August Wrap-Up!

What? August is already over? It feels like only yesterday I was writing up my wrap-up for July. This year is going way to fast!

But hey guys! Time for my August Wrap-up! Even though I started back at uni this month, I somehow had a better reading month than July. Heck, yes! Granted, a lot of my reads were super short novels (or novellas) so it is understandable. Anyhow. Warning: this is really long but without further ado, let's go!

#1: Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 1: Cosmic Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis

After seeing the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie, I just really need to check out the comics. I've only read two volumes so far (of the new run) but they're really cute and I'm keen to check out more of the older runs of these characters. I gave it a 3.5/5 rating.

#2: Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2: Angela by Brian Michael Bendis

I did enjoy this a lot more than the first volume. I thought Angela was a badass and the storyline was more interesting. I gave it a 4/5 rating.

#3: The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

Oh, man, you guys! This book was beautiful. This is the second book the Kingkiller Chronicles, following after the Name of the Wind. I will say that I did not enjoy this one as much as the first novel. The pacing was a bit weird and as a whole, I think it dragged out sections too much. Despite this, I mainly had these issues because the first book is near perfection in my eyes. So, I gave it a 4.5/5 rating. (Side note: I do have a review coming of this series that I just keep forgetting to write).

#4: The New World by Patrick Ness

This is the first of Ness' three novellas which accompany his Chaos Walking trilogy, which I reviewed here. This one is set before the events of Chaos Walking and it was really interesting to read about. I think explored a facet of Viola's character which never got explored enough in the series, which was her time before she landed. I would definitely recommend this read if you enjoyed the Chaos Walking trilogy. I gave it a 4/5 rating.

#5: The Wide, Wide Sea by Patrick Ness

This is the second of the Chaos Walking novellas. This one is set before the timeline of the main series, as well as in an unfamiliar setting. Of all the novellas, this one was my favourite. It's hard to really explain this without giving anything away, so just go and read it because it is beautiful. I gave it a 5/5 rating.

#6: The Snowscape by Patrick Ness

And the last of the Chaos Walking novellas is this novel. This was definitely my least favourite. It's set after Monsters of Men and follows familiar characters from the series. I felt I just couldn't really get into this one. The characters felt drier than they did in the series and the story was only mildly interesting. The best part was the last sentence, tbh. I gave it a 3/5 rating.

#7: Two Boys Kissing by David Leviathan

This book follows a handful of story lines that all seem to connect in some way or another to an event where two boys are trying to break the record for longest kiss. I thought this book was wonderful. My main complaint with this book is that it had a almost singular focus on gay men, instead of a broader inclusion of other aspects of LGBTQIA (except, of course, the transgender male character). This is basically my only criticism though. I adored the rest and gave it 4/5 stars.

#8: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

I can safely say that I probably wouldn't have picked up this book if it hadn't had been for the film adaptation which has just came out. After seeing the trailers everywhere and hearing people give it great reviews, I just had to pick it up. It's a short but still as emotionally stimulating as you'd expect. I felt I did want it to be longer, though, to perhaps give it more emotional depth. Also, I feel bad saying this but the romance in the novel was probably the least interesting thing to me. I found the stuff with her grandfather absolutely heart-wrenching, though. I gave it 3.5/5 stars.

#9: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

This is the first book in the Across the Universe trilogy and I'm so glad I finally read it! I have been meaning to pick it up for so long and then I realised one of my close friends actually owned it so I borrowed it off her. And wow, this book was awesome! The last 100 or so pages had me on the edge of my seat! Just go and read it now! I gave it a 4/5 rating.

#10: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Bejamin Alire Saenz

I have already posted a full review of this book here, but I will just mention that this book was so, so wonderful. I was really worried I wouldn't like it because I'd heard so many good things about it and didn't want to be that one person who doesn't but thankfully, that wasn't the case. Seriously, this book is so good. I would recommend it to anyone. It's also my favourite book of this month and in league for my favourite book of the year. I gave it a 5/5 rating.

#11: A Million Suns by Beth Revis

The second book in the Across the Universe trilogy and just as awesome as the first. I can't really discuss much without spoilers for the first novel, but I will say it had just as many awesome twists and turns in the story as the first. I'm currently waiting for the final instalment of the series to arrive and it's honestly killing me. I gave it a 4/5 rating.

#12: Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things that Happened by Alice Brosh

God, this was a laugh! I didn't realise this book was actually a graphic novel but I'm so glad it was. The illustrations really added to the humour. There isn't a really story to this book. It's basically a collection of hilarious autobiographical stories of the author's life. I will say that this book is more appreciated if you are an adult (it just seems more relatable then) but I think it'd still be funny to a young adult audience. I gave it a 4/5 rating.

#13: The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

I don't often dabble into poetry. I find that I often find it hard to appreciate it as it was intended. Despite this, I had this on my kindle and had a sudden urge to give it a go. I found it creepy and eery and a really enjoyable read. The rhythm to Poe's writing is near perfect and makes it really nice to read. I will definitely be checking his other stuff out. I gave it a 4/5 rating.

