The Girl, the Gold Tooth and Everything by Francine LaSala

This latest novel by Francine LaSala (Rita Hayworth’s Shoes) is a fast-paced, richly layered, and darkly humorous satire filled with quirky characters and unforgettable moments of humanity.

Mina Clark is losing her mind—or maybe it’s already gone. She isn’t quite sure. Feeling displaced in her over-priced McMansion-dotted suburban world, she is grappling not only with deep debt, a mostly absent husband, and her playground-terrorizer 3-year old Emma, but also with a significant amnesia she can’t shake—a “temporary” condition now going on several years, brought on by a traumatic event she cannot remember, and which everyone around her feels is best forgotten. 

When a trip to the dentist leaves Mina with a new gold crown, her whole life changes. Slowly her memory and her mojo return. But when everything begins to crash down around her, she's not sure if what's happening is real, of if she's just now fully losing her mind... especially when she realizes the only person she can trust is the one she fears the most. What’s it all going to cost her in the end?

After finishing this book I am left with mixed feelings. There were several times throughout the first half that I was really confused, and I get the feeling that that was the point the author was trying to make with Mina's crazy life and stories that weren't matching up, but it was more of a frustrating confusion that made me want to put the book down and pick up a new one...BUT I'm glad that I persevered and finished it because towards the very end everything was revealed and magically worked out for the best (and who doesn't love a book with a happy ending against all odds every now and then?).

The writing was very good with some very creative characters appear throughout the story, and I will definitely be looking at other novels from this writer to give them a go. 

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

“You don’t think ahead in years or months: you think about this hour, and maybe the next. Anything else is speculation.” 

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby. 

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them. 

M. L. Stedman’s mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God.” And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another’s tragic loss. 

The Light Between Oceans is exquisite and unforgettable, a deeply moving novel.

I thought this was a good book, but not great, which is a shame because the blurb on the back cover held such promise with a juicy plot line. The characters were good, but the plot needed to move faster to keep me engaged with what was happening. At around 80% things looked like they were going to pick up, but then all of a sudden everything was resolved and worked out. 

The writer was very descriptive with their language and dialogue, but almost boringly so. I was surprised I actually finished it, but to be fair I did skim read the last couple of pages.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

'The thing about being catapulted into a whole new life - or at least shoved up so hard against someone else's life that you might as well have your face pressed against their window - is that it forces you to rethink your idea of who you are. Or how you might seem to other people.'

 Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

WOW.  
When I first started reading this book I thought I had it all figured out. They'd meet, fall in love, he'd have a new outlook on life and they would live happily ever after. I wasn't even close.

By the time I was halfway through the book I was absolutely hooked. I would start reading and forget I was on the train on my way to work, people beside me would vanish and I would magically be standing in the 'annex' watching their conversations happen in front of me.
I found myself thinking about the story when I was at work and trying to figure out where it was really heading, and I was actually a little sad when I had to stop reading to work. Additionally, this is the first time in a loooong time that I have actually cried while reading a book, and from the looks of others reviews, I was not alone!

I agree with other reviews that have commented about the deceiving cover - it gives a totally different image of what style the book really is - from the outside it looks like a light and fluffy love story, but that is definitely not the case, there is a lot more substance to it than that.

I think the best way to describe this book is a cross between Marian Keyes and Jodi Picoult, a cheekily written novel that actually looks at a controversial issue and shows the grey areas. Lovers of both author styles (Keyes and Picoult) will love this book by Jojo Moyes, guaranteed! 

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

“It was like drowning, only from the inside out.” 

Nine-year-old Trisha McFarland strays from the path while she and her recently divorced mother and brother take a hike along a branch of the Appalachian Trail. Lost for days, wandering farther and farther astray, Trisha has only her portable radio for comfort. A huge fan of Tom Gordon, a Boston Red Sox relief pitcher, she listens to baseball games and fantasizes that her hero will save her. Nature isn't her only adversary, though - something dangerous may be tracking Trisha through the dark woods.

While this isn't my favourite Stephen King novel (it's still Misery) you can't deny that he is a great storyteller.

The first impression of Trisha is that she is very mature ("9 years going on 10, but big for her age") so originally I was really shocked when she panicked so soon after realising she was lost, but then I thought back to 9 year old me, or my nephews and it was probably pretty accurate depiction of how they would react.

