Floored Blog Tour!

"Velvet?"

That's the line I've drawn inspiration from for this post, and it's also the name of the character that the chapter this line is from focusses on. I really liked the opening section of Velvet's first chapter because it's really about her unusual name, and the kind of reactions she gets as a result.

My name also produces a lot of reactions.

- "Oh? Katrina? That's an unusual name."

- "You don't look like a Katrina."

- "Where are you from? Oh...Britain? But Katrina is an Indian/ Irish/ Greek/ Scottish/ Polish/ Martian name. Are you sure you don't have family there?

- "Katrina? Spelt with a K?" *disapproving glare, proceeds to ramble on about the number of people killed and injured in various parts of the world during Hurricane Katrina, somehow insinuates that it's all my fault.*

- And...my least favourite? "Katrina? Oh like--" *proceeds to sing, dance to or hum the tune of Walking On Sunshine by Katrina & The Waves*

Sigh.

But it got me thinking a lot about what I could do with this post, as I've already reviewed the book here. And in an effort to give a spoiler free way of getting to know the characters a bit better (and get Walking On Sunshine out of my head) I decided to pick seven songs that I think represent the characters in the book or a situation they face, and the book as a whole, without telling you guys which characters they represent.

So here they are!

1) 'My Father's House' by Bruce Springsteen.

2) 'Hero' by Mariah Carey.

3) 'Puppy Love' by Donny Osmond.

4) 'Ka-Ching' by Shania Twain.

5) 'Walk Of Shame' by P!nk.

6) 'The Blower's Daughter' by Damien Rice.

7) 'Crowded Elevator' by Incubus.

Well guys, I hope you liked my list! If you've read the book, I'd love to hear your ideas on which songs match which characters and why! If not, then I thoroughly recommend it, it's a great book!

Also, I'm part of a week long blog tour with six other blogs. Please feel free to check out their posts too! The schedule below will let you know if you've missed anything and what's to come!

Book Review: Floored; Various.

I had a list of ten books I was highly anticipating getting early, and this was one of them. And lucky me, my dream came true! Not only that, but I've also been selected to be part of the Blog Tour prior to it's release. So you can imagine I went into this book very excited!

SOURCE: Publisher Sent ARC
TYPE: Paperback

TITLE: Floored
AUTHOR: Sara Barnard, Holly Bourne, Tanya Byrne, Non Pratt, Melinda Salisbury, Lisa Williamson & Eleanor Wood
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: Macmillan Kids UK
PAGES: 320
GENRE: Young Adult, Contemporary

RATING: 4/5 Stars

Blurb:
When they got in the lift, they were strangers (though didn't that guy used to be on TV?): Sasha, who is desperately trying to deliver a parcel; Hugo, who knows he's the best-looking guy in the lift and is eyeing up Velvet, who knows what that look means when you hear her name and it doesn't match the way she looks, or the way she talks; Dawson, who was on TV, but isn't as good-looking as he was a few years ago and is desperately hoping no one recognises him; Kaitlyn, who's losing her sight but won't admit it, and who used to have a poster of Dawson on her bedroom wall, and Joe, who shouldn't be here at all, but who wants to be here the most.

And one more person, who will bring them together again on the same day every year.

What I Liked:

• These authors are all seriously talented. It's hard to put together a cohesive book with seven POVs, and I imagine it's actually even harder to have everyone agree on things and to do so cohesively. After all, the phrase 'too many cooks spoil the broth' exists for a reason. That being said, they did a wonderful job!
• I really liked the characters and their development, particularly personality-wise. Some characters went through a major epiphany (I'm looking at you Hugo) while others were much more subtle about it. But they definitely all changed and it was fun to read.

What I Disliked:

• Even though I felt that the characters developed well, the context and characters that surrounded their lives were a little bit vague. Each meeting is a year apart and a lot happens in a year, but I still came out of this story feeling that I didn't know them all that well. It was very much a novel of fleeting moments.

Overall Conclusion:

Despite the lack of connection to everyone (aside from Hugo, who was an awful human being but made me laugh and root for him like nothing else) I did enjoy this book a lot. They all had great personalities and watching them interact and 'take sides' in certain situations was a lot of fun. I just wish we could have got to know their lives outside of the meetings a little better and had a little more in the way of story. The narrator did a great job of bringing themes and threads together and played a huge part in making this work.