Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet / Review

Meet Cute is an anthology of original short stories written by a wide variety of authors. I've decided to do a small review per story instead of one review for the whole book as there is just too much variety.

Siege Etiquette by Katie Cotugno - Perfect girls and the nobody, a pretty classic love story to be honest, I found this one to be really cute (I feel like that word is going to be used a lot), my only slight problem was that I couldn't relate to any of the characters. - 8/10

Print Shop by Nina LaCour - Adorable, and I know the feeling of starting a new job it's all very daunting. Although this was nice, I found it to be just a bit dull at some points though I could relate to the main character this time round. - 8/10

Hour Glass by Ibi Zoboi - I didn't find this one particularly interesting, and also didn't find it particularly "cute". However I have always had mixed feelings about romance, I can see how people who had a bit more appreciation for romance stories would enjoy this, it just wasn't much for me. - 6/10

Click by Katherine McGee - Now for some reason this was perfect in my eyes. I found it cute, funny and I really related to the main girl in this story. I find the idea of computers working out your perfect soul mate to be funny and stupid. I don't believe a computer has that ability, they can do a lot and they could find love but I don't believe it's a sure thing by any means. - 9/10

The Intern by Sara Shepard - This is the only one where I have previously read something by the author - I started reading Pretty Little Liars (not finished it yet but I will). Something I have mentioned on this blog before (in my post about In Sight of Stars) is that I have lost a family member and I know how it feels. This I found to relate to more than all of them. Super cute my only problem, a little predictable (and I'm a sucker for a good mystery). - 9/10

Somewhere That's Green by Meredith Russo - This one I found unexpected but as before adorable and super cute, then by the end even cuter. - 8/10

The Way We Love Down Here by Dhonielle Clayton - Ah... So... This one I didn't enjoy much, I spent the whole time reading it thinking of Moana (that Disney film with the island and the water), it was just a bit... Fantasy... Stuck on an island thinking there is nothing else in the whole world... Sorry Clayton, it was brilliantly written but the story wasn't for me. - 5/10

Oomph by Emery Lord - Ahhhhh. So damn adorkable (yes I am using the word adorkable), Marvel characters, making random friends, and the amount of airports I've been in I'll definitely remember airplane s'mores. - 9/10

The Dictionary of You and Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout - As a lover of libraries (they are the best and if you don't support them what you doing with your life) this was THE perfeeect short story. The dream is to meet someone through a library. Or my dream anyhow. The was adorkable and both predictable and completely caught me off guard... it was an odd situation to be in. Loved it! - 10/10

The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love by Jocelyn Davies - I'm also a lover of maths, this one was about a girl trying to statistically find a boy. It was cute but damn that girl needed to think about human error. Another favourite by far.- 10/10

259 Million Miles by Kass Morgan - This one was for the perspective of a guy and it took me a second until someone called him Philip, almost all of the other stories have began with a girl, if not kept to the girls perspective the whole time. This one again was cute, but it didn't how I expected i felt my heart exploded as it finished! - 9/10

Something Real by Julie Murphy - Okay, the beginning of this one, funny and kind of relatable, the ending cute but I didn't like what happened just before the ending, got this weird thing about throwing up... so the beginning got an 8 the end got an 8 but the middle got like a 4... If something had been done only slightly differently it would have been a solid 8 or even 9. - 6/10

Say Everything by Huntley Fitzpatrick - This one was cute, but that was about it. Nothing very exciting happened through the image that came into my head when the statue was mentioned made me laugh. I believe this was written in 2nd person, and that is the only style of writing I can't stand. Sorry. - 6/10

The Department of Dead Love by Nicola Yoon - This one was also cute, guy can't get over his ex and goes to the DODL (The Department of Dead Love). However completely predictable. But cute and kind of adorable as well. - 8/10

Although I'm not particularly keen on short stories, cause I find they don't always develop well I overall enjoyed this anthology. I started reading this because I wanted to be able to  read in spare moments that I had while I've been doing lighting and sound for a local show i was involved in over the week. But reading a proper book I would have had to stop and start too often and therefor have trouble concentrating on what I was reading, I downloaded this on to my phone and voila, sorted for something to read.

