June Wrap Up 2016

I read a total of ten book this month and no re-reads!! There are so many books that I need to read at the moment so it's impossible for me to have time to re-read anything, even if I wanted to. I read a great range of books this month so let's get straight into it.


The Winner's Trilogy- Marie Rutkoski
****
The Winner's Curse   The Winner's Crime   The Winner's Kiss
I started this month off by reading this trilogy back-to-back and, boy, did I love it. This trilogy was so mysterious, fascinating and gripping form the start. Despite me not being totally crazy for the ending, I liked this series a lot. I've done a whole series BOOK TALK for this trilogy if you want to see some of my more in-depth thoughts.





The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight- Jennifer E. Smith
***
After reading a whole trilogy of high fantasy, this book the best story I could've picked up. It was short, lovable and 100% adorable. Set over a 24 hour period, it's a short and sweet story of two people meeting and the pure luck of chance. Such a lovely book to fall into and it didn't take me long to read at all. I would definitely recommend it if you're in a book slump.

 

The Shadow Queen- C. J. Redwine
****
The Shadow Queen was June's 'Book of The Month' and I freaking loved it! I was on the verge of a 5/5 stars. It reminds me a bit of the movie Snow White and The Huntsman and if fantasy, romance and awesomeness takes your fancy- this book would be a good one to look into. I have a BOOK TALK up if you're interested in more info.

This Is What Goodbye Looks Like- Olivia Rivers BOOK TALK

****
This is exactly the kind of book I needed to read right now! It gripped me from the very beginning and I didn't want it to end.
It's a story that I couldn't put down and stayed up until ugly hours to finish. It's been a while since I've been all-consumed by a book so it's nice to get that feeling back.
This story follows a girl called Lea. Lea watched a boy die in the same car accident that ruined her legs and put her sister in a coma. She's the only eye-witness and had the opportunity to put the drunk driver responsible into jail, giving justice to the boy's family.
But, instead, she lied in order to keep her mum out of jail.
With the trial over and her sister still in a coma, Lea attempts to rebuild her shattered life. When transferring schools, she finds herself in the same class as Seth Ashbury- the brother of the boy who died in the accident. As she grows closer to him, the lies begin to pile up and Lea has to decide whether to continue with an oblivious Seth and comforting them both or telling the truth and risk destroying this new life that she's built herself.
I'm obsessed with this book and I wanted it to go forever. This book just had that special 'it' factor that I can't name.
This book was phenomenal and, obviously, I would recommend it. Be sure to pick it up!

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
First of all, I'd like to thank the publishers for sending me this so that I could review it!
This book was so adorable and yet it had so many dark subjects weaved throughout. This whole story centres around grief, despair and pain and it was portrayed so flawlessly and dealt with so maturely. Personally, I'm a big fan of very dark and melancholy themes and it was written so well in this book. This was beautifully realistic and it was pulled off effortlessly.

June Book Haul 2016

This haul is going to be short and sweet and very contemporary based. I didn't get many books but I'm really excited to get to the ones that I have. Also, it's a bit of a tear-jerker month...



My Sister's Keeper- Jodi Picoult
Jodi Picoult is such a popular contemporary author and I've only read one of her books (Between The Lines- written with her daughter Samantha Van Leer). This is one of the better known books and I've wanted to read it for a while. And when the book is £1 in a charity shop...I couldn't resist.

The Shadow Queen- C. J. Redwine BOOK TALK

****
I loved this book and was completely on the verge of awarding a 5 star rating to it!
This is a Snow White retelling that follows Lorelai. Lorelai has been on the run ever since the evil witch, Irina, infiltrated her family, killed her father and took over the kingdom that is rightfully hers. Finding out that Lorelai is still alive and a threat to her life, Irina sets a hunter- a shape shifting dragon prince from another kingdom- to hunt Lorelai down and take her heart.
It's so good! For me, I would say that it's a mix between the movie Snow White and the Huntsman and the book Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. It has magic, shape shifting, royal politics, kingdoms and romance! So, basically, it has it all! Definitely worthy the read!



SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
Lets start with Lorelai. She was such an awesome heroine and was completely bad-ass! I liked her the second I met her. She was a determined and loyal woman and she continues despite the odds against her and all she goes through. She is exactly what a heroine should be and she was truly inspiring.
From the first mention of Leo, I loved him. He had to be one of my favourite characters. And yet he was ripped away from us so quickly!! I couldn't believe he'd died so early on in the book and it still caused such an impact on my heart. I was so sad- he shouldn't have died!

Father's Day Best Fictional Fathers

In honour of Fathers' day, I've decided to list some of my favourite fathers in fiction! And, boy, was this harder than it sounds! I'm scanning through my book shelf and it's nearly impossible to find good dads! The majority of books have either absentee dads, dead dads or pure evil dads (there was no way Valentine Morgenstern was making this list). Nevertheless, I have succeeded in finding a generous amount of great fictional fathers to share with you! Book dads and TV dads galore!

