Wednesday 31 December 2014

Saturday 6 September 2014

Popular books I couldn't get into

*In no particular order

 I never read a fairytale retelling before this so i did have quite high expectations. It also has fairly good reviews. Sadly, i found the story quite predictable and most of the time quite slow. The characters didn't interest me much either.
 As a huge fan of Maggie Stiefvater's "The Raven Boys", i really really wanted to be able to be a fan of her other books. Unfortunately, i found it difficult to get into the world of "The Scorpio Races." The writing made it even harder and in the end i gave up.
(The same thing happened with the "Wolves of Mercy Falls" series by the same author)
 I know everyone seems to rave about this book. To be honest i think part of the reason i couldn't get into this book was because it wasn't the type of book i was interested in at the time. I'll probably pick this up again one day and give it another shot.
 This book is the sequel to "Eve" by Anna Carey which i also found Ok. The main reason i couldn't get into this book was because there wasn't anything particularly gripping or page-turning about this book/series. I found the main character quite frustrating too.
 The "Summer I turned pretty" trilogy is also very popular. I just found the way it was written off-putting for some reason. Also, at the time i was reading this book i didn't like love triangles at all. Therefore, i just put in down. However, i don't think i'll be picking it up again either because the story doesn't interest me much.
One of the latest books I've read that i couldn't get into was "We were liars" by E. Lockhart. This book looked and sounded very intriguing. It was also quite short so i decided to take it off my TBR pile. I do see how some people may love the book but it didn't quite get to me in that way. The writing style is either love or hate. I found it hard to read the book due to the writing and all the metaphors. I do understand how it was beautiful but it just wasn't my cup of tea. Furthermore, I couldn't connect to the characters. In the end, i just skipped to the end.










*Disclaimer: I'm not trying to bash the author or book. I'm just expressing my own opinion and experiences with it. I would definitely still recommend these books because many others have read and loved them so maybe you will too. I just happen to be someone who didn't. 


Saturday 16 August 2014

Emoji's & Books

I saw this tag going round on youtube and ,even though i don't have a youtube channel and wasn't tagged, i though it was a really fun idea! The premise of this tag is to get 5 or so of your most used emojis and say what book you would associate with that emoji.
Here are my 5 most/recently used emoji's:


(they all seem quite boring though, oh well)

1. The Crying emoji // a book that made me cry 

The journey that the main character goes through during this book is so moving. It made me wonder what kind of a person i wanted to be and realize that every day really is a gift. It was quite an experience to see such amazing character development. Along with Lauren Oliver's beautiful writing, this book had me in tears the whole time. 














2. The Heart eye's emoji // a series or trilogy that i'm in love with

The delirium trilogy was one of the first dystopian's i ever read. I was blown away by the concept of the story. These books are really what made me love Lauren Oliver's writing style so much. 









3. The Annoyed emoji // a character that annoyed you 

Juliette annoyed me so much during the first 2 books of the shatter me series. I guess I can't complain too much since she did develop in the last book (which was one of the best books I've read this year).  




4. The Too many feels emoji // a book that gave me all the feels 

This book was perfect. Period.


















5. The Blue heart emoji // a book that holds a special place in my heart

For a long time up until last year i stopped reading. Thanks to this book series I got back into reading and then discovered so many other books that have impacted me greatly.















Thanks for reading! Comment if you like - Tess x

Wednesday 30 July 2014

Foyles Bookstore//Westfield

Our school recently had a trip were we could choose where we wanted to go. One of the options was Westfield ,London. Since i'm a sucker for shopping, i obviously chose that option.
While we were there, me and my friend spotted "Foyles." This bookstore isn't around near where we live so we were pretty excited. Plus, we both love books.

The store from the outside

I saw SO many books that I wanted to get there (these broken stars, miss peregrines's home for peculiar children etc). In the end i got The evolution of mara dyer by Michelle Hodkin. This book is the 2nd in a trilogy and it's also extremely hard to find in our local bookstores. I put off reading this for SO long because the 3rd and final book got pushed back to November this year. If you love Paranormal with a mix of mystery and an unreliable narrator, you'll probably love this book. 

Just in case you cared what the bag looked like 

The evolution of Mara Dyer//It's so beautiful :')


We also tried macaroons for the first time (it was lovely) // Vanilla on the left - Ferrero rocher on the right

Thanks for reading! Be sure to comment if you like - Tess x

Sunday 29 June 2014

Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2) by Tahereh Mafi Book Review

Synopsis from Goodreads:

tick
tick
tick
tick
tick
it's almost
time for war.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.


