Drowning Instinct

Review Time! Drowning Instinct is the first contemporary novel from dystopian YA author, Ilsa J. Bick! I haven't actually read anything else by Bick although I do own the first two books in her Ashes trilogy! Very excited to review this one today because UGH, *feelings*. You can purchase a copy of this book from The Book Depository | Fishpond | The Nile | Bookworld. Thanks to Pan Macmillan for the review copy!

(Goodreads) Jenna is sweet sixteen, the age when a girl is supposed to find her prince.

Instead she finds Mr Anderson – intelligent, handsome, married Mr Anderson, who just happens to be her chemistry teacher. With a dark past and a difficult family, Jenna is just happy to have someone to protect her, to worry about her, to love her.

But should she be suspicious of Mr Anderson’s reputation for helping ‘damaged’ students?

Why is the most popular girl in school suddenly jealous of her? And where is Mr Anderson’s wife?

This is a love story that breaks all the rules, but that won’t stop it breaking your heart.

The Short Story? - My favourite read of the year so far, Drowning Instinct takes forbidden romance to a whole new level. Incredibly raw and undoubtedly powerful, Bick explores the complexity behind a romance that is morally wrong. Dark, grim and utterly compelling, Bick's Drowning Instinct blurs the lines between right and wrong. Refreshingly original and beautifully written, Drowning Instinct takes YA fiction to a whole new level.

The Long Story? - This definitely isn't a novel for everyone, it explores the moral ambiguity behind a teacher and student love affair. On top of that, it also explores very serious psychological issues and dysfunctional families. So it's not a very happy book, for a contemporary fiction novel, it's definitely more teeth and claws then fluff and clouds. That said, it was absolutely brilliant. It was beautifully written, the narration was compelling and the plot was full of twists and turns. I know there are a couple of YA books that take on the teacher/student relationship aspect but none have been done as well as this. It was raw, full of emotion and refreshingly real. Bick isn't trying to sell the whole "THIS IS WRONG"perspective, in fact she writes such a beautiful love story that you question whether the love affair between Jenna and Mr Anderson is so wrong that it is right? It's such a beautiful complexity that pushes boundaries and blurs the lines. It's unpredictable and chaotic yet there is something compelling about the novel, I couldn't put it down!

The novel is completely narrated by our protagonist Jenna which allowed readers to form a deeper connection to her character. It probably also influenced our perspective of the book since it was very subjective however I thought that was actually a good thing because it really gave insight into Jenna's character . I really like Jenna, she was so broken and incredibly real that reading the book, I just felt waves of emotion crash over me as Jenna's life crumbled to pieces. She's gone through so much and yet nothing seems to be going right until she meets Mr. Anderson. I actually really liked his character, he wasn't despicable or pedophiliac, I genuinely believed that he loved Jenna and their romance was so many degrees of wrong yet you can't help but secretly wish things turned out differently.

Drowning Instinct is not a book for the light-hearted. It's dark and twisted and grim, it's explores touchy subjects that many authors wouldn't ever consider writing. It's a bold book and a gamble but I think Bick pulled it off really well, it was a beautiful love story that was different and not something that you usually find in YA. The characters were complex and truly troubled on so many levels. It's a book about companionship and love and questioning whether something is wrong if two people are truly in love and it's about the consequences of loving too much. Edgy, raw and chilling, Dark Instinct is a publishing phenomenal.

What's it Worth? - Break Out the Piggybank

Badass Bookie xx

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Torn

Review Time! Torn is the second novel from 2011 YA debut author Cat Clarke! Her debut, Entangled (Review) was one of my favourite debuts of 2011 and I can't tell you how excited I was to read Torn! I was lucky enough to receive an ARC unfortunately I didn't get around to reading it till the end of 2012! You can purchase a copy of Torn from Fishpond | The Nile | Booktopia | Bookworld. Thanks to Pan Macmillan for the review copy!

(Goodreads) Four girls. One dead body. A whole lot of guilt.

Alice King isn’t expecting the holiday of a lifetime when she sets off with her classmates on a trip to the Scottish wilderness, but she’s not exactly prepared for an experience beyond her darkest nightmares…

Alice and her best friend Cass are stuck in a cabin with Polly, the social outcast, and Rae, the moody emo-girl. Then there’s Tara – queen of mean. Powerful, beautiful and cruel, she likes nothing better than putting people down.

Cass decides it’s time to teach Tara a lesson she’ll never forget. And so begins a series of events that will change the lives of these girls forever...

The Short Story? - There were aspects of Torn that I really enjoyed but other aspects that I found lacking. I didn't love this one as much as I thought I would yet there was something about Torn that made it very easy to read and slip into. Eerily captivaitng, Torn is a novel about a girl who killed her best friend, dealing with dirty secrets and overwhelming guilt and self redemption. Clarke's Torn is a poignant novel about regret, friendship and the secrets that destroy. A killer work of mystery thriller, this one is for fans of disturbing realistic fiction.

