Review: Private by Kate Brian

Title: Private

Series: Private #1

Author: Kate Brian
Goodreads Av. Rating: 3.96
My Rating: 4

 Tradition, Honor, Excellence...and secrets so dark they're almost invisible Fifteen-year-old Reed Brennan wins a scholarship to Easton Academy -- the golden ticket away from her pill-popping mother and run-of-the-mill suburban life. But when she arrives on the beautiful, tradition-steeped campus of Easton, everyone is just a bit more sophisticated, a bit more gorgeous, and a lot wealthier than she ever thought possible. Reed realizes that even though she has been accepted to Easton, Easton has not accepted her. She feels like she's on the outside, looking in.
Until she meets the Billings Girls.
They are the most beautiful, intelligent, and intensely confident girls on campus. And they know it. They hold all the power in a world where power is fleeting but means everything. Reed vows to do whatever it takes to be accepted into their inner circle.
Reed uses every part of herself -- the good, the bad, the beautiful -- to get closer to the Billings Girls. She quickly discovers that inside their secret parties and mountains of attitude, hanging in their designer clothing-packed closets the Billings Girls have skeletons. And they'll do anything to keep their secrets private.

What is not to love in the fabulous first instalment of Kate Brian's Private Series.
Just WOW this book seriously stole a piece of my heart.

It may not be the most complex or action packed book, but I felt like it was a story I was able to create a connection with.

Within the first page I was hooked, no it did not start with a ridiculously over the top action packed first page, instead it was quite sweet and simple, a running theme within the book.
There was just something so magically about the writing, it wasn't the average writing author's used, but it was in the language style I could imagine being used by Reed, the main character, which really bought the book to life.

It was the storyline which grabbed my attention, so I thought I would give the book a go, and ended up reading it in one sitting.

Reed earns herself a scholarship to one of the best schools in the country, Easton Academy. It's something she has always dreamt about, but mostly she wants to escape her not so perfect homelife.
But for Reed, going to a school full of the posh and privileged, is not all it is cracked up to be, and to feel excluded she attempts to catch the attention of student elite: Billings Girls.

I felt like in a way it is a book many can relate to, a sense of isolation, or a need to be someone we are not just to impress other's.

Reed, is a character, who can be either praised or critized.
Though I believe Kate Brian created one of the greatest female protagonist's I have came across. She has dreams, makes mistakes, naive at time's, but is always true to herself.
To get where she wants to be in life, she sees her only choice is to become a Billing's Girl. Like many people today, she attempts to change herself to fit in, and makes a slight fool of herself at times.
Definitely a book of relatable character's (to an extent).

Review: Soul Beach by Kate Harrison

Title: Soul Beach
Series: Soul Beach #1
Author: Kate Harrison
Goodreads Average Rating: 3.9
My Rating: 4

When Alice Forster receives an email from her dead sister she assumes it must be a sick practical joke. Then an invitation arrives to the virtual world of Soul Beach, an idyllic online paradise of sun, sea and sand where Alice can finally talk to her sister again - and discover a new world of friendships, secrets and maybe even love . . . . But why is Soul Beach only inhabited by the young, the beautiful and the dead? Who really murdered Megan Forster? And could Alice be next? The first book in an intriguing and compelling trilogy centred around the mystery of Megan Forster's death.

 This was a book I had hear near to nothing about, yet it beat expectations and went beyond.

For me it is a proper British book, which follows simple yet effective storyline, has well done characters and a book due to it's English background I could feel as though I related to it much more.

Soul Beach, is about Alice who six months after the death of a reality TV star sister, Megan, Alice received an email from Megan. At first Alice ignores it and see's it as someone's version of a sick practical joke, until another email arrives, but this time from Soul Beach, an interactive website, leading straight to a waiting room for the young, beautiful and dead.

The book was original, fantastic and relate-able for today’s teenage generation, Kate Harrison doesn't just create the 'world' of Soul Beach, but instead creates it to be an interactive website, exclusive only to those invited. In a way it is more of the social-networking site for the dead and their loved one's. Also another thing which makes the book appeals to teenager's in the use of trends used, for example Facebook, which made me as a reader be able to go 'Hey I use that' or 'Oh yeah, I've heard of that', making it a perfect read for someone not overly obsessed with reading.

