Big Boned - Meg Cabot (2007)

3 stars

I read the first two books in this series years ago and although I really enjoyed them, I could never find this book in any shops I looked in. I finally ended up ordering it online about a week ago, and as an avid Meg Cabot reader, I obviously read it in two days.

Because I read the first two in this series so long ago I can't really say whether I liked it better or worse than those two, however I do know that anything written by Cabot has excellent humour that constantly has me laughing out loud (sometimes in public places) and this book was no exception. I actually really love this series, the concept is really funny and I always like it when a girl in a book is "big boned" as the title puts it. My favourite character was Tom. Even though he was only in it for a few chapters, I thought he was hilarious and a good way to brighten up the more boring and complicated chapters with all the different staff members. I would recommend this series to any fans of Meg Cabot, or anyone who likes light mystery novels.

Heather's new boyfriend is a vegetarian maths professor who tells her that he has something to ask her when the time is right, of course, she immediately thinks it's a proposal and starts freaking out. When she gets to work that day she finds her boss, Owen Veatch, dead with a bullet through his head. Her assisstant Sarah's boyfriend is framed and has the murder weapon placed on him so Heather takes it upon herself to clear his name. After a confession from a student who had a meeting with Owen that morning she thinks it's the new reverend who has been sexually abusing students, however after she confronts him she works out it was really his ex-wife, Pam. When she goes to confront Pam, thinking she wouldn't have another weapon, Heather is almost shot before the police can get there and arrest Pam. She then breaks up with Tad when she learns that he wanted to ask her to go hiking with him and when she gets home, Cooper confesses his love for her and in between kissing asks her if October sounds good for a wedding.

Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell (2012)

4.5 stars

I ordered this book because someone recommended the author to me and this got a higher rating than her other book and sounded more appealing to me. I'm happy I got it, even though I didn't like the ending very much.

The book is written from alternating perspectives of Eleanor and Park, and gives a really nice and believable look into young love. I feel like a reason I like this story so much it that the characters aren't the usual stereotypical teenagers that have a love story and even the bullies have some depth and development over the novel. Although the plot wasn't predictable, I knew something had to happen at the end and I found myself dreading it when I was reading the second half of the novel, knowing that there were fewer and fewer pages left in which a significant event could occur. My favourite character in this novel was probably Park, I have a soft spot for adorable boys, especially ones that listen to rock music and read comic books, and I loved how after a little while he got more complex and his true character emerged because of Eleanor's influence.

Eleanor is new to the neighbourhood, and on her first day on the bus, she ends up next to Park. At first they say nothing to each other but after a while Park realizes she's reading his comic books over her shoulder so one day he lends one to her to read. After that their relationship developments through music, comic books and mutual admiration. Park learns of Eleanor's abusive stepfather who kicked her out for a year, her four siblings and her mother. Eleanor learns of Park's cultural background, his strained relationship with his father and his inability to drive a stick shift. After about six months (I'm not really sure on the time frame for this book) Eleanor and Park learn that her stepfather was the one who had been writing disgusting sexual innuendo all over Eleanor's belongings and Park has to drive her to her Uncle's house in Minneapolis and say goodbye. He writes her letters and sends her parcels for months without a reply, then just after he's given up she realizes how much she needs him and can't just ignore him so she replies.

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched - Meg Cabot (2008)

2.5 stars

I read this book because I didn't really feel like reading anything too heavy and Meg Cabot's books are always well written and entertaining.

I can't remember the second book in this series very well, but I definitely liked the first book better than this one as this was too predictable for me, I like a bit of a twist in novels. It was well written and was very entertaining to read so I don't mind how predictable it was. My favourite characters were Gran and Chaz, both were hilarious and had excellent advice to give when Lizzie needed it. I would recommend this book to anyone who just wants an easy read for some laughs.

The book starts new years day, after Lizzie's accepted Luke's proposal and spent the night with Chaz. She tells Chaz to leave but he tells her he's in love with her and Luke is only marrying her so he won't have to find someone else. Monsieur Henri has a heart attack and has six months off so Lizzie must run the shop by herself while trying to decide whether she loves Luke or not. On the fourth of July, Lizzie is at a party with Chaz when she gets a phone call from her mother telling her that her Gran has died. After a few days back at home Chaz comes to look after Lizzie and she sleeps with him. When she returns to work, the Henri's tell her that they're selling the building, so Lizzie works out a business plan with Ava Geck, her rich heiress client. She then breaks up with Luke and the novel ends six months later with Lizzie and Chaz going to have a sneaky wedding without telling anyone.

