Wednesday 17 December 2014

Review | Isla And The Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Image and video hosting by TinyPicIsla And The Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins
Series: Anna And The French Kiss #3
Published By: Usborne Publishing
Published On: August 14, 2014
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 375
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Rating: ★★★★★

Amazon | Goodreads

The cafĂ© is boiling. The atmosphere is clouded with bittersweet coffee. Three years of desire rip through my body and burst from my lips: “Josh!” His head jolts up. For a long time, a very long time, he just stares at me. And then…he blinks. “Isla?” 
Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on brooding artist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And, after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer break, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to face uncertainty about their futures, and the very real possibility of being apart.

In the third and final instalment in Stephanie Perkins’ Anna and the French Kiss series, we return to the School of America in Paris as Isla and Josh complete their senior year. After a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, Isla, who has had a crush on Josh since they first met, discovers Josh may feel the same way about her.

This is by far my favourite of the series. Everything about this book is perfect to me. The plot, the characters, the settings, the writing, I love everything! The best book in the series, in my opinion.

Isla is a very relatable character. In fact, I relate to Isla more than I care to admit. I spent the first few chapters of the book complaining about how annoying she was before realising I had done all of these annoying things at some point. She is just your typical high school girl with a crush.

I love Josh. I must have expressed my love for him at least a hundred times while reading this book. He is the perfect quiet, artsy guy that not everyone understands and I love it. I think him and Isla make a perfect couple and it is clear that he cares just as much for her as she does for him.

This relationship was not instantaneous. Although the relationship first started at the beginning of the book, which I thought was an interesting change from the norm, this was not an insta-love story. The retelling of their small encounters throughout their school life made it clear that the two had at least some feelings for each other for quite a while but had not realised the feelings were mutual.

The settings were great. Stephanie Perkins is great at writing the perfect settings and she did it again in Isla. I loved returning to Paris, where it all started, for the ending of the series. The scenes in Barcelona were written so beautifully I could have been there myself. And of course, New York! I love anything to do with New York so having this book partly set there was amazing.

The cameo from the previous books’ characters was perfect. The other characters making an appearance in this book was the perfect way to end the series. To have them all back where out journey began with Anna felt as though we had come full circle and I could not be happier with the way things wrapped up for all of the characters. It was definitely the perfect ending to the series.

Overall, I adore this book! Everything is just so perfect and I have absolutely fallen in love with Stephanie Perkins more than I knew was possible after reading this last book in the series. It was a great conclusion to the series and everything ended so perfectly. The amount of times I have used the word 'perfect' just sums up my thoughts on this book.

Sophie :)

Tuesday 16 December 2014

Top Ten Tuesday | Top Ten Books I Read In 2014

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Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke And The Bookish. Lists galore, I can think of nothing better!

This week's theme is Top Ten Books I Read In 2014 and with 2014 being the year I really got into reading, I have read the most books this year that I ever have. Since I read so many great books, I have included series as one book.

1. The Anna and the French Kiss series by Stephanie Perkins
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Isla and the Happily Ever After is a contender for my favourite book I read in 2014, which tells you quite how much I loved it. In case that doesn't, my review (coming this week) includes the word 'perfect' 9 times! I absolutely loved this series and I can't wait to read more from Stephanie Perkins. You can check out my reviews from Anna and Lola to find out my thoughts on the books individually.

2. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
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I picked up Dark Places after Gone Girl had ended disappointed me so badly with it's ending and I needed to read something to redeem Gillian Flynn. I absolutely loved this book, despite how insanely messed up it was. I spent the whole book hoping that the ending was good so that I could say I loved it most definitely did not disappoint this time. I even want to read Sharp Objects now.

3. Where Rainbows End by Cecilia Ahern
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This book is up there with Isla as a contender for favourite book of 2014. I absolutely loved this book. It is one of those books that I just can't express my thoughts about it because I loved it so much. However, I do have a review if you would like a more structured, informative account of my thoughts on Where Rainbows End.

4. The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight by Jennifer E Smith
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I wanted to read this book for so long and when I eventually got around to it I was worried that I would have hyped it up so much in my head that I wouldn't like it. Thankfully, that did not happen and I really enjoyed this book. I loved the setting, anything that takes place in airports or on planes I really like so that aspect was perfect for me. The romance didn't disappoint either.

