Solitaire Review

Spoiler Free

I read Solitaire quite a while back along with a few others as I just couldn't stop reading. Which was good but I never got anything done because of it. So here it finally is my Solitaire review. Its written by Alice Oseman who I had no idea about, but I saw some good reviews and thought why not. 

The books protagonist is Victoria Spring. She drinks diet lemonade a lot and her hobbies consist of sleeping and blogging which I can relate to. Shes goes to an all girls school which is linked to an all boys, however for sixth form you can chose which ever one you wish. Shes very much a pessimist and has a very negative outlook on life, she just doesn't care. Which I sort of liked about her, it wasn't like she was this boy crazy, party animal teenager.  Although this got very exhausting because she was constantly judging people for the way they were, and this I did not like. 
"The large majority of teenagers who attend Higgs are soulless, conformist idiots. I have successfully integrated myself into a small group of girls who I consider to be "good people," but sometimes I still feel that I might be the only person with a consciousness, like a video game protagonist, and everyone else are computer-generated extras who have only a select few actions, such as "initiate meaningless conversation" and "hug."
It felt like she thought she was better than everyone else because she didn't conform to social acceptance. I did like her and I could relate to how she was feeling but I can understand why people would hate her.

Micheal Holden, is a very...weird character lets just say and Tori is more or less juxtapose to Micheal. I have come to realise that Alice Oseman likes to come up with very depressing and weird characters in this book. He has very interesting hobbies but I wont say anything that will spoil the book too much. There is also Lucas who is a childhood friend of Tori's. Throughout this book shes quite rude to him and it actually made me feel a bit sorry for his character because he was nothing but nice to her, again proving shes a bit of a bitch.  
The main basis of this book is around this group called 'Solitaire', who like to play pranks around Higgs. All Tori wants to know is who is causing them and what they mean, this is where Micheal comes in because like Tori he wants to find out who is behind this. 

What I didn't like about the book was that it didn't feel special to me, unlike If you Find Me which is one of my favourite books. Yes after I thought "wow I liked this" but it didn't last long. I read others peoples thoughts and I started to agree and criticize the book. However I give my props for Oseman for publishing her books at only the age of 19! And because of that I am impressed as not a lot of people can write that deeply or even write such complex characters. The writing flowed nicely and I didn't get bored of the style, I would gladly read another Alice Oseman book so therefore i give this 6.5/10. 

Charlotte 

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A Court Of Thorns And Roses Review

Spoiler Free


This month I read and finished A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas. I expected this book to be promising due to my love for the authors ongoing series, the Throne of Glass series. And I was not let down.

Feyre, youngest of three sisters at the age of 19, must go out everyday to hunt and provide money for her family at such dire and tough times. She risks her life to do this, as the woods are known to be extremely dangerous, due to the potential Fae lurking there - if you happen to encounter a Fae, you won't last long. One day, whilst out hunting, Feyre discovers a wolf. Feyre considers whether to kill this beautiful creature,as it could be a Fae, however due to the violent things she's heard the Fae capable of doing and has done to humans, her hesitation didn't last long and she sent an arrow through the wolf's eye.

That evening, Feyre's intolerable family received an unwanted visitor Fae, demanding to know who murdered his friend. After Feyre's confession, she chose the offer to go and live with the Fae for the rest of her life, rather than be executed. However little does she know that her hatred towards the Faeries and this threatening beast, Tamlin, will dissipate, and be replaced with something else...

The book is mixture of a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, my favourite fairtytale, and Faerie lore. I found the book a little slower paced than Throne of Glass however feisty and lovable characters are provided just the same. Sarah J Maas' writing style and world building is incredible and the ending of this book was totally unpredictable: even though it was a fairytale retelling. The last hundred pages or so were so action packed and fast paced I couldn't put it down. This novel included much more romance than SJM's previous books as throughout there was heart-warming intimacy... and Tamlin - *swoon*. 

I have high hopes for this series (trilogy), and I just hope that it does have a happy ending which the Throne of Glass series seems to be against. Although I have heard a few theories for what will happen later in the series which I'm totally against, the imagination in this book and world is commendable. I would rate this book 9/10, and a definite read for young adult/adult high fantasy and romance fans!

Hannah

 ♥