Binge - Tyler Oakley (2015)

4 stars

I got this book for christmas after I put it on my list because Buck's review of it finally sold me on wanting to read it.

I haven't read any other youtuber books so I can't compare it to any of them in terms of how good it was, but it was definitely a fun read. The book is told through different short chapter stories that go in chronological order, from when his birth up to his 25th birthday, this order means that it kind of has most of it's heavier chapters pretty close to each other in the latter half of the book but it had enough funny chapters in it to make sure I didn't stay sad for long. Since this book is just Tyler's life I can't have a favourite character, but my favourite chapter, or at least most memorable, was definitely the hopeless toemantic chapter. If you only read one chapter of this book please make it this one and never stop laughing and being not at all surprised that Tyler both did that, and decided to share it with the world. I would recommend this book to any fan of Tyler's, even if you've only enjoyed one or two of his videos I'm sure there's at least some chapters that would appeal to you.

This book includes stories of Tyler's birthdays, his first experience finding porn, how he came out, his family, his experiences with both a closeted boyfriend and an abusive one, his experience with one direction, his grindr hookup with a guy that had a foot fetish, his near panic attack on his 25th birthday and plenty more fun life experiences he's had.

Reason to Breathe - Rebecca Donovan (2012)

4 stars

I bought this book because my friend kept telling me how much I'd love it and then another friend told me they'd read it and I'd love it so I gave in.

This book is told from Emma's perspective which can be quite dark at times because she is being physically abused by her guardian. It was super engrossing I think because she is so sweet and it is hard to stop reading and not know whether or not she was going to be abused more or whether she could just be safe. I read this in two or three days because of how much I loved Emma, however I think it could be super hard for people to read if they don't deal well with abuse or are triggered by it. My favourite characters were probably Emma and Sara, I feel like if you enjoy this book it's because you love Emma as a character because it's kind of like Tully in a way that it is it's main character, and I liked Sara because she was always there for Emma and gave me peace of mind that Emma would be okay. I would recommend this book to any fans of teen romance and drama and can handle reading a book where the main character is physically abused pretty constantly.

Emma only has one friend, she doesn't want any attention drawn to her because her aunt physically abuses her and will use any excuse to do so. When Evan Matthews comes to her school he develops a crush on her he manages to become her friend and then once she realizes she likes him they start to date. Evan has trouble knowing that she is keeping a secret from him but he eventually works out what is going on and they continue on basically the same as Emma can't let any authorities know because she doesn't want anything to happen to her younger cousins if they do anything to Carol. After a particularly bad beating Evan wants Emma to run away with him, which she agrees to do until she goes home and her uncle, George, tells her that Carol is at her sister's for the night and that if she stays they can work something out and he won't let anything happen again. Emma wants to believe him so she calls Sara and tells her to talk to Evan because she wants to try and believe her uncle. She then wakes up in the middle of the night with her hands taped together, a pillow on her face and Carol trying to strangle her, she bangs her foot against the wall a few times and then blacks out.

Finding Audrey - Sophie Kinsella (2015)

4 stars

I bought this book because when I read the back it sounded like the cutest most fanfiction-y book ever, so naturally I had to get it.

This book is told from Audrey's perspective, with interspersed pages of screenpay scripts from the documentary Audrey was making about her family which made for a nice change every few chapters. I actually read this book like 6 months ago and can't properly remember a lot about it because I read it in a day. My main problem with this book was that the vibe that I got from it, even though it wasn't the intended message I think, was that a girl's anxiety can be "cured" by one boy's attention, which is dumb. Also you never find out what the incident that caused her anxiety to spiral actually was, which I wouldn't mind except that the climax of the book revolves around Audrey seeing one of the girls from the incident again. I really loved all the characters though, because it was only her family and Linus that were really in it I found it very easy to understand them all and the dynamics between everyone. My favourite character was probably Frank because it was really easy to sympathize with him when his mother was so weird about technology and he was so nice to everyone anyway, any scene with him in it was usually pretty funny. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes teen romance books.

Audrey can't leave the house, she can't speak to anyone outside of her family and she never takes off her dark sunglasses due to some severe social anxiety that she's had since an unkown incident with some girls at school. Her life is basically staying inside her house and going to see her therapist until one of her brother's friends, Linus, comes over and talks to her. Slowly they go from just writing notes to actually going to starbucks together where Linus will dare her to ask a stranger a question and she'll actually do it. When one of the girls from the unkown incident contacts Audrey because she wants to apologize Audrey wants to do it but Linus says she's not worth her time and it will cause her to revert to how she had been before. They fight about it and Audrey gets Frank to come with her to meet the girl. Once there she realizes the girl, Izzy, isn't sorry at all and her parents had just set it up so their daughter could feel better as she's been "upset" since the incident (which we still don't actually know what happened) Audrey and Frank walk out. Audrey then messages Linus and tells him that he was right, Izzy wasn't worth her time, but she was also right because she didn't go back to how she had been before she met him. He doesn't reply to her messages so to try to lessen her anxiety she goes for a walk in the park and falls asleep. Her family freaks out and her mum blames Linus because when he comes to help he tells them that he only just got her text message but the mum says she had been fine until she met Linus. Once they find her she apologizes for falling asleep to her family and her and Linus reunite then they all go to the gaming competition that Frank had been arguing with their mum about for the whole book.

Flame - Amy Kathleen Ryan (2014)

4 stars

I ordered this because I loved Glow and Spark so much, although it wasn't as good as either of them I still enjoyed this one and thought it was a good end to the series.

