Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR List

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish.

Anyone who knows me at all will know that I own a lot of books that I have not read so when I saw this topic I knew that I wanted to make a list full of books that I’ve owned for a long time. However. when I thought about this topic, I decided to include a mix of books. This spring, I shall be sitting my GCSEs so I plan on reading a lot less but I still hope to read quite a bit. Anyway, I’m rambling on so lets just get on to my TBR. I have not included any new releases in this and it is in no particular order.

October Book Haul

So it’s the end of October and I got quite a few books this month.I bought 6 books this month, 1 free book and I got three books for review. However before I start a little side note, at the YABirmingham Maze Runner fan party I got a few free books in the raffle(which is where the 1 free book came from) however I gave most of them away because they weren’t really books that interested me. Let’s get on with the books I got that I did keep.

The one free book I got this month was The Manifesto on How To Be Interesting by Holly Bourne. This was the only book I was interested in keeping and while I’m writing this Holly Bourne is actually at Waterstones Birmingham right now doing a signing with James Dawson and Non Pratt however I couldn’t go. This book does interest me and I will read it someday however I don’t see that day being any day soon.

I got one book for review from YABirmingham and that was My True Love Gave to Me by various authors so thank you to Gem for giving me this one! I absolutely adored this book because it had some of my favourite authors of all time in it. I did a full review on it so click here to go read that. I highly recommend this book though because it is amazing. The other two books I got for review were from Bookbridgr so thank you very much! The first one was Lips Touch by Laini Taylor which is a collection of three short stories I believe. I was really interested in this book and I was going to pick it up straight after My True Love Gave to Me however I didn’t particularly like Laini Taylor’s story  in that collection so I was a little bit put off. However I shall be picking it up eventually but just not now.The other book I got was The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith which I already read earlier this year before it’s release so click here to read my review of it. I enjoyed this book and I recommend it if you are looking for a good romance.

The first book I bought this month I bought from the school library magazine and I technically bought it last month but it came this month and that was To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han. I read this earlier this year and I completely loved it. It was one of my favourite books of this year and it is definitely one of my favourite romance books. I didn’t write a review of it however because I couldn’t find a way to put my thoughts about this book into words. However I highly recommend this book. It was amazing. The other 5 books that I bought this month I bought today when I went to some charity shops with my mum. I bought The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan and yes I have already read and loved this series but in the UK they changed the cover design of this series around a year ago and I had the first and last one in the original cover design so I have been looking for them desperately in the original covers and I finally found it! I also bought The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick because I read Boy21 and Forgive Me Leonard Peacock earlier this year and I loved them both so I do want to read his other books and this is by far his most popular book. Since we went to charity book shopping I of course picked up some Sophie Kinsella books because they are always in charity shops. I bought the second and third books in the Shopaholic series, Shopaholic Abroad and Shopaholic Ties The Knot. I read the first book in this series earlier this year and I liked it so I really want to continue on with the series. The final book I bought was Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella and I have to admit, I don’t know what this one is about. It’s got to the point where as soon as I see the name Sophie Kinsella, I automatically buy it without actually looking at what it’s about.

That’s all for this month and I shall see you soon with an October wrap up. Thank you for reading.

Sofia

June Wrap Up

Hey. I told you to look out for another post soon and here it is! It’s the end of June which means that I have an excuse to make a post. I made an April wrap up but I was so busy at the end of May with exams that I didn’t do a May wrap up but here I am doing a June wrap up. This month I read 14 books and I’m currently on my 15th book. Since I read quite a lot, I won’t be giving a summary and my opinion of them will be very short. Let’s get started.

The first book I finished this month was Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge. I started this book back in April and I was so excited for it. I got about 60% through this book but it just became slightly boring and repetitive so I didn’t put it down until one night in June when I just decided that I was going to finish this book. I finished it all that night. I found the book really interesting because it combined two things I loved: Greek mythology and Beauty and The Beast. However, this book was missing something for me. I just couldn’t get into it or love it so I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. I did absolutely adore the ending though so it’s more like a 3.75 stars out of 5.

The second book I read this month was Never Ending by Martyn Bedford. I got this book for review from YABirmingham and I absolutely loved it. It wasn’t like what I normally read at all yet I got addicted. I would say a lot more but I wrote a whole review on it so click here to read about my whole opinion on the book. I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars but it would be leaning more towards 5 stars. Let’s say 4.75 stars.

The next book I read this month was If I Stay by Gayle Forman. I didn’t write a review of this book because I didn’t find that there was much to write a review about. I loved it so much and I can’t wait for the movie.  Mia was a great protagonist and I fell slightly in love with Adam. I gave this book 5 stars.

The next book I read was The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman. I got this book for review from Headline. This was my first Neil Gaiman novel but I don’t think it really counts as being fully exposed to his writing as it is a graphic novel. I did enjoy it but it was slightly weird. Click here to see my full review. I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars.

The next book I read this month was Boy21 by Matthew Quick. This was my second Matthew Quick novel and I got this from Headline for review. I did absolutely adore this book but not as much as Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock. Click here to see my full review of this book. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars but  it will be more like 4.5 stars.

