Most Anticipated 2015 Releases

Hello there. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and got as many books under your tree as possible. The New Year will be upon us soon, so I thought I would share my most anticipated 2015 releases with you today. I went on a goodreads search for these, so the release dates and all that fun stuff was found there. I have ten books to show you, which I have all added to a goodreads shelf that you can have a look at here. I might add some more stuff to the shelf in the future too.

I Was Here by Gayle Forman

January 27, 2015

I have read five of Gayle Forman's books this year and loved them all, so of course I had to add her upcoming book to this list. Although the story doesn't sound as interesting to me as for example Just One Day had, I still love Gayle Forman's writing so I'm sure I'll enjoy this book too.

The Return by Jennifer L. Armentrout

February 17, 2015

Although I wasn't the biggest fan of the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout, I still did enjoy her writing and thought the books were really entertaining. I'm sure this one will be just as fast paced and funny, with the same kind of arrogant but still lovable characters. This will definitely not be a cover buy, though. Can we just stop putting half naked guys on covers? I can't read these books in public without feeling a little strange, okay?

The Heir by Kiera Cass

May 5, 2015

This is the fourth book of the Selection trilogy, taking place 20 years after The One. I enjoyed the Selection books so far, but again wasn't completely blown away by them. I'm still excited to find out what's changed since the last book, though. Plus, this cover is absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to put it on my shelf. 

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

May 5, 2015

Do I even have to explain why I'm excited for this book? It's Sarah J. Maas! I am a huge huge fan of the Throne of Glass books and this new series just sounds equally as amazing. I think Sarah J. Maas could publish a cook book and I would still be excited to read every single page.

The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West

May 5, 2015

This one I just randomly discovered as I was searching for exciting releases. It sounds like a cute contemporary romance and that always works for me. Also, what an amazing day will May 5 be? Three books that I'm looking forward to!

P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han

June 2, 2015

When I read To All The Boys I've Loved Before, I was really unhappy with the ending because I hadn't known there would be a second book. I loved the first one and so I'm super happy that a sequel is coming out next year. Also, I can't wait to see what the cover will be like.

Armada by Ernest Cline

July 2, 2015

I absolutely loved Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and his new book sounds quite similar with the video game theme, so I'm super excited for it.

The Fifth Wave #3 by Rick Yancey

August 2015

Well, we don't have a title, cover or release date yet, but I'm still looking forward to this one. I read both The 5th Wave and The Infinite Sea this year and while I thought the first book was mind-blowing and amazing, the second one couldn't really live up to my high expectations. I'm still interested in what's going to happen in this third book, though.

Throne of Glass #4 by Sarah J. Maas

September 10, 2015

I already mentioned how much I love this series so of course this one has to be on my list. Again, we don't have a title or a cover or anything yet but I'm still soooo excited. This might even be my number one most anticipated book of next year. I cannot waaaait!

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

September 2015

First book in a new series in the Shadowhunter World? Yes please! The characters in this series have been introduced in City of Heavenly Fire already and I can't wait to dive back into the Shadowhunter world. 

So that's it for my most anticipated upcoming releases. Let me know what you can't wait to get your hands on. I wish you a very happy new year, full of exciting bookish adventures!

Let It Snow | Book Review

Let It Snow 

by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle

The worst blizzard for fifty ears

Three winter love stories

One magical night

It's Christmas Eve and Gracetown has been buried by snow. But the weather is more than just an inconvenience. When one girl unexpectedly steps off a stranded train, she sets off a series of life-changing events.

Soon fourteen pumped-up cheerleaders will descend on the local Waffle House, the Duke's DVD night will be rudely interrupted for a Twister mission, and a lovesick barista will determine the fate of a single teacup pig...

As the three stories collide, strangers cross paths and romance blossoms with heart-warming consequences.

Touching, hilarious and filled with alternative festive cheer - what else did you expect from a trio of today's bestselling authors?

This is a collection of three short stories and a wonderful christmas read. The first story by Maureen Johnson tells us the story of Jubilee and how her christmas plans were ruined, first by the arrest of her parents and then by the stranding of her train. I really enjoyed this story but in the end everything happened a little fast for me. I get that within what's supposed to be a short story, you don't have a lot of room for character development and all that, but I still would've wanted a little more. Of course, this all didn't make me actually dislike the story, it's way too cute for that. I really enjoyed this first story but not quite as much as the next.

The second story is written by John Green and, as expected, it was my favorite of the three. I just love John Green's writing and what I disliked in the first story, I loved here. This was about three friends and a race through the snow. Not only was it hilariously told and made me laugh out loud, it also didn't feel as coincidental and unlikely as the first one. Well, it still was of course, but just enough to warm my heart and make me feel all cuddly. 

