You Wish by Mandy Hubbard

1 Wish

2 Girls in love with the same boy

14 Days to stop the madness!

Kayla McHenry's sweet sixteen sucks! Her dad left, her grades dropped, and her BFF is dating the boy Kayla's secretly loved for years. Blowing out her candles, Kayla thinks: I wish my birthday wishes actually came true. Because they never freakin' do. 

Kayla wakes the next day to a life-sized, bright pink My Little Pony outside her window. Then a year's supply of gumballs arrives. A boy named Ken with a disturbing resemblance to the doll of the same name stalks her. As the ghosts of Kayla's wishes-past appear, they take her on a wild ride . . . but they MUST STOP. 

Because when she was fifteen? She wished Ben Mackenzie would kiss her. 

And Ben is her best friend's boyfriend.

I Loved this book.

It is so different to what you would think and it really makes the saying 'Don't judge a book by its cover' true! The bubblegum pink cover and plot summary are nothing like what the story is.

You really understand this teenage girl. She is closer to any realistic teen girl that I've ever read about in a novel. You can definitely relate to her and her problems. Okay so maybe not such problems as all her previous birthday wishes coming true one week, but certainly her friend, boy, body and family issues. It's also not very cheesy which makes a huge change from these usual wishy washy teen stories. It is also extremely funny.

A great read for both adults and teens alike.

Divaliciouz Rating     *****

No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

Set in our own time along the bloody frontier between Texas and Mexico, this is Cormac McCarthy's first novel since Cities of the Plain completed his acclaimed, best-selling Border Trilogy. Llewelyn Moss, hunting antelope near the Rio Grande, instead finds men shot dead, a load of heroin, and more than $2 million in cash. Packing the money out, he knows, will change everything. But only after two more men are murdered does a victim's burning car lead Sheriff Bell to the carnage out in the desert, and he soon realizes how desperately Moss and his young wife need protection. One party in the failed transaction hires an ex-Special Forces officer to defend his interests against a mesmerizing freelancer, while on either side are men accustomed to spectacular violence and mayhem. The pursuit stretches up and down and across the border, each participant seemingly determined to answer what one asks another: how does a man decide in what order to abandon his life? A harrowing story of a war that society is waging on itself, and an enduring meditation on the ties of love and blood and duty that inform lives and shape destinies, No Country for Old Men is a novel of extraordinary resonance and power.

I absolutely adore the Coen Brothers adaptation of this film and have seen in so many times now, so I have always been dying to read this book. Eventually, I got around to it. And.....I was disappointed.

The Coen's clearly stuck completely to the story and I feel like if I didn't know the movie so well I would have been confused or bored with the book. It is very hard to read. In particular because the dialogue is written so badly. Now, I am no writer so maybe this is a common thing and acceptable but for me it is not. He writes the dialogue with no punctuation, quotation marks and with breaking away from the paragraph. So for example it would be like this, Hello Michael. How are you. I am well. How are the kids. Good and how are your family. This makes it really confusing when reading as you don't know who is saying what and also don't know when you are reading dialogue or just some one's thoughts.

I know people say McCarthy is one of the best writers of our generation so maybe I am the one who has the problem! But this just really isn't my thing.

Give it a go and see for yourself. Otherwise stick to the movie!

Divaliciouz Review      ***** (for the story idea itself)

                              ***** (for the writing)

Nightwood by Patricia Windsor

Casey, Gena, and Maryann can think of a way better use of a week than a senior trip to Washington, D.C. Casey's plan is simple. Ditch the trip to D.C., camp out at her parents' amazing cabin in Delonga, and accidentally "run into" Lane and his friends on their fishing trip. She knows the boys will be across the lake--her friends will thank her once they're up there. 

Three girls for three boys will be the perfect party. After all, what could be more fun than five days in the woods? No curfews, no rules, and no parents. No one will even know they're up there.

And no one will hear them when they scream for help.

When the first body shows up, it's shocking. When the knock comes on the back door, it's horrifying. And when they realize there's nowhere to hide, they'll wish they were already dead.

Surviving a week in the woods is a going to be a whole lot harder than these girls could ever imagine.

This was an okay read, nothing great nothing bad. The characters weren't really delved in to too much which made it hard to care for them anyway but they mostly weren't very likeable to begin with. 

There were one or two creepy bits but nothing too bad. Having your lights on and not being able to see in to the pitch black woods when you realise anyone lurking outside could possibly see in to your house is quite a scary thought. 

I don't really have that much else to say about the story which I guess is quite a bad sign. If you like that kinda thing and you are a teenager then I think you will possibly enjoy it. Otherwise I would say find something else.

