Wednesday 22 July 2015

Tag: I Mustache You Some Questions


Thank you so, so, so much to Claire for tagging me! I'm so sorry it took this long!



 4 Names People Call Me

1. Sia
2. Soula
3. Ana
4. Stacy

 4 Jobs I Have Had

 1. I tutored my little brother for a while
2. Babysitter (though I can't say I was very good at it...)
3. TBD
4. TBD

 4 Movies I'd Have Watched More Than Once

1. The First Time (Dylan O'Brien!)
2. All the Fast & Furious Movies
3. Pride and Prejudice
4. Tangled ( My favorite Disney Movie!)

 4 Books I'd Recommend

1. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
2. The Kiss of Deception by Mary E Pearson
3. The Coldest Girl In Coldtown
4. Anna and the French Kiss

 4 Places I Have Been

1. My Room
2. My Living Room
3. .....School?
4. Other Places

 4 Places I've Lived

I haven't lived in many places so I guess I'll leave this blank for now..

 4 Places I'd Rather Be Right Now

1. My Summer House
2. London
3. Maybe at the cinema..(What can I say? I'm  a movie junkie)
4. Camp Half-Blood ;)

 4 Things I Don't Eat

1. Broccoli
2. Mayonnaise
3. Snails
4. Lamp

 4 Of My Favorite Foods

1. Pizza!
2. Shrimp pasta
3. Mushed Potatoes
4. spaghetti

 4 Tv Shows I watch

1. Teen Wolf
2. Once Upon a Time
3. Game of Thrones
4. Gotham

 4 Things I'm Looking Forward To This Year

1. Visiting London!
2. Starting a novel ( I have an amazing story that has been stuck in my mind for a few months)
c. 11th Grade
3. Magnus and The Gods of Asgard is coming out in October!

 4 Things I'm Always Saying

1. Omg..
2. Aww
3. My Books are not that many! (...denial)
4.Love ya too!

....I'm a very bubbly person...

So that was the I Mustache You Some Questions tag! I had so much fun doing this tag! Again, thank you to Claire for tagging me to do this!

I Tag Anyone Who Wants To Do This Tag!

Friday 17 July 2015

Discussion: DNFing Books




I'd never really DNFed a book before until recently, I always managed to get through it however bad i thought it was. But, in the past 6 months or so I've marked as DNF 2 books. Which isn't a lot if you think about it but for someone who has never DNFed before it's a big number.



Anyway, that made me wonder how long it should take someone to dnf a book?

I'm a very persistent person, so I will do my hardest to finish a book even if I'm not necessarily enjoying it but even I have my limits. In both cases (Ashes + House of Secrets) I spent a good 3 months trying to get through the book at hand, until I finally decided it wasn't happening.

The worst thing about DNFing a book, and the reason I try avoiding it, is the sense of failure you get when you don't manage to finish the book. Maybe it's different for everyone else but that's what I felt when I put down House of Secrets. But I've come to understand that it shouldn't be that way because, nowadays, almost everyone have a very busy schedule and when they do manage to make time to read they should read books that they'll enjoy. 

For example, I'm a high school student and for me this year was exceptionally hard and busy so when I did have time to read a book I wanted it to sweep me off my feet. With these two books it didn't happen and struggling to get through them made fall into a huge slump..

So, I decided from now on to give every book I read a 100 page limit. When I reach it, if I feel invested in the story I'll continue reading but If I still can't get into it I'll just put it aside. 

Do You DNF Books or Do You Try To Read The Entire Book?

Monday 13 July 2015

DNF Review: Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

It could happen tomorrow . . .

An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.

Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.

For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling post-apocalyptic novel about a world that could become ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.


Review


I was really in the mood for a good horror story when I picked up Ashes and I did enjoy it for the most part...until I completely lost interest in it. This is something that tends to happen when you're trying to get through a book for 3 months.

My main problem with this book, I think, was that it was way too easy to put it down. Not once did the story really pull me in. So I kept putting it down and then trying to pick it back up again. Which, after a certain amount of time, made reading the book feel more of a chore than anything else.

Another problem was that, for me, the atmosphaire of the entire book completely changed when I reached a certain point. It lost the survival feeling I liked about it and became overcrowded. The story shifted from Alex, Ellie and Tom to a whole cast of people I didn't really care about which made me lose interest.

Lastly, while I liked Alex, I never really felt any kind of connection with her.

