Saturday, 29 August 2015

Alex + Ada #1 | Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn



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I find it so ironic that in my last post I was all 'So, so sorry that I've been gone for ages! Promise to post so much more over my summer holidays.'

and in reality it was *crickets chirping* 

Yes, I am sorry I posted nothing since my last post (more than a month ago) but I just fell flat and was not motivated to read, which results in not posting any reviews for you sunflowers. I am upset that I wanted to read lots over summer and to post lots of reviews for you all but I didn't. But I don't regret not reading over summer either. I've just gone through some bad stuff and I just needed a break from everything, which basically was the whole of my summer. 

Anyways enough of me saying why I haven't posted (like every other time) and lets just get on with this CUTE GRAPHIC NOVEL! 

I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE CONCEPT AND THE ART. 

I'm 15 books behind my reading schedule and I don't think I'll make it to the end of this year with reading all 70 books and on top of that at the end of August I start IB (International Baccalaureate) program. So yeah, I'm fucked. I decided to change my year reading challenge to 50 books like last year, but I'm three books behind that too. I'm trying! I just don't want to have all this stress and then having to read becomes a chore. 

'The last thing in the world Alex wanted was an X5, the latest in realistic androids. But after Ada is dropped into his life, he discovers she is more than just a robot.'

...yeah that's the summary on goodreads....

This may sound very cliche. BUT DON'T SLAM IT DOWN JUST YET! 

I love the plot.
I love the concept.
I love the main characters.
I love the world.
I LOVE THE IDEA! 

To summarise it better, the main - Alex, gets a birthday present sent from his grandmother which is an X5 android and he doesn't want it at all. X5 androids are built to the owners pleasure, they will do whatever the owner whats it to do unless it's something like 'kill someone!' In a sense, they are built with rules/morals. This is a dystopian graphic novel (which is actually quite a lot of them anyways.) 

If you are like me and you don't exactly love reading sci-fi or anything related to AI or just space and technology based books then don't fret! I mean I do like most of those types of books and there are always exceptions but just in general I don't like reading sci-fi. I want to say that this has elements of that so it's not filled to the brim with all that type of jazz; it's a graphic novel, so you're always engaged with the graphics....beautiful graphics. 

The art/graphics in this didn't amaze me like the graphics in the Saga series which I also have a review of here. I'm not sure why every time I read a graphic novel I have to compare it to Saga. It's probably because SAGA WAS AMAZING and everything has to now live up to that. I've actually read lots of graphic novels this year because I thought I wouldn't be able to read lots considering my work load and the amount of stuff that's going to be thrown my way in the next half of this year. 

The plot in this novel is definitely different to the other graphic novels I have read only because the concept is totally different and the fact that this is gonna be a series (I'm sure) and the fist book (this one) does not have any romance in it. Now....when I say that I mean that in this particular instalment there was no romance/sex, sexual references... a little but nothing full on. I am 100% sure that as the series grows and goes on there will be sexy times. 

I truly did enjoy reading this there were parts I did find a little boring but I read this really fast, I think I read it in a day? or maybe two, I don't actually remember. What I do know is that I read this fast. 

I hope you understand that I'm really annoyed and mostly sad (it's like 80% sad, 15% annoyed and 5% glitter) that I can't upload as regularly with the work load I have but I will try when I feel like it and maybe in my free time as well as weekends. I still love you all and I love this blog I've created!

If you did miss me, don't worry because I will have another fab post out in a few days with my summer escapades and the two and a half books I read over that time period. I'm kinda out of my mojo when writing reviews as I've been gone almost two months so feel free to ask me questions on this graphic novel or anything else if you want!

xx 


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Friday, 17 July 2015

Love and Misadventure | Lang Leav





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'Love is a game of tic-tac-toe,
constantly waiting for the next x or o.'


This is Lang Leav's first book: Love & Misadventure. I read her second book Lullabies before this one and I have a review of that here. I mention in that review that it was my first ever poetry book and that I really enjoyed it. In that review I mention my favourite poems and I also recommend you all some songs that were fitting for the book to listen to while reading or just some additions to your music library, I plan on doing the same fore this review. I will however go more into Lang Leav's writing styles as well as the poems themselves. 

