Immortal Beloved by Cate Tiernan

(NB: This review is a little weird. I never wrote a review of this book for my blog, despite having read it after having set up the blog. But I did have a sort of back-to-basics review on Goodreads. However, in preparation for the upcoming review of its sequel, I decided to go back, tweak the review that I did have a little and get one on here.)

One day I went into my local English-language bookshop and there was this book, sitting on the shelves, looking at me. Look at that cover art! I didn't even bother to read the back of the book. I just picked it up and bought it. Funnily enough, there was a girl in front of me in the queue who, it transpired, had done the exact same thing. We had a bit of a giggle together at how shallow we are, but honestly, I could not pass up that cover art. I had to have it on my shelves!

Story: Nastasya has spent the last century living as a spoiled, drugged-out party girl. She feels nothing and cares for no one. But when she witnesses her best friend, a Dark Immortal, torture a human, she realizes something's got to change. She seeks refuge at a rehab for wayward immortals, where she meets the gorgeous, undeniably sexy Reyn, who seems inexplicably linked to her past. 

Nastasya finally begins to deal with life, and even feels safe--until the night she learns that someone wants her dead. 

Cate Tiernan, author of the popular Sweep series, returns with an engaging story of a timeless struggle and inescapable romance, the first book in a stunning new fantasy trilogy.

Thoughts and impressions: Nas is an immortal and able to channel magics. One night, her best friend cripples an innocent man using magics and Nas realises that her life has gone off the tracks and she needs to get control over it again. She finds shelter at a place for rehabilitaing immortals where everyone wants to help her to find her inner peace. But she still has to come to terms with who she is, her past and her present.

I loved Nas as a character. She was incredibly complex as an immortal who's been around for a good 450+ years. She's lived through so many difficult periods and the flashbacks serve to illustrate the many woes she has suffered. At times her story would really pull on my heartstrings. But then, as the world advances and Nas is slowly able to become a person herself rather than the shadow of a husband, she slips into darker ways, fueled by her best friend, Incy.

I have to admit that I was unsure about this book in the beginning. The first chapter was about Nas's party kids group, taking drinking and "fun" too far, resulting in a horrible incident that none of them did anything about. After that it gets very repetitive for a while, where Nas becomes her own worst enemy, questioning her every move and motivation. It improved vastly after a while when another immortal, much older than Nas herself, forces her to come to terms with her life the way she's been living it and sets out to help her find a sort of inner peace.

Well, inner peace is never easy to achieve and it's even harder when you've got a sexy, but reserved, golden warrior who's giving you a hard time but to whom you are inexplicably attracted. It's even more difficult when someone seems to be trying to kill you.

It's a storyline that's been worked before, but I enjoyed it a lot with its tweaks. I really liked the way that Nas was shown as almost being a master of disguise - she would reinvent herself with each new 'life' until she'd completely lost the girl she once was. I would have liked a less obvious antogonist (once Nas had stopped being both the protagonist and the antagonist) as it would have given the story that extra twist if it had been someone you'd never have expected who meant Nas harm.

I'm looking forward to the second book in the trilogy and seeing where the author will take it from here.

Style: Quirky, very chatty. Nas makes for a wonderful narrator.

Final verdict: I loved it! It was one of my top two reads of the summer. 5 stars

Extra notes: Bad language present. No sex.

The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett

I bought this book for my brother for Christmas a couple of years ago. He never finished it, he couldn’t suspend his disbelief far enough to enjoy it fully. It’s one that’s been looking at me every time I go to the book shop, begging me to read it… so when I found it in my room at my parents’ house I dug right in!

N.B.: I have the British version of this book. In the US it is called The Warded Man.

The author: Not that you’d know it reading the book, but The Painted Man is Peter V. Brett’s first title. He seems to have forged himself a nice, cosy spot in the fantasy world in the past couple of years! The final part of this trilogy is set for release later this year / early next year (no precise date). He has also released some companion novels, but I believe there was a limited number of copies.

Presentation: Small font. Spaced. 544 pages broken down into 32 chapters.

Story: When the sun sets, the demons come to terrorise humanity. Legend tells that centuries ago men were able to fight the demons, causing them to retreat to the Core and leave humanity in peace. But when the demons stopped materialising at night, men slowly forgot how to fight them, believing themselves the victors in the war with demon-kind. Then the demons returned in vast numbers; men had no way to attack and their defences were not fool-proof. Now, centuries later, humanity is edging ever closer to extinction with each demon attack that breaks through the wards.

