Wentworth Hall - Abby Grahame

Wentworth Hall – Abby Grahame

Pages: 276

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children’s

Release Date: 5^th July 2012

Edition: UK paperback, review copy

It’s 1912 and the Darlingtons of Wentworth Hall have more than just their extensive grounds to maintain. They need to keep up appearances that things are as they have always been for one of England’s most elite family’s...even as whispers of secret romances and bitter betrayals threaten their facade of perfection.

Maggie Darlington has a secret. And she’s not the only one: the handsome groom, Michael, the beautiful new French nanny, Therese, even Maggie’s youngest sister, Lila, are all hiding something. And when scandalous satires start appearing in the newspaper with details that closely mirror the lives of the Darlingtons, they are soon looking over their shoulders, worrying about whose scandal will be next – because at Wentworth Hall, nothing stays secret forever.

I’m a big fan of period dramas and I’m starting to really get into historical YA – especially those set in and around the 1920s so I was excited about submerging myself in the world of Wentworth Hall.

I didn’t buy into the sumptuous world of scandal and money that Abby Grahame set up in Wentworth Hall. It didn’t have the quintessential English-ness that I wanted from a novel set in an English country manor at the beginning of the twentieth century – it felt as if I were reading and American novel by an American author, which I was, of course. It’s such a shame as the story, the setting and the characters had such potential that I felt was missed.

There were lots of secrets and hidden scandals hidden behind the walls of Wentworth Hall and I have to admit that I figured some of the biggest ones out myself. That’s always a double-edged sword for me: I love the self-righteous feelings of smugness that figuring out secrets and mysteries gives me, but I always love being shocked and surprised by something totally unexpected.

Even though Wentworth Hall wasn’t quite what I wanted it to be, I enjoyed it for what it was: light, fluffy and good fun.

For my 2012 Debut Author Challenge and 2012 YA Historical Fiction Challenge

Thank you to S&S for providing me with a review copy.

Sophie 

In My Mailbox 123

This meme was started by the fabulous Kristi who was inspired by Alea. Check out their blogs for more information. All summaries are from the book jackets unless otherwise stated.

For review:

Debutantes – Cora Harrison (ARC)

It’s 1923 and London is a whirlwind of jazz, dancing and parties, and Violet, Daisy, Poppy and Rose Derrington are desperate to be part of it. Stuck in an enormous crumbling house in the country, with no money and no fashionable dresses, the excitement seems a lifetime away.

Luckily the girls have a secret ambition:

Rose – The Novelist

Poppy – The Jazz Musician

Daisy – The Film Director

Violet – The Perfect Debutante

Who will catch the eye of the prince...

So excited for this! Thanks, Macmillan!

This Dark Endeavour – Kenneth Oppel

The purest intentions can stir up the darkest obsessions.

Sixteen-year-old Victor Frankenstein and his twin brother Konrad are inseperable – until the day Konrad is struck down with a mysterious illness that no doctor is able to cure. Passionate, temperamental Victor cannot imagine a life without his twin, and swears to save him, no matter what it takes.

But impossible odds, dangerous alchemy and a bitter love triangle are working against him, and Victor’s dark endeavour will alter the course of their lives forever.

I have this is proof form and reviewed it at the time, but I got sent the newly-covered paperback to go with:

Such Wicked Intent – Kenneth Oppel

When does obsession become madness? Tragedy has forced sixteen-year-old Victor Frankestein to swear off alchemy for ever. He burnd the Dark Library. He vows he will no longer covet Elizabeth, his brother’s betrothed. If only these things were not so tempting.

When Victor and Elizabeth discover a portal into the spirit world, they cannot resist. Together with their friend Henry, they venture into a place of infinite possibilities where power and passion reign. But as they search for the knowledgeto raise the dead, they unknowingly unlock a darkness from which they may never return.

Thanks for book of these RHCP!

I also received a second proof copy of Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone which I’ll be passing on to the lovely Anya at An Awful Lot of Reading.

The Raven Boys – Maggie Steifvater (ARC)

From Goodreads: “There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love...or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them - not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aligonby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all – family money, good looks, devoted friends – but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the priviledge around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spell-binding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.