#14: Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

Phew! We got there! Last one for this month is Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley.  This novel is presented through a double narrative. The main story following a young boy, Cullen, in a deadbeat town of Lily, which is contrasted against the story of missionary trying to find reason in his faith. It's interesting to see how these two story lines finally converge but I also feel it felt a bit sloppy. I'd heard raving reviews about this book but I didn't seem to find it as wonderful as a lot of other people did. I still liked it quite a lot and I'm interested in checking out Whaley's other works. Also, on a side note, I don't know why but this novel really feels like it could be made into an interesting movie. Anyhow, I gave it a 3/5 rating.

Okay, there you go! Wow, that took awhile! I hope I can keep this reading pace up. I'm only 10 books away from my goal for this year so I might be able to get it knocked over in the next month.

How did you guys go this month? Did you read a lot or not much at all? What were your favourites? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time!

Jess, xxx

Tag Tuesday - Bookish Would You Rather

Hey, guys! I'm thinking of trying to make this a new thing I do. Every Tuesday I will try and do a book tag I've seen. Like my T5W, I'm probably going to miss weeks. I'm back at uni at the moment and that's why my posts have slowed down a bit so I'm trying to think of ways to give this place a bit more life, so here we go.

For the first week, I'm going to be doing the 'Bookish Would You Rather' tag which has been going around Booktube a lot recently. The tag originated on the Youtube channel RayKayBooks, and you can check out the original video here. Anyway, let's get going!

#1: Would you rather read  only trilogies or only stand alones?

Definitely trilogies. Recently I have been reading a lot of stand alones and I do adore them a hell of a lot, but I just enjoy getting to have a bit more of the characters and seeing the depth that a story can be given when allowed more than one book to tell it in.

#2: Would you rather read only female authors or only male authors?

Ahh, this is difficult! I have a lot of favourite authors from both genres. But I think just on principle I'm going to have to go with female authors. I think I'd be fine with that for the most part. Particularly with YA, as majority of the authors in that genre are female.

#3: Would you rather shop for books at Barnes and Noble or Amazon?

As an Australian, this question isn't exactly that relevant to me. I'm going to say Amazon only because I do shop at their Kindle store every now and then but neither of these stores are my go-to bookstores to begin with so I could just as easily say neither.

#4: Would you rather all books become movies or TV shows?

Definitely TV shows! While there has been some amazing book-to-movie adaptations (LOTR is my favourite adaptation of a book ever), I do prefer TV adaptations as they allow the story to not be so condensed. Often in movies, a lot of what's in the books gets cut but that doesn't happen as much in TV and thus, the story remains more faithful. (Side note: this is also why I want someone to make Eragon into a TV series).

#5: Would you rather read 5 pages a day or 5 books a week?

Assuming this in the perfect world where I have the time to read 5 books a week, I would for sure do that one! I'm not a person who enjoys reading books slowly. When I find the time to read, I always try and read a few chapters at least. So, only being able to read 5 pages (thus, only 35 pages a week), I would actually die.

#6: Would you rather be a professional reviewer or professional author?

As much as I enjoy reviewing books, becoming a professional author has and always will be one of my dreams. I'd have to go with that one.

#7: Would you rather only re-read 20 of your favourite books or read only different books once?

Option 2, without a doubt. I'm a big fan of re-reading books, ngl. But the thought of being restricted to only having 20 books to read for the rest of my life is painful. I could not do it. Even if they were my favourites.

#8: Would you rather be a librarian or a book seller?

Hmm. This is difficult. I do like the thought of being a librarian and I don't like the idea of all the business-y stuff behind being a book seller but I still find it appealing. I'm just going to go with librarian because that's what my gut is saying. But I do often fancy the thought of owning my own bookstore/coffee shop.

#9: Would you rather read only your favourite genre or every genre but your favourite?

Okay, this was really hard so I just found a loophole. I'm going to say only read favourite genre because my favourite fantasy and tbh, fantasy has so many branches of it that I can sort of make so many books fit to it. You may be thinking I'm just wussing out of answering this properly and you would be right.

#10: Would you rather only read physical books and e-books?

Physical books. In the past year, I have started reading a lot more e-books, mainly because of convenience. But nothing will replace the enjoyment of reading a physical book and feeling the pages.

So, anyway that's the Bookish Would You Rather book tag. What would your choices be? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time!

Jess, xxx

Review: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz [No Spoilers!]

Title: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Author: Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Summary: Dante can swim. Ari can't. Dante is articulate and self-assured. Ari has a hard time with words and suffers from self-doubt. Dante gets lost in poetry and art. Ari gets lost in thoughts of his older brother who is in prison. Dante is fair skinned. Ari's features are much darker. It seems that a boy like Dante, with his open and unique perspective on life, would be the last person to break down the walls that Ari has built around himself.

But against all odds, when Ari and Dante meet, they develop a special bond that will teach them the most important truths of their lives, and help define the people they want to be. But there are big hurdles in their way, and only by believing in each other―and the power of their friendship―can Ari and Dante emerge stronger on the other side.