Books (In no particular order)


1. Lara Jean's dad- To All the Boys I've Loved Before, Jenny Han
This book has such a good feeling of family which we don't get enough of in YA and Lara Jean's dad is a perfect example of the perfect dad. He's so supportive and is really appreciated in this series.



2. Marcus Byrn- Half Bad, Sally Green
Marcus may have been the 'villain' at the beginning of this series but I thought he was so entertaining! He dominated his scenes so well and he was pretty bad-ass- lets face it. I wouldn't want him as a dad, personally but... come on, it was hard to find amazing dads!!!







3. Aiden Cavanaugh- My Soul to Take, Rachel Vincent
I loved Aiden throughout the whole Soul Screamer series. His loyalty and dedication to Kaylee was heart-warming and he was such a lovely character.

The Winner's Trilogy- Marie Rutkoski BOOK TALK

The Winner's Trilogy

I've decided to put all three books into one BOOK TALK so, all three books are reviewed and discussed in this post.
I liked this much more than I thought I would. I loved the themes of betrayal, lies and politics. It had a bit of romance blended into the story but I don't think that it was the main aim in the book. It was intriguing and great to delve into.
This book follows two people from completely different backgrounds; Kestrel- a Valorian and daughter of General Trajan. She's well-off, strong-minded and a strategist of the highest level.
Arin- a Herrani slave, enemy of Valorians and desperate to turn the tables.
One day, at an auction, Kestrel buys Arin and that's where their journey begins...


The Winner's Curse
****
SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
This book was really good! I found it a tad slow to begin with but, once I got into it, I raced through the last hundred pages. I couldn't put it down!
One thing I loved about this book was the intricate lies, secrets and manipulations. It was all every clever and I love reading things like this. All the characters- Kestrel and Arin especially- had their pokerfaces on and I love the science behind reading people's slight actions to tell what they are thinking. The Winner's Curse had an abundance of this and it was all intertwined effortlessly.
Kestrel was someone that I easily aspire to be like. There were times when I did think she acted a bit arrogant of her position but mostly, I admired her intelligence. She thought through everything and her strategist mind impressed me so much. She may not be a strong heroine physically but mentally she outdoes them all.

The Intimidating TBR TAG

1. Unable to finish
The Raven Boys- Maggie Steifvater
I've tried reading this before but never finished because I got confused and bored. I'm going to try again at some point because that was a couple of years ago but I'm finding it hard to pick up again.
2. Haven't had the time
Lunar Chronicles- Marissa Meyer
I've wanted to read this for so long but have just not had the time! I own the first three and want to get the fourth before jumping into this series. I hope to read it by 2017.
3. Haven't gotten round to reading the sequel
Glass Sword- Victoria Aveyard
I loved the first book but I still need to read the second! I've heard amazing things but I just need the time to get round to it.

Great Book Challenge

This is a massive challenge so, for the sake of your boredom and my sanity, there will be short answers...

1. Favourite stand-alone
Undone- Cat Clarke
2. Most wanted fandom item
Wand (Hermione's, specifically) and/or Ravenclaw scarf
3. Currently reading
Lady Midnight- Cassandra Clare
4. Most emotional death
I'm not going to answer that for the sake of spoiling people.
5. Inspiring book quote
"The person, whether it be a gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel must be intolerably stupid." - Jane Austen

Half Lost- Sally Green BOOK TALK

****
This book was stunning and such a great and satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. This is the finale to the Half Bad trilogy and, wow, it out with a bang!
Half Bad is a series that follows witches, corrupt worlds and action. It's fast passed and full of intense and gripping scenes. I have BOOK TALKs for the first two books- Half Bad and Half Wild- so go and check them out if you haven't already. If any of this sounds interesting, I would definitely pick this book up.



SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
My heart could not handle this ending! I was crying! But, first things first, I'll get into that later.
It upset me that Nathan had to grow through so much anger and grief. In the beginning stages of this book, he was working through a lot of anger- a lot, a lot- and most of it was aimed at Annalise- wanting to avenge his father. This didn't bother me to start with- be as mad at Annalise as you want- but it started to affect his relationship with Gabriel and that broke my heart. They fought, Nathan pushed him away and it made me feel so down when reading it!

The Book Courtship TAG

1. Initial Attraction: A book that you bought because of the cover?
Red Queen- Victoria Aveyard
Obviously I wanted to read the actual book but Red Queen is always my go-to for a beautiful cover. The cover is stunning and the rest of the series is following nicely, so far.





2. First Impressions: A book that you got because of the summary?
Dorothy Must Die- Danielle Paige
This summary gripped me in from the beginning as I'd never read a Wizard of Oz retelling and this seemed like an awesome and twisted version. I'm so happy I picked it up because it was great!







3. Sweet Talk: A book with great writing?
We Were Liars- E. Lockhart
We Were Liars had a beautiful writing style. It was eerie, poetic and flowed so nicely throughout the book. It was filled with powerful metaphors and you could easily tell that Lockhart had put a lot of thought and effort into her writing style. It paid off!!!