Ahhhhhh! So exited for this that I’m starting it straight away regardless of the September release date. Thanks, Scholastic!

Gift:

Love Story – Jennifer Echols

She’s writing about him. He’s writing about her. And everybody is reading between the lines.

For Erin Blackwell, majoring in creative writing at the New York City college her dreams is more than a chance to fulfill her ambitions – it’s her ticket away from the tragic memories that shadow her family’s racehorse farm in Kentucky. But when she refuses to major in business and take over the farm herself someday, her grandmother gives Erin’s college tuition and promised inheritence to their maddeningly handsome stable boy, Hunter Allen. Now Erin has to win an internship and work late nights at a local coffee shop to make her own dreams a reality. She should despise Hunter...so why does he sneak into her thoughts as the hero of her latest writing assignment?

Then, on the day she’s sharing that assignment with her class, Hunter walks in. He’s joining her class. And after he reads about himself in her story, her private fantasies about him must be painfully clear. She only hopes to persuade him not to reveal her secret to everyone else. But Hunter devises his own creative revenge, writing sexy stories that drive the whole class wild with curiosity and fill erin’s heart with longing. Now she’s not just imagining what might have been. She’s writing a whole new ending for her romance with Hunter...except this story could come true.

I swapped my second copy of Rebel Heart with Clover from Fluttering Butterflies for this. Can’t wait to read it! Thanks, Clover!

Sophie

Books and Me

I can’t remember who is was and I can’t remember when it was, but I was recently asked why I love books so much. I gave all of the usual answers and then afterwards, I began to really think about it and I realised how engrained in my life and my personal history it is. There are certain books that have marked big events in my life and I will always associate them with that time. So, here you are, a glimpse into my world!

Matilda, Road Dahl

Until I was around seven or eight I only read what I had to read for school and was a bit miffed at the fact that I kept getting books for my birthday and Christmas. And then I gave Matilda a go. For the first time, I saw the story play out inside my head and I couldn’t believe it – I even remember going downstairs to tell my mum that I could see the story! As cheesy as it is, Matilda changed my world – I devoured book after book from then on.

The Cat Mummy, Jacqueline Wilson

The next step from Roald Dahl for most girls in Jacqueline Wilson; and she was a phase that I didn’t grow out of for a good five or six years. The Cat Mummy is one of her lesser-known novels, but it was the first book to ever make me cry. I was so embarrassed! I thought there was something deeply wrong with me for crying at a story! that poor innocent girl had some serious tear-jerkers in her future...

Ally’s World, Karen McCombie

As I moved out of Jacqueline Wilson and children’s books and wasn’t quite ready for the few examples of YA available at the time, I feel in love with Ally.  These were the days before I was obsessive about reading series’ in order and I’d go into Waterstone’s or Smiths with my pocket money every Saturday and pick out one of the wackily-titled Ally’s World novels to devour that week.

Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison

I moved swiftly onto Louise Rennison and I haven’t really left the genre since! I read one book a week from the series for the first four books and then had every book Louise has released since on pre-order as soon as I could. Here I fell in love with contemporary YA, diary format, UKYA and the gorgeous Robbie (The Sex God), Dave the Laugh and Massimo (The Luuurve God). The Confessions of Georgia Nicolson is still one of my favourite series’.

Just Listen, Sarah Dessen

When I glimpsed the gorgeous cover of this in Waterstone’s one weekend, read the blurb and thought ‘why not?!’ little did I know that I was about to discover my favourite author and my Queen of Contemporary YA. From there on I would search out every other book Sarah had published and love every one. There’s something about her novels that resonate with me on a level in a way that very few other authors do.

Laura’s Diary, Laura Sayers

This is one of those novels that came out of a radio show and I bought it purely out of curiosity and the story attached to this one is quite sad. Feel free to skip over it if you wish! You still with me? Okay. I was lying outside in the garden reading this while my dad prepped for our first barbeque of the year – it was May 2007. Mum was running a bit late and we were all starving. When she finally arrived, she changed everything and announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I was still holding Laura’s Diary in my hand. It now resides at the very bottom of a towering stack of books in the corner of my room. I don’t want to see it, but I don't think I’ll ever be able to get rid of it either.

