Book Tag: The Royal Court Book Tag

Hello and Welcome to Book Tag Thursday, this week I thought I’d base the book tag around Royalty because I’m taking part in TheRoyalReadathon. I’ve chosen to use the The Royal Court Book Tag created by Crazy4Books on Amino
Without further ado, here’s the tag:

1. Kingdom: Every Court Needs a Kingdom – What Fictional World Would You Rule Over?
   The obvious answer especially for me would be Hogwarts. Except Hogwarts doesn’t really have a ruler and I damn sure don’t want to be the Minister for Magic. So, I suppose I’d like to rule Wonderland. I recently read Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Caroll and Heartless – Marissa Meyer and I did love the world. I liked how crazy everything was and how nothing as as you expected. I reckon that would be an interesting place to rule. 
   
   
2. Consort: Life At The Top Can Get Lonely – Pick Your Partner in Crime/ Book Crush
   I have so many, and I have to admit not a lot of them would make great rulers at my side. The first one that sprang to mind was Daemon Black from Obsidian but that would just end in complete scandal. Cardan Greenbriar, I mean he’s got experience in ruling but after being king would he want to be a consort? This is a difficult question. Seth from Moxie? He’d be such a sweet king. I think I’ll have to pick Jace Wayland from The Mortal Instruments. He’s cool and sarcastic and I love him enough that I’ll overlook anything bad he does. 
   
   

3. Heir: Someone Needs to Keep Your Legacy Going – Pick a Royal Character Who Deserves to Rule After You
   Without a doubt, Jude from The Cruel Prince. She’s smart, she’s badass and I think she’ll make a great queen. 
   

4. Royal Guard: Being a Ruler Comes With Many Dangers – Pick a Character You Trust To Have Your Back
   Again, this one wasn’t hard. Celaena Sardothian. I’ve only read the first book in The Throne of Glass Series. But I definitely wouldn’t mess with her. She’d 100% cut a bitch. 
   
   

5. Adviser: Its Nice to Have Someone to Blame When Things Go Wrong – Pick a Character Who Usually Has Great Advice
   – This one might be slightly controversial. But I would have to pick Dumbledore. He’s such a smart person. People can bitch about his morals and how he basically raised Harry as a lamb for the slaughter all they want but Dumbledore was still a smart smart man and usually gave great advice. 
   

   

6. Spy Master/Assassin: You Have to Set an Example – Pick a Character Who Would Destroy Your Enemies
   Daemon Black from Obsidian. He’d protect me. 
   

   

7. Court Magician: When Brutal Force Doesn’t Work, Magic is the Answer – Pick a Character With Useful Powers
   Useful powers? Useful Powers? I’ve got it. MAGNUS BANE! High Warlock of Brooklyn! Hello. Obviously. 
   
   

8. Diplomats: You Need Someone to Make Favourable Trade Deals, or Perhaps Prevent a War – Pick a Character Who’s Great At Manipulating Others
   Part of me wants to say Jude again because she’s a master manipulater, but I suppose I’ll go with Binti from Binti – Nnedi Okorafor. Binti literally stops a war from happening in the first book. She’d be a great addition to my court. 
   
   

9. General: Sometimes War Is Inevitable – Pick a Strategic Character to Defend Your Kingdom And Lead Your Army
   Alec Lightwood. This is not a request. This is not up for debate. I need Alec to lead my army. 
   
   

10. Stable Master: All Life Must Flourish In Your Kingdom – Pick an Animal Companion
    The White Rabbit? He’s already in Wonderland so why not? I think he’d be awesome. If not a little cowardly. 
    
    

11. Court Jester: Life As a Ruler Can Get Stressful -Pick a Book/Character That Made You Laugh
    I’d want Alex and Henry from Red, White and Royal Blue to amuse me with their banter and their insults. If not them, I’d have to say Jest from Heartless. The original court jester. I can’t promise I won’t fall in love with him though. 
    

    

12. Usurper: There Will Always Be Someone After The Throne – Pick a Villain Who Would Make a Worthy Opponent
    Madoc from The Cruel Prince? Valentine from The Mortal Instruments? Prince Dain from The Cruel Prince, sneaky little bastard? Either of them would work. 
    
    

13. Nobles: The Courts Life Blood – Who Do You Tag?
    Everyone, everyone that reads this post. Who would be in your court?
    

Book Review: The Cruel Prince – Holly Black

Title: The Cruel Prince
Author: Holly Black 
Publication Date: 2nd January 2018
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers 
Series / Stand Alone: Series
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 370
The Format I read: Ebook/ Audiobook
Amazon
Goodreads 
Rating:

Synopsis from Goodreads:
Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.
And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.
Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.
To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.
As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

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Man, I really liked this book. I really enjoyed Holly Black’s writing style. I was glued to the book since I started reading it. I even had to read the 1.5 book The Lost Sisters which is only 50 pages long just because I thought that it would give me more of an insight in to the story but it was just a retelling of Taryn’s story from The Cruel Prince in her point of view. It was a good read but I felt like I didn’t really achieve anything from reading it, but I gave it three stars. 

The Cruel Prince takes place in the fantasy world of faerie. We start with our main character Jude who’s mother and father are murdered and she’s whisked away with her two sisters (Taryn and Vivianne) to live in faerie and be raised by her older sisters biological father and her parents murderer Madoc and his wife Oriana. Jude lives among the gentry which are like Dukes and Duchesses and people in the favour of The Crown. Speaking of which, Eldred the High King is about to abdicat his throne in favour of one of his six children, Balekin, Dain, Elowyn, Caelia, Rhyia,or Cardan. The latter of which is Jude’s sworn enemy.  This is where all the trouble starts, because as with every story with a throne, there is always someone ready to kill for it. 

This book was intense. Like really intense but I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed reading about Jude and her unquenchable thirst for trying to find her place in faerie. I have to admit I really did not like her sister Taryn. I didn’t like her even more after reading the novella that’s in her perspective. I know thats clearly the idea of the author to make her one of the villans and stuff but I’m hoping that she can redeem herself in The Wicked King because she was just nasty.

Cardan, oh Cardan. How to put my feelings in to words for this character, well lets start out by just saying this boy is clearly an arsehole. He’s not even a smart arsehole but in some weird way I still really liked his character. I like how consistent he was. He didn’t pretend to be anything he wasn’t at any point unlike the majority of the cast of characters. He just simply was, Cardan the arsehole and I was strangely attached to his character. 

Alright, lets talk about the real villan here. Locke, you absolute cretin. God. How I hated his character. I really have to give Holly Black her dues here. I haven’t hated a character this much since I read Lola and the boy next door – Stephanie Perkins. I hated this boy. He was rude, he was presumptuous, he pretended to be so much better than Cardan and Nicasia and Valerian and he was so much worse and I hated that. I hated the way he said he loved ‘Dramatics’ and how’ if there wasn’t a story he’d make one’. Oh this boy. Nah. Throw him off a cliff. 

I honestly can’t recommend The Cruel Prince enough, I’m hopefully going to be reading The Wicked King next month and I’ll be back with another review, but if you’re looking for a good fantasy read to lose yourself in. This is the one. 

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? (11/01/2021 – 17/01/18)

It’s Monday again! Man that last week just flew. I was on annual leave from work and I got so much reading done. Inbetween cleaning the house, bathing my dog, painting my kitchen and just doing all the basic tasks and DIYs that I’ve been putting off for weeks. 

Anyway, this coming week. I am back to working my three days a week again now so I probably wont read five books in a week again… Or maybe. Lol. No I won’t but it’s nice to dream isn’t it? If you want to know what books I read then you can check out my wrap up. It’s here. 

So, I’d really like it if I managed to read the following books 

Royally Lost – Angie Stanton. 
This is another for TheRoyalReadathon. I’m doing so well with these challenges. This one completes the Prince Charming challenge (A book with love at first sight)

City of Bones – Cassandra Clare. 
Oh my love. My favourite book or the one that always competes with Simon Vs The Homo Sapians Agenda for my favourite book. I love this book. I adore this book. I’m sure if you’ve read my review then you’ll know my feelings for Jace Wayland and if you don’t, just know that I am very very attracted to him. More than you should be attracted to a fictional character in my opinion. But, anyway, I want to reread so I can read the entire Shadowhunter Chronicles this year. 

Heiress Apparently – Diana Ma
Another for TheRoyalReadathon. I’m so very ready to dive in to this book. The cover is stunning and the concept is very Monte Carlo. 

Sex, Lies and Headlocks: The Real Story of Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment – Shaun Assael and Mike Mooneyham
This is another solid read that I am actually excited to read, my sister recommended this as my non fiction book for this month and I’m so ready to delve in to the scandal.

 

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So, What are you reading this week?

It’s Sunday, Wrap Up The Week! (04/01/2021 – 10/01/2021)

Hello! Welcome to Sunday. It’s the end of the week and I am here to tell you all about the books I’ve read this week and the content I’ve posted in case you’ve missed anything. 😀 

So, This week I was supposed to read four books. I have read five! 

I’ve read, 
Binti – Nnedi Okorafor 
The Cruel Prince – Holly Black 
The Lost Sisters – Holly Black 
Obsidian – Jennifer L Armentrout 
To Kill a Kingdom – Alexandra Christo 

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This week was such a successful reading week, I’ve completed challenge for TheRoyalReadathon and My Pop Sugar Reading Challenge. I am so happy with where I’ve landed after the first proper reading week of 2021. Lets hope the following weeks are just as successful. I’ve posted the following content should you wish to peruse. 

January 2021 Deck of TBR
It’s Monday, what are you reading?
Book Review: Red, White and Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston
Book Tag: Totally Should’ve Tag
Book Review: Binti – Nnedi Okorafor
It’s Sunday, Wrap Up The Week (This post)

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Here’s to starting off 2021 right 🙂

Book Review: Binti – Nnedi Okorafor

Title: Binti
Author: Nnedi Okorafor
Publication Date: Septemeber 22nd 2015 
Publisher: Tor.com
Series / Stand Alone: Series
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Novella
Pages: 96
The Format I read: Ebook/ Audiobook
Amazon
Goodreads 
Rating:

Synopsis from Goodreads: 
Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.
Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti’s stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.
If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself – but first she has to make it there, alive. 

