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

Review: Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead [No Spoilers!]

Title: Silver Shadows
Author: Richelle Mead
Summary: In The Fiery Heart, Sydney risked everything to follow her gut, walking a dangerous line to keep her feelings hidden from the Alchemists.

Now in the aftermath of an event that ripped their world apart, Sydney and Adrian struggle to pick up the pieces and find their way back to each other. But first, they have to survive. 

For Sydney, trapped and surrounded by adversaries, life becomes a daily struggle to hold on to her identity and the memories of those she loves. Meanwhile, Adrian clings to hope in the face of those who tell him Sydney is a lost cause, but the battle proves daunting as old demons and new temptations begin to seize hold of him. . . .
Rating: 4/5 stars

Review:
Okay, so, as it says in the title, I will remain spoiler-free in this review. As much as I may want to talk specifics of this book, it still hasn't even hit the shelves in some places while I type this (one perk of living in Australia!). So, if you still haven't got your hands on the book, don't worry! You are safe for now! (Although, let me know if you'd be interested in a separate post where I delve into spoiler talk).

Anyway! After being left a few months back on the huge cliffhanger at the end of The Fiery Heart, I had to keep myself from opening Silver Shadows and beginnning to read right in the middle of the bookstore. To say this book was a highly anticipated read for me this year would be an understatement. But from the beginning, it did not disappoint.

Richelle Mead upped the stakes in this novel. With the previous novels, we've had Sydney and Adrian treading on egg shells but they have well and truly shattered them now. This novel takes these characters and tears them down to see what they're made of. They fight for their lives and for each other. It was as thrilling as it was heart-wrenching. I especially loved watching Sydney transform throughout the book. She is one of my favourite book protagonists and she just keeps getting better. Her intelligence and strength of will is really tested but under impossible circumstances, we see her character shine.

And Adrian. Poor, poor Adrian. We see him slipping in this one. He's spiralling down a dangerous path with his spirit and addiction and I'm not sure what's going to be able to stabilise him. But despite it all, his love for Sydney always prevails. It was so touching to see his admiration of her and his determination to find and help her. If only the universe would give them a bit of a break for a minute.

I also appreciated many of the surrounding characters we got to see: Lissa, whose strength and ability to make hard decisions I admired despite everyone's complaints (the pressure she is under as queen must be insane); Rose and Dimitri, who I always look forward to seeing (particularly in a scene with Adrian and Dimitri, even if it was short); Duncan and Emma, who are newbies but whom I found really interesting and hope to see more of them in the next book; and, lastly, a character whose name I won't mention but is deeply tied to Adrian and whose support at the end of the book I just really loved.

Overall, even though I'm not exactly fond of certain parts of the ending, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It served as a brilliant continuation of this series and reminded me why I not only love these characters, but love the love they have for each other. Now if I could just fast forward to the release of The Ruby Circle, that would be nice. I'm not sure how long I can do this waiting game after reading that last page. Then again, knowing that the last book marks the end of the books in this world, I'm not quite sure I'm ready to say goodbye.

Anyhow, have you picked up Silver Shadows yet? What are your thoughts? Let me know your favourite bits in the comments below but be sure to give spoiler warnings!

Until next time!
Jess, xxx

Top 5 Wednesdays: Books You Wish You'd Read Earlier

Well, hello again! It's been a few weeks since my last T5W. It occured to me the other day that I keep forgetting to tell you all where to find info about the T5W. The meme was created by Lainey at gingerreadslainey and you can find the T5W group on Goodreads here.

So, this week is is to discuss the top 5 books you wish you'd read earlier. I struggled to think of ones for this, mainly because as soon as I read a book that's been out for awhile and it's awesome, I always say 'Why didn't I read this sooner?'. But alas, I managed to cull the list down to these books!

#5: Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
My friend told me for probably somewhere between and year to a year and a half that I had to read this book. And, as I usually do, I said 'I'll read it soon, I have a lot of books I want to read.' Finally she gave up and bought it for my birthday and even then, I didn't read it til almost a month after but wow, once I did...I was amazed! I couldn't believe I'd waited so long to pick up this amazing book. I'm still reading the sequel and had to rip myself away from it for booktube-a-thon but I'm hoping to finish it in the next few days!

#4: Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
Okay, so I adore the Vampire Academy series and once I heard that Richelle Mead was writing another series in this world, I was so excited! It came out and I bought this book not long after it was released by I never picked it up. I don't know why. I was in a massive reading slump that slowed down my reading for over a year! By the time I picked this book up, The Fiery Heart was already out. But boy, am I glad I got around to it eventually. Just like VA, Mead captured me with this story. I flew through the books and deeply regretted not picking them up sooner. Now Silver Shadows is just around the corner and I'm basically giddy with excitement.

#3: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
I explained in my review here why I didn't pick this book up for so long but I still regret it. Not only did I love this book, but I find I'm slowly falling in love with every Rainbow Rowell writes. I wish I'd picked this up sooner as I would've gotten on to her other books sooner as well.