This book is told in the same manner as the last, from the three different perspectives of Seth, Waverly and Kieran except this time it has a few chapters from Arthur's perspective as well. I think I didn't like this book as much as the others because it was all kind of expected, I knew I'd hate Anne Mather, I knew not to trust most of the people on the New Horizon, and I just got a bit sick of the constant crap that all three of them were being put through for the entire book, there was no real reprieve of sadness until the very end and it kind of depressed me. My favourite character in this book was probably Seth, I read the first two books so long ago I can't actually remember him being bad so I just enjoyed how basically all he wanted to do was help Waverly the entire time and I looked forward to his perspective because that was always a semi happy bit I could look forward to reading about. I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys YA fiction and science fiction, or people who liked Across the Universe or These Broken Stars and want more of that romance on a spaceship stuff that seems to be ALL I AM READING ABOUT.

This book starts with Seth making it to the New Horizon using a OneMan suit and then managing to evade capture. Anne Mather starts an alliance with Kieran so she can get the Empyrean survivors on her side and he can have some control over what happens to them all. Doctor Carver, one of the church elders and council members, makes plans with Waverly to testify against Anne Mather so he can take her down and put his son Jared in charge in exchange for fixing her mother and the rest of the parents on board who seem to have suffered some weird brain damage. Arthur, Sarek, Tobin and all the injured Empyrean members are still alive and on the Empyrean and are hiding from the crew members of the New Horizon that are trying to salvage the ship. Seth is eventually captured by Anne Mather and she deliberately puts him in the brig with no medical help even though his broken hand has caused a severe infection that he is dying from. A nurse is sent down because Jacob Pauley still thinks Seth is his friend and she gets him to the infirmary where they had to amputate his arm. Waverly is captured by Jacob and Ginny Pauley and Jared (who is super creepy and tried to rape Waverly) exchanges Kieran for her. They forcefeed Kieran bags of explosives and a detonator and then send him to testify at Anne Mather's trial with what they want him to say because they also hate her. Waverly goes to Mather's trial but is stopped by Serafina who tells her what the Pauley's did to Kieran, she also tells her that they need to be in range to detonate the bomb so she goes after Jacob. Jacob takes Seth from the infirmary to watch him blow up Kieran and together he and Waverly manage to kill Jacob and warn Kieran to get out of range. Ginny Pauley shoots Anne Mather on stage before she is gunned down herself, Kieran flies a shuttle to the Empyrean when Arthur contacts him and tells him to come back. He manages to vomit up all the explosives, but he can't get the detonator out and they have to try to wait for it to pass through him. One of the New Horizon crew members on the Empyrean is a rebel and helps detain the rest of the crew and help Arthur, Sarek and Kieran negotiate all their ship members back with the rest of the rebels in exchange for the rest of the crew. Kieran ends up having to go back to the New Horizon because the Empyrean has no infirmary and he needs surgery, but this means he cannot come back as they have to leave for another planet Sarek has found and can't risk an attack from Doctor Carver. The book ends 10 years later with Waverly being the first person to test out the new planet Sarek found, being married to Seth with their two children and still in video contact with Kieran who is married to Felicity and they've just had their fifth child and named her Waverly.

Royal Wedding - Meg Cabot (2015)

4 stars

I ordered this book as soon as it came out because I was obsessed with this series for many years and it still holds up.

This book is told in the same diary format as all the previous books and it is still just as hilarious. Although it was really fun to able to read another book about Mia I totally understand why she stopped writing them when she did and surprisingly I think I liked this book less that most of the early ones. I also thought that considering the title of the book is Royal Wedding that she would get engaged pretty early on, rather than like 150 pages in, which frustrated me a bit when she was complaining about why Michael was acting weird when everyone clearly already knew why. My favourite character in this book was Mia, I hadn't read anything new from her in six years and it was so wonderful to have her hypochondriac, sarcastic self back in my life. I would recommend this book to anyone who liked any of the other princess diaries books.

Mia is now working in a centre that she opened in Mr Giannini's (who is now dead) name that helps teenagers with their academic studies. Michael takes her on a romantic getaway for her birthday where he proposes and she says yes. She returns home and finds that her Grandmere has discovered she has a half sister that is 12 and her dad has known about her for her entire life and has been letting her live in New Jersey with her aunt and uncle after her mother died. Mia ends up going to see Olivia, her sister, and taking her to meet her dad who she apparently had been writing letters to for her entire life. Her dad doesn't want to let Olivia go now he has her so he applies for custody and manages to get her aunt and uncle to give her up by threatening them with looking into what all his money he had been sending them was going towards. Mia then finds out that she is pregnant, with twins, her parents get back together and she and Michael get married.

Outlander - Diana Gabaldon (1991)

4 stars

I got this book as a christmas present because I was enjoying the tv show, and although it is very similar to the show, I still really enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed this book but I suggest that if you're interested in reading it you try the show first because they are incredibly similar, especially at the start of both and the book is really quite long. I didn't think it would be able to interest me as much as it did because it is set such a long time ago but I didn't have any trouble powering through it once I was really involved. It took me such a long time to getting around to reviewing this that I can't really remember all the characters that well, but I'm pretty sure my favourites were Jamie and his sister, Jamie because he was always making me smile throughout all the drama in this book (until the last part) and his sister because she created an excellent dynamic between both her and Claire and her and Jamie. I would recommend reading this book if you like good drama and romance and don't mind a historical setting.

