ONLY EVER YOURS by Louise O'Neill

This book has been shortlisted for the YA Book Prize.

I finished reading this book last week, I have been thinking about it ever since. I couldn’t write this post until now. To be honest I didn’t know where to start from.

I must say that while I was reading it I was expecting something else, maybe the kind of heroine that I am used to in YA books. So, if you are expecting a strong character, a leader, this is not your book.

Only Ever Yours is, somehow, a reflexion about our society. Ok, here it is the plot:

freida and isabel have been best friends their whole lives. Now, aged sixteen and in their final year at the School, they expect to be selected as companions – wives to wealthy and powerful men.

The alternative – life as a concubine – is too horrible to contemplate.

But as the intensity of the final year takes hold, the pressure to be perfect mounts. isabel starts to self-destruct, putting her beauty – her only asset – in peril.

And then into this sealed female environment, the boys arrive, eager to choose a bride.

freida must fight for her future – even if it means betraying the only friend, the only love, she has ever known…

This book is a dystopia that is related to reality showing how our image it has become something essential, especially for teenage girls. Our society is becoming very shallow and only cares about appearance. Girls are taught that in order to be successful, they have to be the prettiest. And boys have more freedom in this aspect. freida (I am not misspelling, in the book, only the male characters have the right of having capital letters in their names, which is an intelligent way of showing us since the beginning that boys are worthier than girls, girls are pretty much interchangeable) our main character, is a follower. She doesn’t have a strong personality, she only wants to be accepted, no matter what the cost is. She is very pretty, perfect, as she has been designed to be. So maybe because she has weak personality and is full of flaws inside it is easier to relate to her and suffer through her insecurities with her. Somehow, she has been left by herself and freida is a mirror for every teenage girl that feels left out, who doesn’t find its place or belong there, and thinks very poorly about herself. Fitting is very important in our society, and sometimes we do things that we don’t agree with for the sake of “friendship”.

 

 

 

Only Ever Yours, not only tackles the theme of popularity, loneliness, and empty vessels that some people are/become. It is not only a show of how our society is punishing physical flaws in women, but not in men. It is also showing real struggles that girls are suffering nowadays, their weaknesses and addictions and why sometimes people choose not to feel anything. How not everybody is able to cope.

The characters are very well described, you almost feel that you know them. However,  I couldn’t get some of them. isabel (freida’s best friend) was a little bit disappointing, I didn’t get why she acts like that, and I might have appreciated a few chapters from her point of view to understand her better.

Overall, it is an amazing book that will leave your mind spinning for a while, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.



Children's books deserve less?

I have read an article today called "Children’s books are never just for children" and I couldn't agree more. Basically this article is saying that many authors are writing (among other genres) children's books and are being quite successful with them. To the point that, for some of them, those are the only books that are still being printed after many years.

Children's tend to re-read a lot, as they get obsessed with things that they enjoy and because, as they grow up, they can read deeper into the message. Also, because they start reading books with or through their parents, and as they learn how to read, they keep doing it and re-reading their favourites. Even after they grew up, they re-read them with nostalgia.

 

However, even though nowadays it is a genre quite successful (one of every four books sold in the UK is a children's books), still is not a genre that has been recognised by the publishing industry in general. There are only a few prizes for children´s books, and those are not even within the most popular or known. Also, the media coverage is very small. Why if the sales are good, the exposure is less?

I would also add, that lately, YA books are becoming more important within the industry, so it might be interesting to treat them differently and not labelling them as children´s books. Maybe then, it would be easier to create specific prizes for both of them.

Children's books are very important. It can shape them and expand their horizons. And even though, since the early 2000's this genre has increased a little bit its prestige and sales, there is a long way to go yet.

Books coming up!

First of all I would like to thank the Rights team at Hodder & Stoughton for being so generous and giving me so many books within the last few weeks. I am delighted!! Some of them have been published already and other will be published over the next few months.

 

 

- Only Ever Yours (by Louise O´Neill) it is in the shortlist of the YA Book Prize. #OnlyEverYours

- The Chimes (by Anna Smaill). It has been published today!!

- Jakob´s Colours (by Lindsay Hawdon). It will be publish on 9 April. #jakobscolours

- The Catalyst (by Helena Coggan). It will be publish on 19 February.

- The Housemaid´s Daughter (by Barbara Mutch). Published in 2013.

- All Fall Down (by Ally Carter). Published on 5 February.

- Away From You (by Kay Langdale). Published in 2014.

Have you heard about any of this books?

As soon as I finish reading them I will post some reviews. So far I am very excited about them, and luckily, are very different one from another so can switch genres in between. I am also reading some of the other shortlisted for the YA Book Prize, which means that... I have plenty of work to do!!!!

J.R. Ward is preparing another series about the Brotherhood

Yesterday, J.R. Ward herself confirmed in her Goodreads page that she will work in a new series with the original Brothers.

As she points out, the originals are missed. Although you can still read about them within the series (and still will do), is not about them as much as before (with the exception of The King). So, her idea is to reopen the training center so the original Brothers can become teachers and mentors and she will be able to talk more about them and where they stand now.

However, the books will be about those new recruits also. J.R. Ward reveals that the first book will be called BLOOD KISS in which Butch will have a main role and where two of the recruits will be known from The Shadows. The Shadows will be published in USA and UK on the 31st of March.

 

 

About the format, it will be paperback, and the cover will be revealed soon. I will keep you posted!

My first

Well, finally it seems like everything is ready to roll...

 

This is the first time that I blog in English, which is not my first language. So please, if I misspell of I have any grammatical mistakes, please bare with me. I am Spanish, but I have been living in London for almost 4 years (the anniversary will be soon!!). However, still I have so much to learn and to be taught.

 

Angie in London will be mostly about books. I love reading and I spend every free moment doing it. That´s why I would love to work in a publishing house. So far I am doing internships and finishing a Publishing MA, which has given me the opportunity of getting some advanced copies of certain books. I will talk about those as I finish reading them. I will also talk some times about other things that I might be obsessed with (some cool TV shows and so on).

 

As you can see, under my Profile there is a link to the Spanish Blog, where the posts will be different (unless the post is related to both countries). So, if you are interested in the Spanish market, feel free of taking a look to that one too (follow this link).

 

I hope that you enjoy Angie in London.