Overall 8/10 (see above for individual ratings)
xo

A post shared by El in wonderland (@book.monkey) on Apr 28, 2018 at 12:07am PDT

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee Review

Good day!
I have been meaning to read this book since it was vaguely discussed in Year 9 as a possible book to study for GCSE English Literature. Unfortunately I wasn't so lucky, I got Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, actually what am I saying that was a brilliant book. Either way its's been on my TBR for a good few years and I'm glad I've finally read it.

Although this book what set almost 90 years ago, as a modern society we still have common theme's with this novel. If you've never read this it's about race and class in Alabama in the 1930's for a child's perspective. Atticus Finch gives advice to his children, Jem and Scout as he defends a black man who was charged with attacking a white girl. And it's written incredibly well. I think it is quite important that this book was from the perspective of a child because children are innocent and unbiased compared to adults, they haven't learnt how to only see what they want to see yet.
Words such as nigger are used throughout this book, that caught me out for a second before I remembered what time this book was based in, I found it really interesting to read this since most of what I read is either contemporary, or classic but based in the north of America, so I enjoyed reading something new. Looking at new theme's that I've never really touched on along with language that I would never use and that I've rarely seen in books.
Atticus was against guns, and from the moment I found that out I loved him, he was fair with his children and quite a learned man compared to a lot in Maycomb. And although he did let them run wild, that is something that I believe all children should be able to do. Jem and Scout got on very well, better than my sister and I ever have, but perhaps living in a time when the world was less individualistic but instead split between class or race getting on with your immediate family is just the norm. Both these children, are head strong, proud and a bit wild compared to what was expected from children of there time, but relatable even though this novel was based 90 years ago. I like to think at Scout's age I was just as inquisitive in my own way and just as wild at times. Of course not being from Alabama in the 1930's I can't possibly relate to a lot of things that happened in this book such as how close to home racism seems to be in Maycomb. Dill was an outsider who didn't have some of the opinions that the rest of the folk of Maycomb had, Dill put into words what maybe some of use were thinking at times, particularly during court.
Harper Lee was born in Alabama in 1926, she was a youngest child and her father was a lawyer between 1926 and 1938. Meaning this book was written in Lee's own voice and I wonder, but don't particularly want to know either way if her father ever had the same or similar case to the one of Tom Robinson.

I loved this book, it's thought provoking and even if you don't think to too much about it's relevance it's still a great story!
Will recommend to EVERYONE (just remember it uses harsh language, talks about some highly sensitive subjects and involves Racism, just remember)
10/10
xo

A post shared by El in wonderland (@book.monkey) on Apr 23, 2018 at 8:06am PDT

Cross Her Heart by Sarah Pinborough Review

Thank you once again to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Everyone has secrets, Lisa, Marilyn, Ava but who is living the biggest lie of all? I'm not really sure what more I can say... Well as description, there's still the rest of the review to come.
Firstly - Isn't the cover brilliant?! Secondly - Review.

I found this book to switch fluidly between perspectives, going from a 16 year old to a 40 year old fantastically. While I was reading this book not once did I get confused about who's perspective I was reading as each character had their own unique way of communicating with the reader. Ava spoke like a 16 year old of this age may very well do -  using language I'd ever use but that I've heard being used by 16 year olds of 2018. Lisa was paranoid and wary of everything in life and I overall liked her character but there were times when the way Pinborough made her think just annoyed me. I couldn't relate to any of the characters in the book and until Part 2 still couldn't work out if I was actually enjoying it. And as for Marilyn she was a strong character who I loved over all, for me she was a bit slow to like but damn.
I found this book a hard one to stay with during part 1, though in retrospect part 1 was just as important as the rest of the book. I was also surprised very rarely, things happened - accusations were made but nothing surprised me, personally, until Child B (but don't worry I shall say no more about that matter) and from then onward I had a hard time putting the book down.
The "villain" did catch me off guard and I'm glad it did, I also like that although I didn't guess the clues all made sense when it came to the unveiling. It didn't feel rushed or made to just be a quick fix to a very complex story and I enjoyed that.
I found a great line while reading this - I thought it was on p221 on my edition but when I went back to find it I couldn't. And due to it being a PDF my Kobo refuses to search the file properly.
Overall although this was slow to begin it was a well written mystery and I'd recommend it to a friend.
7/10
xo

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown Review

Professor Robert Langdon receives a late-night call while on business in Paris, the curator of the Louvre has been brutally murdered inside the museum. Along side the body are a series of baffling codes and with the help of a French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, Langdon begins to sort through the riddles that lead to the works of Leonardo Da Vinci. The clues suggest the answer to a mystery that stretches deep into the vault of history.

