April 2020 – Book Dust Magic

The best book I read this year so far: It Sounded Better in my Head by Nina Kentwood #booklovers #romance #teens #anxiety

GIFTED / Today I want to talk about one special book I read few days ago and fell in love with it completely. I loved it so much that it’s now my favourite read of 2020.

It Sounded Better in my Head has 272 pages and is already out.

I received this novel via Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review. I want to thank to Text Publishing.

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / From debut author Nina Kenwood comes a tender, funny, and compulsively readable novel about first love and its confusions, and all of the awkwardness of teen romance.

When her parents announce their impending divorce, Natalie can’t understand why no one is fighting, or at least mildly upset. Then Zach and Lucy, her two best friends, hook up, leaving her feeling slightly miffed and decidedly awkward. She’d always imagined she would end up with Zach one day―in the version of her life that played out like a TV show, with just the right amount of banter, pining, and meaningful looks. Now everything has changed, and nothing is quite making sense. Until an unexpected romance comes along and shakes things up even further.

It Sounded Better in My Head is a compulsively readable love letter to teenage romance in all of its awkward glory, perfect for fans To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Emergency Contact.

Review:

This book was AH-MAZING!!

I mean it, everything about it was just right! Almost perfect.
From the writing style to the story itself, and it’s characters.

I can’t believe this is a debut novel!
Sign me up for next Nina Kentwood’s novels, because I want to read all of them!
Her writing style is amazing, and from her acknowledgments where she thanked to authors who’s books she read in her lifetime, is obvious she reads and loves books a lot.

The story was great. Entertaining and realistic, and just what I craved at time.
I was hungry for good ya contemporary and It Sounded Better in my Head is just what I needed.

The characters were likeable and they felt real.
Even though I am older then Natalie, I could relate to her.
I also don’t like to be seen (but it has nothing to do with my look) and I feel like my mind works similar to hers. However, she did go on my nerves sometimes.
With lifelike friends and good family dynamics, plus “not so perfect for each other” love interesting, this book has the best cast.

I love how believable It Sounded Better in my Head turned out to be, and the was it wrapped up.

I know I said it many times this year, but I think this is my favourite read of 2020.

Because I loved it so much, I now want to read as many ya contemporaries as I can.

I recommend this novel to everyone who’s looking for something quick, easy, and entertaining.

The one about toxic friends: Faking Friends by Jane Fallon @MichaelJBooks @JaneFallon #booklovers #FakingFriends #Friends

GIFTED / Today I bring you my review for one blacklist title by one of my favourite authors.

Faking Friends is standalone published by Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House UK on January 11th 2018 and it has 448 pages.

I received this novel via Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review, and I want to thank to the publisher.

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / Best friend, soulmate, confidante . . . backstabber.

Amy thought she knew everything there was to know about her best friend Melissa. Then again, Amy also thought she was on the verge of the wedding of her dreams to her long-distance fiancé.

Until she pays a surprise trip home to London. Jack is out, but it’s clear another woman has been making herself at home in their flat.

There’s something about her stuff that feels oddly familiar . . . and then it hits Amy. The Other Woman is Melissa.

Amy has lost her home, her fiancé and her best friend in one disastrous weekend – but instead of falling apart, she’s determined to get her own back.

Piecing her life back together won’t be half as fun as dismantling theirs, after all.

Review:

I’ve read several books written by Jane Fallon and now I 100% stand behind my state that her books are perfect pick for book clubs.
There’s so many things that can be discussed and interpreted in different way, based on one’s look at life, and Faking Friends is no exception.

Out of all Fallon’s books, this one was my favourite.

The story pulled me in immediately, and it didn’t let go until the very end.
The main reason for that is beside the interesting things that happened the whole time, amazing writing style.
Since Fallon is well known and respected author for years now, it didn’t surprise me.

It is written in first person, from Amy’s POV, with some parts narrated by her frenemy Mel.

This book explores the topic of toxic friendships and I like how it gives perspective from which the reader can see signs of one being fake friend from the very beginning.
I’d like to believe that it will help some readers recognize toxic people around themselves.

