tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91302277787457042572024-03-05T23:19:10.396-08:00Oh!Cakey CreativityKatiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-52270030288523822322013-01-18T12:08:00.000-08:002013-01-18T12:11:24.636-08:00Book Review | Unwind by Neal Shusterman<br />
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1297677706l/764347.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; color: #181818; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1297677706l/764347.jpg" width="216" /></a><i style="color: #181818;"><b>Series</b>: Unwind #1<br /><b>Published</b>: November 2007<br /><b>Publisher</b>: Simon & Schuster Books<br /><b>Format</b>: Kindle<br /><b>Pages</b>: 335</i><i style="color: #181818;"><b><br />Rating</b>: </i><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: center;">★</span></div>
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<i style="line-height: 1.4;">The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.</i></div>
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<b style="line-height: 1.4;">REVIEW: </b><span style="line-height: 1.4;">Upon reading the synopsis of this book I was thoroughly excited to read something different; a YA dystopian novel with a bit of depth and meaning to it, something dark and haunting. I genuinely thought the whole premise of the idea of 'unwinding' teens was incredibly imaginative and looked forward to seeing how the story developed and if there were any dark truths behind everything. To say I was extremely disappointed would be an understatement.</span><span style="line-height: 1.4;"><br /><br />The story is told from the view points of quite a few people, including people who had nothing to do with the storyline (which was pointless), but primarily from the eyes of Connor, Risa and Lev. At the beginning, the way the three view points stories interlaced made me think that perhaps seeing things from three different angles wouldn't be so bad just because it was really nicely choreographed, if only the rest of the book went along like that in the same fashion. The angles made it confusing, and it wasn't as if they were long chapters each either, some characters only had a page at a time sometimes and I don't feel that that is enough to attach with their particular story. The idea of lesser characters getting chapters really frustrated me as well as you as a reader shouldn't care for these characters as they haven't been created as the main three have - I don't want to read a chapter from the eyes of the pawn broker, why is that even necessary? Why couldn't it have been told from the angle of one of the three? It just all seemed a bit haphazard and more hassle than it was worth.<br /><br />The plot (or lack of it) was what I was most disappointed about - I felt as though Shusterman had a brilliant idea and just wasted it. Everything seemed either a bit too pre-meditated or really stereotypical, and I found myself rolling my eyes a lot and thinking "oh, how convenient" for a lot of the book. The way the story moved just didn't excite me or keep me reading the book, and in the end I was more excited to finish the book than I was to see how the book was concluded. The majority of Unwind didn't actually feature anything to do with the 'unwinding' at all and there were points where I completely forgot what the book was primarily about - it just, to me, ended up like any normal YA book with teen angst and rivalry, which bored me immensely as that is exactly what I was trying to get away from.<br /><br />Every single character annoyed the hell out of me; they were all so self righteous in their own ways and were completely unbelievable. I didn't feel anything for anyone and I didn't believe for an instant any of the emotions that they claimed to have felt - it all seemed fake. They all changed so quickly, followed easily and changed sides easily. It just didn't seem as though they were real people living in the real world, and the fact that everyone seemed to be the same, except the four main people, made it seem a little weird and unrealistic.<br /><br />The one thing I did like about it however, when it did appear, was the depth of the idea of the 'bill of life' that was introduced after the second civil war when the pro choice and pro life armies came to an understanding and opted for the unwinding. The laws around this premise were very well thought out and the ideas behind everything from the 'storking' to the 'unwinding' and what happens when other people get unwound body parts was just so touching and fascinating at the same time. </span>When the subject was touched it always seemed to move me and make me think about the life as we know it now, and what we take for granted. <span style="line-height: 1.4;">Another thing was at the beginning of each section there was either a famous quote or an extract of an article relating to the issues at hand, and I felt as though this gave you an insight as to how Shusterman came up with these chilling ideas and it portrays how his imagination works in putting his opinions across in the form of a published book. </span>It's just a shame that these ideas, as great as they were, weren't included a great deal in my eyes.<br />
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I feel as though this book got too much hype over the idea, rather than the story itself which isn't what it should be about.</div>
Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-18342770769497490212013-01-13T10:22:00.000-08:002013-01-13T10:22:39.270-08:00"The Fault In Our Stars" by John Green<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327880382l/11870085.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327880382l/11870085.jpg" width="211" /></a><br />
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<b>The Fault In Our Stars</b> marked a couple of firsts in my life; one being that I have never read a 300 page book in an afternoon, and the other being that I have never before this book even shed a single tear, let alone been a full on emotional wreck from reading a book.<br />
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I would also like to point out, before you continue reading further, that I am still quite an emotional wreck at the present time of writing as I wanted the feelings to be raw and at the point of being - so please excuse any poor review on my part as I am clearly just writing from the heart.<br />
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<b><i>Despite the timor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, he final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.</i></b><br />
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A book has never tapped into my emotions quite like this one did upon reading it, the emotions are so raw and pure that you can't help but feel attachment from the off. These are emotions that any healthy person wouldn't ever dream of being able to feel as they are a thing that is somewhat taken for granted - I can honestly say that this book made me think about my life and how much I'm not grateful for in the grand scheme of things.<br />
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Everything in the life of these two teenagers is taken one day at a time just because of the fact that they don't know how long they have together - The little things in life get blown to huge proportions, you realise the true necessities in life and the world just seems that much more of a beautiful place. You go through all of this through the eyes of Hazel Grace Lancaster; you hear her thoughts, doubts and worries as well as the laughs, fun and flirting that has to go hand in hand with the pain. This book has taught me that through all the negative you must see the positive in order to go on. Life isn't just an unless torment out to get you, but something to be treasured. Yes, we all go through bad times, but in order to get to the good times you must first survive the bad and that is what these cancer patients have to go through every single day of their lives.<br />
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The characters were the most wonderful I have read in a long time, they were charming and realistic and just so down to earth. I felt the emotions of every single character in the book and related and sympathised with them immensely, (even though that is something that they would have hated) I believed in them so much that they actually felt as though they real people and that they were in real life my friends. I felt as much there for them as they did and were for each other and it's not every day that an author can create that kind of realistic relatable world that you feel so engrossed in.<br />
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John Green is definitely the <i>master</i> of amazing quotes. I normally don't take note of page numbers or quotes in books, but in this one in particular I found myself sticking little bits of post-it-notes on a lot of the pages just so I would remember a quote or two. They are so wonderfully profound and well written that they pulled on every single one of my heart strings each and every time. Some people might say that the quotes that characters came up with were 'unrealistic' or 'not something a normal teenager would say', and to that I say to you that they are <i>not</i> normal teenagers; they are cancer patients with not long to live, feel or love. They make every day their last and if that means expressing their feelings in such a profound way, then why on earth shouldn't they, and who are we to judge how somebody expresses themselves - it is also known in the book that they read an awful lot of literature as well.<br />
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To sum this up I have been hysterically crying from about the 260th page through to the end, and that is a mean feat for an author to have that affect on me - I am normally one hard-faced reader that barely sheds a tear for anything with regards to book. To have me watering up behind my eyes is one thing, but to have me in fits of sadness and tears is a totally different thing and I applaud Mr Green for proving me wrong.<br />
