Tag: book reviewing

Why are 3-star reviews so hard to write?

Sarah Robinson-Hatch9 Comments

It’s been a well-known fact for years now that a lot of book reviewers and bloggers often have a hard time describing their feelings towards a book they simply feel meh about. For me, this is a phenomenon that is endlessly frustrating, and makes writing these reviews something I don’t look forward to.

For me, the reviews I love writing most are those when I either adored the book and have so much to discuss and gush about, and those where I absolutely hated the book and want to tear it to shreds. But when it falls neither here nor there and it doesn’t prompt any strong feelings about it, I’m left uncertain with how to begin.

But I’m going to have to try.

Read More »

Made You Up – book review

Sarah Robinson-Hatch5 Comments

made-you-up

Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn’t she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal. 

Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up.Read More »

Stealing Snow – book review

Sarah Robinson-Hatch6 Comments

Stealing Snow cover

Seventeen-year-old Snow lives within the walls of the Whittaker Institute, a high security mental hospital in upstate New York. Deep down, she knows she doesn’t belong there, but she has no memory of life outside, except for the strangest dreams. And then a mysterious, handsome man, an orderly in the hospital, opens a door – and Snow knows that she has to leave.

She finds herself in icy Algid, her true home, with witches, thieves, and a strangely alluring boy named Kai. As secret after secret is revealed, Snow discovers that she is on the run from a royal lineage she’s destined to inherit, a father more powerful and ruthless than she could have imagined, and choices of the heart that could change everything. Heroine or villain, queen or broken girl, frozen heart or true love, Snow must choose her fate…
Read More »

Swarm – book review

Sarah Robinson-Hatch4 Comments

swarm-book

They thought they’d already faced their toughest fight. But there’s no relaxing for the reunited Zeroes.

These six teens with unique abilities have taken on bank robbers, drug dealers and mobsters. Now they’re trying to lay low so they can get their new illegal nightclub off the ground.

But the quiet doesn’t last long when two strangers come to town, bringing with them a whole different kind of crowd-based chaos. And hot on their tails is a crowd-power even more dangerous and sinister.

Up against these new enemies, every Zero is under threat. Mob is crippled by the killing-crowd buzz—is she really evil at her core? Flicker is forced to watch the worst things a crowd can do. Crash’s conscience—and her heart—get a workout. Anon and Scam must both put family loyalties on the line for the sake of survival. And Bellwether’s glorious-leader mojo deserts him.

Who’s left to lead the Zeroes into battle against a new, murderous army?Read More »

Cell 7 – book review

Sarah Robinson-Hatch4 Comments

Cell 7 book

Should she live or die? You decide.

An adored celebrity has been killed. Sixteen-year-old Martha Honeydew was found holding a gun, standing over the body.

Now Justice must prevail.

The general public will decide whether Martha is innocent or guilty by viewing daily episodes of the hugely popular TV show Death is Justice, the only TV show that gives the power of life and death decisions – all for the price of a phone call.

Martha has admitted to the crime. But is she guilty? Or is reality sometimes more complicated than the images we are shown on TV?Read More »

Why did I buy that?

Sarah Robinson-Hatch42 Comments

We’ve all done it at some point or another. It’s that compound-adjective that strikes fear into some readers, while leaving others to baffle why anyone would commit such an ammeter mistake.

“IMPULSE-BUY.”

And I know, it’s okay to buy some books on a whim if they’re by authors you like or if they just generally look cool. But that’s not really what I’m going to be discussing today.

So these are the books that I bought and I knew I shouldn’t have wasted my money on. They’ve just been collecting dust on my shelves ever since I got them.Read More »

The Bad Decisions Playlist – book review

Sarah Robinson-Hatch2 Comments

The Bad Decisions Playlist

A stranger rolls into town, and everything changes…

…especially for Austin Methune, when the stranger turns out to be his father, presumed dead, and his father turns out to be Shane Tucker, a big-time musician — just the role Austin wants for himself.

Austin has a long history of getting himself into trouble, with the assistance of weed, inertia, and indifference. And he’s in deep trouble now — the deepest ever. He’s talented, though. Maybe his famous father will help him turn his life around and realise his musical dream.

But maybe Austin has inherited more than talent from Shane, who also does drugs, screws up, and drops out.

Austin is a tour guide to his own bad decisions and their consequences as he is dragged, kicking and screaming, toward adulthood.Read More »

Words in Deep Blue – book review

Sarah Robinson-Hatch27 Comments

Words in Deep Blue

This is a love story.

It’s the story of Howling Books, where readers write letters to strangers, to lovers, to poets.

It’s the story of Henry Jones and Rachel Sweetie. They were best friends once, before Rachel moved to the sea. 

Now, she’s back, working at the bookstore, grieving for her brother Cal and looking for the future in the books people love, and the words they leave behind.Read More »

#ConfessionSession with Cath Crowley

Sarah Robinson-Hatch2 Comments

Hi everyone! Wow, this is so exciting – it’s my second blog tour in less than a week! Today I have the pleasure of sharing an interview I conducted with Cath Crowley. For those of you that don’t know, Cath recently wrote a gorgeous and touching #LoveOzYA novel entitled Words in Deep Blue. This poignant tale of love, loss, family and friendship is one that will sear itself on the hearts of everyone who reads it, and it was amazing to have the opportunity to ask Cath some questions that we all want answered.Read More »