Review: All Our Yesterdays by Critstin Terrill

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

Author: Cristin Terrill Website|Twitter
Published: 1 August 2013 (Bloomsbury)
Format: Kindle e-book
Pages: 379
Buy the paperback: Amazon|BookDepository
Buy the e-book: Kindle|Kobo

Source: Bought

Plot Summary (from Goodreads):
Em is locked in a bare, cold cell with no comforts. Finn is in the cell next door. The Doctor is keeping them there until they tell him what he wants to know. Trouble is, what he wants to know hasn’t happened yet.

Em and Finn have a shared past, but no future unless they can find a way out. The present is torture – being kept apart, overhearing each other’s anguish as the Doctor relentlessly seeks answers. There’s no way back from here, to what they used to be, the world they used to know. Then Em finds a note in her cell which changes everything. It’s from her future self and contains some simple but very clear instructions. Em must travel back in time to avert a tragedy that’s about to unfold. Worse, she has to pursue and kill the boy she loves to change the future . . .

My Review:
This is one of those books that has had a lot of hype and glowing reviews, so it's been on my radar for quite a while. When it came up on Kindle Daily Deal I just had to have it! All Our Yesterdays follows Em and Finn who travel back in time to try and prevent the horrors that have happened to both them and the rest of the world.

The opening sees Em and Finn as next door neighbours in their respective cells, having been captured and currently enduring horrible conditions and torture. When Em finds a note from herself in her cell, she knows she has to go back in time and change what has happened. The opening had me completely hooked. Immediately I wanted to know what was happening, and why Em and Finn were in the situations they were in. It was off to a good start!

I was so excited to dive into a time travel novel, on the basis I loved The Time Traveller's Wife, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and more recently The Future of Us. The time travel was both awesome and troublesome. I really liked all the little details about the time travel such as explaining the paradoxes and the fact that the characters aren't meant to see each other's past or future selves, but I occasionally had a bit of trouble keeping up once past and present Em's worlds collide. For the most part I was enjoying the tense and action packed plot and didn't trouble myself too much with all the crazy confusing-ness. Em and Finn have a mission and that really drove the story. Not everything goes perfectly and with time changing constantly they have several barriers and hurdles to overcome.

I loved the sci-fi side, but there's also that feel of a dystopian novel about it with the world having been shaped into this rigorously controlled environment where people aren't free to travel and bombs are going off killing innocent people. The conspiracy part of the story was something I really loved sinking my teeth into.

I love books told from mulitple points of view, and All Our Yesterdays has a very different take on that with the book being told from Em's perspective, but both in the past and the present. Her past self is known as Marina and at the start of the book the two characters are very different. This really helped separate the two stories and timelines and make it a bit easier to follow. The present (or future, depending on how you look at it!) Em is driven, determined and pretty headstrong. The past Marina is hopelessly in love with James and worries about how she looks and has shallow friends. She also takes very little notice of Finn in the past so I was curious to see how their story developed the affection we see they have for each other in the opening chapter.

The characters were fantastic, and because of the different timelines you get to see them at different stages of their lives. The one character who seems to really stay the same is Finn (he even has the same name in both timelines, where as Em and others are known by different names) and I absolutely adored him. He's geeky and lovable and really looks out for Em. There were some pretty wicked villains who made my blood boil too. I don't want to get into too much detail for fear of spoilers! Plus throughout the book we see Em's romantic feelings for both Finn and James, but it's not really a love triangle because it's all happening and different times.

Slowly I could see the separate parts of the story starting to come together as all the characters' lives past and present intertwine. There were so many questions going round my head trying to understand the world and what was happening, but the last couple of chapters really brought everything together and blew me away. I liked the ending and thought it felt very final, but this book is the first of a series. I'm really hoping for more of James' story in book two as I feel there's a lot more to explore there. I'm definitely excited to see more of the world Terill has created because I think parts of it were just touched upon. Overall I'd say All Our Yesterdays is a gripping and entertaining read, that's really worth it once you reach the last few chapters.

Rating: 4*
What to read next: This is the first book in the Cassandra Chronicles
Books like this: Acid by Emma Pass, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling

August's Book of the Month!

Book of the Month!

At the end of each month I look back at all of the reviews I've posted and choose a stand out book (or several if I just can't choose!). I've been on a pretty lucky streak with books lately so this is going to be another close call. So without further ado, my book of the month for August is...

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein!

So I finally read it! This book was one that just about everyone I follow had read and loved and yet I'd been putting it off. Not only did I love it, it broke my heart and blew me away and got me so wrapped up in the story that I just didn't want it to end. Read my full review at this link or add the book on Goodreads here.

