1 5.

My debut as a 15 year old.

Turning 15 isn't all that bad! (I can hear all the 30 year olds groaning). The second I turned 15 I literally blasted Welcome To New York by t-swift and I don't really listen to her music but this was just happening and I wasn't complaining. I had sort of a birthday weekend, so I spent the whole of Saturday (a day before my birthday) with my family/family friends which was very fun. We had a barbecue and gazed at the sea, it was pretty. On Sunday the 26th it was my actual birthday and I spent most of the day with my besties. I cannot thank them enough for all the presents (mostly books ✿◕‿◕✿) and the 'you're not that old shut up' remarks. I love you guys. I had a lovely day. If you live in America or places similar you guys are a whole day behind us so right now it's Sunday night and in America it's probably Sunday morning. I don't even know, it's all very weird. 

thankyou everyone who sent me messages on my tumblr and also my fam/friends i love you. 

Lola and the Boy Next Door | Stephanie Perkins

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Again, don't worry I hate the editing too, bare with, I'm hella sleep deprived.

Would you hate me if I said I preferred this book to Anna and the French Kiss? Even if you did I wouldn't care too much. I can like what I want tooOOoooOOOOooOOO......Send help.

'Lola Nolan is a budding costume designer, and for her, the more outrageous, sparkly, and fun the outfit, the better. And everything is pretty perfect in her life (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighbourhood. When Cricket, a gifted inventor, steps out from his twin sister's shadow and back into Lola's life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.'

It's raining as I write this review and I don't think I've ever mentioned Autumn is my favourite season and October is my favourite month. The weather does that thing where its slightly cold but not too cold and leaves fall, I get to wear more jumpers and leggings, more tea (cued Englishness) and hot chocolate I don't drink much coffee. More red/burgundy/rebel-ish lipsticks and boots, I'll have you know I have indisputably 1099584357348959438592894 pairs of boots. October is my 'birthday month' and Halloween is Halloween. I get to wear scary stuff without it being weird, not that it would ever stop me but walking around with a pseudo bullet in my head would be a wee bit strange.

Lola and the Boy Next Door is a young-adult, contemporary. I gave both books a five star rating so it's not so much the writing or the plot but the fact I related to Lola so much more. Don't get me wrong, I adored Anna in it's own special way and Lola in another. Similar to how I love Etienne for Etienne and Cricket for Cricket even though they are totally opposite people. Look at me making so much sense!

These books are such fast reads it's actually unbelievable! I started reading Lola two nights ago thinking I would get a few chapters in but that didn't happen and I ended up reading practically almost the whole book. I then proceeded to finish it the next morning because lolaandcricket. I had a guy over that night and he thought I was crazy - "I swear every time I look up it's like you've whizzed twenty pages or something!" I blew his mind.

I said in my Anna and the French Kiss review that there are so many reason why teens (including me) love Stephanie Perkins, from her writing to the way she captures the essence of 'love' in her books. I also said that all her characters are so relatable and that's another reason people love it. I personally related to Lola more than Anna which I did explain in my Anna review. So read that if you wanna.

Also in my Anna and the French Kiss review I explained how the books work, as they are all companion novels to each other, Anna being the first. I also explained that in Lola we would get book cameos of Anna and Etienne, as well as in Isla. Basically I explain everything concisely in my Anna review.

The one thing I disliked about this book but didn't over-think and give it a 4 star rating was something I just thought was totally and utterly unnecessary. Lola, at the beginning of the book has a long-term boyfriend who is kind, caring and an all round lovely boyfriend who then has to turn into a jerk/dick for Lola to 'understand' and for it to be okay for her to then break up with him. It could have been written better and just thought out better. It was very unnecessary because I did like his character and it was a shame he turned into a jackass.

I don't think I've ever met someone who read Anna and the French kiss but disliked Lola. In a particular case, my friend Tess, like me enjoyed/preferred the book Lola to Anna. All Stephanie Perkins books are warm fuzzies and make you feel so fjsdafdskafjkdasjfkds and you just wanna explode cause of the overwhelming cuteness. I highly, highly recommend her books!!! Seriously!

I still yet have to read Isla and Happily Ever After but I assure you I will and I will review it. Just soooooocuteeeee. 

Anna and the French Kiss | Stephanie Perkins

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*Don't worry I hate the editing too. But it will have to do for now, I'm sleep deprived. I can't even see properly.  