5. The Katie Parker Productions series by Jenny B Jones
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This series was both my introduction to Jenny B Jones and my first venture into the world of Christian fiction. I was a bit worried about reading this series as although I am a Christian, I do not appreciate religion being shoved down a person's throat. I had my doubts that these types of novels were a bit like that but I was very pleasantly surprised. I loved this series and I appreciated the 'Christian' aspect of the novel being more subtle than I expected it to be. I am definitely interested in reading some more Christian fiction in future.

6. Divergent by Veronica Roth
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I finally gave into the hype and picked up Divergent this year and I absolutely loved it. I would say this is another possibility for my favourite book of the year. I devoured this book and loved every second of it. I can't quite say the same for Insurgent but the first in the series is definitely a favourite of mine. I have a full review of this book here.

7. We Were Liars by E Lockhart
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I was not expecting great things from this book but the vague synopsis intrigued me so I decided to give it a go. For the first half of the book I still wasn't sure but suddenly I fell in love and this book became really great. It was not at all what I expected it to be but I will agree with John Green when he describes this book as "unforgettable". I have a full review of We Were Liars here.

8. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
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Speaking of John Green, I was one of the many who read The Fault In Our Stars in 2014. I feel like it is not even necessary to say anything about this book as everyone knows about it. I, along with the majority of people, loved it.

9. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
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I am probably the last one on this bandwagon but I finally started the Harry Potter series this year. Technically, my mum read the first two books to me as a child but this is the first time I have read it myself. It didn't quite have the impact I expected as I have seen the movie so many times that I knew what was happening but I still really enjoyed it.

10. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
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This was technically a reread but I felt the need to include this in my top 10 as the second time reading this was the first time I really appreciated it for what it was. On the first read, I think I read it too fast and was too young to fully understand the important war aspects of the book and Katniss' struggle with PTSD. Reading it for the second time meant I could fully understand and appreciate what was happening and really loved it.

Those are my top ten books I read this year. What were your favourite books of 2014? What books would you suggest I pick up in 2015?

Sophie :)

Monday 15 December 2014

December 2014 | TBR

It's almost the middle of December and I am only now getting to my TBR for the month but the first week of this month was so crazy it took another week to recover. I am ambitious for this month considering the first week was taken up with essays and I have an exam on the 22nd that I need to study A LOT for but if I read all 5 books on my TBR, I will reach my Goodreads goal of 45 books.

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Dancing In My Nuddy-Pants by Louise Rennison - 
This was in my November TBR but I never got around to reading it so I have carried it over to this month. I am in the process of rereading and then finishing this series and this is the fourth book of the ten. This is a really quick read and it has taken me so long to get around to doing my TBR post that I have already read this, so that's at least one book down so far.

Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan -
This is another one that I have carried over from last month after I didn't get to it. My friends have been getting at me to read this for ages now and it is finally happening. I have started this book and I am loving it so far. I'm only about a quarter of the way through it so far but as soon as I get a chance to sit down and read for a decent amount of time I think I will fly through it.

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales - 
Again I didn't get the chance to read this last month so I am going to try and get it read this month. I know very little about it but it is quite a short book so hopefully I can get to it and get through it quite quickly.

My True Love Gave To Me by various authors edited by Stephanie Perkins -
I could not wait to get my hands on this as soon as I found out it was happening and now I have it there is no way I am waiting to read this. I am reading this amazing collection of Christmassy short stories at the moment and I am taking part in the read-a-long hosted by Megan and Signe (goodreads group here) so I am reading one story over two days from the 1st of December to the 24th. I am really loving it so far.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens -
I wanted to read some Christmas books this month and A Christmas Carol is one of my favourite things to watch around Christmas so I thought I would read it this year. It is pretty short and I got it for free on the Kindle store so I am definitely going to be reading this at some point, even if it has to be Christmas Eve.

Those are the books that I plan to read this month although there is a very good chance this may change after Christmas as there are a few books on my Christmas list this year that I am really looking forward to reading. What will you be reading this month?

