January Wrap-Up -RQK

The first book I read this month was "The Bane Chronicles" by: Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson. I got this book over the holidays! I got many Cassandra Clare books over this seaso. I made a post about them so if you want to see what other books I got you can view them here. A lot of people aren't really interested in extra books like these and say authors just do them for money. Even if thats the case I find books like these to be extremely fascinating. Especially when they are about characters who aren't really main characters ,but are common in the series. I am always curious about these characters stories, but usually I don't get to find out much because they aren't a main part of the story. In these books you get to learn more about the characters which I love! I would rate this book 5/5 stars!

The second book I read this month was "BZRK" by: Michael Grant. I just was at the library one day and decided to grab this book. I really had liked his gone series so I decided to try another one of his books. I actually really liked this book. I take Computer Science and as a part of our curriculum we have to talk about the whole idea of AI and other sorts of possible technological advancements. This book took this idea and created a very unique story! I really didn't know what to think of it at first, but now that I have finished the book I really like it! I am definitely going to read the rest of the series as soon as I can get my hands on it! I would rate this book 4.5/5 stars!

The third book I read this month was "Eye of Minds" by: James Dashner. I really liked the Maze Runner so I decided I would try this series as well. I was really confused about this series at first, but it was just so interested. Again it was kind of like BZRK in that it reminded me a whole lot about my Computer Science course. It has a lot to do with coding and this virtual world that was created. I am not exactly sure how it happened that I randomly chose to books with very similar themes, but it's quite fascinating. I haven't read a whole lot of books like these before and I was a bit surprised actually how into it I got! If you have any sort of interest in computers or technology I would suggest trying to read this book! Even if you think it might not be for you, you never really know until you try! Like BZRK I would give this book 4.5/5 stars!  The only thing stopping me from giving either of these books 5 stars would be that I found them to be really confusing at the start which I dislike, but besides that these books were phenomenal!

Holiday Books! - RQK

So I got a lot of books this holiday.. Some I bought myself, some I have read before nonetheless I got books! I decided I would make a post about some of the books I received this holiday season. I don't remember the order so I shall just state them at random.

I got  quite a few Cassandra Clare books this holiday season! One of them being this one, "Clockwork Princess" by: Cassandra Clare. This particular one I bought for myself. I had already read this book, but I had enjoyed it so much I had to buy it! I definitely would like to re-read this book! FTM did a review on this earlier in 2014. (Wow it's 2015... that's weird to think about!) You can view that here!

I also got "The Maze Runner" by: James Dashner. I absolutely loved this series! I went and saw the movie as well and although it obviously differs from the book it was still very entertaining to watch! I am really looking forward to the next movie coming out! I was very happy that I got this book because for a lot of my series I am missing the first book.. It really bothers FTM, she comments on it a lot. I mean I am sure she will comment how now I own the first book and technically the fourth book which is a prequel story. (I actually meant to get the second book not the fourth originally) Either way I am happy I finally own a first book! Getting books for Christmas is awesome!

To be honest, this is the one series when I really don't care which ones you own and don't own but it does bug me how you only own the third book in The Infernal Devices, I mean I can't blame you considering I only have the third one... 

- FTM

I bought this book as an e-book two days before Christmas. It was kind of like a Christmas gift to myself, but I mean if your to get a gift for yourself it might as well be a book right? So I chose to get "I Am Number Four:The Lost Flies: The Fugitive" by: Pittacus Lore. I honestly love this series and have for a long time. I own like all of the books either paper copies or e-books. Not everyone likes this series, but I always found the concept of alien lifeforms to be extremely fascinating! I highly suggest these books to anybody who is looking for a good long science fiction series! This series has main books and then smaller books which are side stories that give you more information. Some people only like reading the main series, but I love reading them all. 

The next book I got was "The Kite Runner" by: Khaled Hosseini. This book is one of my favourite books! When I first read it I had borrowed the book from the library so I didn't actually own it. FTM got it for me for Christmas! (THANKS!!!) Even though I read it there is something different about having the book yourself! Especially since I love it so much now I can read it whenever I want! This book is very sad, but very real. Before this I had never read a book like this before this and it was just amazing. I did a review on this where I talk about this in more depth. You can read that here.