What I Liked:

  • I loved Kenji in this book. I think he is a really strong side character that the series wouldn't be the same without. I love his friendship with Juliette and I think he really helps her.
  • This book was definitely better than the first. There was a lot of action and WTF moments. I didn't see most of the plot twists coming AT ALL!
  • I loved learning more about Omega Point and meeting all these new characters. It did start to feel like X-men. 
  • Warner stole my heart especially since Adam was really annoying in this book. I want Juliette to end up with Warner. 
  • I love Mafi's writing so much. The descriptions are just so beautiful and I hope she writes more books because I would love to read more of her work. 

What I Disliked:


  • Juliette was still annoying as ever. Maybe not as much as the first book but still annoying. I do think she got better but I'm still waiting for that full transformation. She still acts like a scared little girl who cries all the time. 
  • Adam was also really annoying in this book. He was always mopey and most of the time fighting with Juliette. 
  • I do want some more description of the world. I find it hard sometimes to picture things. There isn't much world building.
  • The book started off quite slow but I guess it did pick up half way through. 
  • Even though it's classed as Dystopian, I feel as though the book is much more romance based. I wasn't expecting it to be that heavily romanced based so there's just a warning for all you guys. 
My Favorite Quotes:

“Books are easily destroyed. But words will live as long as people can remember them.”


“Hope.

It's like a drop of honey, a field of tulips blooming in the springtime. It's a fresh rain, a whispered promise, a cloudless sky, the perfect punctuation mark at the end of a sentence. And it's the only thing in the world keeping me afloat.” 



“Have you ever had a girlfriend, Kenji?"
"What?" He looks mortally offended. "Do I LOOK like the kind of guy who's never had a girlfriend? Have you even MET me?” 


My Rating: 4/5 Stars


Tess x


Sunday 15 June 2014

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins Book Review


Synopsis from Goodreads:

Harper Price, peerless Southern belle, was born ready for a Homecoming tiara. But after a strange run-in at the dance imbues her with incredible abilities, Harper's destiny takes a turn for the seriously weird. She becomes a Paladin, one of an ancient line of guardians with agility, super strength and lethal fighting instincts.

Just when life can't get any more disastrously crazy, Harper finds out who she's charged to protect: David Stark, school reporter, subject of a mysterious prophecy and possibly Harper's least favorite person. But things get complicated when Harper starts falling for him—and discovers that David's own fate could very well be to destroy Earth.






What I liked:

  • The Characters were all so unique and lovable. Even the side characters were lovable like Bee for example. I loved that the friendships in this book got attention and Bee was a important person, not just forgotten. 
  • Harper was a very kickass but still girly main protagonist. I liked that a lot because in most YA books the girls who are badass aren't girly. It was a relief to read something different that shows  that a girly girl can also kick serious butt. 
  • The same goes for David. He was snarky, funny and cute but very different from the typical YA boy (in a good way).
  • Harper and David's interactions were so funny and I loved their back and forth banter. 
  • This book was so funny! I was always laughing at something someone said or did. It's written in 2nd person (sort of) which added comedy to the story. Some people ,however, may not like it as much as I did.
  • It was exciting to read a new setting. I found it fun to imagine the characters talking in their southern accents. 
  • There was so much action and ,since the book was well paced, there was never a dull moment! It only took me 2 days to read. 
  • The plot is so intriguing and there were some plot twists at the end that I really didn't see coming. I've never read anything about Paladins or anything so the new mythology was very interesting to learn about. 
What I disliked: 

  • I was very surprised by this book. I've read Rachel Hawkins other book 'Hex Hall' and found it ok so I didn't expect to like this book. However, I really did! There's nothing I can think of that I didn't like. I can't wait for the next book! 

My Favorite Quote:

“If by ‘graciously volunteered,’ you mean ‘was threatened and coerced,’ then yes, I did,” 

My Rating: 5/5 Stars


Tess x

Thursday 29 May 2014

City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2) by Cassandra Clare Book Review

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go — especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil — and also her father.

To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings — and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?


*MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST BOOK, CITY OF BONES



What I Liked: 
  • It was SO much better than the first book. Clary and Simon were less annoying, in fact, I think Simon was quite hilarious. Imagining him as Robert Sheehan makes it even better. Simon in the first book was just always in the way of Clace. 
  • I liked that more characters were introduced and it was interesting to learn more about downworlders.
  • There was much more action which i did enjoy. 
  • Malec. Enough said. 

