Review: A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena (ARC)

Title: A Girl Like That

Author: Tanaz Bhathena

Genre: Contemporary

Pages: 369 (Paperback - ARC)

Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers

Publication date: February 28th, 2018

Synopsis from A Girl Like That's Goodreads page

A timeless exploration of high-stakes romance, self-discovery, and the lengths we go to love and be loved. 

Sixteen-year-old Zarin Wadia is many things: a bright and vivacious student, an orphan, a risk taker. She’s also the kind of girl that parents warn their kids to stay away from: a troublemaker whose many romances are the subject of endless gossip at school.  You don't want to get involved with a girl like that, they say. So how is it that eighteen-year-old Porus Dumasia has only ever had eyes for her? And how did Zarin and Porus end up dead in a car together, crashed on the side of a highway in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia? When the religious police arrive on the scene, everything everyone thought they knew about Zarin is questioned. And as her story is pieced together, told through multiple perspectives, it becomes clear that she was far more than just a girl like that. 

This beautifully written debut novel from Tanaz Bhathena reveals a rich and wonderful new world to readers. It tackles complicated issues of race, identity, class, and religion, and paints a portrait of teenage ambition, angst, and alienation that feels both inventive and universal.

THOUGHTS

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review -- Thank you Raincoast Books!!

When I first started this book, I had no expectations. I don't mean that in a bad way, I just mean that no one I know had ever even heard of it, so I had no people telling me that it was good, or bad, or mediocre, or just any thoughts whatsoever. I also had very little knowledge, which was a nice change for once. It was nice to be able to go into a book, with no expectations, no thoughts from other people, and no real knowledge of what the book was about.
Saying that, I really enjoyed this book. I don't see a lot of diverse books around - which has been changing lately and I'm super happy about it - but there still aren't a lot of diverse books. It was refreshing to be able to read a beautiful, diverse book, and to be able to submerge myself into a  culture that I know very little about.
Onto the story itself! The plot of this book was beautiful and heart-wrenching, it made me feel happy and sad (mostly sad) to see how some of the girls were treated and to see how Zarin especially was being treated by the other girls in her school. It was heart-wrenching and so sad and made me just want to be friends with Zarin to try and just help her through all of the things that she was going through in her life. At the very least, she did have Porus, who I adored in every single way. He was so sweet and kind, and he was basically Zarin's knight in shining armor, even if she refused to believe it.
The characters were all also amazing, with every single character being believable, from the good ones to the bad ones. It's very hard to create a contemporary character who is a bad person seem not TOO bad, without it being believable, but Tanaz Bhathena did an amazing job of it. Every single character was written perfectly, being believable the whole way through, and the development of every single one of them making them even more so.
The only reason this book wasn't a 5/5 stars for me was because I found Zarin to be a little bit annoying at times (which I completely understand is one of the most important parts of her personality, and is a major influence in the book and the story itself) but it was just a litttleee bit too  much for me. Other than that, it was perfectly written. This was a beautiful, powerful story, and I am privileged to have been able to read it.
A Girl Like That came out just last week, and everyone should read it!
Overall - ★★★★☆

Review: Suitors and Sabotage by Cindy Anstey (ARC)

Title: Suitors and Sabotage

Author: Cindy Anstey

Genre: Contemporary

Pages: 336 (Paperback - ARC)

Publisher: Swoon Reads

Publication date: April 17th, 2018

Synopsis from Suitors and Sabotage's Goodreads page

Shy aspiring artist Imogene Chively has just had a successful Season in London, complete with a suitor of her father's approval. Imogene is ambivalent about the young gentleman until he comes to visit her at the Chively estate with his younger brother in tow. When her interest is piqued, however, it is for the wrong brother. 

Charming Ben Steeple has a secret: despite being an architectural apprentice, he has no drawing aptitude. When Imogene offers to teach him, Ben is soon smitten by the young lady he considers his brother's intended. 

But hiding their true feelings becomes the least of their problems when, after a series of "accidents," it becomes apparent that someone means Ben harm. And as their affection for each other grows—despite their efforts to remain just friends—so does the danger. . .

THOUGHTS

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review -- Thank you Raincoast Books!!

