Reading Slumps

Hey guys, today I wanted to talk to you all about reading slumps!

So I've had a bit of a rollercoaster over the last six or so months; lots of things have been happening in my personal life (both highs and lows) and so my reading has been quite erratic. Sometimes I find reading takes me away from the outside stuff but there are also times when I can't bring myself to read as I have other things to do or I'm just not feeling it. Reading slumps are not generally something I have to deal with but on the odd occasion I can get reading numbness (that's what I call it anyway).

I seem to be back on an updrive recently and I wanted to share with you some things I have done to evade the reading slump nightmare!

1) Buddy reads

As of September, I have stopped doing buddy-reads (at least until the new year) unless I have a particular urge to read a book and someone else wants to read it at that moment. I found myself feeling distant from reading because I was forcing myself to read pre-picked books that I no longer wanted to read at the point I picked them up. Don't get me wrong I love reading with my friends but I think I need to find another way to do that for now.

2) Readathons

I am trying to do more readathons and less readalongs / buddy reads. If you don't know, a readathon is where you read books based on prompts over a set period of time; whereas with a readalong or buddy read, you read a set book over a set period of time. I like reading based on prompts but this way I can pick books that I feel like reading that still fit the theme I'm reading from. I can still feel included and like I'm reading with my friends without feeling so constrained.

3) Mixing up short and long books

I have found that reading all short or all long books is not particularly fulfilling and doesn't make me feel accomplished either way. I definitely need a good mixture to make me feel as if I'm getting somewhere but also enabling me to tackle some of the beasts on my shelves.

Overall, these three tips have been helping me immensely and I feel really good about my reading right now. 

Until next time, happy reading!

Review: Geek Girl by Holly Smale

Geek Girl
by Holly Smale
Published by HarperCollins Children's Books: 28th February 2013
Paperback: 378 pages
Goodreads
Amazon
Star Rating: 1/5










Synopsis from Goodreads:

Harriet Manners knows a lot of things.
She knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a ''jiffy'' lasts 1/100th of a second, and the average person laughs 15 times per day. What she isn't quite so sure about is why nobody at school seems to like her very much. So when she's spotted by a top model agent, Harriet grabs the chance to reinvent herself. Even if it means stealing her Best Friend's dream, incurring the wrath of her arch enemy Alexa, and repeatedly humiliating herself in front of the impossibly handsome supermodel Nick. Even if it means lying to the people she loves.
As Harriet veers from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly enthusiastic father and her uber-geeky stalker, Toby, she begins to realise that the world of fashion doesn't seem to like her any more than the real world did.
And as her old life starts to fall apart, the question is: will Harriet be able to transform herself before she ruins everything?

My Review:

This will probably be my shortest review to date because I really didn't like this book and so I DNF'd it at about 60%. I just felt like I was reading for it to end and that's never a good way to read. This book for me was a completely pointless exercise in rounding up cliches and unrealistic characters. It somehow feels much more out of date than expected; it's uncomfortable reading and I honestly despised the experience.

The thing that could have swayed it for me would have been some characters we could get behind and root for but honestly I found all of them to lack development and they didn't feel real to me. I didn't care what happened to them and I especially found the main character Harriet to be unrealistic and completely boring.

The writing of this was incredibly poor and I found it to be juvenile and the target audience seemed to be lost. It's marketed as YA but I think the language used was more Middle Grade with a seemingly YA subject matter. It didn't fit into any category which would make it difficult to know who should be reading it.

I found a lot of the characters in this to be problematic (mainly it's incredibly sexist) which made it so frustrating to read and eventually I decided not to bother anymore. I also hated the fact that for the majority of this book, we were told what was happening rather than shown and being part of the action.

Overall, Holly Smale is not an author that I think I will read from again.

Until next time, happy reading!

Why Do I Love To Read?

Hey guys, reading is such a massive part of my life and I wanted to tell you why I love it so much!

1) You can learn about new worlds and things you'll never be able to experience yourself.

2) Nostalgia brings back memories of childhood or certain times in your lives.