What I Disliked:
  • Even though Clary was less annoying, she was still annoying as hell. She makes some stupid decisions without thinking sometimes. I've heard this doesn't get better in the later books unfortunately.
  • I love Jace but i found him quite whiny in this book to be honest. It just always seemed like he was throwing a temper tantrum.
  • I'm not going to lie the incest aspect of the story did make me kind of uncomfortable. 

My Favorite quote:

“Jace slammed his hand down on the stele. “Clary-“
“She said she doesn’t want it,” said Simon. “Ha-ha.”
“Ha-ha?” Jace looked incredulous. “That’s your comeback?”



My Rating: 4/5 stars


Have you read City of Ashes? What did you think? - Tess x

Sunday 25 May 2014

In Time by Alexandra Bracken Book Review


Synopsis from Goodreads: 

Don''t miss this exciting short story that connects THE DARKEST MINDS to its much-anticipated sequel, NEVER FADE!
 Gabe''s life has been devastated in the wake of the economic crash. The only option left for someone like him to escape his tragic past is to leave his small town behind and to attempt to become a skiptracer. This already almost impossible task is made all the more difficult by his first score, a young girl who won''t speak, but who changes his life in ways he could never imagine.









What I liked:

  • Even though in the beginning i wasn't too sure on this new character (thought he had a bit of an attitude problem), he really grew on me which made the ending much more devastating!
  • On the same topic of Gabe, i found him so funny and he went through so much character development in such a short novella. It has to be one of the best, if not, the best novella I've ever read.
  •  I loved seeing a certain familiar face from The Darkest Minds ;) 
  • We get to learn much more about the skiptracer network which we didn't see much of in the first book. I suspect Never Fade will also explain a lot of this. 
  • We also get to learn a lot more about the outside world and what other people i.e. everyone not a teen were doing. I'm glad because we really didn't get much of an idea in TDM and it's always interested me how the rest of the country were handling the situation. 


What I disliked:

  • There was literally nothing i didn't enjoy about this novella, although, I wouldn't have minded if it was longer.


My Favorite Quotes:

“Sometimes the darkness lives inside you, and sometimes it wins.”

My Rating: 5/5 Stars


Have you guys read In Time? What did you think? - Tess x

Friday 25 April 2014

Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi Book Review


Synopsis from Goodreads:

Back at the base and recovering from his near-fatal wound, Warner must do everything in his power to keep his soldiers in check and suppress any mention of a rebellion in the sector. Still as obsessed with Juliette as ever, his first priority is to find her, bring her back, and dispose of Adam and Kenji, the two traitors who helped her escape. But when Warner’s father, The Supreme Commander of The Reestablishment, arrives to correct his son’s mistakes, it’s clear that he has much different plans for Juliette. Plans Warner simply cannot allow.

Set after Shatter Me and before its forthcoming sequel, Unravel Me,Destroy Me is a novella told from the perspective of Warner, the ruthless leader of Sector 45.









What I liked:

  • I was really nice to be in Warner's head and get a view of what his thoughts were and why he was the way he was. 
  • I'm starting to really like Warner. He is such a complex character and this novella helped me to understood what he's really like and to be honest, he's not as bad as he seemed to be in Shatter Me.
  • I found many similarities with him and Juliette and in a way he could help her. 
  • I still find Warner better and much more interesting than Adam.

What I disliked:

  • Even though we do see things from his POV I still felt as though we didn't learn enough about his life so really understand him. I still have so many questions concerning him.
  • I wish it was longer ,being in his head was just sooo interesting. 
  • Going back to what I said about liking him better than Adam, I'm still not Team Warner. 

My Favorite Quotes:


“I've come to believe that the most dangerous man in the world is the one who feels no remorse. The one who never apologizes and therefore seeks no forgiveness. Because in the end it is our emotions that make us week, not our actions.” 



