UKYA Day: Spot the UKYA Books!

If you didn't know about UKYA day - where have you been?! The awesome Lucy from Queen of Contemporary and also Project UKYA has organised an April Extravaganza squished full of all things UKYA: posts, twitter chats and live chats with VIDEOS!

Today is the 19th April and if you haven't heard the 19th April is UKYA day!! A day where bloggers are posting their celebration post onto the internet world to share the love for the UKYA authors and novels!

So, I call mine 'Spot the UKYA Books.' 

One extract, 13 UKYA books - easy, right?

Four clues below if you get stuck, but they aren't all very obvious....

HAVE FUN!! 

GO GO GO!

It’s quiet. The sea water ripples back and forth and the stars light the sky with the moon watching over them. He’s sitting close to me. His leg on mine, his arm wrapped round my back and my head on his chest. His heat radiating onto me.

“I’m not ready to say it yet. I feel the same but just give me time.” I say, he gives me the look and sighs.

My name is Mina. I’m the girl who watches Disney fairytale films and reads sappy books packed with romance. Before meeting him I believed in prince charmings and soulmates. I've soon learnt that that's not the case in any relationship but I like to stay optimistic. Hopeful that there will be that someone who I'll be with forever. How we ended up together is beyond me. I’m an utter geek girl.  I’m scared of anything unpredictable. Something abnormal. Something that evokes trouble. And he sits as the complete opposite of me.

 I rest my head back over his heart. His chest rising and falling with every breath, I feel him draw me closer and he plants a kiss on my forehead and asks if I’m cold. I shake my head.

I never believed the difficulties in books.  They all seemed so petty. I never thought something so small could destroy something that felt like an all time high.  But it did. I was caught up in cloud nine that I didn't even notice the obvious rumour that was floating around. So blatantly obvious, but I was being so naive I ignored it. It hit me in full force. I felt robbed. Stolen from. Nothing screams “dead romantic” more than finding out he was with another girl on Valentine’s Day. A day which he said he’d be spending the evening with his sick grandma. My heart ached from sheer pain. I cried until my body was drained from all its water.  People would say her name and the knife would plunge further, twisting in my gut. I hated what he’d done to me. I was so dense that I never stopped to think about our pacing. I agreed with myself that a break from him was best. Sorting myself out before going ahead to salvage the remains. Even after what he’d done, I never gave him a chance to explain. Apparently he got it worse than me, strange since it was his doing.

It’s not hard to guess what happened next. Bit by bit he earned my trust back. Maybe I should have been harder on him. He shattered my world, I should have destroyed his. But where would that leave us? I’m not that heartless and if there’s a way to resolve something, I will.

That summer he took me to the fun fair along the river. Merry go rounds, small roller coasters, haunted mansions, all the thrills and chills of the crazy pop-up fun fairs. We howled out laughs, I felt giddy and full of energy. In that moment, everything felt perfect. I was living someone else’s life that night. The fair made me forget what happened in the past. Everything seemed to click in the split second whilst on top of the ferris wheel and I forgave him.

The tides bring me back to the shore, the water reaching for my feet before unwillingly pulling back. I move under his arm and look up. The moonlight defining his jawline and his eyes seemed to have intensified. His mouth draws up in the corner and All my thoughts become banished. He smells like the ocean. He smells like home.

“I love you.” 

CLUES!

Book titles and the amount of letters per title (random order):

Book titles in order of appearance in text:

Title acronyms (random order): 

The authors (random order):

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Answers sit below the stars!!

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The Look by Sophia Bennett     

        

My Name is Mina by David Almond

Soulmates by Holly Bourne

Geek Girl by Holly Smale

Trouble by Non Pratt

Stolen by Lucy Christopher

Say Her Name by James Dawson

Dead Romantic by CJ Skuse

Salvage by Keren David 

Shattered (Slated #3) by Teri Terry

          

Someone Else’s Life by Katie Dale

Split Second by Sophie Mckenzie

Banished by Liz de Jager 

Ah, that was fun right? Well, I hope you had a good time 'spotting' the books, it was nice to revisit one of my really old pieces. How many did you get? Leave it in the comments below and compare with others!

Thanks for checking out my post and be sure to use the #UKYA to join in the fun all day today!!