A few of my favourite poems in this are: 
Xs and Os
Art and Books
His Word
A Well-Dressed Man
A Stranger 
Wallflower
Rogue Planets 
A Question 
Lost Things 
Love Lost
Wishful Thinking 
First Love 
He and I
Soul Mates
A Dream
Beautiful
Souls 

If you've read my Lullabies review you could see I had less 'favourite poems' than this review but that's only because this time I remembered to label the pages with some bright pink stickies. For the Lullabies review I just tried to flip through the whole book and tried to find the poems that stuck out to me again and that's partially why I have less favourite poems in that review. I also want to mention that I think I preferred reading Lullabies to Love and Misadventure. 

In this book filled with beautiful poetry there is different lengths of poems. What I mean by different lengths is that some poems Lang Leav has written are super long and some super short, for example the one above (Xs and Os). Lang Leav is also an extremely talented artist who drew/painted the image on the front cover. 

With Lang Leav I always say she has a thing with words and she really does! But sometimes her poems can fall flat but then again some poems may speak to others more than they may speak to me. People love different things. I may personally find that particular poem boring or un-relatable and someone else might have just fallen in love with that and that exact night their are gonna recite it to everyone they know. That's why I don't judge the poems as much as I do novels. Just like when I did my poetry course work for school there were poems that my teacher loved and the rest of us hated and some my friends really liked and I was just like 'Really? No thanks!' 

I've read some nasty reviews for this which really upset me. There are some people who dislike the poetry and then there are people who are bashing Land Leav's talent. I'm not judging the people writing the review because you're allowed to review your experience and I do respect your opinion, however if your opinion dehumanise someones existence then I will kill you. I will admit, like I said above, that some of Lang Leav's poems can fall flat but then again like I also said before, there will be many people who like a certain poem more than me. That is because as the reader you take on these poems as the protagonist and the poems mould into your lifestyle and your relationship. So for example, if there is a poem about long distance relationships and you're not in one then OBVIOUSLY THAT WON'T RELATE TO YOU! But don't go bash the writer! 

If you straight up don't like the writing and the poems, that fine! There is nothing wrong with that. You're allowed to not like this and give it a rating of one star but don't then go ahead and review the book and bash the writer with comments of 'no talent' or that she 'should not have made a career in writing shit' because that's just plain rude! When clearly this book has an average rating of 4.10 stars! So maybe it's just you! I personally didn't love the book either (hence the three star rating) but I will say Lang Leav isn't a terrible poetess. Moreover her other poem book Lullabies won the goodreads choice best poetry last year. Her writing isn't 'artistic genius' or that her words make the world move and everything is so lush. It's not like that. I gave it a 3 star rating because some of the poems were good and the rest of them were iffy, poorly executed and some even badly written. But I am not sitting here telling you not to read it because (1) she is a woman, (2) she has 'no talent', (3) I don't like reading romantic poetry, (4) it's heteronormative, (5) I'm speaking on behalf of the entire world, (6) I'm a poetry enthusiast. 

I want to address the heteronormativeness of this book. Yes, shocker most of the poems are based of heterosexual relationships, I want to put that out there because some people may prefer not to read this which is understandable. However some of the poems are from the POV of a guy or a girl and some of it is abstract. Like I said in my Lullabies review that it's much more memorable to read this over a few days, even weeks or just when you want to read some lovely poetry to brighten your day rather than reading it all in one sitting. 

Just like last time, I will recommend some music that (1) goes with the book and (2) just cute songs that you should all have a listen to! 

Happy - Marina and The Diamonds 
Goddess - Banks 
Someone New - Banks 
Is There Somewhere - HALSEY (PLEASE listen to her whole EP, IT'S AMAZING!) 
You Are In Love - Taylor Swift
I Stand Corrected - Vampire Weekend 
Shine - Years and Years (ALSO THEIR WHOLE NEW ALBUM IS ANGELIC, it's called 'Communion' go check it out! 
Wicked Game - Chirs Isaak 
Past Lives - BØRNS 
Young Blood - Birdy
Jet Pack Blues - Fall Out Boy
Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac
Fireproof - One Direction
Pyramids - Frank Ocean 
Someone New - Hozier 
Is This Love? - James Arthur 
High Hopes - Kodaline 
Be Together - Major Lazer ft. Wild Belle 
Need The Sun To Break - James Bay...and the rest of James Bay's album! 
Trap Queen - Fetty Wap (this is the song I'm currently obsessed with and I guess it's kinda a long shot but I guess you could say it's a love song, it might not be as fitting as the rest of the songs though.

