I Am Princess X Recommendation

So for this week's recommendation, I have a pretty unique book to show you. It's a little bit graphic novel, it's a little bit super hero comic, it's a little bit YA contemporary, it's a little bit Nancy Drew-style mystery. It was so interesting and fun, and I really enjoyed it.

It's called I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest, and it's a recent release, published earlier this year in May. You can check the goodreads profile for it here, and read the synopsis below:

Once upon a time, two best friends created a princess together. Libby drew the pictures, May wrote the tales, and their heroine, Princess X, slayed all the dragons and scaled all the mountains their imaginations could conjure.

Once upon a few years later, Libby was in the car with her mom, driving across the Ballard Bridge on a rainy night. When the car went over the side, Libby passed away, and Princess X died with her.

Once upon a now: May is sixteen and lonely, wandering the streets of Seattle, when she sees a sticker slapped in a corner window.

Princess X? 

When May looks around, she sees the Princess everywhere: Stickers. Patches. Graffiti. There's an entire underground culture, focused around a webcomic at IAmPrincessX.com. The more May explores the webcomic, the more she sees disturbing similarities between Libby's story and Princess X online. And that means that only one person could have started this phenomenon---her best friend, Libby, who lives.

If that and the beautiful cover doesn't intrigue you, I don't know what will. The book, which focuses heavily on Princess X and her story, features snippets from the web comic about the Princess. It also has beautiful little drawings, illustrations and splashes of purple throughout it. The cover is spectacular, for sure, but the interior design (of the hardcover copy, at least... I don't know about any other medium) is gorgeous. The chapters all have a brilliant purple header of Princess X, and the book physically is so beautiful I was tempted to buy it without even looking it up on goodreads.

Not only is the book's design, interior and exterior, spectacular, but the story is also incredibly intriguing and cutesy. The main character, May, although a tiny bit dry, is our narrator most of the time, in third person. She is dedicated and loyal, and a through-and-through conspiracy theorist. She meets many other friends, including a snarky, law-bending hacker and a peroxide blonde punk in her quest to figure out who is behind the new Princess X site and whether Libby is still alive.

Though the book is somewhat childish in its nature, with very tame, comic book like themes, the clues and the actual mystery is captivating and keeps you guessing. The parallels between the Princess X web comic and the actual storyline May is living are spine-tingling to watch unfold, and you will start to piece together the mystery, slowly, for yourself.

It's not the most intellectual mystery ever, but it's a cute, adorable tale of bravery, super heroes and friendship. May and Libby will make you want to grab a friend and create things together, and their friendship is wonderful to read. In saying that, this book does get dark in its themes at time, with murder and serial killers and psychopaths, but the way it's written, with comic book style motifs and lovable characters, makes it hard to be too menacing.

I would recommend this book to anyone in need of a fluffy, cutesy, original contemporary with a bit of a mystery and a happy ending. I would suggest it to fans of comics like Ms Marvel, and books like E. Lockhart's The Disreputable History Of Frankie Landau-Banks, and other books with mysteries, friendship and strong female role models.

If you do read I Am Princess X, and you'd like to discuss with me, contact me via the comments below, or any of my socials (in the banner at the top of my blog, under the header). If you'd like to contact me for business, my book, or just to chat, send me an email: mywordsarearrows@gmail.com :)

You can also add me as a friend on goodreads, or like my facebook page, to keep up to date with what I'm reading and posting.

Hope you have a wonderful day, and I'll see you soon with another post!

Lily xoxo

Vanishing Girls Review

Hey! So today I'm going to be reviewing Vanishing Girls, Lauren Oliver's latest book. I bought this

book shortly after it was released, because I love Lauren Oliver, especially her YA psych thrillers (Before I Fall and Panic). So naturally, I wanted to buy this book (the beautiful cover and title certainly helped, as well).

This book was really interesting, and it was the first book in ages that I've read and actually not wanted to put down. The characters were interesting and had such depth, and the story was twisted and very confusing at times, which is just the way I like my psych thrillers.

You can check it out on goodreads here, and the synopsis is below:

Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara's beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged. When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it's too late.

I really liked this book. I found it edgy and emotional, and a constant rollercoaster of emotion. I don't think it deserves the 3.6 average on goodreads at all.

If you read a lot of psych thrillers, however, you quite possibly will not be as shocked at the plot and the resolution as someone who's new to them... If you've never read a psych thriller, I would highly recommend starting with Vanishing Girls, it's a great introduction to the genre and will most likely get you hooked on this style.

So if you haven't read Vanishing Girls and you'd like to, go get yourself a copy, read it, and come back here to discuss!

***SPOILERS*** (LIKE MAJOR SPOILERS THIS TIME... IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK AND WANT TO ENJOY IT AT ALL PLS DON'T SCROLL DOWN! THERE ARE ALSO SPOILERS FOR WE WERE LIARS BY E. LOCKHART SO BEWARE OF THAT TOO)

Where to start? This book was so intricately created, and despite being a huge fan of psychological thrillers I didn't see the twist... But I'll get to that later.

This book is not really all that original, plot wise. We read books like We Were Liars and Mara Dyer, which have similar themes, similar twists and similar issues for the main characters. The reason I enjoyed Vanishing Girls so much, is not just because I am a complete sucker for psych thrillers and this storyline, but because of the characters and the writing. Lauren Oliver is truly an artist with her words, and I am constantly marveling at the way she writes, and the way she manages to weave the beautiful language she does into an angsty YA. For example, the following quotes:

“Sometimes people stop loving you. And that's the kind of darkness that never gets fixed, no matter how many moons rise again, filling the sky with a weak approximation of light.”

 “I guess that's the really nice thing about disappearing: the part where people look for you and beg you to come home.” 

“This is it: somehow, in these pictures, the mystery of the accident is contained, and the explanation for Dara's subsequent behavior, for the silences and disappearances. Don't ask me how. I just do. If you don't understand that, I guess you've never had a sister” 

That last quote also highlights another of my favourite aspects of this story — the relationship between Dara and Nick. As the eldest of three girls, I can understand and relate quite intensely to books that portray sister relationships well (like Isla And The Happily Ever After). I of all people understand how complicated and intense relationships between sisters can be, and I feel like Dara and Nick's dynamic was really interesting. I loved that they were best friends, that they had quite a good relationship before the accident. I feel like, in YA, we see a lot of tense relationships, especially between sisters (like in The Protected, the book that won CBCA Award for 2015) which are good and fun to explore, but it was nice to see sisters who have a deep, complex relationship, that is not perfect, that is flawed, but is so much deeper than any other friendship could be. It was also incredibly sad to see that, in Nick's hallucinations of Dara, Dara hated her. I didn't think about this until after I finished the book, because I didn't guess the twist, but it's heartbreaking to think that Nick thought Dara would hate her that much. It just adds even deeper meaning and intricacy to this beautiful, sad, complex relationship.

