Review: Between the Lives, by Jessica Shirvington

Between the Lives
by Jessica Shirvington

Edição/reimpressão: 2014
Pages: 336 (Ebook)

Publisher: Hachette Children's Books

 
Summary: The perfect life or the perfect love. You choose.
For as long as she can remember, Sabine has lived two lives. Every 24 hours she shifts to her 'other' life - a life where she is exactly the same, but absolutely everything else is different: different family, different friends, different social expectations. In one life she has a sister, in the other she does not. In one life she's a straight-A student with the perfect boyfriend, in the other she's considered a reckless delinquent. Nothing about her situation has ever changed, until the day when she discovers a glitch: the arm she breaks in one life is perfectly fine in the other.
With this new knowledge, Sabine begins a series of increasingly risky experiments that bring her dangerously close to the life she's always wanted. But if she can only have one life, which is the one she'll choose?
A compelling psychological thriller about a girl who lives two parallel lives - this is Sliding Doors for the YA audience.

Rating: 4/5 

Review: 

"Between the Lives" was given to me by Escape Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book was such a good surprise. In fact, at the beginning I was feeling a little confused and not getting along with it, but then it got catchy and easy to go on. I guess my first issue was to really understand how the changing was supposed to happen. Not the physical part but the meaning of it. The way the first pages describe it, it looks like Sabine would live one live and exist in the other at same time but having the soul out of that body, when in reality it was something more simple: she would return to exact same point where she was during the switch. Which means that if she was falling in live A and if she shift during that time, she would live the exact same day in the life B (with other family and other people and context) knowing that at midnight she would really fall on the "previous" life. After understanding the mechanic, the book started growing on me and I could feel comfortable reading both realities of Sabine´s life. 

At first, it was a little confusing to understand why she would create almost different characters in each live until I figured that was her safe mechanism to keep going and trying not to mix up her realities, which only means Sabine was never a real person, not even for herself (at least from my perspective). 

It was fun to understand and see the dynamics she had with both families, and how she was connected with her parents, her siblings and her friends, from whom I would love to had time to learn more about. Even so, I didn't felt that was something missing there, or that the book had plot holes in that level. 

I didn't really felt she was the reckless delinquent the summary wants to sell, she was simply someone with different opportunities and more space to try to exist in one life than in the other. After the glitch, it was fun to understand the consequences of her actions while she also did, but even so I guess the author sometimes forgot Sabine didn't knew already what was going to happen and she looked to me stressed out with stuff less important than another. 

In another instance, when she starts the experiments, it isn't clear for me why she is tending in one direction, because the life where she seams more real and complete and with more possibilities of happiness is the one she is putting apart. 

Also, it was a nice change the big twist that happened in the middle of the book (I will not mention it to don´t spoil the story to everyone) and it kept me reading the book all night long. It created a nice dynamic in the story and made it different and original, which is something that we need in more books! Nearer to the end, there is another big plot twist and for a while I thought the book was going in a different direction, but since it's an young adult story, it turned out to a less troubled path, but even so enjoyable. 

The end was a little predictable but not boring or dishonorable to what Jessica Shirvington created and finalized in a sour and sweet conclusion. I will be watching Jessica´s future books! Well done.  

Cláudia

About the author:
 

Addicted to the library Claudia loves to read on the move and we can usualy find her sitting in a train or bus reading while commuting to and from work. But don't be fooled she is also keeping an eye on the landscape and all around her. She is an avid defender of sustainability and volunteering and it's as easy to find her starting a new project as it is to find her chatting with her friends. She is a dreamer and loves good stories so she keeps looking for them in her personal life.

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Review. Gangsta Granny, by David Walliams

Gangsta Granny

by David Walliams 

Ilustrated by Tony Ross

Published in: 2011 

Pag Nr: 299 

Editor: HarperCollins Children's Books

Burble:

Ben is bored beyond belief after he is made to stay at his grandma's house. All she wants to do is to play Scrabble, and eat cabbage soup. But there are two things Ben doesn't know about his grandma: she was once an international jewel thief and she has been plotting to steal the crown jewels. Now she needs Ben's help.

Rating: 4/5

Review:

I have been promising myself that I will get around to read David Walliams books for almost a year now. I read great reviews about The Boy in the dress and later on of Billionaire Boy. By the time Gangsta Granny hit the shelves Walliams was already being called the next Roald Dahl and since I liked Dahl’s books I decided that I really should check out Walliams books.