The last story is by Lauren Myracle and it's my least favorite of the three, even though I still enjoyed it. It's about Addie who kind of broke up with her boyfriend and who is miserable and going through a huge crisis. I actually liked the story a lot at first but then something I really don't like happened. When characters go through that one moment that completely changes the way they see the world and themselves and that makes them entirely new people or something like that, I don't like that, I just don't. Plenty of that had happened with Addie and what was even worse here, the change of heart was caused by something like an angel and it was all too much for me. 

Overall, though, I really recommend this book if you're looking for a christmassy read. I was hoping this would get me into the holiday spirit a little and it did, kind of. I just need the snow outside my windows to be there completely and that unfortunately hasn't happened yet here. Of course, reading about a huge snow storm didn't help.

2015 Authors A to Z Reading Challenge

Hello there. I'm here to talk about one of my reading plans for 2015. I don't usually like to plan my reading because I never ever manage to read what I intend to. I prefer to just pick up what I feel like reading next when I finish a book. But then again, I love a good challenge, so I decided to participate in the Authors A to Z Reading Challenge hosted by Samantha Lin. I found out about it from Laquesha @ Book Lover 2.0 and it just sounds like a really cool thing to do.

The goal is to read a book for each letter of the alphabet according to the author's last name. So for G, you could read a John Green book. I'm sure there are going to be some hard letters in there but I decided to give it a try anyway. If you're interested in what books I've read for the challenge, I created  a goodreads shelf for it here (which is of course empty right now, so you might want to check back later). 

I'm excited to do this and if you think it's a fun idea, go and sign yourself up. Thank you for reading!

Top 5 Re-Reads

Hello there. It's time for another Top 5 Wednesday (find out all about it here) and after I missed last week, I decided to write this early because right now, when I scheduled to upload this, I am actually watchin The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and I'm super excited. But then I also start to think about how I've wanted to read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and all that fun stuff for years and I still haven't started..

But on to happier topics, namely my top 5 favorite books to re-read. I re-read books quite a lot because everytime I really love a book I want to re-read it as soon as I finished it. Sometimes I also like to go back and read certain parts when a scene of that book pops up in my thoughts or something like that. I just think it's a waste of a book to not re-read it when it was so good. And most of the time I discover new things the second or third time round that make the book even better.

But let's get on to my favorite 5 to re-read. I'm gonna make these the ones I want to re-read the most and not the ones that I've re-read the most times. I hope that's okay. Anyway, here they are:

5. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

This might seem like an odd choice but I really feel the need to reread the whole Twilight series. I've read these books a number of times because I used to love them. I mean, Twilight was the book that turned me into a fangirl and the first book that was ever more than just a book to me, that took up my life. For some people, this might be Harry Potter and it was for me too somehow but I was too young when I read the HP books to fall in love with them in the same way I did with Twilight. I remember when the first movie was coming out and there was a clip released of the Baseball scene and my friends and I watched it over and over and over and screamed and jumped around and we just went crazy. That's what I used to be like and now my love for Twilight has suffered a lot from all the hate it was getting. So I just want to make up my mind about the series again.

4. Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

I read this book only a few months back but I really really loved it and I want to re-read it so much. I stayed up until I finished it (in a day) and then the next day until I finished Walking Disaster and then the next to finish Beautiful Oblivion and you can probably imagine what time it was at that point. But I just loved Jamie McGuire's writing style and the books were so easy to get through and oh so much fun to read.

3. The Host by Stephenie Meyer

This is one of my alltime favorite books and probably the one I've re-read the most. I love the story so much and I always wait long enough to re-read it that I don't know everything by heart anymore so I can rediscover the book a little every time I read it. Also, I've only ever read this in German and I really want to own an English copy as well. Buying and reading the English version will be an amazing experience too, I'm sure, and it will hopefully happen soon.

2. Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

I know I should probably re-read the whole series but I really just want to read about the precious Juliette/Warner-moments. I find myself thinking about things they say in this book a lot lately so I'm probably gonna have to pick the book up soon.

1. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

This is the book I'm most likely think about in my every day life. I can't tell you how much I love this story and even though all Rainbow Rowell's other books are great too, nothing can quite live up to the amazingness that is Fangirl. I read this book for the first time at the beginning of the year and already had to re-read it during the summer. First of many re-reads I'm sure. Just thinking about it, I want to dive into Cather and Levi's story all over again.

