Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 336

Publisher - Borough Press

Source - Bought

blurb from Goodreads

White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences… Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn’t write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American—in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R.F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel.

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.


My Review

Like a Jerry Springer show but instead of cheating spouses we have an author trying to make it big and when an "opportunity" arises she grabs it. Everything from that moment on she does/chooses is just car crash tv. You are mortified and like GIRL NO WHAT ARE YOU THINKING and she just gets worse as the book goes on.

I don't know what I expected with this one from everything everyone was chatting I just knew I HAD to read it but it wasn't what I thought it would be. You get it, authors have it really rough and with this we get a look behind the curtain of what it is like from education to starting out and trying to make a name for yourself. Your friend is doing the same but she strikes gold every single time and our protagonist, June - later Juniper - can't help but compare, resent and be annoyed. We then see inside June's thinking process and her justifications for what she does and her monologue of she deserves this. She isn't a nice person and wow does she spiral.

As success comes so do all the bad sides of it and when you have been a dodgy biscuit and rose high, the height to fall is far higher. Outside the drama we also have themes of cultural appropriation, race/racism, plagiarism, the pitfalls of social media, actions and consequences, greed, death and some seriously shady characters and behaviours.

I liked this I just didn't love it, a lot of characters and choices will grind your gears or just your teeth, not a bad thing. I absolutely wanted to see where it was going and I have another by this author to read, 3.5/5 for me for this one though.



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The Passengers by John Marrs

The Passengers by John Marrs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 400

Publisher - Ebury Digital

Source - Netgalley

Blurb from Goodreads

Eight self-drive cars set on a collision course. Who lives, who dies? You decide.

When someone hacks into the systems of eight self-drive cars, their passengers are set on a fatal collision course.

The passengers are: a TV star, a pregnant young woman, a disabled war hero, an abused wife fleeing her husband, an illegal immigrant, a husband and wife - and parents of two - who are travelling in separate vehicles and a suicidal man. Now the public have to judge who should survive but are the passengers all that they first seem?


My Review

A jury, carefully selected with a government official and members of the public having to take their turn to "vote" on who is at fault in car accident. Set in the not to distance future we have level five cars, they control everything and the driver can just relax, as a passenger. When one of the meetings is interrupted by a hacker who has taken control of eight of these cars and advising in two and a half hours they will die. Tempers flare, emotions are high, the public will get a say in the votes, eight seemingly innocent people's lives hang by a madman's decision, who will survive.

So we hear a wee bit about the passengers, the government official is warned there will be consequences for failure to comply. The public and watching and voting, the poor people are trapped in their cars and chapter after chapter the tension is building. Just when you think you have it sussed where the book is gone the author flings a curve ball, you know nothing, only what the hacker chooses.

Corruption, lack of morality, trial by public, life and death, lies, destruction, love and absolute anarchy. The tension builds up quickly and keeps you hooked, you just want to see what is coming next, who will be next, will anyone survive. The book also lets you look at the darker side of humanity, yes it is a fiction book but go onto almost any social media and look at the comments. You could easily see this being a reality and I think that is what is scary about this book, the potential. We see how dark humans can go, how fast technology is developing and how much humans rely on it, but when it goes wrong.....fantastic read. This wasn't my first by Marrs and it won't be my last 4/5 for me this time.

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Asking For It by Louise O'Neill

Asking For It by Louise O'Neill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 346

Publisher - Quercus UK

Blurb from Goodreads


It's the beginning of the summer in a small town in Ireland. Emma O'Donovan is eighteen years old, beautiful, happy, confident. One night, there's a party. Everyone is there. All eyes are on Emma.

The next morning, she wakes on the front porch of her house. She can't remember what happened, she doesn't know how she got there. She doesn't know why she's in pain. But everyone else does.

Photographs taken at the party show, in explicit detail, what happened to Emma that night. But sometimes people don't want to believe what is right in front of them, especially when the truth concerns the town's heroes...



