Book Review #717 - Right Where You Left Me by Calla Devlin

In search of the perfect story to put a human face on a tragedy for his newspaper, my dad will fly into the eye of the storm. And now he’s heading to Ukraine, straight into the aftermath of a deadly earthquake. I don’t want him to leave. I don’t want to spend the week alone in a silent house with my mother, whose classically Russian reserve has built a wall between us that neither of us knows how to tear down. But I don’t tell him this. I don’t say stay.

I think I’m holding it together okay—until the FBI comes knocking on our door. Now it’s all I can do to fight off the horrifying images in my head. The quake has left so many orphans and widows, but Mom and I refuse to be counted among them. Whatever it takes to get Dad back, I’ll do it. Even if it means breaking a promise…or the law.

My Rating: 5/10

I had to read this book for a book club and it probably otherwise wouldn't have been a book that I would have chosen to read on my own. 

This book was rather short (just under 300 pages) but it felt much longer because I felt like it tried to accomplish too much.

Charlotte's father who is a journalist goes missing whilst covering an earthquake in Ukraine. We see Charlotte's grief and anguish as she deals with this. 

Charlotte is also about to graduate high school and commence college. She is indecisive about which branch of photography she wishes to pursue. 

Then there is also the family dynamic. Charlotte's mother is Russian and there was a lot of Russian folklore thrown in there which I actually liked. 

On top of all that there was a romance which felt completely out of place with the tone and other elements in this book. 

Book Review #716 - The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

My Rating: 8.5/10

I was a little slow at being convinced to read this book because I didn't feel like I would be able to relate to the themes explored and also because the hype intimidated me. After reading however, I cannot believe how wrong I was as the book ended up being my second favourite read of 2017. 

I absolutely loved this book cover to cover and it really opened my eyes to a lot of cultural issues in the US that as an Australian, I knew absolutely nothing about such as Emmett Till. 

Starr was such a likable protagonist. I loved her whole family dynamic. Her relationship with her parents (especially her father), her brothers, and even her uncle was really realistic and not something we see enough of in YA novels.

What I didn't expect from this book was the amount I learnt about the Black Lives Matter movement which was something that I loved. The fact that these events are still happening in the modern world is shocking. 

Every single character in this book was so incredibly fleshed out and even the minor ones served a larger purpose. 

This book was very community focused especially in the 'ghetto' where Starr and her family live. The fact that her family have the means to move somewhere safer but CHOOSE to stay there shows just how much they see the members of their community as extended family. 

I'm never really good at reviewing the books that I really loved so to summarize the above, this book was really good and I definitely recommend it. 

Book Review #715 - Strange Angels (Strange Angels #1) by Lili St. Crow

In Strange Angels, Dru Anderson has what her grandmother called “the touch.” (Comes in handy when you’re traveling from town to town with your dad, hunting ghosts, suckers, wulfen, and the occasional zombie.) Then her dad turns up dead—but still walking—and Dru knows she’s next. Even worse, she’s got two guys hungry for her affections, and they’re not about to let the fiercely independent Dru go it alone. Will Dru discover just how special she really is before coming face-to-fang with whatever—or whoever— is hunting her?

My Rating: 6.5/10

I decided to read this book when I discovered that I surprisingly had the entire series on my shelves. I have found these books at thrift shops over the years and so this book has been on my TBR for a significant period of time. 

I'm a massive fan of the TV show Supernatural and there were very minor elements in this book that reminded of it, such as Dru's father being a hunter since her mother had died and him dragging her around the country to hunt monsters. 

Dru was a character I feel like I never really got to know. She went through so much in this book that she had to put on a strong exterior and I felt like this wasn't the real her, but we never really got to see past it.

I loved that this book creates its own lore when it comes to the monsters such as how Dru's father became a zombie. 

I really wanted to love this book more than what I did but I couldn't help but feel I would have loved it had I read it 5-10 years ago. 

Dru meets a mysterious guy called Graves who like Dru is all alone. I would have liked Graves to have had more character development as not much is explored with him especially as he is present for a significant portion of the book.

Dru also meets another mysterious guy called Christophe, but he is mysterious as in not human. 

Dru was very indecisive and I found that frustrating especially at the pivotal moments. 

There were also moments in the book especially the action scenes where I felt like I wasn't getting the whole picture. 

I had planned to marathon read this series but after reading this first book I already feel like I need a break from it which can't be a good sign.