Radiance by Alyson Noel

This review contains some 'spoilers' but nothing major. 

Riley Bloom left her sister, Ever, in the world of the living and crossed the bridge into the afterlife—a place called Here, where time is always Now. Riley and her dog, Buttercup, have been reunited with her parents and are just settling into a nice, relaxing death when she's summoned before The Council. They let her in on a secret—the afterlife isn't just an eternity of leisure; Riley has to work. She's been assigned a job, Soul Catcher, and a teacher, Bodhi, a curious boy she can't quite figure out.

Riley, Bodhi, and Buttercup return to earth for her first assignment, a Radiant Boy who's been haunting a castle in England for centuries. Many Soul Catchers have tried to get him to cross the bridge and failed. But he's never met Riley...

I don't know what to say about this book. I thought it was very confusing and a  little bit ridiculous. Nothing was explained well at all, at the beginning and parts near the end I hadn't a clue what was going on. I didn't think the whole earth plane and 'Here & Now' or anything in between was explained properly. I also found the way it was written hard to understand. There was too many 'well's' and 'like's' and 'anyway's', if you know what I mean.

Riley was just really annoying. Sometimes I felt like telling her to grow up and stop being a spoiled little brat. She was shallow, vain and stuck-up. Bodhi had no depth and wasn't believable. I don't have a favourite character. Like I said about Bodhi, I don't think any of the characters had depth and to be honest, I didn't really care what happened to them.

The plot was very weak, if there even was one at all. It pretty much went like this: Riley dies, she whinges a lot, she's given a job as a Soul Catcher, she goes down to earth, gets the Radiant Boy to cross the bridge in about two seconds, something happens with a woman who won't stop crying (I'm not entirely sure what. That part was the most confusing) and then it's all happily ever after, or something.

I really didn't like this book. I'm not even sure why I finished it. I suppose I was expecting something to happen but nothing did. There was no twists, and nothing remotely exciting happened. I wouldn't recommend it and I don't think I'll be reading the next in this series, Shimmer. Before reading this, I was really eager to read Noel's 'Immortals' series, but now I don't know if I will. Overall, Radiance isn't a great book.

                                                        Rating: 2/5
Source: Borrowed
Pages: 178
Age Group: 10+
Official Publication Date: This edition 4th Feb 2011
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Author Website: www.alysonnoel.com

In My Mailbox #6

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren, where bloggers show what books they received through their mailboxes, from the library, bought and any other way. It a great way to see who's reading what, so make sure you head over and join in! This post cover the past few weeks, because this is the first Sunday in a couple of weeks that I've had access to a computer. So I got...
Won

Camden Town Tales: The Celeb Next Door by Hilary Freeman
I won this off the brilliant blog Girls Heart Books. I have wanted to read this and was so happy when I found it in the postbox!










Gift
              
The 13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison
I got this for my  birthday, I was so delighted! I have read it already and a review will be up soon.












For Review                                     

Wuthering Heights by Kay Woodward
Another one I was delighted to receive, I've already read it and there'll be a review up soon!










Borrowed

Radiance by Alyson Noël
I saw this on Zoe's blog, Bookhi, and thought it sounded good, and when I saw it on my friends bookshelf, I had to have it! I'm reading it at the moment. 













Storm Runners by Barbara Mitchellhill
I've been interested in some of Barbaras books before, particularly Run Rabbit Run, a WWII story, and I thought this sounded really thrilling and exciting! I think this will be next on the TBR list!




So that's my haul this week. I'm quite happy with it, there's some great books in there! I ordered a few books a couple of days ago, so I'll have a good few for next week's IMM too.



What did you get in your mailboxes?

Grace by Morris Gleitzman

In the beginning there was me and Mum and Dad and the twins. And talk about happy families, we were bountiful.

But it came to pass that I started doing sins.

And lo, that's when all our problems began...


Grace is a story about a young girl, around ten or eleven, who is part of a 'special' Christian church. The church Elders, who are the bosses of the church, are very controlling and try and make everyone obey their strict rules and regulations. Talking to 'outsiders' is not allowed. But Grace's dad doesn't agree with a lot of these rules. And for this, he gets in trouble.


OK, I am SO SO SO sorry that you had to put yourself through the torture of reading my TERRIBLE synopsis. I just am awful at writing my own sypnopsis'. But I couldn't find a decent one anywhere so I had to do my own. I'd say you've got the gist of what it's about, though.


Gleitzman's writing style is quite...distinctive. But then I suppose he was writing in the vantage point of a young girl, so it would have been a little different. I don't know if it's a good different, or a bad different though. Sometimes it was a bit hard to understand, but most of the it was fine.


Grace was a likeable character. She was very naive, and I liked that. I was glad she didn't let the Elders fully control her. Her Dad was probably my favourite character, He was so kind and I liked how he did believe in God, but in a nice, loving way. Not in a horrible, Elder-like way. The Elders were big meanies, I thought. OK, I know that is the most childish phrase ever, but it's true! 


Grace's grandfather was really a horrible person. He was so mean and controlling, as were the other Elders. I liked it when people stood up to the Elders, it annoyed them so much!


This book was quite short and it didn't take me long to read it, but it was really enjoyable. Even though it it aimed at 9-11 year olds, I would definitely recommend it to young and old readers alike.. Even if you're not overly religious, it's still a brilliant read. So if you get the chance to read Grace, you should. 
                                   
                                                   Rating: 5/5


Source:Library
Pages:192
Age Group: 9+
Official Publication Date 3rd February 2011
Publisher:Puffin
Author Website: www.morrisgleitzman.com

In My Mailbox #5

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren, where bloggers show what books they received through their mailboxes, from the library, bought and any other way. It a great way to see who's reading what, so make sure you head over and join in! This week I got...
Gift

Skellig by David Almond
I got this from my auntie as an early birthday present. She has great taste in books. This has absolutely INCREDIBLE reviews, so I'm SUPER eager to read it.









Kitty Slade: Divine Freaks by Fiona Dunbar
My mum got me this, and now I have two Fiona Dunbar books! I'm bringing this on holiday with me, so expect a review in a few weeks. It looks really good doesn't it?




I'm going on holidays for a couple of weeks, and I don't think I'll have access to a computer, so goodbye! But I'll have a couple of things scheduled :)


So not much this week, but I'm quite happy :) 
What did you get in your mailbox?