Mini-Review : I Even Funnier by James Patterson Middle schooler Jamie Grimm has big dreams of being the best stand-up comic in the world – and he won't let the fact that he's in a wheelchair get in his way. After winning the New York state finals in the Planet's Funniest Kid Comic Contest, Jamie's off to Boston to compete in the national semi-finals. But when one of his best buddies runs into trouble at school and a sudden family health scare rears its head, Jamie has to put his comedic ambitions on hold and stand by the people he cares about. Can Jamie pass up the big competition for the sake of his friends and family? This is the second book in the I Funny series by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein. I've already reviewed the first book, I Funny, and I will leave a link at the end. Anyway, you may have seen that I brought both this book and the first book from my local charity shop (I will leave a link to the haul at the end) in hardback for 50p each. I finally got round to reading them so here's the review! If you haven't read the first book then I recommend that you don't read this review as it may include spoilers to the first book. This book follows what happens to Jamie after winning the New York state final in the Planet's Funniest Kid Comic Contest. Jamie is preparing for the national semi-finals in Boston, however during that time he is faced with a lot of trouble and problems including when one of his best friends, Joey, gets into trouble at school. That's nothing compared to when he finds out that his best friends' mum gets Cancer. As you can see Jamie has to face a lot during this preparation time and that's not even all of it. Unlike my normal reviews, I will not be talking in detail about the different characters as I have already talked about them in my review for I Funny. I will be talking about the plot though. Plot Overall, I thought the plot was great and you found out a lot more about the characters in this book. I found it to be a great continuation to the first book and I enjoyed every minute of it. Just like the first book, I finished this one quite quickly though I tried to take my time with it. I think the storyline was great and the book was brilliant. Rate 4/5 BYE! I Funny Review - I Even Funnier by James Patterson GRhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17612524-i-even-funnier?from_search=true&search_version=service BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/I-Even-Funnier--A-Middle-School-Story/9780099567448
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Spoiler-Free Review : Silence Is Goldfish by Annabel Pitcher My name is Tess Turner - at least, that's what I've always been told. I have a voice but it isn't mine. It used to say things so I'd fit in, to please my parents, to please my teachers. It used to tell the universe I was something I wasn't. It lied. It never occurred to me that everyone else was lying too. But the words that really hurt weren't the lies: it was six hundred and seventeen words of truth that turned my world upside down. Words scare me, the lies and the truth, so I decided to stop using them. I am Pluto. Silent. Inaccessible. Billions of miles away from everything I thought I knew. Tessie-T has never really felt she fitted in and after what she read that night on her father's blog she knows for certain that she never will. How she deals with her discovery makes an entirely riveting, heart-breaking story told through Tess's eyes as she tries to find her place in the world. *I received an ARC from Hachette Children's Group via NetGalley* I only received the first three chapters therefore I won't be able to comment on the whole book, only the section I read. Characters As I only read the first three chapters, I couldn't get that much of a grasp on the characters as much as I would've liked, but from what I read the characters all seemed likeable apart from Tess' "father". Tess - Tess is a girl who has never fitted in, but lead her parents along thinking she had. She always said the right thing to try and fit in but it never really worked. She's finally made up her mind that she's going to stop pretending and lying and just be herself. Already in just the first few chapters I felt a connection with Tess. A connection that I believe would only get stronger throughout the story. Overall I think her character has a lot of potential. I don't feel as if I can really talk about the other characters as I don't know anything about them. Plot
At the start I have to admit I was ever so slightly confused with what was going on, but that soon started to come clear as I went along. I definitely enjoyed what I read and I think that it would only get better as the story progresses. Rate 3.75/5 If I'd read the whole book or maybe even a little bit more I'm pretty sure I would've been able to give it a higher rating. I will probably pick up the finished book in the future (maybe from the library) to continue on with the story. BYE! Silence Is Goldfish GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25250548-silence-is-goldfish?from_search=true&search_version=service BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/Silence-is-Goldfish/9781780620008 Spoiler-Free Review : Sophie Someone by Hayley Long A remarkable tale of confusion and betrayal - and a very special girl called Sophie. 'Some stories are hard to tell. Even to your very best friend. And some words are hard to get out of your mouth. Because they spell out secrets that are too huge to be spoken out loud. But if you bottle them up, you might burst. So here's my story. Told the only way I dare tell it.' Sophie Nieuwenleven is sort of English and sort of Belgian. Sophie and her family came to live in Belgium when she was only four or five years old, but she's fourteen now and has never been quite sure why they left England in the first place. Then, one day, Sophie makes a startling discovery. Finally Sophie can unlock the mystery of who she really is. This is a story about identity and confusion - and feeling so utterly freaked out that you just can't put it into words. But it's also about hope. And the belief that, somehow, everything will work out OK. SOPHIE SOMEONE is a tale of well-intentioned but stupid parenting, shock, acceptance and, ultimately, forgiveness, written in a brave, memorable and unique language all of its own. *I received this book from the author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review * I heard quite a few people, who received an early copy like me, say that it was an amazing read and the synopsis really intrigued me so I hopped on over to NetGalley to see if it was available for request. I was lucky enough that it was and I was even more luckier when I got accepted to read it. I immediately added it to my list of books that I need to read for review (I have like over 20 and most of them are overdue, oops!) and it had been sat there since. I eventually decided that I need to read it so I started reading it. I got about 20 pages in and