Entangled by Cat Clarke

Publisher: Quercus

Format: Paperback

Published: 6^th January 2011

Number of Pages: 256

Book: Bought

Genre: Realistic-Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Mystery, Magical-Realism, YA

Recommended Age: 12+

Contains: Alcohol, Sex References

Author's Blog: Cat Clarke Writes YA

“The same questions whirl round and round in my head:

What does he want from me?

How could I have let this happen?

AM I GOING TO DIE?”

Seventeen-year-old Grace wakes up in a white room, with a table, pens and paper – and no clue how she got there.

As Grace pours her tangled life onto the page, she is forced to remember everything she’s tried to forget.  There’s falling hopelessly in love with the gorgeous Nat, and the unravelling of her relationship with her best friend Sal.  But there’s something missing.

Grace must face the most important question of all.  Why is she here?

A story of dangerous secrets, intense friendship and electrifying attraction.

Review:

Grace Carlyle is damaged, scarred – and not just on the outside, where there are the criss-crossing scars from her cutting.  She’s not perfect and she knows it.  But when she wakes up in a room, help captive by a boy she doesn’t even know, she needs to find out WHY.  With a pen and paper, she tells her story, her life.  Her mistakes, her successes.  Her friends, boyfriend, family.  She needs to figure it out, unravel the mess that is her life.  She needs to figure out WHY.  Fast.

Wow.  Just… wow.  This story of kidnappers and flashbacks could have so easily gone wrong.  Yet, everything was perfect; it was put together in a way that made me want to just sit and read and never put it down.  I was instantly drawn in, hooked from the very first sentence: “I met Ethan on the night I was planning to kill myself.  Pretty inconvenient, when you think about it”.  It was amazingly written, the characters all felt real and so did Grace’s pain.   She was amazing.  This book was amazing.  I adored it.

Grace was a wonderfully strong character, her voice so real.  She was the driving force, the life, the power.  She could easily have been ‘that girl’.  The one who is pathetic and suicidal and clingy, but she wasn’t.  She was real.  She was human.  I loved her for her faults, loved that she wasn’t perfect.  And more than anything, I loved her strength.  Grace was brilliant.  Yes, she was damaged, broken, but I didn’t pity her or look down on her: I hurt for her.  I just loved that she could be sarcastic and almost light-hearted, considering the position she was in.  She was just incredible!  Warm, ironic, stubborn.  She was refreshing and one of my favourite heroines, plus she reminded me what I loved most about fiction and writing.

Grace had issues with her mother, which I found particularly interesting.  Ever since her dad died, Grace’s mother couldn’t be bothered.  She didn’t notice that Grace was cutting or drinking, nothing.  I had a theory behind this sudden disinterest – one which proved to be accurate – but all Grace could see was a mother that didn’t care.  Which is why her friendship with BF Sal was so important to her.  The two completely relied on one another.  Their relationship was sweet, and meant everything to Grace.  Which was one of the problems…

I can honestly say I couldn’t guess where the plot was going.  I couldn’t guest the twists, the turns, nothing, nada.  I just could not figure out – no matter how hard I tried – who Ethan was!  It took me forever to get even an idea, and by then I couldn’t be bothered to think, I was so absorbed in the story.  I loved that Grace’s life, her kidnapping aside, was so realistic, so relatable.  Somehow, Cat Clarke took every day – for some of us, anyway – occurrences and changed them, made them surreal.  I just could not stop reading.  There was humour, happiness and love, fear, confusion and sadness – such bone crushing sadness that it made my eyes fill with tears.  I felt absolutely everything Grace did, like they were my own feelings.  It hurt.  I cried.

One of the most amazing, unpredictable, incredible, beautiful books I’ve read in a long time.  Cat Clarke is an author to look out for!  I know I’ll be on the lookout for all of her future books.