The Long Story? - This book is right down my alley except it wasn't. I thought I was going to love this book and I would have if something more happened in the novel. I found it a little repetitive and that kind of put me off and the ending was a little bit of an anticlimax, I feel like in this case, an epilogue was essential. However if we moved past the repetition and anticlimax, the novel wasn't all that bad. Some disturbing part of me loves realistic fiction about girls who commit murders and friends with secret agendas. The murdering part of the story itself was fantastic, I loved it, it was a complete page turner and the unravelling after the act was committed was brilliant too. There was a "Lady Macbeth effect" happening -  hallucination and suicides from the guilt, the internal struggle between the truth and self preservation, the balance between right and wrong. The plot itself was fantastic, I just wished the repetition wasn't there, it would just made the book that much better!

The characterisation was pretty good. I felt that Clarke has thought it through and she has a character playing every possible role. Someone who is manipulative, someone to master the plan, someone whose guilt destroys her and someone who is fighting with herself to do the right thing. Alice, out protagonist is simply a victim in this story, someone who didn't want anything to do with an accidental murder but has live with the guilt because she was unfortunately roped into it because of the best friend card. The readers got to see in depth her internal struggle and I have so much sympathy for her. Cass and Polly weren't very likeable characters and I think that was the point, to make them into antagonists. Conniving school girls who are trying to hide the terrible truth about what happened to Tara. I also feel sorry for Rae who like Alice was a victim in this whole incident but whose guilt got the better of her. As for the romance, it was very bittersweet but it obviously wasn't going to become anything.

Ultimately, Torn is a novel about a prank gone wrong and the deadly consequences of one mistake. It's a novel about guilt and unravelling. I often wonder what the novel would have turned out like if the girls had just told someone about the accident instead of hiding it. I think Clarke has written a great novel that could have been better with some adjustments and improvements. Great characterisation and beautifully written, I haven't lost faith in Clarke and I'm sure whatever she has planned for us next will be phenomenal!

What's it Worth? - Squeeze into the Budget/ Hand Over the Paycheck

Badass Bookie xx

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A Corner Of White

Review Time! I apologise for being MIA on the blog recently BUT I'm back now! A Corner Of White by Jaclyn Moriarty (Author of Feeling Sorry for Celia) is the first book in The Colours of Madeleine series. This is an Aussie YA that was published by Pan Macmillan in September. You can purchase your own copy of this book from Fishpond | The Nile | Booktopia | Dymocks | Angus and Robertson. Thanks to Pan Macmillan for the review copy!

(Goodreads) Madeleine Tully lives in Cambridge, England, the World – a city of spires, Isaac Newton and Auntie’s Tea Shop.

Elliot Baranski lives in Bonfire, the Farms, the Kingdom of Cello – where seasons roam, the Butterfly Child sleeps in a glass jar, and bells warn of attacks from dangerous Colours.

They are worlds apart – until a crack opens up between them; a corner of white – the slim seam of a letter.

A mesmerising story of two worlds; the cracks between them, the science that binds them and the colours that infuse them.

The Short Story? - Fans of Jaclyn Moriarty will definitely enjoy her latest YA,  A Corner Of White! With the perfect combination of contemporary and fantasy, Moriarty has created not one but two worlds that are joined together by two very well developed characters. A slow but well planned plot, characters with depth and rich prose, from one of Australia's finest YA authors comes the start of a new series that will be enjoyed by many! A Corner of White will appeal to readers of YA fantasy and contemporary!

The Long Story? - This book took me forever to read for two reasons. A) I was in a reading slump and B) the book is quite chunky. There were aspects of the novel that I liked but also aspects of the novel that didn't sit well with me. One of the things I didn't enjoy about the novel was the slow pace. A Corner of White is a really slowed pace novel, the plot tends to ponder along and for someone who loves action-packed and fast pace novels, this just wasn't my cup of tea. The plot was interesting, I liked how Moriarty has interweaved to different worlds into one story, essentially it's two plots that are connected and in turn form a larger picture. One of the worlds is very fantasy based and the other one is very realistic hence the combination of contemporary and fantasy. I enjoyed the plot well enough and despite the slow pace, overall it was a really interesting and unique read. I liked how romance wasn't the focal point of the novel, I liked the family issues that the two protagonists were facing and I liked how everything worked out in the end. It's quite a confusing book but once you get the ball rolling, it's truly quite brilliant.

The characterisation is definitely my favourite part of the novel. The benefit of  a novel written about two worlds is that it follows two different characters. However instead of two different perspectives of the same plot, each character has its own story. Madeleine was a really great character, initially I couldn't quite figure her out because she's a really complex character whose actions and personality are rather confusing however once you start to connect with Madeleine, her character really comes to life! Elliot was a wonderful character and I felt myself connect better with him than Madeleine because of a variety of reasons but mostly because the issues Elliot tackles throughout the novel made him appeal to me more and also his personality really complimented mine. Fantastic protagonist, a wonderful cast of secondary characters and overall just a job well done in the characterisation department!

In a nutshell, A Corner of White is a novel that readers of YA will enjoy. If you don't mind a novel with a slow pace and some initial confusion, this book is definitely worth checking out! Moriarty latest YA novel is the perfect combination of contemporary fiction and YA fantasy. With a complex and brilliant plot and beautiful characters, A Corner of White is one to put on the radar!

What's it Worth? - Squeeze Into the Budget/ Hand Over the Paycheck

Badass Bookie xx

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