Posts

Showing posts from February, 2015

Stacking The Shelves [3]

Image
Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you're adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual, buying or borrowing. This meme is hosted by  Tynga's Reviews  and I'm excited to continue partaking in it! Bought: Wonder by R.J. Palacio The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black The Wicked + The Divine Issue #1 by Kieron Gillen Saga #1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples NetGalley: Mary Hades by Sarah Dalton We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach Denton's Little Deathdate by Lance Rubin Black Dove, White Raven by Elizabeth Wein Tape by Steven Camden Silverwood by Betsy Streeter Cleo by Lucy Coats The Trouble with Destiny by Lauren Morrill What did you guys buy this week? Izzy

The Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black: Book review

Image
Book title/ Author: The Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare & Holly Black Publisher/ Year: September 9th 2014 Scholastic Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy Series: Magisterium #1 Pages: 304 Source/ Format: e-galley | NetGalley (Thanks NetGalley/Scholastic!) Rating: 5 stars out of 5 I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion. *This review may contain spoilers!* Synopsis Most kids would do anything to pass The Iron Trial. Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail. All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at The Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him. So he tries his best to do his worst - and fails at failing. Now the Magisterium awaits him. It's a place that's both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future. The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the bigge

Top Ten Favourite Heroines From Books

Image
Hi everyone! Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, which is hosted over at  The Broke and The Bookish . This week's topic is Top Ten Favourite Heroines From Books. 1. Katniss from The Hunger Games. My post would not be complete without an honourable mention of Katniss. If there was one character in YA literature that epitomises the word heroine, it would be her. 2. Hazel from The fault In Our Stars. This may not be a top choice for everyone, but I think Hazel is an unconventional heroine. She battles demons in a different form to fantasy heroes, but I don't think she should be left off this list. 3. Hermione from Harry Potter. This is self-explanatory. 4. Clary from The Mortal Instruments. Clary is a demon-slaying, kick-butting shadowhunter who doesn't let anyone get in her way and I just love her. 5. Tris from Divergent. Tris has to deal with a lot of issues throughout the course of the series, and yet she manages to save so many lives. 6. Rose from Vampire Academy. R

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner: Book review

Image
Book title/ Author: The Scorch Trials by James Dashner Publisher/ Year: October 12th 2010 Delacorte Press Genre: YA Dystopian Series: The Maze Runner #2 Pages: 360 Source/ Format: Hardback | Borrowed from friend Rating: 4 stars out of 5 *This review may contain spoilers!* Synopsis Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. Thomas was sure that escape from the Maze would mean freedom for him and the Gladers. But WICKED isn't done yet. Phase Two has just begun. The Scorch. There are no rules. There is no help. You either make it or you die. The Gladers have two weeks to cross through the Scorch - the most burned-out section of the world. And WICKED had made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them. Friendships will be tested. Loyalties will be broken. All bets are off. There are others now. Their survival depends on the Gladers' destruction - and they're determined to survive. My review A lot of people have told me that

Top Ten Book Related Problems I Have

Image
Hi everyone! Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, which is hosted over at  The Broke and The Bookish . This week's topic is Top Ten Book Related Problems I Have. 1. Constantly re-organising my bookshelf.  I just did this again a couple of days ago and I already have the urge to do it all over again. It is such a big problem and it means that I basically never know where my books are on my shelf. 2. Never knowing what to read.  I have a LOT of books. That's probably an understatement but I don't want to go into details. All you need to know is that this makes it incredibly hard for me to decide what I want to read next. 3. The painful wait for the next book in a series.  This doesn't happen too often to me, but when it does it is unbearable. I get so invested in the storyline and the characters that I physically can't wait the long lengths between books. 4. The fact that hardbacks are so expensive.  If money wasn't an issue my whole house would be filled with g

Witch Child and Sorceress by Celia Rees: Series review

Image
As I don't have a massive amount of thoughts about either Witch Child or Sorceress, I decided to group them together and make one big post about the both of them. Book title/ Author: Witch Child by Celia Rees Publisher/ Year: 2009 Scholastic Genre: YA Historical Fiction Series: Witch Child #1 Pages: 245 Source/ Format: Paperback | Bought with my own money Rating: 3 stars out of 5 *This review may contain spoilers!* Synopsis When Mary sees her grandmother accused of witchcraft and hanged for the crime, she is silently hurried to safety by an unknown woman. The woman gives her tools to keep the record of her days - paper and ink. Mary is taken to a boat in Plymouth and from there sails to the New World where she hopes to make a new life among the pilgrims. But old superstitions die hard and soon Mary finds that she, like her grandmother, is the victim of ignorance and stupidity, and once more she faces important choices to ensure her survival. My

Top Ten Things I Like/Dislike When It Comes To Romances In Books

Image
Hi everyone! Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, which is hosted over at  The Broke and The Bookish . This week's topic is Top Ten Things I Like/Dislike When It Comes To Romances In Books. 1. Love triangles. You guys have no idea how much I detest love triangles. No specific cases come to mind of them actually working, but I may just not have encountered one yet. I find them so cheesy and in most cases it just makes the girl look greedy and like she's using them. 2. Insta-love. I feel as though in recent years authors have felt like they have to make their characters fall in love instantly. Most of the time it just makes their relationship look unrealistic. 3. When friends get into a relationship and it ruins their friendship.  Sometimes characters think that they like each other and that they should be together, and while that works occasionally, other times it doesn't work out and they feel awkward being even friends any more. 4. The bad-boy and the good-girl. OH MY GOD

Breathe by Elena Dillon: Book review

Image
Book title/ Author: Breathe by Elena Dillon Publisher/ Year: August 19th 2014 self-published? Genre: YA Contemporary/Thriller Series: Breathe #1 Pages: 166 Source/ Format: ebook | NetGalley (Thanks NetGalley/Mark My Words PR!) Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 *This review may contain spoilers!* Synopsis Jasmine's life wasn't normal for a 16 year old girl. It hadn't been normal since the murder of her older sister, Daisy, two years ago. Her life had been changed forever. The monster that murdered Daisy was never caught. That was the reason her family decided to move away from their hometown in Southern California, to start over. Hopefully in a place where the last name Rourke wouldn't bring on staring or judgement or morbid curiosity. In Lafayette, Louisiana things are quite a bit different but in a good way. Good manners, Cajun accents and a whole lot of Southern Hospitality all make her think things are going in the right direction. On top of

Top Ten Books I Want To Read From Contemporary YA

Image
Hi everyone! Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, which is hosted over at  The Broke and The Bookish . This week's topic is Top Ten Books I Want To Read From Contemporary YA. 1.  Wonder by R.J. Palacio This book, to me, feels like one of those staples in YA literature in general, so you can imagine my delight when I found a copy of this book in my local charity shop for a measly £1! 2.  All of Rainbow Rowell's books What with all the hype surrounding her name alone, I feel like I would be missing out if I don't read any of her works. I actually own both Fangirl and Eleanor & Park, so I must read one soon and tell you all what I think. 3.  As You Wish by Jackson Pearce Both of Jackson's books that I have read are some of my favourites, so I have high hopes for this entertaining-sounding contemporary. 4.  Anna and the French Kiss series by Stephanie Perkins Stephanie Perkins is one of the most-loved authors in the YA community, and I had the