April Book Haul 2016

This month was another good month in terms of getting lots of books. I got a total of twelve books. I started off the month so well and by the end... I'd just accumulated so many books without even realising the amount!

Ink and Bone- Rachel Caine
Ever since meeting Rachel Caine, I've wanted to buy and read all her books and this one is her newest series about a great library. You could say it spiked my interest.







We Were Liars- E. Lockhart
Every couple of months, me and my friend pick a book that we will both read and then we discuss it when we've both finished, (kind of like a private book club). This month we chose We Were Liars and I didn't have that book so it gave me the perfect reason to buy it. (Check out my BOOK TALK at http://forever-fictional.blogspot.com/2016/04/we-were-liars-e-lockhart-book-talk.html )

We Were Liars- Further BOOK TALK

After finishing We Were Liars for the first time, I was so astonished that the desire to go back and read it all again was too much to ignore. And so, the very next day, I went straight back to the beginning and read it again.
It was such a great experience because I could look at the story from a completely new, enlightened perspective and it made the book unbelievably more beautiful. If you want to go and see my original BOOK TALK you're free to go to  http://forever-fictional.blogspot.com/2016/04/we-were-liars-e-lockhart-book-talk.html and read it.

Obviously, I'm going to jump straight into the spoilers so PLEASE don't continue if you haven't read it yet- it will ruin the whole thing and I don't want to do that to you.

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Re-reading this, honestly, just made me feel so stupid! I don't know how I didn't guess what happened. E Lockhart drops hints the entire way through and looking back, it's so obvious!
There are two main theories going round about what happened and how. Number One- Gat, Johnny and Mirren were hallucintaions made up by Cadence's subconscious to shield herself from the pain of losing them. Number Two- That they were ghosts and the book had a supernatural element.
Personally, when first reading this, I was convinced on theory Number One- it seemd more tragic and I didn't like the idea of a supernatural element intruding on this book. However, having re-read it, I can see how this theory makes sense. Despite me still believeing that they were hallucinations, I found a lot of hints that could imply that they were actually there with her as ghosts.

I'll go through a few hints and clues that I probably should have realised and that you may have missed, yourself.

We Were Liars- E. Lockhart BOOK TALK

*****
I can't talk much about this book because I think it's best to go into this book knowing as little as possible. We Were Liars follows the Sinclair family- a rich and proud family. Every summer, the entire family stays at an island that they own and spend time with each other. It's a tale of family, friendship and tragedy.
This book has been extremely hyped up- and my 5 star rating doesn't necessarily contradict that hype- but try going into this book with no expectations- it will be better in the long run.
That's all I can really say, so go read it and then you can come back once you've finished it.



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There is not even a Scrabble for how bad I feel.
About the ending...not the book, don't worry.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The writing style was so incredibly beautiful and poetic that I couldn't help but be pulled in from the start.
It did take a bit of time to get all the characters and family ties sorted in my head but, once I knew who everyone was, I was off like a shot.
E. Lockhart writes so intricately and every word seems to have been thought through perfectly. It's easy to tell that Lockhart is into her metaphors and she executed them in a way that I truly appreciated. The thing with her metaphors is that you don't know that they aren't literal. You have to take a step back and think things through. One, for example, had me so completely shocked until I read on and realised that it was metaphorical.
'Then he pulled out a handgun and shot me in the chest. I was standing on the lawn and I fell. The bullet hole opened wide and my heart rolled out of my rib cage and down into a flower bed. Blood gushed from my open wound,
then from my eyes,
my ears,
my mouth.
It tasted like salt and failure.'
When reading this my eyes nearly popped out of my head, I was so surprised. Only when you read on do you realise that it's just a metaphor for her feelings. Lockhart's writing is so intense, it was a pleasure to read.

The List- Siobhan Vivian BOOK TALK

***
This story is set in a school and, as a tradition every year, a list is made anonymously and posted all around the school. The list contains the names of two girls from each year group- one is labelled as the prettiest in the year while the other is labelled as the ugliest. The book follows this years' group of girls who have been unfortunately included in the list and what the consequences are of being in the centre of everyone's attention.
This book was certainly an enjoyable read and I really liked the clear message and display of society's issues. It was an honest representation of the problems with society and how it affects people's lives.
While, as a whole, it wasn't incredible, it was still a great read.



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When going into this book I found the amount of characters a bit overwhelming. There were so many names, siblings, friendships within each year group and it was a struggle to keep up with who was who.
To get past this, my genius self, thought up a technique to remember all the names. Basically, I got a sheet of paper and I created a sort of family-tree with the different characters- this way, I could write down any notes that helped me identify and remember the character's role. This helped me a lot during the beginning stages of the book.
This wasn't a massive issue in the book for me, though. By 100 pages in, I knew all the characters and their relationships.
I'll go through each character separately because, even though their stories intertwine greatly, they each have different stories and issues that they go through.

