Illegal by Miriam Halahmy

Series: Hayling Island Cycle, Book Two

Publisher: Meadowside Fiction

Format: ARC

Published: 20^th March 2012

Number of Pages: 288

Book: For Review*

Genre: Contemporary, Realistic-Fiction, Romance, Coming of Age, Action-Adventure, Thriller-Suspence, YA

Recommended Age: 13+

Contains: Violence, Self-harming, Drug Growing, Swearing

No Alcohol References

Author's Blog: Miriam Halahmy

“If Jemma had lived, none of this would have happened.  I’d have been too busy to get dragged into this filthy, illegal business…”

Since Lindy’s baby sister died, her family have been caught in a downward spiral.  Her brothers are in prison and her parents have given up.  Soon Lindy is out of her depth too, caught in the centre of an international drugs ring, with no way out.  Then Lindy finds help from an unexpected ally: weird, mute Karl from school, and together they plan a daring and desperate escape.  But when you’re in this deep, can you ever be free?

Touching, surprising and painfully honest, Illegal is the second in a cycle of three novels by Miriam Halahmy, and the follow up to her acclaimed first novel, Hidden.

                                                                   Review:

Ever since baby Jemma died, Lindy's family has fallen apart. Her brothers are in prison and her parents spend all their money on alcohol and gambling.

So when she's offered a job by her cousin, she takes it, desperate to escape. But she's soon in way too deep: her cousin is a drug dealer, and she's caught in the middle. With no way out, she's trapped, caught in a downward spiral…

Until she finds an unexpected ally in the new boy: strange, mute Karl. With his help, can Lindy escape the web she is caught up in?

When you've done what she's done, is being truly free ever an option?

I love emotional contemps, so when Miriam asked me to review this, I couldn't say no! And Illegal did not disappoint! Emotional, powerful and addictive, it had me hooked from page one. It dealt with difficult topics like drug dealing brilliantly, and created a story with amazing and a believable plot. I adored Illegal, and can't wait to get my hands on Hidden and Stuffed (Books One and Three).

Lindy Bellows was a really troubled girl who had too much responsibility, too young. She was tough, putting on a brave face, but she was drowning.  And she was all alone. Her vulnerability broke my heart, and made me just love her to pieces. She'd lost so much, so she didn't really want to let people in and was scared and untrusting of the ones she did let in. She was so vulnerable and broken inside that it was impossible for me NOT to love her.

Karl Reece was strong and cute and sweet and caring and darn irresistible!  To begin with he never said anything, but he spoke volumes with his eyes, eyebrows and face. I loved him! He'd been through so much, and was so clever and oh-so-cute with his "I-love-facts-voice"!

I loved the relationship between Lindy and Karl: it was so natural, so sweet, so real. I just loved seeing how Lindy's thoughts of Karl changed as she got to know him better, going from thinking of him as a "retard" to feeling terrible for ever thinking that. They were so different but so alike and when they were together, I just felt it. They were perfect.

Garth Bellows, Lindy's 19-year-old brother, was someone I couldn’t figure out to begin with.  He was meant to make everything better for Lindy, but he got her the job with Cousin Collin.  But he really came through and tried to look out for Lindy, even from prison.  He was so caring and reassuring and made me and Lindy feel safe.

Cousin Collin Bellows, drug dealer. He was a shady character, tricking Lindy, lying, wheedling his way into everyone's good books. I agreed with Lindy: he was "totally insane".

Jess... When I first 'met' her, I thought she was a total cow: she was horrid to Lindy, vindictive. But towards the end, I started thinking that she wasn't too bad. I think her character can be expanded on... And guess what! After meeting Miriam, she confirmed Book3, Stuffed, will be about Jess: Squeee! Can't wait!

