REVIEW || Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige

*** please note, this review may contain spoilers***

BOOK THOUGHTS: STEALING SNOW

First of all, many thanks to Bloomsbury for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, and also to Netgalley, for approving my request also!

I'm just going to put this out there, I've never read a Danielle Paige book prior to this one. As an avid reader and someone who seemingly adores fairytale re-tellings, you would think I'd have read some of her works by now. But, there's a first time for everything, and the plot line of this novel just drew me in.

"Seventeen-year-old Snow has spent her life locked in Whittaker Psychiatric—but she isn’t crazy. And that’s not the worst of it. Her very first kiss proves anything but innocent…when Bale, her only love, turns violent.

Despite Snow knowing that Bale would never truly hurt her, he is taken away—dashing her last hope for any sort of future in the mental ward she calls home. With nowhere else to turn, Snow finds herself drawn to a strange new orderly who whispers secrets in the night about a mysterious past and a kingdom that’s hers for the taking—if only she can find her way past the iron gates to the Tree that has been haunting her dreams.

Beyond the Tree lies Algid, a land far away from the real world, frozen by a ruthless king. And there too await the River Witch, a village boy named Kai, the charming thief Jagger, and a prophecy that Snow will save them all." (taken from Goodreads)

***

When Bloomsbury posted a tweet about this book, saying they had spare ARC's available, I never thought I'd actually get a copy. An ebook, maybe, as I tend to get things approved from NetGalley now and again, but never a physical copy. The fact that I got the physical copy was enough to keep me invested in the book, even just if it was to provide a review for those of you who read my blog.

***

MY OPINION:

This book was well thought out, even if the concept was a little bit typical in some places, and all over the place in others. There were a whole array of characters who just seemed to be there, not doing much. That being said, I was still captivated throughout the book. 

Whilst I was heading into this book expecting a Snow White retelling, it turned out it is actually a re-telling of The Snow Queen.  Now, I'm unfamiliar with this fairy tale, so each twist and turn in the book was unexpected, as I had no true idea of what the initial fairy tale entailed. However, I do think this worked in my favour, as whilst others may have had expectations regarding familiarity, I lacked them. 

One of the issues I struggled with, is that whilst Snow had a lot going on in her life, such as finding out who she really is, whilst trying to find childhood friend Bale in an alternative universe, there is also a love triangle. What is it with pretty much every YA novel having a love triangle? This wasn't exactly needed, considering Snow's feelings were made pretty clear as of page one. 

Overall, I believe the initial idea had a LOT of promise, most of which was not met.  As this is actually the first in a series - possibly a trilogy, I'm unsure - this makes sense, as it allows things to develop and flow a little better in further books.

***

MY RATING: 

TWO AND A HALF STARS

Have any of you read this book? If so, what are your thoughts? Or do you have any recommendations based off my review? Let me know in the comments below!

REVIEW || HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD

Yes, you read that title correctly,

I, along with the majority of the world (or so it seems), was one of the lucky ducks who got the book the day it was released, simply by popping along to my local stockist of the book, and buying it half price (or at least my other half did whilst I was at work, so thank you a thousand times over!

Naturally I was 1000x more anxious about reading this book than any other, apart from the 7th HP book coincidentally enough. And I had every right to be. This series, or the Harry Potter franchise as a whole, made not just my childhood, but many others, brighter and better just by picking it up at all.

Now I totally get that the series isn't for everyone. And hell (is hell even allowed to be said?) some may prefer the movies. But all I have to say is, give this script a go. Maybe the movie enthusiasts will prefer it moreso than those favouring the book series, due to it actually being a script!

Anyway, now that I've finally completed it (it took me a week) I'm going to try my best to compile my thoughts in the least spoiler-esque way as possible..

OK, so nineteen years later, we find ourselves transported to Kings Cross, pretty much exactly where we left off at the end of Deathly Hallows. We're approaching the entrance to the platform, and there's a little bit of nerves coming from Albus Severus, who is heading to his first year at Hogwarts. For me, this scene, along with several others throughout the script, echoed scenes we've already seen earlier in the series, some of which were almost word for word! (If you've completed this you'll know what I'm on about). So once we're through the wall (luckily no flying cars this time) the good old Hogarth Express is waiting, and we meet Rose and her family and parents, The Weasley's. As the board the train to Hogwarts, they go to find a carriage, and this is where the story really takes off, as we meet Scorpius Malfoy, son of Draco.

Now I'll drop my summary here, for fear of spoilers. Let's move on to my thoughts. 

Everything reeked of familiar scenes and scenarios. I understand we have to go through the whole process with Albus in the same way as we did with Harry and Co but it's almost too alike. I understand that Rowling didn't write it alone but on the other hand maybe that should have been a good thing? We could have possibly seen more interesting aspects or changes to Hogwarts but these seem to have been brushed aside, which really is a shame.