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Man, what can I say about this book? I have so many thoughts about a book that’s only 96 pages long. I really enjoyed this book and I don’t often enjoy science fiction/fantasy. I tried to put 4.5 Stars which is what I actually gave this book but I can’t work out how to put half stars in Canva, please someone tell me.

Anyway, this book is about a Himba girl called Binti. She is the first of her people to be offered a place at Oomza University which is a really prestigious place. Her family don’t want her to go because shes a master harmonizer and will take over her fathers business when he retires, but Binti chooses to go anyway and runs away in the middle of the night to catch the ship to the Uni. Obviously, you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men
(The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry No matter how carefully a project is planned, something may still go wrong with it).
Binti’s trip to the university doesn’t go as planned and she soon finds herself fighting for her life on board the ship to Oomza Uni. The Meduse are looking to reclaim something of theirs which was stolen and they’re not afraid of war to get it back.

Even though this book was only 96 pages in this book it was amazing, I really enjoyed the style of writing where the author described the differences between the cultures of the Koush and the Himba. I liked the horror concept behind the Meduse storming the ship and murdering almost the entire ship of people and part of me really liked the conclusion as well. I didn’t see it coming, maybe other seasoned professionals in science fiction would have seen the ending coming from a mile away but as someone that hasn’t read a lot of science fiction or fantasy in their life I can honestly recommend this to someone who is thinking of taking a walk on the science fiction side of life. 

I used this book to complete the second challenge in the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2021, Read Afrofuturist book. So, if anyone needs something for that challenge then I highly recommended this one. 

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Book Tag: Totally Should’ve Tag

The Totally Should’ve Book Tag was created by EmmmaBooks on YouTube so definitely go and check that out. This book tag takes a series of random situations to do with books and you have to say what book (or books) you would like to see that situation apply to.

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Totally Should’ve… Gotten A Sequel
Five Feet Apart – Rachel Lippincott. I know it had a pretty solid ending. But part of me wanted to see what would happen after they found each other again. Maybe I’m a sucker for romance. Maybe I love a good doomed romance. I don’t know but that’s the book that came to mind when I read the question.

Totally Should’ve… Had A Spin-Off Series
Red, White and Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston. This book was amazing. I want more. I want to know more about Alex, I want to know more about Henry. I want to know what happened after their happy ever after. I want to know!

Author Who Should Totally… Write More Books
Lev A.C Rosen. I read Jack Of Hearts And Other Parts and I am obsessed. That was so good. That writer needs to write more books so I can read them all! 

A character who totally should’ve… Ended up with someone else
Finally, I finally have an answer for this question .  Both Lucy and Owen from The Geography of You and Me – Jennifer E Smith should have ended up with different people in my opinion.  They probably should have ended up with Liam and Paisley, that’s just my opinion on the whole book.  Review

Totally should’ve… Ended differently
Right, this is a weird one. But Esio Trot – Roald Dahl. Now, this book if you read it as an adult you’ll realise that its quite a nasty book. He stole her tortoise and then donated it to an animal home. Then somehow, the woman is not even slightly bothered by that and still chose to marry him. Nah. I’m sorry. Anyone touches my dog and I’d do time for the pleasure of decapitating them. 

Totally should’ve… Had a movie franchise
Hush Hush – Becca Fitzpatrick. Please, Please. Someone make this in to a film. Just so I can see who’s cast as Patch! Please!! 

Totally should’ve… Had a TV series
My first thought for this was Looking For Alaska – John Green but I realised that it already has a TV series on BBC and you can bet I’ll be watching that. Other than that I’d have to go with S.T.A.G.S – M A Bennett. I really enjoyed that novel and I’d like to see a TV adaptation. 

Totally should’ve… Only had one point of view
I notoriously dislike books where they switch POV during the story so I don’t really have an answer for this one. 

Totally should… Have a cover change
Personally, I haven’t read these books yet but my sister has these on her bookshelves and I just don’t like the look of them. The Bloodlines series – Richelle Mead. Just no. Change please. 

Totally should’ve… Have kept the original covers
Can I say that I want them to change The Court Of Thorns and Roses – Sarah J Maas back to the way it was? God, I loved those covers. Maybe I’m in the minority here but I think the old covers were so much better. 

Totally should’ve… Stopped at one book
The Kissing Booth – Beth Reekles. I just hated the ending. Why was Joel a dick? Why did it have to go down like it did? I just didn’t like the drama, some people should just grow up. Drama can be good for a book but it was so unnessacary. Even when I watch the movie, I’m just thinking “Oh you big baby” the whole time he’s ignoring her. Teenage boys are the worst. Then the sequal “The Beach House” just why? 

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I tag anyone that reads this post and wants to take part 😀 Spread the reading love.

Book Review: Red, White and Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston

Title: Red, White and Royal Blue
Author: Casey McQuiston
Publication Date: 14th May 2019
Publisher: St Martins Griffin 
Series / Stand Alone: Stand Alone
Genre: Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary,LGBT
Pages: 421
The Format I read: Ebook/ Audiobook
Amazon
Goodreads 
Rating:

Synopsis from Goodreads:
First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations. The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince.
As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?

Oh my God. This book.
Well, lets start by saying this was the first book of 2021 that I read and I hope that’s a sign for whats to come. This book was phenomenal, I loved it.
I read the audioook / ebook of this one, I half listen and I half read along with the ebook version on my kindle. Thank Jesus for Scribd. Honestly. I think Scribd and it’s audiobook are going to be a life saver this year.

This book made me laugh out loud a few times, those Harry Potter references really made me chuckle. “Who do you think you’re kidding, you hufflepuff ass bitch?”
There’s nothing quite like hearing that whilst you’re listening to an audiobook, I was pretty much sold from that point if I’m honest. The characters of this book are going down as some of my favourite that I’ve read ever. I wish I was their best friend, I really do. I want to know more about their lives. I want to know what happens after the book ends! Basically, I want a sequel. I don’t care if the story is wrapped up. Humour me. Please.

Red, White and Royal Blue follows Alex (First Son) and Henry (Prince of Wales), at first it appears like they hate each other, then not so much. Nothing quite like hiding in a closet from a would be terrorist attack to pull two lovers together right. Perfect forshadowing for what was to come. Alex and Henry become friends and somewhere down the line that most stories follow, they became more that friends. All of that would be fine and dandy and a beautiful love story if there wasn’t an election and the ‘sanctity’ of the crown at state should anyone find out about their rendezvous.

Honestly, I can’t fault Casey McQuiston’s writing, I was on edge for most of the book. I actually ignored a phone call towards the end because I just had to know what was gong to happen. I was hooked. I shipped them like crazy. I haven’t found a couple that I rooted for this much since I read Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda. Coincidentally also about a closeted gay couple, I’m beginning to think I have a type.

The quotes in this book, lets talk about those. I had so many that I loved.

O, fathers of my bloodline! O, ye kings of olde! Take this crown from me, bury me in my ancestral soil. If only you had known the mighty work of thine loins would be undone by a gay heir who likes it when American boys with chin dimples are mean to him.

And Another, this ones my favourite 😀

“First, you’ve been, like, Draco Malfoy–level obsessed with Henry for years—do not interrupt me—and since the royal wedding, you’ve gotten his phone number and used it not to set up any appearances but instead to long-distance flirt with him all day every day.”

Nothing quite like an sassy big sister. Love it. I can’t even explain to you how happy this book made me, there’s a female president. Theres a gay person in the British Royal Family. There’s a genuine love scene at Wimbledon. Come on now. I mean, what more could you want in a romance.

”He wants to set himself on fire, but he can’t afford for anyone to see him burn.”

Trigger Warnings for sexual content, homophobia, racism, past death of a loved one, anxiety and being outed. But that being said, it’s in my opinion a fantastic book and I highly highly recommend. I will go down with this ship.

Happy Reading 😀

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? (04/01/2021)

Here we are, the first It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? of 2021. I’m so excited. My New Year of reading has already gotten off to a fantastic start. I’ve finished one book already, (only 99 to go) I read Red, White and Royal Blue – Casey Mcquiston, I gave this book 4.5 Stars and I’ll hopefully be uploading a review soon 😀

Anyway, this week. I’m actually off work for 95% of this week because I’m on annual leave, so I’m hoping to make a dent in my TBR for January and my TBR for TheRoyalsReadathon. So, I’d like to read:

To Kill A Kingdom – Alexandra Christo

This is the prompt for Prince Eric in TheRoyalsReadathon, I have read this book before and I loved it, so I’m excited for a reread. My previous review is linked here

The Cruel Prince – Holly Black

I’ve been trying to read this book for so long. My library has the audiobook of this and I need to read it for my January Deck of TBR, my TheRoyalsReadathon TBR (Prince Floridan and Prince Phillip challenges) and my Pop Sugar Reading Challenge ( Challenge 46: A book I meant to read last year). So, yeah. I have to read this and I have to read this soon!

Binti – Nnedi Okorafor

This is challenge 2 for The Pop Sugar Reading Challenge (An Afro-futuristic Book) and also on my January Deck Of TBR. I’ve seen this book floating around a couple of times and I’d like to give it a shot, I’ll let you know my thoughts.

And finally, I’d like to read Obsidian – Jennifer L Armentrout

This is also part of my TheRoyalsReadathon TBR (Prince Naveen) and on my Pop Sugar Reading Challenge (Challenge 7: Where the main character has your dream job). I’ve been meaning to read this one for a while, so here to finally completing some backlist books!

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So, that’s what I’m hoping to read this week. What about you?

January 2021 Deck of TBR

Here we are! A Brand New Year of Reading! Honestly I’m so excited about this year. I am so ready to devour these books.

So the game is inspired and almost identical to the one from BookswithMaddi on Youtube. Go check her out. She’s incredible.

Anyway, here are the picks for this month. I pick six books to read from the deck. Then I try and read one non-fiction book and one new release so I can review it on this blog.

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Pick One : 2 of Clubs. Which is a book with a pretty cover. I chose to read a book that only came out in December. Heiress Apparently – Diana Ma. This cover is stunning. I am obsessed with it and I cannot wait to see what the book has in store for me.

