Friday 25 May 2012

Review - The Hunt By Andrew Fukuda

"Against all odds, 17-year-old Gene has survived in a world where humans have been eaten to near extinction by the general population. The only remaining humans, or hepers as they are known, are housed in domes on the savannah and studied at the nearby Heper Institute. Every decade there is a government sponsored hunt. When Gene is selected to be one of the combatants he must learn the art of the hunt but also elude his fellow competitors whose suspicions about his true nature are growing." taken from goodreads

I first heard of this book at the Christmas Simon & Schuster blogger event.  I was instantly intrigued by the look and sound of the plot.  I loved the idea of a vampiric / Hunger Games mixture.  Here's what I thought.

The cover is HOT!!  The guy is stunning, which is an instant pull to the book.  The creepy guys in the background tell you that some scary stuff goes down too.  I'm interested to see what book two's cover will be like.

On starting this I was pretty scared by the creepy reality that our lead character lives in.  He has to hide every thing about his humanness and is completely isolated living alone.  But it is from here that I started to feel my first niggles with the book.  Obviously this is its own book and I really shouldn't be thinking of the vampires that have been written about before, but I couldn't help it.  The way a human is detected in this world just didn't make sense to me.  There are some things that would be impossible to hide and yet our lead character seems to be able to do this.  The big thing for me was that the vampires could only smell blood if a human (Heper) was cut.  I could just not understand this and so made the book some what frustrating for me throughout.

There are however some extremely thrilling turn of events that would be so hard to not be enthralled by.  There are many dramatic and action filled scenes that had me on the edge of my seat.  I felt so much fear for Gene and constantly worried about where his actions would lead.

The story concludes with a cliff hanger as I expected and definitely left me wanting to know where the story will go next.  I will be buying the next instalment for sure - I just need to overcome my vampire baggage!!

Rating 3 Out Of 5

Published In The UK By Simon And Schuster

This Can Be Purchased HERE and from good book retailers

Thursday 24 May 2012

Philippa Gregory Q&A and Changeling Widget


Changeling, the first YA novel by Philippa Gregory is finally released this week!!  I for one am so excited for this amazing looking new series.  To celebrate the launch a fantastic widget has been created which you can find here -  http://www.orderofdarkness.com/widget/

Simon & Schuster have also done this incredible question and answer session with Philippa Gregory, which I am thrilled to share with you!!!

How was writing a book for teens different from writing a book for adults? I don't think there is any difference for me in terms of the craft of writing. I think that the quality and enjoyment of the novel should be at least equal to a book for adults. 
      
          Do you have a favourite character in your new teen series? I created the two principal characters of Luca and Isolde and liked them so much, but then I was amazed to find that the servant character of Frieze just jumped off the page. He is funny and full of common sense, wonderful with animals and has a great loving nature. His role just grew through the story as I came to like writing about him more and more. He is very important in book 2, and I think I will end up with a cast of 4 principal characters rather than 2.
   
         When you are writing a multi-book series, do you work from an outline (know all the beats) or do you work toward an ending (know how it all ends)? This has been the first series that I have written that is not anchored completely by the historical record, so I have revelled in the freedom of it and have worked on each novel quite independently. I know where the whole series ultimately ends, but I don't know yet how I will get there. It's a truly creative process, I feel as if I am making it up as I go along and loving this.

          Why did you set your new teen series in the 15th century? The date of 1453 is such a key one - people really believed that it was the end of the world. It is this belief that means that Luca has his job in exploring the "end of days" and also means that there are so many manifestations of the supernatural that people report.
       
 How is it working with fictional characters rather than real historical figures It has been a real holiday from the demands of accuracy and research. It has set the novelist in me free for the first time in a long time. I love discovering and researching the historical characters, but to be able to create characters from imagination has been a real treat.

