TRIGGER WARNING: This book contains graphic descriptions of rape and self-harm which may be triggering to readers.

I went into this expecting one thing and came out having read the complete opposite of what I was expecting. I thought this would be a fast-paced, suspense filled 'whodunnit' but it turned out to be a very slow read. In fact, by the end I had forgotten that I didn't know who had raped Jenny because I didn't really feel that was where the book was going.

My main issue with this book was that I just hated the narrator. The book is narrated by Jenny's therapist, Alan. I didn't enjoy reading this from his point of view. I thought he was an egotistical narrator and I found that I simply didn't care for him and it stopped me from creating the connection to the other characters in the books. I would have liked to see more POVs in the book: a few chapters from Jenny, Tom or Charlotte would have made this a lot more interesting to me. To me it also felt as though there were many paragraphs (sometimes sections of chapters) that were completely irrelevent and I found myself skimming over some parts - something I NEVER do.

The story itself was interesting. A young girl who was brutally raped in the woods who then underwent memory erasing therapy. This is the story of how Jenny is trying to get her memories back so that she can move on with her life. With a different narrator and writing style, I think I would have liked this but I just can't get past the narrative style. It wasn't for me. The ending wove together neatly and I hadn't figured out the identity of the rapist but also didn't feel blown away by the reveal.

I have to note that there are some extremely graphic descriptions of sexual violence and rape in this book. There were several paragraphs where I felt wholly uncomfortable in reading this book and it definitely won't be something for everyone. The descriptions of attempted suicide were also very graphic and would be incredibly overpowering for many readers.

There's no denying that this is a book which took a lot of research and I'm sure there will be plenty of readers who enjoy it. It just wasn't for me.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for my free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Oh, Nevernight, where do I begin to praise your excellence?

Let's start at the very beginning...

From the outset, Jay Kristoff promises us a bloody, murderous and uncompromising story. A story comprised, I must warn you, of much blood and gore, a lot of violence, persistent use of strong language and spattered with some very excplicit sexual descriptions (not your average YA). If that doesn't catch your eye then Nevernight probably won't be the book for you. But if that fills you with excitement then what are you waiting for?

Never flinch. Never fear. Never forget.

Mia Corvere is a girl with cold-hearted revenge in her soul. Orphaned at a young age after the hanging of her father and imprisonment of her mother and younger sibling, Mia narrowly escapes her own death. After being brought back from the brink by her mentor and spending years training in the bloody arts of the murder, Mia embarks on a journey to seek her revenge and battle her way to the top of the deadliest assassins at the Red Church. Mia is everything I love in a character. She is strong, she is centred, she is determined, she is passionate, she is independent and, despite everything, she cares. She is so real and her character was incredibly well developed. Her language leaves little to the imagination and if cursing offends you then I urge you not to pick this book up. I loved everything about her from the very beginning right up to the very last page. I can't remember the last time I willed on a character as much as I did Mia. Believe me, it wasn't an easy journey. Kristoff threw in as many curve balls as he could to throw Mia off task and as a reader I relished every challenge she faced.

There was also plenty to like about the many other Acolytes in the book. I actually really liked Tric and was really glad to learn more about his background.

I was actually very saddened by his death but I LOVE that Mia avenged him at the end.

Another character I loved was Ash. Another strong, unrelenting female character? Yes, please! There were many sides to her character and I loved the idea of her being the cheeky one.

I, personally, was not expecting the curveball that Kristoff threw into her character development! Maybe others did but I was blindsided because I liked her so much and doted on her relationship with Mia. But I LOVED the arc and thought it made a lot of sense.

I loved the rivalry between Mia and Jessamine. It made sense that Jessamine felt the way she did about Mia and I always felt a little on edge whenever her character was mentioned in a scene with her. Hush was a sneaky little devil too.

I absolutely LOVED everything about the Red Church. I thought each of the Shahiid's were interesting, my favourite was Spiderkiller, despite not knowing an awful lot about her. It reminded me of a much, much more deadly version of Hogwarts. The training and challenges were relentless and bloody: everything I had been promised from this book. Whilst some of the descriptions were extremely violent and made me flinch on occasion, I loved how real this made the world feel.

My only slight down point on this book was that it did take me a little while to get into at first. The writing style is very heavy at the beginning and it's not particularly easy to read. Whether this changed throughout the book or whether I got used to it, I'm not sure. But a few chapters in and I was totally hooked and unable to put it down. I actually grew to really love the use of footnotes. They made the main body of the text less of an information dump and that way I felt myself really thrown into the world Kristoff had created. I also liked the flickers back to Mia's past as they really helped to build and establish her character and personality.