This novel is women’s fiction in all it’s glory.
It talks about relationships, old ones and new ones, friendships, toxic and healthy ones, and one’s strength within herself.
This is not a love story or romance novel, so keep that in mind.

Overall, I really, really enjoyed reading Faking Friends and I can’t wait to see what else Jane Fallon has in store for us.
I highly, highly recommend it!

The one of huge importance: And the Stars Were Burning Brightly by Danielle Jawando #booklovers #bullying #fiction

GIFTED / Today I want to talk about one book that I read back in February, but haven’t reviewed it until now. It is, in my opinion, one very important book that talks about bullying and where it can lead if we close our eyes.

I received And the Stars Were Burning Brightly via Netgalley, and I want to say thank you to publisher Simon & Schuster UK for providing me a copy.

This novel was published on March 5th 2020 and it has 368 pages.

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / An emotionally rich and current story of suicide, mental health, bullying, grief and growing up around social media.

When fifteen-year-old Nathan discovers that his older brother Al has taken his own life, his whole world is torn apart.
Al was special.
Al was talented.
Al was full of passion and light…so why did he do it?
Convinced that his brother was in trouble, Nathan begins to retrace his footsteps. And along the way, he meets Megan. Al’s former classmate, who burns with the same fire and hope, who is determined to keep Al’s memory alive. But when Nathan learns the horrifying truth behind his brother’s suicide, one question remains – how do you survive, when you’re growing up in the age of social media?

Review:

And the Stars Were Burning Bright is such a wonderful, heart wrenching story with important topic (bullying) more people should talk about.

It explores the dark side of human beings and the ways to recover from loss.

I have to admit, I didn’t know about And The Stars Were Burning Brightly before it was READ NOW on Netgalley, but as I noticed it, and the premise sounded interesting to me, I couldn’t help myself. I had to read it.

And I am so glad I did give it a shot. I read it few months before it’s publication, but because of technical difficulties I wasn’t able to review it before (aka I postponed it because my computer broke).

The story follows two main characters: Nathan (who’s brother Al killed himself) and Megan (who was friends with Al but kept that friendship secret).
As they lost the one they loved, their lives intertwined.

The story is written in somewhat unique way.
It has two POVs written in first person: Nat’s and Meg’s, but every chapter starts with Al’s thoughts, that often includes space and stars, but also life.
I am grateful for Al’s parts.
However, I have to admit that Meg and Nathan sounded too similar at times.

This is emotional story, which is understandable because it covers serious topic, so be aware that it could make you sad.

I would recommend this book, and I would like to read more novels with the same theme because bullying and suicide is something we should all be more aware about.

Two non-fiction reviews: Why We Sleep and Let them Eat Dirt #nonfiction #sleeping #immunity #books

Gifted / Today I bring you two reviews for non-fiction books I read recently.

They are both with themes I am highly interested in, so I requested them via Netgalley. I want to thank publishers for providing me copies.

Also, I want to mention that I don’t rate non-fiction books, so these are just my thoughts.

Why We Sleep

Isn’t it ironic that I read this book about importance of sleep while sleep deprived?
That’s just how it is when you have to take care of new born baby – you don’t have much time for anything, including sleep. It is also the reason why it took me 19 days to finish this 360
pages long book – reading became luxury for me (let’s hope that will change for better soon).

Like the author has mentioned at the very beginning of this non-fiction, you can read Why We Sleep as a whole, or each part of it separately.
I read every word, including acknowledges (like I always do) and, to me, the most interesting part was the third one, which talks about REM seep and dreams.
I always knew dreams were important, and having read about it makes me appreciate them even more.

I also want to stress out how surprised I was to learn how sleep deprivation takes it’s toll on society.

I wish more people would be educated about importance of sleeping, because in our society time we spend on sleep is looked as time that we could use better, when in reality it is the time we spend well.
Because of that reason, I wish more people would read this book.

