ELEGY - TARA HUDSON - REVIEW

Book: Elegy
Author: Tara Hudson
Publisher: HarperCollins Childrens
ISBN: 9780007437290
Rating: B

A stranded spirit, and a love story that crosses the divide between the living and the dead...Despite everything she's lost in the last few months, Amelia's new half-life feels something like a victory. That is, until the demons of High Bridge make their ultimate move: rising from Hell and killing Wilburton's residents, one by one, to get to Amelia. When the death toll reaches too close to home, Amelia must make a horrible choice. Does she rely on the help of Joshua and his friends, or does she sacrifice herself...for the final time?

Elegy. Hmmm... Although in the end this was good I feel like this series has gone downwards, not up. Needless to say I did like book 3 and I'm going to go over everything that there really is to talk about.

So book three is the final book in the series and Amelia and Josh and Jillian yet face the same problem again. The dark still wants here, Jillian and Josh are in danger again and she must save the day. It was different from the other book yet still a little samey and although I didn't mind that one thing that did bug me is the fact Amelia doesn't learn from her mistakes but that's not really a fault with the book, come to think of it. That's just her character.

Anyway the book starts of promising and naturally this is the final book so it's all about final showdowns and it was really captivating. Hudson has definitely, within this series, shown her talent to be able to write many different genres well and the story line worked for me. I liked it, and it kept me guessing. It never got confusing or repeated itself but the amount of deaths and if I may add, unessacery deaths were overwhelming in this and sometimes I think you need to draw a line.

The setting in this shifted back to both Amelias and Joshua's hometown and it made sense, as the main plot line was focused around high bridge and bringing it down. I liked the fact that we went back to old places because it really helped us to understand the stories and the emotion behind all of the happenings and understand the light and dark better, in general.

The characters pretty much stayed the same in this which was nice. With the increase of characters in book 2 we were so busy getting know them there was no space to develop or uncovers true colours of other characters. Because the characters were pretty much the same in this we started to see peoples true colours and what they were really like. In fact we got a much better glimpse into the both Joshua and Amelia's past but more Amelia. I felt like this was really good and whilst other characters did come into play it was primarily based back onto Amelia, Josh and Jillian like in book 1 which leas back to my point of growing our knowledge bases on the characters so we ca really connect with them.

As usual Hudson's writing was a dream to read. Description flowed as did the story but what really stuck out to me was her world building. In this book there was a lot more of inter world interaction and they way she used words to craft these worlds in my mind was just perfection. I loved the way she formed the rooms of hell in high bridge and I would've loved to see more of the light worlds but from what she wrote I fell in love with the different places. Hudson had a knack for description, especially with places.

Overall this was the perfect end to this series. Well the ending, I'm not sure if that's how I would have done it, but however it was a beautiful and magical ending and this series had left me speechless. I'll definitely be coming back to it in the future.

HEREAFTER - TARA HUDSON - REVIEW

Book: Hereafter
Author: Tara Hudson
Publisher: HarperCollins Childrens
ISBN: 9780007430505
Rating: A

A stranded spirit, a sudden love! Beautiful elegiac love story that crosses the divide between the living and the dead, in a powerful vision of longing and loss. "A tender and poignant love story with a ghostly twist." Becca Fitzpatrick, bestselling author of Hush, Hush This debut paranormal romance will leave you breathless. Can there truly be love after death? Drifting in the dark waters of a mysterious river, the only thing Amelia knows for sure is that she's dead. With no recollection of her past life -- or her actual death -- she's trapped alone in a nightmarish existence. All of this changes when she tries to rescue a boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but will him to live. Yet in an unforgettable moment of connection, she helps him survive. Amelia and Joshua grow ever closer as they begin to uncover the strange circumstances of her death and the secrets of the dark river that held her captive for so long. But even while they struggle to keep their bond hidden from the living world, a frightening spirit is doing everything in his power to destroy their new-found happiness and drag Amelia back into the ghost world! forever. Thrilling and evocative, with moments of pure pleasure, 'Hereafter' is a sensation you won't want to miss.