Claire Randall is thrown back in time away from her husband Frank to Inverness Scotland where she meets Jamie Fraser when he saves her from Frank's ancestor Captain Jack Randall. He is part of Clan MacKenzie who all take her back to their home Castle Leoch where she can work for them as a nurse. Randall wants to take Claire in for questioning so Dougal, the second in charge, weds her to Jaime to prevent that. Claire falls in love with Jamie and when he leaves for another job and she is left at Castle Leoch on her own and she is put on trial for witchcraft along with her friend Geillis. Jamie saves Claire from being burnt at the stake, but as they are leaving she sees Geillis has a smallpox vaccine scar, indicating that she was also from the future. Claire then tells Jamie the truth about where she's from and he takes her to the stones where she originally travelled through time and leaves for a motel so she can make up her own mind if she wants to return. She picks Jamie and he takes her to his home, Lallybroch, where she meets his family. Jamie is still a wanted fugitive and is taken by the British to Captain Randall, who then captures Claire when she tries to rescue Jamie. Jamie then gives himself to Randall if he frees Claire, and Randall rapes him all night until Claire, Murtagh and their new ally MacRannoch save him. Claire patches up his wounds and they then travel to a monastery in France where Jamie has family so he can heal, but he is psychologically traumatized and Claire ends up drugging him and reenacting his rape so he can fight back this time. The book ends with Claire telling Jamie she is pregnant, even though she previously thought she was barren.

Dreams of Gods and Monsters - Laini Taylor (2014)

4 stars

I started this as soon as I finished Days of Blood and Starlight because I was so ready for a book full of Akiva and Karou togetherness, and I was very disappointed on that front.

It was actually quite hard for me to give this book such a high rating because I found the end, which I did not enjoy, really took over my memory of the book even though I did enjoy the rest of it quite a lot. I found the ending was like something the author thought of at the last moment and just decided to put it in this book to give it another twist ad storyline, I'm pretty sure that isn't the case, but a bit more weaving in or foreshadowing in the earlier books could've helped a lot when reading through it and finding it incredibly both boring and unneccessary. I really enjoyed the rest of the book, even if it was a bit slow for the resistance to get to Eretz I liked all the intricacies of the two armies joining together and all the betrayal and effort that took. My favourite character in this book was once again Zuzana, but in this book Liraz was also a beautiful charcater to watch develop and by the end I found her and Ziri's story was much more enjoyable to watch unfold than Karou's and Akiva's which quickly became very repetitive. I would recommend this series to anyone who likes intricate fantasy worlds and romance because it has plenty of both.

This book starts with Akiva and Liraz guiding the chimaera to the Kirin caves after they agreed to a treaty. Once there Karou and Akiva reconcile after she explains that Ziri is in the wolf's body and then she has an idea that can remove Jael and the angels from earth without harming anyone. The rebel army set off to the portal to send Karou and Liraz through to retrieve Jael and his army, but the Dominion is there in full force and in the fray Liraz manages to push Akiva through with Karou and seal the portal because she wants him to have a chance at living. Once through Akiva and Karou encounter Eliza, a descendant from one of the fallen angels like Razgut who cannot stop chanting in seraphic who they leave with Zuzana and Mik and Esther, one of Brimstone's old contacts. Esther had formed an alliance with Jael however and warned him of Akiva and Karou's approach, but they still get the upper hand as they brought Haxaya who had remained glamoured the entire time. Akiva burns a handprint onto Jael's chest, which he can alight any time which is how they convince him and his army to return to Eretz without any weapons or technology. Once returned Akiva is shown by the Stelians that he has been detroying the world by using Sirithar as it is drawing energy from the veil between worlds, which is keeping them from the beasts that almost destroyed all the angels millions of years ago, which was caused by Razgut and Eliza among others. The Stelians have been holding the veil together for years and they now require Akiva's help so he must go with them to the other side of Eretz. Eliza shows them that they are all godstars, the ones who will defeat the beasts one day when they break through the veil and the book ends with Karou going over to the Stelian islands to be with Akiva for a month before she can start resurrecting bodies in better weather for crops and survival.

Days of Blood and Starlight - Laini Taylor (2012)

4 stars

I bought this book at the same time as I bought Daughter of Smoke and Bone (which I didn't post about because I was on a cruise when I read it) and although this has a lot more detail about the chimaera and Eretz, I still enjoyed the first book more.

Although a lot happened in this book, I felt like a lot of it was internal and nobody really did anything until the last moment. The first books constant mystery, although I had kind of half worked it out, kept me intrigued the entire time whereas the constant twists in this book were often predictable and the only one that really had me keep reading until I found it out was Brimstone's. I sorely missed Brimstone's prescence in this novel, and I found the consistent mention of the book's main theme; hope, kept having me expecting him to come around the corner at any moment and I was often disappointed. I enjoyed all the introduction of new characters though and I loved reading from Zuzana's perspective in this book. My favourite character in this book was Zuzana, I found her hilarious, her chapters were always my favourite and her arrival as the Kasbah made Karou's storyline so much more interesting. I would recommend this series to anyone who like YA fantasy.

The book starts with Akiva returning to Liraz and Hazael and telling them that Karou is dead and explaining everything that had happened between them over the years. Attacks on angel camps begin and many of the chimaera slaves are set free with a message of hope being spread to them by chimaera that no angels can seem to witness in action. It is discovered that Karou is still alive and has taken Brimstone's old postition as resurrectionist once she was found by Thiago, who made her give all of their soldiers new gruesome bodies to be able to kill angels easily with. Akiva and his siblings start showing mercy to chimaera and hatch a plan to kill their father, Joram, the emperor, while Karou is living constantly under Thiago's watch as he turns all the chimaera against her. When Akiva and his siblings kill Joram, Jael immediately kills the next heir so he can be Emperor and invade the earthly realm, killing Hazael in the process. When Karou resurrects Issa she learns that many of the chimaera souls are trapped in a make do thurible tomb under Lorramendi and when she confronts Thiago with this information in front of the army he immediately gets them back on his side and plans revenge. He lures Karou down to the pit and tries to rape her but she stabs him in the neck and kills him, Ziri then decides to go into Thiago's body so they can maintain control of the chimaera without anyone punishing them for killing him. Akiva and Liraz come to Karou to try to get her to resurrect Hazael, but they did not capture his soul and there is nothing she can do to help them. They go to seal the portals between the worlds so that Jael can't invade Earth but they are too late so the misbegotten and the chimaera form an army together to stop him.