Gangsta Granny tells us the story of Ben’s granny who is, as it is to be expected, a typical textbook granny. She is old, with white hair, fake teeth, and tissues up her sleeve… Oh! And stolen jewels from all over the world! Ben doesn’t like to spend every Friday night with his granny he believes she is boring until the day he accidentally finds the jewels and his granny becomes the most interesting person in the world.

Since I was young that I have always enjoyed being around elderly people, I always found them fascinating and wise and I was lucky to have grandparents who loved to tell stories and who always cooked my favourite meals. Unfortunately for Ben everything his granny cooks is cabbage based and that includes her cabbage cake. Ben really can’t get out of his granny house fast enough and I think most 12 year olds would probably feel the same way.

However there’s always a side of our grandparents, and most people actually, that we don’t get to know and when Ben finds his granny’s “dark side” he simply can’t leave her house. This leads to a bunch of misadventures and of course the biggest jewel theft ever.

I loved how the main message of this book was to respect and help elderly people, it was a book that spoke about kindness towards the old and how the young seem to forget that they will be old someday as well.  It’s a book that reminds young people that old people were young once as well and that they had adventures as well. It’s a book about following your dreams and about never giving up.

Also Tony Ross's illustrations really help the book come to life. I really enjoyed seeing his drawings of granny and Ben's parents. Specially mom with her makeup out of place.

Another solid 4 starts and a reading that I recommend for 12 year olds! (And 28 years old with children’s hearts). 

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Opinião: Vingança de Sangue, de Wilbur Smith

Vingança de Sangue

de Wilbur Smith

Edição/reimpressão: 2014
Páginas: 576

Editora: Editorial Presença 

Resumo: Vingança de Sangue é a sequela de A Lei do Deserto, obra também publicada pela Presença nesta coleção. Neste segundo volume reconhecemos de imediato a mesma intensidade dramática e o suspense levados a níveis capazes de desafiar o leitor mais intrépido. Aqui, Hector Cross tem encontro marcado com o inimigo, e fica a sabê-lo da pior forma possível, quando este ataca, sedento de sangue e vingança, assassinando brutalmente Hazel Bannock, agora mulher de Hector e nos últimos meses de gravidez.


Determinado a fazer justiça, Hector reúne os seus amigos mais leais e juntos viajam para o Médio Oriente. Mas Hector percebe que está a lidar com um inimigo de múltiplos rostos quando figuras sinistras do passado da família Bannock começam a emergir, envoltas em segredos hediondos que Hazel nunca teve coragem de lhe revelar.... 