Sophie :)

Wednesday 10 December 2014

Review | We Were Liars by E Lockhart

Image and video hosting by TinyPicWe Were Liars by E Lockhart
Published By: Hot Key Books
Published On: May 15, 2014
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 227
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Rating: ★★★★

We are the Liars. 
We are beautiful, privileged and live a life of carefree luxury. 
 We are cracked and broken. 
A story of love and romance. 
A tale of tragedy. 
Which are lies? 
Which is truth?


I would usually give a short synopsis of the book before I begin my review but I can’t do that for this book without ruining the reading experience for those who have not read it. All I would say is to go into this book completely blind, just as I did, for the full impact.

The most unique thing about this book is the beautiful yet very confusing writing style. I am still very mixed about the writing style of this book. It works very well with the story but the extensive use of metaphors really confused me. I found it very difficult to work out what was real and what was not. Though this plays a very important role in the book, especially in the later parts, I found it especially confusing at the beginning.

It is possibly due to the writing style that I found it very difficult to get into. I really struggled with Part One and Part Two of the book and I am unsure why. It may be to do with my getting used to the writing style or possibly because the action doesn’t really start until Part Three.

The characters in this book were so interesting. For me, the characters made this book. The Sinclair’s are so unlike any family I have read about and though I found most of the very unlikeable, they were so interesting to me. The main character, Cadence, I did not like that much but that is possibly due to her being such an unreliable narrator. I did, however, really like Gat as a character. 

All I knew about this book going into it was that a plot twist was involved, one that would shock you. Well, the ending of this book broke me. I was not expecting it to affect me so much but I was very emotional while reading the last part of the book.

However, I did manage to guess the plot twist. I did not affect my response to the ending but having a good idea of what was to come did mean that it was not the shock it could have been. I almost felt that I had seen a spoiler for the ending, even though it was just my guess.

Overall, I really liked this book but the beginning let me down a little. The writing style took a while to get used to and the mystery was ruined slightly by my guessing. However, I would absolutely recommend this to anyone and I even hope to reread it in the future.

Tuesday 9 December 2014

Top Ten Tuesday | Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2014

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Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke And The Bookish. Lists galore, I can think of nothing better!

This week's theme is Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2014 and for this I had plenty of choice. I have read much more in 2014 than I have in previous years and so the majority of my reading was books by authors I have not read before.

1. Stephanie Perkins
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I finally got around to reading Anna And The French Kiss this year and this trilogy has very quickly become a favourite. I absolutely love Stephanie Perkins' writing and I am certain she will become an 'auto-buy' author for me. Check out my reviews of Anna & Lola.

2. Veronica Roth
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I gave into the hype earlier this year and picked up Divergent by Veronica Roth and fell in love with it. I wasn't as in love with Insurgent and have yet to pick up Allegiant but I am definitely a fan of Veronica Roth's writing. I have a full review of Divergent here.

3. Gillian Flynn
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Gillian Flynn is one of those authors that everyone seems to be talking about this year. I read Gone Girl early this year before I knew it was to be made into a movie and wasn't a huge fan of it. However, since reading Dark Places in November I have definitely become a fan of her writing. I have a review of Gone Girl here.

4. Cecilia Ahern
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Ever since I fell in love with the movie PS I Love You I have been wanting to read Cecelia Ahern's books but it wasn't until this year that I got around to it. Where Rainbows End is one of my favourite books that I have read this year and because of that I cannot wait to read some more of her works. You can have a look at my review of Where Rainbows End here.

5. Gayle Forman
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I picked up If I Stay in order to read it before seeing the movie. I am a fan of Chloe Grace Moretz so when I found out she was in the movie, and when I saw the trailer, I really wanted to give the book a go. I did really like the book but I feel like I need to give Gayle Forman another chance to completely win me over.

6. Jenny B Jones
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The Katie Parker Productions series was not only my first read from Jenny B Jones but was also my first venture into the world of Christian Fiction. I absolutely loved this series, especially the writing, and I will definitely be reading more from Jenny B Jones next year.

7. Jennifer E Smith
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The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight is another book that I had wanted to read for a while but never got around to it until this year. I absolutely loved this book and I really hope to read more by Jennifer E Smith in 2015. 

8. John Green
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I am probably one of the last people to read a book by John Green but I eventually read The Fault In Our Stars this year. I loved it, of course, and as much as I have heard mixed reviews about his other books I do plan to read some of his other works in 2015.

