Blog Tour - A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, Extract 5

A Monster Calls was published on 5 May 2011 by the one and only Walker Books.  If you follow my blog at all, you'll probably know that I have only recently been introduced to Ness's work and that I have now declared my undying love for his ability to make the written word into something so extraordinary.  SO, when i got asked to be a part of the blog tour for his latest release, A Monster Calls, well let's just say I broke out the happy dance.

You can check out the first extract over on the lovely Sya's blog The Mountains of Instead right here, and follow the links to read every exclusive extract.  The next stop on the tour is Undercover Reads, and that will be posted tomorrow, so head on over there for your next fix!!

It is my absolute pleasure to present to you lovely people, the fifth extract from A Monster Calls:-

School

He could already taste the blood in his mouth as he got up. He had bitten the inside of his lip when he hit the ground, and it was what he focussed on now as he stood, the strange metallic flavour that made you want to spit it out immediately, like you’d eaten something that wasn’t food at all.

He swallowed it instead. Harry and his cronies would have been thrilled beyond words if they knew Conor was bleeding. He could hear Anton and Sully laughing behind him, knew exactly the look on Harry’s face, even though he couldn’t see it. He could probably even guess what Harry would say next in that calm, amused voice of his that seemed to mimic every adult you never wanted to meet.

“Be careful of the steps there,” Harry said. “You might fall.”

Yep, that’d be about right.

It hadn’t always been like this.

Harry was the Blond Wonder Child, the teachers’ pet through every year of school. The first pupil with his hand in the air, the fastest player on the football pitch, but for all that, just another kid in Conor’s class. They hadn’t been friends exactly – Harry didn’t really have friends, only followers; Anton and Sully basically just stood behind him and laughed at everything he did – but they hadn’t been enemies, either. Conor would have been mildly surprised if Harry had even known his name.

Somewhere over the past year, though, something had changed. Harry had started noticing Conor, catching his eye, looking at him with a detached amusement. 

This change hadn’t come when everything started with Conor’s mum. No, it had come later, when Conor started having the nightmare, the real nightmare, not the stupid tree, the nightmare with the screaming and the falling, the nightmare he would never tell another living soul about. When Conor started having that nightmare, that’s when Harry noticed him, like a secret mark had been placed on him that only Harry could see. 

A mark that drew Harry to him like iron to a magnet.

On the first day of the new school year, Harry had tripped Conor coming into the school grounds, sending him tumbling to the pavement.

And so it had begun.

And so it had continued.

YAY!! Sounds amazing right? YEAH? so go buy it!!

As always you can follow Patrick Ness on twitter here, visit his website or become a fan on facebook

City of Fallen Angels Bloghunt

Today I am super DUPER excited to kick off the City of Fallen Angels blog hunt!! As you all probably know by now, I am a serious Cassandra Clare fan girl and her books are the reason I started my blog in the first place.  So, when I got asked to kick off the tour in which you can win a letter from Jace himself, I was all over that like white on rice.

Okay, here's the deal:

Six questions

Six blogs

One chance for all you UK and Ireland fans to get your grabby little hands on the letter that Jace writes to Clary in City of Glass before he leaves on a life-threatening mission.  HOW EXCITING!! I don't know about you, but as soon as I read that line and realised I wasn't going to get to see the rest of the letter I was distraught, so this is fabulous news!

Okay, so once you've answered all the questions, you need to put the first letter from each of your answers together.  Those letters will create a word.  A word that will win you that letter.  All you have to do is email Undercover Reads (they have a fancy google document where you can submit your answer), and the ever lovely people at Walker Books will send you a beautiful print of Jace's letter, complete with the Morgenstern Seal.  YAY!!!

The first question is......

1. What is Simon's surname?

Grab a pen and write down the answer! Question two will be unveieled on Zoe Marriott's blog, The Zoe-Trope tommorrow.

THANK YOU and GOOD LUCK.  

Review - The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Published by Walker Books
Published 22 October 2008

I am writing this review literally not five minutes after I turned the last page.  I look like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards.  I can see brown fuzz at the corners of my vision which means my hair resembles that of cartoon people who get electrocuted.  It is very likey that I have snot somewhere on my face because my nose won't stop running.  My hands are black from the mascara that is now probably smeared all over my face.  I look? like a train wreck (heck i'm not looking in the mirror) and you know what? I FEEL like a train wreck.  Because this book was SO EFFIN GOOD it punched me right in the face like some un-relentless monster of words and I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT.  Call me a masochist but whatever.

