THE BABEL EFFECT - Daniel Hecht
Genre: Thriller

Number of pages: 516

First sentence: "Jess had been born with a hole in her heart - a ventricular septal defect."


Short Summary: Imagine that we could blame every bad thing that humans have done in the world on a disease. This is what Dr Ryan McLoud and his team at Genesis propose to find out. The Babel Effect - it might be the right step towards saving humanity but could it be the step that puts Ryan's whole family in danger. The Babel Effect is a very plausible scenario that has deeper implications for humanity than expected. Definitely recommend if conspiracies are your thing.

3.8/5

JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL - Susanna Clarke
Genre: Fantasy/Historical Fiction

Number of pages: 782

First sentence: "Some years ago there was in the city of York a society of magicians."
One Sentence summary: If you enjoy History, magic, wild adventures and fairies then this is the book for you - it's a slow burn but every chapter takes you on a new journey with fascinating and lovable characters; a very riveting way to weave together history and fiction with a satisfying ending. 
Favourite part:I don't particularly have 1 specific part of this book that was my favourite - however I do love Clarke's style of introducing you to Characters that seemingly have no correlation to one another and then intertwining their journeys in a way you never expected. 

3.8/5

THE LORD OF THE RINGS - J.R.R Tolkien
Genre: Fantasy Fiction

Number of pages: 1031
First sentence: "This book is largely concerned with Hobbits, and from its pages a reader may discover much of their character and a little of their history."
One Sentence summary: If you haven't heard of, read or watched The Lord of The Rings by now - Where have you been living? This is a book of EPIC proportions; if reading about long journeys and epic battles isn't your thing, I recommend putting this book down and finding something else. 
Favourite part: As difficult as this book was for me to read I think the first half of the first book was probably my favourite - the setting out for a journey gave me a sense of excitement to keep reading. I think if I hadn't already watched the movies I would have been far more into the book. 

5/5 - for sheer epicness.

Mini Reviews

Hello my lovelies.

A LOT has happened in the past few weeks. The rising threat of the COVID-19 virus has alas gotten worse.
At midnight tonight NZ will be closing its borders to everyone except NZ Citizens or residents. It's been a wild time and I feel like I'm living through an apocalypse movie.

One of the only good things to come out of this situation (and it's only for me personally) is that now I HAVE to stay home which means, a lot of reading will hopefully be getting done.
A couple days ago my best friend and I went to the first (of hopefully many) book clubs that another friend of mine was hosting. My best friend is lucky enough to get sent books to review and she was talking about a condensed form of reviewing that she does for the books she reads. So I thought, going forward instead of writing page long reviews for a few books I do read, I'd write a condensed form on the books I read - this will allow me to write reviews for every book I read as well as make the task of writing reviews less daunting. 

That being said let's start off with the first full book I've read since getting back home.

Title: The Shining

Author: Stephen King

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 310

First sentence: "Jack Torrance though: Officious little prick."

My one Sentence summery: Jack Torrance, with his wife, Wendy and son Danny, move to the Overlook Hotel. Jack is to be the caretaker of the property during the winter months when the hotel is closed. Jack starts to spiral out of control as the spirits of the hotel digs it's claws into him slowly but surely.


My favourite part: I think my favourite part about this book is that it's the first horror book I've read that has actually made me feel scared while reading it. I haven't felt this way since reading Goosebumps when I was a kid.

Stephen King is a classic - I personally think he can do no wrong when it comes to writing horror. 5/5 for sure. 

You've Got Mail #7

Hello Lovelies!
It has been a TIME since I last updated!
I've been very busy socializing and relocating my life back home.
Yup! You read that correctly, my 2 years in Canada has come to an end - I am currently writing this from the comfort of my teenage home.

The packing stress to fit my two year life worth of things into 3 bags was REAL. And of course there was no way I was going to leave behind the 7 books I had accumulated in those 2 years (even though I promised myself I wouldn't buy any).

Since being back I have bought 2 more and I've only been back home for a full week!
It's been very relaxing having time off and just being able to read. I left about 3 books at home that were only half read and so even though I'm about halfway through Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell I decided I needed to finish the others I left behind first.

So I've finished 'Salem's Lot and The Shining and now I've got my focus back onto The Lord of the Rings which I will hopefully finish before the week is out.

It's been nice being back home surrounded by my books and my things. I plan to do as much reading as I can this year and so far we're off to a good start! I don't know if I'll be reviewing every book I read but I'll make a good go of it! 