9. Tracy Bloom
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I picked up Tracy Bloom's book on a complete whim and was very pleasantly surprised. Her writing is very funny and I loved the story. There is a good chance I will be reading some more from her in the future. I have a review of No-One Ever Has Sex On A Tuesday here.

10. Danielle Steel
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I can't say I ever expected to read a Danielle Steel book. My gran loves her books and so when she gave me a copy of Friends Forever I decided to give it a read and I was extremely surprised when I really enjoyed it. I am not sure if I will be reading any more books from her but if my gran were to lend me another I would most likely give it a go. My full review of Friends Forever is here.

So that is my list of the top ten new-to-me authors I have read this year. I have read some great books by new-to-me authors this year and I hope to read more next year. What authors were new to you this year?

Sophie :)

Monday 8 December 2014

November 2014 | Wrap Up & Haul

November has been possibly the most horrendous month of the year. The end of the semester is always tough but this one seems to be especially hard.

My life in November...
- Uni completely took over my life. I had one exam and two essays and all of it was horrible.
- I continued with Grey's Anatomy in my occasional free time and managed season 6-9.
- I'm A Celebrity started and I am obsessed!
- I went on a church weekend away with some of my closest friends.
- My mum and I had a nice shopping day and managed to get the majority of our Christmas shopping done.
- I had my first Gingerbread Latte of the season and it was just as great as always.
- Mockingjay Part 1!! Oh my, it was good! 
- My Christmas decorations are up! I like to have them up for December starting so it's usually the last thing I do in November.

Read in November...

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Dark Places by Gillian Flynn-
I started reading this in October but found no time to read so it was carried over into November. I picked this up because I had mixed feelings about Gone Girl and wanted to read something different from Gillian Flynn to see if I like it. I'm so glad I did because I really liked this book. This book is about a woman whose entire family was killed when she was a child and her brother was jailed for it, partly due to her testimony, and now she must find out whether he actually killed her family. It was seriously twisted, as Gillian Flynn's books are, but it was so intriguing and the characters were not as bad as those in Gone Girl. 4/5

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins -
Ok, so I finished this on December 1st but I am counting this as a November read considering I read almost all of it in November. I reread this before going to see the movie and part of me wishes I hadn't. I really didn't like it the first time through but I loved it this time, which is why part of me is glad I reread it. The problem was, everything was so fresh in my mind that I knew exactly what parts were missed out of the book and what things were different, which made it quite annoying to watch the movie. Like I said, I liked it a lot more this time around so I have changed my rating. 4/5

Bought In November...

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My True Love Gave To Me by various authors -
Stephanie Perkins edited this so of course I had to read it. I love Christmas so twelve short stories about holiday romance is possibly me perfect thing. I am so excited to read this.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - 
I wanted to read some Christmas books this month and I need to read a Classic for my book bingo challenge so this seemed like the perfect one. It was also one of the free books on the Kindle store so I couldn't say no.

What have you been reading in November? Have you bought any good books?

Sophie :)

Friday 5 December 2014

Review | Lola And The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Image and video hosting by TinyPicLola And The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
Series: Anna And The French Kiss #2
Published By: Usborne Publishing
Published On: June 1st 2014 (Originally 2011)
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 373
Format: Paperback
Source: Bought
Rating: ★★★★

Amazon | Goodreads

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn't believe in fashion... she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit – the more sparkly, more wild – the better. And life is pretty close to perfect for Lola, especially with her hot rocker boyfriend. 
That is, until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket return to the neighbourhood and unearth a past of hurt that Lola thought was long buried. So when talented inventor Cricket steps out from his twin sister's shadow and back into Lola's life, she must finally face up to a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door. Could the boy from Lola's past be the love of her future?


Lola And The Boy Next Door, the second instalment in the Anna And The French Kiss trilogy by Stephanie Perkins, follows Lola, a bit of a misfit who dresses in costume and dreams of attending her winter formal dressed as Marie Antoinette. She has a pretty great life - two great dads, a loyal best friend and a rocker boyfriends – until past crush Cricket and his family move back in next door.