I did enjoy several of the character developments, particularly Scorpius and Delphi, although Delphi's development was perhaps the one that shocked me the most, as that plays a crucial twist in the play as a whole.

Overall, I'm giving the script 3 out of 5 stars.  I really wnjoyed several aspects including the twist, but for me it was all a little too familiar to the original series, and it was as if a couple of people had forced Rowling to write those familiar scenes as they couldn't let go of the series. This is such a shame though as the script had so much promise, and Rowling is an amazingly talented author, but this time, it sadly just didn't work for me.

I'M IN A SLUMP. - Discussion.

Hello!

Today, I thought I would do a little post on the good old slump. It's Monday, it's sunny outside, and I'm meant to be getting ready to go to work. BUT I thought I'd blog for you all instead!

So, good old slumps. Be it reading, filming, movies, gaming, shopping or whatever little hobby you have. A slump, is still a slump. Although I've posted before about reading slumps and some tips, I still find myself stuck in a slump. I'm not sure how it's happened (well, that's not strictly true), but I just dont feel like reading right now, which is a pain when I'm in the middle of x amount of books. No doubt I'll either DNF the reads and start with a clean slate, or pick them up and continue without enjoying them, but, we'll just have to wait and see..


So, how does a slump happen?

Well for me, it just so happens to be because I read a book quite quickly. Last week. Yes, you read that correctly. I managed to read a book quicker than anticipated, and I got all giddy and excited and now I'm sat here wondering what I'm doing wrong with my reading life. Who in their right mind actually finishes a book quickly, resulting in them slumping? Apparently me. Fantastic.

Slumps tend to happen when you go from having all the time in the world to suddenly being busy. At the time of me reading that book in 24 hours last week, I'd had meetings/appointments and then had work a few hours later, and it made more sense to wait around a coffee shop near work rather than go home to just turn around and come back out again for work. So that freed up a lot of my time on that day, and I flew through a good proportion of the book. Due to being so highly invested in the book, I picked it up the next morning and spent an hour finishing it off, collecting my thoughts and posting a blog post for it. I havent touched a book since,

Personally, I believe that slumps come out of over-enjoying or over-indulging on something. For example, I over-indulged on reading that book, something which would have normally taken possibly a week to read, was read in 24 hours. Since that over-indulging, I have yet to enjoy anything I picked up, regardless of it's size or whether it appealed to me at all. For example, I've since tried to pick up two books I really wanted to read, and I've read the first chapter of each and not picked them up since!

What are you going to do about it?

 Well, that's just it, I dont know. I'm currently focusing more on work and writing at the moment, but I don't just want to push reading to one side. I want to be able to read something before I go away (in two weeks), or at least make more progress in my current reading. I really dont want to be in a slump whilst on holiday, as alongside my flight I have extra travelling, meaning extra reading time which I wont want to waste!

My probable plan of action is as follows: try and read more of my current reads and finish at least one before starting anything else (or going on holiday - whichever comes first), make more time for myself to appreciate the books I'm reading right now and not just starting books left right and centre, and also to take a step back from my reading. Yes, this contradicts the other steps, but ultimately, if I feel like something is becoming "too much", it probably is, and I need to learn to take a step back if that happens to avoid any further slumps.


Do you have any tips for reading slumps? Let me know in the comments how you cope with slumps and maybe we can have a chat!

REVIEW || Don't Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout

OH MY GOD THIS BOOK.

First of all, thanks so much to Vanessa for giving me this book - I owe you one! Links to her YouTube channel are here, and her blog too!

For those of you who don't know - Don't Look Back is one of those books that gets you so sucked in, so so very quickly, and you can't help but want to know EVERYTHING ten minutes before the main character.

In this book, we follow Samantha, who, at the beginning of the book, is found stumbling out of a forest, a little worse for wear - okay, a lot worse for wear. She's battered and bruised, and has no recollection of what happened. She's gone from someone with the 'perfect life', to somehow having no clue who she is. And things only get worse when she's told her best friend Cassie went missing wit her - and still hasn't been found.

***

I loved this. It's my first ever Jennifer L Armentrout book and oh my goodness. Why haven't I picked her books up before now? This book is one of those un-put-down-able types, I read it over the space of 24 hours - less than that actually! I was so invested in the characters, and felt emotions for each and every single one of them. One moment I was happy, another I was sad, mostly, I was as confused as our lead character Samantha, I mean, who wouldn't be?