Until next time - C xx

AMERICAN GODS - Neil Gaiman

Gaiman is fast becoming one of my favourite authors to read.
I would love to sit down with him and have a conversation about where his ideas come from for his novels.
When I started out reading American Gods I had no intention of actually writing a review and because it actually took me so much longer than expected to get through it (a couple of months at least) I wasn't sure I was actually grasping the story enough to form much of an opinion.
But I've just having finished it I have so many thoughts. 

The book starts off with us meeting Shadow - who is the central character of the whole book. You get a sense to begin with that he's someone special, even though it's not explicitly stated. He is released from jail early as his wife dies in a car accident. I don't think we ever fully get told why he ended up in jail in the first place but we're given a rough idea and that Shadow is the type of guy that takes the wrap for something that wasn't his fault to save someone else - in short, he's a really honest to God, genuine, good guy. 
Shadow meets a guy, known as Wednesday, on the plane home that 1). knows a little too much about him and his situation and 2). offers him a job. Shadow is hesitant at first but in the end takes the job to essentially be Wednesday bitch. We find out that Wednesday is the God, Odin, Shadow drives him around and runs errands and it all seems strange but harmless to begin with. Wednesday asks a few unsavoury request of Shadow which is does anyway - because he's already been in jail once right?
From here the story progresses into a series of meeting strange beings and encounters that the reader is unsure of whether is real or just happening in Shadows mind. 
We meet super old Gods, gods you would have no doubt heard of and ones you haven't. Gods from myths you would have read about in classics at school. 
And then we meet the super new gods. The gods of the information age, the TV, electricity, the internet, cars. Gods of Technology - the things we worship today. 

We find out that Shadow has entered into a world of Gods and a war is coming. Both sides are both hesitant and willing to fight if it means winning, if it means surviving. Is Shadow the hero they need or will he cost them everything?

I had zero expectations about this book before I started reading it, nor did I actually have any idea what it was about. All I heard was that the book - and the TV show - were good. 
When I was about halfway through the book I still wasn't fully understanding what was going on so I watched the first episode of the TV show in hopes it would shed more light and I think I came out of it even more confused. And I feel like that comes down to the fact that even though things are now visual you tend to lose a lot in the interpretation. Needless to say I stopped that idea - I'll get back into the TV show at another time. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story - even if some of the imagery was lost on me. I simultaneously loved and hated the fact that Gaiman gives you names of Gods but no backgrounds. You don't know where they're from or what they do, and I think that was actually the point. These Gods are being forgotten. They are being lost in a new world to more exciting, shinier toys.
I feel like the novel gives interesting commentary on the time it was written (2001). A time when technology had progressed so quickly, it was everywhere. And even though you still have people who worship their old gods, their old beliefs; their everyday use of technology gives power to it. 
It's interesting commentary on the way the world is heading.
Sure, we learn about old Gods and old religions but we no longer worship them. We no longer sacrifice things to them - and without us - Without our love and belief they cease to exist in our world. It's an interesting idea that the Gods we believe in could be the average Joe down the street who works at the corner store, who is struggling to survive just as much as we are.

I'm interested to see how the TV show pans out and whether it does justice to the ideas and conversations Gaiman poses in the novel.
Definitely something I would gladly read again - 9/10

Mini Reviews

Hello lovelies,

My social life has been so busy lately that I've been finding it difficult to set some time aside to read - let alone write any reviews. I am currently on my 7th book of the year (so much for reading a book a week - since we're already on the last week of July!) and I don't think I'm going to review this one but I've decided to give a little review of the few books I did read. 

NEVERWHERE - Neil Gaiman

Honestly - this book was so good it got me out of my reading funk that I'd been having and got me excited about reading again. One of my work colleagues handed it to me one day after she was done reading it. We always talked on and off about what kind of books we liked and the kind of authors we liked to read - she is obsessed with Gaiman and I had never actually read any of his books so I was happy to start somewhere, and I wasn't disappointed. 

We follow the story through the eyes of the hero - Richard Mayhew, whose life turns literally inside out when he stops to help an injured girl on the sidewalk. He is whisked away to the London Below, a parallel world steeped in shadow and mystery and embarks on a journey like no other. 

I love the premise of this story, I love the idea of a parallel world existing just below the surface of our own, and the only ones able to see it are the ones who are willing - the ones who aren't caught up the in everyday hum drum, materialistic lives we now lead. Once I started I couldn't put this book down, my only wish is that there was more.
8/10

THE MAGUS - John Fowles

I stumbled upon this book while looking for something to read in the library. It was a big, thick book which is my absolute weakness and when I took it to the counter to check out the volunteer helping said it was one of his all time favourites. 

Since reading, I would gladly read  again. 