#2: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Another book that one of my friends told me over and over that I had to read. I can't believe I took so long to pick this gem up. If you didn't see my review of it, look here. But this series easily became on of my favourites!

#1: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Now, the regret I feel for not reading this book sooner is something I will literally never get over. So, when I was 14-15, I got the opportunity to go to this Literature Festival through my school and by some miracle, Markus Zusak was one of the speakers. I had heard a lot about the book and definitely intended on reading but I didn't end up actually doing so until after this event. I still remember how interesting he was but I just wished I'd read his book sooner so I could've appreciated this opportunity so much more.




So, a lot of these books I've recently read but it's probably because they're most fresh in my mind. What books do you wish you'd read sooner? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time!
Jess, xxx

Booktube-a-thon Wrap-Up!

So, the booktube-a-thon ended yesterday and although I didn't complete all the challenges, I think I did pretty well! My final total was:

Books: 6

Pages: 2,383

Challenges: 6/7

So, let's do a breakdown of the challenges, which ones I completed and a few thoughts on all the books!

#1: A book with pictures - COMPLETED!

Read: Frostbite: A Vampire Academy Graphic Novel by Richelle Mead

I am a huge fan of the VA series and have been meaning to check out the graphic novels for a long time. A lot of cuts are made to the original story but I still loved it, nonetheless. The art is really nice!

#2: Start and finish a series - COMPLETED!

Read: Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness

You can find my complete, spoiler-free review of the series here. This was how I kicked off the booktube-a-thon and what a way to begin. Starting off on a high was the best way to keep motivation going!

#3: A book with red on the cover - COMPLETED!

Read: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowll

I absolutely ADORED this book. After reading Fangirl not too long ago, I've been dying to pick up some more of Rowell's novels. After reading this gem, I'm finding she is becoming one of my favourite authors. I may have a full review coming of this but not too sure yet. Either way, I loved, loved, loved it!

#4: A book someone else picks out for you - UNCOMPLETED!

I got my brother to pick out a novel for me to read for this and I had it ready to go, but it was the last book I planned to read and the last two days of Booktube-a-thon were really busy for me so I just couldn't quite get to it. Ah, well.

#5: A book from the genre you've read the least this year - COMPLETED!

Read: Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

I think this is cheating a bit. I had another novel planned for this category that I never ended up reading but I found that I also realised I haven't read any Chick Lit this year so I'm using this book for two categories. I loved this book a lot, as well! I'm a fan of the movie and picked up this book after randomly finding it in a book sale last year and I was not disappointed at all. It's such a fun read!

#6: A book to movie adaptation - COMPLETED!

Read: Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

This is the original category I intended this book for. It was also a good excuse to go and watch the movie again :)

#7: Read seven books - COMPLETED!

While I only read six books, you can also complete this challenge by reading an average of 300 pages a day. Since my total page count was 2,383, that gives me an average of approx. 340 pages per day and thus, completing this challenge! Hoorah!

So, yeah, I feel pretty good about what I accomplished this week. Made a little indent in my TBR pile as well, which is awesome! Check out my Goodreads for my individual ratings for each book! How'd you guys go with your Booktube-a-thons? Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time, 

Jess, xxx

Series Review: Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness

Title: Chaos Walking Trilogy (The Knife of Never Letting Go, TheAsk and The Answer & Monsters of Men)

Author: Patrick Ness

Rating: 5/5 stars

Review: I've decided to make this review purely spoiler free. I was going to do as I normally do and have a non-spoiler starter and then cut to spoiler talk but I feel like I would go on for far too long so all my discussion will be without spoilers. Of course, I will be discussing stuff that happens (in very broad terms) so if you don't want any hint of what happens in this series, GO PICK UP THE BOOK AND THEN COME BACK AND LET'S DISCUSS.

But anyway! This series, guys. THIS. SERIES. Wow. I have so many things to say and also am at a bit of a loss for words in trying to successfully explain how much I loved this series. So, to start off, I knew next to nothing about what this series was actually about except for the fact that every time I went to a book store with one of my friends, she picked up The Knife of Never Letting Go and told me I needed to read it. So, when I finally bought the whole series on a whim, I didn't really know what I was getting into, and I love doing that with books. Everything is a surprise and it's wonderful. But I think even if I knew what was going on, the twist and turns the story took would've still been shocking. So many parts had me on the edge of my seat and reading the pages faster and faster to find out what was going to happen next. The pacing was really well done throughout all three books.

But what I really loved about the story was how it explored moral struggles so frequently and in so many different situations. It really makes you question your own morality. It completely blurs the lines of wrong and right and has you wondering whether there is any exact wrong or right way to handle the given circumstances.

I also adored the characters. All of them. Patrick Ness fleshed out all of his characters so well; I felt so connected to all of them. Of course, you feel a bit more connected to the three characters who get POV chapters but I truly felt like I could understand all the characters. Even ones I didn't like, I was able to see why they were like that and root for them at times. It's so interesting to have such solid, well-written characters in a story but also makes some things so much more heartbreaking.