Where Rainbows End - Cecelia Ahern (2004)

4 stars

After seeing the trailer for this movie, I thought that I would enjoy the book and as excited as I was before I'd read it, now I'm double that excitement level for the movie.

This book is told through letters and messages like emails and instant messages, which makes the timeline of this book very confusing and annoying. The book ranges from when Rosie and Alex are 7 to when they're 50, but I'd say that probably 450 pages of this 550 page book is in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties. I found this book really hard to put down, I don't know whether it was because it was told through letters, or because I was just that invested in Rosie's life, but I read it in 2 days and I'm so interested to see what they cut out in the movie because it had a lot of plot. My favourite character in this book was probably Ruby, but Rosie makes a close second, they were both hilarious and had me constantly laughing. Without their humour and love for each other I don't think this book would hold up because you would realize how frustrating it is that her and Alex just aren't together. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes romance, especially if you like a lot of build up.

Rosie and Alex are best friends living in Dublin, when they're 17 Alex's father gets a promotion and moves his family to Boston. The next year Alex is supposed to come back to Dublin to take Rosie to her debs (I think it's some sort of graduation dance) before she moves over to Boston to go to Boston college but there's a mix up with his flight and he can't make it, Rosie has to go with Brian the Whine, a hated classmate of theirs, and she ends up drinking a lot so she can stand him and winds up pregnant. She raises Katie, her daughter, in her parents house for the first few years and then gets a job in the same building as Ruby, all the while keeping in touch with Alex who is Katie's godfather. Alex marries his college sweetheart Sally, who absolutely hates Rosie and vice versa and Rosie starts dating an older man named Greg who Alex hates. Sally and Alex have a son, Josh and then get divorced while Rosie gets a receptionist job at a hotel and takes Greg back after he cheats on her. Alex comes to stay and leaves Rosie a letter explaining his love for her, but Greg finds it and hides it from her. Rosie finds out that Greg continued to cheat on her even after she took him back and leaves him, planning to head to Boston to stay with Alex, who is excited so he can profess his love for her, but Brian the Whine, who left town when Rosie was pregnant sends her a letter asking to be part of Katie's life and she decides she has to give him a chance for Katie's sake so she stays in Dublin. Alex starts dating Bethany, his high school sweetheart again, who Rosie has always hated and when he marries her because she's pregnant, even though he told Rosie that he didn't love her, he and Rosie get in a fight and they don't talk for a year. Rosie does night school to get her hotel management degree even though it takes her a year longer than planned because her dad dies the night before her final exams. Her mother dies three years later and Greg sends her the letter Alex left her all those years ago, she doesn't do anything because he's married, but because Katie is living in Ibiza DJing she moves into her mum's house and turns it into her own B & B. Years later when she's 50 and Alex has divorced Bethany, they're both IMing Katie because she ran into her childhood best friend Toby and thinks she loves him because she had the "silence" that her mum always told her about (which was a silence she experienced with Alex before she kissed him before his first wedding) and when Alex realizes she felt the silence too he sends her a letter professing his love for her (again). The book ends with a few pages from third person omniscient perspective telling how Rosie had kept all the letters and emails from the few years and had read over them that night waiting for Alex to arrive, she walks downstairs and falls but he catches her and smiles.

The Revenge of Seven - Pittacus Lore (2014)

4 stars

I bought this book as soon as it came out because I think this series is so much fun to read, except I found this book took a lot longer to read than any of the others.

This book is told from three different perspectives like the past couple books in the series, and this time it's the perspectives of John, Six and Ella. I've always liked Six's perspective and they're all obviously going to have John's perspective, but I didn't really like Ella's that much, I understand why it needed her perspective as she was separated from the rest of the group and she got a lot of the mogadorian backstory explained, but I think Nine or Marina would be a lot more enjoyable. I think the reason that I took a lot longer to read this book than the previous ones in the series is because it had a lot of build up for the next book, which I think is going to be the last book in the series so the first half, which was good, just didn't grab me like the second half and like the previous few books have. I thought the coolest part of this book was the introduction of the sanctuary, I love how the series keeps introducing new places and people that are all equally important and I thought that the sanctuary was one of the most interesting parts of the book. If I had to pick a favourite character in this book it would be Nine, but I don't think any of the characters had enough time for me to get a proper idea of who was my favourite, I just picked Nine because he always brings some hilarity to every moment. I would recommend this series to anyone who likes fun sci fi series.

The book starts with the Garde in three different groups, Marina, Nine and Six are in the swamp after their battle in the last book, Ella is on a Mogadorian ship with Setrakus Ra, and John is with Sam, Malcolm, Adam and Sarah running from Mogadorians. Adam soon convinces John and the others to make an attack on his father's neighbourhood where a lot of the high ranking mogadorians live and have their base of operations. Adam ends up killing his father to save John's life and then they use the mogadorians computer system to contact Six, Nine and Marina, who have stolen a mogadorian jet, to direct them to the house they're now staying in. They then learn that when the Loric were visiting earth they created a sanctuary that only Loric could enter and where they can recreate Lorien if they use the gems and things from their chests. Six, Marina and Adam head to the sanctuary and Nine, John and Sam head to New York to try to stop the politicians that are in cahoots with Setrakus Ra. John and Nine convince Bud Sanderson to turn against Setrakus and when he and all the mogadorians invade, pretty much minutes later, it doesn't go peacefully like he planned and Ella gets Nine to destroy his staff which was the source of his shape changing ability. Ella then learns that even though Setrakus joined them so whatever hurts him actually happens to her, it doesn't work if she is the one who hurts him. Six, Marina and Adam commit all their stones and pendants to the earth at the sanctuary and then the spirit of Lorien speaks through Eight's body and tells them now he's reawakened there's nothing else he can do and then Eight is briefly back in his body, he comforts Marina and they kiss before he disintegrates. The book ends with John fighting a Piken in New York, and then when he's about to be crushed, Sam using telekinesis to stop it.

