Shortlisted in Secondary category 2016

1. Ellie: It's been a while since I was last so encaptured by a story that I've stayed awake until half past three in the morning, just to finish it. Crow Mountain, however, had me trapped in this world - these world, where everything is the same but slightly different, identical situations but different outcomes. Though the amount of plot twists have the potential to be confusing, the parallels in the story mean that if you didn't understand it the first time through, there was usually the second account of almost the same thing happening, but in a different time period, in a slightly different situation. This made the story not only simpler to understand, but easier to see how the outcomes of the same situation could be affected by the time and surrounding. Overall, I loved this story, despite the endings, and plot twists, and foreshadowing.

2. Daniel: I found this book very boring and therefore I did not get past the 26th page this could be because I did not get into the book however when I looked it looked as if it got no more exiting. I found the book almost unreadable and I have read much more difficult things. The fact I am a boy is possibly not going to help as perhaps if I were a girl I may of thought that the more romantic bits were interesting. There were a couple of parts of the story that were good I thought it was actually written. I also thought it was a good idea that there was two separate characters who would both have a similar experience and I thought they linked well. I would not recommend it to any of my friends and will not continue with this author. I would have to give this book a low rating as I only got to page 26 and it was incredibly boring.

3. Grace: The book I read was called crow mountain by Lucy Inglis. I found the book very interesting and moving although some parts where quite boring and wordy. The book was very inspiring and interesting the book has to main characters Hope and Emily. I preferred hope she was the girl from the Morden day(Emily was the one from past. ) I found hopes thoughts and adventures gripping and page Turing . In comparison Emily's was very boring although gripping in parts but had moments off Borden and did not keep you hooked enough . Throughout the book I found that the start was okay some parts gripping however others were less. The middle part was very boring and went on for a bit some pits where all right more in Hope than in Emily . And I also found personally that the middle part did not grab your attention enough to real grip you to the book. The end bit was the best page turning gripping and exciting and I could not put it down! I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a hart warming story but also for someone who loves adventure . The reason I picked this book was because the picture on the front was really odd but in an inspiring way what grabbed my  attention. I would say personally that to read this book you need to have good determination because has ups and downs .Anyone who loves history ,war surprises, love, horse and freedom then this book would be for you . The age range I would say would probably be 12 to 13+. The part I found the best was when hope sore the bear. And her boyfriend cal got shot by the hart family and nearly died it kept you hooked and wanted to know what happened next. Over all I would give this book 4 and a half out of five.

4. Clarice: ‘Crow Mountain’ is one of the few books, from all the ones I have read, which really made me laugh and cry and feel compassion for the characters. I believe that Lucy Inglis is a brilliant and clever writer who expresses the character’s emotions and the situations the characters are in so well that the readers themselves would believe they were there, like I have felt every second I read the book, from start to finish.

Emily and Nate were by far my favourite characters in this novel. Their continuous fights made me smile and laugh for some were quite amusing, like when Emily would say something to Nate and he would mimic her. I felt like I was watching a 1950’s movie, which I always enjoy watching. You can tell that the author did a lot of research from the detailed descriptions and also some interesting facts from the novel.

I think that the history in the novel was very realistic, I felt like I was being taken to a very beautiful different world, where wild adventures are awaiting. A completely different world from where I now live. A world with wild Indians and rich nobles and the beautiful wilderness. I think she particularly captured the roles of all the different characters quite well, and the conversations the characters were having were thought of quite well too, I believe that that also helped quite a lot to capture the past, for if the characters weren’t having the proper conversations it wouldn’t have felt real and it wouldn’t have felt like the 1860’s, in my opinion she thought of the types of conversations the characters in those days would have quite well and the actions they did after that were also well thought of.

Also, the romance between the different characters was wonderful and sweet. Both girls, who had never been in the wild before, learn what it means to survive and what it means to truly live. It’s a wonderful love story between both characters, but also a sad ending, which made me cry, for Emily and Nate.

I also liked the plot of the story and how every chapter goes from one of the stories to another. I quite enjoyed learning about how people lived in America in the 19^th Century, and what they did for a living. It was also surprising to know that even though you were poor, or did not have lots of money, you could still live happily and be free to do as you please.

