From The Review Pile (52)

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

I know that a lot of you have a huge pile of books that you want to read/review, but it understandably takes a while to get around to reading them all - here you can give a book (or two!) some of the publicity that it deserves, even if you haven't read it yet!

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This week, I'm going to showcase Split Second!

This is a book that I was sent quite a while ago but unfortunately never got around to reading - however, after revisiting the synopsis, I know that it's something that I could potentially find really, really good! I love the sound of this one, so I will have to remember to get to it sometime soon!

Split Second by Cath Staincliffe

323 Pages

Published July 2012 by Robinson

A winter's evening and a trio of unruly youths board a bus and gang up on teenager Luke Donnelly, hurling abuse and threatening to kill him. The bus is full but no one intervenes until Jason Barnes, a young student, challenges the youths. Luke seizes the chance to run off the bus but his attackers follow. 
Andrew Barnes is dragged from the shower by his wife Valerie: there's a fight in the front garden and Jason's trying to break it up. Andrew rushes to help and the assailants flee. Jason shouts to his father to phone an ambulance - Luke is badly hurt. Minutes later Jason collapses in their living room, he has been stabbed. The blow proves fatal. 
Valerie and Andrew are devastated by the loss of their only child, and react in very different ways to their grief. Valerie wants justice, revenge even, but Andrew is desperate to find some meaning in Jason's sacrifice. Luke survived the assault thanks to Jason's actions, but is in a coma. 
As his marriage disintegrates, Andrew secretly visits Luke and his mother Louise and a fragile friendship develops. Meanwhile the press begin to paint a picture of Luke as a less than innocent victim and raise questions about the cost of Jason's heroism. 
One of the offenders confesses to the attacks and shows remorse while the others plead not guilty. Conflicting accounts emerge during the trial. With some parties prepared to lie, the matter of uncovering what really happened is far from straightforward, and the jury's verdict hard to predict. A novel that explores the issue of whether to intervene or look the other way and the fall-out from either decision. 
" Split Second" tackles questions of bravery, fear and kindness and depicts the human impact of violent crime.

Boy Nobody (Boy Nobody #1)

Boy Nobody by Allen Zadoff

Hardback, 352 pages

Expected Publication: 23rd May 2013 by Orchard Books

Shelves: arc-or-review, better-than-expected, books-i-own, if-i-were-a-boy, read, read-in-2013, series-or-companions, title-appeal, young-adult

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Boy Nobody is the perennial new kid in school, the one few notice and nobody thinks much about. He shows up in a new high school, in a new town, under a new name, makes few friends and doesn't stay long. Just long enough for someone in his new friend's family to die -- of "natural causes." Mission accomplished, Boy Nobody disappears, and moves on to the next target. 

When his own parents died of not-so-natural causes at the age of eleven, Boy Nobody found himself under the control of The Program, a shadowy government organization that uses brainwashed kids as counter-espionage operatives. But somewhere, deep inside Boy Nobody, is somebody: the boy he once was, the boy who wants normal things (like a real home, his parents back), a boy who wants out. And he just might want those things badly enough to sabotage The Program's next mission.'

Firstly, I'll admit that when I saw the cover for Boy Nobody, I wasn't sure it'd be for me - it looked like a boyish action book and I don't usually enjoy those. However (and more importantly), I read the blurb and found myself intrigued - there was something about this book that made me want to pick it up and see what really was inside, whether or not I'd like it. I never actually expected to like this book as much as I did - it's definitely set to be a huge hit!

Boy Nobody is about a boy who doesn't really have much of a stable identity as he is always moving, always changing who he is in order to complete missions for The Program, an undercover organisation. Boy Nobody is brainwashed, he has been taught to be secretive, he is precise, consistent, he knows how to handle himself and perhaps most importantly, he knows how to kill. Although he may be under control of The Program, underneath it all, Boy Nobody is a kid. Underneath these protective layers, he is a person, with his own thoughts feelings, it's important to remember that, and Zadoff certainly reminds you of this throughout the book in subtle ways, despite the book mainly giving straight forward facts.

When we meet Boy Nobody, he's in a new town, attending a new school and awaiting missions from his handlers. The two handlers he has are known as his 'Mother' and 'Father' and they are perhaps the only people that Boy Nobody has a bond with. He doesn't have any friends or family, and it's unlikely, in his profession, that he'll have any in the future. Zadoff is clearly a very smart writer, looking back on this book, there is quite a lot going on. We are given a very clear vision of Boy Nobody's new town, I had a real feel for all of the places he visited and I felt as though, with our protagonist, I should be on the lookout for the small things. Everything and everyone seemed suspect, but also seemed so realistic. I really had a good feel for what our main character was going through, my heart racing and breath quickening at certain moments.

