mybookishthrills: fiction

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Published by Faber & Faber

Page Count: 252 pages (Paperback)
Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Historical Fiction.

Publishing Date: April 7th, 2016
Rating: ★★★★☆/4/5

As I sat down to write this review, I realized that this author didn't go for any cheap tricks or overly abused tropes to make this book a success; this book was pure honesty. Therefore, it felt wrong to write a gimmicky review where I scream in all caps about a certain character, like I usually would. Therefore, you may find yourself shocked at the honesty and yearning that this book has inspired in me...p~~roceed if you dare hahaha the gimmicks stop at this...~~

Alaska, 1970: growing up here is like nowhere else.
Ruth wants to be remembered by her grieving mother.
Dora wishes she was invisible to her abusive father.
Alyce is staying at home to please her parents.
Hank is running away for the sake of his brothers.
Four very different lives are about to become entangled. Because if we don't save each other, how can we begin to save ourselves?

Why I Picked It Up

First, it was definitely the title. I heard it, I turned it over in my messy, jumbled brain...and suddenly, out of nowhere, at 2 a.m. in the morning...I felt nostalgic. That's when I knew that this book was going to be an emotional ride, and I was definitely up for it.

Then the cover happened, I saw it and if my nostalgia hadn't done the job before, that beautiful and electrifying cover convinced me.

Also, this was set in Alaska, and it's described as a 'realist historical fiction' and I was like:

This leads me onto the first point why I loved this book..

The Setting

As the title may suggest to most, this book's focal point is all about people's homes, and what makes it their homes...I thought the setting of this story couldn't have been nailed down better. It alternates between a town in Alaska and a fishing boat out in the sea...It was a meticulous setting for a story like this one that carried a sense of nostalgia and this cosy homey-feeling.

The author is from Alaska herself, I believe, and you could really tell. Her writing, and especially her description of this seemingly 'in the middle of nowhere' town was pleasing to my brain and really painted the picture so well to the point where I felt the reminiscence of the author seeping through the pages. It was kind of tear-jerking honestly...

The Honesty

Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock focused on the very core of any story: the setting, the plot, the characters... and wrote it all till perfection.

This story is free of any and all gimmicks that we can often spot in Contemporary writing today, and that pure honesty and sentimentality is what makes this book so outstanding. It starts at such basics, and grows up to be something beautiful and heartwarming. That's why, it made me crazy with some unknown yearning and longing by the end of it.

My favorite part of the whole book was probably that hidden, ambiguous frustration that every character was feeling. Every single one of them had some kind of scorn, and it was almost like their whole journey throughout this story was to break free of that.

Ruth grows up in this metaphorically dark, uncertain place just to actually end up in a home of such descriptions, which allows her to grow up and find herself. Dora is restless and insecure, surrounded by violence, and it takes a confrontation to allow her to realize that she had so much of that anger hidden in her own crevices that wouldn't let her be at peace..

This was basically me throughout the whole book, whenever one of them realized something about themselves and began to piece their shit together:

I was cheering on these characters so much, and I felt every single one of their pains personally. That's really the bases of what makes this book so great!

Concluding Thoughts

I could probably ramble for another hour about all the aspects of this book that I loved, but ultimately I'd probably just end up boring you all and spoiling the book haha.

To conclude, I'm going to state that the only thing that brought this book down from 5 to 4 stars' rating, is the slightly slow beginning. It was to be expected, with such story concept and so many characters to fit into 250 pages. Nevertheless, it still took some time for me to fully start enjoying the book.

Perhaps the only thing that I can really say to do this book justice is that this was beautiful, and transforming! I recommend this book to absolutely everyone, young or old...it's going to speak to everyone on many levels.

I truly hope you will be picking this book up! Or if you already have, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I did.

Talk to me about the beauty of this book in the comments below!
All the love,
Samanta. x

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Published by Simon & Schuster Books

Page Count: 416 pages (Hardback)

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Science Fiction (Dystopia), Fantasy.

RATING: ★★★★☆/4/5

This is one of those books that is super hard to write an objective review for without spoiling the whole thing, but seeing as I decided to anyways, here is my attempt.