For a story that you are essentially only engaging with one character, King gives you a glimpse in to her family life, interests, and friendships, and shows you how tough a human spirit can be when in a hopeless situation, and how you can draw from these things to help get you through.  

The Silence of Trees by Valya Dudycz Lupescu

“When he looks into your eyes, tells you he loves you-and the pickled herring and onions are stronger than his voice-yet you still smile. You still want to be close to him. Yes, then you have found love.” 

In Chicago's Ukrainian Village, Nadya Lysenko has built her life on a foundation of secrets. When she was sixteen, Nadya snuck out of her house in Western Ukraine to meet a fortuneteller in the woods. She never expected it to be the last time she would see her family. 

Decades later, Nadya continues to be haunted by the death of her parents and sisters. The myths and magic of her childhood are still a part of her reality: dreams unite friends across time and space, house spirits misplace keys and glasses, and a fortuneteller's cards predict the future. Nadya's beloved dead insist on being heard through dreams and whispers in the night. They want the truth to come out. Nadya needs to face her past and confront the secrets she buried. 

Too often the women of history have been silenced, but their stories have power-to reveal, to teach, and to transform. This is one such story.

This was a very well written book, the author has a gift for making the characters and settings come alive, and at the same time bringing each era together to round out the story.

I love hearing about different cultures and the Ukrainian lifestyle is not one I have come across in any depth before. How amazing to have so many ceremonies and rituals to hold on to, very fascinating!

This book shows the importance of family and how string those bonds are, even through different countries, generations and centuries!  It also demonstrates the strength and ability of humans to heal and move on. "Love the past but live in the present".

ROOM by Emma Donoghue

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.

I first tried reading this book a few months ago, and only got a few pages in as I couldn’t get over the way Jack spoke, but luckily I tried again and once I made it over that initial hurdle, I was soon engrossed in the story. It is really just a unique way to write a book and I had to keep reminding myself that this kind of thing actually can happen.

The book was very well written. From the perspective of 5 year old Jack we got to hear about the ‘games’ they would play with his Ma, which in the eyes of a child who doesn’t know better are innocent fun, but are really cries for help to the outside.

I enjoyed how equal time was spent focusing on their time in the room, and then moved to them adjusting to outside - it didn’t just end with them leaving the room and they lived happily ever after. It made the abrupt change feel more life-like, not how it would necessarily be in a Hollywood movie.

I thought the ending was quite abrupt (really I could have read more) but even then you were left with a sense of what their plan was to move forward and how they were going to get their closure now they had seen the room again and were ready to move on.

If, like me, you are struggling to get in to the story at first, then the only advice I can give it to please persist, it is worth it I swear.

Don't Tell Mum I Work On The Rigs, She Thinks I'm A Piano Player In A Whorehouse by Paul Carter

Since age 18, Paul Carter has worked on oil rigs in locations as far flung as the Middle East, Columbia, the North Sea, Borneo, Tunisia, Sumatra, Vietnam, Nigeria, Russia, and many others — and he’s survived (so far!) to tell stories from the edge of civilization (places, as it happens, upon which most of our lives rely).
Carter has been shot at, hijacked and held hostage, almost died of dysentery in Asia and toothache in Russia, watched a Texan lose his mind in the jungles of Asia, lost a lot of money backing a scorpion against a mouse in a fight to the death, and served cocktails by an orangutan on an ocean freighter.
Taking postings in some of the world’s wildest and most remote regions — not to mention some of the roughest rigs on the planet — Carter has worked and gotten into trouble with some of the maddest, baddest and strangest people you could ever hope not to meet.

From looking at other reviews before starting to read this book, I knew I was in for a good laugh, and honestly, it didn’t disappoint. Initially I was a bit worried that it might be too much of a ‘boys book’ for me to enjoy, but right from the first page I was hooked and couldn’t wait to hear more.

The writing style is very colloquial, which to me, made it feel more personal and real. It covered all aspects - funny, shocking and the down-right unbelievable - there were times when I visibly would laugh and cringe at the same time on public transport while going to work every day.

I loved this book and can highly recommend it if you’re looking for a good laugh - or even as a glimpse in to more extreme work environments to give you a bit of perspective and make you appreciate it on the tougher days.

Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner

Jennifer Weiner's rich, witty, true-to-life "New York Times" bestselling novel tells the story of three very different women as they navigate one of life's most wonderful and perilous transitions: the journey of new motherhood.Becky is a plump, sexy chef who has a wonderful husband and baby girl, a restaurant that's received citywide acclaim -- and the mother-in-law from hell. Kelly is an event planner who's struggling to balance work and motherhood while dealing with an unemployed husband who seems content to channel-surf for eight hours a day. And Ayinde's basketball superstar husband breaks her trust at her most vulnerable moment, putting their new family even more in the public eye. Then there's Lia, a Philadelphia native who has left her Hollywood career behind, along with her husband and a tragic secret, to start her life all over again.

From prenatal yoga to postbirth sex, "Little Earthquakes" is a frank, funny, fiercely perceptive take on the comedies and tragedies of love and marriage.

Not being a Mum myself, I basing this opinion on what others have told me, but I really enjoyed reading this book because to me, it gave a me more of a 'real' insight in to what I think motherhood would really be like - the good, the bad, and the hilariously terrifying! It also focuses on how important it is to have a good group of friends around to laugh (or cry) with and to help you get through.

The characters felt real to me and  it was written in a way that the drama, or conflict, wasn't  overdramatised like some chick-lit books can do, and although the ending saw all of those conflicts resolved, it wasn't in a way that felt fake or unrealistic.

I enjoyed reading this book much more than "What to expect when you're expecting" and felt that I had a more in-depth connection with the characters and storyline. I think this is a book any woman would enjoy reading no matter what your relationship status or stage of life.

Our Husband by Stephanie Bond

They're three women with one thing in common...Our Husband.
When they found out about his cheating heart, they wanted to get even. But how even?

Fate has just thrown a curveball at the women in Raymond Carmichael's life-- all three of them. When they meet at his hospital bed, they discover they're all married to the same man. And when Raymond suddenly dies, the police suspect that one of these spunky ladies has commited murder...

The Socialite-- Blonde, post-menopausal, and mad as hell, Beatrix always suspected Raymond married her for her daddy's money...twenty-one years ago.

The Doctor-- a smart, small-town family physician, thirty-five-year-old Nathalie had ironically insisted on only one thing from her husband of seven years...absolute honesty.

The Stripper-- Twenty-one and an exotic dancer, Ruby would have chalked up her brief marriage to a learning experience...if she hadn't been pregnant.

Now they're three women left with a man's betrayal-- and worse, each other. But one thing they each insist-- they didn't kill Raymond. What can they do? Something outrageous and probably impossible: stick together to catch a murderer...

A perfect combination between chicklit and murder mystery, this book is a good light-hearted vacation read - enough drama to keep me interested, but not too in-depth that it would make me head hurt while sipping on my cocktail.

Elizabeth Street: A Novel Based On True Events by Laurie Fabiano

Based on true events, ELIZABETH STREET is a multigenerational saga that opens in an Italian village in the 1900's, and crosses the ocean to New York's Lower East Side. At the heart of the novel is Giovanna, whose family is targeted by the notorious Black Hand -the precursor to the Mafia. 

Elizabeth Street brings to light a period in history when Italian immigrant neighborhoods lived in fear of Black Hand extortion and violence-a reality that defies the romanticized depiction of the Mafia. Here, the author reveals the merciless terror of the Black Hand-and the impact their crimes had on her family. Giovanna is based on Fabiano's great-grandmother, and the book's heroes and villains - such as Lieutenant Petrosino, the crusading cop and "Lupo the Wolf," a cold-blooded criminal - are drawn from real life in this thrilling tale. 

While set in a dynamic historical context, Elizabeth Street is, above all, the dramatic story of the heroine, Giovanna, and how she triumphed over tragedy.

I love reading books that are based on true events - enough history for me to learn who other societies lived, but enough fiction to keep my imagination on fire. Elizabeth Street was a perfect combination of both of these - I loved hearing about the lives of immigrants in New York, and the story of Giovanna's strength and love for her family was heart-warming.

At first I was a little confused by the flash-forwards in the story, but once I stopped expecting this to follow the flow of a typical novel, I enjoyed the random twist, turns and jumps a lot more. 

While It Lasts by Abbi Glines

Maybe driving home after a few (or more) shots of tequila had been a bad idea, but hell, he did it all the time. The cops had to have been freaking bored to have pulled him over. He wasn’t even swerving! That’s Cage York’s story and he’s sticking to it.