A thing that kind of caught me with this book was the timeline. The jumping back and forth was effective, but it was hard to follow at times. The book needed the time jumps, but it was sometimes had to distinguish whether I was reading a before or after chapter, and I often had to skip back to check. I feel like I would've liked a little bit more material from before the accident, just because I would really have liked to see the relationship between Dara and Nick in action.

Then we have the whole Parker issue. This made me feel a little icky, not only because Parker was so flip-floppy in his feelings for Dara/Nick, and I couldn't really figure him out. It also made me uneasy, because I hate the whole two-girls-fighting-over-one-boy trope, especially with sisters. However, Lauren Oliver did it in a way that wasn't at all horrific, and it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. In fact, I think it definitely helped build on the relationship between the two. I just didn't care all that much who Parker ended up with, and I probably would prefer him with neither of them.

The twist. HEY GUESS WHAT DARA'S ACTUALLY DEAD!!! I mean, this is such a popular plot resolution, I probably should have guessed it. But, I really just did not even think of it. I was too busy hoping that Dara was okay, that she'd be rescued, to even comprehend it. I've seen some people call it a "cop-out" story ending, and although I agree with that in some ways, I don't think its entirely true. Yes, it is an easy way to end a story, but as a writer, you cannot write an ending like that on a whim. Building a convincing story around a plot twist like that is not easy, and I congratulate authors like Oliver and E. Lockhart for executing it in a way that an avid psych thriller reader and book reviewer like myself could not guess. I do think it's an easier way to resolve a novel than writing an actual avenging/rescuing/reunion scene, but it can much more emotional and compelling, especially if it really is unexpected. The way Oliver managed to build the story around something like this was really quite incredible, and extremely hard to pick.

We Were Liars has a similar twist, and I didn't guess it in that book, either. However, it was the first time I'd read a book like that, and I feel like Vanishing Girls was much more subtle. I liked both books and their twists, but they were executed quite differently, and thinking about them in contrast with on another, I feel like it may be slightly easier to pick We Were Liars.

Just because the twist is slightly over-used and arguably predictable for some, doesn't mean it didn't hurt my heart. I really liked Dara, and to think she was dead was extremely sad. I was really hoping for a scene where she and Nick could make up and start to rebuild their relationship from the ground again. It certainly got the desired emotional reaction from me.

So how did you feel about Vanishing Girls? I find it to be a rather divisive book, and there are a ton of different opinions out there, so I'd love to know yours! We can discuss in the comments, on my twitter, my tumblr, or you could even send me an email to mywordsarearrows@gmail.com. If you want to contact me about my book, business or just to say hi, feel free to contact me via any of the above mediums! You can also friend me on goodreads or like my facebook page to keep up to date with what I'm reading and when I post.

Have a wonderful week, and I'll see you soon with another post!

Lily xoxo

Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe Recommendation

I am so sorry for my absence over the last few weeks. I have been busy with so many things (including an untimely reading slump preventing me from writing any worthy reviews) that I have somewhat abandoned you. Fortunately, I'm back to stay now!

So after a long, irritating process in trying to purchase the hardback copy of Aristotle And Dante
Discover The Secrets Of The Universe (do you have any idea how hard it is to get hardbacks in Australia? Well I'll tell you. It's near impossible. And expensive.), it finally arrived and IT IS BEAUTIFUL. The cover, the writing, the characters, the setting, the plot, literally everything about it is beautiful. This is a coming-of-age contemporary by Benjamin Alire Sanez, and I would recommend it to everyone, regardless of age, gender, whatever. Read it. The synopsis is below;

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

First of all, characters. Because we all know Lily loves characters. Aristotle and Dante are the most realistic, loveable, different characters I've ever read. They were wise beyond their years, but not in an obnoxious way. They still retained oodles of boyish-charm that was just perfect to see in contrast with their childish-wisdom. Ari was tough and clearly just needed a hug, and I wanted to dive into the book and wrap him in a blanket, hand him a mug of tea and hug him. The poor kid was so beautifully written he feels real to me. Dante, as the book was not from his point of view, was harder to pin-point, but he was equally as loveable. He was the peace to Ari's anger, and it was more than clear to see that they fir together perfectly. Dante was clever, he was friendly, he was unabashedly open about his feelings, and seeing him next to Ari was beautiful.

The setting worked perfectly. The late 80's were a beautiful backdrop for this gem of a story, and it was really a refreshing break from all the YA that's set in nowadays-ish-era.

The plot was slower than usual, but it didn't feel slow. The book flowed at a nice, consistent pace that really aided the movement of time in this novel. The novel spans over a year or two, but the book never felt like it was dragging on. It had the distinct coming-of-age contemporary feel, and so it wasn't very fast-paced.

Ari and Dante's changing relationship was done so well and I am in awe of how well Benjamin Alire Sanez was able to write their interactions and relationship in such a way that was completely consistent with their characters.

There isn't much more I can say about this book, but I will say that it is completely worth reading. It is adorable and dorky and meaningful, and I have a feeling it will make its way onto my favourites list.

Share your thoughts on Aristotle and Dante below in the comments. As always, feel free to hit me up on any of my social media accounts to discuss all things bookish, and also, if you'd like to buy my book, head to Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes & Noble Online and more to get your physical or e-copy. If you'd like a free copy in exchange for a review on your blog, goodreads etc, please email me at mywordsarearrows@gmail.com and I will get you a copy :)

Have a lovely week and I'll see you soon with a new post!

Lily xoxo

The Darkest Part Of The Forest Review

Hello nerd-peeps! Today I will be discussing the new(ish) Holly Black book, called The Darkest Part Of The Forest. Words cannot express my love for the characters, the setting... everything about this book.