Nicholas Urfe is a young man from Oxford who, after life throws a few curveballs his way, takes up a teaching post at the Lord Byron school in Phraxos, Greece. He soon meets a mysterious man by the name of Maurice Conchis and that's when things really start to get interesting. 

If you've ever watched Inception and were left with a feeling of "Wtf is going on here??" that is how I felt reading this book - I was just as confused as to what was real and to what wasn't as Urfe was. Just when you think you're understanding what is going on another curve in the road is thrown you're way and you're back to wandering what is actually happening. It is a long book but it had me on the edge of my seat every step of the way.
9/10.

Images from Google Images

You've Got Mail #6

Hello Lovelies, it's been a hot minute since I've updated, or written anything substantial at all.
I've just been very busy with my life here in Canada, trying to find a balance between life and working and trying to get back in a routine that makes me feel like myself.
We're already at the end of our 2nd month of 2019 and I'm trying to set goals for myself (even if they are little ones) so I don't feel like I've been set adrift in this huge ocean we call life.

I've finally completed the Travel Blog update of our mini road trip when we first arrived in Canada (can you believe that was 10 months ago already!) and the next blog I'm planning is my Christmas and New Years trip to New Jersey/New York. I'm hoping to get that one out before the end of March.

In regards to the reading - my plan is to finish A Court of Wings and Ruin by the end of this week. I won't be reviewing it but the goal going forward is to try and read a book a week so it just means sticking to my guns an actually reading - I do miss it but I have a tendency to get distracted by all the amazing TV shows we've go going at the moment.
Until next time - C xx

WE WERE LIARS -
E. Lockhart.

As most of these start out, We Were Liars was handed to me by my best friend while I was on holiday in NZ in September. I hadn't brought any books over with me as 1). I knew I still had all my unfinished books waiting for me on my night stand and 2). I wouldn't have any time to actually read as I'd be too busy catching up with everyone. And boy was I correct!
I opened up the book to read the first Tuesday night I was there, only got 1 chapter in and only reopened the book once back in Canada. 

We Were Liars is a story told by Cadence Sinclair - a 17 year old girl from a wealthy family. It's a story about the summers they spent on Beechwood, a private Island owned by her grandfather. It's a story about the lives of a wealthy, dysfunctional family and how all families, regardless of how put together they seem, all have skeletons in their closets.

E. Lockhart manages to beautifully weave together fiction and poetry in one seamless motion. Cadence is as troubled as any other 17 year old girl could be. She is hopelessly in love with Gat, her Aunt's husband's nephew who has been coming to the island since they were kids -  a love that was never meant to be - and her family, as loving as they seem, are holding a secret from her. She cannot figure out what is wrong - she had an accident and she can no longer remember things very well; but something just doesn't seem right. 


Surprisingly I really enjoyed this book. I went into it with no expectations and came out the other end being pleasantly surprised. Lockhart managed to keep me on the edge of my seat; once I started reading I couldn't put it down. An air of mystery and unease keeping my interests piqued as we uncover the family skeletons with Cadence. The book ends with a crescendo that none of us expected. An easy read but a good one, 6/10.

THE NIGHT CIRCUS 

- by Erin Morgenstern

"It's called Le Circue des Rêves, and it is only open at night..."
That was all I needed to read before I decided this was the book I was taking home from Barnes and Noble that day. 
I was on holiday in LA and literally ITCHING to read ANYTHING. 
I was done with A Court of Mist and Fury and for the life of me couldn't find a single copy of A Court of Wings and Ruin in any bookstore I went into so I settled on something that wasn't part of a series - and I wasn't disappointed. 

Morgenstern writes as well as Stiefvater does in regards to painting a vivid image with her words. Through the entire book I felt like I could close my eyes and see the Circus exactly as she describes right in front of me; the iron fence that circles it, the striped tents, the ticket booth, the giant Clock, the bonfire, the throngs of people wandering from attraction to attraction and interspersed through it all the dotting of red displayed by the Circuses own Fandom - The Reveurs (it makes me quite excited for the film possibilities).
She also manages to keep up the air of mystery and intrigue through the entire book so that you're always at the edge of your seat wondering where the next sentence will take you which I thoroughly enjoyed.
The troop of characters that we get introduced to throughout the book are exotic and enigmatic; Morgenstern only giving pieces of each character at a time, the puzzle pieces falling into places at each turn of the page.
We have Celia Bowen, our female protagonist, a gifted illusionist and daughter of the Great Prospero the Enchanter; a magician who unfortunately pushed the boundaries of his magic and is now an invisible shadow of his former self and Marco Alisdair, our male protagonist, an orphan boy chosen by the Mysterious Alexander to be his apprentice in a duel that has been waging for centuries between Hector Bowen and Mr A.H. 

