Monday Missions #5

There's been a lot of stress and anxiety in my life right now, so that on top of my mini reading slump, I'm only picking one book to read this week and a couple of options if I by miracle get through it and finish it before next weeks Monday Missions. 

I thought I would include the book I am reading right now, even though I am probably going to get it finished today so I can move on to my chosen book of the week, and that is "Carrie" by Stephen King which is one of my favourite "horror" movies of all time (all three adaptations) and if I had known there was a book at the time I had watched the first adaptation quite a while ago, then I would have read it first, but despite knowing the story of Carrie quite well this book is simply a wonder to read and I love it so, so much (quite the lengthly paragraph right there, huh). It's probably going to get a 4.5 stars. 

So, onto the book of this week, I have chosen "Plague" by Michael Grant, the forth book in his "Gone" series. Obviously, I can't say too much without spoiling the first three but in the previous book, things had spiralled out of control and it began to take a more political edge to it. Sometimes, I heavily enjoy reading about politics but recently is not one of those times and it really spoilt the enjoyment of the book for me. Also, a lot of things had been answered which made any exitement or curiosity for the forth book simmer by quite a bit. Nethertheless, I am hoping something in it will turn and surprise me, I am eager to get this series finished with so I can start a new one (although not too fast, I am really enjoying it, finishing it will be bittersweet).

Options for if I do manage to finish "Plague" are the new Rainbow Rowell books I recently bought in the month of June, and I usually don't cave into the hype until the hype has long died down and the books aren't even brought up anymore, but something about the descriptions from added friends on Goodreads made me eager to pick them up...so I did. Although, not too keen on romance right now, so another possibiliy that I really want to read is "Mind Games" by Terri Terry, author of the "Slated" trilogy, or what I assume is a trilogy. I believe it came out early this year, and is a standalone dystopian YA...something I have never read a standalone of before. This will be new to me. I have also never read a book from this author, I'm interested to see how this book will represent her writing. 

Thank you for reading, this is all for this weeks Monday Missions and sorry for the lack of picture, complications came up today that made it too difficult to achieve but I just really wanted this post to come up today. 

June Monthly Book Haul: Part Five: Other

 The shortest, and last, part of the book haul is the small portion of books I bought that are not enough to fit in their own category. These books are all books I have been wanting for what feels like quite a while so here you go, read on to know my thoughts on them!

"Work in Progress" by Connor Franta (Unread)

 Published 2015.

 This book is simply beautiful. The graphic design was immense, the photographs throughout the book were stunning and really grasped Connor and his love for photography, and the actual content was like watching one of his vlogs (just less funny). It had different visuals on life that he wanted to share and, despite not being a fan of Connor Franta to the level of which I would call myself a fan, I still deeply enjoyed this book and gave it a four out of five stars on Goodreads.

"My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult (Read)

Published 2004. 

When the movie of "My Sister's Keeper" came out, I watched it every single day. It was one of my favourite movies - it was like poetry. I haven't watched it in a while now, only because of how sad it is. It was also the first review I wrote on any book was when I read this the first time on Kindle. I had been looking around for the physical copy for a while, but had never found it. I never published that review and I don't think I have it anywhere, either. Which saddens me. I found it for £2 in a charity shop on the same day I found "Carrie" and was thrilled! It wasn't even a movie cover edition. It's not an amazing novel - it has way too many metaphors and all the parts that aren't from Brian, Anna, Kate or Sara are just boring, and yet it's one of my most re-read books. 

"A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawkins (unread).

Published 1987. 

I'm sure I don't need to say what this is about, but I have an interest in science and always wish to advance my brain on the subjects that I love so I can get really deep into it and work on things from there. I have read a little bit of it, and I was always more interested in biology then physics, and therefore know little about it - nontheless, I will trek through and let you know what I thought about it in the wrap up of whatever month I eventually get to it.


If you missed the other parts, it was Romance, Horror/Thriller, Historical Fiction and YA. 

