Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta.

And then the dark forces of the curse entombed the kingdom, separating a people in two. This is the story, as told to those of us who were born to see such days, recorded here in the Book of Lumatere so we will never forget.

Rating: 5/5

Summary: (From melinamarchetta.com.au)At the age of nine, Finnikin is warned by the gods that he must sacrifice a pound of flesh in order to save the royal house of his homeland, Lumatere.

And so he stands on the rock of three wonders with his childhood friend Prince Balthazar and the prince's cousin, Lucian, and together they mix their blood. And Lumatere is safe.

Until the 'five days of the unspeakable', when the King and Queen and their children are slaughtered in the palace. And an imposter king takes the throne.
And a curse is put on Lumatere, which traps those caught inside and forces thousands of others to roam the land as exiles, dying of fever and persecution in foreign camps.

But ten years later Finnikin is led to another rock to meet the young novice, Evanjalin. A girl plagued by dark dreams, who holds the key to their return to the Land of light...

Review: This is a story written in third person and is about dwindling and fiery hope, about redemption and guilt, regret and love, about finding those who you love and going back for those who you left behind. Six long months I waited for this novel and I was not disappointed. Melina Marchetta, my favourite author in the world managed to once again weave another original and amazing tale.

The first thing I will say is: how does Marchetta write such original stories? When you think about the basics of her stories they sound very genial, but whenever she writes it screams originality. This was her first fantasy story and I must say that she pulled this one off.

Her story was a little complicated, she created a whole new world and learning the names of every country, every town was a little difficult at the beginning but as the novel went on you learned a lot about each and I commend Marchetta highly on being able to give so much detail to every town she created that little bit of history we were given made the story that much more realistic and moving.

Finnikin was the main character and was...well awesome. I loved how he was so determined and good natured, I read a Q&A about FOTR on her website and Marchetta said that she had trouble writing Finnikin because he kept appearing too weak or too arrogant, but I think that she crafted him wonderfully. Evanjalin was a great character and was a kick ass female heroin, Finnikin and Evanjalin's relationship was fantastic, complicated and once again, realistic, especially considering the time era. My favourite character though had to be Perri the Savage, he was delightfully miss understood and I loved that Finnikin's father Trevanion trusted him whole heartedly and gave him a chance, despite the rumors that circulated around him, when I explain it that way it sounds corny doesn't it? Well, it isn't.

But Trevanion was staring at Perri. “You,” he said. “If anything happens to me, protect my boy.”

I loved that towards the end of the book we got a look from the misunderstood Froi's point of view, he was perceived as such an awful character at the start of the novel, but he was so...sweet, after my initial hate for him I felt a little bit of sympathy towards him and when I read his perspective it made my feelings of sympathy stronger and caused me to really like him.

The others pretended that deep down he wasn't bad. That he didn't come from evil. But she knew. She saw the badness. She saw it now and shivered. Page: 244.

Melina's wonderful style shone through in this novel, her flashbacks, dream sequences and just writing was beyond enjoyable to read.

A lot of brutal things happen in this story and Marchetta is never too frank about them, which I liked, she implies a lot of what happened to the women and the reaction of her characters say more then the harsh sentence ever would.

Marchetta threw in so many twists and turns it made this almost 400 page novel one I powered through, one twist had me gaping because it was popped in at the most random time and I didn't know whether it was a dream or wishful thinking. One of the biggest twist of the novels I'm glad to say I guessed (yes, I guessed it, whooo) and it was a great twist indeed.

So, overall: the plot? Engaging, amazing, awesome, fantastic, wonderful and amusing. The characters? Gah, amazing. I loved each and every one of them for every flaw and everything that made them glorious. The twists? Amazing, fun, beyond interesting. The writing? Don't get me started on how fantastic it was, how the story was intricately weaved and just so beautiful that I can't believe someone has that much writing talent.

I want you read this book, I love it. I want you to read each and every novel of Marchetta's because each is so wonderful I want you to be able to experience it.

Are you in the U.S? Are you going insane and really want this novel? Well, you can get your hands on it Spring 2010, a little while away, but you can always try and find it on the net.

Five out of five, I think that my review says enough, please, read it when you get the chance.

--Allie

An Apology And Thank-You To The Very Few Readers Of This Blog. :D

I haven't had a post in a while, it seems that I've miss placed the flash disk containing some (well, a lot) of reviews. I've also been busy preparing for NaNo. Which is approaching fast. I cannot wait to get a start on my story, the outline is so close to being finished. If people are interested in what my stories about, comment and I can post and tell you about it -- don't feel obliged, and honestly, it's not terribly interesting anyway. XD

Also, I've noticed how exciting everyone else's blogs are, any suggestions for what I could do to make this blog just a little more enticing?