The next book I read was Where She Went by Gayle Forman, the sequel to If I Stay. I also did not write a review for this book because I didn’t know what to write about. I did enjoy this less than If I Stay but I did still enjoy it. The reason I enjoyed it less was probably because of the way that Adam was presented. I did however love the ending so this bumped it up to a 4 out of 5 stars.

I then read the whole Talented saga by Sophie Davis which consists of Talented, Caged, Hunted, Captivated( A Novella) and Created. I read this series so quickly that they all melded into one slightly. I can’t remember what happened in each book individually because I read it so quickly. I loved this series and when I finished the last one, I felt very upset since it was all over. I loved Talia and Erik as characters, especially Erik. The plot was amazing and it kept me reading. It was very action-packed. The world was very unique. I did write a review of the first book, which the author sent me for review, so click here to see it. Even though I know the writing wasn’t the best, I still loved them so all of the books got 5 out of 5 stars from me.

I then read We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.  I was going to write a review for this book but I just couldn’t write a non-spoilery review.  During this book, I didn’t love it. It wasn’t the best thing I had ever read because it was really confusing. Some of the metaphors confused me so much. I thought something was actually happening when it wasn’t. The main character was also very dramatic. However, that ending was just so shocking. I sat there and just stared at the kindle for a while because I couldn’t believe I had just read that. I did end up really liking the book but it wasn’t the best so it got a 3.75 stars out of 5 for me.

The next book I read was definitely my favourite of the whole month and possibly the whole year and that was Solitaire by Alice Oseman. This book was honestly perfection. I got this for review from HarperCollins and I just fell in love with the book. I wrote a whole review in the form of a list with reasons for why you should read it, so click here to go read it. This was one of those books where I love it so much that it’s hard to write a review for it since I loved it so much. Of course this book got a big 5 out of 5 stars from me.

The final book I finished this month was Alex As Well by Alyssa Brugman. I have yet to write a review for this book and I don’t think I will because I’m not sure how I feel about this book. It was interesting and it dealt with a lot of serious issues but I just didn’t enjoy it as a book. I did like so that’s why I gave it 3 out of 5 stars but I just found the writing style to be slightly boring. I did however give this book 3 stars because of the plot and the characters but it was the writing that stopped me from giving it anything higher.

Monthly wrap up:

Favourite book: Solitaire by Alice Oseman

Books at each star rating level:

1 star: 0 books

2 stars: 0 books

3 stars:  4 books

4 stars: 3 books

5 stars: 7 books

 

That’s all the books I finished this month. I’m currently reading Just One Day by Gayle Forman but I don’t think I’ll finish it by the end of the month. However, I need to finish it before Thursday because that’s when Landline is officially coming out so obviously I’m going to be reading that. I think I had a good reading month because I loved most of the books I read. I didn’t hate any of them which is always a good thing! I’ll see you soon with another post, hopefully with a review because I need to write more reviews.

Sofia.

 

June Book Haul

Hey. Today, I just felt like blogging but I was lost for what to blog about. I then remembered that it’s the end of the month so I could do a mini June book haul. Let’s get started.

This month I got 11 books, only 3 of which I bought (actually that’s a lie. I bought none of them. My mother bought me 3 and the rest I got for free). The first book I bought was Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. I have of course already read this book. I read this back in November and I loved it obviously. But since Rainbow Rowell is coming to Birmingham and I’m going to her signing, I thought I should actually buy a physical copy of Attachments so I can get it signed.

The second book I bought was Double Cross by Malorie Blackman. I haven’t started the Noughts and Crosses series but I now own the first and final book in this series. I want to own them all and then marathon them. Plus I found this book at a sale for only 50p for a hardback! The third book I bought, which I also got for 50p at the same sale, was The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I have seen the movie of this and it almost made me cry so of course I want to read the book.

The next 5 books I recieved from YABirmingham for various reasons. These guys are just the best so check them out. The first 3 books I recieved because at their John Green Fan Party, my raffle tickets got picked out 3 times but I had already got the prizes because I had won the quiz. They then let me choose three books from their cupboard to make up for it. The first one I picked up was Popular by Maya Van Wagenen. After watching Christine’s video, I had been intrigued by this book so of course I picked it up. I then picked up Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. I had heard of this book previously and the synopsis intrigued me so I picked it up. The final book I picked up was Shattered by Teri Terry. This is the final book in a trilogy in which I haven’t even read the first book but it sounded interesting. The next book I got because it was in the goody bag at their party and that book is Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. I have yet to read this book but I will. The final book I got from them was Alex As Well by Alyssa Brugman. I won this book in a giveaway that they held and it’s signed! I just finished this book and it was weird yet good. I’m not sure how I feel about it.

The final three books I got for review. The first one was Solitaire by Alice Oseman which the lovely people over at HarperCollins sent to me. I’ve already read and reviewed this book so click here to go see it. I loved this book so much. The final two books I recieved from Headline via BookBridgr so thank you Headline! I’ve already read and reviewed both of this. The first one is Boy21 by Matthew Quick. I loved this book and if you want to know more about my thoughts on it, click here to see my review. The final book in this mini book haul is The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman. This book was intriguing but odd. Click here to see my full review of it.