" The story follows our main character Nemesis. Nemesis is a Diabolic. Created to protect a galactic Senator's daughter, Sidonia. The girl who has grown up by her side and who is as much as sister as a master. There's no one Nemesis wouldn't kill to keep her safe. But when the power-mad Emperor summons Sidonia to the galactic court as a hostage, there is only one way for Nemesis to protect Sidonia.She must become her, and disguise her unhuman-like Diabolic qualities that will bring her closer than ever to humanity. "
- Goodreads

Why I Picked It Up

I'll admit that I had big doubts going into this book; I thought, "Oh here we go", another one about a robot girl who couldn't love but then did anyways, somehow, magically...by the power of love.

But then I thought 'galaxy travel' and 'spaceships'...That's why initially picked this book up. However as it turns out, in my opinion, this book was so much more than space and that robot girl concept.

Important Aspect That Make Me Love This Book

There's an aspect to this book that almost makes it an important book to have in YA fantasy/science fiction. This isn't a story of a robot girl, this is a story of a marginalized girl who is made to believe she is 'less human' than others, by the society that she lives in. It almost becomes a story of self-discovery and self-acceptance in a world where all of that is frowned-upon.

Reflecting upon our world today, Nemisis as a character, and the Diabolics as a community, can even take shape as a reflection of the minority groups that are oppressed in our society today, just as Nemisis is in "The Diabolic".

This realization made me immediately warm to the book, and to the author. Beforehand, I could have rambled about the stereotypes and the cliche aspects of it, but all of that was shadowed over by the heart-warming story of self-acceptance that took place throughout this book.

"The Diabolic" truly delves so much deeper than what might appear as firsthand as an elaborate dystopian setup for a flaming romance.

Let's talk about the romance...

The romance in this book I could have done without, I'll admit, and I had some minor issues with it. Some *rolling eyes* moments too like...

However, by the end of the book, I found myself having warmed to Tyrus, our stammeringly hot love interest and heir to the Empire. He was a mixture of 'exactly what you'd expect', and 'DID HE JUST DO THAT???DID HE JUST-'. It was quite endearing at times....~~and then he'll go and stab someone in the back hahahaha.~~

Their eventual romance was pretty predictable from their first interaction, and I was holding fingers against it, but eventually, the inevitable of YA books occurred, and there was nothing I could do but sit and take the ride with them.

You should definitely not be turned off the book by me rambling against the romance. I'm just a girl who wishes for more backstabbing than 'I LOVE YOU MORE THAN MY OWN LIFE'....so once you read this book, you'll understand why I'm a teeny tiny bit against it here heh.

THE PACING

I also found this pacing of this book to be on point. I was turning the pages one after the other, and before I knew it, it was one a.m. on a school night and I was done, screeching quietly into my pillow. The author didn't waste pages with unnecessary fillers, but rather drew me in with the action, whether it was the awesome scene of Nemesis facing off a genetically altered creature, or Nemesis and Tyrus gracefully twirling in their gowns in a zero gravity ball room ~~like Peter Pan and Wendy~~. Really, the images there are quite fascinating, and probably enough to get anyone intrigued!

"The Diabolic" - A TRILOGY?

Since finishing the book I've heard some talk, some happy, some frustrated, that this was initially a stand-alone, but that it will be now becoming a trilogy since the positive receive of this book.

Personally I am not opposed, and hope that the author will know how to make the best of the opportunity here, and will not simply regurgitate whatever happens to be in the mix for the sake of making it ' a series'. I'm excited to see what's ahead for Nemesis and the galactic fam ;).

So, tell me, have you read "The Diabolic" yet? If you have, are you excited for it to be a series? If you haven't, you most definitely should, and you should also tell me what persuaded you to pick it up, and which mentioned concept is most engaging to you? Tell me all that and more down in the comments below! :) It will all be greatly appreciated!

All the love,
Samanta.

4 Comments

Published 2016 by Windmill Books

Page Count: 451 pages (Paperback)

Genres: Adult, Fiction, Contemporary, Mystery, Literary Fiction.

RATING: ★★★★★/5/5

Before I properly get into rambling and attempting to articulate my thoughts sufficiently well enough to do justice to this masterpiece, allow me to trigger warn you... If you're someone who doesn't like to be pressured into reading certain books, maybe leave while you still can, because I can guarantee you, in the course of this review, I will randomly YELL in all caps about how much you NEED!!!!! to read this book, and how much I WANT!!!!!! and BEG!!!!! you to read this book.

