Month: July 2021

‘Hexed: Don’t Get Mad, Get Powers’ – Julia Tuffs

Jessie Jones has got used to moving schools regularly, being the new face and trying to do enough not to get noticed. However, when her mum moves the family back to her hometown, things are not quite as straightforward as she might have hoped.
Trying to fly under the radar might work out okay for most…but when you find your darkest wishes suddenly manifesting in front of you it’s a sign something strange is going on. Jessie finds herself wondering how she’s managed to turn the face of popular bully boy Callum acne-ridden, and how her desire for a boy to get caught out in his lies can result in his nose suddenly growing. What she’s not expecting is the revelation that she’s a witch.
The stereotype of witches is definitely challenged here. Jessie and her family come from a long line of witches, and their powers can come in useful.
There’s a bit of silliness at first with talk of witchcraft being used to rectify awful cooking or to conjure up the perfect bath. But in Hexed we have a superficially funny tale – of a girl who learns she’s a witch coming into her powers – that is used to deliver a very important message about women in society.
From early on we can see things on the island are not quite right. Women are treated badly…and these misogynistic views are held under scrutiny with the focus on behaviour in Jessie’s school. From the casual scoring system of rating girls’ attractiveness to the leery comments and tales of poor behaviour. There’s a clear culture of sexism and this book shows one girl’s attempts to take on and challenge these views.
While it might not exactly be smashing the patriarchy Hexed shows sexism is still an issue and ought to be challenged, by everyone. Along the way, there’s some other useful life lessons challenging attitudes and pushing back bit by bit. A tale that should be shared every day…not just Wednesdays!
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this before publication.

 

‘Blackout’ – Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk and Nicola Yoon

Blackout is a collection of short stories from some fantastic contemporary writers. The premise is straightforward – New York City experiences a blackout and, in the time it takes for light to be restored, we are given an insight into some of the lives of those caught up in the experience.
The six writers involved in this collaboration talk about being keen to show the lives of black teens and to try to ensure a fairer representation for readers. It is clear they are a tight-knit group of writers/friends, and it does seem to have been an interesting collaboration since there are strands running throughout the stories.
The afterword stresses that this book began as a project doing the unsettling first period of adjusting to life in Covid-affected times. Drawing on a common experience, and showing how just one moment can impact on the lives of many is clearly at the fore of the stories. They all explore love – in some form – and the stories/experiences are varied (just as you would expect in life).
Naturally, some of the stories are more engaging than others. I’d hazard a guess that every reader will find a favourite set of characters/story, and it might not necessarily be the one written by the author that you would predict. The story by Tiffany Jackson acts as a framing device for all the stories, and though we spend more time with them these two characters still felt as if there could be more to come from their story.
For me, each story focused on a moment and captured a reaction/thought/idea. They were all cautiously optimistic and offered readers the opportunity to draw a little closer. This might not be the kind of story collection I’d return to time and time again, but I’d certainly recommend it to readers looking for something a little different from writers they are familiar with.

 

‘Five Minds’ – Guy Morpuss

From the moment I’d seen the teasers about Five Minds appearing on Twitter, I was eagerly awaiting my opportunity to read this. I’d trawled Morpuss’s website and played the games (I struggled to even think about which option I’d go for). Eventually I struck lucky and was granted access by NetGalley to read this before publication. All I had to do was write my honest thoughts. That sounds straightforward, but having just finished Five Minds my mind seems incapable of coherent thought!

So, let’s look at what we are told beforehand…

Five Minds is set in an alternate future. In an attempt to control the Earth’s growing population lifespans are carefully monitored, and people are made to choose their life at seventeen. Some become workers…they are educated for the next five years and then take their chance as to what comes next. Some become andis…their minds are uploaded into a body requiring little physical maintenance. They are granted a lifespan of eighty years. A few become hedonists. This group have wealth and are granted free choice…but they die at forty-two. The last group are, perhaps, the hardest to understand. The schizos. Five minds are merged in one body, each having control of it for a four hour period in the day. Each mind is granted a lifespan of twenty-five years, and the host can be updated regularly. Their life ends after the fifth mind has had their twenty-five years.

Our focus is on one schizo group, or commune. Alex, Dan, Kate, Sierra and Mike have been together for some time. They regularly compete in the Death Parks, underground competitions allowing people to try and win additional time. When Kate is offered the chance to win an obscene amount of life, she takes it. Unfortunately, it results in one of their group disappearing. No one seems to know what’s happened, but all too quickly it becomes apparent that someone does…and until this person is caught, the commune is at risk.