I shall be making this a relatively short review.
Overall this was a fantastic book, I do have a few qualms though believe me they are small. To begin - I found this book to be extremely engaging every chapter ended on a cliff hanger meaning that it was almost impossible to put down, I was actually starting to feel the fatigue of the Langdon and Neveu. I also enjoyed the snippets of internal monologue we got from the different characters throughout, these were written in italics and gave that little bit extra that seemed to make the book that little bit more fascinating. The characters were smart and seemed to have quite a clear head on them.
Due to my previous travels to the Louvre and my general curiosity of Da Vinci's work I have seen the Mona Lisa in person and know quite well the painting of The Last Supper - these both were referenced in the book and because of my previous excursions I could easily picture them in my minds eye.
A 'qualm' (great word) I did have about this was the extent of the references to the church, religion and God. Not that I have anything against ant of these subjects but I am an atheist and know very little about Christianity so a lot of what was referred to did go over my head a bit. But then again the internal monologue and description that Brown included throughout the book was very helpful.
Some enjoyable extracts: (no spoilers I promise)

P 343 - History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books - books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napoleon once said, "What is history, but a fable agreed upon?"

P 440 Teabing's manservant Rémy appeared in the doorway at the top of the stairs. 'I  feel like a hostage working for Sir Leigh, but he assures me I am free to go.'

Although this is the second book in the Robert Langdon series I have been assured that this can be read before the first one Angels and Demons if you are in the situation of having this one but not the first. I felt like I didn't miss anything in terms of previous context. Except for various references to the Vatican (but none of them seemed to be particularly important to the plot of this book).

I would recommend this to anyone who loves a good page-turning crime novel.

8/10

xo

A post shared by El in wonderland (@book.monkey) on Apr 9, 2018 at 9:34am PDT

Book first published 2003

All page number referenced are from my copy - ISBN 9780552149518

Sneaking Out by Chuck Vance Review

Thank you to I am a Reader for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Luke Chase a national hero, and sneaking out to the woods with his best friend to meet the new hot British girl at St Benedict's is not something he would normally do. Little did he know someone would end up dead right next to their rendezvous spot and best friend and roommate Oscar would go down for it. Using his past Luke applies he survival skills to find the real killer before its too late.

Luke and Oscar are best friends who couldn't be less alike, Luke being an average student in grades but never once breaking the rules while Oscar is one strike of expulsion. I find a dynamic like this with in friends to be rather common, as they say opposites attract.This I found to be quite relatable making this a good start to this book. Pippa moved from England to the US and has a cool girl persona that sent a wide range of mixed signals to Luke, I found Pippa's situation of moving away from everything you love to start again to be very relatable as well although I didn't move for the same reasons she did, so there being a second fairly relatable theme in this book.  The characters were all very realistic with a wide variety of people that you would except to find in a private school in North America.
The storyline - fantastic, I loved how Vance was able to get Luke to use his history in order to try and save his best friend. Although there wasn't much character development within Luke's character, there was development within the mystery itself, which in my opinion is what counts in a YA mystery novel. Luke used his history to follow the clues he discovered well, but kept underestimating himself. I understand the need to underestimate yourself believing that what ever has happened is just luck because if you didn't maybe you'd have to admit something about yourself. Mr Tadeckis saw that in Luke and although crazy, was definitely my favourite character. (But I think I relate well to crazy, but don't let me go too much into it.)
One issue I did have with this book is that since the teachers are such as big part of this book (being set in a school and all) they need to be slightly more distinguishable, I often got mixed up when Luke was talking to different teachers and I would have to stop and wrack my brain to remember why Luke went to that specific teacher and talked about those specific things. However, this may have simply been how I personally read the book.
Overall the mystery developed well and I am very excited for whenever the next book my be written.
8.5/10
xo

Book Published 6th March 2018

Owl Eyes: A Fairy Tale by Molly Lazer Review

This book was given to me by Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I always find retellings to be rather enjoyable, but they don't always deliver - sometimes they are just too similar to the originals by Andersen or the Grimm's or even to the Disney remakes but other times they have enough of an original flare to make them highly enjoyable. And this one delivered.