So that's it for this week's Top 5 Wednesday. Trust me, there were a lot of other books I wanted to put on this list, but I had to settle with these five. Let me know if you agree and thank you so much for reading!

November Wrap-Up

Hello there. It's already the beginning of December and I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. But I'm here today with my November Wrap-Up and not to talk about the fact that Christmas is right around the corner. I read a total of 6 books this month, which isn't that much but I'm still okay with it.

So these are the books I finished in November:

• To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, ★★★★
  I don't feel qualified to talk about this book, to be honest. Classics always intimidate me but I liked this one, even though I'm sure I wasn't able to grasp all the meaning behind it. I sort of miss school when I read books like this because we used to take books apart bit by bit and I feel a little lost on my own.
• One More Chance by Abbi Glines, ★★★★
  This is the 8th book in the Rosemary Beach series and like the others, it was enjoyable but not the height of literature. I still really liked it and after To Kill A Mockingbird, I needed a light and quick read.
  
• Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout, ★★★
  I'm not sure if the Lux series and I will ever be real friends. I don't know why but the books just lost their appeal after the first two. I really don't like Daemon for the most part and the other characters are just mehh. The story is also really repetitive for me and I just want to get to the end of the series. Only one book to go and I hope to tackle that one this month.
• Just One Day by Gayle Forman, ★★★★★
  I absolutely adored this book and wrote a full review that you can have a look at here.
• Just One Year by Gayle Forman, ★★★★★
  Even though the second book wasn't as magical as the first one, I still loved it and reading from Willem's point of view was really interesting.
• Just One Night by Gayle Forman, ★★★★★
  This is the novella taking place after Just One Year and I think this was brilliantly done to satisfy the reader's need to know what happens after but without having to bring up new problems to keep everything interesting. I really liked this quick ending to a beautiful story.

So these are all the books I read this past month. Let me know if you've read any of them and what you thought. For December, I actually have quite some books that I want to read before the year ends. First of all, I finally started The Book Thief and as expected it's taking me a little longer than normal to get through, so I want to finish that one soon. I also really want to read Let It Snow and My True Love Gave To Me to get me into the holiday spirit. Then, as mentioned I intend to finish off the Lux series this year by reading Opposition. I also really want to read The Bane Chronicles and, if there's even more time Ignite or The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer.

That's it, thank you for reading!

Top 5 Books Over 500 Pages

Hello there. It's already Wednesday again which means it's time for another Top 5 Wednesday. This week's topic is Top 5 Books Over 500 Pages and I thought it would be fun to change it up a little and just do my five biggest books that I've read. I hope that's okay.

So here they are:

5. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

I only own a German copy and I know they're usually bigger than the English ones (I have no idea why) but my copy has 789 pages. This was actually the first ever book that I read in English outside school and I had to because the book wasn't published in German at the time and I was a huge fan of the series so I had to read the book. But I got it from the library and then bought and reread it in German so that I would understand more than just the conversations in the book.

4. The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Again, I only own a German copy of this one and it's 862 pages. If you didn't know, this is one of my favourite books of all time and I want to encourage everyone to read this, even if you didn't like or refuse to read Twilight. This is a really original story and I can't stress enough how much better it is than the Twilight series.

3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling

Obviously, I first read the Harry Potter books in German as well but then my brother and sister got me the English box set for Christmas last year and the English copy is 956 pages. The German one is even longer with 1021 pages.

2. A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin

This beast of a book is 1117 pages and I believe in the newer edition it's split into two books. My copy isn't so that's why it gets second place in this list. If you didn't know, A Dance With Dragons is the fifth book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series and currently the last one that's out. If you haven't started watching and/or reading Game of Thrones, what is wrong with you? It's another one of my alltime favourites and I encourage everyone to not be intimidated by the hugeness of each book. It's really worth it, trust me.

1. Anna Karenina by Lew Tolstoi

I actually volontarily read this book for my finals in Russian and I regretted it the whole year it took me to get through it. Who does that, pick a 1227 page book out of pretty much any Russian book out there for your exam when you have so much other stuff to do? Well, I did and I still can't understand why on earth I thought that was a good idea. But I mean, I passed the exam in the end and all was fine. Plus, I have a pretty good first place for this list. 1227 pages - beat that!

So that's it, my Top 5 Biggest Books I've read. Let me know the biggest book you've ever read.

Just One Day | Book Review

Just One Day by Gayle Forman

 Allyson Healey's life is exactly like her suitcase - packed, planned, ordered. Then on the last day of her three-week post-graduation European tour, she meets Willem. A free-spirited, roving actor, Willem is everything she's not, and when he invites her to abandon her plans and come to Paris with him, Allyson says yes. This uncharacteristic decision leads to a day of risk and romance, liberation and intimacy: twenty-four hours that will transform Allyson's life.