So basically this book is sort of urban fantasy, sort of psychological thriller and totally amazing. It's about this weird town called Fairfold where there is, undeniably, faerie presence.

There's a sleeping prince, two twins who both love this prince, a curse, the-faerie-next-door, true love, magic and more. It's an amazing read and I highly, highly recommend this book.

I won't give you a full synopsis because I don't think you should go into this book knowing everything, I think it's really fun to explore this weird, amazing book as you go along.

So go grab yourself a copy then head back here so we can properly discuss!

***SPOILERS***

Wow. This was everything I wanted and more. This whole world Holly Black has created, the whole atmosphere and especially the characters just roped me into this book and wouldn't let me go for the entirety of the time I was reading it.

First of all- Fairfold. What the ever-loving heck is up with this town? I loved the whole "well if you get hurt you're a tourist" type of mentality. It just added another layer of creepy to the situation, that these people excused the faerie's murdering and havoc by saying that their victims did something wrong, broke the rules, behaved like a dumbfounded tourist.

The mythology of this whole book was wonderful. The idea of having the prince in the glass case, the forest with weird enchanted creatures, the Alderking who everyone was scared of but didn't really talk about. The fact that these people in the town were so okay with all of this and that they just accepted it was very eerie and magical.

My favourite thing about this book was the characters. In my opinion, characters drive a story, and no matter how fantastic and wonderful the setting and plot is, if you have dry, boring characters your story can't succeed. That certainly was not a problem in this book. There are four main characters in this book, Hazel, Ben, Jack and Severin. Of course, there are other characters, too, like Carter and Mrs Gordon, but I'll discuss them later on.

Hazel, our main narrator, was everything I could've wanted from a kick-butt female protagonist of a supernatural novel. She was fiery and shamelessly flirty, a trait I don't see often in *positively portrayed* female characters. She wasn't afraid to fight for what she wanted and she was traditionally feminine but also a faerie knight, which was just a terrific change from the normal "I'm not like other girls" female protags. I genuinely thought that Hazel would end up with Severin, as well. It was only half way in that I thought maybe things weren't going the way I thought they were.

We got a few chapters from the perspective of Ben, Hazel's brother, and I was so, so glad. He was an amazing character and such a contrast from Hazel. Ben was a bit more demure than Hazel, more easily shaken. He was a bit like the typical talented artist, a bit kooky and unique. I loved that where Hazel didn't think much about love or romanticize her situation at all, Ben was a through-and-through romantic. His narration, although not in first person, was much more romantic and soft than Hazel's. I felt like Hazel was like a firework and Ben was like watercolour paint.

I didn't expect Hazel and Jack to end up together. I thought that she'd pine after him until Severin woke up, and then she'd fall in love with him. I thought, originally, that it was more likely that Ben and Jack might end up together. I wasn't super in love with Jack; he was fairly flat. He never really was overly interesting on his own, but I loved the dynamic he had with Hazel and Ben. The way his whole character was based around this idea that he wasn't even supposed to be there, wasn't even related to his family but still undeniably tied to them was really interesting and was just another amazing layer of intrigue Holly inserted into this novel.

Severin was everything I could've wanted from his character and more. I loved the mystery and magic that his character was surrounded by, and the way he was slowly trying to work out the "human" feelings he was having for Ben. I loved the way he spoke, like he was from a different time but he'd spend years and years listening and comprehending what people said to him, and his language was a mish-mash of different sorts of slang. And the way he just perfectly fitted into Ben and Hazel's tight little bond, like he really had been their prince was just amazing.

I loved his relationship with Ben and the way they bonded over family even though they were so, so different. It was so amazingly easy to ship and adore all the main relationships in this book.

To be perfectly honest, these four characters drove the story and I would happily read another seven books about them please Holly give me a ten thousand word novella where Ben and Severin and Hazel and Jack attempt to have a very normal life and Ben takes Severin out for ramen and cute domestic fluff like that PLEASE.

Even the minor characters in this book, like Carter, Mrs Gordon and Hazel's mother all had such an amazing atmosphere surrounding them. Mrs Gordon, Carter and Jack's mother, was the typical over-protective, homely mother, like Molly Weasley. But even she wasn't just as she seemed, with her whole backstory of being the Alderking's lover and demanding to get her baby back. The way Holly developed the average stereotype of small town people in this book into a slightly altered just plain weird set of individuals was really quite amazing. They were all such familiar character archetypes, but the way they interacted and dealt with the odd, supernatural events in the town made them foreign, maybe even more dark as characters. The whole town of Fairfold was not only an amazingly well developed setting but also made even better by the powerful yet minor characters who drove it.

The actual storyline, the problems with Hazel being the Alderking's knight and Sorrow's vengeance on the town was also an amazing element of the story (although I may have been too busy crying in awe at the characters to pay a whole lot of attention to the plot). The faeries, as per usual, were dark, enticing, dangerous creatures. A lot of the faerie mythology was the average sort of mythology but with this new twist of a sleeping prince and the "king of the forest". And also the fact that the entire town knew that there were faeries. I don't think I've ever read a book where everyone knows that faeries exist and are living among them.

In addition to the whole faerie-war aspect of the book, there is also of course the fact Hazel was a legitimate knight, in service of the Alderking. I certainly didn't see that coming, and if you did I salute you! I thought that was a really cool twist because the childhood flashbacks Hazel gave us had a vaguely fairy-tale vibe, with a prince and a knight and the more cerebral, strategic sidekick.

I really appreciated the way everything you expected from this book was flipped. As someone who reads a lot of YA fiction, I can tell you that a lot of the time, it's the same old tired narrative used over and over again. But in this book, the heroine was just that- a heroine. She was the knight, not her love interest, not her brother. She didn't fall in love with the charming swoon-worthy faerie prince, her brother did. Instead, she ended up with the guy who, ordinarily in YA fiction, might be flung into the unappreciated "friend-zoned boy-next-door" type. And I totally thought it was going to be that way! It was such a pleasant surprise to see something different and I hope I am able to find more books like this!

The Darkest Part Of The Forest was an amazing, dark, perfect read. I loved it a lot and I hope you guys did too! I will certainly be picking up some more Holly Black so if you have any experience with the other Holly Black books, let me know below in the comments.

