Book review: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

I adore Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass series, which features a complex, kick-arse heroine, lots of action and smart writing.

Her new series, which kicks off with A Court of Thorns and Roses, contains many of the same good points, but wrapped up in a new, original fantasy story.

When Feyre kills a wolf in the woods one day, she thinks nothing of it, glad instead to have killed what she thinks is a threat to her family. But the wolf she killed was no ordinary wolf, he was a faerie, and one of his friends, Tamlin, is determined to punish Feyre for her transgression. Tamlin takes her to his enchanted court, where she is free to roam but where threats lie around every corner. And as Feyre gets to know Tamlin better, she discovers he is no threat to her, but that his life and hers are in grave danger.

Feyre is the kind of heroine I like - noble, flawed, brave, headstrong, with plenty of faults. Maas writes her as capable and self-sufficient, but she's not able to do everything and not willing to accept help without protest, which makes her realistic. That realism is important in a book that otherwise is almost pure fantasy - that the characters have believable characteristics and are relatable and likeable means I'm far more connected to the book.

Book review: Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan

Good young adult fiction not only contains a great plot, relatable characters and is well written, it can also sometimes help young people come to terms with difficult or traumatic experiences.

Sarah Crossan's Apple and Rain, about a young girl called Apple whose mum abandoned her when she was younger, is one of those books that I think can help young people understand life-changing experiences. And it does that while telling a great story very well, without being preachy.

Apple lives with her grandmother, who is very, very protective. The young girl chafes at the bit at having to be collected from school, at not being able to go out with her friends, and at her gran's reluctance to talk about Apple's mum. So when Apple's mum returns, determined to have fun with her daughter, Apple jumps at the chance to leave her grandmother behind. It's only when Apple discovers she has a younger sister called Rain that she begins to realise her dreams of her mother's return might not all come true.

I've only ever read dystopian novels by Crossan before (Breathe and Resist), but she's adept at recreating the real world in print as she is at creating a whole new world. Apple and Rain feels hooked in reality, from its scenes at Apple's school to her interactions with friends and enemies, to the way Apple's emotions are conveyed. Crossan presents an Apple who, despite her young age, is complex and whose feelings are always treated by Crossan as legitimate. We never frown upon Apple for her reactions because they feel so realistic and so natural.

Review: My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff

Your first 'proper' job was probably a challenge, but I doubt you had the added awkwardness of working for the agency that represented one of the most famous writers in the world, and one of the most reclusive.

Joanna Rakoff did, and in My Salinger Year she tells the story of her year working at one of New York's oldest literary agencies, which happened to represent J. D. Salinger. To say that this is a book about Salinger, though, would be an exaggeration. The author plays a tiny role in My Salinger Year, which is more about growing up than it is about the guy behind Catcher in the Rye.

Set firmly in the world of publishing, My Salinger Year is a great insight into the way things used to be done, and into the way some facets of publishing took ages to catch on to digital. One particular favourite moment of mine is when Rakoff describes how her boss acknowledges she doesn't know what an electronic book is (this is 1996), but she's still not signing away the rights for it. That, plus the agency's pink card filing system, the introduction of one computer, and the pedal-driven dictaphone Rakoff uses, among other things, all made me smile, shake my head in disbelief and then smile again. One thing that didn't make me smile, though, was when the agency lost Judy Blume as a client, which I can only put down to its reluctance to try new things, and should be a lesson for everyone.

Since the book is called My Salinger Year, I guess I should address the issue of the author himself, who comes across as a nice but slightly-deaf man who doesn't enjoy fame one bit. Rakoff's reading of Salinger's fanmail is full of emotion - I can't help but think of all those people who wrote to Salinger and never got replies, because most of them seemed to pour their hearts out on paper to a man they thought would understand them. My Salinger Year wonderfully illustrates the power of authors to connect with individuals, even as they write for masses.

We're never told the name of the agency Rakoff is working at, or the name of her boss, which I found unnecessary all of the time and jarring most of the time. It's unnecessary because a quick search online will lead you to discover the agency is Harold Ober Associates and Rakoff's boss is Phyllis Westberg. I resisted until two thirds of the way through before I decided to go online, but it was tough. And it's jarring, because by never naming them, Rakoff is always substituting "my boss" or "the agency" for real names. One moment where it particularly doesn't work is after the death of someone very close to Rakoff's boss, which leads Rakoff to ask a colleague: "Is my boss okay?" In a situation like that, you'd never use a person's title, and it really grates.

But that's a small gripe, because My Salinger Year usually flows so well that you think you're reading fiction. However, any encounters with Don, Rakoff's then-boyfriend, make you realise this is real life. There is no way any writer could have created a boyfriend as lazy and self-absorbed as Don, and a protagonist who just didn't see any of his faults right until the very end. But Rakoff's relationship with Don is also one of the most compelling parts of My Salinger Year, since it gets right to the heart of the growing up that Rakoff is doing during her year at the agency, which also includes negotiating old friendships and relationships.

My Salinger Year is part The Devil Wears Prada, part New Girl, and better than those two because it's real. Compulsively readable, My Salinger Year will take you racing through the New York publishing scene in 1996, and then have you reaching for your copy of Catcher in the Rye.

How I got this book: Borrowed from a friend.