Split by a Kiss, Luisa Plaja

Now, this book is rather special to me. Luisa was the first author to ever get in contact with me and with Split by a Kiss¸ she gave me my first review copy. I feel lucky enough that I can now proudly call Luisa a friend and I continue to love each of her novels so I’m glad it was her. And what’s more, Luisa did something amazing for me and So Many Books, So Little Time – she put me in contact with Random House – a publisher that I’m still proud to review for. Not bad for a first publishing contact, hey?

Crescendo, Becca Fitzpatrick

This book accompanied me on one of the most terrifying days of my life so far: my first day at university. It’s a three-hour drive from Crawley to Bath and I needed something I could get lost in so I wouldn’t pee myself in fear, naturally. Crescendo distracted me through long stretches of motorway, the nervous butterflies and the heart-thumping journey up the long front drive of Bath Spa University. I have to admit that I fell in love with uni pretty quickly and it took me about two weeks to get through because of that, but I’ll never forget it, that’s for sure.

Blood Red Road, Moira Young

Moira Yong’s mind-blowing debut accompanied me on the long days without telelvision or internet in the few days of early summer where I moved into my student house last summer. It was the first summer I’d ever paid for properly and it was awesome. Now it’s obviously an expensive pain in the ass, but that’s another story altogether. It perfectly filled the hours while my housemate was working and I had nothing to do.

So, that was a much longer post than I intended! What books have marked big or important times in your life? Or am I just a little bit too obsessed...?

Sophie

Blog Tour: Eoin Colfer

I am honoured to welcome Eoin Colfer to So Many Books, So Little Time as part of the blog tour for The Last Guardian, the final book in the phenomenally successful Artemis Fowl series. He is going to talk about how he wrapped up the award-winning series. Over to Eoin!

“I am finished with Artemis Fowl.

This probably sounds a bit harsh, after all the Irish teenage criminal mastermind is my most famous character, loved by millions of readers all around the world, but there’s no way around it. Artemis is of no further use to me. This is because he has become good. Not super good. Artemis is never going to help old ladies across the road or give up his Saturdays to wash down stranded whales on the beach, but he is definitely a lot nicer now than he was at the beginning of the series, eight books ago. In the first Artemis book, he was a nasty little so and so. In the chapter one alone he threatened a waiter with torture and murder, drugged a fairy, blackmailed a sprite and piloted a jet without a license. And if all those things were not enough to have him forever banned from the panthaeon of teenage heroes, he proceeded to kidnap an elf and ransom her back to the fairy people. A thorough rotter, through and through.


People are really going to hate this guy, I thought, with some relish. Readers all over the world will be utterly disgusted by Artemis’s behaviour. Disgusted but fascinated too. My cunning plan was to horrify my readers so much with this nasty little creep that they would simply have to know what devilment he would get up to next.


I was wrong. People did not hate Artemis. They loved him. And they wanted more of his criminal masterminding. And I was happy to oblige with a further six books that saw Artemis fight evil pixies, human megalomaniacs, himself in several times zones and bloodthirsty demons. But as the stories progressed, something happened to Artemis; he turned into the good guy. It was bound to happen as he is after all, a genius, and was certain to learn from his mistakes. And what kind of example would he be if there were no repercussions from his wrongdoings? A very bad example. So slowly, page by page, Artemis changed from a one dimensional villain to a more complex, caring and occasionally kind character.


I realised at the end of book seven that I had arrived at a point where Artemis had more or less become a hero, something which would have horrified the Artemis of old. And once this character is a hero, then his story is over, for that is the real spine of the Artemis books; one boy’s journey from baddie to goodie.

There was only one thing to do: I had to wind up the series before Artemis started winning humanitarian awards, which would be a catastrophe.


So; One more book. A last hurrah where Artemis would be forced to use every dirty trick in the book to defeat once and for all, evil pixie; Opal Koboi. One rip-roaring, roller coaster of an adventure that would include all the ingredients of a classic Fowl adventure. There would have to be magic, ingenuity, comedy, twists and turns and of course farts. Many, many farts.