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"What book has changed your life?" I always hear that phrase being chucked around on booktube and in reviews, and I always thought that it was such a stupid question; How could a book change your life? How could a fictional piece of writing change the way in which you think? The Fault In Our Stars has answered that question for me and I feel like a different person for reading it. It has most definitely made me think about my life and how much I take for granted in this world and overall, I feel I will be haunted and changed by this book for the rest of my life.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 16px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 16px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 16px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 16px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 16px;">★</span></div>
<br />Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-58054770360972109212013-01-12T06:16:00.001-08:002013-01-12T06:16:40.054-08:00"Pushing The Limits" by Katie McGarry<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1343057344l/13560086.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1343057344l/13560086.jpg" width="207" /></a><b>Pushing The Limits</b> is a contemporary novel, and my first novel of this genre was something of a disappointment so with this book I didn't have very high hopes of liking it even though I'd heard so many good things about this book.<br />
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It centres around Echo and Noah - Echo was one of the popular girls at school with the jock boyfriend until one night when she totally changed and came back to school as the freaky girl with the scars on her arms. Unfortunately for Echo, she cannot remember what happened on that night and is on the search for answers. Noah is known as the bad boy of the school, he does drugs, smokes, and has a reputation for sleeping around with girls - but he also has a dark past and his brothers have been taken away from him and put into a different foster care home than he is currently in, he is on the road to try and gain custody of them once and for all. These two stories intertwine throughout the book as they meet each other upon chance and start, little by little, to get to know each other and fall in love, but with the pasts that the two have had would love be enough?<br />
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The story is told in the two perspectives of the two characters, Echo and Noah, in interchanging chapters, this I found gave depth to the book as you can see how each character is developing individually than from just one persons outlook on the whole situation. There is no wondering if somebody feels a certain way or is thinking a certain thing because it will always be addressed in the next chapter and because of the fact you're seeing both sides you tend to want to push people into doing things and start getting interactive with the book itself.<br />
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I found myself not wanting to put the book down a lot of the time because I was so in tune with the story and wanting to find out what had actually happened to Echo and the resolve of Noah and his brothers. Nothing was predictable in the slightest, and everything came as a shock to me in the development of the actual storyline and the characters' issues. At the beginning of the story you think one thing and by the end you're thinking the exact opposite, I absolutely love that in a book when they can almost convince you of something at the beginning, but at the end you realise that it's not as bad as you first thought and you get all the reasonings alongside the twists as to what exactly happened in the meantime - (I hope that made sense).<br />
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The writing in this book was so emotive and descriptive and that in itself is what drew me in - McGarry definitely knows how to pull on my heart strings and the emotions that she conjured up throughout the book are beyond compare in my eyes. From the reactions of other people, the characters own emotions and the way they are with their parents and around each other, you definitely felt all of their pain, angst and plain raw emotion. The only bad thing about the writing was the repetitive use of certain words to describe Echo in Noahs mind; 'nymph' and 'siren' started to get on my nerves by the end of the book but at least it wasn't all 'flirty wink' or 'fine ass' but that alone was just a minor thing and is the only negative aspect I have.<br />
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I thought I would be disappointed by this book because it sounded as though it would be a very deep book with some meaningful topics being raised - I was afraid that it would forget all of that and just focus on the 'love' aspect of the story. This book totally blew my mind as it was totally and utterly the opposite. Pushing the Limits focussed on the depth of topical issues and growing emotions in an unstable person throughout the entirety of the book. The topics of peoples troubled pasts took precedence and it was presented in a very informative way and the characters never lost that part of them that would always make them quite vulnerable - obviously people put on facades, but that's a normal part of life sometimes, but I felt that the development of characters was very realistic. I felt that the development of love or emotion was very realistic as well, especially in the circumstances, it wasn't rushed, gushy or over powering to the story line. The love was beautifully gradual with as many ups and downs and doubts as there would be in any normal relationship. I have found that generally when there's a love aspect in a book, that characters, especially girls, will change their values around a boy they like, but Echo never did that and nothing was ever rushed - I found that to be quite refreshing as it wasn't a hypocritical story with hypocritical characters that change as soon as a prospective boyfriend starts to 'swoon' them.<br />
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The emotions in this book, and not just the love for each other, was so powerful - the love for family, the emotions of not knowing and wondering, the idea of feeling lost in the world. These were just some of the feelings that I got from the story and at times it was so touching that I almost cried, (I don't normally cry in books and it takes a <i>lot</i> for me to get all teary eyed) I felt so much sympathy with Echo and Noah in both of their personal situations that it made me think about <i>my</i> life and how much I take for granted in the world. This kind of thought makes me feel as though I've really connected with the characters, and when that happens it is the making of a brilliant book - one that really makes you think.<br />
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I am ridiculously surprised with this book and I am so glad that I picked this one up after much hesitancy on my part. This has definitely marked contemporary novels up a level on my spectrum and I can honestly say that I absolutely loved it and it has changed the way I think. <b>Amazing</b>.<br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 16px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 16px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 16px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 16px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 16px;">★</span></span></div>
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<br />Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-78123382416204181172013-01-07T11:23:00.002-08:002013-01-07T11:23:51.779-08:0030 Day Book Challenge [5/30]<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><u>Day 5 - A book that you’ve read the most times</u></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">I'm not really, like the last challenge, the type of person to read a book more than once. I normally stand by the idea that there are so many wonderful books out there to read, so why would you waste your time reading one more than once. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">I probably read books when I was a child more than once; children's picture books and such but I'm pretty sure those won't count - not that I would be able to remember anyways.</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327235223l/70947.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327235223l/70947.jpg" width="206" /></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><b style="text-decoration: underline;">Northern Lights</b> by Philip Pullman</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">This is probably the only book I can think of off hand that I know for a fact I've read more than once. As I think I've stated before, I have a thing where I can't read a series of books in a row one after the other. I like to read the first book, read a few other books then go back to the second in the series - this causes me to forget about the series generally and this is what happened with the His Dark Materials series. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">I read it ages ago and forgot to read the second one, so by the time I wanted to read the second one I had completely forgotten what had happened in the first one (I didn't want to watch the film to remind myself as the film is </span><b style="line-height: 14px;">NOTHING LIKE THE BOOK AT ALL</b><span style="line-height: 14px;">) so I re-read it to reacquaint myself with the surroundings of everything. To my enjoyment it was just as good second time around.</span></span><br />
<br />Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-11566106100372410122013-01-06T13:17:00.000-08:002013-01-06T13:17:24.008-08:00"The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And DIsappeared" by Jonas Jonasson<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356307922l/17164656.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356307922l/17164656.jpg" width="202" /></a>I picked up <b>The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared </b>from the Amazon kindle store for a mere 20p. This is just like borrowing a book from a library for me because what's 20p, if I like it I've got another book to treasure, but if I find it awful, I've only spent a tiny bit of money on it. That's my stance on the whole thing anyways.<br />