And the series is so heartbreaking in so many ways. I cried more than once reading these books. Both from sadness and happiness, though. I won't say what it was (as it's a HUGE spoiler) but my absolute favourite scene from the book was just so beautiful and I was filled with so much joy that I just began sobbing reading it. It was scenes like this that made me fall in love with the series over and over again.

Basically, the Chaos Walking trilogy has easily secured its place as one of my favourite series of all time. I would honestly recommend this series to anyone. If you're reading this and haven't read this trilogy and are waiting for a reason, here it is! Go pick it up now and read it! Sure, they aren't short books but they are so worth it. I will warn you, though, this is a series that stays with you. It's been less than a week since I finished it and my mind is still reeling over it and I can't imagine this is going away any time soon. It's a series that's hard to leave. Your mind gets lost in the world and I think a little bit stays there even after you turn the last page and start to face reality once more.

Have you read the Chaos Walking trilogy? What did you think of it? Tell me what your favourite parts of it were in the comments!

Until next time!

Jess, xxx

Book Haul + Booktube-a-thon!

I thought I'd make a quick post before I go into a hole for Booktube-a-thon. But more on that later but first, the book haul!

So, I lost all control in the past month when it comes to book buying. This is only the ones I've bought in the past week! I may have found a new bookstore in my town where every book is $5 or less. It was difficult to restrain myself to only buying 3, to say the least. I thought I wouldn't include everything I've bought in the past month because it's ridiculously depressing thinking about all the money I spent. But from top to bottom, I've bought:

- The 5th Wave by Rick Yancy: I have been hearing so many positive reviews about this book that when I saw it in my local bookstore the other day, I just had to pick it up! I'm super excited to get to it!

- Illumination by Karen Brooks: A relatively underrated series is the Curse of the Bond Riders trilogy. I found it many years ago and the first two were amazing, so when I saw this baby for $5, I had to get it! I'm really excited to finally finish this series soon, especially after where the last book finished.

- The End Games by T. Michael Martin: I literally have no idea what this book is about but the cover is gorgeous and it was only $5. The blurb sounded interesting enough that I took the chance buy.

- The 100 by Kass Morgan: The last of my $5 buys, I was really excited to find this in a discount bookstore. I won't lie, I bought this solely because I recently got into the CW show it is based off and I was curious about the book. I know that the CW has made a lot of changes to the novel but I thought it'd be an interesting read anyway!

- Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell: Might be the book I'm most excited for in this book haul! After reading Fangirl, I have been wanting to read more Rainbows Rowell so badly. I didn't know which one I wanted to go onto but I saw this for cheap the other day and thought it must've been a sign. It's safe to say I am really excited to get reading this one!

- When Dogs Cry by Markus Zusack: I regret buying this book only because I bought it on a whim and then got home to realise it is a companion novel to a series I have not read yet. Nonetheless, I love Markus Zusack and am sure I will get to reading the series at some point and then will be able to get stuck into this book.

Okay, so that's the book haul! Ah, the feeling of all these new books to read. It's so exciting! Now onto Booktube-a-thon talk!

As probably many of you know, Booktube-a-thon is an event which is running from the 14th-21st of this month (which basically means it starts in a couple of hours for me, omg!) and has a bunch of reading and video challenges that people strive to complete within the week. If you want more info, check out the Booktube-a-thon youtube channel here. I will be participating in this event for the first time this year. I am so pumped to get going! I will be updating on this page and on my Tumblr page here about how I'm going with the challenges. I will not be posting a TBR list up as 1) a few of my current choices I'm not 100% set on and 2) putting up a list puts too much pressure on me to finish them all and I can't deal with that.

But anyhow, I am really excited to get going on Booktube-a-thon! As I said, it starts in a few hours in my country so I've already got my first book ready! Keep an eye out on this page and my Tumblr to keep up with my progress. And let me know whether you're participating in this years event. What are you reading? Are you just doing the reading challenges or the video ones as well (and props to you if you are. So much work!)? Let's help each other finish as many of the challenges as we can! :)

Until next time!
Jess, xxx

Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Title: We Were Liars

Author: E. Lockhart

Summary: A beautiful and distinguished family.

A private island.

A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.

A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.

A revolution. An accident. A secret.

Lies upon lies.

True love.

The truth.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Review: Okay, I literally just finished this book so this is my initial, unaffected opinions! I'm gonna keep the non-spoiler part of this review to a minimum because I really do think the less you know about this book, the better. But anyhow, I swear I could not stop hearing about this book. It was everywhere I was on the internet and I couldn't help myself. I gave in. I got the e-book and finally read it. And it was beautiful. I am slightly disappointed after all the hype it got but I definitely did love it a whole lot, not as much as the book community had me expecting. Nevertheless, it's a super easy read (I read it in a few hours) and I think anyone could enjoy it, so I'd definitely recommend you all check it out!

And now we go on to spoiler talk. Please, if you haven't read this book, DO NOT CONTINUE. This book is really so much better having no prior knowledge to it.