I managed to read the book in one afternoon, and was completely tangled within the enticing storyline, and was flipping through the pages until there was no pages left to turn. Yet the book itself lacked something, something which bought it from the outstanding five star rating, to the respectable and good 4 star. Despite my addiction to the book, and inability to put it down, there was nothing to keep me going, excluding the all round storyline, I didn't expect much to be on the next page, though maybe the page after that.

Someone which I really enjoyed was: every now and then there would be chapter's, not proper chapter's but more of thoughts of Megan's killer, I believe that this was the perfect choice which the author made to keep the reader interested and hopefully these small 'chapter's will follow through till the end of the series, leaving the reader's to make there own decisions on who is the murderer.

This book hosts one of the best collection of character's I have ever came across, and it's very rare to have all character's are so well developed, also there is a mixture of character's coming from all different backgrounds and stereotypes, something for everyone.
Take Alice for example, despite being the main character of the story you see her obvious thoughts of always being over-shadowed by her sister, before her death, yet any rivalry that went on she soon forgot about. Also we see a rather dramatic, yet expected development within her character. Towards the beginning of the story she is a very timid and shy person, though as the book goes on she becomes much stronger and inspirational, not just as a person but a character too.
Another character I liked was Danny, Danny is a friend of Megan's from the island, and one of my favourite character's due to his story of why he is the way he is. Danny during the book is quite friendly, sympathetic and wise, though as we find out in the book he was once quite a spoilt and self-centred brat, his death which is believed to be his fault was what changed him, realising he needed to be a better person.

This book can't be compared to know another books, because it's nothing like anything else I've read or came across. It really is in a league of it's own.

Feed by Mira Grant

Title: Feed
Serious: Newsflash Trilogy #1
Author: Mira Grant
Average GoodReads rating: 4/5

The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED. Now, twenty years after the Rising, bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives - the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will get out, even if it kills them.

YAY!!! Book 1 of the year, down, just 52 left!
This is the kind of book, which despite the fact that all you have heard good things about it, it still manages to surprise how amazing it actually is.

I began reading this book, in a half hour break between college classes, and almost refused to put it down. In such a little amount of time I had already managed to be dragged into the world of the book and not wanting to leave.
The book is about a world, the same as ours, though no longer plagued with the common cold or cancer, but instead a new kind of illness. When each person dies, they do not stay dead, they come back of zombie's roaming the streets trying to find someone to turn into one of their own.
Georgia, Shaun, Rick and Buffy are a group of bloggers, who base their lives on writing, filming and reporting zombie attacks. But the blog is given an offer which can't be refused, to follow a presidential campaign.
The book goes straight into the action, automatically hooking the reader, and leaving them on the edge of their seats, and even each time beyond the first chapter, it's near impossible to put the book down.
The writing is a mixture of two. The normal, every day book writing style, telling the story and also casual writing coming from the character's in the occasional blog post, which was a really nice added factor in the book and probably my favourite bit.
I loved the story of how it mixed such an adventurous story plot in with a storyline partly evolved around politics's. The zombie's may take a back seat in the book, but you know that they are constantly there as a threat. The storyplot altogether was slightly confusing, it took a while before I could fully understand what was going on, though this did not pose much of a problem.

The character's were unique and strong.
Georgia, otherwise known as George is the character who stands out the most, and not just due to her narrating the book, but to how much of a strong and inspirational character she is portrayed to be. She's strong, stubborn but also such a lovely person.
Shaun, is George's adoptive brother. He is known in the bookworld as an Irwin, someone who seeks danger/adrenaline, and the kind of person who will willingly go and poke a zombie, either hes crazy or suicidal, but one thing  I know for sure he is, is a rather humorous character, he compliments the book so nicely, stood next to his sister, and the relationship they have is amazing, despite being in their twenties, the sibling's are unbelievable close.
Buffy, is a very unique character, well not just character, but person altogether. She's almost distant in the world, and serves her life as a Fictionist, making up poems and stories, but she's also the techie of the group. You can tell within the story she is not that close to the sibling's, but still she holds a level of commitment, but due to the limelight of the story not overly focusing on her I felt as though I didn't get to know her so well.

I could go on and on about all the good things about this book, and find it very hard to mention a bad thing. But here is the bad thing:
This book is wonderful for the way it portrays it's female character, they are all inspirationally strong, except one. A politician, known to get so far in her career due to her sexual assets, due to being a bit 'dumb' according to the book. She is the only female politician in the book, and despite politics being largely known as a male dominated career, it does not put us women in the best of light's, slightly ruining the book for me.