Entangled by Cat Clarke

I recently remembered I owned this book and when I reread it I remembered why I binge read this book  the first time round. Grace was just woken up in a white room in a place she doesn't know. The last thing she remembers is talking to a boy called Ethan. Just as she begins to panic, Ethan walks in and changes everything. She must have been kidnapped and she whiles away the hours by writing down the events of the last three months. She writes about her friend Sal and a boy she met at the bus stop called Nat. When their three worlds combine there are mind blowing consequences none of them could have predicted. As her story goes on you join Grace in realising what really happened. As she is writing Ethan checks up on her and more and more. This makes Grace think he isn't the kidnapper she first thought he was.

I loved this book because it had a bit of everything in it. A classic romance, a funny best friend, a confusing mystery and a charismatic narrator. This combination meant every twist and turn of the plot kept me guessing and laughing. I think I wouldn't have loved the book the way I did if it wasn't for the main character. Grace genuinely seemed like someone you would want to have as a friend. She also seemed very real, she had problems and off days like everyone else. Sometimes she said thinks she didn't mean, her life wasn't perfect. A perfect life is what many people turn to books to see but in the end nobodys perfect. This very real element made the events of the book more striking and moving. There is a huge plot twist at the end which I wasn't expecting and really made me rethink the whole book! So watch out, everything you think might be about to change.

Blood Red Road by Moira Young

I'm not normally a huge fan of dystopian books but this is definitely an exception. Saba lives out on Silverlake after mankind fell into ruin. Saba, her younger sister, her twin and her father all live in a shack and are completely self sufficient. Except for one neighbour and the occasional traveller they never seen anyone else. Saba and her twin Lugh have a close relationship but are very different people, Lugh is kind and full of joy whereas Saba tends to be more negative. When Lugh is taken away by a group of cloaked horsemen, Saba knows she has to go and find her brother. In the fight the horseman Saba's father is killed, leaving only her and her sister Emmi. They go out into the world to find Lugh and discover what the horseman want with him. They have never seen real towns and groups of people and soon get swept up in the madness ...

The voice of Saba was what really made the book for me because she was so real and such a defined character. Unlike many main characters she had many undesirable traits, such as despising her own little sister because her mother died giving birth to her. This made it hard to sympathise for her but Young's beautiful writing meant by the end you were rooting for Saba 100%. This book has been highly acclaimed and recommended for fans for The Hunger Games trilogy. The dystopian themes and strong female lead are very similar but I think the two have many differences. However, I think it would be a real struggle not to enjoy this book. It isn't the easier reading in the world but it definitely makes up for that in writing style and plot.

Say Her Name by James Dawson

If you want a good old fashioned scare then this is the book for you. Bobbie and her friend Naya end up chanting Bloody Mary five times into a mirror with some of the most popular girls in school and a couple of boys from the town. Soon, things begins to change and one of the girls at the boarding school becomes ill and then goes missing. Bobbie finds out she also chanted Bloody Mary into the mirror five times a week before. As strange things begin to happen to Bobbie and Naya too they realise this must all be linked. With the help of Caine, one of the local boys who also chanted Bloody Mary into the mirror, they start to investigate times when this has happened in the past. They dreams lead them on a journey to find out Bloody Mary's true past. But do they have enough time to solve the mystery before Bloody Mary catches up with them all?

I bought this book rather cheaply on my Kindle and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. James Dawson has many books written for teens and the character type and development in the book showed this. The fears of the characters and their feelings towards the events in the book were very similar to mine. I like the idea of urban myths really being true and this book put a new spin on it. I didn't expect many of the plot twists which was pleasant surprise. The level of reading wasn't particularly hard meant it was relaxing to read on that basis. I pretty much sped read this book because I was excited by the storyline and what was going to come next. If that isn't a sign of a book, I don't know what is! I think I learnt not to go tempting fate during this book, because it might come back and bite you right back. I didn't find it all that scary but be warned if you are easily scared!

The Fault In Our Stars By John Green

You are probably bored as hell of people going on and on about this book but it deserves an immense amount of praise. Hazel Grace Lancaster suffers from lung cancer and carries around a tank of air at all times so she is able to breathe. Her illness meant she had to drop out of school and so lost contact with many of her friends. As she becomes increasingly depressed her parents insist she goes to a group for teenagers suffering or recovering from cancer. At first she hates it but soon she meets Augustus Waters. Due to cancer at a younger age, Augustus only has one leg and so uses a prosthetic one. As he and Hazel begin to grow closer she begins to worry about what the future will hold for them. Can she ever truly be there for a person when she's never sure how long she will be around for herself?