A book about love, heartbreakt, travel, identity, and the "accidents" of fate, Just One Day shows us how sometimes in order to get found, you first have to get lost... and often the people we are seeking are much closer than we know.

I absolutely loved Allyson's story. I felt so many things throughout this book and I am so so glad I picked it up. To be honest, I was expecting a very cheesy romance where you know from the beginning how everything is gonna turn out but it's still gonna leave a little smile on your face. But this book was so much more than that and it blew me away.

It's about love and friendship, change and becoming more independent. It's wonderful to see Allyson go through all these things that life throws at her and to see her develop and grow stronger and breaking free; it's simply an incredible journey that we get to go on with her.

I'm not going to tell you about how Willem and Allyson's story turns out but be prepared that it's not what you think. At the end of the book, I felt somewhat empty and heartbroken (don't worry though, I think that was just me, it's not a sad ending). It just made me want to pick up the second book immediately, which is what I did. I need more of this story and of Allyson and Willem.

I really recommend this book to anyone who doesn't absolutely despise everyhting contemporary. This book is not your typical teenage romance, trust me. It's so much better than that, so please go pick it up. Now.

Top 5 Rebellion Groups

Hello there. It's time for another Top 5 Wednesday and this week's topic is Top 5 Rebellion Groups. I'm going to do this really quickly because it's already 11p.m. here and I want to upload it today and I also want to go to bed and have time to read a little and I also want to sleep early. Too many things I want.


So here are my five favorite rebellion groups:

5. The 5th Wave / The Infinite Sea

I love the group around Cassie and Zombie. Even though they hardly anyone likes each other they stick together because that's the only thing they can do. I can't wait to see them take on the big guys.

4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Of course, the Order of the Phoenix is kind of a rebellion group as well, but I was actually thinking about Dumbledore's Army here. I love the idea behind it, that everyone can learn from eachother and of course the Room of Requirements is absolutely amazing. I'd really want that one at home too.

3. Mockingjay

District 13 obviously had to make this list since the movie is coming out SO SOON. But I couldn't rate them higher because I never really liked the people who are really in charge there. I don't agree with most of their decisions and the fact that they stayed hidden for such a long time while the rest of the people were dying before their eyes doesn't really make me like them any more.

2. Unravel Me

Even though Juliette didn't stay there for long, how awesome was the Rebellion against the Reestablishment? I mean, all those people with their supernatural abilities are so fascinating and I loved to learn about what everyone could do.

1. The Host

Even though the Host doesn't really portray a positive future, I wanted to live in the underground compound that Jeb had built in the desert. I realize that it's all very unlikely to actually work but I just loved how everything was organized and how everyone had a role to play in the community.

So, that's already it for my Top 5 Rebellion Groups. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you for reading and good night!

Love, Rosie | Movie Review

Hello there. I went to see Love, Rosie today with my sister and I thought I would do a short review of the movie. As you may know, it is based on the book Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern (aka one of my alltime favorites), so I was super excited when I first found out they were turning it into a movie. The movie's been out for a while now but I only got around to actually going to see it today, but better late than never right?

If you're not familiar with the story of the book or the movie, it basically follows a guy and a girl (obviously) who have been best friends all their lives but there was always that MAYBE it could be more but then fate (or just a lot of unfortunate events) always keep that from happening. In the book, the story is actually told only through letters/emails/instant messages or the like. It made it so much more fun to read for me and if you're interested in a very short review that I wrote months back when I first started doing this book blog thing, you can go have a look at that here.

So obviously I was really curious about how they would incorporate those fun written exchanges in the movie and I also expected that the movie would be quite different from the book because the story in the book takes place over almost 50 years. That would obviously be difficult for a movie adaptation with all the actors staying the same age and so on. But while there were a lot of differences to the book, I still really loved the movie. It was just as cute and funny as the book and that's the most important part after all.

I don't want to give away too much here because I feel like anything I say will be a spoiler. So I can only very highly recommend both the book and the movie because the story of Rosie and Alex is one of the cutest, most heartwarming stories of friendship, family and love there is. Even though it wasn't the most perfect movie adaptation of a book I've ever seen, it gave me (almost) the same feeling I got when reading the book (all warm and fluffy). Plus, it doesn't hurt to get to look at Sam Claflin for two hours and both he and Lily Collins really did a great job in this movie. I really liked to see them together and they fit perfectly into their roles. I don't really picture characters in books as people when I read it but if I had to pick someone for Alex's part, Sam Claflin certainly is a wonderful choice.

