Book Review: The Unforgotten by Laura Powell

It ain't a serial killer without a type.

It's 1956 and fifteen-year-old Betty Broadbent has never left the Cornish fishing village of St Steele or ventured far beyond the walls of the boarding house run by her erratic mother. But when the London press pack descends to report on a series of gruesome murders of young women, Betty's world changes. In particular she is transfixed by mysterious and aloof reporter, Mr Gallagher. As the death toll rises, an unlikely friendship blossoms between Betty and Gallagher. But as their bond deepens, they find themselves entangled with the murders and each is forced to make a devastating choice, one that will shape their own lives - and the life of an innocent man - forever.

The only reason I finished this novel was that I wanted to know if I was right about the plot. I didn't fully read the summary before I started listening to it because I was in a hurry to find an audio book  for the long drive home. If I had read the whole description, then I wouldn't have pick it up. It doesn't help that Laura Powell has the same name as another writer, who I thought this was when I picked it up. This is made more confusing by the fact they both British with Welsh links. This is (one of the reasons) why pen names are a thing.

The opening is really strong, introducing us to Betty and what's the situation going on within the village. It really hooked me in.  However, then the next chapter is a flash forward to 2006 Mary, a pathetic 65 year old that has no motivation and is waiting for the sweet kiss of death. Except for revealing what happened in 1956, I didn't care what went down in these chapters involving Mary. Especially, as1956 Mary is completely unlikable without a redeemable thing about her and 2006 Mary is the same.

The biggest problem is the characters. They are all terrible, uninteresting people who only grow more unlikable the more time you're forced to spend with them. I liked and was invested in Betty in the beginning but this was ruined half way into this book. She starts as a capable 15 year old who often left to run a hotel by herself due to her mentally ill mother. The complicated nature of her relationship with mother, who is most likely Bipolar, was done really well. The more the book goes on the more Betty becomes like the other characters who are whinny and bland. You can have unlikable characters, but they should be distinct from each other. 

An another big issue is the romance. Even if you look past that Gallagher is double the age of an underaged Betty, he is still terrible to her. He's all we can't do this but keeps doing it while being a jerk to her. The plot largely rides on this relationship and the Betty we get at the beginning disappears into him. While some people do start relationships and change into them, Betty is gone immediately for plot reasons. It some what mixed signals about whether we are meant to like this relationship or not. I get the feeling we are, in the beginning Gallagher is described as younger, so you don't realise that he middle age for this time period straight away.  I'm almost anti-romance in books in general, so this might be less of an issue for some other people, but Gallagher is still a grown arse man who blames everything on a 15 year old and still gets to play hero.

The plot in theory is really good, but the execution is weak. I honesty don't think anything is gained by having parts set in 2000s. A lot of the better parts of plot go undeveloped and the ending is rushed. I figured out the ending and thought it would actually be really good until we got there. Then it was unsatisfying and Betty has no agency at all. Yes, she directs the plot but its to kick someone else into gear. The mystery is what actual mystery are like, you don't know who it is until they tell you. I did figure it out but this more random guessing. This hard to explain without spoiling but I will try my best. I have a really big issue with the solution. I totally believe it, it works. However, we get no overshadowing so it ends up being lazy and stereotypical.

I listen to this on audio book and I wouldn't recommend it. Not sure if it was the voice actress
or the writing but parts often sounded like audio description. I lean towards writing, as we got sentences for actions e.g. Betty put her shoes on. The main reason I would suggest reading over listening is I often had to rewind back to clarify what was said. The end was especially bad for this but I think is mainly to do with the ending being rushed.

Overall, I give this book 2/5 stars for Missing Knifes. There's an interesting idea here, but the execution is done terribly. Some things are done well which I wished more time spent on these aspects. As this is Powell's debut novel I'm incline to be more forgiving, e.g. maybe she doesn't realise than none of the female character has any real agency. There's definitely a good novel in her. This isn't it- for me at least. I would read her again if the plot was right.

Book Review: All of the Above by Juno Dawson

Here's hoping for a circle of gay.

When sixteen-year-old Toria moves to the faded seaside town of Brompton-on-Sea, she doesn't expect to fall in love once - let alone twice. But life has a habit of pulling you in strange directions, and when it comes to matters of the heart, sometimes you just have to let go, be free, and let love choose you.

This novel is basically tumblr in the form of a book. The bad and the good. You have variety of sexuality and a over-judgemental sixteen year old who thinks she knows better but is really just a little shit. Toria and I didn't really get off on the best foot:

"It sort of feels good to have some order back in my life. Does that make me sound autistic?" Chapter 1, pg 12.  Great Start, Toria.  She also jokes to have other disorders. She also preaches at the reader and then does something problematic herself straight after. I guess this was a possibly intentional as people are flawed (there are 16 years old like this), if only her flaws weren't so annoying. Here are other quotes with my initial reactions: 

"Who says 'uni' any more, seriously?" Everyone you fucking c*nt. What else would they say?
"AMINE IS NOT CARTOONS." It is and there is nothing wrong with that. Though, Ice Age is on the terrible side of animation.

