Book Review: All Of The Above, by Juno Dawson

Title: All Of The Above
Author: Juno Dawson (formerly known as James Dawson)
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Release date: summer
Genre: YA Contemporary
Source: Won

Description: This is a funny and moving love story about friends, first loves and self-discovery by Queen of Teen 2014. When sixteen-year-old Toria Bland arrives at her new school she needs to work out who her friends are in a crazy whirl of worry, exam pressure and anxiety over fitting in. Things start looking up when Toria meets the funny and foul-mouthed Polly, who's the coolest girl that Toria has ever seen. Polly and the rest of the 'alternative' kids take Toria under their wing. And that's when she meets the irresistible Nico Mancini, lead singer of a local band - and it's instalove at first sight! Toria likes Nico, Nico likes Toria, but then there's Polly...love and friendship have a funny way of going round in circles.

My thoughts: I didn't know much about this book until I saw Juno in conversation with George Lester on George's YouTube channel. I really liked the sound of the story & was lucky enough to win a copy in George's giveaway.

All Of The Above starts with Toria on her first day at a new school, for her penultimate year of high school. She’s quickly adopted in to a group of friends who, if we’re using high school group stereotypes, would be the ‘alternative kids’. The main characters apart from Toria are [name], Polly and Beasley. The story follows them, through Toria’s eyes, through the year.
It’s hard for me to review this without feeling like I’m doing it a disservice. It’s a girl and her friends in high school, like you’ve read before. What’s it about, beyond that? Friendships. A first serious relationship. Physical intimacy. Eating disorders. Self-harm. Figuring out your sexuality. Breakups.
Some people might dismiss it as being too many ‘issues’ crammed in to one book. But that’s rubbish. If they think that, it’s been too long since they were a teenager. In a friendship group, there are so many things going on at one time and I think Juno Dawson captures that perfectly. She also manages to make it laugh out loud funny in so many places, and grabs you by the feelings in others. I cried on the train to London reading one part - and if you’ve read the book, it probably wasn’t the part you’d first guess.

It’s a rollercoaster of a book, just as a year of high school is and absolutely captures being an older teenager. I'm giving All Of The Above by Juno Dawson 9 out of 10.

Stacking The Shelves: December Edition

Welcome to Stacking the Shelves! StS is a weekly meme hosted at Tynga's Reviews.

I haven't received or bought many books this month - I'm trying really hard to cut down on books I buy until I've cut my TBR pile down a bit. I had a big life change this month as well: I moved from Scotland to London, and started working at a publisher.

I do get books from work now but I haven't quite decided if I'm going to feature or review them on the blog or my Youtube channel so for now I'm leaving them out. So here are the three books I got in December:

All Of The Above, by James Dawson - I won this from George Lester's Youtube channel and I'm so glad I got the chance to read it. It's about Toria, a girl going in to her penultimate year of high school, starting at a new place in a town her family have just moved to. It's about friendship, eating disorders, self harm, figuring out your sexuality, and a whole lot of other stuff - basically being a seventeen year old at high school! I'll review this one properly soon, but I really think James hit the nail on the head with what the experience of being that age is like. It's not neat and tidy, there's always a lot going on.





Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone illustrated edition - this one was a Christmas present from
my parents, it's the only book I asked them for, but I wasn't expecting to actually get it - it's quite expensive for a book. It's so beautiful and I really like it. The illustrations bring it to life in a new way - some similarities to how things are shown in the film, and some things which are more like how I imagined scenes, or something totally new. If you're a Harry Potter fan, I highly recommend this one.

London Falling, by Paul Cornell - I also got vouchers for audiobooks for Christmas, and this is the book I chose. I've just started it so I'll talk more about it in a review when I'm finished. It's about a London police team dealing with a magical suspect.









What books did you get in December? Leave your links in the comments and I'll check them out!

~Ailsa

Review: Hollow Pike, by James Dawson

Title: Hollow Pike

Author: James Dawson

Publisher: Indigo (New YA imprint from Orion)

Release date: 2 February 2012

Source: ARC from publisher

Description: She thought she'd be safe in the country, but you can't escape your own nightmares, and Lis London dreams repeatedly that someone is trying to kill her.

Lis thinks she's being paranoid - after all who would want to murder her? She doesn't believe in the local legends of witchcraft. She doesn't believe that anything bad will really happen to her. You never do, do you?

Not until you're alone, in the woods, after dark - and a twig snaps...

My thoughts: From the moment I read the description of this book back in November/December, I wanted to read it. I can totally relate to the paranoia here - I come from the middle of nowhere, and when I'm walking the dogs on my own, I always get jumpy. You don't really think someone is there, but if you here a sudden noise, it puts you really on edge. I love how, in the few sentences on the back cover it captures that jumpiness, which is something that runs throughout the book.

Hollow Pike was... not quite what I was expecting, at first. It starts with Lis moving to the village of Hollow Pike to live with her grown-up sister Sarah, to start over at a new school because she was being bullied. Yes, someone starting at a new school is something we've seen before in YA novels (a lot), but I like it. It's a good way for the main character and the reader to learn things at the same time, gradually, without having an info dump to get the reader up to speed.

In many ways, Hollow Pike is a story about bullying. Having come for her fresh start, Lis falls in with the 'popular' crowd, and watches as they bully other people. I hated seeing Lis just standing watching what her new 'friends' were doing. Even though I could sort of see why she didn't want to end up being picked on again, I think if she'd done something when she first saw what kind of people the girls were, and left to find other friends, she would have been fine. However, after an incident where Lis is seen talking to Queen Bee Laura's crush, the posse turn on her, and she finds herself a victim once more. The only good thing about this is that it leads are to some new friends, who actually seem genuine.

Of course the other big part of Hollow Pike is the witchcraft. In the first chapter, before she arrives, Lis dreams about crawling along a stream in the woods, and someone drowning her. It's a nightmare she's had a lot, and when her mum drives through a 'shortcut' in the woods to get to Sarah's house, Lis is shocked to realise that it's the wood from her dream. Witches are tied in to the history of the village - everyone knows it, but no one really believes it. Then a girl is murdered in the woods, and Lis's dreams get worse. Although she keeps telling herself she doesn't believe it, creepy things keep happening. She feels like she's being watched. Birds go quiet when she walks past. A creepy shop owner tells her that her dreams are a warning.

I spent the whole book trying to work out who the bad guy was. I was fairly convinced that there was something witchy going on, but still found myself questioning if that was just because of the stories about witches in Hollow Pike. I kept changing who I thought was behind everything, every time Lis found something new that seemed to point in a different direction. I really didn't guess who it was until it was far too late, just like Lis.

Bullying, in various forms, remains a theme of the book all the way through. I think it's a very good look at how it affects people, why people get caught up in it, and different kinds of bullying and prejudice. Woven through that is the paranoia of the witches, and trying to work out what is going on, if Lis is just imagining things, and if not then who is targeting her and why. It really is an excellent read, one of the best young adult novels I've read in a long time. I can't wait to see what James Dawson comes up with next. Writing this review, I realise just how well certain things were slipped in to the novel to emphasise the themes - I wish I'd had this book when I was trying to write english essays in high school, because there would have been so much to write about!

I could go on, but before you all get bored of reading, I give this book 10 out of 10. A brilliant, gripping story that fans of slightly more realistic young adult books will love.

~Ailsa