Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith

Title: Wild Awake

Author: Hilary T. Smith

Release Date: 1st October 2013

My Rating: 4/5

Blurb:

Things you earnestly believe will happen while your parents are away:

1. You will remember to water the azaleas.
2. You will take detailed, accurate messages.
3. You will call your older brother, Denny, if even the slightest thing goes wrong.
4. You and your best friend/bandmate Lukas will win Battle of the Bands.
5. Amid the thrill of victory, Lukas will finally realize you are the girl of his dreams.

Things that actually happen:

1. A stranger calls who says he knew your sister.
2. He says he has her stuff.
3. What stuff? Her stuff.
4. You tell him your parents won’t be able to—
5. Sukey died five years ago; can’t he—
6. You pick up a pen.
7. You scribble down the address.
8. You get on your bike and go.
9. Things . . . get a little crazy after that.*
*also, you fall in love, but not with Lukas.

Both exhilarating and wrenching, Hilary T. Smith’s debut novel captures the messy glory of being alive, as seventeen-year-old Kiri Byrd discovers love, loss, chaos, and murder woven into a summer of music, madness, piercing heartbreak, and intoxicating joy.

In A Nutshell:
Intense, chaotic, messy and impulsive. For the most part, I loved Wild Awake. However I did have a couple of issues with it.

My Review:

I’m not quite sure how to review Wild Awake. It’s intense and chaotic, messy and impulsive, which is generally how you could describe ‘life’. For the most part, I adored Wild Awake, but it is also because of these things that I have issues with it.

Kiri and Skunk are both looking for answers in their own way. Both are trying to stay afloat in a world that likes labels and hiding truths. It’s a story about love, about trying to find beauty and purpose in life, and opening your eyes to experience everything that it has to offer.

Usually an exceptionally responsible seventeen year-old, Kiri’s parents have decided to leave her home alone while they celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary on a cruise. Kiri plans to spend her time practising piano, all day, every day. However, her plans go a little array when she receives a phone call from a strange man claiming to have some of her dead sister’s things. On a mission to reclaim these items, Kiri discovers that the ‘truth’ her parents told her about Sukey’s death, is actually a lie. And so begins Kiri’s search for answers.

What Kiri learns is something she struggles to comprehend and match with the memories she has of Sukey. Kiri goes more than a little ‘off the rails’ and it is here that my love for the novel lessens a bit. Kiri’s behaviour becomes quite drastic and she starts obsessing over everything, doing nothing in moderation and everything in excess. From her piano practice to her drug taking, everything is enhanced and done to within an inch of her life, literally. This is where I find it difficult to really accept the novel. In real life, Kiri would be dead from what she puts her body through. And while I love Kiri’s relationship with Skunk and how his mental illness is handled throughout the book, at the same time, Kiri’s erratic behaviour continues to get worse but she doesn’t really face any of the consequences of what could happen from putting herself in certain situations. I’m not fond of putting age recommendations on books but in this case I would recommend it for older readers (15+) purely for the maturity levels needed to process some of the dangerous situations Kiri puts herself in.

So, like I said, I have mixed feelings. While I love what the novel is about, and the beautiful relationship between Kiri and Skunk, I really wish there was a wake-up call or something for Kiri’s behaviour, at least more than the little we are offered in the second last chapter.

I’d like to leave you now with a link to Reynje’s review over at Wordchasing because I think it beautifully sums up Wild Awake, far better than I ever could, but I also think it is one of the best reviews I have ever read, for anything. 

"There are no mistakes, I realize – just detours whose significance only become clear when you see the whole picture at once."

The Astrologer's Daughter by Rebecca Lim

Title: The Astrologer's Daughter
Author: Rebecca Lim

Release Date: 23rd July 2014

My Rating: 4/5

Blurb:
Avicenna Crowe’s mother, Joanne, is an astrologer with uncanny predictive powers and a history of being stalked. Now she is missing.
The police are called, but they’re not asking the right questions. Like why Joanne lied about her past, and what she saw in her stars that made her so afraid.

But Avicenna has inherited her mother’s gift. Finding an unlikely ally in the brooding Simon Thorn, she begins to piece together the mystery. And when she uncovers a link between Joanne’s disappearance and a cold-case murder, Avicenna is led deep into the city’s dark and seedy underbelly, unaware how far she is placing her own life in danger.

Pulse-racing and terrifyingly real, The Astrologer’s Daughter will test your belief in destiny and the endurance of love.

In A Nutshell:
An intriguing mystery set amongst Melbourne’s Chinatown.

