Scookie Reviews

GENUINE FRAUD by E. Lockhart 2 Stars Verdict: Confusing and pointless (sorry!). Jule is on the run. I'm not sure there's really more to say. Piecing together the why and when is up to the reader, but it all revolves around an entitled college dropout called Imogene. I struggled to get the point of this one. The story isn't in chronological order, which sounds quirky and fun, but what it really means is that you get the punchline before the context. We know how the story ends from the beginning, and we get a good sense of what's going on early on, so for the rest of the book we're just waiting for it to happen in a jumbled and confusing order. A reread might help uncover more to the story, but it's not interesting enough to go through it all again. In the end, there aren't any real winners of the story or much of a point. The motives seemed thin and flaky at best. I was still searching for reason it was written in the last few chapters, turning the...

Thanks to everyone who has shown interest so far for the Writing Fest 2018 in April. Articles have begun to trickle in, but there's still plenty of time to take part. If you're interested but haven't let me know yet, please drop me a note using the contact form on the left (this might not be visible on a phone). I'm still looking for writers and book reviewers who are interested in any of the following: 1) An article related to writing or publishing fiction 2) A giveaway of your book (I'll be using rafflecopter to randomise a winner) 3) Author interview 4) Chapter one of your manuscript for an open review 5) Adding your manuscript to the beta-reader yellow pages Deadlines : Show your interest - 28th of February Article complete - 25th of March After a round of editing, your post will be scheduled to go live in April! Don't forget to also send me a list of social media links so that readers can connect to you, view your blog, or purchase your boo...

THE GENDER GAME by Bella Forrest 4 Stars Verdict: Improves along the way. Two sides of the river, each ruled by a different gender, both on the cusp of war. When Violet accidentally commits womanslaughter, she's given one last chance at life - to cross the river to the male dominated state where woman's rights are suppressed, and steal back a mysterious egg that contains her country's secrets. I almost wrote this off early as another not-as-good-as-the-Hunger-Games dystopian book. The writing style is quite flat and sometimes overly explanatory. Some of the main characters, like Lee, lack personality, and there was a lot of Q&A dolled out by a dull character in said flat tone. The concept also seemed reliant on the reader not caring too much about why a delinquent who has killed two women by accident is the only one right for a secret mission. However, the pace and world building seemed reasonable though, so I was set to offer it three stars. But it got bett...

NUMBER THE STARS by Lois Lowry 2 Stars Verdict: Holocaust story suitable for children. This is a young children's book set in Denmark during the second world war. It's purpose is to educate the young about the holocaust, and tells the story of a young girl's family helping to save another young girl and their family. I'll be honest. I only read this because I was waaay behind on my reading challenge, and I knew it was a short book. I needed a speedy read, and that's what I got. Besides, it was by the author of The Giver and has won awards so it sounded like a good choice to broaden my reading horizons with. I knew it would be simple, but I hoped it would still be entertaining like Coraline, or unexpected like The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly, or relevant to all ages like A Monster Calls. Unfortunately, I didn't think it was entertaining or unexpected. The tone was very young, and it's not written in a way that can be appreciated when you're o...

PARIS ADRIFT by E. J. Swift 3 Stars Verdict: Fantastically French, but I lost the plot. Hallie defers her last year at uni to escaped to France, and now works in a bar in Paris. Portals begin opening up around her...and she experiences France's past and present...Mini adventures ensue. Okay, that's a bad summary. It's hard to write an honest blurb about this book, because Hallie wasn't an active character. Things happened to her, and she dealt with them as best as possible, but she had no plans or hopes or goals or needs. It gave a sense that the story wasn't going anywhere, and often it didn't. I'd call this a strange book, and one of the reasons is its unique writing style. It's sharp and direct, blunt in places, but somehow vague overall. It's never really clear what's going on - the bigger picture, the goal, the reasons behind the happenings, the motives - and I couldn't decide whether it was done in a mysterious way or a confu...

THE HEN WHO DREAMED SHE COULD FLY by Sun-Mi Hwang 4 Stars Verdict: It's a harsh life for a hen. This is a Korean folk tale of a hen who, unlike the title suggests, dreams of being able to keep the egg she lays and raise it as her own. She dreams of freedom. When she is culled with the other old hens, she turns her hardship into an opportunity to seek her dreams. Sprout goes through some rough stuff, let me tell you. Unable to produce any more eggs, Sprout begins her journey by being tossed in a grave and buried by a load of other dead. Immediately after, she's hunted by a weasel who enjoys killing any survivors of the culling. Chilling stuff. If you think about this in terms of people, this is a horrifying book. And her poor life doesn't get easier from there. For the whole story, Sprout has to fight to survive. She puts up with specism, the murderous weasel, and the harsh reality of her eggless body to make her dreams come true. Again, I needed a short book...