Book Review: Witch & Wizard by James Patterson

I recently read a YA book to see what all the fuss was about, seeing as there are so many of you YA reviewers out there. I wanted to see why YA fiction is appealing to so many people who are over the age of 18, and who would not generally be classified as the typical market for this kind of book. I've also heard great things about James Patterson's books and thought he would be a great author to begin with for my foray into YA fiction.

I picked up Witch and Wizard - the first book in the series - as I'd had it sitting on my shelf for years. Personally, I don't think it was for me. I enjoy books which are 'well written', though I understand that for many people this in itself is subjective. In this case, I thought the language was over simplistic and didn't attempt to do anything interesting with sentence structure that might have made the read more compelling. As the novel was plot driven, I expected more to happen; I wanted more action, more adventure, and less 'writing in' to each plot milestone.

On the other hand, it was an easy read, and I appreciate that I'm not used to reading YA fiction. I may have enjoyed reading this when I was much younger, but I don't think that this is a genre I will be exploring much further I'm afraid. Despite the novel's faults, the concept of children saving the world from meanie adults, and a new political system, was rather fun. The innocence of children often exposes the harsh realities of the adult world, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if it turned out that this novel was intended to be slightly allegorical - alas, I feel that it is just fantasy.

Sorry folks, you can't say I didn't try! Maybe I was reading the wrong book. Let me know in the comments if you have any YA recommendations for me.

Thanks for reading x

New Blog Series!

Exciting news today! I'm going to be starting my FIRST EVER blog series!

I recently asked on Twitter if my readers (still can't believe I actually have readers...) would be interested in a series of book reviews on free Amazon Kindle books, and the response was a resounding yes!

When I say that the majority of books I read on my Kindle are free ones, I am by no means being a cheap skate, as I'm a strong believer in paying for books to support an author's livelihood. It is more the case of me purchasing a Kindle whilst being a student with very little money - which has actually opened my eyes to the sheer amount of books that Amazon offers for free. And who doesn't love a good freebie?!

For those of you who aren't aware, there is a huge (and I mean, HUGE) and diverse range of free books available on the platform, and some of them are well worth flicking the pages over whilst saving the pennies in the bank. From old to new, chick lit to classic, fiction to non-fiction, if you haven't already poured over the pages of Amazon Kindle's free offerings, then it might be worth doing so! Obviously, not all of the books on there are of 'best seller' standard, but most that I have read so far are at the very least a nice way to spend a few hours, even if it's not the best written book in the world. On the other hand, most of 'the classics' are free (usually if the author is no longer with us) which, for me being a literature nerd, is perfect.

So, that's why I wanted to start this series. To begin with I'll just post them as and when I feel I've read one worth sharing, but I hope that this can become a regular feature on my blog - and also gives me another excuse to settle down with a cuppa tea and lose myself in a good book!

And yes, I'm fully aware that the picture at the top of this blog is of books and not a Kindle, but real books look so much prettier, don't they?

Have you read any free Kindle books that I should read?

Thanks for reading! x