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The book was originally a Swedish novel and centres around Allan Karlsson who is living in an old peoples home - and as simply as the title of the book puts it, he escapes out of his window and disappears on his hundredth birthday. When he first escapes, he happens upon a suitcase filled with money (that he is unaware of) and makes his way on a bus journey to as far as his fifty crown note will take him whereupon a mass of crazy adventures and people ensue.<br />
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This book was absolutely hilarious, combining history with dark comedy with just plain stupidity. The adventures that follow Allan in the present day are ridiculous but this just makes it pure genius. I've found that a lot of authors tend to try and over complicate things within a story, but I thought that Jonasson created a story from the simplest of ideas - an old man escaping from an old peoples home - it's so simple that you wonder why nobody had thought of it before, and I think that a lot of people would think it sounds too obvious and everyone's always after the more intriguing, complicated, imaginative stories out there when in fact the best ones are made of the simplest ingredients. Saying that, I'm not implying that this book was simple in the least, in fact it was far from simple. It followed the life of Allan from the escape as well as following Allan's life as a whole from the day he was born up until the present day itself. In fact Allan's past was just as hilarious and coincidental as his escape was.<br />
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The story had a nice balance between the past Allan and the present day Allan and at the beginning I didn't want either side of the story to end when it came to the end of that particular chapter. Halfway through the book, however, the balance became a little too one sided in favour of past Allan and the present day Allan was a little neglected, it was as if Jonasson had come to the end of his tether with regards to the crazy adventures Allan could get himself into on the run from the police and the old peoples home. It started to get a little lacklustre and the historical element, as brilliant as they were to read as they were based upon real events in actuality, started to become a little tiresome for my likings. A lot of the historical issues that were presented in the past Allan scenes were on the topic of politics, and as much as I was trying to keep up and understand, I'm just generally not interested and am admittedly quite ignorant on that particular subject so found myself to (not entirely) be skimming the pages about communists, socialists, etc as it started to get a little bit boring for me. On the other hand, if you understand, then I'm sure this wouldn't be a problem but for me it's just a personal preference.<br />
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The thing that really stood out to me was the characters, each character along Allan's journey has an amazing story behind them and for once the description of each and every characters main life story did <b>not</b> detract from the whole books story as a whole - in fact it added to the hilarity and plain ludicrous nature of it. This was spread out across almost every character from past to present and there wasn't anybody I hated in the slightest as everyone had their own little unique twist on the story and sometimes their little tales were so unbelievable that you just had to sit back and laugh. This meant that you got to know the characters, not on a personal emotional level, but on a factual level which was a refreshing change to the books I have been known to read revolving around peoples emotions and love stories which I have started to grow sick of.<br />
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This was just a simple book with an enormous amount of crazy surrounding it. In fact it's the most ridiculous unbelievable book I have ever read, but that's just what makes it pure genius.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 16px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 16px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 16px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 16px;">★</span></div>
<br />Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-79047832761605096112013-01-04T11:16:00.003-08:002013-01-04T11:16:52.184-08:00Friday Reads | 4th January 2013In this section I will be going over what I plan on reading over the weekend - I work 8.30-5 every week day so the weekend is where I get a large chunk of my reading done so I hope to get a couple of books finished this weekend.<div>
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<b>The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared </b>by Jonas Jonasson</div>
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I'm currently about 75% of the way through this book and actually plan on finishing it tonight. I'm absolutely adoring this book so far though; it's imaginative, funny, quirky and is actually ridiculous, but that much that it's actually a literary genius.</div>
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It's about a man who on his hundredth birthday decided he's had enough so escapes through the window of his care home room and goes on an unplanned adventure that consists of many a mishap and journey. It's such a simple idea that it's so original - a lot of people try to come up with amazingly complicated stories and fail but it's the simple ones that always comes out on top sometimes. This is a prime example of that.</div>
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<b>Pushing The Limits </b>by Katie McGarry</div>
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This is classed as a contemporary romance - or so I've been told - and I've heard that this book is exceptionally good so I'm really excited to start reading this one. </div>
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The last 'contemporary romance' book I read was <i>The Boy Who Sneaked In My Bedroom</i> and I wasn't particularly impressed by that book and to be honest, from the experience of contemporary novels as a whole that I've had, I'm not entirely keen on the genre full stop.</div>
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I'm not entirely sure what this one's about really, I just want to read it and see where it takes me.</div>
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Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-43187332545263895802013-01-03T10:01:00.000-08:002013-01-03T10:01:14.868-08:00December 2012 | Wrap up and Resolutions 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In addition to my resolution post, this is my resolutions video alongside my wrap up of all the books I have read in the month of December. </div>
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Books mentioned:</div>
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<b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Throne of Glass</span></b> - Sarah J. Maas</div>
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<b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">A Game of Thrones</span></b> - George R. R. Martin</div>
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<b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Leviathan</span></b> - Scott Westerfeld</div>
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<b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Hush Hush</span></b> - Becca Fitzpatrick</div>
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<b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Pandemonium</span></b> - Lauren Oliver</div>
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<b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">The Boy Who Sneaked In My Bedroom Window</span></b> - Kirsty Moseley </div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b>Pretties</b> </span>- Scott Westerfeld</div>
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Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-30262113110893371712013-01-02T13:23:00.000-08:002013-01-02T13:23:46.629-08:00Wishlist Wednesday (1)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Py9JNxHguTxOBzD1axwo0WW7EwtyP0M65TJdoM4qc1LISON5qZrZ-2qleom0jRMH6_RWSrKcvik6b-doQJE24VlZdNH6Nf23ODZ8B4yVr1lGukEUqancpth4wTp0Zg2_dsDAmwzW0L0J/s320/Wishlist+Wednesday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Py9JNxHguTxOBzD1axwo0WW7EwtyP0M65TJdoM4qc1LISON5qZrZ-2qleom0jRMH6_RWSrKcvik6b-doQJE24VlZdNH6Nf23ODZ8B4yVr1lGukEUqancpth4wTp0Zg2_dsDAmwzW0L0J/s320/Wishlist+Wednesday.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Originally created by <a href="http://www.pentopaperblog.com/">Pen To Paper</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #4e4e4e; font-family: 'Myriad Pro', 'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Wishlist Wednesday is a book blog hop where we will post about one book per week that has been on our wishlist for some time, or just added (it’s entirely up to you), that we can’t wait to get off the wishlist and onto our wonderful shelves.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I really don't like seeing films before I've read the book it's based upon, I find that if I do that I imagine the characters in the book as the actors that play them - this also happens when I see trailers before or half way through books, it ruins the whole experience of reading a book for me. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">However much I want to read this book before the film comes out, I doubt that it's actually going to happen because I'm currently on a book buying ban which I <i>plan</i> to stick to until I've read at <i>least</i> twenty books that are currently on my shelves.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">But I digress, I'm really eager to read this book as it sounds wonderful and I've heard so many good things about it, it just sounds really interesting. The cover, I admit, was the thing that drew me to the book originally; it's absolutely beautiful and I love any cover with gorgeous typography. Ergh, so lovely, and the contrast between the purple and the black - it reminds me of the gone series by Michael Grant cover wise and that series was one of my favourite cover sets. </span></span></div>
Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-48309476285334268232013-01-01T07:41:00.001-08:002013-01-01T07:41:25.917-08:00New Years Resolutions 2013So, it's a new year, and with new years comes the new years resolutions. The dreaded new years resolutions which are made every year with the sole intention of keeping them throughout the entirety of the year until the end of the first week of January - well that's how it happens every year in my life. <div>
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This year, however, I want to make a positive change with my life and start doing things that I enjoy and want to do. I'm fed up of procrastinating and not doing anything productive 90% of the time, I want to actually do something with my life and say to myself at the end of the year, 'I've achieved something' or 'I've kept to something'. That in itself would make my year, period.</div>
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So here we have it. Below I've listed my new years resolutions and I will look back at this at the end of the year and see how it's come along or not as it may be. </div>
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<li><b>Read 100 books</b>. On <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7373054-katie">Goodreads</a> I have challenged myself to read 100 books. Now, I'm not sure if this is me being a little bit too ambitious but I'm going to try my hardest to complete this by the end of the year and if I don't make it, fair enough but I'm not going to decrease the number to compensate for what I haven't done.</li>
<li><b>Read a variety of genres</b>. I am participating in the <a href="http://xxdaydreamer21xx.blogspot.ca/">2013 Genre Variety Reading Challenge</a> on A Daydreamer's Thoughts blog. I have a tendency to read YA all of the time and I've decided that it's time to broaden my horizons and read a lot more genres as I might be pleasantly surprised with what I find. I plan to read 24 different genres.</li>
<li><b>Finish book series</b>. Any series of books that I have started in the past I plan to finish. I always read book 1, not want to read the second one straight away, read something else and then forget that I'm meant to read the other books in the series. A few examples of this are <i>The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, His Dark Materials, Percy Jackson and the Olympians</i>. </li>
<li><b>Blog every day</b>. I need to write something every day on this blog and keep to it for once. If I'm away for a week I will create posts that will be posted on the particular days that I am not around. I'm going to be creating a sort of schedule in a little while as well.</li>
<li><b>Draw every day</b>. I love art and design and I want to get back into drawing and sketching for fun, so I want to draw something, anything at least once a day - these will be posted on my <a href="http://ohcakey.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a> if anyone's interested as well.</li>
<li><b>Read books I have</b>. I have a load of books on my bookshelves at home that I have had since I was little but I haven't read, alongside a load of books that I've read but really want to reread as I haven't completed the series and have forgotten everything about them and where I left off. I need to stop buying as many books and just read what I have for a little bit. I'm not setting myself a goal of how many books off my shelf I want to be read but I want to read quite a few is all I will say. Funnily enough I've got about £40 worth of book vouchers to spend this year from christmas presents I received - whoops.</li>
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Do you have any new years resolutions? </div>
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Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-86528285968917473602012-12-30T07:32:00.002-08:002012-12-30T07:33:07.663-08:00Book Haul | Christmas 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-26863284364825485062012-12-29T07:12:00.001-08:002012-12-29T07:12:57.080-08:00"Pretties" by Scott Westerfeld (Spoilers)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Pretties</b> is the sequel to the amazing book Uglies by Scott Westerfeld and I wasn't too sure if I wanted to read this book or not but I decided to give it a go anyways because if you're going to start a series, you may as well carry on from where you left off - doomed words that will haunt me, I fear.<br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;">*This will have spoilers from <b>Uglies </b>and <b>Pretties</b> in it so stop here if you haven't read the first book*</span><br />
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<b><i>Tally has now given herself up and has officially had the operation to make herself a 'Pretty' a perfect specimen of a human being - she is good looking, popular and is having the time of her life in this high-tech drunken world that she has been thrust into. The only thing tugging at the back of her mind is the real reason she came to New Pretty Town in the first place - to test the cure, and now she is in a struggle to release the grips of this pretty world from herself and to find out the horrible truths about everything around her.</i></b><br />
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In New Pretty Town they had a language or a slang that they used amongst each other that wasn't used in the first book at all, words like 'dizzy-making', 'bubbly' and 'bogus' were used constantly throughout this book without a proper introduction into the lingo. I felt as though I was thrown into the deep end of this book with this and was just expected to know exactly what everything was and what everything meant which I most certainly did not. Due to this, I found myself not really understanding half of what was going on until I'd read about three quarters of the book and that was when things started to get a little bit more interesting.<br />
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Tally was part of a clique who called themselves the Crims - this was made up of people who were trouble makers, or 'tricky', in their ugly life - they would go around trying to do the most rebellious things that were possible to do to impress one another and it seemed a little pathetic for my likings. It just seemed as though they were trying to fit in, and when it came to light about three quarters of the way in that the reason that they were set up in the first place was so they could escape and find a cure came as a big surprise as it seemed totally out of character for them and was slightly random. It was as if Westerfeld thought things were getting a little too boring so added something to liven it up a little, but it didn't really have the intended effect in my eyes, it just made me think it wasn't really thought out and if this was made clear near the beginning, everything would have made a whole lot more sense than it did.<br />
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The characters were bland as well - each individual person seemed to blend into another one and other than Tally, Zane, Shay and Peris (who barely made it into the book) I couldn't really name anyone else. There was no real development, and if there was it was only to make them more pathetic and boring. I didn't like Tally and Zane's relationship one bit, there was no growth, no emotion, no realistic qualities, it was as if two actors were set to act a romance scene in a play but didn't connect and have chemistry at all - it just read like a bad screen play. One minute they're silent, the next they're in love with eachother, it just doesn't make any sense.<br />
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There was something about this book that I just didn't like but for once I just can't put my finger on it, it definitely wasn't as good as the first book and now I'm not even sure I will read the third instalment. I was thoroughly disappointed with this book.<br />
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<br />Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-39626480747086971002012-12-27T10:03:00.001-08:002012-12-27T10:03:32.962-08:00"The Boy Who Sneaks In My Bedroom Window" by Kirsty Moseley<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1335789954l/13628209.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1335789954l/13628209.jpg" width="200" /></a><i><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Amber Walker and her older brother, Jake, have an abusive father. One night her brother's best friend, Liam, sees her crying and climbs through her bedroom window to comfort her. That one action sparks a love/hate relationship that spans over the next eight years.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Liam is now a confident, flirty player who has never had a girlfriend before. Amber is still emotionally scarred from the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father. Together they make an unlikely pair.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Their relationship has always been a rocky one, but what happens when Amber starts to view her brother's best friend a little differently? And how will her brother, who has always been a little overprotective, react when he finds out that the pair are growing closer?</span></b></i><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">When I first read the synopsis, I thought this could be an interesting book - abused child, unlikely romance blooming - I was wrong. The abuse is just a sub sub sub plot to the 'romance' that happened towards the beginning of the book, in fact, the abuse only <i>just</i> manages to peak it's head through the shallow dating talk that takes up the majority of the book. This book had so much potential to be a gradual love but it just jumped in at the deep end and took one predictable turn after another to the extent that I already knew the ending of the book and what was going to happen.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">This book didn't even have a storyline, I can't even describe what actually happened to be quite honest. It was just a mess of all the usual 'love' stereotypes. Nothing of real importance happened and when it did happen it was only minor to the everlasting love that was blossoming before our very eyes - cue the fingers down throat.