Pick Two: 8 of Spades. Which is Listen To An Audiobook From Borrowbox. I scrolled through and the only one that really jumped out was The Cruel Prince – Holly Black. I am so ready to read this. I’ve heard amazing things about this trilogy

Pick Three: Queen of Spades. This is a TBR Jar Pick for me. I used a random number generater to generate between 1 and 2 for my series or standalone TBR Jars and it came out with 1. Which is my Standalone TBR Jar. After some rooting around I picked out Our Own Private Universe – Robin Tally. This is an Own Voices F/F romance and I am all about reading more diversity this year.

Pick Four: 4 of Spades. (This was the third spades I’d pulled out and as such I needed to add another pick to the list. so I’ll be picking 7 cards instead of 6)
This was an LGBTQA+ book and I have 39 of those on my shelf. I did a random number generater and came out with number 33 which happened to be Red, White and Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston

Pick Five: Jack of Diamonds. A Jack is a free pick for me. I can chose to read literally any book that I want. I’m trying to read the Shadowhunter Chronicles – Cassandra Clare this year. So, I think I’ll make a dent in that and read City of Bones – Cassandra Clare.

Pick Six: 10 of Hearts. This was combine 2 prompts. I combined read a fantasy and read an Own Voices and I shall be reading Binti – Nnedi Okorafor. This is one of the books I need to read for The Pop Sugar Reading Challenge and I’m eager to read as many as I can.

Finally, Pick Seven: 4 of Clubs. This was to read a book under 250 pages and again I looked to my Pop Sugar Reading Challenge for inspiration and I shall be reading The Lost Sisters – Holly Black. I want to read this once I’ve read The Cruel Prince. It’s only 50 pages long

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That was the last of the picks from the deck of cards, the other two books I’d like to read this month are Sex, Lies and Headlocks: The Real Story of Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment – Shaun Assael and Mike Mooneyham. My sister recommended this book when I told her that I wanted to read more Wrestling Biographies, so that’s my non fiction book for this month.

And the January 2021 release I want to read is 11 Paper Hearts by Kelsey Hartwell. This comes out tomorrow (January 5th), it’s about a girl that follows a trail of paper hearts to a secret admirer and I just think it sounds so cute. I love fluffy romance YA. So, I’ll be reading this one.

So, What are your reading plans for January 2021?

It’s Sunday, Wrap Up The Year! (2020 Edition)

Welcome to the first Sunday of 2021. I need to wrap up 2020 and tell you about the books I read and the content that I put out. I read 35 books last year which to me is amazing because I really wasn’t putting reading first last year. I was watching a lot of TV, I was working a lot with the pandemic and I just wasn’t able to give reading the right amount of focus, which I’m hoping to change in 2021.

I read the following books,
1) By Your Side – Kasie West
2) Lucky In Love – Kasie West
3) Girl Online – Zoe Sugg
4)Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts) Lev AC Rosen
5)Infinity – Sarah Dessen
6) Paper Towns – John Green
7) Welcome to Dead House – R L Stine
8) Stay Out Of The Basement – R L Stine
9) Monster Blood – R L Stine
10) Say Cheese and Die – R L Stine
11) Heartstopper Volume 1 – Alice Oseman
12) Heartstopper Volume 2 – Alice Oseman
13) Heart Stopper The Mini Comics – Alice Oseman
14) Heartstopper Volume 3 – Alice Oseman
15) Nick and Charlie – Alice Oseman
16) This Winter – Alice Oseman
17) Clique Bait – Ann Valett
18) Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone – JK Rowling
19) I Hate You More – Alexandra Moody
20) Incomparable – Nikki and Brie Bella
21) Welcome to Camp Slither – R L Stine
22) The Geography of Me and You – Jennifer E Smith
23) The Enemy Within – Phillipa Hopwood
24) Love, Creekwood – Becky Albertalli
25) Lets Get Invisible – R L Stine
26) Night Of The Living Dummy – R L Stine
27) The Vampire’s Throne – A J Tipton
28) Escape From The Carnival Of Horrors – R L Stine
29) Throne of Glass – Sarah J Maas
30) Alices Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carrol
31) Through The Looking Glass and What Alice Found There – Lewis Carrol
32) Abby and The Cute One – Erin Butler
33) Return to Wonderland – Peter Bunzi
34) Looking For Alaska – John Green
35) Heartless – Marissa Meyer

As you can see from above and the lack of links, I didn’t post a lot of content this year but that will hopefully be changing in the coming year. I want to create a blogging schedule that is easy to keep up with and then I won’t fall behind. I want to try and broaden my reading horizons. I’ve been watching a lot of TBR game videos and I think I’d like to take part in one of the games every month, but I’ll get back to that in another post. I would like to read more non fiction and obviously I’d like to make more of a dent in my 21 series to read before 2025.

So, Here’s to what will hopefully be a prosperous and bountiful reading year!!!

Book Review: Looking For Alaska – John Green

Title: Looking For Alaska
Author: John Green
Publication Date: 1st of March 2011
Publisher: Harper Collins Children’s Books
Series / Stand Alone: Stand Alone
Genre: Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary, Coming of Age
Pages: 268
The Format I read: Paperback/ Audiobook
Amazon
Goodreads 
Rating:

Firstly, I feel the need to address that previous to a few days ago I’d only read two John Green novels and to say that I wasn’t completely sold on his writing style was an understatement. However, after reading Looking For Alaska I feel the need to change my opinion. This book made me feel things that I haven’t previously felt when reading a John Green book. This book was raw and emotional in a way that The Fault In Our Stars hadn’t made me feel.
I really enjoyed this book, I enjoyed it so much that I managed to read all 268 pages in a matter of hours. Regardless of what needed to be done that day I found myself unable to put the book down until I reached the conclusion. .

Looking For Alaska is about a teenage boy called Miles ‘Pudge’ Halter. Miles reads a couple of autobiographies and realises that he wants to ‘Seek a Great Parhaps.’ In realising this he also realises that he won’t find this ‘Great Parhaps’ in Flordia so instead enrolls at a prestigious boarding school called Culver Creek in Alabama. When he arrives he first meets his roommate Chip Martin or Colonel and then Colonel introduces him to Alaska Young. Now, Miles immediately falls deeply deeply in love with Alaska but sadly she has a boyfriend and is completely uninterested. A few weeks and pranks down the line tragedy strikes for Miles and Colonel and they have to figure out what it all means by whats left behind.
I realise that wasn’t the best summery I could have wrote but I am trying my hardest to avoid spoilers. Anyway, John Green really has a knack for writing about troubled and impulsive teenage girls. However, I have to admit Alaska didn’t get on my nerves anywhere near as much as Margo (Papertowns). Alaska was a raw and well fleshed out character that had me hooked from the start, she came across as the kind of girl you meet and never quite fully manage to understand which poor Miles does learn towards the end of the book.

“So we gave up. I’d finally had enough of chasing after a ghost that didn’t want to the seen. We’d failed. Maybe. But some mysteries aren’t meant to be solved”

The quotes in this book had me stopping almost every 50 pages to highlight so I’d remember them. They were amazing.

“The snow maybe falling in the winter of my discontent, but at least I’ve got sarcastic company”

I do feel like I should note that there should be trigger warnings for smoking, sexual but not graphic content, underage drinking and swearing. Personally as a 23 year old none of these really bothered me but I would think twice before handing this book to a younger audience.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone, if you’ve read the fault in our stars and loved it then read this one, if you read it and hated it then read this one. This was John Green’s debut novel and so far I have to say it’s my favourite. Looking For Alaska has recently become a series of 8 episdoes on the BBC so if you like the sound of the storyline but would prefer to watch the series then that’s always an option

Happy Reading!

Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2021 TBR

It’s that time of year where I’ll be attempting to complete the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge, I have a blast doing this every year! Check back in at a later date to see my progress.

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A book that’s published in 2021
Heartstopper Volume 4 -Alice Oseman

An Afrofuturist book
Binti – Nnedi Okorafor

A book that has a heart, diamond, club, or spade on the cover
The Royal We – Heather Cocks

A book by an author who shares your zodiac sign
Crown of Midnight – Sarah J Maas (Pisces)

A dark academia book
A Deadly Education – Naomi Novik

A book with a gem, mineral, or rock in the title
An Ember In The Ashes – Sabaa Tahir

A book where the main character works at your current or dream job
Obsidian – Jennifer L Armentrout (Book Blogger)

A book that has won the Women’s Prize For Fiction
The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller

A book with a family tree
We Were Liars – E Lockhart

A bestseller from the 1990s
The Perks of Being A Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky

A book about forgetting
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue – V E Schwab

A book you have seen on someone’s bookshelf (in real life, on a Zoom call, in a TV show, etc.)
The Novice – Taran Matharu

A locked-room mystery
There’s Someone In Your House – Stephanie Perkins (Reread)

A book set in a restaurant
A Pho Love Story – Loan Le

A book with a black-and-white cover
Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs (Reread)

A book by an Indigenous author
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A book that has the same title as a song
Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote
Loveless – Alice Oseman

A book about a subject you are passionate about
The Royals – Kitty Kelley

A book that discusses body positivity
Get a life, Chloe Brown – Tahalia Hibbert

A book found on a Black Lives Matter reading list
The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas

A genre hybrid
From Blood and Ash – Jennifer L Armentrout

A book set mostly or entirely outdoors
The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins (It’s time)

A book with something broken on the cover
House of Earth and Blood – Sarah J Maas

A book by a Muslim American author
Shatter Me – Tahereh Mafi

A book that was published anonymously
The Bad Begining – Lemony Snicket

A book with an oxymoron in the title
Midnight Sun – Stephanie Meyer

A book about do-overs or fresh starts
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig

A magical realism book
Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief – Rick Rioridan

A book set in multiple countries
Red, White and Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston

A book set somewhere you’d like to visit in 2021
Clockwork Angel – Cassandra Clare

A book by a blogger, vlogger, YouTube creator, or other online personality
An Abundance of Katherines – John Green

A book whose title starts with “Q,” “X,” or “Z”
The Queen Of The Tearling – Erika Johansen

