Never Forget Your Favourite Books

With lots of new books coming out all the time, I feel that I've forgotten about all the books I used to love reading and made me want to start blogging in the first place. So this month I'm just going to re-read all my old favourites: Ally Carter (the Gallagher Girls series and Heist Society series); Meg Cabot, and Joss Stirling.
                                           



Between the Lines - Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer

Delilah knows it's weird, but she can't stop reading her favourite fairy tale. Other girls her age are dating and cheerleading. But then, other girls are popular.

Delilah loves the comfort of the happy ending, and knowing there will be no surprises.

Until she gets the biggest surprise of all, when Prince Oliver looks out from the page and speaks to her.

Now Delilah must decide: will she do as Oliver asks, and help him to break ot of the book? Or is this her chance to break into happily ever after?

After discovering the book I found the plot very interesting, it seemed for me different than any other YA romance book I've read before. It's told in alternating character points of view and with the fairy tale retold between chapters. Illustrations throughout the book and coloured writing however reveal that this book is geared towards more early teens.

I love a good romance story and almost always in a romance story is conflict and trouble; but one of the characters being a fictional character trapped in a book, is a big heap of trouble. From the start you're thrown into their separate worlds: Oliver's hate for being trapped and Delilah's hate for being stuck in high school - where everybody hates her.

Oliver has friends that are as close as family, and a good life. But despite everything he isn't happy. What I like about the alternating character chapters is that you get to understand more about Oliver's hobbies, sometimes in these sort of books you only see the girls opinion of the boy and discover no personality to him. We also know that Oliver is very good looking (and to be a Prince in a fairy tale he has to be) but he is also caring and quite clever. Since he has to try so many ways to get out of the book.

Delilah has a few people that care about her: her mum and best friend Jules. Everybody thinks she has gone crazy, and with her reputation falling her mum becomes more disappointed in her. All we really know about Delilah is that she enjoys reading and is a good girl in school, for me her personality could of been developed more, as it seemed to cover the same points (her obsession with the book, unpopularity at school...).

The romance between Oliver and Delilah was sweet, and understandable, and caring, but I felt some passion was missing - only slightly because of their instant love. Occasionally I would wonder if Delilah had fallen for the fairy tale Prince Oliver.  Other characters though were developed more deeply - especially from the fairy tale book - and most characters all showed a hidden side: Jules through her scary outfits was a caring friend, Rapscullio being the bad guy and his love of art, and Captain Crabbe being an evil pirate whilst loving dentistry; showing everybody is more than what you see.

Overall this book seemed a bit young for me but had a very cute romance. The beautiful drawings were very good and fitted the fairy tale theme, and help create a feeling of reality for the fairy tale. The ending was different to what I expected but was slightly unrealistic (even though characters coming alive is unrealistic) I am happy with the ending though as it answered all questions and problems that could have occured.

3 stars out of 5

It's The Last Day Of The Month...

. . . so this is a 4 point overview of this month's books read.

Favourite Book - 'Starcrossed - Josephine Angelini'
Four words: Greek mythology, fit boys. What more could a book need? I did read 'Dreamless' and WOW this book also surpassed all my expectations and worries. Desperate for the next book in this series to come out, when I will devour it up!

Favourite Character -  Xavier - 'Seeking Crystal - Joss Stirling'
He was incredibly sweet and caring to Crystal - even before he knew she was his soulfinder! And he was really passionate, whilst being the family's favourite (without being like a spoilt mummy's boy). He charmed everybody he met, with his wit and his good looks probably helped.

Favourite Ending - 'Seeking Crystal - Joss Stirling'
My favourite book ending was 'Seeking Crystal', all of Joss Stirlings soulfinder books have been brilliant, and therefore all endings have been perfect. But this month the only reason 'Dreamless' isn't my favourite book ending is because the series isn't finished and I'm still waiting for the 'perfect' ending to that series. But 'Seeking Crystal' was another action packed romance that delivered like all other Joss Stirling books.

Favourite Book Cover - 'Queen of the Big Time - Adriana Trigiani'

It's a really pretty book cover, and is one of the main reasons I brought it.

Starcrossed - Josephine Angelini

When shy, awkward Helen Hamilton meets Lucas Delos for the first time, she thinks two things: the first, that he is the most ridiculously beautiful boy she has ever seen in her life: the second, that she wants to kill him with her bare hands.
 
An ancient curse means Lucas and Helen are destined to loather one another. But sometimes love is stronger than hate, and not even the gods themselves can prevent what will happen next …

 

 

Picking up the book in the store I was reluctant to buy it, I don’t exactly know why, possibly: okay I’m not going to lie it’s a big book – probably one of the thickest on my book shelf (along with Pride and Prejudice and Harry Potter) but that didn’t really deter me; what put me off was when I read  the Dreamless blurb it mentioned another boy that Helen was torn between, and I hate books were a girl is torn between boys and can never make a decision.  However a trilogy of books based around Greek mythology was too good for me to miss. I love Greek mythology in books! (For example the Abandon trilogy by Meg Cabot is brilliant.) So I had to buy Starcrossed and Dreamless; I set about reading straight away.