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The characters were the most shallow I have ever read about - you can't make every single girl in the school ridiculously slutty just so the main character doesn't look that bad. All they kept doing was flirting with every single guy, talking about sex and even the guys were exactly the same, it was just one big sex orientated school with no life or personality. Everyone in this world seemed to be living in cloud cuckoo land with enough hypocrisy to share around as well - as well as being shallow they were also quite stupid characters and even the adults didn't have an ounce of sense in them between all of them, it was just a mass palaver of idiocy.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">Dreadful is the only way I can describe the writing - if I ever read 'fine ass', 's/he purred' or 'flirty wink' again in my life I think I might rip my hair out. I don't even think Moseley has even heard of a thesaurus because if she had she probably could have come up with about a dozen other words to use in replacement for these, or maybe she should just write the book again because it was one of the worst books I have read all year and I have no idea how it got so many stars on goodreads - maybe all the hormonal teens were reading this one, and if they were this is the most horrible influence any young girl could read in their most vulnerable years when surrounded by sex in their everyday life. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">I can't even go on...</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span>Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-37060680523615003012012-12-24T08:20:00.003-08:002012-12-24T08:20:43.478-08:0030 Day Book Challenge [4/30]<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><u><b>Day 4 - A book you lent out once, never got back and miss</b></u></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">I don't think I have ever lent out a book. A lot of my friends don't actually read and I don't think I've ever actually wanted them to borrow any of my books anyways - I'd be too afraid that they'd ruin them. I like my books to be perfect, not bent, not dog eared etc. and I don't believe that if I lent them out to a lot of my friends that they'd come back in the same condition I lent them out. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">I'm just a little bit too over protective over my books is all.</span></span><br />
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Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-12093202757091957402012-12-24T08:17:00.000-08:002012-12-24T08:17:18.553-08:00"Pandemonium" by Lauren Oliver<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347723773l/16009694.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347723773l/16009694.jpg" width="208" /></a><span style="color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 16px;"><b>PANDEMONIUM </b></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Author: </b><span style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Lauren Oliver</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Publisher: </b><span style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Hodder and Stoughton</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Published: </b><span style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">2012</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><i><br /></i></b><b style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">SYNOPSIS</b><br style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><br /></b><span style="color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Lena's been to the very edge. She's questioned love and the life-changing and agonising choices that come with it. She's made her decision. But can she survive the consequences?</span></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><br /></b><b style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><br /></b><b style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">REVIEW</b><br style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;" /><b style="background-color: white; color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><br /></b><span style="color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">I think this is the very first time that I've loved a second book more than the first one - it was absolutely stunning and the development was amazing. In the first book you were just getting to know Lena and she was growing but in Pandemonium you felt as though she'd got a <b>lot</b> stronger than she was and she became the kick-ass character that she was always bound to be. In fact all of the characters were amazing I thought and they all had a lot of depth to them as they weren't all obviously stereotypical people who you could guess what they would be like.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">The plot was rather predictable at times, but this is one of those times where predictability is a good thing. Although you knew what was going to happen to a certain extent it was still quite shocking to read and kept the tension up all the way through the book. In Delirium I found Oliver's writing to be <b>too</b> descriptive and I felt as though if she'd toned down the wordiness of the novel it would have been better - this was the main thing I noticed that had changed in Pandemonium; it got to the point without being too vague, it got enough description but not the ridiculous amount like in the first book.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">As stated before, the twists were quite predictable but the end, oh my goodness, the end. I was not expecting what I was reading for the first time throughout the book and when it was getting to the climax of the book I can honestly say that I was shocked at what happened. I was so excited reading this book, that for the first time I wanted to read the third one straight away - but to my dismay I have to wait until March 2013 which well and truly is awful.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #737373; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Lauren Oliver, you are evil and yet amazingly talented to leave me hanging like that!</span></span><br />
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Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-69475062592080525992012-12-14T10:57:00.003-08:002012-12-14T10:58:05.067-08:00"Hush Hush" by Becca Fitzpatrick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">HUSH HUSH</span></b><br />
<b>Author: </b>Becca Fitzpatrick<br />
<b>Publisher: </b>Simon And Schuster<br />
<b>Published: </b>2009<br />
<b><i><br /></i></b><b>SYNOPSIS</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Nora Grey is a normal sixteen year old girl attending school, and when the seating plan changes in her biology lessons and she ends up next to the mysterious Patch, things start to change for her.<br />
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After a series of terrifying encounters, Nora isn't sure if she can trust him. Patch seems to be everywhere she is and to know more about her than her closest friends.<br />
<b><br /></b><b><br /></b><b><br /></b><b>REVIEW</b><br />
<b><br /></b>This book was almost as bad as Twilight, and Nora had a severe dose of what I like to call "Bella Syndrome" - making stupid rash decisions due to a crush and also having no description whatsoever making it easy for girls to imagine <b>being</b> her and being in the situation that she's in with Patch with all the flirtatious nature about to make all the teen girls jealous.<br />
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It was just boring and repetitive throughout the first three quarters of the book with Nora constantly being indecisive and annoying; and not forgetting her ridiculously shallow and gullible friend Vee who bugged me to the core.<br />
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If you are a teen girl then you will love this book, even if it's just for Patch's remarks, expressions and actions throughout it. It's written in a way that would make any teen girl fantasise about having a boyfriend just like Patch which is quite unoriginal and this whole concept has been written a million and one times before.<br />
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When the (obvious - due to the blurb on the back) twist came out about Patch being a fallen angel, <b>then</b> and only then, did it start to get a bit more interesting. There was more action and development after about the 275 page mark I found due to this and I found myself on the edge of my seat reading it, half wondering (half predicting the obvious) what would happen in the end. I was pleasantly surprised by the writing and description towards the end of the book in the climax. That alone was enough to, not make me rate this book higher, but to chance reading the next book in the slim hope that something can be rescued from it so it doesn't die a tragic obvious Twilight death that I most certainly do not want.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 16px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 16px;">★</span></div>
Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-79471169462578539192012-12-12T11:56:00.000-08:002012-12-12T11:56:41.447-08:00"Leviathan" by Scott Westerfeld<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1341522225l/7921082.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1341522225l/7921082.jpg" width="212" /></a><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">LEVIATHAN</span></b><br />
<b>Author: </b>Scott Westerfeld<br />
<b>Illustrator: </b>Heith Thompson<br />
<b>Publisher: </b>Simon And Schuster<br />
<b>Published: </b>2009<br />
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<b>SYNOPSIS</b><br />
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The Clankers and the Darwinists are going to war - the Clankers with their heavy machinery weapons and the Darwinists with their airshops made of living fabricated animals.<br />
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Prince Aleksandar, a Clanker, is running from his own people as he ends up in the middle of this feud. Deryn, a Darwinist, is working on for the British Air Service disguised as a boy - when their ships crash lands, Deryn and Aleks' lives collide.<br />