***SPOILERS***

One of the things I really didn't like, or rather, was frustrated by, was the lack of important flashbacks. I understand why we, as readers, didn't get those flashbacks, but still, I would have appreciated them more rather than just that final one. Whilst the doctors had said her memory may come back in bits and pieces, I didn't really need to see the drama flashbacks between Del, Samantha and Cassie, when they were a given, particularly with Samantha being such a smart lead character. However, that being said, I absolutely loved the flashback involving Scott, Carson and Samantha. We'd heard of this story prior to the flashback, so it was so heartwarming to see that that memory hadn't been tainted by present day lies.

Can we also just stop and take a moment to appreciate Carson please? Perfect book boyfriend right there.

***SPOILERS END***

Overall, for my first JLA read, it is definitely worth a solid 4 stars, if not somewhere between the 4th and 5th star. This is because the main character was so relateable, we felt everything they felt, went through everything they went through, and I definitely came away from the book feeling like I had a friend in Samantha. Not to mention it made me take a step back and think about my life and how I could make changes to make me a better person.

All in all, a fantastic read, and I highly highly recommend it!!

REVIEW || The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley

***please note, this review may not be spoiler free***

The Loney is one of those books that just intrigues you. It's cropped up out of nowhere, and when you read the first few pages, you cant help but wonder if it's for you. Then suddenly, you're halfway through, not knowing how or when this happened, yet still wanting more.

Or at least it was for me.

The Loney is an isolated retreat/shrine that is visited by the same family and some of their fellow worshippers year in, year out. This year is the first year they have visited The Loney with their new priest, Father Bernard. Between the struggles of coming to terms with Father Bernard not being Father Wilfred (the previous priest), and boredom setting in,and tempers fraying, things are not all that they seem.

Years later, Hanny is a grown man who no longer depends on his brother. But then, a child's body is discovered..

I've finally finished this. Yes, it was something that gripped me, and I didn't quite know how, yet it still took me some time to get through. In all honesty, I felt that it took a LOT of time to get to the point.

The book is set out in a reflective manner, which we get to understand as being result of going through Counselling and the discovery of a body on an isolated beach. This isolated beach just happens to be in the same area as the sacred shrine the family would visit year after year. The year we get to hear about however, is the same year where said body gets dumped, with the story being recalled in light of its discovery.

Whilst I enjoyed the final chapter, and sevral chapters here and there, I felt the book was lacking in something. Most likely, it was lacking in pace. There was one chapter which I felt was completely unnecessary toward the end of the book, which I feel could have easily been summarized in a conversation between the main character and the priest or his counsellor. Other than that, the interest in the other characters' perceptions and experiences is really what kept me captivated throughout the book.

The book does have a very religious-heavy theme throughout, which should be a given considering they're visitng a sacred shrine. However, this shouldn't put you off. At times, it did get a little overwhelming, but I personally believe that this is down to where the narrative was going, and was essential for the character development.

Overall, I'm rating this book 3 out of 5 stars. Some parts of it where enjoyable, whereas others bored and frustrated me, making me think 3 out of 5 is a fair decision.

Have you read this book? Let me know in the comments so we can discuss it!

REBECCA RECOMMENDS: eARCS

Everyone who reviews books knows that there are means and methods to reading ARC books. As in, books that are given to reviewers and bloggers before or around publication date in order to boost their profiles on social media. So, how does a blogger get around to gaining eARCS?

There are a number of methods to getting to this point in your blog. Firstly, you need to make sure you have a blog with book content, reviewing or showing hauls. Posting frequently also helps, although this is not completely essential, as in some cases you can post reviews on websites such as Goodreads or NetGalley (a website I'll be telling you about in a moment).

How can a beginner blogger start reviewing unreleased titles?

Your best place to start is most probably going to be NetGalley. This website is a godsend for bloggers and reviewers alike. Signing up is completely free, and although they prefer you to have a blog or somewhere you post reviews, it isn't actually essential, which is a bonus for those just starting out. This is because they ask for your feedback on the book after giving it a rating, as well as asking you to answer a couple of questions before confirming you've read a book and submitting the piece. Once you read and review a book, it gets added to your 'Feedback to Approval Ratio'. This ratio is preferred to be over 85% by those at NetGalley, which means that the more you are approved for, the lower your ratio actually becomes. However, this ratio increases with the more books you read and review, meaning you're also more likely to be approved for books too! If you're reading and reviewing a load of books from NetGalley, and they all just happen to be from a particular publisher, you may be added to an Auto-Approval list, meaning that from that point, if you request a book by that publisher, you will receive that book almost instantly into your downloads.

NetGalley has a range of books for review, so there usually is always something for everyone. Whilst this is just an introduction to NetGalley, Elizabeth over at The Owlery has created a great video guide to getting to know NetGalley a little bit better, which can be found here.