Thank you SO MUCH for reading and even more so if you got through all the parts of the book haul - I'll be seein' ya!

June Monthly Book Haul: Part Four: YA

 Lately, I have been a lot less keen to read YA books and I am not sure why. It's very much "Once you have read one, you have read them all!" type situation because they're all so similar. But, these particular books either caught my eye or were just cheap or something, so I thought why not? Let me know what you thought of these if you have read them. 

"Mind Games" By Terri Terry (Unread).

 Published 2015.

I don't want to give too much away, going into books blind is the best way to do it, but this is a standalone book by the author of the "Slated" trilogy (at least, I think it was a trilogy) from the perspective of Luna who can live in real and virtual worlds at the same time, something she wants to keep a secret but one day, she is singled out for testing and can't hide it anymore. The safest thing to do would be to fail, but Luna wants something better. I can't wait to get into a standalone again, because at this point I'm sick of reading YA series - I'll let you know what I think of it, it might be read for the month of July!

"Every Second Counts" by Sophie McKenzie (Split Second #2) (Unread).

 Published 2014. 

This is obviously second in a series so I don't want to spoil anything if you do want to read the first one, but it's really a teenage crime/spy novel type of thing. Split Second was about a bomb going off in London and the two teenagers, Nat and Charlie,  want to do some digging to find out what was underneath. It's been a while since I have read the first one so if I want to read this one, I have to go back to that one and I will be writing a review on that because there is a lack of reviews for both of them. And I want to practice my writing skills so I can better! But, anyway, they were pretty decent reads although not amazing and it makes sense as to why they are not as popular as they could be.

"The 100: Homecoming" by Kass Morgan (Book #3). (Unread)

 Published 2015. 

When I bought this, I had no idea it was the third book and nor did I know it was a TV show. Something about aliens named "The 100" coming on earth and humans isolating themselves? Honestly, I don't know, all I do know is that it's science fiction and I am starting to really love science fiction. 

"Messanger of Fear" by Michael Grant (Book #1).(Unread)

Published 2014. 

As far as my understanding goes, this is about a girl who Mara who has seemingly forgotten all but her name and is put through a series' of games. The Messenger can see darkness in your heart and the damage it inflicts on the world around you. He will offer you a game if you go unpunished. Win, they can go free. Lose, and they will live out their greatest fear. It seems pretty terrifying and I can't wait to read it. Will probably wait till I am in the right frame of mind though! If I am judging Grant's ability to produce terrifying events from the Gone series alone, I should not expect this to be a light read, that's for certain. 

Other parts of the book haul:

Romance
Horror/Thriller
Historical Fiction
Other

June Monthly Book Haul: Part Three: Historical Fiction

I've only recently got into historical fiction after reading "The Miniaturist" by Jessie Burton (you should read that, but please go into the book knowing that it mostly focuses on the lives of the people in the house and not on the miniaturist itself, otherwise the ending with not much answer will probably disappoint you) and liked it so much that I entered a giveaway for "Penny Heart" and amazingly won it, although I haven't read any of these books so I can't tell you if any of them are any good D:

"Penny Heart" by Martine Bailey (Unread)

Published 2015.

There's not many reviews on this book so I think I might write one when I eventually get round to reading it (probably quite soon) but this is sort of like a crime thriller set in the past and probably involves a lot of domestic abuse as it is the 1900's. Sorry I can't give more then that, I'm a bit confused by the premise of this book but if you want to know more, then read it here on Goodreads

"Before the Fall" by Juliet West (gave up on)

Published 2014. 

Again, not many reviews, so I might write one on this too but I did try to read this, and the huge amount of sexism shown in the first ten pages (although expected for the 1900's during WW1) put me off. It follows the life of a woman named Hannah who, while her husband is away fighting in the war, she is searching for a job and looking after everything (not much different from the modern parent) while falling in love with someone else. All in the title, really.

