24 July 2015

Birdy by Jess Vallance

Series: Standalone
Publication date: July 2, 2015
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Genres: YA, Thriller
Format: Review copy
Source: The publisher in exchange for an honest review
Pages: 262


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Frances Bird has been a loner for so long that she’s given up on ever finding real friendship. But then she’s asked to show a new girl around school, and she begins to think her luck could finally be changing.

 Eccentric, talkative and just a little bit posh, Alberta is not at all how Frances imagined a best friend could be. But the two girls click immediately, and it’s not long before they are inseparable. Frances could not be happier.

 As the weeks go on, Frances finds out more about her new best friend – her past, her secrets, her plans for the future – and she starts to examine their friendship more closely.

 Is it, perhaps, just too good to be true?

The story in Birdy is told from Francis Bird aka Birdy's point of view, she is our narrator and our main character. Francis is not just telling the story or writing it, she is literally telling us, readers, the story. She says 'you' a bunch of times in the story and I enjoyed that, it's a bit terrifying as well though. 

Birdy is about Francis, the outsider. One day her teacher asks her to take care of Alberta Fitzroy-Black, the new girl, and Francis reluctantly says yes. Francis and 'Bert' slowly become friends and suddenly they're inseperable. 

So, going in to this I had no idea it was a thriller, I thought it was a basic contemporary about friendship but the ending definitely changed that! I wish I'd known it was a thriller beforehand, because I'd probably not reacted as I did when I read the ending but there's nothing I can do about that know. I have a feeling that I would've enjoyed it more if I'd known it was a thriller going into it.  So bear that in mind when reading my review. 

Francis is an outsider, even though she isn't that different or stands out she's an outsider because she doesn't have any friends and she have never tried to make any. Being an outsider she is ignored by almost everyone and I kind of feel sad for her. In the beginning she was a bit boring and it felt like she wanted to be alone all the time since she didn't try to make any friends but that definitely changed when she met Alberta. I loved seeing her flourish and show her true colours with Alberta, it was so nice to see and I loved that side of her!
Francis lives with her grandparents, she didn't have the best childhood since her mother committed suicide when Francis was only a couple of years old and then her grandparents took her in. Life with her grandparents isn't easy, her grandfather has alzheimers or something similar and they have to take care of him and her grandmother isn't exactly that loving - it feels like life in general was against her. Even money wise; they're not broke but their quite poor and Francis definitely feels that when she befriends rich Alberta.
The thing I like the best about Francis is the fact that she's a reader! It's not an important part of the story but it definitely made me happy. 

I don't really know what to think about Alberta; she's the new girl, she's rich and she has a weird past - for lack of a better word. She doesn't come clean about her past to Francis before they've been friends for quite a while and I don't want to spoil you since it definitely made me like her less, but it definitely surprised me and I think it's quite a weird or rather different character trait. 
I really liked that she brought out a new side of Francis but there is definitely things I don't like about her! I hate when people lie, I hate when people leave you behind and I definitely don't like when they don't treat people nicely! 

I loved the friendship aspect of the story, it's such a vital element and I feel like some books don't acknowledge that fact, I love that the love aspect is almost non-existent and I really enjoyed the story in general - until the ending. 
This is a regular book about friendship until the last 50 pages or so and I think it was those pages which brought the rating down. I absolutely loved the first couple of chapters, I loved getting the basic plotline told from the narrator in the beginning and get a profile of the main character / narrator and then being plunged into the story but it went downhill from there! The first couple of chapters where probably my favorite thing about the entire book! 

I ended up giving Birdy 2 stars since I was quite disappointed but, as I previously mentioned, that probably has something to do with me going into this thinking it was a contemporary but I did enjoy it nonetheless!


2 comments:

  1. I think I'm still gonna try reading this because that plot was intriguing to me. I just finished reading Dangerous Girls (my review), and I think I'm in for another YA thriller :D

    Sorry to hear that it didn't work for you, AmandaEmma! xx

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    1. I hope you'll enjoy it once you do! I am sure I would have enjoyed it more having known it was a thriller but it's a great story nonetheless and I can definitely see a lot of people enjoying it!
      I'll have to read your review and see if I have to add Dangerous Girls to my TBR!

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