Is there anything other than NetGalley?

Yes. There's other websites available, and sadly, I haven't tried them, due to the fact that I really got on well with NetGalley. One website is Edelweiss, and although I haven't looked at it, I know a few others who have tried this website an do enjoy using it. E;lizabeth has also looked at this in one of her videos, again, really helpful, which can be found here!

Another option is entering giveaways. Authors (particularly on Twitter), often host giveaways to win a copy of their newest releases. Yes it means that you're one of x amount of people entering, but hey ho, it feels great to enter and then even win a competition!

 My final recommendation is following authors or agents on Twitter/Instagram/any social media. This is because they tend to advertise if they are looking for people to review authors work. For example, I was in contact with an agent who supplied me with a synopsis and cover of an upcoming book, and asked if I would be interested in a copy to review. From that, other authors and agents will get in touch with you, particularly if you're also quite active on social media.


So there we go, if you have any questions, or tips yourself, let me know down below!

Readathons - Where Do I Stand?

The majority of people who blog about books or partake in 'BookTube', will have participated in a readathon at least once. Or have heard of readathons at the very least. There are so many out and about in the world of book reviewing (be it blog, video or tweets), that I thought I would have my own little say on them, because why not ey?

Readathons, for those who don't know, are periods of time where you read books following a certain theme (usually). For example, some people do an author readathon, where they read ONLY that author (I'm currently doing that myself partially with Stephen King books). Others will do readathons with common themes such as dystopian, YA (Young Adult), LGBT, mental illness, disability, to name but a few. This allows the reader to choose their own books by their own preferred authors on a topic they all have in common. There are also two more types of readathon: a free-style one, and a slightly-structured-but-not-strict one. For a free-style readathon, the participants read whatever the heck they want, and this tends to be in readathons such as Deweys 24-hour readathon (I suggest looking up Little Book Owl on YouTube for more info, found here). For this readathon in particular, you have 24 hours to read whatever you want. The pieces you read can be graphic novels, manga, fiction, non-fiction, long, short - you get the picture. The choice is yours. And the best bit? It's usually organised to suit your time zone, for example from 2am April 3rd to 2am April 4th. This tends to work best for people with busy schedules who need to just relax for a day or two, and it's particularly helpful if arranged for a weekend! For our slightly-structured-but-not-strict-one, I've chosen RYBSAT as an example. RYBSAT stands for Read Your Book Shelf A Thon, and happens regularly around the year (videos can be found here). In this readathon, the rules are simple: pick a point on your bookshelf, and just read. Which is good, particularly if you pick a point on your shelf where there are a number of shorter books!

So, now we've explained the various types of readathons (I'd like to point out this is not an exclusive list, and there are a number of other readathons happening every single day which are great), what's my thoughts on them?

Well, I kinda, sorta, LOVE them. I love them so much, I've done a couple of my own. Granted, they haven't taken off as well as others, but I benefited from them, which is what counts really. For example, I'm currently doing the Season of Stephen King, where I'm just reading Stephen King books. BUT, as this is a lengthly readathon, I'm reading other items alongside it so I don't get bored. Which is very likely to happen.

For me, readathons are s beneficial to those taking part. They're excellent for those who are trying to hit their reading goals and are falling behind, or are good for a bit of a kick up the bum if you're feeling slumpish. Well, they're just fun in general to be honest!


So there we have it! My thoughts on readathons. Do you know of any readathons, or take part in some I haven't mentioned? Let me know down below so I can find out more!

REVIEW || Last Light by CJ Lyons

*** I was approached by the author with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way influences my thoughts and opinions.***

In this novel, we follow Lucy, a former FBI agent who has been given the opportunity to lead an office-based task force solving crimes from the past. Which is great for Lucy really. During her FBI days, she and her family were targeted by a violent predator, leaving Lucy with a life-altering injury. However, when Lucy hears of the case her taskforce are trying to crack, she can't resist going back out onto the open road to try and crack the case. Along with her team, Lucy tries to solve the case of a murder from 29 years prior, which sees her travel to rural Texas to discover who actually murdered Lily Martin and her family. As she and TK, a former Marine who struggles with her life transition from action to rural life, do the field work in Texas, not all is as it seems in Blackwell County, and the further the investigation develops, the more foul play arises.

*This review may contain spoilers*

I've been updating my status a lot on Goodreads as and when I find something incredibly interesting happening in the plot, which actually turns out to be the majority of the time! These updates can be found here (granted, they are short and snappy and trying to predict the killer but still, "called it!").

