recent reads || october

HELLO HELLO HELLO ^_____^

Let's just ignore the fact that September was the only time this year we missed both a favourites and recent reads post *cries*

In our defence, most (if not all) of our last exams for the year were during that month... YAAAAY WE'RE FREEEEEE :D

Which means more time to read! ^_^

You know the drill:
I read some books and ramble
You scroll past the rambly bits and comment something nice anyway :3 <3

I've also realised lately that I don't really talk about the synopsis of books, instead just how I feel about everything and all the characters (which isn't exactly helpful considering you probably don't know the characters at all) so I'll try my best to actually talk about what goes on and what not :D

This month I actually put some EFFORT into the photo *shocked face* Here are some doodles in felt tip of (most) of the covers of books mentioned below. I know, they look terrible xD

The Summer I Turned Pretty / It's Not Summer Without You / We'll Always Have Summer (Summer series) by Jenny Han ★★☆☆☆
Jenny Han is such a loved author and to be completely honest I'm not the biggest fan of her books... I find them a little weird. I don't know. Unfortunately, I wasn't that thrilled over the first book of this series- even though the characters were adorable, it didn't seem that believable. However if I start a series most of the time I'm too stubborn to stop, so that's that. Overall feeling: it was okay. It's about a girl's family and another family being best buddies, and of course that other family has two super hot and celebrity looking sons who the girl is in love with. xD

The Night We Said Yes by Lauren Gibaldi ★★★★☆
This was a cute, feel good read :)

The Son of Neptune / The Mark of Athena / The House of Hades (The Heroes of Olympus series) by Rick Riordan ★★★★★
I read the first book of this series all the way back in June and couldn't find the rest of the books in my library, so I forgot about it. But then I started again and got addicted, and OH MAN I LOVE THE CHARACTERS SO MUCH! Although I have to admit, I forgot everything that happened in the first book, and by the third book I had absolutely no idea who Piper was. So now I'm constantly getting confused between Piper and Hazel (if you've read this series) so I'M SORRY </3 Lesson learnt- don't wait too long between parts of a series!

Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra ★★★★☆
There's something about dance related things that intrigue me even though I. Cannot. Dance. For. My. Life. Urgh. This book reminded me of an Aussie TV show Dance Academy (which I have to admit, was a tad bit obsessed with that show to the point where I even had dreams about one of the characters who died coming back alive shhhh). This book revolves around three girls, all super competitive and are in an elite ballet school. One word to describe the plot: backstabbing. One quality of this book which I really loved were the diversity of races amongst the main characters, which was something unique (it's pretty sad that I even have to say it, but I reckon it's true...). Be warned though, it ends on a big cliffhanger! On a serious note though, it might need a trigger warning in regards to eating disorders.

Kaleidoscope Hearts / Paper Hearts / Torn Hearts (Hearts series) by Claire Contreras ★★★★★
I accidentally read the 2nd (or 3rd, if you count the middle one which is a novella) book first which was pretty stupid of me, but it worked really well as a stand alone actually! Connected well with the main characters in the first and second/third books because one loves art (she makes sculptures of hearts out of broken glass- how stunning would that look in real life! And all the meaning that could be behind it <3) and the second loves PHOTOGRAPHY <3 okay someone really needs to stop me. This post is getting frustratingly long.

Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg ★★★☆☆
This book was pretty cute (unrealistic in my point of view but still). I've been avoiding reading the original Pride and Prejudice (so I should do that sometime) hence why I'm stupid and didn't realise all the characters in this American teenagerised (yay for made up words) version were all based on the original book.

Emmy and Oliver by Robin Benway ★★★★★
SO CUTE SO CUTE SO CUTE AND THE CHARACTERS ARE HILARIOUS AND WITTY AND CUTE <3 Honestly, someone needs to restrain me and my habits of reading these kinds of chick lit books... T^T

This little monster (see what I did there) has been lying around on my table for ages. I really need to continue reading it.

That one patch of blue bokeh on the right xD <3 I LOVE BOKEH! If you don't know what it is, it's a really cool photography effect (you would have definitely seen it before, just maybe not known the name) where there's a deep depth of field and the background is very blurry compared to the subject and lights in the background appear as little circles of colour (or even as hearts, hexagons and other shapes!) and I love it so much and this sentence is awfully long and I'll shut up now.

