OZYA Reviews Archives - Page 5 of 7

Book Review: The Things I Didn’t Say by Kylie Fornasier

Apr 24, 2016

The Thing’s I Didn’t Say by Kylie Fornasier

Pages: 320
Publish date: May 2nd 2016
Publisher: Penguin Teen Australia
ISBN: 9780143573630
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon US – Amazon AU

I hate the label Selective Mutism – as if I choose not to speak, like a child who refuses to eat broccoli. I’ve used up every dandelion wish since I was ten wishing for the power to speak whenever I want to. I’m starting to wonder if there are enough dandelions.

After losing her best friend that night, Piper Rhodes changes schools, determined that her final year will be different. She will be different. Then she meets West: school captain, star soccer player, the boy everyone talks about. Despite her fear of losing everything all over again, Piper falls in love – and West with her – without Piper ever speaking one word to him. But will it last?

The Things I Didn’t Say:

The Things I Didn’t Say by Kylie Fornasier was one of my most anticipated books for 2016. I adored her previous book Masquerade and when I heard Kylie was writing another book, I knew that I need to read it, and let me tell you it didn’t disappoint.

The Things I Didn’t Say is quite different from her first novel. Firstly it’s not historical fiction and it’s set here in Australia. It’s a contemporary novel that includes a protagonist with Selective Mutism.

The Things I Didn’t Say follows protagonist Piper as she starts at a new school after an event that made her lose her best friend. The thing is, Piper has Selective Mutism. Selective Mutism is a condition that causes someone not able to speak in certain situations or with certain people. For Piper, the only people that she speaks to is her family and people that she is really close to.

I really enjoyed Piper as a protagonist. Her growth throughout the book was really well done and we are able to see that she has changed from the start of the book. I also enjoyed her character arc.

Kylie Fornasier dealt with Selective Mutism exceptionally well. There is quite a lot of YA novels that deal with characters not speaking – but because of something that has happened to them. Selective Mutism doesn’t work like that and we are able to see that in The Things I Didn’t Say.

We also see how other characters deal with this and it’s interesting to see how her family, who have known her, her life think that it’s just a phase that she is going through. But someone who has just found out about the condition is totally accepting.

Nevertheless, we also get to see how people who don’t know Piper’s situation deal with her especially, teachers because of her move to a new school.

There was something very real about The Things I Didn’t Say. The conversations felt real, the events that happened felt real, the way that the characters deal with things, felt real.

The romance in The Things I Didn’t Say was adorable. I enjoyed West both as a character and as a love interest for Piper. It was so cute the way that West dealt with the knowledge when he found out about Selective Mutism. I wanted to squeeze him. I did feel at times that it moved along a little too quickly, but it was also slow burning – if that makes any sense at all.

However, I did have a problem with the pacing. The book spans over about a year and I felt that there was no real sense of time and the next thing I knew we were at the end of the school year. This did confuse me and I just wanted to be made aware of the jump lapse.

The Things I Didn’t Say packs a punch, there are things in the novel that will rip your heart apart and all you will want to do is hold Piper. Kylie Fornasier’s writing is beautiful and so easy to delve into and read.

Overall, The Things I Didn’t Say is a gorgeous novel that breaks you down. It pulls at your heart and slowly rips it. With beautiful writing and a slow burning romance that starts off quick, but takes it’s time.

Have you read The Things I Didn’t Say yet? What did you think of it? Are you going to read it? Let’s Chat!

Book Review: What I Saw by Beck Nicholas

Feb 25, 2016

What I Saw by Beck Nicholas

Pages: 320
Publish date: March 1, 2016
Publisher: Harlequin
ISBN: 9781760371975
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon US – Amazon AU – Harlequin

One punch will shatter a town.

Is anyone ready for the consequences of the truth?

Callie Jones is not the kind of girl who gets drunk at school dances, and certainly not now, with her scholarship on the line. And she definitely doesn’t hang around with bad boys like Rhett Barker. Especially alone, at night. But these are the circumstances she finds herself in when she witnesses a king hit that lands the town’s golden boy in a coma.

With his reputation, no one is less surprised than Rhett when he is accused of throwing the punch. But he didn’t do it. And he knows Callie saw what really went down. He just has to convince the ‘ice princess’ to come forward and talk to the police – except, for once, good girl Callie doesn’t seem all that interested in telling the truth. Just what is she hiding, and why?

Drawn together by secrets, scandal and heartache, Callie and Rhett find themselves getting closer – even as the solution to their problems gets further away.

What I Saw:

I received an e-arc of What I Saw by Beck Nicholas via NetGalley from Harlequin Australia in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

I have wanted to read this book from the moment that I heard about. I like novels that capture heartbreaking incidents from a different perspective. The king hit – is something quite big in Australia at the moment and a lot of I leads to death and the person that committed the crime, either getting away with it or being judged guilty for the crime.

But what happens when the person being accused of the crime didn’t do it? What if the person who was king hit is the towns darling? And what if the only person that saw what happened, wants to hide the truth? Then you have What I Saw by Beck Nicholas.

What I Saw follows protagonist Callie Jones and Rhett Barker as they go through a journey of hurt, truth, lies and questioning what would you truly do if someone you care for was in trouble.

I feel very confused about this book – it had so much potential, so much to go on and then it fell flat. The concept of the plot, intrigued me from the get go and that is what kept me reading. I wanted to know what would happen.

The romance was the biggest problem for me in What I Saw. The book went from about 3/4 days and in that time both Callie and Rhett pretty much feel in love with each other … too much instalove for me. Can it even be called that though? Since they have known each other or about each other for quite a bit.