Divaliciouz Rating       *****

All Because of You by Melissa Hill

Tara Harrington is a life coach whose life is going really well. She has got the great job, the flash car and a nice home that she shares with Glenn. When her younger sister the troublesome Emma becomes pregnant and decides to keep the baby's father's identity secret from all. It is a mystery to who the father can be. Then when Emma starts to spend a lot of time with Tara's best friend Liz's husband both Tara and Liz become suspicious.

Natalie is a successful PR girl who works in London. Although she has a brilliant career she does not have much luck with her love life and finding the perfect man to settle down with and marry is all she wants to do. So she turns to Tara to life coach her, so she can hopefully have better luck finding and keeping the man of her dreams. However Tara is going to find that she has much more in common with Natalie than she thought.

I am a big Melissa Hill fan but it's been quite a while since I read one of her books so I had forgotten just how good she actually is. This is one of her best and most page turning and of course featuring her signature twist towards the end. 

There's only been one time I've ever managed to guess one of her twists and that was about the only book of hers that I didn't really enjoy. What I love about her is that she really has you believing all along that you can predict exactly what is going to happen but you never ever can!You will never see this one coming.

I found Tara and Liz extremely likeable characters, particularly Tara. Natalie is cool too but she's way too caught up in herself and her man dramas will have you wanting to rip the pages out in frustration. Emma is just someone I would never wish to know in real life but thankfully she herself doesn't feature largely but her presence is felt throughout in how her situation affects the story.

If you've never read a Hill book before I would highly recommend you start with this one.

Divaliciouz Rating       *****

New Haul

So I was lucky enough to receive an Amazon voucher for Christmas so look out for the reviews in the follwing months. Here's what I got my hands on....

Spray by Harry Edge

A group of teens sign up for an assassination game on the streets of a big city. Their weapons: pressurized water guns. It’s meant to be a game, a sport. But for some, it’s more than harmless fun. To win, they’ll use  any  means necessary.

Two hundred players. Three weeks of tense cat-and-mouse action. Every stalker is being stalked and only one player will be left standing. No one will be the same.

Through multiple points of view, Harry Edge puts readers right in the middle of the action—watch your back!

I bought this book without realising that it was in the young adult category. I do read a lot of YA but for this kind of story I was thinking it would be better if it were aimed at an older audience. I soon realised this was not the case. It was actually a completely different story than what I had imagined. From what you read of the synopsis at the back of the book and from spoiler free reviews I had read it seems like it has quite a sinister tone to it but this however is not the case. It is really good fun.

At first I thought that I would never be able to keep all the characters in my head as it seemed like there were so many but it is actually only written from five different character viewpoints, and the other characters are just written about. I soon got in to the different game players and could tell them apart really easily. 

It is a very exciting story and fun to see what each player is going to do next. Some of the twists you really don't see coming and you can imagine falling for the pranks yourself if you were in the game. It is definitely a page turner and you will find yourself rooting for at least one character. Who that may be just depends who you are into I guess but for me it was Han and Green.

Definitely give this book a go. It is a very quick read and well worth it.

Divaliciouz Rating       *****

Pretty Little Liars 12: Burned by Sara Shepard

It's spring break, and the pretty little liars are trading in Rosewood for a cruise vacation. They want nothing more than to sail into the tropical sunset and leave their troubles behind for one blissful week. But where Emily, Aria, Spencer, and Hanna go, A goes, too. From scuba diving to tanning on the upper deck, A is there, soaking up all their new secrets.

Emily is smooching a stowaway. Aria's treasure-hunting partner is a little too interested in her booty. Spencer's going overboard trying to land a new boy. And a blast—or rather, a crash—from Hanna's past could mean rough waters ahead for everyone.

The liars better tighten their life jackets. A perfect storm is brewing, and if they aren't careful, A will bury them at sea. . . .

!!!SPOILERS!!!

Oh Lordy, but isn't it about time Miss Shepard gave up these books!

Seriously!

As much as I love reading the series it really has gone past it's heydays. I'm a firm believer of coming out while you're still on top but it seems Sara Shepard is not. I'm wondering is it her as a writer wanting to keep writing this or is she under some sort of pressure from the TV show writers who want her to keep the story going.

Repetitive. That is what this novel is. We've heard the same story several times over now. More drama happens to the Pretty Little Liars, they foolishly try to cover it up, A stalks them, they jump to all the wrong conclusions, something goes down at a big gathering toward the end of the story, and as another twist to the plot is revealed right at the end they all receive the same text from A. Hasn't this been the exact format of every book up to now?

It's gotten so ridiculous now that I have zero sympathy for these girls. They are actually committing crimes and should rightly be hounded for doing so! In my opinion I'm actually on A's side now! 

And how many times can Emily meet a new mysterious girl, fall for her and she turns out to be gay/bisexual too??? I mean COME ON!!!

Step it up or give it up Sara....

Divaliciouz Rating       *****