Champion - Marie Lu (2013)

4 stars

I ordered this book as soon as I finished Legend and although that book is still my favourite in the series I think this book was a good end to the trilogy.

This book is told in the same way as the past two with alternating chapters from June and Day except for at the very end where there's two June chapters in a row, but one is kind of an epilogue. I really loved the Metias memories in this book, and the scene where Thomas relives his murder was one of my favourite parts of the book. How she ended things with June and Day really annoyed me, it would've been fine if she had done it and left maybe a few weeks or so in between, but ten years? I found myself thinking of the scene in Gilmore Girls where Lorelai says she doesn't want to find true love when she's old, she wants a middle, and I want a middle for June and Day. I loved how Tess was back to her normal self in this book, in Prodigy she turned into a crazy jealous bitch, but in this book she returned to her normal kind self and I found myself loving the friendship between her and June. My favourite character in this book was Eden, I loved how he became the only thing that mattered to both June and Day, but also how he only wanted everyone to be safe and happy and I thought he was a really nice change from the intensity of June, Day and Anden. I would recommend this book to any dystopian fans.

This book picks up eight months after the end of the last book where Day is living in Los Angeles and June is in Denver with Anden training to be Princeps-Elect. June calls Day to get him to come to Denver where Anden asks him if they can test on Eden because a plague is being spread through the colonies and they are threatening war if the Republic doesn't give them the cure. Day refuses to let them test on Eden,the colonies start war on them without any warning and June finds out that Day is dying. The colonies take Denver and the people are only just evacuated in time because Commander Jameson is helping the colonies and feeding them inside information. June and Day have sex, which is always a bad sign, and then Day and the patriots help take down the colonies before he collapses from being shot by Jameson. June then fights with Jameson before getting some of the soldiers to shoot her. Day gets his operation and when June goes in to see him he doesn't remember her because due to the surgery he can't remember the last year. June decides to give him the gift of not having to love the person that destroyed his life and walks away. Ten years later with the Republic running smoothly they run into each other on the street and they introduce themselves to each other after Day realizes that she's been missing from his life.

The Selection - Kiera Cass (2012)

4 stars

This book was recommended to me on goodreads and I wasn't sure about it but then I saw it again in a tumblr post of different books people would enjoy if they enjoyed certain other books or certain plot devices and I decided to get it and I'm really happy I did.

The concept of this book is kind of just like reality TV on steroids, and just like reality television it sucked me in and I had to know what America did next. I don't like love triangles and I was unaware there would be one in this book, but despite the fact that there was a love triangle, and it's pretty much going to be the main storyline of future books, it didn't really come through too strongly or even much at all in the majority of this book which was wonderful. I like knowing that a book that's main storyline is a love triangle can kind of turn it into a less important side note and I hope that it will continue that way through the next books with all the other secrets and drama it set up in this book. The thing that irritated me most about this book was that Aspen is given no good traits or real reason for why America loves him, and by extension why I should too, whereas Maxon is constantly being a good person and saying loveable things. Doing that so all the readers will want her to pick Maxon is fine, but it just makes it really unrealistic and it's ridiculous that someone as awesome as America would even love Aspen in the first place. My favourite character in this book was America, I love a good female heroine but the best thing about America is that she doesn't do big grand ridiculous acts of courage all the time, she's just a really nice person, who doesn't care about castes and wants everyone to be safe and happy, no matter their birth or circumstance. I would recommend this to people who like love stories, and fans of The Hunger Games who liked the love triangle in it.

America Singer is a Five, in a country where castes are now ranked like numbers with royalty as Ones and criminals as Eights, she's in of the poorest castes that make their meager living as artists. When she recieves a letter in the mail that she can apply for the Selection, a competition where a girl from each of the 35 districts is drawn at random to go live at the palace to compete with each other for the Prince's heart, her mother insists she put her name in so they might get an elevated status and some more money to live on. America doesn't want to enter as she has a secret boyfriend, Aspen, who is a Six but who she loves and wants to marry, but he also insists that she enter because she's worth it. On the day of her entry she runs into Aspen's mum who tells her she thinks he's going to propose to a girl because he's been saving all his money, America is so happy that she looks wonderful for her entry photo. The next night when she goes to meet Aspen she cooks him a wonderful meal and his pride is so wounded because she thinks he needs the food that he breaks up with her, then her name is called from her district to go into the Selection. Once there she quickly strikes up a friendship with Prince Maxon and she tells him the whole story of her and Aspen, as well as informing him of how people in the lower castes live which he uses to change policy, and he tells her the details of the constant rebel attacks and seiges and she tries to help him with them. Just as she's starting to believe she could fall in love with Maxon, Aspen appears as a royal guard and tells her he made a mistake in breaking up with her. There is a particularly severe and scary seige on the castle and Maxon then lowers the pool of girls down to 6 so as to not have as many of them in danger, America is one of them and when he explains why he kept each girl, due to her status, relations or popularity with the crowds, he says he didn't have a strategic reason for keeping her. When Aspen comes to her room that night she tells him that he can't kiss her and that she's going to work out what she wants, Aspen then says (of course) that he's not giving up this time.

A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby (2005)

4 stars

I'm not going to lie, I bought this book because I knew the movie was coming out and Aaron Paul was going to be in it, and I actually really enjoyed it.