There are some songs on here that I have repeated and are also on my Lullabies review because THEY ARE WONDERFUL! I also tried to put one song for each artist even though I may love many of their songs I didn't want to bombard the list and I didn't want to make this list too generic. I wanted to put some new music out there as well. I didn't want to make the list very obvious songs that would go on here and songs that everyone has heard, so that's why many of my love songs/hopeless romantics aren't on here (if they were I would need to make a whole post for it!). Obviously Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran would be on this list but like I said I didn't want to make this too generic. I've got some oldies in there as well! Hope you enjoyed my recommendations and this review! 

Love u. 

ALSO, Eid Mubarak to everyone celebrating today or tomorrow!!! Sending you all lots of love, wishing you a wonderful day and I HOPE YOUR OUTFITS SPARKLE!    


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Saturday, 11 July 2015

The Heir | Kiera Cass




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Hi, okay so I've been gone a long time for many reasons which I will go into but first I would like to greet all these new people who have stumbled onto my blog. Hello! I'm Tia and it's very nice to meet you. I hope you stay a while and enjoy my reviews with some ice lollies. 

Basically, I had to deal with a loss in my family which was very tragic and unexpected which meant I took time to mourn, grieve; deal with it and cry. I haven't worn makeup in almost two weeks because it was inconvenient considering it would just be ruined with all my tears. It also meant I would have to travel back to all my family and friends so we could all be together for the funeral. I was very sad the first couple of days and now I'm getting better but it still really hurts. That being said I haven't been reading much over this past week, however I was currently reading this (The Heir) when this ordeal happened and I was almost done with it but I stopped reading it and only picked it up again a few nights ago and completed it in a sitting. Even though I finished reading the book I didn't feel like reviewing it till now, so Hi! I'm back. 

The Heir is a Young Adult, Dystopian and is also the sequel to The Selection trilogy by Kiera Cass. Although on goodreads this is considered as book #4. My thoughts of this book in a nutshell? Well, it was a fucking mess. I knew it was gonna be bad but I just thought to give it a go and see where it ends up, but bloody hell DON'T! 

Now this is a hard book to not spoil for you, so if you want to read The Selection series and don't want to be spoiled by the sequel to that trilogy The Heir (this book!) then stop reading and go eat some vanilla ice cream. Like, stop now, I'm warning ya'll, I will spoil after this!

America Singer dies!

Sike! 

Also the first book came out in 2012 so...girl bye! Although that whole series is predictable and you all knew who America Singer was gonna end up with so with that being said, enjoy this review on her daughter Eadlyn Schreave, who surprise surprise also goes through a 'selection' (gross). 

If you're someone who has read the prior trilogy and are a bit iffy on wether to read this (don't) then you're at the right place. For you all I will also keep this very spoiler free, like all the rest of my reviews but just to put it out there, this is spoiler free. 

Eighteen years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won Prince Maxon's heart. Now the time has come for Princess Eadlyn to hold a Selection of her own. Eadlyn doesn't expect her Selection to be anything like her parents' fairy-tale love story...but as the competition begins, she may discover that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought. A new generation of swoonworthy characters and captivating romance awaits in the fourth book of the Selection series! This is the synopsis on goodreads.

I used to have the reviews I did for the three books prior to this: The Selection, The Elite and The One but I reverted them all to drafts because I reviewed them when I was a baby sunflower and they are a little rusty and....bad. So I don't have them up but if I did I would link you all to them, however I will recommend reading some of the fantastic reviews on goodreads of other wonderful reviewers. Like I said before you will have to read those before you can read this or you will be in for many spoilers and you won't understand anything.

What is a 'Selection'? 

Good question. It's basically the same this as if you've ever watched The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, yeah, that's what it is with like dystopia (not much) and hella drama. 

The thing is when I first read The Selection I was in love. I gave it 5/5 stars; it was amazing. As we progress through that trilogy to the second book The Elite, the plot and idea got less and less interesting and when we ended with The One, everything was so predictable and it just got boring. Kiera Cass had some plot twists in the last book that were TOTALLY unnecessary, I shouldn't even call that a plot twist to be honest. Looking back the whole reason I adored The Selection books at first was because I was at that age that romance was such a buzz and the only thing in young adult literature. I believed that women had to have a love interest and had to be naturally beautiful and gorgeous. As I have grown up my genre and taste of books have slightly altered and I've grown as a person and realised so many different things. If you asked me to read The Selection series now, I probably would not love it as much (I would hate it). 