I did get loads of books on my kindle but I’m not including those because it will make me feel bad for buying so many for my kindle. Thank you for reading and since I’m in a blogging mood, stay tuned for possibly another post later this week.

Sofia

Boy21 by Matthew Quick

Recently, I was lucky enough to read Boy21 by Matthew Quick and I loved it. This book is set to be released on the 19th June and I recieved it via headline and bookbridgr so thank you very much. This book follows Finley, who doesn’t live a perfect life. His home life and his past aren’t the best and he lives in a terrible neighbourhood. But he keeps going because of his girlfriend Erin and his love for basketball. Then a guy called Russ arrives in his life and he’s a bit strange. He answers only to Boy21 and he claims to be from outer space. Russ is also one of the best high-school basketball players in the country and could easily take Finley’s place on the team. However against the odds, Russ and Finley become friends and they help each other out when dealing with their pasts and their futures. I honestly really loved this book as a whole and I really recommend it.

This is the second Matthew Quick novel I’ve read, the first being Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock(click here to read my review of it) and I absolutely love his writing. Matthew Quick deals with a lot of big issues in his novels and even though they are dark and intense subjects, he still makes you laugh a lot. His writing makes you want to keep reading, which hardly happens for me when it comes to contemporary novels. I really want to read his other books now and there is a chance he could make it on to my list of favourite authors.

Finley was a great main character. He had issues yet I loved that about him. He never annoyed me or irritated me. I understood all of his decisions and I really sympathized with him. Russ was also a great character. He was odd and unusual and I didn’t understand him at first but as we got to know more about him, I really did care for him a lot. Their friendship was absolutely beautiful and reminded me a lot of Sam and Davey’s friendship in Cloud Busting by Malorie Blackman, which was my favourite book when I was younger. I also really loved most of the secondary characters including Erin, Coach and Wes.

I loved the whole Harry Potter book club thing that Wes, Russ and Finley started. They mentioned Harry Potter in the second half of the novel to compare their lives and I loved that. When they talked about escaping, they said that they were going to Hogwarts. Hogwarts had always been some what of an escape for me and I loved that a lot.

As I said earlier, Matthew Quick touches on a lot of dark subjects and issues in this book but I won’t tell you what they are because it’s best to not know what they are. Even though they were dark subjects, I still felt myself laughing and smiling throughout the book which is a unique thing that Matthew Quick can do. I honestly recommend this book to everyone as well as Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock because the writing is superb. This book is a solid 4.5 stars for me and the only thing that stopped me from giving it 5 stars was the ending. I really did love the ending, but I wanted more! I wanted to know what happens afterwards! This is a definitely a book that you should all be going out and buying on the 19th June because its fabulous. I’m going to leave you with one of my favourite quotes from this book because I don’t know why but this quote really stuck out for me:

“You don’t always get to pick the role you’e going to play in life, but it’s good to play whatever role you got the best way you can.”

Thanks for reading and definitely go get this book as soon as possible.

Sofia

 

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

Hey guys! Today, I’m going to be reviewing Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick. This was the first Matthew Quick book I read but I absolutely adored it! I will definitely be picking up The Silver Linings Playbook as soon as I can. Now let’s start with the overall non-spoiler review.

Going into this book after having read the summary, I was expecting it to be very depressing and at parts it was. However, the book as a whole was funny. Leonard was an amazing narrator with a lot of character and I really cared for him. This book focused on him and I loved that. It was weird to be in the mind of someone who wanted to commit suicide but I feel like this book made me more aware of the issue and made me aware that what I can do can affect someone a lot and I hope I never be mean to anyone in the way that some of the classmates were to Leonard. The supporting characters weren’t as well developed however except for Lauren and Herr Silverman. I wish we would have seen more of Walt or Baback. I also wish that we would have got to seen his mother a little bit more, I would have liked to see them happy at the end.

This book deals with a lot of major issues that we are all aware of but try to hide and I loved that. We try to disguise all the problems that teenagers go through but this book handled them straight on. This allowed us to see these issues first hand and in some way, feel what it’s like to go through them. It allowed us to see why people want to commit suicide and what happens to people who go through traumatizing events. Matthew Quick write brilliantly and it felt as if he really knew about the subjects in his book.The thing about this book is that Leonard is doing something that none of us really like and we don’t like to know about it but when you’re in his head, you can see where he’s coming from and why he wants to do that. It’s a scary thought but you start to understand why people commit suicide.

This book was slow to start with and I found the writing style to be odd to start with. The book had footnotes! Having read mainly YA, I’ve never really come across footnotes in books that I read for pleasure. Once you get into the book, however it will grip you and you will fall in love with Matthew Quick’s writing. I sure did!

Overall, I’d give this book 4 stars as I did really enjoy it but I just can’t bring myself to give it 5 stars, because it wasn’t one of my absolute favourites.  I do however recommend it to anyone and everyone! This book will really help you to understand the problems many young teenagers go through.