Book Review || The Many Worlds of Albie Bright by Christopher Edge

- MIDDLE GRADE SCIENCE-FICTION - 

When Albie's mum dies, it's natural he should ask where she's gone. His parents are scientists and they usually have all the answers. Dad mutters something about quantum physics and parallel universes, so Albie gets a box, a laptop and a rotting banana, and sends himself through time and space in search of his mum. 

What he finds may or may not be what he's looking for, but he does learn the answers to some big questions. 

This book has a really close resemblance for me to A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, which as you should know by now is one of my favourite books of all time - they are both middle grade and both have a focus around a young boy who's mother is sick with cancer. In Albie's case, this mother has already died and he wants to invent a Quantum Banana Theory to visit parallel universes so he can find one where his mother is alive, with the help of a slightly insane cat called Dylan. 

This book caught me by surprise. When I saw it in store, I automatically had high expectations not just because of the beautiful book cover but because it's science-fiction and middle grade. Any chance I can to read about quantum physics, I will take, even if I don't know that much about it. I just find it really interesting, and I'm beyond happy that Mr. Edge could write something like this to help teach the younger generation about science.

It takes you on an adorable little adventure through parallel universes of what could have happened with hilarious little scenes here and there, and the adorable is too much, okay, it's just too much. But in a great way.

I'm honestly surprised this book doesn't have more recognition because it honestly, hand on heart, deserves it. Thank you, Edge, for giving me this delightful thing.

(Go on, it's only 180 pages - you know you want to!) 

BookTalk: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini || Forgiveness

No idea why it's taken this long to read this, considering it's been sitting in my room for a few months and maybe even a year. I've been recommended this left, right and centre but I had expectations for it that I just didn't feel like reading at the time. The only way I can describe it is that I thought it was going to be a historical document on the Taliban, Afghanistan/Iran/Pakistan, and refugees. Even though this was true to some degree, this book wasn't even about what I thought it was about and it took me into a whirlwind of surprise and I really needed to discuss it before my mind exploded. 

In case you haven't read it (and if you haven't, this isn't going to be spoiler-free so I'd suggest you leave now unless you don't care about spoilers and want to know about the book and this probably isn't the place for you either, it's going to be a whole lot of just 'what I thought') or just need a recap, this book is about two boys who share a home and a friendship. There's Hassan, a boy who has undying loyalty and kindness and is also the servant's son. Amir is the narrator of this story, a boy who is a lot less loyal and a lot less kind. One day, something beyond awful happens to Hassan and this story covers the consequences of this event. The first part here is set in Afghanistan in 1975, and by the end it is set in America in what appears to be the current day. 

Basically, what I thought this book was going to be about was that the Taliban arrive like a marching band on the day of the kite tournament and they take Hassan and do terrible things to him, and Amir was going to have to try and find him and he failed so when he leaves the country to find refuge, he wants to come back to try and get redemption for this mistake. It wasn't that far off, but it was incredibly far off. 

What actually happens is, on the day of the kite tournament, Amir wins. After he wins, his kite is cut and Hassan does what he does best and runs to catch it. Of course, he does, because Hassan is brilliant in so many ways. I think it's because he was taking a while, but Hassan runs to find him. He does find him, and he's surrounded by their worst enemies. I forgot the other two boys' names, but because they don't appear again in the rest of the book they aren't relevant. The one that does the real damage is called Assef. 

This is the part where I almost slammed my book down in anger and called it quits, because it's quite hard to love a book when you hate the narrator - although I didn't end up hating him for very long, I seem to have a weakness for main characters who are assholes.

Assef rapes Hassan when Hassan stands up for Amir and says he wouldn't give up the kite for anything. He just accepts being raped by Assef, because he wants to stay loyal to Amir. The worst part about this is that Amir had watched the whole thing from the sidelines, and we later find out that Hassan knew this and still stayed loyal, but didn't step in and instead chose to ran. This is the second book that has ever made me cry (the first being "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness), although it wasn't really crying, it was more like my eyes watered and I had to stop reading for a moment to collect myself - but I'm going to count it. The part that made me cry was when Hassan walks back to Amir with the kite in his hands and blood dripping down his legs. Amir didn't even have the courage to make him feel better, he did nothing. 

Later on - unclear when, could have been weeks or months - Amir frames Hassan because Amir wants Hassan and his father, Ali, to be gone. Amir's dad (Baba) and Ali have been best friends since they were kids, so not only was he destroying the friendship he had with Hassan and ruining any chances of ever being friends with him again and even just admitting to the truth, he broke the friendship between Ali and Baba too. Amir does this by putting his watch and money he received for his birthday underneath the mattress. Even worse, on Amir's birthday, Hassan and Ali give Amir a gift that cost them a lot of money and seeing as they are servants I imagine they don't have much. 

This did teach me some things that I have been thinking about lately, though, about the art of forgiving other people and forgiving yourself as well as being kind and grateful for what you have despite your dire circumstances. 

I think it's important to forgive other people so you can let go of your past pain and move on. It's not about whether they deserve it or not. It's about letting go of the anger and the want for revenge, so you can move on with your life and put that negative energy to some good. If the people in this book, like Hassan, can learn to forgive the harshest of crimes then I'm sure you can forgive and forget, too. 

Very much how I saw the rest of this book was like an act of atonement, almost. Amir spent so long trying to forget what it was that he did, and ignoring it, before he eventually reached the age where he was in his forties and he properly paid for what he did as a child and made it up (ish) to the son of Hassan. There was a lot of metaphors and hidden messages and meanings I picked up behind the whole Amir and Hassan's son thing, but what I am choosing to focus on here is that it is possible to forgive yourself and atone for what you did and doing bad things doesn't always make you a bad person. Doing bad things and feeling remorse means that you cared, and you're not entirely a bad person in there after all. I really liked that message which I personally got from it. 

I have wanted to make a blog post on forgiveness for a while, but I wasn't sure where to start considering I still haven't really forgiven myself for what I've done in the past and I sometimes think I never will. It's a journey we all have to take on sometimes, and one that you don't have to do alone. 

