Review: This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

This Song Will Save Your Life
by Leila Sales 
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Release Date: September 17th, 2013

Format: ARC

Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit. All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt at popularity fails, Elise nearly gives up. Then she stumbles upon a warehouse party where she meets Vicky, a girl in a band who accepts her; Char, a cute, yet mysterious disc jockey; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; and most importantly, a love for DJing. 

 Told in a refreshingly genuine and laugh-out-loud funny voice, THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE is an exuberant novel about identity, friendship, and the power of music to bring people together

This song will save your life starts off with a melancholy tone. We’re introduced to the main character, Elise who is unpopular, friendless and would do anything to change that. She’s unpopular because she’s precocious. She’s different. She doesn’t conform to what society deems acceptable, whether it be fashion, music, looks, or intelligence; she has her own unique style. And that’s why she’s getting bullied. Elise has attempted to change her appearance to fit in, but like she said in the book, it just doesn’t work. And when all this hurt, anger and self-hatred builds up over the years, Elise considers one thing- suicide.

I think that for some people, in order to wholly understand or relate to Elise’s character and the situation she’s in, one has to have experienced bullying to some degree. I, unfortunately can’t 100% relate to her because honestly, I haven’t encountered bullying to her extent. I might’ve been bullied back in first or second grade when I couldn’t speak English, but that hasn’t had a profound impact on my life considering 1) I couldn’t understand what the bullies said to me and 2) I don’t remember all the details. As mean as it sounds, sometimes I felt she didn’t entirely try to fit in despite how much she wanted to. She says she wants friends but I think what she really means is, ‘I want popular friends’. I didn’t like how Elise treated Sally and Chava at the beginning of the book; they truly tried to be her friend, but she pretty much thought “I’d rather not have losers as friends”. However, I’m glad Elise matured and realised that sometimes, you have to make an effort to make friends.

I highly enjoyed getting to know Elise’s new bunch of friends from Start, the town’s best underground dance club. I loved how through a mutual passion for music, Elise is able to meet some of the best friends a person could ask for. Vicky is the sort of friend everyone needs in their life; she genuinely cares about Elise and doesn’t judge. She stands up for her friends, is supportive, encouraging and I love how she took Elise under her wing without a second thought. I loved Mel, Harry and Dave as well<3 As for Pippa and Char, while I didn’t like their actions, I felt they were realistic representations of people in our society today. My feelings towards Char are conflicted; on one hand he seemed like he genuinely wanted to help Elise learn to DJ, and even encouraged her to pursue her love for DJing, but on the other hand, he also showed a selfish and slightly manipulative side. He's the type who helps people only if he's certain their abilities are beneath his & will never surpass him. He helps those he doesn’t have faith in. I didn't like this side of him but his character did feel realistic. 

I personally believe this is one of the most powerful YA contemporary books that holds the ability to leave a profound impact on its readers. It is thought-provoking, beautiful and a realistic story of self-discovery, and I would strongly recommend it to everyone. I’ll admit that I couldn’t relate to Elise’s actions/thoughts at times but I can’t pretend to understand what a person who has been bullied her entire life would feel/do. Music plays an integral role in this book, and I should mention that Elise has convinced me to well…listen to songs that are out of my comfort zone. So guys, definitely read this when you have time! I’m eagerly anticipating Sales’ next project :)

*Guys, you MUST read Emily May’s review ofThis Song Will Save Your Life. I cried- no kidding- I  cried while reading it, and I  never cry when I read reviews!

**If any poor Year 12s from NSW who are conducting a frantic search for a Belonging related text just happens to stumble across this post, I would highly recommend considering reading/using this book!

 A massive thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing for providing a copy of  This Song Will Save Your Life for review! 

Review: The Collector by Victoria Scott

The Collector (Dante Walker #1)
by Victoria Scott
Publisher: Entangled Teen

Release Date: April 2nd, 2013

Format: Paperback, 352 pages

He makes good girls...bad.

 Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag. 

Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal-opportunity collector and doesn't want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:

 Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within ten days. 

 Dante doesn't know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector…and uncover emotions deeply buried.

I think I should make a habit of reining in my excitement every time a new book that has been garnering exceptional reviews comes out, and perhaps try to not expect too much from those books. Why? Well,  it seems most of the books I’ve been incredibly excited for this year just happen to become the most disappointing ones. The Collector is one of them. My FB homepage and Twitter feed were spammed with how amazing Dante Walker is (and I developed a tiny crush on him before I even got my hands on a copy!) but the truth is, Dante Walker is a narcissist, and egotistical to the point I could not tolerate one more word out of his mouth.