Three young children, ignorant of each other’s existence, find their lives changed by demon attacks.

Arlen is a young boy from a farming community. One night he saves his mother from a demon attack while his father stands safe within the protective wards; he witnesses his father’s cowardice when faced with the demons - resulting in terrible consequences - and he swears that he won’t ever be a coward like him. He doesn’t want to be a prisoner within the wards. He wants to live. So he runs off to forge a new life for himself. He wants to see the world, wants to give humanity a way to go on the offence against the demons but he doesn’t know how to realise his dreams. Fortunately for him, he is a talented warder and this opens up a tricky, perilous but possible path for him to become one of the important messengers: men who brave the night’s dangers in order to take news and letters from place to place.

Leesha is a young woman in a close-knit community, her life ruled by her tyrannical mother. She is awaiting her passage to womanhood so that she can marry her promised one. But when her reputation is smeared, she leaves the village proper, choosing to go and live with the village healer as her apprentice and learn the healing arts of the Herb Gatherers. She is a fast learner, soaking up all her mentor’s teachings, and more importantly, Leesha gains a will to fight, a desire to resist others running her life for her.

Rojer’s earliest memories are of his parents giving their lives to save his during a demon attack. He did not escape unscathed, missing two fingers on one hand. He is taken in by a Jongleur, a man who makes his living by entertaining the crowds, and is taught in the arts of the trade. He is very talented at playing the fiddle and soon discovers that he is able to control the demons with the music.

Thoughts and impressions: The premise for this book is one of the most interesting ideas I’ve come across in a while. There is no antagonist, but there is an ever present danger. If anything, the antagonist is the darkness, night-time, one that you can never defeat. You cannot stop the sun from setting.

The ideas behind the demons were equally inspired. Different demons for different areas: wind demons rule the skies, sand demons live in the desert sands, wood demons in the forests, rock and flame demons roam among the others’ territories. The demons don’t only attack humans - though humans are their favourite victims and they spend much of their time trying to find weaknesses in the ward nets that will allow them entrance - they also attack each other, praying on their weak or injured, chasing off other demons who do not belong in their habitat.

The book starts slowly, playing with character clichés. Arlen is a definite fantasy cliché in the beginning, a young boy from a farming village who breaks from his norm. But he needed this, and all the good, the bad and the downright terrible that happened to him in order to form his character, for him to become who he was destined to become. Leesha is much the same. I really enjoyed her story when she was young, it was one that I could really feel passionate about. When Rojer is first introduced he is only three, about ten years younger than the other two characters, so it takes him a while to really form. Each of the characters has to go through their own trials and tribulations, hitting rock bottom before they can start to evolve again. Brett turns these clichés into a masterpiece.

I personally saw parallels in Brett’s world with a Catholic faith in the north and a Muslim faith in the south. I’m not sure if this was meant to be so, maybe it’s just me. Both were very interesting, though of course I’m already biased against both for their treatment of Arlen.

Every time I sat down to read this someone inevitably came and sat next to me, expecting me to converse with them. But I wanted to read! I wanted to devour this book! I’m already planning ahead, how fast I can get my mitts on the second book.

Style: Some unnecessary repetition in a few places that escaped the editing process. Other than that it was a very engaging style.

Final verdict: This book completely blew me away. I wasn’t expecting it to be half as good as it turned out to be from what my brother had told me. I’m glad I chose to ignore his criticisms of it and try it for myself. One of the best fantasy novels (and novels in general) that I’ve read in a while. Definitely 5 stars.

Language didn’t stick out to me. There are instances of rape and incest referred to and one sex scene. I would consider it suitable for older teens.

Gypsy by Lesley Pearse

I got this book as part of a buy 1 get 1 of a certain selection of titles free deal. If I’m honest, I was attracted to the cover. That girl in that gorgeous red dress drew me in, and the synopsis seemed interested enough, so I went for it!

Author:  Apparently Lesley Pearce is one of the UK’s best-loved authors. Well, I’m from the UK and I’d never heard of her before I got this book. It could be that she’s best-loved by a different generation; that would not surprise me. She’s got a large number of published works under her belt. She writes in British English.

Presentation: Paperback. About average size but quite thick as it is rather long at 516 pages. There are 37 chapters of roughly the same length.

