Teardrop is out NOW!!!!

The wait is over...Teardrop was out in ebook YESTERDAY and the hardback is out TOMORROW!

To celebrate we have two fab clips to share with you!:

A Teardrop inspiration video from Lauren: 

An audio extract from Soundcloud: 

Double Teardrop Tuesday special!

Okay, first and foremost, our apologies for not posting last week's Teardrop Tuesday. I'm am currently in Year 11 and am bombarded with assessments and exams so I spent all this time revising! But no worries, I found time again to post a review and a double special of Teardrop Tuesday :D.

Last Week

Ever wonder what Eureka will be like? Here she is, the very own star of Teardrop!

This Week's Teardrop Tuesday:

Wohoo! Only a week left until the publication of Teardrop! This week's post is all about the new fan/blogger trailer of Teardrop, and to go with it is a wonderful competition to win a sterling silver teardrop necklace and a signed copy of Teardrop!

It's all in here: http://laurenkatebooks.co.uk/index.php/when-did-you-last-cry/

Good Luck!

Teardrop Tuesday (Thursday....Friday?)

Okay, okay! So it wasn't posted on a Tuesday as it was supposed to be so it was moved to Thursday but I've been so busy dealing with school that I missed that one too. Sorry!

So what's the news this week? Get this, the brand spanking new finished copies are now in and they look BEAUTIFUL!

Check it out again!

Teardrop Tuesday! (3)

Okay it's just four weeks left until the release of Teardrop of Lauren Kate and this week is the release of the US Teardrop trailer!

Are you guys ready?

Pretty exciting for a book trailer eh?

Teardrop Tuesday! (2)

It's the second Teardrop Tuesday and there's only 5 weeks to go until the publication! So what's the latest in the installment? Well, this week, we are celebrating the brand new Lauren Kate UK website!

Check it out: http://www.laurenkatebooks.co.uk/

So.... What do you guys think

Have you noticed the b-e-a-u-tiful Teardrop banner splashed across the page? It's making me all the more excited! I'm totally gonna read it soon!

Teardrop Tuesday!

It's Teardrop Tuesday! Who's excited for Lauren Kate's brand new series? From now on until October 24 2013, we will be posting new exciting content - yep, you guessed it - every Tuesday!

First up is a sneak peek at the prologue & chapter one for all those people not lucky enough to have got their hands on a limited edition proof of Teardrop: http://www.scribd.com/doc/164830988/Teardrop-by-Lauren-Kate-Sneak-Preview

What do you think? Are you as excited as we are? We have a brand-spanking new ARC we cannot wait to get our greedy hands on - *drool*

Book Review: Boys Don't Cry (Malorie Blackman)

This is the explosively page-turning new novel for teenagers from the author of the award-winning "Noughts and Crosses" sequence. You're about to receive your A-level results and then a future of university and journalism awaits. But the day they're due to arrive your old girlfriend Kendra turns up unexpectedly ...with a baby ...You assume Kendra's helping a friend, until she nips out to buy some essentials, leaving you literally holding the baby ...Malorie's dramatic new novel will keep you on the edge of your seat right to the final page.

There is no one word that can describe just how good of a read Boys Don't Cry is. This book is one of the few that should be read by every teenage boy in the world - it's packed with life's lessons and I'm sure I'm not the only one who says that this book is a thought-provoking and a reflective read.

When Dante Bridgeman finds the biggest surprise in his life lying in a baby buggy, to say that his life is turned upside down is an understatement. Suddenly, he is no longer a typical student waiting for his A level results and university, but a single father to an eleven-month baby, Emma. With his ex-girlfriend and the baby's mother Melanie suddenly MIA, he finds his future veering dangerously towards the unknown. The changes in Dante's life - every minute details - is well described and highlighted. I'm familiar with the difficulty of babysitting, but not quite with the difficulty of single parenting. Dante's narration is vivid and so real it's almost like a first hand account. Nothing quite gets to you than the voice of someone who has really been there - I got that from Dante. His sacrifices opens the reader's eyes to the reality of being a parent - single, teenage or otherwise. His concerns starts from the basic (what about university? How do I stop her from crying?) and evolves to the bigger (will I be a good father? How will I provide for Emma?) questions. I am a lot like Dante in situation (A level results, university...) but it is his questions that makes him so normal, so average. That, more than anything, makes Dante real. His actions, his thoughts and his words show his flaws, but it also channels his growth as a person, as a brother, as a son and as a father to Emma.

