Review: One by Sarah Crossan

Grace and Tippi. Tippi and Grace. Two sisters. Two hearts. Two dreams. Two lives. But one body.

Grace and Tippi are conjoined twins, joined at the waist, defying the odds of survival for sixteen years. They share everything, and they are everything to each other. They would never imagine being apart. For them, that would be the real tragedy.

But something is happening to them. Something they hoped would never happen. And Grace doesn’t want to admit it. Not even to Tippi.

How long can they hide from the truth—how long before they must face the most impossible choice of their lives? 

Review: ok so I hadn't read any Sarah Crossan before, I think I may own some Sarah Crossan but this one came so highly recommend on twitter, in Bookshops, from other bloggers who know what I like that I had to get it. I ended up downloading the audiobook because I knew I wanted to read it straight away and I only had time for audiobooks in the final term at school so... I would definitely be interested in owning a physical copy of this book because I have flicked through it in Bookshops and it seems like a really cool way to read a book, the set up, the structure, the way it is set in verse. I can tell from the audiobook that I would be a really quick read that way too and so I definitely plan on buying the physical version of this book so that I can experience the structure as well as just the story. 

The subject matter of this book is really interesting and I never thought that I would so interested in a book like this but in was fascinated by the thoughts and feelings that come across from these confined twins, these characters in this book and the way Sarah across an must have put so much research into this that u found myself swept along with their story. It's really hard to talk too much more about the subject matter without giving away spoilers but I did really enjoy that this was a new subject for a book for me and I think the uniqueness is the reason, along with the structure that so many people liked it. 

I do feel a little like this book suffered in my rating of it because of the length and because of the fact that scenes sometimes felt a little disjointed because of the structure of it, the rhythm and the pace were obviously a key focus here and so I think it meant that there wasn't as much depth as I'd hoped there'd be in the book, or it could be the fact that it is designed for younger readers and so further depth might have affected the audience and purpose. I liked the fact that it was a quick read and I enjoyed listening to it on audiobook because I think it meant that the verse came to life and I felt as if I knew these characters well because of listening to their story rather than reading it. 

This book has been a hit and has been nominated for awards, I don't think that I loved it as much as some of my friends  but it is definitely, something different for so many reasons and so I think it is definitely something that you should give a go, if not for any other reason than the novelty of the structure and the subject matter. I also love the cover and definitely want to have it sitting on my bookshelf! 

To order your copy now, click here!

Review: Meternity by Meghann Foye

Like everyone in New York media, editor Liz Buckley runs on cupcakes, caffeine and cocktails. But at thirty-one, she's plateaued at glossy baby magazine Paddy Cakes.

Liz has spent years working a gazillion hours a week picking up the slack for colleagues with children, and she's tired of it. So one day when her stress-related nausea is mistaken for morning sickness by her bosses—boom! Liz is promoted to the mummy track. She decides to run with it and plans to use her paid time off to figure out her life: work, love and otherwise. It'll be her ‘meternity’ leave.

By day, Liz rocks a foam-rubber belly under fab maternity outfits. By night, she dumps the bump for karaoke and boozy dinners out. But how long can she keep up her charade…and hide it from the guy who might just be The One?

As her ‘due date’ approaches, Liz is exhausted—and exhilarated—by the ruse, the guilt and the feelings brought on by a totally fictional belly-tenant…about happiness, success, family and the nature of love.

Review: there as a whole lot of controversy surrounding this books but I knew even before people started shouting about it that I would want to read it. I love any book set in New York tend really enjoy reading about the publishing industry as well and so this book had it all for me, including a protagonist that was just like me and in a similar position to be, being one of the only women of her age in her workplace who doesn't have children. I'm in the lucky position of being able to take some time off just now and funnily enough it coincides with my best friend maternity leave so I'm saying it's like my own version of that, was this book actually written for me?

I really liked the idea behind the storyline and could totally see where it had come from. I really like the idea that this author challenged the I balance between people who have children and people who don't, in the work place and particularly the expectations we have of working mothers, whet here those expectations are too high or too low. I think this was an interesting way to explore the subject matter and at times, it felt as if it was handled in a little to much of a frivolous manner, but I think you do have to remember that this is a novel and not a journalistic piece of writing. 

Now I know that the character of Liz has been criticised a lot, but I tried to go into this with a really open mind when it came to Liz, and if we take Way the fake-pregnancy aspect of her story, she's really just a single woman in New York trying to have it all and we get to read about her going out and dating and having a good time just like many other novels. I really did like her and really coul identify with her. At times I felt that she as a little narrow-minded and a little naive, she didn't think everything through fully but that's called living life and learning as you go along, we all make mistakes and it was great to see how she picked herself up from those mistakes. 

Of course I loved that this book was set in New York, it is definitely one of my favourite settings for a novel and so I really liked reading about the workplace and the places she went for dates as well as Liz's apartment and what she did with her friends. It was really interesting reading about other people's perceptions of her and what we got to see about the others perceptions of working mothers and mothers in general. Liz's relationship with her own mother made me cringe a little but overall, I think that you can gather that i did enjoy reading this book. It felt like it could have been developed by about another 50 or so pages to avoid any massive time jumps but I would recommend it and I applaud this author for tackling a very contraversial subject matter in an entertaining way!