Jill's Book Blog

Review: In Real Life

Title: In Real Life
Author: Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang
Genre: Graphic Novel, Young Adult
Publisher: First Second
Source: Library
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Anda loves Coarsegold Online, the massively-multiplayer role-playing game where she spends most of her free time. It’s a place where she can be a leader, a fighter, a hero. It’s a place where she can meet people from all over the world, and make friends.

But things become a lot more complicated when Anda befriends a gold farmer–a poor Chinese kid whose avatar in the game illegally collects valuable objects and then sells them to players from developed countries with money to burn. This behavior is strictly against the rules in Coarsegold, but Anda soon comes to realize that questions of right and wrong are a lot less straightforward when a real person’s real livelihood is at stake.

From acclaimed teen author (Little Brother, For the Win) and Boing Boing editor Cory Doctorow and Koko Be Good creator Jen Wang, In Real Life is a perceptive and high-stakes look at adolescence, gaming, poverty, and culture clash.

Review:

I’ve always loved video games. One of my favourites, World of Warcraft, is similar to the game Coarsegold that Anda plays in this book. This book shows both the positive and negative parts of gaming.

Anda’s mother was worried about Anda playing games online. She didn’t want her to speak to strangers. She told her to only speak to kids her age, but you can’t tell how old someone is online. Her suspicions were validated when she sees strange deposits into her PayPal account, which was from the gold farmers that Anda had stopped in the game.

There are also good sides of gaming. Anda made a good friend from another part of the world, which wouldn’t have been possible without the game. She even helped organize a protest for the gold farmers to get health care provided in their jobs.

The game taught Anda how to be a better person, much to her mother’s surprise. I really enjoyed this book, and I recommend it for kids and adults!

Stacking the Shelves – August 18

This is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

I received two books from Thomas Allen & Sons this week:

The Unbinding of Mary Reade by Miriam McNamara
The Letting Go by Deborah Markus

What books did you get this week?

Blog Tour Review: Entrapped

Title: Entrapped
Author: Claire Ayres
Genre: Romance
Publisher: self-published
Source: Neverland Blog Tours
Release Date: August 17, 2018
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Cellist, Luka, has moved to Bristol to start a new job and recover from the betrayal of finding his best friend and his girlfriend in bed together. He doesn’t plan on the emotional thunderstorm that meeting his next-door neighbour Jess causes.

Jess had everything, a man she loved, friends she adored and then the world crashed around her. Depression came from nowhere and slowly started ripping her life away. Now she lives a lonely, sad life but the music which she keeps hearing next door is waking her up and she doesn’t know why.

Join Luka and Jess as they discover life after heartache, how to forgive and how to live and love again.

*Entrapped is an 18+ Contemporary Romance with several graphic sex scenes*

Review:

When I saw this new book by a fellow book blogger, I knew I had to read it. I love supporting other bloggers. It’s a great book too!

I really liked the story. The narrative usually stayed in the present, but it jumped to the past a couple of times to show important moments in the characters’ lives. I really liked how the romance between Luka and Jess played out. They seemed like they were meant to be together.

One thing that wasn’t very realistic was the way that the characters described their feelings. They explained exactly what they were feeling, even when they were in the middle of an argument. Realistically, they wouldn’t have been able to articulate their feelings when they were upset or emotional.

I really enjoyed this book. If you like steamy romances, this is for you!

About the Author:

Claire lives in Bristol, UK and has taken her inspiration from the people and the places she has seen over the years. She always has a book close at hand and devours Fantasy and Romance like some devour chocolate! Claire loves a happily ever after followed by lots of bloody sword-fighting and dangerous dragons! But when writing her debut novel Entrapped drew on her childhood ambition to be a musician and one of the instruments she played and still loves as a centre-point.

Claire is also a passionate mental health advocate who lives with bipolar disorder and has done regular radio interviews and even some TV. She is also a huge heavy metal fan and can regularly be found banging her head at a concert or festival.

Website: https://brizzlelassbooks.com/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/BrizzleLass

Thank you to Neverland Blog Tours for letting me participate in this blog tour.

First Lines Friday – August 17

This is a weekly meme hosted by Wandering Words, where you give the first few lines of a book to hook your readers before introducing the book.