The Collector is a story we’ve read many times; we have a bad boy, an innocent girl, a mission gone wrong and the two fall in love. But add in heaven, hell, soul-collecters, a male POV, and viola!The Collector is born. The first couple of chapters were pretty good; Dante had a strong voice, he was humorous (albeit up himself, but it was fine), the writing was decent and I was enjoying it. Then we met Charlie. And the story went downhill from there.

This is just me, but I’ve never been able to tolerate characters who are too “good”. They’re too fake, in my opinion. Too bland. Too one-dimensional. (In her defense, she did show a wild side once or twice, but I’d stopped caring by then). Dante made her seem fragile, angelic and from what I gathered, weak. The girl drove me nuts. So did Dante after 100+ pages of his arrogance and hearing him praise himself. I never cared for the other characters either. Charlie’s two best friends were sweet, loyal and protective but I just couldn’t develop a liking to them. They were just…there.

This would’ve been a DNF but since I had loads of free time everyday on the bus/train, I skimmed the last quarter or so. I won’t be coming back for the next book, but I sure hope Dante will fall for the ‘bad girl’. (Yes, I’m not being very nice but I bet the new girl will be much more interesting than Charlie. But of course, Dante will remain faithful to Charlie.) *sigh*

Cover Reveal: Origin (Lux #4) by Jennifer L Armentrout

Sooo today, I have the honour of revealing the very SEXY cover for Jennifer L Armentrout's ORIGIN, the fourth Lux book, which will be released 27th August 2013 by Entangled Teen.

WARNING: The cover is panty-droppingly HOT so tread with caution. Make sure you're in a secluded room, away from everyone because you won't be able to contain your excitement and your squeals will probably deafen all those within a 50km radius. Also, please try not to hurt yourself or break anything when you're jumping up and down with your arms flailing in the air.

Now...behold, the sexiest YA book cover of the year...:

GOODREADS // AMAZON // BARNES & NOBLE

Daemon will do anything to get Katy back. 
After the successful but disastrous raid on Mount Weather, he’s facing the impossible. Katy is gone. Taken. Everything becomes about finding her. Taking out anyone who stands in his way? Done. Burning down the whole world to save her? Gladly. Exposing his alien race to the world? With pleasure. 

All Katy can do is survive.

 Surrounded by enemies, the only way she can come out of this is to adapt. After all, there are sides of Daedalus that don’t seem entirely crazy, but the group’s goals are frightening and the truths they speak even more disturbing. Who are the real bad guys? Daedalus? Mankind? Or the Luxen? 

Together, they can face anything.

 But the most dangerous foe has been there all along, and when the truths are exposed and the lies come crumbling down, which side will Daemon and Katy be standing on? And will they even be together?

ISN'T DAEMON JUST GORGEOUS?<33333  I hope all of you are safe and haven't melted into a puddle of goo!

I think the cover's really different from the previous three books. I was actually surprised when I saw it in my inbox this morning, but I definitely love it!<3

What do you think of the cover? :)

Super Six Sunday: Authors I’d like to meet/loved meeting :)

Super Six Sunday is a meme created by Bewitched Bookworms and inspired by "Top Ten Tuesdays" by The Broke and Bookish.

Author’s I’d like to meet/loved meeting

I have a confession to make; I think I’ve only met one author in my entire life. There were several opportunities for me to meet some of my favourite authors over the past few years, however I was always either busy/something important came up on the day.  Examples include Becca Fitzpatrick, Lauren Oliver, Gayle Forman and Abbi Glines. This list will therefore be comprised of ONE author I’ve met & 5 I’d love to meet one day!

*RACHEL VINCENT*

I had the opportunity to meet Rachel Vincent during the Harlequin Summit held earlier this year in February. Rachel was so lovely and absolutely hilarious! I lost count of the number of times I cracked up when she talked to us :)

*J.K ROWLING*

Harry Potter is my all-time favourite series<3 It would be such an honour to meet J.K Rowling in person!

*KATIE MCGARRY*

Katie McGarry’s books are an automatic buy for me. Pushing The Limits was definitely my favourite book of 2012 and I also loved Dare You To so needless to say, I’d LOVE to meet Katie in real life! Hopefully she’ll visit Australia one day!<3

*GAYLE FORMAN*

Unfortunately, I missed Gayle’s event in Sydney earlier this year :( Gayle’s meet and greet in Sydney was on the same day as my friend’s mock court trial and since I’d promised I’d go support my friend, I wasn’t able to attend the event. It’s a pity I missed it, but hopefully there’ll be another chance for me to meet Gayle in the future!

*JULIE KAGAWA*

I’ve been a fan of Julie's since her debut novel The Iron King came out in 2010! Ash quickly became my favourite book boyfriend of all time and I’d like nothing more than to meet the mastermind behind the creation of one of my favourite characters ever<3 Hopefully Julie will visit Australia one day as well! :)

*COLLEEN HOOVER*

I LOVEEEEED Slammed and Point of Retreat!!! (So did my friends when I lent the books to them!!) Colleen’s my favourite NA author so I hope I get to meet her and have all my books signed one day! 