Our protagonists are pitted against each other, entering into the duel knowing only that they have a challenger and that the circus is their arena. Celia works within the circus, close where she can control it where Marco does his magic from afar, orchestrating it's every move, working as an assistant to the Circus's proprietor, the quirky Chandresh Chrisophe Lefevre.
No one involved in the circus is aware that without Marco or Celia, it would not survive. Their magic creates a sort of time warp, anyone involved in the circus doesn't really age, the twins that are born within the circus have special abilities too - it's implied these abilities stem from the magic that runs from Celia and Marco.

Morgenstern takes us on an exciting journey of magic and mystery, secrets and heartbreak and a forbidden love story so well interwoven with the circus itself that the reader is terrified of the consequences. Highly recommend this book if you're a lover of magic or just wanting to get lost in something other than reality.
7/10

You've Got Mail #5

Hello Lovelies,
I am writing to you from the comfort of my cousins couch in South LA while "The Real Housewives - Atlanta" plays in the background.

Since my last update I obviously managed to sort out the last bits and pieced for Canada.
If you haven't already pop over to my Travel Diary Blog to keep up with my travels so far.
This is just a quick update though.
Clearly I didn't quite get around to writing my reviews for the movies I watched and I honestly haven't had ANY time for reading.
I've left all of the books I was reading back home and I am so upset about it.
I am literally ITCHING to buy more books. The bookstores here in the states are absolutely mind-blowing just because of their sheer size. And I just want to take all the books home with me - but I know it's a bad idea since I still have to move to Calgary and my bags are already overweight.

I think I'm definitely going to have to join the library once I get to Calgary because I don't think I'm going to have the space to buy all those books either.
I definitely caved and bought "The Night Circus" the other day because I convinced myself I needed a new book to read that wasn't already part of a series. I'm only a few chapters in but I'm loving it so far, might write a review on it but I haven't decided yet.

Until next time - C xx

You've Got Mail #4

HAPPY EASTER!

Goodness, I cannot believe we've made it to April already and I have done little to no reading AT ALL!
With my departure for Canada literally 25 days away I really haven't had much time to do any reading at all.
And my review for the second and third installments of "A Court Of..." series have fallen by the wayside because I haven't managed to get my hands on the third book and I took too long to write the review for the second so I cannot remember a damn thing! Other than it was brilliant.

Life has been very hectic lately trying to catch up with friends and trying to get all my ducks in a row before Canada. I think the only thing I really have to sort is my travel insurance - and I'm doing a really good job at procrastinating that. I also need to sort out my bank situations but other than that I think all that's left to do is pack my things up and get on that plane.

I have been watching copious amounts of movies lately as I can just switch off my brain. 
So to change things up a bit I might do a review on the couple of movies I've watched recently that I've really enjoyed.

Also - haven't gotten around to writing any of my travels while I was away over Christmas and new years but I might get around to doing that since it's a long weekend - might take my laptop up to Mom's and potter away.

until later - C xx

I think after reading comtemporaries for so long (for me) the "Forever" Series what a good series to jump back into the world of fanasy. It was still based in the real world but with fantasy entertwined - a very believable werewolf story which I was very thankful for. In all honestly, it took me WAY longer than it should have to get through the series - and it was probably a combination of being too busy at work and not being as into the story as I'd hoped I'd be. I had planned on writing a review but it took me so long to read that anything I'd wanted to say has completely left my brain. I think I'll have to do a re-read if I have any hope of writing a half decent review. So, I'm not wasting any time in writing the "A Court Of..." Series reviews. I was planning on writing a review on the whole series once I was done but I decided I'll just do it one book at a time. So... without further ado (and potential spoilers)..

A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES - By Sarah J. Maas.

Feyre is human. A huntress. At 19, the youngest of a poor family,  she is trying to keep her Dad and two sisters alive. They weren't always poor. Her Dad was successful, until he made a critical error and ended up losing money for the wrong people, which cost him is job - and nearly his life. Feyre's older sisters Nesta and Elain, who still remember living in luxuary, struggle to come to terms with poverty. 

Feyre is hunting to feed her family when she too makes a critical error - she kills a wolf, but not just any wolf. The wolf she kills is actually a faerie.

An exciting journey unfolds as she is swept away by a Beast-like creature to pay for killing the wolf-faerie. Friends are made, albeit cautiously, a romance blossoms, a curse needs to be broken and an enemy makes their way ever closer.