A book featuring three generations (grandparent, parent, child)
The Princess Diaries – Meg Cabot

A book about a social justice issue
Moxie – Jennifer Mathieu (Reread)

A book in a different format than what you normally read (audiobooks, ebooks, graphic novels)
The Tea Dragon Society – Katie O Neil

A book that has fewer than 1,000 reviews on Amazon or Goodreads
Aimee and the Heartthrob – Ophelia London

A book you think your best friend would like
Soundless – Richelle Mead

A book about art or an artist
Isla and the Happily Ever After – Stephanie Perkins (Reread)

A book everyone seems to have read but you
Illuminae – Aimee Kafman and Jay Kristoff

Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge
A Book With ‘love’ in the title:
Endless Love – Scott Spencer

Advanced:

• The longest book (by pages) on your TBR list
  Outlander – Diana Gabledon
• The shortest book (by pages) on your TBR list
  The Lost Sisters – Holly Black
• The book on your TBR list with the prettiest cover
  American Royals – Katherine Mcgee
• The book on your TBR list with the ugliest cover
  Onyx – Jennifer L Armentrout
• The book that’s been on your TBR list for the longest amount of time
  Half Blood – Jennifer L Armentrout
• A book from your TBR list you meant to read last year but didn’t
  The Cruel Prince -Holly Black
• A book from your TBR list you associate with a favorite person, place, or thing
  City of Bones – Cassandra Clare (Reread) (Because of my tattoo)
• A book from your TBR list chosen at random
  To Kill A Kingdom – Alexandra Christo
• A DNF book from your TBR list
  Vampire Academy -Richelle Mead
• A free book from your TBR list (gifted, borrowed, library)
  The Young Elites – Marie Lu

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What Will You Be Reading This Year?

Book Tag: New Year Book Tag

Hello! Happy Happy New Years Eve!! Goodbye 2020. Anyway, here is the New Years Book Tag. I hope you enjoy reading it and I hope you enjoy your New Years Eve! Sip a hot chocolate and watch the fireworks, that’s what I’ll be doing anyway.

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How many books are you planning to read in 2021?
I want to read around 100 books in 2021, I want to start taking reading seriously and actually reading more so I’ll hopefully be able to workout a way to equally spend my time working, reading and watching Netflix. Please cross your fingers for me.

Name five books you wanted to read last year and didn’t?
Pfft, Only five?
City of Bones- Cassandra Clare (Reread)
The Cruel Prince – Holly Black
The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas
The Flame in the Mist – Renee Ahdieh
American Royals – Katherine McGee

Name a genre you want to read more of?
Non Fiction, I have a comprehensive list of 45 non fiction books I’d like to read. Not all of them have to be read in 2021 but I’d like to make a dent if possible. Mainly about Wrestlers and The Royal Family. What a combination.

Three non-related book goals for this year?
– Post three/four times a week on this blog and really start to grow the blog
– Use Twitter and Instagram Instagram for actually posting content instead of mindless scrolling
– Continue to save for a deposit on a house so that I can buy instead of renting.

What’s a book you’ve had forever that you still need to read?
Gosh, I have so many. Probably Game of Thrones – George R R Martin. Really should try and read that.

One word that you’re hoping 2021 will be?
Different? Successful? Oooooh Prosperous? Healthy?

I tag everyone that reads this post, What are your reading goals for 2021?

TBR for THEROYALREADATHON 2021!

This readathon goes from the 1st of January to the 31st of January. I’m really pushing the boat out this month and attempting to take part in more readathons. The hope is that they’ll motivate me to read more. Fingers crossed.
The link to where you can find out more is here. The readathon looks super cool and I genuinely can’t wait to take part. Check out my TBR below.

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Challenge 1: Prince Floridian – Read a book with a prince
For this I will be reading a book that was picked from my Deck of TBR. The Cruel Prince – Holly Black. I’ll be listening to the audiobook of this.

Challenge 2: Prince Charming – Read a book with love at first sight
For this I read some of the reviews for this book and a couple of them mentioned instalove. So, I’m going with Royally Lost – Angie Stanton

Challenge 3: Prince Phillip – Read a book with heroic action
For this challenge, I’ll be doubling up and reading The Cruel Prince – Holly Black

Challenge 4: Prince Eric – Read a book set at the seaside
For this challenge I’ll be rereading To Kill A Kingdom – Alexandra Christo. My previous review is linked here. I’ve been planning on rereading this for a while. I really enjoyed it. Here is the link to my previous review

Challenge 5: Prince Adam – Reread a favourite.
This is another that Ive pulled from my Deck of TBR for this month. I’ll be rereading City of Bones – Cassandra Clare. Here is the link to my previous review

Challenge 6: Aladdin – Read a book about a character that starts with nothing.
I’m unsure of what to read for this challenge. If you have any recommendations let me know

Challenge 7: Li Shang – Read a book with a bisexual character
I checked out a list on goodreads of Bisexual characters in YA books and since its The Royal Readathon I’ve decided on Red, White and Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston

Challenge 8: Prince Naveen – Read a book with an Arrogant Lead
I spent so long trying to decide what to read for this. I checked another list on goodreads and the only book on there that’s already on my TBR is Obsidian – Jennifer L Armentrout. I’m lead to believe that Daemon is very arrogant to begin with.

Challenge 9: Flynn Ryder – Read a book featuring illegal activity
I’m stretching this a little. But I’m gonna pull from my Deck of TBR for this month again and read Heiress Apparently – Diana Ma for this challenge. Shes pretending to be someone she’s not, that could be classed as illegal right?

Challenge 10: Kristoff – Read a book with a side-kick
Again, I’ll be doubling up and pulling from my Deck of TBR just so this doesn’t become and 20 book TBR month. I’m gonna say I’ll read City of Bones – Cassandra Clare for this challenge. Simon is her sidekick. At least for the first book. Don’t hate me .

So, what readathons are you taking part in this month? What are your TBRs?

Book Review: Love, Creekwood – Becky Alberalli

Title: Love, Creekwood
Author: Becky Alberalli
Publication Date: June 30th 2020
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Series / Stand Alone: Simonverse #3.5
Genre: Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBT
Pages: 128
The Format I read: Ebook 
Amazon
Goodreads 
Rating:

Synopsis from Goodreads:

It’s been more than a year since Simon and Blue turned their anonymous online flirtation into an IRL relationship, and just a few months since Abby and Leah’s unforgettable night at senior prom.

Now the Creekwood High crew are first years at different colleges, navigating friendship and romance the way their story began—on email.

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When we say we want to freeze time, what we mean is that we want to control our memories. We want to choose which moments we’ll keep forever. We want to guarantee the best ones won’t slip away from us somehow. So when something beautiful happens, there’s this impulse to press pause and save the game. We want to make sure we can find our way back to that moment.

Have I raved enough about how much I love this series? Well companion series? Jesus. I am in love. I love Simon, I love Bram, I love Abby, I love Leah and I even love Nick. Damn it, I even love Martin Atkinson. Thats how deep my love for this series goes. Becky Albertalli is a god.

Anyway, this book. It’s told entirely in emails and I love that so much. It’s so Jaques and Blue. I don’t even know how to properly review this book because I don’t have any gripes. I enjoyed going back to the world and seeing how Simon and Bram have progressed in their relationship, yeah it was slightly pointless in the sense that the story didn’t actually go anywhere but I enjoyed the nostalgia. Simon vs The Homo-Sapiens Agenda is one of my favourite books and to be given extra content for one of the biggest ships I have ever had, and yes I called them a ship because I have never shipped a couple so hard in my life. I live for Simon and Bram! To be given extra content and to have the oppurtunity to read more of Becky Alberalli’s writing can’t be classed as a waste of time. Not in my eyes.

I personally don’t have experience in either, but I imagine the struggles that the entire gang are going through with long distance relationships and starting college are relatable, but even if like me you don’t relate I found the book adorable and I just wanted to read more and more. I wish this book was longer!

If you’ve read Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda and Leah On The Offbeat (Very Important. Lots of Spoilers) then I highly recommend reading this companion piece. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry (slightly) and most importantly you won’t regret it.

Book Review: The Geography of You and Me – Jennifer E Smith

Title: The Geography of You and Me
Author: Jennifer E Smith
Publication Date: 15th April 2014
Publisher: Poppy
Series / Stand Alone: Stand Alone
Genre: Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction
Pages: 337
The Format I read: Ebook / Audiobook
Amazon
Goodreads 
Rating:

“He was just a boy on a roof. She was just a girl in an elevator. Maybe that was the end of it” 

Wow, this book.

I don’t even know how to write down the thoughts and emotions I have after finishing this book. Part of me really enjoyed it. Part of me thought it was really far fetched and that’s okay because I understand that people read romance novels or just novels in general as a form of escapism. The book started off okay, two people meeting in an elevator and striking up a conversation. Fair enough, could happen to anyone. But, to then spend the night together during a city wide blackout when you don’t even know the person? That girl has got some serious balls because I certainly wouldn’t be doing that.

Her parents were a major issue for me. Having kids and then continuing to jet off on holidays without them? I mean, come on. Then they drag her out of school and half way across the world not once but twice from Scotland and then England. I don’t know how the poor girl wasn’t losing her mind with her parents because I would have been.

The main feeling I had whilst reading this book was that the whole thing would have been a lot easier on both of them if they’d learned the concept of letting go. This whole book is personification of the quote “Sometimes loves about holding on, but sometimes its about letting go” because all I could think whilst reading it was damn. Just let each other go.

The poor teenagers tried to move on during the novels and they still couldn’t seem to shake off the feelings that they’d invoked in each other, maybe its the cynical in me that didn’t want to belive it but I found it highly unlikliey that a boy of 17 and a girl of 16 who spend mere hours together could have developed feelings so deep that continents and worlds between them couldn’t deter their love? Maybe it’s the fact that they did indeed try to move on that makes me think that they weren’t quite as in love as they said they were? Personally I just found it hard to lose myself in the story and once again maybe that is just the cynical in me but that was my biggest issue.