A stunning retelling of Cinderella, Nora works in the kitchens living with her adoptive family, her parents are dead and the family she works for hates her more than anything. But her life changes when she discovers her father has lived in the main house her whole life, finding this out she begins to question everything - why was she thrown into the kitchen? Why is magic forbidden in the house? Why has she inherited only a silver-bladed knife from her mother?
When a royal ball is announced, Nora must decide what she really wants and whether she is willing to lose every thing she loves to get it.

I found this to be a very fast paced book, A LOT happened in the first 4 chapters and in a book of 18 chapters I did feel slightly swamped by everything that happened. But I also found that to be a huge positive when it came to this book, I couldn't put it down as I was constantly hoping to find out what happened next, and I wasn't disappointed.
Nora the main character, showed few signs of character development until the very end of the book, and seemed to believe she was entitled to an awful lot. This I found hard to deal with while I was reading but as it was a fairy tale, it is to be expected. But because of this, I found it hard to relate to Nora and had a hard time understanding the choices she made, However I am VERY different personality wise and not every book can relate to everyone. My favourite character was Jack, a kitchen boy who worked with Nora and her family along with his mother. Jack was very down to earth and seemed to be Nora's Jiminy Cricket at times. Also in my head he was gorgeous...
As I said previously I had been worried that this book would be too similar to other Cinderella stories but nope. The Kindred (those who could do magic) that were featured in this book were like nothing I have ever read in a Cinderella retelling and with them the whole story, although taking points from the original took a very different path from most that I have read.
I really enjoyed the description used in the chapter featuring market, very well written and reminded me a lot of the description Morganstern used in The Night Circus (another book I really enjoyed).
Molly Lazer was a former associate editor at Marvel Comics and worked on books such as Fantastic Four, Captain America and the New Avengers. These facts surprised me as I saw no parallels between Owl Eyes and the Marvel Comics.
Overall this was a classic fairy tale with Lazer's own personal twist and I enjoyed it greatly.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy or fairy tale retellings, or both.

8/10
xo

Book Published by Fire and Ice YA publishers 20th March 2018

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman Review

The Golden Compass, also known as The Northern Lights is the first book from the trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. Before I start, a little back story. I read this book about 5 years ago for the first time and despised it, for reasons I will never understand I did not enjoy it. Luckily I'm always happy to take another stab at reading a book I read so long ago and damn, I'm glad I did.
Lyra Belacqua and her daemon Pantalaimon follows the Gobblers to the North, they have been taking children and Lyra is determined to get them back. In the North she meets cold she has never experienced before, Witches and Armored Bears that rule, but due to the fact that her friend Rodger was taken by the Gobblers nothing will stop her from trying to save the children.

I believe my issue with this book previously was the complexity of the writing, when I was younger I didn't read nearly as much I do know, not until I moved and essentially used the books as my new friends. But back to Pullman's writing; I enjoyed it this time round. I will accept that I listened to the audiobook (Narrated by Pullman) so I may have had a different experience than I would have if I'd read it but I found the way Pullman wrote The Golden Compass much easier to understand. I also found the story much more enjoyable, a young girl ran off to save her friend and explore the wider world - every adventurous girls dream.
Lyra was smart and sly, and I really liked her character and as she made more discoveries about dust, daemons and the ulterior motives of people she knew she used the knowledge smartly and sensibly. Lyra is very young (11 I think), children have a very practical mind I've found and because of that she handled the North in ways that adults wouldn't have been able to. The daemons in this story I believe are a form of conscience like Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio, and Pan (Pantalaimon) did not disappoint, he often talked Lyra through difficult situations. I noticed that although Lyra was young, children daemons in this story seemed to almost be adults, thinking in a way that children rarely do. I believe that links to the daemons being in a way a conscience for their other half.
Pullman wrote some characters extremely well including Lorek Byrnison and John Faa, both of whom protected Lyra dearly almost as fathers would, as very early on we discover Lyra to be an orphan and never had parents of any sort.
I did find that at some points in the traveling the story seemed to drag a bit, but then again if the whole book was constant excitement then it may just get very dull. I also wasn't quite ready for how descriptive a certain fight in Chapter 20 would be, not that I can't handle gore, just wasn't quite ready for it.