If you agree, disagree or just want me to see some words you have strung together don't be afraid to comment below and let me know! If you want to get in touch with me and don't have a google plus account, feel free to send me a tweet to @lilypherondale, an ask to my tumblr, sherlockcrumpets or even an email to mywordsarearrows@gmail.com if you want discuss business or just say hi. I would love to talk to you, to be perfectly honest. I can send you puns and we can be friends. It'll be great.

See you next week for another post!

Lily xoxo

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

Ready Player One Review

I bought this book because one of my favourite booktubers raves about it. I saw it on book depository

and thought, "why not". And I did not know how much I needed this book at the time.

After reading The DUFF (don't even talk to me about The DUFF. I will not be reviewing it or seeing the movie, sorry to disappoint, but I don't want to offend anyone, but I will say that it was the singular worst book I've ever read) I didn't feel like facing another contemporary, good or bad. So I gave Ready Player One a shot.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is a wonderful geeky paradise. It's all about video games, movies and above all, the 80's.

It's set in a world where everything has gone wrong. The outside is a grim place. And so most people of the world spend their time in the OASIS, a huge virtual reality made be none other than James Donovan Halliday himself. You can do or be anything in the OASIS, and so almost everyone uses it to escape their reality.

And almost everyone dreams of finding Halliday's "easter egg", an egg in the game the finder of which inherits all of Halliday's massive fortune. Dying single with no heir meant that Halliday could do anything with his money. And so he decided to give it to make a contest of it.

But then, unassuming eighteen year old Wade Watts stumbles across the first prize, and the whole world turns their attention to him. Thousands of other hunters join the competition, including some who would be willing to murder to find the egg.

Ready Player One is incredible. It's amazingly crafted and devastatingly addictive. Everything about it is just so real and I really, really liked it. It definitely deserves the 4.31 star rating on goodreads.

I highly recommend it; so read it and come back here so we can discuss!

***SPOILERS***

I thought Ready Player One was fantastic. There are very few things I have to criticize in it.

My favourite thing about Ready Player One was probably the contest, followed very closely by the whole world of the book.

The contest, understandably, was what drove the book. The start dragged on a little, because there was a lot to explain. That was one of the few faults with this book; the amount of information needing to be conveyed at the one time often meant there were pages of info-dumping. It was interesting, and I loved all the back-story and the pop culture from the 80's. But despite the slow start, once the competition started, the book flew past.

The world Ready Player One is set in is terrifyingly like our own. The problems brought up in the start, like running out of energy, fossil fuels and other necessary things, and the statistics about starving, unemployed and homeless people in the world were really realistic to me. I felt like this horrible world that Ernest Cline illustrated wasn't far off from being our own.

And then there was the element of the story where everyone drowned their misery for reality in the OASIS. I felt like that was really relatable and real. Lots of people disappear into worlds like video games, books, movies, career, family and more to distract themselves from the sadness, and I could feel this world and I felt like it was real.

The characters weren't the driving point of this novel, but they were pretty awesome. I didn't really relate to Wade, because I feel like he and his avatar were sort of blurred, and it was hard to distinguish was was real and what was online. Despite making me feel distant from his character, this made the struggle of real world vs. the OASIS even more vibrant. But by the end it was clear that Wade had changed vastly, through the competition and his adoration (and slight obsession) with Art3mis.

Art3mis was awesome. She was smart, her avatar was on a level smashing Wade's and even Aech's, and she wasn't afraid to do whatever to get to the egg. I personally thought she would've found the egg, because she seemed more intelligent than Wade, and even Aech. Her lines were sharp and wonderfully hilarious, and everything she did made me wish I was her, or wish I could have a spin-off staring her.

I did not see the Aech plot twist. I did think she'd (I will refer to her as "she" because I'm talking about her character, not just her avatar) be a person of colour, due to some hints dropped throughout the book. But I did not foresee a girl named Helen as Aech. But the message given by this particular event and basically the whole book was that friendship was about much more than physical appearance, race, gender and etc. I really liked that sort of feel towards the end, when Wade met everyone.

The middle of the book, whilst everyone was looking for the Jade Key, was probably the slowest part, other than the start. Wade seemed to be spiraling out of control after Art3mis "dumped" him, and it was really odd watching him. I think at this point the pressure got too much for him. But I was so glad when Aech gave him the clue to the Jade Key, because I felt like he was back in the game. And despite thinking that Art3mis should win, I was still subconsciously rooting for Wade.

Once Wade found the "test", things picked up again the rest of the book flied by. I was totally hooked and there was no way I was putting the book down until I finished. The end was enthralling, fast-paced and I loved it. It was probably the best part of the book, especially when the four best gunters (Aech, Art3mis, Wade and Shoto) met up.

You're probably thinking, "what sets this book apart from all the other books like it? All the latest young adult sci-fi dystopians that are being pumped out faster than new versions of the iPhone?" and I can answer that for you. This book had a feel of professionalism I haven't read in a young adult for a while. It was sharp, edgy, perfect for young adults, but at the same time, really well thought out and very smart. The whole thing was crafted perfectly and it was clear all the research on the 80's paid off.

All in all, this book was really fantastic. I would highly recommend you read it; I've given it a solid five stars on goodreads.

If you have read Ready Player One and would like to share your feels, post a comment below, send a tweet to me at @lilypherondale or an ask to my tumblr, sherlockcrumpets. If you want to send me an email for business reasons or even just to say hi, feel free to! My email address is mywordsarearrows@gmail.com; I'd love to hear from you! All the contact details you could ever wish for are also up in the "contact me" page in the bar just below the title of my blog. My twitter, tumblr and facebook are also all linked there :)

If you want to stay in touch with me and check out what I'm doing and reading, like my facebook page. I generally post whenever something strikes me, every few days. I post pictures of books and thoughts as I'm reading them. Also feel free to friend me on goodreads here. I'd love to check out what you guys are reading!

See you next week with another post!

Lily xoxo

Amy And Roger's Epic Detour Recommendation

Hey! So lately I've been addicted to finding-yourself-contemporaries. I picked Amy And Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson up in a book depository order back in January, and I finally got around to reading it. It was every bit as wonderful as the internet told me it would be.

For fans of Stephanie Perkins (Anna And The French Kiss) and Huntley Fitzpatrick (My Life Next Door), this book is one amazing love story/contemporary.

