Reviewing – Page 13 – Lyndsey Hall

Review: Perfect by Cecelia Ahern

Review Perfect Cecelia Ahern Lyndsey's Book Blog

Hi guys! I have news 🙂 On Wednesday 11th April my beautiful baby boy finally arrived! He’s officially eight weeks old today. I can’t believe I’m the mum of a two month old baby… While I bury my head in the sand and try to ignore the fact I’m now frighteningly grown up and completely responsible for another human life, here’s a little book review for your reading pleasure.

The first book in this duology, Flawed, was the first book I ever reviewed on this blog! You can check out my review here, if you haven’t read book one and don’t want any spoilers then I wouldn’t recommend reading on…

TL;DR Celestine is in hiding after escaping the clutches of Judge Crevan and his Whistleblowers. Holed up in a Flawed safe-house with a group of fellow branded outcasts, she’s a sitting duck when the Whistleblowers eventually turn up to raid the facility. Forced to go on the run again, she decides to hunt down the one person who may be able to help her overturn her Flawed sentence, but will she find the elusive footage and expose Judge Crevan for the monster he really is?

So, we left Celestine at the end of Flawed leaving her parents’ home and going on the run from Judge Crevan and his Whistleblowers, and we meet her again at the beginning of Perfect hiding out on her granddad’s farm. If you remember, Granddad is a Flawed sympathiser who speaks out against Crevan and his court, and helps Celestine when she first goes into hiding in book one. He’s an absolute legend with zero filter, like many granddads, which unfortunately means he’s already on the court’s radar, so it’s not long before the Whistleblowers turn up to raid his property in search of Celestine.

Barely escaping a pretty horrifying and fiery death, our girl Celestine is forced to run again, and with the help of some old friends, winds up at a facility where Flawed are hidden and employed in secret. She’s reunited with Carrick, but the peace doesn’t last long as Whistleblowers soon arrive, having been tipped off to Celestine’s location by someone she considered a friend. Worse, a familiar face is among the soldiers sent to escort her to Highland Castle.

With nowhere left to run, Celestine is forced to seek out the one person who might be able to help her overturn her Flawed sentence, if only she can find the lost footage of her sixth brand. If she discovers the tape in time, she’ll have a decision to make that could impact on the entire country – use the footage to blackmail Judge Crevan and have her sentence overturned, or release the tape and expose Crevan for the monster he is, in the hopes this revelation brings about the demise of the Guild itself. Will she save herself, or sacrifice her only leverage in order to free her fellow Flawed from their own sentences?

You’ll have to read it to find out! 😉

Perfect is a gripping novel that provides a satisfying conclusion to the Flawed series, answering some of the questions we’re left with after book one and posing several more about ethics, morality and humanity. There are parallels with the Nazi regime in this book that highlight the ease with which people can be turned against a subgroup of society, given enough indoctrination.

The Flawed are stripped of all life’s luxuries, forced to eat a bland diet, given a strict curfew, banned from gathering in groups of three or more, and forbidden from enjoying many of what we would consider basic human rights.

The rest of society are threatened with being labelled Flawed themselves if they so much as help a Flawed person, suggesting that being Flawed is practically contagious. Sympathising with the Flawed’s plight is tantamount to openly criticising the Guild, another surefire way to wind up branded Flawed yourself, so people avoid their Flawed neighbours, treat them as lesser, something to be pitied and feared, which makes the Guild’s job of alienating the Flawed and controlling the general public even easier.

It’s a terrifyingly credible series of events.

I gave Perfect 3.5 stars, the same star rating I gave Flawed, it’s a well written sequel and a satisfying conclusion, I enjoyed reading it, but it wasn’t completely unputdownable, and I would have loved to feel more gripped. A little more tension and threat would have made this a four star read.

If you love dystopian stories, you’ll definitely enjoy Flawed and Perfect, the premise is equally fascinating and quietly disturbing, and Ahern’s execution is perfectly tuned to the Young Adult genre, after dozens of incredibly successful adult novels.

Have you read the Flawed series? What were your thoughts, did you find the concept believable? Let me know in the comments.

Lyndsey

Review: The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

I listened to the audio book of The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee back in September, and it was one of my absolute favourite reads of 2017! (Check out My top five books of 2017)

TL;DR Monty and Percy are best friends and high-born gentlemen living their best lives in 1800s London. Drink, gambling and general debauchery are the order of the day, until their Grand Tour of Europe becomes a mad dash across the continent, pursued by dangerous men who will kill to take back what Monty stole from them…

Henry “Monty” Montague is the son of an English aristocrat, attends one of the poshest boarding schools in the country, and is being groomed to take control of the family estate and affairs when he grows up. If he ever does. Unfortunately, he’s not interested in taking over from his father, or growing up. He’s also madly in love with his best friend Percy, who is blissfully unaware, and he’s being kicked out of school for his roguish behaviour. Surely a few months travelling around Europe will solve all his problems?