Also, this book does talk about the very important topic about Muslims/Afghans seeking refuge after the Taliban 'invaded' Afghanistan. Very much like ISIS in Syria, these people need help and I thank this book for bringing to light what should have already been in the light - that people all need help, and the act of a few does not equal the act of all. If you are against Muslims or refugees entering another country for any reason, I hope you have read this book and changed your mind.

- Thank you for reading, and until next time, Loz x. 

There's so much I can say about this book but I think I'll leave it there until next time! 

The Goodreads Book Tag

I know this book tag is an old one but I really felt like doing one, now I'm in the reading habit and I'm not really up to much today but crying in my pillow and watching more of American Horror Story: Coven and maybe later today some Legend of Korra: Change We'll see how this day progresses. Also, my brother is coming home today as he was six yesterday and he went to see his father but he still has some presents from me and my sister to open and I'm exited for that - as exited as a depressed person can be. With that rambling being said, lets get into the book tag. 

1. What was the last book you marked as 'read'?

"The Magician's Nephew" by C.S.Lewis. 

If you read my previous post, you'll know I wasn't hugely fond of this book - it was a good book, but doesn't live up to the hype and has undertones of sexism. Otherwise, I enjoyed it. 

2. What are you currently reading?

"The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" by Rachel Joyce

This book is the first in a series (which I just found out) about an old man called Harold Fry living with his wife, Maureen, in a troubled and unhappy relationship. They have an adult child together called David. One day, Harold receives a letter from his old pal Queenie who is dying of cancer. Harold writes a letter back but instead of posting it through the post box, he keeps walking and walking and pilgrimages across England to get to Queenie. 

Its so far very humorous and melancholic, the writing style is so gripping and it makes the book really hard to put down - if I wasn't so preoccupied with other things, I would have already finished it by now. It's a beautifully written tale, so far. 

"House of Leaves" by Mark. Z. Danielewski. 

I don't even want to attempt to explain what this book is about, but because it's a very common book there's quite a strong chance that you already know what it's about or have already read it. it's basically about a house that's bigger on the inside then it is on the outside, and an old man who wrote a project based on it, and other people who discover this. It's complicated, and written in a strange way, and it's such a big book that it may take me a while to get through. I don't like giving up, so I will push on. 

"Rule of Two" by Drew Karpyshyn (book #2 in the Darth Bane trilogy) 

I don't want to say what this book is about in too much detail as it is the second book in a series, but it continues on with the tale of Darth Bane and the Sith, as well as the Old Republic, and if you love the dark side's perspective in books and Star Wars then you'd love this series. It's action packed and awesome. I lost the book, so it's taking me a while to read this because well...hard to read a book you don't currently have. 

3. What was the last book you marked as 'TBR'?

I don't use my TBR list on Goodreads, but the next book I plan to get to is "The Kite Runner" of the author, I have forgotten. I've heard it's wonderfully sad and hard to get into, so I've put it off but recently felt compelled to get to it. 

4. What book do you plan to read next?

As other books I have on my TBR pile is "Life of Pi", the rest of the Infernal Devices trilogy, some vampire books...I have quite a lot of books I plan to read next, but it's a mystery to see which ones I will actually get to. 

5. Do you use the star rating system?

Yes, and if you want to know how I use the star rating system please click on the tab above that says "Book Ratings". 

6. Are you doing a 2016 Reading Challenge?

This originally said 2014 as this is quite an old tag but I really wanted to do one. I am currently doing a 2016 book challenge, which is thirty books. Last years was fifty, and I didn't manage to do that so I thought I would take it easy this year and not push myself too much. I have more work to be getting on with next year, so I'll probably be reading even less in 2017.

7. Do you have a wishlist?

Yes, my wishlist I store in Amazon and lately have frequently added to it. 

8. What book do you plan to buy next?

"Shatter me" by Tahereh Mafi" as I have a really good, close friend (who wrote this book) that talks quite often about how she loves this book. My favourite BookTuber, Whitney, also speaks highly of this book. I am aware that this book has a lot of similarities to every other YA book series, but so did The Maze Runner trilogy and I absolutely adored that. 

I have also recently read a small first few pages of "The Vegetarian" by Han Kang and found it so interesting that I really feel quite compelled to purchase it. 

9. Do you have any favorite quotes, would you like to share a few?

"Then the cloud became suffused with a dulled pink, as if those vibrant colours had bled through, merging as they met. He couldn't move. He wanted to witness every change. The light on the land was gold; even his skin was warm with it. At his feet the earth creaked and whispered. The air smelled green and full of beginnings. A soft mist rose, like wisps of smoke. Harold was so tired he could barely lift his feet, and yet he felt such hope, he was giddy with it. If he kept looking at things that were bigger than himself, he knew he could make it to Berwick" - The Unlike Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. 

10. Who are your favourite authors?

James Dashner. J.K.Rowling. I couldn't really pinpoint anybody in particular, there isn't really an author I read every book from and there isn't really anybody I highly anticipate. 

11. Have you joined any groups?

No, I don't really know how to get into it. 

12. Are there any questions you would like to add?

Do you add books to your to-read list that you already own or have in your possession, or do you add ones that you really want to read? 

Thank you very much for reading this book tag and if you've already done this then please link it to me as I'd love to read it, or if you want to do it then go ahead and do it. 

Loz x

Bookish Pet Peeves! Part Three

 (This was written literally months ago but I don't want to waste a blog post. I would certainly be a lot less angry now but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Apart from visual editing, I haven't changed anything at all, this is just a saved draft)

If you haven't read the first two, here is part one and here is part two. 

(Also filled with intense rage and sarcasm, sorry...not sorry, though).

Number Twenty-Four.

When is isn't on the spine, the inside of the cover or on the back of the book what number that book is in a series, do you authors really expect us just to know?! Really? It's so annoying (hi, Game of Thrones. Jerk).

Number Twenty-Five.

Everything is a trilogy. 

Everything is a series. 

Are people no longer capable of writing standalones? 

Number Twenty-Six. 