Amy Curry is mourning the loss of someone close. Roger is heartbroken and puzzled as to why his girlfriend broke up with him. So when Amy and Roger's mums decide Roger will drive Amy from California to Connecticut, where her new home is, they don't expect the epic journey that will ensue.

Both desperate to escape, they decide to take a small detour- and end up travelling all over America. But as the best discovery stories go, Amy and Roger don't find what they go looking for. They find something better.

This book was just amazing. I read it in two parts, one section of about eighty pages and then the rest of it all in one go. Once you start, you can't stop. There's no place you want to stop, no place when the need for sleep overpowers the need to continue reading. It's fun, cutesy, adorable, romantic and heartwarming.

The characters are all well developed and interesting and the travelling part of the book is just amazing. As someone who's never gone to America, it made me want to get on a plane, hire a car and just drive. It's so fun seeing the journey through Amy's eyes, and I loved the travel aspect.

Some of the cute excerpts and drawings in the book. Image
taken from here.

Another cool thing about this book was the drawings and images in the book. It's super-adorable seeing Roger's playlists and drawings and Amy's photos in between the story.

All in all, this book was adorable and perfect and just thoroughly enjoyable. It was heartfelt and cutesy and just all-round perfect. I highly, highly recommend it.

If you would like to share your thoughts on Amy and Roger or suggest me a book to read/post up here, leave a comment below, send me a tweet to @lilypherondale, a tumblr ask to sherlockcrumpets or let me know via my facebook page. You can also shoot me an email for business reasons or just to say hi at mywordsarearrows@gmail.com.

See you next week for another post!

Lily xoxo

Insanity (Mad In Wonderland) Review

I am so confused... Utterly bewildered by this book. I'm not quite sure what I just read, all I know is

that I really did love it.

I just finished reading Insanity by Cameron Jace. It's a part of a series called Mad In Wonderland, and there's a sequel that was just released at the start of December, I think, which I just downloaded from the kindle store. I'm super-duper keen to get into that.

So Insanity is, as you probably gathered from the title, insane. It's possibly the most mental book you'll ever read. I personally would label it as a psychological thriller, paranormal fairytale retelling. Insanity is about Lewis Carroll's famous story of Alice In Wonderland. I was intrigued from the beginning, when it was recommended for me on goodreads (as you may know, I love young adult psychological thrillers so if you know any good ones let me know in the comments or via my various social media sites). Here's the goodreads synopsis-

After accidentally killing everyone in her class, Alice Wonder is now a patient in the Radcliffe Lunatic Asylum. No one doubts her insanity. Only a hookah-smoking professor believes otherwise; that he can prove her sanity by decoding Lewis Carroll's paintings, photographs, and find Wonderland's real whereabouts. Professor Caterpillar persuades the asylum that Alice can save lives and catch the wonderland monsters now reincarnated in modern day criminals. In order to do so, Alice leads a double life: an Oxford university student by day, a mad girl in an asylum by night. The line between sanity and insanity thins when she meets Jack Diamond, an arrogant college student who believes that nonsense is an actual science.

So as you may have already gathered, Insanity follows the story of Alice Plesance Wonder, a girl who now  lives in a mental asylum and cannot remember anything past a week before. Everyone tells her she's been there for two years, since killing all her classmates, including her boyfriend, on a bus. The only person who believes she isn't an insane maniac is a slightly mad serial killer professor, Carter Pillar. Together they try to solve the mystery in the outside world- a serial killer is on the loose, killing young girls. So Alice leads her double life, trying to solve the mystery and save the next victim of this strange killer.

I don't want to get too deep into the story in the non-spoilery section, so if it interests you, I would very much recommend it as a quick, maddening read. It's the type of story that sucks you in, spins you around and spits you out.

***SPOILERS***

disclaimer I have never read Alice In Wonderland so I may miss certain things due to this... feel free to leave a comment pointing out things I've missed/didn't interpret correctly

I can barely even process this book. It's so very odd that it was always keeping you on your toes, never actually knowing what's going on. In that respect, it really felt like Mara Dyer, which I loved. I read it in three sittings; the only thing that could tear me away from it was eating, sleeping and helping my cousin and sister make cookies.

Firstly, the characters. I liked almost all of them, but they were all so mad. Alice I found might've been an unreliable narrator. I was always reminding myself that anything she was doing could've been a hallucination, but it did end up appearing that she wasn't hallucinating. There were times where she scared me, though; she was so unpredictable! Particularly when she was escaping and when she was pretending to be mental in order to meet with Margaret Kent, when she said, "Insanity is so fun".

I did, however, find the synopsis to be a tad misleading. I expected Jack Diamonds to be a really, prominent character. I expected a much more heavy part of the storyline to focus on him and his relationship with Alice. But in actuality, Jack isn't in it all that much. He makes a few stalkery appearances, but appart from that, he isn't that involved until the end. I did like him, and possibly would've liked it even more had he been more heavily featured. I would've loved a Mara Dyer/Noah Shaw style relationship where they both kind of embrace their own and each other's madness, and they develop a sort of relationship where they're still very independent but at the same time, they need one another. Well, that's where I'd like them to end up at the finish of this series. I also called the plot twist, where we found out that he was possibly Adam, Alice's boyfriend who she "killed". Well, that's how I interpreted it, I'm still not quite sure what was real and what was not in this book. I had a feeling Jack might be Adam, and I was extremely pleased when we found out he was. I think it'll be great watching her rediscover Adam/Jack not in the way she first did but through this new character (Jack). I can't wait to see what Cameron Jace does with this.

Pillar was the sort of character I liked but didn't. He was sort of like a high, crazy, slightly sociopathic version of Dumbledore. Whenever I found myself liking him and his eccentric, sarcastic wit, I reminded myself that he too was a serial killer, that he really shouldn't be trusted. His character really divided me, and I am excited to see Pillar's further adventures in the next book.

Fabiola was just the perfect character. She was calm, graceful and lovely, but she also was super strong. One of my favourite parts of the book was when they were fighting the Reds and she whipped out that sword, and said, "I have to kill them fast, I have to attend prayers in a few". I loved that one minute, she was a beautiful, respected nun, and then the next, she was the White Queen, whipping out her sword and kicking butt.