Rating: 5/5 stars

Review: 

In case you didn't notice in the title, this review will be without spoilers! So now we've covered that, let's talk about how absolutely wonderful this book was. It doesn't really have a solid plot (hence why I decided to keep this review spoiler-free) but it remains just as captivating without one that you barely notice the lack of it until you've finished already. This novel takes you on a journey within the lives of these characters, exploring family, love, identity and everything in between. 

I loved that Ari, the main character, was so flawed but I could still understand and empathise with him. I found his inner frustration towards himself something I could really relate to. Also, the importance of his family's story is one of the things I found most interesting. And possibly by extension of the family, the element of culture and identity that gets frequently discussed in the novel was so important and I appreciated how much focus it got.

The relationship between Ari and Dante literally makes my heart swell just thinking about it. There was such an authenticity to their friendship. I loved the ease they had with each other and the subtlety of their growth. It was just beautiful to read. Many of the other relationships were lovely as well.

I really did adore this book start to finish. It was a near perfect read for me. I read it so quickly (it is a very quick, easy read) that I actually didn't appreciate it's glory and the warmth and happiness it gave me until I was turning the last page. I would honestly recommend this to anyone. 

Have you guys read it yet? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time!

Jess, xxx

July Wrap-up!

Well, this is a few days late but better late than never, as they say. So, July was probably the best month of reading I have had in a VERY long time. I read a total of 12 books! 12. Books! That's only one short of how many books I read for the entirety of last year. So, I'm pretty pleased with myself and my getting out of my reading slump. A good lot of them were done in the Booktube-a-thon as well. But without further ado, let's get onto which books I read!

#1: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

You can find my review of this one here (warning: there are spoilers in this review). Ultimately, I liked this book but it was disappointing. The review I wrote was my original thoughts, but, to be honest, the more I think on it, the less I like the book. I fee like the ending is the only thing that saved it for me (even if I did see it coming). I gave it a 3.5/5 stars.

#2-4: The Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness

Again, I have a review up of these here (no spoilers). This, obviously, covers three books I read, and it also where my Booktube-a-thon reads start. I thought these books were brilliant! I gave the whole series a 5/5 rating.

#5: Frostbite: A Vampire Academy Graphic Novel by Richelle Mead

This is a little one I read to complete one of the challenges for the Booktube-a-thon. As a big fan of the VA series, I quite enjoyed this. It does skip a lot of the story but still kept in a lot of my favourite scenes from the book. I wasn't expecting much but I liked it nonetheless. I gave it 3.5/5 stars.

#6: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

I did plan to write a review for this one but I kept forgetting and now the story isn't fresh enough in my brain for me to do so. I really loved this book. It was so captivating and raw and I thought it was excellent. I gave it a rating of 4/5 stars.

#7: Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

I thought this book was so great. It's very much a guilty pleasure read and nothing to be taken all too seriously. And that's why I loved it! I gave it 3.5/5 stars.

#8: Stardust by Neil Gaiman

This was the first book of Neil Gaiman that I've read. I've heard so much about his work and his writing appealed to me before I'd even picked up any of his books. Also, I adore the movie adaptation of Stardust. I thought the book was gorgeous and only lost points because it was so short. I feel the movie actually does a better job of fleshing out the story, but, even still, I gave it 4/5 stars.

#9: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Now I wish I could say I enjoyed this book, but I really didn't. I feel like there was an intersting story underneath it all and that's probably the only reason I gave it more than 1 star. But I found the characters weren't very compelling or relatable, there was an overuse of metaphors in the writing, the world lacked substance and the romance was so dull. I gave it 2/5 stars.

#10: Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

I actually started this book months ago so I think I only had 100-200 pages left to finish it this month, but anyhow. I find Jordan's writing to be a bit too long-winded for my liking but the story seems compelling enough thus far. Also, I have been told many times that this story gets really good later on so I'm willing to stick it out. Plus, I feel like there's certain series one really must read if you're interested in fantasy and this is one of them. Anyhow, I gave it 3/5 stars.

#11: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephenie Perkins

My local bookstore had this book on sale and after hearing about this book over and over again in the book community, I caved and picked it up. I will admit I don't think it lived up to the hype. I really enjoyed it and thought it was pretty adorable, but I don't think it was fantastic. I found certain parts of the story to be extremely frustrating but alas, I still intend on reading the rest of the 'series'. It's a good book if you want something light. I gave it 3.5/5 stars.

#12: Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead

And finally, we come to a close on possibly my most anticipated read of the year. You can find my review of it here (no spoilers). I only picked up the Bloodlines series late last year (even though, I've been a huge VA fan since 2008/2009) and boy, was I glad I did. It's a great series and this was a brilliant addition to it. I gave it a 4/5 stars.

So, there's my July Wrap-Up! I'd like to think I can live up to it for August but I need to be honest with myself here. I just started the new semester at uni, and that + working = me not having as much time to read. I'm aiming to keep to shorter books throughout the semester so I can still keep at a steady pace but we shall see how it goes.

How many books did you read in July? Which were your favourites? Also, if you want to keep up with my reading over the month or anything else, feel free to add me on Goodreads here! :)

Until next time!

Jess, xxx