Some of the quotes from this novel were incredible. I had to pause the audiobook so I could write them down. A personal favourite was:  “But their relationship had existed wholly in the moment. And he was starting to realise that moment had passed. This, it seemed, was just what happened when you left someone”
This is where my cynicalism just comes out to play, with quotes like this I can’t help but feel like the ending didn’t fit the book. Yes. It’s all very magical and straight out of a fantasy meeting on the roof of a New York City Building after months apart and suddenly it all clicking back in to place like you never left and it all being hunky dory. But its not exactly realistic. The painful part of reading this story is knowing that many peoples stories started this way and ended very differently and as a coming of age story I just feel like this ending of this story could have been a better more realistic one where they realised that sometimes its easier to let go and just let some relationships live in the past. But when has that ever been good writing?

Reguardless of what I just wrote, I did enjoy this book. Hence the four star rating. I do love to escape in to the world of romance and fantasy every now and then but the ending ruined it for me. I would have much rather have had a sad ending that matched the themes and overall message of the book than a happy one that just didn’t feel right.

Have you read this book? What did you think?

Book Review: By Your Side – Kasie West

Title: By Your Side

Hardback / Paperback cover for By Your Side

Author: Kasie West
Publication Date: 31st January 2017
Publisher: Harper Teen
Series / Stand Alone: Stand Alone
Genre: Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary
Pages: 346
The Format I read: Paperback / Audiobook
Amazon
Goodreads 
Rating:

 

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An irresistible story from Kasie West that explores the timeless question: What do you do when you fall for the person you least expect?
When Autumn Collins finds herself accidentally locked in the library for an entire weekend, she doesn’t think things could get any worse. But that’s before she realizes that Dax Miller is locked in with her.
Autumn doesn’t know much about Dax except that he’s trouble. Between the rumours about the fight he was in (and that brief stint in juvie that followed it) and his reputation as a loner, he’s not exactly the ideal person to be stuck with. Still, she just keeps reminding herself that it is only a matter of time before Jeff, her almost-boyfriend, realizes he left her in the library and comes to rescue her.
Only he doesn’t come. No one does.
Instead, it becomes clear that Autumn is going to have to spend the next couple of days living off vending-machine food and making conversation with a boy who clearly wants nothing to do with her. Except there is more to Dax than meets the eye.

Alternative cover for By Your Side 

As he and Autumn at first grudgingly, and then not so grudgingly, open up to each other, Autumn is struck by their surprising connection. But can their feelings for each other survive once the weekend is over and Autumn’s old life, and old love interest, threaten to pull her from Dax’s side?

 

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As my first book of 2020, I thought this was a solid start.
I really enjoyed the story behind this one. Kasie West is right, being locked in a library for three days with nothing to do except reading would be a dream come true for me, however, the no food and lack of heat would have been an issue for me as well.

I found the main character “Autumn” to be completely relatable. I really did. Usually, I have issues relating to YA heroine but I related to her on a level I haven’t in a while. One of my favourite quotes from this book
“I was not one of those girls that needed to fix broken boys”
This quote really resonated with me, within the YA genre you often come across teen girls that are so consumed by love or just a crush that they’ve developed that the rest of their lives start to come second and fall apart. Autumn was different. I didn’t totally agree with her just using Dax as a distraction from her life when she really needed to deal with her problems but it was nice to see that throughout what happened, she never lost sight of what was most important to her and she never let Dax and their blossoming romance get in the way.

ARC Copies of By Your Side

I have to admit these characters felt incredibly real to me. The character development was great. I mean, I felt bad for Dax. I felt bad for his backstory and I felt angry for him towards the end of the story. But I also felt mad at him and the way that he treated Autumn. It wasn’t a perfect love story and I felt like that gave it a sense of reality that I don’t find in some instalove stories that I’ve been reading.

 

The only characters I wasn’t totally sold on were Jeff and Dallin. Jeff was far too okay with what Autumn told him at the end for it to be realistic for me. Kind of took me out of the story a little because no one that is being told that would be so forgiving and okay with it.
Dallin was the opposite reaction he was so overemotional to everything in the story, he was rude when there was no need for it. There’s protecting your friend and then there’s just being a dick and I felt like some of it was completely uncalled for and didn’t need to happen. I’m just going to put it out there as well. How long has it been okay for your friends to come to your house and throw a pillowcase over your head and kidnap you? Anxiety disorder or not, I wouldn’t have been okay with it.

The anxiety storyline was so well played as well. Autumn was so afraid to tell her friends and that’s okay, it’s good for teenagers with anxiety disorders to see this kind of representation in order to realise its okay to tell people or it’s okay to just keep it to yourself. It’s your choice in the end.

The story is such a perfect read for just a lazy afternoon where you can just listen to the audiobook or when you can just chill out with the book and dive into the world.

Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2020

Here it is! My Pop Sugar Reading Challenge. I make one every year and hopefully, this is the year I succeed. I may make changes to this challenge as I go, so keep checking back!

Here is my TBR for the challenge and the books I hope to get to this year!

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A Book Published In 2020: 
Loveless – Alice Oseman

A Book By A Trans or Non-Binary author 
Birthday – Meredith Russo

A Book With A Great First Line
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone – JK Rowling 

A Book About A Bookclub
A Paper and Hearts Society – Lucy Powrie

A Book Set In A City That Has Hosted The Olympics
The Geography of You and Me – Jennifer E Smith (New York)

A Bildungsroman 
Looking For Alaska – John Green

The First Book You Touch On The Shelf With Your Eyes Closed
Welcome to Dead House – R L Stine (Goosebumps #1)

Book With An Upside Down Image On The Cover
Alice In Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

Book With A Map 
Paper Towns – John Green

A Book Recommended By Your Favourite Blog, Vlog, Podcast or Online Book Club 
Birthday – Meredith Russo

 An Anthology
Let It Snow – John Green

A Book That Passes The Bechdel Test 
The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas.

A Book With The Same Title As A Movie or TV Show But Is Unrelated To It
Heartless – Marissa Meyer

An Author With Flora or Fauna In Their Name 
Jack of Hearts (and other parts) – Lev A C Rosen

A Book About Or Involving Social Media 
Girl online – Zoe Sugg

A Book That Has A Book On The Cover 
By Your Side – Kasie West

A Book With a Made Up Language
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – JK Rowling (Parsltongue)

A Book set in a country that begins with C
Cinder – Marissa Meyer

A Book you chose because the title caught your attention.
I Hate You More – Alexandra Moody

A Book published the month of your birthday
Looking For Alaska – John Green 

A Book That Won An Award in 2019
Red, White and Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston

A Book On A Subject You Know Nothing About.
Incomparable – Nikki and Brie Bella 

A Book With Only Words On The Cover, No Images or Graphics
Nick and Charlie – Alice Oseman 

A Book With A Pun In The Title
Red, White and Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston

A Book Featuring One Of The Seven Deadly Sins 
Heartless – Marissa Meyer (Wrath)

A Book With A Robot, Cyborg or AI Character
Cinder – Marissa Meyer

A Book With A Bird On The Cover
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of The Secrets – JK Rowling

A Fiction Or Non Fiction Book About A World Leader
Red White and Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston

A Book With Gold, Silver or Bronze In The Title
Golden – Jessi Kirby

A Book By A WOC
The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas.

A Book With At Least A Four-Star Rating on Goodreads
Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Caroll

A Book You Meant To Read In 2019
Throne of Glass – Sarah J Maas 

A Book With A Three Word Title
Lucky In Love – Kasie West

A Book With A Pink Cover
Clique Bait – Ann Valett

A Book By or About A Journalist 
The Enemy Within – Phillipa Hopwood 

Read a Banned Book
Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone – J K Rowling

Favourite Prompt From A Past Reading Challenge: A Retelling Of A Classic
Return to Wonderland – Peter Bunzi

Book Tag: The Breakfast Club Book Tag

Welcome to Tag Thursday! The Breakfast Club is an amazing film, I really enjoyed it the last time I watched it so when I heard about this book tag I had to do it! Thank you to BiblioManic Bookworm for creating it!

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Princess: A book that is very popular and pretty on the outside, but you thought was uninteresting on the inside.
Radio Silence – Alice Oseman. I read this book a while back now and I just thought it dragged something fierce. I couldn’t relate to the main character, I couldn’t stay in her head long enough to care about the story. It’s a pretty popular book but it’s just not for me. The new covers especially make it look pretty but the inside doesn’t match up in my opinion.

Criminal: A book that looks/sounds rough and bad, but ended up completely stealing your heart.
To Kill A Kingdom – Alexandra Christo. I don’t usually enjoy retellings but this one was incredible. I really enjoyed reading it. Completely stole my heart. I thought it was fantastic. Read my review if you want to know more, or just read the book!

Brain: A book that made you think.
Me Before You – Jojo Moyes. This book makes you think so much so you have to put the book down after and contemplate all of your life choices. It’s incredible. Highly highly recommend. Give the film a watch too, it’s actually a pretty good adaptation.

Basket Case: A book that people would call you crazy for reading.
Twilight – Stephanie Meyer? After – Anna Todd? I don’t think I’m crazy for reading any book. I think every book has something to teach us and judging people for reading certain books just because you don’t like them is uncalled for.

Athlete: A book that made you struggle/work to finish.
This Lullaby – Sarah Dessen. I had issues getting to the end of this book because I felt like it went on for far too long. My review for this just went up if you feel like knowing more.

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And there we have it. If you feel like doing this tag then do it!!

Book Review: This Lullaby – Sarah Dessen

Title: This Lullaby
Author: Sarah Dessen
Publication Date: 08 March 2004
Publisher: Speak
Series / Stand Alone: Stand Alone
Genre: Romance, Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary
Pages: 345
The Format I read: Paperback
Amazon
Goodreads 
Rating: 

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Synopsis from Goodreads:

When it comes to relationships, Remy doesn’t mess around. After all, she’s learned all there is to know from her mother, who’s currently working on husband number five. But there’s something about Dexter that seems to defy all of Remy’s rules. He certainly doesn’t seem like Mr. Right. For some reason, however, Remy just can’t seem to shake him. Could it be that Remy’s starting to understand what those love songs are all about?