Eadlyn Schreave is nothing like America Singer, she's WORSE! In my opinion anyways and I'll tell you why. 

So many reviews that I've read of this have said that they love the fact that Eadlyn is not like America but I hate that! Like, I didn't like America either but at least she wasn't a total brat and had some manners. I have no idea how Kiera Cass wrote Eadlyn and who she was imagining when writing her (if she was) but it was a mess! I knew from the beginning that I wasn't gonna like her. At all. No joke. America Singer is #1 on my most hated female characters in books and Eadlyn Schreave is #2.

Schreave....what is that. What. Is. That. Name. 

Also how do you pronounce her name? I've been saying/reading Ed-lin or is it Eid-lin. I still don't know I've been pronouncing it the whole time as Ed-eh-lin which is 100% wrong but she was so irrelevant I didn't care. Don't get me started on her last name, shreeve? #sorrynotsorry

No matter how much I dislike Kiera Cass's books I can never understand why I adore her writing. I have a theory that it's because her writing is so easy to read and follow; it just flows nicely. It's one of those books you could just read in a few hours because the writing style is so easy to follow. Just the other day I was telling a friend of mine who had also read the three books before this one but decided to not pick up and read this (for obvious reasons and I don't question her at all), is also trying to read 100 books this year. So I told her that if she ever needed to read a book quick to keep up with trying to read 100 books she could always pick this up even though she may hate it, only because it's a quick book to fly through. 

The main character is Eadlyn Schreave and in The Selection series: America Singer. These books do have minor characters but they aren't very memorable which is another reason these books lack proper and good character development. Kiera Cass seems to just plop her characters here and there with minimal background or development. You'll find yourself reading and be like 'Oh yeah, that character! I totally forgot they were there.' 

Another thing I would like to touch on is the world building in these books is so.....bad lacking. It is said to be a dystopian and in the books the world has these 'casts' that is literally brushed upon. There is so much potential in this series if everything was just amped up but not the romance! There is already enough of that. This is more of a romantic dystopian rather than a dystopian. 

All in all, if you're wondering why I chose to read this even though I had learnt my lesson with the prior three books and obviously reflected upon them and my perception has changed. The whole reason I chose to read this is because I thought it would be different (even better?) and I thought that the fact I've invested my time into three books I might as well just continue and read the fourth but I think that's all I'm doing. I'm sure there is gonna be a fifth and maybe a sixth but I'm done. 

One thing I will give Kiera Cass alongside her writing is the cover of these books. They are absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous and I just....LOVE THEM! Publishing companies take note. Hopefully I don't come of as hating Mrs Cass because I'm sure she is a wonderful lady. I follow her on twitter and she is very funny, nevertheless I don't love her books. I would recommend you read her first book The Selection and to the people, who like me invested their time in three books, I would have to say just don't read this. 

Peace out. 


p.s
follow me on goodreads to find out what I'm reading next! 
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Monday, 22 June 2015

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? | Mindy Kaling



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It's funny.

This is really funny.

Like I said before in my Yes Please by Amy Poehler review, this is not a memoir or 'how to' on being funny. I lied on my Yes Please review when I said that it was my first memoir because technically this is my first but I didn't finish it and I finished Yes Please before this one. 

The only reason I put this book down for like 4 MONTHS(!!??!?!?) was because I got bored... Mindy actually mentions right in the beginning of her book that, and I quote "If you're reading this book every night for months, something is not right." BUT MINDY IT'S NOT YOU OR THE BOOK, it' me being an annoying croissant and unable to commit to reading adult books. Condolences. 

Another thing I would like to mention before I actually get into this is that I took the top picture of the book last year and it is super saturated because I was in the phase where I thought saturating everything looked wonderful, when it really didn't!

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) is an Humour, Memoir written by Mindy Kaling. Mindy give us a journey of her life and how she grew up and writes about her family, friends, boys, growing up and tops it all off with fantastic humour. This is an adult book and maybe that is why I wasn't 'hooked' (not that this is a story book with a plot) but also because I am not yet an adult that has to do adult things, I mention this exact issue in my Yes Please by Amy Poehler review as well.

