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Teen SRC 2019 – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling

Written by Rosie
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To be honest, I hated Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling. It was so predictable and bland and just not a good plot in general. Having grown up loving the Harry Potter series, I was SUPER excited for this eighth story but oh boy was I let down.

The book is the story of Harry Potter’s son, Albus Severus Potter, and his first year at Hogwarts. Before it was released, I made predictions about what I thought might happen in this book, just for fun, never expecting them to bear fruit, but low and behold, I guessed two of the biggest “plot twists” in the story. That should give you an idea of how uncreative the plot was… I’d never been able to correctly predict plot twists in the original series before. Maybe it’s because I’ve read a lot more books since then but I still think not even the most experienced reader should be able to predict a twist before even reading any part of the book.

Although I was devastated at having to say good-bye to my favourite characters at the end of Deathly Hallows, I was happy for them. The story was well-resolved and satisfying, which left me at rest. I don’t think J.K. should have written another story, it was highly unnecessary and ended up doing way more harm than good.

All in all, I’d give this book a 5.5/10 because it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever read but it did tarnish my view of the HP universe quite a bit. I’ve heard that the actual Broadway play is very well presented though, so if I get a chance to see that someday, I’d be happy to get that different point of view on this story!

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Teen SRC 2019 – Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Written by Rosie
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Intense and quick-paced, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is the perfect finale to a stunning series.

Disclaimer: There will be spoilers for the previous books here but none for Mockingjay itself.

Through perseverance, determination and sheer luck, Katniss has managed to escape the grasps of the Capitol once more. Peeta, however, was not so lucky, having been taken captive by the Capitol and suffering both mental and physical abuse.

Now known as the Mockingjay, Katniss is a symbol of the rising rebellion against President Snow’s dictatorship and is working with the rebels to support their cause. Throughout the book, the effects and consequences of war are explored, making this a very realistic story (which is a good thing!).

I thought this met and exceeded the hype put around it as the conclusion to such an exciting story. The ending wasn’t perfect, making it so much more believable because wars have casualties, that’s just plain fact. I really loved this book and the entire series to be completely honest. Would DEFINITELY recommend it to anyone! The messages from this book were received loud and clear, a full 10/10 stars from me.

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Teen SRC 2019 – Specials by Scott Westerfeld

Written by Rosie
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Hey, yeah, I know some of you are probably getting tired of me posting about this series but hopefully, I’ve actually inspired a few to read this series too.

Specials by Scott Westerfeld is the finale of the Uglies trilogy.

Riveting and very fast-paced, this book was an amazing wrap-up to the series. Although I didn’t cry during the sad scenes, I definitely would have had it been at night, because reading right after math homework doesn’t help anyone get into their “feels” ok. Anyways, yes, I can promise some sad scenes but I actually loved that the author made legitimate sacrifices in the story because that made it SO much more realistic. I’ve read many stories where everyone ends up living happily ever after and although that means I’m super happy, it’s also just impossible that there were ZERO casualties. Another thing I liked about this series was the world-building, because as far as I can tell, there aren’t any plotholes I can think of which means that it’s just the right amount of detail, spread evenly between character development and the description of their world.

All in all, I would rate this book a 9/10. Not the best of the best but pretty darn close. The plot is amazing but the story itself is just missing that special something 😉 (did you see what I did there? ok i’ll see myself out). Definitely go read this series though! You won’t regret it and we can talk about it after 😀

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Teen SRC 2019 – Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter

Written by Rosie
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This review is for Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter.

The reason this review took so long to get to you guys was that I couldn’t find it on the library catalogue so I thought the library didn’t own it? But I just re-searched today and it’s on… that was a little odd but I’m not mad about it 🙂 Anyways, I read it on Hoopla so if you’re more of an e-book person, this one’s for you sis.

No synopsis for you guys, sorry but if you want to know what the books about just read the summaries from my reviews of the previous two books!

Thoughts: I LOVED this finale. It was a lot deeper than the first and second books which made it more emotion-filled (I cried. Just a little though!). The ending was very satisfying (especially in terms of romance) so if you’re one to get mad about unsatisfying conclusions (like me), you won’t be disappointed here. I really loved the romance that was in this book as well because it wasn’t super intense, not everything was about it; but it was always there, very sweet and very, very adorable. I HIGHLY recommend this book, you really will not regret it. My final rating is 5/5 stars.

P.S. From now on, I’m going to rate books out of 10 instead of 5 because I feel like there are amazing books and then there are completely life-changing ones and I really need to differentiate them.

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