4 stars

3 Reasons Why You Should Read TELL US SOMETHING TRUE

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Tell Us Something True
By Dana Reinhardt
Series: None
Source: Sent from the publisher (thank you Rock the Boat!)
Format: ARC
Page count: 208
Published (UK): 20th July 2016 by Rock the Boat
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance,

Seventeen-year-old River doesn’t know what to do with himself when Penny, the girl he adores, breaks up with him. He lives in LA, where nobody walks anywhere, and Penny was his ride; he never bothered getting a license. He’s stuck. He’s desperate. Okay . . . he’s got to learn to drive.

But first, he does the unthinkable—he starts walking. He stumbles upon a support group for teens with various addictions. He fakes his way into the meetings, and begins to connect with the other kids, especially an amazing girl. River wants to tell the truth, but he can’t stop lying, and his tangle of deception may unravel before he learns how to handle the most potent drug of all: true love.

Tell Us Something True was an uplifting and fun read, and I certainly wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did! I didn’t love it, but it did hold some important messages and I did think that it was well written, and I cared about the characters too. Here are 3 reasons why I would recommend picking it up today! (which is the day it’s out! it’s almost like i planned this or something...)

1. The characters
The set of characters were what made the book for me, because I cared about each of them so deeply. The protagonist, River, had a really interesting perspective on things, which I found refreshing, and made the book original. I feel like in YA, we don’t really get to read about characters like him, so I found him so much more interesting, because he was so different to me. His story provided the perfect escape.

I loved all the characters, but my favourite was Daphne, one of River’s friends who he meets at the group therapy. She was so strong-willed and determined to get what she wanted, which meant she was so thick skinned and never let people get her down. I admired her courage in tough times and thought some of the things she did were actually pretty inspirational!

2. Important messages
I didn’t go into this book thinking it would teach me anything or change me in any way - I just thought it would be a light, happy book, but nothing special. For the majority of the book, it seemed this way, but the ending was surprisingly emotional! Because I became so invested in the characters and the story, the way everything wrapped up really got to me. I thought the ending was perfect, too!

3. The themes of identity and diversity
These were a little more subtle, but I thought the race of the Mexican characters living in America, was really interesting. River was white, but Daphne was Mexican, and the book explored what life was like for her, and highlighted the obliviousness of River, which I thought was so important! I think it was really well written and even if these themes weren’t always present, I enjoyed reading about it. 


Discussions

Series I Haven't Finished

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One of my absolute worst reading traits is starting series, yet never finishing them. I know I do this so often, and it’s so frustrating! Usually it takes me so long to get to the sequel that I can barely remember what has happened in the first. Recaptians is a life saver! Here are just some of the series that I’ve started, enjoyed, yet haven’t finished, but will one day!
Slated
I always feel really guilty when I think about this book, because sometimes I kind of forget I’ve actually read it! It’s so bad, I know, especially when I really enjoyed the book. I actually have no recollection of writing my review for it either - I only know I have because it’s published! This is pretty ironic, because the main character has her memory slated... (At least I can remember that, haha). I really want to read the rest of the series because I find Teri Terry’s writing so comforting, however the covers for the series are pretty ugly and they’re expensive on Kindle. One day I will come back to this series, I promise!

The Raven Cycle
This one isn’t too bad, because I only read The Dream Thieves in March, and I plan on reading the rest of the series really soon. I’m going to an evening with Maggie Stiefvater at the start of August (I’ll have to learn how to pronounce her name by then!), which I’m super excited about, however, she’s discussing The Raven King. I’ve not read that, or Blue Lily, Lily Blue, yet, so they will be one of my next reads. However, it seems like pretty much everyone has read this series, so I need to quickly catch up with the hype!
Enclave
By far the most shameful book on this list is the Enclave trilogy by Ann Aguirre. I read the first book in March 2015, and enjoyed it so much. I’ve still not bought the rest of the series, however! It’s awful, I know - every time I go to order books, I almost add this series to my cart, but somehow I’ve just never bought them. They’re super underrated too, which means that it would be cool to read them before they get super popular, so maybe someday...

The Wrath and the Dawn

I really enjoyed The Wrath and the Dawn when I read it on holiday last year, and that ending made me so so desperate to read the sequel. So why haven’t I got to it yet? I honestly don’t know - everyone is saying how much they love it, and the cover is stunningly beautiful too. My only excuse is that it’s not published here in the UK yet, but I got the first on Kindle, so that’s not an excuse either...
A Darker Shade of Magic

This one is pretty shameful too, especially because of how much everyone seems to love this series. I read the first book in May 2015, and whilst I enjoyed it, I found it a little hard to get into. I have the second book in the series, but I’m yet to get to it, because I’m scared I won’t enjoy it! It’s really long, and I haven’t been in the mood to read it. Someone please motivate me to read it!

