Review: The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper

As a successful social media journalist with half a million followers, seventeen-year-old Cal is used to sharing his life online. But when his pilot father is selected for a highly publicized NASA mission to Mars, Cal and his family relocate from Brooklyn to Houston and are thrust into a media circus.

Amidst the chaos, Cal meets sensitive and mysterious Leon, another "Astrokid," and finds himself falling head over heels--fast. As the frenzy around the mission grows, so does their connection. But when secrets about the program are uncovered, Cal must find a way to reveal the truth without hurting the people who have become most important to him.

Expertly capturing the thrill of first love and the self-doubt all teens feel, debut author Phil Stamper is a new talent to watch.

Review: I did this book on audio and i heartily recommend reading this book in that format if you can because you get real broadcasts from the reality TV show following the astronauts and their families which just brings the whole thing to life. 

I warmed to Cal and his story right from the beginning of the book. I loved the fact that he is a social media star but one with a difference. He not only uses his platform to show off neighborhoods in New York but also he uses his voice, one that so many people will be able to identify with for political good. Every aspect of social media is explored incredibly well in this novel through the reality TV show and through Cal and his online presence. 

I also love the relationship that Cal develops with Leon. This a friendship as well as a romance. This is own voices for queer representation and I love that Cal and Leon live their queerness in different ways. I like the fact that Cal has to handle making new friends in a new place when he has been so comfortable with his relationships in NYC. 

This book also deals with issues surrounding mental health and the power of science, two topics not normally found together in a novel, especially not a novel that has been marketed as a gay, young adult romance. I love that the writer has fitted so much into such a small space without ever compromising an engaging story line. All of these issues are dealt with so well through events and characters in the book, I am in awe of how these issues were included in such a natural and never forced way. 

This book is something that will stay with me for a while, I am still thinking about the characters and I can't wait to see what this author comes up with next!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Guest Review: The Oyster Catcher by Jo Thomas

Dooleybridge, County Galway: the last place Fiona Clutterbuck expects to end up, alone, on her wedding night.

But after the words 'I do' have barely left her mouth, that's exactly where she is - with only her sequined shoes and a crashed camper van for company.

One thing is certain: Fi can't go back. So when the opportunity arises to work for brooding local oyster farmer, Sean Thornton, she jumps at the chance. Now Fi must navigate suspicious locals, jealous rivals and an unpredictable boss if she's to find a new life, and love, on the Irish coast. And nothing - not even a chronic fear of water - is going to hold her back.

Join Fi as she learns the rules of the ocean - and picks up a few pearls of Irish wisdom along the way...

Review: Having just finished and loved Jo Thomas’s latest book, Coming Home to Winter Island, I was determined to read more of her books. I have started with her award-winning debut novel, The Oyster Catcher. I was hoping that this would be of a similar standard to Coming Home to Winter Island, and needn’t have been concerned. Once again, I was hooked by this story right from the start and finished it in just 2 days, left with a desire to make a trip to the west of Ireland.

The central female character in this book is introduced to the reader as Fi, a young English lady who has somehow ended up in Dooleybridge, a small Irish town on Galway Bay that once had a thriving oyster industry, but is now somewhat rundown. The reason why she is there apparently without any means of returning to her home is explained gradually as the story progresses. Desperate for money and somewhere to stay, she accepts a job from the somewhat mysterious and moody Sean Thornton, an oyster farmer with a property just outside the town. Despite a crushing fear of water, she settles into her new life, however temporary she hopes it might be. However, as time goes on, she finds herself drawn to the town and its many characters, and hoping that she can find a way to save Dooleybridge and, most of all, Sean.

I really enjoyed this book. I was captured from the very beginning by Fi’s plight and liked the way that the author gradually introduced the story of how she came to be marooned in Dooleybridge. The town itself was very well described, and I could just picture myself walking along its streets and walking into its bar or coffee shop. The locals were just as I would imagine in a small town - all eagerness to find out what Fi was doing, and, in some cases, suspicious of her motives. They certainly added quite a bit of humour to the story. Sean Thornton was a strange character that I wasn’t sure if I was going to like. I was worried for Fi going to live and work with him, but he grew on me as he began to thaw. Despite the dilapidated state of his farm, its setting on the shores of the bay sounded very attractive. I began the book knowing nothing about oyster farming, but feel as though I have learned quite a bit about it. I won’t be consuming an oyster any time soon due to my shellfish allergy, but the thought of eating them fresh out of the sea had my mouth watering. This is another Jo Thomas novel that I would recommend to other readers; I am looking forward to the next one.