Let me know if you've read the book or seen the movie and what you thought of it. If you haven't, go pick up the book now, I'm serious. Thank you for reading!

Top 5 Couples

Hello there, it's time for another Top 5 Wednesday post. If you want to participate, find the goodreads group here. This week's topic is Top 5 Couples and as you can imagine, it was incredibly hard to narrow all these amazing couples out there down to only five. But I did it and I tried very hard to choose couples from standalones also and not only the ones I've been able to follow through several books of a series. So here are the ones I've ended up choosing:

5. Jon Snow & Ygritte, A Song of Ice And Fire

Now these two unfortunately didn't get enough time with each other but I absolutely loved them as a couple. They were amazing in the books as well as in the TV show and I'm so upset about how they're relationship ended. I don't want Jon with anyone else because Ygritte was just perfect for him.

4. Rosie & Alex, Where Rainbows End

I absolutely loved the cuteness that is this book and the relationship between Rosie and Alex was incredibly cute. They were pretty much made for each other but struggled to realize this themselves. I can't tell you how angry this book made me at times because I just wanted for them to have their happy ending and wasn't willing to wait any longer. But in the end I have to admit that they're friendship was beautiful to watch, even if there had always been the option for more.

3. Harry & Ginny, Harry Potter

I didn't know whether to choose these two or Ron and Hermione but I decided to go with Harry and Ginny because I think I like them just a tad more and they never get the same amount of love as the other two. There's that scene in the sixth book where they started officially dating and they're sitting in the common room and Ginny is sitting on the floor and leaning on Harry's leg and that image is just branded into my mind as the perfect couple moment. I read that scene a million times and I just love their relationship to pieces.

2. Cather & Levi, Fangirl

Now this was an incredibly close call between the first to places. I decided to put Cather and Levi second even though I absolutely love their relationship and Fangirl is one of my favorite favorite books mainly thanks to Levi. Just thinking about them makes me want to reread the book for the third time this year and if you haven't read the perfection that is Fangirl, you should really start right now.

1. Magnus & Alec, The Mortal Instruments

When Magnus first turned up in the books, I really didn't like him. He was too weird and too much, who would have guessed that he would eventually become my favorite character in the whole series? And of course I fell in love with these two immediately, they are perfect for each other after all. All their ups and downs were so much fun to watch and I love how Magnus is just so much more experienced and still has the patience to deal with all of Alec's problems. I can't wait to read The Bane Chronicles and find out a little more about Magnus and hopefully his relationship to Alec too, since it's one of the small side notes in the Mortal Instruments series.

So these are my Top 5 Couples. Please let me know if you agree or disagree with any of them and we can swoon over some others together. Thank you for reading!

Top 5 Red Covers

Hello there. I'm here today with another Top 5 Wednesday post and this week's topic was Top 5 Red Covers. I realize that it's now Thursday but I still wanted to do this one and yesterday I celebrated our three year anniversary with my boyfriend and kind of forgot about T5W. But hey, I'm doing it now, so that's okay (hopefully).

So after having a look at my bookshelf, I realized that I own hardly any red books, but here are the five that I picked in the end:

5. The Elite by Kiera Cass

This is actually my least favorite cover of the Selection trilogy but it's the only red one, so I put it in fifth place. I can't wait for The Heir to come out - have you seen the cover? It's absolutely gorgeous and by far my favorite in the series.

4. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

I just recently talked about the Throne of Glass covers with a friend and while she hates them, I actually think they're quite nice. The red one in the lot is, again, not my favorite but it's still pretty enough to make fourth place in my list.

3. Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Didn't think of that one, did you? I know everyone probably picked this but I really like the Divergent covers and even though, guess what, Allegiant isn't my favorite of the three, I still really like it.

2. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

This is the German cover and I like it a lot better than the English one. It looks kind of creepy but I love how simple it is.

1. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Another one I'm sure noone expected but hey, I absolutely love this cover and I've considered rebuying the trilogy with these nice covers many times because I unfortunately don't own this edition. I think this one is absolutely beautiful. Again, I love the simplicity and the bird - anything with a bird or a feather always wins with me.


So these are my top 5 red covers that were harder to find than you'd think. Please let me know if you agree with my picks or which one you like. Thank you for reading!

October Wrap-Up

Hello there. I'm here today with my October Wrap-Up, something I'm really not ready to do - where is this year going? It's freaking me out a little. But I did read quite a lot of books this month, 14 in total, which is kind of crazy considering that I have to read a lot for University as well.

