Demon Road by Derek Landy: Review

Title: Demon Road
Author: Derek Landy
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Pre-order this book: Amazon (US) / Amazon (UK) / Book Depository 
Published: 27th August 2015

Amber Lamont is a normal sixteen-year-old high school student. Smart but insecure, she spends most of her time online, where she can avoid her beautiful, aloof parents and their weird friends.But when a shocking encounter reveals a horrifying family secret, Amber is forced to go on the run. Killer cars, vampires, undead serial killers and red-skinned, horned demons - Amber hurtles from one threat to the next, revealing a tapestry of terror woven into the very fabric of her life. As her parents close in behind her, Amber's only chance rests with her fellow travellers, who are not at all what they appear to be...

My excitement at receiving this book!

Derek Landy is an author that I have heard so many good things about - 90% of those were probably from Amanda - and he's an author whose books I have wanted to try for quite some time. Demon Road instantly appealed to me, not only because it sounded awesome but also because it reminded me quite a bit of Supernatural, which just happens to be one of my favourite TV shows. When I received a signed ARC of this book, I squealed with excitement because this was a book I wanted to jump straight into and devour. And I did, all 500+ pages of it in less than a day. Having now finished the book, I can say that Amanda was right about Derek Landy and that Demon Road is a fantastic supernatural YA read, that had elements that reminded me of Supernatural and made me love it even more.

My Weekly Recap: 18/07/2015

This week has been a week of reading, relaxing and a lot of preparing for YALC (Young Adult Literary Convention) at the LFCC (London Film and Comic Con) which, by the time this post is live, I will currently be finishing my second day there. I booked a week and a half of work to make sure I could be ready but also enjoy my birthday and other events without having to worry about work. I'm not back until next Wednesday and I am enjoying all of my time off.

I am going to say it right now.... My haul this week is utterly ridiculous. I am well aware of that, but in my defence a lot of them are books I am taking to YALC to get signed by the authors there. And, okay, some are ones I bought just because I could. I have a problem and I can't seem to stop.

I also have a wonderful new look to the blog - just thought I'd mention it, in case you hadn't noticed how amazing the blog looks! - thanks to Evie, at Evie's Bookish Designs, and couldn't be happier with it. She was an absolute dream to work with and took my nonsensical ramblings of what I wanted and turned them into something way more amazing than I ever could have thought of. She also installed everything, thank god, and is so reasonably priced too. I'm still in awe of the design if I am honest. If you are looking for someone to help you with your blog design or just do some graphics for you then I definitely recommend her. ALSO.... She's hosting a GIVEAWAY to celebrate.

To celebrate my new design and reaching over 3,000 Bloglovin' followers, I am hosting a giveaway where one lucky winner will get £40 worth of books of their choice. I also created a book tag to go along with it that you can all take part in, which will gain you ten extra entries for the Rafflecopter. I had so much fun doing it... You can find out all about it here.

Welcome to the NEW Reviews from a Bookworm: Celebrations, A Tag & Giveaway!!!

Welcome!

I can't begin to express my excitement to finally unveil the new look for Reviews from a Bookworm! I hope you guys love it as much as I do, I honestly couldn't be happier with with it. The new design is all thanks to Evie, over at Evie's Bookish Designs - the woman is clearly a genius. I've wanted a new look for  Reviews from a Bookworm for so long, I just don't really have the skill or knowledge to do it myself. I definitely did the best I could with what I knew, that just happened to be very little. So I knew if I was going to get a design I was truly happy with, I would need to find someone else.

That's where Evie comes in! Amanda over at Nellie and Co. was the person who suggested her and thought she'd be a good person to work with and Amanda was right. She asked so many questions and managed to coax out of me what I wanted, because when I started the design I still had absolutely no idea what I truly wanted. But, I shouldn't have worried, Evie had a better idea than I had myself and seemed to know exactly what I wanted, even when I didn't.

Top Ten Tuesday: Last 10 Books That Came Into My Possession

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke & The Bookish.

This weeks topic is:

Last 10 Books That Came Into My Possession 

This is hard as I have gained about 40+ books in the last two weeks alone. I went a bit too crazy on Amazon, but then I also got a lot of review copies through. The main reason for the mass buy is for books to take with me to get signed at YALC, it will work out cheaper for me this way rather than buying them on the day.

Bought

The Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy

I'm going to pretend it's not cheating to count these 9 books as 1! It's a series after all and I bought them as 1 item on Amazon... so IT COUNTS!

The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare

I am cheating again, but I bought this in a boxset so I am letting them count as one. I bought these as I plan to get them signed by Cassandra Clare when I am at YALC.

Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales: Review

Title: Tonight the Streets Are Ours 
Author: Leila Sales
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux 
Buy this book: Amazon (US) / Amazon (UK) / Book Depository

Seventeen-year-old Arden Huntley is recklessly loyal. Taking care of her loved ones is what gives Arden purpose in her life and makes her feel like she matters. But she's tried of being loyal to people who don't appreciate her-including her needy best friend and absent mum.Arden finds comfort in a blog she stumbles upon called "Tonight the Streets Are Ours," the musings of a young New York City writer named Peter. When Peter is dumped by the girl he blogs about, Arden decides to take a road trip to see him. During one crazy night out in NYC filled with parties, dancing, and music-the type of night when anything can happen, and nearly everything does- Arden discovered that Peter isn't exactly who she thought he was. And maybe she isn't exactly who she thought she was either. 

I read and reviewed Leila Sales other book, This Song Will Save Your Life, way back in December of 2013, during my first few months of blogging. That book turned out to be one of my favourite books of the year and is still a book I consider a favourite of mine. When I heard the great news that Leila was finally releases another YA book, I might have been ridiculously excited/ridiculously nervous (We all know the feeling!). I saw the cover, which is stunning and makes me want to own the book just so I can photograph it, and the summary and I got way more excited than nervous. The book sounded so good and I was adding it to my to-read shelf on Goodreads and getting frustrated that I had to wait for it. I finished the book and I can't quite say that I loved it, but I did enjoy it and I didn't feel disappointed or that it didn't live up to my expectations.

The book starts with the words:

Like all stories, the one you are about to read is a love story. If it wasn't, what would be the point?

And the fact that it also ends with similar words, it seems only right that I had assumed that this book was going to be a love story. And I guess, in the end, it was.... just not at all in the way you were probably expecting. What struck me the most about this story was the fact that I came away from it really enjoying the book as a whole, whilst seemingly hating all of the characters. It just goes to show the kind of writer that Sales is, she can write those flawed characters that make you want to shake them, but they're real. I appreciate real characters, even if I do want to reach into my book and whack them all upside the head.