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!