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Review: Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon

For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. That's why when she finds out she'll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, a member of the rival royal family behind a humiliating scandal involving her little sister, she schemes to get revenge on the young nobleman in order to even the score between their families. The plan? Make him fall in love with her and then break his heart the way his family has broken hers.

Grey Emerson doesn't connect with people easily. Due to a curse placed on his family by the Raos that his superstitious father unquestioningly, annoyingly believes in, Grey grew up internalising that he was doomed from the day he was born. Sequestered away at St. Rosetta's Academy, he's lived a quiet existence in relative solitude. That is, until Jaya Rao bursts into his life. Jaya is exuberant and elegant and unlike anyone Grey has ever met before, but he can't help feeling that she's hiding something behind her beautiful smile and charmingly awkward attempts at flirting. Despite his better instincts, though, he starts to fall for her.

Jaya's plan isn't totally going according to plan. For one, Grey is aggravatingly handsome. And for two, she's realising there's maybe more to him than his name and his family imply.

The stars are crossed for Jaya and Grey. But can they still find their fairy-tale ending?

Review: Whilst this was a slight departure for me, genre wise, I love this author so there was no way I was not going to read this one and I was drawn into this story line right from the off and the drama and intrigue kept me turning the pages until the very end!

I really liked the characters in this book, there wasn't too big of a cast of people to get to know so it felt easy to slot into the school environment with Jaya and Grey. I liked all of Jaya's girl group and they were all so different from one another, as well as Jaya's sister Isha that I found them easy to identify and felt like I was part of the group. Grey is also very different from anyone else and I loved the little nods that he had to his unhappiness and his past in the same way as we see in the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast. 

There is genuinely a good amount of diversity in this novel and it never seems to be there for diversity's sake. These characters are just who they are, this is their lives and we pick up right where we find them. I love when books show me people who are different from myself but not in a 'this book is here to show you diversity for diversity's sake' kind of way. This is something that I feel like translates into all of Sandhya Menon's books and why I love her writing and her characters so much. 

I really like the setting for this book, a boarding school right here in Colorado. I found it easy ti picture the comings and goings of the school day and I enjoyed getting to know their rules and traditions. You know this is a fancy boarding school becauaee they take a day out to go shopping in Aspen and also the fact that there is a good amount of royalty at this school-so fun. 

Another thing that this author does so well is romance and I loved all of the romantic moments in this one. Whether it was a look or an out and out kiss these moments were all wonderful and made me feel all smushy inside. 

I really enjoyed this novel and can't wait for more of this kind of romance from Sandhya Menon. 

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Reading Wrap Up: January 2020 (31 books?)

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Top Ten Tuesday: The Last 10 Books that Gave me a Book Hangover 18/2/20

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This is such a good topic, we don't talk about this enough!

Contemporary-A-Thon Round 6 Reading Wrap Up

Last week was the Contemporary-a-thon round 6 was last week and I do have a vlog coming up for you to watch to see my progress but I thought I would share my wrap up with you first so you could see whether I met the reading challenges or not. 

The week basically went well on the whole until it came to the weekend and then that was just a bit of a write off for me. I went away and I didn't do any reading until the night I came back, the last night of the readathon. I had fun though and I don't mind that it meant I might have missed out on a couple of challenges because I was still having a good time and I know I will read (or have read) those books. I mean I still read 2251 pages and saw 4 movies in the cinemas this week so its been a pretty good week for entertainment! 

These were the challenges...

1. read a contemporary book with green on the cover 

2. read a contemporary from a new to you author

3. read a diverse contemporary (keeping in mind that it is Black History Month!)

4. read a backlist contemporary (something that has been on your TBR for over a year)

5. read a dark/hard hitting contemporary

6. read a contemporary with an illustrated cover

7. read a contemporary that is beloved by a member of the book community (and shout out the creator!)

And this is what I read...

This meets challenges 1, 2, 6 and 7 - 352 pages

This meets challenges 4,  6 and 7 - 400 pages

This meets challenge 3 - 337 pages

I read the final 50% of this. This meets challenges 1 and 6 - 225 pages

This meets challenges 2, 3, 5 and 6 - 368 pages

This is not a contemporary but my library audio download was due back to I listening to the last 75% of this and wanted to share it with you because it was good... 320 pages

I only read 65% of this (249 pages) on Sunday night when I got back from my trip but his meets challenges 1, 3 and 6 had I read the whole thing. My review will be up very very soon. 

As I say my vlog of this week will be coming your way later on in the week and look out for reviews for all of these books. I already have a book vs movie video for PS I Still Love You on my channel so I'll leave that below for you to enjoy!

Movie Reviews: February 9th-15th 2020

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