For those who like action, there's a fair amount of it in this book, but I think that even more will be explored in the following books! This has built a fantastic foundation for the story. I personally loved the suspense side of this book, I really didn't know what was going to happen most of the time which is rare in a lot of books these days, especially YA. I also was intrigued by the emotional undertones, or lack thereof - we found out that Boy Nobody was taken under The Program after his real parents died, but why? What lead to this? What is the Program really doing? This book is a portal to so many different things - I really can't wait to learn more.

I honestly believe that this is one of the best books of 2013 so far - it is so refreshing to find something different, interesting and so gripping! Once you pick this book up, it's really hard to put down - there are just so many more things to know and I can't wait to find out more in the next books. Whether you're a girl or a boy, 12 or 21, this isn't a book to be missed, it's sure to have you hooked.

Stacking The Shelves and Showcase Sunday (51)

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Showcase Sunday is hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea.

These memes are a replacement of The Story Siren's In My Mailbox.

Stacking the Shelves and Showcase Sunday make a place to showcase your new books,

whether you obtained them through the post or otherwise.

What a week for new books! I received four books this week, one adult and three YA books, all of which sound absolutely amazing - I seriously have no idea which one to pick up first! The adult fiction I received was Dot and the young adult books were Invisibility, Nowhere and the much raved-about The 5th Wave.

Have a great weekend, all! 

Anthem For Jackson Dawes

Anthem For Jackson Dawes by Celia Bryce

Paperback, 240 pages

Published 1st January 2013 by Bloomsbury

Shelves: arc-or-review, books-i-own, young-adult, title-appeal, realistic-fiction, read-in-2013, medical-conditions, contemporary 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Megan Bright and Jackson Dawes are two teenagers who first meet each other on the hospital ward where they are both being treated for cancer. Megan is scared and worried about her illness, but Jackson seems to be an old hand, having been on the ward for ages. And everybody loves Jackson! He is a whirlwind of life and energy, warmth and sparkle. Megan will need to borrow some of Jackson's extraordinary optimism to face her and Jackson's future. A moving story of first love and a remarkably powerful debut novel.

Anthem for Jackson Dawes is a book that I was very pleased to receive for review - it really sounded like something I'd enjoy. Though the subject matter is rather difficult, I do enjoy reading about real life issues and I was interested in seeing how this YA book turned out. Teenage cancer  has been explored in several extremely popular books, namely The Fault in Our Stars, Before I Die and My Sister's Keeper, so Bryce really had to try hard to give us something new and something with a strong emotional impact.

This book is definitely a hard one to review, which is partially due to the content. In general, I thought that this was a good book which was well written. However, as the book is relatively short at 240 pages, there was not all that much depth to the story or characters. This is a book revolving around young cancer patients, but most respectfully, the characters are the stars of the book - not the illness. I thought it was great that Bryce managed to really emphasise the personalities of the kids. Of course, the characters were all in hospital for a reason - they all had some form of cancer. Bryce is clearly a careful writer - she writes what is necessary, what is suitable for the age group she is writing for. The writing is soft but concise. Personally, I would have preferred some more depth to the book, more detail, more interactions, I especially wanted to know more about the characters, how they really felt. 

Our main character is Megan Bright, a teenager with a cancerous brain tumour. Understandably, Megan is not happy being in hospital, let alone in the children's ward. She feels lonely and she worries about her friends, whether or not they will keep in touch with her or not whilst she's sick. There is only one older teenager on the ward, the upbeat, sociable and caring Jackson Dawes. When they first meet, Megan isn't all that nice to Jackson even though he's only trying to be nice. It could come across as a bit 'bratty', but to be honest, I think I would be the same in her situation - she's scared. Jackson and Megan certainly don't click straight away, but as Megan succumbs to his friendship, it's clear that they are a lovely couple of friends. Though it's suggested that it's a romance between the two, I just saw it as a special connection, a friendship.  

As you can imagine, this book isn't full of joy, though it's not deeply depressing throughout there is an undertone of melancholy. There are a lot of 'extra' upsetting moments dotted throughout the book, as well as many feelings of uncertainty. Unfortunately, for some reason the book didn't hold the emotion that I really wanted - it wasn't raw, intense or passionate enough, it just didn't grab me in the way that some other books have. Maybe it's because, although I liked them, I didn't relate all that much to Megan or Jackson. Maybe it's the lack of depth or detail. I'm not entirely sure. 

Overall, Anthem for Jackson Dawes is a well executed book and one that is more friendly towards younger young adult audience. I am very impressed with Bryce's writing and particularly enjoyed her description of the new cancer unit in the book, based on a unit in my home city. Bryce has done really well and I would certainly like to see more from her in the future.