Friday 21 August 2015

Feature and Follow/ Blogger Hop

Here’s this week’s question: If you could have any animal in the world as a pet what would you have? Fictional ones included. 


Feature & Follow is a blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The purpose is to meet new people and gain more followers in the book blogging community.


If we are talking real animal...A wolf. A well trained one. That was mans best friend but super bad-ass. Something along the lines of a direwolf...ok so maybe we've wandered off into the realm of fiction.


Q: When you read a book that isn't for review, do you still feel a need to write a review of it?

All the time. I feel super guilty when I read books and don't write a review for it, even if its not specifically for review.
I always feel like I'm letting my blog down when that happens. I currently have a stack of books I need to catch up on reviewing, but sometimes its hard when the book wasn't necessarily good or bad. I always have the most trouble with those reviews.


Do you want to join in the book blogger hop? More info can be found here @ Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted writer

Thanks for stopping by guys!

Wednesday 19 August 2015

Review- Cinder- Lunar Chronicles #1 (Marissa Meyer)



Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1)

Synopsis


Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.                      
  Goodreads.com



My Review 


There's nothing like a good fairy tale retelling to help get a girl out of a book slump. Cinder wasn't your everyday run of the mill retelling though. It took Cinderella and completely turned it on its head, adding unique futuristic and dystopian elements. Which made it completely different from any Cinderella story I have read. The world building and character development was well done. The story line was obviously well thought out with a clear lead into the following books. There were parts where I wasn't sure where the plot was going, but I was always pleasantly surprised. 

I can’t say I was a huge fan of the romance cinder had. There just wasn't a lot of chemistry there in my opinion. Maybe a nice friendship but nothing more than that. Prince Kai is a nice enough bloke, but he was just lacking something. I'm hoping his character will develop a little bit more spunk through the next books. My favorite character was the doctor. He was hard to read and kept me guessing for a while whose side he was playing for. Which only added to the element of suspense. 

I’m not going to go into too much detail, because I know many people have already read and reviewed this book (probably a lot better than I could.) But if all the good reviews and praise are anything to go on. I suggest giving Cinder a go, if you’re in the mood for something a little bit surprising and different. It definitely helped me get out of my reading funk.


My rating: 4/5

Friday 14 August 2015

Feature and Follow/ Blogger Hop

Here’s this week’s question: If you could have an endless supply of food, what would it be?


Feature & Follow is a blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The purpose is to meet new people and gain more followers in the book blogging community.


I want to say potatoes. Just because they are so versatile. You can have mashed, boiled, roasted, wedges, fries, hashbrowns, stuffed etc. So many delicious possibilities.


Q: Are you ever without a book?

Not often haha.
I take a book with me almost everywhere. To work, to the mall, when I'm getting takeout. Every moment is an opportunity to take 5 min to read some more.

Do you want to join in the book blogger hop? More info can be found here @ Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted writer

Thanks for stopping by guys!


Wednesday 12 August 2015

Review - On the Fence (Kasie West)


On the Fence

Synopsis


For sixteen-year-old Charlotte Reynolds, aka Charlie, being raised by a single dad and three older brothers has its perks. She can outrun, outscore, and outwit every boy she knows—including her longtime neighbor and honorary fourth brother, Braden. But when it comes to being a girl, Charlie doesn't know the first thing about anything. So when she starts working at chichi boutique to pay off a speeding ticket, she finds herself in a strange new world of makeup, lacy skirts, and BeDazzlers. Even stranger, she's spending time with a boy who has never seen her tear it up in a pickup game.

To cope with the stress of faking her way through this new reality, Charlie seeks late-night refuge in her backyard, talking out her problems with Braden by the fence that separates them. But their Fence Chats can't solve Charlie's biggest problem: she's falling for Braden. Hard. She knows what it means to go for the win, but if spilling her secret means losing him for good, the stakes just got too high.                           Goodreads.com


My Review 


Kasie West is fast becoming an author that I will keep reading. This is only my second book by her and I enjoyed it even more than the first. She has an amazing knack for capturing friendships and family dynamics.

This book in particular had a beautiful family dynamic, something I can only be envious of as an only child. Charlie has 4 brothers…well 3 actual brothers and the boy next door who might as well be one of the family. All 4 of them are super overprotective of her, even going as far as to cover up a family secret to protect her. One of my favourite things about them is there cheeky lists of un-dateable qualities in a boy like…. 

