Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

" With his sunglasses gone there was no denying the fact that he had no face. All he had was a skull for a head."


Stephanie's uncle wrote horror fiction - at least that what she thought until he died and left her his estate. Ten she discovered that though his books may have been horror, they weren't exactly...fiction.


Plunged into a terrifying world of vampires and Hollow Men, Stephanie finds help from the remarkable Skulduggery Pleasant: wise-cracking detective, powerful magician, sworn enemy of evil. Oh yes. And dead.


It's been a while since I've discovered a good fantasy series. I've been bored reading the same Harry Potter and Darren Shan series over and over, and I was delighted to discover the fantastic, witty Skulduggery Pleasant.


The characters were the best quality of the book. Each was as funny as the next, especially Skulduggery and Stephanie. Skulduggery was just like Stephanie, and that's probably why they didn't get on so well! Stephanie was really sarcastic, and it did get a little annoying at times how negative she was, but I still liked her. It was Skulduggery though that really stole the show. Instead of being comforting when something bad was happening, he would tell it how it was, normally in the most amusing way possible. All the time!


The beginning and end were brilliant and gripping, but parts in the middle were really boring, and I actually stopped reading it for a while and began a different book. And when I started again, I skipped a bit of it, just to get it over with. But in the end it all payed off!


I would give this book....4/5. I was originally planning in giving it 3/5, while I was reading the middle part, but the it got better. I loved how the book was set in Ireland (the awesomest country! LOL!). I think you should definitely read it if you like fantasy, but you love funny books too. Skulduggery Pleasant is brilliant, and I have the next two books right now (yay!) and I can't wait to start them!


Age Group: 10+
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers
Official Publication Date: 02 April 2007
Author Website:www.skulduggerypleasant.co.uk

Cinnamon Girl: Looking for a Hero by Cathy Hopkins

India Jane is feeling frustrated. She thought that Joe was her soulmate, but things seem to be going nowhere with him. Perhaps what she feels for him isn’t ‘love’ after all – whatever that is. Gathering her friends around her, she sets out to find the boy of her dreams by Christmas.Her exploration is pretty disastrous, but just when she is in total despair, two gorgeous boys surface.Looking for love turns out to be a lot more complicated than India Jane thought.


Cathy Hopkins is one of my favourite authors, but I haven't read any of her books in ages = ( I thought of her the other day while in the library, and picked this up. Would you believe, this was the ONLY Cathy Hopkins book there? I know! 


Looking for a Hero the third book in the Cinnamon Girl series, in which there are altogether four books. I've read Starting Over the second book, and I liked it, but I liked this one much better!


India Jane thinks she loves Joe, but then he tells her he doesn't want to be in a serious relationship and leaves poor India all confused. So along with her three best friends, Leela, Brook and Zahrah, she sets out to find a boyfriend by Christmas. But it's harder than it sounds, and soon India is caught up in a love triangle - or love square, is more like it...


I said love square because India has not two boys but three boys in her love life. There's Bruno, the romantic Italian boy, Tyler, the boy who saved her when she was mugged and Joe, who she just can't deny her feelings for, even though she knows he won't commit... 


I think the author was kind of hinting in a reading-between-the-lines kind of way that India liked Zahrah the best out of her friends, because Zahrah was a deep, thoughtful person, like India and they got on well. I didn't like Zahrah at first, because I thought she seemed a bit mean, making smart comments, but I was wrong. Zahrah turned out to be my favourite character in the end, as well as Dylan, India Janes little brother. He was really funny and I wish he was in it more!

My only complaint was that I thought India was making a huge deal about nothing when it came to Tyler. I mean, she was mugged, he got the bad guys to go away, and then he brought her home. She met him for five minutes, and then it was suddenly 'Oh why didn't Tyler come back and become my boyfriend?' Eh, hello! And it was a little predictable, because you knew which guy she was going to pick. But apart from that is was fabulous!