Hereafter is one of those novels that the moment it was released I wanted it. Not only was the cover gorgeous but the story sounded amazing and when I finally got my hands on a beautiful hardcover copy a couple of months ago I dove straight into the story and finished it in less than a day. It really us a stunning story and it took me back to a time when YA was just getting started. I personally feel that YA has someone what slowly deteriorated over time  Like after twilight it hit a peak of such good books (Hereafter is in that section - That section is called 2011) and whilst the YA now is good it's just not as good as then. Needless to say this book was stunning, and I enjoyed every single minute of reading this.

The story in this is actually really different. There's not much ghost in YA, and the only other real contender is Anna Dressed in Blood but this is complete different type of Ghost story. This isn't  a horror, it's a pure romance, ghost story with a twist and it drew me from page one. The story is intricate and detailed and whilst I did feel some parts were unnecessary and space fillers it was a beautiful novel and the rest of the story was pleasure to read.
All of the chapter left you thirsty for me and every time I told myself to take a break I physically couldn't pull away. The plot was just so intriguing and held that air of mystery about it that just thrills you so much. In fact the story did a lot. It had my heart racing but also had the power to evoke the right amount of emotion to really make me feel the book and it was gorgeous.

As for the writing I was literally drowning in the words. Hudson has such a beautiful, whimsical and magical prose that I just fell in love with. Her descriptive style - which I loved - build up vivd scenes and worlds in my mind and for the hours that I read this I was transported to a whole other place. It did well to display emotions and help me understand what the characters were feeling however I feel s though the fact it was put into first person from Amelia's perspective really did limit what we could see Josh was feeling and to a certain point I felt as thought it was almost capping him.

The characters were perfect in this story. At times I wondered what they were doing there in the first place, for instance ELi, but of course later all was revealed and everything slotted into place. The characters were really well formed though. Limiting the amount of them allowed us to really get to know about them and what I did like about this novel was that everything was explained to us about this ins and outs of Ghosts and their worlds. Of course in this book the characters are still fresh and we'll definitely see more to them come book 2 and 3 but from I've seen so far I'm definitely ready to meet them again.

Overall this book was a full five stars. I don't often use this word to describe book but this novel was beautiful, and it's not even the beginning. I can't wait to see what Hudson has next for us.

MILA 2.0 - DEBRA DRIZA - REVIEW

Book: Mila 2.0
Author: Debra Driza
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 9780007507283
Rating: A

No one suspects what she's made of...After the sudden death of her father, Mila's at a new school, trying to fit in and falling for mysterious sexy Hunter. But her world slams upside down in a heartbeat when a car accident reveals a secret she never knew; a secret about herself. Mila is devastated to learn that her memories are just chimeras, her dreams untrue. She can't even rely on her emotions to tell her who she is. So how can she grieve for her father or feel the way she does about Hunter? And why is her mom running scared? Worse still, who are the creepy stalkers so desperate to get their hands on her...?

Well what can I say? This is Divergent Meets The Host, both of which were books that I loved and adored so there was no choice but for me to fall in love with Mila 2.0.

Lets start with Mila 2.0 Origins, the Fire. This is the short free prequel to Mila 2.0 that you can pick up from the Amazon Kindle store, so before I read Mila 2.0 I decided to give The Fire a go. It blew me away. It jumps right in with a punchy action filled scene that instantly leaves you breathless and wanting more. You instantly feel a connection to character and the use of sympathy make you want to read on. The Fire is just essentially a taster sample to get you to buy Mila 2.0, but you should buy Mila 2.0 anyway. It's a killer novel.

Mila 2.0 is a sci fi/Ya book which is really nice because there's a fine line between Dystopian and Sci-fi and most YA book around this genre seem to fall into the Dystopia genre. So the fact this was Sci-fi was really nice and different! I mean I'm not usually keen on Sci-Fi but Mila 2.0 seemed interesting enough and I am so glad I read this book. It will definitely stand out for a while.