I don't know why I didn't pick this up sooner. It's fast-paced, action around every corner and has an average reading speed time of roughly 3 hours on Kindle. That's an afternoon. Not long at all! The book reminded me of a crime series episode (take your pick, an hour long, typical setup), which kept my attention well and could be paused at any time. It was so easy to pick back up again after setting down, that I had no concern over leaving it a few days just because I 'wasn't in the mood for reading' (it happens to the best of us).

***SPOILERS***

I adored the character development throughout the book, with perhaps the most surprising development coming from TK. I expected her to be a hard nut to crack, constantly fighting this imaginary battle in her head. However, when she met David, it was easily noticeable that she softened ever so slightly. He taught her to ease up a little and not take things so serious, got her to unwind at the bar, although it did end in arrest! The fact that the novel went from being all about solving the crime to also solving TK's own personal crisis was a wonderful touch from the author also.

***SPOILERS END***

Overall, I'm going to give this novel 4 out of 5 stars. Watching character developments as the novel unfolded was extremely fascinating, and I found myself understanding and relating to almost every single character in one way or another - even the bad ones! An excellent start to what I hope will be a substantial crime thriller series!

REVIEW || Sweet Tooth: Volumes One and Two

I read these at my local library, taking roughly half an hour for them both. These were my first ever graphic novel reads, and I went in with high expectations. I don't know why, maybe because it's such a big craze at the moment in the BookTube community, but sadly, I was a little disappointed. I do believe though that this was down to my own personal extremely high expectations rather than anything else!

Sweet Tooth Volume One: Out of the Deep Woods

In this initial volume, we find ourselves following the story of Gus, who lives in the woods with his father. Gus' father tells him he must only stay in the woods, and never stray, as there are fires and very dangerous men on the other side of the fence. Oh, did I mention, Gus has deer ears and horns?

Before Gus was born, there was an illness epidemic that wiped out quite a high proportion of the population. Those that were left, and were lucky enough to go on to have children, did so. However, after this epidemic, every child that was born, was some sort of animal hybrid. Now, 8 or so years later, we find Gus living in the woods with his father, as his mother died giving birth to him, and there is a heavy bounty for those that manage to capture these hybrids. 

However, when Gus' father dies, he dares to brave the new world outside of the woods, where he comes across Jeppard. We first meet Jeppard as he saves Gus' life, and convinces him to go with him to a safe haven. With Gus looking up to Jeppard as a new form of father figure, what could go wrong?

*

I didn't enjoy this as much as I was expecting too. The premise sounded amazing, and I had such high hopes, what with this being the first graphic novel of mine, that I think the expectations became too much of me. The story was good, and did set us up for the rest of the series, but I felt it lacked somewhat, somewhere along the line. I'm just not too sure where. 

I did feel for Gus though. He'd had such a sheltered life and didn't know where to begin after his fathers death, thus he just jumped on the first 'kind' person he met. Which ultimately led to his downfall. Overall I gave this graphic novel 3 stars.

***

Sweet Tooth Volume Two: In Captivity

The second installment picks up where the first left off. Good old reliable Jeppard is actually a bounty hunter, and hands over Gus in exchange for a duffell bag which we later find out to be the remains of his wife.

I much preferred this installment to the first one. We get to see more of Jeppard and his backstory, which was something I felt I actually needed to know in order to continue. The revelations that follow upon discovery of the other hybrids are also quite shocking, and well, Gus is actually quite naive, which is to be expected considering his upbringing.

Overall, I gave this installment four stars out of five, and reviewed both on my goodreads too.

REVIEW || The Sword that Saves: A Sam Stone Novel by Ambrose Merrell

I was sent this book from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review.

* How could an orphan, living in Vancouver, end up in 16th-century Japan, fighting against the terrifying forces of Darkness in a battle to save the world?

The tragic deaths of Sam Stone's parents leave him lost and alone. Fostered separately from his two younger sisters, he sets out to track them down and meets Kensho Iwata. This extraordinary Japenese martial arts teacher has a mysterious sword that the evil powers of Darkness seek to steal.

As Sam, Sophie and Zoe journey back in time and develop their own extraordinary gifts, they are drawn into a battle it seems impossible to win.

The power of Darkness is growing...

*

Firstly thanks to Vicki for sending me a copy of this on behalf of the author/publisher!

I throughly enjoyed this book. It sits at 265 pages, meaning it can easily be read in one sitting or two, or about twenty if you're like me and keep getting distracted! Initially, when I was contacted, I was given the brief synopsis of this book, I was attracted to the martial arts area of it, whilst in a YA concept - this really did intrigue me! When I was younger I did Kickboxing, and I have often wondered how a martial art would entwine into a YA novel, and Ambrose does it so well!