My Review:

Having an astrologer for a mother and constantly moving around the country has never been particularly easy for Avicenna Crowe. Joanne is not a fortune teller or a psychic but can read what has been written in your stars from the day you were born. When Joanne reads her own stars and discovers her fate, she disappears without warning leaving her daughter desperate for answers. After contacting the police, the case is handed over to missing persons and Avicenna is faced with prepaid clients desperate for the answers Joanne promised them via their star charts. Avicenna reluctantly carries on her mother’s work, something she has always known how to do but shunned. Even though she just wants to sit in a pile of grief and despair while the police look for her mum, Avicenna decides to honour her mother’s rules of business. Unfortunately, in the process, she stumbles upon a decades old mystery and cold case, placing her in unexpected danger as well as uncovering secrets about her mother and father, and their families.

Set in Chinatown of inner city Melbourne, The Astrologer’s Daughter is gritty and dark but also hopeful and compassionate, simultaneously highlighting the importance of looking beneath the surface of appearances. For Avicenna, she built protective walls around herself long ago in order to avoid getting hurt, but in turn, because of these defence mechanisms, she ends up treating people the very same way she was trying to avoid.

I love a good mystery and I like how a lot of the story-points all tied together. I was a little dissatisfied with the ending and would have liked if certain aspects were elaborated on, however I can’t comment on these without including spoilers.

Overall I really enjoyed The Astrologer’s Daughter. The astrology aspect was interesting and the mystery of both where her mother is and the cold case, kept the story moving with intrigue. I would love to see more of Avicenna (and Simon) in a sequel and it did seem like there would be further opportunities to expand their storylines. Fingers crossed.

Thank you to Text Publishing for providing me with this review copy.

Notes From The Blender by Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin

Title: Notes From The Blender

Author: Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin

Release Date: 24th May 2011

My Rating: 3/5

Blurb:

Declan loves four things: Scandinavian death metal, violent video games, Internet porn, and Neilly Foster. He spends most of his classroom time wondering what it might be like to talk to her, date her, maybe even brush against her chest in the hallway.

Neilly is naturally beautiful and a fixture at all the best parties (to which Declan is never invited). But in one horrible day, she gets dumped by her boyfriend, is betrayed by her former BFF, and walks in on her mom with some stranger.

Turns out the stranger is Declan's dad. And he's marrying Neilly's mom. Soon. Which means Dec and Neilly will be siblings.

In a hilarious, smart, and seductive romp, Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin take us on a journey with Dec and Neilly as they discover the true meaning of family.

In A Nutshell:

Notes from the Blender is a realistic novel about forgiveness, lust, betrayal and embarrassment. It contains conflicting personalities, a full spectrum of emotions and explores the changing landscape of a family. 

My Review:

The blurb kind of says it all. Told in the alternating perspectives of Declan and Neilly, Notes From the Blender explores the rollercoaster ride that happens when two families join together, made that much harder considering Dec and Neilly didn’t even know their parents were dating!

It’s a whole lot of ‘new family’ for Neilly with a second stepbrother also on the cards as her dad is set to walk down the aisle with his business partner, Roger. As for Declan, he battles internally and lashes out at his dad at the thought of his mother being replaced, who died when Dec was nine.

Aside from the fact that Declan’s dad and Neilly’s mum sprung the whole relationship and marriage thing on the kids without any warning, I think they are terrific parents. I really like the interactions not just between each of them and their biological offspring, but also their future stepson/daughter.

Dec and Neilly’s interactions throughout the story are not entirely predictable which makes for a nice change. There is also the valuable life lesson about not judging people before getting to know them which occurs not just between Neilly and Dec, but other characters as well.

Notes from the Blender is a realistic novel about forgiveness, lust, betrayal and embarrassment. It contains conflicting personalities, a full spectrum of emotions and explores the changing landscape of a family.

This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

Title: This Is What Happy Looks Like

Author: Jennifer E. Smith

Release Date: 1st April 2013

My Rating: 2/5

Blurb:
If fate sent you an email, would you answer?

When teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O'Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds.

Then Graham finds out that Ellie's Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media's spotlight at all costs?

In A Nutshell:

This Is What Happy Looks Like was a quick, predictable, romance read but it didn’t quite have the ‘awwww’ moments that I so desperately wanted.

My Review:

Having read and enjoyed The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, I was keen to try another, longer, novel by Jennifer E. Smith. This Is What Happy Looks Like was a quick, predictable, romance read but it didn’t quite have the ‘awwww’ moments that I so desperately wanted and that I found in Statistical Probability.

This Is What Happy Looks Like was a nice enough story, and the adorable and totally random prologue gave me hope, but unfortunately the almost 400 pages that followed just didn’t quite hit the mark for me. Reading it, I found myself skimming pages, hoping to find something ‘more’ but unfortunately it just didn’t happen.

