Author: Jenn Bennett
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Source: Simon & Schuster
Goodreads
Feeling alive is always worth the risk.Reviews by Nara
Meeting Jack on the Owl—San Francisco's night bus—turns Beatrix's world upside down. Jack is charming, wildly attractive...and possibly one of San Francisco's most notorious graffiti artists.
But Jack is hiding a piece of himself. On midnight rides and city rooftops, Beatrix begins to see who this enigmatic boy really is.
Night Owls was a relatively quick read, but it was actually a pretty good length to fit the size of the story told. The pacing was fantastic, with the main driving force of the novel being the romance- which was seriously adorable.
The characters are quite fantastic. Protagonist Beatrix is a girl interested in becoming an anatomical artist and love interest Jack is a graffiti artist who does the graffiti for quite a good (spoilery) reason. The romance between the two is fantastic- despite the fact that the book is short, it's well developed from an initial insta-attraction into a cute relationship. They're upfront about their relationship and discuss what they want from each other in a realistic and sensible way.
There's a fair bit of drama packed into the novel, but it was never enough to feel overwhelmed or frustrated. It's a book which is great for a fast but entertaining read.
Really liked it
RatingsOverall: 8/10
Plot: 4/5
Romance: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Cover: 3.5/5
Title: Talk Under Water
Author: Kathryn Lomer
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Source: UQP
Will and Summer meet online and strike up a friendship based on coincidence. Summer lives in Will's old hometown, Kettering, a small Tasmanian coastal community. Summer isn't telling the whole truth about herself, but figures it doesn't matter if they never see each other in person, right?
When Will returns to Kettering, the two finally meet and Summer can no longer hide her secret – she is deaf. Can Summer and Will find a way to be friends in person even though they speak a completely different language?
Yet another underrated Aussie gem! I feel like there are quite a lot of Australian YA novels which aren't widely recognised by the general YA readership, and it's a bit of a pity, because a lot of them are pretty great. Talk Under Water was an interesting look into how deaf people communicate, and the difficulties in developing a friendship with someone who can't "speak" to you.
Starting off with a small negative: something that slightly annoyed me was that there aren't any speech marks in the book, which was done for a relatively justifiable reason i.e. because one of the characters is deaf. However, this did confuse me at times, where I wasn't really sure whether the characters were speaking or thinking etc.
On the other hand, that minor annoyance was basically nothing in the scheme of things. While I have to admit the book didn't have too much in terms of actual things happening in the plot, the relationship development between Will and Summer was more than enough to keep me interested in reading. It was just a very down to earth sort of book, where there weren't any huge dramas or overarching mysteries, but in turn there was a very realistic and relateable tone.
Definitely recommended to those who want a quieter, realistic novel.
Really liked it
RatingsOverall: 8/10
Plot: 4/5
Romance: 4.5/5
Writing: 4/5
Characters: 3.5/5
Cover: 3.5/5
