The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison

“Some people stay broken. Some pick up the pieces and put them back together with all the sharp edges showing.”

Near an isolated mansion lies a beautiful garden.
In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees…and a collection of precious “butterflies”—young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and preserving his lovely specimens.

When the garden is discovered, a survivor is brought in for questioning. FBI agents Victor Hanoverian and Brandon Eddison are tasked with piecing together one of the most stomach-churning cases of their careers. But the girl, known only as Maya, proves to be a puzzle herself.

As her story twists and turns, slowly shedding light on life in the Butterfly Garden, Maya reveals old grudges, new saviors, and horrific tales of a man who’d go to any length to hold beauty captive. But the more she shares, the more the agents have to wonder what she’s still hiding...

I am going to have a serious book-hangover from this one! I was hooked from the first couple of pages, and I devoured it in about 24 hours.

The writing was so detailed that I could easily  picture myself in The Garden surrounded by the other butterflies (NOOOO, thank you!) but the surprising thing was that I was more enthralled than disgusted by the disturbing topic, purely due to the way it was written.

All of the characters were spot on with the parts they played, and Inara was the best of all. Strong and fiesta but refreshingly intelligent in all ways. 

I want to go back and read it again.

Read my review on Goodreads

One Day by David Nicholls

“What are you going to do with your life?" In one way or another it seemed that people had been asking her this forever; teachers, her parents, friends at three in the morning, but the question had never seemed this pressing and still she was no nearer an answer... "Live each day as if it's your last', that was the conventional advice, but really, who had the energy for that? What if it rained or you felt a bit glandy? It just wasn't practical. Better by far to be good and courageous and bold and to make difference. Not change the world exactly, but the bit around you. Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles, live passionately and fully and well. Experience new things. Love and be loved, if you ever get the chance.” 

It’s 1988 and Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley have only just met on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. But after only one day together, they cannot stop thinking about one another. 
Over twenty years, snapshots of that relationship are revealed on the same day—July 15th—of each year. Dex and Em face squabbles and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. And as the true meaning of this one crucial day is revealed, they must come to grips with the nature of love and life itself.

Twenty years, two people, one day.

I loved this book, and devoured in 3 days (a particularly impressive feat considering I have a toddler). I haven't cried like this because of a book since Me Before You . 

I fell in love with Dex and Em, Em and Dex. They were awkward and flawed and in theory they are so wrong for each other. Watching their lives unfold made me fondly remember my jerk ex-boyfriends and forgive them, just like I was able to forgive Dexter for his poor choices and bad behaviour.

Something else I found realistic and that also stuck with me from this book was how your identity can change through the different stages of your life, and depending on your circumstances you may even go through quite a few - the angst (and/or pain) will pass and and you can settle in to something that feels a bit more stable and comfortable.    

The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence

In life, there are no true beginnings or endings. Events flow into each other, and the more you try to isolate them in a container, the more they spill over the sides, like canal-water breaching its artificial banks. A related point is that the things we label 'beginnings' and 'endings' are often, in reality, indistinguishable. They are one and the same thing. This is one of the things the Death card symbolizes in tarot - an end that is also a new beginning.” 

A rare meteorite struck Alex Woods when he was ten years old, leaving scars and marking him for an extraordinary future. The son of a fortune teller, bookish, and an easy target for bullies, Alex hasn't had the easiest childhood. 
But when he meets curmudgeonly widower Mr. Peterson, he finds an unlikely friend. Someone who teaches him that that you only get one shot at life. That you have to make it count. 
So when, aged seventeen, Alex is stopped at customs with 113 grams of marijuana, an urn full of ashes on the front seat, and an entire nation in uproar, he's fairly sure he's done the right thing ...
Introducing a bright young voice destined to charm the world,The Universe Versus Alex Woods is a celebration of curious incidents, astronomy and astrology, the works of Kurt Vonnegut and the unexpected connections that form our world. 