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<b>REVIEW</b><br />
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This book takes you on a fun and exciting adventure through an alternative 1914; it is a bubbly and easy read for anyone. It's aimed at a young adult audience, but I would say it veers towards the younger side of the young adult spectrum with books like the Percy Jackson series, which holds the same amount of fun adventure that makes you not want to put it down.<br />
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I found myself whizzing through this book, not only because of the spaced writing and illustrations, but just because it was a good read and kept me wanting more. It's just one of those books that (although I didn't due to work commitments) makes you want to stay up all night to finish it - everything about this book is audience pleasing, but in a simple way.<br />
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This alternate universe was a marvel to read about, I wanted to know more about the machinery, the animals, and how everything worked. The Clankers added a more steampunk element to it, and although I'm loving that vibe in books as of late, I was drawn in to the Darwinist ideas more. The Darwinist fabricated creatures to do things as machinery would - the airship that Deryn travels in is in fact a fabricated whale - I found this to be totally and utterly fascinating, and part of me wished that that it was delved a little deeper into than it was. This book always seemed to give you the gist of things rather than a full explanation, which is good for a quick and easy read, but I believe that if Westerfeld had explored the two concepts a bit more it would have created a more interesting read.<br />
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I am definitely going to read the sequel to this as a light exciting book but I don't think it will be anything more than that.<br />
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Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-47507893802321979422012-12-11T14:35:00.000-08:002012-12-12T11:09:10.749-08:00Top Ten Tuesday | New to me authors 2012<br />
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<u style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><b>Top Ten New To Me Authors I Read In 2012</b></u></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 14px;"> -- Originally created by <a href="http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.co.uk/" style="color: #00bcea; text-decoration: initial;">The Broke and Bookish</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 14px;">Cassandra Clare</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Compelling. Gripping. Love love <b>love</b> the characters in her books (especially the infernal devices series) </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 14px;">Marissa Meyer</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #737373;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">One of the most imaginative authors I have read all year, am so excited (if you hadn't gathered) for more books by her.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 14px;">Michael Grant</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">His work with characters was amazing. Such a full cast of characters and you knew so much about them all - not everyone can do that. The gone series is ridiculously gripping so far, brilliant concepts.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-size: large;">Stieg Larsson</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #737373; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">I'm not normally into crime fiction but his work is to <b>die</b> for and is everything you would want in a novel of that description.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 14px;">George R. R. Martin</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Epic. Do I need to say any more?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">I would put <b>Veronica Roth</b> and <b>Suzanne Collins </b>on the list for Divergent and The Hunger Games respectively but I thought their sequels lacked so much of the first books that I didn't think they deserved a top mention for me. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">A lot of other authors have really impressed me but they haven't blown me away like the ones I have listed above!</span></span></div>
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Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-51427364586927626352012-12-10T10:44:00.001-08:002012-12-10T10:44:41.973-08:0030 Day Book Challenge [3/30]<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><b><u>Day 3 - Your favourite book to recommend to friends</u></b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 14px;">This was a delicious array of wonder for me and I would recommend this to every single one of my friends whether or not they liked it - I cannot speakly highly enough of this delight.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 14px;">It draws you in from the off in a story that's just so wonderfully captivating and original in my eyes. It is the prequel series to the mortal instruments series with the same themes and although they may be similar apart from the time period, I believe they definitely do vary. I found this series to be more enthralling than the mortal instruments and was blown away by the characters charm and personality in a way that made me feel as though these fictional characters could in fact be real. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 14px;">It's just a book that I feel a lot of people would love, and they <b>do</b>, so therefore this is my favourite book to recommend to a friend. </span><br />
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<br />Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-62914271321579246462012-12-08T12:21:00.002-08:002012-12-08T12:22:38.937-08:002013 Genre Variety Reading Challenge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOq4P3K8qQ9igUeqWdtPIAJlWsnpMWvvScj1QS-RaVz-LaNl5J6ZYrIAYyBGahXP847yuK4LKoJcsfmse82jhdtGbZqGvNoP6Uvo1O449TdA1VAiGgIc7ijgED9CHgjxt94zJO53XNnfEg/s320/2013+Genre+Variety+Reading+Challenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOq4P3K8qQ9igUeqWdtPIAJlWsnpMWvvScj1QS-RaVz-LaNl5J6ZYrIAYyBGahXP847yuK4LKoJcsfmse82jhdtGbZqGvNoP6Uvo1O449TdA1VAiGgIc7ijgED9CHgjxt94zJO53XNnfEg/s320/2013+Genre+Variety+Reading+Challenge.jpg" /></a></div>
This challenge was created by <a href="http://xxdaydreamer21xx.blogspot.ca/">A Daydreamer's Thoughts</a>. So if you were interested in signing up you can head on over there.<br />
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I've read a lot of young adult over the past few months and I am starting to get a little tired of it - I always read the same kind of books, and although I love them all to pieces it's starting to get a little boring and I need a little bit of variety and to broaden my book horizon. There are some genres that I have never even attempted to read because I thought I most definitely wouldn't like anything to do with it. So here I am giving it a go.<br />
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The challenge is to read books from different genres throughout the year. I have found that blogging has opened my eyes to so many genres that I would never have tried before, simply from recommendations, and the idea of this challenge is to keep that going. <u>The challenge is to read a large variety of genres within one year</u>.</div>
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<strong>Other Important Info;</strong></div>
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Runs from <strong>January 1st 2013</strong> until <strong>December 31st 2013</strong>. Sign ups will be open until <strong>December 1st 2013</strong>.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">There are <strong>five</strong> levels to challenge yourself too. You may move up a level but not go down a level. These are all outlined below. Please mention in your sign up post which level you will aim for.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">The genres you choose to read are <strong>up to you</strong>. As long as every book is different, whichever genre you wish to read you can.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Every month there will be a post on this blog to link up to your update post / review(s)</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">There will be a giveaway at the end of the challenge, and maybe a few within the year but these are TBD.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">To sign up, you will need to write a post saying which level you are challenging yourself too and then use the linky list. <strong>Non-Bloggers</strong> may post in the comments of this post.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Any book formats are accepted.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Novellas and Novels are all accepted for this challenge.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">YA, NA and Adult books all count towards this challenge.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">New sub-genres are accepted. (for example, paranormal-romance, or historical-romance)</li>
</ul>
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<strong>Levels;</strong></div>
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><strong>Careful;</strong> 6 different genres, 6 books</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><strong>Cautious;</strong> 12 different genres, 12 books</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><strong>Branching;</strong> 18 different genres, 18 books</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><strong>Avid Reader;</strong> 24 different genres, 24 books</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><strong>Champion</strong>; 30 different genres, 30 books</li>
</ul>
