Suzy Turner

Wow, this book was so interesting and different than some of my recent reads. The first couple of chapters were fantastically creepy and interesting at the same time. We are introduced to a girl who's mother doesn't really talk to her. She is not allowed to go anywhere, talk to anybody and hasn't even seen her father who lives in the house! She has never had a cooked meal, only eating canned food and her mother watches her out the window as she comes and goes from school.

The introduction was show more very creepy, I wasn't sure what to expect, a horror book or heavy tale of loss and depression. But the story develops into this fantastical tale of shape shifters and good vs evil. It was so reminiscent of stories by The Brothers Grimm that I was surprised when I finished it that this was not a book that people were talking about.

The only thing that I noticed caught me off guard was that it felt that it could be a middle grade novel. As the main character is really in her teens, she was so guarded and protected throughout her childhood that she is very naive and emotional. For the majority of the book I kept thinking she was younger than she was. As she moves to Canada and begins to see what family is really about, the connection, friendships and love that comes from that we see her constantly overwhelmed with emotions on how she should feel. I loved being able to see things from a different perspective, it felt so nice to just go back to the basic things in life and have that reminder.

Not only does Lilly learn what family is, there is some fantastic supernatural things going on. A blend of wonderful and interesting characters. When Lilly moves to Canada to live with her Grandfather after her mother and father disappear we learn several mysterious secrets that surround the family. The best part is their connection to the Ravens. show less

I found this story an entertaining enough way to fill in a few hours of my time, but ultimately not enough to persist with it. I gave up about the bit where a 17 year old boy starts professing his interest in a 13-year old girl. Lily is seriously too young. I mean... I said to myself "I'm going to pretend she's fifteen" to force myself to continue with it.

She's also rather dull, and Turner's writing style is rather lacking (very much a this happened, and then this happened and here's why show more that happened - tell not show) and the conversations are unconvincing and stilted. It just feels awkward.

Lily deals with everything in a sort of meandering fashion, taking everything in her stride - from the neglect she experiences under her mother, to the disappearance of her parents, to being transported halfway around the world from the UK to Canada and being forced into a major social situation with more relatives than you can shake a stick at. Given her upbringing, I would suspect she would be severely socially retarded, but no, for some reason everyone likes her and she only gets tongue-tied when faced with the most gorgeous boy she has ever seen. Given she's only really gone between school and home, and doesn't watch tv, I can't imagine she's really seen much in the way of boys in general.

And then he announces that he is feeling drawn to her - for reasons we can only imagine. And I stopped reading and proceeded on to the next book in my reading pile. I might finish this at some point, but judging by the other reviews, it's not really worth the effort.

Was a free kindle book when I acquired it, so it's not like I'm not out of pocket anyway. I was only reading it because I finished the one I was reading (on my kindle) and didn't have my next (proper paper) book with me. I chose it randomly cos the author's surname started with T. I'm reading through the alphabet in order and it's time to read U. show less

This is not my usual sort of book. I guess I grew out of chick lit novels three decades ago. But this book made me laugh. So I’ll put a warning up front for the sensitive: the book starts with a sex scene. But don’t let that put you off. Yes, this is a fun read as author Suzy Turner takes her eponymous character Summer on a relationship road trip.
For a year she has been manless and therefore sexless, and when she does meet a nice guy it goes wrong for an unexpected reason [I did see this show more coming, but it still made me smile]. So, Summer and her best friend Gwen fly off to the Algarve for two weeks of intended flirting, laughter and girly gossip. Of course when she isn’t looking for a nice man, she stumbles over one.
Turner is good at writing physical comedy scenes. Summer is a likeable klutz, we all have/had a friend like her at some point in our lives. She is prone to misunderstandings and is rather gullible, accepting the most obvious explanation of a situation rather than thinking ‘what if?’ This is a coming-of-age story, Summer learns to look beyond the surface and look for the less obvious answer.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/ show less

Wow Wow Wow, I don't even know where to begin with this review, so let me start here. Usually I am very skeptical when it comes to reading books with a paranormal aspect and I think that it's because they are so far-fetched in regards to reality that I have a hard time connecting with the characters, but this book changed that for me for sure. In fact, i'm going as far as to say that THIS IS the BEST paranormal YA book that i've ever read.

Lilly is stuck in England with an unloving mother and show more a barely there father, so when both of her parents disappear, Lilly gets uprooted and moved to her grandfather who she's never met halfway across the world in British Columbia, Canada. Lilly is in for a lot of suprises though, when everything and I mean everything she thought she knew about her life gets turned upside down!

This story honestly gripped me from the first page and held on tight until the last page. My only complaint about this book was that it wasn't long enough, I got to the last sentance and was devastated that the story was over, but thrilled to learn that this is the first in a series. Book 2 is due out this September, and you better believe i'll be counting down the days until I can get my hands on this book. I honestly could sing my praises for this book for days, but instead i'm going to give you a word of advice and tell you to go pick up this book and read it, I promise you will not want to miss out on this series! show less