4.5 stars

I think you would be hard pushed to find someone in the YA blogging world who has not seen the hype for this book, it has been talked about on social media for months so I was super excited when I got the opportunity to read and review this book.

The Belles is everything that I thought it would be … and more. It is full of lavish descriptions of the Belle world, its plot twists and turns and its characters are full of secrets. The writing is gorgeous and there are so many beautifully detailed descriptions that this book was really brought to life. I could easily imagine the gorgeous dresses, the mouth watering food and the glamorous life of the court (well on the outside, anyway). I have to admit that it did take me a little while to get into this book but I think that is mainly down to me needing to take the time to carefully sit and read about the world and to let myself become fully immersed but once I was in, I was IN. This book has pretty much everything I love about a YA book: a host of interesting characters, an excellent ‘villain’, twisty turny plot, deception, sisters and a good element of mystery.

Camellia and her sisters are the newest Belles in Orléans and the story opens with them competing to become the favourite to the Queen. I loved that one of the main concepts of this book was simply that everything is not what it seems and in this book, being the favourite certainly isn’t everything that she had hoped for. The world of the Belles is a cruel one to say the very least and, actually, there is nothing at all glamorous about being a Belle, in reality they are more like beauty servants, having to bend their knee to their appointees and complete all sorts of different enhancements and modifications, despite what they think about it.

Camellia herself was a breath of fresh air because she isn’t one to sit back and simply do as she is told. From the very first few chapters we see her more independent and rebellious streak and I LIVED for that so much. Her loyalty to her sisters was something else that I really valued about her and it really helped me to make a connection with her. She is compassionate and, my favourite of all, she has flaws (yay!). I love that we get to see Camellia struggle with her new life as a Belle and I could really sympathise with her at times, especially when she was being forced to do things she really didn’t want to do.

As for the other characters, I didn’t really feel much of a connection with them but I did LOVE Sophia despite how terrifying she was and how uncomfortable quite a lot of her actions made me. There were scenes with her that literally turned my stomach but it was also a great representation of the damage that those in positions of power can be allowed to cause simply because of who they are and not because of what is right or wrong.

I love, love, loved the concept of this book. How beauty was brought so much to the forefront and so could be explored as a necessity; something that I think is SO relevant to society today. Beauty is literally everything in the world of the Belles and throughout the book you see the lengths that some people will go to just to look a certain way. The idea behind the Belles’ power was really thought provoking and I couldn’t help but wonder how a power like that in the real world would affect all of our choices when it came to our appearance.

The Belles is a thought provoking read set in a rich and luxurious world which will have you questioning just how far you would go to achieve ‘beautiful’.

Thanks to Gollancz, Dhonielle Clayton and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange of a fair and honest review.

If you haven’t heard rumblings about this highly anticipated debut novel from Tomi Adeyemi then I would love to know where you’ve been hiding! This book is EVERYWHERE and for good reason. It is PHENOMENAL.

For a lengthy book of almost 600 pages, this book will likely intimidate some readers but please do not fear. This book flew by because it is incredibly fast paced and action packed right from the very first chapter where we join Zélie and Yemi about to fight it out. Straight away I knew that Zélie was going to be a character I would ADORE because she immediately came across as ambitious and fierce. From that very first chapter right up until the last, the plot of this original and gorgeous story takes all sorts of unexpected twists and turns. It constantly surprised me with where it was going and every time I thought I was predicting what would come next I was proven to be completely wrong!

I don’t want to go too much into the plot of Children of Blood and Bone because I didn’t know too much about it when I jumped in and I think the story plays out better that way. The world building is stunning. It’s honestly some of the best I’ve read. Despite needing to do a lot of background descriptive work, we actually find out most of what we need to know about Orisha and the maji as we work our way through the story, rather than huge paragraphs of information dumping and I loved that. It made the learning of this new world a really great experience and I soon found myself really delving into Zélie’s world. The African setting is gorgeous and the vivid descriptions really make it easy to visualise not only the characters but each of the different settings and surroundings.

Although Zélie is our main character, the book is actually told from three different POVs, something I hadn’t expected but absolutely loved. Firstly we have Zélie, our courageous, fierce and wonderful Zélie. She has all the makings of a maji but doesn’t believe that magic will ever return to her world and when it begins to I just love how quickly she learns to embrace it and how passionate she is about restoring Orisha to its former self. She faces some tough decisions in this book and I like that she doesn’t always make the right choices. She has a really tough exterior thanks to her upbringing but inside she is broken hearted by the murder of her mother which makes her fiercely protective of her loved ones. I really, really felt for Zélie throughout this book because she has to make such a huge sacrifice. I also loved the relationship between Zélie and her brother, Tzain. As per usual sibling relationships, they argue a lot but their love for one another is immeasurable and I loved seeing that represented in the book.

