Tuesday 28 April 2015

Your Spirit Book

Hello! Sorry for not posting yesterday. I'd like to say I have a really interesting reason, but I was just swamped in work.

This week I have for you a short post, but an important one. An interactive one.

I am committed to helping as many people as possible find what I call their "spirit book". A person's "spirit book" is the book they connect to on every level, a book they feel in throughout their entire body. You know your spirit book when you read it, because the words fill you up and you feel like the book could save your life if it needed to.

I've been doing this for a while now, with my friends who don't read much. I've been trying to use my excessive (and somewhat dangerous) obsession with books for good, in helping them find their spirit book.

And because of how much joy it brings me and the people who find their spirit book, I decided to expand my services to you delightful people on the internet! If you don't read much, this might be the perfect opportunity for you to discover a book you can read that you will actually enjoy.

If you do read a lot, but are in a reading slump or in need of a good recommendation personalized to you, then this may also help you.

The way I'm going to run my Spirit Book Campaign is this- you guys will send me some details (more on this below), I will analyse them and then determine the book I think will be your spirit book (or just a book that you'd really love, I'm not psychic so I'm not going to pretend I am!) and I will either post it up here, or just reply back to you, it's your choice.

Here is the questionnaire you can fill out if you'd like to see what your spirit book is:

Name/Screen Name:
Age:
Favourite author:
Favourite book:
Favourite genre/s:
The type of book you feel like reading:
Any additional notes you think might help me:
A way I can contact you (email, tumblr etc) to send it back:
Do you feel comfortable posting your details on my blog?

Once you fill out the questionnaire, send your answers to my tumblr, the comments below or to my email, mywordsarearrows@gmail.com. I will send you your answer before I post it (if you have no problem with me posting it, of course!) so you'll know despite how long my posts are scheduled for.

Unfortunately, I mostly only read young adult fiction, rarely adult, and so I mightn't be much use if you are looking for an adult book.

Sorry this post is so short, but I hope that the payoff for you guys is worth it. I really want to help you guys find your spirit book!

Contact me at any of my socials; twitter @lilypherondale, tumblr, twitter, my email mywordsarearrows@gmail.com, to ask any more questions and etc.

See you next week!

Lily xoxo

Sunday 19 April 2015

I'll Give You The Sun Recommendation/Review

This is so difficult to class, because it's not a review and it's not a recommendation. It's not a recommendation because I imagine it's going to be a lot longer, and it will involve a lot more discussing about the book, but it's not a review because it's not long enough and doesn't properly analyse the content. So call it what you want, but this is a spoiler-free discussion of Jandy Nelson's I'll Give You The Sun.

The reason I'm not doing a rec or a review of this book is because it's too good for both. A recommendation won't serve it justice and I don't think I could review it properly because it's so good.

Here's the summary- 
Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.
This book was incredible. I had no idea just how fantastic this would be. The characters, especially Noah and Jude, were so, so real. I found myself relating more to Noah, however, for several reasons, the main one being that his quiet, resigned artist's nature resonated with me. I am less like Jude, absolutely, because I'm not really out-there or extremely social (I do spend my time writing reviews for the internet, I can't be expected to uphold a perfect social life as well!). The struggle they faced trying to seek the approval of their parents was heartbreaking and realistic. I felt these kids and I felt their pains as they did.

I am also more attached to Noah as a character. He was such an amazing character. He was artistic and a little crazy, and he was so full of emotions and feelings that I could feel them bubbling over in his narration. He was so dedicated and loyal and loving, I felt like I owed it to him to fix his world for him.

In the start, I enjoyed Noah's chapters better, but towards the end, I didn't care. I couldn't get enough of both the parts of the story. It did take me a while to get used to Noah's kooky, arty metaphors and narration, but it was so interesting seeing Noah through his chapters and then Noah, older, through Jude's. I love love love the prose in this book, it's beautiful and so well thought-through and I was sucked into it.

I know from personal experience that it's so hard to write a manuscript of that length and keep up such beautiful writing, and I'm in awestruck tears. Jandy Nelson is a writing goddess.

The story, both halves of it, were so tragic and wonderful. Noah's struggles, through his quirky narration, were felt deep and I connected with him on a level every author hopes their characters connect with the reader. Jude was just as quirky in her narration, but in a completely different way to Noah. Not only has Jandy Nelson managed to write beautifully and uniquely, she managed to write beautifully and uniquely in two very distinct narrations. What she's done is what I aspire to do someday.

This book made me laugh and cry and gasp and smile until my cheeks hurt. It's so beautiful and tragic and it's definitely going onto my favourites list. For fans of Lauren Oliver (Panic, Delirium, Before I Fall) and Jennifer Niven (All Of The Bright Places), this was truly amazing and I can't accurately express how much I loved this book. My feelings are all over the place.

I highly, highly recommend this book.

I'd love for you to share your opinions with me via the comments below, my twitter @lilypherondale or my tumblr, sherlockcrumpets. You can also send me an email to mywordsarearrows@gmail.com for business inquires or just to say hi. If you want to stay updated with what I'm reading and posting, you can also like my facebook page.

See you next week with another post!

Lily xoxo

Sunday 5 April 2015

From The Ashes Review

Hello readers! Today I will be reviewing a book that was given to me by the author, Shelby K. Morrison, in exchange for a review. The book is called From The Ashes and it will be released on May 3rd. I would very much like to thank Shelby for offering me the chance to read and review her wonderful book! It was truly an honor. If you are an author with a book coming out and you're looking for ARC reviewers, feel free to contact me via my email: mywordsarearrows@gmail.com. Anyways, onto the review.

