Review: Scars Like Wings by Erin Stewart

Scars Like Wings by Erin Stewart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Scars Like Wings—wow, what can I say about this book? It’s just amazing.

I was actually reading two other books when I saw I’d been approved for this title on Netgalley, and the premise of Scars Like Wings meant I abandoned my other reads and dove right in.

This book is incredible. It’s so poignant and powerful, as it tells the story of Ava, a burn survivor, as she comes to terms with the fire that took her parents and cousin and marked her body.

The writing style was just beautiful, so evocative. I particularly loved the snapshots we see of the days after the fire—they were so emotive.

One thing I loved about this book was the disability rep. Piper is a wheelchair user, and she was definitely my favourite character. She’s so well developed and has her own full arc in the story, alongside Ava.

In fact, all the characters are believable and really well-written. There’s petty high school drama and more serious conflict between them that mirrors the internal conflict Ava struggles with as she re-adapts to life and her new body.

One thing I really liked was the romantic sub-plot. (Some spoilers ahead!) The romance between Ava and Asad built up well, I was really believing it—and then, bam! That twist. It totally made sense. I felt Ava’s humiliation and hurt.

But at the same time, I’m glad she didn’t need a romance in order to heal. I’m disabled myself—and though my situation is different to Ava’s and Piper’s—I’m always super disappointed in books where romance is used to heal the character and make them see they still have worth. That was really where I thought Scars Like Wings was going at first, and so I’m very pleased it didn’t. We see Ava make the journey to heal by herself, with support from her friends, rather than making it all about how love has saved her.

All in all, this is a powerful and important read. I loved the commentary about how disabled/disfigured people are not inspirations—as this is something I hear regularly in day-to-day life and I can’t tell you how much this annoys me. So it was great to see this point being put across so well.

This is a great book, and I’ll definitely be looking out for more by Erin Stewart in the future.

Highly recommended YA contemporary. Perfect for fans of Girl in Pieces.

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Blog Tour: STARBOUND by S.E. Anderson - Exclusive Interview!

Hey everyone!

I am so excited today to be taking part in the blog tour for S.E. Anderson's next book! Starbound is the fifth book in the Starstruck Saga, and honestly, I can't wait to read this one! (Especially after the cliffhanger Celestial left us on!)

I'm lucky enough to be great friends with S.E. Anderson, and she's agreed to do an exclusive interview with me, all about Starbound!

But first, let's look at this gorgeous promo image!

Aren't the colours just stunning?

This book is published by Bolide Publishing, and S.E. Anderson also designs her own covers for this series (aside from being an amazing writer and scientist, she also works as a cover designer!). I just love looking at her work, and I can only imagine how much more special it makes her books for her, knowing she also designed the covers and truly captured her vision.

Anyway, onto the interview!

What’s your favourite scene in Starbound?

Not to give any spoilers, but the villain of the novel gives Sally an impossible choice to make; I cried when writing the scene. It’s the strongest Sally has ever been and I wish I could have that strength myself. What can we expect to see from Sally and Zander in this book?

Sally and Zander’s relationship is the ultimate long distance- when you have light years between you, it’s going to be tough to know what’s going on. Both need to grow a little on their own before we can reach the moment readers have been begging me for since book one.
I heard it’s the first book of the series with multiple narrators. Why did you decide to do this and how did you find writing different perspectives?

Since Sally and Zander are separated so dramatically, I thought it was essential we still see his side of the story. For our perspective, Zander fell into Sally’s life; but Zander has led a full, mildly-infinite life on his end before the two of them met. Through his perspective, I could finally explore the mysteries of his past... and have a little fun showing Blayde and Zander’s usual dynamic without Sally in the picture!
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome in writing the next instalment of the Starstruck Saga?

Starbound was by far the hardest book I ever had to write. Mostly I had to overcome myself; I didn’t think would be able to write it. It scared me. There was so much I wanted to say but I didn’t know if I had the words to say them. But Sally’s growth was already there, and she, at least, was ready for this adventure. So all I had to do was follow her!

Starbound releases on August 20th! I've already got my pre-order in and can't wait to read book 5 of this amazing sci-fi comedy series!

Review: LAST GIRL LIED TO By L.E. Flynn

Last Girl Lied To by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Something made him angry that night.
Something made her cry.
Something made Trixie disappear.
What if it was all the same thing?

Fiona claims she doesn't remember anything about the night her best friend left a party early and walked into the ocean. But the truth is, she wishes she could forget.

Trixie's disappearance is ruled a suicide, but Fiona starts to believe that Trixie isn't really dead. Piecing together the trail of a girl who doesn't want to be found leads her to Jasper, Trixie's former friend with benefits, and Beau--the boy who turned Fiona down, who loved someone else, who might be happy Trixie is gone.