This book is told from the four different perspectives of the main characters, which would normally confuse me but they're all so different that somehow it works really well. The whole premise of this book, that four people meet each other when they're all going to commit suicide, seemed like it would be pretty depressing but I found myself laughing a surprising amount throughout this book. I really liked how realistic each of the perspective's were and how realistic the end of the story was, I thought there was going to be a big miracle and wonderful happy ending and I was so happy that that didn't happen. My favourite character in this book was probably Maureen, I liked how soft spoken she was and how she didn't realize how much she could do when she spoke until she actually did speak. I would recommend this book to anyone who doesn't mind frequent mentions of suicide but likes a short novel.

Martin, Maureen, Jess and JJ all run into each other on the roof of Toppers' House, a popular suicide spot, on New Year's Eve. The presence of them all stops them from committing suicide and they spend the night looking for Jess' ex-boyfriend and then decide to form a sort of support group and decide to meet again on Valentine's day to see how they're all feeling. On Valentine's day JJ brings up that ninety days after a suicide attempt they aren't supposed to want to commit suicide anymore, so they have until the end of March til their ninety days are up. By the end of the ninety days they've all made some progress and feel a bit better and decide to see how they're feeling after six months.

Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell (2013)

4 stars

After loving both of Rainbow's other books and reading the pretense of this book I had to get it and it was such a wonderful read.

I don't know whether this book is better for me because I am a fangirl and I understand absolutely everything that Cath mentions when she's thinking about such matters, but I thought this book was wonderful. Once again Rainbow has a really cool concept, writing a book within a book, as well as fanfiction based on the fictional book, I can only imagine how much time it took to think of all that content. I always find her characters relatable in ways that many authors don't often delve into and this book is no exception, in fact I thought Cath, the main character in this book was so much like me (and I'm sure many other girls who spend a large amount of time online) that at some points it was really freaky. One of my favourite parts was where she described herself as "an eighteen-year old nerd who knew eff-all about boys or parties" and I felt as if she was describing me. All the anxiety, antisocial tendencies and love for nerdy guys makes me relate to this book and love it all the more, and I don't know whether she did that purposefully but I'm sure that it will make many other girls love it for the same reason. My favourite character in this book was Reagan, she was a great balance of sarcasm and love that it made me wish she was in it a bit more. I would recommend this book to any person who likes young adult love stories, or any fangirls.

Cath and Wren are twins who are moving to university, they've always been obsessed with a book series called Simon Snow and although Cath doesn't really want to go, Wren tells her she should and that they can't be roommates. Cath finds it hard with all the new scenarios but she soon finds friends in her roommate Reagan, Reagan's boyfriend Levi and a boy from her writing class and although Wren thinks she's stupid for still clinging to her love of Simon Snow and continuing her fanfiction on him Cath manages without her. One night when Levi comes to her room and Reagan is out with another guy, Cath helps him study for a test by reading him the book he has been assigned for the class as he has trouble focusing when reading. They end up kissing and then fall asleep together then the next morning when Reagan comes in he leaves and Reagan tells Cath that he's not her boyfriend, he's her best friend and ex-boyfriend from high school. Cath then decides to go to a party at his house that he invites her to that night and Reagan helps her get ready but when they get there they walk in on him kissing another girl and they walk straight out and Cath asks Reagan not to mention it again. She finally calls Levi when her dad is admitted to hospital and she needs a ride home, she then explains to him why she'd been ignoring him and he leaves when she asks him to. When she returns to school Levi convinces her to give him another chance and everything starts to go better for Cath until her sister is admitted to hospital because she needs to get her sotmach pumped. She reconciles with her Wren and her Dad sets Wren rules to follow so she won't end up like this again and when the final Simon Snow book comes out Cath and Wren go to the midnight release with Levi and Reagan and they cry together. The book ends with Cath reading the last book out loud to Levi.

Attachments - Rainbow Rowell (2011)

4 stars

After reading Eleanor & Park I found out that Rainbow had two other books and when I finally bought this one the other day I couldn't wait to read it.

This book is told from Lincoln's perspective but is interspersed with chapters of emails between Beth and Jennifer which was really interesting to read. At first I found it very confusing to work out which woman was which and who was talking, but after a while I grew to know them and I could just tell who was talking without needing to look at the names, which is I guess what happened to Lincoln as well. I think the concept of this book is so clever and although I could pretty much work out what was going to happen, it was still really cool to get so invested in characters who the storyteller hasn't even met before. My favourite character was Jennifer, I don't understand why Lincoln didn't love her instead of Beth, but I loved how her opinion  on pregnancy changed through the novel and how she changed with it. I also love that once again, Rainbow gave me a hilarious wonderful character who was a realistic size and continued showing her insecurities about it through the novel. I would recommend this book to any romance fans or people who want a different kind of romance book.

Lincoln is the new IT guy at a newspaper office in 1999. His job is to read through employees emails that are flagged for inappropriate content or large attachments. Beth and Jennifer work at the newspaper and constantly have large conversations via email which start to become the highlight of Lincoln's job. He soon falls in love with one of the girls, Beth, who he realizes has a small crush on him and refers to him in her emails as "her cute guy" and although he often walks past her desk and goes to her boyfriend's concerts he never meets her until one day when he doesn't even realize it's her until she mentions it in an email the next day. Lincoln eventually decides to quit when he realizes how creepy and unhealthy this relationship, if that's what it could even be called, is and he leaves a note for Beth on her desk. Then a few weeks later she sees him in a movie theatre and when she asks him if he believes in love at first sight because she always knew there was something good about him he asks her if she believes in love before first sight because he was in love with her before he even knew what she looked like.

Shades of Earth - Beth Revis (2013)

4 stars

I bought this at the same time as buying A Million Suns because I thought it might have a cliffhanger ending and I would want the next one immediately, it turns out that was the case and it was clever thinking on my part.