I could go on and on about how much I loved this book but the only real way for you to understand is to immerse yourself in the story. Push through those slow opening chapters and you'll get a real treat, I promise! This is an action-packed, extremely bloody and fantastic story that I certainly will not forget. Jay Kristoff, I applaud you and cannot wait to see where you take us and Mia Corvere on her next adventure. Incredible!

This book touched my heart, then it pulled it around a little, then it flipped it over and over before returning it to its normal steady rhythm. I guess what I'm trying to describe is the rollercoaster of emotions this book sent me through.

When We Collided is a dual narrative telling the story of Vivi and Jonah, two teenagers going through very different personal battles. Jonah has lost his father, his mother has secluded herself from the family and he is helping to keep his family together. Vivi arrives in his life as a kaleidoscope of vivid colour, imagination and happiness. It doesn't take more than a few pages before their worlds have collided and we are thrown in deep with them.

Despite the description of this book focusing on Jonah, this is very much Vivi's story. I absolutely loved her character and I thought she was extremely well written. We are tentatively drawn into her bipolar disorder with the mention of medication, experiencing her overwhelming highs as well as some of her rages and low moments. We know she has harmed herself in the past because of the mysterious scar that is sporadically mentioned and we know she has escaped to Verona Cove with her mother to get away from something that she did at home. It is not until the last 1/4 of the book that we truly see Vivi's bipolar disorder take over and the words themselves are confirmed. Vivi's journey in this book seemed so real to me and I can only praise Emery Lord for her carefully structured narrative. She truly brought Vivi to life and I felt overwhelmingly sad and happy for her at the end of this story.

Jonah was also a good character. Coping with grief is a very difficult thing to do and Jonah's family were used to cleverly reflect the many ways in which humans learn to cope with loss. His mother has secluded herself from her children, too overcome with grief. The three older siblings are trying to take responsibility for the youngest siblings who are afraid that their older brothers and sister have already forgotten about their father. There are some really touching scenes in this book between the siblings and they felt very real.

The only thing I didn't rate in the book was that this was indeed another case of instalove. I personally didn't feel that the romance was required in this story. I liked the alternating chapters, I liked how the stories collided and at times became one. I just don't feel that the romance added to what was already a wonderfully emotional story. I would also like to point out that I also don't think the romance did anything to take away from the story either.

I would actually really love to see this book on screen as a movie. I think it had such a great mixture of happy, sad, funny and emotional moments. The characters were all well developed, even the side characters such as Ellie and Felix. I think this would have great potential as a movie and I don't always feel this way about books.

I'm really glad that I read this and I think Vivi's side of the story alone is incredibly important as it gives such a real message to readers about the reality of bipolar disorder. This is a wonderful book with fantastic characters and a message that I will remember for a long time.

Once again Marissa Meyer does not fail me. I am in love with the Lunar Chronicles and I've desperately wanted to know more about Levana since I read the first book in the series.

Levana has always struck me as such a complex character. Surely nobody could be as evil as her without her own dark past. This novella did not disappoint at all. It answered so many of my questions about Levana: Why does she wear her glamour? Why is she so cold? Why is her hatred for Princess Selene so strong? We even learn exactly what happened to Selene all those years ago and, believe me, Levana is pure evil.

This book made me loathe Levana. She is a truly evil character who has no true feelings or emotions because she has spent so much of her life manipulating those around her. However, I could not help but be filled with sympathy for her after reading of her own tortured childhood. An older sister who constantly taunts her after destroying her appearance at such a young age. It is no wonder that Levana manipulates those around her with such desperation and ease: she doesn't believe anyone else is capable of loving her and she doesn't even love herself.

Levana is one of my favourite villains of all time at the moment and this book was a wonderful addition to the series. I am now very excited to read Winter and I'm curious to see how I will respond to Levana knowing what I now know. I will always think her cruel and completely evil, but maybe now I will understand her motives and actions in a different way. I highly recommend this novella for fans of the Lunar Chronicles. Fantastic writing once again.

This book is beautiful. It is heart breaking, but beautiful.

I've not read a book with a character diagnosed with Alzheimer's before but Genova did an absolutely incredible job with this book. It is clear that she is extremely knowledgable about the disease and this turned out to be so much more than a piece of fiction.