Lindy's family was really dysfunction and broken. Her dad was addicted to gambling, always down at the bookies. Her mum was empty, broken, never doing anything. Her big brothers were in prison, and her younger one was innocent and young and always hungry. And baby Jemma was dead. Although the family wasn't perfect, they were a family. And I could feel it, especially in the very last chapter. I'll miss the Bellows!  I really loved little Sean - he doted on Lindy, worrying if she wasn't in... he was terrified he'd lose her too. He was so clever and so cute and I just loved him!

A huge theme in this book is loss. Both Lindy and Karl lost someone, and it affected them both hugely.  Friendship is another, especially in the unlikeliest places, and about being able to let people in and trust them after having loved and lost before. This in particular, I think Miriam did beautifully.

The writing was brilliant: raw, emotional, powerful. Told in third person, it still really let me get into Lindy's head. I felt everything she felt, saw everything she saw. And it was authentically teen. It was simple, yet emotional and powerful. Just the way I like it!  And the plot was brilliant and compelling, unlike anything I've read before. I've read ones with drugs in, but not ones like this. Not with characters I fell in love with the moment I met them and had me glued to the page so I could find out how it all ended. Although I had a vague idea about what the plot would be like, I really didn't see the twists coming. I loved every second!  

I just adored the setting.  Hayling Island sounds beautiful, and I loved getting to see the huge variety of people who live there. All the little facts and places on the Island just made the story feel all the more real to me. I can't wait for my next Hayling fix!

Emotional, powerful and about feeling trapped with no way out, Illegal was a beautiful and touching story, one that pulled me in and didn't let go, even after I put the book down. I just loved this book. Every. Single. Second. I can't wait to read the others in the series!

Star Rating:
5 Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

Hidden by Miriam Halahmy

Kill All Enemies by Melvin Burgess

Saving Daisy by Phil Earle

 You Against Me by Jenny Downham

Challenges It's Taking Part In:

Happy Reading

Megan

* This book was received from Meadowside in exchange for an honest review

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2012 (Hosted by Book Chick City)

YA Contemporary Challenge 2012 (Hosted by Reading Angel & Katie's Book Blog)

British Books Challenge 2012 (Hosted by The Overflowing Library)

Kill All Enemies by Melvin Burgess

Publisher: Penguin

Format: Paperback

Published: 1st September 2011

Number of Pages: 320

Book: For Review*

Genre: Realistic-Fiction, Coming of Age, Contempory, Psychological Thriller-Suspense, YA, YA-Adult Crossover

Recommended Age: 15+

Contains: Violence, Suggested Sexual Assault, Drinking, Drugs, Swearing

Author's Site: Melvin Burgess

Everyone says fourteen-year-old Billie is nothing but trouble.  A fighter.  A danger to her family and friends.  But her care worker sees someone different.

Her classmate Rob is big, strong.  He can take care of himself and his brother.  But his violent stepdad sees someone to humiliate.

And Chris is struggling at school.  He just doesn’t want to be there.  But his dad sees a useless no-hoper.

Billie, Rob and Chris each have a story to tell. 

But there are two sides to every story. 

And the question is… who do you believe?

                                                                   Review:

Everyone’s given up on Billie.  They think she’s dangerous, a lost cause.  But her case worker can see her potential.

Rob may get beaten up a lot, but he’s strong.  Strong enough to look after himself and his brother.  But whenever he’s around his stepfather, he feels worse than rubbish.

Chris couldn’t care less about school.  He’s going to be an entrepreneur, and who needs GCSEs for that?  He knows where he wants to go, but all his dad sees is a worthless layabout.

All three are linked together, but not entirely by choice.  They’re on their last chance: can they stay out of trouble long enough to prove themselves?

Kill All Enemies was an emotional rollercoaster, one that has left me reeling.  I was hooked from the first page, never set free until the very last word.  Some parts were very shocking and a little hard to read, but I loved every single moment. This was just an amazing, amazing read.  Bravo to Melvin Burgess!