The fact I haven't read these books till now is appalling, I know. Trust me I know. I just don't know why it took me a century to actually get to them. I've read Anna and Lola so far and I still have Isla but I've put that off for a bit just to finish some other books first. 

This is one of the best feel-goods I have EVER read and holy crap I think I'm falling in love with the book. Stephanie Perkins is already hands down one of my favourite young adult authors and I've only read two of her books so far. I say this because its not easy to write 'love' realistically or to capture the essence and the build up, but she does and she gets it. I love her. 

Anna and the French Kiss is about a girl called Anna (...) who gets shipped off to an American boarding school in Paris and meets some fantastic people and obviously a boy (but he is so great). It's a typical teen romantic novel and that's why we love it! It's books like this that need to have more recognition (even though this novel is hyped up loads), as it is so relatable to teenage girls including myself. The reason I love Stephanie Perkins and her novels is that I see myself in her characters. I see myself relating to them in some sort of way, whether its good or bad I get to see that I'm not the only one and it's books like these which give you that extra boost to be yourself and not to dress/look/act for any boy or anyone for that matter. This is especially pronounced in Lola and the Boy Next Door.  

Anna and the French Kiss is a young-adult contemporary, it is the first book in a three book companion series, if that makes any sense. It's like, Anna and the French Kiss is the first book and Lola and the Boy Next Door is a companion to that book; Isla and the Happily Ever After is a companion to that. However you can read all three books in whatever order you want, that's the great thing! Not to mention the books after Anna have the characters in Anna (...) so Lola has book cameos of Anna and St.Clair and the same with Isla- it'll have the book cameos of Anna and Lola + St.Clair and Cricket. Am I making any sense? Probably not. Again.....sleep deprived, bare with. 

I started reading this for the Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon as my last book as I had only three hours left to spare and I thought I could whizz through this which I did but I had around 100 pages left. I didn't finish the whole book in time but I did the next day and I loved it of course. Although it was very hard to put this book down (you cannot put these books down!) Once you're invested you might as well stop your life till you finish. That means sacrificing sleep. 

This book has it all, you can't hate it! How the hell do you hate this? I mean you have a loveable/likeable protagonist, a goddamn cute English boy - Etienne St.Clair - so swoon worthy and witty; fantastic friends. I am not lying when I say you will fall in love with all these characters (apart from the mean horrible ones), you will definitely not forget this book. 

The first two chapters (which are pretty short) were a bit slow but it picked up and holymacaroniandcheese it was PHENOMENAL. At first I didn't know what people loved this book at all I mean there were so many cry worthy scenes and tears were shed (no shame). I had no clue why people were raving I mean it was so depressing at some parts which made it realistic; not cliche and stupid! 

I gave this a five start rating simply because I loved it and it made me happy. It's not a five star novel however and I understand the reasoning for the average amount of people who have given it four stars. Baring this in mind I prefer to rate books on whether I enjoyed it and would I recommend this to my friends, boyfriend, future children *screaming*. I try not to take it too seriously. I mean at the end of the day, what's stopping someone from reading a book if they desperately want to? I know for sure it's not 'someones' review on it.  

I will probably review Lola as I've also finished reading that, although Isla will have to wait as I still yet have to read it. 

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer #1 | Michelle Hodkin

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hey ho! 

It's almost my birthday and I'm very excited to get a bunch of stuff I don't need. I'm also very excited to get The Retribution of Mara Dyer (#3) in the main around November-ish and it's gonna be a signed copy cause Michelle Hodkin said she was signing all pre-orders so if you want one go....go pre-order one noW!

I also started this book a few days before the Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon and when the read-a-thon started I only had a hundred or so pages left of this book so I finished this in the read-a-thon which was super fun. I also started and read some other fantastic books. More on that later. 

These covers are breathtaking! 

Well this was a very interesting read. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is a young-adult /paranormal/ psychological thriller. I've actually spent the last four years avoiding books like this because I used to read loads of them back in the day (4 years ago), hard times. I used to read books like: Hush Hush, Beautiful Creatures, Fallen The Dark Divine etc, and I realised that I was a stupid little 'baiseur' and I was reading crappy-cliche-badly written books and I need to sort my goddamn priorities out. So I stopped. So the first time I heard about this I was all: Oh god not again, je ne peux pas continuew a lire cette connerie. 

'Mara Dyer believes life can't get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can. 