So here are the books I read this month:

• The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey | ★★★★ | Review of The 5th Wave
• Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout | ★★★★ | Review coming soon
• Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout | ★★★★ | Review coming soon
• Fallen Too Far by Abbi Glines | ★★★
• Never Too Far by Abbi Glines | ★★★
• Forever Too Far by Abbi Glines | ★★★
• Rush Too Far by Abbi Glines | ★★★
• Twisted Perfection by Abbi Glines | ★★★
• Simple Perfection by Abbi Glines | ★★★
• Take A Chance by Abbi Glines | ★★★★
• Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout | ★★★ | Review coming soon
• Vain by Amelie Fisher | ★★★ | Review
• The Edge of Never by J.A. Redmerski | ★★★★★ | Review coming soon
• Where She Went by Gayle Forman | ★★★★★ | Review coming soon
• Hopeless by Colleen Hoover | ★★★★ | Review coming soon

Okay, so it might seem like I read a lot of books I didn't like that much but that's not quite true. I read through almost all the Rosemary Beach novels by Abbi Glines and I enjoyed all of them a lot but still only gave them a three star rating on goodreads. Why, you may ask? Well, even though the story really got me hooked and all the books were super fast-paced, they felt more like a guilty-pleasure read and somehow didn't deserve a higher rating in my opinion. Only with Take A Chance did I bring myself to give a four star rating because there I really really liked the main characters and it wasn't all quite so cliché and cheesy.

I decided to mention this in my wrap-up because I'm really not planning on reviewing each of these books, I don't really have a lot to say about any of them. If you like New Adult, you should definitely check them out but if that's not your cup of tea, stay clear.

Thank you for reading!

Vain

Vain by Amelie Fisher

If you're looking for a story about a good, humble girl, who's been hurt by someone she thought she could trust, only to find out she's not as vulnerable as she thought she was and discovers an empowering side of herself that falls in love with the guy who helps her find that self, blah, blah, blah... then you're gonna' hate my story.

Because mine is not the story you read every time you bend back the cover of the latest trend novel. It's not the "I can do anything, now that I've found you/I'm misunderstood but one day you'll find me irresistible because of it" tale. Why? Because, if I was being honest with you, I'm a complete witch. There's nothing redeeming about me. I'm a friend using, drug abusing, sex addict from Los Angeles. I'm every girlfriend's worst nightmare and every boy's fantasy.

I'm Sophie Price... And this is the story about how I went from the world's most envied girl to the girl no one wanted around and why I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

I picked up this book because 1) the cover is beautiful and 2) the blurb on the back sounded intriguing and different. Unfortunately, it was also quite misleading. Now, don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the book very much but it was nothing like I had expected and some parts were too cliché for me - which is exactly what the blurb promised it wouldn't be. I only gave this three stars on goodreads (probably 3.5 if I could) because I had some problems but overall really liked it. It just didn't quite feel like a 4 star book to me.

So, we follow the life of Sophie Price and at the beginning she's exactly as expected: arrogant, selfish and simply vain. But then everything changes rather quickly. Sophie gets sent to Uganda to serve in an orphanage. Obviously, she somehow discovers her true self there and proves to the people surrounding her that she's not just a spoilt brat. And all that in the first half of the book. Did you expect that from the blurb? I didn't. And with it came my first problems with the book. First of all, I feel like the whole Africa aspect wasn't done too well. Now, I don't know about the author's relation to Uganda, but I would've liked to know a little more about everything. We didn't get any profound background information of the country and I have to say that, even though I just read a whole book taking place in Uganda, I still hardly know anything about the country. Plus, I would've wanted to know that this was a book taking place in Africa for the most part before I picked it up. It honestly was nothing like what the blurb promised and that was a little disappointing to me.

Secondly, the romance was mehh. Usually, the romance is always one of my favorite parts of any book I read. I have never read a book and hated the romance. But here, thinking about it now after finishing the book, it wasn't that great. There was this huge immediate attraction which is always somewhat annoying, I mean have you ever  truly lost your ability to speak because you couldn't help but stare at someone you just met? Have you ever lost control of your body and stood there trembling? Well, I haven't, and it annoys me to read about this kind of attraction in books. Also, it then developed rather slowly from there which is frustrating to me. 

Now, I'm always a lot better at talking about things I didn't like but it's not that I hated this book. I actually couldn't put it down and finished it rather quickly. I just want to tell you that if you consider giving it a try, don't expect a flawless story. I mean, the average goodreads rating is 4.31, which basically promises amazing things but, for me, it didn't quite live up to that. I still recommend this book to anyone who wants to add this gorgeous cover to their collection - just don't go into it expecting too much.