Let Them Eat Dirt

I had this non-fiction book since it first came out, but somehow never got around it.
Now when I finally gave it a chance, I am glad I read it at this point of my life, when I’m a mum to a newborn and can learn so much about developing his immunity.

I think this book gives valuable informations and advices, and it is also written in interesting way which makes it easy for everyone to understand what the authors wanted to say.
It is also full of examples which makes it even more easy to understand.

I would recommend it to parents of little children and newborns, and to parents to be.

What I read while I was away: four book reviews #booklovers #reading #bookbloggers #fiction

Gifted / I have been away from blogosphere for months now, due to personal things that happened in my life (I became a mother) but also because my computer broke and I didn’t fix it until today.

However, I started to miss this part of my life so badly, that I decided to run my blog from my cell, until this corona madness stops and I’ll be able to work on my laptop once again.

Today I bring you four reviews for books that I have read while I was away.

All of them I received via Netgalley, in an exchange for an honest review.

Such a Fun Age

I was so happy to have a chance to read Such a Fun Age, and when I heard it was chosen as Hallo Sunshine pick for January, my excitement was huge.

Such a Fun Age was such an amazing book.
No wonder it took bookish community by the storm! It is well deserved.

In my honest opinion, this is the perfect book for reading clubs and buddy reads, as it’s thought provoking.

While talking about race, classes, one’s place in the world and people’s relations, it is very enjoyable to read.

As I already said, it deserves all the success.
I expect this brilliant debut to be on many bloggers’ lists of favourites of 2020.

The Christmas Invitation

It is no secret that Trisha Ashley is dear to my heart.
I usually love her books and appreciate her as an author, so when she was coming out with her new Christmas novel The Christmas Invitation I was pretty excited.

Unfortunately, this time it didn’t work out. And it is probably me, not the novel.

You see, I had hard time concentrating on the story, was lost when trying to figure out what was going on and to be honest, I mistook characters more then once.
I blame the fact that I read it during last trimester of my pregnancy, when was so hard for me to focus on anything.

The story follows to POVs, one written in first person, and another written in third.
At first I wasn’t a fan of it, but then I realized that it helps me to focus on which perspective I was reading, so I started to like it.

Maybe I should give this book another chance once again in few years, and see what I’ll think about it.
Maybe I’d like it more the second time.

You, Me, Everything

I read You, Me, Everything when it first came out with aim to review it.
But life happened and I postponed and postponed my review writing until I realized I didn’t feel comfortable to give it proper review, because the book wasn’t fresh in my mind anymore.
But I loved it so much.

Then I decided to reread this masterpiece and even though I rated it 5 stars the first time I read it, I can say I appreciate it so much more the second time around.

What changed is I became a parent and I understand now the things I didn’t before, and I can say that I read You, Me, Everything with a new perspective.

This is the book where the characters make the readers appreciate their own lives.
Maybe it sounds dramatic, but once you give this book a chance, you’ll understand where I’m coming from.

The writing style was amazing, like it always is when it comes to Jane Costello (Catherine Isaac is pseudonym).
The story is written in first person.

I know there was movie production for this story, but I don’t know where it stands right now.
However, I hope we’ll get a chance to see You, Me, Everything on big screen.

I definitely recommend this one!

The Liar’s Daughter

This was really good book that talks about important topic called pedophilia. It should come with trigger warning, even though some would consider it a spoiler.
I agree that it is spoilery, but then again, I think it’s better to know what it is about then to have unwanted flashbacks of your own unpleasant experience.

The only downside to the story is it’s predictability.
Then again, maybe it was predictable to me, because I do have experience with a pedophile (I talked about it in my review for Living Dead Girl).

The writing style was really good and very easy to follow.
There were all kinds of characters, all gray in their own ways, and after a long time I found a character that really got on my nerves that I started to feel the similar thing to hate. If I said I hated her it would be too strong of a word, but it wasn’t far from that.

I also appreciated the creepy vibe of small town this novel provided.

In the end, I would recommend this book to lovers of dark mysteries.