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. There is.
 
She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love. She's wrong.'

I did very much enjoy it and I will not ever be re-reading this, thankyou. 

I don't know whether to accept this book because ffs there is sexism and as a feminist I just, WHY!!!! I know there are people who hate this book ; it may be very cliche for people and I totally understand I mean I could have gone either way. Like I said before I stopped reading books like this because of 'this'. Putting that aside for this review I did enjoy this but I did not love it nor will I ever read it again. There are many reasons why I gave this book three stars and there is not enough of my sanity to explain why. 

I've seen this book contrasted with 50 shades of grey (without the sex) and yeah I see it. How are people giving this book a full five star rating? I mean how are you guys so oblivious? I would give you some examples to talk about but frankly I just finished writing an English lit essay and I rather not. 

To generalise this book messed with my head so bad. I need to also stress that this may trigger. This book deals with blood/abuse//post-trauma/anxiety/bruising etc and it may cause post-traumatic flashbacks or self-harm and I don't want anyone to get hurt, physically or mentally (｡^‿^｡). 

I personally suffer from anxiety and panic attacks and at times I did have to put this book down but I did finish it. The book is a psychological thriller but it's passive, it eases you into the mystery. It's not fast-pace or action packed but it messes with you for sure. When I was reading it I felt like I was going insane. Michelle Hodkin knows how to mess you up! My only reaction was 'WHAT THE F IS GOING ON?'

It's weird talking about this book because I like it and then I hate it. Bittersweet? I haven't read a book like this in a while. The writing style wasn't unique at first I thought it was written by a thirteen year old girl with a slightly large vocabulary. I then got used to the writing style, nothing special but it was refreshing. The book itself is a mystery and that was the element I adored, it was such a good page turner. Not to mention the book made me laugh a lot. Always a plus. I think I could let it slide (I hear screaming) I'm so sorry it's just I can't say I hate it because I don't, apparently it gets better, oh dear god I hope it does. 

I want to finish reading the series because (1) I already have the second book and I've pre-ordered the third, (2) It's a mystery! I can't just s t o p. 

The characters are alright nothing special. Noah though. Yeah I do like him and I hate that I do. I feel as though if he wasn't in this book it would just be depression, depression, depression and that's why Noah and Mara cancel each other out/help each other. The main character: Mara Dyer, I really do like her. Although she is very.....Anastasia Steele. Like she can't tell people (men) to F THE HELL OFF! But then again in a public situation with a guy I'm head over heels with I don't think I could either, but after the night I'd go home sleep on it and think about it and then ditch his ugly ass. 

What is even happening in this book? I'll read the second one and then I shall be back. 

Siege and Storm #2 | Leigh Bardugo

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Oh my god you don't understand how much I wanted to love it! 

Sorry for being dead for eight days and not posting/reviewing anything. It's not cause I wasn't reading anything because I've read two books since my Heir of Fire review. I read Siege and Storm and hated it. Maybe hate is a little too strong, I highly disliked it. Then I proceeded to finish the series as I had the third and final book: Ruin and Rising (yeah I'll review that in a bit) but what the shiitakemushrooms happened here? I mean I loved the first book in this series: Shadow and Bone (I have a review of that here). I literally adored that book and I have no idea what happened when I started Siege and Storm. So we have established that I have indeed read two books since and basically my hiatus was cause I don't even know what to think of them....

Siege and Storm in the second book in the Grisha trilogy and I mean it was 'alright', not memorable at all and I just felt as though it was bloody pointless! There was only, what? three main things that happened that could have been introduced/added at the end of the first book to make that slightly longer than writing a whole other book! The story just got boring and at some point I gave up, although I forced myself to finish it I didn't really have much positivity to spread and thats why I haven't reviewed anything for a while. I just didn't know how to comprehend this. I haven't read a book I just totally blanked on for a while.

It's like the delirium trilogy all over again:
Loved the first book,
Hated Highly disliked the second book,
and the third instalment was just not even finished properly. I'm sorry but what kind of ending was that!

Oh look it's like a depressing poem of my relationships with trilogies! Not every trilogy I've read has followed this scheme but I'm starting to see a recurring theme here....The Selection by Kiera Cass, Delirium by Lauren Oliver, Divergent by Veronica Roth, Legend by Marie Lu and now this. FFS!