Runners up:
Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O'Porter
Cruel Summer by James Dawson
Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

Weekly Book Round Up! 1st September

 Weekly Book Round Up!

 I've had one of those busy weeks that means reading has taken a bit of a backseat, but I've managed to finish some incredible books. I also got to meet Faye from A Daydreamer's Thoughts this week which was so, so lovely! She was SO nice and we had a lovely natter and of course went book shopping (see below for the books I bought!). So it's been a busy yet awesome week. Here's my bookish recap! Links go to Goodreads or my reviews.

Currently reading:
All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

(see below for more squeals about this!)

Books finished:

Slated by Teri Terry
Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt

Books reviewed:
Anywhere by J. Meyers
Cruel Summer by James Dawson
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Between Friends by Amanda Cowen
 

Library holds:

Requiem by Lauren Oliver
Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

I finally got round to requesting Requiem through my library's stock suggestion service, as the paperback is out soon. I'm SO nervous to finish this trilogy! And Unspoken was a recommendation from the lovely Daisy and I trust her recs as we have very similar taste in books <3

Bought:

So I was lucky enough to meet up with the oh so lovely Faye from A Daydreamer's Thoughts this week. We had a lovely chat, went for lunch and of course we did some book shopping! I just couldn't resist these lovelies from The Works:

Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Poison Heart by S. B. Hayes

I've been wanting to read The Maze Runner for so, so long so I can't wait to finally delve into that. Etiquette and Espionage has been on my radar for a while too. I don't read enough Steampunk! And Poison Heart is a book I'd never heard of because I love treating myself to books I know very little about.

 

All Our Yesterdays by Critstin Terrill

SO EXCITED to finally have a copy of this because I've heard amazing things and it has time travel - woo! Plus it was 99p on Kindle Daily Deal. Hurrah!

For review:

Resist by Sarah Crossan

Eeeee! SO happy about this one. I loved Breathe and I've been so excited about the sequel. Huge thank you to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for the review copy!

Borrowed:

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

So I have never read this book. I know. It's kinda shameful. I am very intrigued to see whether I love it or hate it, because on the one hand, it is very much my type of book - I love YA vampire novels - but on the other hand, I have heard the romance is kind of not good and that puts me off a bit. We shall see! I've never watched the films either so I'm going to wipe my mind of everything I've heard and read about Twilight and judge it for myself!
 
Other posts:

Waiting on Wednesday: The Elites by Natasha Ngan
News Round Up! 

News Round Up! 31st August

News Round Up!



Every Saturday I post a round up of YA stories from throughout the week. There's lots of exciting videos in this week's round up. Enjoy!

The first trailer for the upcoming Divergent film was unveiled at the VMA awards. Watch it below:

Get More: 2013 VMA, Artists.MTV, Music

A great behind the scenes feature was also released this week featuring Shailene Woodley, Kate Winslet at Theo James discussing the film. Watch here:





Stef Dawn has been cast in the role of Annie Cresta in Mockingjay, the final instalment in Suzanne Collins Hunger Games trilogy. She thanked fans on Twitter for welcoming her to the role. 

To all the amazing Annie Cresta fans, thankyou!! For welcoming me into your hearts & HG family!! I hope to do you proud! Love Stef-annieX
— Stef Dawson (@stefdawson) August 28, 2013

Meanwhile, several Victors from the second Hunger Games film, Catching Fire, have been revealed on a promotional banner which you can see here on The Hunger Games Explorer website.

John Green has been visiting the set of The Fault in Our Stars as filming gets underway. See his vlog from the set, featuring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, below.

The title of the fifth book in the Lux series by Jennifer L. Aremntrout was revealed this week. It will be titled Opposition. Read the story on Fangirl Daily. The fourth book in the series, Origin, was published this week. Buy it on Amazon at this link.

Which news stories are you most excited about this week? Let me know in the comments!

Review: Between Friends by Amanda Cowen

Between Friends by Amanda Cowen

Author: Amanda Cowen Website
Published: 21 March 2013
Format: Kindle e-book
Pages: 233
Buy the e-book: Kindle|Smashwords

Source: Kindle freebie

Plot Summary (from Goodreads):
The only way to have a friend is to be one…especially between the sheets…

When neurotically challenged and unlucky in love Megan Daniels, is propositioned by her life-long friend Ben Romano with a coin toss (heads, they sleep together, tails they don’t) the night before they are about to attend a destination wedding, she drunkenly accepts his challenge. But when Megan wakes up the next morning with a bad hang-over and Ben in her bed, she is more than mortified. It isn’t until the tropical heat begins to ignite emotions Megan never ever believed she could possibly have, that she starts to question if risking their friendship is the answer to finding true love

My Review:
I've had this book on my Kindle for a while and was so pleased to get round to it during the NA readathon! Between Friends tells the story of Megan and Ben, who finally cross that line of friends to more than friends after a one night stand. But can they keep their relationship casual? Or has sleeping with each other destroyed their friendship for good?

