Candyfloss & Dreams

Tag: YA Book Review

  • Evermore Book Review 6/52

    Evermore is the sequel to Everless and was a good read for my 2019 challenge. I read the book pretty quickly as I wanted to know where it was going but I felt the second book was a little rushed which was a bit of a shame really. The first book really built up the story and shared lots of interesting turns where the second was very fast paced and actually I feel like it ended far too quickly.

    I would have loved to see more of the history and learn more about the backstory and I felt Jules, the main protagonist, was never really in one place for enough time. I felt in some places she was trusted too quickly with people she barely knew and that just didn’t feel right to me really.

    Evermore was very choppy in a way that having a map of the land Jules was in would have really helped as she was on the move a lot and I can’t help but feel she travelled a lot of distance in a very small amount of time. It did have a bit more character development between some of the relationships but again I felt they were too trusting too soon which isn’t all that relateable. I felt Everless was much more powerful and had more of a message behind it than Evermore which is what has left me feeling a little frustrated I guess.

    A good, quick read and it was good to see the story progress but it just wasn’t long enough to explain the background more or get right into the nitty gritty of some of those character relationships.

    One of my goals for 2020 is to read 52 books or around one a week. Some might be new, some are ones I’ve had for a while or been meaning to read, some I haven’t quite finished yet and some will be recommendations from others. You can see all the books I’ve read so far on my Good Reads 2020 Reading Challenge.

  • Everless Book Review 5/52

    The best thing, for me, about Everless, is that it didn’t focus on a romance. Honestly, that’s usually what draws me into YA Fantasy books, it’s that kind of first all encompassing love and passion and the fight of people being together and whilst I think a bit of love and passion might evolve through the story it’s very clear from the get go that it’s not the focus.

    I love the magical element in Everless which was so full of twists and turns that I just didn’t really see coming at all. It’s a great read, quite different from some of the other YA books out there and really emotive driven. The main protagonist in the story, Jules, is very driven and has such a strong moral and ethical code when it comes to helping others and putting other people first which is nice to read in a character and makes her really likeable. She’s also very curious and seems to be drawn to a little bit of danger.

    Everless does throw up a bit of self identity and self discovery which is really what being 17 is all about. I always found 17 an odd age between being a teenager and, technically, a young adult with all my legal rights just out of my grasp. I think that’s what makes it really interesting and different actually because it just steps away from that focus on relationships and steps more into that inner battle of stepping out of being a child and coming into being an adult. It’s got the balance down throughout the narrative really, really well.

    I was a little skeptical at first because the blurb did describe Everless as a book I wouldn’t usually pick up to read but I’m very glad I did and I would recommend anyone that is drawn into fantasy fiction to give this one a read. I’ve just moved onto the sequel which came out in January and so far, so good – it’s a great follow on that I can’t wait to share.

    One of my goals for 2020 is to read 52 books or around one a week. Some might be new, some are ones I’ve had for a while or been meaning to read, some I haven’t quite finished yet and some will be recommendations from others. You can see all the books I’ve read so far on my Good Reads 2020 Reading Challenge.