Wednesday 23 May 2012

Welcome,Caller Blog Tour - Shelley Coriell On Cover Making

Author Shelley Coriell on the Magic of Cover Making

In my debut contemp novel WELCOME, CALLER, THIS IS CHLOE – I describe my main character, Chloe, as a sixteen-year-old radio talk show host with a huge collection of vintage shoes and “red-orange hair, as soft and wavy as a handful of poppy petals.” That’s it. Nothing else.
Chloe, who is strong, self-confident, and comfortable in her own “skin” – is such a different YA protag, and her story is very different than many YAs on shelves today. As most authors are prone to do, I worried (okay, obsessed) over what kind of cover I would get, especially with the limited physical description I gave. I knew a girls-in-gowns type cover wouldn’t fly, and I couldn’t visualize a half face or random body part.
So imagine my shock when I first saw the cover comps from the design team at Amulet who absolutely nailed Chloe and her story. Like Chloe, all of the cover comps were different, bold, bright, and in-your-face. And that mouth is spot on. I can hear her say, “Welcome, caller, this is Chloe. What’s on your heart tonight?”


 


















(Photos courtesy of Amulet Books/Abrams)
Early on, the Amulet design team decided to use a real girl on the cover, not an illustration, something that thrilled me as an author. This is a contemporary YA about a real girl with real problems. The book surprises many people in that it isn’t “light and fluffy” as the people in Chloe’s world deal with serious issues such as Parkinson’s and drug addiction.
Amulet performed a model search, thumbing through hundreds of portfolios looking for a teen-aged, red-headed model who could also pull off the vintage vibe that runs through the book.
They found teen model Taylor Adkins in Atlanta, Georgia, and flew her to New York for an audition. After meeting her, the design team knew she was the perfect “Chloe.” Taylor flew
a second time to New York where designer Maria Middleton, photographer Jonathan Beckerman, and the Amulet team worked their magic.
Middleton said they hired two talented hair and makeup artists and solicited some great vintage clothes from fashionistas in the office. “Viola! Chloe!”  




(Photos courtesy of Jonathan Beckerman)
I have since met Taylor, who is doing a number of book signings with me across the United States, and the crazy thing is, she’s just like Chloe: upbeat, funny, and genuinely kind hearted.
Your turn, now. Let’s hear about your cover “loves.” Give a shout out to some of the best YA covers you’ve seen in the past year, especially those that “nail” the story.

To learn more about young adult author Shelley Coriell and Chloe’s high school radio world, visit www.shelleycoriell.com

I read this book earlier this year and adored it - You can find my review HERE

Be sure to check out the Abrams & Chronicle Facebook page for some awesome 'Chloe' related Giveaways

Friday 18 May 2012

Review - City Of Lost Souls By Cassandra Clare

Spoilers from previous books are possible

"Jace is now a servant of evil, bound for all eternity to Sebastian. Only a small band of Shadowhunters believe he can be saved. To do this they must defy the Clave. And they must act without Clary. For Clary is playing a dangerous game utterly alone. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace's soul.

Clary is willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost?

What price is too high to pay, even for love?"
taken from Goodreads


Where do I begin with this wonderful book......

Firstly the Cover, I really like this and think the models on the front really capture the likeness's of Clary and Jace, and if I didn't know of the books would of felt inclined to pick the book up just on the cover alone.

We start off immediately where City of Fallen Angels ended, in this the 5th book of her Mortal Instruments series but saying that all of Cassie Clare's Mortal Instruments book are excellent stand alone books, with cliff hangers if you want to read just one.

 In these books, for anyone that hasn't read the previous books in the Mortal Instruments series, we have Magic, Werewolves, faeries, Warlocks, all set in modern day America, plus various European countries. Also Young love, Mature love, Gay love, and even a bit of incest, but these are just a tiny part of this 539 page book.

I can't tell you anything of the book in any great detail, as I'd be giving you spoilers and literally this is such an action packed book, every couple of pages would bring a spoiler!!! We get to see more of the characters in depth, and find out why some are as they are nowadays. We also see more of Jocelyn in this book and we have some new characters.
Cassie has also written them in a more adult theme, and there were some scenes that made me go Oooohhhh!!!! Maia, Alec and Magnus, will never be quite the same in my eyes.

