You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan || Review

Title: You Know Me Well
Series: N/A, Stand-Alone
Author(s): Nina LaCour and David Levithan
Publisher: MacMillan Children's Books (Pan MacMillan)
Publication Date: June 2nd 2016
Pages: 256



I was sent a physical copy of this book, in exchange for a honest review, with thanks to the publisher, MacMillan Children's Books. 

Who knows you the best?

Your siblings?

Your parents?

Your best friends?

Does anybody really know us? 

On a wild night in the city with his best friend who he just so happens to be in love with, Mark runs into Kate who has just ran away from the opportunity to meet the girl she's admired from afar. They've sat beside each other everyday for a year in school, but they've never spoken to each other. 

These two teenagers have no idea how much they will grow to know each other in such a little time, and they realise that they know each other more than anyone else in their lives. More than their best friends, more than their family. 

This book follows these two characters as they face problems and challenges and we see this unlikely friendship blossom.

This was a really quick, fast paced contemporary. It was the type of contemporary that makes your heart warm and you really hope for the best for these characters. Sometimes, books with alternating views can be pretty hit or miss, but this book had a really great flow and it showed a great collaboration between Nina LaCour and David Levithan. 

This book, although it had it's hard hitting moments, was pretty lighthearted throughout. It had love, friendship and pride as the main themes. This night in the city acts as the catalyst for their friendship and it allows Mark to have the support of Kate when the best friend that he is love with, Ryan, meets a guy that he loves. Mark has to confront Ryan about these feelings between them and he has to decide if he's okay with just a platonic relationship, or if he needs more. 

Kate also uses Mark's support when she has to deal with college pressures, friend pressures and the chance to meet the girl she's loved from afar. Is she ready to deal with all of these things? 

My only issue with this book would be Kate's annoying best friend Lehna, let's just say I have no patience at times, and the body has 7 trillion nerves and she was getting on every single one.

I suppose this book could be deemed as coming of age as the characters have to learn to trust themselves, each other and their hearts and heads. This is a heart warming and poignant book that makes you follow each moment with expectancy and the best of wishes. 

This book is being released in June, and I deem it as a must-read for Summer 2016!

My final rating is 4 stars!

QOTD: Who knows you well? 

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Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/20748319-connie

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New World: Ashes || Blog Tour & Review

Hello! Welcome to the very first blog tour on Drowning in Book! 

You may remember a few months ago, I reviewed New World Rising (Click HERE for the review) and I adored it! So when the author, the amazing and lovely Jennifer Wilson posted looking for bloggers for the book tour, I immediately asked to take part! (Her links will be below) 

First thing's first: The Cover. 

Let me have a minute. Because this cover is stunning! This cover, and the cover for the first book look so beautiful together. Check out the @oftomes instagram page for pictures of them together!

Kim-G at DauntlessHunter has such an unbelievable talent for cover design, and she definitely has delivered on this series so far!

After the action of the last book, Phoenix has sacrificed herself to save her loved ones. But in doing so, she may have taken another unexpected turn in her turbulent life. 

Having no memories before the age of 11, she has forgotten her past. 

But her past hasn't forgotten her. 

War is coming, and Phoenix must choose where she stands, and how pivotal her role in this war will be. She has to keep her guard up while facing trials from her past and present, her tyrannical grandfather and a not so friendly blast from the past. 

In this book we get to see inside this utopian Sanctuary that Phoenix's family fled from and we get to see our characters, new and old, grow and develop. 

This book blew me away. 

I'm still in shock after reading it and is it bad that I'm already excited for the third and final installment in this trilogy? 

But back to this one:

Phoenix is such an amazing heroine. Usually female leads annoy me a little in books as the authors can make them whiny or dependent on a love interest, but Jennifer Wilson has presented her in such a bad ass yet relatable way and it makes you really want the best for this character. 

I loved that we got to see something from her past for the first time as she did, she knew what we knew and I loved as we saw little bits about her parents or her family being slowly uncovered. I never saw her Grandfather being in the sanctuary, and I never even thought this would book would have been as action packed and adrenaline fuelled as the first one. 

The second books in series often lag, and this book did not in the slightest. The writing, the pace, the characters. There were no disappointments with this book and this book sits at the top of my Dystopian favourites! 

Release Date || JUNE 7TH 2016

Competition: If you pre-order this book on kindle and send proof of purchase to oftomes@oftomes.com you'll be entered to win some book swag and a bookish mug! Link to preorder is here: x

Jennifer Kay Wilson's Links: 

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jkwbooks/?fref=ts
• Instagram: @jkwilson29
• New World Website: thenewworldseries.com
• Twitter: @J_KayWilson

My Links: 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/20748319-connie

Twitter: @conniedalt

Instagram: @conniedalt

Tumblr: suchamagicalconcept.tumblr.com

Bloglovin': https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/drowning-in-books-14512651

Email: conniedalton@hotmail.com

Just A Few Inches by Tara St. Pierre || Review

I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, from the author, with thanks to Tara St. Pierre!