I didn’t love Lola as much as I loved Anna. I liked it but I just didn’t feel the same rush of emotions when reading this as I did with Anna. As much as I hate to admit it, because I love Stephanie Perkins, Lola was good but not quite great.

It took me a while to get into it. I don’t know why but I found it quite difficult to get into Lola. In fact it took me until about 150 pages in, when Cricket was introduced, for me to start wanting to keep reading.

I found it difficult to relate to Lola. This could be why I struggled to get into the book. I found Lola to be much less relatable to Anna. She is such an unusual character, which was great to read about but it did make it hard to connect to her.

This book has the same “cheating” aspect as Anna had. I am not the type of person who is against cheating in books but I think there is a place for it and I just didn’t feel as though this was the place, just as in Anna. In fact, the similarities between Lola and Anna in this aspect annoyed me a little. However, I do appreciate that it shows the contrast between Max and Cricket, I just don’t completely agree with it.

What I did love about this book was Cricket. I absolutely adored Cricket as a character, and as a love interest for Lola. He seems like the perfect boyfriend and I completely fell for him as a book boyfriend. I loved how much he clearly cares for Lola and the fact that their relationship had been building since childhood was very sweet.

I also loved the Anna & St Clair scenes. I knew before reading this book that they were a part of it but I only expected them to appear a few times, not to play such an important role. It was great to see their interactions as a couple and I loved that they became such good friends with Lola and Cricket. 

The ending was perfect. I loved it so much. Everything about it was amazing and I was so jealous of Lola. I genuinely wanted to be her in that moment.

Overall, I really liked this book but it didn't quite live up to the first in the series. Stephanie Perkins writing is amazing so I would highly recommend her books to anyone but especially those who love love. It is a great 'feel good', heart-melting read.

Tuesday 2 December 2014

Top Ten Tuesday | Top Ten Books I'm Looking Forward To In 2015

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Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke And The Bookish. Lists galore, I can think of nothing better!

This weeks theme is Top Ten Books I'm Looking Forward To In 2015 and that list is definitely a little more than 10. I have managed to narrow it down to 10 but there are plenty of book being released next year that I am looking forward to and no doubt more will be added to the list through the year.

1. Playlist For The Dead by Michelle Falkoff - Goodreads
This book has been compared to both Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, two books that I really want to read. I really like the premise of this book so I will hopefully get to it at some point.

2. Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver - Goodreads
I have not read any books by Lauren Oliver yet but I own Panic and am hoping to read it soon. I have heard great things about her writing so when I read the synopsis for Vanishing Girls, her newest book, I was very interested in reading it.

3. All The Rage by Courtney Summers - Goodreads
This is a much darker book, covering topics like sexual violence, which is not something I have read much about. I am interested to see how such a serious topic is conveyed in a young adult novel.

4. Liars, Inc by Paula Stokes - Goodreads
I am really enjoyed twisted, mysterious books recently and this sounds just like that. I have heard great things about Paula Stokes and her previous book, The Art of Lainey, so I'm really hoping to read this.

5. The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord - Goodreads
I am desperate to read Emery Lord's debut novel, Open Road Summer, but never got around to it this summer. Her second novel sounds just as good, and slightly heartbreaking, so I'm anticipating a great summer read.

6. Suicide Notes From Beautiful Girls by Lynn Weingarten - Goodreads
The first line on Goodreads about this book is "Pitched as Gone Girl meets Thirteen Reasons Why". I am sold by that line alone.

7. What You Left Behind by Jessica Verdi - Goodreads
I absolutely love the premise of this book. You very rarely find books about single teen fathers, in fact I don't know of any others, so this is definitely one of the books I'm most looking forward to in 2015.

8. All We Have Is Now by Lisa Shroeder - Goodreads
The synopsis of this book is like something I have never even heard of before. I sounds like an apocalyptic contemporary novel and that just sounds so interesting to me.

9. Things We Know By Heart by Jessi Kirby - Goodreads
This sounds like such a beautiful story. It seems to me to be a slightly different take on loss, heartbreak and moving on.

10. I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios - Goodreads
I got goosebumps reading the synopsis of this book. If that is any indication of how great his book will be, I am definitely looking forward to reading it.

Those are my top ten books I am looking forward to in 2015. What other books should I check out?

Sophie :)