ON MY WISHLIST: AFTER OBSESSION

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where you can list all the books you desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming.

My choice this week is a forthcoming paranormal story of possessions and hauntings, After Obsession.

Although I haven't read anything before by Carrie Jones, I've heard some great things about this scary and ghostly story, and as usual for me I'm won over by the cover! I'm always amazed when authors work in pairs to write a story, as it must be such a fun but challenging process, and I'm interested in seeing how debut author Wedel and established author Carrie Jones work together on this one.

After Obsession by Carrie Jones and Steven E. Wedel
To be published by Bloomsbury in September 2011

Aimee and Alan have secrets. Both teens have unusual pasts, and abilities they prefer to keep hidden. But when they meet each other for the first time, in a cold Maine town, they can’t stop their secrets from spilling out. Strange things have been happening lately, and they both feel strongly that something, or someone, is haunting them.

They’re wrong.

Despite their unusual history and powers, it’s neither Aimee nor Alan who is truly haunted. It’s Alan’s cousin Courtney who, in a desperate plea to find her missing father, has invited a demon into her life—and into her body. Only together can Aimee and Alan exorcise the ghost. And they have to move quickly, before it devours not just Courtney, but everything around her…

What's on your wishlist?

REVIEW: STARCROSSED

Starcrossed
Author: Josephine Angelini
Series: Yes, Starcrossed #1
UK Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Books
UK release date: June 2011
Genre: YA

Sixteen year old Helen Hamilton has always felt different from everyone else on the island of Nantucket. Overly shy, she has cramps if anyone pays her too much attention. But when the Delos family moves to the island, Helen instinctively wants to kill the beautiful Lucas Delos, and she attacks him in the school corridor. To top it off, Helen feels like she is going crazy as she has strange nightmares featuring three ghostly women, who continue to haunt her when she is around the Delos family.
After Helen flies away from an attack at her home, she learns that she is descended from Greek Demi-Gods and was born into an opposing House to the Delos family, making her attraction to Lucas an impossibility.

Review: Greek mythology is inextricably tied into Starcrossed, from the history of Demigods, their part in the Trojan War and three wailing women - the Furies. I don’t know my Greek mythology and I’ve never read Iliad, but this didn’t put me at a loss. Angelini did a good job working in enough history and references to the Greek Gods such as Zeus to make the story real and believable, without distracting from the plot or characters.
When shy and awkward Helen sees Lucas and the rest of the Delos family she is filled with feelings of rage and pure hatred, not falling at his feet like the rest of the female population. If you know me well, you’ll know that I hate straight-out ‘girl falls for the most attractive guy ever’ scenarios, so the fact that the relationship between Lucas and Helen is more complex than that pleases me.

I really enjoyed the minor characters from the Delos family, although you can notice some similarities to Twilight – beautiful family with inhuman strength, the sister that can see snippets of the future etc. Don’t let this put you off though, as in Starcrossed the minor characters suffer their ups and downs and aren’t just pretty faces.

Something I’ve read in other reviews, is that the start of the book is a little stilted and slow and some of the dialogue jarring. This is true and it was a little difficult to get into at first. But as you get further into the story, the writing smoothes out and the pace picks up. There are plenty of little breadcrumb trails ready for us to follow into the next book, such as Helen’s nightmares visiting the Furies, her relationship with Lucas and a prophecy foretold about Helen. These are tied in well enough so that I was left curious and wanting to know what will happen next, but not making me feel too let down at the end because I was left without answers.

Slow to start, Starcrossed is worth persevering for: a delight of Greek mythological proportions.


Rating: 3.5*

REVIEW: FOREVER (WOLVES OF MERCY FALLS #3)

There are writers that create magic, and there are series and characters that hook you in. The Wolves of Mercy Falls is one of those series…

Forever
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: Yes, Wolves of Mercy Falls series #3
UK Publisher: Scholastic
UK release date: July 2011
Genre: YA

In Maggie Stiefvater's SHIVER, Grace and Sam found each other. In LINGER, they fought to be together. Now, in FOREVER, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in. (Goodreads)

Review: One of the main endearing qualities to this series is the characters. Grace is undergoing huge changes, which feel both natural and unwanted at the same time. Sam is accused of Olivia and Grace’s disappearance, whilst trying to come to terms with Beck’s past and Grace’s future.
I love the contrast between quiet, thoughtful Sam and brash Cole, who is quickly becoming my favourite character. Cole and Isabel both feature a lot more in Forever, which I really enjoyed. They fight against each other, both scared to open up and be themselves. I really do root for them as I know deep down they are good people.

