MellowDrama

I just saw a tweet asking people why they read YA or middle grade fiction and this made me contemplate my recent choices ahem ahem!! I have been reading some (or maybe a lot!) thanks, mostly to Dave and the fantastic book tours he organises, as well the fact that I have a teen in the house. So it is just sheer cleverness on my part that I read YA and try to see what goes on in the minds of today's young generation. Well, to read Bad Habits by Flynn Meaney was one such attempt. Which mother of a teen can resist going through a book titled THAT? Enough of jokes, let's get to the serious business of reviewing this book. So, first things first, an introduction to the book and the protagonist. Alex goes to a strict Catholic school and wants to be expelled from it. Her story is an attempt at gaining some shock value and getting the school authorities to chuck her out. What actually happens is a tangential growth in Alex's character and discussions and debates on topics which have

  The Cousins by Karen Mc Manus is delightful, young, involves a mystery and is a very very readable book. Read on to find why I found it "very very readable". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BLURB The Storys are the envy of their neighbours: owners of the largest property on their East Coast island, they are rich, beautiful, and close. Until it all falls apart. The four children are suddenly dropped by their mother with a single sentence: You know what you did. They never hear from her again. Years later, when 18-year-old cousins Aubrey, Milly and Jonah Story receive a mysterious invitation to spend the summer at their grandmother's resort, they have no choice but to follow their curiosity and meet the woman who's been such an enigma their entire lives. This entire family is built on secrets, right? It's the Story legacy. This summer, the teenagers are determined to discover the truth at the heart of their family. B

First Date by Sue Watson is an extremely interesting and readable psychological thriller. The book releases today and I can't stress enough that if you are a reader with a special place in yo ur  heart for mystery/ thrillers, you must get to it ASAP.  Book Blurb First Date is the story of Hannah who has  done everything to make sure her life is safe and secure. A long way from her unstable childhood growing up in foster care, she’s content with her sweet, little, messy apartment and her satisfying job as a social worker. She quietly worries that, aged 36, she might never fall in love. But otherwise her life is where she wants it to be. Until, encouraged by her best friend to join a dating app, she meets  Alex  who is  irresistibly handsome, loves the same music as her and the same food as well. Both of them would love to own a Labrador one day. It’s like he’s made for her.  It’s like he’s too good to be true. Hannah’s friends aren’t so sure about him. But Hannah thinks he’s perfect

For the first time in my life I was devastated by the feeling of being left out. It happened when the usual suspects from Dave's The Write Reads Blogtours opted to read and review The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes and  I did not. Then when the reviews began to pour in and I read them, I wrote back to Dave asking to be let in. And to his credit he sent me the ARC link. As luck would have it, the link didn't work and thinking that maybe me and this book weren't meant to be, I yet again told Dave that I won't be able to participate in the blog tour. And then again one fine day, the link to an ARC landed in my mail box. Going through a pretty nasty phase I wasn't sure if I could finish it off or would now even like to read the book but as soon as I started The Inheritance Games, I fell for it, hook, line and sinker. Ms Barnes please take a bow for  writing the most readable book I have come across so far in 2020. The book is about a girl Avery Kimberley Grea

  It happens very rarely, if ever, that you just hear one praise after the other from the members of your book reviewing community.  It happened with me for the very book that I am going to be reviewing here: (though not given to the use of adjectives much, I break the rules and.....) the hilarious, the fabulous, the must-read, the heart warming, the amazing.....DRUM ROLL.... THE BEAST AND THE BETHANY.  The book targeted for  middle grade readers  has been written by Jack Meggitt-Phillip and illustrated by Isabelle Follath. What a team have they made to bring us this delightful book! I read it with both my kids-the12 year-old and the 5 year-old and we had some hilarious times. Let me start by giving you the blurb from Goodreads.  511 years. How, you may wonder? Ebenezer simply has to feed the beast in the attic of his mansion. In return for meals of performing monkeys, statues of Winston Churchill, and the occasional cactus, Ebenezer gets potions that keep him young and beautiful, as w

After All I've Done by Mina Hardy is the story of three people Sean, Valerie and Diana. Diana and Valerie have known each other all their lives and promised to look after each other all through their lives.  As the story starts we find that Diana has met with an accident and is recovering. She has lost some of her memories and she seems to be losing her mind altogether. Her husband is having an affair with her best friend and we are told that it might be possible that Diana has herself put Valerie to this task. While everything is happening, Diana's mother-in-law Harriet is by her side all the time, even annoyingly so, at times. The twisted story is engrossing where you can not instantly make out what is real and what might just be a figment of Diana's imagination. The writing flows as we get to hear the story from Diana's and Valerie's perspective. The ending did not sit well with me and was totally unexpected though I could after a certain point in the book see wh

I had been hearing the name of this particular author here, there and everywhere- BP Walter and always good things about his books, so when I was given the opportunity to read his latest offering I grabbed it. And I am happy to report that the book didn't disappoint. Hold Your Breath is the story of Katherine Marchland, told from her perspective, as a 10 year old in a recently released book. The incidents relate to. a particularly difficult time that the Marchland family is going through owing to her mother's illness of a peculiar nature. Walter writes a gripping tale of what goes on in the life of the 10 year old whose childhood and life  are taken over by her family's circumstances. She sees and hears things which no little one should and that leaves a permanent scar on her psyche. The narration is solid and alternates between the year of the happenings that is 1987 and the current time where Kitty has been called in by the police regarding a death that took place at the