Review: Soul Love - Lynda Waterhouse

This review is part of HIV/AIDS in YA Lit Week organised by Caroline from Portrait of a Woman.  For more information check out Caroline's post here

Living with the past can be difficult, even at fifteen...

Jenna doesn't want to betray her friends and won't reveal the truth behind her exclusion from school, so she is sent away to live with her aunt in a sleepy countryside village.

It's here that she meets Gabriel, who seems so genuine and different from other people she knows.  But she is wary of him at first - lately boys have been nothing but trouble for Jenna, and Gabe can be moody and withdrawn.

Despite her caution, Jenna can't help falling in love with Gabriel, and the longer she spends with him, the more deeply she falls.  Could he be her soul mate?  He seems to be the only one who understands Jenna and doesn't leap to conclusions.  But then she discovers that Gabriel is living with a deep secret of his own...

Visit Lynda Waterhouse's website for more information

Review:
When Jenna gets in trouble and gets expelled from school she is sent away from London to live with her aunt in a quiet country village.  She doesn't want to get her friends in trouble by explaining what really happened and is determined to keep her secret.  While living with her aunt she meets and falls for Gabriel, but Gabe has a secret of his own.  How will things change between them when the truth becomes known?

This is another one of the books I reviewed as part of the YA book bloggers campaign to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS and I found it really interesting to find out more about what life is like for a HIV sufferer.  I'd never really thought about the way people can sometimes look at someone with HIV.  I liked the comparison that one of the characters made about how if you are suffering with cancer people will offer you sympathy and help but if you have HIV people look at you differently, like it is your own fault that you caught it.  I think it is sad that we live in a society where people can be judged for something that was completely beyond their control.  Yes HIV can be caught by sharing contaminated needles which you could say was somebody's own fault but that isn't always the case and even if it is what right do we have to judge someone who has become a drug addict?  How are we to know what happened in their life that turned them down that path in the first place?  What about people who were infected by a blood transfusion or because of a sexual assault?  Even if it was caught through consensual sex with a partner that is something that could happen to any of us.

I think it is important to read stories like this one and think about how a sufferer must feel.  Not only are they dealing with a life threatening illness they have to cope with the attitudes of their family, friends and even strangers, I'm not saying that this reaction is always negative but it saddens me that sometimes it can be.  There is no cure for HIV and AIDS so the only thing we can do is try to stop it from spreading.  The best way to do this is by raising awareness about how it is transmitted and ways to prevent it.  This book would be a great way of opening a discussion with teens and adults alike and I'd strongly recommend it to anyone.

Although the story talks about HIV that isn't the only theme - its really a coming of age story.  Its about learning who to trust and also about not giving into peer pressure and being forced to do something you know is wrong.  At the beginning of the book Jenna acts like a sullen, sulky teenager and I was irritated by her childish behaviour.  We don't know the full story of what happened in London but the fact that she refused to talk about it annoyed me.  As you find out more and get to know Jenna better you understand why she didn't want to speak up.  As she adjusts to life in the sleepy village she becomes a much more likable character and you want to see her turn her life around.  By the end of the book she is like a different person and I enjoyed seeing the change happen.

I don't want to say too much more for fear of spoilers but this was a lovely story and one I'd recommend.  The romance is sweet and endearing and although the ending isn't what I was expecting it was true to real life which I liked.  If you're looking for a touching story about romance and first love you should definitely check this one out.

Source: Library

Other Reviews:
Portrait of a Woman (review and author interview)
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Giveaway: You Against Me - Jenny Downham - NOW CLOSED

* UPDATE - THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW ENDED - Winner announced here *

If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge, right?

When Mikey's sister claims a boy assaulted her, his world begins to fall apart.

If your brother's accused of a terrible crime but says he didn't do it, you defend him, don't you?

When Ellie's brother is charged with the offence, her world begins to unravel.

When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide.

You Against Me was released in the UK yesterday (2nd December) in hardback and the paperback version will be available in July 2011

This was a fantastic book and one I thoroughly enjoyed, you can read my review here.  I received an extra ARC copy of this book from RHCB and am very happy to be able to share this great story with one of my readers.  Thank you to RHCB for allowing me to host the giveaway.  Please note that the version I'm giving away is an advanced copy so it is a paperback and doesn't have the finished cover.  This is the book I'm actually giving away:

Giveaway Details:

The giveaway closes on 17th December 2010 and is open internationally. The winner will be announced soon afterwards and will have 48 hours to contact me with their address or a new winner will be chosen.  To enter all you need to do is enter your name and email address on the form below, there are extra entries available but they are completely optional.  I'd really appreciate it if you would stop by and comment on my review of You Against Me though :o)

Review: You Against Me - Jenny Downham

If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge, right?

