Scookie Reviews

Naomi Grim by Tiffany Nicole Smith 3 stars Verdict: You’ll probably enjoy it, but it is flawed. The assignment:Collect lifestones from humans after they die. Rebellious, sixteen-year-old Naomi craves a normal life, but unfortunately, she's a Grim by birth. That's right, she sees dead people and hoards their living essence in a stone. Not a fun occupation. In order to be good at her job, she must live among human teenagers for weeks at a time. But Naomi soon becomes attached to the kids she's been assigned to watch over. And knowing that these teens are gonna die under less than ideal circumstances, she has the opportunity to prevent their deaths from occurring. Only one big problem--interfering with death is the worst crime a Grim can commit. If she intervenes, she'll put herself and her family in danger. Naomi must make the hardest choice of her career, go against the sacred covenant or watch her new friends walk blindly to their deaths. Only one thing is...

Cleo by Lucy Coats 3 stars Recommend: Fans of ancient Egypt who can persist through a shaky start. Her precious mother is dead - and it isn't an accident! The young Cleopatra - Pharaoh's illegitimate daughter - must flee the royal palace at Alexandria or die too.  As her evil half-sisters usurp the throne, Cleo finds sanctuary at the sacred temple of Isis, where years later she becomes initiated into the secret Sisters of the Living Knot. But now Isis's power is failing, Egypt is in danger, and Cleo must prove her loyalty to her goddess by returning to the Alexandria she hates. She must seek out the hidden map which is the key to returning Isis's power - on pain of death. But will she be able to evade her horrible sisters? And will she find dreamy Khai, the über-hot librarian boy she met as she fled Alexandria years before? Cleo's powerful destiny is about to unfold... ~*~ Firstly, I am grateful for the review copy, but it contained missing letter pa...

Life of Pi by Yann Martel 5 stars Recommend: Those who want a gritty and thought-provoking story, and can take a slow start. Life of Pi is a fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist, Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, a Tamil boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. ~*~ My English teacher from sixth form recommended me this book. I didn’t read it. I wanted to. I was, erm, going to after I finished my coursework... It was next on my list... Well, now I’ve seen the film the book will feel slow. I saw it in a charity shop and finally stopped making excuses. I’m mentioning this because if I hadn’t been so motivated to finally finish it, I might have stopped 50 pages in. I’m glad I kept reading, but I do sympathise with 50-pages-in me. Not often a book will manage to ho...

I won’t name names. I’m posting this article as part of my mini campaign to improve the quality of self-published novels. The reason why I turned the authors away is because I couldn’t finish their novel or I knew it would be a one star review if I had. In my opinion, they’re not ready for publishing. Yet . Some of them even had a special something, but the book was too flawed or crippled by undeveloped writing that I just couldn’t recommend it. I don’t mean this in a subjective way either (well, to a certain degree). It’s very easy to blame preference, but good grammar shouldn’t be preference. Sometimes I’ve felt so baffled that I’ve asked the nearest person to read a paragraph or so just to check it's not just me. There are some fantastic self-published novels out there too, like Apple by R.A. Black and The Prince of Prophecy by N.M. Mac Arthur, both of which I enjoy recommending whenever I get the chance. Both novels took hard work, beta-readers, and a hell of a lot of re...

Not bad, eh? Personally, I never thought I'd get to 100 posts. Is the next goal 1000 posts? Never going to happen... A few things that might interest aspiring authors and self-published authors: * Have you got a completed manuscript and are just about to look for an agent? For the next three days you can enter a Pitch Madness  which may result in snagging an agent. I'll be entering The Clearing and crossing my fingers for the next 71 hours and 59 minutes. * Have you spent years learning to write, hired editors or beta-readers, and redrafted your novel until you were certain that self-publishing was the way to go? And then you took the plunge and finally did made yourself a novel that strangers can buy and everything? Great. I'm planning a self-publishing contest which I hope will help uncover hidden gems. There's no prize, just the support of a somewhat difficult critic. I also know several book reviewers I can recommend your novel onto, and of course, they...

HIDDEN DEEP by Amy Patrick 5 Stars Verdict:  For teens who love supernatural romances. Shortened blurb: Sixteen-year-old Ryann Carroll is irresistibly drawn to the woods. There she encounters the boy who kept her from freezing to death that long ago winter night and was nowhere to be seen when rescuers arrived. He's still mysterious, but now all grown-up and gorgeous, too. And the more she's with him, the greater the threat he poses to Ryann's strict policy-- never want someone more than he wants you.  I’ve read a lot of disappointing book lately, and after reading this one, I realised something. A five star book doesn’t have to be flawless; it has to make me love it despite its flaws. Hidden Deep is one of those books. I loved Ryann. She's a character with Southern American charm who strives to remember that a man shouldn’t be her everything, he should the icing on the cake.  I was drawn in by her voice and entertained by the way she chose to go about getti...