Our other two POVs come from siblings Amari and Inan. Their upbringing couldn’t be any more different to Zélie’s if it tried. They are royal siblings, brought up in the palace with Inan heading his father’s army and Amari being sheltered from the life she longs to experience outside of the palace. Amari may well be my absolute favourite character of the book because she literally puts herself out there to lose everything she knows in her life to try and do the right thing. It takes so much courage to do something like she does and I love that despite her initial tricky relationship with Zélie, they both go through enough together to form a really strong bond. On the other hand, I had a complex relationship with Inan throughout this book because I just couldn’t quite put my finger on how I felt about him but I did enjoy his chapters which gave a rare and much needed insight into his thoughts and personal conflict. There are lots of interesting twists involving these two so it was great to get glimpses of this story from their POV too.

As well as having action, adventure, romance, friendship and family, this book hits so many other nails on the head along the way. I loved reading about the social class differences and how these were explored in moments between Zélie and Amari especially. Neither of them is able to quite understand the other because of something that has been out of their control and it takes a long time before they can see each other for what they really are. Then there is the fact that this book just takes on so much: discrimination and systematic oppression being brought right to the forefront. This book tackles that head on because the maji people, or the diviners as they are known without their magic, are treated like absolute filth compared to those who are not. This book really made me feel passionately about standing up for what I believe in no matter how hard that can be because that is what Zélie, Amari and Tzain are trying to do.

I think I’ve mentioned the word favourite a few times but here it really goes…. MAGIC!! The magic in this book is gorgeous and feels so natural. It genuinely had me believing in magic because it just seemed so believable that the maji exist and are out there somewhere. I loved how different their powers were from being able to heal others, raise the dead and penetrating minds to creating fire or light, there were SO many different forms of magic. I know this book has already been optioned for film rights and I really think it will look incredible on the big screen!

It’s really hard to summarise this book because it is honestly something you just need to read and experience for yourself to truly appreciate its greatness. Children of Blood and Bone is just phenomenal, absolutely breathtaking.

A huge thank you to Bea at MacMillan Children’s Books for my proof in exchange of a fair and honest review.

I am always quite wary about reading anthologies as there are always stories I really dislike but Make More Noise was a really pleasant surprise because it delivered in so many different ways. These stories all have their own special moment within them and although I liked some more than others, on the whole I thought the whole collection was brilliant and the stories complimented each other too.

I love that this anthology was created to celebrate 100 years of woman’s suffrage because young readers will pick up these stories and they will learn so much. Even as a 27 year old I learnt things from these short stories that I never expected too. I think it will make young female readers feel empowered whilst giving them reason to stop, think and be grateful for what our ancestors went through for us to have what we have today. And we are still on the journey.

There are several stories in here that are historical fiction but written in a really accessible way for younger readers. There are also stories with a contemporary feel, those with a touch of fantasy, those that explore relationships with family and friends, the dynamics of different social classes, race and inequality. For such a quick selection of stories, they really do cover a lot and I think there is something in here for everyone.

My personal favourite stories were The Bug Hunters by M.G. Leonard, The Green-Hearted Girl by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, On Your Bike by Jeanne Wills and The Race by Ally Kennen. But I really did find something to like about all the stories in this anthology which is really rare for me. This is definitely a special collection of short stories that I really want to share with all the young readers I know. Fantastic!

Ah, a new book from Melinda Salisbury and what a jolly fantastic book it is! State of Sorrow is an interesting, political read set in a rich new fantasy world and I just couldn’t get enough of it!

I am not one for spoiling plots, so I am going to keep this review fairly concise (however, please feel free to drop into my DMs on Twitter to scream about this book!) and not talk much about the plot…

Aside from the gorgeous cover and equally beautiful map, this book is a wonder to behold. I love a fantasy that is steeped in political intrigue and State of Sorrow certainly provides that. From the very first few chapters the scene is set and Sorrow’s future looks to be one that is very much set in stone but a few chapters later and everything has been turned on its head. There begins a journey for Sorrow on which not only will she try to find herself but she will discover more than she ever expected to. For me, this book was very much a slow burn but I loved it for that reason. I loved filling my head with the knowledge of Sorrow’s world and I was constantly surprised by the twists and turns her story took. Nothing is straight forward for Sorrow.

I LOVED the world so much. I loved the idea that Rhannon was this grey, sorrow-like state due to mourning its losses whereas Rhylla was this colourful, vivacious state and some of the scenes where Sorrow first visited Rhylla were my favourites. The way in which the two countries contrasted one another was really well done and I was able to imagine the joy on Sorrow’s face at tasting her first cake just as easily as I was able to picture the confusion on her face at the first time she saw people openly smile.

My, oh my, does Salisbury know how to write excellent, layered characters. Sorrow is a fantastic lead character: she is strong, passionate and intelligent but also willing to admit her flaws (and you know how much I love a flawed character!). I think my absolute favourite character in the book was Irris just because she is such an excellent friend to Sorrow but also because she is a bit of a force to be reckoned with and at the same time completely sweet and adorable. The relationship between Sorrow and Charon was one that really warmed my heart and there were later scenes that made me very emotional. Luvian and Rasmus are BOTH excellent and I can’t quite decide which one I like more. Again, I just loved that I couldn’t really trust anyone in this book and there really is no such thing as the perfect person anywhere in this story.