I had never seen or heard about this book before, until I was perusing through the the publishers catalogue, and came across this beautiful cover, and I was immediately interested. I absolutely love cute contemporary books, especially ones that take place in the 1800s. I immediately wanted to read it, and I'm glad I did!
This book is about a young woman in the 1817s who is courting a young man...but somehow begins to fall in love with his younger brother, and the problems that ensue because of it. It's a sweet, beautiful contemporary book with a bit of a mysterious twist to it!
I'm going to start off by saying that I adored the writing style of this book. It was heartfelt and sweet, and it was beautifully written. I found a few small things about this book that bothered me a little bit, but overall I enjoyed it and I'm happy I read it.
I find that sometimes the romance between two characters can be forced in some ways, but this is definitely not the case here! I loved how Imogene and Ben were falling in love slowly, even though they try everything in their power not to. They fall for each other without any warning, and I enjoyed how it didn't feel forced in any way. It felt like they had no control over it, and it was just the way that it was supposed to be. And the ending!! Oh, the ending crushed me in the best way possible.
I also enjoyed how this book was a cute romance story, instead of a steamy one. It was cute and sweet and funny and awkward, which is exactly how young love is supposed to be. I loved how the characters were embarrassed by the little things they did awkwardly, as well as how they were flirting and the build up to the ending. The love story felt real and not forced, and the characters seemed to be the ones controlling the story.
With that said, I found the book to be a bit slow at the beginning, and that there was quite a gap between the actual beginning of the book and the beginning of the story itself. The beginning was a bit difficult to get into, as the action didn't really start until about 50-60 pages in. However, once I hit that point, I flew through the book and read the rest in one sitting.
The book also has a bit of a mysterious aspect to it, as there are "accidents" that keep happening and keep either getting Ben into trouble, or almost killing him. I really enjoyed how the characters reacted to these "accidents" and how the girls were doing everything in their power to try and get to the bottom of them. The only problem I had was that I think that the way the person who was causing these accidents was found out was a bit unrealistic - with them just outright saying that it was them. With the mystery that was being built up through the entire book about these "accidents", I would have enjoyed it better and found it more realistic if one of the main characters had found out who it was and confronted them, or found evidence to prove it, instead of the person doing it out and out saying that it was them.
I did thoroughly enjoy the book with that being said, and I found the characters to be well developed, the conversations to be awkward and sweet, and I loved every single character (even the bad person), and the writing was a perfect fit for the story that was being told. Be sure to check this book out when it comes out in April!
Overall - ★★★☆☆.5

Stacking the Shelves (1): The Start

Hi everyone! I've seen quite a few people posting a tag called "Stacking the Shelves", in which they share the books and bookish things that they've acquired over the last while. Since I've realized that a monthly haul isn't good for me (it makes me feel like I need to buy books for something to post) I've decided to give this a go! I'll post these irregularly (whenever the stack of new books on my desk reaches a certain point!)
These are all the books I've gotten recently!

Adult books:

1. Perfect Remains by Helen Fields
2. If You Knew Her by Emily Elgar
3. In a Cottage in a Wood by Cass Green
4. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
5. The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham
6. The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst
7. The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn
8. How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

Teen books:

1. The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
2. Scythe by Neal Shushterman
3. Suitors and Sabotage by Cindy Anstey
4. A Girl like That by Tanaz Bhathena

February 2018 Wrap-Up

Hi everyone! Last month was a pretty good reading month for me, considering that I'm in university, but I had a fair amount to say about every book I read, so I figured that I would do a wrap-up for the month.
The books I read:

      1. The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan
This was the first book I read this month, and I enjoyed it! It was written in a very different way, with each page being a new word in the dictionary, and the story being told using each word as a different part of the story. It was weird, but in a good way.
I have a full review of The Lover's Dictionary here if you want to read more of my thoughts!

      2. How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

This one I've been looking forward to reading for awhile. I read Matt Haig's Reasons to Stay Alive over the summer, and even though that that book was non-fiction and How to Stop Time is fiction, I knew that it was going to be great because I love his writing style. He writes in a beautiful way, and you can tell that a lot of thought goes into his work.

I absolutely loved this book, I loved how it was told, how it had famous characters like Shakespeare and Fitzgerald in it, and I found that the entire book was wonderfully created and the build up to the ending was amazing. I highly recommend it!

      3. Unraveling Oliver by Liz Nugent

This is a psychological thriller that I personally found to be more of a psychological analysis, of sorts. It focuses solely on the character of Oliver, and even though I was expecting more of a thriller, the aspects of a thriller were there and I definitely enjoyed the book overall.