The characters in this book are in their early-to-mid twenties with Megan, the main character, being twenty four. Whilst it's billed as New Adult, and it does fit that age category, it also fits the bill for adult chick-lit. I'm a fan of that genre so I easily fell into the story and the style of writing. As soon as I started reading it I could picture it in my head as a film so if you love your rom-coms then this book is for you!

When I started this book I instantly loved the relationship between Megan and Ben. They have this undeniable chemistry and more importantly they share a brilliant sense of humour. Instantly I was invested in their relationship and I couldn't wait to see their story play out. It's a pretty intense and passionate relationship at times and there were plenty of steamy scenes to get your teeth stuck into and a fair few heated arguments. Not once did I feel it was an unhealthy relationship though which made such a nice change. These guys are just in a really challenging situation. They've been friends for years and crossing that boundary has thrown their feelings all over the place.

I really loved the two of them as characters as well. Megan has always been quite sensible when it comes to previous relationships and has always had steady boyfriends. Her relationship with Ben sees her being a bit more laid back and relaxed, but I loved that she sticks to her principles. Ben has a history of being a bit of a womaniser which usually would probably put me off, but I actually really liked him. I think everyone has a turning point in their life and this was Ben's.

The plot revolves around Megan and Ben's friends getting married, and it made for a great backdrop to their own problems. There was romance in the air and you could see how everyone was taking a look at their own love lives and comparing it to the soon-to-be husband and wife.  The wedding is taking place in Costa Rica and that made a fantastic setting for the book. It made me want to be reading Between Friends out on a beach somewhere in the sun! I'd definitely recommend it as a holiday read.

There was the perfect mix of humour and drama throughout the story. I loved how much of a bridezilla Jessica was as she prepares for her big day. I was giggling away at some of her crazy demands! And there were plenty of friendship crises and secrets coming out to keep me on the edge of my seat. I really loved the group of friends that take centre stage and how there's all these different dramas going on with each of them.

There were only a few niggles for me with Between Friends and that was mainly grammatical errors dotted throughout the book. I have no idea whether these have been corrected since I downloaded my copy. I hope they have! But things like "eww" being spelt as "ewe" and "aww" as "awe" just kept popping up and distracting me a little bit.

Overall Between Friends was a sweet, fun read that I'd recommend to chick-lit fans as the perfect read for the summer months. I shall carry on dreaming of there being a film of it one day because I know it would be exactly my kind of thing!

Rating: 4*
Books like this: The Edge of Never by J. A. Redmerski, Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding

Review: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein 

Author: Elizabeth Wein Website|Twitter
Published: 6 February 2012 (Electric Monkey)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 447
Buy the paperback: Amazon|BookDepository
Buy the e-book: Kindle|Kobo

Source: Bought

Plot Summary (from Amazon):
Two young women become unlikely best friends during WWII, until one is captured by the Gestapo. Only in wartime could a stalwart lass from Manchester rub shoulders with a Scottish aristocrat, one a pilot, the other a special operations executive. Yet whenever their paths cross, they complement each other perfectly and before long become devoted to each other. But then a vital mission goes wrong, and one of the friends has to bail out of a faulty plane over France. She is captured by the Gestapo and becomes a prisoner of war. The story begins in “Verity’s” own words, as she writes her account for her captors. Truth or lies? Honour or betrayal? Everything they’ve ever believed in is put to the test… 

My Review:
This book has been on my to-read list for so long. I've heard so many incredible things about it, so when it was announced the author would be at Leakycon London, I knew I had to give in and read it. Code Name Verity tells the story of two friends during the second world war. One is held captive by the Gestapo, and must write a diary detailing her mission.

I'm writing this the morning after finishing the book, and my heart is still a little bit fragile. This is truly one of the most phenomenal books I have read. I'll start by saying that usually I'm not a big fan of historical novels, which is possibly why I've been putting this book off, but I've read a few books set during WWII and really enjoyed them so I had hope for Code Name Verity. Whilst reading it, I didn't really think about the fact it was historical. I was so caught up the two girls' story and the atmosphere of the war that it felt as if I was right there living it with them, which I think is one of the best compliments I can give a novel.