Okay so can we just pause a minute to talk about how much I wish Fae were real. Because OMG. I wish Fae were real. In every book I've ever read involving Fae all the legends and stories are the same. The can't lie yet they choose their words very wisely. They are very tricky and mischevious. They are beautiful and magical and they aren't afraid of their promisquity. I just, I need a beautiful Fae man in my life. And faerie males in this book make me want one even more. 

I think one of the things I enjoyed about this book was how loosely it was based off Beauty and the Beast. Feyre is whisked away by a beastlike creature to the Spring Court to live out the rest of her days as punishment for killing the wolf-faerie. The Beastlike-creature as well as the entire Spring Court has been cursed to roam around for the rest of their lives with masks that obscure their faces; who they truely are. 
Tamlin is our beastlike creature - devistatingly beautiful. He is Feyre's captor and protector. 
Along with his friend and emissary, Lucien (from the Autumn Court), they show Feyre all that life has to offer being a fae - and a High Fae none the less. They show her riches beyond her wildest dreams and she gets used to living a life of weath and leisure. 

Feyre is by no means my favourite character in this book but I really enjoy her development. 
She is very much the type of girl who has been forced to fight to survive her entire life. To begin with she fights against everything but she is so young so of course when you have someone who takes care of you and protects you and makes sure you have every comfort you ever wanted your resolve will break and your walls will fall. Because it's nice to have someone give a shit about you. It's nice to not have to worry about defending yourself. So as Feyre warmed up to Tamlin, so did I. 
Even though he was unlike anything Feyre had ever experience before, and even though he harboured many secrets from her, he also cared for her, which was something she was never used to. He made sure she was safe; and the fact that he was beautiful definitely helped her fall for him. Even though I was weary of him I started to think that maybe my sceptism was misplaced. 

Although, somewhere around the middle we get introduced to Rhysand. Who is definitely right up my ally being the type of guy I'd most definitley go for. Obviously beautiful, but dark and dangerous and mysterious. The type of guy you know you should have no business wanting but that makes you just want him even more. 
I found myself reading more quickly, just wanting to get another glimpse of him. Find out more about who he is. We only see him a couple of times in this book. And he is an arrogant ass hat who has some hold over Tamlin - and seems far too interested in Feyre. But most of that just seems to be because it seems to bother Tamlin. 
There was a part of me that thought for a bit it was because Rhysand was in love with Tamlin - but let me just say, I'm very glad I was wrong. 

What I did enjoy as well was that the plot develops really quickly without leaving you feeling like you've missed out on major character developments. 
And things manage to go from bad to worse really fast but it keeps you on your toes. It was honestly one of those books where I wasn't sure the leads would make it out alive (and maybe that just comes from reading Game of Thrones) but I was honestly hoping that Feyre would pull through. Also, the antogonists in the book are very evil. Some not for any reason at all other than because they are pure, vile creatures. Which I enjoyed as well because intrinsically evil characters literally can and will do anything - they have no rhyme or reason for being evil. They just are. And I'm not going to delve into the main Antagonist at all because honestly, when she turned up things got very very interesting so I'll leave you all to read the book and find out for yourself but by the end of it I was left feeling content that what needed to be done was done, and excited to find out more about how Rhysand would continue to fit into the whole picture. 

Over all I give A Court of Thorns and Roses a very strong 8/10. Would definitely read again.

Image from - heyashers.com

You've Got Mail #3

Hello Hello lovelies & Happy New Year!
Is everyone as baffled as I am that we're 2 weeks into 2018 already!? Because I'm sitting here wondering where the time went.

I have been very busy since Christmas.
Worked finished up on the 22nd December and it's just been Go! Go! Go! since then.
The majority of it is my own doing but I've finally got one more week before I go back to work where I'm just planning on doing absolutely nothing.
Don't get me wrong - being away and road tripping for the past couple of weeks have been amazing and as hectic as it is, it's so good to be back home in Auckland.
And, having time to do nothing else but read to my hearts content.

So, I'm sure this is not just me - I feel like everyone who enjoys reading has this affliction, but I have a really bad habit of reading more than one book at a time. I am only halfway through my first reading of Lord of the Rings, I am halfway through reading Salem's Lot, I am trying to read The Bane Chronicles  - I think it's the 10th time I've restarted, it's one of the books I keep picking up when i'm at my parents and have nothing to do - and I have just completed A Court of Mist and Fury. I think we can see a bit of a pattern here; I love a bit of Fantasy. But also - apparently I have the attention span of a goldfish (and I also have no book loyalty. HA!).

The plan is to write a review for A Court Of... Series. I just need to get my hands on the 3rd book. But keep an eye out and bear with me on this. I've enjoyed the first two so much so far and I really cannot wait to sink my teeth into the third.