Story: when 15-year-old Beth’s father commits suicide she finds her life turned upside down. Her older brother, Sam, is not yet skilled enough in the family trade to take over the business, leaving the family with very little income. Her mother turns out to be pregnant with her lover’s baby (the father’s suicide was so that the mother and her lover could be together but the lover high-tailed it). Unfortunately, the birth is not an easy one and their mother dies soon after, burdening her children with a new-born and her dark secrets. Tragedy after tragedy strikes the brother and sister, and eventually they find themselves giving their younger sister, Molly, to adoptive parents and they set out for a new life in the New World. Sam is convinced that he will be able to make his fortune in America, but the duo get off to a bumpy start with Beth paving the way because of her skill playing the fiddle. After some more tragic events, Beth, Sam, Theo (an upper-class gambling man whom Beth is in love with) and Jack (from the lowest classes in London, but knowledgeable and in love with Beth) find themselves moving from city to city, always looking for a new home. Eventually they hear tell of a new gold strike up in Alaska. But the way there is fraught with dangers and they must survive a demanding trek through the Alaskan mountains and a dangerous trip down the floodwater rivers. Despite this, Theo and Sam are convinced that they can make their fortune in this new gold rush town. But who can Beth really trust? Is her heart safe in Theo’s hands? Is Sam living with his head in the clouds? Will Jack be able to keep her safe?

Thoughts and impressions:  Unfortunately, the story didn’t really live up to the prettiness of the cover. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but I think that the scope was far too large.

The pace was a bit all over the place. Sometimes we’d get stuck in the endless drivel of some character’s thoughts that seemed to go on and on forever. At other times the really important points were just rushed through. *mini spoiler* At one point in the story, Beth ends up pregnant. But between the reader learning that she’s pregnant and an accident that causes the loss of the baby, about a month and the event and its aftermath all flick by in the space of about ten pages. And we're not really given the chance to feel what Beth is feeling about it, to feel what Jack is feeling about discovering that she'd been pregnant and hadn't told him and that she's now in hospital, to feel what Theo is feeling about having lost the child he didn't even know was coming, to feel Sam's dispair at almost losing his sister... As such, I found I was unable to feel Beth’s, or anyone else's, loss. I was unable to even feel sympathy for her.

I was never really affected by any of the story’s big tragedies because the narrative doesn’t dwell on them for long enough to make these events as shattering for me as they are for the characters. I feel rather disappointed by this, as had the characters been brought closer to me, I think that this would have been an excellent read. Maybe it should have been split into a two book mini-series. That would have allowed the author to make all her comments on society, but also bring us closer to Beth. As it is, the book takes place over about 8 or 9 years crammed into 500 pages and it’s just too much. Things whizz past before you even have the time to realise they’re happening and I didn’t like that.

It must be said that the author obviously did a lot of research for this book. She even went up to Alaska and walked the trail that the characters would be walking in the book. Her passion for history can be seen in every page, it is very clear and I liked that I learnt little bits from the book.

The author set up a foundation for ‘strong women’, or something of the sort, and she writes books about such women. I just wish she’d given Beth the strength to give Theo the boot rather than putting up with all the horrible stuff her puts her through.

Style: The author is a storyteller and not a weaver of the craft. The style often tells rather than shows, I think to increase the speed of the narrative, to get everything in there. In all honesty, the style didn’t really appeal to me. The author sticks almost exclusively to one tense, even when she moves further back in her time of narration, using this one tense to describe ‘present’ events as well as ‘past’ ones. There’s also an overdose of the adverb ‘suddenly’. I don’t like this adverb being used in literature as it shows the author’s opinion and not the narrator’s.

Final verdict: I’m torn. I really wanted to like this book and I think that in the hands of an author with a different style this could well have become one of my favourite books. As it is, I enjoyed it but I didn’t overly like it. 3 stars (lower end of the spectrum)

Extra notes: Sex happens, though it is not described in great detail. Some minor language if memory serves, but it didn’t stick out for me so there probably wasn’t that much of it. Aimed at adults more than young adults.

Murder on Waverly Place by Victoria Thompson

This is the eleventh book in the Gaslight Mysteries series by Victoria Thompson. As such, there may be spoilers pertaining to earlier books in the series. Considering that each book’s plot is fairly independent of events in previous books, there shouldn’t be any major give aways, though.

Author: Victoria Thompson started out writing historical romances. In the late 90’s she turned her attention to cosy mystery instead. Now she writes about midwife, Sarah Brandt, and her policeman friend, Frank Malloy. In each book they team up to solve a different murder. I was attracted to this series because it is set in late 19^th century New York, which is a new setting for me.