Rating: 2/5 

Opinião: Gostam de acção, descrições sórdidas, sangue e mistério? Este livro é para vocês.
Wilbur Smith completa em 2014 cinquenta anos de carreira que merecem ser celebrados. Ao pegar num dos seus livros, nenhum leitor deixa de se surpreender e é impossível sentir-se indiferente ao enredo e à construção complexa e cheia de pormenores que ele nos traz. Ao fim de dois livros deste autor, penso ter já detectado o seu estilo, mas ainda assim deixei-me levar pela narrativa e surpreender. Em Vigança de Sangue acompanhamos Hector numa demanda vingativa e intencional contra a força desconhecida que dilacerou o seu mundo e o deixou sem Hazel, o elemento mais estável da sua vida cheia de cicatrizes e desilusões (e sobre as quais, apesar de tudo, conhecemos pouco). E se algumas peças deste mistério parecem facilmente encaixáveis, acabam por não o ser de todo e deixar o leitor agarrado da primeira à última página. 
À semelhança de A Lei do Deserto, este é um daqueles livros que se lê com uma rapidez tamanha, sendo um autêntico vira páginas. As primeiras páginas começam logo a abrir, não nos dando muito tempo para respirar e aproveitar a nova situação familiar e vivencial de Hector e Hazel enquanto um casal a passar por um período de marés calmas. Ainda assim e atendendo ao volume anterior (o qual adorei e atribui 4 estrelas), Vingança de Sangue teve algumas partes mais maçudas que deram a sensação de o livro ser ainda maior do que na realidade. Mas já explico porquê.
Mantenho a minha opinião de que as personagens deste enredo individualmente não me agradam, pelo que ganham pela construção complexa da narrativa sempre cheia de acção, descobertas, mistérios e uns ossos quebrados. É este o ponto forte do autor e com o qual ele nos deveria brindar sempre. Hector é uma personagem com a qual não me identifico de todo, e cuja estrutra me irrita muitas vezes. É machista, armado em Don Juan, supostamente despretensioso e humilde, mas com uma dose de snobismo que não me passou despercebida. É enquanto operacional que esta personagem é forte e dá gosto de acompanhar, pelo que uma vivência mais demorada na sua cabeça não me agradou por aí além, mas também não foi insuportável. Acima de tudo, foi possível confirmar as minhas primeiras impressões sobre este homem, construídas já com o volume anterior.
 É quando o mistério se adensa que damos por nós expectantes, sabendo que o autor nos vai surpreender, não sabe bem como e/ou de que forma, mas com a certeza de que vamos ficar chocados. E vamos mesmo, acreditem.
Mas se tudo é bom, então porquê este rating? Para os que desejam saber, poderão surgir alguns pontos a rondar o spoiler, ainda que sem enquadramento ou referências a personagens e/ou situações, pelo que fica a vosso risco continuarem a ler. 
Após a morte de Hazel, vão-se passando vários meses, muitas vezes delimitados por capítulos de uma página, e que foram de grande ajuda nesse sentido. No entanto, e exactamente porque defendo que esta série sobrevive apenas de um enredo de acções e emoções fortes, após as primeiras 150 páginas que me presentearam com tudo o que esperava, surgiram vários momentos banais com descrições de rotina, que pouco fizeram por mim ao longo do livro. Mas esse não é o factor que me fez gostar menos do livro, com muita pena minha, mas sim um flashback de quase 200 páginas, que tanto oscilou para momentos mais agrestes como para outros mais maçudos, que no meu entender poderiam ter sido encurtados. E o que chamo de agreste foi o que realmente me fez dar uma classificação tão baixa ao livro. Eu gosto de acção, não me importo com um pouco de sangue e violência q.b., mas o autor em algumas partes tornou-se demasiado descritivo para mim, com uma apresentação crua das situações que retractava e que me fizeram sentir desconfortável (para além de me custar a ler). Refiro-me ao retractar de violações e de cenas de pedofilia (assim como algumas de tortura que me arrepiaram até aos ossos) que para mim foram de mais. Dou a mão à palmatória ao autor, que conseguiu de facto recriar com imensa clareza estas circunstâncias e colocar-nos quase na mente de uns quantos psicopatas, mas para mim ler aquela construção de uma perspectiva tão pessoal para além de me fazer impressão, deu-me imenso nojo. Isto só prova que Wilbur Smith conseguiu chocar-me e construir algo que soa realístico, o que comprova os seus dotes como escritor. No entanto, e enquanto leitora, estragou-me o prazer da leitura que só vim a recuperar já perto do fim. Acho que muitos leitores podem gostar do livro. Com a excepção do flashback excessivo, existe todo um enquadramento lógico e uma enorme capacidade de agarrar o leitor ao ecrã. É bom para quem gosta mesmo de ler descrições cruas e um pouco violentas, e não se inibe com uma certa maldade do ser humano.
Eu não o esperava com tanta punjança, e dessa forma, este não é um livro para mim. 

«Estas e outras novidades no site da Editorial Presença aqui»
«Aquira o seu exemplar aqui.»

Cláudia

Sobre a autora:
 

Maratonista de bibliotecas, a Cláudia lê nos transportes públicos enquanto observa o Mundo pelo canto do olho. Defensora da sustentabilidade e do voluntariado, é tão fácil encontrá-la envolvida num novo projeto como a tagarelar sobre tudo e mais alguma coisa. É uma sonhadora e gosta de boas histórias, procurando-as em cada experiência que vive.

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Novidades: Clube do Autor

A editora Clube do Autor prepara-se para publicar dois novos livros destinados ao público juvenil. 

