Trouble - Non Pratt

Pages: 384
Published: March 2014
Publisher: Walker Books

Blurb:

In this dazzling debut novel, a pregnant teen learns the meaning of friendship—from the boy who pretends to be her baby’s father.

When the entire high school finds out that Hannah Shepard is pregnant via her ex-best friend, she has a full-on meltdown in her backyard. The one witness (besides the rest of the world): Aaron Tyler, a transfer student and the only boy who doesn’t seem to want to get into Hannah’s pants. Confused and scared, Hannah needs someone to be on her side. Wishing to make up for his own past mistakes, Aaron does the unthinkable and offers to pretend to be the father of Hannah’s unborn baby. Even more unbelievable, Hannah hears herself saying “yes.”

Told in alternating perspectives between Hannah and Aaron, Trouble is the story of two teenagers helping each other to move forward in the wake of tragedy and devastating choices. As you read about their year of loss, regret, and hope, you’ll remember your first, real best friend—and how they were like a first love. 

Review:

Trouble is the best teen-pregnancy (I’m pretty sure that is a genre at this point) I’ve ever read. Going even further than that, this is probably one of the best contemporary novels I’ve read in the way it captured teenagers and their lives. I found myself reading this in only a few days, and I didn’t want to put it down. It’s been quite a while since I read this book, and I never took any notes, so this will be brief.

My favourite aspect of this book is definitely the characters. Hannah and Aaron are two of the best drawn teenagers in any contemporary. If you’re the sort of person who finds John Green’s teenagers a bit unbelievable, you will love the characters in this. Some of Pratt’s characters are complex and multidimensional, and some of them, like real people are just plain awful and stupid.

Hannah and her best friend Katie embody the cliché of the ‘teenage slut’, looked down upon by their peers, the authority figures in their lives, and even the guys they sleep with. The girls really highlight the double standard amongst teenagers and the prevalent idea that some girls are for sex, and other girls are for dating, and there can be no overlap. Through Katie and Hannah, Pratt explores the idea that teenage girls feel that their self worth is based on their social standing and how desired they are by their male peers. Pratt eventually shows us that this is not true, both of these aspects bring neither of the girls any happiness. Hannah is the first female protagonist I’ve ever read about that has a sex-drive. She talks openly about her desires and isn’t embarrassed by them. It makes a big change from nearly every other YA heroine.

The boys aren’t portrayed very well either. While Aaron is generally a good guy, most of the others aren’t good friends to each other and really disrespectful to their female peers. Pratt illustrates that awkward period of adolescence quite well. Both the boys and girls are unnecessarily mean and bitchy to each other for no there reason then increasing their social standing and appearing cooler or more popular. I think everyone who has ever been a teenager will recognise this stage, and cringe at the memories of all they got up to between the ages of fourteen and sixteen.

Despite the fact that Hannah decides to keep her baby, which could be seen as a Pro-Life agenda, I felt that this book was quite pro-choice. Hannah considers her options and figures out what is her best option, Hannah chooses to keep her baby because she feels that is what’s best for her. Pratt never gets preachy or evangelical about any particular agenda, and she stresses that every situation and every pregnant woman is different.

Guilt is a huge theme in this book. Aaron’s guilt is what drives him to volunteer to be Hannah’s fake ‘baby daddy’. His desire to atone for his mistakes is a huge driving factor for his behaviour and leads him to do some questionable things.

I would definitely recommend this book, and if I reread the book I would update this review to make it more comprehensive because there is so much more to talk about. This is a fantastic contemporary novel that can be enjoyed by adults and teenagers alike.

Five Stars *****

How to Be a Women - Caitlin Moran

Published: June 2011

Publisher: Ebury

Pages: 312

Blurb: Though they have the vote and the Pill and haven't been burned as witches since 1727, life isn't exactly a stroll down the catwalk for modern women. They are beset by uncertainties and questions: Why are they supposed to get Brazilians? Why do bras hurt? Why the incessant talk about babies? And do men secretly hate them?

Caitlin Moran interweaves provocative observations on women's lives with laugh-out-loud funny scenes from her own, from the riot of adolescence to her development as a writer, wife, and mother. With rapier wit, Moran slices right to the truth—whether it's about the workplace, strip clubs, love, fat, abortion, popular entertainment, or children—to jump-start a new conversation about feminism. With humor, insight, and verve, How To Be a Woman lays bare the reasons female rights and empowerment are essential issues not only for women today but also for society itself. 

Review:

I presumed that this book would be a sort of feminist text, it was being compared to the Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer (which I haven’t read yet, but is currently sitting in my to-be-read pile), but it is more of a memoir written under the influence of feminism.