The concept of a group under threat isn’t new. But the idea that the murderer could well be one of the minds within the commune lends it a chilling feel. As soon as the murder element comes to the fore it becomes a very different style of book to read. I was gripped, and found myself wholly immersed in the story as I tried to work out who was behind it and how – or if – they would succeed.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Viper books for letting me read this early, and thank you to Guy Morpuss for a fascinating debut that makes me wonder what on earth could come next.

 

‘As Good as Dead’ – Holly Jackson

When I finished Book Two in the series I was struck by the shift into darkness – perhaps inevitable for a true crime focus – but nothing prepared me for the developments we see in As Good as Dead. In this stunning finale to the trilogy (and, boy, does that pain me to write) Pip is thrust into a position it’s hard to imagine…and nobody could come out of that unscathed.

When the book opens, Pip is preparing for her new life at Cambridge. Superficially, her life is good, but the signs are there that events have taken their toll. Pip is far from alright. She’s not sleeping, her nerves are shredded and she seems to be developing a sense of paranoia when she is convinced that the little chalk figures appearing on her driveway, the online death threats and the nuisance phone calls she is receiving are connected. In spite of promises to her parents, Pip needs something to take her mind off things…so she turns to what she knows best. Murders.

 

Pip starts looking into the stalking incidents that the police refuse to take seriously. They share an alarming link with the profile attributed to the DT killer, a recent case where five young women were found murdered. But the DT killer has been behind bars for six years. He confessed, so it can’t be him.

If someone were in this situation they might be reassured, but not Pip. She is unsettled by the links and digs deeper. What if the confession was, as the killer’s mother is convinced, given under duress? Could the real DT killer still be at large? Could Pip be the killer’s intended sixth victim?

This is the point that I give no more details, as the enjoyment of this story really does come from following Pip on her journey and being given access to her thought process as the events she has started to investigate take an incredibly personal – and increasingly sinister – turn. I was – on more than one occasion – stunned by what I was reading. It is haunting, and made me review my thoughts on certain characters and even the events covered in the previous books in the series. When this is published in August I cannot wait to see the reactions…

Holly Jackson, I never imagined you’d go there…what a character you have made us come to love (which makes the events of this book even more difficult to process) and I am so grateful to the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this prior to publication.

 

‘Beartown’ – Fredrick Backman

Beartown is one of those books that will haunt me, and though the subject matter has been done before there was nothing routine about this.

I have loved all of the books by Backman that I have read, and though I’d had this on my radar for a while I had never really felt in the mood for reading it. The subject of rape and how it is dealt with in the community is always problematic, and this is entirely true in the community of Beartown.

People say Beartown is finished…But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded town. And that rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior hockey team is about to compete in the national championships, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of the town now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

With that kind of power comes responsibility, and Beartown poses some interesting questions about the extent to which we are – as a community – repsonsible for the conduct of those within it.

The opening chapter gripped me from the off, and I loved the realisation (once I eventually got to the end) that it wasn’t quite what I expected. The novel focuses initially on the setting up of Beartown as a community. It is a crumbling town, where people are moving away in droves and it takes a particular kind of hardy soul to make their life there. The majority of inhabitants are obsessed with ice hockey – and though this is not a sport I have much experience of, the role of the team in the lives of the players and how sport can affect the community is pivotal. Understanding the sense of belonging the team gives to the boys is crucial – as it explains (though in no way justifies) the way some of them behave later.

In celebration of their achievements on the ice, the star player hosts a party. It’s been done before. Unfortunately, this time the fifteen year old daughter of the team manager is invited. Maya is naive, but it does not excuse what Kevin does. He rapes her…and what happens next is, sadly, all too common.

Maya is determined, eventually, to be brave. She does not hide away, though she knows the devastation her telling the truth will cause. The repercussions in the community are far-reaching and few are unaffected. However, it was a thought-provoking exploration of character to consider how each of our large cast responded to the events talked about.

There are a lot of characters within these pages, and each of them has a story to tell. Backman shows us their lives – their often miserable, petty lives – but he bestows on them a gravitas and dignity that I found myself admiring. Some of them are more endearing than others, but I liked the fact that Backman shows us each of them without hiding their flaws.

As we drew close to the end there was a clear sense of trying to prepare us for the story continuing in the second book, Us Against You. I have to say that I cannot wait to read it.

 

‘The Gilded Cage’ – Lynette Noni

Due out in October 2021, I’m hugely grateful to have been given the opportunity to read this in advance of publication thanks to the publishers and NetGalley…and now I am in eager anticipation of book three.

The Gilded Cage opens with Kiva going to stay with Jaren. They have become close, and – for obvious reasons – Kiva is worried about her growing affection for this man who’s come to mean so much to her. He saved her during the Trial by Ordeal, and she cares for him, but her mission weighs heavily on her mind.