I should probably warn you now that this is not gonna be a review per-sae but a dreadful rant. A bit belated on the warning but I just don't care anymore. I'll try my hardest to review but in the end I'll probably degrade everything.

I would have given the book a two star rating but because of the Darkling -swoons -I guess I could push it to three. I pictured him as Colin O'Donoghue who plays Captain Hook from Once Upon A Time if you wanted to know (great tv show, go check it out). I have no idea why I kept on picturing him but hey lets be honest! Hookers gonna Hook.

      ........god he is so beautiful

I don't know if it's just me or everyone gernerally hated the second book, I've read some mixed reviews. However I really did try to love it and I tried to understand but I just couldn't and looking back I don't remember much of anything that happened in Siege and Storm apart from new characters getting introduced. Then again that could have been done in Shadow and Bone. 

Don't get me wrong I enjoy Leigh Bardugo's writing and her style is fantastic; everything is so fluid and lovely. I will say I liked this series. The last book (which I have also completed within my hiatus-review coming in a bit) was much, much better than Siege and Storm. Ruin and Rising was exceedingly better as I actually remember the goddamn book for starters, there was more action yet it was slightly slow.  

I said in my Shadow and Bone review that I was compelled to the main character- Alina Starkov- and I still do love her! Another thing, Leigh Bardugo writes the most amazing characters I have ever read they are all witty and fabulous. Although I am still delighted by the cast. Alina however -sighs- god now it's like she literally looks at everyone else (men and women) in disdain which is such a bummer because she could have been amazing! There could have been better development and there was so much potential to see her ignite. But were just going in circles. This book was way too passive for me. 

Something I noticed throughout the second book and also in the third was-and I'm not sure if this is a writing flaw-but there were multiple bazillion times where Alina was like 'I want to go talk to him/she/them/it but I thought better of it'. You're probably like what is she on about but here's the thing, I don't mind this at all but when it's repeated so much in the book that I start to keep count it's not fun. No, no, no because now when this happens I'm like 'JFC ALINA PLEASE GO TALK TO THEM!' 

Everyone might love this specific book and the series itself and it might just be me, never the less I urge you to pick up the first book because that was by miles my favourite from the three. I assure you will love it! 

Heir of Fire #3 | Sarah J. Maas

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This book was everything and it gave me life. 

Heir of Fire is the third book in a 'in-the-process-six-book-series'. Only three of the six (or maybe seven) books are out so far. The first book is: Throne of Glass and the second: Crown of Midnight. If you haven't started this series I just think you should, so listen to me and do it! I mean why would you not want to read good books? I'm telling you it is worth it! So, so worth it! 

It's a young-adult fantasy series (quite epic fantasy in my opinion). Much fantasy happens in this book (ha ha)..... Fantasy, fantasy, fantasy. It sucks me into this fictional world and every time I get so invested. Every goddamn time!

Obviously this book would pick up from where the second one ended as it is the...third book. However I went into this book not knowing very much of what happens it in, I forced myself off tumblr and looking at other peoples reviews cause I didn't even want a mere idea of where this was going. I did this cause my brain does this lame thing where it 'thinks' and weird-ass theories pop up and I end up ruining the book for myself. So even if you have read the first two books I recommend you don't ask people who have read the book or read a brief premiss about it, unless of course you desperately want to. 

I don't want to spark any theories that may spoil for anyone. I feel like if I tried to explain or give you a brief summary of this book I would end up spoiling the book, so yeah. Just go into it and be ready to be amazed. 

......although if you would like a synopsis, here is Sarah J. Maas herself, explaining a bit about her third book. 

In this instalment of the series we get some new characters and new perspectives to follow, the books a written in third persepctives so you get a good overview of all the main characters something similar to Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.  As said in the video we get a new character - Manon Blackbeak - in my opinion she is quite similar to Khaleesi (Daenerys Targaryen) in Game of Thrones as she has a huge part in the book series but doesn't mix/meet the rest of the cast. I would also like to mention Manon is my new favourite person in this series apart from Celaena of course. Sarah J. Maas you are actually amazing, the fluidity of her writing and the epicness of the fantasy!

Celaena Saradothian, the assassin. Yeah, lets go there. I thought in the first book she was amazing; one of the best female heroines I have ever read. Then the second book rolls around and she got even more badass. Now with the third instalment, she absolutely sparked and just to think there are probably gonna be three or four more books to see her truly ignite. 

You mean there's more?

Oh yeah! 