Mr Culpepper is one of those guys that not only loves power and seeing other things destroyed, but feels that other people must pay for his losses. The irony is that as I start hating him more for wanting to hunt down the wolves, his relationship as a husband and father improves. Hating him is easy and hard at the same time.

Forever has a perfect balance between being character and plot driven. You get right inside the heads of Sam, Grace, Cole and Isabel, all of whom are very different. Yet each of their stories is endearing and gripping. At the same time, there is a definite race against time to protect the wolves from Mr Culpepper’s plans to destroy them.

Maggie Stiefvater’s writing is undoubtedly beautiful, poetic and flowing. What I love best (and I’ve probably said this before) are the little details that make things seem so real and true. Minute details and nuances that nonetheless make the characters jump up off the page in full 3D glory.

When you get to the last book in any series, there is always an underlying expectation as a reader…for the story to go out with a bang, for the perfect happy ending, or for some real resolutions. What I like about Forever is that Maggie Stievfater doesn’t give you these things in bucket loads, but the story is better for it. I like that little bit of mystery. I can understand that some people might find this frustrating, but I wonder whether happy endings really exist anyway?

Forever is a beautiful, heart wrenching and gripping end to the Wolves of Mercy Falls series.

Rating: 5*

THE MAKING OF A BOOK COVER

As my partner Dani is such a wonderful beauty and fashion photographer (and I'm nosy enough to watch on his photo shoots), I really loved the blog MacKids recently posted on the making of book covers. They look at picking the model, props, shooting the model and selecting which image to use.

You can visit Dani Riot's website for a peek at his lovely work.

To see how the jacket of historical mystery The Girl is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines went from the first image to the full jacket....then visit MacKids blog.

REVIEW: PASSION

Thanks to Sarah at Feeling Fictional for kindly giving me the ARC of this one.

Passion
Author: Lauren Kate
Series: Yes, Fallen #3
UK Publisher: Random House
UK release date: July 2011
Genre: YA

Following on from Torment Luce steps through an Announcer, a shadow of her own past, to race back through her previous lives and discover the truth behind the curse and reaffirm her love with Daniel. Luce visits MesoAmerica, a Victorian manor house and the First World War. Each time she comes closer to understanding why she dies and how strong their love is.

Review: Passion is very different to the previous two books in the Fallen series, as Luce disappears into an Announcer to visit her past lives throughout a variety of different historical eras. Spending a small period of time in each lifetime is certainly interesting and gives pace to the plot as Luce continually bounces around from one place to the next and I had to stay on my toes to figure out what new situation she had landed into.

In each lifetime Luce tries to figure out what her love for Daniel means. If Passion has done one thing for me then it has been to cement Luce and Daniel’s relationship across millennia and prove that Daniel’s love is absolutely everlasting and unshakable. In the previous books I wasn’t really won around by their love, but I have been converted after seeing Daniel bear such intense love and pain.

Fans of Miles, Shelby, Cam and the other fallen angles may be disappointed as they only feature every so often. This story is really all about Luce and Daniel. However new character Bill pops up in one of Luce’s announcers, helping her to blend in to each new time period, adding some biting cynicism and also being able to give a historical context to where they’re visiting.

There are a few minor inconsistencies with the time travel aspect, as Daniel sometimes didn’t remember being visited by his ‘future’ self, and other times he would. It made this element more confusing than it needed to be, although it isn’t a serious flaw of the plot.

In Passion you get more of an understanding of what the curse involves and why Luce dies each lifetime. Luce has to visit a number of her past selves to figure things out a small bit at a time. There wasn’t a big epiphany moment for me where I finally thought I understood the curse (I’m not sure I know the whole picture even know), but there was more a trickle of understanding building up towards the end.

At the end a whole other big dilemma is opened up, which some might see as leading perfectly into the next book. Personally I felt frustrated, that the story was being dragged out and that there wasn’t enough from the book for me. I can only presume that Passion is a bridge into Rapture, however I'm not sure if I'm patient enough to be kept waiting on this story.