My Rating: 4/5 stars


Tess x

Friday 18 April 2014

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi Book Review

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

 What I liked:

  • The writing style was so unique and poetic. I was a bit thrown off at first and i can see why some people wouldn't like it but i really enjoyed the crossouts. It really helped us get a better idea of Juliette's mental health.
  • The book was so fact-paced, I practically flew through it in one day. 
  • I loved Kenji. He was by far the best character in my opinion. I loved his ,sometimes, crude humour.
  • It was an interesting first book and it layed the foundation for the next books to be even better.
  • The ending was surprising and we still have a lot of unanswered questions which will probably be answered in the rest of the trilogy. 
What I disliked: 

  • Before going into this book i had heard on multiple occasions that the main protagonist was annoying and she was. Juliette was just either extremely whiny or extremely melodramatic but i guess a girl in her situation would be so i'll let that go.
  • This whole Team Adam ,Team Warner thing really confused me. I didn't really like either of them. Warner was evil and extremely hot evil and quite mean to Juliette most of the time and Adam just felt too good to be true. I hope i'll change my mind about them in Unravel me ,the next book. 
  • Sometimes Juliette will go off on a tangent about random things for a whole paragraph which was quite frustrating. 
My Favorite Quotes:

“I spent my life folded between the pages of books.
In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thoughts and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.” 

“I'm oxygen and he's dying to breathe.”


My Rating: 4/5 Stars


Tess x

Sunday 13 April 2014

Movie Review: Divergent


Hey guys! Last week Divergent was released in the UK and me and my friend went to see it. Oh my, it was amazing! It is definitely one of the best book to movie adaptations out there. It wasn't perfect but still one of the best so far.

Shailene Woodley portrayed Tris so well, i can't imagine anyone better suited for the role. I'm still not sold on Theo James as Four. In my opinion, he just looks way too old BUT he did quite a good job of portraying Four.
I loved the actors chosen for Will and Christina, they looked very close to how i pictured them in my head. My problem was that we didn't get enough scenes with them to really care about what happens to them.
Also, Al and Will looked a bit too similar that it did confuse me a couple of times.

I pictured Eric quite different whilst reading the book but i didn't really mind the movie Eric (those crazy tattoos though).
However, i didn't like Miles Teller as Peter. I remember absolutely hating Peter in the movie because he was just so evil. Movie Peter seemed more of like a bully who occasionally makes snarky comments.

Oh I loved Kate Winslet though.

The cinematography was brilliant. The world, the effects and the fear landscapes were done so well. It was all weirdly close to how i pictured it. My favourite scenes would have to be the zipline scene and all the fear landscape scenes!

Even though i was disappointed Uriah wasn't in the film and wasn't a huge fan of the Ellie Goulding soundtrack, the movie stayed very true to the book. It had great acting and everything was explained relatively well. I can't wait to see Insurgent! Apparently, Allegiant is being split into 2 parts - not sure about how i feel about that though.


Have you seen Divergent yet? What did you think? - Tess x

Saturday 5 April 2014

The Raven Boys Dream Cast

I loved The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. The characters were so unique and interesting in their own way. I know i NEED to start reading The Dream Thieves ,which is the second book in the Raven Cycle series. I thought i'd do a dream cast (is that what it's called?)...

Blue Sargent


Willa Holland - When i imagine Blue, i think of someone with soft features and has that 'cute' look. It was quite difficult to find someone for Blue but Willa Holland ,who you may recognize from Arrow or The O.C., did come pretty close my version of Blue, except I imagined Blue with Black hair and to be quite short (she's described this way in the book). I think Willa would be able to pull that off though. 

Richard Gansey 


Francisco Lachowski - If you don't know who this is, let me enlighten you. Francisco Lachowski is a model (not a huge surprise). Is it bad that i imagined all of the Raven boys to be REALLY hot? ah well. Gansey is described with messy brown hair, hazel eyes and occasionally wears glasses. Francisco can very much tick those three boxes easily. 

Adam Parrish


Brenton Thwaites- Star of The Giver and Blue Lagoon: The Awakening Brenton Thwaites is literally how i pictured Adam. He has that dusty brownish hair that Adam is described to have too. 

Ronan Lynch


Colton Haynes -I guess he's most people's pick for Ronan and i can see why. First of all, he fits the description perfectly with his brown hair shaved short and those blue eyes and secondly, from his TV show roles as Jackson in Teen Wolf & Roy in Arrow we can see that he can play angry/moody really well. 

Noah Czerny


Nico Mirallegro - There were many people i considered for Noah. I haven't watched My Mad Fat Diary yet so i don't know if he'll be able to play Noah well but he can definitely pull off Noah judging from looks. 


So ,if you've read The Raven Boys, what do you think? Good choices?
 And if you haven't read The Raven Boys, do give it a try. 