On boxing day I got "The Bane Chronicles" by: Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, and Maureen Johnson. I was originally going to borrow FTM's copy, but then I got it myself! This book was very fun to read! It didn't have a base storyline so I didn't feel a strong curiosity to rush through it. Magnus Bane was one of my favourite characters in Cassandra Clare's books so I was interested in getting to read some of his stories. It truly was a great book! For anybody who has read this series and likes Magnus Bane I would highly suggest you read this!  

The next three books I all got from my friend for Christmas. One of our local bookstore was having a huge sale and so they got me three books! I am still missing some of the series, but this greatly increased my collection! I got "City of Fallen Angels", "City of Glass", "City of Lost Souls" all by: Cassandra Clare. I love this series! Cassandra's books are incredible! FTM did a review on the last book of this series, you can view that here. If you haven't read these books before I urge you to do so!

This next book I got when I was at the store getting my last book on this list. FTM had read this book and told me about it. I also saw the movie and honestly didn't even know there was a book! When I heard about the book I was super interested in reading it! I mean I wish I knew before because it is always better to read the book before the movie, even so I had put it on my to-read list. I saw this book at the bookstore for $3 and I couldn't resist buying it...

The last book I got during the holiday season was "Witch & Wizard: The Lost" by: James Patterson. This is the last book of this series which makes me sad, but the book itself was really good. I will say that it wasn't necessarily my favourite of the series, but the book itself was still really good! This book series to me is aimed for a slightly younger audience then myself, but I always enjoy books like that. Very simple and cheesy, just a classic story. I talked a bit about this book and rated it in my December Wrap-Up. You can view that here.

P.S. Sorry that this was late. I had two weeks of exams and well yeah that happened. Anyway I hope everyone had a great holiday! Oh FTM also made a holiday post! Here is the link to her's: Holiday Books.

January Wrap Up! - FTM

The first book I read this month was The Winner's Curse by: Marie Rutokoski. This was my first book of 2015! I did fairly enjoy reading this book but I sadly did not love it which made me disappointed because I was looking forward to reading this. I rated it a 3.5 out of 5 stars. You can read my full review HERE

The second book I read this month was The Retribution of Mara Dyer by: Michelle Hodkin. This is the third book in the Mara Dyer trilogy. I absolutely loved this book! This book was full of so many answers that I had been waiting for, for so long and I was glad that they were revealed! It's amazing how even in the last book, there are still twists and turns that leave you on the edge of your seat but everything resolves itself so beautifully. I'm so happy that this book ended on a happy note, and I loved how the end is the beginning. I would rate this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars! Unfortunately I won't be posting a review on this book but you can read my reviews for The Evolution of Mara Dyer HERE and The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer HERE If you do end up reading those reviews, keep in mind that they are not very good. They're not organized and I'm basically rambling for the entire review and it does not make complete sense, just know that I LOVED THIS SERIES!

The third book I read this month was The Bane Chronicles by: Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson. I bought this book maybe a week or two after it was released but every time I started reading it, there was always a massive crowd of people who were very loud and I couldn't concentrate on reading. By the time I picked it up again, I had no memory of what I had read... I don't particularly like novellas/short stories because sometimes they are just there and have no point at all and sometimes you have to read them because they're important for something else. The Mortal Instrument series and The Infernal Devices trilogy are two of my favourite book series and I have loved every book that Cassandra has written in the shadowhunter world. With this book, I found the short stories entertaining and fun but I feel like it's not a must read if you are reading anything from the shadowhunter chronicles, you could easily just skip it because there isn't anything so important that you have to pick it up. There are little facts that are nice to know but not necessarily important. Again, there was a huge gap from me first reading it and picking it up again, so I may have missed a few things throughout this reading process, so don't bug me if there was something important that I didn't catch. I would rate this a 4 out of 5 stars.