Alice is an independent, exceptionally intelligent, inspirational and powerful woman at the beginning of this story. She is a top professor at Harvard, as is her husband John, and the mother to three grown children. She is only in her early fifties when she is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's and this absolutely terrified me. We are learning more about Alzheimer's as more people openly talk about this terrible disease publicly but I still didn't know enough to truly understand just how cruel this disease is. This novel succeeded in being a very informative piece of literature as well as a beautiful and poignant story.

It terrifies me seeing how quickly Alice's entire world changed once she was diagnosed. To go from being such a strong and intelligent woman to somebody who is unable to function without help is unthinkable. What made this novel so raw and emotional to me was that Genova very cleverly used her own language to reflect how the disease effects the whole family. We see Alice's children struggle over whether to get genetic testing and how this will effect their own futures; John struggles to come to terms with losing his wife despite her physically still being his Alice. It's really heartbreaking.

I think what I loved most about this book is the sheer brilliance of Genova's writing. As Alice's mind and memory deteriorate, Genova very cleverly manipulates her language to place us in Alice's shoes. Especially towards the end of the book when Alice is struggling regularly to recognise those around her and the names of objects in her surroundings. I almost felt that my own mind was being tested and reassured as I went along. Alice refers to 'the actress' but I'm still able to recognise that as her daughter, Lydia. A relief to my mind, sure enough, but a very harsh reminder of the reality of living with Alzheimer's. There's no cure and eventually those suffering with this terrible disease will forget not only those around them but also themselves.

A beautiful, poignant and important read. I would recommend this to every book lover out there. But do get the tissues ready!

Having read The Bell Jar, I have a huge amount of admiration for Sylvia Plath. This is a wonderful collection of poetry and if I had time to sit and study it in more depth, I am sure this would have gained that final star from me. I don't usually read poetry but I'm glad I took the time to read this.

I picked this up a long while ago and totally forgot that I had it until I was on the train this morning and wanted something quick and easy to read on the way to work. I'm not a Star Wars fan (not that I dislike it but *drumroll* I've never seen a Star Wars movie) but I still thought this was a really cute story and could still associate with the characters and what they were feeling. It's a very short story but if you like Rainbow Rowell's writing style then this is definitely worth a quick read.

I had been meaning to read this for a long time. Malala is such an inspirational person and is regularly referred to in our school as an example to others. I knew some of Malala's story before I started reading this but I really feel that I have experienced something special by reading her story. Malala is such a special young woman who will continue to be a source of inspiration for young women and people for many years to come. Her story is important and I was both interested and horrified to read of her life in Pakistan. I learnt so much more from this book than I even imagined that I would. I feel completely in awe of this wonderful young woman who truly is an inspiration to me and many others. Malala loves her country and I only hope that one day her dream of returning there will come true.

Basically this was FANTASTIC!!

Winter brought together everything I have come to love from the Lunar Chronicles and formed a conclusion to the series which I found to be extraordinarily satisfying. I thought this was a really well-rounded book which managed to focus enough on each of the main characters: Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Winter, Kai and Levana all have plenty of chapters here. As well as features from the likes of Thorne, Jacin and Wolf.

I really liked Winter as a character. I thought she was a bit creepy but in an almost ethereal way. I was really interested in her character, especially having already read Fairest and knowing how she came to be Levana's step-daughter. I really loved the message that was given by the reference to Winter's breathtaking beauty despite the scars on her face. I liked how this was done and I also thought that her mental illness was well portrayed throughout the story.

Levana is just as evil as ever, in fact, even more so. I think she has become one of my favourite fictional villains of all time. She is so, so cruel and has absolutely no empathy for those around her. She really does do some awful things in this book but she definitely made it exciting.

Cress and Thorne were as adorable as ever and I loved that they shared some really touching moments during this book. Cress is one of my favourite characters in the series and I loved seeing her come into her own. Scarlet and Wolf were also rather adorable. I actually really liked that we got to see more about Wolf's life on Lunar and his emotional side was more exposed too.

I just can't get enough of Cinder and Iko. I love, love, love their characters and Iko is beyond hilarious. She has some really witty lines and is the funniest character by far but she also shares some really emotional moments in this book, which was an interesting twist for the android. Cinder was a complete and utter badass in this book and I really loved how this one ended.

The writing style was simple yet effective. It kept my hooked throughout and I could easily flick through 100 pages without even realising. I love that the chapters are kept fairly short and that they were written from so many different points of view. I thought this helped to build the tension throughout the story.

This was definitely a great ending to the series. I could genuinely go on all day about how much I loved this book and the series as a whole, but all I really want to say is that if you haven't read the Lunar Chronicles yet, please go and do so! You won't be disappointed!!