QUESTION OF LE DAY/MONTH/ETERNITY:

What's your favourite type of genre for books or movies? (or anything else like video games, music and... that's all I can think of xD)

For me, it would be:

Books: Contemporary, Romance (chicklit!!), Young Adult

Movies: Animation, Musical, Comedy
Video games: Simulation (THE SIMS 3 THO <3)

Music: Pop, Indie, Alternative, Musical theatre, Acoustic

Let me know your answers in the comments below! ^_^

FINALLY THIS POST IS OVER. I bet you thought it would never end!

I JUST REMEMBERED: ONE LAST (timeee I need to beee the one...) THING:

Feel free to add me as a friend on Goodreads so you can see me spam my feed xD

Stay fabulous!

Lena xx

recent reads || august

ALOHA :D

These past couple of months I've sped through quite a few books, so I'll try keep this short and sweet :)

Ruby Red / Sapphire Blue / Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier ★★★☆☆
I had already watched the first two movies in German before I read these books, and it was definitely easier to imagine what was going on in the books with those visuals already in my head. This series is about time travel with a bit of a fantasy element, as well as a touch of (a rather silly) romance. The characters are a little flat, but it was still entertaining.

The Mistletoe Promise by Richard Paul Evans ★★★☆☆
The usual Christmas romance story...

except am I the only person who thinks it's a tad bit weird/unrealistic for a random stranger to come up to you and propose to be a fake boyfriend?! A random strANGER. THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW EACH OTHER. IT'S CREEPY. And OF COURSE this dude just happens to have an unlimited supply of money, which he uses on buying super expensive gifts for the girl who's A RANDOM STRANGER MIGHT I ADD.

Burn for Burn  / Fire with Fire / Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian ★★★★☆
This series is pretty good, and has quite a few plot twists which is always interesting. This series has romance and even an element of fantasy-paranormal in it (which I was completely not expecting!), and revolves around the theme of revenge. The biggest let down in the series was thE ENDING. OH MY GOODNESS DO NOT EVEN TOUCH THE EPILOGUE OF THE LAST BOOK... I HATED IT!!! D: But otherwise, you find yourself getting kind of attached to at least one of the main three characters.

The Selection / The Elite / The One by Kiera Cass ★★★☆☆
Basically The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games. Enough said.

Although seriously, that basically sums this up! You have the social classes with the higher the number, the more poor you are, there is a competition for a bunch of women to fight for the throne beside a sparkly handsome prince, and of course, the decision to choose between your past lover or the new one (in the Hunger Games, that would be with Gale and Peeta. I was on Team Gale :P )

I found myself cringing and facepalming a lot in this series. I don't regret reading it, but I really don't see how it became so famous.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins ★★☆☆☆
Another story that resembles the kind of teen fiction you see on Wattpad. I'm not entirely sure why this book is so popular... I found it kind of boring to be honest D:

The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things by Anne Aguirre ★★★★☆
I don't know why I liked this book so much, but I did. I found the main character pretty unique (well, as unique as it gets with these kind of YA contemporary chick lits). 

Between Us and the Moon by Rebecca Maizel ★★★☆☆
I hate lying- and this story was based off the main character's lies she tells, and eventually gets so wound up in them that... urgh. Reading about her lying all the time made me so uncomfortable... but this book was the opposite to one above, as I wasn't a massive fan of the actual story, but the ending was awesome. When you first read it, you go WHAT?! THAT'S IT??? but then you realise the story continues on in your mind, and the author has already made her point clear.

Remember that you can always add me as a friend on Goodreads here :D

What have you been reading lately? ^_^

Stay fabulous!

Lena xx

recent reads || july

Hello readers!

So I have been quite busy (and lazy) lately, so I haven't read as much as I have wanted to... but nevertheless I shall share my book adventures with you ^_^

Falling into Place - Amy Zhang
Let me just say, the cover is AMAZING. Ok- so yes, you've guessed it, it is another book from the teenage/young adult fiction genre. It's a bit confusing because of its tendency to skip from present to the past, but so far, so good! Again, I am in the process of reading this book, so my opinion about it may change ^_^

Animal Farm - George Orwell
I have been meaning to read this book for a very long time but it has gone to the back of my mind until now! Yep, it's a classic and you'll feel literate when reading it (... well I do) but another bonus is that it is quite short compared to other novels with only about 100 and a bit pages. So far, so good!

Don't be lazy like me!