Where graphic violence is a-okay but swearing?! No. Oh, no. No.

Number Twenty-Seven.

When bookstores have the rest of the series but not the first one.
That's...that's pretty useless to me.

Number Twenty-Eight. 

Does anyone know how to comfortably hold a hardback? 

Number Twenty-Nine.

When it's been so long, a recreation of the Big Bang happened in the universe last night, but the movie tie-in edition of the book is still on the shelf.  

Number Thirty (wow I'm a complainer). 

When people judge others for what they read, or that whole "These are the cool books that everyone are reading!" and you're considered weird or an advanced reader or something for reading books nobody else seems to be reading - like, no, the reading community should not resemble high school. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sick of hearing about Sarah. J. Mass.


Number Thirty - One.

When I'm reading, shut up.
Unless someone has died or it involves food, I don't care.

Bookish Pet Peeves! Part Two.

(an old post, sorry! this was written before the chaotic mess that is my life came about and I'd like to say some of these points don't make me as angry anymore, but they're all still my opinion so I'd still like to share it. enjoy)

If you wanted to see part one of this post but you missed it, you can click here to take you there. It wasn't all that interesting, though, just a lot of anger. 

Like, a lot.

Number Eleven. 

Love triangles. Especially when it's an obvious choice.. Looking at you, Twilight. 

Number Twelve. 

Why is every book being compared to The Hunger Games?!?!?!

Number Thirteen. 

When authors develop a society by themselves and create conflicts and action and all this cool, cool stuff but will do one of the two things. 

They'll either give no explanation towards how the society even got that way, or any developed detail on that society.

Or, they'll wait to the next book to solve the conflicts of this book. Like, no, the point of series' is that it's a contiuation of the story but the first book should do okay as a standalone. In my humble opinion. 

Number Fourteen. 

When a really strong, badass female charecter is weakened because of love. Love is supposed to make you stronger, not make you dependent and less of a person then you were. 

Number Fifteen. 

When authors continue a series when it doesn't have much more meat to add to the story so everything from there on out is pointless and boring...don't drag on a series when there's nothing left, authors. Please. 

Number Sixteen. 

When authors write a perfect, well-rounded person that has no flaw. 

Likewise, when a reader complains about a charecter because they are flawed and they act like any human probably would in a chaotic situation at a young age (Tris, guys. Tris). 

Number Seventeen. 

The author pretty much telling us this person is so and so without actually giving us any backup or proof that this is in anyway correct. Like, for example, saying "This guy is desirable" when at no point in the entire book did I like him, or saying "This girl is strong!" and there has been no point in the book where she has been strong. 

Number Eighteen. 

When I read something that gave no warning that it had spoilers in it. I was doing research for this post, and BAM! Spoiler for Stephen King's ending of "IT". I was planning to read that, it's on my bookshelf. How in the hell do you expect me to read a 1000+ book with anticipation for the ending when I already know it?! Man, I am fuming. 

Number Nineteen. 

When the ending of a book doesn't make sense, or when everything is resolved and sugary-sweet. What?

Number Twenty. 

When the cover gives away wayyyy too much of the plot THANKS A LOT. 

Number Twenty-One. 

"Wow, are we in a lot of trouble. Oh, lookie here! A big ball of conicidentally placed helpful tools that are perfect for what I need to do right in this very moment! Oh, yes!"

 Number Twenty-Two. 

Despite "My Sister's Keeper" being one of my most re-read books, I can't stand metaphours. Over-used metaphours, that is. 

Number Twenty-Three. 

Terribly written dialogue. 

"Did you watch last nights' episode of Breaking Bad?"

"Yeah, pretty good"

"It was"

"Wasn't it?"

Blegh. 

I do hope you enjoyed that. 

You probably didn't, you probably left really annoyed by my terrible spelling and structures, and my invalid points. 

But, they do anger me...it's the truth, y'all! 

Yeah, bye.

August Book Haul 2015!

This is not going to include very many books, and for that I apolagize, I just haven't had much money and haven't really been very "read-y" lately. But, I hope you enjoy what I did pick up! What did you buy this month? 

"The Alchemyst" by Michael Scott. 

"The Magician" by Michael Scott. 

Both books were gifts for my 19th birthday back on August 8th from my mother and my younger sister (she's seventeen). They follow twins, Josh and Sophie, who take up a summer job thinking they can do what they need to do and leave, but things take a turn as they're bundled into a world of adventure! I first heard this from my favourite YouTuber, Stacyplays, in her Attack of the B-Team Minecraft series and was intrigued from the get-go! They're books I brought with me to England to see my nan and granddad, I'm probably going to move on to read them shortly and I'll let you know what I thought about them.

"Am I Normal Yet?"by Holly Bourne. 

Amazingly, I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway and started to read shortly afterwards because of it's interesting premise. It follows a young sixteen-year-old girl who tries hard to be normal and fit in, despite that not being who she is, because she suffers from OCD and doesn't want people to know about it. It also follows some very feminist ideas that I really enjoyed reading about, and I can't wait to get my hands on more books written by Miss Holly Bourne.

"Horrorstor" by Grady Hendrix. 

This was a gift from my boyfriend, co-owner of the blog (Austin), for my 19th birthday. I'm currently reading it but by the time this will be posted on Saturday, I would have already finished it. So far, I can say that I really enjoyed it. It's a great joke on how hard working in retail is, getting lost in Ikea and what would probably happen, but also a really horrifying story involving the 1800's and torture devices. I didn't think I would like it as this man has also written for Playboy, but I found myself pleasantly surprised.

"Darth Bane: Path of Destruction" by Drew Karpyshyn. 

Also a gift from Austin, I read this book and finished it shortly after my arrival here in England. It's a science fiction novel from the world of Star Wars following a Dark Lord of the Sith. It was dark and creepy towards the end, a great book for character development, and a fantastic introduction into the Star Wars world. Even if you don't like Star Wars, I think you'll really enjoy reading this book.

"The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Completely Fantastical Edition" by Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black. 