What about you? Who are some of the authors you've met or who are you dying to meet? :)

Review: Between the Lives by Jessica Shirvington

Between the Lives
by Jessica Shirvington
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia

Release Date: May 1st, 2013

Format: Paperback, 336 pages

Above all else, though I try not to think about it, I know which life I prefer. And every night when I Cinderella myself from one life to the next a very small, but definite, piece of me dies. The hardest part is that nothing about my situation has ever changed. There is no loophole. 

 Until now, that is... 

 For as long as she can remember, Sabine has lived two lives. Every 24 hours she Shifts to her ′other′ life - a life where she is exactly the same, but absolutely everything else is different: different family, different friends, different social expectations. In one life she has a sister, in the other she does not. In one life she′s a straight-A student with the perfect boyfriend, in the other she′s considered a reckless delinquent. Nothing about her situation has ever changed, until the day when she discovers a glitch: the arm she breaks in one life is perfectly fine in the other. 

 With this new knowledge, Sabine begins a series of increasingly risky experiments which bring her dangerously close to the life she′s always wanted... But just what - and who - is she really risking?

I’ve heard so much praise over the years for Jessica Shirvington’s Violet Eden series (which I own but have yet to read), so I was very excited when I heard about Jess’s new book, Between the Lives coming out in May. I got even more enthusiastic about starting the book when 4-5 star reviews began showing up on my GR updates and I was like “ Could this be THAT amazing?”. Sadly, Between the Lives wasn’t as brilliant as I expected it to be, but it was a refreshingly original and praiseworthy book nonetheless.

While the concept was so creative (kudos to Jess for thinking up such an imaginative and unique concept!), I couldn’t quite engage with the story. Sabine is meant to take on the role of two completely different characters 1) Herself in Roxbury 2) Another self in Wellesley. Despite being 2 different people, Sabine sounded exactly the same in both worlds. Now, this can be interpreted as both a good thing and a bad thing. On one hand, I liked how she sounded the same because it obviously meant she never ‘lost’ herself during the shift and she’s still the one and only Sabine. On the other hand, I felt her thoughts, actions and image in Wellesley were so contradicting, there was no way she could be this perfect, materialistic rich girl. It didn’t help either, that her voice was so bland and indistinguishable from so many other YA heroines.

I’m legitimately starting to loathe psychiatric wards now. Not for the first time, I wonder how many patients are there not because they need to be there, but because the psychiatrists believe anyone ‘special’ or ‘different’ requires help. *sigh* Our male lead Ethan is a total sweetie, no doubt, but I couldn’t feel the chemistry between him and Sabine at all. No spark, no chemistry, no nothing. Just a guy and a girl who supposedly fall in love. Yes, I should love him because he’s so understanding, selfless..etc. but I couldn’t root for them. I just didn’t feel a connection with these two characters unfortunately.

Some readers/bloggers might’ve cried at the end; I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel anything, because well…I was sort of sad. I’m certain many readers will absolutely adore this standalone novel by everyone’s favourite Aussie author, however, this wasn’t my cup of tea. It’s a story I enjoyed, but not one I would read again. 

A massive thank you to HarperCollins Australia for providing a copy of  Between The Lives for review! 

Book Spotlight: Conquer Your Love by J.C Reed & Giveaway

Hey guys!!!! So I haven't been blogging much lately- blame Uni!- but since my hectic Uni exams are over now & I get over 1 month of holidays, I'm hoping to catch up on some reviews and blogging in general :) Today, I have a book spotlight for J.C Reed's Mature New Adult/ Adult Contemporary Romance Conquer Your Love, the sequel to Surrender Your Love which was released earlier this year. I'll be sharing an excerpt with you today and there will also be a giveaway for an $100 Amazon Gift Card. (SERIOUSLY YOU SHOULD ALL GO ENTER IT! THINK OF ALL THE BOOKS  YOU CAN PURCHASE!!!<3)

Conquer Your Love
by J.C Reed
Release Date: June 8th 2013

Meeting Jett was like bad luck. Dangerous. Unpredictable. And better avoided. In his game, the stakes are high. But are they worth the risk?
 Brooke Stewart, a realtor in New York, finds forgetting is hard, but forgiving is harder. When the man she trusted, betrayed her, the only way to forget is to move on. Brooke is determined to start a new life, until she meets him again: the green-eyed, sexy as sin, six foot two sex god. The man who played dirty. The man who played her. Sexy, handsome, and arrogant Jett Mayfield knows he has made mistakes. He could have any other woman, and yet it’s Brooke he wants. When second chances collide with secrets and Brooke is threatened by the past, Jett is determined to protect her. She accepts his help unwillingly because she needs him but she wants to play his game on her own terms. And she has no intention to forgive or let him back into her bed. When the man she is supposed to hate is the one she should trust, will he conquer her…or lose her forever?
A woman who can’t forgive. 
A man who has made mistakes. 
Two lives that are about to cross again and more secrets laid bare.