I have a full review of Unraveling Oliver here if you want to read more of my thoughts!

      4. The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn

This one is also a psychological thriller, and I quite enjoyed this one too. I found the plot to be a bit slow for the first 100 pages or so, but when it did pick up the pace, it REALLY picked up the pace. I enjoyed all the characters and the plot overall, and the ending really shocked me.

I have a full review of The Woman in the Window here if you want to read more of my thoughts!

      5. The Wicked + The Divine Vol 6 by Kieron Gillen

I've had mixed feelings about all of these graphic novels in this series, as can be seen by my review of the first five volumes here. I've loved some, and I've hated others, and this one sits more on the disliked side than the loved side.

I enjoyed the artwork in this one, as it was consistent and I could easily follow it through, but I found the story to be a bit lackluster in this volume. Some of the volumes in this series were fast-paced all the way through, but I found this one to be more of a filler between the fourth, and the seventh (which I will have to wait until it comes out to see how much of a filler this volume was).

Overall, it was alright, and I'll definitely read the next volume to see if it will pick up a bit.

      6. Suitors and Sabotage by Cindy Anstey

I was kindly sent an ARC of this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was the last book that I read this month. After all of the psychological thrillers I was reading, I wanted a lighter, cute contemporary read to finish my month off with.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this book. It was a super sweet and lighthearted romance story that took place in the 1800s, with a bit of a mysterious twist to it, which was a nice change!

I have full review of this here

Review: The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn

Title: The Woman in the Window

Author: A. J. Finn

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Pages: 448 (Paperback)

Publisher: William Morrow
Publication date: January 2nd, 2018

Synopsis from The Woman in the Window's Goodreads page

Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.

Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble—and its shocking secrets are laid bare.

What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.

THOUGHTS

Quite a few of my close friends had read this book before me, and every single one of them hyped it up. They all told me that it was really good, but also that it was very predictable. Knowing that, I was hesitant to start it but I knew that due to its size, I would only be able to read it during my reading week, or after the term was over. So I opted for reading week, and I somehow managed to read it in less than 24 hours.
The idea behind this book I found to be really interesting. The main character is an agoraphobic; she can't go outside and stays in her house alone all the time. Cue the new people moving across the street, and she begins to keep an eye on them. An event occurs (not going to say because SPOILERS) and then Anna'a entire world is turned upside down and everyone thinks she's crazy.
Anna herself I loved but I also found quite annoying at times. She's an alcoholic, so a lot of this book was her drinking and being drunk and questioning everything that she does and sees. However, I did love her more than find her annoying; she knew that the event that had occurred across the street happened, and she was fighting everyone to believe her. Even though she is an agoraphobic, she is still resilient and will put up a fight when she knows is right, which I enjoyed.
A lot of the other characters were very well thought out as well. The entire family across the street were very well created and that massive twist at the end I DID NOT see coming; the character was so believable the entire book that he definitely tricked me the whole way through. (That is very vague, but again, spoilers are killer).
I found the plot of this book to be very slow at the beginning. It is over 400 pages which is very long for a psychological thriller, and I found the beginning to lag in places; a lot of the minor things that happened in the first half of the book I found dragged a bit, but overall the book was very well written so the slow parts were punctuated with a lot of action and suspenseful parts.
As a psychological thriller, this was definitely well written. A fair amount of the events that were happening I was able to guess before they did, but a fair amount of other things shocked me because there was no way I was going to be able to guess them. It was fast-paced in the second half, and I was able to read it in less than 24 hours, so it kept me interested even through the slower parts.
Overall - ★★★★☆

Review: Unraveling Oliver by Liz Nugent

Title: Unraveling Oliver

Author: Liz Nugent

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Pages: 272 (Paperback)

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: August 22nd, 2017

Synopsis from Unraveling Oliver's Goodreads page

“I expected more of a reaction the first time I hit her.”

So begins Liz Nugent’s astonishing debut novel—a chilling, elegantly crafted, and psychologically astute exploration of the nature of evil.

Oliver Ryan, handsome, charismatic, and successful, has long been married to his devoted wife, Alice. Together they write and illustrate award-winning children’s books; their life together one of enviable privilege and ease—until, one evening after a delightful dinner, Oliver delivers a blow to Alice that renders her unconscious, and subsequently beats her into a coma.