Presentation: Mass market paperback. The print is quite small but spaced in this book (editions of earlier books in the series are not spaced, I prefer this look.) There are 294 pages broken down into 16 chapters.

Story: Sarah Brandt’s sister, Maggie, died many years ago, giving birth to her son in a filthy fifth floor tenement apartment after their father disowned her and ruined her husband’s chances of getting a job that could support them. Mrs Decker, Sarah’s mother, has never forgiven herself for the role she played in her daughter’s death. Now, one of her friends has introduced her to the world of séances. Unwilling to go without moral support, she asks Sarah to join her and Sarah reluctantly agrees. There are some strange goings-on at the séance: the smell of roses, the sound of a baby crying… but all of those present do not get any real answers to their questions. Sarah in unconvinced and asks her mother not to return. Mrs Decker, though, is desperate to contact Maggie, to ask for her forgiveness, and so she returns. This time, however, something a little more sinister happens: one of the guests will not leave the house alive. Unwilling to give her own name to the police lest it be leaked to the media, thus potentially getting back to her husband (who does not know of her attempts to contact their dead daughter), Mrs Decker calls herself by her daughter’s name and asks for Frank Malloy to come and investigate. Malloy, realising that he’s going to need Sarah’s help in this matter, has her sent for, too, even though he knows that this will mean her getting embroiled in yet another murder investigation – something he’s not too happy about. But in a world where the rich are paying to contact the dead, nothing is as simple as it seems.

Thoughts and impressions:  The book was rather good fun. I’ve read certain reviews claiming that it wasn’t as good as previous books, but I enjoyed it more than Little Italy, Chinatown and Bank Street. The séances were portrayed very well, with just enough spooky. The obsession of those attending for answers from the dead (that they would likely never receive) was very realistic, including the lengths they were all willing to go to to keep getting their vague lack of answers.

As per usual when the killer is introduced early on in the book, I’d figured out who the murderer was, but I couldn’t figure out how they’d been able to commit the crime.

Sarah’s mother, always a delightful character, was once again an interesting addition to the story – caught between the delights of doing something she shouldn’t be doing and her upbringing that tells her not to do it. And towards the start of the story, was that the setting of a potential future romance for Maeve? It could be an interesting match. And Sarah’s palm reading telling her she’ll marry again? A good bit of info to ruminate on – though I wonder how many books we’ll have to get through before they even really begin their courtship, let alone marry. I wish Sarah and Frank would get over the “two different worlds” thing and advance in their relationship already. Sarah and Tom were two different worlds too, but that didn’t stop her!

I miss Brian, Malloy’s son. He hasn’t had any on-page time for the past couple of books now. It’s a shame because he’s a fun little thing. I prefer him to Catherine. I’m fact, I’m getting fed up with Sarah tearing up whenever Catherine hugs her or her mother or whoever in the books. The girl’s been living with her for months, and she’s always very affectionate. Sarah should get over it already.

We’re back to only the two POVs now, Maeve has lost hers again, which makes me question whether it was a good idea to introduce it in book 10.

Style: In this book, Thompson returns to her obsession for {adjective} eyes. I noticed it in early books, too. Thankfully it has evolved a bit since then. In an earlier book, one character’s eyes were frequently described and they were always described as “lovely eyes”. In this book, Serafina’s eyes are described as being lovely / wonderful / amazing no less than four times in two chapters! A bit overkill on the eye description front.

Final verdict: I enjoyed this one. I felt that advances were made in all the places that were important and I quite liked the romp into the world of séances and spiritualism! 4 stars.

Extra notes: No sex, no swearing. More aimed at an adult market than anything else.

Murder on Bank Street by Victoria Thompson

This is the tenth book in the Gaslight Mysteries series by Victoria Thompson. As such, there may be spoilers pertaining to earlier books in the series. Considering that each book’s plot is fairly independent of events in previous books, there shouldn’t be any major give aways, though.

Author: Victoria Thompson started out writing historical romances. In the late 90’s she turned her attention to cosy mystery instead. Now she writes about midwife, Sarah Brandt, and her policeman friend, Frank Malloy. In each book they team up to solve a different murder. I was attracted to this series because it is set in late 19^th century New York, which is a new setting for me.

