Introducing: Masters and Beginners!

Hello all!! Long-time no see! Since I’m being so totally rubbish with blogging lately, I figured the best thing to get me out of this rut is to hit the crazy backlog of unreviewed books- because *arghh* I am so disorganised and these books are not gonna review themselves!!

I’m excited to talk about this particular book, because it’s by my lovely blogger friend Daley Downing– if you don’t know who she is, you *must* check her out *right now*, because her blog is full to the brim with endlessly different discussions, lists and posts!! And now she’s a published author as well!!  RESPECT *fist bumps*!

I am so glad to say that I had so much fun with her book. First off, it is charmingly written and naturally very sweet. I will say it felt reminiscent of books aimed at younger teens, but that’s in no way a criticism- because I love me some cuteness!! Especially when said cuteness involves cats!

All the characters felt different and very real (yes, I’m including the cats in this again). I also felt like there were a lot of things you don’t normally see, like representation of an autistic character woven seamlessly into the story- you guys know I love subtlety and this just worked so well for me. And let’s talk about the parents in this one- I feel like Daley got the balance perfectly right between parents that understand the need for their children to spread their wings, but they aren’t those clueless parents you usually get in YA where their children can practically be screaming “I’m just hanging out with my vampire pals” and the parent’s response is “that’s nice dear”.

It did take a while for the plot to really get going, but when the action does happen, it cranks up the tension nicely and brings the feels. Plus, since I was so immersed in the world building early on, it didn’t feel slow, I just felt immersed in the world. In fact, the build-up is one of the things that was so great about the book, because it allowed me to get to know the characters and family dynamic.

In terms of world building I felt like it was pretty flawless- there was an authentic feel to it and though certain creatures, like angels, can be hit and miss for me, they worked so well here. Also, who doesn’t love a cool dorky reference- cos this has those in abundance!

The best thing about this book though was that it felt fresh and different. I mean, how often are us book bloggers moaning to the world that we want to read something new that isn’t jam packed with tropes?! Well the massive selling point of non-traditionally published books is that they offer something different.

So if you are bored of samey samey books, definitely give this a go!

Rating: 4/5 bananas

 

So have you read this? Do you plan to? Let me know in the comments!