I read this because I really wanted to read it before seeing the movie which has been just released (which I really liked FYI). I thought this book was alright but the characters were quite dull and there was a lot of issues I had with the story. It's got such an interesting concept behind it but I don't think it was executed as well as it could have been. I still want to give the rest of the series a shot but I don't think this book was amazing. I gave it 3/5 stars.
Okay, I already did a full review of that here (spoilers!) so I won't talk a lot about this a lot but man, I just adored this book! Favourite of the series so far. I gave it 5/5 stars.
So, I read Anna and the French Kiss (the first in this companion series) a few months ago and I was pretty disappointed by it. It wasn't horrible but nowhere near the level of awesome I'd been anticipating after what I'd heard about it. Although I still wanted to check out the other books because maybe they were better and that was definitely the case with this one. I felt like the characters were just more well-rounded and the story was better. Also, some of the scenes near the end were honestly so gorgeous. I ended up giving it 3.5/5 stars.
Man, I really wanted to like this but I just couldn't. I read TFiOS by John Green (which I adored) almost two years ago now but I had never picked up any of his other novels. On recommendation from one of my friends, I decided it would be good to do so with this. Sadly, I was so disappointed. I found the novel, as a whole, really flat and boring and I had a huge disconnect to the main character. Granted, I have heard many people say this is their least favourite Green novel so I still plan to check out the others. I gave it 2/5 stars.
Okay, so I have decided that I want to try and finish the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the Heroes of Olympus series before the end of the year. I read the first two in this series about 2-3 years ago and have no idea why I never picked up the others. Luckily for me, my brother owns the entire series so I have easy access to them. I really loved this one! It brought so many new elements into the story and wasn't afraid to delve into darker stuff when it needed to. I had also forgotten how funny Percy's commentary is. I ended up giving this 4/5 stars.
I felt like the start of this novel dragged on a bit but about a third of the way through it picked up and got really interesting. I loved the idea of the ever changing, magical Labyrinth! There was a really gorgeous scene at the end that I can't actually say what it was because spoilers but for those who have read the book, the thing with Grover! The really important thing! Ah, it's so difficult to mention anything but the point I'm getting at is this book was wonderful and fun and also genuinely heartwrenching for the last 60 or so pages. I gave it 4/5 stars.
So, I am a huge fan of Grace Helbig so this was a must get for me! I actually ended up listening to the audio book because I found out it was narrated by Grace herself and thought it would just add a bit more of her touch to it. I definitely think listening to it was a good idea! Self-help books aren't really my thing so I think having it in audio form made it more enjoyable than reading it (not to say it was a bad book but the genre is not something I'm huge on). It was a fun read filled with witty and pun-y humour that is so Grace. It was also nicely insightful. It probably also appealed to me as I am right in the targeted age range for this novel. I would definitely recommend that you be at least 17-18 before picking up this novel because I think a younger audience won't appreciate it as much (although Grace's humour would still be enough to like about it). I gave it 3.5/5 stars.
So, there you have it. Not my best reading month but it was good enough. How did you guys go in October? Did we possibly read any of the same novels? And since the year is nearing its ending, how are you all doing with your reading challenges, if you had them? Let me know in the comments!
Until next time!
Jess, xxx
