Mini Reviews - My Secret Ella Remix

My Secret Rockstar Boyfriend
Author: Eleanor Wood
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: June 4th 2015
Source: Review Copy - Macmillan Children's Books
Rating:

Geeky girl meets famous boy.. what could go wrong?

Tuesday Cooper is happy being normal -doing her a-levels and indulging in her twin obsessions: buying weird vintage clothes in charity shops and writing her beloved music blog (which nobody ever reads). Her love for music started when she was thirteen and had a massive crush on Jackson Griffith, teen rock god and SUPER HOT LOVE OF HER LIFE. Now Tuesday's eighteen and has moved on to fancying boys in real life and Jackson went off the celebrity radar years ago.

So it can't be him that's messaging her on her blog, can it?

I think the thing that made me want to read this book is the fact that I just kept thinking about what I would do in the situation. When I was around 13 I was completely obsessed and in love with Marilyn Manson (he's gone downhill over the last few years but going back 12 years he was still good) and I had a blog where I would talk about my life and my 'struggles' as a teenager, I was pretty much the original emo, and I would mention him on there a lot because I listened to him all the time. Anyway I was trying to think what I would do and how I would react if I was Tuesdays (granted giving what Marilyn Manson was like I probably wouldn't sneak off to meet him because that would be silly, even at 18) so before I even read it I was already really intrigued with the storyline.

Tuesday was a likeable character, apart from the lying to everyone about meeting up with Jackson Griffin, but considering no one believed her I can see why she kept it a secret. I didn't however like Jackson, I just think he was written to be the typical guy from a band, and it didn't make him have this funny arrogance that some 'rock stars' have, it just made me want to hit him over the head haha. I did enjoy this book, it was a really quick read and it had some good points, I just feel like more could have gone in to the character development of Tuesday's friends and I would have liked to have read more about the festival. My favourite thing about the book though would have to be the way it's chapters were divided by extracts of posts on Tuesday's blog, although some of them were unnecessary the majority were good.

Perfectly Ella
Author: Candy Harper
Series: Strawberry Sisters #1
Genres: Contemporary | Childrens, Young Adult
Release Date: 23rd April 2015
Source: Review Copy - Simon and Schuster
Rating:

Meet the Strawberry Sisters!

Oldest sister Amelia wants to be left alone to have deep thoughts, so she's grown a fringe to hide under. Second up is Chloe who's sport-crazy and in training to be a wrestling star (this week anyway). Littlest sister Lucy is the cute one who's training an army of earwigs.

Then there's Ella. The middle one who's still trying to work out what makes her 'Perfectly Ella' and how to stand out in a house full of big personalities.

And now there's a new Strawberry Sister. Baby Kirsti who lives with Dad and his Finnish girlfriend.

Along with her sisters and one very tired Mum who's struggling to keep it all together, Ella's small home is crammed with almost-finished homework, nearly-clean jumpers and a vampire bunny called Buttercup. With so much going on, life can sometimes feel totally crazy but the Strawberry sisters have a secret weapon against the craziness of the world they live in, each other.

So this is the first book by Candy Harper that I've had the pleasure of reading and though I found it wasn't as good as I thought it would be, I still really enjoyed it. I know Amanda is a big fan of her writing, and its easy to see why because it all just flows really nicely. One of my favourite things about this book was how ever single one of the strawberry sisters had a different personality and voice. The book is set from Ella's POV, she is the middle of 4 girls and with them all having a chance to speak throughout the book, you would think it could possibly end up being confusing, thankfully it wasn't.

Because Amelia and Chloe were just that bit older than Ella, I found it easier to connect to their characters and I really feel like I got an idea of the type of people they were. This story was just a really nice contemporary about a girl who always sees the best in people and is just trying to create a name for herself. Though the book was good, it didn't wow me and I felt like it was maybe just too young for me. I am however really looking forward to reading the other stories, I'm hoping/guessing it will be a different sister every time which should be interesting.

Remix
Author: Non Pratt
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: June 4th 2015
Source: Review Copy - Simon and Schuster
Rating:

Kaz is still reeling from being dumped by the love of her life..
Ruby is bored of hearing about it.
Time to change the record.

Three days.
Two best mates.
One music festival.
Zero chance of everything working out.

When I first requested Remix from Lovereading4kids I was in the middle of reading Trouble by Non Pratt, I've since set it down for later because I had other things to read. I liked the idea of the story being set completely from a music festival, and for the most part it worked really well. However one thing I don't think worked too well was the how little the chapters were. It's set from Kaz and Zoe's POV, the only way to tell the difference in who was talking was the different font, but because of how short their chapters actually are I found myself confused at times and having to back track just to see who's turn it was to talk.

I did enjoy both of the characters though, they had their flaws, both dealing with a recently split from their boyfriends causing them to act selfish, erratic and not like themselves. I thought it was everything you could want from a realistic fiction (apart from one scene, that you'll have to read to see for yourself but I'm pretty sure that when you do, you'll know what bit I’m suggesting to be unrealistic). It was a lovely quick read, I finished it in a few hours and though I gave it a 4, its not one that I would feel the need to reread any time soon.