Passion is filled with captivating and fast paced time travel, love, pain, and an unshakable depiction of Daniel and Luce’s relationship. A continuing saga in the eternal struggle between life and death, heaven and hell, and joy and despair.

Rating: 3*

REVIEW: TEXAS GOTHIC

Thanks to Sarah at Feeling Fictional for kindly giving this one to me after a Random House event last week.

Texas Gothic
Author: Rosemary Clement-Moore
Series: No
UK Publisher: Corgi
UK release date: July 2011
Genre: Contemporary YA

Amy Goodnight comes from a long line of witches and psychics. The Goodnight family is renowned for its quirks and eccentricities. So much so that when Amy and Phin look after their aunt’s farm, they are instantly placed at the centre of a ghostly mystery troubling the neighbouring ranch.

Review: Texas Gothic is a spooky supernatural mystery set in cowboy country. Following rumours of a ghostly mad monk haunting the McCullough’s land, ranch-hands start being attacked at night and everyone instantly starts pointing fingers at the Goodnights. It is up to Amy to placate the locals and solve the mystery.

I love the Goodnight family - each member has their own gift, such as Aunt Hyacinth who makes magical herbal products, and Phin who invents pseudo-scientific paranormal equipment. Amy tries to distance herself from her witchy inner self, to maintain an air of normality and protect her family from others prejudice. But when an ominous ghost starts visiting Amy, the theme of accepting who you are becomes an issue that Amy will have to face.

As the main protagonist, Amy has a perfect blend of humour, charm, clumsiness, and a natural instinct for getting in trouble. To top it off, Amy’s narrative is witty and natural, making me instantly feel like I was inside her head watching events unfold.

I was undoubtedly swept up in Amy and Ben’s love-hate relationship. Although Ben McCullough is snarky and quarrelsome, there is something likeable about him, and as the story develops his rough nature becomes more understandable. As soon as he meets Amy there is an undeniable fire and passion between the pair. Perhaps this is helped by the fact that Amy is in her underwear! At first this passion manifests as hostility but when the underlying attraction between them surfaces it is smoking hot.

Whilst the mystery isn’t that hard to guess, the ups and downs of the plot are both humorous and gripping. Amy can't stop herself from nosing around and ending up in trouble, or big piles of guano!

I’m a big fan of stand-alone books, but there’s something about the quirky Goodnight family that would work so well as a series and I would really be interested in reading more about them.

Perfectly set in Texas ranch land, Texas Gothic is a witty, supernatural mystery with great characters and steaming hot sexual tension.

Rating: 4*

Click here for Rosemary Clement-Moore’s website.

NEWS: THE END OF SOOKIE STACKHOUSE

Some bookish news for you this week...

Charlaine Harris, author of the paranormal Sookie Stackhouse vampire series will be finishing on book thirteen.

From her interview with PopcornBiz, Charlaine Harris explains: “I think it’ll be total closure. I don’t go back to things once I’ve finished them. That’s kind of what I do. I don’t want to write Sookie after I get stale. Yeah, I’ll miss them, I’m sure, because I have lived with them for quite a long time – 12 years now. And it did take two years to sell the first book. But I think writers like to do different things. At least this writer does.”

She is currently working on the twelfth book in the Stackhouse series and will also be working on a very different kind of project - “I'm going to be working on a graphic novel next,” she reveals. For more on this, visit the PopcornBiz post.

* * * * * *

Also out this week is another trailer for ghostly Victorian murder mystery, Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey.

If you haven't yet heard much about this amazing book, then you can find my review of Haunting Violet here.

IN MY MAILBOX: DEBRIS AND FOREVER

In My Mailbox was started by the lovely Kristi over at Story Siren - check out her blog for more information on this meme.

I know it's not classy to brag, but please excuse me just this once. Normally I get most of my books from the library, and if I'm lucky I get to buy the occasional book. But this week, I got sent a book from Angry Robot. I'm so excited.

So firstly today IMM is Debris, the futuristic science fantasy debut novel by Jo Anderton.

Debris, Jo Anderton
October 2011
Angry Robot
In a far future where technology is all but indistinguishable from magic, Tanyana is one of the elite. She can control pions, the building blocks of matter, shaping them into new forms using ritual gestures and techniques. The rewards are great, and she is one of most highly regarded people in the city. But that was before the “accident”.
Stripped of her powers, bound inside a bizarre powersuit, she finds herself cast down to the very lowest level of society. Powerless, penniless and scarred, Tanyana must adjust to a new life collecting “debris”, the stuff left behind by pions. But as she tries to find who has done all of this to her, she also starts to realize that debris is more important than anyone could guess.