Overall however I enjoyed this and although my sister loved it at a younger age I am glad I read it again at 18 as i think in some ways I understood the themes that were spoken about a lot more.
Would highly recommend.
9/10
xo

A post shared by El in wonderland (@book.monkey) on Mar 25, 2018 at 6:24am PDT

First Published July 1995

More Than This by Patrick Ness Review

This review shan't be a long one but I shall begin.
I'll start by mentioning that I am taking part in a challenge on Instagram called The Unread Shelf Project, the aim of which is to read the books that have been sat on your self but haven't yet been read. Each month we are set a different challenge by the creators of the challenge and for this month the challenge was to pick an unread book from your shelf and read it by the end of the month or get rid of it (which I personally found to be a terrifying idea). I chose More Than This by Patrick Ness, I bought it from a charity shop at least a year ago, probably more because I'd heard good things about Ness and even better things about this book (should also mention this book has a 4.03/5 rating on Goodreads). The reason I decided to read this book (or face the idea of getting rid of it before I'd read it) was that Ness had been the writer of the TV show Class that was on BBC 3 two years ago, a brilliant show that unfortunately didn't get a second season.
And now for my review.

The cover of my copy of this book reminded me a great deal of a great episode of Doctor Who called the God Complex with 11, Amy and Rory. The end of that episode had a door in what appears to be pixels (see right)... Just a nice feeling for me as a slight *coughs* major Whovian.

A boy dies, drowns completely alone then he wakes up naked and still alone but alive. Unsure of what has happened he dares to believe that the could be more, more than life perhaps an afterlife.

This book took me on a roller coaster of emotions, looking into depression, survival, and the meaning of friendship. I found this book rather hard to get into, I stopped and started for the first 30 pages but after that I couldn't put it down again, so much so that I read the next 450 pages last night, unable to sleep until I was done.
Unfortunately there is very little I can say about the plot without giving much away, some books are just like that but as John Green says "Just read it". It is heart wrenching at times, creepy at others and unbelievably brilliant.
There were aspects of the Matrix in it as well but again that is as much as I can say without giving anything away...
I refuse to publish spoilers of any sort on this blog...
Genres: YA fiction, Sci-fi, LGBT+, Dystopian
I will recommend this to anyone who loves any of those genres.

10/10
xo

A post shared by El in wonderland (@book.monkey) on Mar 13, 2018 at 3:16am PDT

Book Published May 2013

In Sight of Stars: A Novel by Gae Polisner Review

I have many, many things to say about this book... First I'd like to begin by saying thank you to NetGally for providing me with a pre-publication copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published on the 13th of March 2018.

Lets begin with how beautiful the cover is before we get serious. I love the sunflowers in the cover and the first thing I thought of when I saw the cover was Van Gogh, and how right I was.

This novel is about a young boy Klee (pronounced Clay) who's father (who was an artist and greatly inspired by Van Gogh) kills himself, Klee's this fact hard to deal with and he spends a couple of weeks in a psychiatric hospital working through what has happened. I'd like to warn now that if you have ever had any experience with suicide this could be a very hard book to read, and I know this from experience. I'm admitting a lot here to the great wide world of the internet, but my dad died when I was younger and this book managed to bring up a lot of feelings that I really didn't want to experience. If I'd know just how "triggering" this book would be it is unlikely I would have picked it up but since I started it before I realised I finished it, and not just because I felt I had to but because I found it really interesting to read about how Polisner portrayed the grief that is felt after experiencing a death in a family.
I felt I should explain my situation before I began my review.

Let us begin with Klee, basically he was messed up in the head. In more detail, Klee had witnessed some terrible things and because of it he wasn't well. I really liked how Polisner portrayed someone who has recently lost someone, it was very accurate (I wonder whether Polisner was able to do that due to extensive research or because she has experienced it herself?). I felt very strongly for Klee due to that fact that I have been in a similar situation (not the same but similar) and know how it feels, blaming yourself and everyone. Not feeling like you are loved, and finding it hard to make connections with people. From my own experiences, I cried at times when Klee was particularly effected by what had happened to him and felt equally happy in the moments he did as well. And during the second part of chapter Day 13 into 14 - Overnight into Morning, my heart basically swam. I felt all the emotion that Klee was putting into what he was doing.
Dr Alvares and Sister Teresa were wonderfully written characters, full of love and only wanting the best for Klee's future, they treated Klee how you would expect carers to treat someone who was working through a death. They were the type of people every child who has lost a parent should have to help get them through it.
All the characters felt very real and I felt strong connects to Klee as well as Sabrina and Martin (also in the psychiatric hospital), they all gave me the impression that perhaps Polisner has in fact had similar experiences and not just done a lot of research, but either way this is fabulously written book in the emotions it was portraying!