Here are my first lines:

“Nicholas Young slumped into the nearest seat in the hotel lobby, drained from the sixteen-hour flight from Singapore, the train ride from Heathrow Airport, and trudging through the rain-soaked streets. His cousin Astrid Leong shivered stoically next to him, all because her mother, Felicity, his dai gu cheh – or “big aunt” in Cantonese – said it was a sin to take a taxi nine blocks and forced everyone to walk all the way from Piccadilly Tube Station.”

Do you recognize these first lines?

…

And the book is… Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan.

Goodreads synopsis:

When New Yorker Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home and quality time with the man she hopes to marry. But Nick has failed to give his girlfriend a few key details. One, that his childhood home looks like a palace; two, that he grew up riding in more private planes than cars; and three, that he just happens to be the country’s most eligible bachelor.

On Nick’s arm, Rachel may as well have a target on her back the second she steps off the plane, and soon, her relaxed vacation turns into an obstacle course of old money, new money, nosy relatives, and scheming social climbers.

I love this book! The movie comes out today, and I can’t wait to watch it! You can check out my review of the book here.

Have you read Crazy Rich Asians? What did you think of it?

Review: A Calf Named Brian Higgins

Title: A Calf Named Brian Higgins
Author: Kristen Ball
Genre: Middle Grade
Publisher: One Elm Books
Source: Thomas Allen & Sons (book distributor)
Release Date: July 1, 2018
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Thirteen-year-old Hannah Higgins is convinced her summer is ruined when she is forced to travel to Africa and work in a remote village with her mom and uncle. Never having been to a developing country, she finds the food gross and the community filthy. She has to live without electricity or running water. Then she is told she must attend school.
Just when she thinks nothing could make this trip any worse, she learns people there are dying of hunger and preventable disease. Hannah becomes frustrated and wants to help, but when poverty threatens the lives of people she loves, all she wants to do is go home. This story is an adventure of discovery.

Review:

This is an amazing book about an American girl who travels to Kenya. Hannah Higgins knew that Kenya would be a lot different from her hometown of New York, but she didn’t realize how much it would affect her. The people in the small town where her uncle works die from preventable diseases and hunger.

After a tragedy in her family, Hannah wants to leave, but then she feels guilty about not helping the people who live there. She often feels guilty about what she takes for granted at her home, like being able to go into her medicine cabinet for anything, when the people in Sauri, Kenya have to wait for their medical attention.

Hannah had to get used to living without technology. A boy in the town created a cellphone out of wood, so he would have something to play with. She thinks of an app she could create while she’s walking through a corn maze. Hannah learned a lot from the people in Kenya, including how to be compassionate.

Some parts of this story could have been more exciting. Some conversations were summarized, when they could have been written out in dialogue. This happened more at the beginning of the book. I could tell that it was based on real events because it was written like that. The writing improved as it progressed.

This was a great book! It shows the impacts one person can make on the poverty in Africa.

Have you read A Calf Named Brian Higgins? What did you think of it?

TBR Thursday – August 16

TBR Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly Faye Reads, where you post a title from your shelf or e-reader and find out what others think about it.

My pick this week is Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

Review: The Adventures of Superhero Girl

Title: The Adventures of Superhero Girl
Author: Faith Erin Hicks
Genre: Graphic Novel
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
Source: Library
Release Date: February 26, 2013
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

What if you can leap tall buildings and defeat alien monsters with your bare hands, but you buy your capes at secondhand stores, and have a weakness for kittens, and a snarky comment from Skeptical Guy can ruin a whole afternoon? Cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks brings her skills in character design and sharp, charming humor to the trials and tribulations of a young, superhero battling monsters both supernatural and mundane in an all-too-ordinary world.

Review:

Superhero Girl is just an ordinary girl who works as a superhero. She has a brother with lots of superpowers, but she can only leap over tall buildings. She must keep her secret identity separate, but she forgets to take off her mask sometimes.

I loved how Superhero Girl is really just a regular person. She doesn’t have a tragic past, which caused her to become a superhero. She has to deal with ordinary life, but she also fights lots of ninjas.

I also loved the Canadian references. There were jokes about Tim Horton’s. She encounters a hilarious “League of Villainous Canadian Stereotypes.” It wasn’t a huge part of the story, but it was nice to see so much of Canada included in the story.

One thing I would have liked was for the comics to be separated into chapters. Some of the comics had scenes that continued for many pages, but some were just one page long. These comics were originally published online and they would have been separated then, so I wish they were also divided up in this book.