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<span style="text-align: center;">I am going to go with <b>Avid Reader</b> and read 24 books with 24 different genres with a possibility/probability of going up to the next level.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Contemporary --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Historical --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Paranormal --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Fantasy --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Romance --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Sci-Fi --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Crime --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Thriller --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Adventure --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Chick-Lit --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Dystopian --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Epic Fantasy --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Western --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Comedy --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Horror --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Fairy Tales --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Classics --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Erotica --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Short Stories --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Mystery --</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Suspence --</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, Palatino Linotype, Palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Futuristic --</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, Palatino Linotype, Palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Military --</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, Palatino Linotype, Palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Biography --</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, Palatino Linotype, Palatino, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I will update this with each new book I have read in a different genre.</span></span></div>
Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-68444915859594627462012-12-07T06:22:00.001-08:002012-12-07T06:22:43.745-08:00"Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337978469l/13519397.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337978469l/13519397.jpg" width="210" /></a><b><i>Meet Celaena Sardothien. Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.</i></b><br />
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I came across <b>Throne of Glass</b> when I was in WHSmiths on my lunchbreak at work, I didn't think too much about picking it up as I hadn't heard anything about it or even heard of it before. I picked it up because it sounded quite interesting and that was that.<br />
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Celaena Sardothien is an assassin, she is the best of her kind, but she was caught. We start the story off in the Endovier salt mines were Celaena is serving a life sentence, someone had betrayed the eighteen year old assassin and that is why she ended up in this mess. She thought all looked dismal until the Captain of the Guard offers her a deal; to fight for the crown Prince Dorian in a battle for the title of 'Kings Champion' - an assassin to the King to do what he pleases. She, however, has to fight against a lot of other criminals like herself to earn this right.<br />
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When I first started reading this book I thought the idea behind the book was brilliant - other than Graceling (I'd say) I've never read an 'assassin' type book before and the thought of fight scenes and troubles really got me excited - if that's what you were expecting, please don't read this book. The most interesting fight scenes come towards the end of the book, and even those were quite confusing to read about.<br />
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When you think of an assassin, you think of someone hard as steel, no emotion, out to kill, hides everything under a facade - well not in this book. It really disappointed me when Celaena started thinking about the fact that she liked the way that the prince looked, it was ridiculously predictable after that notion that they were going to end up falling in love or such like. Why would an assassin fall in love or at least be so willing to fall into emotion so easily, surely her training and kills in general would have taught her to feel nothing for anyone. It wasn't even over a lengthy amount of time either I found, she found him attractive and then she wouldn't stop thinking about him.<br />
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I loved the Crown Prince Dorian in this book - I found his character to be quite charming and endearing and he had a lot of development throughout the book. I didn't love him in a fan girly way but more in a characterisation way, as he was just a brilliant character throughout the book. The other characters were quite stereotypical, you had the jealous lady, evil king, brutish thug and it just seemed all a little too planned like a fairytale throughout it all - I even found myself thinking of cinderella half way through as well.<br />
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If the love story that found its way into the book wasn't bad enough, they had to bring a magical element into the book in the middle as well - now <i>this</i> was the tipping point for me and that was when I decided that I didn't like this book a whole lot. It was alright up until that point and then it just went to pot and it was as if Maas decided that she couldn't be bothered to come up with an original plot twist and just went with the most obvious thing she could think of.<br />
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Through all of this negative there was an ounce of positive. It was a thrilling story even though it was predictable, it wasn't boring and it made me want to keep reading to finish the book and not give up half way through. It was fast paced and there was a little bit of suspicious but never too much. The emotions that it bought up, however, were one of a kind - the fact that although Celaena had endured tortures in the salt mines she was still strong and coule still smile. It made me think that although things may get tough, you've got to stay positive and that was such a wonderful thing to portray.<br />
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Overall, I was disappointed with this book and the potential it had to be great. It was ruined by stereotypical plot lines and the characters were as shallow as anything. Still an okay book, but I wouldn't be recommending this anytime soon.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 16px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 16px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 16px;">★</span></div>
Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-49997980813890448892012-12-04T11:25:00.001-08:002012-12-04T11:26:30.711-08:00Top Ten Tuesday | Christmas List<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2FvdM4BRDTcJ9G2JudWGMh1a7PWbPP3VCAndowpsEHV7yL6ExmfxJuQwWjuBlFssw4_0NwCYoH-Umcc3Cpp05ESINwMrYXhgEje_zdmrDDARcTZjenRsv37NqX4PHWQ0FYteNoNEYfGs/s1600/toptentuesday1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2FvdM4BRDTcJ9G2JudWGMh1a7PWbPP3VCAndowpsEHV7yL6ExmfxJuQwWjuBlFssw4_0NwCYoH-Umcc3Cpp05ESINwMrYXhgEje_zdmrDDARcTZjenRsv37NqX4PHWQ0FYteNoNEYfGs/s1600/toptentuesday1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 14px;"><u><b>Top Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Bringing Me</b></u></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 14px;"> -- Originally created by <a href="http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.co.uk/">The Broke and Bookish</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #e06666;">Beautiful Creatures </span>by Kami Garcia</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">I really want to read this before the movie comes out - I've heard so many good things about this book and just want to see if it's all it's hyped up to be.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">A Million Suns</span></span> <span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">by Beth Revis</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Across the Universe, the first book in this series was an alright book, but the premise of it was very promising. I want to see how this series progresses to see whether I'm actually going to change my mind on what I thought of the negative aspects of the first book.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #e06666;">Legend </span>by Marie Lu</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">This has been on my to be read pile for a little while so if I could get around to getting <i style="font-weight: bold;">and</i> reading this book it would be absolutely fantastic. Again, I have heard this book is really good so want to jump on the band wagon as you might say.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #e06666;">His Dark Materials</span> b</span><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">y Phillip Pullman</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">I first read 'The Northern Lights' or as you Americans like to call it, 'The Golden Compass' ages ago and then I remember <i style="font-weight: bold;">starting</i> the second book, but I don't remember finishing it. Due to the fact that this was ages ago, a little while ago I re-read the first book in preparation for the second book and I relived how amazing the first book was so I am thoroughly excited to read the rest of the series. At home we have the 3 book in 1 book but I don't like that kind of format and refuse to carry such a massive massive book around with me to work that I really want them as separate books.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #e06666;">Percy Jackson Series</span> b</span><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">y Rick Riordan</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">I have read the first book and enjoyed it immensely. I thought, because it's kind of a children's book, that it would be in fact childish but the premise of the book is so interesting, and in all the fantasy elements you also learn a bit of history in with it. It's also an all rounder book as well which is a plus filled with action and adventure to boot. I originally got the first book out of the library but I would like to own the collection myself.