Top 5 Wednesday- Book You Didn’t Expect To Like but Did

This topic is pretty self-explanatory but basically you need to pick the top 5 books that you didn’t expect you would like before you read it but then you did! I usually tend to underestimate a lot of books so it was really easy to pick a top 5 so here you go J

 

5. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer- Michelle Hodkin

I had heard really good things about this book but I also heard that it was a paranormal which I’m not really a big fan of. I also heard that the main character wasn’t really trustworthy which also made me hesitant to read these. I ended up really loving this book and am super glad that I ended up reading this book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Throne of Glass- Sarah J. Maas

One of the first things I heard about this book was that it was high fantasy. I am not really a fan of fantasy books since I find them really confusing and really hard to get into. This book was totally different though. I found it a lot easier to get into then other fantasy books and plus the characters were all super interesting and fun making the book even better.

3. Daughter of Smoke and Bone- Lani Taylor

This is also another high fantasy book that I had heard lots of great things from but was hesitant to pick up. Even though this book was super confusing at times and was definitely high fantasy I still loved everything about it from the thick plot, to the amazing characters and beautiful writing style. I’m super glad I ended up picking this book up in the end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Anna and the French Kiss- Stephanie Perkins

The first thing that really turned me off this book was of course the title. The cover of the edition to the right also really turned me off this book. A few years ago I had zero intentions of ever reading this book. Over the year though I heard absolutely no bad things about this book and it felt like everyone loved this book. I thought this book would be super cheesy and really boring. When I read it though I ended up really enjoying it, maybe not as much as everyone else but I still definitely really like this book and am super happy that I read this.

 

1. Fallen- Lauren Kate

This is the book that I was most surprised that I liked. I had hardly heard anything good about this book at all and I also heard that it was a lot like twilight. To be honest the only reason why I really read this book was because of the upcoming movie. I ended up actually liking this book though. I wouldn’t call it a favourite and I can’t really say I loved it but it still surprised me. I’m actually quite glad that I read this book and I’m looking forward to watch the movie even though I’m not sure if I’ll end up finishing the series.

 

 

 

 

 

Top 5 Wednesday- Female Characters

Hi again!

So for this topic you need to pick your top 5 female characters. This was super hard for me to choose since I read so many books with awesome female characters in them that I love for heaps of different reasons. Because of this I will also add on a few honourable mentions of a couple other female characters that I have to mention but didn’t quite make the top 5. So let’s get straight into it!

5. Reyna- Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan

Ever since Reyna was first introduced in The Son of Neptune I really liked her. I really admired her character especially after all she had gone through and how she was still able to achieve so much such as running the whole camp Jupiter. Don’t get me wrong I still love Annabeth and Hazel and all of the other female characters in this series but to be perfectly honest Reyna is definitely my favourite.

4. Celanea Sardothien- Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Celanea has got to be one of the strongest female characters I have ever read. I suppose the reason for this is because she is a highly trained assassin. Throughout the first two books in the series Celanea shows her physical strength and skills in so many different ways. We see how great she is in all different aspects of fighting as well such as archery, sword fighting or really any other weapon form. I also like that even though she is really tough she is still in some senses ‘girly’ she still cares a lot about what she looks like and what she wears. I found this really refreshing and fun. Also she loves reading which is pretty cool as well J

 

 

 

 

3. Isabelle Lightwood- The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

The reason why I love Isabelle is a little like why I love Celanea. She again is a strong character who is always ready to kick butt. As well as this though she is also very into her appearance and what she wears even more so than Celanea. At many times during the book she walked around hunting demons wearing high heeled boots. She of course also has her cool bracelet that can uncurl from around her wrist and turn into her awesome whip. Of course Isabelle is also hilarious and sassy making her an even better character J

 

 

 

 

 

2. Tris Prior- Divergent by Veronica Roth

So I can’t have a list of top female characters without adding Tris. I loved Tris as soon as I first started reading Divergent. Throughout the series Tris grew so much and turned into such an amazing and strong female character. She has got to be one of the bravest and most selfless characters I have ever read about and she is probably the one character I look up the most to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Tessa Grey- The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

So Tessa has got to be my favourite female character of all time. The number 1 reason for this though is because of her love of books.  I loved how throughout the book she would still think about all the books she had read and how they compared to the situation she was going through. Also I loved how strong she was throughout the whole book and I also loved how much she cared and loved all the characters openly. Also I did find Tessa quite relatable with the love of books as well as the fact that Tessa is not the most physically strong character but how she is still able to be an amazing female character.