My review

This book is NOT for the faint hearted, an 18 year old school girl, popular, the queen bee of her social circle and not the easiest to like character. She is sick of being the "good girl" everything her parents want her to be and decides to let her hair down at at party. However her good time mixes drugs and alcohol and Emma doesn't remember all the events of the evening. It is plastered over social media, her peers are judging her and when Emma realizes what has transpired she feels sick, upset, violated and confused.

So we kick off with Emma, not a particularly nice individual, she goes after other girls men not because she wants them but often because she can. She isn't very nice to her friends and even steals from one of them. She is beautiful, well liked and has high status in her social groups which adds to the image the reader conjures. Then, in the space of one evening it all changes, Emma goes from top to bottom. No longer the top of her circle she is judged, labels like slut, whore, asking for it and worse, photographic and video evidence of the events are up for public viewing. This book is a very uncomfortable read, the issue of consent is raised, how much responsibility lies with the victim. What about when a town judges you, who can say they haven't went a bit wild on a night out and then it all goes wrong and you are judged on previous behaviours.

I think making the character really unlikeable was a very clever move by the author, how quick are people to judge when they hear a rumour, see a photograph, read a news story. Condemn someone with all the facts, throw into it a small town, popular boys and a bitchy girl who is now the one being judged. It makes the reader question how quickly they would jump on the band wagon, how quick do we make assumptions and how much weight does a crime have when the victim is not quite "snow white". Considering how much judgement is passed on rape victims, what their past is, how they behaved, how many people they have slept with, I think for being a fictional story it forces the reader into the uncomfortable position of analyzing their own preconceptions and quick to make judgements. 3/5 for me this time, I found it frustrating at times and I know in some aspects it is mirroring reality but still irritating. If you can make it through the content, rape/consent you really should read it, I think for young men and women a cautionary tale that in reality could happen to anyone.

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Follow Me by Angela Clarke

Follow Me by Angela Clarke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Publisher - Avon

Source - Netgalley

Blurb from Goodreads

LIKE. SHARE. FOLLOW . . . DIE

The ‘Hashtag Murderer’ posts chilling cryptic clues online, pointing to their next target. Taunting the police. Enthralling the press. Capturing the public’s imagination.

But this is no virtual threat.

As the number of his followers rises, so does the body count.

Eight years ago two young girls did something unforgivable. Now ambitious police officer Nasreen and investigative journalist Freddie are thrown together again in a desperate struggle to catch this cunning, fame-crazed killer. But can they stay one step ahead of him? And can they escape their own past?

Time's running out. Everyone is following the #Murderer. But what if he is following you?

ONLINE, NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM...


My review

Freddie is a journalist, well she would be if she could catch a story and get herself out there. Whilst trying to keep her bills paid and working in a coffee shop she meets her old friend Nas. Nas is a police officer and Freddie finally has a chance to possibly scoop a story, finding herself in the middle of the investigation Freddie must help to catch a killer before he strikes again.

Oh Freddie, what an annoying little character she is, I felt sorry for Nas having to deal with her. Initially she seems to have no thought for anyone but herself although, as the story progresses and we get through the tough veneer we see another side to Freddie. Both her and Nas did something as kids, that is referred to throughout the tale however it doesn't come to light until much later. The story focuses on the victims, the killer and how the police try to catch the killer with the help of Freddie. Freddie is a loose cannon but she knows social media and the police need all the help they can get catching this killer who is flaunting his crimes on social media.

There is a lot to like in this book! Every chapter starts with an online text speak header, for example IKR - meaning I Know Right, there are loads of these I still don't know despite being a user of social media for years, I liked that. The games played with the police, the taunting, always one step ahead, reminded me of a few killers I have read before and loved. The chapters are fairly short which keeps your attention and makes for putting it down hard. There are some shocks along the way and the killings are fairly brutal so not for the faint hearted. 4/5 for me this time, I think this is a strong debut novel and I will be watching for more from this author. Thanks so much to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This title is available to buy on the kindle on the 3/12/15 or in paperback format from the 31/12/15.

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