Saturday, January 31, 2015

January Wrap-Up

Don't mind all the balloons in this post, it's my sister's birthday today.

Well hello there. Unfortunately, January is already coming to an end and university is starting again soon. But I'm here today to talk about happier things: the books I read in the very first month of 2015! Even though I had to study quite a bit this month (exams suck) and am also working, I found time to read 9 books in January. This isn't the most books in a month I've ever read but I'm still happy with it, considering that some of these books were quite big. 





Friday, January 30, 2015

ARC Review: One of the Guys

I received a free copy of this book through Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion or my review of the book in any way. Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with this eARC!

One of the Guys
by Lisa Aldin

Publication date: February 10, 2015
Published by: Spencer Hill Press
Kindle Edition, 320 pages
My rating: 4/5 ★

Tomboy to the core, Toni Valentine understands guys. She'll take horror movies, monster hunts and burping contests over manicures. So Toni is horrified when she's sent to the Winston Academy for Girls, where she has to wear a skirt and learn to be a lady while the guys move on without her.

Then Toni meets Emma Elizabeth, a girl at school with boy troubles, and she volunteers one of her friends as a pretend date. Word spreads of Toni’s connections with boys, and she discovers that her new wealthy female classmates will pay big money for fake dates. Looking for a way to connect her old best friends with her new life at school, Toni and Emma start up Toni Valentine’s Rent-A-Gent Service.

But the business meets a scandal when Toni falls for one of her friends--the same guy who happens to be the most sought-after date. With everything she's built on the line, Toni has to decide if she wants to save the business and her old life, or let go of being one of the guys for a chance at love.

One of the Guys was a fun and light read but our main character also deals with some more difficult things. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and read the whole thing in a day because I couldn't put it down. The story really surprised me. It focuses on friendship and also family besides the (obvious) romance. All of these themes were equally as prominent and I really liked that.

The friendships in One of the Guys are perfect and felt very real. Toni has always been a part of a group of four friends and she starts to realize that they are growing apart a little. Her fear of losing her friends came across really well in my opinion and I could relate to Toni a lot because of it. She didn't always deal with it in the best way, but who does? Overall she seemed like a pretty straight-forward person and I really liked that. She does have major problems with telling people how she feels and, even though as a reader it was a little annoying at times, it showed her character development perfectly throughout the book.

Character development. Toni goes through a lot of that and it was wonderful to watch. In the beginning she really is tomboy to the core but with time and especially with befriending Emma, she realizes that she wants to 'embrace her womanhood', as she puts it. This went really well together with the other things she's discovering about herself and coming to terms with.

The romance was also really well done in my opinion. No instalove but a friendship that slowly grows into something more and I just really enjoyed to read about it and see it develop. I will say, though, that Toni has absolutely no clue when it comes to love and feelings and just doesn't see things that are completely obvious to the reader. But since it really fit her character, it didn't bother me for the most part.

Whereas I liked the story a lot overall, I also had some minor problems with it. Toni seemed like a pretty reasonable character most of the time. She even realizes at times that her problems might not be the biggest ones out there and those are the scenes that positively surprised me (because, really, what YA character ever does that?). But she also has those moments when I just wanted to shake her and scream at her that what she's doing is STUPID. The business she starts being one of them. That whole aspect of the story really wasn't my favorite. It just screamed trouble from the very beginning and those kinds of things really annoy me in books. But gladly, the story had a lot of other focuses too and it all balanced out very well.

I would recommend One of the Guys to anyone who likes contemporary but is looking for something a little different. There is romance but it doesn't overshadow the other aspects of the story and I really liked that. Also, the book is very well written and you'll just fly through it.



Saturday, January 24, 2015

On the Topic of Angels

Well, hi there. As you may or may not know, I'm currently reading the Daughter of Smoke & Bones trilogy by Laini Taylor. And it's got me thinking, so today I'm going to talk about something a little different on here (nothing deep or anything, don't worry).
Angels are these beautiful, elegant and graceful creatures and honestly, who wouldn't love a pair of wings for themselves? But when you start to think about it, wouldn't that just be the most inconvenient thing ever? Yes, the flying is great. And yes, they would look really cool. But here are some things I've thought about where I'm really glad there aren't two huge wings attached to my back:


Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Top 5 Authors I Would Like To Meet

Hi there. It's time for another Top 5 Wednesday post, since, you know, it's Wednesday. T5W was created by Lainey at gingerreadslainey and if you want to join in, you can do so here. This week's topic is Top 5 Authors We Would Like To Meet. I found this quite hard to put together because while I love reading their books, I probably wouldn't know what to say to these authors. Mostly,  I just want to hear them talk about anything and that would be fine with me. 