Competitions will probably come up, so I'll just tell you two things:
1) I tend to get attached to novels and can't give them away.
2) I'm in Australia and I'm sure that it'll cost me a fortune to post to the U.S or wherever else.
Though, I did just get a job (yessssss) and may have the cash to pull that off soon, hmmmmm...

Also, does anyone know of any other Aussie book reviewers? I'm sure that there's a little community somewhere and I would love to become a part of it, and free books, wow, free books, it'd be like Christmas but better.

Anyway, you should be expecting a review of the wonderful Finnikin of the Rock soon, maybe Thursday -- hopefully Thursday!

I also want to thank all the people who have taken the time to comment and follow my blog, it really means a lot to me that you would do that, you're awesome. But a HUGE thank-you goes out to Kelsey, for not only getting me to start a blog and put up with my stupidity at the very beginning, but then making the adorable banner that sits up the top of my page. Thank-you!

Okay, that's enough from me now, thank you and have a wonderful day!

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta.

“This morning, my mother didn’t get out of bed.”

Rating: 5/5

Summary: Francesca is beginning her second term in year eleven at an all boy’s school that’s just started accepting girls. Her mother has had a breakdown and no longer gets out of bed and she misses her old friends.

But what Francesca doesn’t expect when she arrives at her new school, seriously not wanting to be there is that the new friends she makes grudgingly are fiercely loyal and that there’s more to them then it seems. She doesn't expect to fall in love or that she has the power to bring her family that is slowly falling apart in her mother’s absence back together.

Review: This story is phenomenal. Melina writes a magical book with raw and extraordinary real emotion.

With the terrible summary I have written and provided you all with you're probably thinking that this is an awful novel with not much going for it, maybe you're thinking: depression? What a sad topic, why on earth would I want to read such an unhappy tale? Please don't let any of that sort of stuff put you off.

Marchetta has the writing ability to make you seriously care about her characters. Her characters are easy to relate to, fun and different. In each novel Marchetta produces comes with it a fantastic set of new characters and as a reader and major fan of all of her novels the characters in Saving Francesca still stand to be my favourites.

There where so many points where I was touched by the characters who are so much deeper then they seem, and there were even more points where I was laughing out loud at what a character had said or done.

It's an all star cast in this novel and if you're looking for a novel with characters that are beyond the ordinary then you must pick this book up. There's Thomas and Jimmy who make you laugh, there's William who makes your fan girl hearts go insane, there's just so many wonderful characters I could be here all day babbling about them.

Francesca is a fantastic narrator, and what you see and feel thorough her eye’s is real and true. You feel her pain about her mother’s problem, you feel her anger toward the people who just don’t get it and you laugh with her whenever Thomas is a smart ass or when Jimmy invites himself around.

The plot is interesting and I felt driven to finish this novel because...of well everything, the characters – don't get my talking about them again. The plot, original and interesting and the writing, Marchetta's style is in one word blunt and in two: blunt and beautiful. She doesn't beat around the bush, she never drags things out for too long, she tells you all the truth she can and tells it beautifully and by her doing this she has become and probably will always stay my favourite author.

This novel, to be fully appreciated needs to be read by people who are mature, when I read this novel for the first time at age thirteen the mother's depression made me feel a little sick with sadness, but when I reread it a year later I loved this book so much that I am till this day constantly reaching for this novel for comfort when I have a bad day.

This novel gets five stars. Everything about it is wonderful and amazing. I hope that you're putting this novel on the top of a very long list of books to read or running off to buy it because Saving Francesca is not to be missed by YA readers because it is definitely amongst the finest in that category.

--Allie.

The Nature Of Jade by Deb Caletti

“The one thing my illness made me realize is how necessary it is to ignore the dangers of living in order to live. And how much trouble you can get into if you can't.”

Summary: (From debcaletti.com) Jade DeLuna is too young to die. She knows this, and yet she can't quite believe it, especially when terrifying thoughts, loss of breath, and dizzy feelings come. Since being diagnosed with Panic Disorder she's trying her best to stay calm, and visiting the elephants at the nearby zoo seems to help. That's why Jade keeps the live zoo webcam on in her room, and where she first sees the boy in the red jacket. A boy who stops to watch the elephants. A boy carrying a baby.
His name is Sebastian, and he is raising his son alone. Jade is drawn into Sebastian's cozy life with his son and his activist grandmother on their Seattle houseboat, and before she knows it, she's in love. With this boy who has lived through harder times than anyone she knows. This boy with a past.
Jade knows the situation is beyond complicated, but she hasn't felt this safe in a long time. She owes it all to Sebastian, her boy with the great heart. Her boy who is hiding a terrible secret.
A secret that will force Jade to decide between what is right, and what feels right...