The character development *screams*. You can actually see how she has developed and bloomed and become so much more badass and loveable. Literally my favourite character, ever! And not just her but the rest of the cast have developed from the first book as well. Celaena will always be my favourite book character. People ask me what team I'm on romance wise and I always say team Celaena, I actually have no clue who 'end-game' is or might be so yeah. 

When I first started this series only read it for the romance and I know that was terrible but I was young and foolish. Now I read it for Celaena and the story line; her epic story and where this journey will take us readers. (I still cannot believe I used to read book for just their romance plot.......wow I seriously needed to sort my priorities.)

I have all three books in the UK edition and I think they look fab, I mean I love the US hardbacks as well but you know how sometimes the hardback of a book looks so good and the paperback look like horsecrap.

I knew from 50 pages in that I was gonna give this five stars, and the rest of the book was even more phenomenal. This is me, legit:

There is a lot of hype surround this series and I mean I understand why but I also understand that many people may pick up the first book and think it was alright/ehhh but I can only encourage you to read the second book because the books truly do get better! The second book really got me into the world and the characters; the third, well I almost died because the third book was fantastic and blew me away. 

I highly, highly recommend you start this series; I promise no ragrets (inserted we are the millers reference). 

The Infinite Sea | Rick Yancey

✴ ✴ ✴ ✴ . 5

My mind has like blown into shards of what is left of my dignity. RICK YANCEY! HOW DO YOU WRITE LIKE A GOD? I have come to a conclusion he is already a writer I look up to and his work is amazeballz, like you will like physically cry because it's too good. 

The is the second book in what I believe is a trilogy. The first book is The 5th Wave which I'm quite sure the majority of you have heard of as it was hyped up at the beginning of last year. The third and final book I believe is coming out in Autumn of 2015 and I cannot wait, this series is so good I don't even know why I ever doubted it. I have a goodreads review on The 5th Wave here.

There isn't a lot I can say without spoiling but I highly recommend to star with The 5th Wave and contemplate whether you want to continue.

'After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker.

Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up'

I've noticed in both books actually, you think you know what gonna happen and then Rick Yancey's like 'lmao no' and then you just sit there like 'Wow, how do you make it even more epic?' This seems to be a recurring theme, I seem to 'think' I know and then it just takes a turn and plot twist! My mind is boggled. 

Something weird happened to me that hasn't ever really happened to me with other books. I totally blacked out when I started this book. I didn't remember how The 5th Wave ended and I was pretty confused so I went and googled the plot line but that didn't really help so I just had to like go with it. Not to fret as I continued through the book around 50-100 pages in I got back into the world and lingo, it also didn't help that Yancey doesn't write who's POV it's in....ever (as the book is written in more than one POV). It's a weird thing but that another thing that makes this book tremendous. 

These books are like: you know whats happening but you don't know what happening. You're just always so confused but then once you get it you're like 'motherf*****' and it blows your mind. 

Basically the book just picks up from what happened in the first book. I just have a terrible memory, actually I don't but I don't know how to explain this. What I do remember is that I picked up The 5th Wave during my exams in April and whilst dying cause of exams I remember being chuffed after reading this. 

The Infinite Sea isn't as big as The 5th Wave in size, like its almost half of the first book. I would expect that the books would gradually get bigger as it's a trilogy and there was just so much action in the first book but I guess not; never the less I really enjoyed this book. I'm not sure whether I enjoyed The 5th Wave more (I gave that five stars) but I think I liked it slightly more than this because it was jam packed from the beginning whilst this took off two bloody thirds into the book. This book was quite passive compared the first book. I say that loosely because it picks up with so much action in the last half of the book. 

The characters in this series make the series. If you've read my review on The 5th Wave on goodreads you'll know that I adored Cassiopeia (Cassie) the main, she's kick-butt and awesome. Then we get into The Infinite Sea and my thought process changes a bit, I still really adore her but I think I like this new character that gets introduced in the last third of the first book: Ringer. She's great! She is literally so funny and in my opinion even more kick-butt. We also get more of Ringer in this book as she gets huge chunks in her pov. 

Cassie just gets more boy infatuated and annoying. So sorry. Maybe she'll get better. 

We also get introduced to couple of new characters which I loved, however we also go into more depth with the main characters as well. 

Like I said before, there isn't a lot I can say without spoiling so all you can really do is get the first book, then the next book and then sit patiently like me for the third book *eye twitches*. 