For Christmas by BFFL gave me 4 books (hard cover too!) so I'm thinking I might pick up one to read & review for the time being.

Hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday season and I'll see you all for my next review.

- C xx

You've Got Mail #2

It is Saturday morning and I am awake before 10!
Actually - now that I think about it, this has been happening more often than not of late as life has actually just been stupidly busy.
I had all of the good intentions to review the Forever series once I was done reading it all but every time I sat down to write it I came up blank.

I've now finished - and I'm still coming up blank. I even went as far to open a word document to write as I got through each book and then post it all at once so I wasn't trying to sit there remembering every detail from all 3 books and the feels I felt while reading it but here I am. Still unable to write anything constructive. 

It has taken me a REALLY long time to get through them and I don't know whether that was a lack of the story grabbing me or whether I just had far too many other things going on in my life.
Maybe I'll do a proper review at some point in the future but for now I'll just say a few words.

The imagery was beautiful; and honestly after the Raven Cycle I expected nothing less from Stiefvater. The twist on the original werewolf legend is super interesting and even though it took an age and then some to get through the books I wish there was more to it. I know it's not really the point of the book but I'm super interested in the werewolf situation and how that can be fixed. I think they're books I can really get behind but maybe just need to be in right state of mind for. 

On the other hand, I started reading A Court of Thorns and Roses on Tuesday and I am almost finished. It is so flipping good. I wish Faeries were real. The most interesting mythical creatures. I feel like the more I read about them the more obsessed I become.
Not sure whether I'll write a review yet but maybe I should. We'll see how life goes in the next couple of weeks with Christmas looming. 

I have many plans to travel these holidays; many road trips planned so maybe keep an eye out for my Travel Diary Blog - which is very much neglected at the moment. But I might take a pause in my first Africa trip (still!) to update some fun trips around New Zealand with Family and Friends. And then hopefully when Canada becomes a thing there'll be more travel things to write about.

Till next time - C xx

S E E P

The water hit the bottom of the porcelain like a damn breaking free from it's confines. As she watched the water rise higher she felt everything she'd been postponing to feel come slowly to the surface. Every tear hastily wiped away, every sob swallowed, every scream choked. For every dark corner in her heart and mind she turned on lights. It was time to feel before she lost her mind. She stood in the bright white of the bathroom stark naked, feeling the heat of her body bleed out through her pores. She raised her right leg and slowly lowered her foot to the water; big toe entering first, then the second, third, forth and fifth until her entire foot, up till the ankle was submerged. She knew instantly that she'd made it too hot. It was scalding. On reflex her body wanted to whip her foot right back out but she pushed past the prickling sensation. It would soon pass - and besides, it was good to feel something other than numb. She placed her right foot at the bottom of the tub, raised her left leg and placed that foot too, at the bottom of the tub. For a moment she just stood there, reveling in the feeling of the burn. She turned right, bent down to place both hands on either side of the tub and lowered herself slowly into the steaming liquid. For a brief moment her mind flickered to her knowledge of burns and the temperature your skin could handle before it became first, second or even third degree burns, but before the thought even left her mind her skin was acclimatizing to the temperature. She lay back, letting the water raise over her thick thighs, over her well fed belly, envelope her shoulders. She directed her gaze towards the ceiling, watching the tendrils of steam rise. She thought about the boy she should love, and the boy she did and let out a sigh; her breath mixing in with the steam. She thought about the pain she felt and the pain she didn't want to cause. She thought about her selfishness and the choices she would have to make - sooner rather than later. She inhaled, her breath catching in the throat. She exhaled shakily as she felt her heart contract. She waited for the sob to surface but surprisingly she kept on breathing without interruption. She'd left it for far too long - the time to grieve had passed. She could feel the sadness, but tears would not be shed any longer. She knew she'd have to say goodbye. And for the first time in a long time she found that her heart had said the goodbyes before he head had. She knew it was the right thing to do, if felt right. But the little selfish, lonely girl within didn't want to let go yet. She had to learn to grow up, she had to learn to let go. Life wasn't a fairy tale, it wasn't a romantic comedy. You don't get the things you want just by wishing for it. Yes, sometimes the universe gave you what you were hoping for but generally you have to put in the long yards. And sometimes hard work doesn't pay off. So it was time to let it go. Let him go. Sweat it all out, and watch it rise and float out the window with the rest of the steam. She lay in the water for what felt like ages. Waiting for it too get to cool for it to be pleasant anymore. Finally she sat up, blood rushing too her head too quickly making her head stuffy and her vision swim. Pass out, pass out right now she thought with a macabre grunt. Imagine that was how she went. Blood pressure, heat and fast motion was a lethal weapon. With her right hand she groped below the surface of the water and pulled the plug. That was how she sat, legs pulled up to her chest, chin resting on her knees, watching the water lower as it drained out, down the sink taking with it all the things she didn't want to feel - and now no longer had to.  