To me, Clary is my daughter District YA, Jace is her partner and Simon our next door neighbour (although I'd like Simon to be her partner) and I of course am Jocelyn. I read the stories and we become them, I'd love to give you a story that I can liken from my past that would emulate their story, but alas we really never had that much excitement. Mind you having said that when I was 10, we went to live in Australia and en route we stopped in Cairo, we were warned before leaving the ship on no account to go to the Cairo museum as in the last couple of months before we arrived, two people had been taken to the Museum by fake policeman and been murdered. I was sitting in an outdoor cafe with my parents and little brother when a policeman came up and started to speak in very good English, and said he would like to show us around the Cairo Museum!!!! My Dad told him to push off, with that a cab pulled up and the Policeman grabbed my Mums arm and tried to get her into the cab, with the cab driver trying to push my brother and myself into the back on the other side!!!! My Dad did no more than punch the Policeman as hard as he could in the  face, grabbed my little brother and told us too run, run, run. I had my Mums hand and we could of won the Olympics, we ran so fast. We had a number of people running after us, police, cab driver and a number of Egyptian men, but we got to the boat, and they were shouting and screaming at us.... Luckily the boat left a couple of hours later, and these men stayed on the quayside until we left. My Dad would definitely of been Nephilim. But that is the wonderful thing with Cassie, she writes so descriptively and with such enthusiasm that that you do become the characters or at the very least find ways to relate to them.

I'm going to meet Cassie on the 26th May, and really can't wait to tell her what a superb writer she is, I think she would be my perfect dinner companion, and I want to know if in real life she has as much energy as her characters. The only thing that would make her books better is if she brought them out chapter by chapter, so we didn't have to wait another year for the next edition.

In my opinion The Mortal Instrument books are my favourite books of all time, and she deals with various issues in such an enlightened way.

Rating 5 Out Of 5

Published In The UK By Walker Books

This Can Be Purchased HERE and from Good Book Retailers

Review By SUE

Thursday 17 May 2012

Event Report - Foyles Creative Voices 1 - 2nd May 2012

On the 2nd May Neil at Foyles held the first in what looks to be a fantastic series of events.  Each event showcases current YA authors.  They get to share their stories of how they got where they are and also about their books.



The first events authors were the awesome Amy Plum, Ruth Warburton, C J Daugherty and Sara Grant.  I have read books by all the authors and so was really excited to meet all of them and find out where their stories stemmed from.

Photo courtesy of Serendipty Reviews

Going to the event was also an awesome way to catch up with all my bookish pals too!!  We actually got to the event rather early, so got ourselves front row seats.  I have to say it wasn't that wise of Foyles to leave a group of book bloggers unattended in a room at Foyles.  Much laughter and random tweeting ensued, including Viv capturing some of us warming up the seats for the authors.  It was a thrill to be in the main seats just for a while.


The amazing authors took to the stage, with a very eager audience excited to hear their tales.

Amy kicked off the sharing telling us about where the idea for the Revenants series came from.  She told us about her wanting to copyright the word Revenants - it was decided that, that would be rather tricky as its a very well used word.  Amy read a passage from the new book 'Until I Die'


Next up was Sara Grant.  We learnt about where the idea for the story came from.  It was fascinating to hear about her decision to go with the dystopian route.  Sara read a somewhat steamy extract from 'Dark Parties'  Anyone that hadn't read it, surely wanted to after hearing her read!



Ruth was the third author to talk.  It was quite fun to hear from her perspective being the only British author in the group.  I definitely could relate to a lot of what Ruth had to say.  She read one of my favourite passages from her book 'A Witch In Winter'



Lastly C J got to share her tales of becoming the author she is today.  Her book is somewhat different as it is more of a thriller, whereas the others all have the supernatural / different reality twists.  She chose a really exciting part of her story to read that definitely left people wanting more.