Okay, so I knew people were bat shit for these books.  I can remember how obssesive people got waiting for the finale of the trilogy to be released. I've seen endless exclamations of love for this author and these characters, but I went into this book knowing not a single thing about it apart from that which is told to us in the synopsis.  SO, it's for that reason i'm declaring this a spoiler free zone, because if you haven't read this I want you to feel the nervous engery, the confusion and the terror and excitement that I did.  BECAUSE THIS BOOK IS CRAZY INSANE.

Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown. And in this town there is not one. single. girl.  It's chock fulla men and farms and suck lark.  SOUNDS LIKE BOY HEAVEN RIGHT? wrong! See, this little town is special because it's full of Noise.  And by noise I obviously mean Noise that comes outta people's heads, in streams of thoughts and images.  Which means that everyone can hear everything everyone ever thinks, even the things they would never say out loud, dark horrible things, even their dreams.  Which basically sucks a LOT because there is never any quiet, no silence, no place to get away from all the noise bashing and clashing around your head, because even the ANIMALS talk (yay!!).  So, it's no wonder that boy Todd spends most of his time hanging out where the Spackles used to live before they were wiped out in the war.  But when he's down by the swamp with his dog Manchee (LURVE) who don't shut up about needing a poo (seriously! LURVE) he finds something he never thought he would ever find.  SILENCE.  DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNN.  end scene.

Reasons why I loved this book I would lick it if wasn't on loan from the library:

Patrick Ness writes in this completely off putting style that at first I thought he was crazy.  Todd sounds like a hillbilly what with all this "not when yer asleep, not when yer by yerself, never", that I pictured him in a flannel checkered shirt with a floppy hat on and dungaree's and maybe a piece of straw dangling outta his mouth.  And then this image of him eventually evaporated to be replaced by this boy that I wanted to crush into a giant hug.  And that's all down to his characters development and the skillfull writing style that Ness used to make me see past things that overshadowed my perception of the storyline at the beginning and fully immersed me into this breathtakingly action packed story.

Manchee.  The little dog that can.  I LOVE HIM.  And the fact that you actually get to know him a little because he can TALK through his thoughts was quite possibly a mastermind move.  Ow, Todd? Todd? AHHH I LOVE HIM

Violence.  I sound like a saddist when I say this but OMG VIOLENCE.  don't you just love it when an author holds nothing back and comes at you full force making you see all the gorey gruesome bits that you never expect to make an appearance? because I sure do! Some of the stuff we get to see is like off the charts crazy nasty.  Ness is like a master at making you feel like your going to barf right onto the pages of the book because you JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT.  I live for that horribly sickly feeling where you just need to find out whats happening right now before your heart leaps outta your chest.

Dystopia.  I love me some dystopia.  And this was unlike any I've ever read before.  Random things are thrown into descriptions and it made me feel like everything I had grasped so far was just the tip of the iceberg and that I have so MUCH more to learn from this crazy ass world and the people in it, in upcoming books.

CLIFFHANGER.  Serious, serious cliffhanger.  Like if I didn't already own the next two books in the series you bet I would be going outta the house right now and buying them.  I wouldn't even look in the mirror first and Y'ALL read the description about whats occuring up in my face didn't you? And it actually says at the end...."End of book one" like a taunt.  Like Patrick's own little way of saying I REVEL IN THE PAIN I HAVE CAUSED YOU. 

Depression central.  This sounds whacked out of me, but without seeing these characters at their lowest point, how can we ever appreciate them at their best? Only the best books make me feel like i've just been in a fist fight with a heavyweight boxer.  Which is painful yeah, but oh so exhilarating.

In conclusion, I loved this book as you probably can already tell.  I was dancing on the line of actually posting my whole review in captial letters.  1, because I love them so.  2, because I fell like I can't express my love for this book without shouting it out.  3, because IT WAS REALLY THAT EFFING GOOD.  One of the best YA novels dystopian ficiton has to offer.  It gets it right in that special way only few dystopian books do.  It questions society and humanity, in a way that's subtle but nontheless powerful.  If you had to read one book this year, I hope you'd choose this one.