Would You Rather Book Tag

1. Only read series or standalone books?
Series. Standalones are okay but I think that series are definitely more worth the read. In series there is so much more character development and you get so much more material on the characters that you love. For me, this question's easy.
2. Only female authors or only male authors?
I don't want to seem sexist but, any day, I would go with female authors. It's not that I dislike male authors; I don't. There are plenty of books that I love by male authors but it just happens that most of the books I read are by females. I have way more female books compared to male and it just naturally happens like that- I don't do it on purpose. I don't go out of my way to read female books. So, that's why I would only read books with female authors.
3. Bookstore or online?
This is hard because normally I would say bookstore as I buy books from there more. I only order books online if I can't ever find them at a shop. But, if this was for the rest of my life and I could only pick one, I would go with online. The way I see it; there's no guarantee that you can get every book from a store but you can get everything online.

Book Blogger Confessions Tag

1. Which book, most recently, did you not finish?
Hold Me Closer- David Levithan
I barely started this before giving up. I didn't like the musical set up of it and I just wasn't grabbed by the story. Sorry...






2. Which book is your guilty pleasure?
The DUFF- Kody Keplinger
I will never feel ashamed for loving this book. Yes, the movie adaptation is kinda rubbish but I LOVE this book and forever will! It's so purely entertaining and brainlessly enjoyable. It's a great read to get out of a slump. (Ps- ignore the ugly cover. Get past that and it's amazing, I promise).

The Maze Runner Tag

1. Favourite glader?
This has to be Newt. He is such sarcastic but loyal friend. He is by far my favourite glader- if not my favourite character in the whole series.

2. Teresa or Brenda?
I AM TEAM TERESA AND I AM PROUD!

3. WICKED or The Right Arm?
To be honest, I don't like either of them.... so, I 'll go with WICKED as they have a cool acronym for their name.

4. Thomas, Minho or Newt?
As Newt is my favourite character... Newt! But my second choice would be Minho all the way. Sorry, Thomas.

5. Which book was your favourite?
The Scorch Trials- I found it the most entertaining. The first one was slow to get into while I found the last one dragged at times. Definitely The Scorch Trials.

Top Ten Book Covers 2016 Edition

We all know that we judge books by their covers- it's inevitable! Admit it. These are some of my favourite book covers that just demand to be looked at! They're so beautiful! So here they are for your viewing pleasure... No particular order...

 

Red Queen- Victoria Aveyard

 

 

Shatter Me- Taherah Mafi

April releases and TBR 2016

These are some of the books that I am planning to read in April. I may not end up reading these books but I'm hoping to get to them. I will also include some releases that I'm anticipating this month.

Most anticipated releases
These release dates are thanks to Goodreads so if they're wrong... don't blame me.

When We Collided- Emery Lord   5th April
Tell the Wind and Fire- Sarah Rees Brennan   5th April
The Art of Not Breathing- Sarah Alexander   26th April
Flawed- Cecelia Ahern  5th April

TBR
Rapture- Lauren Kate
I'm planning on finishing this series off as I read the first three books in March. It makes sense...

April Fools Day Best Funny Books

In honour of Aprils Fools Day, I thought that I would make a list of my Top Five funny books. These recommendations are books that have funny characters, plots but mostly characters. In no particular order...


1. Can You Keep A Secret- Sophie Kinsella
Sophie Kinsella is such a popular author and this was the first book that I'd ever read of hers. It was so funny! This book follows Emma and, on a aeroplane, she spills all her closely kept secrets to a stranger. Or so she thought... The stranger ends up at her work placement and, well... things get awkward. It's such a quick and easy read and the embarrassment played through this book is easily laughable.

March Wrap Up 2016

The month of March was a decent reading month for me as I read a total of 11 books. My target for the year is 75 books which seems small compared to my 150 book target last year (I aced it!) but this year I'm also writing a book of my own so that also takes up a lot of my reading time. Still, I think that I did well this month and have read a good bunch of books. Without further adieu...

Opposites Book Tag

I've wanted to do this tag for a while and it's pretty much self explanatory but, in this tag, there a bunch of questions involving different opposites that you need to allocate books to. Here we go...




1. The first book in your collection/The last book you bought
Jacqueline Wilson books/ Cress- Marissa Meyer
I can't exactly remember the first book that I got in my collection but I'm fairly sure that, aside from baby books, it would have been a Jacqueline Wilson book. She was my favourite author when I was younger, so I'm semi-sure that one of her books would be one of the first in my collection.
I bought Cress a couple of days so it is definitely the last book that was added to my collection.

March Book Haul 2016

This is my first book haul on this blog and I'm going to be telling you what books I bought this month. March was a great book buying month (depending on how you look it) and I really did allow myself to buy lots. It's an addiction, really... I have a problem.
There's many books so let's get started.



The Power- Jennifer L Armentrout
This book was released in February and I had to get my hands on it so much that I pre-ordered it. But, just my luck, Amazon decided to screw my order up so I didn't get it until now! This book is one of my most anticipated book releases this year and it's the sequel to The Return. This series is a spin-off series to the Covenant series which is one of my favourites. I would definitely recommend reading the Covenant series first but you can go into this without. These series are about descendants of Greek Gods and basically about how they freaking kick-ass! It's so good and I can't wait to pick this up!