What I usually say about George R. R. Martin is that I really don't want to meet him. He has written many scenes that made me cringe and that I could hardly read and I'm not sure I want to meet the guy who comes up with all of them. I mean, he makes his characters go through that and he thinks all of it up in his head. Of course that's what makes him such a great writer but it's also kind of scary. But I guess curiosity won the better of me and I would just ask him about EVERYTHING in the Song of Ice and Fire series.


She is the writer of my favorite trilogy, so of course I want to meet her. If only to convince her to write another book. Or to sign my books. Or to tell her how much I love The Hunger Games.


She's an author I've only recently discovered but I fell in love. With her writing, her imagination and her books. I just want her to teach me everything so that I can write as good as her one day (that's not too much to ask, right?)


I don't really have to explain why I want to meet her right? Right. I bet she's on everyone's list but that's no reason for me to leave her out. She's the person who brought Harry Potter to life. She deserves to be one every list there ever will be. I should probably read her other books before meeting her, though.. 


Now, she just seems like the best person on earth. I want to be her friend. I mean, of course I want to be friends with someone who writes books like that. So relatable and simply beautiful. She has quickly become one of my favorite authors and I will buy and read absolutely anything she writes. Can we please be friends already?


So that's it, those are my top 5 authors I want to meet. I hope you're all having a great week and thank you for reading!

What authors would you like to meet? 
Do you agree with my choices?


Monday, January 19, 2015

Movie Review: The Spectacular Now

So I finally watched The Spectacular Now last night and I just want to quickly share my thoughts. I haven't read the book yet, and I know I should've probably done that first, but I just really felt like watching the movie. I didn't really know what it was about and I expected some cute teenage romance. It surprised me, though, because it was quite different from what I had imagined.

It follows Sutter Keely who is this upbeat, popular guy who doesn't really care about anything other than enjoying what he has right now. But we soon find out that his carefree attitude towards everything just helps him to avoid all the things he doesn't want to have to cope with, like not knowing his dad. After his girlfriend breaks up with him, he meets Aimee who is completely different from him. At first, he wants to 'help' her out by being her friend or something like that (I didn't really get that part) but of course things get a little more complicated.

Even from how I just described the movie, I would still expect a cutesy romantic story, but it's really not. I don't really know how to describe it, it just runs a lot deeper than what I expected. Since I really  don't want to spoil anything for you if you, like me, don't really know what the story is about, I'm just going to say that it left me rather sad than happy.

The acting was phenomenal in my opinion. It felt very real and honest and I loved how there was lots of awkward laughter. The conversations didn't feel superficial or simply well-rehearsed, they rather seemed like they could be happening in everyday-life, and isn't that what acting should be like? Also, there wasn't a lot of background music, which really matched the setting and story of the movie and I loved that. Sometimes it gets a little too much when there's always music that's trying to tell you what to feel. The Spectacular Now made me cry a little without a sad song playing at the right moment. It's not that hard for a movie to make me cry, though, but still.

Overall I really liked this movie and it was surprisingly different from what I had been expecting. One problem I had with it was that I didn't always feel like I quite understood what was happening. That made it a little harder to connect with the story. Also, not much actually happens throughout the story and I can imagine that that bothers some people; for me it was okay, though. I might still pick up the book sometime and hopefully that would help me understand the whole story a little better, but I wasn't that blown away by the movie that I feel the need to start the book right now.

Have you watched The Spectacular Now? 
If so, what are your thoughts?

Thank you for reading!




Friday, January 16, 2015

Review: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Publication date: February 21, 2012
Published by: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Paperback, 359 pages
My rating: ★★★★★
Dante can swim. Ari can't. Dante is articulate and self-assured. Ari has a hard time with words and suffers from self-doubt. Dante gets lost in poetry and art. Ari gets lost in thoughts of his older brother who is in prison. Dante is fair skinned. Ari's features are much darker. It seems that a boy like Dante, with his open and unique perspective on life, would be the last person to break down the walls that Ari has built around himself. But against all odds, when Ari and Dante meet, they develop a special bond that will teach them the most important truths of their lives, and help define the people they want to be. But there are big hurdles in their way, and only by believing in each other - and the power of their friendship - can Ari and Dante emerge stronger on the other side.