The fourth book I read this month was Outlander by: Diana Gabaldon. I absolutely loved this book and I rated in a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I read this book after watching the first few episodes of the TV show and I just became obsessed. Some people have been calling this a rape book or comparing it to fifty shades of grey (which I find is ridiculous, because it is in no way fifty shades of grey.) because of the graphic content in it. Yes, it does have graphic content but it isn't the entire novel, it only pops up around Jamie and Claire's marriage. Regarding this book being called a rape book, rape is involved in this book and again it's expected it's an adult book. Also, the topic of rape for me was very expected considering it's set in a time era where most men viewed women more as products and could use them what ever way they wanted. I don't recommend this book if you are under the age of 13 or 14 because it is quite mature. I do not consider myself very mature in any way but I feel that I am old enough to handle what happens in this book and understand that it is fiction. To be clear, this book does not focus on rape and abuse, I just felt like I needed to mention this because some people who have read this are only focusing on the abusive parts of the story and that is not right because as it says on the cover, it's a modern classic. If you can look past those points in the story you are in for a fantastic story about time travel. Also don't read this if you're squeamish or uncomfortable about violence because there is quite a lot of blood spilled in this book.



I hope you enjoyed reading my wrap up!

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A Holiday Book Haul - FTM

Technically I did not receive most of these books on Christmas day or as a Christmas gift at all. I honestly bought most of them but I bought most of them during the holiday season and some I'm just going to count as holiday books because I'm using Christmas money that I got from family members.

The first book I bought was Snow White Must Die by: Nele Neuhaus. I have no idea what this book is about. The only reason why I bought it was because it was on sale and obviously had a similar title to Dorothy Must Die by: Danielle Paige which is one of my favourite books. I know that this book is a German book as well as the author, Nele is said to be a well known mystery author in her country and I'm actually quite excited to see what this book is about.

The second book I bought was The Winner's Curse by: Marie Rutkoski. Again, this was another book that was on sale and I barely knew anything about this book. I knew that I've seen it before and it had a really pretty cover. Having read the synopsis, I think that I'm going to enjoy this book if I ever get to it.

The third book I bought was Divergent: Collectors Edition by: Veronica Roth. I discovered Divergent a few months after it's release and had bought the paperback edition which was later followed by the sequels which I bought in hardcover. This bothered me because they didn't match and I was always planning to buy the hardcover but I had already owned Divergent, and my mom said that if I were to buy it in hardcover I would have to give away my paperback edition. I didn't want to do this because my paperback edition was my first copy and it had sentimental meaning so when I heard that they were releasing the collectors edition I knew I had to get it.

The fourth book, I actually haven't gotten yet. (December 4th) This is probably the only book that I'm receiving as a gift. This is going to be a gift from RQK, I know this because I was there when she bought it and I personally asked for it. This book is The Shadow Throne by: Jennifer A. Nielsen. I have followed this book series from the very start but I never bought the third one. By the time you are reading this I hopefully would have gotten it!

Pic From Twitter (@BookishRandomz)

The fifth book is The Retribution of Mara Dyer! I am simply obsessed with this series and I had been wanting to buy this book for such a long time and when it was released I was just patiently waiting to purchase this gorgeous book! When I finally bought this book, I opened it and found that it was signed! I was very happy because this is my first signed book!

And then just to make it even better, Michelle favourited my tweet!

Those are the books that I slowly obtained this holiday season, I'm probably going to get more in February but when I do, I'll do a more creative way of showing and telling you what books I got. I might get another book this month but I really don't know. My haul isn't as big as RQK's but you know it's books, books are awesome and having one of them signed is really just amazing and IT'S FIRST EDITION! I'm such a nerd but first edition!

I hope you enjoyed seeing what books I got this holiday season, I hope you had a lovely holiday and got some books as well! Feel free to follow our blog! I also would like to apologize for late posts because you know school kind of took up most of our time, more RQK then I but you get the point.