Thanks to the blurb and the first chapter, I kept expecting Alex to have super powers or abilities after his accident, but it turns out that The Universe Verses Alex Woods was simply just a story about a boy. I don't necessarily mean this in a bad way, it's just that because I was preparing myself for a bit more drama it took me a while to get into the rhythm of the story and adjust to the characters speed.

I wouldn't consider this a young adult novel. Again, I'm going to blame my misguided impressions because from the cover image and the blurb I thought it sounded like it had all the makings of a dark twisted real life Harry Potter, so I was genuinely surprised when the story talked about suicide and the ethics around euthanasia. 

The writing is really good so I'm not disappointed I kept reading, but in hindsight it probably wouldn't be on the top of my list to read again, it just wasn't what I was in the mood to read at the time.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

“The happening and telling are very different things. This doesn’t mean that the story isn’t true, only that I honestly don’t know anymore if I really remember it or only remember how to tell it. Language does this to our memories, simplifies, solidifies, codifies, mummifies. An off-told story is like a photograph in a family album. Eventually it replaces the moment it was meant to capture.” …

“In the phrase ' human being,' the word 'being' is much more important than the word 'human.' ” 

Meet the Cooke family. Our narrator is Rosemary Cooke. As a child, she never stopped talking; as a young woman, she has wrapped herself in silence: the silence of intentional forgetting, of protective cover. Something happened, something so awful she has buried it in the recesses of her mind.

Now her adored older brother is a fugitive, wanted by the FBI for domestic terrorism. And her once lively mother is a shell of her former self, her clever and imperious father now a distant, brooding man.

And Fern, Rosemary’s beloved sister, her accomplice in all their childhood mischief? Fern’s is a fate the family, in all their innocence, could never have imagined.

This would have been a good book to read on my kindle, instead of paperback, because there are a lot of words that I wanted to look up the definition of, and picking up my phone and googling them was more time consuming than highlighting the word on the kindle. But I felt I learnt a few things, which usually means that I am interested in the story enough to want to learn something, as opposed to escaping in to a fairytale.

And I did genuinely enjoy this story! I was a bit hesitant because the blurb on the back was quite vague, but not that I have finished I understand why it had to be that way. Without giving any detail away, the twist was a surprise to me, and I'm glad for that, because now not only did I learn something and enjoyed the story, but it took me somewhere I didn't expect, and I like that.

Initially I thought I had this story pegged as a story about how our parents really screw us up, but the further I went, I realised that it was so much more intelligent than that, and there were so many deeper layers than its face value. I think that the writing style had a lot to do with this, the beginning was the middle, the middle was the beginning and the end, while also another beginning. Confused? Don't be, it was actually really easy to follow and the characters were so normal, with all their flaws visible if you were ready to look at them.

This book made me question so much (it even made me think about becoming a vegetarian, if I wasn't so adverse to carbs) and I have a lot of respect for the author (I kept reading past the acknowledgements and they were just as important as the actual story itself I felt).

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Charlie is a freshman.

And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it.

Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But he can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up. 

This is a hard one to summarise my feelings about - I enjoyed reading it and found myself engrossed in the characters lives, but I just can't bring myself to say I loved it. 

The characters were quirky and raw, and I loved going along with their messy teenage lives for a few days…BUT I think it was the last chapter that left a bad taste in my mouth - Talking openly about sexual abuse is important, and I know it is a sad reality for some people, but in the case of this story and this character, I didn't really understand why it all had to tie together like that. I felt as though the abuse was used as an excuse or justification as to WHY Charlie was a little different to everyone else. I would have much preferred him to own his idiosyncrasies without needing a reason. 

Other than the ending I felt like it covered a lot of standard teenagers experiences in life - boys, girls, heartbreak, love, the freaks, the cool kids, discovering your sexuality, family, friendship, abuse, experimenting with drugs, and trying to find out who you really are.

