August 2015 Wrap-Up

In the month of August I got my bum in gear with reading – having finally realised that my summer is ending and I won’t have much time to read next year! I read a total of five books and one graphic novel in August and I’m pretty damn pleased with that if I do say so myself!

The first book that I read in August was Another Day by David Levithan. I’ve discussed this quite a bit before on the blog and I have a review of it that you can find HERE, so i’ll just give a brief overview of the novel. Another Day is the companion novel to Every Day by David Levithan. It’s the story of A and Rihannon who struggle to keep their relationship steady as A moves between bodies every night. Whereas Every Day was told from the point of view of A, Another Day was told from Rihannon. I enjoyed this novel but I didn’t love it. Every Day for me is a far superior novel and that’s probably down to the point of view and which character I feel like I can relate to more. If you enjoy David Levithan than I’d definitely pick it up.

The second book that I picked up this month was Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz. I also have a full review up HERE if you want to find out a little bit more about what I thought! Aristotle is a teenager who doesn’t have many friends and he’s happy not having many friends until he meets Dante. Dante is a very kind and open lad who is slowly falling in love with Ari. Benjamin gives a really unique and interesting twist on the LGBTQ young adult novels. It’s a beautifully written story that focuses on friendship and family. I judged this book too soon and ended up being blown over by the writing style and how invested I was in the characters by the end. It’s definitely a must read for anyone.

I picked up Night Owls next by Jenn Bennett, and have a review for it HERE (which earned me a cheeky follow from the author on twitter.) Beatrix just wants to draw and be able to get in to her college of choice. All that seems to slowly start to slip when she meets Jack on the Night Owl. Night Owls is a classic YA contemporary romance with boy meets girl and boy falls in love with girl. Jenn managed to keep it interesting and action packed with a good amount of family life. This novel was probably one of my favourites of the year so far, I absolutely loved the chemistry between Jack and Beatrix.

Straight after Night Owls I picked up the first volume of The Wicked and the Divine by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. Graphic Novels are not something that I read often but when I find a good one I’m suddenly obsessed again. The Wicked and the Divine is definitely that for me! Twelve Gods return as young people every ninety years. These Gods are loved all over the world like celebrities but they are also hated. It’s happening again and it’s happening now. I cannot express how much I actually enjoyed this novel. The artwork was stunning and whereas I was worried about the complexity of the storyline, it turned out it was quite easy to follow if you can remember names well! I’d definitely recommend this to a slightly older audience as it is a little complicated and there are some adult references. I’m eagerly awaiting volume two’s arrival on my doorstep!

Next I decided on reading Girl Online by Zoe Sugg. I have some thoughts about this novel HERE if you want my full opinion.
‘Girl Online’ or Penny as she is actually called is a teenager from Brighton. She doesn’t have many friends, she’s clumsy and obsessed with photography. When her mother is commissioned to put together a wedding in New York over Christmas, Penny obviously goes along. She meets a young musician called Noah and they fall in love. Girl Online takes you through Penny’s struggles with anxiety as she tries her best to grow up. Whereas I didn’t enjoy this novel (I found a little too far-fetched) I’m sure younger audiences will do!

The final book that I read in August (and probably my favourite) was A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. Connor is an only child living with his mother who happens to be very ill. One night Connor is visited by a monster in his garden made from the Yew tree that stands tall beyond his bedroom. This monster induces nightmares, makes Connor do all kinds of things he doesn’t want to, or doesn’t think he’s capable of, and also tells him three stories – expecting Connor to tell him at the end his ‘truth.’ Each of these stories are different and teaches Connor about how it’s okay to believe one thing and think another, even if they’re opposite ends of the scale. As we go through the story we follow Connor trying to make sense of his life and the imminent nightmare that awaits him.

I found this novel to be quite simply stunning. I never expected the story (which I quickly thought was similar to The Tale of the Three Brothers by J.K. Rowling) to hit me as hard as it did emotionally – I mean I was sobbing my heart out at midnight. There are no faults to Patricks writing and these scenes flow beautifully from one to the next. The artwork in the teenagers copy is so well connected to the novel it was hard not to visualise every scene from the eerie pages.

So that was everything that I read in August 2015! I managed to get through quite a lot, much more than I thought I would but I suppose we have the BookTubeAThon to thank for that!