Semester Break TBR List

Hey hey hey! I'm so excited! Today is technically the start of my semester break! I say technically because we have this white space week that is intended to be this week where we don't have classes but we still have submissions and things. We are supposed to be pursuing our interests in this week but I have a pretty huge essay due this coming Friday which basically means that I will be working all week on that. Immediately after our white space week though is our two week long semester break. So I am on holiday till the 21st of June.

I'm really excited for that and I have packed in my driving lessons. I'm serious. I booked 15 lessons and some are back to back. I just don't want to have to deal with driving while I'm dealing with the second half of semester which is always ten times crazier then the first half.

But I will be having a lot more time to myself and I really want to slay my TBR list. Oh! I forgot to tell you guys that the Rainbow readathon ended at midnight today. Basically we had a week to read seven books that each had one of the colours of the rainbow on it's cover. This was my list for the readathon.

Red: Anna And The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Orange: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Yellow: Something Real by Heather  Demitrios
Green: Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
Blue: Winger by Andrew Smith
Indigo: '89 Walls by Katie Pierson
Violet: Off The Page by Jodi Picoult

I ended up finishing 4 books (one wasn't in my list oops) in the week which was not ideal but considering that it was also hell week (submissions week), I think I did quite well. I usually can manage 2 books a week so I'm quite pleased with myself.

But back to my semester break TBR list!

1) Royal Wedding by Meg Cabot

This is the 11th book in the Princess Diaries series and it is one of the most anticipated books of 2015. I personally have never read The Princess Diaries (I know I know!) but I requested this novel and Edelweiss approved my request yesterday. So I'm hoping to finish this one before it releases on June 2nd.

2) Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

This one has been on my TBR for the longest time and it is currently the only Jodi Picoult book that I have yet to read. So I'm reading it this month because The Freshly Picked Book Club is doing this for their monthly read.  I was the one who actually suggested it haha. So I'm very excited about that.

3) Never Never #2 by Colleen Hoover

To be perfectly honest, I didn't enjoy the first book in this series. But because I read the first one and also because this is a short read, I've decided to just go for it. But quite frankly, I barely remember the first book and I haven't heard that many great reviews about it.

4) Winger by Andrew Smith

Another one that has been on my list forever. I had a few friends who read it and loved it so I wanted to give it a go.

5) Feng Shui & Charlotte Nightingale by Pam Ferderbar

Pam emailed me last month with this book and I'm quite excited to read it. It will probably be one of my earlier reads because it releases on June 21st and I'm part of the blog tour and cover reveal.

6) 89' Walls by Katie Pierson

This has been on my Netgalley shelf for quite a while so I'm hoping to get to it finally. It's also leftover from the Rainbow Readathon.

7) A Court Thorn Of Roses by Sara J Maas

I am actually already 22% into this book and I'm loving it but I put it down last week so that I could have a fresh start when we did the Rainbow Readathon. So this will most likely be one of the first books I finish this month.

8) Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

I have heard an equal number of good and bad reviews for this one and in particular, the Rainbow Club isn't enjoying this one. But I want to see it for myself so I'm going to try it.

9) The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

It's a bit ambitious of me to aim for 9 books in 3 weeks but it's the holidays and I want to challenge myself. I've been pushing this book every single month this year but I've never got to it. So I want to finally read it.

I'm really excited to have some time to myself. It's so important to slow down and to actually enjoy life. I never have that luxury during semester. And I feel like I'm writing a reflection. Okay I'll stop. What are your TBR books for June?

The Disney Book Tag

Hey guys! So I haven't blogged in quite a while and I feel like I've lost a limb. Somehow blogging has managed to become a very important part of my life in these last 11 months (my blog will be a year old next month!!). Unfortunately school has gotten very crazy and the stress is building. Between my numerous assignments and driving lessons, I've just not have much spare time. Well okay I do have spare time but in my spare time I try to do something other then writing (which guess what, I'm actually doing so much more of this year). So I've been reading and of course, watching way too much Youtube.

Since I've been on Goodreads and Youtube so much, I've discovered the Booktube community. And the Disney Book tag challenge has been going around on there a lot. So I decided to give it a go because it actually looks really interesting.

1. The Little Mermaid - A character who is out of their element, a “fish out of water”

I would say 'We Were Liars' by E.Lockhart. I know I never really talked much about this book after I read it because it's honestly better to not know anything before you go into it. But Candence was a complete 'fish out of water'. She was constantly being treated with kid gloves and always being fussed over and she constantly felt like the odd one out among the Liars. 

2. Cinderella - A character who goes through a major transformation

The Tail Of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler. This was one of my favourite books from my childhood. Basically this girl Emily learns that the reason her mother never let her in the water was that her father was a merman and so she is half mermaid and she sprouts a tail when she gets in the water. It was a whole series that consisted of a few books and it was so magical and wonderful. All the feels remembering that one. 

3. Snow White - A book with an eclectic cast of characters

All I can think of is The Mortal Instruments series. I think Jace, Clary, Simon, Isabelle, Alec and Magnus made such an awesome kickass team.