My granddad kindly bought me this book as he had a WHSmith discount voucher, and it's all five books in one beautiful book (believe me, I will be making a post on that very soon) that I can't wait for. I don't know too much about it, I want to go into it blind, but I do know that it's a kids' book that has also been made into a movie and everyone else has read it or watched it but me! No worries, I'll be getting around to it soon.

"Landline" by Rainbow Rowell.

Again, another book bought for me by my granddad, I'm not entirely sure what it's about? Something to do with how a woman wants to get into contact with her ex-husband through the phone and sort things out and start on a clean slate. I really enjoyed reading "Eleanor and Park", it had some flaws but overall it left me with quite a gooey and happy feeling. I'm wondering if I will get the same, or similar, experience here or in "Fangirl". I will let you all know.

Okay, that's all the books I got for the month of August, thank you so much for reading and I'll see you all tomorrow, bye!

- Loz x

Review || "Alfie: The Doorstep Cat" by Rachel Wells.

(this one is kind of an old review, I'm currently in the process of writing and editing a Star Wars novel review but it's kind of hard to write about as it could offend a lot of people if I write it wrong and it also seems dumb that I, a person with no knowledge of Star Wars before that book or even science-fiction novels, would be writing a review/book talk on something like that...anyway, irrelevant, sorry if you hate the late upload posts but at least it's getting uploaded at all, right?!)

This book is basically about a little cat named Alfie who's owner dies from old age. Her daughter comes around and says that she wants to put Alfie in a shelter because they can't stay with her, and Alfie decides to take his life into his own hands and runs away. He lives in a harsh homeless cat world for a short while, before he comes across a street that needs him as much as he needs them. Alfie doesn't want to dedicate his time to one owner because that's going to be hard if he has to go through it all again, so he decides to have multiple owners. 

Lets just cut right to the chase. I DNF'd this book. It wasn't even bad, I actually found it very interesting from the start but Wells gives away so much information that the curiosity that kept me captivated throughout it was lost and I had no drive to finish it. I barely even passed halfway, and I wasn't going to write this review because I was still sure I was going to finish it...but I just can't. Sorry, Rachel, I think you can do better.

The writing was dull. It was dull from the very first page. Usually, this isn't a make-or-break for me. Sometimes, the plot line or the characters or something can be strong enough to keep me reading. After taking English Literature for three years, at this point, I'm just used to reading boring books that I ended up being pretty happy about reading. This book had an interesting premise, and that was enough for me to think this book would be worth it.

So, you get some interesting characters here. A girl who is heartbroken because of a divorce, a man who is lonely after moving away from his life in Singapore, a woman with a husband and a newborn with depression, and a small, sweet little family from Poland. Problem? Their stories were told practically instantly. This book should have been half the size it was. I'm kind of curious about the ending, but I can just look it up. The story had seemed to be told by halfway through the book. The characters also had no personality. I'm aware that this was written from the perspective of a cat, but it was written by a human - the development could have been better. They were also the kind of people I had seen before, I was expecting more of an in-depth explanation to them, but it just didn't happen. Characters really are a make or break for me.

There was also no plot line whatsoever! 
The plotline really was as simple as Alfie becoming homeless, finding a street, and they all warm up to him and that's that.

The premise of this book could have been something a lot better then what it was. Instead, you have something mediocre that I guess would be okay to read if you were into these types of things, but I'm not. I expected more.

Sorry this wasn't up to my usual standards, in the topic of cats I received a two month old kitten for my birthday as my aunts' cat, Sybil, has some kittens and they couldn't keep them. She needs a lot of attention, I barely had time to sleep and write this (is this like a taster of how parents' feel?!). But, thank you for reading, I'll see you all next time.

- Loz x

Disney's Inside Out Book Tag!

(darn it, I missed my time by thirty minutes but I guess not many people live in the UK time zone so whatever I suppose...enjoy!)

I haven't actually seen Inside Out yet, although I'm really interested to, because as you guys know I have social anxiety and a cinema is the last place I want to be, alone or not. I'm just waiting for it to be super cheap on DVD or something, but I do have some basic idea on what the movie is about thanks to my Facebook friends and introductions to this tag in videos I have watched (which I really enjoyed!). 

It's basically about this one person, with five other characters' who live inside their mind. Which are their emotions. These emotions are joy, fear, disgust, sadness and anger (isn't it odd how only one of those is a positive emotion to have?). 

So, you guessed it, these emotions are what the questions are going to be based from. 

Joy! : What book gives you the most joy?

This one is actually kind of hard to answer, because well all books give me joy, that's why I read. An obvious answer to this question would be the first three books from the Harry Potter series, but I don't want to say that just because it's such a cliche answer, especially for me at this point. From a book picked from my 2015 reading challenge list, I'm going to go with "Eleanor and Park" by Rainbow Rowell. You guys know that I had mixed feelings about that book, it was more a three star for me personally (I have a full book talk on this up on here!), but I felt so happy when I was reading it. The relationship gave me the fuzzies, even though I thought they were best as friends - that book just made me feel good (and also bad), I can't deny that. Even if it wasn't as good as it had been hyped up to be. 

Disgust! : What book grossed you out the most? 

A lot of books, but the one that is really standing out to me right now is one I read back in February of 2014, "It's Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned whatever-is-name-is. The over-sexualisation of the characters in this book - all female - made me want to throw up. Even of a rape victim and his own mother. I hate that book with a passion, even though I am mentally ill with depression/social anxiety. It just didn't do anything for me, and I'm sorry to everyone who loved it, but it was disgusting from my feminist point of view. But, a lot of books pop to mind when I think of disgust. Like the domestic abuse theme in "IT" by Stephen King that was wrote to graphically, I was left shivering days after I had read it. I'm just sensitive. 

Fear! : What book scared you the most? 