I also bought Forever,  the concluding story in The Wolves of Mercy Falls series. It has a very shiny silver cover and I can't wait to find out what happens to Grace and Sam.

Forever (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #3) by Maggie Stiefvater
July 2011
Scholastic
When Sam met Grace, he was a wolf and she was a girl. Eventually he found a way to become a boy, and their love moved from a curious distance to the intense closeness of shared lives.
That should have been the end of their story. But Grace was not meant to stay human. Now she is the wolf. And the wolves of Mercy Falls are about to be killed in one final, spectacular hunt.
Sam would do anything for Grace. But can one boy and one love really change a hostile, predatory world? The past, the present, and the future are about to collide in one pure moment - a moment of death or life, farewell or forever.

What's in your mailbox this week?

ON MY WISHLIST: BLOOD RIGHTS BY KRISTEN PAINTER

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where you can list all the books you desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming.

My choice this week is Blood Rights, the first in a forthcoming urban fantasy series featuring vampires and human 'feeders'. Not only is the cover stunning but I love the idea of looking at the vampire story from the ‘feeder’ side.

Blood Rights (House of Comarré #1) by Kristen Painter

To be published by Orbit Books in autumn 2011

Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle's body bears the telltale marks of a comarré -- a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility.

When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world...and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks.

Now, Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to stop a plot to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds. If they fail, a chaos unlike anything anyone has ever seen will threaten to reign.

Click here for Kristen Painter's blog.

What's on your wishlist?

BOOK TRAILER: WITCHLANDERS

The book trailer for Witchlanders is now out. Can't wait for this YA debut...

Witchlanders by Lena Coakley

Due out August 30th 2011

Goodreads synopsis: High in their mountain covens, red witches pray to the Goddess, protecting the Witchlands by throwing the bones and foretelling the future.

It’s all a fake. At least, that’s what Ryder thinks. He doubts the witches really deserve their tithes—one quarter of all the crops his village can produce. And even if they can predict the future, what danger is there to foretell, now that his people’s old enemy, the Baen, has been defeated?

But when a terrifying new magic threatens both his village and the coven, Ryder must confront the beautiful and silent witch who holds all the secrets. Everything he’s ever believed about witches, the Baen, magic and about himself will change, when he discovers that the prophecies he’s always scorned—

Are about him.

REVIEW: THE IRON WITCH

I know I’m a little behind on this review, but I guess I put off reading this one because I haven’t overly enjoyed other Fey stories in the past. I am however really glad I read The Iron Witch.

The Iron Witch

Author: Karen Mahoney

Series: The Iron Witch #1

UK Publisher: Random House Children's Books

UK release date: January 2011

Genre: Contemporary YA, Faerie 

Seventeen year old Donna has a secret. As a child, her hands and arms were mutilated by a Fey wood monster. She has been brought up learning about the Fey as well as having iron surgery on her hands. With ties to the Order of the Dragon, a secret sect charged with protecting humans from the Fey, she’s kept everything hidden from her best friend Navin for three years, but when she meets Xan events start happening that force her to bear all.

Review: Donna is a charming mixture of fiery resolve and insecurity. Her hands, rebuilt and woven with iron, not only give her strength and power but make her feel like an outcast from her peers. Despite her ability to fight Fey with her iron hands, Donna is certainly a character that I could relate too, and her moments of shyness and awkwardness take me back to that age. Although The Iron Witch is written in third person, diary extracts give us an insight into Donna’s past and feelings, without feeling constructed or deliberate.

Donna immediately relates to Xan because he too has a secret and exists on the edge of the popular crowd. The connection and common knowledge they share makes me feel as Donna does, easily enamoured with Xan’s rough exterior and caring character.

Other minor characters including those belonging to the Order of the Dragon were touched upon in enough detail for you to know something odd is going on, but left enough back to keep the mystery and leave potential openings for the next stories. The fact that the 'good' guys are suspicious presents an interesting dichotomy for Donna, as well as adding varying levels of antagonsits to the story.