~ Judy x

recent reads || june

I HAVEN'T WRITTEN ONE OF THESE TYPES OF POSTS SINCE FEBRUARY?! WHAAA

Oh well... let's get cracking! You know the drill- I read some books and ramble on about them, you take my rubbish advice and move on. LET'S GO!

Lord of the Flies by William Golding ★★★★☆
Judy's already chatted about this one, seeing as we both studied it at school, so I won't go on about it because I've had enough of hearing the words 'savage' and 'evil' and 'deserted island' for a long time. I'll just leave you with an interesting story- we had to write an essay analysing something to do with the novel (forgot the topic). Instead of analysing the story, I started analysing life itself, and therefore got a bad mark for being "too philosophical" (scribbled the English teacher in the margin)!!! D:

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka ★★★☆☆
This is a story of a man turning into a 'vermin' (the translation is puzzled over whether that means insect or something else, as the German original says “ungeheueres Ungeziefer,” which literally means 'unclean animal not suitable for sacrifice.' :O. I took it to mean cockroach). The teacher however offered her own opinion on the story, where she suggested the man was actually so fed up with his life that he had gone insane and believed he was a cockroach while the whole world watched him thinking "what in the world is this guy doing" so now my mind is frazzled and I think I need to read this story again.

Infographic Guide to Literature by Cassell Illustrated ★★★☆☆
This was a pretty cool book with lots of interesting facts and statistics. Possibly the only way to make me look at statistics is through cute pictures and colourful graphs xD

Alaska by Sue Saliba ★★☆☆☆
I don't really remember the story too well of this one, mainly because I read through it pretty quickly and didn't take in much, but I do remember that the story line was slightly weak, and the lack of a single capital letter in the story made me slightly disgruntled, even though I guess it was meant for a poetic or lyrical effect... oh well. Wasn't a big fan, but the cover was pretty :P

The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus #1) by Rick Riordan ★★★★★
WHY DIDN'T I READ THIS SERIES EARLIER?! (okay wait, I can answer that one in one word: laziness xD). I know I'm a little old to be reading this series, but nevertheless it was awesome! It was a little hard to adjust to life without Percabeth and Grover, but I quite like the new people. One of the new main characters Leo has to be my favourite :D

Othello by William Shakespeare ★★★★☆
The storyline for this was weird. I'll wait til we analyse this at school before I formulate a proper opinion.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare ★★★★☆
My English teacher took the liberty to analyse every single line in this play.... don't even dare to mention 'ambition' to me, because I'll whack you with my failed essay on it. No I haven't actually gotten the essay back yet. Yes I am a fortune teller and can predict that I failed.

Dolci di Love by Sarah-Kate Lynch ★★★☆☆
Quite a nice read! It was refreshing to read about the beautiful Italy, but the characters in the story seemed a little weak.

Anne of Green Gables (#1 to #4) by L.M. Montgomery ★★★★★
The first book of this is now one of my all time favourite books! I first read it when I was younger and even after a few years I still love the vivid descriptions, quirky Anne and the beautiful town of Avonlea as much as I did before. The only thing I find strange about these books is that the series is dreadfully long o.O The first book whizzes through Anne's childhood so quickly, but the rest of the books are awfully slow, especially for impatient me! Oh well :)

Wonder by R.J. Palacio ★★★★☆
I loved this book! The main character, August, was born with a facial disorder which often leaves strangers shocked and disgusted by his appearance. As he enters school for the very first time, he meets some wonderful and not so wonderful people, and grows so much as a person WAAAH IT'S SO HEARTWARMING :D

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
As this is a current read, I haven't really got much to say, other than that I am tied in opinion. I can see why loads of people hate this book, but I can see why lots of others love it too...

What a long post! What have you been reading lately? Got any recommendations for me? :D

See y'all later!

Lena xx

recent reads || may

Hello!

All The Bright Places - Jennifer Niven ★★★★★
It's been quite a journey with this book (urgh the feels.) I felt that the characters were well developed, and the story was well written except for the ending. The last few chapters of the book were quite rushed, and I felt that the ending did not quite resonate as it should have because of that. The book does touch on some sensitive topics, so be aware of that before you dive into reading it.

No Stars at the Circus - Mary Finn ★★★★☆
For those who have read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, this book is similar in the way that a young boy tells the story through his perspective, but the storyline is very different. I must say that the cover is BEAUTIFUL - I may have judged it by the cover when I picked it up in the bookshop (don't worry, I read the blurb as well).

