Selina Ann's Shelf

The Colours That Blind By Rutendo Tavengerwei My Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: Contemporary, YA The Colours That Blind tells the story of Tumirai, a 14 year old boy living in Zimbabwe with albinism who is desperate to join the national swim team. However, disaster strikes when Tumi must go to stay with his ambuya (grandmother) in a rural village, stopping him from going to his daily swim practices. If that wasn’t bad enough, Tumi is convinced that something isn’t quite right with his grandmother, who has stayed in contact with her son, who is in prison for trying to kidnap Tumi. But when Tumi discovers a letter containing part of her diary, it seems there is more to her than meets the eye. Ambuya has a story to tell Tumi; is it time for him to overcome his fear of her and listen?  Content warnings: violence, racism, mentions of rape At first, I couldn’t really get into the story. I found that the beginning didn’t interest me or capture my imagination in any way, partly because I don’t have...

Winter  By Marissa Meyer Book four of The Lunar Chronicles My Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: YA Fiction, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Romance Winter is book four of The Lunar Chronicles, so make sure you read books one to three (reviews here: Cinder ,  Scarlet ,  Cress ) first.  "I need him as much as he needs me. But that doesn't make it love." Winter lowered her lashes. "Actually, dear friend, I suspect that is precisely what makes it love." Princess Winter is said to be beautiful. She is looked up to by many citizens of Luna for her kindness, grace and beauty, not just physically, but the beauty of her heart as well. Some even believe that, despite her scars, she is better looking than Queen Levana, her stepmother. Queen Levana has never liked Winter for this reason exactly, plus her attempts to persuade the people of Luna to dislike her have all failed. Scaring her face only made her more beautiful, and forcing her to watch the publi...

Cress By Marissa Meyer Book three of The Lunar Chronicles series My Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: YA Fiction, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Romance Cress is book three of The Lunar Chronicles, so make sure you read books one and two (reviews here:  Cinder ,  Scarlet ) first.  "You can help me pick out a tiara once we're done saving the world." Cress is what's known as a 'shell' on Luna and Earth; she does not possess any of the Lunar ability to manipulate bioelectricity, plus she is immune to the effects of bioelectrical manipulation and glamouring. In accordance with Lunar laws, her parents handed her over to the government to be killed for being a shell just days after she was born. However, unknown to the people of Lunar, shells are being kept alive for secret experimentation. When Cress proves herself to be a talented hacker, she is taken by thaumaturge Sybil Mira to carry out work for her, imprisoned in a satellite above Earth.  When Cinder, Tho...

Scarlet By Marissa Meyer Book two of The Lunar Chronicles My Rating: ★★★☆☆ Genres: YA Fiction, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Romance Scarlet follows on from the events of book one of The Lunar Chronicles (review here ), so make sure you read that book first. The towering skyscrapers of New Beijing dropped away and then it was only him and the sky and the endless landscape of space. Scarlet Benoit's grandmother has been missing for two and a half weeks and the case has been dismissed by the police, but Scarlet knows something is wrong: her grandmother wouldn't just leave her. So when she meets a mysterious street-fighter named Wolf who has information on the whereabouts of her grandmother, she decides she has to trust him in order to find out what he knows. Wolf does not seem like the average Earthen citizen - he's never even eaten a tomato before and there's a strange tattoo on his wrist. But he's Scarlet's only hope of finding her grandmother, who s...

Cinder By Marissa Meyer Book one of The Lunar Chronicles My Rating: ★★★★☆  Genres: YA Fiction, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Romance "We all have our weaknesses." "I know," said Iko, "mine is shoes." Cinder is a cyborg - a part human, part android hybrid - which in the society she lives in, Earth a long way into the future, makes her an outcast. She is often looked down upon and discriminated by other humans, even her guardian, who she was left with after adoptive parent died of a deadly plague named letumosis. However, Cinder being cyborg has granted her a talent for mechanics, and she has slowly risen to a position as one of the best in New Beijing, where she lives with her guardian and two step-sisters. She is famed enough that even Prince Kai has heard about her, and one day comes to her booth at the market, asking her to repair his android.  Cinder is pleased by the offer, and happy to repair the Prince's android and impress him in t...

The Wicked King By Holly Black Book two of The Folk of the Air trilogy My Rating: ★★★★★ Genres: YA Fiction, Fantasy, Romance The Wicked King continues on from Holly Black's first book in the series The Cruel Prince (review  here ), so make sure to read that first. Even without liars, there can still be lies.  Five months after Jude has crowned Cardan against his will, things aren't exactly going terribly, but that's not to say they couldn't get better. Navigating the world of politics has never been easy in Faerie, especially for Jude, a young mortal woman, who cannot reveal her biggest secret yet: she controls the High King of Elfhame. To make matters even harder, Cardan is determined to undermine and show up Jude, despite his uncommon curiosity about her. When Cardan is shot and nearly killed by a jealous ex-lover, the shooter reveals to Jude what she already fears: someone she trusts has already betrayed her. Jude knows that she must find the ...