It sounds silly to say but GOSH did this book really lead up to that cliff hanger of an ending. The story twisted and turned along the way but reading those last few paragraphs sent a shiver down my spine. I CANNOT wait for the next book and to see what happens next for Sorrow!

NOTE: Let me start this review by saying that this book will NOT be for everyone. It contains a lot of different triggers and I think it is for each individual to carefully consider whether this is a book that is good for them to read or not. The list of triggers would be huge and includes (but is not limited to) self-harm, drug abuse, eating disorders and a range of mental health issues. I’m not going to go into this during my review but if you want to know more before deciding whether to pick this up then do get in touch.

Clean is brilliant. It is far from an easy read but its strength lies in just how gritty and real this book feels. Dawson shies away from nothing throughout this book and it is the honesty in that which really drew me into the lives of these characters and their journeys.

The majority of the characters in this book were completely unrelatable to me: but I am not classing that as a bad thing here. There were certainly aspects of some of their personalities that I could kind of glimpse in myself but not to the extremes written here. But that’s why this book felt so refreshing. It took the unseen lives that most of us will never experience and put them out there in the forefront. I couldn’t keep my eyes away from the pages as I so desperately wanted to know what would happen next for the characters. Seeing how vulnerable and broken some of them were just automatically made me love them and I really ended up caring about what would happen to them.

Lexi is a fantastic protagonist; there is no doubt about that. Whilst she may not initially be the most likeable character you’ll ever read, as her therapy sessions peel back her layers and reveal more about her you are able to start overlooking some of her more bratty, socialite behaviour and see the vulnerable, flawed young person beneath. Lexi’s journey throughout this book is far from easy and I loved the honesty in the process. The book is structured using the recovery steps of the Clarity programme and it was interesting to see how the different steps sparked a slight change in Lexi as she slowly began to accept herself and her addiction.

There are a whole host of wonderful young people in the treatment facility and I really liked the fact that Dawson showed the extent to which addiction can be a problem. Whether it be drug addiction, food addiction, sex addiction or a whole plethora of mental health issues, this book faces it all head on. I am a sucker for friendships and relationships so reading about how Lexi’s relationships with her peers changes and develops from her first initial few days at the treatment centre was something I really found addictive.

As I said at the beginning, this book will not be for everyone and I think that is definitely something to be considered before picking it up. Personally, I loved this book because it was so gritty and real. Nothing about Clean feels fluffy or light, there are no easy way outs or simple solutions and that’s exactly how life really is. It’s about learning to love yourself, fighting for yourself and realising you don’t always have to be perfect. Brilliant!

W.O.W! Whilst it was the initial premise of this book that originally caught my eye, even I couldn’t have anticipated just how thrilling this ride would be! I was definitely expecting big The Hunger Games vibes from this story from the way it is pitched in the blurb but I absolutely was bowled over by the Saw-esque horror elements in this! Savage Island is not for the faint hearted, that’s for sure!

I loved the concept of this book: a group of five friends heading off to compete in a competition where they would win £1million each – what group of young people wouldn’t want to take part? Some readers may question the fact that it is a long while before the group are wary of what they have walked into, but it’s important to remember that these are teenagers we are talking about. Young people whose dreams could easily come true with a million pounds in the bank, let alone the risk and adventure! You definitely need to open your mind to really enjoy this book: the characters are much more adept at managing these tasks than you would expect teenagers to be, they also just happen to own a lot of what they will need – but that doesn’t take away from any enjoyment whatsoever.

I really enjoyed this book – even more so than I expected to! I had a feeling in my gut that I would like it but I flipped through this book SO quickly because I just couldn’t bear to put it down (except for the odd queasy moment, that is!). This book definitely took a much darker twist than I ever expected but it was so adrenaline inducing and I loved it! As I said on Twitter, ‘many audible gasps were released during the reading of this book!’. I really liked that the book didn’t take too long to get to the island because that would have been a real bore. Instead we get there relatively quickly and the gruesome action doesn’t take long to kick in either. Every time I thought we had reached the big crescendo in this book it sent me reeling in another direction (usually feeling a bit nauseous) and I really loved it! The ending of this book was GREAT. That last line was really chilling and I just loved how it turned out, even though I am sure there will be readers who hope for a different ending. For me personally, it just worked.

I really enjoyed the dynamics between the different characters in this story. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to accidentally give any clues or minor spoilers but there are some really fantastic relationships shown. My favourite character was probably Carmen. There was just something about her that I really loved reading.

I’m leaving this review pretty vague as I think this book is certainly better read when you know less going in. There are lots of big and small surprises along the way but the gore aspect won’t be for everyone so do bear that in mind if you’re thinking of picking this up. If that doesn’t bother you and you fancy a heart pumping, action packed race then this is definitely worth picking up! One final thing from me: take a close look at that cover. Is the island more than you first thought?

A huge thanks to Charlie from Stripes Publishing for inviting me onto the blog tour and sending me an early copy of the book for review. ­­