May wrap up and June TBR

Hello!

I read a lot more than I expected to last month, and i'm not sure whether to be happy or worried about it... Bear in mind I am in the middle of my GCSE's and everything... woops :/ What I am happy about is that I (kinda) read all of the books I said I would in my last post!



The first book I read was Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson. The first few chapters are about a little girl called Jane who's only friend is thirty year old imaginary friend called michael. Further on into the book, Jane is 20 years older and the impossible happens; her and Michael are reunited. I really enjoyed this book, and gave it four out of five stars. The characters were really likeable, and there were some plot twists that completely took me by surprise. If I am going to be honest, I can't really remember much about what I thought about this book, as it was about a month ago that I read it, and you know how bad my memory is XD.





The next book I read was Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. This is a hugely popular book, and I had heard so many amazing things about it, so I was excited to give it a go. At first I was a bit disappointed- I actually found it a bit boring (don't kill me!) Luckily, however, as the story went on, I got more and more engrossed in the story. I had heard so much about the crazy plot twist at the end, but I accidentally spoiled myself when going to the back of the book to see how many pages there were. (Why do I always do this to myself?!) Regardless, I was still quite surprised, as it hadn't given everything away. in the end I gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars. It was super fast paced, and there was always something going on. I can't wait to read the next book in this series! :)





My TBR jar challenge for may was to read a random book from my shelf. For this, I ended up getting Out of Sight, Out of Mind, by Marilyn Kaye. If I am going to be totally honest, I don't know why I picked this book up at the charity shop- maybe because it was so cheap? It is the kind of book that I would have read when I was about 10, but now? Not so much. Because of this, I decided to go into this book with the mindset of 10 year old me. I actually found it to not be too bad. In the end I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. It is about Middle-school queen bee, Amanda Beeson, and the day she gets transported into the body of the schools most unpopular girl. The story follows her as she is trying to get back to her normal body, and realising that popularity isn't as important as she originally thought.




The next book wasn't on my TBR for the month, and this is because I didn't realise that it was coming out this month. My brothers and I have always loved David Walliams' books. Every time he brings out a new book, we automatically buy them, and although they are aimed at younger children, I still find them really entertaining and funny. This book is called The World's Worst Children, and it is slightly different to the books he normally writes. It is a book of 10 short stories about bad kids. I have to say, it isn't my favourite of his, and I think this is because the stories were only about 15 pages long each, which means you don't really get into the story properly. Nevertheless, I still found it funny, and so I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.




Now for why I only 'kind of' read all of the books on my TBR. The last book I read in May was The Finisher by David Baldacci. I started this book in May, however I ended up finishing it today, the first of June. Does that count as me reading it in May? I don't know- but I'm still putting it in here anyway :p. This was a reread for me, as I wanted to have a recap of what happened before starting the next book in the series. I remember absolutely adoring this book the first time I read it. It was the same this time round. Although it was a really slow start, it picked up a lot just under halfway, and then I just couldn't put it down! This book is set in a small village called Wormwood, which is surrounded in a huge beast-infested forest called the Quag. One day Vega Jane (The main protagonist) Gets a message from her friend Quentin Herms, who had escaped the town into the Quag. The story follows her as she slowly starts to discover the dark secrets the leaders of the village have been holding from everyone. I gave this book 4.5 stars, and it will definitely be staying on my favourites list!


Because I will be finishing my exams this month, I won't have too much time (still) however, I will finish before the end of the month, and therefore will have a lot of time on my hands, so I hope to be able to read quite a lot. As I am sure I have said before, I haven't read the Harry Potter series before (whaaat!?) But don't worry, I am planning to read it  after my exams, so I can fully appreciate the story without stressing about revision on top of it. Here are the books I want to read:

-Harry Potter and the philosophers stone- by J.K. Rowling
-The Keeper- by David Baldacci
-The Accident Season- by Moira Fowley-Doyle

My TBR challenge for this month is to read a standalone, and so I have decided to read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

My TBR jar book for this month is The Wind Singer by William Nicholson

Hopefully I will be able to read most of these books this month! :)

~ Chey xxx

My (late) April wrap up and May TBR

Hello!

I actually read quite a lot in April, considering I was meant to be revising for my GCSE's- meant to be revising...




The first two books I read were 'World After' and 'End of Days' by Susan Ee. These are the last books in the 'Penryn and the End of Days' trilogy- and they were amazing! One problem I had in 'World After' was the fact that you didn't really see much of Rafe. I feel like because of this it was quite slow, as throughout the whole book I was wondering when the two characters would be reunited. I'm not saying I didn't like it, I just think it was a bit of a letdown in comparison to the first book.
 Because of this, I was a bit hesitant to start the final book, 'End of Days'. It also didn't help that a lot of other people were also worried about starting the book, as the series was originally meant to be 5 books, but it was shortened to 3. Fortunately, I did decide to pick it up- and I am so glad I did! Because they shortened the series, it meant that 'End of Days' was super fast paced, and there was constantly something going on in the book. I don't think there was a single point while reading this that I was bored. After finishing the series, I can definitely say that my favourite was book three, then book one, and my least favourite would be book 2.