When Mikey's sister claims a boy assaulted her, his world begins to fall apart.

If your brother's accused of a terrible crime but says he didn't do it, you defend him, don't you?

When Ellie's brother is charged with the offence, her world begins to unravel.

When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide.

I can't find a website for Jenny Downham but you can visit her Goodreads page here

Review:
Mikey and Ellie's upbringings couldn't have been more different.  Mikey comes from a single parent family and lives in a flat on a council estate with his alcohol dependent mother and 2 younger sisters.  Ellie on the other hand has been brought up in a posh house with rich parents who expect her and her brother to do well at school and head off to university.  Their worlds collide when Mikey's sister Karyn accuses Tom (Ellie's brother) of date rape and life will never be the same again for any of them.

This is the first book I've read by Jenny Downham but it definitely won't be the last.  You Against Me captured me right from the beginning and although it covers difficult themes it does so in a thought provoking way wrapped up in a great story.  Told from both Mikey and Ellie's perspectives you get a real insight into what it must be like for the family of both the victim and the accused in situations like this.  The way the story unfolds it takes quite a long time before you find out what really happened on the night in question which had me alternating between sympathy and suspicion for both Karyn and Tom.  I enjoyed trying to put the pieces together and figure out what really happened.

Both Ellie and Mikey are likable but flawed characters, they both make mistakes but I think they were understandable mistakes considering the situation they found themselves in and they both felt more real to me because of them.  The budding romance between them was sweet and believable with each of them offering something that the other desperately needed.  However I really liked the fact that the romance didn't overshadow the family relationships and various reactions to the alleged assault and the pending court case.

Mikey feels that he has let Karyn down because he didn't prevent the attack from taking place, his sister is a shadow of her former self and he would do anything to make her happy again.  His mother doesn't know how to cope and has turned to alcohol leaving Mikey to look after the house and both of his sisters.  Angry and frustrated Mikey focuses on revenge against Tom as a way to deal with his feelings.  Things are very different in Ellie's house.  Her parents are determined to show the world that they believe Tom is innocent, after all it must be difficult for any parent to accept the idea that their child could be capable of committing such an act.  Ellie is pushed to the sidelines while her parents focus all their attention on Tom, in fact the only thing they seem to want from Ellie is for her to be a witness in Tom's defence.  Ellie was the only other person in the house on the night of the attack and she desperately wants to believe that Tom is innocent but there are things about that evening that are bothering her.  Surely Tom couldn't have done it though?

You Against Me was an enthralling read and one that you won't want to put down. I really liked the fact that the ending wasn't all wrapped up with a neat and tidy bow - in a situation like this there is no such thing as a happy ending.  Whether the rape actually took place or not all of the characters involved are going to have to live with the accusations that have been made for the rest of their lives.  Whoever the innocent party is they are either a victim of a sexual assault or the victim of vicious lies and either way there will be consequences.  I liked the way the reader doesn't get answers to all of their questions and you have to draw your own conclusions.  This is one of my favorite reads of the year and Jenny Downham has been added to my list of authors to watch out for.  I've head great things about her first book Before I Die and am really looking forward to reading it.

Source: Received from RHCB in exchange for an honest review

Other reviews of this book:

I Want To Read That
Writing From The Tub
I Was A Teenage Book Geek
The Bookette
Chrissie's Corner
Girls Without A Bookshelf
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Review: Abela: The Girl Who Saw Lions - Berlie Doherty

This review is part of HIV/AIDS in YA Lit Week organised by Caroline from Portrait of a Woman.  For more information check out Caroline's post here

Orphaned in Africa, abandoned in England; will Abela ever find her place in the world?

'Be strong, my Abela.'  These are the last words of Abela's mother in their HIV / AIDS stricken African village, where it seems that to live or to die, to be sick or to be healthy, is just a matter of chance.  It takes all Abela's strength to survive her Uncle Thomas's scheming to get to Europe, but what will be her fate as an illegal immigrant?

'I don't want a sister or a brother,' thinks Rosa in England, when her mother tells her that she wants to adopt a child.  Could these two girls ever become sisters?  Is there room in Rosa's family for an African orphan haunted by lions?  Is there room in their hearts?

Visit Berlie Doherty's website for more information

Review:
Abela is just 9 years old and she has already lost her father, mother and baby sister to the AIDS epidemic that is sweeping through her village in Tanzania.  With her uncle scheming to get back to England she soon finds herself living in a strange country with a virtual stranger and her life will never be the same again.  At 13 Rosa is the only child of a single mother living in Sheffield.  When her mother announces that she wants to adopt a child from Africa she is horrified - why would her mother want another daughter?  Isn't she good enough?  Can Rosa come to terms with the idea of someone else joining her family and will Abela be able to get away from her Uncle and his plans for her?

