3 stars - One of my least favourites of the series. Seriously, I'm not sure if I dislike this or Dime Store Magic more. The plot is amazing and with the right characters could have gotten 4 or 5 stars. I just didn't like the characters and that's a shame because the more I read Kelley Armstrong's books, the more I like her as an author.

A Final Note

Once again this book is intended for adults. That means sex, swearing, violence we've been here before and I'm starting to sound like a broken record.

Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong

On the Back of the Book

When Paige Winterbourne is ousted as leader of the American Coven of Witches, all she wants to do is hide under her duvet fpr a few months. But fate, of course, has other plans. A murderer is on the loose - someone with superhuman skills and a grudge against the supernatural community. When Paige learns that the killer is targeting children, she has to get involved.

Desperate to protect those she loves, Paige is thrown nto a world of arrogant sorcerers, drunken necromancers, sulky druid gods and pretentious leather-clad vampires. Not to mention an apparently unstoppable supernatural psychopath hell-bent on revenge...

My Thoughts

The plot in this book is amazing. I found myself being dragged into the story. It was fast and furious and it grabbed me by the throat and it refused to let me go until it was done with me. I still found myself despairing at Paige but she was only a minor annoyance because I refused to let her dampen my enjoyment of the book.

I'm not going to talk about Paige anymore, I've made it clear that I'm not a fan. Lucas is average, he's dependable, this annoyed me at times. It made me want Clay. Actually, speaking of Clay he was back! Which obviously means Elena was. It was a bit of a reunion book because so was Jeremy, Adam (Paige's half demon friend), Cassandra and Aaron (the vampires) and there was even an appearance from Eve Levine. New character Jaime Vegas was pretty good, I love the idea of a TV psychic who is actually a necromancer. How can you not like a book with such a whole host of amazing characters?

This book has a great plot and great characters so you'd think I'd be satisfied. Alas though, I am not. There was nowhere near enough Savannah, she's one of my favourite characters and she wasn't in the book, I was gutted. On the plus side, I got the ending! That's right I wasn't left hopelessly confused, although I did have to concentrate very hard.

My Rating

4 stars - This is better than Dime Store Magic by a long chalk. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I marked it down due to the lack of Savannah and the fact that, in my opinion, Paige is no leading lady. I loved how everyone got involved. I like team work.

A Final Note

This is an adult book, written for adults, so it contains sex, swearing and violence. Definitely not for the squeamish. It does contain the deaths of kids so if you're sensitive to that kind of stuff, step away from the book.

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

On the Back of the Book

There are six things very wrong with my life:

1. I have one of those under-the-skin spots that will never come to a head but lurk in a red way for the next two years.

2. It is on my nose

3. I have a three-year-old sister who may have peed somewhere in my room.

4. In fourteen days the summer hols will be over and then it will be back to Stalag 14 and Oberfuhrer Frau Simpson and her bunch of sadistic teachers.

5. I am very ugly and need to go into an ugly home.

6. I went to a party dressed as a stuffed olive.

My Thoughts

I first came across this series as a 12 year old who had read practically every other book in the kids section of the local library. I immediately fell in love with Louise Rennison's amusing but easy to read book. There may not be a massive plot involving vampires and werewolves at war but I am more than satisfied with Georgia's nose troubles.

Georgia is your average 14 year old girl and this book is her diary over a year. In her diary she talks about her worries, which are quite normal, if I had an enormous nose and no breasts I would also be worried. I wouldn't maybe be as dramatic as Georgia though. Saying that, I do so love a heroine with dramatic tendencies. Although she can be annoying at times most of the time I adore her. My favourite character has to be Angus the cat though. I want a cat like Angus.

This book is a hilarious start to a brilliant series. There are plenty of laugh out loud moments. Some of these are so funny that I had to stop reading. The quality of the writing is marvellous. When I was a teenager I could relate to Georgia and I loved the pranks she and her friends played on their teachers.

My Rating

5 stars - Awesome book. It's one of my all time favourites. My love of Georgia may have started with a chance encounter at Denbigh Library but eight years later, I feel a fondness for it that I rarely feel. Top marks!

• Book summary from Goodreads
• Image from Google

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

On the Back of the Book

Lissa Dragomir is a mortal vampire.

She must be protected at all times from the fiercest and most dangerous vampires of all - the ones who will never die.

