Favourite books of 2014

Note: These books are the ones I've read in 2014, not necessarily the ones that came out in 2014. 

I have to say I didn't read as much in 2014 as I would have like to have read. The books I did read were mostly all really good so making this condensed list was really difficult.

5. A monster calls by Patrick Ness 

This is actually a children's book but it hit me so hard nevertheless. The writing and story was beautiful and it left me in tears. Furthermore, the illustrations in this book are stunning. It's quite a dark and thoughtful read and I was definitely not expecting that.

 Apparently they are adapting this into a movie and I could not be more thrilled. 

4. Blue Lily Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

This series is one of my all time favourites so I was practically jumping up and down when I found this book in Waterstones 3 days early. I really love the plot and the characters. If it wasn't for the characters I really wouldn't like this series as much. 

3. The Evolution of Mara Dyer

I know the last book came out in 2014 but I had to read this one before I could read the last one (which i'm currently reading). This is also another one of my favourite series. The story is so creepy and intriguing. This book was even better than the first and I can't wait to finish the last book.

2. Ignite me by Tahereh Mafi

Wow. This book blew me away. I read this at the beginning of the year and I still remember how happy I was with this book. It gave me all the right feels. The romance along with the poetic writing really makes this book amazing. 

1. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

One of my favourite series of all time: The Infernal Devices. This was a outstanding conclusion in the trilogy and by favourite book by far. I connected to the characters so much and the plot was so well thought out. The ending had me in tears but I was so satisfied. Also, If you want a love triangle that beats ALL other love triangles, read this trilogy. It won't disappoint :) 

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. 

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

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

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

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

Annoying Characters in Books

An annoying character in a book can make reading  hard and frustrating, especially if this is the main character! I've encountered a good few examples of these. Here a just some of the many characters who made me facepalm or go UGH.

Pagan from Existence by Abbi Glines:
OK so the whole book was really frustrating but one of the reasons why was because of the main character, Pagan. She was SUCH a boring person. She had no personality,hobbies or quirks at all. She wasn't even funny. After meeting the love interest in the book all she did was talk about him and he became her whole life. Some of the cheesy stuff she would say made me want to puke. SIGH. I had high hopes.

Jessamine from Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare:

Okay, maybe I'll change my mind after reading the 3rd book but from the minute we met Jessie in Clockwork Angel I knew there was something about her that I wouldn't like. I don't know, i just found her snobby and careless with other people's feelings. After what happened in Clockwork Prince, I REALLY put on some hatred towards her but maybe she will redeem herself and prove me wrong.

David from the Wings series:
I've read all 4 books in the series and in each book I still hated David. He was so boring ,over-protective and plain. I was Team Tamani FTW! Sorry to all the Team David people. But I must admit i did have some(a teeny tiny bit) of sympathy for David in the end. I don't know, I just thought he was a little TOO head over heals for the main character and that whole "science geek" thing just didn't interest me much.

Macy from The truth about forever by Sarah Dessen:
The protagonist, Macy in The truth about forever was probably the least annoying out of this list but i still found some of her choices questionable especially when it came to her mother and their relationship. I just got annoyed that she was so unhappy but still didn't do anything about it even when she kept saying that she will. However, I still enjoyed the book, just not as much as i could have.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to come back for more bookish thoughts,reviews and fun stuff.  - Tess xxx