GoodRead - The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

I'm not 100% sure how I became aware of this book. I'm not sure if I discovered it first on another blog - Portrait Of A Woman - when she was doing a joint "Japanese YA Novel Week" with another blog (called Death, Books and Tea) and then saw it on sale on Amazon's 12 Days of Kindle at the start of the year. Or, if it was the other way round: Amazon sale then saw it on Portrait of a Woman's blog.

Not sure but I bought it and, after reading the awesome Hollow Pike by James Dawson and not wanting to read another book I had high hopes on (Daylight Saving by Edward Hogan), I decided to read this as I wanted something fast, light and quite different from both Hollow Pike and Daylight Saving. Plus, if you read my New Year's Eve message, I said I wanted to be more brave and expand my reading so this seems perfect (I want to read more translations and I do have one or two in my pile so this was a nice starting point...)

Anyway, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is, actually, two novellas in one volume: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and The Stuff That Nightmares Are Made Of, which was originally published in Japan in 1967 (and was translated into English last year by, according to Wikipedia, David James Karashima). Both of them are written by Yasutaka Tsutsui, who is hugely popular in Japan and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is one of his most popular works. No pressure for me as I usually stay away from classics...

But the two stories are quite different. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is about Kazuko, who faints in her school science lab after smelling a lavender-like scent. When she wakes up, she feels different but thinks about it. Over the crash of three days, there is an earthquake, a fire at one of her friends' house and she and her friend get nearly run over. But at the exact moment of it happen, Kazuko time-leaps 24 hours in the past...

The other story, The Stuff That Nightmares Are Made Of is about Masako who has an irrational fear of Prajna masks and heights, and she decides to find out why she has these fears. At the same time, she helps her little brother, Yoshio, with his night terrors.

Now, these were fast. I started this late on Tuesday night and finished it on Thursday afternoon. And, sometimes, you want a fast read. And I liked the ideas that these two stories tackled - time travel and fear. But I felt that these issues weren't tackled property, or in a way which would have been interesting. Both these stories felt lacking as they could have been very interesting and very engaging novels in their own right. It felt like there could have been more...

Also, there were times I found the language used (either when characters spoke or prose) that I felt was quite tweed and, because of that, threw me out of the story and took a while to get back into it.

But the main problem I had with this was the lack of depth. It felt like you skimmed over the characters, their emotions and the events that could have been explored more. But, I have been told that a movie (trailer below with a fan video) tackled character developement, but with these two stories, they lacked depth and they lacked punch. Not my cup of tea, but glad I read them.

SMILE - Mondays Should Be Scare & Cake Day!

Thanks to F**kYeahMiranda tumblr for both GIFs! Here is link one & here is link two.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone Book 2 Title Reveal!

After the excitement of Daughter of Smoke and Bone (with it receiving a stupid amount of love from bloggers and readers worldwide [and it going to be turned into a movie]), Laini Taylor has FINALLY revealed the title of the second book within this trilogy on her site.

Also on her site is a tiny teaser (which might not be in the book as "... this book is unedited and unfinished. It is not a book at all. It is a manuscript, a work in progress. Bear all that in mind."). If you want to read it, go to Laini's website.

Now, to reveal the title... Ready? Oh, before I go any further, Laini has asked that, if we use the image below, we must thank the US publisher, Little Brown. So, now that's out of the way, the reveal...!



So, guys, what do you think? I really like it. Another mouth-full, but there's something so cool about it. A beautiful horror of a title (blood is horror, starlight is beautiful [this is my logic talking so bear with...]).

We have to wait till autumn to get our hands on this book and, for now, we will wait with excitement (or till the cover has been reveal...)

GoodRead - Daylight Saving

I've been excited about this book since Walker Books did their Bloggers Events (not read that, read it here!) where the people from Walker and the author himself, Edward Hogan, chatted about it and I thought it sounded right up my street. But then I discovered that the setting of the Daylight Saving is held at a Center Parcs type resort and all I could think of was "Am going to Center Parcs in a few months time! That can't be good..."

When Daniel goes to Leisure World Holiday Complex with his dad, his exceptions are low. He doesn't like sport and he's uncomfortable with his body. And let's not get started on his dad's issues. So when Daniel meets Lexi, a mysterious girl, by the lake, things look like they're on the up. She's smart and makes him laugh. But, is it his imagination or does Lexi's wounds look worse every time they meet? And why does Lexi wear a watch that goes backwards?

