Review: Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Emily's best friend Sloane disappears, almost without a trace - the only thing left is a to-do list.

On it, thirteen Sloane-inspired tasks that wallflower Emily wouldn't normally do, and definitely without her best friend. But what if completing the list could bring Sloane back?

Dance until dawn? Sure, why not?

Kiss a stranger? Um...

Go skinny dipping? Wait... what?

Emily only has the summer to check everything off Sloane's list. The question is, what will she find at the end of it? (Goodreads description here)

Shall we all just take a minute to appreciate how beautiful this cover is. That font though (it makes me swoon). Seriously. I think this is a pretty good description of what's inside. Very pretty, very american, and very very contemporary. That certainly isn't a bad thing though, it was just what I was in the mood for. And yes, I have been singing the Kelly Clarkson song ever since I read it. It is a cracking tune though, so I've linked the video here.  

The concept of the book, basically a lonesome teenager completing a bucket list in order to make friends, and change for the better, though not original, was very well pulled off. The actual list was quite unique, and there were some very specific  tasks on there. For example 'hug a jamie'. Now i've never seen that one before!

The characters in the book were also very well developed. Even Sloane, who was the disappeared best friend. Although we only met her in flashbacks (nearly) I thought I had a real sense of her character. At first I was under the impression that she was a perfect american teenager, living the dream. But we soon became aware that this wasn't really true, and she just created this image to cover up everything that was wrong with her family. 

The narrater and main character, Emily, was also very relaistic. She was likeable and quite relatable. Although she was bland at times, this just added to how endearing the book was and how relatable Emily was. I got the impression that every reader would interpret her in their own way, which is something I really think shows a good author. It made me realise that romance and amazing friends are out there! (Man, I will read this back and cringe sooooo much!) However she was still quirky at times, and I can sort of imagine being friends with her in real life.

This book was 450 pages long, but I found it quite a quick read, perfect for the holidays! It wasn't up there with Anna and the French Kiss, but it was still very good, and now, whenever I think of contemporary, I will think of this. It basically fitted that genre perfectly. I was lovey dovey, but didn't take itself too seriously, and a real coming of age story.

I give this 

****

I will certainly be picking up Morgan Matson's other book, Amy and Roger's Epic Detour.

Have you read Since You've Been Gone? What do you think makes an MC relatable?

Review: The Selection by Kiera Cass

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself—and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined. (Link to goodreads page)

I finally got round to reason this! It's been on my TBR for so long, and now I'm free!! I first heard about this book on epic reads, who are constantly raving about it! I went into it knowing very little, and from knowing what happens I think that's for the best. It is quite a predictable book, and having as little info as possible really helps  to make it more unpredictable. 

These books are a YA trilogy which are set in a futuristic USA. I marathoned this series over about 4 days, so all of the books have sort of blurred together. Therefore I doing a review of the while trilogy. This shouldn't contain any spoilers either. 

I really loved this book! As I was reading it I found myself grinning uncontrollably and having such a warm feeling inside. This was mainly in the scenes between America and Maxon, they were so cute together. 

Sometimes the way she was on the border line between him and Aspen was very annoying. Occasionally I felt I didn't exactly  know where she stood, and how she was feeling. I wasn't sure how it happened because the novel is written in first person, but I often felt left out of her feelings. However this could be because she was unsure of where she stood, I just found it confusing at times.

However this was probably the only part of the book I found at all confusing. In general the story was very easy to follow. And although it was get in a dystopian world, the isolated nature of the palace made the dangers outside very rare and easy to understand. We did see the outside world in the later books, and I think that without the further world building, just the focus on the competition would be a little boring.  

Saying this I loved the concept of the competition. Although it has been done before, I thought it was so unique. It captured teenage girls so well! The competition and rivalry, yet the love, and the fake hating. It seems that everyone hated each other, but actually they are really good friends. There were certainly so characters within the selection! I think that Cass did really well at making a variety of character within the girls. They all seemed to be contenders and each had very individual personalities. There was potential for them to be really similar, but they were written, and seen through Americas POV, so we got a good perspective on Americas character as well as the other girls. 

