powisamy

Characters versus plot, I feel like is a question that is mentioned quite often in the book community but which one is better and does it even matter? To be honest, I don't know but I feel like it can be generally a personal preference.  I guess my first thought at this question would be, of course, it is the characters. I mean you can have a great plot but if your characters are weak, what are who are you going to care about? I feel like there are notable things to consider, however, as we would all say things like, "I would read anything by J.K. Rowling especially the Harry Potter characters even if they were doing nothing." That's because they are great characters and as an audience, most of us care about these characters so much but would we really do this? I don't think so, in fairness it would probably be boring because if they had no plot the characters wouldn't be themselves.  Characters need the plot to develop and grow and make them real charac...

*I have received this book in exchange for an honest review from the publisher. All thoughts are my own * Title: Things A Bright Girl Can Do  Author: Sally Nicholls  Publisher: Andersen Press Source: From Publisher Rating: 5/5 stars ( Goodreads | Amazon ) Summary of the book from Goodreads : Through rallies and marches, in polite drawing rooms and freezing prison cells and the poverty-stricken slums of the East End, three courageous young women join the fight for the vote. Evelyn is seventeen, and though she is rich and clever, she may never be allowed to follow her older brother to university. Enraged that she is expected to marry her childhood sweetheart rather than be educated, she joins the Suffragettes, and vows to pay the ultimate price for women's freedom. May is fifteen, and already sworn to the cause, though she and her fellow Suffragists refuse violence. When she meets Nell, a girl who's grown up in hardship, she sees a kindred spirit. Toge...

So today is my day on The Red Ribbon book tour which gets released today and I get to have a Q and A with Lucy Adlington but first here is a little about the book: Book Summary from Goodreads : Rose, Ella, Marta and Carla. In another life we might have all been friends together. But this was Birchwood.  As fourteen-year-old Ella begins her first day at work she steps into a world of silks, seams, scissors, pins, hems and trimmings. She is a dressmaker, but this is no ordinary sewing workshop. Hers are no ordinary clients. Ella has joined the seamstresses of Birkenau-Auschwitz.  Every dress she makes could be the difference between life and death. And this place is all about survival.  Ella seeks refuge from this reality, and from haunting memories, in her work and in the world of fashion and fabrics. She is faced with painful decisions about how far she is prepared to go to survive.  Is her love of clothes and creativity nothing more than coll...

*I have received these books from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own * Title: A Quiet Kind of Thunder Author: Sara Barnard  Publisher: MyKindaBook Source: Netgalley Rating: 3.5/5 stars ( Goodreads | Amazon ) Book Review: Sara Barnard is an author who is highly praised by many in the UKYA community so when everyone was raving about her books, I was really excited to read one of her books but I was a little bit disappointed with this one but I would love to read more of her books in the future.  I can't really put my finger on why I disliked this book but I guess that maybe it was partly to do with the hype around her as an author that I was a little disappointed by this but it could also be the drama that happens in the book. It did just feel like Steffi and Rhys had so much drama in the story that I just kind of wanted them to be happy and it did just seem really petty at times. I did, however, love Steffi and Rhys as char...

To continue with my aim of reading diversely, I decided at the beginning of the year that I was going to do the Diversity Bingo Challenge. The idea of this being to read 36 books and complete the bingo-like sheet with the aim being to read as much diverse fiction as possible. Like a lot of people in the bookish community, I wanted to continue reading more diverse books and thought this would be the way to do it. This post is to update myself and others on my progress in this challenge so if you are looking for recommendations in what to read please look here , here ,  here and here . So let's get started... Romance with a trans MC: Non-binary MC (own voices): SFF w/disabled MC: Jewish MC: The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli Indian MC (own voices): Displaced MC: The Jungle by Pooja Puri MC with an under-represented body: Panther by David Owen  Neuro-diverse MC (own voices): The State of Grace by Rachael Lucas Re-telling with MC belonging to LGB...

* I have received this book for review from the publisher but this in no way affects my review * Title: Fire Lines Author: Cara Thurlbourn  Source: From Publisher  Publisher: Bekwick Press Rating: 3.5/5 stars ( Goodreads ) Book Summary from Goodreads : When your blood line awakens, how do you choose between family and freedom? Émi’s father used to weave beautiful tales of life beyond the wall, but she never knew if they were true. Now, her father is gone and Émi has been banished to the Red Quarter, where she toils to support herself and her mother – obeying the rules, hiding secrets and suffering the cruelties of the council’s ruthless Cadets. But when Émi turns seventeen, sparks fly – literally. Her blood line surges into life and she realises she has a talent for magick… a talent that could get her killed. Émi makes her escape, beyond the wall and away from everything she’s ever known. In a world of watchers, elephant riders and sor...

* I have received this book for review from the publisher but this in no way affects my review * Title: Prisoner of Ice and Snow Author: Ruth Lauren  Source: From Publisher  Publisher: Bloomsbury Rating: 4/5 stars ( Goodreads | Amazon ) Book Summary from Goodreads : Valor is under arrest for the attempted murder of the crown prince. Her parents are outcasts from the royal court, her sister is banished for theft of a national treasure, and now Valor has been sentenced to life imprisonment at Demidova, a prison built from stone and ice. But that's exactly where she wants to be. For her sister was sent there too, and Valor embarks on an epic plan to break her out from the inside. No one has escaped from Demidova in over three hundred years, and if Valor is to succeed she will need all of her strength, courage and love. If the plan fails, she faces a chilling fate worse than any prison ... An unforgettable story of sisterhood, valour and rebe...

So over the last week, I have taken part in two readathons which ran from the 28th August to 1st September which is #SundayYAthon. The SundayYAthon had three challenges which can be picked from the following picture. My TBR was posted on Twitter so you can see that here:  A tentative #sundayyathon TBR Recommended Read: Wing Jones Diverse Read: Monstress Free Choice: A Game of Thrones City of Saints and Thieves pic.twitter.com/mQBUBh1leS — Amy (@powisamy) August 28, 2017 So let's get started to see my progress... I ended up reading 4 books as part of the readathon but only three of those books were on my TBR. The first book that I finished was A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin which counted for the free choice feature of the readathon. I had already read over 400 pages before the readathon but I decided that I really wanted to finish it so thus the first book was completed. I really enjoyed A Game of Thrones although it was a little bit out of my c...