Presentation: Mass market paperback. The print is quite small but spaced in this book (editions of earlier books in the series are not spaced, I prefer this look.) There are 324 pages broken down into 16 chapters.

Story: Sarah Brandt is a widow. 4 years ago her husband, Doctor Tom Brandt, was murdered. The police never launched a proper investigation into the murder as they did not receive a “reward” (the police back then were, apparently, corrupt and would only investigate if they were paid to do so as their salary was so low that they could not afford to do otherwise) from Sarah or her parents, the Deckers (members of the elite New York society). Since he met her, Malloy has found himself indebted to Mrs Brandt: she has not only helped him with numerous murder investigations, but more importantly she brought him to understand that his son, Brian, was deaf with a club foot that could be fixed by surgery (permitting him to walk) and not both a physical and mental cripple doomed to a life depends on others. And Malloy wants to return the favour by finding the man responsible for Doctor Tom’s death. Now, Frank Malloy, widower himself, has received permission from police commissioner Roosevelt himself to reopen this cold case in light of new evidence. But Roosevelt is due to leave office to accept a role in the government within just a few short weeks. No new commissioner would ever allow Malloy to continue to investigate a murder that happened four years ago, so he finds himself having to rush an investigation he would rather not rush. And that means having to get extra help on board.

Thoughts and impressions: I put off reading this book for about a month. I’m not sure why as I devoured the previous 9 books in the series very quickly. Maybe I’d just given myself an overload of it, but no matter the reason, I got back on track and polished off this book within an afternoon.

It was interesting to finally look into Tom Brandt’s murder, to learn more about these women who were forming romantic attachments to men who’d shown them nothing more than common courtesy. Tom Brandt’s death has been looming over the series since… well, really since three years before the events in the first book even took place! Maybe with that out of the way we’ll finally be able to see some real advances in the relationship between Sarah and Frank, though I am beginning to believe nothing will happen until Felix Decker gives Frank his permission to court his daughter. At least that the start of this book Sarah admitted to herself that she loves Frank, which I think was the first time she’s ever put it so plainly!

As for Tom Brandt… well, I’d begun to believe that maybe he had been hiding his true nature from his wife. Even the author herself said that when asked about it, she wasn’t sure whether Tom was a good guy or not, and events in previous books pointed to the possibility that he wasn’t.

Maeve came into her own in this book. She even got a POV. That was the first time in ten books that any character other than Sarah and Frank was given a POV. I’m not sure how I feel about this, though I did enjoy her story with little Iris. She was certainly more interesting than Sarah, who regressed in this book. She seemed to spend her whole time upset with everyone and everything because her husband might not have been the saint she’d believed him to be and her father didn’t pay for the investigation.

Style: Nothing much to say about it. I like it, it draws me in.

Final verdict: Not as good as some of the earlier books, but better than others. I enjoyed the read. It reminded me of why I like Sarah Brandt and Frank Malloy so much! 3 stars.

Extra notes: No sex, no swearing. More aimed at an adult market than anything else.

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

This is the first book in the Georgia Nicholson series. I’ve had the book for about ten years now and have reread it multiple times. It is a favourite of mine. I am now embarking on a reread of the whole series as a buddy read with Charmaine Elaine over at From the Shadows I Review.

Author: Louise Rennison is a British author. She uses a lot a fabulous British slang in her books. Apparently her research consisted of hanging out with teenage girls so she could represent their language correctly. Cool research!

Presentation: The book is presented as a diary. It is broken down into months – this book in particular spans over just under a year – and the months are broken down into days and times. Sometimes there will be entries that are set only minutes apart. My copy was 201 pages long, but it is an old version and I believe the new editions are longer.

Story: Georgia’s summer is coming to an end. She’s preparing to go back to Stalag 14 (school) and she and her friends are determined to make the most of the year. As she is 14 and on the brink of womanhood (she wears a bra!), she’s also fishing for a boy. The world of boys is confusing, though. There are whelks, big gobs and sex gods abound. It doesn’t help that her nose is too big and whenever she smiles it spreads all over her face. Georgia and her friends, the Ace Gang, go through many short, but hilarious, adventures. They all have a natural talent for making fools of themselves, which leads to many laughs.

Thoughts and impressions: It took me a little while to get back into the book this time around. I first read it when I was 13, and that was the perfect age for it. Georgia is 14 so I could relate to all her thoughts and actions, which is a bit harder now that I’m 23. I didn’t laugh quite so much as I did when I was younger, but I still found myself gigglesnorting a dime a dozen. There was even the odd occasion when I had to stop reading to wipe the tears of laughter from my eyes!