Because this book hasn't come out yet, this will be a totally spoiler free review, so anyone can read it.

It is a young adult fantasy, and I really enjoyed it! Here's the blurb:

For eighteen years Aia Wynnald has lived a lie. Raised as a highborn in the Kingdom of Tharien, she's filled her days with tutors and archery lessons. But simmering beneath her polite surface is a dangerous gift, one which she must keep a secret. Aia is a bender. And in Tharien, Benders are feared and hunted. 
When her unruly power breaks free with dire repercussions, Aia's lifelong goal of independence shatter. As she scrambles to piece her life back together while evading capture, she disturbs a vengeful force intent on destroying the kingdom. 
Now, with the help of an unlikely ally, Aia will decide the fate of Tharien. To rescue those she cares about will require accepting what she is. But can she risk becoming the monster she's dreaded to save the very citizens baying for her blood?

This was such a great read. I was getting serious Throne Of Glass-esque vibes from it, which is great because I love Throne Of Glass. The book overall was really fun and I cared a lot about all of the characters. I felt like this book worked really hard with the relationships between the characters, and I loved that.

Firstly, let's talk about Aia, the main character. Aia spent most of the book working through these issues she had. I really liked that she wasn't your typical fantasy-protag-cliche. She didn't automatically accept this change in her environment and tackle it head first. She was cleverer than that, and she thought things through a lot better than most other protagonists, which was really refreshing.

I liked that her internal struggles were dealt with in such a realistic way. She was fighting her instincts that were so deeply ingrained in her, that Benders were inherently evil and that she was a danger. I feel like in fantasy a lot of the time the characters are way to adaptable and run into things headfirst, never really thinking things through. In From The Ashes, this was so much more realistic, and it made for a really interesting internal conflict with Aia.

The writing in this book was really beautiful. I loved the prose, it was classic high-fantasy and it really fit well. There was the perfect balance of descriptive, metaphorical language and actual character interaction. This was the way it reminded me of TOG most, because I feel like this book and TOG are two of the best written high fantasies with the perfect tone.

Then there were the other characters, Cole and Illicina. I really liked both of them. Cole, a young man working for the Emperor, hunts Benders... but maybe there's something more to him? Cole was a multi-dimensional character (maybe love interest?) and I was really feeling the relationship between him and Aia. I hope that in future books, their relationship might just develop into something more. Despite wanting them together, I was glad there wasn't too much romance in this book. I think Cole and Aia's relationship was growing but slowly, and somehow, that made it more real and enjoyable than if it had been rushed. And also the plot twist surrounding Cole... did not guess that one at all!

Illicina is an angry, vengeful Bender, focused on bringing retribution on those who hurt her. I liked Illicina quite a bit. At the start, I was a bit apprehensive, but as we got to know her, even though Aia's suspicious, eyes, I started to like her. She was complex and detailed, and I would really be interested in finding out more about her.

Her relationship with Aia was beautiful. Illicina, who doesn't trust anyone, starts to trust and love Aia in a way that she clearly hasn't for a while. And in return, Aia starts to love and trust Illcina as well. They had a very sister-like dynamic, and I am hoping that in the next book, we'll get to see more of Illicina and her relationship with Aia. I feel like there is plenty of potential for hilarious scenes with Aia, Cole and Illicina.

The actual story, which has a gentle pace, worked very well with the complex internal struggles of Aia and the well-developed relationships between Aia and Illicina and Aia and Cole. It follows Aia and her desperate attempts to evade capture from the Breakers, the people who hunt Benders, and trying to stop Illicina from taking out her anger on the people who want Aia convicted. I really liked the story. All the elements fit nicely together and it flowed really well. As I've already mentioned, Aia's internal conflict is a lot of the story, and I think it was done fantastically and it slotted into the plot perfectly. I'm never going to stop gushing about the relationships and Aia's internal conflict in this book, to be perfectly honest.

On occasion, the dialogue felt a bit forced and would snap me out of the story. It was also quite cheesy occasionally, which was a shame, because there was plenty of room of banter and emotive writing in the dialogue.

I also would've liked a lot more worldbuilding. I feel like there was so much potential for an amazing world, a deep and well developed society. Unfortunately, I still don't know all that much about this wonderful world the book is set in. I'm hoping that in future books, we'll see this world expanded.

My final critical point for this book was Aia's backstory. We sort of jumped straight into her life as a fugitive, and I would've liked to see some of her life before, as well, to have some contrast. I think it would've helped the audience understand the world and Aia a bit better. Although this would've been nice, it didn't really impact or detract from my enjoyment of the story.

All in all, From The Ashes is a beautifully written, well developed story that treats its fantastic characters the way they deserved to be treated. I liked it a lot, and I'd rate it a solid four out of five stars. I would recommend it to fans of The Winner's Crime, Throne Of Glass and Snow Like Ashes. So set your calendars to alert you on May 3 for the release of From The Ashes!

If you want to share your thoughts or get in contact with me, you can leave a comment below, send me a tweet to @lilypherondale, a tumblr ask to sherlockcrumpets or even email me at mywordsarearows@gmail.com. Also, like my facebook page to keep updated with what I'm doing!

Have a wonderful Easter weekend, and I'll see you next week with another post!

Lily xoxo