I have two options for this one. Firstly, the "Gone" series by Michael Grant. I've only got up to book three in the six-part series, but it mostly scared me due to the fact that it was something that might actually happen. Maybe not to the extent it happened to in the series, I don't think people could be gaining powers because of Darkness, but more along the lines of anarchy and having dumb people like Sam be in charge of things and not letting women still into places of power. Second book that I'm going to mention here is an author I'm really not fond of but I just liked this book, and that is "The Secret of Crickley Hall" by James Herbert. I don't know why, but the whole dark paranormal child abuse aspect of the story really scared me not while I was reading it but when I was alone and it was dark. 

Sadness! : The book that made you cry the hardest?

This one is easy - "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness. I won't talk too much about it here as I do have a book talk published, but I don't cry very often at books, hardly ever. This one, though...I started to read it late in the evening, before bed, just because I like to that sometimes but I never put it down till 4am and tears were falling from my face. My heart felt like it had been ripped out - it was just absolutely crushing to me. I was a mess after reading that book. But, don't let that put you off please. If you're one of the few people who hasn't read that book, I urge you go do so now. 

Anger! : What book made you the most angry?

I don't really get very angry in books (apart from the ones I mentioned in disgust) unless they're very anti-feminist, such as slut-shaming or viewing a woman as a sexual object or a woman treating a man like crap when he has done nothing wrong just because she can, things like that. However, I rarely read a book without doing background research on it first and coming across books like this is pretty rare for me, it usually never happens. But, a book I was pretty mad about was "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy" by Helen Fielding. Right, let me tell you a story. I found this book for pretty cheap at my supermarket. but I briefly saw something at the back about Bridget having kids. I disregarded the fact that this book was written in the future, and I went out and got the first two books, £20 in total. At the same supermarket a couple of weeks later, I found these books for £2 each...£4 altogether. To make matters worse, they were the exact editions I wanted which is why I spent so much money on them at the bookstore. Then I found two other versions of these books in a discount book store for even less. It made me so mad, but that's not why I got mad when reading this book. It was cheap, a complete rip-off, a cheat. I believe I also have a review on this book up here somewhere, and I might have deleted it, I hope not. But, Mark's dead, firstly. Secondly, Cleaver hadn't changed at all and you think he would have seeing as he's now a middle-aged man. Thirdly, she never looked after her kids and never did her work but still complained that living a life like she had was hard, and she stayed thin even after eating cheese out the packet almost everyday. She had lost her larger-then-life Bridget Jones quality, it was a huge let down!

Thank you for reading this very long post!
If you could take a second to follow me on whatever is your preference, I would be so grateful, I would really appreciate the motivation right now, I know I usually don't ask for this! 

- Loz x

Reader Problems Book Tag!

How old is this book tag, a year gone now, right?

Well, I'm late to the party in everything else, so what the hell. 

Welcome to a new book tag, that I am doing because I am really, really bored but feel like writing with nothing to write (I just did two posts on book pet peeves, though, and boy that rage was fun). 

Anyway, enough talk/write, lets just begin, shall we? Yes, we shall: 

1. You have 20,000 books on your TBR. How in the world do you decide what to read next?

I just go with the flow of whatever I feel like reading at that specfic moment in time. Usually, I regret it, so I should probably put a lot more thought into it then what I do.  Sometimes, I will read a book I had no intention of reading anytime soon just because it interested me at the time (why read a book you don't want to read, right?).

2. You’re halfway through a book and you’re just not loving it. Do you quit or are you committed?

Quit, quit, QUIT. I tried. I can't say that I didn't, but it's a waste of time, I have a lot of lazy I need to be doing rather then reading this terrible, terrible book. 

3. The end of the year is coming and you’re so close, but so far away on your Goodreads reading challenge. Do you try to catch up and how?

YES, I'M A FIGHTER. Not really, I have the muscles of a fruit fly, but I do try to read as many books as I can once I realize it's not getting completed very quickly (should really be doing that now...) and I will often 'cheat' by reading a bunch of very small, very easy to read or comic-type books just to get the number higher rather then 600 page books - although, don't get me wrong, I do really enjoy reading any type of book, I just don't like to lose, I'm a sore loser okay.

4. The covers of a series you love do. not. match. How do you cope?

I will wait. I will wait for them, because that's what love is, my friend. I wait for new cover releases and I will snatch them...so hard...off that shelf. And there, I will have a perfectly matching series sat there staring at me with pride and I will know that I fought for them. I fought for that beauty, I did it, I waited for them. 

The others can just go sit in a chartiy store or something.

5. Every one and their mother loves a book you really don’t like. Who do you bond with over shared feelings?

This blog, you have become my friend even though I'm a very, very small blogger and I'm 99.99% nobody but the people I share the link to even reads these. Which, in all honestly, just makes us closer, blog, doesn't it? Yeah. 

6. You’re reading a book and you are about to start crying in public. How do you deal?

I don't cry when reading books, ever, I will never have this problem but if I did, I will stop reading the book and go watch Dance Moms on my phone because that's how you deal with emotions. 

7. A sequel of a book you loved just came out, but you’ve forgotten a lot from the prior novel. Will you re-read the book? Skip the sequel? Try to find a synopsis on Goodreads? Cry in frustration?!?!?!?

If I knew it was coming out, the book would have already been re-read because I come prepared but in the odd event that I didn't know it was coming out and I was hit suddenly, I would find the graphic novel version of the book and read that or I will quickly skim-re-read the book so I can jump into that one as quick as I possibly can. 

8. You do not want anyone. ANYONE. borrowing your books. How do you politely tell people nope when they ask?

I'm not polite, really, I usually just tell them upfront I am not comfortable with lending out them, that is like lending out my first born, no.

9. Reading ADD. You’ve picked up and put down 5 books in the last month. How do you get over your reading slump?

I just decide not to read them, at all, and will put them back. I usually turn to writing in the form of blogging, or journalling (probably been noticing I've done a lot of that lately, although probably not, because I am reallllllllly bad at publishing things so I end up having like two posts in one month, but whatever), or I find a good book I really loved and enjoyed and just read through that slowly and by the time I'm done with it, I should be out of my reading slump. Or not. 

*Tina Groan*

10. There are so many new books coming out that you’re dying to read! How many do you actually buy?

I probably don't buy any because I don't have very much money and they usually end up turning out pretty bad, so I just continue buying cheap books the way I usually do and hope to all hell they'll turn up in a charity shop or something at some point. Which, in all honesty, happens a lot. 