The closer Fiona gets to finding out what happened, and the closer she gets to Jasper and Beau, the more she realizes that the girl she knew better than anyone may have been a carefully constructed lie--and she might have been waiting to disappear the entire time.

Told in alternating chapters between the past and the present, Last Girl Lied To is a gripping emotional thriller.

--

Last Girl Lied To is the first book by L.E Flynn that I’ve read, and I really enjoyed it. It’s a haunting read of loss and tragedy. Of mistakes and regrets. Of jealousy and dreams.

This book tells the story of Fiona as she struggles to process all her emotions around the disappearance and presumed death of her best friend Trixie. The writing is poetic in places and there are some really beautiful images inside these pages, with some absolutely killer cliffhangers. Seriously, some of the pages I just couldn’t turn fast enough!

All the characters in this book are so well written, they feel real and true, like people you could actually meet. At first, I struggled to relate to Fiona as I didn’t really understand who she was, but as I read on I realised this was an important theme in the novel—discovering who you are when you’re on your own, rather than knowing who you are depending on those you are around.

The thriller mystery part about what really happened to Trixie was tightly written with so many twists. I also loved how we only really see Trixie through Fiona’s eyes and the flashbacks, so there’s always the question of how reliable a narrator Fiona is, especially as we see how the different circumstances and situations she encounters rapidly changes her view of Trixie.

There are quite a lot of characters in this story, and many have complicated relationships. At times, I had forgotten a few of the details that were slipped into previous scenes but it was never enough that it meant I was lost. The writing was inviting and welcomed me into the story each time I sat down to continue it.

The romance in this book is well-written, and it builds naturally. I was a bit surprised by how quickly Fiona sleeps with her new boyfriend, but by the end of the book, the reason for this was clear.

The only thing I didn’t particularly like was how it was mentioned that the villain was sent to a psychiatric hospital, implying he’d committed murder because he was mad. I felt like this didn’t help some of the stigma around mental illness.

All in all, this is a fast-paced thriller and I recommend it.

A big thank you to the author and publisher for providing a free review copy of this book.

Review: TWO CAN KEEP A SECRET by Karen McManus

Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery's never been there, but she's heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows.

The town is picture-perfect, but it's hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone's declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Then, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing.

Ellery knows all about secrets. Her mother has them; her grandmother does too. And the longer she's in Echo Ridge, the clearer it becomes that everyone there is hiding something. The thing is, secrets are dangerous--and most people aren't good at keeping them. Which is why in Echo Ridge, it's safest to keep your secrets to yourself.

My rating: 4.5 stars.

This was so nearly a 5 star read. It was so close, by the end. But it was also so nearly a 3 star read near the beginning.

Let me explain.

This book starts off really well. I was immediately gripped by Ellery and Malcom's story. You've got family secrets, fascinating characters, decades-old mysteries, an intriguing cast, and missing prom queens. But from about the 15% mark to the 30% mark, I felt the pace slowed down a lot.

I was really struggling just to keep reading it. Until--bang. We get a second crime happening in the present timeline. (Spoilers ahead) As soon as Brooke goes missing, the pace picked up and I was eagerly reading. I felt like there really was a threat in the current time (rather than the emphasis being on the past crimes in the town), and it seemed like Ellery could really be in danger. I believed her fear at this point.

By this point, Two Can Keep A Secret was a solid 4 stars for me. And the thing that really made me like the book even more was the reveal of the villain (right to the end, I still had absolutely no idea who had done it) and the final line. Seriously, the final line changes everything. Karen McManus really is a master.

Ellery is a great main character, though it did take me a while to warm to her. I think partly it was because I was comparing her to the female narrators in McManus's first novel, and Ellery is really different.

I also found that Ellery and Malcom's narrative voices weren't as distinguishable from each other as the narrative voices in McManus's first book were, and a couple of times I did get confused about who was narrating each section--particularly as the narration doesn't always alternate between these two main characters.

But all in all, this is a solid YA thriller.

Review: BRAIN ON FIRE by Susannah Cahalan

An award-winning memoir and instant New York Times bestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, Brain on Fire is the powerful account of one woman’s struggle to recapture her identity.

When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?In a swift and breathtaking narrative, Cahalan tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family’s inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis that nearly didn’t happen.

My rating: 5 stars

Brain on Fire tells the story of Post journalist Susannah Cahalan, a seemingly healthy twenty-four-year-old as she is struck down with a variety of strange symptoms--seizures, obsession with bedbugs, flu, and hallucinations to name a few--and follows her frightening battle to get diagnosed.