 

Honourable Mentions

Katniss Everdeen- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I really felt mean leaving out Katniss from this list since she is one of the most popular female characters in literature. I don’t really love Katniss as much as most people do but I still really admire and look up to her. I mean how strong must a person to be to face through all that Katniss had gone through all her life specially making it through two hunger games as well as surviving and pretty much leading her own rebellion. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Penryn Young- Penryn and the End of Days by Susan Ee

So Penryn doesn’t quite make this but she would pretty much come 6^th on this list. First off Penryn is super funny and witty throughout the book no matter how what she is going through. The other reason why I really love her is because of how smart and amazing she is at fighting. When Penryn was wrong she took heaps of different self-defence and martial art classes. This has made her super awesome at fighting and I loved how when she was in a fight she would explain what she was doing making it feel like I could fight like her too.

 

 

 

 

 

Kestrel- The Winner’s Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski

Kestrel again is a character that I super admire but didn’t quite make the top 5 list. What I love the most about Kestrel is that she is super intelligent but pretty terrible at fighting. I mean she can fight but she has very limited skills. Throughout the book we also see some of Kestrel skills in leadership and strategy which made her even more admirable. I am really looking forward for the net book to come out so I can read and learn even more about Kestrel.

 

The Year of the Rat by Clare Furniss Book Review

The Year of the Rat follows the story of 16 year old Pearl who previously lived happily with her mother and step-father. That is until her mum unfortunately dies giving birth to Pearl’s new half-sister who she immediately starts referring to as ‘The Rat’. The book follows Pearl through each month after the death of her mum dealing with the grief and trying to keep her life back on track. This book was quite emotional and did make me tear up at times.

Although I did really like this book I had a few issues with some of the characters. First of all I found that Pearl was way too selfish. I understand that what she was going through was very tough and I do get why she would act so selfishly but at times especially toward the end it was ridiculous how much she only cared about herself. Though one thing I really did like about Pearl was her character development and how she really grew and changed from the whole experience. The other character I was a little disappointed with was Finn. I felt like his character had a lot of potential but he was hardly developed and was left as just a2D typical male love interest character. I do understand though that he wasn’t really meant to be a main character which was probably why he wasn’t as developed.

A part of the story that also confused me was the fact that I don’t really understand if this book had paranormal themes in it. This probably won’t make sense if you haven’t read the book but if you’re planning on reading this jut be warned that some strange themes do run through this book.

In the end I ended up really enjoying this book and am really glad that I read it. I would overall give this book a 4.25 out of 10 stars. Also if you are planning on reading this book, which I definitely recommend you do, you might want to have a box of tissues on hand, just in case.

If I Stay Book Review

If I Stay follows the story of a 17 year old girl called Mia. Mia is a quiet and shy but a very talented cello player. SO far Mia’s life has been going very well. She has a close friend, a great boyfriend and a supportive loving family to back her up. That is until she and her family are in a tragic car accident. In the accident both Mia’s parents are killed while her younger brother suffers fatal injuries while Mia gets put into a coma. While she is in a coma she has an out of body experience where she can witness her family and friends reactions to the accident. She soon learns that she has to make an important decision on whether she wants to keep living and continue her life without or if she would rather fade away and die.

I recently re-read this book after reading it for the first time in October last year. While getting excited for the movie I realised how little of the book I could remember. This then lead to me picking this book up. Overall I really enjoyed it and found it a very moving story, which may have made me shed a few tears. I really liked how the writing style of the author and the way she set out the book. The book was set in current time but a major part of the book were flash-blacks which showed her past life as well as the relationships with her family and friends which loosely related to what was currently happening. I also really liked learning about all of Mia’s relationships in the books. They were all done very well and were made very realistic so that you couldn’t help but love the people that she loved. I especially loved Mia’s relationships with her family though, specifically her parents.

Overall I loved this book and would recommend to everyone, but please be warned, there is a very high chance that you will cry! I’m also really looking forward to watching the movie, hopefully very soon so stay tuned for my thoughts on the movie! :)

TOP 5 WEDNESDAY- TOP BOOKS BOOKTUBE/BOOK BLOGS MADE ME READ

Link to the Goodreads group if you would like to join J

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/118368-top-5-wednesday

 

5. The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

When I first heard about this series I didn’t really have a big urge to go read it. After I started to get into book blogging/vlogging though I heard everyone talking about it and really wanted to find out what the fuss was about so I decided to pick up the first book. I was actually really surprised to find that I really enjoyed the entire series especially the latest books and I’m really glad that I actually picked up this series.

