All That Glitters - Holly Smale Book Review

Title - All That Glitters 
Author - Holly Smale 
Series - Geek Girl
My Copy - E-ARC from NetGalley 
ISBN - 0007574584 (ISBN13: 9780007574582)
My Rating - 4.5/5 stars
Goodreads - All That Glitters

Synopsis 

"My name is Harriet Manners, and I am still a geek." The fourth book in the award-winning GEEK GIRL series. Harriet Manners has high hopes for the new school year: she's a Sixth Former now, and things are going to be different. But with Nat busy falling in love at college and Toby preoccupied with a Top Secret project, Harriet soon discovers that's not necessarily a good thing...

OK so for the non- spoiler section there isn't much i can say but to give you a quick over view, Harriet and her family have just got back from New York and Harriet is trying to make some good first impressions on her first day of Sixth-Form (16-18 yr olds) and trying to get over her break up with gorgeous boyfriend Nick who has gone back to Australia to spend more time with his Family. But after a disastrous first day when every one thinks shes a show off know it all, her modelling career gets exposed when a campaign she did goes up every where, this book was full of laughs and tears. Holly Smale knows how to write characters that are real and relatable and i suggest you read this book and this series because it is a brilliant YA Contemporary book. 

  

OK so if you haven't read this book stop reading NOW SPOILERS AHEAD 

So we come back and we are back in England, and we start of like in the previous books with Harriet stating what she believes to be fact for example Geek girls first line was "My name is Harriet Manners, and i am a Geek" and in all that glitters its "My name is Harriet Manners, and i am a genius" i love these first lines i don't know why they are just very quirky and British.

So lets talk about Harriet's friendships in this book, so since Nat and Toby were avoiding Harriet and then her Modelling Career was exposed a lot of people started pretending to be her friends and i will admit as soon as it happened i knew it wasn't going to end well, and it was all revealed at the party that they were only there because they thought people she modelled with would be there, but i was shocked that India was actually nice and that she wasn't part of the bad crowd and i was annoyed with Nat & Toby at first but when there motivations were revealed i was really happy that they were only doing that so that Harriet could make some new friends. 

Next topic has to be Nick, this book was full of surprises when she was writing the letters saying she missed him and it had me in tears i really felt her pain it was extremely real, and when nick was doing his interview and he says that she broke his heart it didn't register till it was revealed that he had written to her and said that he would come and stay in London and go back to modelling that broke my heart i was sobbing at that. On the other hand completely understand why she didn't reply was because if she said yes and he went back to modelling after some time, he would probably end up resenting her and if they did a long distance relationship it probably wouldn't have worked and she did the only real option and that was to let him go no matter how much she loved him and that is true love. 

There was not a lot of modelling in this book it was mainly about her personal relationships, so there isn't much to say about that but the past picture from book 2 make an appearances everywhere from bus stops to shop windows and i loved the title of this book and the way it went with the story 

Overall this book made me laugh out loud, and sob tears of sadness but i wouldn't change a thing 

I cannot wait for the next book in this series because its a brilliant series that should be so much more popular 

Happy Reading

Beautiful Redemption - Jamie McGuire !! SPOILERS !!

Title - Beautiful Redemption
Author - Jamie McGuire
My Rating - 5 / 5 
Goodreads - Beautiful Redemption
ISBN - 1502541858 (ISBN13: 9781502541857)

Synopsis - If A Maddox boy falls in love, he loves forever. But what if he didn't love you, first?

No-nonsense Liis Lindy is an agent of the FBI. Deciding she is married only to her job, she breaks off her engagement and transfers from Chicago to the field office in San Diego. She loves her desk. She is committed to her laptop. She dreams of promotions and shaking hands with the director after cracking an impossible case.