Thanks for reading! Be sure to comment if you like -Tess x

Wednesday 26 March 2014

The Never-ending Book Slump & Update

It feels like so long since I've written a post on this blog! I have been SO busy with school, exams, creating my other blog (the-essence-of-fire.blogspot.co.uk) etc. Also, it seemed that no matter how hard i tried i couldn't get into any book until about a month ago.

My friend encouraged me to pick up Bared to you by Sylvia Day and it really helped me get out of my book slump. Since then i have read Bared to you & started the second book (Reflected in you), The Lord of the Flies (for school), Shatter me and Destroy me both by Tahereh Mafi. I actually loved them all.

Next on my TBR is:
- Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
- In Time by Alexandra Bracken
- The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
- Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

I'm glad to be back and hopefully i'll be posting much more. :)

One of my fave Quotes

Thanks for reading! Be sure to comment if you like -Tess x

Saturday 4 January 2014

Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3) by Cassandra Clare review

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy.

Tessa Gray should be happy – aren't all brides happy? Yet as she prepares for her wedding, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute. 

A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to Mortmain, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. Mortmain needs only one last item to complete his plan. He needs Tessa. And Jem and Will, the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa's heart, will do anything to save her. 

My Rating: 5/5 stars




wow. Where do I begin? As the 3rd and last book in a trilogy it had a lot of high expectations and wow, were those expectations exceeded. This book had my heart racing the whole entire time. I cried, laughed and experienced all the feels. All the loose ends were tied up and the book was action packed. It was so hard to put it down and i spent countless nights staying up late to read it. This is definitely the best book in the whole series and Cassandra Clare writes so beautifully that there were so many breathtaking moments.



The character development was phenomenal and i never been so attached to so many characters in a book before. Tessa and all the other characters were kick-ass. The plot was layed out really well and we finally got the answers we were looking for.
The epilogue brought me to tears and this couldn't have ended better. I literally have nothing else to say about this book apart from the fact that it was amazing and i loved it.



I still have yet to read Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series, i have only read the first book but i intend to continue it and see where my feelings go. I hope tot see some familiar faces too.

Favorite Quote:
“Life is a book and there are a thousand pages I have not yet read.” 

-Tess xxx

Wednesday 1 January 2014

My top 10 reads of 2013

So another year is over. sigh. Well i had a pretty amazing reading year. 2013 was the year that i got back into reading and discovered book blogging and YA books in general. I compiled a list of 10 books that i have loved in 2013. These go in no particular order:
                                                         

The Fault in our stars by John Green

- Made me laugh and cry
- Had great lovable characters
- The love story was SO well done
- Written SO well
- Heartbreaking and emotional
- Makes you think about your own life and how lucky you are









Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices #2) by Cassandra Clare:

* just started Clockwork Princess which i heard is even better 

- We grow so attached to the characters
- so much drama and action
- Shocking twists and turns
- Written so well
- Strong plot








Amy & Rogers epic detour by Morgan Matson:

- so much character development
- unique style with pictures inside
- Realistic characters
- heartbreaking  and memorable moments
- fun and exciting










Emerald green (ruby red #3) by Kerstin Gier:

- Great finale to the series
- Everything ties up
- satisfying ending
- fun and action packed
- funniest and realistic main protagonist
- Shocking plot twists and revelations
- fast paced








The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey:

- Amazing storyline and plot
- Exciting and action packed
- Bad-ass main protagonists
- scarily believable
- Written beautifully










Storm (Elemental #1) by Brigid Kemmerer:

- Lovable and funny characters
- fun and exciting plot
- loved the romance
- action packed
- fast paced











The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken:

- Interesting story premise
- Action packed
- Unique and fun characters
- heartbreaking moments
- Shocking ending
- dark and creepy (in a good way)









The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin:

- shocking ending
- Creepy
- Confusing (in a good way)
- The way it's written adds to the creepy effect
- love the characters
- Fast paced






The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater:

- extremely fun, unique and lovable characters
- Unique ad different storyline
- interesting plot
- fun and exciting
- different to other ya books (in a good way)
- intriguing ending



Bully by Penelope Douglas:

- heartbreaking and emotional
- fun and unpredictable characters
- best thrilling romance
- makes your heart race
- deals with real life issues










So those are my top 10 reads of 2013! What are yours? Thanks for reading! Hope you have a very happy new year. Lets hope 2014 is even better.  - Tess xxx