You've Got Mail - Update #1

Open homes are still ruling my life at the moment and the past few weeks have been so hectic it's been difficult to find the time to actually read. I've been trying to put aside even half an hour of my night before I go to sleep to read - but even then, sleep is slightly more important.

I've just finished reading 'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck. It was in my pile of books that I could take to work to read. It's a classic - one of those books I knew I had to read and I enjoyed it. It gave me hope of being an author one day as it isn't very big. So even if I start out small, it might just end up being a classic one day!







I am still trudging along through my first book in my Stephen King pile, 'Needful Things'. So far it's everything I was expecting from a King novel. If I ever get the chance one day I would love to just sit down and have a conversation with him - see how his mind works. As I've mentioned before I think everything King does is genius. I love his play with sci-fi and the supernatural. And how all of his stories are based in the real world. In places that actually exist. And even though he is writing about aliens or a 'demon' of some kind he writes it in such a way that it is believable. He writes the antagonists as if they could be real people in your life. It almost makes you look a little closer at the people around you - and pay more attention to those strange feelings you get. I think I love his writing under is pseudonym way more! I love they way he takes our thoughts and best intentions and twists it. I feel like he sits down and goes - right, what is the worst a human could do if they were given the opportunity and goes a bit further than the worst. I love how dark his writing, topics and themes are. I love how he can find horror in the everyday mundane.

Next on my list are the above two series. And I am SO excited to jump back into other worlds. I've been needing a break from reality so bad and as much as I love stand alone novels, nothing brings me more joy than a series - and I've heard great things about both. Obviously I got the above from my lovely Bestfriend (honestly, I feel sorry for everyone else because they aren't best friends with her, she is the greatest), who is always reading amazing new books and letting me borrow said books when she is done. It's like she is my own personal library. She loves both series and I trust her judgment above all. We're generally quite different as best friends go but when it comes to books our tastes become one.

What's Next...

This right here is my new current to be ready pile, it is literally what is on my bedside table right now. I was going to post about all the books my best friend gave me but we're currently in the middle of open homes and it was far too much effort to take them all out of the box. I sorted through the NOW, LATER and MAYBE piles. All of the Classics (Austin, Dickens, Twain etc.) went into the later pile. They're books I NEED to read but I'm not really in the mood for right now. The now pile as you can see consists of Stephen King, Irvine Walsh and a few others that I've been meaning to get around to reading but never have.

Because basically everything King does is brilliant I'm not going to be reviewing anything. I know I'm going to enjoy every book so we'll just keep it at that.
The majority of my maybe pile also made it to the now pile - it's a bunch of small books that I can easily fit into my bag for work to read. It'll definitely help me get through me TBR pile faster. Especially since Canada is looming and I don't have that much time left to get through all the books I want to read.
 Also I'm going to need to start packing away everything I have already read to go into storage because I'll be moving into my new place in a couple of weeks and I need to seriously downsize. So you probably won't see much of me for the next couple of weeks - unless my BFFL gives me something new I need to read.

PERFECT - By Cecelia Ahern

"When we embrace all our flaws, that's when we can finally become perfect."

If any of you happened to read my review of the prequal to this book then you'll know that I could not put it down. I read it from start to finish in about 2 days and I loved the majority of it - considering I really don't share much love with dystopian novels anyhow.  However, I have currently been staring at this page for the better half of 10 minutes and I have no idea where to begin.

Almost exactly a year after reading Flawed I finally manged to jump into Perfect, and I was excited. My best friend had lent me her copy and I couldn't wait to get stuck in. I said as much as we sat outside in the last disappearing rays of the Saturday afternoon sun discussing the pile of books she'd just given me to borrow. She took a drag of her smoke, and upon exhale with a grimace she said all in one breath something along the lines of, "I kinda didn't like it, but that's just my opinion". I'm not the type of person to let others sway my opinion so I didn't take it heart, she is my best friend but she is the chalk to my cheese - we can't be expected to agree on everything. 

So finally, after finishing Carry On I picked up Perfect. I was excited to be back with Celestine as she hid out at her Grandfathers; After managing to evade her Whistleblower - Mary May. I was excited to finally find out what happened to the Mysterious Hottie, Carrick, who said he'd "find her". I wanted to see what her plan would be for Crevan and the entire Guild that put her in this situation in the first place and I wanted to find out if Celestine had finally figured out the footage of her sixth branding was in the bloody snow globe all along (something I figured out the moment Tina, the guard from Highland Castle, had given it to her in the first book). I was about 7 chapters in when my heart sunk. I hadn't felt this since I picked up The Hunger Games for the first time and I realised, Perfect was going to be struggle. 