Title: Just a Few Inches
Series: N/A, Stand alone
Author: Tara St. Pierre
Publication Date: May 31st 2015
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Pages: 306

Ever wanted to lose a few inches?

Maybe your hips are too big to fit into that beautiful pair of jeans? Maybe that perfect prom dress doesn’t fit? For Carrie, all she wanted was to drop a few inches in order to fit into a red, electric prom dress to wow her date. When she gets her hands on some diet pills, she thinks her prayers have been answered when she wakes up with the weight just dropping off. But one thing she didn’t account for, inches coming off her height too.

When Carrie starts shrinking, she not only loses weight but she starts to become shorter and shorter until her story gets told nationwide and she has to get to the root of the problem, did the pills cause this to happen to her? Will she ever find love when she’s down to the size of a toddler? Can she ever have a normal life? Will she shrink and disappear completely? 

When the author contacted me about reading this book, I didn’t really know what to think, it sounded really unique and interesting and my initial thoughts were correct! I’ve never read a story that’s quite like this one. This book mixes Fantasy with Contemporary in a way that is so coherent and well thought out that you don’t even think about the fact that these genres don’t usually mix.

Carrie is a great character, she is relatable and she takes this whole situation in her stride, reacting to it the way that she should, with worry, but not letting it stop her from finding a cure or living her life. I like how she continued going to school, I like how she continued being a normal teenager despite the fact she was 2 foot nothing and still going to school. She continuously motivated and encouraged people through her blog and I think that was a pretty nice touch. 

I got so angry reading this book at her sister. Her sister was so selfish and ignorant, and I understand she was a young teenager who soon learned the error of her ways, it was a really odd feeling to have as I was enjoying the book so much and hadn't felt angry at anyone yet! (*Spoiler* Her sister locks her in a cupboard so she can have a house party and one of her friend's almost assault Carrie.)

The fact that the author has been playing with this idea for years really interested me, and I'm glad that she finally shared it with us all!

This is a brilliant book, and I highly recommend it, 

QOTD: If you were to shrink, how would you deal with it? 

Links: 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/20748319-connie

Twitter: @conniedalt

Instagram: @conniedalt

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Bloglovin': https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/drowning-in-books-14512651

Email: conniedalton@hotmail.com

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare || Review

Title: Lady Midnight
Series: The Dark Artifices #1
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publication Date: 8th March 2016
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Pages: 720

In City of Heavenly Fire, we met Emma. We met Emma as her parent's were killed, but now, five years later, she is no longer a mourning child. She's now a young adult, hell bent on finding the truth. 

Did Sebastian Morgenstern kill her family?

Or is something else at play here? 

Working with her parabatai, Julian, they unravel a demonic plot that thickens the more they begin to explore it. It becomes more complex than they imagined, and they have to trust each other to face the undercurrents of evil running through Los Angeles. 

To complicate matters, they also have to tackles their personal feelings for each other, and their personal issues. When Julian's brother Mark, who was captured five years ago by the fae, is returned as a bargain, it adds more pressure to find out who is killing downworlders and how Emma's parents are linked to this whole thing. But Mark doesn't recognise his family, they've all aged and he hasn't, can he learn to trust them enough to help? 

I won't lie, I was conflicted at first. 

I loved the Shadowhunter Chronicles, I loved TMI and TID and the Bane Chronicles. So of course, I was excited for this. But it didn't grasp me immediately, and I began to fret a little bit. The other books I loved within a chapter or two, but I didn't really know how to react with this one. 

I love the Carstairs family, especially Jem, so I think I expected myself to like Emma more than she was supposed to be liked, I didn't see her as a favourite straight away, unlike the way I responded to Tessa. She seemed a bit too annoying and she didn't have the bad ass attitude that I want from my Shadowhunters. 

However, my thoughts on her quickly changed when we got to know Julian. 

Hell, I'd pine over Julian too. 

He was quickly added to my book boyfriend list and he was a pretty close second with Will Herondale. He was just so caring when it came to his family and it made me so happy to watch him grow throughout this book. Especially in regard to Mark. 

This next section will be all bold because it's very important: 

I LOVE HOW CASSANDRA CLARE NEVER MAKES LGBT RELATIONSHIPS SEEM ANYTHING BUT NORMAL. 

She makes them such an integral part of the Shadowhunter world that nobody even seems to flinch at them! Multi-species, same gender, different genders, you name it. Labels mean nothing in this book and it's just a really nice touch. 

QOTD: If you were a Shadow Hunter, what would be your weapon of choice?

Links: 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/20748319-connie

Twitter: @conniedalt

Instagram: @conniedalt

Tumblr: suchamagicalconcept.tumblr.com

Bloglovin': https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/drowning-in-books-14512651

Email: conniedalton@hotmail.com