The DUFF | Kody Keplinger

Wow! A realistic teen contemporary with a realistic heroine with realistic friends and a somewhat realistic family/life. For once I'm actually mind blown! 

After searching and searching for this goddamn book I caved and ordered it online. Once it came in the mail and read it in less than a day, probably four hours to be exact. It's such a fast pace book and a great page turner! You just can't get enough and you have to know what happens next. When I say 'fast pace' I don't mean filled with action, rather 'too good to not finish.' 

I highly, highly recommend this as a 'pick me up' if you need a good book to fan over after reading something like Clockwork Princess or Noughts and Crosses. 

Bianca Piper despises Wesley Rush, the school man-whore who sleep with everyone and everything. One night when she's forced by her friends to go to a party Wesley in return, insults and hurts her by calling her the DUFF. The designated ugly, fat friend. Although Bianca's home life isn't getting any better and when her parents are on the verge of divorce and everything in her world seems to be falling apart she finds an escape. Sex with Wesley Rush. 

This is a young adult, contemporary/humour. It's very funny. I actually laughed/cried.

Oh also just to put this out there, this book has hella sexy times and when I said that it was very realistic I didn't mean that the majority of teenagers go around boning each other and thats why it's realistic. I meant that everything besides the sex in this book was also worth mentioning (again not saying that every family is like the main character in this book) and the way Kody Keplinger chose to handle family issues and being 'The Designated Ugly Fat Friend' and juggling school was very much relatable to many people. I also do know that some teenagers look to sex as a distraction from their everyday lives which is a big part of the premiss of this book.

Don't want to bore anyone but:
Only 16% of teens have had sex by the age of fifteen,
48% of those aged seventeen,
61% of eighteen year olds and 71% of nineteen year olds.
Although teens are waiting longer to have sex than they did in the recent past years. 

There is nothing wrong with not have had any of this at any age! Everyone has experiences at different ages and stages of their lives, everyone develops differently. There is nothing wrong with never have had your first kiss whether your 11 or 27! 

Also don't feel like because everyone else is doing it you have to do it as well (sounds cliche but seriously!) It's better to wait for someone worth it. 

Now to the actual topic of the sex in this book, I read one of Kody Keplinger's blog posts where she remarked that most people bashed the book because of the sex scenes. Before I confuse anyone, I'm gonna put it out there now that I didn't mind the sex scenes at all (it's not at all anything like fanfic!), they weren't graphic to the point where you're shielding you're eyes. I'm not gonna lie here and say to you that teenagers don't have sex because there is no denying that they do. I'm also not too sure why sex in literature is taboo for some people when its part of human nature. 

As a feminist I'm proud that Kody Keplinger didn't write Bianca as some sappy school girl who can't stick up for herself and her morals. There are times in this book where Bianca stops thing from going to far when she doesn't want them to or when she doesn't let others bring her down because she's bigger than that. I understand when insults are thrown at you they hurt and the majority of writers would write a character as Bianca Piper as a wimp. Thankfully, Keplinger chooses to reinforce that you don't EVER have to make yourself look good or fix yourself for a guy or anyone for that matter! and that truthfully we are all 'the DUFF'. 

I believe as women we should be able to stick together; stand up for each other and what not a better way to reinforce this to the younger generation then through young adult literature as books are apart of so many lives. There are teenagers who read to escape from everything else in their lives. Sorry to go on a tangent but did you all see Emma Watson's he-for-she speech at the UN? ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! Here is the link. Worth checking out if you haven't already! 

I know this isn't much of a proper review but more of a rant/me-going-off-on a tangent but another thing I love about this book are the refreshing characters. One of the main parts of this book that didn't make it one of those stories where the girl has no friends or they all bully her; making it super cliche (and no I do not endorse bullying what-so ever!). 

In this book Bianca's friends (Casey and Jessica) are my favourite characters because they are so great and what f.r.i.e.n.d.s should really be. They pick her up instead of pushing her to the side and not giving a damn. Bonus, they are drop dead hilarious. 

Spending the Day with Tess | ...and her books ofc

So I spent the whole Saturday with my beautiful friend Tess and her beautiful family including her fabulous puppies. I had such a lovely time as always and we spent the day catching up at her house and the beach close by. Tess's room is one of my favourite places, only because of her disarray of books and freakish amount of books. We also just had to end up lending out books to each other, so I thought why not savour the memories and take some pictures. 