If You Could See Me Now - Cecelia Ahern
This book was seemingly hard for me to read, mainly because of the style of writing and slow progression of the plot. To tell you the truth, I felt like I was reading a book written by child, but am reminded that it is a young adult book by the spontaneous curse words the author throws in ever so often. I have yet to finish the book (so my opinion probably will change) but so far, so-so.

Stay fantabulous!

~ Judy x

book haul, bad puns, and a blind date with ... a book?!

That moment when you can actually feel your future self cringing at this post. Brace yourselves for the overload of text, puns, and a lot of "I hope this is good".

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :)

This post was meant to be the monthly Recent Reads post, yet because I'm lazy I haven't had much time lately, I didn't have any interesting books to talk about. Unless you want to hear me puzzle over Shakespeare, or squeal over Percy Jackson (the only cool thing I read lately was the first book in Heroes of Olympus! Yes, I'm late to the bandwagon. My excuse? Couldn't find it in ANY library. Admittedly, I only look in two. But I checked both of them pretty frequently for over half a year, so... I think it's a valid excuse ;D)

And if you're super desperate to see what we've been reading lately, why don't you check out a couple of our previous ones, here and here? *shamelessly promotes hehehe*

Anywho. I'll stop waffling. *sniggers*

So yesterday (or the day before, I've already forgotten) while I was at school, my mum went shopping and came across a bunch of brand new books for $1 each.

ONE DOLLAR EACH.

She got a few for me, and luckily I liked all the ones she got! ^_^

So today I'll share with you some books that I've bought and received in the past few months, and because I've already showed some of them already on my blog, I won't talk about all of the ones pictured above.

To be completely honest, I'm not the biggest fan of buying books. I've grown up going to the library almost every day and borrowing stacks of random little books at a time, so buying them just doesn't make much sense to me when you can go to the library and have a massive collection for you to choose from, all of which are free! For me, to buy a book I normally will have to have read the book multiple times and it has to be one that I love and will eagerly read more. 

But I have to admit, if they're super cheap, you'll definitely find me carrying an armful of stories I have never seen before. xD

Enough rambling, let's begin.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire by Susanne Collins

I read the Hunger Games series waaay back in 2011-12, and little did I know that reading this series would begin an obsession with the books, and also a love for dystopian fiction. Funny thing is, I've never actually owned any of the books until last year, which would explain why my (incomplete) collection of the trilogy bears what I believe are the movie edition covers. My obsession with the series has definitely dwindled a little, due to my hunger (see what I did there) to read a larger variety of books. Catching Fire itself was an awesome read though, and is almost as good as the firest (puns, gotta catch 'em all love 'em) one, which is saying something.

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult

The main reason why Jodi Picoult is one of my favourite authors is because every single time I finish one of her books, I'm left alone (heh)with a feeling that the book I had just closed was the best book I had ever read. *sobs dramatically* To be honest, it probably wasn't. But the resonating impact her books have given me every time I finish one is still there nevertheless, and Lone Wolf was amazing the first time I read it. Can't wait to start it again!

The Pact by Jodi Picoult
I haven't read this one yet, but I've come close to buying it before (at a much more expensive price than $1 ;D).

The Girl from Snowy River by Jackie French
As a child, I loved Jackie French and her historically based stories. Even though most of her novels are for a younger audience, I feel like anybody can read and learn from them. I haven't read this one yet, so I'm looking forward to it.

No Shame, No Fear by Ann Turnbull
This was a free book from my school library. I have no idea why I picked it up, nor do I have the slightest inkly of what it is about. (see what I did there, inkling, books are printed with ink, yes, yes...? ;) )

Having it All by Maeve Haran
Whilst browsing through a bookshop, I found this book for $2! Admittedly, what drew me to it was the cute cover (see below). No idea if it's good or not, so I hope so! xD

Tersias by G.P. Taylor
So when I went to the register to pay for the previous book...
Woman at counter: Okay that will be two dollars. And now I'll give you two free books. *turns around and starts rummaging through piles of books on ground*
Me in my head: ... huh?!
Woman: *comes back* Okay, I couldn't find a second one, but here's one. *hands me this book* It's a fantasy one. Is that okay?
Me: Ah.. urr...erm... o...k?
Me in my head: WHY IS THIS WOMAN GIVING ME FREE BOOKS
Woman: Wait, unless you like... *goes away* *comes back holding two Sculduggery Pleasant books* Do you want one of these?
Me: *kicks self for having never read any of them and is slightly overwhelmed by what is happening* Uhh ... no thanks. It's okay.
Woman: *hands receipt* Have a nice day!