"The Beekeeper's Apprentice" by Laurie R. King.

Published 1994.

Again, not sure what it's about so you can click here if you want to know more but I think it's like a Sherlock Holmes' retirement, crime detective sort of book (odd amount of books on crime for someone who isn't keen on the genre) that a friend on Goodread's read and really enjoyed so I wanted to give it a try! The cover also looked a lot like "The Great Gatsby", it was beautiful. Yeah, yeah...never judge a book by it's cover but there's no harm in it! 

Other parts in the book haul:

Romance.

Horror/Thriller. 

YA. 

Other.  

Thank you for reading!

June Monthly Book Haul: Part One: Romance

As always, late to the bandwagon, but I'm not a fan of doing things scripted as of late (not that I needed to tell you that, just take one look at this blog). But, also late to the bandwagon in a different way, as Rainbow Rowell has become a favourite author of many, many people and I've only just got my hands on them. Usually, I avoid the popular books unless I really want to read them so the less popular or not popular books can get a chance too (and they're pretty amazing sometimes) but that's a whole other blog topic I have been meaning to talk about.

"Fangirl" by Rainbow Rowell (Unread).

Published 2013. 

The thing that caught my eye about this book is that it's about twins. I love reading books about twins. Although I am fairly close to my sister in the fact that we hardly ever fight (physically or verbally) and we usually help each other out, we're not close in the fact that we know a lot about each other or that we talk about our life with each other but that's mostly due to our personalities. With twins, you get this bond that is so different from any other and it makes a really enjoyable and interesting read. I don't wish to be a twin, I'm quite content with the relationship I have with my sister, but I often wonder what it would be like.

"Eleanor and Park" by Rainbow Rowell (Unread).

Published 2012. 
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This is about a girl called Eleanor, who has frizzy red hair and wears weird clothes, and Park, who likes music, books and being invisible. I believe this starts off as a friendship and blossoms into a relationship. I'm not sure how much I will enjoy this book, I've heard mixed things about it, but my favourite reviewer on Goodreads, Emily May , said a comment in a recent review (I can't remember which one) on how she liked the friendship-to-relationship type of theme in the book even if the book never ended up being a huge success for her. The relationship I have with Austin started off as a friendship and now we've been together two years this month, so I have a weakness for this kind of thing. I hope it's as good as my expectations.

"Hens United" by Lucy Diamond (Unread)

Published 2009.

The last Diamond book I read, "Sweet Temptation", didn't do so much for me as "Over You" did but, despite the sugar sweet endings and the easy-to-guess plotlines, she has a way of writing characters that makes you fall in love with them and can cover dark topics in a serious way without it getting depressing. "Hens United" is about a group of women after the hen night that takes place before a wedding. I believe one is divorced, one is unhappy...and I love nothing more then reading about broken marriages.

"Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams" by Jenny Colgon (Sweet Shop #1) (Unread).

Published 2012. 

This is exactly as it sounds. Rosie gets dragged away to the candy shop owned by a relative of her boyfriend and she thinks it will be uneventful but she is wrong. She also discovers the history behind the jars of sweets. I've never really been a huge candy person, I'm more of a chocolate person and savory stuff for the most part, but I have heard so many good things about this book that I didn't want to turn it away. I finally picked it up. Plus, I am quite interested in the historical background of sweets. Especially mint humbugs. 

Other parts:

Horror/Thriller.
YA. 
Historical Fiction.
Other. 

Thank you for reading!

June Monthly Book Haul: Part Two: Horror/Thriller.

The photo is missing Carrie because, at the time of the photo taken, I had it in my school bag downstairs and I was exhausted. I thought about re-taking it today but I hate how late I am to publish this haul so fuck it, it's going to get published today. Just know that it was bought, pretend it was there.

 "Finders Keepers" by Stephen King (Mr Mercedes #2) (Unread).