Toria just straight up says and does unlikable things. On her whole she doesn't bug me that much, but I do spend a lot of time on Tumblr and built up a tolerance to this type of hypercritical bullshit. I also do think it was Dawson's intention for her to be flawed, to make her realistic.

The other characters are band of misfits with their own issues. To be honest, their issues feel rather shallow and more to give Toria an interesting experience. Its a real pet peeve of mine for protagonists to learn from the suffering of their "friends". This is lessen by the fact, Toria herself adds to the diversity from the start of the book, being mix-race herself (which is good to see reflected in the cover). The thing is everyone does have something, but so many people are so open with what their deals are and weirdos do stick together. It just a level of openness not supported with the school environment presented. There is an actual love triangle in this book rather than the line typical in YA. It was overall okay and we get Bi characters that don't like labels. (This is a tumblr troop that I disagree with for personal and non-personal reasons).

The big problem with this book is that it features the "bury your "blank" trope, which was surprising from someone of that belongs to one these typical blank. The LGBTQA+ characters have fallen by this trope. Changing the G to another letter doesn't change that's its a "Bury your gays" moment. I am a queer, disabled person so I hate this trope with a passion, no matter the blank, but to see it under both main blanks was a big slap in the face. This a life lesson moment for the protagonist, it not about this character losing out on life. The reason this is a terrible trope, is that these labels under represented in media and its devastating when your only representation dies...repeatedly. Especially, as there are usually the only ones with that representation in the specific media. There's not enough of us to be so carelessly disregarded. Then there's we are always the villain trope that was really big in the last century... I can't say much more about this book version of the trope without just saying who it is, I'm just trying to distract you with tropes that the Disabled and LGBTQA+ both have together now. Though, feel free to tell me your favourite disabled (or disfigured), coded gay villain in the comments or just randomly tweet me their name.

Told by a reflective Toria (though not much) first-person and is split into the four seasons Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. The almost reflective thing didn't work well.

 Contemporary books can be a bit plot lost, though this wins with featuring a crazy golf course.

Overall, I give this book 4 out of five stars for hair dye. This book was not quite the circle of gay I was hoping for, but it was an okay light read (tons of possible triggering stuff though. I know I have odd sense of what a "light read" is). It tries to do a lot with representation, I don't know if maybe it too much to have in one book. It felt a little forced to me, but with the lack of diversity in YA maybe we do have to shove in as much as possible.Though, its still fails to be good representation.

Book Review: The Dark Light by Julia Bell

It's a cult on island. Try not to avoid listing those in your head.

Ten minutes to midnight!' Jonathan shouts over the sound of the blazing fire. Sparks rise into the sky and mingle with the stars. 'Only ten minutes!' Bevins says, falling down on his knees. 'So it begins.' Rebekah has lived on the island her whole life, and it's only now that she's starting to wonder what she might experience outside her strict religious community. Alex has been sent to the island to escape her dark past, and through her eyes it's a dark and sinister place. Thrown together by chance, Rebekah and Alex strike up an unlikely friendship and it's together that they attempt to break free of their worlds and make a world of their own. But when a kiss between the girls is witnessed by an islander there is no escape they can make - the Rapture is coming for them all.

This book about a cult on remote island, while my first YA novel that featured this, it's definitely not the first time I read or see something with that. This is a Christian cult with an insane American leader on a Welsh island so Wales is the almost original part of that sentence. Though, being original isn't actually a big part of the story.

We have two point of views from the two main characters but I didn't feel that they were distinctive from each other which I would have liked to seen with their different backgrounds. Also there were a lot of times I didn't know which character they were referring to. Even with rereading the sentence, I was still not sure who they were talking about.

The characters were a bit flat. I got frustrated with the main characters erratic behaviour and thoughts. I did try to be understanding that they were in a scary situation where they had to act a certain way to avoid punishment but as the book went on, it was hard to be understanding. My main issue is probably that I wanted them to be more rebellious. There was also something difficult about becoming attach to these characters so I didn't care that much about their outcomes, despite wanting justice because I like just desserts.

The set up for this book is pretty dumb as well, I'm about to state what happens in the first chapter. I guess skip if you're all about not being spoiled at all. It starts with Alex getting into trouble, therefore she has go to the island which is approved by a police officer and a Social Worker, despite the island not normally taking troubled youths or anyone. It is not normal to send minors to islands ran by cult leaders on the word of their parents alone, especially if they have a history of mental health issues.

The way this book plays out is bit rushed to be realistic. If the time scale had been longer then it could have worked for me, but major belief switches happen within a day. The ending was an ending. It was a tad bit annoying and almost feels tragic for the sake of it.

Overall, I give this book three out of five stars for poppies. This book is pretty short, so if you're still intrigued after reading mine or other people's thoughts; I say go for it. Personally, I'm still hunting for better YA cult books.

I got this for review off NetGalley and it's being published by Macmillan Children's Books on 16 July 2015.