So yeah. That doesn't happen to me on a regular basis. I have no idea what this book is about, but I do enjoy a bit of  fantasy, so hopefully it's great!

And now, as if this post wasn't weird enough, let's throw in something random yet related!

The other day I purchased this little brown package from Elizabeth's Bookshop in Newtown, Sydney. Basically, there are a bunch of different sized packages on the shelf, each with a few keywords on the front. The only thing you know about the book underneath the wrapping is from the words on the package, and it's a simple yet ingenious way for shoppers to "not judge a book by its cover" (I really love proverbs asd;flj xD)

The book inside the packaging turned out to be:
Tully by Paullina Simons
And like most of the books in this post, I have no idea what it's about xD

Most people avoid buying one of these little guys, in case they don't like the book. But for me, the risk is all part of the fun! ^_^

So what are you reading at the moment? Or if books aren't your thing, what do you love to do? :D

Stay fabulous! ;{D

Lena xx

PS Feel free to chuck me a comment below with a lame pun about books or something, so I can cry laughing at them later.

how to spend the holidays (by yourself)

Greetings fellow viewers of the interwebs,

Anyway, this blog post was inspired from my current situation: staying at home by myself being bored out of my mind whilst having to practice piano daily for my upcoming exam (so stressed T_T). Yep, doesn't sound like a great holiday, so I've come up with a list of things to do when you're alone and bored at home.

1) Draw!

Whether its a huge artwork or a little doodle, drawing makes time go by quicker. I usually find inspiration from Pinterest, as there's so many different styles of art out there in a very convenient place (plus, you can pin and save them so you don't forget!). One of my favourite types of drawing are simple, quick watercolour sketches. You can literally paint a blob and turn it into the cutest little bird by drawing in a few features.

2) YouTube

Just don't get too carried away watching videos until you end up in the weird part of YouTube. (Yep, we've all been there.) Trust me there's actually a few videos that will blow your mind (aka "10 hours and 1 second of pure black screen"!?!?) Don't try and find it if you still want to be productive with your life (I'm joking, but still.)

No, I'm not kidding about the video.

3) Pinterest/Blogs

I spend hours on Pinterest, casually pinning random things that I'll probably never make but nonetheless admire. If I'm not doing the above but am still searching for inspiration, I go hunting for blogs. You can find a lot of inspiration for things (to do things instead of sitting there doing nothing for 24 hours.)

4) Read

Now I know that reading isn't a favourite for some people, but if you are fond of the practice then go read a book! If the book is well-written, you'll find yourself reading for hours and hours on end. (At least that's what I do, I'm sure I'm not alone on this.) If you want to find good books to read, Goodreads is probably your go-to place!

Le fleur on le book

5) Reorganise things!

You know, switch things up a bit. Maybe tidy your desk or reorganise your book collection.

Of course there is a lot more to do, but this is how I've been spending (*cough* wasting *cough*) my holidays. Hope you've found this post not utterly useless, and maybe even a tad bit entertaining. Feel free to follow me on Pinterest and Goodreads, and I'll see you later.

Cheerio,

~ Judy x

recent reads || march

Hello again!

Nineteen Minutes - Jodie Picoult ★★★★☆
Nineteen Minutes is one of those compelling books that make you really feel and empathize over the characters. It is a story about a victim of bullying, and how that dramatically changes his life and the lives of others.

Lord of the Flies - William Golding ★★★★☆
As you may or may not know, Lord of the Flies is commonly used as a novel-study book for students in high school. I have been wanting to read this novel for years, but never got the time to go find and borrow it (so I resolved to reading the plot on Wiki. Shhh) Anyway, I finally got the chance to read it, and yep - it was as good as I thought it would be. I found that the book itself would have been harder to follow and understand if it weren't for the help of Wiki's plot summary, but that may just be me skipping huge paragraphs of description and going straight for the dialogue...

The Happy Prince and Other Stories - Oscar Wilde ★★★★☆
This is one of the best and cutest collection of short stories I have ever read! Each story from the collection is well-written, I find classics quite hard to read, mainly because of the huge amounts of description and abundant use of olden language, but the stories in this book were surprisingly great! This book is great for reading before bed or during a short break, and of course, it is written by the wonderful Oscar Wilde whom we've all heard fabulous quotes from.

