21st Birthday Give Away (Closed)

February 18^th marks the day I turn 21 and over the past few weeks I have had multiple people as me what I would like as a gift. I am the awkward person who feels horrible receiving gifts but loves to give them and so what better way to celebrate my 21^st birthday than by giving away a book.

I have a signed hardback copy of, ‘The Fault In Our Stars’ by John Green to giveaway and I am willing to send internationally! After rummaging around my room I found I had three signed copies of this book and would much rather someone else had it than me just hoarding it.The giveaway will run from today until my birthday. Enter below and the best of luck!

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The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness

Title: The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
Publisher: Walker
Series: Chaos Walking Trilogy (2, 3)
Service: Own
Release Date: 22/10/2008
Pages: 479
Format: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★★

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Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown.

But Prentisstown isn't like any other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in a constant overwhelming, never-ending Noise. The is no privacy. There are no secrets.

Or are there?

Just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd unexpectedly stumbles upon a spot of complete silence. Which is impossible. Prentisstown has been lying to him. And now he's going to have to run...

Give us a few words...

This video contains spoilers. Do not watch if you have not read the book! The review below is spoiler free.

Why do you say that?

I was gifted More Than This by Patrick Ness by having never read any of his work, decided to read The Knife of Never Letting Go. 

It centres round the story of Todd Hewitt who lives in Prentisstown. This town is in the New World and its only inhabitants are men and boys. Through the story we learn this is due to a war that broke out early when they first settled there. Their enemies (Spackle) released a Noise germ that killed off all women and girls and left the boys, men and animals able to hear each other’s thoughts constantly.

I fell in love with this book from the first few chapters. When Todd encounters a break in the silence he struggles to hide it and push it away from his Noise leading to everything being set into motion.

Todd’s whole journey to find safety away from Prentisstown and his meeting with people along the way is both heart warming and heart breaking. Ness makes you feel so protective over Todd’s stubborn character and there are points in the book where you will want to yell at him for being so pig headed. His overall character development throughout the story is something I loved and look forward to seeing in the next book.

With the full range of character personalities showcasing stubborn, strong, power hungry and down right crazy I felt the mix was perfect. The whole book keeps you on edge in a number of ways. If you aren’t worried about who might catch them you are wondering about the truth behind Prentisstown. All questions are answered with a horrifying truth.

The end of this book broke my heart and I cannot wait to pick up the next one in the series. Ness has easily made his way into my top 5 favourite authors. I highly recommend you get involved in The Knife of Never Letting Go, book one of The Chaos Walking Trilogy.

The Perks of Being A Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky

Title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
Series: N/A
Service: Own
Release Date: 01/08/2012
Pages: 231
Format: Paperback

Rating:  ★★

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Charlie’s not the biggest geek in high school, but he’s by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent, yet socially awkward, Charlie is a wallflower, standing on the threshold of his life whilst watching everyone else live theirs. As Charlie tries to navigate his way through uncharted territory – the world of first dates and mix tapes, family dramas and new friends – he realises that he can’t stay on the sidelines forever. There comes a time when you have to see what life looks like from the dance floor.

Give me one word…

Why do you say that?

I finally picked up this book. I have been meaning to for a while and after the film was released I realised that I wanted to read it before I watched the film.

'The perks of being a wallflower' follows the story of Charlie as he starts high school, in 1992, and learns to deal with all the things that are thrown his way. The book is set out in a series of letters written by Charlie and sent to the reader as, ‘Dear friend’.

The letter format does make you feel like you are being personally invited into Charlie’s life but for me that was where the familiarity ended. Charlie seems so detached as he tells you about his day to day life that I spent a lot of the book struggling to connect with him. There were a few instances in the book where I could relate to him (episodes of being ignored in the hallway and fancying people who do not feel the same) but they were few and far between for me.

There are various instances in the book where Charlie cries and tells us that he is doing so. Usually when a character becomes emotional, I feel myself welling up. But Charlie’s tears were a statement and I didn’t feel like I got much more than that from it. It was a shame because I wanted to connect with him on a deeper level.

Charlie’s best friends are Sam and Patrick, and I enjoyed their characterisation a lot more. Sam and Patrick are step siblings who do not fit in with the crowd. Charlie falls for Sam pretty quickly and she tells him that he should not feel that way about her. Whilst Charlie struggles with his feelings Sam begins to date. Later on in the book when her relationship has ended, Sam questions why Charlie did not do anything. Her outburst towards the end of the book is ultimately what sets something off in him.

By far, Patrick was my favourite character. His brotherly love towards Charlie made me warm to him though there was a small portion of the book where I felt like he was taking advantage of him.

By the end of the book I was left to question how everything was stitched together. It felt more like a diary where some things connected and others didn’t.

I do recommend this book to anyone looking for a coming of age story of someone trying to find their feet in the world but, personally, I was left wanting more from the story.