Ellie and Graham are quite endearing and I think I could have warmed to them more if I had had a chance to get to know them through their emails, the same way we are told they got to know each other. Instead, after their initial emails (the prologue), we are thrown straight into their first meet-up and the predictable problems surrounding that and I don’t think that as the reader we feel invested or enthusiastic enough about their relationship to really care where the story goes.

Thankfully, this has not deterred me from trying the other Jennifer E. Smith novels I have in my possession. I can only hope they resemble The Statistical Probability instead.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Fangirl

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Release Date: 30th January 2014

My Rating: 4/5

Blurb:

Cath and Wren are identical twins, and until recently they did absolutely everything together. Now they're off to university and Wren's decided she doesn't want to be one half of a pair any more - she wants to dance, meet boys, go to parties and let loose. It's not so easy for Cath. She's horribly shy and has always buried herself in the fan fiction she writes, where she always knows exactly what to say and can write a romance far more intense than anything she's experienced in real life. 

Without Wren, Cath is completely on her own and totally outside her comfort zone. She's got a surly room-mate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words ...And she can't stop worrying about her dad, who's loving and fragile and has never really been alone. Now Cath has to decide whether she's ready to open her heart to new people and new experiences, and she's realizing that there's more to learn about love than she ever thought possible

In a Nutshell:
Fangirl is a book for anyone who is feeling nervous about heading off to college or who doesn’t like trying new things and is perfectly happy in their comfort zone. It shows that change doesn’t have to happen all at once but when it does happen, it’s not all bad and there is a whole world waiting for you to make it your own.

My Review:
First off, let me be honest. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Eleanor and Park, Rainbow Rowell’s hugely popular previous novel. I know, don’t hate me, but it just wasn’t for me. There were parts of it I liked but when I finished it I was left with no residual feelings or thoughts. Just ‘meh’. So I was nervous about what I would think of Fangirl. While it didn’t quite hit the 5/5 mark for me, I certainly enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

I really like books that discuss people going off to college, partly because it is that next stage in life when things start changing and you start taking more control of your life. And partly because I am at university now so even though I am a few years older than the characters, I can still relate to what is going on and it all feels quite familiar.

The relationship between Cath and her twin sister Wren feels very natural and typical of the way people change. They’re off at college, away from the people who knew them and Wren wants it to be a new beginning for her. It’s not that she doesn’t love the time she spends with Cath, but she is looking for new experiences and a chance to be her own person, as Wren, not as the ‘Cath and Wren’ package. Wren not only represents a sister but I think also the way friends change as you get older, something which I also thought was well-portrayed in Gayle Forman’s Just One Day which I read last year.

Stop frowning. We’re prettier when we smile. Are you sure you don’t want to do a shot?

I saw a lot of myself in Cath which is probably one of the reasons I enjoyed the storyline so much. A lot of the time I found myself thinking that’s what I would do or how I would react in that situation. I can’t say I’d live on protein bars because I’d be too afraid to ask where the dining hall was, nor would I spend all my spare time writing fan fiction, but I am not the biggest fan of change so I can relate.

For Cath to evolve, change needs to happen in baby steps: her writing class, meeting new people, writing something other than Simon Snow fan fiction… Cath’s life takes on a new shape and meaning over time, rather than instantly and drastically like Wren. And that’s ok because everyone is different and people react and adjust to situations at their own speed.

Other things I liked and didn’t like?

• I really enjoyed the chapters that featured Cath and Wren’s dad and how they explore his mental illness and how he reacts and tries to adapt to both his girls going off to college. College is not just an adjustment for the girls but for their dad left behind.

• Cath’s room-mate Reagan is full of attitude and the complete opposite of Cath which makes for interesting but ultimately the perfect dynamics between the two.

• Reagan’s friend Levi is absolutely adorable and while his confidence immediately distances him from Cath, slowly she lets down her barriers and opens her eyes to what an awesome guy he is.

• What I didn’t like throughout the novel was the fan fiction. I know it is a main part of Cath’s character but I had no interest in reading the excerpts scattered throughout the book.

You’re so helpless sometimes. It’s like watching a kitten with its head trapped in a Kleenex box.

 
Fangirl is a book for anyone who is feeling nervous about heading off to college or who doesn’t like trying new things and is perfectly happy in their comfort zone. It shows that change doesn’t have to happen all at once but when it does happen, it’s not all bad and there is a whole world waiting for you to make it your own. 

My edition from Pan Macmillan came with inside cover illustrations!