April Wrap Up and May TBR

Hiya,

So exam season is upon me and A-levels are officially kicking me in all of the wrong places. I have managed to read some good books this month, though some have taken perseverance to read and I suppose this previous month, my reading slump officially started. I'd of like to have read more books - but don't I say that every month?
P.s: I know this wrap up is slightly late.

Never, Never Part Three by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher 
So, I really do have mixed feelings about this ending. On one hand, I love it. The characters made me laugh, love and cry and I felt like I connected to both sides of their writing. On the other hand, I felt like this whole thing was a bit of an uh. Like the ending was so far-fetched and a bit odd. I'm not sure it even fitted in with the story that much and it was kind of sprung on you randomly and out of the blue.

The characters I did like. Both were relatable and interesting and had different and noticeable dynamics which were easy to see. I felt that the secondary characters did have a purpose in this book and I'm glad they were consistent throughout. On the other hand, I did find this book cheesy. Like I had read it a thousand times. I'm not sure if this was the purpose, but it seemed like an over-romanticized rom-com at some points and I found myself cringing at the things some the characters said or thought.

RATING OUT OF /5: 2.5
LINK TO THE BOOK: click me

Carry on by Rainbow Rowell
I've always been a massive fan of Rainbow Rowell. I think the way she writes is so funny, interesting and grips me every single time. I loved Simon Snow's story in Fangirl and immediately wanted to ready this book after I found out that it existed. I must say I am impressed, I like the originality of it, although derived from Harry Potter and I think that the writing was humorous and worth the read.

Simon was such an interesting character. He was like nobody I have ever read before I really like how all of his personality wasn't just sprung on you on the first page. You really become to love Simon and his friends (Penny I heart you). I found Simon hilarious and enjoyed his chapters and thought he was such a good person. I really enjoyed Baz' chapters too. I thought he was such a dynamic character with a thousand different things to him, but I never once hated him throughout the book. I love, love, love Baz and Simon's relationship and how it grew and developed.

My only issue with the book, about half way through I got bored. Not because the story wasn't interesting enough, it just felt like a hundred page fillers until the exciting part happened where it could have been done in twenty. I felt the more it dragged, the more I was pushing myself to finish the book, however, I do think the ending is worth it.

RATING OUT OF /5: 4
LINK TO THE BOOK: click me

Davy Harwood in Transition by Tijan
So, this book is a sequel. The first book I loved, this one was a weird follow up. Like I felt half of the stuff didn't make sense and the new characters were very random and had little purpose to the story. It's not like me to dislike Tijan's writing, but this book felt rushed and weird like I couldn't find the right page or I was missing it. I don't know how to put it. I guess some sequels aren't the right sort of follow up.

I do like our main character, but I felt in this book she was slightly more whiny and boring and she didn't stand up for herself in the same respect she did in the previous books. I do like Roane as a character. He was interesting and fun.

I will be reading the third book, despite my opinions as the ending was left in a way that made me want to read more.

RATING OUT OF /5: 2-2.5
LINK TO BOOK: click me

May TBR:

Exactly the same as last months. I am half way through I'll Give You the Sun, so I am off to a good start! Find that TBR list here.

Happy Reading!

Hollie x

February Wrap Up and March TBR

Hello!

So this month I have been crazy busy with launches of new stories on new, cool apps (cough, cough Radish) - another blog post coming on that soon! I have been drowned in coursework for my A Levels and I have been busy with other personal bits and bobs. But nevertheless, I've seemed to do pretty well on the reading front this month, reading 6 books when I only thought I'd get through 3. As usual, I will let you know what I have thought about each individual novel and give my star rating out of 5. Hope you all had a good reading month, what are your to be read books? I'd love some recommendations!

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

This book killed me. Killed me once, twice, three times I read it this month. I literally have no words to describe to you the 320 page wonder of this book. I loved it. This novel centres on our protagonist who is seemingly allergic to everything. Yep, everything. She lives at home with her mother and has a really nice nurse who takes care of her and understands her needs and what she wants. She's just like any other teenage girl, but with crap loads of time. So when handsome, wonderful (all around lovely) Olly moves back in next door, things go up a notch. 

I honestly loved this novel. It is a beautiful, heartwarming coming of age story that focuses on a girl having something that would honestly be life stopping. Though the climax of the story was predictable, I didn't mind as I was sooooo invested into these characters and Maddy's life that I was happy with what happened. Definitely, definitely, definitely recommend!

STAR RATING OUT OF /5: 5, duh :-)

WHERE TO BUY IT: click me

Did I Mention I Need You? by Estelle Maskame

Ah, so there is this thing about sequels not being quite as good as the first book. I haven't experienced this much before, but there was something about the second book in the DIMLY trilogy that made me find Eden (our main character), really annoying. 

SPOILER: I don't know about you, but she seemed to pine wayyyyy too much for Tyler in this book as if she was a puppy asking for treats at his feet. She felt untrue to herself (or what I felt for her in the first book). I'm not sure how to put it, she was just off.

On the other hand, I did enjoy this book. I do like where its set and the descriptions Estelle gives makes me excited as if I'm there with her. I loved Tyler's roommate and I do think I will purchase the third novel.

Okay, so this book focuses on Eden's summer trip to visit her stepbrother Tyler in New York where he is now living. Old memories and feelings and torn up and it's about Eden trying to sift through these whilst being a girlfriend to his best friend.

Maybe it was because I had such high expectations going into this novel, I just found it to be lacking.

Let me know if you have similar (or different opinions) below!

This was on my TBR list for last month.