4. Sleeping Beauty - A book that put you to sleep

Well this is a difficult question because I usually read myself to sleep and I'll wake up with my Kindle under me or something. The thing is, I plan to read myself to sleep. So it's not like the book is boring or anything. But I guess in terms of books that were dry enough to make me need to reread paragraphs over and over, I would pick Wanted by Amanda Lance. That book was annoying and a horrific train wreck.

5. The Lion King - A character who had something traumatic happen to them in childhood

The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah. This is my absolute favourite book in the whole wide entire universe. So there are 2 kids in the book and the most horrible and traumatic thing to happen to them is that their fathers have to leave to fight in the army and I don't want to spoil it but the Nazi's invaded and I'm sure you can imagine how horrible a childhood they had after that.

6. Beauty and the Beast - A beast of a book (a big book) that you were intimidated by, but found the story to be beautiful

This is going to be weird because this book was technically a DNF. Okay so the book is 11.22.63 by Stephen King. I read it when I was in Secondary school and I actually loved the book. Except that with my exams and stuff I didn't have time to finish reading it and I had it for weeks under my desk and I had renewed it about 4 or 5 times at the library so I finally decided to let it go. I hope to one day pick it back up and continue it though because it was really good.

7. Aladdin - A character who gets their wish granted, for better or worse

My Heart And Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga. Spoiler Alert: Aysel got her wish because Roman didn't die. So obviously it's for the better.

8. Mulan - A character who pretends to be someone or something they are not

 Mara Dyer from the Mara Dyer Trilogy. For the first book in the trilogy especially, she was constantly denying that she had any powers or that anything was wrong with her. 

9. Toy Story - A book with characters you wish would come to life

This is not even a question oh my gosh. I have honestly never heard of any reader who does not want the characters of their books to come to life. But if I had to pick just one, I would pick Park from Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. You guys know that it is one of my top books ever and i just think that Park makes an excellent boyfriend. He's such a gentleman and he respects that Eleanor is scared. He protects her, loves her despite her flaws and he is just always there for her. I mean how could you ask for any more? 

10. Disney Descendants - Your favorite villain or morally ambiguous character

Cal from Red Queen by Victoria Avyard. I mean lets face it. A tag like this just wouldn't be complete without Red Queen yes? Yes. So I really think Cal was super morally ambiguous. He started out as the good guy, then the sort of bad guy then the reluctant good guy and just....ahh swoon worthy!!!

The Mara Dyer Trilogy By Michelle Hodkin

Mara Dyer believes life can't get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
It can. 
She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. 
There is. -Goodreads

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I don't really know what made me decide to pick this book up. It isn't in my usual genre. I don't really do paranormal. There wasn't much to go on in terms of a blurb and pretty much everyone said that the book was creepy. I don't do creepy. So I don't know why but I just decided to dive in.

I finished all three books last month and I thought I would review them all together in one post instead of individually because I personally felt like it could have really just have been one big giant novel instead of three. The books flowed together really well. Each book just bled into the next. With every new novel, there wasn't any form of reintroduction of any of the characters. It was just continuous. So randomly she would bring in an obscure character from book 1 in book 3 and expect you to know who they are. But considering that I read the books (almost) in succession, I found that it was alright.

The writing itself was strong and it was easy to follow along. The book grips you and draws you in. She has a sort of addictive writing style that I love. It just made it harder to put down. Personally I felt that the first book was the best. The second book was alright but the third book just didn't do it for me which was disappointing. And if you're confused, writing style and storyline are two very different things. Both need to be excellent before you can get the perfect novel. I felt that Hodkin lacked a bit in the storyline aspect. It was an interesting premise but it was quite unbelievable. 

Throughout the book, you get loads and loads of unanswered questions. You find yourself desperately wanting to know the answers only to find that the book has ended without any resolution. It was very frustrating in my opinion. Especially in the third book, after you've invested so much time into the trilogy, you would expect an epic conclusion. However what you get is a confusing ending that doesn't exactly make the most sense. I personally just wanted more with the ending. I can't tell you what I was looking for exactly but I wanted more. I wanted to know how the villains in the book were able to do what they did without being supernatural. I wanted to know how the police didn't get involved at all. I still have questions and it annoys me that they went unanswered.

I think Hodkins just got a bit too excited with making the book different and as creepy as she possibly could and simply forgot that not everything she included could have simply been explained away by her weak conclusion.

Final bit of advice I would give you before going into the book, I found the book to be quite creepy. It started to get to the point of almost horror in book two especially. I found myself being afraid of mirrors at night and little things. So I suppose if you're into creepy horror kinds of stories, you might really enjoy this one. I personally didn't enjoy the horror aspect of this trilogy. If you scare easily, this might not be it for you. There's a bit of gore, a bit of horror and a hell load of creepy in this one.

As always, I'll leave you to decide after all that if you still want to pick up this series. It is a good. It really is. It's just that it leaves you wanting more even after the final book.

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My Rating: 3/5 Stars

Purchase the books at The Book Depositary using my special link Here.