This book is told from the same two perspectives as the other books, Amy and Elder, but due to them now being in the same circumstance of facing a new planet, I enjoy how similar their thoughts are now. I really enjoyed this book as it was all about discovering a new planet, even when it was about fighting and worrying about who was after them, there was still lots of moments of discovery and learning about all the different aspects of a new planet. Once again I worked out the plot twist before it happened and I don't know whether it was because I worked it out so early but I thought that there were so many hints at it, it was a bit ridiculous that no-one else in the book had worked it out. My favourite character in this book was Emma, she was the only sensible one and I thought that brought an air of reality to such an incredible story. I would recommend this trilogy to any sci fi fans who don't mind or like a romance story in it.

Amy and Elder land on the new planet and Amy's dad immediately takes charge and makes it clear that there is a divide between the shipborns and the earthborns that Amy shouldn't cross. They come across a bunch of abandoned houses and stay in them, however more and more people keep disappearing and being found dead. Amy and Elder unfreeze Orion to ask him what he knows, however he tells them they must have missed a clue and after Orion dies they work out that the clue is in the statue of plague Eldest back on Godspeed. Amy's dad makes contact with earth and they tell him that they have a weapon and that they will be there to help in a week but in the meantime they should send some of the people out of dangers way and to the space station which had been previously built to orbit the planet and from there they can send them back to earth. He puts 500 people on a jet that they had on the planet from the original colony however as soon as everyone's strapped in they are overdosed on Phydus and they die, including Amy's mum. Elder decides to go back to Godspeed  to find the last clue before they deploy any weapons and once there he learns that the alien force on the planet were caused by the FRX when they gave the first colony an injection to supposedly protect them from the new planet's disease but it changed their DNA to have superior senses and abilities while also infusing them with Phydus so they'll be a good slave labour force. Amy's dad doesn't care that they used to be human and goes to detonate the weapon which they learn is a biological bomb that will kill any hybrids, but Chris, who was a defect hybrid that has the abilities but not the Phydus control injects Amy so she becomes a hybrid like him so her Dad can't detonate the weapon. Chris then kills Amy's dad and Elder tells him that he is sending all the rest of the Godspeed residents back to the planet with the technology that can reverse the Phydus control. Chris insists that it isn't enough and that the station has to be destroyed so there is no biological bomb threat or any light speed travel from earth available. Elder then says goodbye to Amy and he guides Godspeed into the space station using his shuttle and Amy assumes he dies as there is a massive explosion. A few days later after a peace treaty is negotiated on the planet between the hybrids and humans, Amy finds Elder's shuttle in the forest and finds him alive.

The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (2004)

4 stars

Mac bought me this book a while ago because she knew I would like it, and as usual, she was right.

The plot of this book drew me in straight away and I found I had read the first part of the book where Clare's a child and Henry's time traveling back to her in about two days, however even though I still enjoyed the rest of the book, I didn't find it as entertaining as that first part of the book and it took me a while to get through. I would've enjoyed this book more if there wasn't so many philosophical chapters or chapters all about dreams, I understand authors like to foreshadow but sometimes enough is enough. I do however appreciate the author having a main character named Clare and spelling it the same way I do. My favourite character was probably Alba or Kimy, I thought Alba was both exactly what the characters and the book needed to lighten them up when it started getting very dark and sad. I just really enjoyed whenever Kimy was in it with her small exterior and tough attitude. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good romance novel.

For a plot summary see Mac's previous blog post.

Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian - Rick Riordan (2009)

4 stars

I finally got around to reading the last book in this series, and I'm really glad I did because it was probably my favourite of the series.

This book is pretty much a giant battle, which I personally really enjoy reading because whenever the army is at it's lowest more reinforcements come in which is always exciting to read. I also enjoy last books like this one where there are so many plot points and characters that all have to have a resolution that ties together and I think the author did a really good job of that. I know these books are meant to be read when you're a young teenager, but I think with this book I was able to appreciate it more being a bit older, because if I was younger I don't think I would've enjoyed all the fight scenes. My favourite character in this book was Luke, without giving away any spoilers, I liked how his character turned out in the end and appreciated how much courage he had. I would recommend this series to people who like good adventure/quest type novels.

The book starts with Percy blowing up the Princess Andromeda, Kronos' ship, at the expense of Charles Beckendorf's life. He returns to camp and tells them what happened before going with Nico Di Angelo to the underworld and bathing in the river styx like Luke before him and Achilles before him. He returns to camp again and takes all the campers, except the Ares cabin who refuse, to Mount Olympus to defend Manhattan from Kronos and his army while the Gods are fighting Typhon. With the help of the Hunters of Artemis, the centaurs and eventually the Ares cabin they are able to defend Manhattan while Percy eventually ends up facing Kronos with only Annabeth and Grover on Mount Olympus. As Kronos is about to kill Percy, Annabeth intervenes and speaks to Luke, who regains control over his body and asks Percy to give him the blade so he can kill Kronos as he knows where the weak spot is. Percy hands over the blade and Luke dies while Kronos is blown to pieces, hopefully for eternity but the Gods are unsure of how long it could be. Percy then gets one wish from the Gods and he wishes for them to acknowledge all their children and send them to camp, even all the minor gods as that is what caused the war in the first place. Rachel Elizabeth Dare then becomes the next vessel for the oracle and Percy and Annabeth dating (finally).

Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins (2010)

4 stars

Even though I didn't want to, I had to keep reading the series once I'd started and although this is my least favourite of the trilogy I still enjoy it.