Billie Trevors got into a lot of fights.  But I could tell she tried to do the right thing.  She’d taken care of herself since she was a little kid, and by the age of ten she had so much responsibility…  Everything that had happened to her… It… well.  It broke my heart.  I mean, Billie cared so much about everything, and tried so, so hard not to fight…  And everyone had such low expectations of her: self-fulfilling prophecy anyone?  She’d had such a hard life.  Deep down, she was a real sweetie: broken, only acting hard to protect herself from being hurt again.  She didn’t think anyone could ever love her, but she couldn’t stop herself from loving.  I cried at one point.  My heart ached, my eyes burned.  It was so strong, what I felt for this girl.  She really does break your heart in a way that makes you love her so, so much.  She went through way too much.  It wasn’t fair and she didn’t deserve it.

Rob had “wrong ears”.  But he was a strong, cheerful boy, who let himself get beat up to stay out of trouble.  Which, in my opinion, takes a lot more strength than throwing a punch.  He used Metallica to protect himself from his mum and stepdad’s fighting, and he looked after his brother.  He was adorably pleased (or well chuffed) to have Billie Trevors as a mate, ‘cause she was “hard”.  And he was funny, if kinda gross.  I liked him.  He was rather weird though…   The fridge was his friend… and he had conversations with the skeleton on his Metallica t-shirt – called him “Skelly”…  I have a feeling he’s slightly mad.  And some of his ideas were kinda odd.  He was a great friend and a great brother.  And he was just so, so optimistic.  Just liked Billie, he did not deserve it – any of it.  I loved him.

Chris Trent found school boring and pointless – he planned to be an entrepreneur.  But he cared, just maybe not about school.  And I just found Chris hilarious!  His sense of humour was mildly twisted, but it really appealed to me.  Plus… he saved snails.  And he helped other people out – kinda.  He got involved – for good reasons – when he maybe should have kept to himself.  He was just too smart for his own good – a real wisecracking guy.  Chris didn’t play by the rules, but he had good human morals: he did not like bullies… and the whole snail-saving business.  He was just really funny – especially when his mouth often got away with him.  Oh, and he was mildly idiotic.  In all the heartbreak, his funniness was a nice break. 

Hannah: who was she?  That was my question for ages.  Billie mentioned her a lot, but not who she was, what she did.  But once I got to know her, our fourth narrater, I realised that she really cared for Billie.  It was obvious, and – like me – she hated everything Billie had gone through.  She was really nice, sympathetic.  But was maybe too close to Billie…

Just because I hate him so much: Philip, Rob’s stepfather.  I hated the guy, and I mean physically hated him.   Like I’ve never, ever hated anyone before.  In my head, I kept calling him very, very bad things that I never actually say.  Urgh.  (Hate him.)

The writing… wow.  All four narrators sounded completely different – I would have been able to tell who was who, even if the chapters didn’t have their names at the start. Sometimes four POVs get confusing, but in Kill All Enemies it completely worked.  It let me get into all of their heads and see all their actions, their fears.  And it was so personal – far more so than 3^rd person or just one POV could have ever been.  Plus, Burgess had the teen voice perfected.  As for the plot; it was one of finding yourself, saving yourself.  There were no epic battles, no foreshadowing prophecy.  There were just the worst parts of life, the worst scenarios and attempting to overcome them.  The plot was suspenseful and powerful: I was never bored, not even for a second.  I was sucked in and I just couldn’t get the book out of my head.  I finished and it’s still stuck in my head.  And, yes, this book is honestly just that good.

Family bonds played a big part in this book.  Or lack of, in some cases.  You had heart-breaking realities, and love – so much love.  Such as the bond between Rob and his mum: it was so special.  He loved his mum so, so much – he’d do anything for her.  I laughed, I cried, I smiled, I cringed.  It was overwhelming.  But isn’t that what love and family are?