11. After you’ve bought the new books you can’t wait to get to, how long do they sit on your shelf before you get to them?

It depends on whether they are a standalone or if they're part of a series. If they're a standalone, they're read pretty quickly because there's no other parts of the series I have to wait for or don't have, there's no other books I have to read before I can read that one, there's no two month period taken to finish the series before I read anymore books from that genre, so it really does just depend. 

Thaaaaaaaaaaaaanks for reading, guys!

I'm in a really good mood today. Is that obvious. 

Even if the guy next to me (we're in a school setting) is watching sexy anime girls on YT, that's totally okay. 

 OKAY BYE. 

Thoughts || "Eleanor and Park" by Rainbow Rowell.

Eleanor is the new girl in town, and she's never felt more alone. All mismatched clothes, mad red hair and chaotic home life, she couldn't stick out more if she tried.

Then she takes the seat on the bus next to Park. Quiet, careful and - in Eleanor's eyes - impossibly cool, Park's worked out that flying under the radar is the best way to get by.

Slowly, steadily, through late-night conversations and an ever-growing stack of mix tapes, Eleanor and Park fall in love. They fall in love the way you do the first time, when you're 16, and you have nothing and everything to lose.

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, Eleanor & Park is funny, sad, shocking and true - an exquisite nostalgia trip for anyone who has never forgotten their first love.

(yes, I copied that from Goodreads. Don't judge me, it's a lot to type, okay!)

(oh, also, this talk is not spoiler free)

So I started this book on the 2nd August, and then finished it in the morning of the 3rd August. I was pretty close, actually, to finishing it in one sitting and it was only because I was getting tired that I didn't. Now, because of this, you might think this talk will be a mostly positive reflection on the book and, as much as I don't want to tell writers their work is crap, it won't be. I like to be as honest as possible on all my social media, my blog is no exception. 

I'm just going to start with Rainbow Rowell overall. I haven't done much (any) research on her, though, so it's just going to be on her writing style and that disclaimer-like chapter at the back. I find it incredibly gripping, even when what she was writing at times didn't interest me. For example, it began to get repetitive and predictable real fucking quickly. I went into this book hoping that it wouldn't be just like any other YA romance, and was thoroughly disappointed. But, more on that later. The fact that it was Rainbow Rowell writing it made me want to keep reading. Sure, the hype surrounding her as a writer probably has something to do with it - even though I've never caved into hype unless I am actually interested in reading the book - but I guess we'll find out if I really do like her writing in future books.

She was pretty sassy in that end chapter. And, you guessed it, that made me really like her too. Although the fact that she ended the book on something that makes me eager for more kiiinda makes me mad. I want to know those three words, dammit! Was it "I love you", or was it "I miss you?" Was it "Come to me?" or "I'm visiting you?". Because of the set-up in the entire book, where Park always said "I love you" and Eleanor wasn't into saying it back (I feel you on that, girl), I'm inclined to believe it was "I love you", however there was also a little tension surrounding "I miss you", too. I guess we just have to go with whatever our imaginations want us to go with. I'm getting off the point majorly here, yeah? Yeah. 

Let's just move on. 

Character development, to me, is pretty important in books. If you don't have characters that you can connect to,  is there really a point in making a plot around them? Is there really a point of telling their story if you don't know the person who's telling it, really know them? I felt this frequently when reading this book. Although, it wasn't bad development, I have read worse, much worse. Eleanor was fiery, just like her flaming red hair (yay, stereotype). She had sass, she remained with a somewhat upper-hand, she was eccentric, she was a "freak", and my favourite part was that she was never described upfront to be a pretty and curvy girl like every other female is in YA romances. They are meant to have a somewhat "flaw" by being bigger then other girls, but that flaw...isn't really a flaw, it's more like some sort of porn movie desire in the end. Some people found her to be pretty, some didn't, which to me is giving across an outdated message of "beauty is subjective", which I believe in but I've heard enough about it. Eleanor, maybe because I connected to her, wasn't where I was seeing development problems.

It was with Park. 

Firstly, and this is just personal preference, I don't know why you'd call your child Park. Secondly, he had vague differences to every other boy in the 80's - aside from the fact he was Asian and "womanly", that is (also another reason why I like Rowell, she kicked gender roles in the face). He sneakily looked into his dads' Playboy magazines, he dated girls because they were popular rather then actually liking them, etc. What Eleanor saw in him, I would never know. 

And, when it came to romance, they said the same sort of things to each other, as they do in every YA romance. Although, I do appreciate this book sounding more like teenagers. Teenagers are jerks to each other, and aren't always soppy and over the top and having sex whenever they get one free moment (although they were almost like that, lets be honest here). 

Which leads me onto my third point, their romance was not believable, they were really just meant to be close friends. I felt for them as friends, but their romance was almost forced, like they needed the affection but couldn't get it from anyone else. Despite this, I was cheering them on throughout the entire thing. I wanted them to work out. I was dying for them to work out. They warmed my heart, gave me butterflies in my tummy, and made my head dizzy - and I'm not even one for romantic shit, that usually just isn't my thing. 

And, lastly, the plot. It was okay. Overall, it was just a story of a blossoming romance. The domestic abuse was not really portrayed horribly enough for me to be mad about it or demand that she never do that again, but it did seem like a ploy to make their romance work out - or seem tragic. But, their was a lot of that in here. A lot of coincidences (like Park, after months, learning how to drive before Eleanor needed to escape out of the town due to her abusive stepdad who was probably going to rape her any day now if she hadn't have got out). It just wasn't an amazingly well developed plot, but I actually kind of liked that. It made a nice change to the very complicated, sometimes over-the-top plotlines I find myself reading now. 

After that hell of a discussion, what do you think about the book, did you like it or didn't like it? Who was your favourite character?

Loz x

Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag!