I don't necessarely consider Ashes a bad book. It just wasn't the book for me. I guess I would recommend it more to people who like zombie apocalypse books or maybe Hunger Games fans.


 Book info:

Hardcover, 465 pages
First Published: September 6th 2011
Publisher: Egmont USA
Genre: Young Adult, Horror, Zombies

Rating: 2.5/5

Wednesday 8 July 2015

Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge


Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love

Review


You know when you're scrolling through amazon and you come across this gorgeous book and you don't even care what it's about because the cover is just so beautiful? This was one of those times.


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Yes this was a cover buy. I am not ashamed to say it. We've all been there. And when I found out it was also a Beauty and the Beast retelling I was over the top excited to jump into it. But, unfortunately, in many coverbuys you tend to think that the content will match the exterior and most times you end up disappointed. This was also one of those times.

I can't say that I didn't enjoy this book at all. It was somewhat entertaining, but the problems I had with it exceed the enjoyment. Some I could surpass and keep going but others I couldn't turn a blind eye to. 

Nyx was one of them.

Nyx and I didn't get along well. At all.
She was one of the most impulsive and frustrating characters I've ever read about. She almost always acted before thinking and made so many stupid decisions. She was trained since the age of 9 on how to act around the Gentle Lord and from the second they met she did the complete opposite. She actually punched him! A man who could annihilate her with the snap of his fingers! But the most frustrating thing about her was that she didn't know where her loyalty lied and she showed no indication of development throughout the entire novel.

Another thing was the romance. There is a bit of a love triangle in this book but can't really get into it much because it's kind of a spoiler but I can tell you that the romance, for me, came out of nowhere and seemed forced. I liked the interactions between Ignifex and Nyx but overall it didn't really do anything for me. 

A main problem was also that I didn't just dislike Nyx, I really found no connection with any of the characters. At the end of the day I didn't really care what happened to them. I did enjoy the world Rosamund Hodge created but it really wasn't enough for me to give it a higher rating when it was the only interesting thing in the book. The writing was also okay but the ending seemed a bit convenient. 

Overall, Cruel Beauty wasn't anything special for me. In some aspects I guess it was kind of entertaining but I can't say I would recommend it to anyone.

 Book info:

Hardcover, 342 pages
First Published: January 28th 2014
Publisher: Balzer + Bay
Genre: Young Adult, Retelling, Fantasy, Romance.

Rating: 2/5


Saturday 4 July 2015

Books I'm Bringing With Me on Vacation


I didn't have enough to prepare my own image so I guess thanks google!

So It's July! Aaaah! I'm so excited! Did I mention I've also turned sixteen? Yep! So, by the time this post is up I'll probably already be on vacation with my family so I won't be able to answer any comments for a while ( not that I'm doing an incredible job of answering them now....) but I've scheduled enough posts to last for the whole month! ....Let's hope I did everything right and they'll actually be published...

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Anyway, getting off topic! So, I packed up enough books to last me for a month (23...I know what you're thinking but I just couldn't leave them behind!) since I wont have anything else to entertain me because my summer house is kind of in the land of no where...aaaaand I decide to make a post about it!

So here are the books I'm bringing with me on vacation! Enjoy!

Warning: This is a Long List...


 The Iron King by Julie Kagawa (Iron Fey #1)

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil, no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.



The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa (Iron Fey #2)





I'm Actually not Going to Post a description for this one beacause,..SPOILERS!








A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down! 


Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

"My greatest thought in living is Heathcliff. If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be... Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure... but as my own being."Wuthering Heights is the only novel of Emily Bronte, who died a year after its publication, at the age of thirty. A brooding Yorkshire tale of a love that is stronger than death, it is also a fierce vision of metaphysical passion, in which heaven and hell, nature and society, are powerfully juxtaposed. Unique, mystical, with a timeless appeal, it has become a classic of English literature. 





 Splintered by A.G Howard

This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence.

Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.

When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.
 


Unhinged by A.G Howard





AGAIN..... SPOILERS!






Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson


Amy Curry 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.






 Snow Like Ashes by Sarah Raasch

A heartbroken girl. A fierce warrior. A hero in the making.

Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now, the Winterians’ only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since.

Orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee, raised by the Winterians’ general, Sir. Training to be a warrior—and desperately in love with her best friend, and future king, Mather — she would do anything to help her kingdom rise to power again.

So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore Winter’s magic, Meira decides to go after it herself. Finally, she’s scaling towers, fighting enemy soldiers, and serving her kingdom just as she’s always dreamed she would. But the mission doesn’t go as planned, and Meira soon finds herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics – and ultimately comes to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.