The next book I read was 'The Elites' by Natasha Ngan. This book was a complete shot in the dark, as I had heard absolutely nothing about it prior to buying it at a charity shop. I was really excited about this book, as the summary sounded really interesting, however after finishing it, I was disappointed. This book had such potential to be amazing, but whilst reading it, I found myself to be bored. I felt like a lot of what happened was incredibly convenient, and I didn't particularly like the characters. Originally, I thought the idea of the main protagonist's best friend having butterfly wings was a really interesting concept, however now I feel like it was a bit irrelevant, and wasn't really necessary to the story.





After this, I read 'All the Bright Places' by Jennifer Niven. For some reason, I was a bit hesitant to read this book- maybe it was something to do with the heavy topic of suicide, however I was completely wrong in thinking that it was all going to be doom and gloom. This book was a huge rollercoaster of emotions- I felt everything from sadness to pure joy. I have to say I have never personally experienced anything similar to this, and so I can't really say how true it is to the topic of suicide, however what I do know is that I really, really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone.






The next book was completely spontaneous- meaning I picked it up expecting to read a couple pages, and ended up reading the whole thing. 'The Art of being Normal' by Lisa Williamson is a touching story about a boy who, for his whole life knew he was meant to be a girl. It follows him trying to fit in, whilst knowing that he is not being his true self. There were so many plot twists in this book that completely took me by surprise- I just couldn't put this book down!







The sixth and final book I read in may, was 'The Geography of you and me' by Jennifer E. Smith. Again, for some reason I was hesitant to read this book, but I am so glad I did. It was the perfect contemporary book to stop my incoming reading slump. There were so many times throughout this book, where I just had to look up for a second, and smile like a crazy person. I loved the idea of communication through postcards, and how it was set in places all over the world. I also liked that the author didn't make it super easy for the characters, and that it wasn't predictable at all, unlike a lot of other contemporaries. I feel like this is a book I will reread hundreds of times!





I knew that I wouldn't be reading much in the next few months, due to exams, but here are the books I aimed to read:

-The Red Queen- by Victoria Aveyard
-Sundays at Tiffany's- by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet.

My TBR jar challenge is to read a fantasy book, so I decided to reread 'The Finisher' by David Baldacci (I really need to reread this, so I can read the second book!)

I also decided that because April's challenge was to choose a random book, (and I ended up writing down all of my unread books and putting them in a jar) that I will choose a random book each month, just to lower my TBR's. This month, I got 'Out of Sight, out of Mind' by Marilyn Kaye.

I know this was super late, but GCSE's... need I say more?

~ Chey xxx

February and March Wrap Up and April TBR

 Hello!

So, I haven't posted for a while, and this is because right now I am in the middle of some huge exams, and so I am trying to focus on revision. This should all be over by July, in the summer holidays; from then on I hope to post regular blog posts. Obviously, I have been saying this for a while, but this time I am pretty sure this will happen, as I will have finished school, and therefore have a lot more free time.

Anyway, on to what I read.

The first book I finished was the 5th wave, by Rick Yancey. When I finished this book, I remember being a bit on the fence about whether I enjoyed it or not. Now I am pretty sure I did like it, however it was nowhere near as good as I thought it would be. I rated it 4 stars, which is actually quite high, but (As im sure I have said before) I have a terrible memory, and can honestly say, I don't really remember too much about this book. I know, this is sad, but it means I can easily reread books! 

The next book I read was the Martian by Andy Weir. I loved this book! It is definitely not the kind of book that I would usually read, however I had heard so many amazing things about it, that I decided to give it a try. I am so glad I did! Mark (The main character) was so funny, despite being stranded on mars, with everything pointing towards his imminent death. All of the 'chapters' were different lengths, which I really liked, and it made it so quick and easy to read. I have to say, I think that this is officially one of my favourite books of all time! 

I also tried to read my TBR jar book for February, which was to read a book with a same initial as me. I chose to read Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. I think that if I had maybe read this when I was a bit younger, I would have enjoyed it, however, as I was reading it, I just couldn't get into the story. This is weird, because it was a book about books- who wouldn't enjoy this? I ended up DNFing this book, which is extremely rare for me. I doubt I will pick it up again, as I found it quite boring and very slow.