The Wrong Girl by Zoe Foster

Lily is a producer on a successful cooking segment for a daily morning show. The new chef has just arrived on set and he is drop dead gorgeous. And despite everything – the sabbatical that Lily and her flatmate Simone are taking from men, the fact that Jack is a work colleague – Lily falls head over heels for him.

And while Lily battles her feelings, her flatmate Simone breaks their pact and starts dating some guy from her wholefoods shop. That guy turns out to be Jack. Up close, Lily bravely watches on as romance blossoms between Simone and Jack. Or does it? They don't seem to have much in common, apart from their striking good looks. And Lily and Jack just seem to get each other. Is that the same thing as falling in love? And could she ever dream of betraying a friendship? Lily has to make some difficult decisions about work and home, and realises that if she doesn't take life by the scruff of the neck, she is the one who'll be picked up, shaken and dumped. 

This novel was so hilarious and I couldn't fault it. So many funny musings and laugh-out-loud / cringeworthy moments. I wish it didn't end so abruptly, but that's just because I could have kept reading it for days.

Delirium (Delirium #1) by Lauren Oliver

“One of the strangest things about life is that it will chug on, blind and oblivious, even as your private world - your little carved-out sphere - is twisting and morphing, even breaking apart. One day you have parents; the next day you're an orphan. One day you have a place and a path. The next day you're lost in the wilderness.
And still the sun rises and clouds mass and drift and people shop for groceries and toilets flush and blinds go up and down. That's when you realize that most of it - life, the relentless mechanism of existing - isn't about you. It doesn't include you at all. It will thrust onward even after you've jumped the edge. Even after you're dead.” 

Ninety-five days, and then I'll be safe. I wonder whether the procedure will hurt. I want to get it over with. It's hard to be patient. It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn't touched me yet. Still, I worry. They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness. The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't. 

I loved this story, and was so addicted! It was easy to read and I didn't have to use too much brain power to follow what was happening, but it definitely didn't put me to sleep either. 

I have a feeling that i'll be thinking about it for a while wondering what happens in the second instalment, but I just don't feel committed enough to read it just yet (and I don't read much of this genre generally).

Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern

“Twice we stood beside each other at the altar, Rosie. Twice. And twice we got it wrong. I needed you to be there for my wedding day but I was too stupid to see that I needed you to be the reason for my wedding day. But we got it all wrong.” 

From the bestselling author of PS, I Love You comes a delightfully enchanting novel about what happens when two people who are meant to be together just can't seem to get it right.

Rosie and Alex are destined for one another, and everyone seems to know it but them. Best friends since childhood, their relationship gets closer by the day, until Alex gets the news that his family is leaving Dublin and moving to Boston. At 17, Rosie and Alex have just started to see each other in a more romantic light. Devastated, the two make plans for Rosie to apply to colleges in the U.S.

She gets into Boston University, Alex gets into Harvard, and everything is falling into place, when on the eve of her departure, Rosie gets news that will change their lives forever: She's pregnant by a boy she'd gone out with while on the rebound from Alex.

Her dreams for college, Alex, and a glamorous career dashed, Rosie stays in Dublin to become a single mother, while Alex pursues a medical career and a new love in Boston. But destiny is a funny thing, and in this novel, structured as a series of clever e-mails, letters, notes, and a trail of missed opportunities, Alex and Rosie find out that fate isn't done with them yet.

From the gifted author of PS, I Love You comes this charming, romantic, addictively page-turning novel that will keep readers laughing and guessing until the very last page. 

I'm finding it really hard to review this book - it has everything I love in a story…love, sarcasm and a socially awkward lead female, but I think the thing that is holding me back from really loving this book, as opposed to it just being good, is that the back and forth between Rosie and Alex just went on a bit too long.  I was almost going to start actually yelling at the book telling them to hurry up and sort their stuff out and, then WHAM! …the book jumped ahead some more years and it ended!