I picked up this book shortly after I was diagnosed with a neuropsychiatric illness and had started writing my own memoir. I wanted to see how Susannah had written hers, and I'd already seen the Netflix adaptation of Brain on Fire, which I thought had been well done.

Like Susannah, I struggled to get a diagnosis and my problems were also assumed to be solely psychological at one point. I related so much to so many things she went through.

This book is wonderfully written. It's poignant and gives a thorough insight into what exactly Susannah experienced--even though a lot of it, she admits she can't remember. Instead, the passages around her month in hospital have been constructed from interviews, tape recordings, and diary entries her family made. Yet this passage is still told in first person. As such, when Susannah describes having a brain biopsy, there was something a little unnerving about hearing each step that was performed, but narrated by her, in first-person. It brought me out of the story a little.

There's a fair bit of medical terminology and medical explanations in here, and at times I found it a little dense. But it really helped to paint a good picture of this illness, and I'd highly recommend it.

Review: HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH THE DARK by Kathleen Glasgow

How to Make Friends with the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I should’ve been prepared for this book. I devoured Kathleen Glasgow’s first book, Girl In Pieces, and I should’ve known her second novel would be just as heart-wrenching, haunting, and powerful.

How to Make Friends With the Dark is the story of Tiger Tolliver as she struggles to cope with the sudden and unexpected death of her mother. These pages are filled with grief, loss, and guilt, and we REALLY feel Tiger’s emotions. This book had me crying in so many places.

Not only does Tiger have to cope with the sudden loss of her mother, but she’s also introduced to family members she didn’t know existed in the course of the book. As the book so elegantly puts it, she has to get used to living without her mother while at the same time get used to living with others who she doesn’t know. And she also goes through the foster care system and is also imprisoned for a brief while (which was a huge shock to me).

We see Tiger really change in this book. We see her angry, lashing out, causing criminal damage, yet we really feel her.

The language is emotive and the imagery beautiful. The words are just SO powerful. I can’t emphasise that enough.

We see a wide range of people in this book. The abusive parents and caregivers, the kind adults who are trying to make it better, the lost boys and girls, and the parents in prison, just to name a few.

The characters are all so real. I feel we could just meet them to easily in the street, in the library, at the gym. And that’s the thing. This book shows how these people are everywhere. And they’re not unusual.

I’m almost at a loss for word as I write this review, that’s how good this book was. Though it was really hard to read at times. But the main thing it teaches its readers is you never know what others are going through, but there is a way to make friends with the dark—the overwhelming grief.

Review: LITTLE MONSTERS by Kara Thomas

Little Monsters by Kara Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kara Thomas is an author who’s been recommended to me a number of times as I’ve been navigating my way through YA thrillers, and I finally had time to read one of her books, Little Monsters.

This story follows the story of Kacey, a girl new to town a year ago, who is now best friends with two girls. These girls definitely have the mean girls vibe present in Dana Mele’s People Like Us, and to some extent the tv show Pretty Little Liars (though Little Monsters has a darker, grittier tone). When Kacey’s best friends go to a party and she’s not invited, she wonders why they’re being distant. And then one of them, Bailey, fails to return home.

All eyes point to Kacey, and then her stepbrother, and the mystery unfolds with plenty of twists. In terms of engagement and pacing, this book started out so good. I was enthralled. The set-up is amazing. And the ending was equally good. For me, the middle felt a little flat. For a long time, the pacing seemed a little bit too slow. There were lots of twists there, don’t get me wrong, but I felt like something was lacking a little, perhaps because it started getting so complicated with more questions being raised and very few answers being given.

Having said that, I loved the characters and the family dynamics in particular. You’ve got the stepmother who’s very welcoming, more so than Kacey’s own father, the absent mother, the stepbrother who is a great friend, and the half-sister who dotes in Kacey. But there’s also something off about her, and it’s here where I got the same vibes as (spoiler alert!) Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects in terms of the little sister.

So let’s talk about the ending and the reveal of Bailey’s murderer. (Spoilers in this paragraph; skip ahead to the next one if you don’t want to know the identity of the murderer!) Given that we have the story told from both Kacey’s POV and the diary extracts of Bailey before she goes missing/is murdered, I felt so sure that the murderer was Jade, the other best friend as it had to be someone close to both of the narrators. But there was also something off about Lauren, the little sister, so to find out I was right about both of them was a great payoff. And it happened so quickly at the end. Suddenly, bam, it was there. And even though I’d worked out who it had to be, by process of deduction, the way the reveal unfurled was still engaging and I couldn’t read fast enough.

The final two lines of the book also provide another twist and make you see things differently, which I particularly loved.

All in all, this is a highly recommend thriller for young adults.

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