3) Reading means never being bored.

4) You can make friends due to shared reading experiences or favourite books.

5) Keeps your mind active.

6) There are so many different types of books; something for everyone.

7) You can learn right from wrong and ethics and morality from reading.

8) Reading helps you to forget pain, broken hearts & mental health issues just for a while.

9) Books don't change; you can be sure of stability when you read a book again.

10) If I didn't read, I wouldn't be me.

YA Books I've Read

Hey guys, there are so many YA books out there that I love but today I wanted to share five of my favourites! Happy reading!

1) Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Although quite an unconventional YA book, Forbidden deals with the topic of incest. Maya and Lochan (16 and 17 years old respectively) have had to run their family home predominantly since their father walked out on them and their mother is constantly absent. The stresses and strains of looking after their younger siblings causes the two of them to rely more on each other and they start to fall in love.

This book is a tough read because you don't know whether to root for the relationship or not. The characters of all of the siblings and some side-characters are completely fleshed out and every step of the way is equal parts heartbreaking and moving. A great read about a very difficult topic and I would recommend to all.

2) The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling

This is a short story collection that is taken directly from the Harry Potter series. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, there is a scene where Hermione reads one of the tales from this book as it gives the clue of the Deathly Hallows. J. K. Rowling wrote this book as an extension of a set of childhood stories that wizards get read to them as children. 

If you're a fan of the Harry Potter series, this will be a wonderful read for you. There are five stories and then each of them has a note after them which is supposed to have been written by Dumbledore himself. It's a great addition and one I would suggest you read!

3) Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Carry On is another book that is linked to a different book by the same author. I adored Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell so much and in that book, the main character writes fan fiction. This book is the fan fiction that she has written about the Simon Snow series (heavily influenced by Harry Potter). This is essentially about two roommates Baz and Simon; one who is the chosen one and the other is a vampire. 

There is lots of great references in this book and I'm so excited that the sequel is out soon. I've been waiting a long time for it and I can't believe it's actually out now.

4) Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

This is a book that I read in April 2018 and although it wasn't my favourite book ever, it has stuck with me. This book follows Meg who just wants to get away from her parents, her small town life and her high school. One night she takes part in a dare on a rail track and she gets in trouble with John, the local police officer.

This book has much more meaning than just a contemporary YA romance story; not that there's anything wrong with that of course. This talks about life and how to live it to the fullest. It's a great romance and even a little bit juicy at times.

5) Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Wonder is a beautiful story about August Pullman, a young boy born with a facial deformity who is about to start mainstream school for the first time. He has spent his childhood being stared at and comments being made about him. His new classmates struggle to get past his face and this book is the story.

This is such a wonderful story and so perfectly written and I could read about August all day. It's such a sweet read about a character you can't help but love. I need to watch the movie as soon as possible too!

These are some great YA books I have loved; let me know which you have enjoyed! 

Until next time, happy reading!

Review: The Accident by C. L.Taylor

The Accident
by C. L. Taylor
Published by Avon HarperCollins: April 10th 2014
Paperback: 404 pages
Goodreads
Amazon
Star Rating: 2/5











Synopsis from Goodreads:

The person you trust most may only be telling you half the story...
Sue Jackson has the perfect family but when her teenage daughter Charlotte deliberately steps in front of a bus and ends up in a coma she is forced to face a very dark reality.
Retracing her daughter's steps she finds a horrifying entry in Charlotte's diary and is forced to head deep into Charlotte's private world. In her hunt for evidence, Sue begins to mistrust everyone close to her daughter and she's forced to look further, into the depths of her own past.
There is a lot that Sue doesn't know about Charlotte's life. But then there's a lot that Charlotte doesn't know about Sue's...

My review:

This was my second C. L. Taylor book and I was really excited to read it because I loved The Missing which I read earlier in the year. That was fantastic and I have since bought another couple of her books too! However, this one unfortunately left a bad taste in my mouth and I wasn't impressed. I would like to stress that I don't believe this is typical of her stories and I am still keen to read more. Having looked more into it, this is actually C. L. Taylor's debut novel and I think it just shows some immaturity of writing and an unbelievable ending.