Warm Bodies - Isaac Marion (2010)

2.5 stars

This book sounded really interesting when recommended to me on shelfari so I ordered it, however I was pretty disappointed.

This book is told from the perspective of R, a zombie, who is purposeless and very believable as a zombie with no passion in life. His perspective is written so wonderfully, the only problem I had with it was how he had such complex thoughts. However I thought the plot was predictable and not gripping enough for me to read it too often. My favourite character was probably Nora, asides from R and Julie, she was really the only other character who showed some depth and I thought she was definitely needed for when R and Julie were in the stadium, otherwise it would've been very dull and weird. I would recommend this to anyone who likes zombie novels and doesn't mind romance, but otherwise, even though I haven't seen it yet, I would probably recommend the movie as I think it would work better as a movie.

R is a normal zombie with no passion until he eats the brain of Perry Kelvin, a teenage boy who the threat of dying by zombies slowly drove him insane. However Kelvin was in love with Julie, and once R has experienced a significant amount of his memories when eating his brain, he saves Julie from the other zombies and pretends he's converted her and takes her back to his hideout with him. Julie and R become friends after he plays her his favourite music and she teaches him to drive, as this happens he starts to become more animated and falls in love with Julie. After other zombies attack her, Julie must return to the stadium where her overbearing dad controls everyone. R follows her and other zombies want to help as they also become more focused and "alive". Julie, R, and her friends Nora spend some time together until her dad finds out and an army of boneys (skeleton zombies) come after all the other zombies who are reanimating and R and Julie. A boney kills Julie's father and when she and R kiss, his blood starts to flow and he's turned human again.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs (2011)

4 stars

I bought this book because of how much John Green talked it up in all his videos. I wasn't disappointed, I was actually quite surprised by this book.

Even after buying it, I still wasn't really sure what this book was about, so it surprised me with how much fantasy the plot contained considering it's based on historical photos. The plot was really good, and although some of the photos were super scary or obviously fake, I still liked how he based the story around them making it seem a more lifelike and realistic. My favourite character was Olive, I thought her talent was the coolest, and altough she wasn't a very major character I liked how carefree and lovely she was compared to some of the other children. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good fantasy story with a realistic setting, also who doesn't get scared too easily by photos.

Jacob's grandfather has always told him stories about a children's home he hid in during the war, with peculiar children that could do cool things like create fire or fly. Jacob's parents tell him not to believe his granfather but when is grandfather is killed by a monster only Jacob could see he goes to the island to find the house. Once there he finds Miss Peregrine's house for peculiar children in a time loop where they are safe from any monsters that want to eat them. Jacob learns that he is a rare peculiar who, like his granfather, can see the monsters (they are invisible to everyone else). When the monsters capture Miss Peregrine Jacob and his friends get her back but destroy their loop in the process. Jacob decides to stay with the children inside the loop and they decide to time jump to another loop to go save the others that have been taken by the monsters.

World War Z - Max Brooks (2006)

3 stars

I wanted to read this book because of Kristina Horner's video. It was one of the only books I hadn't heard of that she listed and when I looked it up it sounded like it would be pretty good, I was a little disappointed.

I think the fact that I read the last half of the book in a day really affected how much I enjoyed it. Because it's a series of interviews, one or two at a time are really good, but lots of them packed together seems really rushed and it felt like I was being given too much information at once. Asides from having to pace yourself when reading this novel, I thought it was really good. Some of the interviews were really believable and emotional and I like that instead of staying with just a few people, hardly anyone was interviewed twice. There was a lot more wartime terminology and stories than I thought there would be (in hindsight that was kind of stupid of me) so if you want to read this book I hope you enjoy war battles and discussions of weaponry. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a big fan of zombie novels, or anyone who likes a believable wartime story.