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This was my first Sarah Dessen book and honestly, it probably wasn’t the right one to start with. It dragged so much, I fully believe this book could have been a 200-page book and we would still have had a decent story.

I found the main character, Remy, to be insanely relatable. I mean what teenager didn’t have a warped sense of love? Whether it was the sense that you were constantly in love and throwing the words around or whether you wouldn’t say the words because you either don’t know how to feel it because you’ve never seen it or you just don’t believe in it. Remy has the latter issue. Remy’s mother is constantly remarrying, she’s constantly got a new man on the go and that is the role model that Remy has to look up to. How is she supposed to have the idealistic sense of love when she’s never seen it? She doesn’t believe in relationships because she’s seen five of her mother’s relationships break down and then on the opposite end of the spectrum, she’s got her brother. Chris is head over heels in love with a self-help guru, Jennifer Anne and their relationship seems to be working perfectly and Remy doesn’t understand why or how.

Then along comes Dexter and his merry band of misfit toys. Dexter is everything that Remy hates, everything she despises and yet there he is, under her skin. It’s the basis of a wonderful love story. The only issue is that the book is far too long and they break up and get back together far too many times for me to care about their happiness. Towards the end of the book all I can remember thinking is ‘Jesus, how many more times before they admit its not meant to be?’.

The prose in this book is phenomenal, I don’t think I would have gotten through this book if the writing style wasn’t as amazing as it is. Sarah Dessen is a talented and fantastic author, it’s just that the storyline isn’t my cup of tea. It’s the same kind of reaction I had to Lola And The Boy Next Door – Stephanie Perkins. The Writing Style was amazing, I enjoyed the Authors voice. I felt like I was truly living the story, the words swept me up and took me away but the story didn’t take the turn that I wanted and I was left with a sour taste in my mouth.

Dexter as a character I found likeable to say the least, he was sweet and understanding and dealt with Remy’s mood swings like a champ. It’s nice for readers to see that despite how cynical and unsympathetic Remy’s views towards Romance and Relationships and Love as a whole are, there are still people like Dexter who want to break down their walls. Dexter is just an all-around good male role model type for teenaged girls to read about and if you needed any more of a push to read about him then he also has a dog called Monkey and Monkey is amazing, read the book and you’ll understand why.

Book Tag: Book Bloggers Confessions Tag!

Welcome to Tag Thursday, I’m here with the Book Bloggers Confessions Tag! It originated here at Rustic Pages So… let’s start confessing!

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1. Which book – most recently – did you not finish?
United – Melissa Landers. I got so close to the end of the series as well.

2. Which book is your guilty pleasure?
City of Bones – Cassandra Clare or any of the Harry Potter Series. Always. 

3. Which book do you love to hate?
Lola and the boy next door – Stephanie Perkins. Check my review for why. 

4. Which book would you throw into the sea?
 Kiss and Blog – Alyson Noel. Quite happily throw this in the sea and wave at it as it drowns. 

5. Which book have you read the most?
Honestly, probably Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone – J K Rowling. What a book! 

6. Which book would you hate to receive as a present?
Anything I have already read and hated with a passion.

7. Which book could you not live without?
My entire bookshelves? How dare you try and make me choose?!

8. Which book made you the angriest?
This is a weird one. But Esio Trot – Roald Dahl. There’s something really messed up about that book and as a kid I completely missed it. 

9. Which book made you cry the most?
Besides the obvious Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, The Fault In Our Stars – John Green and The Outsiders – S E Hinton. Those two books got me right in the feels. 

10. Which book cover do you hate the most?
Boring ones! 

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I tag everyone that reads this post! What is something you want to confess?

Sunday Wrap Up! (25/02/19 – 03/03/19)

Hello again!

Welcome to the first Sunday Wrap Up of 2019. Yes, That’s how far behind I am with blogging. But we all know the saying ‘Better Late Than Never’ right? That applies here … right?

Anyway, below I’m going to tell you the four books that I managed to read this week. Four books in a week is huge for me. It’s the most amount of books I’ve been able to read in a long time and I’m so so proud that this reading slump is gone! Whilst I would usually give an overview of these books I plan to review all four of these books on my blog very soon. So keep an eye out for that.

This week I read:

The Summer I Turned Pretty – Jenny Han 

It’s Not Summer Without You – Jenny Han 

We’ll Always Have Summer – Jenny Han 

This Lullaby – Sarah Dessen 

Books left over from my TBR :
I didn’t really have one because I was trying to read everything possible to force myself out of a reading slump.

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Blog Posts this Week:

Where have I been?
My NEW Blogging Schedule
My March TBR! An Exciting Challenge! 
And of course, this post!

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So, whilst we’re here I might as well tell you how the March Reading Challenge that I’ve set myself is going. So far I’ve read one book (This Lullaby) and I’m around half way through Stealing Snow – Danielle Paige. I’m not too bothered that I’m a little bit behind because I plan to hopefully read the two short novellas that come with Stealing Snow: Queens Rising and Before the Snow. These will count towards my challenge and as they’re so short. It hopefully won’t take me long to catch up. I’ve got a night shift tonight (Hello Old Friend) and I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to finish Stealing Snow tonight!

Where have I been?

Well, honestly? Here. Literally I haven’t changed anything I just haven’t been reading as much and when you don’t read as much and you have a book blog, you can’t really blog about anything.

I’d love to tell you that it’s because I’ve been working more but that’s not it. I’ve recently changed to working days so technically there is less time to read on shift now but that’s not the reason. I just haven’t been reaching for books recently, I think that’s got more to do with being in a reading slump than anything else. I need a good readathon to get me out of this slump and I think I know which one I’m going to use. So keep coming back to find out which one I’ve chosen. So starting in March. I’m hoping to get back to a decent blogging schedule.

I was hoping to get back to being able to post the way that I used to but something has got to change, so I’m going to be posting a new blogging schedule in the coming days which I hope will help me to keep more on track.

That’s all I had to say, just wanted to explain where I’ve been, why I haven’t been posting and whats upcoming! Thank you for 45 followers as well. I never thought I’d get past 5 followers so to see that 45 people view my content on a regular basis is amazing!

Pop Sugar Reading Challenge for 2019

I try and take part in this challenge every year, so in order to not break tradition, here we go again. Here’s the link if you want to take part yourself.

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A book becoming a movie in 2019
Five Feet Apart – Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott (Because of Cole Sprouse)
The Wicked Deep – Shea Earnshaw

A book that makes you nostalgic
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – J K Rowling 

A book written by a musician (fiction or nonfiction)
Shiver Series – Maggie Stiefvater.
The Raven Boys series – Maggie Stiefvater

A book you think should be turned into a movie
Looking for Alaska – John Green
The Upside of Unrequited – Becky Albertalli.

A book with at least one million ratings on Goodreads
Divergent – Veronica Roth.

A book with a plant in the title or on the cover
Half-Blood – Jennifer L Armentrout.
The Truth About Forever – Sarah Dessen

A reread of a favourite book
The Mortal Instruments Series – Cassandra Clare
The Infernal Devices Series – Cassandra Clare
The Dark Artifices Series – Cassandra Clare.

A book about a hobby
Girl Online Series – Zoe Sugg.
Alienated Series – Melissa Landers

A book you meant to read in 2018
The Magisterium Series – Cassandra Clare and Holly Black.

A book with POP, SUGAR, or CHALLENGE in the title
Challenge Accepted – Amanda Abram.

A book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover
Cinder- Marissa Meyer

A book inspired by myth/legend/folklore
Percy Jackson and The Lightening Thief – Rick Riorodan

A book published posthumously
Persuasion – Jane Austen

A book you see someone reading on TV or in a movie
IT – Stephen King (Donnie Darko, 2001)

A retelling of a classic
Stealing Snow – Danielle Paige
Dorothy Must Die – Danielle Paige

A book with a question in the title
What if it’s us? – Becky Albertalli

A book set on college or university campus
We’ll Always Have Summer – Jenny Han
My Oxford year – Julia Whelan

A book about someone with Superpowers:
Renegades – Marissa Meyer

A book told from multiple POVs
The Sun Is Also A star – Nicola Yoon
Will Grayson, Will Grayson – John Green.

A book set in space
Across the universe- Beth Revis
HitchHiker’s Guide To The Galaxy – Douglas Adams

A book by two female authors
Burn for Burn series – Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian
Let It Snow – John Green, Lauren Myracle and Maureen Johnson

A book with SALTY, SWEET, BITTER, or SPICY in the title
Stay sweet – Siobhan Vivian
Bittersweet- Sarah Ockler

A book set in Scandinavia
Sea Witch – Sarah Henning

A book that takes place in a single day
The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight – Jennifer E Smith
Just One Day- Gayle Forman

A debut novel
The Hazel Wood – Melissa Albert

A book that’s published in 2019
Two can keep a secret – Karen M McManus
The Wicked King– Holly Black
Chain of gold – Cassandra Clare
The Red Scrolls of Magic – Cassandra Clare
Again, But Better – Christine Ricco
Fame, Fate and The First Kiss – Kasie West
Her Royal Highness – Rachel Hawkins
Maybe This Time – Kasie West
Mirror Mirror – Jen Calonita
Escape From The Isle Of The Lost – Melissa De La Cruz

A book featuring an extinct or imaginary creature.
Throne of Glass – Sarah J Maas
Shatter Me – Tahereh Mafi

Book recommended by a celebrity you admire
A Monster Calls – Patrick Ness (Zoella)

A book with LOVE in the title
From Twinkle, With Love – Sandhya Menon
Love, life and the list – Kasie west
Lucky in Love – Kasie West

A book featuring an amateur detective
Papertowns – John Green
Liars Inc – Paula Stokes

A book about a family
Fangirl – Rainbow Rowell
Second Chance Summer – Morgan Matson
Twenty Boy Summer – Sarah Ockler
Royals – Rachel Hawkins

A book written by an author from Asia, Africa, or South America
The Summer I Turned Pretty Series – Jenny Han

A book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in title
A Court of Thorns and Roses series – Sarah J Maas (Book 4)
Beyond The Stars – Stacy Wise

A book that includes a wedding
Save The Date – Morgan Matson
Turtles All The Way Down – John Green

A book by an author whose first and last names start with the same
Library of Souls – Ransom Riggs
Map of Days – Ransom Riggs
Tales of The Peculiar – Ransom Riggs
Pretty Little Liars – Sara Shepard
Amy and Rogers Epic Detour – Morgan Matson
Since You’ve Been Gone – Morgan Matson
The Unexpected Everything – Morgan Matson

A ghost story
The Woman In Black – Susan Hill
Girl of Nightmares – Kendare Blake.
How to Hang a Witch – Adriana Mather.