This was one of the most beautiful and honest books I have ever read. It broke my heart even though I didn't feel like I had a lot in common with any of the characters. But Benjamin Alire Sáenz used his wonderful words to make me feel so many emotions while reading about Ari and Dante. When I picked up this book, I never expected it to be as good as it was. To be honest, if it weren't for the Little Book Club, I probably would never even have thought of reading it at all.

The main focus of the story is Ari and Dante's friendship, how it came to be and all the struggles that come with being a friend. But the book was about so much more than that. It told so many different stories, all of them unique and beautiful to read about. Ari and Dante meet at the beginning of summer as Dante offers to teach Ari to swim. I loved their first encounter and everything that happened from then on. Their friendship grows incredibly strong even though both of them aren't very experienced with the friendship-business. Especially Ari has problems opening up to people and it was wonderful to see him do so more and more throughout the book. We get to learn so much about these two and the journey is simply beautiful.

Then there's Ari's family. I loved learning about them and finding out about all their own private wars that they were fighting. Because Ari's family didn't have it very easy. Ari's older brother is in prison and his dad is dealing with being a Vietnam war veteran. Not only Ari has a way of dealing with things on the inside, without talking to anyone, but his parents too. Talking about feelings is difficult for all of them and it was wonderful to see them open up to each other throughout the story. Even though Ari is often unnecessarily hard on himself and very negative in general, I completely understood and felt for him. He had so many questions about himself and his family that he couldn't answer on his own and he struggles with that weight throughout the book.

Overall, this was a beautiful story about growing up and coming to terms with yourself, about family and friendship, and about falling in love. I highly recommend this book to anyone, it's exceptionally well written and handles different sensitive topics incredibly well.



Thursday, January 15, 2015

Review: Days of Blood & Starlight




This is the second book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bones trilogy. If you haven't read the first book, you probably shouldn't read any further because there might be spoilers. I reviewed the first book here.


Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor

Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.

But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?



This book was simply amazing. Laini Taylor's writing is so beautiful and her imagination must be the most wonderful thing in this world. I don't know how she came up with a story like this - a story that made it impossible to stop reading - but I am so glad she did.

So much happened in this book and I loved it all. After finishing the first book, I had hoped the second one would be even better, and it did not let me down. This book kept me on edge throughout the whole story. I was so scared of what would happen next all the time because, let's be honest, anything could happen. Laini Taylor is not scared to kill off characters and who knows what else she had come up with? Luckily, she's also a genius writer and everything comes together in the end so wonderfully. Just enough good news to balance out the bad, and enough hope to keep you reading. 

As I said, I loved everything in this book. Karou's development was wonderful to watch and even though I was screaming at her in my head at some points, I think she handled everything pretty well. I hadn't expected her to keep going after Brimstone's death the way she did, but it just all made so much sense. 

One of my favorite things about the book was how Zuzana and Mik still played an important role. I kind of expected them to be cast aside, since, you know, there's a whole new world to be explored in the book. But they weren't and, again, everything worked together so perfectly. There are also a lot of new characters introduced, which I liked a lot. Even though most made my skin crawl, I loved reading about everyone equally. Usually I have one or two characters that I'm most interested in but here I just wanted to know about everyone and everything.

Another thing that I thought was done incredibly well was Karou's and Akiva's relationship. Even more than in the first book, romance was not the main focus of the story at all and, surprisingly, that didn't bother me one bit. There are still a lot of mixed feelings between the two and as a reader, you got to feel that so well. Even though I do want the romantic happy ending, I am okay with not getting it (yet). The things Karou felt just seemed so reasonable. I mean, who could blame her?

All in all, this book was just incredible. I can't wait to see how the series ends because I'm sure it will be epic. All the tiny problems I had with the first book were completely forgotten after the first few pages of this book.

Let me know what you thought of Days of Blood & Starlight and thank you for reading!



Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Top 5 Series I Want To Start This Year

Hello there. It is Wednesday today and T5W is coming at us with an impossible topic. Top 5 Wednesday is hosted by Lainey from gingerreadslainey and you can participate by joining the goodreads group here. So this week's topic is Top 5 Series We Want To Start This Year. Now, I had a look at my goodreads to-read shelf and there are over 50 first books in series on there. So over 50 series I want to start at some point, and at least half of them I really want to start, like, now. Do you see the problem?