The first time I read this book I hated it with a passion, after reading it a second time I see that some things aren't as bad as I originally thought they were, and also that it was still wonderfully written, if a bit rushed in parts. I realised that the last books in trilogies are usually the weakest, with it mainly being about rebellion and bringing down the regime that has been oppressing the characters, but entertaining me, so the fact the the author managed to incorporate the games into this book again was really clever. I obviously hate what happened to Peeta in this book, however after reading it a second time I understand a lot more how everyone is damaged from the games, and that he recovers a lot more than I remember him doing so the first time I read it. Someone told me that the only reason I hate Gale is because the author makes you hate him in this book, which I think is completely untrue, he was always very passionate about his hate for the capitol and this book just gives him the proper circumstances to be vocal and active about it and helping in the rebellion. I think that if you disliked Gale before Katniss associates him with the final bombings then you definitely disliked him for his character, maybe the association with the final bombings makes people dislike him even though they previously didn't but that doesn't bother me as much as his personality before that. My favourite character in this book was Finnick, it amazes me how much of his personality is shown in this book when he isn't even in it that much and he and Annie are possibly the cutest thing in the whole series. Overall I think this is an excellent dystopian series that is not only for young adults, I think people of all ages can enjoy it.

Katniss is now living in District 13 with all the rebels under the leadership of Coin, a harsh woman who has questionable motives and wanted to save Peeta not Katniss. Katniss agrees to be their mockingjay, the symbol of rebellion for the rest of the districts, as long as the rest of the victors have immunity if they win, including Peeta. She and Gale shoot lots of promos that have her visiting wounded of many of the districts and then fighting lots of the capitol fighter hovercrafts which bomb a hospital. The capitol fight these promos with film of Peeta who manages to warn district 13 that an attack on them was coming before his blood spatters the screen and Katniss realizes they are torturing him for everything she does. She just shuts down and only Finnick can sympathize as he has the same fears for Annie. Coin then decides to send in a team to retrieve Peeta so Katniss can continue to function normally, however when she sees him he tries to kill her. It turns out the capitol hijacked him, using tracker jacker venom to confuse all his memories of Katniss so he hates and fears her. Coin then announces that they will make an attack on the capitol in a few weeks but Katniss can't go as she hasn't been to any training sessions. She and Johanna then go to every training session in three weeks and Katniss gets put through into a squad with Finnick, Boggs, Gale and a few others that are basically going to be filmed the whole time for more promos and not doing much real work. However before they go, Plutarch shows them that the capitol is rigged with pods that can contain any horror or defensive weapon that can be detonated by any nearby motion and Finnick and Katniss realize that they are just going into another arena. Once at camp on the edge of the capitol one of their squad is taken out and replaced by Peeta and Boggs tells Katniss that now she has united the districts Coin has no use for her and can use her death as a martyr to her advantage. As soon as they go down a street with supposedly few pods, Boggs steps on an unknown one and has his legs blown off, he gives control of the squad to Katniss who then tells them she's going to kill Snow and they can help her or turn back. They all continue with her except Peeta who thinks he'll go crazy and kill them all but Katniss can't leave him and brings him anyway. Once they are in the underground Snow releases some alligator like mutts who smell like blood and hiss Katniss' name as they search for her and only her, Cresida, Pollux, Gale and Peeta survive them and Katniss sees Finnick scream and then his head ripped off by one as she rises out of the underground. They then make an attempt to get into Snow's mansion however he had a guard of all the capitol children surrounding his mansion, and Katniss sees a capitol hovercraft drop some parachutes to the children which then explode, wounding them. All the rebel medics rush in, including Katniss' sister Prim, who turns to see her just as the remaining parachutes explode larger than the previous ones killing her, the other medics and the children and seriously wounding anyone in the square like Katniss and Peeta. Katniss reefuses to speak after she wakes and is wandering around the mansion when she comes across Snow's room where he tells her that if he had a hovercraft he would've used it to escape, bombing the children lost any loyalty the citizens still had to him, implying it was Coin's fault that Prim died. When Katniss goes to shoot President Snow in front of all the citizens, instead of shooting him, she shoots and kills Coin and when she goes to bite down on her suicide pill, Peeta's hand is there and he rips it off her suit as he can't see her die. She is declared mentally unstable and not accusable for her actions, she moves back to 12 with Haymitch, Peeta and a few other citizens of 12 who couldn't live anywhere else. She marries Peeta and has two children with him.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Newt Scamander (2001)

4 stars

I bought this book because I'm so excited for the movie and I had never read it before.

Even though the book is nothing like what the movie is going to be and it's basically a dictionary of magical beasts I thought this book was so clever. I can't believe that anyone would know so much detail about a world they created, but J.K. proves me wrong in this book, listing 75 beasts, their classification and a page or two on what they look like, do, and can be used for. All through the book are also little scribbles and doodles written by Harry and Ron, all of which are hilarious and the book is worth a bit of a look through just for them. As there were no characters in this book, my favourite beasts were the Nundu, the Runespoor and the Hippogriff and I hope we get to see all of them in the movie. Definitely give this book a look through or a read if you're a fan of the Harry Potter series.

Because the book is basically a dictionary for beasts instead of a plot summary I'll list the beasts that are written about:
Acromantula, Ashwinder, Augurey
Basilisk, Billywig, Bowtruckle, Bundimun
Centaur, Chimaera, Chizpurfle, Clabbert, Crup
Demiguise, Diricawl, Doxy, Dragon, Dugbog
Erkling, Erumpent
Fairy, Fire Crab, Flobberworm, Fwooper
Ghoul, Glumbumble, Gnome, Graphorn, Griffin, Grindylow
Hippocampus, Hippogriff, Horklump
Imp
Jarvey, Jobberknoll
Kappa, Kelpie, Knarl, Kneazle
Leprechaun, Lethifold, Lobalug
Mackled Malaclaw, Manticore, Merepeople, Moke, Mooncalf, Murtlap
Niffler, Nogtail, Nundu
Occamy
Phoenix, Pixie, Plimpy, Pogrebin, Porlock, Puffskin
Quintaped
Ramora, Red Cap, Re'em, Runespoor
Salamander, Sea Serpent, Shrake, Snidget, Sphinx, Streeler
Tebo, Troll
Unicorn
Werewolf, Winged Horse
Yeti