In the aftermath of such an unthinkable event, as Alice hovers between life and death, the couple’s friends, neighbors, and acquaintances try to understand what could have driven Oliver to commit such a horrific act. As his story unfolds, layers are peeled away to reveal a life of shame, envy, deception, and masterful manipulation.

THOUGHTS

I'm going to start off by saying that going into this, I thought it was more of a psychological thriller. After the first few chapters, however, I realized it was more of a psychological analysis of sorts, instead of a thriller, but it did have a lot of the aspects of a thriller. Saying that, I really did enjoy this book.
Unraveling Oliver is a story about a man who has harmed his wife to the point where she is in a coma, with little to no hope of her waking up. The entire novel is a character summary of Oliver, with each chapter being told from a different characters' point of view of him. Each character is recounting how they either met Oliver, or the different things that have happened to him in his life that could possibly have made him the person he is, and explain why he harmed his wife.
The story overall I really enjoyed. Each character added a few pieces of the puzzle of Oliver together, while creating more mysteries. Each recounting of each part of his life fit together perfectly, and I had no problems with how anything fit together or how it was told.
In regards to the characters in the story, each and every single one of them was needed in some way, for something, either as someone who is currently in his life, or as someone from his past who is required to tell his story. In a lot of thrillers I find that there are unnecessary characters that are used in order to distract the reader for some reason, but that was definitely not the case for this book. Every single character was well thought out, and well executed. I also loved how each and every single character had their own distinct voice. With telling a story from different characters' points of view every chapter, a lot of the time the characters start to become mashed together and start to sound very similar. That was not the case at all here, with each character having a very distinct voice, and I loved how that was not only shown through what was spoken about, but also in how they spoke to the reader.
The story itself was also something that I really enjoyed. It left just enough of a mystery throughout the entire novel, while also giving just enough to the reader that they can almost figure out what will happen next, before continuing to read and realizing you are completely wrong.
I feel like this book could have been an easy 4/5 stars for me, if I had gone into it knowing that it was less of a psychological thriller and more of a psychological character study. It definitely had all the aspects of thriller and I did read it in less than twenty-four hours, but it was more of a character study than anything else.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book that I'm glad that I took the time to read it and I know that I will definitely read it again in the future when I'm more in the mood for a character study, and then I have a feeling that it will be a higher rating for me.
Overall - ★★★★☆

Review: The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan

Title: The Lover's Dictionary

Author: David Levithan

Genre: Contemporary/Realistic Fiction

Pages: 211 (Paperback)

Publisher: Picador
Publication date: January 17th, 2012

Synopsis from The Lover's Dictionary's Goodreads page

How does one talk about love? Is it even possible to describe something at once utterly mundane and wholly transcendent, that has the power to consume our lives completely, while making us feel part of something infinitely larger than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this age-old problem, the nameless narrator of David Levithan's The Lover's Dictionary constructs the story of a relationship as a dictionary. Through these sharp entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of coupledom, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time.

THOUGHTS

This book was definitely not what I was expecting. I was expecting more of a lighthearted, easy, love-story read. This was not that.

This book is told in a very unique way - every page has a word on it, in alphabetical order, and the story is told as the definitions of the words that are on the same page. It was this that drew me into the book in the first place - an easier read, and something that I have never even seen anything similar to before.

The plot of this book was also really different, in that there wasn't really even quite a plot. The entries jumped from sad ones to cute and happy ones back to devastatingly sad ones, and I really liked that. It resembles a real relationship, where there are good days and bad days, and the good days are really good and the bad days are really bad. It resembles life, and I really liked that it didn't sugar coat it; it was abrupt and to the point.

The entries themselves were absolutely amazing. They were very short, with some being a sentence or two, and the longest being just over a single sided page. They were beautiful and sad and heart-wrenching and wonderful.

One of my favourites was this quote, from the page titled "Only":

"That's the dilemma, isn't it? When you're single, there's the sadness and joy of only me. And when you're paired, there's the sadness and joy of only you."

The story itself is raw and real, and is completely relatable to any relationship. It was sad and happy and gave me a lot of emotions, but was also a bit too short for me. I was hoping for a bit more, an I felt that even though it did end on the letter Z, I feel like a bit more could have been done.

Overall - ★★★☆☆.5