One by Sarah Crossan

One

by Sarah Crossan

Released: 27th August 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books
Genres: YA, Contemporary Romance, Free Verse, Feely af
Other books by Sarah Crossan:
The Weight of Water
Apple and Rain
Breathe
Goodreads Description:
Grace and Tippi are twins – conjoined twins.
And their lives are about to change.
No longer able to afford homeschooling, they must venture into the world – a world of stares, sneers and cruelty. Will they find more than that at school? Can they find real friends? And what about love?
But what neither Grace or Tippi realises is that a heart-wrenching decision lies ahead. A decision that could tear them apart. One that will change their lives even more than they ever imagined…
From Carnegie Medal shortlisted author Sarah Crossan, this moving and beautifully crafted novel about identity, sisterhood and love ultimately asks one question: what does it mean to want and have a soulmate?




My Review


This book is one of those that you can read in less than an hour, but that will stay with you forever. The messages that flow through this book will change the way you see the world. 'One' isn't just about conjoined twins, it's about dependency and dreams and friendship, but most of all it's about living through what someone else might call a "tragedy" with a sparkle in your eyes and hope in your heart.

Crossan uses a unique format to tell the story of two conjoined twins, Tippi and Grace, in a way where the ebb and flow of lines speaks more than the words themselves. Every emotion from panic, to joy, to grief, to love is painted into the lines of this book with the words being a decoration.

The characters in this book are phenomenal. The twins' best friends, Yasmeen, who has HIV, and Jon, who's mother abandoned him with his stepfather, are arguably even more important than the twins themselves. Tiny details of these characters take over the reader's mind and influence the story more than anything else.

I would recommend this book to absolutely ANYONE. It will take you less than an hour to read and will give you a whole new perspective on the world and on people. Whatever you're into, you need to read this.


Links
Goodreads
Amazon UK
Amazon US


Abi Ainley

Why We Blog About Books

If you followed my blog before, you might have noticed that I haven't posted since near the beginning of this year. And the year before I had a similar length of break. It was all down to stress. I started this blog under the premise that I just had to write about books, to express my opinions, to communicate the ridiculous emotions that thread through my skeletal core after reading almost everything, amazing or terrible. However, as I got into writing more blog posts and made more commitments to the blog, I found reading had become a chore; it had become something that I was doing for the blog, rather than myself, and thus, eventually I ceased reading almost entirely, no longer being able to keep up with posting.

Upon returning to the blog, I feel different: I've matured, I've developed, I now know that this blog is for me to throw all my emotions, joys and tribulations at people who actually care, people who want to read about how a certain person feels about a certain book. Nothing is forcing me to keep an uptight schedule of 2/3 reviews a week, or to participate in Top Ten Tuesdays every week, or to write the most extravagant reviews. Blogs are for feelings. They're for emotions. And that comes naturally, not through force.

With that, I hope to provide well-written, entertaining, sassy reviews regularly, but there is no schedule. They'll come when they'll come. I might do Top Ten Tuesdays on a certain week. Then again, I might not. All I can promise is an outpouring of creative and emotional material to do with books.

Love :)

Sage's Eyes by V.C. Andrews (Virginia Andrews)

Sage's Eyes

by Virginia Andrews (V.C. Andrews)

Released: 2nd June 2016
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
Genre: Supernatural, Romance, YA (?), Gothic
Other books by Virginia Andrews (V.C. Andrews):
Flowers in the Attic
Forbidden Sister
Whitefern
Goodreads Description:
Sixteen-year-old Sage is a lonely child. Her adoptive parents watch her obsessively, as if studying her for warning signs of…something. And maybe they’re right to—even she can’t make sense of the strange things she sees and hears. She possesses knowledge that other teenagers don’t, that her parents and teachers—no adult—could possibly have. So when Sage finally makes a friend who understands her alarming gift, he becomes her confidant, a precarious link to the truth about who she really is. For Sage and the alluring new boy at school share many things in common. Perhaps, they’ll learn, far too many things.




My Review


An engaging and addictive writing style, which I can't wait to read more of, paired with a confusingly paced plot. I'm not sure if I could honestly recommend this specific book however I would recommend the author's writing on the whole.