The Cheshire was creepy. It kind of ruined my perception of him from the film, the sort of cutesy, whimsical cat with a big grin. For a while, I hoped he was possessed or being forced to do what he was doing, but unfortunately not. His motive, however, was clear, if not a little separate from the story. The whole backstory of his family being thrown out of the window was very different from the rest of the story, but it might have something to do with the original Alice In Wonderland book, which, as I previously mentioned, I have never read.

I did suspect something odd was up with Waltraud and Ogier; they were just too creepy. But eventually, I just put it down to the fact that the whole asylum was a twisted place. I certainly didn't expect that the Cheshire would be Ogier.

All the other characters, Margaret Kent, Tom Truckle and etc were sort of just there for me. They didn't really have any long lasting impact on me, except for the fact I'd love to know Margaret's back story and Tom kind of reminded me of a corrupt cop, or something like that. I did, despite this, find myself rather liking Tom's character, oddly enough, and I really appreciated the dynamic between Tom and Pillar.

The actual story was really dark. I definitely preferred when she was outside of the asylum, doing the missions for Pillar. The whole idea of having all the characters from Wonderland recreated as modern-day people was really quite ingenious, and I kept wanting to meet more and more of them. I am extremely eager to see characters like the Red Queen, the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatter in future books.

I'm also very scared of what the Cheshire is going to do in the next few books, and whether we're going to end up seeing a full-fledged Wonderland War.

Then there's the issue of whether Alice is the "Real Alice", the one who Lewis Carroll wrote about. It's pretty clear she is, but the only one who seems to think so is Pillar. Until the end, when Fabiola confesses that she doesn't know whether Alice is the Real Alice, and we're back to speculation.

I think that Alice is the Real Alice. I think she has to be, and I can't think of anyone else who could be the Real Alice. For a short time, I thought it might be Constance, but it appears she is not. But to be perfectly honest, this book confused me so much I'm not even that sure...

I assume that once I read the next book I'll have more of a handle on this story and I'll be able to compose my thoughts more clearly... but until then, feel free to leave your opinions of Insanity in the comments, my twitter @lilypherondale (the link is up the top of the page) or my tumblr, sherlockcrumpets (the link is up the top of the page).

Have a great day!

Lily xoxo

This Shattered World- Recommendation

Hey! So today I will be recommending a book called This Shattered World by Aimee Kaufman and

Meagan Spooner.

This Shattered World is the sequel to These Broken Stars, which you may remember from a recommendation I did a while back (you can see it here).

TSW follows the story of two brand new characters, still living in the same world as Lilac and Tarver from TBS. These two characters, Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac, are sworn enemies, their people battling each other for the planet Avon. Here's the synopsis-

Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met.

Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.

Rebellion is in Flynn's blood. Terraforming corporations make their fortune by recruiting colonists to make the inhospitable planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion.

Desperate for any advantage in a bloody and unrelentingly war, Flynn does the only thing that makes sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that will change him forever. He and Lee escape the rebel base together, caught between two sides of a senseless war.

It's another sci-fi space romance, and it's fantastic. There's cameo appearances by both Lilac and Tarver, and both Jubilee and Flynn are amazing characters in their own right. They're also really different from Lilac and Tarver, which was something I was worried wouldn't happen. Where Lilac is a wealthy socialite, Jubilee is a broken, hard war-orphan and soldier. Where Tarver is a strong, survival-oriented soldier, Flynn is 

This book also built up on the world we'd previously explored in TBS, and it was so interesting seeing it through brand new eyes. The world building was fantastic and it's really easy to lose yourself in the book because of it.

If you've read These Broken Stars and you're hesitant to pick This Shattered World up, I highly recommend you do. You won't be disappointed.

If you've not read These Broken Stars, I would suggest you read it before you read this one, as there are just little spoilers here and there for TBS. Although, if you really wanted to, there's no real reason you couldn't read This Shattered World first.

Share your thoughts in the comments, to my twitter (@lilypherondale) or to my tumblr sherlockcrumpets. Like my facebook page to keep up with my posts and what I've been doing lately! You can also send me an email for business inquires or just to say hi and share your thoughts to mywordsarearrows@gmail.com.

See you next week for another post!

Lily xo

Isla And The Happily Ever After Review

I cannot do anything. I cannot do anything other than gush out how much I love this book and the

other two books in this series and Stephanie Perkins in general.

Since it's Valentine's Day, or it was yesterday, I thought I'd upload the final review in my Stephanie Perkins reviews.

If you don't know who Stephanie Perkins is, then I don't know how you've been spending the time since Anna And The French Kiss came out. Living without internet or access to a bookstore or something.

Anyways, Stephanie Perkins is, in my most humble opinion, the queen of contemporary romance. She writes love stories like a goddess and I think she is one of the most talented story writers in YA at the moment.

If you haven't ever heard of Stephanie or her two other books, then you can see my review for Anna And The French Kiss (book one) here, and my review for Lola And The Boy Next Door (book two) here. I loved both of them equally, and so it's no surprise that I adored Isla And The Happily Ever After.

I don't think I can accurately sum up this book, so here's the goodreads synopsis-

Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart. 

Just trust me that this book is every bit as perfect and cutesy as Anna and Lola, and that it is absolutely one of my essential reads of EVER. So please go read it if you haven't already, so that I don't spoil you, but you can always go back and read my reviews for Anna and Lola in the links above.

***SPOILERS***

Ohmyjace. This book is the epitome of a Stephanie Perkins novel. It's cutesy, adorable, heart-wrenching and so perfect it literally made me feel like I would cry. I also read the book in three sittings, and probably in just a few hours.

Firstly, let's start with my favourite thing about these books. The setting. For those who don't know, I desperately want to go to New York, Paris and London, and this book was set in two of those places. I love that Stephanie is able to set three different stories in three different places and still have everything so connected. The three storylines converged perfectly at the end of the book, which was just perfect. I should have realised that the Winter Olympics mention was foreshadowing for Calliope, Cricket and Lola making an appearance, but I didn't. It was a really, really sweet surprise.

Also Anna and Étienne at the end. I think my heart burst just a little. I did not see that coming, however I'm so glad it did. I now am desperate for a follow-on book where we can see Anna and Étienne's wedding and their life. Basically I just want a novella of cutesy, domestic Anna/Étienne fluff. But I'm sure many other people do as well, so, Stephanie, if you see this, please? Pretty please?