The next part of the event was the audience getting to ask questions.  For some reason everyone was rather shy and somewhat reluctant to speak with an audience.  But some great questions did get asked.  I for one need to get over my fear of public speaking!!

At the end we all got to go and get our books signed, which was amazing.  Its so exciting to be able to ask the person that knows the characters we have come to love the most.  Sara for one cleared up something that had been playing on my mind - I won't reveal as this has to stay spoiler free.

And so our evening come to an end.  An absolutely fabulous night was had by all and left me so excited for any upcoming events. 
Many Thanks to all involved in the evening!!

You can read event reports by Serendipity Reviews , Sisterspooky , Amy Plum - Yes Amy mentioned ME!!  Eeek!

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Books That Make Me Go Oooooh (46) Grave Mercy By Robin LaFevers

Waiting On Wednesday is a brilliant book blog feature hosted by Breaking The Spine     

Grave Mercy By Robin LaFevers
Published In The UK By Andersen
Due For Release June 2012
Amazon LINK
Goodreads LINK

"Young, beautiful and deadly. Trained as an assassin by the god of Death, Ismae is sent to the court of Brittany, where she finds herself under prepared - not only for the games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death's vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?" taken from Goodreads


I was recently having a twitter chat with my good friend Krystal from Bookshelf Banter.  We were discussing our love of Poison Study by Maria V Snyder.  Krystal mentioned this amazing new book that I just had to check out - that happened to be Grave Mercy.  Without a doubt this sounds so my sort of book.  I can't wait to get this!!

Tuesday 15 May 2012

Question And Answers with JULIE KAGAWA

The lovely ladies at Mira Ink gave me the awesome opportunity to ask Julie Kagawa five questions on the back of the release of The Immortal Rules (Review HERE)
It was such a fantastic chance to be given and so after a lot of pondering these are the questions and answers we got.....


     1. As a fellow animal lover I know the horrid jobs we get - what is your least favourite?  (mine is the cat litter tray)
Fortunately, the hubby does that one (the litter box) for me. Apart from that, let’s just say that I have a long-haired dog and sometimes I have clean up the fur at the hind end of him. This is generally a task that requires scissors and copious amounts of paper towels, followed by a good hosing-off of everyone and everything involved

 2. If you could have dinner with 1 of your characters, which would you choose and why? 
Ash. I’m a sucker for the stoic, brooding, bad boy. And how can you turn down the whole heroic, sacrificing knight? Plus, think of all the money you could save on air conditioning…


3.      What do you do to find writing inspiration?
I find inspiration in manga and anime. I think the blend of action, humor, and tragedy that you can find in both makes for a very compelling story. I also find inspiration in video games, which give me both inspiration and needed down time.

 
4. What made you change from the world of animal care to writing?

It wasn’t really a change. I was always writing, even when I was working in the animal care / animal training space. When I got published, it became a time thing… in order to meet deadlines, I didn’t have time to keep trying to be a professional animal trainer. Since I have 4 (while 10 if you count the chickens) animals at home, I still get plenty of opportunities to train, care for, and (most importantly) play with all kinds of cute and fuzzy critters.

 
5. What’s your guilty pleasure? (in books, music, TV whatever?)
Video gaming is probably my biggest guilty pleasure (except that I don’t really feel guilty about playing them). I think modern video games are wonderful story-telling platforms with complex story lines that present the players with decisions that affect the world of the story. Final Fantasy X can still make me cry. I also get a kick out of games like The Sims that let you build worlds and control the characters within them (sounds a lot like writing, right?).


Huge Thanks to Julie for taking the time to answer my questions!!