As I reviewed this book as part of a campaign to raise awareness about HIV & AIDS to coincide with World AIDS Day I'm going to kick off the review talking about the beginning of the story while Abela is still in Africa.  Berlie Doherty paints a vivid picture of life in Tanzania and does a great job of showing just how devastating the AIDS epidemic has been in Abela's village.  Abela and her mother face a long and difficult journey just to get to the nearest hospital and the scenes when they get there brought tears to my eyes.  It was heartbreaking to think that this is probably a reality that thousands are still facing every day.

The story is told from both Abela and Rosa's perspectives in alternating chapters.  I have to say I found the switches between first & third person a little confusing at first but it didn't take me too long to get used to the writing style.  At first I found myself getting very annoyed with Rosa and her selfish attitude towards adopting another child - especially when you're comparing her easy life to the hell that Abela is facing so stoically - but then I started thinking about how I would have reacted myself at her age and in her situation.  I think her reaction was probably quite realistic and I enjoyed watching her thought process as she came to terms with the idea.  Rosa really does a lot of growing up by the end of the story.  Abela quickly earned a place in my heart, she has been through so much in her short life that it makes you desperate to see a happy ending for her.  I think my only slight complaint about the story would be that I would have liked to have seen the ending through her eyes rather than Rosa's - I wanted to know what she thought of the situation she ended up in.  That is only a minor issue though and definitely not worth making a big issue over.

Abela: The Girl Who Saw Lions touches on a lot of interesting topics that I've not come across much in YA fiction obviously AIDS being one of them but also child abuse, trafficking, immigration, fostering, adoption and multicultural families.  It is a story that will break your heart into a thousand tiny pieces and although by the end it will put you back together again it will change you forever in the process.  I'd highly recommend the story for both adults and teens and am definitely going to be looking out for more of Berlie Doherty's books in the future.

Source: Library

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

World AIDS Day - HIV/AIDS in YA Lit Week

So December 1st is World AIDS Day and when Caroline (from Portrait of a Woman) said she was arranging HIV/AIDS in YA Lit Week to help raise awareness I jumped at the chance to take part.  I had intended to post this earlier today but as usual I'm running a little late (but better late than never don't you think?).

If you're anything like me you probably don't know a great deal about HIV or AIDS. The extent of my knowledge was that there is no cure and that it is spread by bodily fluids so can be caught through blood transfusions (before blood screening was introduced), sexual contact or sharing needles.  I knew very little about the number of people who have the disease or the treatments available.  I don't remember ever discussing this issue at school apart from a general discussion that you should use a condom to prevent all kinds of sexually transmitted diseases.

With more than 90,000 cases in the UK and 33.4 million people with HIV worldwide this is a serious issue.  I can't even get my brain around those numbers!  There is no cure for HIV or AIDS so the most important thing we can do is find out how to prevent the infection from spreading.  I would strongly suggest checking out the World AIDS Day website for more information, they have some frightening facts and figures that we all need to be aware of.  The real life stories will show you just how difficult it can be to live with the stigma of this illness despite the fact that sufferers can now expect to have a normal life expectancy if they start treatment early enough.



Caroline has done a fantastic job organising HIV / AIDS in YA Lit Week and it's not too late for you to take part if you're interested.  She has created a list of different books about the topic here - why not check out your local library and see if they have any available?  Or if you don't want to read one of these books yourself Caroline is keeping a list of reviews & posts written by other bloggers here so why not stop by and leave a comment showing your support?

I found 3 books at my local library that each look at HIV or AIDS in a different way, each one has been heart wrenching in it's own way but I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all of them.  Check back over the next few days to read my reviews but here are the descriptions to give you something to think about in the meantime:

Abela: The Girl Who Saw Lions by Berlie Doherty:

Orphaned in Africa, abandoned in England; will Abela ever find her place in the world?

'Be strong, my Abela.'  These are the last words of Abela's mother in their HIV / AIDS stricken African village, where it seems that to live or to die, to be sick or to be healthy, is just a matter of chance.  It takes all Abela's strength to survive her Uncle Thomas's scheming to get to Europe, but what will be her fate as an illegal immigrant?

'I don't want a sister or a brother,' thinks Rosa in England, when her mother tells her that she wants to adopt a child.  Could these two girls ever become sisters?  Is there room in Rosa's family for an African orphan haunted by lions?  Is there room in their hearts?

Soul Love by Lynda Waterhouse:

Living with the past can be difficult, even at fifteen...

