laural27's reviews
706 reviews

Really fantastic debut. Well developed characters, striking plot, compelling story and an ending quite unpredictable.

Fast paced read from a really unique new writing voice. Perfect book to read when you're laying in bed ill (like I am right now!) Nice tension, unpredictable plot and sensitive themes dealt with incredibly well.

Terrifying, horrific and grisly. Perfect! A fantastic start to the new Red Eye series from Stripes publishing. Excited to see what comes from them next. Well written, well paced, compelling plot and epic twists and turns. Highly recommend!

Bleeding heck! Now that is what you call a book! I was dubious after all the hype and obvious interest after the film but the hype is so well deserved. An incredibly well imagined, original and quite terrifying young adult novel. With some gorgeous dark tones and a perpetual uneasy undercurrent, this is a book that should be on everyone's shelves. Epic.

Wow wow wow!
What a novel. Had no idea where it would end up and I was overjoyed by the unpredictable ending. Totally had me hanging on every last word. This is a fantastic book and I am off to read other books written by this incredible writing team!

Gorgeous ending. Interesting premise. Nice focus on character emotion and a whole lot of 'what would you do in their shoes?'

Anticlimactic and slightly unsure of the story being told. For the most part I was compelled to read on but the way the book ended left me feeling cheated. Nice writing style and good pace but just lacked a punchy ending.

As soon as I heard this book was coming out, I was quick to judge and very quick to assume it would be a pile of total hideousness. And, sadly, I was not wrong.
This book claims to be Zoella’s or Zoe Suggs’ debut novel which, before I even start the review, was very unlikely to have been written by her at all. This book screams GHOSTWRITER or GREAT EDITING TEAM. It feels like Zoe’s had the idea for the story, written a couple of pages, and then left the story building to the team at Penguin. The narrative feels disjointed and it’s clear from the style of writing that this was not written by Zoe alone.
It claims to be a novel, which, by definition, means fiction. However this book is almost a mirror image of Zoe’s life – a girl who lives in Brighton, runs a blog, has anxiety issues, has an obsession with fairy lights, bath bombs and scented candles…need I go on?
The age old adage always suggests ‘write what you know’ and it feels like Zoe knows very little else. So much so, she has written a book that couldn’t be closer to her own life if she tried. Granted she’s not exactly the same as her protagonist but I think it’s fair to say there can be no mistaking who she’s based on.
The story itself is predictable to the point of being boring. I have no problem with predictable plots, in fact, I enjoy predictable books – if the route to the predictable ending is enjoyable. Sadly, this one was not. The narrative was also stuffed with a cliché of characters – the gay best friend, the not so nice girl best friend, the ‘boy-who’s-out-of-her-league-but-ends-up-loving-her’, the dreamy love interest etc. Again, nothing wrong with a cliché or two, but only if they’re written well and sadly, these characters were not – in fact, they were some of the most two dimensional characters I’ve ever come across in fiction.
As I mentioned before, the writing is stilted and feels as though it’s not been written by the same person. There are moments of impressive, mature writing and then moments that feel as though they’ve just been clobbered together with Basic English. I know I’m not the target audience for this book at all, it’s girls of around 12-16 that are probably most enthused by this book, but, in my opinion, a good book is one that can be read and enjoyed by all ages.
I can’t criticise it completely. The book does a mediocre job of addressing anxiety and also covers a few other sensitive topics but it just feels like I’ve wasted my time reading it.
I really wanted to be proved wrong – I wanted to love this book and enjoy every word but sadly I didn’t and I’m not surprised. It seems anything with Zoe’s name on will sell, and, with people wanting to cash in on that success, it doesn’t really matter about the quality of what’s being put out there. I imagine that if Penguin had read this book without a famous name attached to it, it would have ended up in the slush pile and forgotten about.
If you’re a loyal Zoella fan, love fairy lights, a good scented candle and don’t get bored of repetitive descriptions and a predictable, clichéd plot then this is the book for you! Sadly, as a 21 year old woman, I cannot and wouldn’t recommend this to anyone. I’m sorry. I tried, I really did!

Really haunting premise. Believable and quite frightening characters and a very unexpected and welcome twist. Really great debut.