Sage is a 15 year old girl who has been having unexplainable visions and foresights in both dreams and waking for as long as she can remember. With restrictive parents and an inability to make close friends when she knows everything, good and bad, that's going to happen them, Sage becomes almost an outcast amongst her group of friends. This is until a new boy, Summer, appears at her school.

One thing that got me annoyed about this book was how tediously slow the first three quarters of the book are, with nothing implicitly revealed and only a few subtle clues, before an ending that just throws everything at you in the last few pages and completely fixes the conflict with the words "they will be dealt with" (paraphrased). It was awfully rushed and made my pining to read on for the entire novel absolutely pointless. It seemed as if I was engaged for nothing.

On a more positive note, however, the book does drag you into it like very little I've experienced before. I accidentally took a 2 hour, rather than a half hour, lunch break from work, having been sucked into the book right up until the end. I couldn't drag myself away and even whilst sitting at the computer, my eyes kept drifting to the book. It took all resilience not just to read it all in one go.

If you're looking for a way to pass the time quickly, this is the book for you. If you're looking for something mind-expanding, or a proper supernatural novel with hints of romance, give this one a miss. Also, if you're a supernatural aficionado prepare to cringe. I can see why the author doesn't normally write in this genre.


Links
Goodreads
Amazon UK
Amazon US


Abi Ainley

Winter Biannual Bibliothon - Days Two & Three

Days Two & Three

Day three is just closing as I write this. I'm hoping to get a bit more reading done before I sleep but that's depending on how long my English essay and Physics revision takes me. Yesterday and today have been ridiculously hectic, what with going back to college and re-adjusting to being permanently exhausted. I'm so glad I read the whole of Paper Towns on Sunday for the sole reason that it's freaking impossible to read great amounts when I'm tired and have so much work. It's looking like I'll be able to finish all four of my chosen books for this bibliothon though, so all is well. Unfortunately I don't have pictures as I haven't had time to take pictures for Instagram but I'll give you a quick summary.

At home I've been reading Half Wild by Sally Green.
Once again, I'm freaking loving it! I missed Nathan and Gabriel so much it's ridiculous. They have potentially my favourite relationship in literature. Unfortunately I haven't been able to take it to college because:
For one, it's signed so I don't want to ruin it;
For two it'd be unbearable heavy.

So, at college I've been reading At the Sign of the Sugared Plum by Mary Hooper.
As with every other time I've read this, I'm overinvested in the characters and am terrified of one specific character dying. If you haven't experienced this before with a book, you guys should seriously read this so you can understand the feeling of your heart shaking in trepidation as you open the book for the millionth time. The character isn't even ill but you just know they're going to die and it's destroying you inside. I can't leave it now though; this is a readathon after all! I WILL SUCCEED THIS TIME AROUND!

All in all, I haven't read as much as I'd have liked to since starting college again, but I'm extending my day for another few hours by going to bed at midnight now, so hopefully I'll be able to read a little more.

I hope you're doing well if you're doing this bibliothon as well, and aren't suffering to the extent that I am lol! See you,


Abi Ainley

Winter Biannual Bibliothon - Day One

Afterthought: I've just noticed that both authors I read today are Greens. Damn I wish I'd realised this sooner so I could've dressed in green or something in acknowledgement of this.
Day One

So... Day one is over and I've had a pretty successful reading day, considering I've had to start on my English Lit essay and do a ton of Maths work.

I actually started Paper Towns at half one in the morning when I couldn't sleep...

...but promptly resumed my usual practise of watching Youtube videos way too late. HOWEVER, it did get finished today and I'm really happy about it!

I'm currently just about to start my second book, Half Wild by Sally Green. This is the one I chose for the "reread your favourite book from a series" challenge and I'm relying on it being a quick second time read like Half Bad was. If this isn't quick I'm going to be seriously done haha.

Super excited to reread this!

In conclusion, this day went pretty well but I'm seriously dreading the rest of this week! I start college again tomorrow which means so much homework and potentially not enough time for reading all of this. *expands time itself* I will try though. Here's to reading in every 30 second slot I can find!