Well, to make this a little easier for myself, I have decided to only look at the ones that I actually own a physical copy of even though that does leave out some of the series I really really want to get to. But I can't really go and list 50 books when it's supposed to be the top FIVE. I still own more than five first books in series so I focused on the ones where the series is finished or at least more than the first book has been published.

After watching the movie almost a year ago, I immediately went out and bought I Am Number Four because I was intrigued. Unfortunately, I lost interest soon after and kept choosing other books over this one. Hearing close to no one talk about this series didn't really help the matter. But since it's one of the books that I've had on my shelf the longest, I really want to read it this year. 


This probably wouldn't be this high on my list if I hadn't gotten it for my birthday last year from my lovely brother and sister. My sister ordered it from my Amazon wish list because she liked the cover and now I don't really have a choice but to pick it up soon. I'm glad, though, because I've heard really good things about the series and the third book is coming out in May, so there's a lot to look forward to.


Everyone seems to love this trilogy and I've had the first book sitting on my shelf for at least half a year, not knowing what is wrong with me. 2015 will be the year when I finally give in to the hype and start this series, though. At least, now that all the books are out, I won't have to wait for the next book to come out if I fall in love with the story as much as anyone else seems to have.


I have heard nothing but great things about this trilogy and I got the beautiful English box set from my boyfriend for my birthday last year. In other words, everything is set for me to finally start these books and I really really should. I'm kind of scared that they might not live up to all the hype but I'm also excited to see if they do.


This was my one and only bookish New Year's Resolution, to finally read these books. I have seen all three movies and also all three of The Hobbit and I absolutely love them. I've been meaning to actually read the books for many years now and just never did. But now that my boyfriend gave me all three Lord of the Ring books along with The Hobbit for Christmas, I am determined to actually read them this year. It's about time.


So that's it for this week's Top 5 Wednesday. What series do you want to start this year?

Thank you for reading!



Saturday, January 10, 2015

One Year of Blogging

Well, hello there. I have just realized that today is my one year blog anniversary (yaay!). To be honest, that doesn't leave me all that excited. The year just flew by so quickly and looking back now, I'm quite happy with what I've written and posted but there's also a lot of things that I want to improve in the future. Since I haven't done a New Year's Resolution post for 2015, let's do a New Blog Year Resolution kind of thing.

Most importantly, I want to connect more with other bloggers. I'm terrible with commenting and even reading other blogs and that needs to change! When I first started this blog, I didn't even know what I wanted it to be about and I had a really hard time finding blogs that I found interesting to read. All I actually did find were beauty related ones and, even though I kind of wanted to be that person that's interested in make-up and stuff, I just wasn't. But now that I've completely dived into the book world, and pretty much only do book related posts, I really have no excuse to not go out there and have a look at all those thousands of wonderful book blogs. I mean, don't get me wrong, I do read some blogs, of course I do. One of the reasons why I don't do it as much as I want to is that long posts and reviews scare me. I find that I often lose interest after a few paragraphs and even though I don't want to, I can't help it. Mostly I just skim-read a post and then go back to bloglovin or so to do the same with the next one. That also always means that I won't comment on that post and that's just stupid. I feel so bad admitting this and I am going to change it. That is what this post is for, after all, and why it's my number one resolution for the future.

Another thing that's been bothering me for a while now is my blog design. I want it to be just a tiny little bit more interesting. I've been looking for nice and free blog themes all over the internet and while I have found a few I like, I can't make sense of the files I downloaded at all. So that's why I have decided that I should just learn the very basics of html and all the other fun stuff that goes into designing a blog. Just so that when I want to change something with it, I can actually make sense of what's already there and not just stare at some < > and //. 