Thank you for reading and also a big thank you to my brother and sister who got me this book for my birthday.

Top 5 Books I Wasn't Expecting To Like But Did

Hello there. I'm here with another Top 5 Wednesday and this week's topic is books we weren't expecting to like but did. So these are the books I picked:

5. To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

When I picked up this book, I had read and not enjoyed The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han not too long ago and I wasn't sure whether I should give this one a try. But then the story sounded really interesting and like something I could really like and I started the book and was like 'yeah, this was a mistake' at first but then continued and ended up really liking the story.

4. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

This might seem like an odd choice but I really wasn't sure whether I should read this at first. I was going through a huge John Green phase but this one just hadn't sounded as appealing to me. But obviously I had to pick it up anyway because, you know, it's John Green and I ended up liking it a lot more than I would've thought.

3. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Since everyone was always raving about this book, I figured I would have to give it a try even though the whole alien invasion idea didn't sound like something I would want to read about. But thank god I picked this book up and thank you to everyone who talked about how much they loved this one because I was blown away by this story. It ended up being so much better than I would've expected.

2. The Ocean At The End of The Lane by Neil Gaiman

To be honest, the only reason I bought this book was because there was this tiny edition at my bookstore that I just had to buy. It was so cute, I couldn't resist but I didn't expect to actually like the story. It was very different from what I usually read but I enjoyed it a lot.

1. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

I just posted a review talking about how much I loved this book even though I didn't expected it. I'll just leave you with a link to that post here without rambling about it again.

So these are my top 5 for this week; let me know if you agree with any of these. Thank you for reading!

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

The Strange And Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender 

by Leslye Walton

 

Love makes us such fools.

Pain in love appears to be a Roux family birthright, and for Ava Lavender, a girl born with the wings of a bird, it is key to her inheritance. Longing to fit in with her peers, Ava ventures away from home, ill-prepared for what awaits her in a world that does not know whether to view her as a girl or angel.

Ava's quest and her family's saga build to a devastating crescendo until, on the summer solstice, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air and Ava's fate is revealed.

A mesmerizing, lyrical tale of longing, desire and the nature of love.

I bought this book simply because I fell in love with the cover and I put off reading it for quite a while because it didn't really sound like something I usually read and I wasn't sure I would enjoy it. Whereas I was right about that first part, the story of Ava Lavender is nothing like anything I have ever read, I had worried for nothing. I loved this book. I loved how different it is.

Not only do we learn about Ava Lavender's life but also about her family's history. And let me tell you, some strange things have happened in that family and it's a wonderful experience to get to know all about it. It took me a while to get into this book, merely because I hadn't expected anything like it. The magical elements were hard to grasp at first and I often wondered how I would get through a whole book that was this 'strange'. I soon found that the strange parts are what makes this book so wonderful and I learned to love the magical elements quickly. After accepting that this family's story wasn't like anyone else's, I enjoyed the book immensely.

I don't want to talk too much about the story itself, everyone should be able to discover the beauty of this book for themselves. I will certainly recommend reading it but with one piece of advice: Don't give up on the story after the first chapter. You would regret that, believe me. I didn't think it was for me, and I can imagine that there are many people out there who won't love this book but don't let that keep you from giving it a try. You might love it. I did, even though I never thought I would.

Just thinking about this book is making me all dreamy and I keep thinking about the end that completely confused me, so I'm going to leave it at this short review. Thank you for reading!

Top 5 Female Characters

Hello there. It's Wednesday and I am here to do a Top 5 Wednesday post (join the T5W group here). This week's topic is Top 5 Female Characters and here are my picks.

5. Arya Stark - A Song of Ice and Fire

I love Arya, in the TV series as well as in the books. She's such a strong character and managing even though everything about her life has been hard. I can't wait to see what's going to happen in the future with her and I'm hoping we get to see some reunion of the (remaining) Stark family. I'm sure there are many great Arya moments waiting for us.

4. Isabelle Lightwood - The Mortal Instruments

I'm sure Izzy will be on many people's list. She's such a great character who develops wonderfully throughout the series. I loved to see her go from arrogant to loving and getting to know her better. She's also good for hilarious comments, which make any book better. 

3. Hermione Granger - Harry Potter

Of course, Hermione had to be included in this list. I love Hermione. I don't know what else to say.