During the tale, I grew to hate Officer Hart, since he was the one that shot Nate and killed him, and his descendant (Officer Hart) because he as well shot Cal, but luckily, he didn’t die and was saved. I also grew to like the Indians in the story, especially those from Nate’s family. It felt as if they were not savages, even though they do seem like them in a few scenes, but acted with humanity and they cared a lot about others.

Overall I enjoyed this novel very much, and I think the author linked the characters quite well and made a beautiful story. I would definitely want to read another book from this author.

5. Aneesa: The English Hope and her mother are staying on a ranch in Montana. They're guests of the family who's running it and Hope's mother has work to do in the area. The ranch has been in the Crow family for several generations. Cal is the youngest family member and he's showing Hope around. In the 19th century an English girl named Emily also travelled to Montana. She's there to marry an American man, but meets someone special to her on the way. His name is Nate. Hope finds Emily's diary and reads it together with Cal. There are plenty of similarities between the lives of the two girls even though they lived in completely different times...

Crow Mountain consists of two stories, one set in the past and the other in the present. I found them both equally fantastic. I loved reading about Emily's life and her adventure. It was great to learn some more about Montana's history. I also really liked reading about Hope and Cal. They have quite a lot of issues to deal with and they're both strong people.  Lucy Inglis describes it so vividly that I wanted to go there immediately and the idea of traveling to Montana at some point is still in my head. I fell in love with the landscape just by reading about it in this book. Lucy Inglis chosen such an impressive area for her story, I really enjoyed finding out more about it.

Life isn't without sorrows and Lucy Inglis describes them in a beautiful way. I loved how she takes the time to get into the heads of her main characters. It makes the story both extra believable and very good. What surprised me the most was the ending of both stories. I found them equally strong. I love how she entwined the past and present together. Everything is exactly right and as it should be, I especially enjoyed the amazing setting, the excellent writing, the thorough research and the romance of both stories. I highly recommend Crow Mountain, it's a brilliant read.

6. Eve: I have read ‘Crow Mountain’, which is written by Lucy Inglis. It is Helen’s third book (other books by Lucy Inglis include City Halves and Georgian London: Into the Streets) and follows the stories of Hope, a teenager from England with a passion for writing, and Emily, also a English 16 year old, yet from the 19^th Century and destined to marry a man she has never met. Throughout the tale I became entranced by the stories of both characters and found the book impossible to put down.

The story begins when, while holiday in Montana, Hope meets local boy Cal Crow, a ranch hand. To Hope, this seems like the best holiday ever and an opportunity to escape from her loving, yet controlling mother. However, on a journey across the countryside, Cal’s car crashes and the two of them shelter in a mountain cabin with a strange history: more than a hundred years earlier, another English girl met a similar fate.

In this wild place, both girls learn what it means to fall in love… and their fates become intimately entwined.

I enjoyed both the parts of the book narrated by Emily and the sections written by Hope. Similarly, I found that all of the characters were thoroughly described and that the book was easy to understand. However, I found that there wasn’t enough of the book devoted to the historical aspect of the story. To conclude, I definitely will read more books of this genre or any other books written by Lucy Inglis, partly because I really enjoy romance books. Finally, I will recommend the book to my friends and family.

7. Katie: Crow Mountain is a history based novel showing the history of the 1860s mid-west America. The book is spilt into two with the occasional swap between the view of a modern day girl and the view of a girl from 1867.

Hope from 2015 England visits Montana with her mother (Meredith) for work purposes. Whilst there Hope and Meredith stayed with the Crows: a father and son who live on a farm. On the other hand Emily from 1867 England gets in an accident and is rescued by horse trader Nate. As the book goes on you see the two girls stories intertwine.

As soon as I started reading I feel in love with Emily and Nate’s characters and found myself looking forward to reading about them. At first I disliked Hope’s story and thought it could have been written with more excitement. But as I got through the book Hope’s story got better and became to like them much more.

I like the way the history was slipped in. The book was fairly factual, but it didn’t cover the entire story. The history element was nothing that I had covered at school and is an era I would like to look into a bit deeper. I have learnt the different ways people were treated and how they acted in this time. Also I learnt the roles people had in society in that time period.

In conclusion I found this book breath taking and beautiful. The way the story was written was careful and emotional. This book is extraordinary.

