Sophie Reads YA: HMH Kids

2020 Contemporary Romance Challenge

ARC Review: By the Book by Amanda Sellet

10:00

By the Book
Series: None
Author: Amanda Sellet
Published May 12th 2020 by HMH Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Synopsis
As a devotee of classic novels, Mary Porter-Malcolm knows all about Mistakes That Have Been Made, especially by impressionable young women. So when a girl at her new high school nearly succumbs to the wiles of a notorious cad, Mary starts compiling the Scoundrel Survival Guide, a rundown of literary types to be avoided at all costs.

Unfortunately, Mary is better at dishing out advice than taking it—and the number one bad boy on her list is terribly debonair. As her best intentions go up in flames, Mary discovers life doesn’t follow the same rules as fiction. If she wants a happy ending IRL, she’ll have to write it herself.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

I knew I would enjoy this book as soon as I heard about it last year, but my god, I was not expecting to love it as much as I did. I couldn't put it down as soon as I had started, and it's my favourite book of 2020 so far this year! Mary is in love with books, but especially classics. She is definitely of the What Would Lizzy Bennet Do? camp, and uses what she has learnt in her reading to help guide her future, especially when it comes to love. Mary has been coddled slightly in her upbringing, being the daughter of two professors, and been in a sort of university-come-school education programme that has now been cancelled. At 15, she has to go to public school, and that's when she starts to make friends, especially with Arden, Terry, and Lydia, and uses what she knows of Alex Ritter, who everyone at school loves, and she thinks he's a Whickham like character, to help guide the girls use the books. As they grow closer, Mary loses some of her naivete, and might just learn that Alex isn't as bad as she initially thought he was.

This book was so friendship based. We start of with Mary knowing only Anjuli, a girl who went to the same school programme as she had, who basically drops her as soon as they start at school, and treat her horrendously, and then she meets the girls at her favourite bookstore/cafe, and Arden, Terry, and Lydia are like her family. They have such an amazing relationship with each other, and there isn't really any drama, that could've happened. Yeah, some angst appears later in the book, but not because of bitchiness or anything.

Mary also has a fantastic hate-to-love relationship with Alex. She knows of Alex because of his appearances in her elder sisters Shakespearean company, and first impressions tell her that he is a player, and thinks himself above everyone else. As they get thrown in more and more situations together, she thinks she may have been mistaken in her first impression (does this remind us of a certain Austen heroine, perhaps?) but her initial vehemence towards him, especially when she was speaking with the girls, makes her worry that she's not doing the right thing. Their chemistry together is fantastic though, and I was rooting for them from the first few encounters together. Their growth and characterisations was unlike what I've seen before, and as this is Amanda's debut, I'm dying to see what she releases next - it'll definitely be on my wishlist!

Dates Read:

January 18, 2020

Rating
5 Stars

4 Stars

ARC Review: Sparks of Light (Into the Dim #2) by Janet B. Taylor

10:00

Sparks of Light
Series: Into the Dim #2
Author: Janet B. Taylor
Published August 1st 2017 by HMH Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Synopsis
For the first time in her life, Hope Walton has friends . . . and a (maybe) boyfriend. She’s a Viator, a member of a long line of time-traveling ancestors. When the Viators learn of a plan to steal a dangerous device from the inventor Nikola Tesla, only a race into the past can save the natural timeline from utter destruction. Navigating the glitterati of The Gilded Age in 1895 New York City, Hope and her crew will discover that high society can be as deadly as it is beautiful.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

Books about time travelling seem to be in right now, and this series is as good as all the others, if not better. Into the Dim was a fantastic debut, and it's sequel just built on that, and grew into perfection.

In Sparks of Light, Hope is getting used to being back in the present time, in Scotland, complete with her previously lost mother, and new baby sister. She has a new family and friends, and a kind of boyfriend, but he's stuck in the enemy camp, so it's difficult. As a Viator, she is doing good in the world, ensuring that the enemy doesn't do anything to jeopardise the future. However, when she has to go back to 19th century New York, and meet with the legendary Nikola Tesla himself, she finds herself in danger of never being able to return home.

Hope is a character who grows more and more every time we meet. Now that she has people around her that understand her, and she has reunited with Bran, she has come into her own, and I wish I was her. Obviously, she is feeling stressed, that her mother is back home, though she is still not herself, complete with a baby sister - which leads to her parents marriage breaking down. When she has the opportunity to go on another adventure, and protect the future, she immediately jumps at the chance.

One thing I didn't enjoy was the New York setting, to be honest. Modern history is not a thing I really enjoy, and I found Victorian New York to be a bit boring. I did appreciate how much that Taylor had researched the period, and included real life people in the plot. Parts of the story line were unnecessary here, but I did enjoy the asylum arc.

Bran and Hope's relationship was better than ever, and I find myself wishing they were together more and more! It's unfair that they are forced apart so much, but that's life in a YA Fantasy. Hopefully in book 3, their relationship won't be as chaotic and separate as it has been so far.

I feel as though this book may have fallen in the sophomore slump category. Yes, I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it. I am looking forward to the next instalment, though, and hope that historical era they are sent into is as enjoyable as in Into the Dim.

