Review: The Splendour Falls by Rosemary Clement-Moore

The Splendour Falls by Rosemary Clement Moore

Published by Corgi 2009

Sylvie is broken. Her father's death broke her heart. Her mother's remarriage broke her spirit. And a broken leg ended her career as a ballerina. She's lost so much... is she losing her mind as well? 

Shawn is the resident golden boy, the one everyone thinks Sylvie should be with, the obvious choice. 

Rhys is handsome and mysterious and has a hold on Sylvie that she doesn't quite understand. 

A heroine who will steal your heart. 
A house that will haunt you. 
A love story that will leave you breathless.

♥♥♥♥♥

It took me over a week to read this. A week. Now that is a pretty long time for me to be reading the same book because one book usually takes me five days at the absolute most, not nine days. But anyway, on to the review. I had put off reading this for about six months, so it just sat there under my desk. But when I actually started reading it, I was immediately disappointed. It was so slow. Excruciatingly so. By 100 or so pages, nothing really happened apart from Sylvie moving to Bluestone Hill (accompanied by lots of long descriptions which I quickly grew tired of) and establishing that there was something odd about the place. So needless to say, I was a little more than frustrated. That aside, the book was somewhat enjoyable. I did, however, like how Sylvie worked in the garden and the feeling it gave her. I also loved Rhys and I hadn't liked Shawn from the very beginning. Things started to get really intriguing and exciting towards the last quarter of the book. I liked how everything the book was obviously building up to was epic and it all tied together nicely. The ending is not what I had initially expected and I loved that. Things that I had thought were ordinary and didn't really take much notice of ended up surprising me, such as the Teen Town Council. I also felt as if the love story was there, but nothing happened to it/in it until the last quarter. And yes, this book has ghosts. Now, I'm very touchy on the subject of ghosts but I took it in stride and it turned out to very intriguing and interesting to read; it kept me on my toes and I did at times feel as if I wanted to know more about the background story of the book. Overall, this book was enjoyable enough; however, I thought that it was a bit slow and that the descriptions present in the book didn't really need to be quite so long in places. 

3 stars

P.S. I loved Sylvie's dog, Gigi!

In My Mailbox (1)

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at www.thestorysiren.com. Here are all the books I managed to buy this weekend and last weekend (I always buy my books because I love the smell of new books and I start thinking about germs (I'm a bit of a germ freak) when I pick up library books). I usually buy 2 books a week if I go out so this is pretty standard for me. I've had a good couple of weeks book-wise.

Crossed (UK paperback) by Ally Condie
I loved loved loved Matched, can't wait to see what happens next!
Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong (editors)
This book features stories from top YA writers such as Rachel Caine, Claudia Gray, Ally Condie, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl and more, all with the common theme of journeys; sounds interesting.
Heist Society (Signed UK paperback) by Ally Carter
Ally Carter was at the Bluewater branch of UK book retailer Waterstones a couple of weeks ago but I couldn't go because it was during a school day :( Luckily, Waterstones had her sign a few copies of Heist Society for sale and I got my hands on a signed copy; made my week!
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
I've heard nothing but good things about this book, so I'm giving it a go!

Really looking forward to reading all of these!

Waiting on Wednesday (1)

*Waiting On Wednesday* is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, every Wednesday.

Hallowed (Unearthly #2) by Cynthia Hand
Published by Egmont 2nd January 2012

I can't wait for this, Unearthly was easily one of, if not the best book I've read this year! Certainly looking forward to reading this :D

For months part-angel Clara Gardner trained to face the raging forest fire from her visions and rescue the alluring and mysterious Christian Prescott from the blaze. But nothing could prepare her for the fateful decisions she would be forced to make that day, or the startling revelation that her purpose—the task she was put on earth to accomplish—is not as straightforward as she thought. Now, torn between her increasingly complicated feelings for Christian and her love for her boyfriend, Tucker, Clara struggles to make sense of what she was supposed to do the day of the fire. And, as she is drawn further into the world of part angels and the growing conflict between White Wings and Black Wings, Clara learns of the terrifying new reality that she must face: Someone close to her will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning. 

Review: 0.4 by Mike Lancaster

0.4 by Mike Lancaster 
Published by Egmont 2011

It's a brave new world. 

'My name is Kyle Straker. And I don't exist anymore.' 

So begins the story of Kyle Straker, recorded onto old audiotapes. You might think these tapes are a hoax, but perhaps they contain the history of a past world....If what the tapes say is true, it means that everything we think we know is a lie. 

And if everything we know is a lie, does that mean that we are, too?

♥♥♥♥♥

0.4 is quite a different read to anything I would normally read and is intriguing to say the least. I expected something completely different to what was dished out but it still made for a very enjoyable read. The novel's main character is Kyle Straker, and he has recorded his story onto a series of old tapes. From the very first page, I was kept on my toes and nothing happened the way I expected to, which I loved. I loved how real and normal Kyle was; not supernatural or arrogant or annoying, just ordinary, and that made him relatable in my point of view.  The novel starts off right before all the strange events in Kyle's story occur, so you're immediately thrown into the story. I also enjoyed the other main characters: Lilly, Mrs. O'Donnell and Mr. Peterson. However, Lilly and Mrs. O'Donnell did annoy me at times, mainly towards the middle and end of the novel because of their refusal to accept any of Kyle's theories and their attitude towards him. I had initially thought that Mr, Peterson was just a strange man but he really comes into his own towards the end of the novel. The middle of the novel is when everything starts to piece together and from then on it really gets quite exciting and intriguing. It's very fast paced and I couldn't put down, although I wish that the ending had been a bit clearer and we had got to know where all the characters ended up. That aside, it was very enjoyable and easy read; I'll be looking out for more of Mike Lancaster's books in the future. 


4 stars