Ahern is a wonderful writer when it comes to romance and I give her mad props for trying, but in my opinion she falls short on teen dystopian.
Events unfolded out of nowhere; almost as if she thought of them as she was writing and went "that's a good idea! I'll put it in now and then just come up with an explainer chapter after". Nothing made sense, there was no build up and when there was a chapter explaining how Celestine and her comrades had gotten to that particular situation the explaination had no depth, no grasp, nothing to make me believe something like that could really happen. I rolled my eyes more times than I could count at the things Celestine said or did. She infurated me so much that sometimes I found myself just wanting to close the book and never pick it up again because how could someone be so stupid and naive, how does one change their decision so quickly on a whim. And maybe that was the point, maybe that was her being true to her character, a naive, scared teenage girl but none of it felt believable enough for me. 

Even Celestine's love for Carrick and his supposed feelings towards her didn't feel believable. Their first kiss and  'love' scene glossed over so quickly I'm not even sure it happened. There was far too much emphasis placed on describing setting and unnecessary surface features without any further explaination into it rather than focusing on the characters and their development in the story.
Part Four of the novel was were all the action happened and was the only time I found myself wanting to turn the next page to find out "what will happen next". But again I found myself rolling my eyes because the events that unfolded just didn't seem real. The characters decisions didn't make sense; they rose to leadership too easily or crumbled under authority too easily. There were far too many extra characters that didn't need to be in the spotlight as much as they were and I think that's why the central characters' developments were so lacking. 

The last few chapters felt rushed, almost as if Ahern had lost interest in the book herself and needed the fastest way to just get on with it. The idea of the story is actually really good and holds so much potential to be so much more but I was just left feeling disappoint and unfulfilled. 4/10. 

CARRY ON - by Rainbow Rowell

“And one will come to end us / and one will bring his fall, / let the greatest power of powers reign, /may it save us all”

Simon Snow is The Chosen One. The Greatest Mage of all time. His magic has more power than anyone has ever seen. He is prophesied to defeat the Insidious Humdrum and save the World of Mages. There is just one problem; he cannot control his magic or his power. 

To really be able to sink your teeth into Carry On I think you first need to understand its multidimesionality. First and foremost I see it as a spin off (and the Lord above knows I much I LOVE a good spin off) of the previous book I reviewed by Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl. 
Secondly, I see it is a full, novel length Fan Fic (which, being someone who used to read fan fics back in my day I find absolutely crazy insane amazing). 
And last, but definitely not least, it is a fans depiction of the last installment of a FICTIONAL book series, 'Simon Snow' (A book series within a novel! Bookception if there ever was such a thing), which anyone who hasn't basically been living under a rock since 1997 would notice is so very loosely based on Harry Potter you cannot help but smile. 

It is a world, within a world, within a world. Rowell is a fictional genius to be able to fit all of that into only 517 pages. This book exceeded all my expectations. 

I love the use of first person p.o.v. to tell the narrative. It allows you to get a massive insight into each character in such a short space of time. You get into their heads and understand their motives and I loved every second of it. Simultaneously there are parts where you'll find out information before the rest of the characters do, or Rowell will leave you hanging coming to the end of one characters chapter and then throw a twist you never saw coming as your begin the read a new one.

The emphasis of using "magic words" because words carry so much power to cast spells is also BRILLIANT! How many times as a kid were you asked to "use the magic words please" when asking for something. Imagine being able to cast spells just by saying a turn of phrase, I think this was one of the aspects I loved most about the book because I love reading and words so much, so this idea of words having power was just awesome. 

SIMON AND BAZ! I couldn't have loved this pairing more, nor could I be more in love with Baz myself. Not just because I have definitely been in his position before (and that sounds super narcissistic of me, but whatever!) but also because who wouldn't want a super dapper, super rich, Vampire Magician boyfriend!? To have them be so hopelessly obsessed with each other and think it's because they're "mortal enemies" was just too easy - you couldn't come out the other end of that and NOT have them fall in love. To be fair, Baz was always in love but to read along as Simon realizes that yes, He does actually love Baz gave me the warm fuzzies.

Carry On is jam packed with everything I love. Teen Drama. Romance. Mystery. Magic. Shady characters. Adventure. An unstoppable evil. And a happy ending. This book gets a 10/10!