Abi Ainley

Winter Biannual Bibliothon - Tag

The Winter Biannual Bibliothon Tag!

As I said in my TBR post, these challenges are for vlogs really, but I wanted to give it a go in written format, so there's going to be bits I can't do however I'll try my best. :D

1. Did you participate in one of the last Bibliothons?
Nope, This is my first serious readathon altogether so I'm super excited!

2. What was your favorite part of last Bibliothon?
I didn't do it so I can't say.

3. What are you most excited about for this Bibliothon?
Getting through a ton of books. The second book I'm going to read, At the Sign of the Sugared Plumb by Mary Hooper, I've had for 5/6 years and started reading a million times but I can never finish bit because I don't want one of the characters to die. This will be the time I will finally finish it! Hopefully. I can't promise anything. The fear of him dying may destroy me once again.

4. Give us a hint for your favorite upcoming challenge video!
If I can find time to do it, I'm so excited to do the "That was in the book DIY". Other than that, the character swap one sounds like something I could get quite creative with. ;)

5. What book are you most excited to read this week?
At the Sign of the Sugared Plum. I'm bricking it. If I can finish it this will potentially be the longest time ever taken for me to finish a book from start to finish! I'm also excited for Half Wild, as usual. I could reread those books eternally and never get bored.

6. What was your favorite & least favorite reading challenge of the past Bibliothons?
Haven't done any of the past ones.

7. What was your favorite & least favorite video challenge of the past Bibliothons?
Can't answer again lol.

8. 45 seconds TBR in alphabetical order - NO CHEATING!
Before:

6.92s later (Quite fast for me. I think the library volunteering's sped me up a bit!):

At the Sign of the Sugared Plum
Half Wild
Messenger of Fear
Paper Towns

9. What is one suggestion you’d have for the next Biannual Bibliothon?
There's a Goodreads book club group that reads separate books to the Biannual Bibliothon throughout the year, but I think it'd be awesome if there was a Goodreads group for discussing the Bibliothon as it runs, or maybe just a section in the book club group for it.

10. Who do you tag?
Anyone reading this and hasn't already done it! I think most people I know are doing this already so I'm just going to leave this open. Haven't done it? You're tagged!

You can find out more about the Winter Biannual Bibliothon video challenges(or blog post challenges if you're me ;D) here (I've just got to add that the hair in this video is on point. Very impressed!)

Until next time(so tomorrow),

Keep reading!

Abi Ainley

Winter Biannual Bibliothon TBR

The Winter Biannual Bibliothon

Quick Note: Unfortunately I won't be reading the group read, which is Soundless by Richelle Mead, this time around as I want to get through the books I've chosen and don't have enough interest in it to warrent me reading it. I'm kinda sad because I'd love to join in with the group discussion at the end, but I just really don't want to read it.

The Biannual Bibliothon is, as it says in the title, a readathon that occurs twice each year, once in the Winter and once in the Summer. This Winter one is running from the 3rd of January to the 9th and there are video challenges to go with it, which I will try to do in written form when possible, but some don't look like they're possible to do over a written blog. There are 7 criteria for books you have to read but you're allowed to double up:
1. Read the group book: Soundless by Richelle Mead 
2. Read a book that's been sitting on your shelf for over a year.
3. Read a book over 300 pages.
4. Read a book from your favorite genre.
5. Reread your favorite book in a series.
6. Read a book based on it's cover. 
7. Read a book that's been recommended to you more than once.
You can find more information on their Youtube channel here: The Biannual Bibliothon

And these are the books I'll be reading over this week-long period:

At the Sign of the Sugared Plum

by Mary Hooper

Fulfils: 1) Read a book that's been on your shelf for over a year.

Messenger of Fear

by Michael Grant

Fulfils: 2) Read a book that's over 300 pages long. 5) Read a book based on the cover.

Half Wild

by Sally Green

Fulfils: 3) Read a book from your favourite genre. 4) Reread your favourite book from a series.

Paper Towns

by John Green

Fulfils: 6) Read a book that's been recommended to you more than once.

Keep reading!

Abi Ainley