Unfortunately, his baseball coach isn’t buying it. Cage has a free ride to the local junior college for baseball -- or he did, until he’d gotten a DUI. Now, Cage has to decide: does he drop out and give up his dream of getting noticed by a college in the SEC, and possibly making it into the Major Leagues -- or does he give in to his coach’s demands and spend his summer baling hay?

Eva Brooks planned out her life step by step when she was eight years old. Not once over the years had she lost sight of her goals. Josh Beasley, her next door neighbor, had been the center of those goals. He’d been her first boyfriend at seven, her first kiss at ten, her first date at fifteen, and her first tragedy at eighteen. The moment she’d received the phone call from Josh’s mother saying he’d been killed along with four other soldiers just north of Baghdad, Eva’s carefully planned life imploded in the worst way possible.

Cage isn’t real happy with his closet-sized bedroom in the back of a foul smelling barn, or his daily interactions with cows, but he knows that if he doesn’t make his coach happy then he can kiss his scholarship goodbye. Only a sick and twisted man would decide his punishment was to be working on a farm all summer. No hot babes in bikinis waiting to meet a Southern boy to make her vacation complete. Just him and the damned cows.

Oh -- and an uptight, snarky brunette with the biggest blue eyes he’s every seen. But she doesn’t count, because as hard as he’s tried to charm her out of her panties - he’s pretty sure she’d rather see him hung from the rafters than let him get a taste of her pretty little lips.

This novel once again proves that girls love bad boys and they all want them to change for them.

It was good to read a racy young adult book that was actually written quite tastefully. There was plenty of sexual tension but it didn't make me feel dirty or perverted reading them, and it is good to give young women a model of a sexy character without being a tramp or 'easy'.

Not the kind of book you would read if you wanted something with depth, but there was plenty going for it that made you want to  keep turning the pages. 

Shadow of Night (All Souls #2) by Deborah Harkness

"Together we lifted our feet and stepped into the unknown"—the thrilling sequel to the New York Times bestseller A Discovery of Witches

Deborah Harkness exploded onto the literary scene with her debut novel,A Discovery of Witches, Book One of the magical All Souls Trilogy and an international publishing phenomenon. The novel introduced Diana Bishop, Oxford scholar and reluctant witch, and the handsome geneticist and vampire Matthew Clairmont; together they found themselves at the center of a supernatural battle over an enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782.

Now, picking up from A Discovery of Witches’ cliffhanger ending,Shadow of Night plunges Diana and Matthew into Elizabethan London, a world of spies, subterfuge, and a coterie of Matthew’s old friends, the mysterious School of Night that includes Christopher Marlowe and Walter Raleigh. Here, Diana must locate a witch to tutor her in magic, Matthew is forced to confront a past he thought he had put to rest, and the mystery of Ashmole 782 deepens.

Deborah Harkness has crafted a gripping journey through a world of alchemy, time travel, and magical discoveries, delivering one of the most hotly anticipated novels of the season.

Starting right where Discover of Witches left off, the story of Deborah and Matthew continues.

For the first 25% of the book there really wasn't much vampire of witchcraft going on. I know they were meant to be hiding in a dangerous period for creatures, but it made the story drag on a little slowly when I really wanted it to go fast and continue on with the action from the first book.

But once they found their stride it was just as good as well written and exciting as the first book.

I liked that it went in to detail about what life might have been like in this new ear, not just for creatures, and it was good to see how the relationship between Matthew and Deborah matured once they were 'mated'.

A great story and I can't wait to read the third part to the trilogy.