The plot wasn't too difficult to follow, and any martial arts terminology - particularly aikido - weren't that difficult to understand, as all terms were explained to us as they were to Sam. It was actually quite interesting to read the author notes too, as Ambrose is actually trained in Aikido, so hats off to him for utilising what he knows for the sake of the novel. Often, there's a tendency to "overwrite" something an author has a passion for, but this isn't the case. The author takes all readers into consideration in terms of terminology, explains everything at least once (actually twice if you count telling Sams sisters) and therefore you come out of the book with new martial arts knowledge to wow others with!

Overall this was an enjoyable read. The characters developed well, particularly Sophie and Zoe, whose developments I admired the most throughout the book. I'm giving this book a rating of 3 out of 5 stars, meaning I'd recommend it to most readers, or those with a particular interest in the topic.

See you all soon with another review!

Being Ruthless

If there's one thing I've learnt so far in 2016, it's that life is too short. Far too short. In the midst of family issues, and celebrities dropping like flies, along with career alterations and just life in general, I've started to focus on things that matter the most to me, and spending more time doing the things I love. Whilst this includes reading, some 'light' crafting, and filming for my YouTube channel and writing blog posts, it also means spending time with family, fiance, and friends.

So what does this mean for my blog and YouTube?

Absolutely nothing.

As soon as I finish a book, I'll be posting a collective review of my thoughts and feelings surrounding the book, its plot, characters etc. I'll still be posting videos as and when I can, with hopefully a variety of content.

But what about my reading?

Well, that's actually what I wanted to talk about in this post to be honest. I've FINALLY decided to make the executive decision of being ruthless toward my reading. I have such a huge TBR pile that it just has to be done. So how am I going to do it?

It's simple. If I'm reading a physical book, I'll give it 3 chapters, or between 30 and 50 pages, depending on what I reach first. If the book seems promising and I'm enjoying it, I'll see it out. If it isn't tickling my fancy, it'll have until the 50 page mark to redeem itself, or else it will be going on my DNF pile. If I'm reading an eBook, it will have between 10 and 20%, depending on the size of the book. If the book is large, I'll apply the 50 page rule, as long as my kindle has the page number option available. If not, it'll have up to 30% to redeem itself, or else I will be leaving it unfinished, It's a shame to have to be strict on myself and my reading, but when I have such a busy schedule, along with a continuous growth spurt of my TBR, it has to be done.

Have any of you had to be ruthless with your TBR? Or with anything else for that matter? If you have any more tips or tricks about being ruthless, let me know down below!

See you all soon with another post!

REVIEW || A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

How the hell am I meant to review this book?

*

In this short, but powerfully moving novel from Patrick Ness, we follow Conor, who has all the usual teenage struggles alongside two other things. His mums illness, and a nightmare that visits him night after night. Until one night, there's a looming shadow in this nightmare. And it doesn't go away.

*

This book had me in tears. I honestly don't know how anyone can read this and NOT cry. I genuinely believed Conor's views and thoughts, so much so I was rooting for him from start to finish. But it just wasn't meant to be.

I loved the representation that the character of the monster brought to the novel. It had this big looming scary feeling to Conor, but as time passed, he got used to it and allowed to become a friend almost. And in true friend fashion, it allowed him to do absolutely anything, from trashing his grandmas pristine and precious living room, to finally beating the crap out of his bully (which was totally justified).

I don't want to say too much in fear of spoil on the experience. I went in not knowing much - literally just what I had read on the back of the book, and in this instance, that is exactly how it should be.

A phenomenal piece of writing from Ness, so thought provoking, thoughtful and eye-opening. This has definitely willed me into reading more by him, and is incredibly deserving of the full five star rating I'm giving it.

REVIEW || Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

***this book was received as an eArc in exchange for an honest review***

You want honest?

I've never read Cecelia Ahern.

Now, I'm well aware of just how popular her works are and how successful a writer she actually is. So when I heard she was venturing out of her usual writing realm and diving into YA, I thought 'good for her'. Well, you can only imagine my surprise at seeing her new novel available on the eArc site I use. I snapped that bad boy up.

So what is Flawed about exactly? Well, we follow Celestine, our main female character who is 17 years old. Lives with her parents and siblings, straight A student with an amazing boyfriend. One problem. There's this thing called the Guild. The Guild are there to protect the community, by preventing corruption and dishonesty in leaders BEFORE it has a chance to happen. How? They monitor your every move. If you do something morally or ethically wrong through any of your actions, you get punished, and are seen as flawed. The punishment is simple. You are branded - with a hot iron just like cows no less- in one of five places, depending on your sentencing. Those places each have a different meaning, and being flawed and branded restricts your freedoms and corrupts your quality of life. So what exactly does this have to do with Celestine, our seemingly perfect female lead? Well, she's faced with a rather tough decision, and whatever path she follows for that decision has grave consequences...