Shadow and Bone #1 | Leigh Bardugo

✴ ✴ ✴ ✴ ✴ 

Just excuse Cress for the moment, I know it's very beautiful but please.....Shadow and Bone was epic! 

Gave this 5/5. This is another one up there with the rest of my 2014 favourites, I adored this book so much. I have to say now that this isn't going to be one of my 'normal' reviews only because there isn't anything abnormal that I have to say about this book except my undying love for it. 

Once again I suck 'D' at describing synopsis's of my favourite books so I can only hope that this goodreads one intrigues you enough:

'Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.'

Know that I cannot make you read something or not read something, although bearing that in mind one thing I do have to stress is that this is a fantasy/YA trilogy and I'm not sure how to say this but I don't think if you have never read fantasy before that you should go straight into this, same goes for if you don't read at all.....(why)......that you shouldn't start with this. It is very much fantasy fantasy and I found myself confused and a bit flustered at times (and I read fantasy like people need to eat food). Not to mention the first page has a map, when a book has a goddamn map you know already it's gonna be hardcore. 

I'm writing this review, probably around three of four days after I've finished the book. (1) I do this because it helps me digest my feelings towards a book (2) I am very lazy.

Here's an interesting fact: Whilst physically reading the book I found myself so engrossed, I even found myself 'aww'-ing in appropriate moments of the novel (I don't usually do this tbh). However once I finished reading the book and put off reviewing it for a couple of days just to digest my feelings, I realised there wasn't much I remembered about the book......what. 

It's not the inexcusable nutcase of 'she's totally forgot everything', 'she doesn't remember a thing' kinda situations because I do remember literally all of it and I can recall all the important moments of the book it's just all my feelings whilst reading the book are gone and it now just feels like 'ehh another book' even though I'd kill someone for this book. I hope we've all established now that I'm a freak......a v cool one though. 

This is a Young Adult, Fantasy trilogy like I said before and all three books are all out and I cannot wait to get my hands on Siege and Storm the second book in this trilogy, I've ordered online and I should be getting in the mail any day now, I'm to excited. The books themselves are so gorgeous! I have the first book (the picture above) in (I think, not sure) a limited edition print and it's PURPLE. 

I flew through the first book like a drive through and I can only imagine how fast I'll read the next two. 

These characters are so well written and so loveable, I miss them already. The main: Alina Starkov I didn't mind too much, I thought she was very much similar to me in the sense our minds work pretty much the same way. She was alright. She was fine, and I think the reason I don't find myself ogling at the book anymore was because even though these characters are so loveable in the moment, once you finish the book it's like 'Oh that was okay I guess, I'll go eat some cookies now'.

Alina starts off very bitter. She compares herself to all the other beautiful Grisha girls, again quite realistic and I like how Leigh Bardugo didn't make her the not-pretty-but-then-she-finds-a-guy-and-she-becomes-pretty, like I hate that. Why can't authors make realistic heroines for their books??!??!? I will never understand. So like I said in the beginning I thought Alina was pretty realistic but then we progress and I start to see that she is very much like Bella Swan. However Alina is much more better than Bella, this was a very bad comparison I'm sorry. I still really like her though I hope she gets better.

Some people may say she is a bit wimpy and I understand where you're coming from but COME ON lets see you do better. It's one of those situations where you try and picture yourself; finding out you have a freaking sun inside your cells (not literally), like how would you deal with that! I thought it was realistic and fabulous! She definitely develops over the course of the book and I'm very certain at the end of the series she will bloom like a beautiful flower.  

This idea that Leigh Bardugo had for this series was epic, I mean at the beginning I was confused (so, so confused) but you gotta give it a chance and it just gets so much better. I do have to say that there is limited world building for such a complex world that she has in mind and I would like to have had more world building in the book, never the less I enjoyed it very much and her writing is as fluid as water. There is a type of lingo going on but every fantasy book has a lingo going on. 

I'm not exactly sure whether there is a love triangle going on here but this is one of the most interesting triangles ever! I mean so many plot twists you cannot resist but enjoy it. The Darkling, *swoons* goodness me how sexy does that sound? Maybe Leigh Bardugo has this all under control and I just gotta read the next book to really be head over heels over this series. 

I really recommend you give this a shot! Can I also just mention there is some amazing fan art out there based around this book. So swoon worthy.