Overall, this book gets a rating of 4/5. It's a light, girly read that I read in one day. It's hilarious and written well and I really enjoyed it. I definitely recommend it, especially if you need cheering up. Good job, Cathy! ( I always say that, don't I?!)

Age Group: 11+
Official Publication Date: 22 May 2008
Publisher: Piccadilly Press Ltd.
Author Website:www.cathyhopkins.com

This review was done as part of the British Books Challenge ,hosted by The Bookette.

Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman

You're waiting for the postman - he's bringing your exam results. University, a career as a journalist... a glittering future lies ahead. But when the doorbell rings, it's your old girlfriend; and she's carrying a baby... your baby.

She's had enough and now it's your turn.

What would you do?

From the author of the bestselling Noughts and Crosses sequence comes a dramatic and controversial novel, one that will take you on a journey from tears to laughter and back again.

17-year-old Dante lives with his father and younger brother Adam. Dante has finished his A-levels and is waiting for the results. He wants to go to university and become a journalist, when his old girlfriend Melanie, who he hasn't seen in nearly two years turns up with a baby. Dante's baby. She leaves the baby, a girl called Emma, with him after telling him she can't cope anymore. From there, the story begins. Dantes life takes a turn for the worst. Or maybe not. Dante doesn't know what to do. Will Melanie ever come back?Will he put Emma into care? And what disturbs Dante the most, is that he feels nothing for Emma. Nothing at all. Read all about what Dante chooses to do in this touching novel of family, love and freedom.

I saw a review of this book on The Mile Long Bookshelf and I thought it looked really good, so I went out and bought it. And I'm  glad I did too! This novel is superb. It has a wonderfully unique storyline, great characters and it's written very well. My favourite character is Adam, Dantes brother. I liked him because he isn't ashamed of who he is, and I think he's a great role model for teenagers. This novel is quite sad though, and I'm not very good with sad, real life novels, so I didn't enjoy the sad parts as much as I did the rest of the book (well, I suppose that's kind of obvious!).But apart from that I found absolutely

nothing wrong with this book! In fact I liked it so much, I'm now reading another of Malorie Blackmans books, Noughts and Crosses,  and there will be a review of that up soon.

I would give this book 4/5 because I enjoyed reading it (apart from the sad bits) and like I said it was written very well, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes touching, real life fiction(does that make sense? Real life fiction?Hmm....). 

Official Publication Date: 28th October 2010

Publisher: Doubleday

Ask Amy Green Bridesmaid Blitz

             Ask Amy Green 
             Any problem solved!

Agony aunts extraordinaire Amy and Clover need to find the perfect bridesmaid' dresses. And what better place to start than Paris,the fashion capital of the world! They are on the plane quicker than you can say va-va-voom. Hold on to your beret - here come the girls. Ooh-la-la!

This book is about 13-year-old Amy Green, who lives in Dublin, Ireland. Her parents are divorced and she lives with her mum Sylvie, her mums boyfriend Dave, her half-sister Alex and half-sister Evie. Her dad also lives in Dublin with his pregnant wive Shelly. Sylvie has just one sister, 17-year-old Clover. Clover is the agony aunt for The Goss, a teen magazine. This book is all about how the three girls are preparing for Sylvie's wedding to Dave and is the third book in the Ask Amy Green series.

As I said, Bridesmaid Blitz is the third book in the AAG series. I think you probably should read the first two books before this one, as you'll find it easier to understand what's going on, but it's not absolutely necessary that you do. Although this book was quite good, I think the first two were better. Also, I was a little disappointed that the wedding didn't take place in this book. I thought the author didn't really cover a sufficient amount of time. But apart from that the book was great.

My favourite character was definitely Clover, Amy's cool but crazy aunt. I loved how she had a solution for everything, even if those solutions didn't always work!

Out of 5 I would definitely give this book 4. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait until Sarah's  next book comes out in Spring 2011. Good job Sarah! 

This is my first official review. I hope you like it. Thanks for reading! Until next time, Cliona.