If the book was set over a couple of weeks and the romance was building in that time – then I would have loved the romance, because Callie and Rhett are quite cute together, but it was just was too fast.

I enjoyed Rhett much more than I did Callie. I sympathised with Rhett and all I wanted to do was tell him that, somehow everything is going to be okay. Everyone pretty has hates Rhett and when is accused of the one doing the punching, it was never questioned. And gosh did it make me angry. I like these types of characters, those who are misunderstood, however I hate the situations. Rhett wasn’t who everyone thought he was, he is just this big squishy marshmallow.

In saying that, I didn’t like Callie as much. She annoyed me quite a bit throughout the novel was getting on my nerves. She wants to be ‘perfect,’ for her family and she plays guitar and just so uptight. I found her quite blank.

I also didn’t like her Callie’s parents, but when do I like parents in YA anyway – next to never.

Nevertheless, I did enjoy What I Saw but not as much as I thought I was going to, I liked the protagonists, but didn’t love them, the message of the book, stood out and I did enjoy that, because it is an important message. Something that everyone should listen to – one punch can kill.

Overall, What I Saw by Beck Nicholas shows us that sometimes the right thing to do is the hardest thing, that sometimes family isn’t everything and the importance of how a king hit can not only hurt the Victim but everyone else around them.

Have you read What I Saw? Are you going to read it? What did you think? Let’s Talk!

Book Review: Summer Skin by Kirsty Eagar

Feb 15, 2016

Summer Skin by Kirsty Eagar

Pages: 352
Publish date: February 1st 2016
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
ISBN: 9781925266924
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon US – Amazon AU

Jess Gordon is out for revenge. Last year the jocks from Knights College tried to shame her best friend. This year she and a hand-picked college girl gang are going to get even.

The lesson: don’t mess with Unity girls.

The target: Blondie, a typical Knights stud, arrogant, cold . . . and smart enough to keep up with Jess.

A neo-riot grrl with a penchant for fanning the flames meets a rugby-playing sexist pig – sworn enemies or two people who happen to find each other when they’re at their most vulnerable?

It’s all Girl meets Boy, Girl steals from Boy, seduces Boy, ties Boy to a chair and burns Boy’s stuff. Just your typical love story.

A searingly honest and achingly funny story about love and sex amid the hotbed of university colleges by the award-winning author of Raw Blue.

Summer Skin:

I was sent an arc of Summer Skin my Kirsty Eagar from Allen and Unwin in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

Summer Skin is a sexy, funny, female driven OZ YA novel that reminds that things are not always what they seem and even people who seem all and mighty on the outside need a little loving. Summer Skin is also not for people under the age of 17, because there is loads of sexy time.

Summer Skin follows protagonist Jess as she forms a pack to give even with the jocks from Knights College that shamed her best friend and let’s just say at first things go to plan, then everything kind of falls apart.

I loved Jess, she was sassy and a feminist and stood up for what she believed it. It’s not rare that you get a strong female character in YA, however there is something about Jess that is different. Jess is by far not your usual protagonist, she is strong and takes shit from no one. And although she is strong she has a vulnerable side that stays hidden and only Blondie can pick that apart.

“I want you to revise your attitude. Women, amazingly enough, are allowed to like it. If that’s news to you, then you’re not doing it right.”

Blondie otherwise known was Mitch is your typical Alpha Male. He is sexy as hell, however he is also quite sexist to begin with and even if he did feel differently about he showed no signs of fixing what the Knights stand for.

The sexual tension between these two was off the scales from the very first chapter. I adored the banter and sarcasm between Jess and Mitch, it had me laughing quite a bit. It was nice to see that it wasn’t love at first sight, more of his hot and I would love to do stuff with him.

It was something very different, that you don’t normally see in YA, I loved it. Kirsty Eagar did that part so well. You wanted Jess and Mitch to get together, but you love that it was slow burning and started off with something other than I love you.

Both Jess and Mitch have dark pasts that they have to conquer throughout the novel and again something that Kirsty Eagar did so well was that Jess and Mitch talked a lot. They simply just talked. About how they felt, what they have been through and although it does take time to get through the cracks – it’s beautiful when it happens.

Jess has a hard time trusting males, because of the toxic relationship that she just got out off not long before the book started and we see throughout the book. Some people may not like Jess for some reasons and I can totally understand why, she has one way of thinking and it isn’t until Mitch breaks down her walls that she sees other things in life.

Mitch on the other hard holds a dark past, one that he feels terrible about and cannot seem to let go. He holds up a barrier that doesn’t let anyone get too close or even close at all. He uses the dick façade, so no one, especially girls don’t like him.

‘You’re probably also threatened by the fact that the guys here can cope with women in contexts other than porn. Not like a bunch of little lords who hate women because they secretly prefer getting hot and sweaty with each other under the guise of chasing a leather ball around a field.’

Nevertheless, they both start to break each other’s walls and sometimes the talking is sexier than sexy time.

However, sexy time is pretty saucy, but not like other New Adult novels that it takes over the story. It’s beautiful.

I loved the writing style of Eagar, it kept me engaged and I was able to read Summer Skin in a couple of hours. It was easy to read and I kept on turning page after page.

Summer Skin is not for the faint hearted, be prepared for a sexy, slow burning love full of passion and secrets. Summer Skin deals not only with young men taking advantage of women, but how women can act differently to it. It shows us that people hide behind fronts not only to keep themselves safe, but others as well. Summer Skin is full of empowering young women that take a stand.