The Book follows, Mila, a girl android, as she discovers who she is and why she is on the run. It then follows her as she falls in love and gets captured. I know what you're thinking? Helpless girl android gets saved by brooding boy? Wrong! Surprisingly enough the boy doesn't actually play much of  a part in this which was really different yet so nice. The blurb led me to believe that the boy would play a main part in the story, as most boys do in YA fiction, but this was a breath of fresh air it was solely based on the story of Mila being an Android rather than the whole difficult love situation with the girl trying to explain what she is etc.

The story is really action packed and I loved it. It is a tad slow starting and as I progressed I wondered if a couple of the early scenes were necessary but putting that aside there wasn't a fault. A flawless novel. This book utterly thrilled me. The story was extremely well crafted and simple to understand. Thats one thing you have to be really careful of when writing Sci-Fi; how easy your concept is to understand and explain but Driza made this so easy to understand the science and technology. Also the story flowed really nicely too. It was smooth and kink free and the events all fitted together nicely.

The writing was a joy. I think the POV of writing from a machine is really unique, however human they may be, and the fact that Driza explained technological functions in first person was a really interesting way to write. The writing itself was gorgeous. Just the right amount of dialogue balanced with the perfect amount of description. And the action scenes were masterfully crafted too. The pace wasn't too quick on them and they were described in detail, so vividly they played out in your mind like a TV.

The characters. The nice thing I liked about this is that it wasn't confusing. Driza kept the characters to a minimum with about 5 main ones and it worked perfectly. They were built in your mind so well and because there was so much time to spend on each one they became your friends. (apart from the evil ones.) You felt like you knew them and they really evoked emotion in all the right places.

Overall I think this a Masterfully Crafted Novel. It will enthral anyone for hours and thrill you until your heart cant pump any faster and most definitely, will leave you wanting more.

MAD LOVE - SUZANNE SELFORS - REVIEW

Book: Mad Love

Author: Suzanne Selfors

Publisher: Bloomsbury

ISBN; 9781408819623

Rating: C+

"Writing her own love story could drive a girl insane!
When you’re the daughter of the bestselling Queen of Romance, life should be pretty good. But 16-year-old Alice Amorous has been living a lie ever since her mother was secretly hospitalized for mental illness. After putting on a brave front for months, time is running out. The next book is overdue, and the Queen can’t write it. Alice needs a story for her mother—and she needs one fast. That’s when she meets Errol, a strange boy who claims to be Cupid, who insists that Alice write about the greatest love story in history: his tragic relationship with Psyche. As Alice begins to hear Errol’s voice in her head and see things she can’t explain, she must face the truth—that she’s either inherited her mother’s madness, or Errol is for real."

I was slightly skeptical when reading this because it had a booming pink cover but surprisingly it’s for all genders and I really enjoyed it. It’s actually a fast paced, fantasy-romance, that isn’t the typical YA fantasy-romance.

The book covers many important things such as First Love, BiPolar and living on your own in your teenage years. It’s actually really good, and also has quite a bit of Greek Mythology which I’m always up for. The book follows Alice, daughter of the Queen of Romance, who has BiPolar (not Alice, her mum), but nobody knows, so Alice is getting letters from the publishers until one of the letters has something very... interesting in it. Then things get complicated, and a love triangle is formed.

The book is written well, and i found it a nice quick read that I whizzed through despite the size. Also it’s one of those books where you just want to keep on reading on and on even though your mum is shouting for you to come for dinner. The plot was extremely clever. I have to admit you read half of the book and you think you know the storyline as a basic love triangle story but suddenly! Somethings get twisted and you’re hit with intense shock and suspense.

There weren’t many characters in this book but I think it worked because the characters got built up really well and strong as it was the same people over again. Also it made you feel all that closer to them and much more satisfied.

Now trust me, I love books, so when you get a book about books I get eepish (very exited) so I was very eepish when I realised this was a book about books (sort of). The book was very good, I liked it a lot, and the Magical twist with Cupid, was very nice. I was all smooth and nicely flowing and I just felt it was lovely to read.