Now onto the actual story. I wasn't overly fond of Isla at the beginning. I adored the scene at Kismet, where Isla was still foggy from the drugs after her operation. Everything she said was just hilarious, and their interactions were adorable. I loved that our first experience with Isla was one where she could barely narrate, let alone talk with her long-time crush. It was so interesting seeing her un-drugged character after that.

Personally, I found Isla a bit needy, due to her insecurities. I understand that was her character, but the way she used things like Rashmi against Josh to try and convince herself that he didn't love her was just plain annoying and a bit ridiculous. I didn't find her as fun to read as Anna and Lola, at some points, but thankfully, her character developed significantly by the end of the book.

I did, however, like Josh. I couldn't profile him, couldn't file him under any of my pre-existing character indexes I have for YA male love interests. I expected him to file under "popular-but-actually-really-sweet-and-not-at-all-interested-in-school-politics/the-social-hierarchy" but then after actually reading more about him, he also filed under "bad-boy-who-has-little-regard-for-rules" and "nerdy-comic-obsessed-cutie-pie". And on top of that, he was also hilarious and an artist. Stephanie Perkins has once again created characters that are so unique and real that I cannot file them under pre-existing titles. But I'll gush more about Stephanie's expert character creation later on. Josh was a really interesting character, and I think he fit really well with Isla. Their differences, in the end, were the thing that bonded them.

Reading this book honestly made me feel like I was living in between Josh and Isla. The first half, when they were still newly dating and very much in their own protected, safe bubble of new love made me feel light and happy and carefree. Endless pages and chapters of cutesy fluff and adorably awkward first dates. I felt like Isla did, half in shock, half in a state of euphoria. The optimist in me (yes, she exists, she's just very small and often overpowered by Miss Pessimist), told me nothing could go wrong, the whole book would be perfect, happy, in love characters with no painful unrequited love, break-ups or struggles. But I knew it all had to come crashing down at some point, and crashing down it did come.

I physically could not put the book down during the scene at the party with Josh's parents and all those famous, high-profile people. I knew something was going to go wrong. Isla had already hinted that she wasn't fond of the "whole life Josh had without her", which is pretty much what she said. I knew, that with her insecure nature and her unease around "Television Josh", and the act he put on in front of the cameras and for the sake of his dad.

And, everything did go wrong. I wished Isla would just shut up. I knew she was winding him up, still stewing over what the head of school said about her and Josh (remember that comment where she basically implied that Isla's affections for Josh weren't requited in the same way?), and through what she had previously said about not being sure if he really loved her. It really did feel like she was trying to get him to break up with her, or trying to make excuses to break up with him.

I think her reaction to everything Rashmi was really unnecessary. When I say I found Isla to be a tad annoying at times, this is what I mean. She knew Josh and Rashmi were together for a long time, she knew that they were pretty serious. And so I found it irritating that Isla got so jealous that she basically downgraded herself to a "placecard", filling a place Josh wanted to fill with someone he could think he was in love with. But at the same time as being really, really frustrating, this was prefect writing and brilliantly crafted. Trying to understand and explain Isla's mentality and reasoning here is quite hard, but when I was reading it, I got it. I understood what Isla meant and I got her twisted, loop-the-loop logic. I don't think I would react that same way as Isla, I really don't, but what was so spectacular about this book was that even though I'm not a whole lot like Isla personality wise, I totally understood her and was able to relate to her. Stephanie Perkins has this wonderful way of completely humanizing all her characters, which automatically makes them super-easy to relate to.

Kurt was adorable, and I was so, so thankful this book didn't turn into a love triangle situation. Any sort of romantic interest between Kurt and Isla would've been forced and completely unnecessary, and I'm so glad that it didn't come to that. I really liked Kurt, and I loved that Josh was completely accepting of him, and that he made a legitimate effort to get to know him and to interact with him in a way that was beneficial to everyone.

I also loved the storyline of Isla and her two sisters. As the oldest of three girls, I can confirm that with a few changes, those three girls were pretty close to me and my sisters. The dynamic between the three of them is really similar to our own, and the struggles the three of them went through relationship wise were really relatable to me, as it was a dynamic I'm all too familiar with, and I loved seeing it through Isla's eyes.

The end was probably my favourite, where Étienne, Anna, Cricket, Lola, Isla, Josh and Meredith all had dinner together. Despite absolutely loving every minute of that scene, a lot of the time I was thinking, "poor Meredith". She was like, the seventh wheel and that might've sucked, seeing as though she used to be in love with Étienne. Besides that, I'm totally up for a novella focusing on either Cricket/Étienne/Josh or Lola/Anna/Isla. I would love to see their friendship develop and grow, and they're all so cute together. I honestly cannot believe Anna and Étienne are getting married. I honestly need a novella about it.

The end, where Isla was reading Josh's new graphic memoir was a really sweet ending. I loved that he knew her so well, he was able to predict how she'd be reading it and he actually drew it in there. It was pretty meta. I also want a copy of the graphic memoir. I loved the ending almost as much as the beginning, and I'm so sad to let this series go.

All in all, Isla And The Happily Ever After was just as incredible as I knew it would be. It was fun, cute and perfect. I would highly recommend it, but I'm sure that's not new to any of you.

Let me know what you though about Isla in the comments, to my twitter (@lilypherondale) or to my tumblr, sherlock crumpets (the link is in the bar at the top of the page). If you want to contact me for business or just to say hi and you need more than 140 characters, just send me an email at mywordsarearrows@gmail.com, I'd love to hear from you!

See you next week for another post!

Lily xoxo 

All The Bright Places- Recommendation

Hey! So it's that time again- time for a recommendation.

Since my reviews often have spoilers and I don't nearly buy enough books to do a bookhaul every second week, I am reintroducing my recommendations. For those who are new to My Words Are Arrows, recommendations are where I discuss a book with NO SPOILERS and say my feelings on it (which are mostly positive).

So this week I'm going to recommend All The Bright Places, by Jennifer Niven.

Here's the goodreads synopsis- 

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.

It also says that this is like John Green's writing. It's not. It's so, so, so much better. Where John Green seems to use the same storylines over and over and the characters are basic and used purely as accessory to their love interest, Jennifer Niven's characters are well developed in their own right, and they're all brilliantly unique.

This book is heart-wrenching and beautiful and perfect. It's beautifully crafted and spectacularly written. It's a contemporary with almost four hundred words but they fly by, and you get sucked into this world with these wonderful characters.