Taking that into account this is an excellent memoir. Moran invites us unflinchingly into her life with what seems to be a no-holds-barred honesty. This was definitely a laugh-out-loud book, as I found myself chortling to myself on the train. Moran really embraces the idea ( which is my personal philosophy) that ‘It may be shit now, but some day it will make a great story’. And there are some absolutely wonderful stories woven into this novel. I left this novel wishing that Caitlin and I could be best friends, and wanting to read everything else she has ever written. The writing is humorous yet touching and serious and Moran really has the gift of storytelling. As a memoir, this is definitely one of the best.

However, as a feminist text, this book has some failings. Moran deals with personal feminism, ie all the times she has personally experienced sexism, been treated differently or unfairly because she was a woman, the effect her female anatomy has had on her, and when societies views and expectations of women have affected her. It’s definitely a personal  account of feminism. There are very little facts, figures and research (and go as far as to say none, but ‘m not completely sure and I don’t have the book anymore to check), and Moran gives her opinion on a lot of feminist issues, some of which I wouldn’t agree with. Although this is a personal text, I found myself relating to an awful lot of the experiences that Moran had, and I’m sure that most women will relate to at least one or two of them. This book deals with what I call ‘first world feminism’. Thankfully women are now able to divorce their husbands, get an education, have their own job and support themselves financially, have access to contraception and all the big advancements that feminism in the past has worked to give us now, but there are still a few inequalities between the sexes that need to be fixed. These are the issues that Moran deals with in this book.

This book isn’t for the feminist scholars, but it is an excellent introduction to modern feminism and every twenty-first century woman who doesn’t call themselves a feminist, or anyone who feels the feminist movement is redundant should read it. If you’re looking for a good memoir this is also a must. However, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who isn’t a fan of ‘oversharing’ , because it’ll probably gross you out. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Four Stars ****

Girl Online - Zoe Sugg and Siobhan Curham

Published: November 2014

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 352

Blurb:

I have this dream that, secretly, all teenage girls feel exactly like me. And maybe one day, when we realize that we all feel the same, we can all stop pretending we’re something we’re not. That would be awesome. But until that day, I’m going to keep it real on this blog and keep it unreal in “real” life.

Penny has a secret. 
Under the alias GirlOnline, Penny blogs her hidden feelings about friendship, boys, high school drama, her quirky family, and the panic attacks that have begun to take over her life. When things go from bad to worse at school, her parents accept an opportunity to whisk the family away for Christmas at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. There, she meets Noah, a gorgeous, guitar-strumming American. Suddenly Penny is falling in love—and capturing every moment she spends with “Brooklyn Boy” on her blog.
But Noah has a secret, too, one that threatens to ruin Penny’s cover—and her closest friendship—forever.

Review:

Let’s be honest, I only picked this book up because of the controversy surrounding Sugg and (her once ghost writer, now co-writer), and the fact that this is that this book broke the record for highest first week sales for a debut author since records began (according to wikipedia, don’t shoot me if that’s wrong). I feel like I only picked this up because I found it in the library, (I wasn’t going to fork out sixteen euro for a hardback I might hate), I’m really glad I did. This book is not high literature, but it is absolutely adorable. It’s the sort of book I would have loved when I was eleven or twelve, and still quite enjoyed it at age nineteen. It’s a wonderfully cute story, if a little clichéd.

The relationships are probably one of the most important aspects of the book. Penny and Elliott’s relationship is definitely my favourite. It’s a proper friendship, Elliott and Penny stand by one another, bar a few minor mishaps. There’s no hidden ssexual tension between them, and they don’t end up together in the end(This is not a spoiler, we find out that Elliott is gay pretty early on). It was nice to see a platonic male-female friendship for once, but I feel it was implied that their friendship only exists because Elliott is gay, and there is no potential for romance between them. Or maybe I’m reading too far into it. Penny and Noah are adorable. He is the perfect fictional boyfriend cliché and they fall madly in love though they no nothing about each other. It’s a completely unrealistic, frosted cupcake of a relationship that made me cringe and coo in equal measure. Penny and Megan's relationship is probably the most interesting. Penny and Megan were once very close and happy being nest friends, but they have recently begun to grow apart. The interesting thing about this relationship is that most of the problems and conflict between them are caused by the fact they don't realise they should probably just let one another go. This is a really important idea to point out to young teenagers who often feel that the friends they have now are the friends we will have for life. Sugg and Curham gently point out that this is not often the case, and that it's not the end of the world if you're not best friends forever.