Book Review: Heart-Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne

Title: Heart-Shaped Bruise
Author: Tanya Byrne 
Published: 10th May 2012 (Headline)
Pages: 336

They say I'm evil. The police. The newspapers. The girls from school who shake their heads on the six o’clock news and say they always knew there was something not quite right about me. And everyone believes it. Including you. But you don't know. You don't know who I used to be. 

Who I could have been.

Awaiting trial at Archway Young Offenders Institution, Emily Koll is going to tell her side of the story for the first time. 

Heart-Shaped Bruise is a compulsive and moving novel about infamy, identity and how far a person might go to seek revenge. [Via Goodreads]

My Thoughts:
I read this book after reading Dawson's books and it definitely brought the pacing down in comparison. It was slower paced but that didn't stop me from enjoying it, it definitely added to the eeriness to the book.

The layout of the novel was as if reading from a diary. We read about Emily almost in reverse order, as we know that she has done something, we just need to find out what and the 'deeper' answer to why. I loved reading about her session with her therapists as the story unfolds. She did everything with a purpose but with her reasoning I did find her a little weird. Her mind works in an odd way, which I didn't really see eye to eye with, but then the story really wouldn't of gone anywhere if she did what I would of done. 

What freaked me out at the beginning was the times when Emily, spoke to the audience.*shivers* But at least it didn't happen as often, which disappointed me a little, and yet was grateful there was a stop to it because...it just freaked me out a little, with the already eerie storytelling and... *shivers*

It was a neatly tied ending and I can't complain for that. Nearer the mid-point I did foresee what was going to happen and for me, that's what brought this book down a bit. 

It was a good read and I'd recommend it for those who prefer the easier going crime-type books. It was super easy to get through!

Book Review: Cruel Summer by James Dawson

Title: Cruel Summer
Author: James Dawson
Published: 1st August 2013 (Indigo)
Pages:324


Summary: 
A year after Janey’s suicide, her friends reunite at a remote Spanish villa, desperate to put the past behind them. However, an unwelcome guest arrives claiming to have evidence that Jane was murdered. When she is found floating in the pool, it becomes clear one of them is a killer. Only one thing is for certain, surviving this holiday is going to be murder…

A compelling and psychological thriller - with a dash of romance. [Via Goodreads]

My Thoughts
It's hard when the first book I read by Dawson was 5 stars, but the only reason for the 4 stars is because I didn't get the full surprise I wanted at the end (I saw what Dawson was doing and actually got my guesses right!!) 

Nevertheless, this book contained every obvious horror movie convention: the killer on the loose...scary silhouette, a dark cellar and, of course, deaths. With the twist of the horror format, this book twisted my guts even more than Hollow Pike because of these "horror conventions" that are build to be suspenseful and shocking. Every sentence screamed: "YOU ARE ALL SCREWED! SOMETHING BAD WILL HAPPEN!" - literally....and it got me every time..

'But he didn't check everywhere.' Katie's voice was full of apprehension. 'Nobody looked in the cellar...' 

Dun dun DUNNNN!!!

I really loved Ryan. He was the key person who brought up the questions and pushed forward, equally loving his narration! (Well I loved the whole structure of the book). Like I said in my Hollow Pike review, I could imagine it on TV. Then I read this book, BAM, the layout is as if I'm watching a TV show! Nice nice, I like it...bonus points there! ;-) But it was more because of Ryan's way of thinking about life and I thought it was a really interesting way on looking at life (but then not really agreeing).

Even with the situation of the book, I liked how there was a merge of other themes that came with an individual. I think I am speaking more about Gregg. 

The highlights were when we got to read about two characters having a private conversation, which seemed to happen a lot in this book (Oooo, so many secrets!!!). These scenes are where we get to suss out our suspects as well as get our flash backs on the events surrounding Janey. 

Definitely a book to read.

Your mind won't be put to rest until the end...literally! 