2. Celaena Sardothien - Throne of Glass

This was a really tough choice to make but I finally decided to only reward Celaena second place. As you may have already noticed, I love a good kick-ass heroine and Celaena is definitely that - and more. She's girly and deadly and I adore that combination.

1. Katniss Everdeen - The Hunger Games

Now, Katniss is number one not only because she's one of my top 2 favorite female characters but because she's also the main character in my favorite series. I know that there are people that don't love the Hunger Games that much and a lot of people have problems with Mockingjay and how 'weak' Katniss became in the course of the series - I'm not one of them. I adore Katniss, I think she is incredibly strong and how she reacted to the horror she had to go through only seems natural to me. The important part is that she always put herself back together at some point and stayed as strong as she could be throughout the series. And that she somewhat cracked at the end, I totally understand. She will probably always be my top favorite character and even pure amazingness like Celaena Sardothien can't replace her.

So, that's it, here are my favorite female characters. Let me know if you agree with my choices or who you'd put at the top. Thank you for reading!

September Wrap-Up

Hello there. It's already the end of September - I can't believe how quickly this year is coming to an end! I'm here to post my rather disappointing and embarrassing monthly wrap-up. After reading 16 books in July and 9 books in August, I only managed to finish 3 books in September. I do have one good reason for this: I started University this month and that has kept me very busy and has only left little time to read anything other than law books for Uni.

I'm hoping this downwards trend isn't going to continue or soon I won't be able to show you any books at all in these wrap-ups. Obviously, I had been aware that once I started Uni, I wouldn't have as much time for reading anymore but I was quite overwhelmed by the workload and I'm still trying to adjust and get used to it. With also working part-time, my schedule is very full and the only time I really get to read is during my daily train rides to the city.

But without further ado, here are the books I read in September:

• The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton | ★★★★★ | Review
• Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas | ★★★★★ | Review of Throne of Glass, Review of Crown of Midnight
• If I Stay by Gayle Forman | ★★★★ | Review coming soon

Unfortunately, I haven't managed to start the Lux series this month but I am very much planning to do so next month. I am also going to finish The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey that I started this month and that I'm about 100 pages in. October is also my birthday month, so there will hopefully be a book haul up at some point with what I got for my birthday (I am hoping for and expecting some lovely new additions to my TBR-pile). I am also very aware of all the "Review coming soon" remarks on my wrap-up and I do apologize (as I do every single month) but I will post reviews for all of the books at some point.

Thank you for reading!

Top 5 Non YA Books

Hello there. University has been keeping me busy but I still decided to write this quick Top 5 Wednesday post today (join the group here). This week's topic is Top 5 Non YA Books and here are the ones I've chosen. 

5. Fahrenheit by Ray Bradbury 

This is probably my favorite classic I've read so far and one of my favorite books I had to read for school.

4. Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella

Or any Sophie Kinsella book, really. I love her writing style and sometimes I just feel like reading a Sophie Kinsella book.

3. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin 

I absolutely love the Song Of Ice And Fire series and I can't wait for the next book to come out.

2. Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern 

I could read this book all day, it just makes me super happy and I love rereading it again and again.

1. Desert Flower by Waris Dirie and Cathleen Miller

One of my favorite books of all time and certainly the most touching and heartbreaking one. This is such an incredible (true) story that I can't seem to stop thinking about. I'm deeply impressed by Waris Dirie and what she has achieved in her life and have nothing but the greatest respect for her.

So that's it, my favorite non YA books. Thank you for reading!

The Selection Trilogy

The Selection by Kiera Cass

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime.

The opportunity to be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon. But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her, and leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she begins to realize that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

When America is selected to compete for becoming the new queen, she is probably the only girl who does not want to leave her home and move to the palace and into a new world. It means leaving the boy she loves behind and diving into a world full of jealous and intriguing young women with rules so different from the one she's used to. But it also means being able to support her family with the money she earns and ensure that they have something to eat every night.

America's experience in the palace was a really enjoyable read for me. I finished all three books rather quickly and enjoyed the lightness of the whole thing, even though there were some more serious subjects treated in the story as well. Because I read the books so quickly, I didn't really have time to get annoyed with the love triangle and America's constant changes of mind. I can imagine that, for other readers, these are reasons to dislike the books but it all didn't bother me too much.

I think that these are very light books even though there is a very interesting society described in the story. It is divided into eight castes and the caste you are born into decides what kind of job you will have and whether or not there will be food on your table. Parts of society are rebelling against this system and this becomes a more important part the further you get into the books. So it's not all shallow, but to me the books are mainly about Maxon's search for a wife and the pretty dresses and that was okay for me.