Dates Read:

April 11-14, 2017

Rating
4 Stars

#RockMyTBR 2016 Challenge

Review: Into the Dim (Into The Dim #1) by Janet B. Taylor

10:00

Into the Dim
Series: Into The Dim #1
Author: Janet B. Taylor
Published March 1st 2016 by HMH Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Synopsis
When fragile, sixteen-year-old Hope Walton loses her mom to an earthquake overseas, her secluded world crumbles. Agreeing to spend the summer in Scotland, Hope discovers that her mother was more than a brilliant academic, but also a member of a secret society of time travelers. Trapped in the twelfth century in the age of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Hope has seventy-two hours to rescue her mother and get back to their own time. Along the way, her path collides with that of a mysterious boy who could be vital to her mission . . . or the key to Hope’s undoing.
Goodreads

Review
Just before Christmas, last year, I decided to preorder a ton of books, and many of them were ones I'd seen on GR and Twitter, loved by bloggers I trust. This book was one of them, but by the time it arrived in March, I was going home for Easter, and then had assignments and revision to contend with. So the first chance I got to read this, was after my exams, and I flew through the book.

Set mainly in Scotland, Hope is sent to her aunt's house, more like castle, and discovers that her mother's disappearance may not simply be because of the earthquake, when she was presumed dead; in fact, her mother is trapped in 12th century England, at the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Now that Hope knows about her family connection to a secret group of time travellers, she finds herself having to journey back in time, and save her mother, in less than 72 hours. She's alone, apart from other two teenagers, Collum and Phoebe, and gets drawn to Bran, someone she met in Scotland, in the present day. Now that she's falling for someone from the enemy group of time travellers, she's not only at risk of losing her mother, forever.

I love time travelling books, especially ones that explore historical periods I love. British monarchy is one of my favourite aspect of history to study, and Eleanor of Aquitaine is my favourite queen consort, of all time. Really, it would've been so much better if she just had the crown in her own right, but, let's be honest, she ran the country anyway. I felt as though the period was researched really well, and seemed realistic as you were reading, especially the whole animosity between Eleanor and Thomas Becket.

The main reason why this book isn't a 5 star, is because of the characters. I wasn't too keen on most of them, and they seemed sort of flat. There's a sort of love triangle brewing between Collum-Hope-Bran, but Collum has a lot of work to do, if he wants to be taken seriously. The only time that Hope really seemed to have something about her, was when she was with Bran, and we find out why this is towards the end of the book. I can see that the characters are likely to improve in the sequel, and I am really looking forward to that.

Though I have my reservations about the characters, the plot was really good, and I felt like it has set the series up to be really good. The synopsis mentions being a sort of YA Outlander, and I could see the connections - which was great for how much I love that show. Book 2 can't come soon enough.

Dates Read:

June 20-21, 2016

Rating
4 Stars

5 Stars

ARC Review: Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

10:00

Vengeance Road
Series: None
Author: Erin Bowman
Published September 1st 2015 by HMH Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Synopsis
When Kate Thompson’s father is killed by the notorious Rose Riders for a mysterious journal that reveals the secret location of a gold mine, the eighteen-year-old disguises herself as a boy and takes to the gritty plains looking for answers and justice.
What she finds are devious strangers, dust storms, and a pair of brothers who refuse to quit riding in her shadow. But as Kate gets closer to the secrets about her family, she gets closer to the truth about herself and must decide if there's room for love in a heart so full of hate.
In the spirit of True Grit, the cut-throat days of the Wild West come to life for a new generation.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

This book is one I've been waiting ages for, and as soon as I was approved for it, I had to start it, TBR be damned. Vengeance Road is one of the first Western books I've ever read, and I think it's the first YA of its kind - though Walk on Earth a Stranger is also coming out in September. This book was raw, and real, and the sheer intensity of the events made it appear as if we were actually with Kate and Jesse when everything was happening.

From the very start of the book, Vengeance Road deals with tough, heartbreaking issues. Kate returns home one day to find her father hanging from a tree, and their family home burnt to ashes. From this point on, Kate, pretending to be a boy named Nate, is thrust into a path of revenge, and her only help is in the form of Jesse and Will, sons of a family friend. Over time, and once the boys discover that Nate doesn't exist, and is actually a teenage girl called Kate, they become even closer.

To be perfectly honest, I shipped Jesse and Kate from neigh on their first meeting, and as they interacted more and more, the shipping intensified. Every moment between them seemed believable, and they weren't all lovely dovey - there were times when they argued and never spoke, and others that were so sweet, I couldn't stop smiling. I think one very good thing about this book, also, is that it's a standalone. This means we haven't had to suffer unnecessarily through angst between the characters, just to spread the plot out a bit more.

As I've already said, this book was rough. It was brutal at times in the details, especially those relating to death, and this made it more imaginable, as if it was a movie playing in my head. Considering I pride myself on being able to guess plot twists, I was blown away by this book. The twist towards the end was so unexpected, I was thrown as much as Kate was. However, I'm glad with how this twist panned out in the long run, and with where Kate was on the final page.

Overall, whilst I'd known I'd love this book, I was totally caught unaware on just how enjoyable it was. I'm seriously grateful to HMH Kids for approving my copy, and I definitely need to get my hands on copies of Bowman's other books. Her writing style is fantastic, and I can't to read more of her work. Vengeance Road was an amazing historical YA book, and the amount of research Bowman put into the novel soothed my history student heart. I can't recommend this book enough. Seriously, just read it - you won't be disappointed!

Dates Read:
July 14-15, 2015

Rating
5 Stars