The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend - Kody Keplinger (2010)

4.5 stars

I bought this book after I saw the movie and loved it, and reading this book in one day gave me the same feeling.

Part of the reason that I loved this book may have been due to picturing Mae Whitman and Robbie Amell as the characters the whole time, but I think even without that excellent visual it is still a really fun read. Bianca is such a relatable narrator that it makes this book very easy to read and it's easy to understand her decisions without heaps of unneccessary or extra explanation. I also really love the swearing because teenagers swear, I hate it when you read a book about teenagers and they're constantly saying damn or theres just no expletives at all, it makes me feel like I'm just reading about my friends rather than fictional people. My favourite character in this book was Bianca, she was so sarcastic and loveable and insecure and I think the book wouldn't have been half as good with a different main character. I would definitely recommend anyone who liked the movie to give the book a try, and otherwise if you like a good teen romance then give this a try.

Bianca reluctantly goes to a party with her friends Casey and Jessica where Wesley Rush talks to her because she is the DUFF, the designated ugly fat friend, and if he talks to her it will give him a better chance with Casey and Jessica. A few days later she overhears her dad begging her mum to come home over the phone and then when she goes out she kisses Wesley as a distraction from it. A few days after that she comes home to find her dad had started drinking again after being sober for 16 years because her mum had sent divorce papers over in the mail, Wesley calls because he is supposed to be coming over to work on a group project but she goes to his house instead and she starts having sex with him as a distraction from her home life. Her and Wesley become friends with all the time they're spending together and one night he comes over to her house but her dad comes home early so they play scrabble all night. When Wesley goes to leave Bianca's dad calls her a whore and hits her after she tries to take the whiskey from him so Wesley punches him in the face and takes Bianca home with him. She wakes up the next morning and realizes that she's in love with Wesley, the biggest womanizer in school so she tells him she can't sleep with him anymore and leaves. She returns home, her dad stops drinking and she starts dating her long time crush Toby Tucker but she is often comparing him to Wesley, who bursts in on them making out a week later. Bianca tells him he couldn't possibly have feelings for her when he constantly calls her duffy and is really just sleeping with girls to try to fill the void his parents leaving made. He then stops sleeping with girls and sneds Bianca a note that says (my favourite part): Wesley Rush doesn't chase girls but he's chasing you. Her and Toby end up out at the underage bar and he tells her that she's clearly in love with Wesley and to just go be with him, which she does.

The Bride Wore Size 12 - Meg Cabot (2013)

3.5 stars

I bought this because I loved the rest of this series, as well as basically all of Meg Cabot's other books, and it lived up to my expectations.

This book is just like the others in the series except with the added benefit of Heather being engaged to Cooper, it makes everything so much more fun and Heather extra neurotic at times. Although I find all of Meg Cabot's books to be pretty similar, sometimes finding it hard to differentiate between the love interests between each book, I still find them all really fun to read and this book was no exception. I also loved how she put Lizzie Nicholls in it, even if it only was for a few pages I thought it was a great idea and it makes me so happy when authors connect characters between their books. My favourite character in this book was Gavin, he constantly cracks me up whenever he is around and I think his banter with Heather often lightens up the situations. I would recommend this series to you if you like lighthearted mysteries and don't mind romance.

Heather is busy planning her wedding at the start of a new semester when one of her RA's, Jasmine, ends up dead in her bed. She learns that she was communicating with the editor of the student run paper and was about to give him something big, she assumes on their  new resident, Price Rashid. It turns out that she was recording a party that Prince Rashid was throwing because the majority of the RAs were there and drinking, while many of the underage students also were. Heather eventually finds out that Howard Chen, another of the RAs who couldn't afford to go to school there if he wasn't also an RA, was the killer. She then marries Cooper at a ceremony with basically everyone she knows attending due to Cooper's sisters.

The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion (2013)

3.5 stars

My friend lent me this book because we kept seeing stuff about it everywhere and she thought I'd enjoy it, I was a bit surprised by how much I enjoyed it and I can understand why it's so popular.

The book it told from the perspective of Don Tillman, who it is implied has some from of Asperger's or autism so it is quite interesting in that respect. That's really the only thing that makes this book any different to other romance novels though, instead of it being overly romantic it is usually quite funny in most of the situations Don and Rosie get into. My favourite character in this was either Don on Rosie, Don is adorably cute when he's thinking about Rosie, and Rosie was just plain old hilarious most of the time the best parts of the book are definitely when they are together. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a quirky romance.