Review - City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Published by Walker
Published 5 April 2011

WARNING.....it goes without saying is going to contain spoilers for the previous books, City of Bones, City of Ashes and City of Glass.  And if you can't read on because you haven't read these books then i'm going to have to be really REALLY immature and say "NO we cannot possibly be friends EVAH until you come to your senses and read this series" or maybe we could be friends if you promise that you PLAN to read this series, because then we can squeal together when City of Lost Souls comes out in 12 months.  And you want to be my friend right?

Summary - The Mortal War is over, Clary Fray is back home in New York, ecited about all the possiblities before her. She's training to beome a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love her life, Downworldsers and Shadowhutners are all at peace at last. And most important of all Clary can finally call Jace her boyfriend.

But nothing comes without a price.

Someone is murdering the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine's Cirecle, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second bloody war. Clary's best friend, Simon, can't help her. His mother just found out that he's a vampire and now he's homeless. Everywhere he turns, someone wants him on their side along with the power of the curse that's wrecking his life. And they're willing to do anything to get what they want. At the same time he's dating two beautiful, dangerous girls, neither of whom knows about the other.

When Jace begins to pull away from Clary without explaining why, she is forced to delve iont the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: She herself haas set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.

Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. The stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels.

I can't even explain to you how excited I was for this book.  I was beyond excited......so much so that I had three copies on order to see which arrived first and then I was completely frantic on release day that I ended up getting a copy from the store.  This is also how I ended up with four copies of City of Glass, because Cassie Clare is a EVIL GENUIS and I seem to live for the pain.

After the riveting and simply AHHHHMAZING climatic end of City of Glass, I was so absurdly happy with how things had worked out.  I like that issues were left unresolved and loose ends were left to fly free.  It made me feel happy that things would remain in the dark, I didn't need all the answers, I just needed an ending that felt true to the characters.  And that's what I got.  So when I heard that another three books would be added to the series I was equally apprehensive and fan girl crazy.  I guess what it comes to is this; I was happy for the series to end at City of Glass.  But now that I've read CoFA, I realised just how refreshing and intoxicating it is to read something entirely NEW about these characters I love and I guess if I had to have more books in the series, i'm happy with the direction she seems to have chosen for them.

YOU GUYS this book was so whacked out it made my head spin.  Honestly, I have some mad skills when it comes to predicting story lines and I literally was like WHAT THE WHAT most of the time.  I literally had no clue which direction or what path she was taking these characters and I just had to trust that she wouldn't totally ruin a series that made me want to start my blog in the first place.  Okay, so Clary is her fierce and fabulous self and has a lot more things going for her.  Like the fact that she gets to train to be a shadowhunter properly, she gets to embrace the side of her that she's wanted to embrace ever since she found out angel blood ran through her veins.  Plus, she gets to make out with a hot blond boy who most definitely isn't related to her.  BONUS.  It was also really strange to see her interactions withher mother, who was such an intergral part to the previous plot lines without really being in the story.  Her and Luke are way too cute.

I know what your all thinking.  SEXYTIMES.  And holy hotness they reach pants exploding right offa your body levels.  I mean, I suspect if I met someone like Jace in real life my clothes would blow right off.  And Cassie knows how to bring the sexytimes.  And know what makes them better? The fact that the relationship dynamics have subtley changed and Jace seems to be a lot more open and vulnerable that his usual cool indifference that we saw when he tried to fight his feelings for Clary.  Now that they have nothing holding them back, they erm, don't let nothing hold them back.  

AND YAY!!! I missed all these characters......and Isabelle totally stole the show for me.  I liked Izzy from the beginning of the series, with her kick ass wardrobe and utter devotion to her family.  How even though she is the girl of the family and now the youngest *sobs* WHY CASSIE WHY MAX I LOVE YOU *sobs* she always is the one who seems to worry the most despite the outward image she projects, her love for them and her desire to do whatever it takes to keep them safe, is what makes her so endearing. 

