Mini Reviews: Moonrise And Because You Love To Hate Me
Hey friends!
I had read only one other verse novel before this one and it
was We Come Apart, which I hadn’t ended up loving so I was a little reluctant
to read this. And I’m so glad I did. The verse aspect of it made it such a
unique read (even though I still don’t understand the point of verse, it feels
quite unnecessary to me?) and it dealt with such an important topic with such
grace and care.
Today I’m here to bring you mini reviews of Moonrise by
Sarah Crossan and Because You Love To Hate Me, an anthology by various YA
authors and booktubers! I’m going to keep the intro short because I’ve got lot’s
to say so let’s do it!
MOONRISE by Sarah
Crossan
I had read only one other verse novel before this one and it
was We Come Apart, which I hadn’t ended up loving so I was a little reluctant
to read this. And I’m so glad I did. The verse aspect of it made it such a
unique read (even though I still don’t understand the point of verse, it feels
quite unnecessary to me?) and it dealt with such an important topic with such
grace and care.
I didn’t know much about death penalty before reading this book
and I didn’t have an opinion on whether it should be legal or not – the only
thing I knew was that Australia didn’t have a death penalty.
This story is very well written and hearing breaking, with the
uncanny ability to pull at your heartstrings and have you sobbing for 10
minutes straight after finishing the book (pretty much like I was at the end). The
verse aspect of this means it’s a super short read and easy to fly through,
like I did. The characters aren’t that well developed due to the length,
unfortunately, but they were at the same time likeable and the use of flashback
added a much-needed depth and layered quality to the story. Seeing Joe’s memories
of his siblings, mostly Ed though, made the characters feel so real and three
dimensional. The plot was mainly focused on the characters, but I found the
story to be unpredictable at times and kept me hopeful but at the same time,
hopeless.
I really applaud Sarah Crossan for writing about such a controversial
issue and it really stood out to me from the other YA I had read. I highly
suggest you all pick this book up if you have the chance!
BECAUSE YOU LOVE TO HATE ME edited by Ameriie
Because You Love To Hate Me is a YA anthology featuring
works from many different and popular authors such as Victoria Schwab, Adam
Silvera, Nicola Yoon, Renee Ahdieh, Cindy Pon and many more as well as short
little commentaries from booktubers!
Thank you for reading friends!
Have you read either of these books? What did you think? Do you plan to?
Thank you to Bloomsbury Australia for providing me review copies of these books however all thoughts and opinions are my own and this is an honest review.
OVERALL RATING:
★★★★
BECAUSE YOU LOVE TO HATE ME edited by Ameriie
I was quite excited for this, having heard about it for the first
time, because a lot of my favourite authors were going to have their work
included in there and it showed me that there are other people outside of the
book community that consider bloggers and booktubers as legitimate ‘jobs’ and
that they are taken seriously enough to be asked to contribute in an anthology,
which just makes me SO happy!
The idea of this was so great because the book was about
short stories about villains and I am such a fan of villains because they are
so interesting and complex when well written so I was excited to see what my
favourite authors and booktubers could spin out of them.
However, I was left a little disappointed, probably because I’m
not a short story person as I struggled to get into the stories and connect
with the characters and feel engaged with the plot. They were quite dry here
and there, although the booktuber commentaries were quite entertaining. Overall
though, it meant I just skim read the stories and didn’t feel all that engaged.
There were a few I liked though. I liked Christine’s commentary
on Renee’s story and Zoe’s little multiple-choice quiz too. I enjoyed Susan
Dennard’s story (Sherlock Homes for the win! I adore than Dennard had a little
Sherlock retelling because I am such a fan!) and Marissa Meyer’s spin on The
Little Mermaid (she will forever be the queen of retellings) but I wasn’t AS
huge of a fan as I had hoped.
I can understand though, that this is probably a more
personal choice because short stories are not for everyone but I do still
encourage you to borrow a copy from your library or buy one to support these YA
authors and more importantly, the booktubers!
OVERALL RATING:
★★½
Thank you for reading friends!
Have you read either of these books? What did you think? Do you plan to?
Thank you to Bloomsbury Australia for providing me review copies of these books however all thoughts and opinions are my own and this is an honest review.
11 happy thoughts
"Because you love to hate me" is on my TBR! And your review confirms the fact that I need to pick it up soon.. I'm so glad you enjoyed these books! :)
ReplyDelete- Shanu (http://anerdyaffair.wixsite.com/scribblesonascreen)
Thank you so much for reading my review and yes, hopefully you enjoy it!
DeleteHey, I just wanted to let you know that I tagged you in a “Would you rather” book tag that I did on my blog.
DeleteIf you’d like, you can check it out here :
http://anerdyaffair.wixsite.com/scribblesonascreen/single-post/2017/10/06/would-you-rather-tag
I have been hearing so many mixed things about Because You Love to Hate Me that I haven't bothered to pick it up. Really glad that you enjoyed Moonrise though!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing,
~Brittany @ Brittany's Book Rambles
Glad you enjoyed! :)
DeleteFor some reason, I've lost interest in Because You Love To Hate Me (I was really excited for it and it is about villains so of course I was excited) I tried reading the sampler too, but I'm still not interested *cries* Although, your review of Moonrise has me excited to read it!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I lost interest in it too sadly! And thank you for reading!
Deletegreat review!!!
ReplyDeletei'm super excited to read moonrise, that not sure on because you love to hate me!
Lovely reviews! I'm really glad you enjoyed Moonrise so much. I never read a book written in verse, so I'm quite nervous to add it to my TBR ; but it sounds like a great book dealing with an interesting topic for sure, so... I need to think about it :)
ReplyDeleteI struggle with novels in verse too, actually.😂 I tend to find it really hard to connect because there's not as much details and such?! But I did like Sarah Crossan's One and Apple & Rain. :P And I DO want to read that antholgoy because SCWHAB THO. But I also don't adore short stories so I worry it'll fall flat for me too.😂
ReplyDeleteLas Vegas - Casino Info - MapYRO
ReplyDeleteThe Wynn Hotel, Casino & Sky Tower 경상남도 출장샵 are two hotel towers that 사천 출장마사지 define 구미 출장샵 Las Vegas. The Wynn Las Vegas has 동두천 출장마사지 a total of 5,748 spacious hotel rooms, 통영 출장마사지 suites and villas
Leave me a comment below! And feel free to leave your website URL so I can come visit!