Book Review - The Loneliest Girl...

I'm not 100% certain how to write this review without spoiling it? This is one of those books (very much like E. Lockhart's We Were Liars) that it's best if you go into the book as blind as you can.and just dive in.

But, I have to say something so you guys understand what this book is about and why I decided to read it after read two adult LGBT+ romanic novels.

Ok, let me explain why I decided to read this. There are a few reasons. First, I have wanted to read this for what feels like AGES. A bunch of you guys got early copies of this at YALC. And you guys SCREAMED (well, tweet-screamed) at how good this book was! So, when the lovely people at Walker asked if I wanted to have a copy for review, I jumped at the chance. But when I got my copy, I suddenly realised that I had a lot of books on my TBR and as I planned to read a lot of quick reads throughout September so I can tackle big, chunky reads throughout October so I wasn't sure when I was going to read this. That was until I asked Twitter. When in doubt over what to read next, TWITTER!

Ok, Twitter Hive, pick my next read!

— Andrew Hall (@PewterWolf) September 7, 2017

So, I read this because of you guys. You only have yourselves to blame. Now, where to begin...? 

Romy is the only survivor on a spaceship bound for a new Earth-like planet. She is the loneliest girl in the universe (hence the title), until she hears that a spaceship has launched from Earth. Then she gets email from the spaceship from a boy called J. Is it possible for her to fall in love with someone she's never met, who's light years away...? 

I'm trying to keep it vague. Am using the blurb on the back of my copy as outline (but they go much further than I am). 

Ok, my thoughts. Well, this an addictive little thing. Fast, gripping, edge of your seat and very We Were Liars. If you have read both books, you understand why I keep comparing the two. Because, in the best way I can describe it, both books are paranoid reads. Well, for me, they were. I read them both with the huge sense of uneasy and mistrust. Maybe it's because I enjoy reading crime and thriller stories or maybe because I am a hugely suspicious reader (I trust the author, but never the story nor characters), but I would read something and an alarm would ring in my head... 

I do like this book because it tackles some really interesting themes. Space travel, science (there's real science in here!), isolation, paranoia, mental health. Plus, with Romy being a strong, yet flawed character, reading her and what was happening to her made me turn the pages faster. 

I do have one or two things. The first is length. I wish this book was a fraction longer. I could very easily read an extra 50 or 100 pages. But mainly because I was so sucked in, I just wanted it to keep going for just a little longer. 

My other thing is more a me thing than anything else. There were one or two things I did see coming quite early on. Now, I don't think 13/14 year old me would have seen them coming, but I would have been suspicious. 

An addictive read. Now, to backtrack and read The Last Beginning! Like I have said loads of times, very behind on my reading! 

eBook Review - Another Together

An eNovella? About characters I adore? And this will tie me over till second book in series comes out later this year? AND IT'S FREE!?

Oh, Lauren James, you are spoiling us!

As you guys are aware, I loved The Next Together. It was one of my favourite reads of last year and I am very excited to see where Lauren goes next in The Last Beginning. So, when I saw this on my Twitter feed, I downloaded it without thinking about it and squeezed it in when I could.

It's Winter, 1940. The war is on, codebreakers are working hard to break the Nazi's enigma machine and there's a killer on the loose at Bletchley Park? Can this life's Kitty and Matthew catch the killer before they strike again?

If you're a fan of the series, you will really like this. It was fast, fun and you just get catch up in the story of not just Kitty and Matthew trying to stop a killer, but their relationship and reincarnation.

If you're new to Lauren's world, this might be a good place to start. You focus on these characters and the elements that Lauren touches on within The Next Together and The Last Beginning, hopefully, but without giving too much away or overwhelming you. Plus, as this is a free novella, you can try out Lauren's writing style and see if you click. If you do, great. If not, at least you haven't wasted money on it.

The only thing that bothered me is that I wished it was a little longer. I forgot how much I missed these character and I just wanted to spent more time with them. But I fear some of you might think the mystery is a bit weak (I disagree - I thought the mystery worked well against the backdrop of the story and its location).

All I have to say now is "Bring on Last Beginning"! Or more novellas set with these characters. I don't care which!

GoodRead - The Next Together

I'm not entirely sure when I heard of this book, but as soon as I heard it, I knew I had to read it. I knew I had to annoy the heck out of the publisher/book shop to get my hands on a copy. 

So, when Walker Books sent me a copy to review, I was very happy and started reading it almost immediately. I mean, come on. Have you not seen the cover?

Katherine and Matthew are meant to be together. They're destined to be together. They are born again and again to find each other, only to be separated tragically. Whether that is in the siege of Carlisle in 1745, the Crimean War in 1854 or the near future of 2019 and 2039, they will always find each other. 

But why? Why do they keep coming back? What must they achieve in each life before they can live and love in peace? And will their next together be any different? 

Where the heck do I start? 

I really love this book. This is going to be one of my fave reads of this year, that's how much I love this book. 

I found Lauren's writing engrossing, as I did the story. Well... stories. We do have 4 timelines to read. It was the timelines I found fascinating. How will Lauren make each timeline different from each other but keep they interlinked and without the reading getting confused? But Lauren made each timeline very unique and I never felt confused or had to go back to the start so I knew what timeline I was reading. Each was very different in tone and style. Each Katherine and Matthew was different in each timeline and, because of this, their romantic together was very different. I wasn't reading the same couple over and over again. Each was new and different, and yet important to the next. 

This book has been billed by some reviewers/bloggers/vloggers as a romance. While I agree it does have romance in it, I wouldn't say the book is a romantic book. There is a mix of genres in here, which should fit most readers. There are elements of historical fiction, dystopian, time-travel/alternative universes, corrupt governments and biological warfare. It's romance-meets-science-fiction-meets-history. A mix bag and one that works really well. 

There might be one or two things that might bother you when reading this, which happen quite close to the end of the book, but with a sequel on the horizon (The Last Beginning), I sense these will be address there. 

I could go on. I could gush about this book for quite a while (sometime I am very tempted to do on my next Bookish Brits video), but The Next Together is a solid debut and an addictive read! I await the sequel on baited breath...