After I read this gorgeous book, I went and looked up John Green because really liked his style of writing and sense of humour. He and his brother Hank have been posting on their YouTube channel VlogBrothers since 2009. Since they post around three times a week you could never watch all their videos but I really loved the different things they talked about. If you are wondering whether to read any of John Green's fiction you should check out this channel because they do talk about his books. There is one video where John reads out the first chapter of The Fault In Our Stars which is also a good starting place for reading the book. The movie also recently came out on DVD which is good if you want to get the feel of the book but I would recommend reading the book first due to huge plot twists. I think what really captivated the thousands of fans of this book is how real the characters seem. They aren't Disney teenagers who live their dreams lives, they act the way any real teenager does. When an author really manages to capture the teenage voice to a point where it could be a real person, the book must be good. I have read so many books where there has been a fantastic storyline but the character feels manufactured so I can't truly enjoy it. If you haven't already given this book a go, you should because you won't regret it.

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

This is a pretty well known book due to the movie adaption made staring Diana Agron and Alex Pettyfer. I loved the movie but I think sometimes a movie just can't do a good book justice. When their world is being destroyed, a group of human like aliens transport a handful of their youngest citizens to earth. The hope is that these children will keep their race alive and maybe one day defeat the Mogadorians, who destroyed their homeland. The children are all given a number and then a spell is cast so they have to be killed in order. This book is narrated by the fourth of these children who calls himself John Smith. Him and his guardian, Henri, have always been moving to stay safe from the Mogadorians. John is in huge danger because Number Three has just died and so he is next in line to be slaughtered. A new school is the least of his worries at the moment, but when he meets a beautiful girl named Sarah everything changes. Can he every experience true love or will his fate always endanger the people he loves?

I was so excited when the movie I Am Number Four came out because I loved the book so much and I also really liked the choice of actors because they are exactly how I pictured the characters. I think the movie did the best it could to display all of the story to the viewer but small points were still missed. Though I would still stand by my opinion that it is one of the best movie adaptions of a book, I think you really need to read the book to understand it. I also felt the books got better as the series went on but other movies were never made. There were five books published as well as a series of novellas which I never read. These books are good because anyone can read them, boy or girl, old or young. You have to be prepared to be slightly confused but it is all worth it in the end. If you want to watch the movie you can buy it in most DVD stores or online. If you are like me and have Netflix, the English one, it is currently on there. However, I would read the books before so you can truly understand the depth of the storyline.

Dreaming of Amelia by Jaclyn Moriarty

As you can see my copy of this book is a little tattered, a sign of a good book if ever I saw one. Amelia and Riley are two new students at Ashbury High and everybody wants to know everything there is to know about them. They have been a couple since they were 14 years old and like to keep themselves to themselves. This just makes people much more anxious to know who they are and what their story is. The book is told by a group of students at the school as they write gothic fiction for their HSC English fiction exam. They all give their opinion on the new students and what they think happened in their pasts. Will we ever know the truth of what truly happened to Amelia and Riley, or will it remain as Gothic fiction with no resolution?

This book is actually the fourth in the Ashbury/Brookfield series by Jaclyn Moriarty but each book is a stand alone story so it doesn't matter. If you are going to read them though, do try to read them in order because the events of other stories are mentioned in later books so they are a minefield of spoilers. I loved the way this book was set out because it meant you may never know the truth of what happened to Amelia and Rory. Each character saw them a different way and changed what they did to fit in with their Gothic fiction outline. Although there are some dark moments, many parts of the book are light hearted and jovial. I really liked the many characters because they were funny but also were very good role models for people growing up. Okay, so maybe they don't always do their homework but they are nice people who live pleasant, comfortable lives. This book was a piece of exhilarating escapism! So what are you waiting for?

Junk by Melvin Burgess

This book feels very real to me compared to other books because it shows how quickly life can change. Junk, or Smack in the US, is about two teenagers who learn the harsh realities of life the hard way.  Tar has an abusive father and desperately wants to escape the cage his life has created for him because of this. Gemma, Tar's friend, loves to rebel against her parents and so decides to join Tar when he decides to run away. They leave to go to Bristol and soon Tar makes friends with Richard who introduces him to some squatters who let the two teens live with them. Tar is a gentle character and so makes friends easier but Gemma comes across as extremely naive and so is disliked by the squatters. This leads to split loyalties for Tar, his new friends or his old ones? While staying in Bristol they begin to take drugs on a regular basis and soon realise they can't remember a life without them.

I really enjoyed reading this book although I wouldn't recommend it if you want something light hearted. Whenever something happened to any of the characters I felt as though it had happened to a friend of mine because, as I said at the start, they feel so real. Burgess really built up the characters and their relationships before anything happened to them, which meant she something did happen it truly did sadden me. It gave me a real insight into people's lives and how drugs can affect them, which is hard to but make it a teen novel. I wouldn't recommend this for anyone below the age of 14 purely because of some of the themes in the book but I think it is something everyone should read at some point.