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My Wattpad Story - FTM

A few months ago I decided to completely re-write a story that I started at the age of eleven. Obviously being an eleven year old, the story wouldn't have turned out very well. Now having a somewhat good understanding of my story, I have made the decision to publish it onto watt pad. This story is about a girl named Sabrina who grew up with only her father and brother in a little town in England called Sedbergh, Cumbria. However, there are has always been secrets that her father as well as her brother have kept from her for her whole life and only on her seventeenth birthday is everything starting to resolve itself.

Below I have snapshots of the first chapter in the proper format that I wanted then the one on watt pad because it's very strange there. I unfortunately do not have a proper file of the prologue because the file got corrupted so it only exists on watt pad. If you would like to read it you can read it HERE

The Winner's Curse: Marie Rutkoski - FTM

As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions. 

One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin. 

But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined. 

Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.

-  Goodreads Synopsis

December Wrap Up - FTM

The First book I read this month was A Game of Thrones - Volume 1 by: George R. R. Martin and adapted by Daniel Abraham. I fairly enjoyed reading this graphic novel, I have already watched the current seasons of the TV show and I have been wanting to read the books. Unfortunately I do not think I can read a book that's over 1000 pages long in a time span of two weeks, I have been reading books from the library for a few months now because I am trying to cut down by "To be bought" list. It's a little sad that this volume ends maybe a quarter way through the actual full length novel but I completely understand because it is quite a thick book. I would rate it a 4 out of 5 stars. I honestly would have liked a bigger graphic novel just because graphic novels based off of books are already shortened already and I really don't want to read the first book in four different volumes. I am planning to pick up the other graphic novels though. I probably will end up picking up the actual novels soon enough.

The second book I read this month was Between the devil and the deep blue sea by: April Genevieve Tucholke. I have very mixed feelings on this book, it was one of those books where I thought I was going to love it but slowly started to dislike it. I think this is one of those books where you either hate it or love it. This book was enjoyable but it wasn't absolutely amazing. You can read my full review HERE 

          

The third book I read this month was The Graveyard Book: The graphic novel by: Neil Gaiman and adapted by P. Craig Russell. So for maybe the past two or three months, I have been in a somewhat bad reading slump. It's been taking me very long to read novels that usually take me two to three days to read. So one day I decided to check out the first volume of the Game of thrones graphic novels. I loved how easy they were to read and how fast I could read them but most of all, how they were slowly pulling me out of a reading slump. I'm really into graphic novels at the moment and with The Graveyard Book I was pulled in from  the very first page. I think reading the graphic novel was a great choice, I might pick up the actual book in the future once I am done reading the second volume. I would rate it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I highly suggest reading this if you're really in for a great, classic and unique story.

The fourth book I read this month was The Host by: Stephanie Meyer. I had been thinking about reading this book for a few months now, I had watched the movie and loved it. The only book that I have read by Stephanie was Twilight and I really don't remember anything from it, and yes I did have a twilight phase. I had to keep putting this down and then picking it up again not because I found that it was bad, I just kept getting distracted by other books. I really loved this book, I feel like this book is a little underrated, it deserves so much more praise and attention. I really would like a sequel, I mean Stephanie keeps putting it off so I don't know if it's going to happen. If you just so happen to consider reading this, don't connect it with Twilight. I would rate it a 5 out of 5 stars.

The fifth book I read this month was Where Rainbows End by: Cecilia Ahern, this book is also known as Love, Rosie. This book was actually made into a movie and was released in October in the U.K. and is being released worldwide (I believe) in February 2015, it stars Lily Collins and Sam Claflin. The movie was the main reason why I picked up this book. Once I have a chance to watch the film, I will definitely have a book-movie adaptation review up. This book is told through letters, notes, e-mails, text messages and instant messages. I had a love, hate relationship with the way this story was told. I found that since it was told through those formats, I couldn't connect to the story or to the characters. I mean we were being told things after the event had already happened, the excitement was gone. Another problem I had was that sometimes "I know" was sometimes spelt "I no." I really don't know if she wrote it that way on purpose, it was just something little I noticed. I would rate this book a  3.5 out of 5 stars but leaning more to 4 stars.