The Wander Year: One Couple's Journey Around the World by Mike McIntyre

Journalist and author Mike McIntyre and his longtime girlfriend, Andrea Boyles, are in their early 40s and itching for a break. So they rent out their San Diego home—dog, cat and furniture included—and embark on a yearlong journey around the world. “We’re not out to find ourselves, or even to lose ourselves,” McIntyre writes early on. “We’re merely seeking a pause in our routines.” But the couple is soon swept up in the adventure of a lifetime: trekking in the Himalayas, traversing the Sahara on camel, scrambling over the temples of Angkor, crossing the world’s largest salt flat in South America, scaling a New Zealand glacier. The book recounts the odyssey in 48 dispatches from 22 countries. Among them: birdwatching in Indonesia, a haircut from Vietnam’s oldest barber, touring a notorious prison in Bolivia, haggling over rugs in Morocco, on safari in Nepal. McIntyre taps his self-deprecating humor to convey the joys, perils and frustrations of prolonged travel. When the couple ventures into a cyclone in Fiji on a rubber raft, he writes, “The absence of life jackets and paddles meant more room for our lunacy.” And during a ride across India with a hired car and driver, he notes, “His passing technique was so precise, I could see my horrified expression reflected in the chrome bumpers of onrushing trucks.” He also writes eloquently of such poignant moments as sleeping under the stars in North Africa, flying kites with a poor boy in Bali, and the death of a female tour guide in China. By journey’s end, he’s shucked much of his journalist’s cynicism, and he stands in awe of a staggeringly beautiful world and the resilient souls who fill it.

The Wander Year is an expanded version of the popular series of the same name that ran in the Travel section of the Los Angeles Times.

I wish I had the guts (and a partner to follow my whims) to temporarily pack up my life and do something like this!

After finishing reading this book, it makes me realize that this is the kind of book I would love to write myself. It is full of the readers individual personality, what their interests are, their day-to-day life etc. AT times he reminded me of a middle-aged, male Carrie Bradshaw (that is if she wrote about travel instead of shoes!)

While I love reading travel books to get inspiration for my own future expeditions, I find it particularly interesting to read about other travelers experiences in Countries that I have also visited, for example while I was in Bali it never crossed my mind to go bird-watching or fly a kite.

Given that this book is made from excerpts of his newspaper columns, it glazes over many locations very lightly, so you probably won’t really enjoy this book if you want an in-depth view in to each different place, although the author does mention that you can buy the full list of articles for $200! I however, love a bargain so way happy with the condensed version on Amazon for $4.95.

Overall it was a good read with a good ending.

A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1) by Deborah Harkness

If the butterfly wings its way to the sweet light that attracts it, it is only because it doesn't know that the fire can consume it.

A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together. 

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.

I loved this book. What a great view on what the lives of witches, vampires and daemons would be like in modern times. It had all the elements of a great book: history, drama, conflict, suspense and of course, unrequited love.

Like most other females in 2005 I read the Twilight series and thought they were great, but I thought this take on magical creatures was way better. 

The storyline was more mature and left out a lot of the immature teenage angst that the Twilight series had. The slight downside of this was that the romance and passion between Matthew and Diana was very subdued in comparison, although still evident.

The writing style was very detailed and there were several times when I thought I might need to look up ancient history words or terms that I wasn't familiar with, but was happy when I continued reading slightly on and found that the meaning or definition was woven in to the story through the characters dialogue.  

Part one of this trilogy is set in more modern times, and from the looks of the sequel it will give a contrast by being set in Elizabethan England, so am looking forward to reading on and comparing the two settings.

The Forgotten (The Barronlands Trilogy #2) - Claudia Carozza

Hazel's job at the Antioch didn't work out at all like she had planned. After a daring escape and one very risky delivery of the first baby born in years, she's still holding on to the hope of a better future. Out of the Antioch and on the run, who can Hazel turn to for help and can they really be trusted? In the second book of the Barronlands Trilogy, relationships are tested and even more secrets are revealed. Hazel tries to put the pieces together, hoping everything doesn't fall apart. Will she be able to hold it all together or will there be those who slip through the cracks?

As the second book of the Barronlands Trilogy, The Forgotten picked up right where it left off and continued on the whirlwind journey of Hazel and co.

As with the first book there was so much going on that I was feverishly reading to keep up with it and quickly find out what was going to happen next, but this time I found myself getting a little frustrated with Hazel and her little tantrums she threw. Maybe I needed to remind myself when reading this that she is supposed to be a young girl, or maybe I am just a bit older than the intended reader? 

If you liked the first one book of the series then you will love the second instalment. I hope I don't have to wait to long for the third book.

Every Day - David Levithan

“I wake up thinking of yesterday. The joy is in remembering; the pain is in knowing it was yesterday.” 

Every day a different body. 
Every day a different life.
Every day in love with the same girl. 

Every morning, A wakes in a different person’s body, a different person’s life. There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere. 

And then A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day. 

Can you love someone who is destined to change each day? 