Rose Hathaway is Lissa's best friend - and her bodyguard.

Now, after two years of illicit freedom, they've been dragged back inside the iron gates of St. Vladimir's Academy. The girls must survive a world of forbidden romances, a ruthless social scene and terrifying night time rituals -

But above all, they must never let their guard down lest the immortal vampires take Lissa - forever

My Thoughts

I actually don't know where to start with this book, so I think I'll be blunt: I didn't like it. The main problem is the lack of plot, I mean is it too much to ask that something happens, I did just pay £6.99 for it. For me 332 pages of Rose being horrible to anyone and everyone is just too much for me to take. The story dragged as there were chapters were events didn't go forward, this made the chapters seem impossibly long. I mean with YA books, the chapters either have to be short, or feel short, it's meant to be something you can easily read. Pages of the book didn't make sense, I found myself going back, trying to figure out what I'd missed only to find the author hadn't been clear in the first place.

Now on to Rose: I detested her. She is one of the worst female leads that I've ever come across. She's rude, she's a bully, she's a bit of a slapper, she's inconsiderate, she's selfish, she's shallow and sahe's a whole host of other things that I'm too tired to put. At points I didn't feel like her relationship with Lissa was real and she was just using her to get in with the royals. Also her actions when it came to Lissa and Christian were unacceptable. What kind of friend chases away the only person who makes them happy? A bad one.

Do I think this book would be better from Lissa's POV? In all honesty, no I don't. However I think I like her more than I like Rose so the book would have been less irritating. In a perfect world though this book would have had alternating POV's of Lissa and Rose.

Overall, I really wasn't impressed. The characters that were good were overshadowed by my hatred of Rose. The plot didn't really go anywhere until the last couple of chapters. I would have liked the back story in italics so then I knew what was past and what was present. It got confusing at points. I did like Dimitri and Christian though. They were much more interesting than the girls.

My Rating

2.5 stars - Believe it or not, that's me being generous. I can see the potential of the initial idea. I don't think I will like the end result though, I never do. There were way too many cons for me to give it a 3. The story made me annoyed though. It evoked something and that means it can't all be bad.

A Final Note

There's some violence and a bit of swearing. There are also a couple of scenes where Rose gets it on. Not recommended for under 14s.

• Book summary from the back of the book


• Image from Google

Doctor Who: The Darksmith Legacy: An Overall Review

Overall

Okay, so since I read the whole Darksmith Legacy, I thought I'd do a mini overall post so I can give a general opinion on the series as a whole.



I feel that the series is a bit hit and miss in places, this may be due to the fact that there's more than one author involved. However, I did enjoy the majority of the books and would definitely read them again.




Best book: The Pictures of Emptiness




Worst book: The Game of Death

My Rating

3.5 stars - It's an above average series. Although some books were weaker than others there were a couple of particularly strong stories that made up for it. I would have liked the page counts to be longer as with more development this series could of been truly awesome. Saying that though, it's a series for young children and as that it's really good.

• Images from Google
• Collage made by me

Doctor Who: The Darksmith Legacy: The End of Time by Justin Richards

On the Back of the Book

The Krashoks commissioned the Darksmith Collective to to fashion a device that creates life. The Krashoks, after waiting for centuries, have finally had their contract fulfilled. They intend to detonate the Eternity Crystal unless the Doctor can stop them. To make matters worse, Gisella is trapped on boardthe Krashoks' ship. Can the Doctor save Gisella and destroy the Eternity Crystal once and for all?

My Thoughts

This book is a fitting end to the Darksmith Legacy, and as endings go, this one was pretty good. In a way though, I can't help but feel that too much was happening in the short page count. I will admit that the climax had me very confused.

The characters were good, even the ones that were added just for this book. I'm really happy with Gisella's ending, in fact I think that the Doctor Who authors could create a spin off series for her and her friends. The Doctor was brilliant, there's no two ways about it. I have to be honest and say that I wasn't too sure of the Krashoks portrayal. though.

Overall I think this book is marvellous. Forget kids, I'm 20 and I adored the series. I think as long as you're a Doctor Who fan and in particular a Tenth Doctor fan you'll love the whole Legacy.

My Rating

4 stars - A good end to a good series. I loved the plot and the characters but because I got confused I had to mark it down. I mean it is a kids book after all.

• Book summary from the back of the book


• Image from Google