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #e06666;">The Maze Runner</span> b</span><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">y James Dashner</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Again, like 'Legend' this has been on my to be read list for a very long time now so I think it's due a buy and a read.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #e06666;">Eon</span> b</span><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">y Alison Goodman</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Ditto again.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #e06666;">Gone Series</span> b</span><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">y Michael Grant</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">I have got and read the first two books, and I am in <i style="font-weight: bold;">love</i> with this series - and the second book didn't fall to what I like to call, 'Second Book Syndrome' so I'm mega stoked to read the rest of these. I also love the dark covers that are available with the brightly coloured front font and page edges - they do look awesome on my book shelf might I add.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #e06666;">Clockwork Prince</span> b</span><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">y Cassandra Clare</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">A lot of my book tend to be from books I've read the first in the series, and this is yet another one - so excited to read this. It <i style="font-weight: bold;">better</i> not go into the 'Second Book Syndrome' category that Insurgent did, or I'm going to be ridiculously angry.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #e06666;">Scarlet</span> b</span><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">y Marissa Meyer</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">An ARC of Scarlet would be <b>amazing</b>. Out of all the books to be released in 2013 this is one I would pay to have before it's released - ergh, February is too far away!</span></span></div>
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Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-51203949815781566062012-12-04T11:02:00.001-08:002012-12-04T11:02:25.059-08:002B Tuesday | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Where you show a book that has been sitting on your shelf (or on your e-reader) just waiting to be read. It can be new or have been sitting there for a long time. Just show that book some love and let us know why you bought it or why it has been sitting there -- originally by </span><a href="http://laurainbookland.blogspot.co.uk/" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Laura's Adventures in Bookland</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">.</span></div>
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<a href="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337807416l/820344.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337807416l/820344.jpg" width="207" /></a><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><b><i>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows</i> </b><span style="font-size: x-small;">by<b> J. K. Rowling</b></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Harry has been burdened with a dark, dangerous and seemingly impossible task: that of locating and destroying Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes. Never has Harry felt so alone, or faced a future so full of shadows. But Harry must somehow find within himself the strength to complete the task he has been given. He must leave the warmth, safety and companionship of The Burrow and follow without fear or hesitation the inexorable path laid out for him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">This has been on my shelf for a couple of years now, I just can't bring myself to read it and finish the series - not because I don't want to and not because I don't want the series to end but for a reason I'm not even sure of myself. I keep getting about an eighth in to the book and then getting distracted, giving up for a year then reading that same section again and repeating. I <i style="font-weight: bold;">will</i> read this book eventually but for now I'm not unduly fussed about it as (blasphemy for some) Harry Potter isn't as important to me as it is to some people. Don't get me wrong the series is great but it's not my favourite.</span></span></div>
Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-39520114395503391422012-12-03T11:27:00.000-08:002012-12-03T11:27:50.951-08:0030 Day Book Challenge [2/30]<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><b><u>Day 2 - Your least favourite book of all time</u></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 14px;">Again, like the favourite book of all time I really don't have a <i>least</i> favourite book of all time. I do have one that sticks out in my mind however.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 14px;"><u><b>'Matched' </b>By Ally Condie</u></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Ergh, I have nothing and I mean <b>nothing</b> good to say about this book whatsoever. I couldn't even finish it because I thought it was that bad - the story was awful, boring and ridiculously predictable. The characters were awful, boring and again ridiculously predictable. There were too many unnecessary flashbacks which didn't add anything to the book or create any kind of back story for anything. The writing was just as bad as the book and was written like a 10 year old in my opinion, I just literally have nothing good to say about this at all. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">I've heard it gets better as the series progresses and I know there have been a lot of mixed reviews on this book, but it just wasn't for me.</span></span></span>Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-1249903293656022022012-12-02T03:50:00.000-08:002012-12-02T03:50:47.696-08:00What I've been reading | November 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9130227778745704257.post-76842669217239922212012-12-01T03:58:00.001-08:002012-12-01T03:58:23.921-08:00"Hunger" by Michael Grant<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Hunger</b> by Michael Grant is the second book in the "Gone" series with the first book being of the same name. I thought the first book was amazingly brilliant and I loved every second of it, this book therefore had a lot to live up to.<br />
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Kids aged 14 and under are still living in and around Perdido beach without the authority of any adults of figures of authority to guide them since they all disappeared in the first book. They have survived thus far, but a hunger is starting to strike - they are running low of food supplies and things start getting desperate when the rations are running out rapidly.<br />
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I thought that this book would pretty much be exactly the same as the first book with an added hunger thrown into the mix, but I was extremely wrong with <i>that </i>presumption. Obviously this book still holds the same premise as the first book but the feel of it was so much different, people are starting to get desperate, tempers are flaring and people are just plain breaking down. The character development in this book to go along with this was outstanding - you saw certain characters change from the first book gradually, as you would expect them too under these circumstances, until they were completely stripped bare for their raw emotions to shine through. It was amazing reading about these changes and the way they affected the hierarchy of the characters within the book.<br />
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I thought it was as realistic as a situation like that <i>can</i> be, in the way that each character had a different take on the situation and changed in a different way because of it. If this indeed did happen I could imagine it happening in the way that Grant described - I know the chances are extremely slim, but I hope you get where I'm coming from. There were new characters along with the old added into the extensive cast of kids, and as in Gone, I could sympathise and empathise with each and every one of them - this is my favourite part about Grant's writing, the idea that he can have a cast of at least 20 characters and make you connect and understand every one of them.<br />
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This series' writing tends to focus more on the characters and the development of them rather than the descriptions of the places, the characters <i>create</i> the world rather than the description creating it. I could still imagine everything with great detail even though there wasn't a ridiculous amount of time spent on the world itself. However, when he was explaining the darkness I found it quite difficult to imagine what it looked like, I don't know quite what I pictured in my head but it probably wasn't anything like what it was <i>supposed</i> to look like - the description was a little odd.<br />
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With the hunger as the base line plot, there were also lots of little side stories running alongside it. These stories were so intriguing and were actually really clever - they were the kinds of things you wouldn't really think about if you were thinking about what would happen if all the adults disappeared. But although you wouldn't think about it first of all they are all actually great ideas that the kids came up with, this highlights the idea I feel that kids have a lot more common sense and ideas than we give them credit for. They are imaginative and sometimes this is the key to a lot of things.<br />
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Hunger is just as brilliant as Gone and the character development (as you can probably tell) is the peak of this book and made it what it is - and I don't think a lot of authors are any good at character development along a series of books. It most definitely didn't suffer with second book syndrome in the slightest and I am extremely excited to read the third book now. Fantastic.<br />
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<br />Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14362765804586456651noreply@blogger.com