Now, I feel I have to say this before I go any further. When you hear the words "Thriller Ghost Story", you imagine a fast and scary read involving ghosts, right? Well, Daylight Saving isn't that. If anything, Edward came to this seeing it in a different way and, because of that, it's quite a refreshing read.

I mean, I was expecting something like the above, but instead, I had two stories unfolding side-by-side and each took their gentle time to unfold. No rushing - a bonus! First, you have Daniel and his family problems. And second, you have Daniel and Lexi's friendship unfold (and yes, it is a friendship, not a instant "I'm in love with you" that happening more and more in YA paranormals).

And this story, I think, won't sit well with some YA-paranormal readers. But, when I read this, it didn't feel like a paranormal read. There was something natural about it, and I think that's quite interesting for Edward to do. To make something paranormal quite normal. And this, for me, is one of the reasons I found this book compelling. I just wanted more.

Another thing that's cool is Daniel himself. He's not your typical male lead in a YA paranormal. He's not hot or good-looking or stereotypical. Daniel worries about his family, his weight and he has flaws (nose-picking to cause a nosebleed, for example) but, throughout the course of the book, he grows and becomes a strong character.

Lexi... I liked her but there were times I thought "Huh? A seventeen year old won't know that, would they?" (which threw me out of the story sometimes) but she was an interesting, if sometimes complex, character.

This book isn't perfect, I'm going to admit that (the use of & amount of times the word "said" was used will have English teachers up and down the country tearing their hair out! [and yet, I think I get why Edward did it]), but there was something compelling about it. Something that had me up till half past midnight and go "Ok, I have to stop now! I need to sleep!"

I like this book. There's something understated and quietly-compelling about Daylight Saving. And I say to you, if you're going to read it, go to it with an open mind and it might surprise you.

SMILE - Should This Have Happened?

I saw these and laughed. And, after my initial reaction of Eclipse (still not my fave out of the four, FYI!), it seems like other people thought the same...





(Quick thank to Anna Tells All tumblr & F**kYeahMiranda tumblr.)

GoodRead - Hollow Pike

I have no idea how I became aware of James Dawson and his debut novel, Hollow Pike. I think we met via Twitter where we randomly chatted about the casting of Peeta and Gale in the upcoming Hunger Games movie. I think we both agree that, while the two male actors were good choices, they really should have the others role. Random trivia (which I am surprised that I actually remember) but after random tweets, I discovered he had a novel in the works and I got excited. Then, at Indigo's launch party, I discovered the cover and, also, that I wasn't the only person excited about this book. Several book bloggers were quite excited about this book. YEAH! And then, in late November, James threw a contest. Nominate a cool book blogger and they will win an ARC of the book. I nominated Emma from Book Angel Booktopia (here's her review of this book). And my nomination won. And then, James turned round and said "Oh, by the way. As an Xmas present, both nominator and nominatee will win a copy!"

So, I got my copy SUPER EARLY! (I feel I have to explain the whole, slightly weird saga as... well... you guys should know that, in my life ATM, this is exciting!)

So, the story of Hollow Pike. Lis London is moving from her home in Wales to Hollow Pike. But that doesn't seem to help her. She keeps having a nightmare that she's going to murder. And when she sees the copse, she realise that this is the place in her nightmares.

But she doesn't believe in nightmares nor the local tales of witchcraft. Until a terrible thing happens that forces herself to think again...

Now... what can I say? I EFFING LOVE THIS BOOK! Not going to swear, but this book is so great! And it's a debut novel and the fact that this has such a strong reaction from me is amazing!

I want to talk about the subject that this book raises: bullying. This book very much shows the effects of bullying. Lis left her home in Wales because of terrible bullying she faced. Only to walk again into bullying, and it's nasty bullying. There were scenes that some people might find shocking (the use of fake emails, for example) but it doesn't surprise me and just reflects the levels some people will go to. But I think James tackled this issue with a good amount of care but was unflinching over it. I found this brave.

And then, James turns the book on its head and throws us a murder mystery. And not just a typical murder mystery, but the idea of witchcraft being involved. And he seems to blend the genres of this book together with the greatest of ease, and it was always interesting to see where he took me next as the twists were always there, lurking in the darkness of Hollow Pike's copse...

I had very high standards for this book. And Hollow Pike met each and every one of them. And excelled them all. Keep an eye on James Dawson. He is going to be huge! I demand his next book AT ONCE!

Dark Days Of January - What Are You So Afraid Of?