STAR RATING OUT OF /5: 3

WHERE TO BUY IT: click me

Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

Another love of the month. My favourite thing about this book was that it wasn't set in anyone in particular's point of view, it was set in ALL of the characters points of view, all at the same time. It was incredibly written and I felt as if I could understand the fact that these characters all were able to read minds.

As you may have gathered, this book is about a group of students (the majority of their homeroom 10B) have received a flu shot that is sort of dodgy. Now, it's only happened to 10B, (as far as they know), and suddenly the students find themselves being able to read each other's minds and suddenly the idea of privacy is out the window quicker than a cat being pinged out of a catapult. 

I really, really, really enjoyed this book and finished it in one sitting. I thought the characters were diverse and the problems they faced were ones that everyday people do, theirs were just magnified by the fact everyone knows about it. 

I thought the idea was original, particularly as we got everyone's perspective pretty much at the same time and the book is written as they have all sat around a table and written it together. For example: we all felt sad for Chuck because he was going through a rough time. (Made that up, but you get the idea).

I definitely will be continuing with the story and will be on my next TBR this month!

STAR RATING OUT OF /5: 4
WHERE TO BUY IT: click me

Never, Never Part Two by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher
I don't know if it's getting more confusing or not, but everytime I read another book in this series, I'm left like 'whuuttt' and not sure if it's the good or bad way? I do enjoy this series and I do like the characters, I'm just not sure where the hell this plot is going.
This book focuses on a girl and guy who have completely lost their memories (they forget everything after a day) and are trying to figure out why and what is happening to them. The ultimate question is: who took them? If so, why?
I will read the final book in this series because I'm curious to what the answer is, however, I have a feeling it may be farfetched.
I'm not sure, what do you guys think?

STAR RATING OUT OF /5: 2.5
WHERE TO BUY IT: click me

Davy Harwood by Tijan
Another big love of mine this month. I am a big fan of Tijan's books, ever since I got my Kindle. I have read pretty much all of her work which is usually young adult romance or new adult, but this one is a nice new fantasy novel that I really, really did enjoy.
This novel focuses on a girl who knows that she is able to sense people's emotions and feelings (emphatic) but she realises that it may be more than that when things start happening. She's aware of vampires, so in walks gorgeously frustrating vampire who sheds some light onto Davy's darkness. Basically, the book is a predictable vamp romance, but I have a weakness for these type of books.
I really, really, really did enjoy the characters. Davy is levelheaded and kind and I felt as if she cared about everyone because she could literally feel everything they are feeling. I did find her choices irritating sometimes though, they were slightly selfish.

STAR RATING OUT OF /5: 4
WHERE TO BUY IT: click me

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
God. I really really really really didn't like this book, and I love books with this genre. I don't know what it was, I guess after the massive hype about how good it was, I picked it up and only got round to reading it now, but I felt like it was seriously lacking in many areas. I hated the main character. She is obnoxious and annoying and off the bat I didn't care for her (this never happens for me in a book). I didn't like how she treated people, she just seems like someone who would step on you to get to what she wants and not apologise for it afterwards.
I didn't enjoy the story line or when it was set, it felt forced and I'm not sure why - I can't exactly pinpoint it. I did like Arin's character - he was relatable and I did like him.
I'm unsure if I'm going to continue with the series, I felt the whole thing was badly done. The writing was enticing or intriguing to me and I didn't have any emotional connection to the characters. Ugh. Let me know if you guys enjoyed it. 

STAR RATING OUT OF /5: 2 (pushing it)
WHERE TO BUY IT: click me

March TBR (to be read):

Servant of the Crown by Melissa McShane

Specials by Scott Westerfeld

The Innocence Game by Michael Harvey

Denton's Little Death Date by Lance Rubin

Thanks Lovelies!

- Hollie x

My Wattpad Pet Peeves.

Hey there,

So occasionally, okay, all the time, I come across something that makes me really irritated. I get annoyed at certain things and now it's coming to an extent where I want to share, I hope I am not the only one.

1. NUMBER ONE: When a writer puts at the end of the their blurb, read to find out! But I mean, what else are we going to do, eat the book? Fart on it? Can you not state the obvious please, of course we are going to 'read to find out'.

2. NUMBER TWO: When writers write their book in lower case because it's trending. No, stop before I blow your brains out. It's fine for everywhere else but when you are actually writing. WRITE IN SENTENCES/CAPITAL LETTERS AND IN NORMAL FORMAT. I don't care how good your synopsis is, but if you start writing like 'lucy plucked ellie from her barn, cuddling the dog to her chest as she smiled down at samatha, the mommy dog.' I'm just like, 'okay dead.'

3. NUMBER THREE: When you sit down to read a book and the first page is on the lines of, 'hello my name is sophie, I am seventeen with brown hair and green eyes. I live in london with my dog and my mum is a vet' sorry are we watching some theatre performance, a movie? Why, for dear lord are you introducing your character like that? Who even sits down and writes, 'hello my name is sophie...' I want to bang my head against a wall and cry, it's painful.

4. NUMBER FOUR: When writers put at the end of the synopsis, 'I'm shit at blurbs but the story is great I promise.' But how can you write a 200 page book and not manage to conjure up a four line blurb. Uh, u ok.

5. NUMBER FIVE: When readers post on stories, 'check out my story'. This is a personal pet peeve for me, but it really irritates me. Does my story have a sign saying, 'welcome aboard, don't forget to leave your story suggestion down below', no I think not. It's just one of those things that really tickle my nerves.

These are just some of my pet peeves, do you want anymore? What are your pet peeves?

-Hollie.