I've done so many tag posts recently, but this is probably the one that's going to be published first because, well...mid year tag. It's basically like a time limit. This is another tag created by ReadLikeWildfire. I wasn't tagged, I wasn't tagged to do any of these and I never tag anyone, I just think they're fun to do so if you want to do, why not? 

Best book you have read so far in 2015?

I can't even remember what I read in 2015, let me go check Goodreads one moment.  

Oh my goodness, I loved so many of them, this is going to be hard.

Hmm, it's probably going to be "Carrie" by Stephen King because, quite frankly, I realted a lot to Carrie in the movies but we related even more in the book, it was fast paced and enjoyable with a few slow parts but honestly it was a great book and will probably eventually be re-read. 

Best sequel you have read so far in 2015? 

This one is easy, I haven't read any series really apart from Bridget Jones and the Gone series by Michael Grant, and I have to say from the Gone series so far it's probably going to be "Hunger". It was fast paced, gruesome, action packed, wasn't slightly boring, so much conflict and insanity, it was excellent. 

New release you haven't read yet but want to?

I don't much care about new releases, I see a book and if I think it looks good and it's cheap then I buy it, and that's the extent of how I read. But, I am really looking foward to Ransom Riggs' "Libiary of Souls" coming out in September, which I believe is the finale of the trilogy. "Hollow City" left with such a cliffhanger, it was horrible, I'll be re-reading those this late August so that my memory is refreshed by the time Souls comes out. Although, I do have a new release that I'm planning to read soon, "Mind Games" by Terri Terry. It came out in March, so I guess it doesn't count as a new release anymore, does it? I don't know, I don't care, I'm interested in the book. Nobody on my GR's has read it yet, though, and I'm not sure how good or bad that sign is yet. It'll let me develop my own opinion on it though so I can't wait to read it.

Most anticipated release for the rest of the year?

Again, "Libiary of Souls" by Ramson Riggs, I'm pretty ecstatic about that. 

Biggest dissapointment? 

An awful lot of books lately have been a dissapointment, probably because of the reading slump (that I think I have reached the end of, yay). Probably a middle-grade favourite for a lot of you Americans, but we never read it here in the UK - at least not in the school I went to - but "Hatchet" by Gary Paulson, it was so boring and so slow paced and I get that in a real survival, it wouldn't all be on your toes so yeah, it was realistic in some parts - although, not really - and I want more of it explained, like how life was like when he got back home in more detail, but he never really described anything I wanted to know in the book in detail. No idea how he managed to stretch that book out into a five part series, but he did. 

Biggest surprise? 

I haven't read that many books this year yet, so I really don't have very much to go from, but it was probably "Hunger" by Michael Grant as I really didn't like the first book very much, it was okay but it wasn't my sort of thing and the only reason I wanted to continue on with the story in the first place was that I had the whole series on my bookshelves and I didn't want to give them away without at least trying them first, because if I didn't hate or dislike the first book I will usually go ahead and read the second book anyway. I thought it would be just the same as "Gone", but it wasn't, it was better. 

Favourite new author? 

Not a huge fan of romance, but probably Lucy Diamond, I just love the type of people she writes about and how...sweet and lovely it is to read one of her books, especially when going through difficulties in life or having just pushed through a particularly difficult book. I love her. Even though her writing is not perfect. I also really like Saskia Sarginson, and can't wait to buy her next new book, "Without You". 

Newest Crush?

Eh, nobody. None of them really struck me as the type of charecter I would want to know in real life. I haven't got around to reading my new Rainbow Rowell books, though, so maaaaybe one might come soon, who knows? Right now, though, none of them. 

Favourite charecter? 

Diana from the "Gone" series, Coraline from "Coraline", Carrie from "Carrie"  and Nella from "The Minaturist", I can't really pick between them. 

Book that made you cry?

Books...books don't make me cry. "Carrie" made my heart feel quite sad, and "Diary of a Young Girl" (Anne Frank) always does make my eyes water, but books don't really make me cry. I haven't cried since I read TFIOS two years ago, but that was two years ago, if I read that now, I don't even know if I would like the book enough to make me want to cry. 

Book that made you happy?

All of them did, in their own way, I can't really pick out one. "Coraline" by Neil Gailman is a book I am reading right now, so I'm just going to go with that one, the cover is gorgeous and it's such a scary, awesome story that if I ever had kids, I would love to read it to them. 

Favourite book to movie adaptation that you saw this year?

Aside from "Coraline", I'm not a big movie person, I just watch horror/thriller/suspense type of movies, or family friendly type of movies, and I never usually watch movie adaptations from books, I just read the book. 

Favourite review that you have written?

I'm not really a fan of any reviews that I have written so far, I'm still learning my style of writing and the way I want to write and what I want to write about and how I will entwine the information I want to say about the book into a well written and well structured review, so right now, I haven't written anything I can look back on and be proud of just yet. 

Favourite books you have bought this year or received? 

"My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult because I only have that on kindle but I loved the book so much that I don't understand why I never bought it in paperback, and I saw a non-movie edition for cheap in a charity shop and was amazed. I also found a first edition hardback of Harry Potter "Order of the Phoenix" and a first edition paperback of "Deathly Hallows", so now I have three first edition hardbacks and three first edition paperbacks. I'm pretty happy about that. I'm pretty glad that I finally own "Carrie", and I also found the White Rabbit Chronicle trilogy for £5 and I was thriled about that, too, but I still haven't read it. 

What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

Uh, hmm. I want to get the White Rabbit Chronicles out the way, read that book by Ransom Riggs, finally finish the "Gone" series, and that's all I really want to finish by the end of the year, anything else is just going to be freestyled, I read what I please.

Thank you very much for reading, I hope you stick around to see more, g'day!

 

Totally Didn't Book Tag

This book tag was created by ReadLikeWildfire on YT.

I haven't done one of these in a long while, I don't think, and I am really in the mood for writing and making a new blog post but I have nothing to write (just finished a discussion on "Carrie" though, that'll probably be published way before this has) so, hey, why not do a tag?! 

I'm pretty much never tagged to do any of these so if you're wondering why I'm not linking anyone, it's because...there isn't anyone. There's no rules for this, dude! 