It's been a while since I was last so encaptured by a story that I've stayed awake until half past three in the morning, just to finish it. Crow Mountain, however, had me trapped in this world - these world, where everything is the same but slightly different, identical situations but different outcomes. Though the amount of plot twists have the potential to be confusing, the parallels in the story mean that if you didn't understand it the first time through, there was usually the second account of almost the same thing happening, but in a different time period, in a slightly different situation. This made the story not only simpler to understand, but easier to see how the outcomes of the same situation could be affected by the time and surrounding. Overall, I loved this story, despite the endings, and plot twists, and foreshadowing.

8. Daniel: I found this book very boring and therefore I did not get past the 26th page this could be because I did not get into the book however when I looked it looked as if it got no more exiting. I found the book almost unreadable and I have read much more difficult things. The fact I am a boy is possibly not going to help as perhaps if I were a girl I may of thought that the more romantic bits were interesting. There were a couple of parts of the story that were good I thought it was actually written. I also thought it was a good idea that there was two separate characters who would both have a similar experience and I thought they linked well. I would not recommend it to any of my friends and will not continue with this author. I would have to give this book a low rating as I only got to page 26 and it was incredibly boring.

9. Grace: The book I read was called crow mountain by Lucy Inglis. I found the book very interesting and moving although some parts where quite boring and wordy. The book was very inspiring and interesting the book has to main characters Hope and Emily. I preferred hope she was the girl from the Morden day(Emily was the one from past. ) I found hopes thoughts and adventures gripping and page Turing . In comparison Emily's was very boring although gripping in parts but had moments off Borden and did not keep you hooked enough . Throughout the book I found that the start was okay some parts gripping however others were less. The middle part was very boring and went on for a bit some pits where all right more in Hope than in Emily . And I also found personally that the middle part did not grab your attention enough to real grip you to the book. The end bit was the best page turning gripping and exciting and I could not put it down! I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a hart warming story but also for someone who loves adventure . The reason I picked this book was because the picture on the front was really odd but in an inspiring way what grabbed my  attention. I would say personally that to read this book you need to have good determination because has ups and downs .Anyone who loves history ,war surprises, love, horse and freedom then this book would be for you . The age range I would say would probably be 12 to 13+. The part I found the best was when hope sore the bear. And her boyfriend cal got shot by the hart family and nearly died it kept you hooked and wanted to know what happened next. Over all I would give this book 4 and a half out of five.

10. Clarice: ‘Crow Mountain’ is one of the few books, from all the ones I have read, which really made me laugh and cry and feel compassion for the characters. I believe that Lucy Inglis is a brilliant and clever writer who expresses the character’s emotions and the situations the characters are in so well that the readers themselves would believe they were there, like I have felt every second I read the book, from start to finish.

Emily and Nate were by far my favourite characters in this novel. Their continuous fights made me smile and laugh for some were quite amusing, like when Emily would say something to Nate and he would mimic her. I felt like I was watching a 1950’s movie, which I always enjoy watching. You can tell that the author did a lot of research from the detailed descriptions and also some interesting facts from the novel.

I think that the history in the novel was very realistic, I felt like I was being taken to a very beautiful different world, where wild adventures are awaiting. A completely different world from where I now live. A world with wild Indians and rich nobles and the beautiful wilderness. I think she particularly captured the roles of all the different characters quite well, and the conversations the characters were having were thought of quite well too, I believe that that also helped quite a lot to capture the past, for if the characters weren’t having the proper conversations it wouldn’t have felt real and it wouldn’t have felt like the 1860’s, in my opinion she thought of the types of conversations the characters in those days would have quite well and the actions they did after that were also well thought of.

Also, the romance between the different characters was wonderful and sweet. Both girls, who had never been in the wild before, learn what it means to survive and what it means to truly live. It’s a wonderful love story between both characters, but also a sad ending, which made me cry, for Emily and Nate.

I also liked the plot of the story and how every chapter goes from one of the stories to another. I quite enjoyed learning about how people lived in America in the 19^th Century, and what they did for a living. It was also surprising to know that even though you were poor, or did not have lots of money, you could still live happily and be free to do as you please.