Star Rating:
5 Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

Before I Die by Jenny Downham

Flawless by Lara Chapman

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Challenges It's Taking Part In:

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)

British Book Challenge (Hosted by The Bookette)

A-Z Reading Challenge (Hosted by Book Junky)

Happy Reading

Megan

The Cardturner by Louis Sachar

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Format: Paperback

Published: 9^th August 2011

Number of Pages: 352

Book: For Review From Bloomsbury*

Genre: Realistic-Fiction, Humour, Contempory, Magical-Realism, Family, Romance, YA, YA-Middle Grade Crossover, YA-Adult Crossover

Recommended Age: 12+

Contains: Violence, Death

No Alcohol, Drug References

Author's Blog: Louis Sachar

The summer is looking bleak for Alton Richards.  His girlfriend has dumped him to go out with his best friend, he has no money and no job.  And then his parents insist that he drives Uncle Lester to his bridge tournaments four times a week.

Uncle Lester is old, blind, very sick… and very rich.  Which is why his parents are desperate for Alton to worm his way into his good books.  But they’re in competition with other distant relatives.

Not expecting much from the outings, Alton soon finds himself getting to know a lot about his uncle, his family’s history, and pretty Toni Castaneda, another contender for Uncle Lester’s inheritance.

Review:

From when he was tiny, Alton’s had this drilled into him: Uncle Lester is his favourite uncle.  Lester Trapp is very rich.  Rich enough that he doesn’t have to be nice to anyone.  After years of “I love you” and “you’re my favourite uncle” Alton – who has only met Trapp (as he’s known by his bridge-buddies) once – is forced by his parents to take his uncle to bridge tournaments, to play the cards for Uncle Lester, as his diabetes has left him blind.  As if his summer wasn’t going to be bad enough already.  But, reluctantly, Alton agrees.  Alton thought he’d be bored out of his mind, not that he’d actually grow to like the game.  As he becomes obsessed and tries to memorise as many of the rules and plays as he can, he starts to guess what his uncle will play (never asking “Are you sure”, of course).  In the process, Alton learns more about his uncle and heritage than he ever thought possible.  He even finds love.

I never, not in a million years, thought I’d read a book about bridge, much less love it.  I didn’t really know what to expect from The Cardturner, as far as the main theme was concerned.  However, I’ve read Louis Sachar’s Holes and loved the humour, writing and characters.  The three were just as brilliant in The Cardturner – maybe even better.

Alton was one of those characters that you can fall in love with instantly.  I just adored the way he saw the world, and his unique, believable voice.  The fact that he’s “philosophy bent” helped too.  The way he described bridge and all the plays was in a way that a completely ignorant person like me can understand and enjoy.  You even had the chance to skip the bridge parts, as there was a secret code (I didn’t: I loved it all, but you did have a choice).  But what was truly special was the relationship between Alton and Trapp: it was the driving force behind the story, the part that kept everything together.  And, as for Trapp, he was just as brilliant and loveable, in a rather House-like way, although less arrogant and obnoxious.  His stubbornness and intelligence were clear, and he was most certainly a talented played.  Trapp could remember every single card; his own, his partner’s and all that had been played.  Pretty amazing, huh? 

And, in a very Sachar way, all the background characters were wonderfully thought-out, all having their own distinct personality.  Out of all of them, Alton’s little sister Leslie had to be my favourite.  She was smart, sweet and an ace bridge player (yeah: bad pun, I know). 

My favourite part of the story had to be the talks between Trapp and Alton.  I know I’ve already mentioned their bond, but their talks are just something else.  They challenged human consciousness, whether ideas were living entities that never truly die, and the reality of mental illnesses.  Are those with schizophrenia really ‘ill’ or are they just most open to the voices of the universe: can they just hear the ideas as others can’t?  Let me tell you, these talks really, really got me thinking.

Funny, sad, interesting, intriguing, unpredictable: I loved this book so, so, so much.  I stayed up late to finish it, unable to put it down as I just had to see how it ended.  Sachar has such a unique voice, one that I just love to bits.  I’m thinking about going out and getting as many of his books as I possibly can.  And taking up bridge.  I’ll be useless at it, but it sounds so much fun; way more challenging than chess… 

I shall end on this note, with a quote from Alton himself: “The impossible is more believable than the highly improbable”.  Which is so very true, don’t you think?

Star Rating:
4½ Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

Holes by Louis Sachar

Skellig by David Almond

Too Small To Fail by Morris Gleitzman

Challenges It's Taking Part In:

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)

Happy Reading

Megan

* This book was received from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review