*Excerpt*

*Giveaway*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Whoaaaa that was pretty umm....hot :D You see, I usually avoid books with covers that scream THERE IS SEX IN THIS BOOK because....welllll, I was young and didn't want my innocence corrupted :P Nahhh I'm kidding! I just never had a chance to try adult contemporary romance since I usually only read YA. But this book/ series has received some amazing reviews/ ratings and I'm reallllyyyy looking forward to finding out what happened between Jett and Brooke :) heheeee

Oh and like I said above, GO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY! $100 WORTH OF BOOKS FROM AMAZON. AND A COPY OF A BOOK WITH SUCH A HOT BODY ON THE FRONT COVER. You can drool over it every second of the day if you win<3 :)

Review: Spirit by Brigid Kemmerer

Spirit (Elemental #3)
by Brigid Kemmerer 
Publisher: Allen & Unwin 

Release Date: May 22nd 2013

Format: Paperback, 294 pages

Hunter Garrity just wants to be left alone. He has learned the hard way that his unusual abilities come at a price. And he can't seem to afford any allies. 

 He's up to his neck in hostiles. His grandfather, spoiling for a fight. The Merrick brothers, who think he ratted them out. Calla, the scheming psycho who wants to use him as bait. 

 Then there's Kate Sullivan, the new girl at school. She's not hostile. She's bold. Funny. Hot. But she's got an agenda, too. 

 With supposedly secret powers rippling to the surface everywhere around him, Hunter knows something ugly is about to go down - which means he'll have to find someone he can trust. 

 POWER. ENEMIES. EVERYWHERE.

If I remember correctly I was once Hunter Garrity’s biggest anti-fan. He annoyed me in the Storm because he was the other guy in the love triangle who was competing for Becca; and he annoyed me in Spark because well…if memory serves, he was untrustworthy. So basically, I didn’t like Hunter, and I definitely didn’t care for his story.  Though I never once considered not reading Spirit, I was a little apprehensive when I started reading it and for the first few pages I treaded with caution. HOWEVER, (and a hugeeeee however here), I shouldn’t have worried because several pages in, I started LOVING Hunter. (And possibly hating all the other characters in the book…but I’ll go into that later!)

After reading Spark and Spirit, I have one question that I can never get my head around – What is it with these guys always hiding what they’re actually feeling? I mean guys aren’t as expressive as girls (I think??) but seriously, why do they always have to hide the fact that they’re actually concerned for those around them and actually give a crap about the people they love. Why purposely pretend they’re the bad guys and have everyone misunderstand them? It’s exactly because of this that I didn’t like both Gabriel and Hunter. Luckily though, through Hunter’s perspective we got to see a different side of him. I don’t care how untrustworthy he seems to everyone else, I’LL ALWAYS SUPPORT YOU HUNTER<3

I felt so sorry for Hunter throughout the whole book. I can never understand how a mum can treat her child the way Hunter’s mother treated him. I don’t care what her reasons were, her actions were unforgivable. AND HUNTER’S GRANDFATHER NEEDS TO GET BEATEN UP ONE DAY SO HE KNOWS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE. I hated how everyone just automatically assumed the worst of Hunter just because of his piercings and overall appearance. I’ll admit that had I been one of the students from his school, I probably would’ve believed the rumours too, but reading everything from his POV just made me want to scream at the entire school to shut the hell up and stop judging Hunter. At one point, I even started having negative feelings towards Chris and Gabriel since they wouldn’t leave poor Hunter alone, and as for Becca…well…I’ve never really liked her much. As for Kate, the love interest, I definitely didn’t like her. She drove me up the wall with her blatant displays of slutty actions. Yes, that’s exactly how I’d describe her behaviour. I didn’t care for her much and I’m glad I didn’t have to endure her for long.

Spirit is distinctly different from the previous too books. It’s much bolder, more intense and there’s a lot more action. What Storm lacked, Spirit compensated. A little warning though, there’s violence and shooting and there’s no holding back when it comes accomplishing one’s goals. Spirit is an impressive addition to the Elemental series, and I can’t wait for the next book <3 

A massive thank you to Kensington and Allen & Unwin for providing a copy of Spirit for review!

This post is also part of the Spirit Blog Tour hosted by The Midnight Garden. 

For the full schedule, click HERE.