Kill All Enemies was so emotional, so powerful.   I felt everything – hate, anger, pain, heartache, depression, let down.  God, everything they went through, those kids… it broke my heart into pieces over and over and over.  Beaten by stepdads, rejected by parents, belittled by parents… It was terrible.  My heart’s still aching.  The things kids put up with… no wonder they acted out.  People made them feel worthless.  And you know what?  None of them deserved it.  People just don’t see the whole story, some don’t even try.  They should, but they don’t.  They need to listen to the so-called trouble makers.  There’s always a reason.  And there is no such thing as a lost cause.  Kill All Enemies was raw, edgy, borderline inappropriate.  It was horrible.  It was beautiful.  It was so powerful it left me breathless.  I can’t wait for my next Burgess book.

Key Quotes That I Can’t Get Out Of My Head:  “You’d be amazed at the things some of our kids have to put up with.  People see them as troublemakers, but if you knew the trouble that’s going on in their lives you wouldn’t think that.”

“These kids, to me, they’re not troublemakers – they’re heroes.  Proper, real-life heroes.”

Star Rating:
4¾ Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

Junk by Melvin Burgess

Before I Die and You Against Me by Jenny Downham

Being Billy by Phil Earle

Challenges It's Taking Part In:

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)

British Book Challenge (Hosted The Bookette)

Happy Reading

Megan

* This book was received from Penguin in exchange for an honest review

Drawing With Light by Julia Green

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Format: Paperback

Published: March 2010

Number of Pages: 256

Book: For Review From Bloomsbury*

Genre: Romance, Friendship, Coming of Age, Real-To-Life, YA

“I’m on the edge of something extraordinary, and I can’t wait for it to unfold...”

Everything is changing in Emily’s life.  Her older sister Kat is starting university, Dad and Cassy have bought an old house which will be their dream home one day... except that while it’s being done up, they’ve all got to live in a tiny caravan in the middle of a field.  Then a throwaway comment starts Emily thinking about her real mother, who left when Emily was a baby.  Who was she?  What was she like?  Why did she go?  Over the years, she has become the unmentionable secret in Emily’s family.

And as Emily pieces together a truer, fuller picture of her mother, she also embarks on a new relationship of her own with Seb, a beautiful boy with fine features and expressive dark eyes...

Review:

Normally I’m not into this kind of book; real-to-life girl problems, without a single supernatural thing in sight, but I absolutely loved this one.  It drew me in from the beginning, the small memory of Emily’s from when she was a little girl, the family dynamics, the missing mother, the handsome boy...  This story was just so beautiful, full of the wonders and horrors of life and the hard decisions that have to be made, the ones that change everything.

Emily was a wonderful lead girl, able to see all the beauty, but you can tell underneath all her strength she’s vulnerable and scared, especially when it comes to family and the feeling of abandonment.  I love all the references to photographs as well, as Emily is a aspiring photographer, and it was really smart of Julia Green to describe the way Emily sees through her photos.  All in all, a brilliant character who I found easy to love and I loved the way her story was told.

Seb is an incredible character, too, with his dislike of all tests, sweet, comforting nature and beautiful dark eyes.  He’s the one who convinces Emily to try to find her mother, and the way he cared for how she felt was really touching, although they could both be a little stubborn at times.  The relationship between the two of them is stunning and feels so real, so magical, and is one of my favourite both-human couples. 

All in all, a magical book, filled with love, hard choices and the dilemmas you face growing up when everything is changing around you.  I read this book so fast, it was mesmerising, and I recommend it.  Just so beautiful!

Star Rating:
4½ Out of 5

 Read this book if you liked:

If I Stay by Gayle

Girl Missing by Sophie McKenzie

Breathing Underwater by Julia Green


Challenges It's Taking Part In:
100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011 (Hosted by Book Chick City)
British Book Challenge (Hosted by The Bookette)
Off The Shelf Challenge (Hosted by BA Reading Challenges)

Happy Reading

Megan

*This book was recieved from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review