Simon, oh Simon.  When you first started coming between Clary and Jace I wanted to face punch you.  Then you got turned and I felt real bad, and I still blame the Seelie Queen for that whole situation.  But really you have some of the blame too because you shouldn't have been showing off drinking fancy drinks at a warlocks party FOOL!  Okay, my heart went out to Simon because now on top of being the only dead person to walk in the sunlight, he also has the Mark of Cain which sounds like a royal pain in the ass.  His development was what made me keep turning the pages.  His internal struggle with how he could ever possibly embrace his new life made me want to wrap him him a hug.  This is the first time I have really acknowledged the fact that Simon is now immortal, that he was stay unchanging in a world that changes constantly and there is nothing he can do to change it.  No matter how much he wishes he could.

JAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEEEEE take off your shirt!!! No, I'm just kidding! I'm not really but whatever.  Ah, you poor boy making me want to cry! So I'm used to sarcastic and moody Jace, self assured and confident Jace, but what I got is vulnerable and confused and lost, both to the people he loves and to himself.  Having found out that the man who raised you letting you think he was your father and taught you everything you know is hell bent on destroying everyone and everything you care about, you can't blame him.  Like Simon he is battling to come to terms with the person he was and the person he is now.  AND CASSIE SO MEAN THE PATH YOU CHOSE YOU EVIL WOMAN.  Inner demons gonna getcha! And that ending? &%*&T$!*^% Do you want my head to explode? DO YOU? Because it seems like you do. 

Nothing was held back, everything was thrown onto the table whether it was nice or horrid.  I really hope the characters find themselves and become the people they want to be and not the people they think they should be.  As usual, the story is fast paced and intense and manages to make you ride the full spectrum of emotions in the blink of an eye.  Can I wait for City of Lost Souls? SURE I CAN.  But only because it gives me longer to come to terms with having to say goodbye to these characters again.

Review - Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Published by Walker Books
Published 6 September 2010

Summary from Walker - Magic is dangerous - but love is more dangerous still... When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray arrives in England during the reign of Queen Victoria, something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Friendless and hunted, Tessa seeks refuge with the Shadowhunters, a band of warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons. Drawn ever deeper into their world, she finds herself fascinated by - and torn between - two best friends, and quickly realizes that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

To say I loved this book would be selling this story short.  Having been an uber fan girl of Cassie's work since reading the first Mortal Instruments book City of Bones in 2007, there is nothing this woman has written that I wouldn't fight to read.  Seriously, you could throw me in The Hunger Games with the prize being a copy of her book (preferably City of Fallen Angels) and you bet your ass I would go bat shit crazy on the other tributes.  Okay, so yeah, I probably wouldn't go that far, but this woman has taught me how amazing books can affect people, how stories can stay with you long after you turn the last page and how readers can come together and make something wonderful.  HOLLA to my Mundie Moms, y'all rock my socks off and i'm proud to be part of the team.  Confession time, City of Bones was the first YA book I read and fell in love with.  That book started this all!!

Having read Cassie's other books, I have already been introduced to the wonderful Shadowhunter world and everything this represents, and it's a credit to the writing and pace of the book that not once during the re-tellings of the Shadowhunter world and history did I ever loose concentration.  No, the way the world was explained was infinitely different.  The Accords have only recently been signed, which means there is a lot of unrest amongst Downworlders and Shadowhunters alike.  It was so intriguing to uncover the unease the characters felt about the change and what it would mean for them in the future.  Prejudice is a theme we visit often, whether it be looking down on the Downworlders, or even the gender of a character.  Everything was handled in a way that made me think about how different life was in Victorian England and how certain choices I make now, would have been made by someone else on my behalf.  And we all know I HATE being told what to do.

Tessa was an easily relatable and enjoyable protagonist.  I have a soft spot for characters who are trying to find their place in the world and she definitely fit this bill.  Having grown up knowing nothing about this secret world, to be thrown into crazy situations where nothing makes sense must be horrifying, but she dealt with everything you threw at her with as much self respect and dignity as possible.  Then there is Will Herondale.  Ah, Will, you slay me with your witty ways and fancy dress clothes.  Also, is that booze I smell? Will is so confusing it's not even funny, I could sit here all day and try and figure out this sexy being and still be none the wiser.  He is so mystifiying and complex and oh so very rude.  In fact, he is quite a mean character.  Mean but hot.