With Donna's iron hands, Karen Mahoney gives an interesting twist and approach to the Faerie element, adding in scientific and alchemical elements which for me make the story far more interesting than I expected.

I don’t normally like Faerie stories, but I really enjoyed The Iron Witch. It has a perfect blend of Fey mystery and legend, teenage worries and enchanting characters.

Rating: 4*

Look out for the next in the series, The Wood Queen, coming out in 2012.

TUESDAY TEASER #3

Today I'm reading Texas Gothic (published on 7th July 2011) which was very kindly given to me by Sarah at Feeling Fictional, after she visited Random House Children's Books on Saturday. From what I've read so far, its a perfect blend of witchcraft, cowboys and ghostly mystery! (Review to come soon.)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can join in, all you have to do is:

· Grab your current read
· Open to a random page
· Share two “teaser” sentences
· BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
· Share the title & author.

Here is my teaser for today…

"I thrust my fingers into the dirt and pulled out two handfuls of soil, dropping them to the side. Quickly I widened the conical hole, uncovering a curve of bone that became a dome, then became something unmistakable."

- p.98, Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore.

What are you reading?

REVIEW: HAUNTING VIOLET

Haunting Violet

Author: Alyxandra Harvey

UK Publisher: Bloomsbury

UK release date: July 2011

Genre: Paranormal, YA, Historical fiction

Summary: Violet Willoughby is the daughter of a fraudulent medium and incorrigible flirt. Living in Victorian London they swindle grieving widows by setting up ghostly parlour tricks, earning enough money for Violet's mother to seduce and deceive her way through genteel society.

When Violet starts seeing ghosts including one who wants her murderer to be discovered, she is not only shocked but rather perturbed that they would visit her. After all, Violet doesn’t believe in ghosts.

Review: Haunting Violet is a ghostly murder mystery set in Victorian times, where family respectability, social nobility and money is everything.

Violet lives with her mother, who will do anything to wear beautiful dresses, flirt with rich men and work her way up the social ladder. Violet is pressed into helping at séances as well as courting the young and rich Xavier, so she can marry well and drag the family out of poverty.

Despite having a controlling mother Violet has to pickpockets and scavenge to stay on the bread-line, which means she is capable and determined, not your typical swooning lady. Her circumstances and feelings of guilt over deceiving others, make her instantly likeable. The fondness and playfulness between her and Colin is exciting and heartwarming. He might not be rich, but he understands and cares for Violet. And who could dislike a man who says "I'm not good enough for you either."?

I loved learning about the different spiritualist tricks they used to make people think they were being visited by ghosts - Violet had a cumbersome pair of bellows strapped to her legs so she can produce blasts of cold air. Whilst there is an element of humour and excitement to the séances, you really feel for Violet who is so put upon by her mother as well as the unsuspecting clients who are deceived.

Whilst the plot wasn't filled with shocking twists, the pacing and mystery was gripping and the writing seamless. The Victorian setting and language is very well done - you can really feel the coal smog and grime of London and the opulence of the country manor and the women's dresses. It's a time period that I find fascinating, and Alyxandra Harvey really brought it to life.

A ghostly murder mystery packed with spiritualist illusions, sumptuous dresses and eerie apparitions, Haunting Violet is a Victorian extravaganza. 

Rating: 4*

ON MY WISHLIST: ONCE A WITCH AND 0.4

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where you can list all the books you desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming.

My first one for this this week is Once a Witch, because I love a good old witch story. It was released last year but I never got around to reading it.

Once a Witch by Carolyn McCullough


Tamsin Greene comes from a long line of powerful witches, and was prophesied to be the most powerful of them all. Each witch in the Greene family has a special Talent, but Tamsin's Talent never showed up turning the prophesy into a cruel joke. Now she's 17 and spends most of her time away at boarding school, only returning to her hometown when she is forced to come back and work in the family bookstore. But when a stranger comes into her family's store and, mistaking Tamsin for her extremely talented sister Rowena, asks for help finding an old clock Tamsin sets a chain of events into motion that will change her life forever.

My second choice is 0.4 by Mike Lancaster came out earlier this year. It just sounds so intriguing and I'm really loving dystopian stories right now.

It's a brave new world.

'My name is Kyle Straker. And I don't exist anymore.'