It's that good that I'm willing to break my cool-calm-collected-persona I supposedly attempt to maintain in my online presence...HA bloody HA! to inform y'all how magical,beautiful,transforming,life-altering and bad for my emotional health this book was.

"The Unseen World" follows the story of a young girl Ada Sibelius, who has spent all her 13 years living her everyday life with her father David. David has thought her everything she knows, from mathematics to cryptanalyses. Ada accompanies David to his lab everyday of the working week, and there, she is part of the team, who are close knit like a family, and are working on developing groundbreaking technology of 1980s in Boston. Her life seems to be all there is to want for Ada. However, her world is turned upside down when David is diagnosed with Alzhemeir's, and her once sharp father begins to witter, and secrets and questions emerge that he can no longer answer to. Ada is sent spiraling into a world where new questions about her father and their past live together emerge everyday. - Goodreads

Initially, I thought this had the potential to be a story of a cute little family, and some self-discovery.... and while this book certainly offered some of that, it was so much more, and the book just flew off of any expectation chart I might have had beforehand.

One of the reasons why this book mesmerized me so much was the characters. Honestly, I'm sure some of you are side-eyeing me since I said the story follows a thirteen year old; but I assure you, half the time, I forgot her age. She is so much smarter, and at times probably even more mature than most people my age, which is late teens. Ada was so clever and carried herself so well, and when at breaking points she let her childhood peek through, she'd inevitably feel guilty and stupid, and I was over in my corner being like:

Because she's so brave, and strong, and beautiful, and amazing, and I'm over here like????? Stop thinking about yourself like you're not all of those things???

And David. Oh boy did David break my heart in a heartbeat like it was some crypt code that an ammature had put together. Honestly...his backstory killed me, and revived me at the same time. It was so purely honest and so soul-stealing when you realize that it very well could be semi-based on a true story, because those things were happening in the 80s.

I don't want to spoil anything, but I believe it will get more people interested in reading this story, so all I'll say is that this book is diverse in sexuality and explores the LGBT communities' experience as members of it in the 40s- 80s.... Can you understand now why I was an emotional wreck reading this story? ~~And then he gets Alzheimer's and forgets everything like what kind of heart-stabbing, bone breaking, torturing device is this book?~~

And the amazing characterization did not stop at these two characters. Every single character that was mentioned in this novel was brought to life in ways that stunned me. Every single one of them had a part to play, and every single string of this story was tied at the end of it. Like, where else do you get this??? It's honestly mind-blowingly amazing!

Another aspect of this story that I adored was the setting. The location, the time stamp. I loved the decade that these characters lived in, and I loved their process throughout it. David and Ada work in a tech lab, and they're working on developing this human-mimicking language software/robot that they talk to in order to teach it human language, and it's fascinating! Even as someone in the 21st century who takes technology for granted everyday and overlooks the miracle behind it all, I found myself gasping and clutching at my head in amazement at times when the story concentrated on the technology.

I appreciated Liz Moore's scene setting so much as well! By now I'm an adoring, avid reader of hers and I know that she writes astoundingly well, but still.... Boston of 1980 popped at me off the page as if I had wittinessed it myself, even though I wouldn't be born for another 19 years.

That's what a good writer does right? She brings you places you didn't think possible.

I cannot even begin to speak about how great the structuring of this novel was. We begin in 1980 with a 13 year old Ada, and learn about her life then. Eventually, after a plot-altering revelation, we're left hanging for a bit as we've transported to 2009, to an older Ada in a completely different part of her life. And this structure is repeated several times throughout the novel, and boy does it keep you reading

It's almost like someone hinting at what the puzzle looks like in the end, but not giving you all the pieces quite yet. So you sit there, and continue on your quest through the pages. And it's amazing, every single minute of it is meaningful!

I could ramble on for three more hours about all the things I love about this novel, but I'd rather not drain you of the experience of discovering all those little things yourself.

I sincerely hope you will pick this beauty up, or at least consider it. I promise you that it will definitely be worth it! It transformed me, and it rooted an appreciation of knowledge, memory and open-mindedness in me very deeply.

Tell me in the comments, have I convinced you to read this book yet? You totally should you know...I mean surely, you know what it's like to have read a book that many other people haven't yet, and feeling that necessity to scream about it from the rooftops, right? Tell me all about it below. It will be much appreciated! :)