Allegiant ADAPTATION TALK

***
I have just watched the movie that has caused a lot of controversy within the fandom! It hasn't been out too long and of course I had to go see.
I think that the movie Divergent (book/movie number 1) was mainly loyal to the book and was much better than I expected it to be.
However, when Insurgent (number 2) came out, a lot of disagreements rippled out in the fandom. Insurgent did not follow the book in any means possible apart from the characters and their names (even then, we didn't see all the characters).
A lot of people were very unsure of where this film would take these characters and, in my opinion, even though it still completely veered off from the book, I thought it was pretty good. I went into this film with very low expectations because of the last film.
Yes, I understand that it did not reflect the book at all but, if you separate the book and the film like I have done, you will see that the movie was actually quite entertaining. I think that's the best way to go into it. Pretend that this isn't an adaptation but a whole new adventure for these characters; it makes it bearable and you may even find that you enjoy it.
Overall, I did like this movie and am looking forward to the next instalment... Ascendant...?
If you haven't seen the movie or read the book, I suggest that you leave as this next section will obviously contain spoilers for both. Come back when you have and then we can go through our thoughts together...

TRAILER

AMAZON

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The movie kicked off with Evelyn taking over the city and, despite this opinion coming up in Insurgent, I realised again that Evelyn does not in any way look like Four's mother. She looks more like his sister- it was questionable casting.

Hexed- Michelle Krys BOOK TALK

*** (3 stars)
Hexed is about Indigo and, once meeting a mysterious stranger called Bishop, finds out that she is a witch. Getting tangled up in a centuries-old war between witches and sorcerers, Indie holds the pressure on her shoulders to retrieve a witches book that is in the sorcerers possession. If she does not achieve this, the entire witch race will die. No pressure then...
This book was really good but, overall, I was a bit disappointed with it- I had high expectations which didn't help.
It was an entertaining read, don't get me wrong but it just didn't grip me in the way I wanted to. I would still recommend reading it- see for yourself whether you like it or not- and then you can come back and see my more in-depth reasons for why I didn't love it.

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I gave this book a three stars because I did enjoy it! I haven't read a book revolving around witches for a while and I think it made a nice change.

The Book Blogger Memory Challenge

This book tag will basically test my memory on random aspects of books. Don't worry, I won't sneak a peak at my bookshelf- I'm a 'play by the rules' kind of person. I'm excited to do this tag so lets get started.

1. Name a book written by an author called Michael.
For this question, my answer is Michael Morpurgo. He was one of my favourite authors when I was younger and wrote books such as; Private Peaceful, War Horse and Friend or Foe.

Wolf By Wolf- Ryan Graudin BOOK TALK

***** (5 STARS)
This book was stunning! I was not expecting this beautiful read! I'm so happy I picked it up!
This is an alternate history novel. Personally, I don't often pick up historical fiction; it just doesn't interest me. I get bored, confused and lazy whilst reading them. However, when hearing the synopsis for this book, I knew that this had to be the exception. This novel is set in Germany 1956 (post world war 2) and, in this alternate reality, the Nazis won the war. Hitler has reigned for ten years and this book follows a girl called Yael who is part of the resistance. Her mission is to assassinate Hitler. She just has to get close enough to do it.
This entire book was intense, suspenseful and gripping! I flew threw it and it pleasantly surprised me. It was so intriguing. I would recommend it to anyone- even if you yourself don't like historical reads-and please come back once you've read it so you can continue reading this review.

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Yael was an amazing protagonist in this novel and I loved reading about her. She was truly inspiring and I admired her, strength, courage, resourcefulness and determination. She was kick-ass and I loved that about her!

2016 Book TBR

I know that we're already in March, so this post is a little overdue but I figured, better late than never. I've compiled a list of 12 books - one for each month- that I desperately want to read this year. I've already read a couple- it is March, to be fair- but wanted to write my list down instead of having it only exist in my head. Here goes...

1. The Game of Love and Death- Martha Brokenbrough
This is one of the books that I've already picked up and I'm really glad I did. This is a historical fiction novel- a genre I rarely pick up- that follows personified characters of Love and Death.

Meeting Rachel Caine

Last week I had the exciting pleasure of meeting Rachel Caine, the author of The Morganville Vampire series and The Ink and Bone series. This was such a great experience for me as I have never met an author before and Rachel Caine is one of my favourites.
Me and my friend drove down to the Waterstones shop that hosted the book signing and we were so excited! I could not wait! I was hyperventilating!

Mother's Day Best Book Mums

In honour of mother's day, I decided to tell you my top five favourite mothers from books. This list is in no particular order so, lets get started.

1. Rosie Dunne (Where Rainbows End- Cecelia Ahern)
I love Rosie so much. This book follows Rosie's life from a child to an adult and even though Rosie makes a lot of mistakes, I fell like she's a great mother and really has her child's best interests in heart.