Monday 14 May 2012

Review - Midwinterblood By Marcus Sedgwick

Have you ever had the feeling that you've lived another life? Been somewhere that has felt totally familiar, even though you've never been there before, or felt that you know someone well, even though you are meeting them for the first time? It happens. In 2073 on the remote and secretive island of Blessed, where rumour has it that no one ages and no children are born, a visiting journalist, Eric Seven, and a young local woman known as Merle are ritually slain. Their deaths echo a moment ten centuries before, when, in the dark of the moon, a king was slain, tragically torn from his queen. Their souls search to be reunited, and as mother and son, artist and child, forbidden lovers, victims of a vampire they come close to finding what they've lost. In a novel comprising seven parts, each influenced by a moon - the flower moon, the harvest moon, the hunter's moon, the blood moon - this is the story of Eric and Merle whose souls have been searching for each other since their untimely parting. taken from Goodreads

I was lucky enough to meet Marcus last year, admitedly I hadn't read any of his books but had heard of him. We were at a Twilight convention where a few authors were also attending and Marcus told us a little about his self and how he'd come to write Midwinterblood.

Marcus decided to take his self to one of the small Scottish Islands to write Midwinterblood as he'd been trying to write this book for sometime and wasn't having a lot of luck, there he managed in weeks to write this very clever book.

Midwinterblood in my opinion is literally back to front with the last chapter being an epilogue. It starts in the year 2073 and you go into the story feeling that your at the end of the story, but how did we get here, and why? I wasn't sure at this stage if this was the book for me, but felt intrigued enough to want to read the second chapter.

Part two 2011, We have a little more information, but more mystery, more questions??

We carry on like this for seven parts going back to a time unknown, each part brings answers but keeps you asking. There is something thats familiar going from one part to the next, souls going from one part to the next, recarnation? reunited souls? vampires......

I'm not sure if a younger YA would understand this, and in my opinion the book is better aimed at the older YA, or in my case YA's mummy!!!!

I really liked this unusual addictive book, and don't feel i've read anything quite like this before, would really recommend.

4 out of 5

Published In The UK By Indigo

This Can Be Purchased HERE and from good book sellers

Review By SUE

Sunday 13 May 2012

Letterbox Love (2)

Letterbox Love Is Hosted By The Fabulous Lynsey over at Narratively Speaking.  Its a fun way for us to showcase our weeks new books here in the UK
Book links will take you to Amazon UK
 
 
 
This week has been rather fab!  I got to attend the launch of Tanya Byrne's debut book Heart-Shaped Bruise, Which was just incredible.  
Then yesterday I got to attend another fabulous event held at Foyles with lots of awesome authors.
 Here is what I got this week!
 
RECEIVED
 
I was thrilled to get a copy of this, this week.  I had actually bought a copy the week before, but receiving this meant I could give it to my Mum and keep my book to myself!!  Many Thanks to Walker Books

I have the first two books in the series  and am still to read them - I've heard amazing things about them!  Many Thanks To Simon & Schuster

This I am so intrigued by - Really looking forward to starting it.  Thanks To the people at Electric Monkey

I love the Body Finder series and although I know this is different, I have it on very good authority that it rocks.  Thanks to Alison & Busby for my Copy

BOUGHT

I've not got round to getting this yet, so HAD to buy a copy at the signing

I was lucky to receive an ARC of this, so have already read this story - I was so blown over by it!!  I had to get myself a gorgeous copy of the book!! 

Wednesday 9 May 2012

Books That Make Me Go Oooooh (45) The Reckoning By Alma Katsu

Waiting On Wednesday is a brilliant book blog feature hosted by Breaking The Spine     

The Reckoning By Alma Katsu
Published In The UK By Century
Due For Release In June 2012
Amazon LINK
Goodreads LINK

"I turned to Luke and reached for him. My blood felt as though it had seized up in my veins.
“Lanny, what is it?” Luke asked.
I clutched his lapel desperately.
“It’s Adair. He’s free.”
FOR 200 YEARS SHE’S BEEN HIDING 
He gave her immortality.
She tried to destroy him.
Now he is searching for her.
They must not meet. 