The plot revolves around what happens to the two girls when they become separated after a plane crash. All the time there are hints at what's to come and I was constantly on the edge of my seat waiting to find out the fate of each character. It's hard to write this review without giving too much away! The narrator for the first half of the book keeps her true identity secret for a while (although it's easy to figure out just who she is in the story). Throughout the book the characters are known by several names (code names and such, as the title would suggest!).

That first half is told through diary entries as one of the girls is holed up after being captured by the Gestapo. What she goes through is brutal and horrible, but even though there's this suffering going on, she manages to keep this fantastic humour as she tells her story. Her voice throughout the diary entries is incredibly strong and she's definitely somebody I wouldn't want to mess with! It was just amazing how I could go to being shocked, to scared, to saddened and then be laughing at the same time. She makes jokes and witty observations about her captors and really speaks her mind. I adored the storytelling in the entries and how wonderfully the tale was told.

Code Name Verity contains some incredible female characters. From the two main characters whose tale is being told - Queenie and Maddie - to the people they are surrounded by who have an influence on them. Maddie is a pilot, and an extremely capable one. Throughout the book we see how she's surprised and impressed people with her skill and determination. Queenie on the other hand is a talented linguist, with the ability to speak English, French and German, something vital to the war effort. I loved seeing the other female characters' roles play out as well, such as the pilot Maddie takes inspiration from - Dympna - and Engel, the female captor we see present throughout the capture scenes.

The book may be set during the war but ultimately it's a tale of friendship. The relationship between the girls is so strong, and defies so many boundaries. The girls come from different social backgrounds and have different skills and personalities, yet they fit together like two pieces of a puzzle. Some of my favourite scenes were the ones in which they share their fears with each other. It was so personal and touching to see that close relationship and trust between them. The two of them are facing some pretty horrible circumstances and have to be brave and focused, so it was really moving to see that vulnerable side of them both that they felt comfortable enough to share with each other.

I found the WWII stuff itself to be completely fascinating. The book features life inside the Women's Auxiliary Airforce which was something I knew little, if anything, about before picking up Code Name Verity. I loved the insight into the lives of women during the war, and particularly the pilots whose job it was to ferry people around. It's a dangerous job and my heart was in my mouth throughout the book as we see the characters face the reality of flying during the war. I have family in Stockport, where large parts of the book is set, so I was particularly wrapped up in those moments and that setting.

The story was so intricate with all the pieces starting to fall into place at the end as the story concludes. There were some incredible twists that I didn't see coming, and most of them just shattered my heart into a thousand tiny pieces! It's rare a book stirs up so much emotion in me, and all ranges of emotion at that. When I finished the book I had to take a moment to absorb everything that had happened. The story and characters will stay with me for a very long time. Despite how much this book tore me up inside, it's one of the few books I have wanted to read all over again the second I finished it. It's a book I'll be recommending and sharing with others and I can't wait to reread it in years to come.

Rating: 5*
What to read next: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
Books like this: My Family for the War by Anne C. Voorhoeve, The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Waiting on Wednesday (#9): The Elites by Natasha Ngan

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted over at Breaking the Spine and gives bloggers the chance to feature upcoming releases we're excited about.

The Elites by Natasha Ngan

Published: 5th September 2013 (Hot Key Books)

Amazon|Goodreads

Plot Summary: "There is a rumour that the Elites don’t bleed."

Hundreds of years into the future, wars, riots, resource crises and rising sea-levels have destroyed the old civilisations. Only one city has survived: Neo-Babel, a city full of cultures – and racial tension.

Fifteen-year-old Silver is an Elite, a citizen of Neo-Babel chosen to guard the city due to her superior DNA. She’d never dream of leaving – but then she fails to prevent the assassination of Neo Babel’s president, setting off a chain of events more shocking and devastating than she could ever have imagined. Forced to flee the city with her best friend Butterfly (a boy with genetically-enhanced wings), Silver will have to fight to find her family, uncover the truth about Neo-Babel and come to terms with her complicated feelings for Butterfly.

Packed full of adventure, romance, exoticism and the power of friendship, The Elites is a highly compelling and beautifully written novel from a supremely talented debut author.

So I am sold on a futuristic story with unrest, superior DNA and friendship! It's like a combination of all my favourite things. What are you waiting on this week? Let me know in the comments, and link me up to your own WoW post and I'll be sure to check it out!