This book is phenomenal for a first time venture into YA fiction from an author outside the field. Throughout my goodreads updates, I found myself going through the motions with Celestine. When she was scared, I was scared for her. When she was worried, I was too. And so on. One thing I didn't like however, is that this is part of a series. The ending clearly leaves the series open to a number of different directions, but I felt it didn't have the closure I usually prefer, which naturally would come from a standalone piece.

Overall, I'm rating the book 4 out of 5 stars. I may pick up the sequel (if I remember to), but if not, I can leave the series knowing that I have been pleasantly surprised by yet another novel, with an ending open to interpretation for myself.

Have you read this book? Let me know down below and we can chat about it! (I promise I'm going to try harder with comment replies!)

BOOK BUYING BAN || The Update

Hello!



So at the beginning of the year, I posted a resolutions video on my YouTube channel, where I gave a list of resolutions I wanted to carry out for the first half of 2016. One of those was a book buying ban, and well....... it didn't go too well.



The video above is a video showing you the books I've aquired since posting my resolutions video, in which I stated I was banning myself from buying books until at least Easter. For all Easter is just around the corner (it's Easter weekend this weekend!), I've still gained books between now and January. Shame on me!



The Books:



The Versions of Us Laura Barnett (buy here)

The Life and Death of Sophie Stark Anna North (buy here)

**the above were kindly given to me by Orion books in a competition, thanks so much and I cant wait to get to them!**

Anno Dracula Kim Newman (buy here)

Room Emma Donoghue (buy here)

The Bones of You Debbie Howells (buy here)

Me Before You Jojo Moyes (buy here)

The Buried Giant Kazuo Ishiguro (buy here)

Rebel of the Sands Alwyn Hamilton (buy here)

The Poppy Factory Liz Trenow (buy here)

The Bookshop Book Jen Campbell (buy here)

My Life Next Door Huntley Fitzpatrick (buy here)



and an extra one I got after filming...



The Dwarves Markus Heitz (buy here)





So yes, I am failing terribly at that part of my resolutions. But who can blame me? Books are beautiful things and they will just fall into my arms time and time again!

REVIEW || Mañana by William Hjortsburg

So a while ago, I got this as a free eARC in exchange for an honest review. Here goes.

-

I actually don't remember all that much about it. As in, I made my decision on my star rating on Goodreads, but didn't leave a review. Clearly, this book had a profound impact on me.

Our main character, Tod, wakes up whilst on holiday with his wife, to find a dead prostitute lying next to him. Yup, that's right a dead prostitute. Naturally his wife is nowhere to be seen, neither are the people he vaguely remembers from the night before. Cue Tod spending the whole of this novel trying to track his wife down, as he is adamant she has been kidnapped against her will. He also needs to figure out whether he did actually murder his wake-up friend, or whether it was all staged to make him look bad. 

Now, don't get me wrong, this book had so much promise. It could have took so many different twists and turns, and it did, they just weren't exciting enough for me. I found his wife to be quite whiny and actually, quite cunning, and I found Tod being a tad too helpless for his own good at some points. However, the points where his head was screwed on actually made sense, but it was so frustrating to see some things pan out the way they did.

Through the time spent writing this review, I've decided to drop my stars from 3 to 2. Mainly because I've realised just how much I disliked the book, even if I did get through it quite quickly.

Sorry if I've disappointed you with this review, and although I am thankful for the eARC copy, I'm pleased I didn't actually pay for this, which is such a shame.

REVIEW || Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

This book. Wow. Just wow.

I bought this on a whim, mainly a guilty pleasure cover buy, but also for the fact that we (myself and the book), share the same name. Rebecca. Obviously!

In this book, we follow our female lead, who begins her take working for a Mrs Van de Hopper as a servant almost. She lives with her, dines with her, holidays with her, and so on, all in exchange for £90 a month. When we first come across the pair, they are holidaying abroad, when they just so happen to be staying in the same hotel as Maxim De Winter, esteemed Englishman and sole owner of the stately homes of Manderley. We see the relationship between our main character and Maxim blossom during the hotel stay, to the point where Maxim asks her to becomes his bride! From there, we are taken on a journey full of twists and turns with the newly-weds, as our main female character struggles to come to terms with life at Manderley, all the while trying to understand her husbands ever-growing silence ad suspicion surrounding his deceased first-wife, Rebecca.

*from here this review will no longer be spoiler free, scroll to the last paragraph to see my overall thoughts and rating*.

I adored this book. I read it as part of my #2016classicschallenge, and have completed it in under a week. Which for me, and a 400+ page book, is pretty damn impressive! Initially I believed our main character to be a bit of a pain, as the author writes in all of these other scenarios playing out in our females head, so I was never really sure what was truth and what wasn't at certain points. However I found that becoming less and less frequent the more I read, which was a definite bonus.