A third thing I want to improve in the future is my writing. I feel like it has gone downhill over the past year and that's not the direction I want it to go. I personally enjoyed reading my first few posts that I wrote about nothing in particular from my everyday life more than some I've written later. Back then, I had tried to bring my personality into the posts I wrote and I really missed that with my latest ones. Somewhere along the line, I had decided that my writing wasn't 'professional' enough. Reading other people's book reviews that were written in such an eloquent style with all those wonderful adjectives to describe people and places, I was kind of intimidated. In comparison, I was just rambling about something that I liked and using words such as 'beautiful' and 'interesting' about a thousand times didn't really make anything better. But somehow, by realizing that and trying to adjust my writing, my posts just got boring in my opinion. So I want to change that (again) and go back to the way I used to write, trying to be funny and sarcastic, more like I was talking than writing a professional review. It's what I myself enjoy reading and how's anyone going to like reading my blog if I don't do so myself? Since English is not my native language and my vocabulary is somewhat limited, I know that I will most likely never be able to write as entertainingly as other bloggers out there, but it's worth trying right?

Okay, so those are the three things I want to change and improve in the future. If you have any tips or so for any of these points (or anything else too), please feel free to leave a comment. And because I am a new person, I promise to comment back and have a look at your blog. I'm excited to see what my next blogging year has waiting for me and it would make me super happy if you stayed around to find out too.

Thank you for reading!



Friday, January 9, 2015

Review: Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands", she speaks many languages - not all of them human - and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.



I really really enjoyed Daughter of Smoke & Bone. The idea was so original and unlike anything I've ever read before. I loved the world that Laini Taylor created and her writing is simply amazing. After reading and being blown away by her story in My True Love Gave To Me, I was so excited to finally get started on this series. And it did not let me down. I was amazed with everything she wrote, all the different people, creatures and places. I felt like I could see it all in my head and it all felt wonderful.

Why didn't I give it five stars then, you're asking? Well, that's a good question and I myself have thought it over many times. But in the end, I decided to not give the highest rating possible for two reasons. The first and more important one was that I couldn't really feel the romance. This might seem weird but usually I get this tingly feeling in my stomach whenever the characters first kiss or something like that (stupid, I know). But here, I didn't. And I really don't know why. The beautiful writing certainly shouldn't have been a problem and overall I have no explanation.

And yes, I am very much aware that the romance isn't and shouldn't be the main focus of the book. But I would be lying if I told you that I don't - just a tiny little bit - read fantasy books also because I like seeing the characters fall in love. Still, I know it's not enough to only rate this book four stars even though I enjoyed it a lot. So here's the other reason why I did such an unspeakable thing: I'm hoping that the second and third book in the trilogy will be even better than this first one and maybe even entirely perfect, so that I can give them a higher rating than this first one. Is that at least a little bit understandable? I hope so. I've heard only the best things about this trilogy and I can't wait to see whether the second and third book can live up to that. The first one did live up to all the hype, although maybe it was also just a little bit ruined for me by the great expectations I had going into it. 

What I did like, though, is that I went into it completely blind. Honestly, all I knew was that the main character had blue hair and that's about it. I don't know how I had never found out more, maybe I just ignored anyone who ever talked about the book and gave a short summary, but I hadn't even known it would be about angels. 

I would recommend this book to anyone who, even if it's just a little bit, likes fantasy. Laini Taylor's writing makes everything better, so even if you're not a huge fan of the genre, you might want to give it a try.

Let me know if you've read Daughter of Smoke & Bones and, if yes, what you thought.



Monday, January 5, 2015

Top 14 Books of 2014

Hello there. I am here today to look back on my whole reading year of 2014. It was the reading year for me, you could say, because I read a grand total of 90 books this year, including novellas but not rereads, even though my goodreads reading challenge only gives me credit for 88 (I read the Lux bind-up editions that include two books each and goodreads doesn't get that). It was the year I finally found my way back to the happy place that exists in books. I used to like reading (although never as much as I do now) but then towards the end of highschool, I had to read more and more books for school and therefore didn't have time to read anything for fun. Sure, the books we read in class weren't bad for the most part, but it's just not the same.

I have never ready an amount of books in a year that comes even close to 2014. I mean, looking at my goodreads 'read' shelf, I have read 172 books in total, in like, ever. And 90 (or 88) books is MORE THAN HALF OF THAT. So half the books I've read in the 20 years I've been on this planet, I read in the past year. That's crazy. But at the same time it makes me insanely proud and happy.

But now, of course, I also want to share with you which books I liked most of all of the ones I've read. And, as you can imagine, choosing 14 from 90 is incredibly hard. But I have decided on 14 books (and sometimes whole series, I'm sorry) that I want to recommend again to anyone. I'm not going into any detail on the books, I'm sure you've read or at least heard of all of them anyway. So, without further ado, here are my most favorite books of 2014.


