Book Review: "Like A Brother" by Nathanael Lessore

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⭐ out of 5

It's been a while since I read and reviewed my last children's book but this first paragraph will still be the same as the last one, which says that each book I read and review starts off with the full 5 stars and I'm always hopeful that they will all still be stuck firmly in place by the time I close the back cover.  The most common reason for an otherwise 5 star book becoming a 4 star book is through the use of copyrighted and/or trademarked brands potentially without permission.  There has been one book so far that has had the star rapidly replaced thanks to a magic little sentence right at the back saying that the author had gained permission to use the brand name - it's only happened once so far in the hundreds of books that I've read and reviewed so far, but I'm always hopeful that it'll happen again and I'd love to read that magic little sentence again.

I was pre-approved by the publisher to read and review an ARC of this book a month before it was published.

Let's get going with the reading and reviewing shall we?

The buying information says that this book is for "11 years and up" and is 336 pages long which is too long for a middle-grade book unless it's a sci-fi or fantasy book, so the first star is already wobbly before I've even opened the book.  It also says that it's a "teen comedy" but 11 year olds aren't teenagers and I already don't know if this is a middle-grade or teen book!

I'm at the end of the second chapter and there have already been a couple of word choices that an 11 year old wouldn't understand and a mis-placed capitalisation that should have been picked up waaaay before the publisher put it into pre-publication circulation so the first star is already coming off at the end of the first page.

And now, on page 3, we've got two English football teams named, so the second star is already coming off... will I make it to the end of the first chapter without removing the third star??

I think the author is as confused about the ages of his characters as I am because they've just become teenagers, but the author hasn't said how long ago that was... was it this year?  Last year?  Longer than that?  According to my Kindle, I'm 2% of the way through the book and the utter confusion is making me take the third star off... there's 98% to go and only one star left before it officially becomes a DNF for me.

Less than a paragraph later and the author has used two celebrity names/brands which I can't see them giving permission for, so at only 2% and less than a chapter I'm removing the final star and declaring it another DNF unfortunately.

Book Review: "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5

Each book I read and review starts off with the full 5 stars and I'm always hopeful that they will all still be stuck firmly in place by the time I close the back cover.  I'm not shy about removing stars but I always give my reasons for doing so within the review.

I've never read a classic book in my life but this was recommended by a friend and I've got a few more classics to try reading as well, but this is my first ever classic so I'll go into it with an open mind and try and remember that it was written a looong time ago.

Let's get going with the reading and reviewing shall we?

Well, I've read 6 pages so far and I'm starting to see how much books have changed over the decades.  Most of the paragraphs are way longer than they are now, but maybe that was the thing to do at the time this book was written?

I'm enjoying this book more than I thought I would, but the extra-long chapters and the rare speech is a bit off-putting.  I'm up to chapter 7 so far.

Up to chapter 9 now and it's time for a warming drink methinks.  There's a bit more speech now, but still barely any compared to today's books.

Up to Part Two now and I'm gonna stop for a breather after reading pretty much constantly all morning.  It's a good book, but some of the language that's used is horrific!  I guess it must have been common in the time that it was written though so the star is safe, but only because it's a classic instead of modern.

I've just finished reading my first ever classic book and while I didn't like some of the language, it was a different era back when it was written and published.  I doubt I'll read it again, but I'm glad I've got my first one under my belt now.

Opinions please!

I was struck by a character name and a potential series with this character, but I don't know if I should make the book(s) an early reader, an easy reader or a MG purely because of the character's name.

I'm not gonna assign a gender to Fairy Nuff so that all the young readers can hopefully feel able to relate to them, but would the name "Fairy Nuff" make it harder for the child reader when they were taught to spell 'enough' or am I overthinking things please?

2026 has started...

...with me editing my second grown-up memoir for JanNo and I'm gonna put it through it's second edit in February and hopefully kick it into good enough to self-publish again in time for the changing of the seasons, then maybe a Picture Book or, if I've got an idea by then, another Early or Easy reader then back to a MG/YA book for NaNo26.

Book Review of: "The Toy Car: A short story" by Rose Tremain

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⭐⭐⭐ out of 5 stars

Every book I read and review starts off in the same way, by me saying that each book starts off with the full passport of 5 stars and that I'm always hopeful that they will all still be stuck firmly in place.  I'm not shy about removing stars but I always give my reasons for doing so within the review - they don't just vanish.

This is a short story of only 48 pages so the author has got her work cut out to get the full load of stars!

I'm already at 20% and the first star is coming off for use of a couple of brand names, potentially without permission, so in fairness to past books which have had stars removed for the same reason, we are now down to 4 stars.

This is such a dull book that the teen reader it's aimed at would have given up by now, let alone an adult.  There's very little speech and the writing is just so boring that it's a struggle for me to read.  The second star is coming off at 58% and I'm grateful that it's such a short book so that I can hopefully finish it instead of giving up after only a few chapters.  Down to 3 stars now.

A disappointing end to a dull book.  It had so much potential that the author just didn't use.

2026 will see me...

...writing for children again and my non-NaNo novel is already planned out and ready to be written.

I wrote my first memoir for NaNo24 and I've written my second memoir for NaNo25, just a month early is all 'cos of getting my two jabs and I write to take my mind off the side-effects.

Hopefully back to normal again next year though.

Other than my non-NaNo26 novel, I'm all out of ideas for what else to write so any ideas from you, my wonderful blog readers, are most welcome!

I've decided...

...that I'll still write in November and edit in January and reward myself with a J2O for every 5k I write/significantly edit as if NaNo and JanNo were still going but I won't pressure myself to complete the manuscript/edit or feel bad if I don't manage the whole thing within the month.

I'm also still a SCBWI member, it's just being moved about a bit in the British Isles and there will be more RAs and ARAs as well as people with specific roles within that so it'll hopefully still be the same as it was, just in smaller groups instead of for the entire country.

I think I've realised that I'm still not alone, I've just gotta reorganise my head for a while.