Did I enjoy this more that Amy Poehler's book? I mean I think it's only right if I compare the memoirs.. not the people. !!! Don't compare Mindy to Amy. You might as well just be saying 'Parks and Recreation or The Mindy Project' which is stupid because both shows are hilarious! I gave both books 3/5 stars.

The writing was easy to follow and read, she threw in a few jokes here and there that got me giggling. I feel as though Mindy brought us more into her early life and her life overall whereas Amy passed through her early life quite fast and had a really long pit stop at the beginning of her career, improve acting, SNL and basically her acting debut, however Amy did give more 'life advice' whereas Mindy not so much. Both books had pictures however if you go look at my Yes Please by Amy Poehler review (I will stop saying this now) you will see that her book it slightly lengthier and filled with colour, whereas Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me is written like a normal book with printed pictures that are black and white. Not to mention Yes Please is quite heavy for a book and this one weighed what you'd expect it to, like a normal novel. 

The storyline or in this case the timeline of the book is mostly Mindy and her life, she starts from the childhood and she addressing many different things but not much of The Mindy Project and not a lot of the book is dedicated to her career and how she 'made it' (if you will). Which is the complete opposite to Yes Please by Amy Poehler, this is because Amy spends more of her book (that has 300+ pages whereas this has 200+ pages) addressing her career and what she did and how she 'made it' and like I said a few times already you can go read all about that in that review here.

You also might know Mindy as Kelly Kapoor on The Office (another national treasure) but I'm more familiar with Mindy from her own produced show called The Mindy Project. Now, lets talk 'The Mindy Project', if you don't already watch this show. What are you doing? Like, what are you doing? It is one of my favourite shows alongside: Friends, Parks and Rec, Greys Anatomy, L&O SVU and Orange Is The New Black.

Mindy is a very lovely person and it was very heartwarming to read all she had to say about her close friends, work acquaintances, her family and her career. I think the most I laughed was at a page, quite close to the beginning where she titles it 'Alternate Titles for This Book' and let me just say some of the ones she mentions are so funny I almost died. Mindy also has a second book coming out this year in September called Why Not Me? . I hopefully will read that as well when it comes out because this was a nice read to be frank. It was heartwarming and delightful. 

I would give this as a lovely present for my mum or my aunts because I'm sure they would like it and if you ever need to give someone a preset (last minute or not) this is a really good one! This is really good to give around the holidays or birthdays as it's a good size read and people will really appreciate it. 

I would highly recommend reading this if you're contemplating, because it is good. Another thing I would like to say is that both memoirs (Yes Please and IEHOWM?) are more steered towards adults as both writers are adults looking back at their lives and both memoirs are written by Mindy and Amy who are adults; it has more of an adult feel to the book. Nevertheless it was lovely reading this! 


p.s
follow me on goodreads to find out what I'm reading next! 

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Tuesday, 9 June 2015

The Winner's Curse #1 | Marie Rutkoski




✴ ✴ ✴.5/✴

3.5/4
Wow.

This is book is.......different (odd?) I feel like my mind could change tomorrow on what I thought on this book which is never a good thing. I don't know whether I should sleep on it and come back to this review. 

(Update: I slept on it and I still feel the same.) 

The Winner's Curse if the first book in a Young Adult, Fantasy trilogy; so far only this book (#1) and the second are out, the third currently has a set date for March the 1st 2016. This is labelled as a fantasy but it's more of a ROMANCE fantasy. I say this because when I think of fantasy I think of Throne Of Glass and The Girl of Fire and Thorns and this is nothing like that, it is more focused surrounded by a romance. 

Lady Kestrel's engagement to Valoria's crown prince calls for great celebration: balls and performances, fireworks and revelry. But to Kestrel it means a cage of her own making. Embedded in the imperial court as a spy, she lives and breathes deceit and cannot confide in the one person she really longs to trust.

While Arin fights to keep his country's freedom from the hands of his enemy, he suspects that Kestrel knows more than she shows. As Kestrel comes closer to uncovering a shocking secret, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. This is the goodreads synopsis. 

Okay, I did not think I would read this in a day and I knew once I started this that by the end of it I would have mixed feelings about what to rate it. My prophecy is true. I literally have no bloody idea! Did I enjoy it? Did I not? In the end I'm going to give this a 4 star rating however it fluctuates between 3.5 and 4. 