America was a very typical female protagonist. Unaware of how perfect she was and suitably beautiful. She came from the bottom, and rose to fame she didn't really want (*cough* Katniss). I found it very difficult to find faults in her, apart being a bit cynical. This again, is a very common trait in female protagonists, being wary and unwilling to accept things at first. I thought she would be something different, but she was nothing special. Regardless I did still like her, and she was quite relatable. 

One of my pet peeves is disjointed conversations. In this it was some by there being loads of thought in the middle of the conversations. So the conversations didn't seem to flow, and I kept on having to look back to remember what had previously been said.  

Saying this, I thought that the book was very well written. It was a pretty easy read, and I also read it really quickly. The books are about 300 pages each, so for me they all sort of blurred together into a mega book. I've seen it described as reality TV meets dystopian, and this is a very accurate description! Nowadays most books are a combination of genres, but this is very drastic, and I've never read such a chick-lit dystopian before.

Although I probably wouldn't reread this book, I would definitely recommend it. I think it's perfect for people who want an easy summer read, but can't bear to let go of the dystopian genre. 

I give this 

****

because I think that it was good, but not one is my favourites. If you're looking for something warm and fuzzy, but not to shallow then this is perfect!

Have you read The Selection? Do you like it when very different genres are combined? Let me know in the comments!

  

Booktubeathon Summary

Last week I did the Booktube-a-thon!! (or tried...) This is a week long readathon run by Ariel Bisset (off youtube) and the challenge was to basically read as many books as possible from monday 14th-21st of July. I saw Ariel's video about it and knew that I had to do it (booktubeathon's youtube channel is linked here).

On reflection it wasn't a great time considering last week was something called celebration week, in which we go on school trips everyday. Mine included a walk (that wasn't fun), and Blackpool Pleasure beach (which was much better!). This meant that I had very little time at home, I also had a ballet exam yesterday and spent most evenings at the river with my friends, trying to recover from the heatwave in England. It was very fun, but it did mean that I had hardly any time to read. 

The Readathon included a selection of challenges that we could choose to try and complete during the week. It also included vlogging challenges, but I refuse to vlog! The reading challenges were: 
A book with pictures.
Start and finish a series.
A book with red on the cover.
A book someone else picks out for you.
A book from the genre you've read the least this year.
A book to movie adaptation
Read seven books

My aim was to complete all the challenges, apart from read 7 books. How is that possible? You may ask. Well, you can double up challenegs. For example I could read a book to movie adaptation with red on the cover. However you weren't allowed to 'triple up'. Overall I completed 3 challenges and read 4 books. I'm not too disappointed with this, but I think I could've done better. After all, this was my first reading challenge. 

The challenges I completed were:
A book with picture (Since you've been gone)
A book with red on the cover (The Elite)
Start and finish a series (The Selection trilogy)

So, the books I read!
I knew that I wanted to read a trilogy because my YA trilogy TBR is never ending! I chose the selection by Kiera Cass as I've amazing things about these books. I've also heard them be described as a cross between reality TV and that sounded perfect. These books were amazing! They were quite quick, and I often found myself grinning uncontrollably while reading the scenes between Maxon and America (especially in the first book, The Selection. This series consisted of The Selection, The Elite and The One. This ticked off two challenges, as it is a full series, and The Elite had red on the cover. I should be reviewing these soon.

Then I attempted to read Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. However 50 pages in I gave up as it was taking me so long to read, and although I really liked it, I needed speed!

So my 4th and final book was Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson. I recently bought this book and was planning on saving it for one of my contemporary cravings (they're very common!). But I gave in and really loved it. It was quite and easy read, but was on the long side for a romance. It was so summery and I learned a lot with the main character.(expect a full review soon)

Did any of you do the Booktubeathon? Do you like reading challenges? Let me know in the comments!