This book follows Sue Jackson who has a seemingly wonderful life until her young teenage daughter deliberately walks in front of a bus and she then ends up in a coma. Sue reads Charlotte's diary and finds an entry that makes her question everything she knew about her daughter's life.

This book is told in two timelines; the first is present day where Sue is trying to trace Charlotte's footsteps before her accident and the second is years before in Sue's past. There is something she is keeping secret from her husband and her family that has caused her to suffer from anxiety and PTSD.

There were a number of reasons that this book wasn't for me. The main one was that because of Sue's troubling past she currently has and previously has had mental illnesses and because of this, my least favourite trope happens; the people in her life and others around her don't believe what she says and blame it on a relapse instead. This is something I despise reading about and it always rubs me up the wrong way.

I also found the ending to be completely unbelievable and ridiculous and some of the things that happened throughout, especially that Sue did in order to find out the truth about her daughter were just farcical! It's difficult to explain just how strange this book was without spoiling but unfortunately it wasn't for me.

I will say that although the writing was a little immature and underplayed, I do think the character development was great and I really loved reading about Sue and her husband. Again, having read more of Taylor's books, I know how fantastic her books are so although not loving this one, I'm excited to read more of her work!

Overall, I didn't enjoy this book but still enjoy the author!

Until next time, happy reading!

Review: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility
by Jane Austen
Published by Oxford University Press: April 24th 2004 (originally 1811)
Paperback: 327 pages
Goodreads
Amazon
Star Rating: 3/5










Synopsis from Goodreads:

In her first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen presents us with the subtle portraits of two contrasting but equally compelling heroines. For sensible Elinor Dashwood and her impetuous younger sister Marianne the prospect of marrying the men they love appears remote. In a world ruled by money and self-interest, the Dashwood sisters have neither fortune neither connections. Concerned for others and for social propieties, Elinor is ill-equipped to compete with self-centred fortune-hunters like Lucy Steele, while Marianne's unswerving belief in the truth of her own feelings makes her more dangerously susceptible to the designs of unscrupulous men. Through her heroines' parallel experiences of love, loss, and hope, Jane Austen offers a powerful analysis of the ways in which women's lives were shaped by the claustrophobic society in which they had to survive.


My review:

This was the third of my Jane Austen reads (although I have now read four) and unfortunately it was my least favourite. The synopsis was definitely something I was looking forward to and I honestly expected this to be one of my favourites, but I didn't like many of the main characters so there it fell flat for me.

Elinor Dashwood was the only character I enjoyed reading about; she's a charming, polite, helpful woman with bags of potential and so much love to give. She's super sensible and she cares deeply about her family. If this book had only her in it, I would have adored it! Funnily enough, I think she's one of my favourite Austen protagonist's even though the book definitely wasn't!

My main problem with this book was the character of Marianne Dashwood. I couldn't find her likeable and as Jane Austen mainly writes very character driven plots, this made the book feel heavily out of balance. I wanted to like her so much more than I did and therefore I was more and more disappointed as the book went on.

If you are looking for an action-packed book with lots of backward and forwards between the characters, this is the one for you. Lots happens but it does sometimes feel a bit lacklustre in my opinion. There's lots of talk in this particular novel about societal expectations at the time of this book and that is something I adore most about Jane Austen's stories. It's amazing the pressures that young women had at that time; and I think that this is very well discussed in Sense and Sensibility.

I will also say that the sisterly relationship in this book is much more accomplished and interesting than the romantic ones. I found the male counterparts in this book to be irritating and altogether uninteresting. They were all over the place and I didn't enjoy the uneasiness I felt when they were involved. Something about them was just not as successful as the others in her repertoire. However this is also the first of Jane Austen's published novels so I think she got better as she wrote more and more books.

Altogether this was an enjoyable read just not quite as successful as her other works. I am still very much looking forward to reading the other two of her novels that I have left.

Until next time, happy reading!