A book with a two-word title
Red Queen – Victoria Aveyard.
The Notebook – Nicholas Sparks
Just Listen – Sarah Dessen
This Lullaby – Sarah Dessen

A novel based on a true story
The Blonde – Anna Godberson
Christopher Robin – Ann Thwaite

A book revolving around a puzzle or game
Through The Looking Glass And What Alice Found There – Lewis Caroll

Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading challenge
So I chose “A Book That’s Been On Your TBR Too Long”
My Secret YouTube Life – Chloe Seager

Book Review: Always and Forever, Lara Jean

Paperback Cover for Always and Forever, Lara Jean

Title: Always and Forever, Lara Jean.
Author: Jenny Han
Publication Date: 2nd May 2017
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Series / Stand Alone: Book #3 in the To All The Boy’s I’ve Loved Before Series
Genre: Romance, Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary
Pages: 325 pages
The Format I read: Audiobook
Amazon
Goodreads 
Rating: 

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Lara Jean is having the best senior year.

And there’s still so much to look forward to: a class trip to New York City, prom with her boyfriend Peter, Beach Week after graduation, and her dad’s wedding to Ms. Rothschild. Then she’ll be off to college with Peter, at a school close enough for her to come home and bake chocolate chip cookies on the weekends.

Life couldn’t be more perfect!

At least, that’s what Lara Jean thinks . . . until she gets some unexpected news.

Now the girl who dreads change must rethink all her plans—but when your heart and your head are saying two different things, which one should you listen to?

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This was the finale that I was waiting for, I flew through this book in a day because I couldn’t put it down. This book broke me and then fixed me in 325 pages. It was both the worse and the best and I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried my eyes out during this book.

Hardcover Cover for Always and Forever, Lara Jean

Lara Jean and Peter spent the majority of this book asking themselves the question of whether or not they’ll manage to stay together when they go away to college considering nobody else wants them together. Josh makes a handful of appearances in this book where he, much like Margot has moved on and is now dating someone else. John Ambrose McClaren makes two appearances towards the end of the book and his appearances does nothing but serve as one of the reasons that Lara and Peter break up AGAIN! Honestly, at this point, I was getting tired of their constant up and downs.

One of the most heartbreaking moments of this book was when Stormy died. I wasn’t prepared for this book to take that turning. I didn’t see it coming and that shock factor was the worst. Stormy was without a doubt my favourite character in this whole series and it was heartbreaking to lose her. It is a fitting tribute to wear Stormy’s ring to the prom though, that made me smile.
It’s also rather sweet that Lara Jean doesn’t really go back to the nursing home again after Stormy dies. Only the once for her memorial. I like that the last words that Stormy says in the book are the most important towards the storyline.

“Never say no when you really want to say yes” 

This quote embodies the entire struggle of the book, about college about relationships and indeed in true Lara Jean fashion, worrying about sex. One of the main issues that Lara Jean faces is whether or not her and Peter are going to have sex before they leave for college and that’s so topical its unreal. So many people are facing these same issues as they leave school and it’s important that the topic broached during the book.
One of the other main issues that Lara Jean faces is pleasing everyone else or pleasing herself. She’s got to choose whether or not to go to the college she doesn’t want and then transfer after a year to be with Peter or to go to an amazing college that she got in to but risk the idea of breaking up with Peter because she doesn’t know if it will work.

It’s the same issue that Margot faced before she left for Scotland and seeing as the sisters

are vastly different in personalities, I’m glad they made different choices towards their love lives. I’m annoyed that the took until the last couple of pages for Peter to decide that he does want to be with Lara Jean and to come and tell her. In my opinion that should have been Lara Jean. She should have apologised that time. Even though everyone seems to have an opinion on their relationship. Everyone seems to have an opinion on what they should do in the future and it doesn’t seem like the opinions of Lara Jean or Peter matter. Which whilst stereotypical of teenage relationships was still incredibly frustrating to read.

I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to finish the series, wants to see how it all panned out. Anyone who wants to have a good cry and read a good book series. This is a short summery read and it’s perfect for pulling anyone out of a reading slump and I couldn’t recommend the audiobooks enough.

Book Review: P.S. I Still Love You – Jenny Han

Paperback Cover of P.S. I Still Love You.

Title: P.S. I Still Love You
Author: Jenny Han
Publication Date: 26th May 2015
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Series / Stand Alone: Book #2 in the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before Series
Genre: Romance, Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary
Pages: 337 pages
The Format I read: Audiobook
Amazon
Goodreads 
Rating: 

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Synopsis From Goodreads:

Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter.
She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever.
When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?

In this charming and heartfelt sequel to the New York Times bestseller To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, we see first love through the eyes of the unforgettable Lara Jean. Love is never easy, but maybe that’s part of what makes it so amazing. 

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I liked this sequel. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the first book but I liked it all the same. I couldn’t help but feel like this entire book could have been skipped. It didn’t need to happen. All that really happened, in a nutshell, was Lara Jean and Peter broke up and she explored the option of John Ambrose McClaren and then Lara Jean and Peter got

Paperback Cover for P.S. I Still Love You – Jenny Han

back together within the last 50ish pages.

So, we’re back exactly where we were before the book started. We’ve just aged a year and Lara Jean’s dad has a girlfriend who is the woman that Lara Jean and Kitty make fun of throughout the first film. Oh and Gen admitted that the whole reason that Lara Jean and herself aren’t friends is because of that kiss with Peter from Middle School.

I can’t even begin to talk about the tackiness of that reason, I wanted more. I really did. I wanted more of a reason. I wanted this well thought out reason like … I know it was you that ran over my cat with your bike. Morbid I know but I wanted a shock factor and all I ended up learning was something I already knew just added on that fact that Gen was watching around the corner the whole time. She then proceeded to stay friends with Lara Jean for a while after just to make sure that Lara Jean understood that Peter belonged to her. Now.

What?

How spiteful do you have to be to film two people kissing in a hot tub, make it look like a sex tape and then share it around the internet for everyone to see, just because you saw your ex-boyfriend kiss her when they were in middle school? That is some other level pettiness and I just didn’t understand it. I didn’t think the reason was strong enough to hold up for the rest of the series. Which is probably why Gen only made a handful of appearances in the last book. Her story arc was complete.

Now that’s out of the way,

I liked the scenes between Lara Jean and Stormy, that was the best part of this book by far, that scene where they stay over at the retirement home and play in the snow during the night is my favourite and shockingly they’re when she’s with John Ambrose

Audiobook for P.S. I Still Love You – Jenny Han. 

McClaren and not Peter. Stormy was such a vivid and eccentric character and I completely fell in love with her. Working in care myself, I come across people all the time and it made me feel really nostalgic.

Speaking of this, when I finished this book and did my Goodreads review. I wrote about how it felt very Twilight: New Moon. This was obviously a hell of a lot better but it did feel like the entire point of this book was to show that Lara Jean had options. To show that she could have been with someone else and to really hammer home the point that Lara Jean and Peter are end game. But it’s essentially a 337-page whirlwind that leaves you right back where you started.

 

Book Review: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before – Jenny Han

Paperback Cover for To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.

Title: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before
Author: Jenny Han
Publication Date: 15th April 2014
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Series / Stand Alone: Book #1 in the To All The Boy’s I’ve Loved Before Series
Genre: Romance, Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary
Pages: 355 pages
The Format I read: Audiobook
Amazon
Goodreads 
Rating: 

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Synopsis From Goodreads:

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister’s ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.

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Finally, I have managed to break out of my three-month-long slump in which I didn’t read a single book. Yesterday I decided to deep clean the house and listen to an audiobook whilst doing it. At first, I chose to listen to Mary Poppins by PL Travers. This didn’t last long and after aimlessly scrolling through Scribd for a while I chose To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. Like many of the people before me,  I’d seen the Netflix original film and I adored it. The book wasn’t any different. I loved it. I thought it was the cutest book that I’d read in a while and I’m so glad that there are another two books in the series because I’m not ready to let go of these characters yet.

Netflix Tie in Book Cover for To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.

Book Peter wasn’t the same as film Peter, which I wasn’t overly expecting but it’s odd all the same. I didn’t enjoy Book Peter as much. He was incredibly douchey for 60% of the book and he was overly cocky all the time. Instead of coming across as dorky and cute like he did in the film. The scene where they go to the furniture auction and have to race the other people to get the chairs for his mom’s shop didn’t make it into the film and I was upset by that because as far as character moments go that was one of my favourites.

Lara Jean was my favourite character. She’s so cool. For being so young she has so many complex emotions. Being inside her head and reading the book from her point of view was the best possible point of view. I didn’t thoroughly enjoy Margot as a character, I found her so annoying. She’s so self-righteous and acts like she’s the best and she really isn’t. There’s zero chemistry between Margot and Josh, and even less chemistry between Lara Jean and Josh. I’m happy that Peter and Lara Jean ended up together because if Josh and Lara Jean had ended up together I wouldn’t have been as impressed with the book.

The narrator of the audiobook was amazing, she was insane. I was enthralled the entire

The Netflix poster for To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.

time I was cleaning. It was sweet and I’m glad that I finally read it. I was impressed with the book as much as I was with the film. It wasn’t too long or too short and the plot line was so well thought out that I was amazed by it even though it’s the typical fake relationship turns real storyline. I wish I’d read it sooner when people told me to read it. The audiobook was a really good way to get out of a book slump without actually reading the book. It was amazing for my slump. Getting out of the slump was hard but this was the perfect book for it. So if you’re ever in a slump, read this. In fact, read this entire trilogy.