 

 

4. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

I was actually really late to hear about this series and only really heard lots about it just before Never Fade came out. By then I heard what the story was about and was super interested in it. Again I’m super glad I picked up this book since it really was fantastic!

3. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

So I’m actually currently reading this series at the moment. I’ve currently almost finished Crown of Midnight. Again I heard about this series quite late (like the end of last year) and I didn’t really know much about it except the main character was very bad-ass. But I had only heard really good things about this series so when I saw the book at my local bookstore I picked it up straight away which at the time was probably a bad decision but I’m definitely not regretting it now!

2. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

As well as the massive hype for the movie, everyone on booktube/book blogs seemed to be talking about this book and absolutely raving about it. So I decided to pick up this book before watching the movie even though I wasn’t entirely sure whether would like it or not since I’m not really a fan of historical fiction. I ended up liking it but not loving it. It may though just be because of the time I read it so I do plan on red-reading this soon one day probably when I’m a bit older though.

 

 

1. Stephanie Perkins Books

I’m pretty sure Stephanie Perkin books are the most talked about and recommended books on booktube/ book blogs. At first I was hesitant to read them because of the cheesy title but eventually after literally everyone recommending them to me I gave in. So I read Lola earlier this year and enjoyed it but didn’t really love it as much as everyone else did. So at first I was a little hesitant to pick up Anna but from more recommendations from the online bookish community, as well as one of my friends who had since read the book, I decided I would read Anna. So I picked it up last month and ended up surprisingly enjoying it a lot more than Lola. It was still quite annoying and frustrating at times but still just adorable just the same. I am currently highly anticipating Isla and the Happily Ever After and have already read the first 50 pages online and am completely in love with it! I am so excited for Isla to come out and am extremely jealous of everyone who received an ARC.

 

 

 

 

TOP 5 WEDNESDAY- TOP BOOKS YOU’VE READ THIS YEAR SO FAR (2014)

Here is the link to the goodreads group of you are interested in joining J https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/118368-top-5-wednesday

Here we go! :

 

5. City Of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

As this is a Cassandra Clare book that I have eagerly been anticipating the release of this book definitely did not disappoint! I loved everything about this book from the characters to the plot to the world building! Everything was fantastic and this is definitely my favourite book in the series!!!

 

 

 

 

 

4. Love Letters To The Dead- Ava Dellaira

I went into the book not knowing very much about what this book was about but then ended up completely loving it and making this book probably one of my favourites of all time! I loved this book so much especially because I related quite a lot to the main character in terms of us both being quite shy. I also really liked the way the book was written, in letter form as the title suggests. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of The Perks Of Being A Wallflower because the ideas, and way the two books are written are quite similar. I was super excited when this book was optioned as a film and I really hope that happens soon!

 

 

3. These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Megan Spooner

Okay, I admit it I bought this book purely because of its beautiful cover but was so surprised to find out just how much I loved it. The story was super cool and people have been describing it as a titanic meets space which is kind of, but not completely true. The thing I probably loved the most about this book was, well the romance, but also the character development. It’s hard to find such character development over just one book but this book did it perfectly! I’m so excited to read the novella coming out at the end of the year as well as the second book, which I know follows different characters as well as the ones in this book!

 

 

 

2. Cress by Marissa Meyer

I love the entire Lunar Chronicles but Cress, for me, was by far the best! The thing I liked best about this book was probably Cress’ character, who was basically just a Fangirl (just like me). It was really cool to read about a character that I could really relate to. I also of course really like Cress and Carswell Thorne’s relationship and Creswell are definitely one of my OTP’s! This book also of course was filled full of action and adventure and was really everything I love and look for in a book. It sucks that Winter is coming out in December 2015 but at least we get two Lunar chronicle books in one year J

 

 

1. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Surprise! Surprise! Another Cassandra Clare book has made the list! This book is now in my top 3 favourite books of all time and the Infernal Devices is definitely by far my favourite series! The thing I loved probably the most about this book was again the AMAZINGLY FANTASTICAL CHARACTERS!!!! From Tessa, Will, Jem, Sophie, Gideon, Gabriel, Henry and Cecily I loved them ALL so much!!!!!! As well as that need I mention my ultimate OTP Wessa, even though do ship Jessa too... NO SHAME!!!! But if you haven’t read this series though, GO READ IT NOW!!!!! Trust me, you will love it!