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December Wrap Up- RQK

The first book I read this month was "A Monster Calls" by: Patrick Ness. This book is kind of like a longer version of a picture book of some sort. I wouldn't say the story itself however is for young children, its just created in a unique fashion. The story itself was great. I really liked the idea of the story. It was one of those stories where the character kind of learns lessons throughout the book and at the end get a sense of relief as this particular character is finally able to accept the truth. It's not a long book, but I would suggest this book to everybody! It's an interesting read and doesn't take long to get through. This book is also being turned into a movie! It won't be released until Fall 2016 sometime but I am quite excited even so. I would give this book 4.5/5 stars.




The second book I read this month was "The Iron Trial" by: Cassandra Clare and Holly Black. So I pretty much just picked up this book because Cassandra Clare co-wrote it, however I genuinely did like the book! I do wish it had been longer,but I really like the story of it. FTM said that some people had been saying it was kind of like Harry Potter. I personally haven't read or really seen the Harry Potter series so I really can't say much on that. To me though I think that this book is definitely unique and the only thing in common for me was that they both are at a magic type of school. I really like how Callum just takes in Havoc and makes him his pet. There isn't really too much on Havoc in the book, but Havoc seems cute and fun. (Oh and I love Warren too!) I really enjoyed reading this book and I am so excited for the next books! I am kind of sad that now I have to wait... I hope they come out soon! I would give this book 5/5 stars!

The third book I read this month was "Sleeper" by: Eric Walters. This is the first book of the seven series sequels. It turns out you don't necessarily have to read these books in order, but I prefer to anyway. The sequel is not as good as the original story but I feel thats kind of how it is for most sequels. This book was interesting nonetheless. The idea of their grandfather being some kind of spy seems kind of cheesy, even so it was a decent book. These stories I will admit are kind of odd and not a typical book that somebody my age might read. The books in this series aren't very long usually not much more than 200 pages. I personally just like the whole idea of the books and I find that the stories include a lot of unique history from the places in which that particular story takes place. I like how they manage to connect all these things that actually happened to fit into their storyline. These types of books always make me feel like I am learning things even if its just small things that I don't realize I am learning. I would give this book 4/5 stars.

The fourth book I read this month was "Broken Arrow" by: John Wilson. This is the second book to the Seven Series Sequels. John Wilson's books were about the grandchild Steve. I find that in comparison to the rest of the books in this series, his books have the most history incorporated. He tends to focus on bringing in real historical things and linking them in some elaborate way that usually makes it really intriguing to read. This particular book was also like that. I feel kind of conflicted about this book. The way he tied everything together in this book was really cool and the story itself was very well planned out. However there was just something about the way it was written that kind of bugged me. I just found that I didn't really connect with the characters this time. Usually I can kind of grasp the sense of adventure of some sort, but this time I just didn't. For this reason I will lower my rating, but as somebody who likes facts in stories, I'd say this is a very fascinating read. I would give this book 4.2/5 stars.

The fifth book I read this month was "The Lost" by: James Patterson. I have been waiting for this book for so long!! I absolutely love these books. The first book of this series was one of the first books I read that wasn't a mystery novel and it kind of lead to me reading a whole new type of books. This is the last book to this series and it really makes me sad. I started reading this series 5 years ago and to me the end of this series is just the start of a lot of endings that will be happening for me. Even so I definitely enjoyed reading this book! I read it all in one day which I am quite proud of. I will say this book had a lot more to do with personal and inner conflicts, there was less straight up action and fighting. This series though is full of many twists and turns. Something can happen and you will get some fact in your mind, but then suddenly what you know is completely wrong. I will say that it can be cheesy at some parts, but I think a lot of stories can be cheesy at times and sometimes those things are what really make the story unique. I highly suggest anyone just looking for a light or fun series to read to try reading this series! I give this book 5/5 stars.

On a side note I also read parts of some books during December, but didn't finish any of them. I kept getting new books, or books from the library and was trying to shuffle around what books I was reading. Anyway these books will be in the next wrap up hopefully.