This book is also set to become a movie starring Brad Pitt which comes out in June. It looks wildly different to the novel already, so I wouldn't read it just for that reason. Here's the trailer.

This story follows the zombie pandemic that sweeps the world and kills nearly everyone living in it. To kill a zombie you must destory their brain, any other injury and they will continue to attack you. The novel goes through the experience of soldiers, leaders, and victims and tells of how they eventually got the problem under control.

Boundless - Cynthia Hand (2013)

4.5 stars

Unearthly was one of the more enjoyable paranormal series I had read and the last book in the trilogy was no exception.

Unearthly and Hallowed were kind of odd for angel books because the characters try to live normal life and don't seek out adventures, dangerous love interests or danger in general. I really like that aspect of the story and this book was no exception in that aspect, because although Clara has grown since the first book and knows how to deal with her visions, she doesn't actively seek them out (until it's neccessary in the final few chapters). This book was written similarly to the first book, with a lot of detail in the first half of the book then the last half full of the drama and action you were waiting for. I understand now why the second book didn't have much of a drama, because all the information and details it was jam-packed with were neccessary for the trilogy to make sense and unfold nicely in this book. My favourite character was probably Christian, he was well written as a discarded love interest, but I found him one of the more likeable and stable characters in the novel. I would recommend this book to any fans of Fallen by Lauren Kate, or anyone who likes the young adult paranormal genre.

Clara is going to Stanford with Angela and Christian and after about a month of barely seeing Angela, she goes to see her to discover that she's pregnant. Her dad starts teaching her and Christian how to use a glory sword, a sword that they fashion out of their glory, and while he trains them they learn more about angels in general, like how there can only be seven triplare walking the earth at one time. They then work out that Clara, Jeffrey and Christian make three, and Asael, a black wing, also has three which means that the baby Angela is carrying, whose father is an undecided angel from Italy, is the seventh. Angela's vision was to tell somone in a gray suit that "the seventh is ours" so she tells Phen who tells Asael who takes Angela to hell till she tells him where Webster, her son, is. Christian and Clara decide to go to hell to save Angela, once there they find Jeffrey as well and take him out. Clara takes them to Tucker's barn by accident and Asael follows them and takes Tucker hostage, Clara swaps places with him and stabs Asael with her glory sword, but then Lucy, one of the evil triplare take Tucker and drops him to the ground from a great height. Clara tries to save him and ends up giving him a bit of her glory, turning him into a prophet. They get married and Angela raises Webster and Christian waits for Clara to love him.

Across the Universe - Beth Revis (2011)

4.5 stars

I bought this book from book depository because it kept being recommended to me by many websites and it sounded really interesting, I'm really happy that I did.

This book reminded me a lot of Glow as it was a futuristic romance set on a spaceship to a new earth. This book was written in chapters that alternated between Amy and Elder's perspective which I liked, both perspectives were well written, but I felt Amy's perspective when discussing being unfrozen and her feelings of isolation were excellently written. Although I worked out the murderer within the first 100 pages, the book still had lots of revalations and plot twists that surprised me, and the plot was so intriguing that I read it within about three days. My favourite character was probably Harley or Steela, they were both strong characters that didn't believe what they were told, and their small acts of rebellion made the population on the ship seem more lifelike and close to reality. I would recommend this book to any dystopian fans or science fiction fans that don't mind a romance side plot going on.

Amy is cryogenically frozen with her parents as they are going to colonize the new earth, however Amy is woken up fifty years early onto a ship that is full of mindless drones. Elder is the apprentice to Eldest, the leader of the ship, and when bodies that are frozen begin to be unplugged he and Amy try to work together to find out who did it. They discover that the ship hasn't been flying for 250 years like they thought but rather 350 years, and it's still going to take another 100 to get to the planet because the engine is having problems. They also discover that Eldest is drugging the people on the ship so they don't have strong emotions, and telling them every forty years that the ship will not land for an extra 25 years and that even though they won't get to see the new planet, their children will. It is then discovered that Orion is really the previous Elder and has been unplugging the frozens that have military experience because he thinks they will use the inhabitants of the ship as slaves when they finally land. He kills Eldest, then Elder freezes him and tells the population on the ship about the actual landing time and decides to stop drugging them.