My TBR jar book challenge for march was to read the first book of a currently uncompleted series. For this I chose to read Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton. For a debut novel, this was incredible. Again, it was super quick and easy to read, and I couldn't put it down. The one thing I would say about this book, is that it could have probably been twice the length. There was so much left out, for example, a two month chunk was taken out of the book! I feel like there could have been so much more information in this book, that just wasn't included. However, I am still really excited for the next book to come out.

I also read The Messenger of fear by Michael Grant. I have read the first book in Michael Grant's Gone series, and really enjoyed it, however I can't say the same about this book. It was so confusing, and I don't think I really understood what was going on until the book was almost finished. I found myself to be really bored whilst reading this book, and I wanted to just put it down. I have an annoying habit of finishing books that I really am not enjoying, which is what happened with this book. I can honestly say that I will not be reading the next book in the series.

I am subscribed to a youtuber called Alfie Deyes (AKA PointlessBlog) and when I saw he had released his third book, I bought it instantly. I really enjoyed reading The Scrapbook of my Life, as it gave you an insight into his thoughts and feelings as he grew to be as successful as he is now. I read it within 24 hours of buying it XD. (Also, I read it whilst reading another book at the same time... whaat!? That never happens with me!)

The book that I read at the same time as The Scrapbook of my Life, was Angelfall by Susan Ee. I know I am a bit late, but I now completely understand the hype surrounding this book. I was originally a bit hesitant to read this, as I had previously read the Hush, Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick, which is also about angels. I had liked this series, but it wasn't something I was too interested in reading again. Well, I am so glad I decided to give angelfall a go! I loved that the romance in this book was almost non-existent (which is weird, because I tend to love romances in books) But I really like the fact that you didn't really know whether they were falling for eachother or not. I am currently reading the next book in the series.

Finally, I read Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell. For anyone who doesn't live in the UK, This book was released for 'World Book Day', which is a day in the UK, where authors publish a short (Around 60 pages) book to sell for £1. Most children get given a voucher, which allows them to get these books for free. It was a super quick read, but still just as good as all of Rainbow Rowells other books.

Although this doesn't seem like a lot of books to read in two months to most people, I am so pleased with this, as I have been really busy with exams. :)

Now for my April TBR:

-World after by Susan Ee

-Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

-The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

-All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

-The Finisher by David Baldacci

The TBR jar challenge I got for April is...

To read a random unread book from my shelf.

To do this, i am going to write all of my unread books onto a piece of paper, and (like my TBR jar) randomly choose a piece of paper.

For this TBR challenge, I got The Relic Guild by Edward Cox.

~ Chey xxx

January wrap up and February TBR

 Hello!

In january i read 5 and a half books, which is a lot more than usual- last year I didn't seem to read much, which was annoying, but I just didn't feel like reading much... thank goodness i'm back to normal now! :)


The first book I read this year was Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. This book is hugely popular on booktube, and this is why I was incredibly disappointed. Don't get me wrong, Fangirl is good- but that's it. Just good. I don't see why everyone loves this book so much - I didn't find Cath that relatable, and although I liked Levi, I don't see why everyone is obsessed with him... wow i don't think I have said one good thing about this book XD It was very easy to read- I read it in one sitting. However, this may be the reason that I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would. I have noticed that most books I read in one or two sittings, I don't like as much as I would like to. This is why I am trying to slow down, and try to spread each book I read over a longer period of time. I'm pretty certain that I will re-read fangirl, and so I really, really REALLY hope that I enjoy it more the second time around.






The next book I read- or I suppose I would have to say finished- was The summer I turned pretty by Jenny Han. I officially started this book in 2015, and it has taken me a couple months to read, as I was reading it at school. (My school has this read 20 minutes a week thing) Although it took me so long to read, it was definitely worth it. It was so good, and I wish I could start the next book in the series, but I haven't bought it yet and can't justify spending anymore money on books... (Book haul coming soon) I guess some people might not enjoy this book so much because of the love triangle... or square. I understand why people don't like these in books, but if they are done well, they are great! This is an example of that. I had no idea who Belly would end up with at the end of the book, but when I found out, I wasn't happy. Obviously i'm not going to say who, but it just really annoyed me. I reeeeally hope that this changes in the next books!






The next book i read was Carry On, also by rainbow Rowell. I LOVED this book! So much more than Fangirl- I completely understand the hype. As I was reading this, I just couldn't stop smiling. I read it super fast (making sure I didn't read it all in one go, as I said I would try after reading Fangirl) and I just wish that this was part of a series rather than just a stand-alone. One thing that I don't understand is the fact that just because Harry Potter is so famous, every single other book about wizards/magicians is compared, or even criticized for copying J.K Rowling. I can't really say much though, as (sorry!) I haven't yet read Harry potter :O Don't worry though, I have just recently bought the whole series, and plan on reading them later on in the year.