Then there is Jem, with his quiet voice and calm demeaner.  I loved that even though we learn a lot about Jem, there are more layers to him as a character that I look forward to unravelling (if you think what i just thought you did, then your probably Team Will, just sayin.)  His past is so fascinating that it's going to be one hell of a journey to see how this affects him in the present and the future.  I think I like Jem a lot.  You could go to a bar with Jem and he'd be so nice to you, he'd pull out your chair, buy you drinks and entertain you all evening.  Whereas Will would probably leave you sat by the bar on your own, ignore you when he does sit near you and then leave with another girl.

Ah Jessamyn, my favourite female character.  Even though she is a royal pain in my ass.  Even though she moans a LOT.  Even though she doesn't get as much page time as I would like her to have, this girl kicks ass.  She is a girl who knows what she wants.  She's just an amazing strong female character.  The way she acted around the other Shadowhunters made me laugh, because she so just hates them all with a fiery passion.  I can imagine her death stare to be a thing of beauty.  And there is the little fact that she hates the world she's been born into.  Though I do think this is more the fact that she hates the restraints upon her and her inability to make her own choices.  Jessamyn is quite possibly crazy.  She is quite probably a ninja.  I expect fabulous things from her, lets just say she is going to shine in the next two books.

And the best part? It was only set in England.  Where I live.  Oh holy book gods, i've even visited a lot of the places mentioned in the book and to actually have visualisations of the setting and a firm knowledge base of the era, this was quite possibly, the icing on top of the already awesometastic cake. Characters that are complex and diverse, a story line that is original and engaging.  Clockwork Angel was mesmorising and started the series with a bang. Love love love love this book a LOT.

p.s For the record, i'm Team Cassie.

Thank you to Walker Books for sending be a copy of the book to review.  

Review - The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Published by Walker Books
Published 7 June 2010

Summary from Goodreads -  Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding. 

It takes a lot for a book to render me speechless. To make me wonder how Nelson managed to hold all this emotion inside herself, it's almost like she has kept this grief safe in a bottle somewhere, then spilt it onto the pages of the book, where it dried into words. Even thinking about this book makes me want to dissolve into a puddle of heartbreaking sadness and heart soaring love. I want to find the woman who wrote this book and envelope her in a giant hug. I can't adequately describe how Nelson has managed to put such overwhelming and life shattering grief into words.

Lennie is stugging to deal with the sudden death of her sister Bailey, who burned brighter than the sun.  She feels alienated by her grief, her family and friends are as lost to her as her sister.  She has to learn to stumble through this new world, where she is no longer a pair, no longer one of the Walker girls, she's just a girl who's sister is dead.  It seems like her sisters boyfriend, Toby, is the only one who understands that the hole in their lives is not something that can be put back together.  But then there's Joe, he doesn't know anything about before, he doesn't know Lennie as Bailey's sister, he knows her as Lennie, a kooky girl with a damaged heart.

Every character in this book was unique, from the overpowering, to the wonderfully weird, to the quietly understated.  I've read a few books about grief to recognise when it's done so beautifully.  Lennie for me was a character that I couldn't help but empathise with, I felt every blow, I wished along with her that her sister would miraculously appear, bursting into her kitchen the sun streaming in behind her.  I wanted so badly for her sister to come back and build a damn to stop the river of tears and hold back the ocean of grief.  But she didn't, because she couldn't.  And for this reason, my heart broke time and time again.  Yes, she could be selfish at times, but I never resented her or considered this a bad character trait.  It was something I expected from a teenage girl who's whole life has shattered and has been left behind in the mess.

The Sky is Everywhere was utterly absorbing, so richly developed and full of emotion.  It shows you the strength behind sibling bonds, how much people can have profound affects on your life, and how grief is followed closely by love.  Finally, I want to just say, the little poems that are scattered throught the book, are one of the reasons why I loved this book so much.  I expcted good things from Jandy Nelson, and instead I got greatness.  

Extract from page 61.  Uncorrected UK proof copy.