Jenna doesn't want to betray her friends and won't reveal the truth behind her exclusion from school, so she is sent away to live with her aunt in a sleepy countryside village.

It's here that she meets Gabriel, who seems so genuine and different from other people she knows.  But she is wary of him at first - lately boys have been nothing but trouble for Jenna, and Gabe can be moody and withdrawn.

Despite her caution, Jenna can't help falling in love with Gabriel, and the longer she spends with him, the more deeply she falls.  Could he be her soul mate?  He seems to be the only one who understands Jenna and doesn't leap to conclusions.  But then she discovers that Gabriel is living with a deep secret of his own...

Playing with Fire by Henning Mankell:

'In the night there was a blue world lit by the moon...blue sand trickled between her fingers and swells of seawater moved inside her...It was a dream, yet Sofia knew that her time had come.  She was fifteen, and childhood was behind her.'

Sofia takes in sewing, and her older sister, Rosa, works in the vegetable plot to help their mother support their family.  Rosa is strong and beautiful, and she loves boys, and dancing - something that Sofia, with her crutches, will never be able to do.  Sofia imagines a boy who will love her for herself - Moonboy - the boy who appears in the night.  Then suddenly Rosa falls ill, and Sofia is afraid for her.  Their mother puts her faith in African magic, but it's Sofia who must help Rosa face the reality of AIDS, and the difficult road ahead.

News: The Atomics

A couple of weeks ago when I attended the Atom blogger party they mentioned a fantastic new program they are introducing to encourage the next generation of bloggers.  The scheme is aimed at 12 to 18 year olds and will offer members free advanced copies of some of their new releases.  They have set up a whole section on their website where participants will be able to post reviews and chat about books.  Sounds great doesn't it?  Makes me wish I was under 18 so I could take part!

Here is the full information from the Atom press release:

Atom, the young adult fiction imprint of Little, Brown, is delighted to announce the creation of The Atomics – a brand new young reviewers programme for readers aged twelve to eighteen.

Atom has been busy expanding their list to include a wide-range of young adult titles, including mystery, adventure and humour alongside their more well-known paranormal series. And now they want to share it with everyone else!

Anyone who joins The Atomics will get the chance to receive pre-publication copies of new titles to review. The reviewers for each month will have their reviews posted in a new, dedicated section of the Atom website where they can be seen and commented on by anyone else who is interested in Atom’s books.

Atom is committed to making sure that every Atomic will get the opportunity to review a title they like the sound of, but hope that many more people will join in the conversation!

The intention of The Atomics is to provide a safe, dedicated space for under-eighteens to discuss books and hone their review skills, as well as giving our fans the chance to read books before they’re published!

Read more and sign up at www.atombooks.net/atomics

Review: Drawing, Doodling and Colouring for Christmas

There’s lots to draw, doodle and colour in this creative book filled with wonderful Christmas scenes.

Includes an astonishing selection of activities, from jolly pictures to colour in to doodle-starters from which drawings can grow and grow and grow until they cover the whole page.

Doodlers can complete the scenes however they want and the craft paper quality pages are ideal for drawing on.

The above description was taken from the Usborne website


Drawing, Doodling and Colouring for Christmas was designed and illustrated by Erica Harrison, Katie Lovell and Antonia Miller and written by Fiona Watt

Review:
I may be well above the age range that this book is intended for but when I was offered a review copy of this book I jumped at the chance. There is something relaxing about letting your creative juices flow and I haven't been able to put this activity book down since it arrived on my doorstep. The book includes a fantastic range of pictures that you need to either colour in or draw / doodle on and I can guarantee there is something in there for everyone - santa, snowmen, reindeer, elves and even angels, if it makes you think of Christmas you'll find it in here somewhere.

You don't have to be an expert at drawing and the pictures will appeal to boys and girls of all ages and abilities. Everytime I flick through the pages I spot something different that makes me want to dive back in with my felt tip pens.  This really would make an idea christmas present or book to buy to entertain the whole family in the run up to Christmas. I love the fact that it even has an advent calendar for you to colour in each day (yes I have already coloured in the square for December the 1st!)

I couldn't review an activity book without actually giving it a try so here are a couple of before and after pictures.  First is a Christmas design that just needed to be coloured in.

Before:

After:

Next we have a page of snowflakes that was just waiting to be doodled on

Before:

After:

This is a great quality book that will offer hours of entertainment for the whole family and I would highly recommend it for those cold snow filled afternoons in the run up to Christmas. It's a perfect way to keep the kids occupied while you're wrapping up the Christmas presents (and something you'll probably want to dip into yourself when they're tucked up in bed for the night).

Source: Received from Usborne in exchange for an honest review

Other reviews of this book:

The Bookette

If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.