I went through every single emotion I could possibly imagine with almost all of the characters, bar one or two who I loathed from the moment I met them. I have to say, Maxim exceeded my expectations, and I loved his character development throughout the book. I began hating him for leading our poor female on (I've yet to learn her name, it's probably mentioned somewhere and I didn't pay attention), until suddenly it all went up in the air when she confronted him about his feelings. And then - well, that was one hell of a revelation!

***

Overall I'm giving this book an amazing 5 out of 5 stars, which is rare for a classic read (for me anyway). This means that I would highly recommend it to absolutely anyone and everyone. Don't read classics? Read this one. Prefer YA? Try this, trust me you'll love it. I just hope someone somewhere has thought about a novella or sequel so we can see what has happened to our beloved couple since the end of the novel!

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts?

Life Update

Until I consider whether this is going to be a permanent feature in my blog, I will just be calling this a "Life Update".

Okay. So exactly four weeks ago today (I think that's right), I took the plunge and joined my local weight loss group with my mam. She's been going for little under a year now, and has done phenomenally, so I finally bit the bullet and joined myself. Everything was going great. Until...

My hiccup.

I've been weighed tonight (it's just after 9pm) at class and found since last week I've put half a pound on. I'm feeling both frustrated and upset but at the same time I'm feeling nothing at all. And I think I know why.

I didn't stick to plan.

Each week for the first four weeks of your journey, you're meant to fill out food diaries to see what you're eating, what your habits are, and how you can change them if necessary. You pass then back to your consultant who then looks over them and returns them the following week (or texts you like mine does, she's such a good consultant!)

This week however, life admittedly got in the way, and although I was mentally preparing my meals and counting my good and bad foods, I wasn't actually writing these down, not even on a scrap bit of paper, let alone my food diary! So naturally I had a rather naughty week as a consequence (totally my own fault and I take full blame), which I've paid for in my gain. To me, this proves that I really do need my food diaries to help me control my eating habits and make the correct changes I need.

Anyway, this ramble is now over, I've had my say and can't decide if I want to keep up with this segment or if this is a one off.

See you all soon with another post!

REVIEW || We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

Not going to lie - I teared up a little bit when reading this.

This book follows a group of people, some are friends in the beginning, others are not. But by the end, we have this beautiful group of friendship that is almost too cliche, but totally understandable.

*this review many not be spoiler free*

I'd eyed this book up for ages, before finally caving to my own wishes and purchasing it at the beginning of 2016. I knew I was in for a YA, I just didn't know how much of a YA it was going to be.

Turns out, quite a bit actually.

Sometimes, friendships or scenarios felt forced or awkward, as if they were there for the sake of it, as opposed to being there because they had earned the right to occur. Yet this didn't really effect the overall reading experience for me!

I got way too attached to all the wrong characters (naturally), and this book was no exception in the YA format of "wonderful friendship building followed by tragedy". And in all seriousness, I really didn't expect certain things from certain characters at the end of the book. I just really really wanted things to work out for P. He was always in his sisters shadow attention wise and was left to his own devices most of the time I believe, which makes his outcome even more distressing for me.

These are just my initial thoughts, although overall I will be giving this book a 4 out of 5 star rating. Once I figure out how to write down my thoughts and feelings more coherently or systematically, then I may come back to this review!


Have you read this before? Let me know down below in the comments!

2016 Classics Challenge!

Okay, we all love a good classic. There's no denying it, be it music, books, films or food. And today, I thought I would share a little blog post to contribute to some 'good classics'.

I recently watched a video from the wonderful Lucy, in which she shared her love of classics, and the idea of the "#2016ClassicsChallenge". Normally, I scroll through my YouTube subscriptions feed, watching videos whilst playing games on my Kindle, or colouring. But when something peaks my interest, I drop everything to watch it again, paying more attention the second time round. This was one of those moments.

The 2016 Classics Challenge is being held and run by The Pretty Books, and the sign up link for the challenge is here. In this blog post, Stacey (the lady behind The Pretty Books), states that the idea behind this challenge is to read one classic a month and blog, tweet, instagram or video your journeys! Completing one a month however, isn't a limit, and it also isn't a target. If you read more, thats fantastic, less, it's no big deal (which is a relief for me considering how poor I'm doing at the moment with this challenge).

Now, I know what you're all thinking "another generic post about classics", which is probably true. However, I just wanted to share with you all my aspirations for the completion of this challenge, and to let you all know that I will be aiming to take part in all aspects of this challenge! If you wish to join me, the sign up is linked above, as is Lucy's video!

Thanks everyone for reading!