Don Tillman wants a wife, so he creates a questionnaire to help him easily eliminate bad candidates and find good ones with the help of his friend Gene. Gene sends Rosie to Don for something unrelated, however he mistakes her for a wife candidate and takes her out to dinner. He discovers that she is trying to learn who her biological father is and because he is a professor of genetics he decides to help her, even though she is not a suitable candidate to be his wife he likes her and wants to spend more time with her. After many different situations together Don eventually realizes he wants to marry Rosie despite her not fulfilling any of his criteria and he proposes to her. She rejects him because she says he doesn't feel love like everyone else and he doesn't really love her, this causes him to realize that he does in fact love her and he convinces her to marry him and they move to America together.

The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet - Bernie Su & Kate Rorick (2014)

5 stars

I bought this when I saw it in Big W and freaked out my sister when I started yelling out of nowhere, I loved the youtube series and, unsurprisingly, this book.

I loved the series so much that I backed the kickstarter and now own the DVD set so it is no surprise that I loved this book. It also helps that I grew up on The Princess Diaries so I am a big fan of the diary format of a book, I love being able to just read all of the characters emotions and thoughts as they go through them, and it often involves large amounts of sarcasm so it's win win. I thought this provided great fun little details that the vlogs didn't give and I found it very easy to read in a short amount of time. My favourite character was probably Lizzie, she is just so funny and smart that now when I think about pride and prejudice I'm like Elizabeth rocks, whereas earlier I was all about Darcy. I would recommend this to any fans of pride and prejudice, regardless of whether you've seen the series, and to any fans of young adult romance.

This book follows the plot of the youtube series, which follows the plot of pride and prejudice, which if you don't already know I'm a bit sad for you. Here's a super short version with lots of details left out because I'm tired; Lizzie meets Darcy, Lizzie is annoyed by Darcy, Darcy grows to like Lizzie, Lizzie is lied to about Darcy so she dislikes him more, Darcy confesses his feelings to Lizzie, Lizzie rejects Darcy, Lizzie learns the truth about Darcy, Lizzie starts to like Darcy, Darcy confesses his feelings again, this time Lizzie reciprocates (and they share a glorious glorious kiss that I waited literally months for).

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.

The Mime Order - Samantha Shannon (2015)

3.5 stars

I bought this book as soon as I saw it because I was interested to see where the story could go after the last one, and I was pretty happy with it.

I think this book was on par with the last book but I found the first half kind of hard to get through, I was enjoying it when I was reading it, but when I wasn't I didn't have any desire to keep reading. It's similar to the last book in that it takes a while to remember what all the words and slang of that world mean, but once you're in it it's a bit weird when you're back in reality. I feel like this book was kind of unneccessarily long, a lot of the first half was really long and explanatory and when I reflect on the book I can't remember anything significant happening in the first half. My favourite character was once again Warden, I find his part of the story so much more interesting and unpredictable than anything that Paige is doing, and his history of the rephaite and ranthen was probably the most interesting part of the book apart from the final battle. I would recommend this series to people who like high fantasy series like Eragon.

Paige is back in London and although she doesn't want to she must go back into Jaxon's gang as he can protect her. She wants to expose the rephaite and government's corruption to the entire syndicate, but Jaxon won't let her. Soon the Underlord is murdered and his mollisher disappears so Jaxon applies for the position, and Paige considers fighting for the position herself but she doesn't have the money. She is approached by Errai and Pleione, two rephaite that were helping them in Sheol I and they tell her that if she finds Warden then they would consider an alliance to help bring down Nashira and the other rephaite. Paige uses a substance that Warden left her to find where he was captured - in the Rag and Bone Man's territory wherer she must go to and break him out of. Once she does that Warden gets her an alliance with the ranthen and she has their bankroll so she can go for Underqueen. She manages to defeat everyone in the battle for Underqueen, including Jaxon by taking control of his dreamscape and making him concede instead of killing him. In the process she learns that most of them were working for the Rag and Bone Man, including the temporary Underqueen herself, The Abbess, and they were all, including the old Underlord Hector, selling voyants to the government. She tells the syndicate this and is dubbed the Black Moth, Nashira however gets the government to hold some of the other Sheol I survivors hostage and broadcast them on TV to try to get her to turn herself in. She goes into a guard's dreamscape and uses him to go to talk to Nashira, but before anything can be decided Nashira brings out her new ally, Jaxon.

This Shattered World - Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner (2014)

5 stars

I bought this book after I finished These Broken Stars because the ending had me so invested in the story that I wanted to keep reading right away, and I was not disappoointed at all.