Don't get me wrong, yes it went a bit more in-depth than your typical love story, but the characters were never boring, there was always some dysfunctional thing going on that made me giggle. And the relationship between Rosie and Alex, although frustratingly drawn out, was sweet.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I think this might be one of the rare times that I prefer a movie over a book!

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

A stunning debut about how grief can open the world in magical ways.

After her best friend dies in a drowning accident, Suzy is convinced that the true cause of the tragedy was a rare jellyfish sting. Retreating into a silent world of imagination, she crafts a plan to prove her theory--even if it means traveling the globe, alone. Suzy's achingly heartfelt journey explores life, death, the astonishing wonder of the universe...and the potential for love and hope right next door. 

This is one of those books that I was hooked on from the first few pages. It made me look at grief from another perspective, when you just can't handle reality so you fixate on anything to help distract you and try to create another ending.

Behind the intelligent yet slightly dorky musings of the main characters, Suzy, were some pretty important messages for YA about bullying, the pressure you can feel to fit in, the struggles of High School, and on top of that, there were some pretty cool facts about Jellyfish! (I never realised how interesting Jellyfish were - when I came to the end of the book, I actually spent another 30 minutes googling random facts about them! To me that's a sign of a good story, if it makes you keep thinking about it after you've finished.)

A short but bitter-sweet story (I finished reading it in 2 days!) It left me feeling very similar to Incredibly Loud and Extremely Close and The Age of Miracles with their quirky out-of-place teenage angst and nostalgic for something I can't quite put my finger on. 

Wonder by R.J. Palacio, Raquel Jaramillo

“It's like people you see sometimes, and you can't imagine what it would be like to be that person, whether it's somebody in a wheelchair or somebody who can't talk. Only, I know that I'm that person to other people, maybe to every single person in that whole auditorium. To me, though, I'm just me. An ordinary kid.” 

“Here’s what I think: the only reason I’m not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way.” - August

You can't blend in when you were born to stand out.
My name is August. I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.

August Pullman wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things. He eats ice cream. He plays on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside.

But Auggie is far from ordinary. Ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go.

Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life, in an attempt to protect him from the cruelty of the outside world. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?

Narrated by Auggie and the people around him whose lives he touches forever, Wonder is a funny, frank, astonishingly moving debut to read in one sitting, pass on to others, and remember long after the final page.

This was a really touching story. I loved that August was so positive (mostly) and that he had a great personality. I think an important great message in this book is that with the right attitude, you can overcome many obstacles. 

Don't get me wrong, there were parts of this book that really broke my heart (*sniff sniff, the Halloween incident) but by the end of it, I was feeling optimistic with my belief that in general the majority of people are good, still in tact.

This is a book I would recommend every YA should read, and hopefully it will help them feel a bit more empathy and show a bit more kindness for those who are different to themselves. Being a teenager is hard enough as it is, there is so much pressure to be 'cool', and that can often mean that even the nicer kids can be not so nice at times (eg Jack's brother in this particular story). 

A short, but sweet story. I loved it.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

“Did anyone really know their child? Your child was a little stranger, constantly changing, disappearing and reintroducing himself to you. New personality traits could appear overnight.” 

Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads:

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?).

Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the school parent body. But royalty often comes at a price, and Celeste is grappling with how much more she is willing to pay.

New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for the nanny. Jane is sad beyond her years and harbors secret doubts about her son. But why? While Madeline and Celeste soon take Jane under their wing, none of them realizes how the arrival of Jane and her inscrutable little boy will affect them all.

Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive.

I don't know why, but I didn't think I was going to enjoy this book, despite having a number of friends recommend it, and the great rating on Goodreads. I think the way it jumped to the internee comments at the beginning of each chapter initially confused me too much.

But within a few chapters I was addicted! So much so that I finished the entire book in 3 days!

The characters were charming and funny (especially Madeline and her feisty comments!), and although it touched on some serious topics like domestic violence, bullying and assault, it was written in such a light-hearted way it was hard not to smile sometimes.

It does give you a good reminder though, that you should never judge a book by it's cover...