A partir do final deste mês chega às livrarias o segundo volume da coleção Os descendentes de Merlin, de Rita Vilela, autora que se prepara para apresentar A dama do lago na Feira do Livro de Toronto, no Canadá. Depois de Os guardiães dos manuscritos mágicos, no novo livro os leitores acompanham a história de Guinevere, uma mulher de coragem e de palavra que se casou com Artur e se tornou rainha de Camelot, cumprindo assim o juramento que o grande mago Merlin a forçara a fazer. O Palácio Nacional de Mafra, o Convento de Tomar, a Biblioteca da Ajuda, Paris e a sua emblemática Torre Eiffel são alguns dos cenários da nova aventura de Rita Vilela, uma das escritoras portuguesas mais profícuas na área infanto-juvenil e autora de vários livros recomendados pelo Plano Nacional de Leitura. 

Já em Setembro fica disponível mais uma aventura da famosa família Macedo criada por Odette de Saint-Maurice. As meninas do andar de cima, sétimo livro da coleção recuperada pelo Clube do Autor, centra-se nas peripécias da família que vive no andar por cima do da família Macedo. No andar de cima vive o casal Abegorim e as quatro filhas: Lili, a mais velha, de 24 anos, a altiva; Mirita, a inquieta; Rita, a rebelde, e Rosarinho, a meiga. A agitação e as peripécias das meninas do 4º andar traduzem a atmosfera de raparigas com problemas e personalidades distintos mas cujas experiências e descobertas se mantêm surpreendentemente actuais.

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Review: Panic by Lauren Oliver

Panic

by Lauren Oliver

Format: Hardback / paperback / ebook

Nr of Pages: 416

Published: March 6th 2014 by Hodder & Stoughton Ltd 

Synopsis:

Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a poor town of twelve thousand people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She'd never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game; he's sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he's not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them-and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.

Rating: 3,5/4

Review:

Lauren Oliver is a favourite on our blog. We are very passionate about the way she creates real characters and how she moves her plot lines. We like her so much she even has her own tag (which is something not every author has on our blog so that gives her some status) and she was the first author we ever interviewed (our motto is “Go big or go home!”).

We have been following Lauren’s books since Delirium and besides Spindles we have read them all. Liesl and Po is my favourite. I have a soft spot for children’s fiction and Lauren’s book was just like reading a fairytale, also the illustrations were soft and amazing.

Panic is a stand alone YA book (which is becoming more and more unusual in the gender) and tells us the story of Heather, her friends and the very dangerous game that it’s Panic. Stuck in the little city of Carp the teens have found a new way to celebrate prom in a game were they will face their phobias, nightmares and possible and not at all improbable death. This years e prize is 67,000$ which is more than enough money for anyone to leave Carp behind forever. When we first meet Heather she is not suppose to be competing but things change quickly than the wind in a storm and before Heather even realizes she is in and nothing will ever be the same.

As a writer Lauren likes to get her hands dirty and to create different types of families. In this book alone we meet broken families, okay families, getting by families and “I ran from home” families. She also realizes that just because you have fallen out with your parents it doesn’t mean you have fallen out with your siblings. We also meet very brave characters that take it upon themselves to save themselves which is always a good approach to problems.

Panic is about courage in the face of fear but it’s ultimately the realization that we will always have fear and we will always rise above it. It’s a contemporary novel that reads like science-fiction or fantasy because the game is so intense and so out of the ordinary you completely forget that you are dealing with normal teenagers and not “super heroes”.

I rated Panic 3,5 stars because I am not sure how I fell about it. It was a fast paced read I rented out of the library Saturday and returned it on Tuesday but although I enjoyed the story it didn’t really catch my fancy. The book is well written and the suspense builds up to the Joust. We want to know who is going to make, who will take the grant prize and but at the same time the whole setting seemed strange. I think it’s because this is a dark book. People keep telling my teenage years are hard and if you have bad parents they are harder in the middle of her dark life Heather has the game which is even darker but since she has lived all her life in the dark she isn’t that much afraid. She is just afraid enough to not be insane. Even so I am not quite sure if she wasn’t truly insane because you see this novel has tigers in it.

Good book by an author we truly enjoy but not one of my favourites.

You can read the story of the origin of the game Panic if you click here and follow the links.

 Cat / Ki

Known bookaholic and writer on free weekends. Cat loves books and everything that's related to them. Sometimes she has feelings and opinions about books and the world and she writes about them in her blog Encruzilhadas Literárias. She also has a personal GoodReads account and she believes the world is a better place for it (AKA no more repeated books from relatives as gifts). She lives in the UK and can often be found either in Waterstones or the Charity Shops.

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