Interspersed with Dante's life changing moments are his brother Adam's. My heart went out to Adam in this book - he's a cheerful lad who is neither ashamed nor afraid of his sexuality. The challenges that face him are not the easiest ones to face nor read. Despite that, he has an indomitable spirit that rises up and faces these challenges head on. Of course, Adam has his share of challenges, but with his family's support never once leaving his side, Adam's strength is clear for all to see. I'm not sure who between him and Emma I find more adorable - but both of them are near top of the list of characters I love hugely.

There are varying sub plots in the book in support of the main plot. These elaborates more on the characters and are very well ingrained with the narrative. Mostly, they are resolved and I am one happy reader with how everything turned out. The secondary characters are involved in these subplots and are also very important as they are foils to and frame the protagonists. Quite simply, I have no complaints! It's my first Malorie Blackman read and I sure will check out more of her works.

Boys Don't Cry is an eye-opener, a complex novel that is one of the few which effectively thrusts the reader into issues that matter most in the big world. It made me cry, it made me think and it made me want to read so much more. I love this!

Five Stars!


* A huge thank you to RHCB for my proof copy.

Book Review: Torment (Lauren Kate)

How many lives do you need to live before you find someone worth dying for? In the aftermath of what happened at Sword & Cross, Luce has been hidden away by her cursed angelic boyfriend, Daniel, in a new school filled with Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans. Daniel promises she will be safe here, protected from those who would kill her. At the school Luce discovers what the Shadows that have followed her all her life mean - and how to manipulate them to see into her other lives. Yet the more Luce learns about herself, the more she realizes that the past is her only key to unlocking her future...and that Daniel hasn't told her everything. What if his version of the past isn't actually the way things happened...what if Luce was really meant to be with someone else?

Fallen left me disoriented and grappling for answers, so I expected Torment to ease my confusion. In fact, I was pretty excited for it since I loved the idea of Luce and Daniel's enduring love across time.

Unfortunately, Torment just left me more frustrated.

There's a difference between leaving readers wanting more and leaving them in a totally disorienting limbo of confusion. What Torment did for me was dump more rather than answer some of the questions that was left hanging by the end of Fallen. There is a lot question rising up in this book that only made the whole series a little too overwhelming. While I like complex world building, sometimes there's just information overload. So, rather than marvel at the intricacy of the plot, I just found it too complicated to entangle. I won't even start on how frustrated I am to have to wait for the third book to (hopefully) find the answers I am looking for.

Hidden away at a school for Nephilims called Shoreline, Lucinda Price begins to question a lot more about her past, herself and why Daniel insists on her recluse. Feeling trapped, clueless and still racked with guilt about Penn's death, she explores more of her surroundings, which in turn places her in danger. She disregards Daniel's instructions and often other's too, choosing instead to find answers of her own accord. While I like this stronger, more courageous Luce, her erratic behaviour annoyed me. Her stubbornness got to me, and I found it hard to symphatise with Luce. Of course, a big part of the blame lies with Daniel, who - even more than Luce - is just a tad too distant to my liking. I found it hard to connect with Daniel in Fallen, but in Torment he becomes a lot more elusive. He keeps Luce in the dark and evades her questions, and then fails to understand why she uses her own devices to find the answers that she wants. There is a lot of misunderstanding between these two in Torment - it gets quite tiring.

I love the romantic aspect of Torment best, and I did love Daniel and Luce's interactions, no matter how quick and fragmented they come and go. There is something so endearing about their love story and general, and despite my dislike of the details surrounding it, I'm holding on and hoping the next book(s) will elaborate more on their destinies. One other part of this book that I like are the new characters introduced, some of whom wriggle their way between Daniel and Luce, and present one very good option at that. I enjoyed Luce's experiences and adventures with her new friends, who seem to understand her best. The best part is towards the end, when the angels and nephilim appear side by side. The ruckus and tension they caused is quite thrilling. I hope these characters play their parts in the next book, as I'm looking forward to them a lot!

Most of the action is centered towards the end of the book, although tension also heightens at many parts within the novel. Like Fallen, Torment has a very good action sequence, one which can make you feel as if the characters are trapped without a way out. It ends with a very frustrating cliff-hanger though, and that deprived me of fulfillment. I have been expecting something explosive as the blurb suggests a big discovery of some sort about Luce and Daniel, I guess. The book just did not live up to that.

Maybe some can gain a lot more from Torment than I did, so I won't necessarily say skip this sequel. However, I didn't think it was a good sequel. It seems to be the type of book I'd consider to be set between book one and book 2 of a series, and hence missable.

Two Stars.