Gabbie's bookish thoughts

Rating:  ★★★.75 / 5 Plot: For centuries the gods of the Undersea ruled the islands of the Myriad through awe and terror: they were very real, and very dangerous. Sacrifices were hurled into the waters to appease them, and every boat was painted with pleading eyes to entreat their mercy. They were served, feared and adored. Then, thirty years ago, the gods rose up in madness and tore each other apart. Now, none remain. The islands have recovered and the people have patched their battered ships and moved on. On one of these islands live Hark and his best friend Jelt. To them, the gods are nothing but a collection of valuable scraps to be scavenged from the ocean and sold. But now something is pulsing beneath the waves, calling to someone brave enough to retrieve it. Review: The more I think about this book, the more in awe I am even though it's been a while since I've finished it. I had heard people singing Hardinge's praise for age...

Not too long ago I was asked if I'd like to take part in the blog tour for Natalie Hibberd's debut novel,  Inside Out. As soon as the book was pitched to me, I knew I'd not only be interested to do that, but that I'd love to get to read the book (which is awaiting on my neverending TBR pile).  Allow me to give you the pitch of the book that raised my interest:  In a divisive world of mistrust and murder, there’s only one thing that matters growing up: you’re either in The Inside or The Outside.  While the Insiders appear pampered and privileged, the Outsiders know only harsh realities. Believing themselves to be needlessly deprived of everything the Insiders have, the younger generation channel their rage into a terrorist group called The Freedom Fighters, a group intent on overthrowing the Inside at any cost. Now the Insiders must watch as the world they love collapses around them while the government resort to increasingly desperate tactics to try and co...

Rating : 4.5/5 Plot Christopher is seven years old. Christopher is the new kid in town. Christopher has an imaginary friend. Single mother Kate Reese is on the run. Determined to improve life for her and her son, Christopher, she flees an abusive relationship in the middle of the night with Christopher at her side. Together, they find themselves drawn to the tight-knit community of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. It's as far off the beaten track as they can get. Just one highway in, one highway out. At first, it seems like the perfect place to finally settle down. Then Christopher vanishes. For six awful days, no one can find him. Until Christopher emerges from the woods at the edge of town, unharmed but not unchanged. He returns with a voice in his head only he can hear, with a mission only he can complete: Build a tree house in the woods by Christmas, or his mother and everyone in the town will never be the same again. Soon Kate and Christopher find themselves in the fight...

Rating:          4.5/5 About the imprint: "There’s always another side to any story, whether in worksof fiction or simply in the stories we tell ourselves, and Bellatrix books willaim to shine a light on the unknown, misunderstood and misrepresented. They’llreveal new ways of looking at the world and looking at stories." Plot: Seventeen-year-old Dinah needs to leave her home, the weird commune where she grew up. She needs a whole new identity, starting with how she looks, starting with shaving off her hair, her 'crowning glory'. She has to do it quickly, because she has to go now. Dinah was going to go alone and hitch a ride down south. Except, she ends up being persuaded to illegally drive a VW campervan for hundreds of miles, accompanied by a grumpy man with one leg. This wasn't the plan. But while she's driving, Dinah will be forced to confront everything that led her here, everything that will finally show her which direction t...