All The Bright Places - Jennifer Niven
I have yet to finish this book, but so far, so good. I'm finding the storyline to be very interesting, and I must say that it reminds me of John Green's books! I'm in love with the cover art as well (argh so cute!)

Anyway, that's a wrap for another monthly book-tastic post. I'll see you next time, have fun and take care!

"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."

- Oscar Wilde

~ Judy x

recent reads || february

Hey there, welcome to March!

I'm currently munching on a nectarine, what about you? :)

As usual, monthly round up of some books I've read and (hopefully) enjoyed over the past few months! :)

Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky ★★★★★

I'm trying to imagine what I looked like when I completed this book. Tears streaming down face, hiding in the dark corner of a bedroom in the flat I was staying at in China, perched on the smallest wooden stool and clutching my phone from which I was reading it from. Yup, that sounds pretty realistic. Right after I had a moment of dwelling in my own thoughts, I quickly typed in a super long message to my friend and fellow book lover Annie, and here's what I wrote...

Do you know that feeling after you finish a really really really good book and you're happy because it was amazing but you're sad because you're never going to experience that initial sense of happiness from when you first read it?

That basically summed up my feelings for this book, and I hope to read it again in the future.

Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle ★★★★☆

I received this book as a Christmas present last year, and was super excited to read it. This book is a collection of three stories, each by a different author, however all taking place in the same setting and with connected characters. The first was the usual mushy cute love story, the second was hilarious, involving cheerleaders, waffles and sarcasm, and the third (not quite as great as the first two in my opinion) involved a slightly annoying girl and a tea cup pig, which made up for it. 

P.S I Love You by Cecelia Ahern ★★★★☆

Another one of those books where you know it'll be sad and know what to expect, but you're still drowning in tears anyway. 

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes ★★★★★

This book was heart warming yet heart breaking. As you watched the worlds of Lou and Will intertwine, you realise that these two seemingly opposites combine to form the most beautiful bond. Warning: This book still leaves you crying waterfalls the size of Mount Everest.

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover ★★★★☆
Just a random little comtemporary/chicklit sort of book, but the male main character, Ridge, is deaf. To make it even more interesting, he is incredibly talented in music. Kind of sounds like Beethoven.

Before I Die by Jenny Downham ★★★☆☆

To be completely honest, I'm not entirely sure why this book has so many raving reviews. Or more importantly, why this book had so many stamps in the back cover, each dating a borrow of the book from my school library. The dates went all the way back to 2008, the pages were browning and curled at the edges, the cover was old and worn down- you could easily tell that this was a pretty popular book. I liked it, and it definitely ended with a lot of feels where you uncontrollably sob over the tragedies of life. However, I developed a disliking for the main character Tessa. I get that she's going to die, and that she has cancer. I get that she wants to complete a few things before her time runs out. And I get that she'll inevitably have a few emotional moments. But I don't understand why she has to be so hostile and mean to... well, almost everyone. Especially to her family, and to her father. I liked the storyline for this book, but I don't think I would've liked to be Tessa's friend in real life.

♥ ♥ ♥

On an entirely unrelated note, I got a kitten yesterday! Just wanted to mark this occasion so I can remember it :) He (I think it's a he... previous owner didn't know...) is about 2 months old and at first HATED ME but now he's the most adorable thing ever :D ♡ I've never owned a cat before, so I'm super excited to see him grow up ^_^ He's a little black cat, so kind of hard to get good pictures because it just turns out looking like a furry blob of a shadow.

Something random I learnt off Wikipedia: black cats fur turn orangey-brown in sunlight, which is called 'rusting' which explains why he looks a bit brown xD

That's it for now,

Lena xx

recent reads || january

Hello everyone!

It's Judy here, with another monthly book-tastic post! Me and Lena will be taking turns each month to tell you all about the books we've been getting into recently.

Loving the contrast between the two covers!

Mockingjay (from the Hunger Games series) - Suzanne Collins ★★★★☆
As a fan of the Hunger Games, it was kind of sad to read the last book knowing that the extraordinary adventure that you've experienced will end once you turn the last page. But nevertheless, the novel was packed with action as well as tear-jerking moments. *four note whistle* 

House Rules - Jodi Picoult ★★★★★
I love how most of Picoult's books are written with different point of views, and this one is no exception. You really get to see inside of the characters minds and try to figure out the mystery yourself!