The most important lesson to be learned from this book is that the internet is a scary place and should be treated with care. This is a really good point to drive home, particularly because of the fanbase that follows Suggs YouTube channel and the audience of this book, who probably live lives online in tandem with their real offline lives. Penny gets publicly shamed on Facebook when someone posts a video of her flashing her knickers at a school play. This is a realistic fear, if this happened to me at fifteen I would have also fled the country, maybe not now but definitely then. The video spreads like wildfire, and it’s embarrassing for a while, but it all blows over pretty quickly. Sugg teaches us that it’s not the end of the world if you go viral, which is an important lesson. Obviously Penny keeps a blog, it’s the premise of the book, and this causes her a lot of problems. Through Penny’s blog we learn that nothing on the internet is completely anonymous, and she shouldn’t post anything you wouldn’t say in front of a crowd because someone WILL find it. Sugg also deals with the idea of online hate, something she probably has experience with so I trust her on this topic. We see Penny deal with complete strangers criticising her for something that is none of their business and that they don’t even really know the full story about. I think it’s really important for young people who are just dipping their toes into the online world to see the other side of this online hate and how it can affect people.

Overall this book is adorable and perfect for the target audience. The writing is sweet and simple, and I would recommend this book for young teenagers or anyone who likes sweet, fluffy YA contemporary romance.

Three Stars

Not That Kind of Girl - Lena Dunham

Publisher: Random House

Pages: 265

Published: 2014

Blurb:

From the acclaimed creator, producer, and star of HBO's Girls comes a hilarious, wise, and fiercely candid collection of personal essays that establishes Lena Dunham as one of the most original young talents writing today.

In Not that Kind of Girl, Dunham illuminates the experiences that are part of making one's way in the world: falling in love, feeling alone, being ten pounds overweight despite eating only health food, having to prove yourself in a room full of men twice your age, finding true love, and, most of all, having the guts to believe that your story is one that deserves to be told.
Exuberant, moving, and keenly observed, Not that Kind of Girl is a series of dispatches from the frontlines of the struggle that is growing up. "I'm already predicting my future shame at thinking I had anything to offer you," Dunham writes. "But if I can take what I've learned and make one menial job easier for you, or prevent you from having the kind of sex where you feel you must keep your sneakers on in case you want to run away during the act, then every misstep of mine will have been worthwhile."

Review:

This will not be a very long review, because I don’t feel like a can do the usual slapdash literary breakdown that I usually do on this humorous-yet-serious memoir.

That being said I really enjoyed this book. It was an easy read, Dunham’s writing flows and I flew through the book in two sittings. Her sense of humour really appealed to me, and the tone yoyoed between farcical loonacy and solemnity. The humour in this book is quite similar to GIRLS, Dunham will be making a joke about a funny hat she used to wear and then drop an almighty truth bomb, so if you’re not a fan of the tv show, don’t read this. Dunham does have a really striking voice, and it is unlike any narrator of any novel I’ve ever read.

On a similar note, if you’re one of those people who shouts “Oh my God TMI” when your friend says “Last night I had this weird sex dream”, don’t read this book. However if you are the sort of person who will raise a quizzical eyebrow and say “Go on”, then this book is for you. Maybe there is too much information in this book, or maybe it’s just interesting to step inside someone else’s mind, to live a little bit of someone else’s life.

As far as I’ve heard there are two major criticisms of this book.

1. Dunham is profoundly narcissistic. Yes, she is , but she is aware of it( she admits to being selfish and self-involved many times throughout the book) and this is a memoir so she’s hardly going to talk about someone other than herself is she?
2. There are no major revelations, no major lessons taught in this book. Fair point, but you’ll notice that “learned” is in inverted commas in the sub-title, so you should have known that from the get-go.

This is a hilarious yet poignant book. It will not change your life, but it will keep you occupied for around four hours. The only major beef I have with this book is that it is too short to justify spending €16 on a hardback copy, so thank you to my local library for stocking it. May you continue to be a fine establishment.

Four Stars

Crow Moon - Anna McKerrow

Published: March 2015
Publisher: Quercus
Pages: 384

Blurb: Danny is a fun-loving 16-year-old looking for a father figure and falling in love with a different girl every day. He certainly doesn't want to follow in his mum's witchy footsteps.

Just as his community is being threatened by gangs intent on finding a lucrative power source to sell to the world, Danny discovers he is stunningly powerful. And when he falls for Saba, a gorgeous but capricious girl sorceress, he thinks maybe the witch thing might not be such a bad idea...
But what cost will Danny pay as, with his community on the brink of war, he finds that love and sorcery are more dangerous than he ever imagined?
Wickedness and passion combine in this coming-of-age adventure.