then for some reason I stopped reading it, I don't know why so don't ask. Anyway, a couple of days later I remembered it and picked it back up again and I have to admit at first I was quite confused, but then I got a clearer image of what was happening and I was soon hooked. When I started to read it the thing that instantly stood out was the writing. The writing was quite simple and straightforward, but that wasn't the thing that surprised me. The girl (Sophie) was telling the story and she had made up her own language (sort of) and exchanged some of the ordinary words for her own version. For example 'People' changed to 'Pigeons' and 'Name' was 'Noodle' and there were even stranger ones the further into the story you got. As you can tell, when you read the book you do have to think about what the word is in proper English and I think that the simplicity of the sentences and language helped to make it easier. There were actually one or two words that I never completely figured out what they meant, but I think that just adds to the mystery of the story. The story follows a 14 year old girl named Sophie Nieuwenleven, who lives in Belgium and everything is normal. Apart from she can remember living in England when she was younger and she is then told a story from her mum about how they travelled from England to Belgium, but key bits of information are missing from the story and Sophie knows it. She begins to get curious, but she wants to believe what her mother tells her is true. She finds a relative online and gets on an unbelievable journey to another country, in which she hopes to find the real truth about her family past and more specifically her dad. Nothing could prepare Sophie for the real truth. Characters
All of the characters were interesting and likeable, but I don't think I can go into detail about each one too much in case I spoil you because there is a lot to every character. My favourite character out of the bunch was Ashley - I think that's her name but I can't remember too well as I read this quiet a while back. Anyway we will just call her Ashley. Ashley is one of the big troublemakers at Sophie's school and everyone is scared of her and tries to stay out of her way, apart from Sophie. Sophie and Ashley create a bond between each other and they soon become really great friends. It surprises Sophie when she finds out what Ashley is really like and that really goes along with the phrase 'Don't judge a book by its cover'. That's why she was my favourite character. I will talk a bit about Sophie as she was the main character so I can't really do this review without talking about her. Anyway the things I liked about Sophie was that she was strong and brave and she was determined to find out the truth about her family. She coped as well as anyone would in her situation and I really felt a bond with her. I really liked her character, although at times I kept forgetting that she was 14. I would think that she was more like 8 or around that age anyway. I think maybe the book would have worked better if she was slightly younger, but overall the book was still great. Plot The book in my opinion was really great and definitely like nothing I had read yet, however I think that may have been down to the different language thing. I enjoyed all of the characters and the storyline. Overall, I thought it was a great book and some parts were really beautifully written and I did highlight them in my e-galley, but then when I went back on to view what I had highlighted to include in here, the book said it was unavailable to view. So unfortunately I can't quote my favourite parts, but oh well, you're just going to have to read the book for yourself! Rate 4.25/5 Great book! BYE! Sophie Someone GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25382680-sophie-someone?ac=1&from_search=1 BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/Sophie-Someone/9781471404801 Spoiler-Free Review : Demon Road by Derek Landy Full of Landy’s trademark wit, action and razor sharp dialogue, DEMON ROAD kicks off with a shocking opener and never lets up the pace in an epic road-trip across the supernatural landscape of America. Killer cars, vampires, undead serial killers: they’re all here. And the demons? Well, that’s where Amber comes in...Sixteen years old, smart and spirited, she’s just a normal American teenager until the lies are torn away and the demons reveal themselves. Forced to go on the run, she hurtles from one threat to another, revealing a tapestry of terror woven into the very fabric of her life. Her only chance rests with her fellow travellers, who are not at all what they appear to be… This was my first Derek Landy book, and wow it did not disappoint! I've wanted to read the Skulduggery Pleasant series by him for a long time, but never bothered to buy them or borrow them from my local library, however after reading Demon Road it's really inspired me to read them, so I'll buy the first one soon! This book was packed full of action, humour, death, murder and basically everything. It even had a car that can eat people! Cool, right? Right, anyway Amber is forced to run away, (well drive away), with this guy called Milo as her parents and their friends are trying to eat her so they can gain power. Her parents (and 4 friends) made a deal with the shining demon to basically become demons and every 16 (I think) years they take it in turns to have a child. When the child reaches 16, they will begin to have headaches and will soon develop the ability to become a demon. As they reach this age, the 6 demons will eat the child and share out the power, making themselves gradually more and more powerful. If that doesn't make you want to read it, then I don't know what will! Characters I'm not going to go into to much detail about each individual character as this review will be too long! But what I am going to say is that I liked all the characters - each and everyone. I loved Amber's parents as they were just so dark and exciting. I loved Amber because she was the main character and also because, well she's Amber! I even liked Milo, I liked the secrecy around him as it really made his character stand out, it always left an area of suspense. I suspect that in the next two book, his character will become more ambitious and answer a lot of questions. I think it's safe to say, I enjoyed the characters! haha Plot Overall, I really enjoyed both the pace and the plotline of the book. I even enjoyed the slower parts of the book, which doesn't always happen with me, but there was just something about this book, which made me love every tiny part of it. Rate - 5/5 BYE! Demon Road (Hardback) - http://www.bookdepository.com/Demon-Road-Derek-Landy/9780008140816
Demon Road (Paperback) - http://www.bookdepository.com/Demon-Road/9780008156923 |
AuthorHello and welcome to Books With Beth! I'm Beth and on this blog I share a mix of all my bookish thoughts through reviews, book tours and hauls. Have fun! Categories
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