Girl Online - Zoe Sugg, Siobhan Curham ★★★☆☆
Note: I know Lena has already done a review on this book, but I thought I'd just chuck it in and write what I thought about it :)
So there's been a lot of controversy on who actually wrote the book, but we'll put that to the side for the moment. Girl Online is the typical teenage romance novel where the socially awkward girl meets the hot, mysterious boy and fall in love. It is very cliché, but don't we all enjoy a "lovey dovey" book once in a while?

The Scorch Trials (from the Maze Runner series) - James Dashner ★★★☆☆
Continuing my journey into the wonderful land of mazes and deadly diseases (note sarcasm), I was more than eager to continue reading. Yes, this book was filled with action and very hard obstacles (e.g. replace the maze with a hot, dry desert this time), but I didn't enjoy it as much as The Maze Runner. Maybe it's because of the new array of characters introduced, or the fact that there are no more grievers... I'm not really sure.

Make sure to check out Goodreads for more books n' stuff!

Now go venture out into the world and read a book!

~ Judy (*^▽^*)

recent reads || december

Sharing some of the books that I have read recently, as well as a few I am currently reading :)

To All the Boys I Have Loved Before by Jenny Han ★★★☆☆

Despite having a rather shallow story line, with the plot not moving very quickly, I enjoyed this book as I found the characters realistic and somewhat relatable. To be completely honest though, the ending was abrupt and definitely needed more to it.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell ★★★★☆

I love how this story connected the nature of real world fandoms with story world. The main character in this book, Cath, is a reputable fanfiction writer (I found that the books she writes about are quite similar to Harry Potter! :D) and faces real life struggles in college. 

Diary of A Wimpy Kid- The Long Haul by Jeff Kinney  ★★★★★

Hilarious as usual. I really love this series. xD

I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

I've only just started reading this, but it seems to be an interesting read, with an interesting structure. The beginning centres around Noah and his twin sister, Jude, with Noah being an artistic yet introverted person, and we venture into the realms of Noah's imagination, which conflicts with reality.

Girl Online by Zoe Sugg

Again, I've only started this yesterday (as of when this was written) so I do not have much to judge, but this story seems to be a typical, cliche'd story line of a teenage girl falling in love. However, the popularity of this novel is due to the author, a well-known YouTuber who I adore! Yes, there is lots of controversy about who actually wrote the book, yet I am still looking forward to reading this, as cliche's are one of my guilty pleasures. xD I recieved this book as a Christmas present as well, which makes it even more special :)

What have you been reading lately? Let me know in the comments below :D 

See you!

- Lena xx

recent reads || november

Hullo!

So I've recently gotten back into books, (well not RECENTLY, maybe one year ago give or take). I kind of stopped reading just as I entered high school, but after realizing how much I was missing out on, I got back into it, which was one of the best decisions I have made.

The Maze Runner and Looking for Alaska.

Here's a little list I put together with all the recent books I've read.

My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult ★★★★★
The book centers around a girl who was born as a saviour sister, and examines what it means to be a good parent, sister and a good person. My Sister's Keeper is a really great book that tackles real-life issues and I highly recommend it!

The Maze Runner (series) - James Dashner ★★★★☆
This is one of those dystopian books that teenage girls fangirl over, but to be honest, it is very interesting and thrilling to read. It has also been turned into a movie a month or so ago, so anyone who's interested in seeing the book come to life should go see it!

Sing You Home & Lone Wolf - Jodi Picoult ★★★★☆
Just like My Sister's Keeper, this book explores issues that happen in the world today. Both of these books are by Jodi Picoult (again) and are fabulous reads. As you can probably tell by now, Jodi Picoult is one of my favourite authors ever since I read My Sister's Keeper.

Looking for Alaska - John Green ★★★★☆
So I've read this book a while ago, but never got to finish it... so I guess I'm going to have to get back to it one day, but so far so good! If you're into TFIOS or anything like that, you'll probably like this book (it's by the same author anyway). P.S. I think this is getting turned into a movie sometime soon, so read it before it comes out!

Lovely handmade hummingbird bookmark I got from somewhere!

Sorry about the SUPER late post, my laptop had problems and I had to reimage it and re-download programs. (sigh) What books have you read recently that you've enjoyed very much?

Have a wonderful day!

~ Judy x