The plot was interesting. It intrigued me enough to be hooked so that I didn't put this book down, not until I realised I hadn't had lunch or dinner. The beginning of the book (1/3) was quite slow but not achingly slow that I got bored and put it down; the book starts to pick up in the second third of this book and towards the end. The plot twist in this book kept me on my toes to be honest. Frankly I'm not sure if the reason I read this book really fast was because I was in the mood for a straight up romance book that I knew I could speed through as those books are my fav types of books to read once in a while, or because the book was actually written really well. I still don't know. I've actually read a few other reviews on this and a recurring theme is the uncertainty of what to rate this book and what to make of it. One thing I know for sure is that I will be going into the sequel a little worried. I hope it's good. The idea of this book is genius and the follow through with the writing is also worthy of an applause. 

I just want to properly clarify that this book isn't built on a romance like the Shatter Me trilogy by Tahereh Mafi but I will not consider this a fantasy fantasy book worthy to be labelled and sorted into such books as the Throne of Glass series, A Song of Ice and Fire series (The first book A Game of Thrones is EPIC FANTASY and just beyond me AMAZING!), City of Bones series and The Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy. Also I hope I don't come across as if I sped through this and didn't enjoy it at all because I really did like the book, it was a quick and much needed pick me up read to get me into the mood to read more books. With that being said, this isn't much of a memorable book for me; I can see myself later on in this year not remembering much of this book at all. I'm crossing my fingers that the second book in this trilogy The Winner's Crime is breathtakingly amazing. I've read some really good reviews on that book, so I'M EXCITED! 

The characters were not fully developed to my liking. I feel like there could have been more, for example a better back story but it didn't take away from the plot that they weren't fully delved into. I say this because the moment you start this book there is no leading up; the first thing you read is the purchase of Arin - the slave, so we don't get much of Kestrels life before him or how she lives and her family/friends. That also aids my point that this is mostly a romance fantasy. We follow mostly two point of views as two of the main characters in this series. Arin and Kestrel. We follow in third person which helps as there is limited bias views with a third person perspective.

The female protagonist in this book is a very strong woman. Which I'm all about! Having well represented heroines in novels is what I live for, however she could be written better and I hate this main character. Hate is quite strong more like I heavily dislike and maybe I'm cheating here but I've been writing this review for a day now and I've already started the second book in this series (which I do plan of reviewing here as well) and I've started to tolerate (slowly) this main character. The thing is, I just don't like the way she has been crafted. She isn't a super loveable character, maybe it's just me. 

The writing is alright and I didn't mind it too much however at some parts I found it quite irksome but other than that I think it's easy to follow, not poetic or lovey-dovey but alright. I enjoyed the book so I guess her writing style is easy to follow as well as it being fast and fluid to read. I have never read anything by Marie Rutkoski and I don't know if this trilogy is her first to be professionally published or if she has other books out. 

I want to also address my point of this being a 'romance fantasy' because I'm not saying I don't read fantasy books without romance, for example, Throne of Glass, Game of Thrones and The Girl of Fire and Thorns all have romantic aspects to the book but they are also very well developed and structured alongside beautifully crafted world building and characters. This was not as good as those, but it is worth reading because it is enjoyable and keeps you on your toes. 

I would also like to mention that I own the paperback copy which IS NOT AS NEARLY AS PRETTY AS THE HARDBACK and this also goes for the second book in hardcover, they are both such gorgeous books. If you have these in hardcover, I envy you! 

This is not something hardcore fantasy fans want to be reading unless you're looking for a romance-y fantasy book then this is perfect but other then that not so much. The world building is alright, so is the writing and the characters but it's a bit iffy for me. I have the second book so I am going to read that and probably review that as well. I did enjoy this, as I finished it in practically a day but it's a really debatable book in my opinion. There will be people who despise it and others who adore. I think it depends on the mood you're in whilst reading and depending on what you want to read at the time. When I first started reading the book and I was around 100ish pages in, I remember thinking and tweeting that I felt as though this book was going very slow for minimal world building. 

All in all it's a solid book worthy of 3-4 stars. I hope I don't come off as if this was a pain to read because I read this really fast and I was delighted. 