 

The DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) by Kody Keplinger

This  review is unedited and may or may not make little sense. So I apologise for that.
I suggest if you are reading this book you look into what it s about because you don't want to be surprised like I was...
On a whole though this book was a really different read for me and I'm glad I read it. I did read this book because of the upcoming TV show, which I'm so confused on how that will happen. I mean how many episodes will there be? And I'm pretty sure they are going to make it into the most cheeriest thing they can ever make but I suppose they do that in all YA book to movie adaptations and I really do like the cast!
The kind of 'review' I wrote below is me voicing my very confused thoughts so I apologise if they don't make much sense but here you go :)...
SPOILERS FROM HERE ON!!!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!

I found the book enjoyable enough as a whole. The characters were interesting and I especially liked Bianca's friends Casey and Jessica. To be honest they were probably my favourite characters. I found Bianca, the main character funny and interesting but toward the end she kind of ignored me and there were times where I felt like pouring a drink over her... Wesley was okay and I DEFINATELY liked him more as the story progressed but we still didn't learn a lot about him by the end which was disappointing. But at the start he did act like a major asshole and even in the very last chapter when they FINALLY get together he was kind of like his old self, which I get the whole issue on, you shouldn't change yourself for anyone and stuff but Wesley did seem different but as soon as Bianca came to him he was all assholey (I realise that isn't a word...) and cocky again. But I understand that that was just part of his personality and in the end it wasn't that big of a deal. And I'm not even going to talk about Tony because Tony was kind of perfect, but at the same time boring and definitely NOT the perfect person for Bianca, n matter what she thought.
So now lets talk about Bianca and Wesley's relationship... So as I mentioned earlier I naïvely missed what it meant by "enemies with benefits" which was honesty pretty stupid of me. For some reason I thought it would just be kissing and talking and I'm cringing at how stupid that is now. So at first when I started to realise how much sex was a part of this book I was a little turned off but as I kept reading I kind of understood Bianca's choice, and even though it wouldn't have been my choice on how to escape from all the crap in her life, I still could see why Bianca chose that. So by the time I was halfway through the book I was no longer concerned about all TEH sex and I just kept flying through it. I don't know if this is the right thing to say but I found their relationship toward the end of the book as quite cute. Yes, yes, I know that sounds terrible! But I was (sadly) super happy when Wesley punched Bianca's dad and made sure she was alright. And I also found the notes he sent as really nice too, as cliché as that sounds. But at the end Bianca just came up to him and generally said 'cool we're dating, I have feelings for you, we're not going to sleep together, don't kiss me and you have to put up with me cause I'm not changing' and Wesley basically agreed with her and didn't even bring up the fact that he said he loved her or anything else he wrote in his earlier letter and when the book ended I was kind of just left blinking out
into space.
One part of this book that confused me was the whole 'philosophy' thing about bending the DUFF. I was kind of confused by the idea of, if you have friends it means your the fat and ugly one? I don't know... I was just confused by that. Also it was surprising how long it took for Bianca to realise that she shouldn't call people sluts and whores since anyone could basically accuse her of being one too. I thought of assumed she realised that toward the start but I guess I was wrong...

A couple of things I didn't really like about this book that I usually don't like in many contemporise is...
1. The fact that it took over 200 pages to work out a relationship which I predicted from basically page 2. I hate how many unnecessary arguments and plot twists contempory books have before the two characters get together. I know that it's to properly form the story but it seriously makes me super mad at times. Its books like these that make me want to invent a teleporting system that can teleport me into these books so I can freaking help the characters and give them needed suggestions on what to do.
2. The fact that the book just ended!!! Just when they got together!!! No more chapters, no epilogue, no novella. Nothing!!! It's really maddening!!! (Also not sure if maddening is a word or not or whether it's spelt right so sorry for that...) I really wanted to see Wesley and Bianca's relationship develop as well as find out about other characters! I also really wanted to know more about Wesley and his family.
These two reasons are probably what really made this book not a favourite for me as well as the kind of lack of character development. I'm still though a little unsure of what I think about this book and I'm pretty sure if I read this again when I'm older I'll enjoy it a lot more. But I'm still super curious to watch this TV show. Does anyone else think it will be like Mean Girls redone?