 The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi's wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all.


 Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins

Harper Price, peerless Southern belle, was born ready for a Homecoming tiara. But after a strange run-in at the dance imbues her with incredible abilities, Harper's destiny takes a turn for the seriously weird. She becomes a Paladin, one of an ancient line of guardians with agility, super strength and lethal fighting instincts.

Just when life can't get any more disastrously crazy, Harper finds out who she's charged to protect: David Stark, school reporter, subject of a mysterious prophecy and possibly Harper's least favorite person. But things get complicated when Harper starts falling for him—and discovers that David's own fate could very well be to destroy Earth.

With snappy banter, cotillion dresses, non-stop action and a touch of magic, this new young adult series from bestseller Rachel Hawkins is going to make y'all beg for more.


Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Aza Ray is drowning in thin air. 

Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak—to live. 

So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. But Aza doesn't think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name.

Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Jason, who’s always been there. Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. Aza is lost to our world—and found, by another. Magonia. 

Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power—and as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war is coming. Magonia and Earth are on the cusp of a reckoning. And in Aza’s hands lies the fate of the whole of humanity—including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie?


Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare





SPOILERS...








 Burn for Burn by Jenny Han & Siobban Vivian

Postcard-perfect Jar Island is home to charming tourist shops, pristine beaches, amazing oceanfront homes—and three girls secretly plotting revenge.

KAT is sick and tired of being bullied by her former best friend.

LILLIA has always looked out for her little sister, so when she discovers that one of her guy friends has been secretly hooking up with her, she’s going to put a stop to it.

MARY is perpetually haunted by a traumatic event from years past, and the boy who’s responsible has yet to get what’s coming to him.

None of the girls can act on their revenge fantasies alone without being suspected. But together…anything is possible.

With an alliance in place, there will be no more “I wish I’d said…” or “If I could go back and do things differently...” These girls will show Jar Island that revenge is a dish best enjoyed together.
 

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

WORLDS KEPT THEM APART.

DESTINY BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER.

Aria has lived her whole life in the protected dome of Reverie. Her entire world confined to its spaces, she's never thought to dream of what lies beyond its doors. So when her mother goes missing, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland long enough to find her are slim.

Then Aria meets an outsider named Perry. He's searching for someone too. He's also wild - a savage - but might be her best hope at staying alive.

If they can survive, they are each other's best hope for finding answers.

The Summer I Turned Pretty Trilogy by Jenny Han

Belly has always lived for the summertime because it means all her favorite things: swimming, the beach and the Fisher boys, Conrad and Jeremiah. She has spent every summer with them at Cousins Beach for as long as she can remember. She has always been in love with Conrad and finally, one summer, it seems like he might have feelings for her too. But it turns out, so does Jeremiah.

As the summers go on, Belly has to choose between two brothers who love her as she comes to the realization that she will have to break one of their hearts.


Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Greg Gaines is the last master of high school espionage, able to disappear at will into any social environment. He has only one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time making movies, their own incomprehensible versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics.

Until Greg’s mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel.

Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia—-cue extreme adolescent awkwardness—-but a parental mandate has been issued and must be obeyed. When Rachel stops treatment, Greg and Earl decide the thing to do is to make a film for her, which turns into the Worst Film Ever Made and becomes a turning point in each of their lives.

And all at once Greg must abandon invisibility and stand in the spotlight.


 Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.

To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.

Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of
those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.

But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?


 The Iron Trial by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare

Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial.

Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail.

All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him.

So he tries his best to do his worst - and fails at failing.

Now the Magisterium awaits him. It's a place that's both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future.

The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the biggest test is still to come . . .

Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.


I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

This radiant novel from the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.


 White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L Armentrout

One kiss could be the last.

Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she's anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses.

Raised among the Wardens—a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe—Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most. Especially Zayne, the swoon-worthy, incredibly gorgeous and completely off-limits Warden she's crushed on since forever.

Then she meets Roth—a tattooed, sinfully hot demon who claims to know all her secrets. Layla knows she should stay away, but she's not sure she wants to—especially when that whole no-kissing thing isn't an issue, considering Roth has no soul.

But when Layla discovers she's the reason for the violent demon uprising, trusting Roth could not only ruin her chances with Zayne… it could brand her a traitor to her family. Worse yet, it could become a one-way ticket to the end of the world.
 




What Are You Reading This Summer?