And so I set about writing The Last Guardian. It was quite emotional because I had to revisit all the earlier stories to make sure that all the story arcs were tied up. I hadn’t read any of the books through since their final edit and had forgotten many of the minor characters and side stories. I began to understand what it would mean to me to type The End on this final book. It is a funny thing to create a world then leave it behind. To close the door on my own creation. This is not a step I took lightly. I was determined that all the Fowl fans who had been with me since 2001 would not be disappointed with how it all turned out. I wanted people to read this book and be sad that it was over but happy with how it ended. A tough task, and I can only hope that I succeeded.


I have never worried too much about my audience before. I always reckoned that if I laughed at a joke then there were others somewhere who would laugh at it too, but things are different with this book. I feel that I owe the readers a good send off. They deserve it after more than a decade of loyalty. I want Artemis to go out on top. And perhaps most importantly I want to be able to look at the eight Artemis books on their shelf in my office and be proud of them.


Have I succeeded? I don’t know. This is the worst time for me; waiting for the release. I have done all I can and it’s too late to change anything. Artemis is done. I have typed The End for the last time, and now I must wait and squirm and wonder how the public will greet the last adventure of teenage mastermind Artemis Fowl.


Will this be a fitting end to a best selling series? Or the biggest mistake of my career? The Last Guardian comes out on July 10^th so I will probably know by July 11^th.

- Eoin Colfer”

Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer is published by Puffin on Tuesday 10^th July 2012.

A massive thank you to Eoin for a wonderful guest post and to Puffin for allowing me to take part in the blog tour.

Sophie

The Miseducation of Cameron Post - Emily M Danforth

The Miseducation of Cameron Post – Emily M Danforth

Pages: 467

Publisher: Balzer and Bray

Release Date: 7^th February 2012

Edition: US proof, purchased copy 

When Cameron Post’s parents die in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief she’ll never have to tell them that, hours earlier, she’d been kissing a girl.

But that relief soon turns to heartbreak, as Cam is forced to move in with her conservative Aunt Ruth. She knows that from this point on, her life will be forever different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and not making waves, and Cam becomes an expert at this – especially at avoiding any questions about her sexuality.

Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect cowboy boyfriend to match. To Cam’s surprise, she and Coley become best friends – while Cam secretly dreams of something more. Just as this starts to seem like a real possibility, her secret is exposed. Ultra-religious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to “fix” her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self – even if she’s not exactly sure who that is.

I went into The Miseducation of Cameron Post with little to no knowledge of the book other than CJ Skuse’s assurances of its awesomeness. She was completely right about it.

I’m not really sure what I expected from The Miseducation of Cameron Post, but the first part of the book still managed to surprise me: I was not expecting Cam’s story to start when she was twelve and it put me off a little initially, but now I’m glad that it did. By half-way through the novel I realised how important it was to have had the novel start so early; it gave a resonance to her later relationships and really let the reader know that no length of time at Praise was going to ‘cure’ Cam of her feelings. That is who she is.

On the subject of the quest to rid Cam of her feelings, I was surprised at how strong the religious element of The Miseducation of Cameron Post was. I didn't realise that the American Midwest were quite so strict in their beliefs. The way that Cam’s sexuality was viewed by the people from her town and the leaders of Praise made me so unimaginably angry. I mean, I've always been in favour of gay rights, but I guess I didn't really realise how strongly I felt about it until I started to care about someone (albeit fictional) who was suffering because of sheer ignorance and stupidity.

The way that they believed that homosexuality is caused by reversed or confused gender roles or stemmed from childhood incidents in a Freudian way was simultaneously fascinating and horrifying. I know that they genuinely believed that they’re were trying to help, as did Aunt Ruth, but I just couldn’t wrap my mind around how they could. It really made me think a lot and I still haven’t gotten it out of my head.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is quirky, moving, thought-provoking and I loved every page. Emily M Danforth is a serious new talent in YA.

For my 2012 Debut Author Challenge and 2012 Contemporary YA Challenge

I purchased this copy in an Oxfam Bookshop.

Sophie