The adaptation of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before on Netflix was the most anticipated release of this year and I watched it as soon as it came out. I really enjoyed Noah’s acting and like I’ve said before I enjoyed the film Peter more than book Peter. It’s so precious. The best Netflix original that I’ve watched recently. I really enjoyed The Kissing Booth before but this one was better. Series wise it’s Atypical. In case you wondered.

I really recommend this book to anyone that enjoyed the film or anyone that enjoys YA Contemporary. It’s pretty good.

It’s Monday, what are you reading? IM BACK FROM MY SLUMP! (19/11/18)

Hello and Welcome again to It’s Monday, What are you reading? It’s been a while. Three months to be exact.

I loved doing this meme every Monday, it really helped to shape my week once I knew what I was reading so when I was considering what to do when I come back to blogging this was one of the memes I was sure I was going to continue to do. This week is pretty cool for me. I’m working three nights this week so I’ve got four days/nights off. So here are my reading plans for the week:

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I want to finish the audiobooks for the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before series. I can’t wait to see where it goes. They’re amazing and I can’t wait to review them on this blog once I’ve got myself back into the spring of things.

What if Its Us – Becky Albertalli. I’ve been putting off reading this for a while and I’m so ready to read this book. Becky Albertalli is a God in my opinion and I can’t wait to read her latest book!

I would usually be reading four books a week but since I haven’t read anything since August I figured that I’d try and take it easy. Two of these are audiobooks and one was written by the same person that wrote Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda so I’ll fly through it. I can’t wait to read this week and get back to readathons and tweeting and loving books again. Wish me LUCK!

 

Five times the movie and book were bad and Five times the movie and book were good.

Hello! And welcome to the second instalment in this mini-series! I’ve been excited to write about book to movie adaptations for a while and now I’m finally doing it. Here are five times that in my opinion the film and the book were bad and five times, in my opinion, the book and movie were good!

Five Times the Movie and the Book were Bad! 

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Fallen

Paperback Cover for Fallen

Fallen! this series was everywhere when I was in high school so naturally I picked it up and I read it. I hated it. It was so cheesy and so cliche. The instalove was terrible and the storyline lacked anything concrete. The film came out in 2016 and it has an overall rating of 7% on Rotten Tomatoes. That within itself should tell you how bad that film is but I am glutton for punishment so I watched the film. Rotten Tomatoes didn’t lie.

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Twilight

Movie Tie-in Edition of Twilight

The entire Twilight series – Stephenie Meyer. I realise that lots of people love Twilight and that’s lovely and I don’t take anything away from them. but I was never really a fan of Twilight and this is my personal opinion. I’ve read the book, read the graphic novel and seen all the films. So I can honestly let you know that I hated Twilight. I hated all the characters and the film was no different. I guess you can’t make a good movie from a bad book.

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Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures – Kami Garcia. I read and watched this in

Paperback cover for Beautiful Creatures

January of 2018 and I can let you know it was the single most boring book I’ve ever read. I DNF’d at around 40%. The film was no better I was bored the entire time. I don’t know what it is about that book and movie but it could send me to sleep. I can’t even remember the storyline, somebody please tell me what happened because I can’t remember.

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The Host

The Movie Tie-in Edition of The Host

Along the same lines as Beautiful Creatures – Kami Garcia. I tried to read this book. I don’t know what I was thinking because I hated all of Stephenie Meyer’s books but I tried and I hated that one too. It was too long and lacked so many things that I just couldn’t get through it. The film was the same. I just didn’t care.

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Carrie

Carrie – Stephen King. I found this book to be so

Movie Tie-in Edition of Carrie

underwhelming. Considering it’s only a 300-page book it took me two weeks to read because I kept getting lost and pulled from the story. I love Chloe Grace Moretz as an actress but even she couldn’t save that shit tip of a film.

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Five Times the Movie and the Book were good! 

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Love, Simon

Movie Cover for Love, Simon

Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda is one of my favourite books and definitely my new favourite film. I’ve rewatched it so many times. I love it. Nick Robinson was amazing. He’s fantastic. I love it. It’s so inclusive and heart-warming, I adore the entire cast and their chemistry. Movie of the YEAR!

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The Perks of Being a WallFlower

Paperback Cover for The Perks of Being a WallFlower

I liked this film, Emma Watson is incredible. The book is a masterpiece. Is there anything else to say? Really? It’s a staple in YA fiction for a reason guys!

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Paperback cover for THe Hunger Games

Hunger Games (1-4)

I think this one is fairly self-explanatory. Everyone and his dog loves the Hunger Games! It’s full of action and romance and breathtaking fight scenes. It’s got a crazy storyline that spans four movies and never lets you get bored.

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Murder on The Orient Express

This is a recent-ish release. It came out in November 2017

Movie Tie-in Edition of Murder on The Orient Express

and I loved it. It was so good. I loved the storyline and the characters. I didn’t even care that Johnny Depp was cast in it. I love Johnny Depp’s acting. The movie was amazing and I highly recommend you check it out if you like heart-stopping murder mysteries! The book is written by Agatha Christie, the queen of mystery! Good book and movie all around.

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Harry Potter (1-8)

Paperback Cover for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

You know I couldn’t write a list about YA Book to Movie Adaptations and not include Harry Potter. I adore Harry Potter, I adore everything about Harry Potter from the cast of the movies to the way JK Rowling makes McGonagall the sassiest woman is all fact and fiction. It’s got a special place in my heart and if you haven’t seen the movie or read the book then I demand you go and do it immediately

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There we have it!

What Book to Movie adaptations do you love/hate?

Book Review: Me Before You – Jojo Moyes

US Paperback Cover for Me Before You

Title: Me Before You
Author: Jojo Moyes
Publication Date: 30th July 2019
Publisher: Penguin
Series / Stand Alone: Book #1 in the Me Before You Series
Genre: Romance, Fiction, Adult, Contemporary
Pages: 369
The Format I read: Paperback
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Rating: 

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Louisa Clark is an ordinary young woman living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex-Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair-bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

The Movie Adaptation poster for Me Before You

 

A love story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?

 

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I read this book a few weeks ago and it’s taken me this long to gather my thoughts together enough to write a book review. That book ruined me. It was one of the most emotional and thought-provoking books that I’ve read in a while. The characters were some of the most well-rounded characters that I’ve ever come across and in all honesty, I haven’t known for a while what I was supposed to say about it.

Let’s start with the characters.

Louisa Clark is the character that I have the most amount of issues with. She’s sweet

UK Paperback Cover for Me Before You

for the most part and as a carer myself I completely agree with some of the things that she says and found humour in the comical moments between her and Will.  So the parts that I had a few issues with. When you’re working in care you’re told not to get too involved in your client’s life, you’re told that you’re not even allowed to hug a client when they’re upset so the fact that she had a romantic relationship with her client is a huge unethical no no for me.
We’re also taught that you can’t pry into a client’s life and you certainly can’t attempt to stop someone doing something just because you wouldn’t do it, and what does she spend the majority of the book doing? Prying into this life and trying to change his mind. Just because he’s in a wheelchair and he’s classed as having a disability that doesn’t mean that he’s incapable of making a choice. Much like Nathan did, Lou or Clark should have respected his decisions and just made what was left of his life as enjoyable as possible without the ulterior motive of changing his mind about the assisted suicide, but I supposed as a qualified carer, my opinion of this book was a little different than the intended niche audience that the author had in mind.
I think it’s utterly ridiculous that Will’s mother hired Lou when she didn’t have any experience with a Quadriplegic. She literally says that the person who interviewed before had multiple years experience with people with the same disability and she chose a bright-eyed bushy-tailed young girl that didn’t have a clue? She nearly kills Will at one point in the book because she lacks the knowledge and experience that she would have needed for the job role. I understand that his mother was attempting to hire her to bring

Australian Paperback Cover for Me Before You

some ‘joy’ in Will’s life but is that really worth risking your son’s life when you know that Nathan can’t be there the whole time? That came across as a stupid decision that a reasonable person wouldn’t make and as such took the realism out of what should have been gritty social realism.

 

Will Traynor.

See. I don’t have as much of an issue with. He was a solid well-rounded character. He did everything he was meant to. He was the arsehole that she changed to fit with the story arc of a romance novel. He was humorous to break up the social realism of what was happening around him and he was there at the end to deliver a heartbreaking ending that stays with you for weeks after you read it. He even has a heartbreaking backstory where he used to be able to do all of these amazing things and he used to have the perfect girl and you can see the frustrations that Will endures throughout the book. The most notable being when they get lost in the maze and all he wants is to hold Louisa’s hand and he can’t do it. I really felt for Will during that scene.
My issues with Will are few if I’m honest. I found the overall vibe that I got from Will to be that he was settling for Louisa because of his disability. Which made me feel like the book was trying to say that people with a disability have to settle and cannot find true love? I mean obviously Louisa and Will found true love together and that was heartwarming and beautiful. Until they went to the wedding and he openly admits that if he was still able-bodied then he’d never look at her twice. Which I found a bit cruel if I’m honest. Think about it all you want but did you really have to say it to her?
Regardless of my opinion of Will Traynor being a slight…. asshole. I was still upset when he died. Of course, I was. I’m human. I went through that entire journey with Louisa and as much as I disagreed with the majority of her actions. I understood that she wasn’t thinking straight because she loved him and she wanted to save him. Which admirable as it is, you all know the saying about not being a hero.

Jojo Moyes is a fantastic author. She is. She made this book from such a controversial topic and I applaud her for it. The story really makes you think. You have to understand for yourself and make the choice for what side of the fence you sit on and I think that’s amazing. Considering the stigma that Assisted Suicide has, with it still being illegal in the majority of the world I think the world needed this kind of a story to make people think about it and understand the point of view of the person in the wheelchair. Understand how this person feels and make the choice as to whether or not you believe they should be able to make their own choices about their life when they believe that their quality of life is so low that they don’t want to be alive? Let me know what side of the fence you stand on. I’ve always been on the side of the fence that they should be able to make their own decisions. If they’re sound of mind and reasoning and they have the ability to make their own choices then they should be able to.

I highly recommend this book. Highly. It should be part of the assigned reading because everybody should be able to read this book and see Assisted Suicide from this point of view. The two sequels After You and Still Me are also out and available for purchase.