It does have some pretty heavy themes of suicide and mental illness, so if you're not so good with that sort of stuff, I would caution you before you read this.

All in all, All The Bright Places is incredible. I really, really enjoyed it, and I would definitely recommend. A solid five-stars.

(Also I would recommend getting the hardback. I don't normally buy two copies of books, but I simply could not resist the hardcover version. It's beautiful.)

Share your thoughts (with no spoilers) in the comments below, or shoot me a tweet at @lilypherondale or a tumblr ask to my tumblr, sherlockcrumpets. You can also like my facebook page here to see what I'm reading and see my posts in your feed! If you want to chat about anything, like ARCs and other business things, or just to say hi, hit up my email address at mywordsarearrows@gmail.com :)

I also have a brand-new header with my logo! That's right, I finally have my own logo. Let me know what you think about the new logo and header!

See you next week with another post!

Lily xoxo

The Book Of Ivy Review

Wow. This book was pretty much everything I wanted and more.

Today I shall be reviewing The Book Of Ivy by Amy Engel. I picked this up in a fit of impulse in Dymocks. I read the back, and was vaguely interested, and the cover and title already had me intrigued. Then I looked it up on goodreads, and almost choked on my tongue. 4.25 stars. For a book like this that I'd never heard of, that was massive. So I bought it, and I've never made a better decision.

The Book Of Ivy was just brilliant. No cheesy, insta-love, no typical YA "bad boy", no boring bits. I could not put it down, not even if I tried. I think I said I'd stop reading at chapter thirteen, but then continued on to chapter twenty. It was enthralling, however the main character was a bit annoying. I'll elaborate on that later. For now, synopsis time!

Ivy Westfall is the granddaughter of the man who lost a huge nuclear war. And ever since, the girls from the losing side have been married off to the boys from the winning side at only sixteen years of age.

Ivy, however, is special. After unexpectedly taking her sister's place in marrying the son of the President, a huge responsibility is shifted onto her shoulders.

The responsibility of killing him.

But Bishop Lattimer is not what Ivy expected. He's not cruel, not mean. Nevertheless, that doesn't change Ivy's fate. Bishop has to die, and Ivy has to kill him.

It was highly entertaining and I recommend it to anyone. This is for sure a five star read.

***SPOILERS***

Why. That ending. Just why. Anyways.

I really, really loved this book. I was captured by it, and I read it in a few hours total. Really the only issue I had with this was Ivy and how annoying she was. She was constantly saying things, and throughout the book I was groaning and saying "shut your mouth", "please stop" and "Ivy, no!". She said and did things that made me want to punch her in the face, but I suppose that was her character, and in this book for some reason, I was able to get past that. I did find, however, that she was receiving special treatment at certain points, because some of the things that she were doing would have surely set some people, including the President and Mrs Lattimer, on edge. However, I suppose it's no secret she opposes their family, and she is the President's daughter-in-law, so it just depends on the way you look at it. But that was the only real issue I had with it, but it was pretty minor.

I've seen a lot of people complaining in their reviews that there was nothing between Ivy and Bishop. I don't quite agree with that, to be perfectly honest. I think that just because they didn't get together at the start of the book, doesn't mean they couldn't be falling towards one another gradually. I think being married to someone like that, spending so much time together, you eventually will begin to get along. And Ivy and Bishop were compatible. They have lots in common; the fact that both their fathers are power-hungry and they force Ivy and Bishop into what they believe. I think that they were compatible on the level that they're working out what they actually believe, despite the brainwashing from the fathers. So I do believe that they were in love, but then again, I don't necessarily believe in "true love".

But Bishop Lattimer. *decapitated walrus noises* You, sir, can join my Fictional Baes List.I knew Bishop was going to be set up so the reader would love him. But I didn't anticipate that he would be the way he was. Bishop was just, in general, a great guy. He was respectful and kind, and even though his parents had brought him up the way they did, even though he was slightly abandoned as a child, even though the world he lives in is extremely messed up, even though he has every reason to be bitter and twisted and the stereotypical YA "bad boy", he's not. Not only is he not bitter, he actively tries to help. And I found it a real change from most of the other books I've read. Also I really shipped Ivy/Bishop, you can't stop me.

The love story in this reminded me a bit of These Broken Stars; in fact the whole book did. So if you liked These Broken Stars, I think you'll like this, too (also, I'm definitely going to buy the sequel to These Broken Stars and I'm definitely going to do a review so look forward to that if you're a fan!).

The world this story is set in is pretty messed up, to be perfectly honest. As I said in the synopsis, the girls of the Westfall side (the losing side) are married to the sons of the Lattimer side (the winning side). The losing boys are also married to the winning girls, but that's not focused on as much (hmmm... maybe I'd like a novella on the story of one of those couples? Just a thought...). I didn't hate President Lattimer. He wasn't creepy or blatantly evil, like President Snow from The Hunger Games. In fact, he wasn't even really that evil at all. Of course, the whole arranged marriages thing is horrific, but considering that this nation was on its way to death, destruction and etc and he managed to save them all. So I suppose I didn't exactly dislike him. But I didn't like Ivy's father, either. Neither of them had the right idea about how to rule, and to be perfectly honest, I'd prefer if everyone just chilled the heck out until Bishop gets to be President. Although, that's not really fair on him...

I really didn't like Callie, and I was so, so thankful that it wasn't her Bishop was marrying. She wouldn't have hesitated in killing him; he'd be dead in a flash. She was obviously very loyal to her father and his cause, and it annoyed me that she was so blind and power hungry that she didn't even recognize that the ideals her father promoted were different from the ones he was planning to put into play. I found her cruel and heartless, and especially when she and her father happily threw Ivy under the bus at the end of the book. They really didn't care about her as much as they cared about the cause, Callie especially. It was heartbreaking. But it was time for Ivy to realise that she didn't owe her family anything, and she was able to make her own choices. And that the only person who really cared about her and would put her before himself was Bishop.

I really enjoyed The Book Of Ivy. It was fun, fast-paced and really enthralling. But I'd love to know your thoughts. Do you agree? Disagree? Feel free to let me know in the comments, with a tweet to @lilypherondale or a ask to my tumblr, sherlockcrumpets.

See you next week for another post!

Lily xoxo