“Never date a guy whose jeans don’t cover his ankles”

“Never date a guy who likes V8…because you can’t trust a guy who drinks his vegetables”.
- Kasie West (On the Fence)

It’s hard to say exactly what this book was about. Because going into it I was expecting a typical YA contemporary. However, Kasie West manages to write about more than teen romance in her books. On the Fence is a story of a girl growing up with very little female influence in her life and how she’s learning to adapt to being a ‘woman’ for the very first time…makeup and all. To top it all off she’s also falling for the boy next door… the one who’s been best friends with her family since they were kids.

I liked that Charlie’s character was so unique. She was a tomboy, who was into sport and hanging out with the boys. Something that she tried to change, when she thought it was seen as undesirable to the opposite sex.


“Guys don’t want a competitor, they want a cheerleader. So excuse me if I feel like I have to compromise a little of who I am to make a guy actually look at me like I’m not his teammate.”
- Kasie West (On the Fence)

My favourite aspect of the book was the sibling relationships.  Charlie and her siblings were so much fun to read about, the teasing, goofing off and rough housing that ensued was pure magic. I also had a soft spot for Charlie’s dad. While he didn’t feature a lot in the book, the moments he appeared in were touching and showed just how much he was trying to raise a daughter and provide her with everything maturing girl’s need, which was clearly out of his comfort zone.  

The romance was also super adorable. But I’m a sucker for a boy next door. If you’re looking for a good book to finish off your summer, I would give this one a go. Kasie West knows how to write a heartfelt book. 


My rating: 5/5

Friday 7 August 2015

Feature and Follow/ Blogger Hop

Here’s this week’s question: If you could have 3 wishes granted, what would they be?


Feature & Follow is a blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The purpose is to meet new people and gain more followers in the book blogging community.


Hmm well to start with the obvious. A large sum of money would be fantastic. I wouldn't want to be a billionaire or anything. But a large enough sum so me and my partner could buy a house and live comfortably and do some travelling, and also the same for my family.....That's all I would really want for myself.

Other things I would wish for, would be free government funded health care throughout the world. I'm pretty lucky that where I live, health checks etc are pretty heavily subsidized but I realize that it's not like this in many other places in the world. 


Q: Do you ever do a review based on a holiday? eg. Christmas themed books in December.

Not really. I kind of just read and review what I'm interested in at the time. But I do have a tendency to review summer contemporaries in the hotter months etc.

Do you want to join in the book blogger hop? More info can be found here @ Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted writer

Thanks for stopping by guys!



Tuesday 4 August 2015

Top Ten Tuesday (24)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the amazing Broke And The Bookish.

Top 5 Fairy-tale Retelling

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1)   Cruel Beauty   Of Beast and Beauty

Ash   The Forestwife Trilogy
Ok, so technically I haven't finished Cinder yet...but I'm 50 pages off, and I can already tell it deserves to be on this list. Cruel Beauty, was one of my favorite books from last year and has quite a different spin on the Beauty and the Beast tale. Same with Of Beast and Beauty, which is next on my list. Then I have Ash, which I flew threw when I read it. It had some interesting elements, and threw in some LGBT themes as well. Now my last one I haven't seen on anyone's list which is The Forestwife Trilogy, which is a retelling of the story of Maid Marian from Robin Hood.



Top 5 Fairy-tale Retelling on my TBR

Winter (The Lunar Chronicles, #4)A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)

Crimson Bound The Wrath and the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn, #1)    Tiger Lily
    
It goes without saying that I want to read the rest of the books in The Lunar Chronicles. But in addition to those, A Court of Thorns and Roses, is high on my list. Along with Crimson Bound, The Wrath and the Dawn and Tiger Lily which I have hear really great things about.

What is your favorite fairy-tale retelling? 

Sunday 2 August 2015

TBR Takedown 2.0 Wrap-Up + BookTubeAThon



So my goal for the TBR takedown was to read 3 books. I can't say I achieved my goal, but I did enjoy what I did read. I managed to finish Stealing Parker in 2 days, and then got around half way through Cinder. While I didn't accomplish my big goal, the read-a-thon did give me that little push I needed to get out of my reading slump. So I am thankful for that :)



Also, this month from the 3rd-9th of August is Booktubeathon. Which is a Youtube based read-a-thon. hosted by some pretty awesome book-tubers. I participated last year and it was SO much fun and if you have the time, and are in the mood for a read-a-thon I highly urge you to give it a go.  I won't be joining officially this year with all my work and sports commitments, but I will probably try out a few of the challenges if I get the chance.


Are you a fan of read-a-thons? Why or why not?




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