David Levithan brings all his trademark insight to a novel that is edgy, romantic and page-turning. Every Day has a touch of the paranormal and a grounding in the real world. 

This was such an interesting topic for a book and David Levithan writes it so well. I have read a couple of books by him before (10 Things I Hate About You, The Lover's Dictionary), but this book makes me want to have a Levithan-athon and I will be looking up more from him I enjoyed it that much. 

Despite the rave reviews it has received online (Amazon and Goodreads) I started reading it with low to medium expectations -  I thought it might be a bit tooYoung Adult-ish for my liking, but I found that after the first couple of chapters I was hooked and when I was at work I couldn't wait to get back on the train so I could find out whose body A entered next. It is very maturely written for a Young Adult literature and I think that is why it has been so popular - it doesn't segregate it's audience.

The characters were so well written, It was great to get a glimpse of so many different lives and I felt like each was portrayed justly and they stopped short of being over-dramatised or over-written, which could have been easy to do it there wasn't any substance.

Loved this book, I'm usually a hard marker but this one deserves a 5 in my opinion. 

The Twenty (The Barronlands Trilogy #1) - Claudia Carozza

Imagine living in a time when infertility runs rampant and babies are no longer being born. The world is crumbling around you as people start talking about the end. This is the world Hazel DeSales grew up in. After her mother dies from a mysterious cancer, Hazel finds herself taking care of her younger sister Netty and alcoholic father. 

It's not until twenty women, known as the Elect, become pregnant all across the Barronlands when things start looking up. Hazel and Netty apply for jobs working as domestics in the Antioch Center where the Elect will be taken care of and protected. Hazel feels change in the air and her outlook for the future starts to improve. 

But she soon learns that change is not without consequence. Rumors are brewing about a government cover up and Hazel finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. So begins the unraveling of secrets that uncover things from her past and, threatening her future. Hazel is determined to seek the truth and promises herself to do whatever it takes to succeed.

Although the conflict in the storyline is different, my first impressions were that this book is really similar to The Hunger Games as it was set in a time when there are segregated 'wards' and classes of societies, a younger sister that leans on the older sister, and a group of oppressed classes that are trying to overthrow the wealthy 'officials'.

Doesn't really live up to The Hunger Games standard (but then again they are big shoes to fill) andI thought that some of the characters were really simplistic and lacked a little depth, but there was enough action and movement in the storyline to make it a good easy read while on the train commute to/from work everyday.

Being the first part of a trilogy I am interested enough to want to keep on reading the second one, but didn't think it was anything to rave about.

Dearly Devoted Dexter (Dexter #2) - Jeff Lindsay

He's a charming monster... A macabre hero... A serial killler who only kills bad people.

Dexter Morgan has been under considerable pressure. It's just not easy being an ethical serial killer - especially while trying to avoid the unshakable suspicions of the dangerous Sergeant Doakes (who believes Dexter is a homicidal maniac...which, of course, he is). In an attempt to throw Doakes off his trail, Dexter has had to slip deep into his foolproof disguise. While not working as a blood-spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department, he now spends nearly all his time with his cheerful girlfriend, Rita, and her two children, sipping light beer and slowly becoming the world's first serial couch potato. But how long can Dexter play Kick the Can instead of Slice the Slasher? How long before his Dark Passenger forces him to drop the charade and let his inner monster run free?

In trying times, opportunity knocks. A particularly nasty psychopath is cutting a trail through Miami - a man whose twisted technique leaves even Dexter speechless. As Dexter's dark appetite is revived, his sister, Deborah (a newly minted, tough-as-nails Miami detective), is drawn headlong into the case. It quickly becomes clear that it will take a monster to catch a monster - but it isn't until his archnemesis is abducted that Dex can finally throw himself into the search for a new plaything. Unless, of course, his plaything finds him first...

With the incredible wit and freshness that drew widespread acclaim toDarkly Dreaming Dexter, Jeff Lindsay now takes Dexter Morgan to a new level of macabre appeal and gives us one of the most original, colorful narrators in years.

I read this one straight after I finished the first book, and it hasn't yet gotten old or boring. The storyline followed pretty much a same pattern as the first one, same wit and dark humour but with slightly different twists along the way.

If you enjoyed Darkly Dreaming Dexter you won't be disappointed by Dearly Devoted...