In photographs of us together,
She is always looking at the camera
And I am always looking at her

Review - Love and Other Four Letter Words by Carolyn Mackler

Published by Walker Books
Published 3 July 2006

Summary from Goodreads - With her parents splitting up, 16-year-old Sammie Davis may not want to feel a thing, but feelings happen. For starters, she’s plenty angry. Her dad’s leaving their upstate New York home and moving clear across the country. Her mother—well, she’s packing up and relocating to New York City with Sammie, who has no say about any of it. Overnight Sammie is forced to deal with change. And one change spawns another: Roles get reversed, old and new friendships tested, and sexual feelings awakened. It’s a scary time. But as Sammie realizes that things can’t stay the same forever, that even the people she loves and trusts the most can disappoint her, she begins to accept that change isn’t always bad. It’s how you cope, jumbled feelings and all, that counts. And as she copes, Sammie’s sense of self emerges proud and strong. 

This is the first book i've read by Mackler and I don't think it will be the last. This really is a book about love and everything else that comes with it. About how your parents choices in life can affect yours, how dealing with divorce is hard on everyone, and not just the people directly involved. I loved how New York City was described in the book, like it was this strange and bustling place at first, but then came to be home for Sammie. How at first you kind of hate the place because thats how she conveys her surroundings, but then you grow to love it just as much as she does.

Mackler has quite an intersting way of writing that even though it's not the best i've ever seen, or in no way mindblowing, but still manages to express the emotions of the characters so effectively, that any little flaws are forgotten. You can relate to Sammie, whos life is turned upside down. I felt connected to her, and I saw some qualities in her that I myself had when I was a teenager. Her voice is strong and unqiue and quite empowering for teenagers, expecially ones who can relate to dealing with divorce and having to move to a different town.  Plus, I loved the girl in the park, with the dogs.  I'm not going to say anymore in case I spoil it, but she was my favourite character.

I read this book in one sitting, it was easy to digest and was interserped with funny lighthearted moments. Teenage girls will eat this one up whole.

Review - Life Swap by Abby McDonald

Published by Walker Books
Published 7 September 2009
Published as Sophomore Switch in US

Take an administrative snafu, a bad breakup, and what shall heretofore be known as "The Hot-Tub Incident," and you’ve got two unprepared sophomores on a semester abroad. For American party girl Tasha, an escape to Oxford may be a chance to ditch her fame as a tabloid temptress, but wading Uggs-deep in feminist theory is not her idea of a break. Meanwhile, the British half of the exchange, studious Emily, nurses an aching heart amid the bikinis and beer pong of U.C. Santa Barbara. Soon desperation has the girls texting each other tips — on fitting in, finding love, and figuring out who they really are. With an anthropologist’s eye for detail and a true ear for teen-speak, exciting new novelist Abby McDonald has crafted a funny, fast-paced, poignant look at survival, sisterhood, and the surprising ways we discover our true selves.

It may just be me, but I love reading books that are in some way set in my home country.  It makes me feel all warm and squishy inside, I love to read about places I know about, places i've visited or just read someone describe where I live with precision and accuracy.  So, when I first read about Life Swap, I knew I had to read it.  The narrative is spilt between our two protagonists, Emily and Tasha, whose are nothing alike.  Emily hails from the UK, shes quite a straight laced, super organised girl.  Whereas Tasha is all American, with the tan and ugg boots to match.  She's quite brassy, loud and a full on party girl.  They both take a semester at each others college, trying in vain to get away from their lives and the people in them.

For me, I found this book to be quite easy to get into, I wasn't blown away by the plot line or the characters, but I still enjoyed the book nontheless.  The characters were very stereotypical, they didn't shy away from the norm of what people perceive them to be like.  Emily was very astute, quite boring, lacking in the boyfriend department and had a wardrobe full of tweed trousers and boring outfits.  Tasha had short skirts galore and a hankering for getting off with boys at parties.  Everything you would expect them to be like from the description.  Yes, certian plot lines made them break away from their stereotypes in general, but it wasn't enough for me to really see a difference in the characters.  It just seemed like they were the people they turned out to be in the end, at the beginning of the book, they were just chained by circumstance and the people around them to be who they wanted to be.  I wanted big revellations, girls really finding themselves, but I didn't really take that away from the book.

The character development was just lacking for me, and some of the sub-plots seemed like they were unecessary.  Like the fact that Tasha was a politics student at Oxford and she learned about womens rights and feminism, but it seemed like the authors knowledge of these facts was put on display, when it had little to do with the overall story.  It seemed like a unneccesary plot line that drew me away from the book.  The storyline was a bit too dis-jointed for my taste.  I would recommend this book to people who enjoy girly books.