(this is meant to sound like a valley girl, which I don't know if I can pull off, but we're going to try)

Let's get to these questions then, leh-go:

Totally didn't need a sequel/s.

I feel like there's so many books I could answer for this question but the one that is springing to mind the most is the Mortal Instruments series...the first three books were great. They didn't need to add to it, really, the last three books just failed in my expectations and made me think more negatively about the series as a whole. Not a fan of Cassandra's writing anyway. Too long, drags on, and Clara is fucking annoying. I don't even remember if that's her name, but she drove me up the wall, do we really need more of her? No. 

Totally didn't need to have more then one point of view.

Hmm...I honestly don't mind when in third person, but in first person, nu-uh, and I'm going to have to pick "Alligent" by Veronica Roth which is written from both Tris's perspective and Four's perspective. Uh, they were really annoying (I mean, Tris was okay but I hated chapters that included Four, no thank you). Why. Though, there's more problems with that book then just that.  

Totally didn't need to change the cover art in the middle of the series.

The Mr Mercedes series by Stephen King. I haven't read it yet, I didn't even know it was a series when I first got it but I saw it had a second book to it and it didn't match the first. It did have a vague similarity that all of King's books do to each other but the covers alone are not obvious enough to say they are even remotely connected. 

Totally didn't need to have a love triangle. 

Every book ever. 

Ever.

Totally didn't need this book to be included in the series. 

An old one, but still much loved by me, is probably "Destined" and onwards in the "Marked" series by Kristen and P.C Cast, is it? Well, it was an amazing series and the plots and twists were really great (I read it when I was fourteen, and judging by who my boyfriends were, I had a small judgement on what was great) but these books onwards fell flat for me. The curiousity of what would happen at the end of the series was not enough for me to want to continue. 

Totally didn't need a cliffhanger. 

"Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs. I'm sure we can all feel the pain of that as we read that last page and knew the next book wasn't coming out until late this year (pre-ordered for me, by my boyfriend, thank you Austin). 

Totally didn't need to have just one point of view. 

I may get a lot of people mad over this but I wished in the Harry Potter series, it wasn't just from his viewpoint. I mean, technically, it wasn't. But, for a majority, it was all centered around Harry and I can understand why that was but to see from other peoples' viewpoints would have been really cool. 

Totally didn't need to have that much hype.

Again, every book ever. But, a recently read one that sticks out in my mind is "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins. It was good, but it wasn't that good. 

Totally didn't need to have that irelevent book reference.

(For example, fans of The Hunger Games will love Divergent). 

The Percy Jackson series, as even though it's okay for a middle grade book (pretty good, actually), it's not okay to be compared to Harry Potter - they only vaguley relate. 

Totally didn't deserve any of my time. 

Hmm..."It's Kind of a Funny Story" by that dude I can't remember the name of, can't say I much care, or "Creed" by James Herbert...those two stick out quite well right now, I can't think of any others. 

Thank you for reading, I have great fun doing this, so I hope you enjoy them too. If you want to do the book tag, I'll leave the questions underneath this sentence (copy and paste, yo).  

1.   Totally didn't need a sequel/s.
2.  Totally didn't need to have more then one point of view.
3.  Totally didn't need to change the cover art in the middle of the series. 
4.  Totally didn't need to have a love triangle. 
5.  Totally didn't need this book to be included in the series. 
6.  Totally didn't need a cliffhanger. 
7.  Totally didn't need to have just one point of view. 
8.  Totally didn't need to have that much hype.
9.  Totally didn't need to have that irelevent book reference.
10.  Totally didn't deserve any of my time.

Bookish Pet Peeves!

I have been thinking a lot about my pet peeves when it comes to books recently because they're really fucking annoying and therefore they refuse to leave my brain and I always find these kinds of posts interesting, so hey, why not? Maybe you can relate to these, maybe you can't, but either way...they really annoy the doodles out of me.

Edit: RAGE!

Number One. 

"Now a moving motion picture!" stickers or whatever the hell they say that you can't remove. Can you not? It completely ruins the cover, but the liklihood is that the cover is already ruined anyway because...

Number Two. 

Book/movie tie-in covers. I am forever grateful that Harry Potter never had that problem, and even though I'm not a huge fan of Divergent and haven't seen the movie, I do like that cover but a majority of the time, unacceptable! 

Number Three. 

I don't even know what they're called but they're usually on the front or back of the cover in quotations, some author or news editor saying some positive feedback on what they thought of the book. Can you keep that inside the pages, if you have to do it all? Please, and thank you. 

Number Four.

When romance overtakes the entire plot. If the book is not specfically about romance, it's not neccesary, and I don't particullary give two craps how hot that guy is or how beautiful that girl is, I want to know more about demons and witches, thank you very much. 

Number Five. 

Book covers with a human on the front. Yes, humans are beautiful, but...I prefer artwork of a human. I think it looks so much better when it's artwork, because that novel is a work of art in itself and it just ruins the cover. 

Number Six. 

I honestly don't mind broken spines, although I try not to do it myself, but I buy a lot of charity books lately and sometimes the spine is so ruined, it's like...how? Did you really need to bend the spine that much, isn't once or twice enough? 

Number Seven. 

"I'm a damsel in distress! Oh, don't worry princess, I'll come and save you!" 

Because the concept of a woman saving herself is just unheard of. 

Number Eight. 

While I'm on that topic, when an author tries to make a posessive and over-obsessed, almost controlling man seem cute because he's "Protecting his woman" or whatever the fuck he's trying to do is just...no. Again, a woman having the ability to control her own life and make her own decisions is clearly not okay. 

Number Nine. 

The topic of mental illness and how it is romantized or simplified in books. As if social anxiety is being cute and shy. Excuse me while I go punch the author in the face and make them do some research. 

Number Ten. 

Instalove.

Need I say anymore?

  I'm going to end this here, it was super long, so I cut it in more or less half so you can look out for a part two published...eventually...I'm really bad at publishing things when I spend ages writing them out, to be honest.