Winter

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Top Ten Best Books I Read In 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature run by BrokeAndBookish each week – I’m thinking I might not take part every week but just see if a week takes my fancy. Where has this year gone?! As we’ve only got a few weeks left, here’s the ten books I’ve loved the most this year. In June I talked about my favourite books I’d read so far this year so if you want to know about some other awesome books and to see which ones made both lists shimmy over here.

For once I’ve put these in order, going from ten to my number one book of the year.

FullSizeRender (91)10. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
I love me some thrillers with unreliable narrators and The Girl on the Train certainly has that! I loved how Rachel wasn’t reliable or even likable a lot of the time and it was one of those mysteries that left me guessing till the gripping finale.

 
FullSizeRender (82)9. Fear and Loathing in La Liga: Barcelona vs Real Madrid by Sid Lowe
Barcelona and Real Madrid’s rivalry is legendary and Fear and Loathing in La Liga delves deep into both clubs history and looks at Spain’s history too. This was a fascinating read, it was sometimes a bit dense and a little dull when it was talking about players I didn’t know about but on the whole it was great read.

 
FullSizeRender (99)8. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
I thought A Monster Calls was just a children’s book and I was so wrong! Yes it has illustrations and is about a young boy but it deals with grief and death and abandonment so well. It really makes you think and the beautiful passages go so well with the often scary drawings.

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Thoughts on… Winter

I am not a huge fan of winter and autumn to be honest. I just don’t like it being so dark and wet and windy and cold. We hardly ever get snow in winter or at Christmas, sometimes we get it in like February but we never have a white fluffy Christmas is always grey and miserable.

I hate commuting during winter because I leave the house and it’s dark and by the time I leave the office it’s pitch black already so by time I get home two and a half hours later it’s so dark I just want to get into bed. (more…)

REVIEW: Winter by Marissa Meyer

Winter EleanSquareEyesPrincess Winter, the stepdaughter of Queen Levana, is admired by the people of Lunar for her beauty and her grace but little do they know about the visions in her head. Winter finds comfort and sanity in her childhood friend Jacin as she struggles to stand up to her stepmother and her rules. There’s some hope for Winter as Cinder and her crew plan to invade Lunar and start a revolution. Winter must find her courage and the threads of her sanity to try and work with Cinder to help save her people.

As this is the third book in the series there may be some vague spoilers for the previous books Cinder, Scarlet and Cress but they will be kept to a minimum.

Winter is a fascinating character. On the surface she seems quite mad and perhaps a bit useless when it comes to overthrowing a Queen but really she is incredibly strong and smart. She has horrible visions that often have her frozen in fear but because so many people think she’s crazy, they underestimate her and how she’s more perceptive than people might think. Also I love how kind Winter is to the people of Lunar, she puts them before herself a lot of the time and never feels better than them because she’s royalty. (more…)

WWW Wednesday – 4th November 2015

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words. It’s a simple meme where you just have to answer three questions:
– What are you currently reading?
– What did you recently finish reading?
– What do you think you’ll read next?

I think it’s a great way to share my recent reads as my reviews are always way behind what I’m actually reading.

So here’s my answers!

What am I currently reading?tokyo heist elenasquareeyes
Tokyo Heist by Diana Renn
I love anything to do with heists. I love true stories about heists (as long as no one got hurt) and I love books and films about heists so this book is right up my street. It’s all about a missing painting and I’m pretty much bang on half way through and I do like it even though the main characters dad is the absolute worst – he is really not a good parent and he bugs me whenever he appears.

What did I recently finish reading?Fairest elenasquareeyes
Fairest by Marissa Meyer
Though it’s not a proper part of The Lunar Chronicles (Re)Readalong I wanted to read Fairest before Winter came out this month. As Fairest is a prequel it was interesting to see what Lavana was like when she was younger and what made her so evil or if she was always like that. It was a quick read and now I’m really looking forward to see what happens in Winter.

What do I think I’ll read next?the house of hidden mothers elenasquareeyes
It depends on when I finish my current read. Either I’ll read The House of Hidden Mothers by Meera Syal, a book that seems like it’s a family drama but also has some humour in it, or if it’s out I’ll go straight to Winter by Marissa Meyer because I can’t wait to see how the series ends.

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Top Ten Books On My Autumn TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature run by BrokeAndBookish each week – I’m thinking I might not take part every week but just see if a week takes my fancy. This week is all about our Autumn TBR’s so here are the books I want to read before the end of the year. I have a few challenges to complete by the end of the year so some of these books will go towards them and I also want to read more books by women as I wanted to my reading to be a 50/50 split between male and female authors but at the moment I’ve read more books from male authors.

Anna and the Ffrench Kiss ElenaSquareEyesAnna and the French Kiss – Stephanie Perkins
This would fill the “contemporary romance” section of the Eclectic Reader challenge. I’m not a big fan of contemporary romance but I’ve heard nothing but good things about Anna and the French Kiss and I always like reading a fun, quick read in between more dense stuff.

Winter – Marissa MeyerWinter EleanSquareEyes
I’ve started The Lunar Chronicles series by taking part in the #TLCReadAlong and now I’m really looking forward to seeing how the series comes to an end. I still have Cress and Fairest to read but the excitement around Winter is definitely getting to me.

The Husbands Secret ElenaSquareEyesThe Husband’s Secret – Liane Moriarty
This would fill the “a familial relation” section of the What’s in a Name challenge. My mum actually bought this book for herself but it sounds intriguing and is a family drama which could turn into a bit of a thriller. (more…)