The fourth book I read in January was The lovely bones by Alice sebold. this was the TBR jar book for the month, and I have to say I was right in not wanting to read this. The only character I liked in this was the dad, and I really didn't like any of the others. It felt sooo slow, and it only started to pick up about 300 pages in, which is right near the end. Are you meant to hate the mother? I did, and the decision that the dad made in the end was so annoying! I really wanted to know more about the heaven she was in, as this wasn't really talked about much in the book. (Don't worry, that wasn't a spoiler- she dies right at the beginning)








Finally, I read Everything, everything by Nicola Yoon. Again, I loved this book. It was so quick and easy to read - I read it in a matter of hours. The extra bits like the spoiler reviews, pictures and text messages made it a fun and enjoyable read. Many people didn't like the ending of this book, but I loved it! Im not going to say what happened, but I really liked how Nicola Yoon ended this book. Obviously it isn't going to be perfect- it's her first ever published book, but I still loved it, and am looking forward to future books.










Now for my TBR:

I'm not going to set too many books to read, and am pretty certain that I won't stick to this, but it's worth the try, isn't it?

-All the bright places by  jennifer Niven

-the martian by Andy Weir

-The 5th wave by Rick Yancey (just started this book yesterday, hence the 'and a half' at the beginning of this post)

The challenge I got from my TBR jar was to read a book written by an author with the same initials as me. for this I am going to read Ink heart by Cornelia Funke, as I don't own a book where the author has the exact same initials as me, so C will have to do. :)

~Chey xxx

How I read a series

Hello! 

Just a short post for today, but I said in my 2016 reading goals post that I was going to talk about how I read book series.

I have never read only one book in a series, and then moved onto something else. It's for probably the same reason why I only ever read one book at a time. I have a terrible memory, and i'm pretty sure many people can relate to this, but I always feel like if I read more than one book at a time, or read different books between a series, I am going to completely forget what the other book is about, or get them mixed up or something that will confuse me. I know this probably won't happen, but for some reason, this doesn't change my mind. 

I have only ever marathoned series, which is super annoying, because it means that if a series is incomplete, and still has a few more books that haven't been published yet, I can't read them and have to wait a few years until the whole series is available to read. It is also incredibly annoying if the series I am reading has many books, as I will either lose interest, or find another book that I want to read. This clashes with the fact that I HATE not finishing books and series. 

I have decided this year that I am going to try to change that, which is why in my latest post, I said I was going to read books like Throne of Glass, and Red queen. I feel like this will give me a much wider range of books that I can read, and so I reeeaalllly hope that I succeed in doing this.

Please tell me in the comments if you are the same as me, it would be great to know I am not the only one XD

~ Chey xxx

2016 reading goals!

Hello!

So I totally failed at doing the 12 days of bookmas challenge... I think we all knew that was going to happen XD Anyway, I might make a post talking about why I didn't finish that.

I have never really set reading goals, or done a TBR, but I decided to set some 2016 reading goals, to see how well I do. I have also some booktubers that have made a TBR jar, which I think sounds fun, so i'm going to try that out aswell. These are the challenges in the TBR jar:

1- Read a classic - I have never read a classic before, unless you count the books I have studied at school.

2- Read the first book in a currently uncompleted series - I only ever marathon series; I will probably write a post about this.

3- Read a book on my shelf that I have lost interest in - I own WAY too many unread books, some that I have lost interest in.

4- Read a book someone recommends to me 

5- Read a random book on my shelf

6- read a book by an author with the same initials as me

7- Read the book I most want to read - OK, so maybe this is just an excuse for me to buy new books...

8- Read the last book I bought

9- Read a series

10- Read a stand alone

11- Read a fantasy book - I don't read enough of these!

12- Read a book with a movie adaptation

I also have a list of books I want to read this year:

1- The Keeper - David Baldacci

2- The Martian - Andy Weir

3- Carry On - Rainbow Rowell

4- Gone series - Michael Grant

5- The 5th Wave - Rick Yancey

6- Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard

7- The Elites - Natasha Ngan

8- Four - Veronica Roth

9- The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

10- The Accident Season - Moira Fowley-Doyle

11- Legend series - Marie Lu

12- The Throne of Glass - Sarah J Mass

13- Anna and the French Kiss series - Stephanie Perkins

14- the Selection - Kiera Cass

15- Cinder - Marissa Meyer

16- Everything, Everything - Nicola Yoon

The TBR jar challenge I got for this month is to read a book on my shelf that I have lost interest in. 

So, I hope I actually stick to this, but I've got my GCSE's this year, so i'm not making any promises...

~ Chey xxx