 Grisha Trilogy
Shadow and Bone was the first book I read in 2016, and I liked it so much that I bought the rest of the series the day after finishing. However, they’ve been sitting on my shelf ever since! I always think about picking them up, but I’ve forgotten lots of what happened in Shadow and Bone, and I don’t think it ended in a cliffhanger, so I’m not desperate to find out what happens next. I’ve also read some spoilers (by accident, of course!) which makes me lose enthusiasm for the series.

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who has so many unfinished series, right...? This list was only a fraction of the series I've not finished yet, too. It's embarrassing, but one day, I will finish them all!

Which series haven't you finished yet? How come? Which ones should I prioritise from this list?

A Court of Mist and Fury

Review: A Court of Mist and Fury

07:00



A Court of Mist and Fury
By Sarah J. Maas
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #2
Source: Wordery
Format: Paperback
Page count: 640
Published (UK): 3rd May 2016 by Bloomsbury
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, 

Feyre is immortal.

After rescuing her lover Tamlin from a wicked Faerie Queen, she returns to the Spring Court possessing the powers of the High Fae. But Feyre cannot forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people - nor the bargain she made with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court.

As Feyre is drawn ever deeper into Rhysand's dark web of politics and passion, war is looming and an evil far greater than any queen threatens to destroy everything Feyre has fought for. She must confront her past, embrace her gifts and decide her fate.

She must surrender her heart to heal a world torn in two.


Last year, I devoured A Court of Thorns and Roses, and absolutely adored it (maybe even more than Throne of Glass). So, obviously, A Court of Mist and Fury was one of my most anticipated reads of this year - I was really expecting to love this one! This was a buddy read with Jennifer and Stephanie, and I was so excited to finally read it with them! However, I was left sorely disappointed.

 I had so many problems with A Court of Mist and Fury, so my annoyance by the book really wasn’t helped by the overhype EVERYWHERE. I am so irritated with how much everyone goes on about it, and I literally don’t know anyone in the book community who hasn’t read the book; I can count on just one hand the people (I know) who didn’t enjoy it! I am absolutely sick of people pushing this book in my face!

 My main problem with the book was Rhysand (*gasps with controversy*). It’s obvious from the very first chapter that Tamlin is going to have a complete personality change (which is typical of Maas if you’ve read ToG - it’s just getting boring), and that Rhysand would be the hot new love interest and that countless people would change their Twitter names and Instagram bios to “i love rhys” or “rhys trash”. can u please stop doing this, idek who anyone is anymore

 It’s not the way he was presented as a complete asshole in the first book yet we’re suddenly expected to swoon over him in the second that was annoying me so much. It was the way he was a misogynist and controlling to Feyre - I don’t see how (as a feminist) I’m meant to see someone as ‘hot’ who is overbearing and manipulative.

 His character just did a complete 180 from the first book and first few chapters, and I’m not okay with that! Like I said before, Tamlin’s personality was reversed, and Rhys’ did exactly the same. He was clearly meant to be the complete prince charming trope - “thoughtful” and “selfless” (ie can’t make up his mind if he wants Feyre or not, and came across as just arrogant). I wasn’t feeling him as either trope, so to me he even came across as a little bland. I was disappointed with the way he was nothing special, because that’s what everyone makes him out to be.
I also found the plot frankly boring. For the first 200 or-so pages, literally nothing was happening. Feyre was visiting Rhys, which clearly wasn’t my favourite plot arc, and there was a lack of focus on the actual fantasy elements. Nothing was explained, and it did feel like SJM was not explaining things properly so a loop whole could be found later on. I am a really big fan of fantasy, so I would have liked the world to have gone into more detail because I found it very interesting.

 The ending felt rushed too, which was disappointing, because for me so much of the book dragged. The epic battle at the end was even a little confusing (that might just be me!) which was so frustrating, because a book over 600 pages had been building up to it. My book tastes might just be changing, but I thought the same way with Queen of Shadows too, which makes me even more sad, because SJM used to be one of my favourite authors.

There were some things that I enjoyed - I still really liked Feyre, especially at the end of the novel. I still really enjoy SJM’s writing style (for now!), and the fantasy worlds that she builds are beautiful. I’m not sure if I will be picking up the next book in the series yet (I might do, just to see how the series ends, because I’ve invested so much in them!), but I’m not excited for it.

I didn’t completely not enjoy this book, but I was expecting so highly of it, that it just couldn’t deliver. If you enjoyed the first book, I’d still recommend picking this book up to see where the story goes, but don’t expect too highly of it. ACOMAF is way too over-hyped, which is sad because people aren’t going to enjoy it as much.