Much of the book focuses on the growing threat from the Rebels, and though we don’t get a lot of detail it is clear that there’s a more strategic fight going on than we’re told about. Jaren and his family are fighting to save the King, and to try to keep their people safe.

From the outset, I was curious to see how Kiva would adjust to her new situation. She finds it hard to trust people, but a couple of key moments within the book show us that learning to trust your own judgment is often the hardest battle. Much of her battle lies with her growing unease at what she has been charged with doing now she has come to see that things are not as clearcut as she has been led to believe.

After the revelations that come thick and fast at the end of this, it’s even harder to see how Kiva can hope to maintain the sense of equilibrium she had discovered thanks to Cal’s training and the support of those she trusts.

This is such a hard review to write as I don’t want to let crucial plot details slip. The pacing drew me in and I felt like I’d been put through the proverbial wringer by the end of it. There were highs…and lows…and I am genuinely excited to see how Noni continues this enthralling tale.

 

‘But for the Mountains’ – Erin Riha

 

The title of this story comes from a story retold late on in the book but which is central to the theme at the heart of this novel…that of survival. But for the Mountains focuses on the story of Arden, a young girl who has endured horrific abuse at the hands of those who should be protecting her, and how she learns to find ways to accept this element of her past and move into a new future.

While the story of survival and the character of Arden herself were engaging, I don’t feel this worked as effectively as it might have because of some of the other plot elements.

Our story is set in the fictional world of Nordania. There are many places within the country mentioned, but I never felt I really was given much to picture the world or how it came to be. We are, however, told that each year there is a group of young women who are sent to the National Institute in order to learn how to rise to their potential role within society – and, though this is never explicitly encouraged, the main aim is to secure a potential match for the Prime Minister’s son.

As a number of reviewers have commented, the competition between a group of young women to secure the hand in marriage of someone important has been done before. It is very reminiscent of The Selection – even down to the backstabbing and machinations to beat their rivals – but it was only once I got to the end of the book that I started to feel this was merely a device to allow the author to convey her message about the society, what these girls endure and how all who ‘look the other way’ are complicit in the abuse.

Arden herself is a character I found intriguing. She is broken, but by the end she is fighting and I definitely liked the way she ended the book. Her relationship with Beck was a curious one, and I’m convinced there is more to this man than meets the eye – how else could he get away with so much?

While there are elements of this book I found did not engage me, it certainly showed us a character determined not to give up, someone you want to succeed and a very real suggestion that she might do okay – in spite of the barriers placed in her way.

‘GIRL (in real life) ‘ – Tamsin Winter

Girl (in real life) is a great teen read, broaching the topic of social media and the extent to which we invite unknown people into our lives while showing us a character trying to come to terms with who she is.

Eva is – in many ways – a typical girl…but since she was young her parents have vlogged about her. Videos of her hamster’s funeral and ‘cute’ events in her life have been viewed by thousands of people. She’s used to her home time being carefully orchestrated to protect ‘the brand’. As she’s grown up, however, Eva is more conscious of how this constant presence invades her life. Schoolmates mock her, some find it entertaining…but when her mum posts about her first period Eva decides enough is enough.

Eva tries to explain her reluctance – and her parents were portrayed as highly insensitive in this regard. But nothing changes.

As we can see coming a mile off, Eva takes matters into her own hands and enlists the help of a new student to reclaim her life. Badly thought out, messy, but it doesn’t totally backfire so Eva is happy enough and their comfortable ‘real life’ funded lifestyle isn’t affected.

With the younger audience in mind it doesn’t do anything than skirt a very complex issue. It is from Eva’s perspective so it’s quite easy to see it in isolation, but it’s a good starting point.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication in exchange for my honest review.

‘That Weekend’ – Kara Thomas

That Weekend hooked me from the outset…Claire wakes up, bloodied, in a wood, with no recollection of recent days. She is rescued, taken to hospital and we immediately wonder what happened. It’s clear she has suffered, but the fragments of memory she has of the night suggest there is more to this. Of course there is!

Claire was with her best friends, Kat and Jesse. They are nowhere to be found, and soon things head into what feels like a fairly typical mystery. The FBI are called to search…wealthy family are desperate for news, and the media whip up a frenzy to suggest Claire knows more than she lets on.

Before long we are getting flashbacks so we learn a little more of the dynamic between these three, and what might have happened. The book is split into clearly defined sections and – at least initially – we are led into fraught scenarios, desperate to piece things together.

I found it quite frustrating to be in the position of not knowing more than Claire, waiting to learn what had happened.

There were so many possibilities, and I think I was convinced of the guilt of at least three characters. The truth was more complex than I imagined, and though this was interesting it did feel somewhat skimmed over in order to move the story on. However, it was a great story with characters who were easy to empathise with, even if they weren’t particularly likeable..