Starcrossed was a fabulous read but once I finished I felt sad, I can gather a few reasons for this: first the amount of death; the blood for blood idea in the book was vivid and the idea of killing anybody in your own family is horrible; next was the fact that Lucas and Helen think they’re cousins that is one of the main reasons why they are apart – and I really want them to be together; lastly is the thought of reading Dreamless after the build up of Lucas’s and Helen’s relationship I really don’t want someone to just come and break it up.

All relationships in this book are great. I wish I had a friend like Claire who is very protective over Helen and cares for her deeply (so much to push her off a roof).  All relationships in this book are about control and love: the brothers in the family have to cope with the desire to use their ‘extra skills and strengths’ not to kill each other; trying to protect someone else they love, whereas Jason has to control his feelings for Claire by suppressing them and pushing her away. I love their relationship and knew they definitely should be together.  But the most control of all is Lucas’s and Helen’s, they know so much is at stake for them and they’d do anything to be together which ultimately means that fate doesn’t want them to be together. Lucas is the perfect boy and the key to Helen’s dream to get off the island and see the world; with his flying abilities he can take her anywhere.

This story is about discovering yourself and what it takes to do that; clearly the key in this book is: love, friendship, trust, family and flying lessons with the person you love most.  But with a great, big dollop of Greek mythology it has a certain twist. A great theme in this book is what goes around comes around, and through all of the fights, warnings, disguises, nightmares and lightning bolts, this message stays the same. You kill him – we kill you. You ancestors have failures – they’re your problem now. You save my life – I save yours. And this constant circle of events feel like something the characters can’t break free of, so I have an unwillingness to read Dreamless (despite the brilliance of Starcrossed) until the next book comes out, when they can hopefully be masters of their own destiny. And Helen makes an absolute decision – I just hope she chooses Lucas.

Overall a good book, that I recommend for any fans of romances, a very addictive read - so only start if you have lots of time to have your minds warped with worrying about the characters problems. It was brilliant. I just love, LOVE books based on Greek mythology!

 

4 stars out of 5

Books!

Have got 5 new books to enjoy, read and review:

 

 

Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe - Jenny Colgan

 

 

Fated - Alyson Noel

 

 

Queen of the Big Time - Adriana Trigiani

 

 

Starcrossed - Josephine Angelini

 

 

Dreamless - Josephine Angelini



Destined - Aprilynne Pike

Laurel lived happily as an ordinary girl - until she discovered that she was a faerie.

Since then her heart has been divided between the magic realm of Avalon and the human world. Between the boys she loves the most; caring David and wild Tamani. But now a powerful enemy threatens Avalon and unless the faerie world can win out, there may be no choices left...

Laurel faces the fight of her life to save everything and everyone she loves in this spell-binding faerie tale of magic and mystery, romance and danger.

I read the first book ‘Wings’ a long while ago, but something stopped me reading any of the other books in the series; until the last book came out. And for me the books were worth the wait.

Usually books where the main character can’t choose between two people annoy me so much, that I have to say I don’t even attempt to read them. So I was glad when I finished reading ‘Destined’ that everything had come to the perfect end – especially since Tamani had always been my favourite.

The book starts exactly where it left off after ‘Wild’: Yuki trapped, David having disappeared and Avalon under threat. But then Klea arrives and things go from bad to worse. Tamani and Laurel have to flea and Yuki escapes with Klea – with devasting results for Shar. Making it to Avalon Laurel, Tamani, Chelsea and David, learn more about Klea and the fight ahead. With surprising results of humans being in Avalon and Laurel finally ready to make her choice, the fight in Avalon is hard for everyone…

The ending is brilliant and you can see that throughout the series it has been building for this big finale; overall it’s a fabulous book (and the final fight reminded me in ways of the final fight in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). This series should be read by fans of fantasy stories and those who want to read something slightly different. A brilliant page-turning book, that’s action packed and one that I wanted to never end.

4 stars out of 5

Rapture - Lauren Kate

The sky is dark with wings…

And time is running out for Luce and Daniel.

In order to stop Lucifer from erasing the past, they must find the place where the Fall began. Only Luce can break the curse, and it is her choice alone that will decide all of their fates.

But as Dark Forces gather, great sacrifices will have to be made in this final, epic struggle…

In the fight for Luce, and for love, who will win?

This book was much better than I ever expected it could be, and had so many different twists, the book for me was just amazing.

The book continues almost straight from where it had left off after Passion, Lucifer is at the Fall and is ready to erase all off time. All they have is nine days to try and stop Lucifer, and nine days to collect three items that will help determine the place of the fall. The plan seemed so simple and I wondered what could go wrong but then problems kept arising and some with devastating results. The plot though was well written and kept me turning the pages as fast as I could until the very end.

Luce and Daniel’s relationship is as sweet as ever and grows even more in this last novel, I think this is because Luce is starting to understand more about herself.  I love all the characters in it: Arriane, Roland, Annabelle, Cam, Gabbe… and also Dee – who I think is one of the bravest characters in the book.

After a lot of twists and unexpected events, the ending was brilliant but also kind of sad. The last line of the book to me stood out and was a happy line since it showed the happiness of all their previous lives but was also sad since it signified it was the end. It is one of the best books I’ve read in awhile and a read I’d recommend to everybody.

4.5 stars out of 5