‘Waiting on’ Wednesday – August 15

This is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. In this post we highlight a book that’s highly anticipated.

The book that I’m waiting on this Wednesday is The Devil’s Thief (The Last Magician #2) by Lisa Maxwell.

Goodreads Synopsis:

In this spellbinding sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Last Magician, Esta and Harte set off on a cross-country chase through time to steal back the elemental stones they need to save the future of magic.

Hunt the Stones.
Beware the Thief.
Avenge the Past.

Esta’s parents were murdered. Her life was stolen. And everything she knew about magic was a lie. She thought the Book of Mysteries held the key to freeing the Mageus from the Order’s grasp, but the danger within its pages was greater than she ever imagined.

Now the Book’s furious power lives inside Harte. If he can’t control it, it will rip apart the world to get its revenge, and it will use Esta to do it.

To bind the power, Esta and Harte must track down four elemental stones scattered across the continent. But the world outside the city is like nothing they expected. There are Mageus beyond the Brink not willing to live in the shadows—and the Order isn’t alone in its mission to crush them.

In St. Louis, the extravagant World’s Fair hides the first stone, but an old enemy is out for revenge and a new enemy is emerging. And back in New York, Viola and Jianyu must defeat a traitor in a city on the verge of chaos.

As past and future collide, time is running out to rewrite history—even for a time-traveling thief.

What books are you waiting on this week?

Review: The Raging Ones

Title: The Raging Ones
Author: Krista & Becca Ritchie
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Release Date: August 14, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

From New York Times bestselling authors Krista and Becca Ritchie, comes The Raging Ones, an edge of your seat sci-fi romance with twists and turns that you will never see coming!

In a freezing world, where everyone knows the day they will die, three teens break all odds.

Franny Bluecastle, a tough city teen, dreams of dying in opulence, to see wealth she’s never known. Like the entire world, she believes it’s impossible to dodge a deathday.

Until the day she does.

Court Icecastle knows wealth. He also knows pain. Spending five years in Vorkter Prison, a fortress of ice and suffering, he dreams of life beyond the people that haunt him and the world that imprisoned him.

Mykal Kickfall fights for those he loves. The rugged Hinterlander shares a frustrating yet unbreakable connection with Court—which only grows more lawless and chaotic as their senses and emotions connect with Franny.

With the threat of people learning they’ve dodged their deathdays, they must flee their planet to survive. But to do so, all three will have to hide their shared bond as they vie for a highly sought after spot in the newest mission to space. Against thousands of people far smarter, who’ll live longer, and never fear death the way that they do.

Review:

I absolutely loved this book!

I was on the edge of my seat through the whole book. The premise was crazy: everyone on the planet knows the day they will die. Everyone is ranked in society based on how long they will live. Those who live longer are given more opportunities because they will have more time to make use of their lives.

The three main characters survive past their death day, and they are emotionally linked. They can feel each other’s pain and happiness. Once Court and Mykal meet Franny, they include her in their journey to join a space mission, so they can escape the world that they don’t belong in. The question is, will they all make it onto the mission?

I had so many questions through the book. When I was getting close to the end, I was disappointed because I was still wondering about many things. However, all of my questions were answered in the last couple of pages! It was an amazing ending, and I wish I didn’t have to wait so long for the sequel! I have no idea what is going to happen next!

Top Ten Tuesday – Favourite Book Blogs

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and it is now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is Favourite Book Blogs. Here’s my list:

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

What to read next:

Secret Coders by Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes

Tournament Trouble by Sylv Chiang and Connie Choi

The Unbinding of Mary Reade by Miriam McNamara

The Letting Go by Deborah Markus

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

What to read next:

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

About the Author:

Goodreads synopsis:

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

Goodreads Synopsis:

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

What to read next:

Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Faith Erin Hicks

Goldie Vance Vol. 1 by Hope Larson

Goodreads Synopsis:

Goodreads Synopsis:

Review:

What to read next:

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

1. A Book. A Thought.

2. Mel to the any

3. Saturday Nite Reader

4. Bookidote

5. Flavia the Bibliophile

6. Clues and Reviews

7. Emma’s Chapter

8. Stephanie’s Book Reviews

9. Bethan May Books

10. Omg.kacie.reads