Also, I am very excited because I had my last exam today and now I'm off for summer (!!!) and I will have much more time to read more and write reviews which is wonderful considering I plan on reading lots over summer. 


p.s
follow me on goodreads to find out what I'm reading next! 

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Tuesday, 2 June 2015

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour | Morgan Matson




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NOW I JUST WANNA GO ON A ROAD-TRIP!

I always do this thing where I read books that are PERFECT for the summer time and for when I go on holiday yet I read it literally the month/few weeks before summer begins. This is one of those moments. I'm so mad about that but so glad I read this. 

Also before I go into this review, my lenient and wonderful friend Tess (who I mention in many reviews/blog posts: here, here, here and here) lent me this book, so I just want to take this part of the review to thank her (Tess I love you), you can follow her on tumblr here. (She hasn't actually even read this book yet so when I give this back to her I will whack her in the head with it!) 

This is a Young Adult, Contemporary, it is also a standalone. Amy & Roger's Epic Detour follows Amy Curry who is not looking forward to her summer. Her mother decided to move across the country and now it's Amy's responsibility to get their car from California to Connecticut. The only problem is, since her father died in a car accident, she isn't ready to get behind the wheel. Enter Roger. An old family friend, he also has to make the cross-country trip - and has plenty of baggage of his own. The road home may be unfamiliar - especially with their friendship venturing into uncharted territory - but together, Amy and Roger will figure out how to map their way. This is the synopsis on goodreads. 

I hope none of you find this cliche. I didn't. I give props to whoever wrote the blurb cause it got my attention and I had never read a road-trip book before and let me tell you, this being my first is going to be hard for any other books to top this. As well as this being my first ever road-trip book, it is also my first standalone in a very long time (my first one this year I believe). This is definitely a favourite and possible my favourite book I've read this year so far! 

Contemporaries are supposed to be realistic and that is one of the reasons most people read them in the summer when they have a couple months off to do nothing and have more free time to read, however me being a total nut decided to read this before my summer holidays meaning I'm one contemporary down from my summer tbr. Tragic. 

The google definition of a Contemporary romance book is: a subgenre of romance novels, generally with the setting after World War II. The largest of the romance novel subgenres, contemporary romance novels are set in the time when they were written, and usually reflect the mores of their time.

This in a way means that in our 'time'/'era' would be modern and realistic to our daily lives. Amy & Roger's Epic Detour is super realistic. I used to be iffy about contemporaries because I thought most of the 'romance' is forced and unnecessary at times. In a way I think the romance in this was forced almost as if Ms Matson was like "Oh, the book is about to end, lets make them kiss now." Although that is very debatable. I slept on this thought and the next morning I realised you could take it both ways. What I'm trying to say is that the romance part of this book can be realistic. Don't get me wrong, it didn't lessen my love for the book I just thought it was abrupt but then later realised it was realistic for the book to steer in this direction. If you don't agree I can see why but the rest of the book was so realistic, like the whole road-trip. 

The main character Amy was interesting. I really loved her only because she was relatable and made me laugh (out loud!). Another thing is that the way she acted towards the road-trip and Roger is probably the exact way I would react but she has more balls then me. We mainly follow Amy and Roger (as it's their road-trip and it would only make sense..) At the beginning I didn't like Amy at all but she grew on me just like the book did. I really like the way Roger was written and characterised, he was very loveable. Both of them were. Morgan Matson's writing is wonderful and humours. I don't have anything bad to say about her writing because I truly savoured this book. If anything I just wanted more, I wanted to follow through but the book ended and I felt like I had just lost a friend. 

There are so many thing I adored about this book; one of them are the playlists. Actually give me a second, I think I'm tearing up. The fact Morgan Matson decided to include playlists in each chapter/every time the main characters were heading to a new state was so thoughtful and really added to the book. You know that saying "someones music taste says a lot about the person" (I think I made that up) and I totally agree (with myself) cause it added to my perception of these characters. Also the songs are legit and most of them I hadn't heard before so I was (no joke) searching them all up and I just wanna thank Morgan Matson for getting me into some new tunes and adding to my never ending playlists. 

Not only that but Morgan Matson added scrapbook pages of Amy doodling her trip and receipts from diners and motels they stayed in. Throughout reading the book I was questioning whether Ms Matson actually went on a road-trip to write this and SHE DID! Which is a whole new level of dedication but she had a wonderful time! Not to forget that the book was amazing! I really enjoyed it. 

