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.