A couple of short, quick reviews to blow out the cobwebs ...
A recent trip to the library resulted in these two reads ... one which I'd been dying to read for ages and one which appealed to my need to escape reality for a little while!
From lovereading.co.uk
Tally lives in a world where your sixteenth birthday brings aesthetic perfection: an operation which erases all your flaws, transforming you from an 'Ugly' into a 'Pretty'. She is on the eve of this important event, and cannot wait for her life to change. As well as guaranteeing supermodel looks, life as a Pretty seems to revolve around having a good time. But then she meets Shay, who is also fifteen - but with a very different outlook on life. Shay isn't sure she wants to be Pretty and plans to escape to a community in the forest - the Rusty Ruins - where Uglies go to escape ' turning'. Tally won't be persuaded to join her, as this would involve sacrificing everything she's ever wanted for a lot of uncertainty. When she is taken in for questioning on her birthday, however, Tally gets sent to the Ruins anyway - against her will. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she could ever imagine: find her friend Shay and turn her in, or never turn Pretty at all. What she discovers in the Ruins reveals that there is nothing 'pretty' about the transformations...And the choice Tally makes will change her world forever.
Uglies is a book I'd heard a lot about ... one of those with rave reviews that I was expecting huge things from. I wanted it to be like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (I absolutely cannot wait for that film to be released!). But sadly it did not live up to expectations (you'd think I'd learn not to have such high expectations by now!). I found the characters to be thoroughly unlikable with very few redeeming features (maybe this was the point, but I do like to have some kind of affinity with the characters). The storyline was predictable and the plot seemed to take a long time to go anywhere, and when it got there it wasn't all that exciting. I guess this is one YA book that is not for me, and sadly I doubt I'll be bothering with the rest of the series.
My rating: 2/5
And now for something completely different!
From lovereading.co.uk
Suzy fell for Harry the moment she showed him her husband's sperm sample. It didn't really belong to her husband, though, because she wasn't married. It wasn't a sperm sample either, it was a drinks carton containing the dregs of her milkshake. But when you're trying to get off a speeding charge you just have to improvise, don't you? And it wasn't actually love at first sight. Still, it was undeniably a healthy attack of lust...
This book turned out to be exactly what I needed! 500 pages of shameless fun. Amusing (if sometimes a little annoying) characters, a twisty turny (if a little predictable) plot and not too much thought required to follow the story. If you're looking for a book to lose yourself in and forget about the real world for a while, this is the book for you! This is the second Jill Mansell book I've read, and it definitely won't be the last!
My rating: 4/5
I quite liked Uglies but it was probably the first YA book I read and went in with low expectations as well as not having all my pet hates that I have now! I do have Pretties to read at some point so I'll see how it goes. I quite like Jill Mansell but her books are very samey.
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