Review: I've heard nothing but good things about Caletti's books. I now I see why.
Caletti writes a wonderful novel. Filled with wonderful characters and fantastic plot twists that keeps this book interesting.
I will admit that it took me a while to get into this book, so long in fact it's overdue at my library, but when I did get sucked into this fantastic tale I couldn't put it down.
Jade was a wonderful MC and I could see a little bit of myself in her, everything she did I would have done. I loved how she acted and I loved watching her grow, her love was genuine her reactions perfect. I also loved Sebastian, he was a great character to have and gorgeous love interest. Him, Bo and Tess made me laugh.
The twists, were a little predictable, but I think that it's a wonderful feeling to figure out what's going to happen before the MC.
The information about elephants was fun, I liked that aspect of that book very much, giving it the originality that I really enjoyed.
Everything that happened in the novel was believable. Caletti wrote so that you were feeling what Jade was feeling, so that you loved all the characters.
Down side? I think that we could have had more time with Sebastian, but that's just the fan girl in me talking.
I'm picky about endings and I thought that this was a pretty good one.

I'm giving this novel four out of five. It was awesome. It took a little time to get into, but when you're in, there's no going back. I highly recommend you find a copy of this novel, especially if you're a Sarah Dessen fan.

--- Allie.

Losing it by Lizzie Wilcock

Gabbie Martyn has the perfect family, perfect grades, perfect everything. She's fourteen and is loving it. Things couldn't get any better. But then things change and things get worse

Her uncle Daryl moves in with them for some mysterious reason. Her best friend Zoe is more cryptic then usual, she's rebelling and even getting arrested. And then Gabbie's falling in love with Zak, the gorgeous new boy from New Zealand.

Gabbie has to fight, because if she doesn't, she may just lose it.

I think that my expectations were too high. I was told by friends that it was “the best book ever”. I disagree. Straight after I read the novel I found that it was written too simply, the MC is made out to be quite intelligent as far as fourteen year old girls go, but I felt as if her intelligence in the writing style was understated. When I look back on the novel now though, I think that innocence in the style is important to the plot.

Each character was somewhat complex, I really loved Zoe's character, she was delightfully dark and in some ways I could relate to how Gabbie felt about her friend, slowly slipping away. I also loved Zak, he was sweet and made me smile. Gabbie was great as far as MC's go. She was sweetly innocent and I loved going through her story and watching her experience new things.

This story is fun and sweet, but has a terrible theme lurking in the background, that gives the book a dark twist. It's always there, on the edge of your tongue and makes the book one that you have to finish. I'm not going to spoil this novel for anyone who hasn't read it, but I think that as you get into it, you will know what I am talking about.

I thought that this novel was pretty good, like I've mentioned, a tiny bit too juvenile for my liking, but still, really liked it, defiantly not a terrible novel. It was a wonderful coming of age story, though, like I said, there's a dark element to it.

If you know me well, you will know how I feel about happy endings. This novel had a dramatic ending, that people who like things to be all cleared up at the end would hate. It left a lot of stuff up in the air and gave only a fraction of closure. I was glad that I didn't have to go through the end bit filled with closure and happy endings, instead the ending is somewhat happy and it leaves a lot up to the readers imagination as to what happens next.

All in all, I'd give this novel three stars, very sweet, fun and had a creepy element that I didn't so much as enjoy, but made the novel a lot more interesting.

--Allie

Losing It by Lizzie Wilcock

Gabbie Martyn has the perfect family, perfect grades, perfect everything. She's fourteen and is loving it. Things, they couldn't get any better. But then things change.

Her uncle Daryl moves in with them. Her best friend Zoe is more cryptic then usual, she's rebelling and even getting arrested. And then Gabbie's falling in love with Zak, the gorgeous new boy from New Zealand.

Gabbie has to fight, because if she doesn't, she may just lose it.

I think that my expectations were too high. I was told by friends that it was “the best book ever”. I disagree. Straight after I read the novel I found that it was written too simply, the MC is made out to be quite intelligent as far as fourteen year old girls go, but I felt as if her intelligence in the writing style was understated. When I look back on the novel now though, I think that innocence in the style is important to the plot.

Each character was somewhat complex, I really loved Zoe's character, she was delightfully dark in a sense and in some ways I could relate to how Gabbie felt about her friend, slowly slipping away. I also loved Zak, he was sweet and made me smile. Gabbie was great as far as MC's go. She was sweetly innocent and I loved going through her story and watching her experience new things.