Review: 

Firstly, thanks a million to Quercus for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Although it took me longer to read this book than I would have liked, due to coursework for college, I really enjoyed it. The narrative is fast paced, action packed and really held my attention, the characters are unusual and varied. McKerrow has found a really solid balance between action, magic and romance which works really effectively.

My favourite aspect of this book is the world and magic system that McKerrow has built. As far as I know, the magic system is based on the old witchcraft and pagan practices and beliefs that have existed on Cornwall for hundreds of years. McKerrow blends these practices seamlessly with the idea of living off the land, and surviving in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic type land experiencing a fuel crises that has caused society as we know it to cease. Of course the fuel crises is a hot topic at the moment, and I found it both frightening and fascinating to explore

the idea of how we might live if the worst came to the worst. Danny and his family and friends live in the Greenworld, a place distanced from what is left of the old society , the Redworld, which is filled with violence and chaos. In Crow Moon we explore the Greenworld, it’s villages and no man's lands and it’s isolation from the rest of society in the beautiful Cornish countryside.

The society Danny lives in is definitely a matriarchal one, the witches seem to run the show, they are in charge of protecting and guiding their villages. Most of the characters are strong, well-rounded women, except for the protagonist and the antagonist and I’m not sure how this made me feel. There was so much scope to have a female protagonist or antagonist ( who are in short supply in these sort of books), but McKerrow went the other way. The only reason I can find for her doing this is that both Danny and Roach may feel alienated as male witches in a predominantly female environment, and this may lead them to make different choices that someone who doesn’t feel like part of a minority would make. I loved that McKerrow uses ‘witch’ as an ungendered title, with both male and female witches using it.

Danny is a very different character to any other protagonist I have come in contact with recently. He is a sixteen year old boy in every sense of the word. He is sweary, irreverent and disrespectful, he makes rash, stupid decisions not concerned with consequences, and is well obsessed with sex. For all these reasons I found Danny a little hard to stomach to begin with. He is a well rounded character, he is flawed and makes some serious mistakes, but throughout the novel we see him grow and develop into a strong young man, and I grew to have a respect for him. Parts of the book, especially Danny , his introduction to the work of the witches, and his relationship with Roach, reminded me of Harry Potter. And that is one of the highest compliments I can give a book.

I’m really looking forward to the next book in the series, which I think is out this time next year ( so long to wait …..). This one has a fantastic ending and really left me wanting more! I would really like to see more of the Redworld in the next book, and obviously the whole Danny/Saba will-they-won’t-they……..

Two conflicting aspects of this book make it difficult for me to recommend this book to a specific age group. The language in this book is simple, clear and effective, so I feel like teens as young as twelve would have no problem with this, but some of the subject matter might be a bit tough for young teens. However, if you’re used to reading this sort of thing go on ahead. This is a really promising series and now is the perfect time to dive in!

Four Stars

Here's a link to an interview with Anna McKerrow about the book done by the wonderful Adventures of a Teenage Bookworm!

Since You've Been Gone - Morgan Matson

Published: 2014

Publisher: Simon and Schuster UK

Pages: 449

Blurb:

It was Sloane who yanked Emily out of her shell and made life 100% interesting. But right before what should have been the most epic summer, Sloane just...disappears. All she leaves behind is a to-do list.

On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that Emily would normally never try. But what if they could bring her best friend back?

Review:

Unfortunately, it has been quite a while since I read this book ( seven weeks…), so this review might be a bit of a trainwreck, but I’ll do my very best. This was an impulse buy I picked up in Hodges Figgus in Dublin because I had a book voucher. I had read Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Matson a few years ago and adored it so I knew I’d like this one.

The most important aspect of the book, and my favourite aspect, are the relationships Matson presents us in it. Now as this is a contemporary romance novel, these relationships aren’t exactly realistic, but they are wonderfully adorable. The main one is obviously Emily and Sloane’s relationship. Though Sloane leaves Emily at the beginning of the narrative, there are plenty of flashbacks as Emily reminisces about their time together to get to know her. The thing that struck me most about the girls friendship was, though there was genuine and equal affection between them, Emily relied far more on Sloane for social interaction and confidence than Sloane did on her. This made me feel kind of uncomfortable, that it gave Sloane a little too much power in the relationship, but it also explained why Sloane leaving a list of tasks for Emily to do without her is such a big deal, because without her best friend to lean on these tasks are actually quite difficult for Emily.

Emily and her love interest ( left unnamed to avoid spoilers ), are undeniably delightful, but a little problematic. Some of the twists and turns that led them together are morally dubious, let’s just say that Emily and her beau don’t really give a good example.Sam and Sloane have the most troubling relationship. Through them Matson deals quite well with emotionally abusive teenage relationships that are normally overlooked. While I was worried about them to begin with but I was happy with how it worked out.