Joined by Percy and his sister Felicity, Monty sets off for France – first stop, the palace of Versailles. Unfortunately, one rash decision and a stolen trinket lead to our gang fleeing for their lives, pursued by some very angry French men. They eventually wind up in Barcelona and take refuge in a house with the strange siblings whose father invented the fascinating stolen trinket, looking for an explanation. When the French catch up to them, they’re forced to make another run for it, this time heading for Venice by pirate ship. Their quest for the truth becomes a race against time as the answer to all their questions is in danger of becoming submerged when the islet housing it crumbles into the sea.

Will Monty ever confess his love to Percy? What is the mysterious affliction that affects Percy and why did he really agree to join his best friend on his European Tour? And will Felicity be able to convince her parents and society that women are just as capable as men, and study medicine at university like she wants? You’ll have to read it to find out…

I absolutely adored this book, it was funny, touching, gripping and filled with diverse, complex and deeply flawed characters who charmed the socks off me with every page. I’m giving it 5 stars and am absolutely gutted that it’s technically a standalone, however Mackenzi Lee has written a companion book from the perspective of Felicity called The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, and I’ll be damned if I’m not going to get my hands on it the instant it comes out in October. Lee is a huge advocate for amazing women throughout history, you can often find her tweeting about a fabulous lady from the past, proving that girls have always been badass and brilliant. Her Twitter threads have even been turned into a book, Bygone Badass Broads: 52 Forgotten Women Who Changed the World – go buy it immediately and celebrate International Women’s Day 2018 like a proper lady, with an awesome book and a cup of tea (or something stronger if that’s your style, no judgement here! Only four more weeks of pregnancy to go and I’ll be joining you!).

Until next time,

Lyndsey

Review: One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

I read One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus on my holiday in Singapore in September and I literally flew through it, it was such a fun read.

TL;DR Five kids go into detention, but only four come out alive. They’ve all got secrets, but do any of them have a motive for murder? Simon’s plan to expose all their deepest, darkest truths on his popular gossip app could be the key…

A jock, a geek, a prom queen, a bad boy, and Simon the outcast are all thrown into detention for having phones in their bags. The weird thing is, they’re not their phones. That doesn’t seem to matter to the overzealous teacher though. When a crash in the school car park draws the teacher away from the room, leaving the kids alone, it’s not long before Simon is dead, the cause a suspected allergic reaction.

One by one, the kids are questioned by the police and their darkest secrets start to come out, secrets so big they might push anyone to kill to keep them hidden. Any one of the four could be responsible, or could they just be the scapegoats for a killer who’s hiding in plain sight?

By the end of the book, no one is who they seemed at first glance, and they’ll never be the same again. Isolated and feared by their schoolmates, and demonised by the local media, Bronwyn, Addy, Nate and Cooper gradually form a tight-knit circle, but is it a case of keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Or are the four witnesses to Simon’s death the only ones who can solve the mystery before the crime is pinned on the wrong person?

This book is a fun, fast and gripping read with so many twists and turns it’ll keep you up at night turning page after page. Billed as a cross between The Breakfast Club and Pretty Little Liars, it brings together a band of misfits from every well-known high school clique and throws them into a compelling murder mystery plot for the modern age.

I had my suspicions about the climax from somewhere in the middle, but I certainly didn’t predict the whole reveal and was pleasantly surprised by some of the twists. The only reason this wasn’t a five star read is because a few of the secrets were pretty predictable and some of the drama was very high school, which is not a criticism as such, but knowing that I’m not exactly the target demographic for YA, despite it being my favourite, from a personal point of view some of the issues could have been easily resolved with a little communication. I’m sure that wouldn’t be a problem for younger readers, so that’s a very personal feeling on the novel and definitely wouldn’t make me recommend this book any less, I still think it’s a brilliant read.

I gave One of Us is Lying four stars, it’s a great contemporary thriller with well-written, flawed and interesting characters and an explosive plot twist. Have you read it yet? If not, what are you waiting for? If yes, tell me in the comments what you thought! Who was your favourite character? Did you see the twist coming? (No spoilers please!).

Lyndsey