During the tale, I grew to hate Officer Hart, since he was the one that shot Nate and killed him, and his descendant (Officer Hart) because he as well shot Cal, but luckily, he didn’t die and was saved. I also grew to like the Indians in the story, especially those from Nate’s family. It felt as if they were not savages, even though they do seem like them in a few scenes, but acted with humanity and they cared a lot about others.

Overall I enjoyed this novel very much, and I think the author linked the characters quite well and made a beautiful story. I would definitely want to read another book from this author.

11. Aneesa: The English Hope and her mother are staying on a ranch in Montana. They're guests of the family who's running it and Hope's mother has work to do in the area. The ranch has been in the Crow family for several generations. Cal is the youngest family member and he's showing Hope around. In the 19th century an English girl named Emily also travelled to Montana. She's there to marry an American man, but meets someone special to her on the way. His name is Nate. Hope finds Emily's diary and reads it together with Cal. There are plenty of similarities between the lives of the two girls even though they lived in completely different times... 

Crow Mountain consists of two stories, one set in the past and the other in the present. I found them both equally fantastic. I loved reading about Emily's life and her adventure. It was great to learn some more about Montana's history. I also really liked reading about Hope and Cal. They have quite a lot of issues to deal with and they're both strong people.  Lucy Inglis describes it so vividly that I wanted to go there immediately and the idea of traveling to Montana at some point is still in my head. I fell in love with the landscape just by reading about it in this book. Lucy Inglis chosen such an impressive area for her story, I really enjoyed finding out more about it.

Life isn't without sorrows and Lucy Inglis describes them in a beautiful way. I loved how she takes the time to get into the heads of her main characters. It makes the story both extra believable and very good. What surprised me the most was the ending of both stories. I found them equally strong. I love how she entwined the past and present together. Everything is exactly right and as it should be, I especially enjoyed the amazing setting, the excellent writing, the thorough research and the romance of both stories. I highly recommend Crow Mountain, it's a brilliant read.

12. Eve: I have read ‘Crow Mountain’, which is written by Lucy Inglis. It is Helen’s third book (other books by Lucy Inglis include City Halves and Georgian London: Into the Streets) and follows the stories of Hope, a teenager from England with a passion for writing, and Emily, also a English 16 year old, yet from the 19^th Century and destined to marry a man she has never met. Throughout the tale I became entranced by the stories of both characters and found the book impossible to put down.

The story begins when, while holiday in Montana, Hope meets local boy Cal Crow, a ranch hand. To Hope, this seems like the best holiday ever and an opportunity to escape from her loving, yet controlling mother. However, on a journey across the countryside, Cal’s car crashes and the two of them shelter in a mountain cabin with a strange history: more than a hundred years earlier, another English girl met a similar fate.

In this wild place, both girls learn what it means to fall in love… and their fates become intimately entwined.

I enjoyed both the parts of the book narrated by Emily and the sections written by Hope. Similarly, I found that all of the characters were thoroughly described and that the book was easy to understand. However, I found that there wasn’t enough of the book devoted to the historical aspect of the story. To conclude, I definitely will read more books of this genre or any other books written by Lucy Inglis, partly because I really enjoy romance books. Finally, I will recommend the book to my friends and family.

13. Katie: Crow Mountain is a history based novel showing the history of the 1860s mid-west America. The book is spilt into two with the occasional swap between the view of a modern day girl and the view of a girl from 1867.

Hope from 2015 England visits Montana with her mother (Meredith) for work purposes. Whilst there Hope and Meredith stayed with the Crows: a father and son who live on a farm. On the other hand Emily from 1867 England gets in an accident and is rescued by horse trader Nate. As the book goes on you see the two girls stories intertwine.

As soon as I started reading I feel in love with Emily and Nate’s characters and found myself looking forward to reading about them. At first I disliked Hope’s story and thought it could have been written with more excitement. But as I got through the book Hope’s story got better and became to like them much more.

I like the way the history was slipped in. The book was fairly factual, but it didn’t cover the entire story. The history element was nothing that I had covered at school and is an era I would like to look into a bit deeper. I have learnt the different ways people were treated and how they acted in this time. Also I learnt the roles people had in society in that time period.

In conclusion I found this book breath taking and beautiful. The way the story was written was careful and emotional. This book is extraordinary.