This story is fun and sweet, but has a terrible theme lurking in the background, that gives the book a dark twist. It's always there, on the edge of your tongue and makes the book one that you have to finish. I'm not going to spoil this novel for anyone who hasn't read it, as someone spoiled the novel for me, but I think that as you get into it you will know what I am talking about.

Okay, so all and all, I thought that this novel was pretty good, like a said, a tiny bit too juvenile for my liking, but still, really liked it, defiantly not a terrible novel. It was a wonderful coming of age story, though, like I said, there's a dark element to it.

If you know me well, you will know how I feel about happy endings. This novel had a dramatic ending, that people who like things to be all cleared up at the end would hate. It left a lot of stuff up in the air and gave only a fraction of closure. I was glad that I didn't have to go through the end bit filled with closure and happy endings, instead the ending is somewhat happy and it leaves a lot up to the readers imagination as to what happens next.

All in all, I'd give this novel three stars, very sweet, fun and had a creepy element that I didn't so much as enjoy, but made the novel a lot more interesting.

Allie.

Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

“See you later? What does that mean?”

Georgia Nicholson is fourteen and on the brink of woman hood – she even wears a bra now. Her little sister is insane, her parents just don't understand. Her friends, well, she loves them and then she hates them. Everything's going as normal as it can be for Georgia, until the day she sees Robbie aka "The Sex God". Watch as Georgia's life goes from crazy to insane as she tries to get the Sex God's attention.

I read (or rather listened to the audio tape) this book because of the movie, I like to read the book before I watch the movie so that I can compare them, odd, I know. The movie made me cringe, Georgia is weird in a way that I think should only ever be read, not watched.
I walked in and out of the room as I listened to the beginning of the tape, but as the story progressed, I was very engrossed in her story, not because it had the best plot ever, or the characters were so amazing and deep, it was because it was so funny. Georgia, made me laugh numerous amounts of times throughout this novel and that's why I liked it.
The plot was fun and easy. The characters were funny and light. The story was just: easy going. I liked that for a change I wasn't reading a complicated novel that was filled with twists and turns (even though I love twists and turns) just for a little change.
Even though the characters were insane you could relate to them, I found myself laughing at memories of my friends and I doing silly things like the “Ace Gang” back in the day.
My little sister is very picky with her novels and she enjoyed this one, so that must be a good sign. Though, it does show that this novel is directed at pre teens and early teens, so if that's not your thing, stay away.
I spent less then a day listening to this novel because I enjoyed it so much. I think that if you're looking for something to read, just for a little fun, you should look into finding yourself a copy of Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging.


I give this novel four stars. It was so hilarious that I'm currently listening to the sequel: It's Okay, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers. And it's quite a laugh as well.

Best Wishes.
Allie.

Thirteen Reason’s Why by Jay Asher.

“You can’t stop the future. You can’t rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret…is to press play.”

One afternoon a mysterious package arrives at Clay Jenson’s door step, with his name on it. Inside he discovers seven tapes and he’s shocked to find that there cassette’s are by his classmate and crush Hannah Baker who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Clay finds out that there are thirteen reasons why Hannah killed herself, and he’s one of them. And if he listens, he’ll find out how he impacted on her life, and how others did too. Clay spends one long night, with Hannah’s haunting voice guiding him all over their small town, and first hand into her private pain.

This book is great.

It’s as if we get two perspectives. We hear Clay, the nice boy who wouldn’t hurt a fly, thoughts on what Hannah says, what Hannah's done. The suspense leading up to his story is incredible. You feel his pain as he grows as a person and learns the truth.

And then we hear Hannah Baker’s strong voice that is so distinctive you’ll be thinking about her and what she said and what happened to her long after you’ve heard her story.

Asher writes a practically perfect novel, full of suspense, pain, sorrow and regret.

The story is beautiful and full of truth. We learn how the smallest of moves or mistakes can impact on someone else’s life in a positive or a negative way. I personally think that I learnt a lot from this story.

The end of this story is amazing and though leaves you wanting more also gives you a comfortable sense of closure.

Four stars, because even though it was so original and amazing, I was told it was phenomenal and was ever so slightly let down. But the story was fantastic and would recommend that you pick it up and give it a whirl.

All Righty Then....

Hey, I'm Just Listen, you can call me JL or Just or Listen or Allie.
A friend of mine *coughKelseycough* persuaded me to start this blog, so here goes nothing.

I love reading so I will be trying my hand at reviewing.

Best Wishes!