Special Agent in Charge Thomas Maddox is arrogant, unforgiving, and ruthless. He is tasked with putting away some of the world’s toughest criminals, and he is one of the best the Bureau has to offer. Though, as many lives as he’s saved, there is one that is beyond his reach. Younger brother Travis is faced with prison time for his involvement in a basement fire that killed dozens of college students, and the media want a conviction. Travis’s only saviour is his unusual tie to the mob. In a deal that will spare his brother, Thomas has agreed to recruit Travis into the FBI.

Liis is stubborn, defiant, and yet somehow softens Thomas’s rough edges, making her the perfect agent to accompany him to the ceremony. Posing as a couple, they must travel to Travis & Abby’s beach vow renewal and give him the news, but when the pretending ends, she finds herself wondering if they were pretending at all. 

OK let me start by saying this was one of my most anticipated book of the year and it didn't disappoint it was for me fun fast exciting and at times emotional.

Now there is a review on amazon saying that its unemotional and yes some parts are, but Thomas just lost the woman hes was in love with to his younger brother i mean that would make me a bit emotionless toward people, but what i found emotional was the way Thomas was dealing with his and Cami's break up and the fact that he didn't even go home for thanks giving because she was there and also the parts where he was worrying about Travis's reaction to his recruiting him.

So lets start with our female protagonist Leiis ( Like Geese with an L ) i think its the first time i have read a book where the female lead isn't Caucasian Leiis is Half Japanese and half Irish. it didn't register until i finished the book. And she is feisty and as Thomas says lacks finesse.

I will admit some parts of this book seemed rushed and a bit too quick for how things were progressing. But it didn't take away from the story.
Now lets talk about the minor characters, so you have Val, Joel & Sawyer who are Thomas and Leiis's co workers we didn't really get to know them that much but i was really shocked to find out that Val and Sawyer were married and he cheated and now shes in a relationship with Joel. But we did see a soft side to sawyer when he helped Leiis unpack, then we have the awkwardness between Thomas and Cami and that scene where Leiis shots just as the music goes off

on to another point we found out who I'm guessing is the protagonists for the last two books

Falyn is with Taylor and apparently Tyler has been chasing Ellison Edson forever so we were finally introduced to all of the characters and got to see more of what we saw in A Beautiful Wedding and the Walking Disaster epilogue. 

Over all this was a good fun book that kept me entertained the whole way through and i cannot wait for the next book in this series. 



 

All Fall Down - Ally Carter Spoiler Free Review

Title - All Fall Down
Series - Embassy Row
Author - Ally Carter
My Rating - 4.5 / 5
Goodreads - All Fall Down
ISBN - 1408334372 (ISBN13: 9781408334379)
My Copy - E-ARC from NetGalley
Release Date - 5th February 2015

Synopsis - Grace can best be described as a daredevil, an Army brat, and a rebel. She is also the only granddaughter of perhaps the most powerful ambassador in the world and Grace has spent every summer of her childhood running across the roofs of Embassy Row.

Now, at age sixteen, she's come back to stay - in order to solve the mystery of her mother's death. In the process, she uncovers an international conspiracy of unsettling proportions, and must choose her friends and watch her foes carefully if she and the world are to be saved

 

First let me start by saying any Ally Carter book for me is a must read, because she is an amazing author who write such wonderfully complex characters. I really enjoyed this book its a sort of mystery where our lead protagonist is trying to find the man who killed her mother. 

In the beginning of the book i was a bit apprehensive when we met the two male characters Alexei and then Noah i thought there was going to be a love triangle and it was going to take away from the book but like in Carters other books a love interest for Noah was put in there pretty quickly, but at the same time we didn't really get a sense for Alexei because we didn't really see him, but you can definitely see something happening in the future between them i have a weird feeling its going to a Romeo and Juliette where the families hate each other. 

So even though at time All Fall Down seemed like it was slow and just building the world and characters at the same time you had a lot of action, and scenes that make you want to go back and re read to see how you missed it. 

 This book is not a love story, its not a thriller its about a girl who wants the TRUTH and even if it starts World War Three she will get the answers shes looking for 

(Spoiler Review Coming Soon)