So begins the story of Kyle Straker, recorded onto old audiotapes. You might think these tapes are a hoax, but perhaps they contain the history of a past world....If what the tapes say is true, it means that everything we think we know is a lie.

And if everything we know is a lie, does that mean that we are, too?

What's on your wishlist?

GETTING PUBLISHED: EXPERT ADVICE

As I went to a London Writers Cafe event last week that was all about getting published, I thought I would share some notes from the speakers for other writers looking to get published. I hope you find it useful.

Nicola Morgan, Author

Following 20 years trying and failing to get published, Nicola finally realised that she was writing what she wanted to write and what she enjoyed, not what publishers are looking for and what readers like to read.

“Who is your reader?”

·      If you are looking to be a published writer, you have to remember why you are writing and who you are writing for.

·      In order to become published, your book has to be able to sell. Sounds commercial, but that’s the fact of it.

·      Her blog, ‘Help I need a publisher’, features lots of advice for determined writers and interviews with acclaimed authors. Her latest book Write to be Published summarises key points to getting published.

The Literary Consultancy

Rebecca Swift is a writer and founder of The Literary Consultancy

“A good opening is key to drawing the reader in.”

·      Publishers are looking for finished manuscripts, which have been edited to a fairly high standard.

·      A common trap writers fall into is overwriting - us writers loving adding in lots of adjectives, and description when really being economy is the key.

·      The Literary Consultancy offer mentoring, manuscript assessment and proofreading to writers.

Fourth Estate

Rebecca Ewan is publicity manager at Fourth Estate, literary imprint for Harper Collins UK.

“Have a hook.”

·      It can be very competitive trying to get published as a debut, and so it is really important to create a niche for yourself.

·      Have a hook from the story or own personal back-story that could feature in the news

·      Have small stories/articles published in other magazines. E.g. if you can get a piece published in Marie-Claire this will be a big plus, as you some experience to your name and are not a complete unknown so to speak.

·      Highlight what is marketable about you.

Useful websites (just click each one):

·      Nicola Morgan 

·      Help I Need a Publisher 

·      The Literary Consultancy 

·      Fourth Estate

·      ABC Tales – community for writers 

REVIEW: FORGOTTEN

Forgotten

Author: Cat Patrick

UK Release date: June 2011

UK Publisher: Egmont Books Ltd

Genre: YA

Summary: When sixteen year old London Lane wakes up every morning it is like starting life over again, because at 4.33am her brain resets and she can’t remember what happened yesterday or the day before.

London can however ‘remember’ snippets of the future – like which of her classmates will get pregnant before graduating. The one person she can’t see in her future is Luke Henry, the boy she likes and has to fall for and meet new every day.

Review: London Lane has a memory condition where she doesn’t remember the boy she likes or what she wore the day before. I really love this concept, including the notes that she has to write for herself every night ready to read the next morning. It reminds me a little of the film 50 First Dates, where Drew Barrymore can’t remember anything when she wakes up.

What makes this story so good though is the flawless writing as well as the characters. It is such an interesting read you will really want to finish it in one sitting.

London’s condition must be stressful, exhausting and slightly terrifying. Only her best friend and her mum know about her condition and can help her remember things that happened in the past. I started the story slightly confused, wondering what the notes were and so on, but it just put me straight in London’s shoes of how she must feel every morning waking up knowing only the future and not the past. She handles the uncertainty of her past and the pressure of knowing the future really well, even when her best friend refuses to hear what might happen in the future and she discovers her mum has been hiding things from the past.

Luke Henry meets London on his first day at school, and instantly she falls for him. Every day London falls for him over again, which is so sweet, endearing and romantic. I still don’t feel I know enough about Luke, however you instantly like him as a thoughtful, caring and romantic kinda guy.

I thought I had figured out what would happen at the end, so I wasn’t expecting the unpredictable twists that the story took. Forgotten touches on love, friendship and whether we can control our own fate - a really addictive and endearing read! 

Rating: 4*

TEASER TUESDAY #2

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can join in, all you have to do is:

·         Grab your current read 

·         Open to a random page 

·         Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

·         BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

·         Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! 

Here is my teaser for today…

"We were the only ones for miles it seemed,

the house sitting sleepily on the hill behind us.

It made me want to tear off my petticoats and run until my legs burned

or spin in circles until I fell down."

- p.124, Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey.

What are you reading?