That’s not really that much else that I can say about it. I love Georgia, even though she’s pretty narcissistic, occasionally treats her friends (especially bestie Jas) like dirt, and has a hard time seeing past the end of her nose. My favourite character is definitely Angus, the half Scottish wildcat cat. He’s always there to traumatise the neighbours and their poodles.

A film version of this and the second book does exist, but I didn't really like it. Lots of things were wrong (the actor who played Robbie, Dave the Laugh's lack of screen time, the cat that plays Angus looks like an expensive indoor breed and not a Scottish wildcat, as well as various changes to the storyline, not to mention the title.) I recommend the book(s) over the film.

Style: Extremely colloquial, but considering the format this is to be expected. I love the random foreign words that get inserted from time to time.

Final verdict: I love the humour in this book! Very British! It is certainly aimed at a female teenage market. My book even claims it to be rated ‘T for Teens’. I certainly recommend the whole series for young girls! 4 stars

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

This book was chosen for a reading group. It was not one that I would have ordinarily picked for myself but I decided to give it a go anyway.

Author: In all honesty, I don’t know very much about the author. I just know that she’s American and that she’s written quite a number of books for younger readers.

Presentation: My book was a bit of a weird shape. It seemed wider than it should have been given the vertical length of it. It is written as diary entries broken down into 4 parts (the seasons of the year) and then chapters as well. It is 337 pages long.

Story: Miranda is your typical schoolgirl. She works hard to obtain her grades. She’s on the swim team. She has a couple of close friends. She’s a bit obsessed with the local celebrity. She lives at home with her and her little brother while her big brother is at uni and her dad has a new life with a new (newly pregnant) wife. But then disaster strikes the whole world. A meteor hits the moon, sending it out of its orbit and pushing it closer to Earth. Tsunamis wipe out all low-lying coastal areas. Earthquakes hit. Volcanoes all start erupting; including those that have been dormant for a long time… even some new ones start erupting. With so many volcanoes spewing out ash, the sun is soon blocked out by a thick cloud layer. Food becomes scarce, a wood stove is imperative. People start dying of diseases not local to their environment. Only the fittest will survive.

Thoughts and impressions: It took me a little while to really get into the book, but once I did I was completely sucked in by everything. It is not the story of the apocalypse. It is the story of one girl’s struggle for survival. It is a very personal story, even more so because of the form it takes (her personal diary, in case you forgot.) There’s a lot of small details about their daily comings and goings, but for me that just added to the personal story rather than making it a ‘disaster on a large scale’ story.

I found the book to be very thought provoking. I felt like I was going through everything that the character was going through. When I read it we had terrible weather here: the wind was going mad and it was constantly dull – this just added to the feeling that her world could well be my world. I felt guilty every time I ate a full meal instead of just a tin of mixed veg or something. I had an urge to go and stock up on tinned and jarred foods, to make sure my pantry was full, to make sure I had enough pet food for the animals…

At times I felt like the author deliberately wrote the character as dense rather than naïve. The scene where she learns about all the volcanoes in the world erupting being one such example. I would have thought that at 16, you’d know that every single one of the world’s volcanoes erupting at the same time spells big trouble, but Miranda seemed to be stuck in the belief that because there are no volcanoes near where she lives, she would not be affected.

There were some scenes that didn’t add to the story. They should either have been cut or expanded upon. One such scene was the one where Miranda met Brandon (her idol) at the lake and went ice skating with him. It is never touched upon again. Did Brandon really exist? Or did Miranda have one hell of a hallucination? We, as readers, do not know. It should either have been cut from the final version of the story or something should have happened later on to confirm that Miranda had dreamt it all up. Instead, we’re just left with that one random scene that never went anywhere.

Although at times she is annoying or exasperating, Miranda is a very relatable character. The way that she lashes out at her mother in particular is something I know I did myself at that age.

Style: Nothing in particular to say about the style. It worked well for the story. Not very detailed, but it didn’t need to be.

Final verdict: I think that this one will stay with me for a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed the read. 4 stars.

Extra notes: No sex. There may have been some swearing, but it didn’t stand out to me. There are two other books in this series, but after having researched their content, I’ve come to the conclusion that no message of hope can be offered in such a world and I’d rather remember the characters as they are now, rather than as their personalities will be shaped in the last book.