This book is told from two different perspectives than the last book but in the same style, this time from Jubilee and Flynn, with snippets of Jubilee's childhood at the start of each chapter. Ironically I think the other people in this book asides from them weren't really that neccessary because I loved them so much, but I absolutely loved the connection between them and Tarver and it makes me think that the focus of the third book will be the Knave of Hearts person they mentioned. The plot of this book is so much better than the last one as I just could not put it down, but I understand that they had to lay the groundwork for it with the first book so I strongly suggest that if you were kinda into the first book but didn't like all the constant travelling that you finish it and get to this one. My favourite character was Jubilee, I love strong female characters and she is such a great example of one that thinking back on this book all I can remember iss how much I loved her. I would recommend this series to anyone who likes young adult fantasy and romance.

Jubilee is a soldier and Flynn is a rebel on Avon, a planet that's never fully terraformed and is known for driving soldiers that are posted there too long to go insane. Jubilee has lasted the longest on the planet and is at her normal bar when she is kidnapped by Flynn Cormac who wants her to tell him about a secret base that he's seen in the swamp, she knows nothing about it and when he takes her to the island it's on nothing is there, but Jubilee sees a flash of the building appear and she picks up a microchip with a LaRoux symbol on it. Flynn then decides to take her back to the rebel base and try to trade her back to the army for some much needed medicine for their people. When he gets back the other leader of the rebels, McBride, is trying to rouse the civillians to go storm the base because he says they've taken Flynn. He calms the crowd, as he wants everything resolved peacefully, but then McBride finds Jubilee and nearly beats her to death before Flynn saves her. She tells him about the microchip and they decide to try to do something about it together so Jubilee calls her old captain, Tarver Merendsen. Tarver and Lilac tell them what happened to them with the whispers, which they realize are whats on Avon and Tarver tells them that if they plan on infiltrating the base they also have to tell the world that LaRoux are behind it. McBride slaughters a bunch of his own people while Jubilee is unconcious and he tells everyone that she is who did it so that they'll march against the army base. Jubilee and Tarver manage to break into the whispers building but one of them soon takes over Flynn's body and tells Jubilee that humans have taught them cruelty and separation so that's what they will show in return. It turns out that one of the whispers knew Jubilee as a child and is what has been taking her dreams, because it considers her a friend. It tells her to destroy them as they've become cruel and aren't one being anymore which is how they're supposed to be, he fends off the one in Flynn's body long enough for Jubilee to shoot the machinery that was holding them together. The war between the rebels and the army has come to a battle on the island that the whispers were held on and Jubilee gets shot trying to get to the loudspeaker to broadcast to everyone, so Flynn must do it on his own and he manages to talk everyone down from war and expose LaRoux industries. Jubilee lives and she and Flynn see the clouds start to clear on Avon now that LaRoux is leaving their planet alome.

More Than This - Patrick Ness (2013)

2.5 stars

Mac bought this for me for my birthday and I'd heard so many good things about it that I ended up being pretty disappointed.

I really wanted to like this book, but I just found that it made me really uncomfortable for the majority of the book when it's just Seth and his depressing thoughts of the afterlife. The parts of the book that I enjoyed were his flashbacks to his life and the parts where he's with Tomasz and Regine. It gave me a similar creepy feeling to what I had when I read Gone but this one was less due to people and more about the world I guess, I'm not really sure what it was about the book that gave me such a weird feeling, but I think the explanation for Seth's situation was way too late in the plot to give me any solace. My favourite character in this book was Tomasz by a mile, he managed to bring a smile to my face in every bleak situation they faced and I don't know how anyone could dislike him. I would recommend this to someone who likes young adult fiction with lots of introspection and reflection and isn't bothered by a seemingly apocalyptic setting.

A boy drowns. He dies. He then wakes up outside his old childhood home in England wrapped in bandages and thirstier than he's ever been before. The town he is in is deserted with no one in sight and everything covered in dust and overgrown as though it had seen no life for years. The boy soon starts to remember his life, including his name; Seth, and why he drowned; he killed himself. After raiding a grocery store and still finding no people around he goes to kill himself again, this time by jumping off a mountain, however he is stopped by Tomasz and Regine people who are also there and are running from the man in black who then appears and tries to kill them. They learn that they were all killed by a blow to a specific spot on the back of their heads and Regine thinks that they were in an online reality when the real world went to shit, Seth still thinks that they're all in hell. The man in black follows them multiple times after that and they manage to escape him in each one until Seth breaks into the prison, where Tomasz awoke from and said that there were thousands of other coffins just like theirs in it. Seth finds thousands of people in what seems to be comas in their coffin like things and the man in black is some sort of robot that maintains them. They then manage to destroy the man in black and Seth goes back to the virtual reality world to try to bring people back to the real one.