"Outside" - A book review

Good evening my lovely readers! Hands up if you love reading a good book :D Well, I sure do and one thing that really helps me decide which book to download next (yes, I'm a Kindle addict) is reading the reviews about it. Today, I felt a little inspired to share a book review I wrote about a really awesome book by Shalini Boland. The book is called "Outside" and is set in Britain which is rather refreshing as I mostly read American YA Novels.

ebook - Published July 21st 2011

Written from the perspective of two girls (Elenor and Riley) each representing the "before" and "after" of a fictional civil war in Britain, Outside is a gripping story which will take you on a journey towards and through the aftermath of an apocalyptic anarchy in the UK.

Both stories simultaneously conclude into the shocking truth about the connection between two peoples' lives and decisions made years and worlds apart.

Elenor is leading a truly trouble free life "before". She is in her teens, not overly popular, a little naive and quite easily manipulated by her new found best friend, Abi.

Elenor happily accepts that Abi makes all decisions in their friendship and as they get older even agrees to Abi dicating her love life.

As the events unfold and a series of terrorist attacks change the world forever, Elenor loses almost everything she has ever truly cared about and finds herself in an impossible situation to which there just is no easy way out.
Riley, on the other hand, is leading a fairly sheltered and happy life in the aftermath of the attacks until she finds out that her beloved sister has been brutally murdered by someone from "outside" the compound she lives in.

Failing to accept that the murderer is free to roam the "outside" world because the law enforcements limits are now defined by an oversized fence, she decides to go after the killer herself.
She has his name, his last location and a plan. (More or less) What she doesn't realise is that she has no idea what is behind that fence!

Together with Luc, her neighbour and friend, Riley escapes from the compound and begins the dangerous and explosive mission of finding the man who so gruesomely wrecked her family life.
What she finds however, is nothing like she had ever expected and quickly it becomes obvious that every minute spent outside is putting her own and Luc's life in very great danger. 

There is no turning back, so Luc and her have to fight their way through the chaos and hope they will be able to get into safety before it's too late. Soon they realise, that regardless if your inside or outside the various compounds noone is ever truely safe.

This story is very hard to summarise but it is wonderfully well written and a fantastic read! The story is fresh, it's action packed and full of anything you can possibly want from the genre. Five stars!

To purchase this book from Amazon click here - it's currently only £1.99 to download for your Kindle Device.

xoxo
Kate

Book Review: Shadow Souls - The Vampire Diaries

Time for another book review... with rainy days ahead let's look at a book series I absolutely love love love... The Vampire Diaries

I adore this book series so much as well as the TV Show which is currently on season break (boo!)

So, the most recent book I have read of this series is: "Shadow Souls" which is the 5th in the series. Stefan (Elena's vampire boyfriend) has been left to rott in the "Shi no Shi" - a prison in the Dark Dimension, which is a world where vampires and demons roam free and humans live as slaves of their supernatural masters. Responsible for his fate are no other than the evil kitsune Shinichi and Misao (fox spirits from Japan that were introduced in "Nightfall") so Elena, Damon and Matt are on the way to rescue him. Meanwhile, back in Fells church, Elenas best friends Meredith and Bonnie are trying to help free Stefan by gaining more information on the kitsune and trying to figure out what is going on with pregnant Caroline whose behaviour mirrors one of a wild animal rather than a human.

Stefan has always been portrayed as the obvious choice for Elena but the shadow which was Damon has been creeping up into the light of the storylines and finally, in this book his shadow has been given a real soul. We are succesfully introduced to the real Damon Salvatore and that's what I love about it.

Whatever it was that made her let the "bad boy" shine it shall be hailed in eternity because it was exactly the right thing to do! Damon Salvatore is not the obvious choice for Elena.

If you follow the series, you will agree that he is pretty much introduced as the Anti hero from the first time he is given a sentence to speak. As the obvious hero - you are introduced to Stefan, the sensible brother and tame vampire who doesn't kill people and spends most of his time thinking about how to make Elena happy.

Like Anne Rice and her love for her character Lestat, L.J Smith seems to favour Damon Salvatore in the book series. He is one of the best developed and most intriguing characters of the series. I believe L.J. Smith has taken the opportunity of the entire "The Return" series of the Vampire Diaries to increase focus on Elena and Damon rather than Stefan and Elena and I love it.

Do you read the Vampire Diaries? Have you read this book? Let me know what you think! X