Enthralled Paranormal Diversions (Anthology)

I myself love the idea of anthologies, as I view it as a sort of taster of what the author "has to offer", so to speak. I love reading an anthology, researching the authors in it, and ordering books by them. It is a great way of finding authors that you may never even have heard of.

Some authors use anthologies to do a sequel/prequel to their previous books. Kimberley Derting does just that, in her story "Skin Contact" and tells the story of how Rafe's (character from "The Body Finder" trilogy) girlfriend was killed; I myself, being an avid reader of Derting's worked was over-joyed to find an extra bit of writing taken from "The Body Finder" universe. Whilst other authors use it as a way to let their minds run wild and write tales that wouldn't perhaps be good (or indeed long) enough to turn into a full-book, but nonetheless need to be shared in someway. Mary E. Pearson does just that in her story "Gargouille", she gives us an incredible, heart-breaking take on love between two creatures perceived as monsters, but who are in fact "normal" people (just with wings). It ends on a cliff-hanger, and has the reader sitting on the edge of her/his seat throughout.

Although these are the only two stories that I am going to mention in this review (seeing as there are sixteen stories in total and to review them all in detail would be nigh on impossible) the other fourteen within this anthology are all of an extremely high-standard; it's just that, for me, these stories stood out more than the others for the compassion within the stories and the complex characters that you would not expect to find in short-stories.

Full list of Authors and their respective stories:

Claudia Gray - ("Giovanni's Farewell")
Carrie Ryan - ("Scenic Route")
Kami Garcia - ("Red Run")
Jackson Pearce - ("Things About Love")
Rachel Vincent - ("Niederwald")
Melissa Marr - ("Merely Mortal")
Kelley Armstrong - ("Facing Facts")
Sarah Rees Brennan - ("Let's Get This Undead Show on the Road")
Jeri Smith-Ready - ("Bridge")
Kimberley Derting - ("Skin Contact")
Ally Condie - ("Leaving")
Jessica Verday - ("At the Late Night, Double Feature, Picture Show")
Margaret Stohl - ("IV League")
Mary E. Pearson - ("Gargouille")
Jennifer Lynn Barnes - ("The Third Kind")
Rachel Caine - ("Automatic")

I would highly recommending checking this anthology out, as some (if not all) of these stories are incredibly well-written and are perfect for any reader that enjoys romantic-supernatural stories.

Rating: 4/5

The Sound (Sarah Alderson)

The Sound is a teen romance/drama book written by the highly acclaimed Sarah Alderson (Writer of "Hunting Lila" and "Losing Lila"). It follows the story of a young-girl hoping for a great summer  of "nannying" on the sunny island of Nantucket, following her recent break-up with her boyfriend, in which he publicly humiliates her on Facebook. However, she soon discovers that Nantucket isn't all that it's cracked up to be...

Filled with smoking hot boys, scantily clad beach-bathing girls, and one or two murdering and abusive "friends", this is Alderson's next masterpiece.

I myself thoroughly enjoyed this book, however thought that it fell a bit short of her previous two books; this is probably due to the fact that it is quite a stereotypical teen book (ignoring the murders, arson attacks and assaults) and jut simply follows the "norm" within the genre of "Teen Summer Romances". However this did not stop me reading until the early hours of the morning, and finding that I really wished it would carry on. This is certainly one of the things that Alderson did right in this book, as the reader is left with the inability to put it down. She cleverly does this by beginning the book with an attack that actually happens right at the climax at the end, this then enables the book to build-up to the beginning chapter...at the end; which, in turn, ensures that I, throughout the book, was caught in an inner state of turmoil with the desperation to get to the end to find out what actually happens, yet not wanting it to end at all.

Rating: 4/5

The Other Side Of Truth (Beverley Naidoo)

I started reading "The Other Side Of Truth" with high expectations of the book, seeing as it had the honour of being awarded the Carnegie Medal. However, I was soon disappointed. The book had a slow start that, for me personally, tried too hard to be exciting and it subsequently came across as boring and tedious. I was then told by my teacher that the book would improve greatly as it went on and that it was "just a complicated book". However, this was not the case. For me, the book lost even more excitement (if that was even possible) as the story went on. The children named people as they saw them and with names such as "Mr Seven O'clock"; it gave the overall impression of, not only annoyance, but also immaturity as a whole. I am not the only person, of the "target" age group for the book, that shared the same view as me; four other 13 year-olds saw the book as being (as afore-mentioned) boring and tedious. This book was possibly the worst book that I have read to date and, consequent to the many awards that it has received, I can only presume that the people who read it must have either lacked a sense of what the word "nail-biting" means or have read no other books to compare it against.

Rating: 1/5

An Act Of Love (Alan Gibbons)

At the beginning of this book, it seems as if it might just be a stereotypical novel full of action and crime, made for boys. Which aren't necessarily bad books, however lack a bit of originality.
However, the reader soon discovers that this is a well thought out book, with a gripping storyline and two best-friends on opposite sides of the metaphorical coin. As both boys grow up, they grow apart, with Chris following in his parents footsteps and rooting for the Americans within the war; whereas Imran follows a bit more of an extreme path, as whilst trying to rebel against his parents, he accidentally gets involved in something a lot more serious and ends up mixing with the leader of a terrorist organisation.

The book sublimely reminds us of how, as humans, need to retain our humanity and look past what the government want us to see, and delve deeper into the other side of the story; and see that it is not only America and England that suffer from war, but that it is other countries that are caught in the cross-fire.

The book ends with the two friends, lost to each other for many years, saving each other, not only from death but also themselves.

Gibbons breaks the heart of the reader, and slowly puts it back together piece-by-piece until it is whole again, and as I put down the book, content with the finish, I realised that perhaps the title gave away quite a lot of the book, as throughout the book the running theme was that there were not only acts of friendship but also, one final Act Of Love.

Rating: 4.5/5