The Book Swap

I read one of Maiya's favourite books this month which she has reviewed here.

It's called The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines and yeah, it was good. It's about a love triangle (because YA fiction never has one of those) in a small town and the usual "should I go for the perfect boy but I don't love him who I'm dating or the bad boy who I want with all my heart." And despite it's "new adult" label it's surprisingly has a lack of s*x scenes. Oh and to top it off, the lead "Ashton" is the daughter of a minister/vicar.

It is enjoyable. It is definitely more enjoyable than I expected as I fell out the the romance genre when I read 14 days later a year ago (did you know I am the second most disliked review on the amazon kindle edition because I insulted all of its readers?).

I liked the backdrop to the novel but I didn't love the characters. I just didn't connect to them and my empathy with the characters is essential to how much I enjoy the book. I found that Ashton was not particularly likeable because she wasn't very "honourable" in her loyalty to her boyfriend. Beau controlled himself a bit more so thumbs up for Beau. Sawyer was a bit of a douche in the third quartile of the book but otherwise I liked the characters. They were just a little bit too exaggerated for my liking as I'm a huge fan of subtlety.

There was a plot twist I didn't guess (and it's the big one) so four for you Abbi Glines you go Abbi Glines! It was entertaining and made the relationships interesting which is what a lot of romantic fiction lacks. I liked that.

Overall I gave this 3 stars. It was good. It wasn't my kind of book but that didn't stop me from enjoying reading it. If you love New Adult or YA definitely read it.

Buy this book (if you use that link it gives me commission and I would love you forever)

The Extincts by Veronica Cossanteli

When you realise that you can legally drive in 4 months you will suddenly feel a pine for your childhood. At this point, I've found, you should agree to read and review a children's book.

I was a crazily enthusiastic reader as a child. I mean, tell me about a book published before 2008 and I've probably read it. I'm not even joking. As a result I feel like I know a lot about the genre and this review is not coming from the 16 year old girl taking public exams but from my 8 year old self.

The Extincts is about a boy who goes to work on a farm that's filled with dangerous magical and extinct animals. The auther threw in a beginning, middle and an end, an evil stepmother and a grumpy teacher.

The book was enjoyable. I found it was so clearly marketed at 7-9 year old boys that it took away from the actual book. You know the type of boy, he'll love those dangerous animal programs that the BBC makes. It was full of clichées: girls are stupid and stepmothers are evil. It was well written, don't get me wrong, but it's carnivorous attitude got in the way.

Also the "bad-guy" reflects 101 Dalmatians. There's the big house on the hill, the evil woman who is extraverted and drives a fast car (Cruella) and two henchmen: a skinny, tall mastermind and the short one. Oh and here's the kicker: she kills animals for aesthetic purposes.

There is a very clear message going through the book: "let's show boys how exciting we can make the contents of the natural history museum". It was so educational that it might have well been a cleverly disguised textbook.

Overall, I enjoyed the book but didn't love the obvious marketing strategy. I think that books should be written as reflections of an author and their creativity, not their selling strategy. I believe boys should read more but not in a way that girls are compromised. Other than that, it was good. Books need to stand out and this one didn't.

It just didn't shine.

Buy this book: www.bookdepository.co.uk/Extincts-Veronica-Cossanteli/9781908435453/?a_aid=SophieCharlotte