The First by Lisa M. Green 2 stars Verdict : Wait for a heavily redrafted version. A tale of myth, mystery...and a past long forgotten. Something is out there. And the people live in constant fear. But their biggest threat lies within their own village. Everyone and everything is dying, slowly and without hope of salvation. In a world where almost nothing is truth and isolation is the purest form of self-deception, the possibility of hope exists only in the heart and mind of a young woman who chooses to follow an unknown path in order to save everyone she knows and loves. Before long, she discovers that her most vital beliefs are based on a deception that will rock the foundation of her entire people. To save them, she must learn to open her heart and sacrifice…everything. You may think you have heard this story before, but be warned. You haven’t. ~*~ The Rating Breakdown Enjoyment: 3  I had to read most of it twice, but it was a good read. Writing Style: ...

DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth 4 Stars Verdict : A thrilling ending! #2 - Insurgent #3 - Allegiant Society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue, in the attempt to form a 'perfect society'. On her Choosing Day, Beatrice Prior renames herself Tris, rejects her family's Abnegation group, and chooses another faction. ~*~ This book has been on my radar for a while. It’s had a lot of hype which is almost always a bad thing, and it’s got a many well-loved shadows cast over it. I’ll do my best to treat Divergent fairly. Let’s get it out of the way: The Hunger Games was better in premise, thrill factor, world building, and characterisation (book 1, anyway). Divergent didn’t need to be the next Hunger Games to get five stars out of me, but it didn’t hit the spot either. I still enjoyed it, I still can’t wait to read the next one, but I think the greatness is yet to come in this series. The world is split into 5 ...

SEEKER by Arwen Elys Dayton 2 Stars Verdict : If you don’t mind a long, slow pace, and quite confusing novel with a good ending. Quin Kincaid has been put through years of brutal training for what she thinks is the noble purpose of becoming a revered ‘Seeker’. Only when it’s too late does she discover she will be using her new-found knowledge and training to become an assassin. Quin's new role will take her around the globe, from a remote estate in Scotland to a bustling, futuristic Hong Kong where the past she thought she had escaped will finally catch up with her. ~*~ At first I thought it was brilliant but slow. Soon I felt it was a bit naff and slow. The ending picked up, but I’m glad it’s over. I can finally write my review and be done with it. Firstly, I have a bone to pick that has nothing to do with the author: ‘A new YA fantasy thriller perfect for fans of Mortal Instruments and the Hunger Games series.’ Damn. I fell for marketing again. This is NOT...

LOST AND FOUND   by Brooke Davis  3 stars Verdict : Exceptional prose, terrible story - I'd recommend the author. I couldn't find a short blurb for this, just loads and loads of praise where a blurb should be. Instead I'll do my best to shorten the long blurb: Millie Bird is a seven-year-old girl whose mum leaves her alone in a department store, and doesn’t come back. Karl the Touch Typist is eighty-seven years old and once typed love letters with his fingers on to his wife’s skin. He escapes from a nursing home, knowing that somehow he must find a way for life to begin again. Agatha Pantha is an eighty-two-year-old woman who yells at passers-by and maintains a strict daily schedule, until she spies a little girl across the street. Together, Millie, Agatha and Karl set out to find Millie’s mum. Along the way, they will discover that the young can be wise, that old age is not the same as death, and that breaking the rules once in a while might just be the key t...

NIGHTBIRD by Alice Hoffman 4 Stars Verdict : For a smooth Sunday afternoon. Twig lives in a remote area of town with her mysterious brother and her mother, baker of irresistible apple pies. A new girl in town might just be Twig's first true friend, and ally in vanquishing an ancient family curse. A spellbinding tale of modern folklore set in the Berkshires, where rumours of a winged beast draw in as much tourism as the town's famed apple orchards. The reason why I thought Sunday afternoon is because it’s a light and nice way to end your week before Monday comes and drags you from your bed. It’s a book that made me feel happy, and that’s not what I’m  usually drawn to in a novel... And isn’t it refreshing to read a story mainly about friendship and sibling love, rather than romance? While it’s middle grade, I found it akin to Peace and Conflict by Irene Sabatini – a book anyone could enjoy. A child narrator doesn’t necessarily limit the novel to a child audience, a...