Or there will be a RECKONING"

The Taker was the only adult book I read last year.  I tend to find YA books the right comfort level for me, but something about The Taker fascinated me and made me long to read it.  It was an interesting reading adventure as I certainly hadn't read anything like it before and was totally addicted to it.  Now I eagerly await the second round of new reading when the sequel The Reckoning is released - I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Monday 7 May 2012

Review - Heart-Shaped Bruise By Tanya Byrne

"They say I'm evil. The police. The newspapers. The girls from school who shake their heads on the six o’clock news and say they always knew there was something not quite right about me. And everyone believes it. Including you. But you don't know. You don't know who I used to be.

Who I could have been.

Awaiting trial at Archway Young Offenders Institution, Emily Koll is going to tell her side of the story for the first time.

Heart-Shaped Bruise is a compulsive and moving novel about infamy, identity and how far a person might go to seek revenge
"
Taken from Goodreads

Something that concerned me when I starting reviewing books was what happens if I review the book of an author that I kind of know, I quickly told myself off for being daft that would never happen.  Well a lovely surprise for me was that I actually struck up quite an awesome friendship with Tanya (check her out on twitter guys @tanyabyrne - she is amazing!!)  So my first concern came back into play on starting this - I'm thrilled to say I had nothing to worry about!!!

The cover is gorgeous.  I don't think it says a whole lot about the story, but it would be incredibly difficult to sum this book up in an image. It has a somewhat sinister look to it, so definitely shows the right set up.

From reading the blurb I was somewhat concerned about the character Emily, who's point of view you are reading from.  It really doesn't sum her up as the nicest person in the world and made me kind of judge her straight away in thinking that I really should dislike her.  Imagine my absolute shock when I started to read the story and found myself relating to Emily.  Now I'm not declaring that I have been in a youth offenders unit or anything like that, but I have been through the whole process of meeting with councillors trying to deal with issues.  I could so relate to Emily's views on what seemed like stupid, annoying questions and so making her act even more irritably.

The more I read of the sessions and Emily's thoughts the more intrigued I was getting.  I wanted to know the back story and how we had got to where we were and so my reading time kept increasing.  The story develops at a great speed, letting you know the right things at the right times.

I didn't expect to find myself giggling along with the book and so was very pleasantly surprised with some funny moments.  These were serious black humour moments and I did feel a little guilty laughing, but I love the fact that some humour can be brought in to moments of intense seriousness.

I found myself making some realisations of the characters and possibly the reason behind the actions of Emily.  I don't want to say too much but I will definitely be asking Tanya if my wondering is accurate!!

The end of the story was beautifully put together.  I was left with a few little queries on what happened with some characters, but at the same time felt actually it wasn't important to know about them.  The priority was to know about Emily and this was accomplished perfectly.

This was an absolutely fascinating read, on a subject that isn't entirely comfortable.  Tanya did an amazing job of telling the story of Emily and has left me wanting more from her - soon I hope!!

Rating 4 Out Of 5

Published In The UK By Headline

This Can Be Purchased HERE and from good book retailers

Sunday 6 May 2012

Letterbox Love (1)

Letterbox Love Is Hosted By The Fabulous Lynsey over at Narratively Speaking.  Its a fun way for us to showcase our weeks new books here in the UK
Book links will take you to Amazon UK



As you may or may not have noticed I didn't take part in IMM last week.  Partly down to a very busy weekend, but also down to all the current controversy surrounding it.
Because of that a group of us UK bloggers got chatting on twitter and thought it would be quite nice to actually make our own inspired by version.

FOR REVIEW

This sounds so good - I've been wanting this for a while now!!  Thanks to Simon & Schuster

I've had 0.4 for about a year now and still need to read it - hoping this may give me the push to hurry up!  Thanks to Egmont

I heard about this last year at the ATOM bloggers party and have been excited to finally get a copy.  Thanks to Atom

This is very unique sounding - looking forward to giving this a read.  Thanks to Atlantic books

Possibly my most anticipated book of the year - I have already read & reviewed this one!! Thanks to Harper Collins


  BOUGHT

I actually haven't read this series, but I went to Darren's signing with my cousin and was happy to buy a copy of the book whilst I was there

Three words - OH MY GOD!!!  So EXCITED for this!!!