The contrast in the relationships between Emily, Sloane and their parents are fascinating as well. While Emily’s parents are ditsy and detached, they have their children’s best interests at heart, and Sloane’s parents should probably revisit their parenting priorities.

This is without a doubt a coming of age story as throughout the narrative we see Emily growing and gaining confidence and independence. I’ve read reviews that describe the list of tasks Sloane leaves Emily as a bit tame an innocent, but I feel like she wouldn’t have been able to deal with a list any wilder than this.

There are a few gems in this book that I really enjoyed and added a bit of an individualistic spark. The play that Emily’s parents are writing sounds like an absolute farce and if there was any way that I could see it performed, or if there is a script lying around that could be published in the internet Matson should just go for it. I loved the playlists included, and while I didn’t listen to them all, sticking on a few tracks while listening did add to the reading experience. Frank’s favourite quote, “In a well ordered universe….” by a comedian whose name I’ve forgotten to write down is my favourite of these gems. I love the sentiment,and it is used as a sort of running in-joke between Emily and Frank, and it grows and develops with their friendship.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s gorgeous and fluffy, but also has a little bite to it. This is the best of contemporary romance, so if you’re into that you should definitely check this out.

Four Stars ****

Cinder - Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles #1)

Published: January 2012

Publisher: Puffin

Pages: 387

Blurb:

Cinder, a gifted mechanic in New Beijing, is also a cyborg. She's reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's sudden illness. But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen - and a dangerous temptation.

Review:

Cinder has intrigued me for a while now, so when I saw a copy of it in the library I snapped it up. Is was equal parts excited and frightened of this book, because it sounded amazing, but there are so many awful Cinderella adaptations that it could have been truly terrible. But it wasn’t, it was fantastic, and I can’t believe I left it so long to read the thing.

Obviously Cinder is a twist on the classic fairy tale, but what a twist! Cinder is a cyborg living in futuristic New Beijing, the capital of the Eastern Commonwealth. With a devastating plague sweeping the globe, and Queen Levana of the moon threatening war on the earth, this is not like the Cinderella we know and love. But I nearly love it more it’s so good. This book is more inspired by, rather than based on the fairy tale, the main plot points remain, but it’s a really refreshing. I suspect there are also nods to Rapunzel and Snow White, which makes me very excited for the sequels. The plot is fantastic, and even though I had a fair idea where the story was going, I was still hooked and couldn’t wait to see where it ended up. As the narrative progresses, it just got more and more bizarre, but in a really good way! However, I did see the twist coming, and you probably will too, but that did not spoil the story at all. I was completely captivated by this book, so much so that I before I was finished I ordered the next two books because I couldn’t bear the idea of too much time passing before I could continue the story. I have this wonderful feeling that it’s just going to get more complex and brilliant as it goes on.

The world building in this book was fantastic. The story is set in New Beijing, and while it is a sci-fi, futuristic setting there is a sense of the current Chinese culture, which I really enjoyed. Meyer presents the technology in a really interesting way and I was never left wondering how any of it worked, and there wasn’t a surplus of technology. The lunar ability (aka glamour) while completely weird, was really clear and understandable, even though I’m pretty sure the science behind it is essentially just magic. My favourite aspect of the world building was the political structure. The earth seems to be divided up into several large countries, composed of the continents, and humans have colonised the moon. Some of the states are monarchies , and some are democracies, and I hope we find out more about the politics of the earth in Meyer’s world in the next  few books. A really interesting cultural aspect is the idea that the cyborgs are second class citizens. We see that Cinder is shunned by her family and wider society because of this, because cyborgs are considered lucky to be alive, and that the owe society their lives. I’m interested to see if this attitude changes as the narrative progresses, or if the cyborgs will continue to be persecuted.

Cinder is a fabulous protagonist. She is equal parts strong and feisty, under confident and scared, kind and compassionate. I know she’s a cyborg, but I really connected with her character.  I couldn’t help but root for Cinder, and she’s probably my favourite Cinderella based heroine ( and there has been a lot). It would be very easy to hate Prince Kai, the mysterious, handsome, privileged royal heir who has had everything handed to him on a plate , but I loved him! He was surprisingly intelligent and cunning, and really did seem to care about politics and his people despite being so young. I feel Kai is a worthy romantic lead for this clever book.

I loved this book, it was perfect and the only complaint I would have is that it is too short! I’d recommend it to anyone who likes sci-fi, fairytale re-tellings, or maybe dystopian fiction.

4.5 Stars