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

The fourth day of bookmas!

On the fourth day of bookmas my true love gave to me, 4 cozy reads...




The first book I chose was Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer. It is about a girl called Delilah who can't stop reading a certain fairy tale. One day, she finds out that the main character, Oliver, can speak to her, and that he wants her to help him escape the book. If you haven't read this, then you should, because it is so fun, and I could read it over and over!









The next book is Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella. I wrote a review about this a few months ago, so I don't need to say much about it. Although it is about a serious topic, the author found a way to make it really light-hearted, and it is definitely a cozy read for me! :)









My third choice is actually a series - The confessions of Georgia Nicolson. I have lent out the first book in this series so I just chose a random one to use in the photo. This is a really funny series, and one that you definitely shouldn't take too seriously. Georgia is probably one of the most unrealistic characters, but in a way, that makes it so much more fun to read. 










Finally, I chose Every Day by David Levithan. Although this book deals with some pretty heavy topics, such as suicide and racism, I loved this book, and read it in one sitting. It's about A, who wakes up in a different person's body every day. A has a strict rule that he/she must never grow attached to anyone, or anything, as he/she will never stay in the same place for more than 24 hours. I think the reason that it's such a quick read is because of the fact that they are in a different body every day, with a different life, and different problems.









This one was actually quite easy for me - I just chose books that I would rereadover and over again XD 

9 days 'till christmas! :D :D

~ Chey xxx

The third day of bookmas!

On the third day of bookmas my true love gave to me, three best friends...



The first friendship I chose was between Jace and Alec from The Mortal Instruments series. If you have read this series then you will certainly understand why this is my first choice. They have such a funny relationship, and although they go through so much, they always pull through and remain best friends. Most of my favourite scenes from this series are between these two!

 The second friendship I chose was between Katniss and Rue... do I really need to say much more? :'(










The final friendship is a slightly controversial one. Not so much the friendship, but the book; I will not go into this now, however I may make a post about it in future. Im talking about Penny and Elliot from Girl Online, by Zoe Sugg. They have such a lovely relationship, and to be honest, I think it may have been my favourite part of this book.











This one was also quite hard, as I have a terrible memory, and couldn't think of many of the friendships in the books I have read... I know thats bad, but I can't help it, OK? XD

I hope you are enjoying this series so far!

~ Chey xxx

The second day of bookmas!

On the second day of bookmas my true love gave to me, 2 awful endings:

The first book I chose was Paper Towns by John Green. I was so excited to start reading this, because I had heard so many good things about it, and I really enjoyed The Fault in our Stars. I was very disappointed. I felt like the book was dragged out for WAY too long, and I think the only bit I enjoyed about this book was the road trip. It was incredibly slow paced, and so once I finished reading it, and found out what happened at the end, I almost wished that I hadn't bothered in the first place. I'm definitely not saying you shouldn't read it, because so many people loved this book, it just wasn't for me.

The last book I chose was Night World by L.J.Smith - Secret Vampire in particular. I bought this book because I really liked her other series, The Morganville Vampires. I had also read a free sample of the book, and it seemed pretty good. I was wrong. I thought the writing was terrible, and the characters were completely unrealistic. It was made even worse by the fact that I refused to give up on it, and decided to read the whole thing. Even though it is only 195 pages long, it dragged on so much, and I ended up in a HUGE reading slump afterwards.









This one was actually quite hard for me, as I tend to really like the books I read- I guess I must just be really lucky; I know so many people who have a whole list of books they don't like! I realise that I also kind of cheated, because these are books that I didn't like, rather than books with bad endings, but as i said, it was so hard to find even two books I didn't like!

11 days 'till christmas!

~ Chey xxx

The first day of bookmas!

Hello!


OK, so maybe I didn't stick to what I said in my previous post, so I have decided to make up for it by doing 12 days of bookmas, which was originally created by Hailey at HailsHeartsNyc on youtube. Although this was originally intended for booktubers, I am going to try to do it on my blog,as I think it is a great idea! Today is the 13th of December, so obviously I have attempted (and failed!) at doing the first challenge:



On the first day of bookmas, my true love gave to me, a beautiful bookmas tree!









































Sorry for the terrible picture - I lost the lead to my camera, and so had to take the picture on my phone :S

I really hope to stick to this challenge, because it sounds so fun!

~ Chey xxx