Published in 2015.
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My lovely boyfriend bought this for me when he found out that I had the first book of this trilogy but none of the rest - and this was a couple of weeks before I started to see the book everywhere, poor guy! Anyway, this is the only one here that I haven't read, the second book to the "Mr Mercedes" trilogy (which is actually a crime thriller and not about a car like I thought it was...hey, don't judge me like that, it's not like King hasn't written about crazy cars before!). I have no idea what it's about as I don't want to read the back through fear that it will spoil the book but I think it's advancement on a character in "Mr Mercedes".

"Carrie" by Stephen King (Reading).

 Published 1974. 

Pretty sure we all know what the story of "Carrie" is (or you should do, after three movies - I love them all, by the way) but if you don't, it follows the story of Carrie White and her overly religious and abusive mother, Margaret. Carrie has had telekinetic powers since she was tiny, but her traumatic late period triggered it's full power and, perhaps, that's what the power was waiting for. I love love love the movies because of how much I can relate to Carrie (fat and autistic, you can imagine how well that was treated in high school) right down to her weird behavior and physical characteristics in the book - I've only ever managed to read a short bit of it each time because I could never get my hands on a physical copy, but eventually did in a charity shop for £2 (with the beautiful Chloe Grace Moretz on the front...usually don't like movie editions, but it's Chloe).

"The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins (Read).

 Published 2015. 

This follows from different perspectives, but mainly focuses on Rachel - an alcoholic living with a vague friend after her inability to have a baby and the divorce with her husband (Ben), who remarried to a woman named Anna with a baby of their own. She pretends to go to work everyday on the train and looks down at the street where her train stops everyday to look at a 'happy couple' she names Jess and Jason - the same street where Ben and Anna lives, in the house she used to live in. I enjoyed this book. It was slow at the start and is familiar to "Gone Girl" (or so people say, I have never read it and have no plans to) but it caught up. The end was predictable, but I really loved Rachel and Megan and strongly felt their pain - even though everyone in this book seemed to be obsessed with marriage, babies and destruction.

"Creed" by James Herbert (Read but gave up on).

Published 1990.

As much as I enjoyed "The Secret of Crickley Hall" by Herbert, his other books have been nothing but disappointment and this one was no different.  It follows the life of Joe Creed, the paparazzi. Living up to the (mostly correct) stereotype of paparazzi, he is a horrible, hypocritical, sexist, sex-obsessed man who is quite content with ignoring his son and hurting other people. Unlike other characters' you are meant to hate but still feel for, he had nothing I wanted to feel for. Even when the demon wanted to steal his pictures and stole his son, tormented Creed, I felt pretty glad about it and was not so secretly hoping Creed would just die. My guess for what the ending ends up being is that (I guess a spoiler?) the demon was made up by his imagination or something, even though that doesn't make much sense because nothing adds up - I guess I will never know the ending. 

Thank you for reading, please continue on with the haul posts if you are enjoying them, I'll see you in my next one!

Click below for other parts of the haul:

Romance.
YA. 
Historical Fiction. 
Other.  

Have you heard of BookCrossing?

BookCrossing is a website I recently heard about, but apparently a lot of people know about. The other day, I went to a charity shop and found "My Sister's Keeper". Inside was a sticker. On this sticker, it had information about BookCrossing and what I can hope to expect. 

Basically, you can log in and search the code the sticker provides for you inside the book to see where the book has been. "My Sister's Keeper" was in England, but there was a few missed 'journal entries' as they're called to explain how it ended up in South Wales. 

I was having a bit of trouble with it, I would log in but it said the code didn't exist but when I was logged out, it did exist and I couldn't comment on the books new place with my username. Which was fine, I could add in a few details anyway and explained about the books' destination. Shame I plan to keep it after hunting for it for so long because I want to see where it ends up! 

Anyway, just thought I would let any readers know in case this is something you're interested in doing or looking into. 

I have a book haul and wrap up coming this week, I hope you stick around to read them (does this count as promotion...?)

- Loz.