Many Thanks to all the lovely publishers who sent me books

Friday 4 May 2012

Book Trailer - SHIFT By Em Bailey

I heard about Shift By Em Bailey recently and have been quite intrigued by it since.  The blurb makes it sound utterly enthralling.  Then I was sent the trailer to share with you guys - now I just NEED this book in my life!  I feel chilled to the bone, yet morbidly excited........

This Is Published In The UK By Electric Monkey Books

Here's a it more about the book courtesy of Goodreads:
Olive Corbett is not crazy. Not anymore.

She obediently takes her meds and stays under the radar at school. After "the incident," Olive just wants to avoid any more trouble, so she knows the smartest thing is to stay clear of the new girl who is rumored to have quite the creepy past.
But there’s no avoiding Miranda Vaile. As mousy Miranda edges her way into the popular group, right up to the side of queen bee Katie – and pushes the others right out – only Olive seems to notice that something strange is going on. Something almost . . . parasitic. Either Olive is losing her grip on reality, or Miranda Vaile is stealing Katie’s life.

But who would ever believe crazy Olive, the girl who has a habit of letting her imagination run away with her? And what if Olive is the next target?


Wednesday 2 May 2012

Review - Insurgent By Veronica Roth

"War looms in sixteen-year-old Tris’s dark dystopian world as disputes between the factions grow. Tris must now fight against all odds to discover the truth that can save her and the people she loves. Sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge – and the choices she makes will have devastating and unexpected consequences." taken from Goodreads

Just over a year ago now my very good friend Jenny over at Wondrous Reads sent me a new book that she thought was incredible and she thought I might just like it.  That book happened to be DIVERGENT.  I read it as soon as I could and fell absolutely in love with it.  It was easily my favourite book of 2011 and I've been dying to read the follow up.
That was why I was thrilled when Harper Collins chose me to be a part of the reviewing group for the book.  All of the reviewers were assigned to factions, as the characters in the book are.  I was put in the group of AMITY the peaceful.  I consider myself a fairly laid back, chilled person so found Amity quite the great fit.

I'll kick off with my cover review - I have to say I am not overly fond of the new UK covers.  For me they just don't have the appeal that the original style US covers do.
I do like the colouring - Its quite a passionate tone. 

The story kicks off straight from where it left off.  It was a treat to jump back in and be reunited with Tris & Four.  I had missed the characters so much in our over a year separation, so it was great to know I hadn't missed any of their story.

I must say it took some perseverance for me to really get into the story.  I put this mostly on the fact that I put so much pressure on myself to adore that book, that it ended up being a bit of work getting in to it.  That said though I managed to read 165 pages in the first day, so I think that shows that I very quickly got into the story and wanted to keep reading.

I had a somewhat love / annoyance relationship with Tris in this instalment of the trilogy.  I loved the fact that she is imperfect and has somewhat dark thoughts at times, it makes her more real to me as a reader.  I always find these really strong noble female characters a bit difficult to connect with, not that Tris doesn't have moments of that too. 
On the other hand Tris can be incredibly infuriating, she makes some very rash decisions that you want to scream 'why are you doing that?' but this of course makes for some very exciting tales.  Veronica's writing of Tris makes the story reading for me more immersive and I love that I can feel different emotions for the same character.

Insurgent is littered with so many 'dun dun dun' moments.  I was on the edge of my seat for most of the read thinking "oh what next?, how can that happen?, why did they say that?"
There were times I was left in absolute shock - how many books actually manage to do that now days??  Very few that I have found!!

This manages to come to a thrilling conclusion that left me satisfied despite its cliffhanger ending but just as eager to get to the final part of the story.  That said I have no idea how I will live without Tris & Four??

This is an incredible read that I felt had some hints of Lost TV show (I was addicted to that show).  It also had me thinking of a movie but I won't mention the title of that as that could be somewhat spoilerish!!

Rating 5 Out Of 5

Published In The UK By Harper Collins Childrens Books

This Can Be Purchased HERE and from good book retailers