** When I was telling my friend about Hollow Pike and Cruel Summer, she asked: "Did James Dawson just have a horrible time with teens and want to murder them all?" - I laughed. But a good question, don't you think? ;P

Book Review: Hollow Pike by James Dawson

Title: Hollow Pike
Author: James Dawson
Published: 2nd February 2012 (Orion Children's Books)
Pages: 416

She thought she’d be safe in the country, but you can’t escape your own nightmares, and Lis London dreams repeatedly that someone is trying to kill her. Lis thinks she’s being paranoid - after all who would want to murder her? She doesn’t believe in the local legends of witchcraft. She doesn’t believe that anything bad will really happen to her. You never do, do you? Not until you’re alone in the woods, after dark - and a twig snaps... Hollow Pike - where witchcraft never sleeps. [Via Goodreads]

My Thoughts:
I've had this book on my TBR shelf for a while, I bought it back in October (I think),  but was never really in the mood to read it. I'm currently in the "fairies, magic and witches" sort of mood, so what book fits one of those categories? Hollow Pike.

Wow. Just wow.

I've never held my breath so much throughout a book. Descriptions where written so well without it feeling too overwhelming and I felt like I was watching a TV series *cough cough* Yeah, I can imagine this being a TV series, every little scene in this book. (Not a movie because I feel that it can end on so many cliff-hangers at the end of each episode...and it's worth more than an hour long film! :P )

I was gripped to the book as soon as I started. I cannot think of a fault at all. The pace was perfect and I don't know how Dawson was able to keep it so suspenseful, making me frantically reading on until revealing the answers on the last pages. 

A creepy and eerie factor that I loved were from those figures were stalking Lis. But then the idea of paranoia also slips in and thinking back, yes, it does seem to run really closely to The Crucible (which I also had to study in GCSE like Lis - I hated it). This was almost like a modern day twist of the novel and it was perfect. 

"From the tangled bushes at the end of the garden, a figure watched the house intently. Pale fingers pulled leaves aside, seeking a better view of the building." 

WHO? WHEN? WHY? HOW?

Even with the gritty storyline, I think that the draw was the characters. I, strangely, really wanted to be friends with Lis as soon as I started reading about her. She seemed so down to earth and although initially siding with Laura, she did everything that I would of done in the end. I never once got annoyed at any of the characters for keeping secrets from the police, which I think is really difficult to do because there's always that thin line between annoying and being tolerable. 

HIGH RECOMMEND! 

If you don't follow through by reading it, I really do think you're missing out on some really good UKYA!

Book Review: Submarine by Joe Dunthorne

Title: Submarine
Author: Joe Dunthorne
Published: 2011 (Penguin)
Pages: 290

At once a self-styled social scientist, a spy in the baffling adult world, and a budding, hormone-driven emotional explorer, Oliver Tate is stealthily nosing his way forward through the murky and uniquely perilous waters of adolescence. His objectives? Uncovering the secrets behind his parents' teetering marriage, unraveling the mystery that is his alluring and equally quirky classmate Jordana Bevan, and understanding where he fits in among the mystifying beings in his orbit. Struggling to buoy his parents' wedded bliss, deep-six his own virginity, and sound the depths of heartache, happiness, and the business of being human, what's a lad to do? Poised precariously on the cusp of innocence and experience, Oliver Tate aims to damn the torpedoes and take the plunge. [via goodreads]

My Thoughts:
I'm just going to be honest and lay it all out. I'd never heard of Joe Dunthorne before (I have seen the movie poster before if that counts?). But anyway, Joe came to my college for a talk so I thought, it's time I pick up his book!

The novel is split into three parts. Each part focusing more on a different topic, part 1: Oliver Tate, part 2: his dad, part 3: his mum. I was quite surprised by this read. I didn't really see how the balance of humour on a topic that the book carries could work. But it did. 

Favourite part of the book? I really loved the "word of the day" sections that appear every time Oliver wrote into his diary. 

"Word of the Day: lemon - informally used to mean unsatisfactory, defective"

I'm not sure if the book really "filled" me though. There's humour, yeah, but the topics were put into a really odd way, Oliver's trail of thinking was distant whilst I read and there was nothing for me to connect with. He's a bit of a weird character, sticks out quite a bit. He's got his own mind set.

It's an alright read. Maybe read it for the layout. But overall I wouldn't be jumping at it.

Time To Choose Some Reading Challenges...

So it's time.

Having rebooted my blog in the middle of the year and engulfing the book blogging life, a new year is arriving and I must choose a book challenge for 2014!

Ok - so I've been digging around trying to find a reading challenge that is a real "challenge." One which I love is the Rewind 2014 Challenge - but the books I read are already normally delayed compared to others as I rarely buy books on the same year as published! 

So it got me thinking, I can set myself my own challenge right? So here we go...