14.
Anna and the French Kiss / Lola and the Boy Next Door / Isla and the Happily Ever After
by Stephanie Perkins
Ratings: ★★★★ / ★★★★ / ★★★★


13.
To All The Boys I've Loved Before
by Jenny Han
Rating: ★★★★

12.
Beautiful Disaster
by Jamie McGuire
Rating: ★★★★★


11.
The Edge of Never
by J. A. Redmerski
Rating: ★★★★★
 10.
Ready Player One
by Ernest Cline
Rating: ★★★★★


9.
Amy & Roger's Epic Detour
by Morgan Matson
Rating: ★★★★★


8.
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
by Leslye Walton
Rating: ★★★★★


7.
Shatter Me / Destroy Me / Unravel Me / Fracture Me / Ignite Me
by Tahereh Mafi
Ratings: ★★★★ / ★★★★ / ★★★★★ / ★★★★ / ★★★★★


6.
Just One Day / Just One Year / Just One Night
by Gayle Forman
Ratings: ★★★★★ / ★★★★★ / ★★★★★


5.
The 5th Wave / The Infinite Sea
by Rick Yancey
Ratings: ★★★★★ / ★★★★


4.
Love Letters To The Dead
by Ava Dellaira
Rating: ★★★★★
goodreads - Review


3.
Clockwork Angel / Clockwork Prince / Clockwork Princess
by Cassandra Clare
Ratings: ★★★★ / ★★★★★ / ★★★★★
goodreads - Review / goodreads / goodreads - Review



2.
Throne of Glass / Crown of Midnight / Heir of Fire
by Sarah J. Maas
Ratings: ★★★★★ / ★★★★★ / ★★★★★
goodreads - Review / goodreads - Review / goodreads
 

1.
Fangirl
by Rainbow Rowell
Rating: ★★★★★
goodreads - Review


So that's it, these are my top 14 favorite books / series of 2014. Let me know what your favorite book was last year. Thank you so much for reading!



Friday, January 2, 2015

December Wrap-Up and OMG IT'S 2015 ALREADY

Hello there and HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you've all had a great start into 2015 with ambitious reading goals for the year. I don't have that many but I did decide to take part in the Authors A to Z Reading Challenge, which you can read about here. Other than that, I hope to read 70 books this year as my goodreads challenge. I will also do a post for my top books for 2014 overall soon but today I want to talk about what I read in December. I know I'm very late for all these year wrap-up posts but it's the way it is and I hope you're still interested, even if the new year has already begun. 


I only read four books in December, which really isn't a lot. But the month went by so quickly with the end of my first semester at University and Christmas and all that I didn't find as much time to read as I would've liked. But here are the books I did manage to read:
  • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, ★★★★★
  • I really really enjoyed this book and it was a nice change from all the more superficial lovey-dovey stuff I had been reading. I highly recommend this book as it taught me a little more about World War II and, more importantly, illustrated what it was like to live back then. My grandparents are German and have lived through World War II but it's not something anyone really talks about, so I can hardly imagine what it must've been like. Overall this was a really great and educating read and I very much enjoyed the movie too.
  • Opposition by Jennifer L. Armentrout, ★★★★
  • I almost forgot about this one because it's still on my currently-reading shelf on goodreads (I still have the prequel novella left to read). But I did it! I finished the Lux series in 2014 and I'm proud of that. I enjoyed this last installment, it was fun and entertaining like all the past books, plus the plot was something new and exciting, which made it a lot easier to like.
  • Ignite by Lily Paradis, ★★★
  • I really liked the story of Ignite because it was quite different from other contemporaries and a cute story overall. What bothered me was the writing; it felt incoherent and emotionless, with lot of typos. But as it's Lily Paradis's debut novel, I hope her future work will be improved on those points. I also just found out that there will be a sequel to Ignite, which I am excited to read.

So, that's it for my December Wrap-Up. Let me know what you read last month and what you plan on reading in the new year. I have absolutely no plans for January because I never manage to stick to them anyway. I might start the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I might finally read The Bane Chronicles, who knows. Isn't it so much more exciting to find out when it's all a surprise?? How boring would it be if you all knew what I read during the month before reading my wrap-up? Right? Okay, I am going to say goodbye now, as my sarcasm is getting out of control.

Thank you for reading!