As part of the Dark Days of January, Sara Grant takes over the blog and chats about fear. And, before we get scared, want to quickly thank Sara for writing this and Nina at Indigo for allowing me to take part in this blog tour. So, take it away, Sara!

What Are You So Afraid Of?
US President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself". Seriously? He must not have had an active imagination or Sky TV.

I hate being frightened. I don’t watch horror movies and even refuse to watch Dexter – and American TV drama that focuses on a serial killer – after 8 p.m. I don’t think of myself as a scaredy cat, but responding to this question has revealed this chronology of fear...

Needles. When I was a kid, I hated needles. I have a vivid memory of being held down by multiple doctors and nurses to be given a shot before I had my tonsils removed when I was four. When I was old enough, I decided to donate blood to help overcome my fear of needles. I was so terrified that my blood pressure sky rocketed and the volunteers made me wait until I’d calmed down. I was eventually able to give a pint of blood. Needles don’t scare me anymore.

Fire. Not fire in general, but very specifically my house burning down in the middle of the night. When I was probably ten years old, I saw part of a TV show on home safety. The image of a house engulfed in flames stuck with me. My bedroom was on the second floor and I was terrified of a fire starting at night. I kept a fire extinguisher under my bed and – for some strange reason – the bathroom light on. (Yeah, I can’t explain in now but it somehow made me feel better.)

Sharks. Jaws kept me away from the swimming pool the summer it came out. I must admit that to this day I probably never dive into a body of water – from a chlorinated swimming pool to a lake or the ocean without hearing those ominous opening notes from the Jaws soundtrack.

Snakes. I shut my eyes or turn the page if an image of a snake appears. Just the idea of Snakes on a Plane freaks me out. There’s something about their slithering hissing ways that – even if they aren’t the deadly variety – I just can’t bear.

But the only thing I truly fear is losing my family and friends. I think I could survive being hurled into a pit of rattle snakes while set alight before being dunked into shark-infested waters if I knew that my family and friends were safe and waiting for whatever was left of me.

The main character in Dark Parties must face the loss of her beloved grandma. She risks everything to find out what happened to her. Dark Parties tapped into my fear of losing my family and friends. I can’t imagine being faced with the decision Neva must ultimately make: her life, her freedom, or her family and friends?

So what’s your biggest fear?

GoodRead - Night School

Late in November last year, I went to the Atom Books Bloggers Event (not read my report? Here you go!) where Atom talk to us about exciting books that was coming out in the next few months. One of which was Night School by C.J. Daugherty, and I had high hopes with this book as it was a thriller and it wasn't paranormal! AT LAST! A non-paranormal read!

Allie's world is falling apart around her. Her older brother has vanished without a trace. She hates school where she's been arrested for graffiti and her parents have had enough. They have sent her to a boarding school, much to Allie's shock.

But Allie finds that she's happy at Cimmeria Academy. She's making friends, doing well in her classes and then there's both Sylvian and Carter...

But Cimmeria Academy has a secret. And it seems everyone is aware of it expect Allie. So, be careful, Allie... Cimmeria Academy could be more dangerous than you first thought...

Before I go any further, I want to state that I read this as if this was a standalone novel, not the first book in a series, which is it (as I forgot). Also, the cover is very pretty, isn't it? It's the same photographer and model that was used for the cover of Entangled by Cat Clarke so I kept compare the two books together (which I shouldn't have as these two books are very different creatures).

It's a slow thriller. It takes its time before stuff happens and, while I like the gradual build-up, I know some of you won't. You want to hit the ground running! If you want that, you might want to avoid this (I seem to be saying that alot with books recently...).

But I think I like this gradualness as you get to know Allie and some of the friends she make at Cimmeria Academy, all the while, you know that something is happening and the feeling of foreboding is always with you.

While I read this from an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) so I could see that there needed to be some polishing, there was a few things I did go "Huh?" over. But I think this is because I saw this as a standalone. If I saw this as the starting book in a series, all the questions that were left unanswered or were hinted at wouldn't have bothered me as much as they did. At least I could go "Oh, that would be answered in book 2" and it won't have bothered me as much. But I didn't so I felt let down (and that's not the author's fault. It's mine as it clearly stated "THIS IS THE FIRST IN A SERIES" on the back of the book!)

While I am very much in the middle on how I saw this book, I am very intrigued over what will happen next to Allie as this is very much a book that laid down all the groundwork so book 2 should be more exciting, more tense and more dark & twisty!