I just feel like the experience of reading this book and following the journey is a story in itself. Now I just feel like reading more road-trip books (any recommendations?) and going on a road-trip. 

Who wants to go on a road-trip with me? 


p.s
follow me on goodreads to find out what I'm reading next! 
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Friday, 15 May 2015

Ms. Marvel: No Normal | G. Willow Wilson / Adrian Alphona



✴ ✴ ✴ ✴

I loved! 

I'm supposed to be revising for chemistry but catalytic cracking can wait. 

Can we all just slow clap it out for Marvel. *clap clap*
So we have another well represented female character in a comic.
She is I guess a rendition on Captain Marvel but it was fab.
She is a person of colour.
A Muslim girl. 
A teenager. 

Like just well done for coming up with something diverse and can we have more of this?  Also we want a Black Widow movie....

I really enjoyed reading this, I think I may have finished this in one sitting. I mean comics are read quite fast if they are written well and jam packed with action. This was filled with AMAZINGNESS. I adored the graphics, it's basically the same as any other Marvel comic if you have read others. Nonetheless I really loved this. 

I know this is a comic and specifically a Marvel comic but let me just put it out there but these characters did feel really realistic considering the situations they were in and in some parts I'm sure people could relate. I can already see so many little kids looking up to the main character in this, as well as grown ups. This comic has fantastic reviews and if you don't believe me (for whatever reason) google it!

Ms. Marvel: No Normal is a comic/graphic novel and this is the first in a series, I believe. It follows a main called Kamala Khan: an ordinary girl from Jersey City until she suddenly gets these superpowers and has to on one hand learn how to control them as well on the other hand be a normal teenager. But who truly is the new Ms. Marvel? Teenager? Muslim? Inhuman?  

My synopsis of this book is so bad I think I'm going to go and re-evaluate my life for a bit; it doesn't do the novel any justice so just read the proper synopsis here. 

The second instalment (Volume 2) in this series is out and I'll go into that a bit more later. I highly recommend you pick this up if you're a Marvel fan or if you just want a good comic/graphic novel to read. 

The heroine in this - Kamala Khan - I love her very much. Like I said before I believe she will relate to so many different types of people, not necessarily Muslim girls. I mean there are a few things that are debatable and I could go on about but I'm not into ruining this review because of a few minor details. As a protagonist she is developing as a character which is wonderful to see and read. She isn't the only character in this but in my opinion the only one to discuss wholly would be her. The other characters were alright but I wanted more and I think we will get that in the next volume. 

Now for the illustrations. As an art student I'm not blown away and by no means do I focus in the medium of comics, graphics and cartoons nor am I a professional or critic but visually considering, it was alright. I did really enjoy it but it didn't actually blow me away like the Saga series which I have a review of that here. The illustrations are very lovely by no means are they bad because I really enjoyed my experience reading this. It's new, fresh, WELL DONE MARVEL and tops to the author and illustrator as well as anyone else who was involved in creating this. 

The plot that this novel follows is not generic by any means as there is a whole lot going on that kept me on my toes at least but I can see where it can waver from original. I feel as though some of this book has some unnecessary stereotypes that just kinda made me go 'it would have been so amazing if..' and that it probably a reason I gave this 4/5 stars.  

I really enjoyed reading this. Kamala isn't my favourite superhero, I think I have a few: Wonder Woman (my all time favourite) who is in DC Comics but come on! She is bloody badass. I also really love, Black Widow, Gamora and Catwoman. I can't forget Captain America, Deadpool, Spiderman and Batman. 

Volume 2 in this series is called Ms. Marvel: Generation Why and it came out earlier this year in April. I am 100% going to read that so I'll probably review that depending on whether I can keep it spoiler free and if there is anything significant that I want to bring out. Nevertheless I'm sure it's going to amazing and I can't wait to read it once I get my hands on it!

This might not be super 'upbeat' but I can see the potential in this storyline. I would recommend this to literally anyone that is interested. I don't think you have to be a Marvel fan to read this at all. I mean if you like comic/graphic novels with a good female character that is represented well, alongside it being diverse then woohoo...read it. 


p.s
follow me on goodreads to find out what I'm reading next! 

p.p.s. we really want a Black Widow movie......
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