One of my new favourites: Apple & Rain

Hello my little lovers (I actually NEED a proper name for my readers - there is a little suggestion box below (a.k.a the comment box) so let me know!

Before I start:

Recently I have been reading an AMAZING book: Apple And Rain, by Sarah Crossan which I finally finished yesterday and I can't wait to share it with you today. But first, my younger 9 year old sister Ines (you may know her from her previous blog Ines' Insights) has started a new blog: Unicorns, Narwhals And Me and will be similar to her old blog, but a lot more fun, laidback and with a wider variety of posts, so I'd love you all to check it out! It's almost as good as my blog! :D (Okay, I actually got the beginning of the post asking for a reader name from her!) *looks embarrassed and denies she ever said it and then realizes she's still going to publish this post*

Anyway, moving on the book review:

Apple Apostrolou is all alone. Her dad is wrapped up in his own life, and couldn’t care less about his daughter, and her mum ran off to America to pursue her dream of acting, dumping Apple with her Nana, who, may be nice but is way too over-protective, and becoming a huge embarrassment.  And as for school, her ‘so-called’ best friend Pilar, has ditched Apple for Donna, the super-popular girl, who tries to convince Pilar that Apple is no-good and babyish. It works. All Apple has now is hope. And when her mum comes back out-of-the-blue, Apple is delighted, although maybe it isn't such a great thing after all.

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This is one of MANY books featuring dysfunctional mothers (other ones are Lily Alone and Scarlett Ibis, to name a few), yet it seems completely different! But to me, Apple And Rain had a different heartfelt emotion range that others lack. It had an ability to make me feel an emotion only 4 other books have (my 4 favourite books - which by the way are A Year Without Autumn, Wonder, Forbidden Friends and Butterfly Summer). The plot was poignant and when I was reading, I thought it was very predictable, but Sarah Crossan provided us with a couple of very big plot twists!

It's also been nominated for the Guardian Children's Fiction Book Prize 2015 (which you will have seen if you read this blog post here), and I hope it wins!

Overall, I'd recommend to all older readers, particularly fans of Gill Lewis and Cathy Cassidy!

 

So everybody! Apple And Rain really is one of my new favourite books, and you should definitely check it out! And meanwhile, I'd love it if you could give Unicorns, Narwhals And Me a read (by the way, Ines didn't even ask for me to mention her!)

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