The structure I found to be slightly confusing, but not in any major way. The book was present day in the psychiatric hospital with many flashbacks, however in the pre-pub copy I had it wasn't very clear sometimes when it changed from present to past until names were mentioned though this may be different for a fully published, physical copy. The whole book was written from Klee's perspective and besides not quite catching when the flashbacks happened I enjoyed this novel greatly.
This novel was written very well, and I felt everything! It is beautiful, and portrays grief really quite well. I also could barely put it down after the usually taking time to get into the flow of a book, I stayed up much to late last night in order to try and finish it.
Now although this is a Young Adult book, again I'd like to warn that if you react badly to death/suicide, please be wary reading this book. I'm not saying don't, just be wary.
I shall buy this book for my mum when it's released!
8.5/10
xo

Published 13th March 2018

Momo by Michael Ende Review

A young girl called Momo turns up in rags, nobody knows where she has come from but nobody cares. The neighbourhood falls in love with her and together take care of her and in return she helps them solve their problems simply by listening. Then the grey time-thieves appear forcing everyone to focus only only on work and money Momo is the only one who can resist them. It's up to Momo with the help of a professor and tortoise to save her friends.

Momo is a beautifully written character, she doesn't know how old she is or where she came from but she seems to be one of the wisest people in the book. She has two best friends Guido and Beppo who couldn't be more different, one a teller of tall tales and the other a slow paced thinker, sometimes taking half an hour to answer a question. I have met people like both of Momo's best friends so found them to be quite relatable. And Momo, well she is who I always aspired to be, even if she is a child and I am supposedly and adult.
I found the theme to be greatly relevant in the world we are living in today, like books by George Orwell (1903-1950) such as 1984 and Animal Farm, they often make you think about the type of world we are living in and what we are doing with our lives. Here we have a book that talks about living with no time to spare and here we live in a world that lives by similar values. To many times have I or others simply been to busy to be part of what matters in the world. Right now this is a book I believe we all need to read, it made my heart ache in a way that books don't often do.

This book was split into three parts 'Momo and her friends', 'The Men in Grey' and 'The Hour-Lilies' each covering a different part of story, basically introduction, adventures begin and adventures end. But each just as beautifully written, Ende is rather good at describing scenes in a way that doesn't end up be pointless description, which unfortunately some authors are guilty of. The last few chapter were written especially well, not to say the other weren't but they kept you on your feet and I couldn't bear to put it down until I'd finished the book.

This book was overall beautifully written, the characters were perfect, the storyline amazing! It made my heart both ache and dance with joy. And I'm giving this to my mum to read.

10/10
x

A post shared by reader in wonderland (@book.monkey) on Jan 24, 2018 at 4:55am PST

Book Published 1973

A Year of Books - 2017

I feel I have had quite a good year of reading in 2017, for the past few years I've been partaking in the Goodreads Reading challenges. In 2015 I read 55 books after I'd challenged myself to read 35, in 2016 I challenged myself to read 60 books and I only read 57. This year I decided to set a harder challenge and read 65 books (just to see if I could), and this year, somehow I managed to read a whopping 122 books with still 7 days to spare and because of that I'm going to see if I could read three more books to get it to a nice even 125.

2017 Reading Challenge

Ella has completed her goal of reading 65 books in 2017!

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122 of 65 (100%)

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I have read some brilliant books such as The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett, The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware, The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks and more. I also discovered some truly amazing writers such as Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970), Danielle Paige, Peter Swanson and again so many more.
This was the year that I left my comfort zone in terms of what I read and moving from simply reading young adult fiction to classics such as the works by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Psychology books such as Jon Ronson, Tony Buzan, non-fiction such as Sins of the Family by Felicity Davis and simply general fiction such as Vibrator by Mari Akasaka and Intimacy by Hanif Kureishi. I have also developed a love for plays, specifically Shakespeare plays since I really became invested in my work as a Theatre Technician and I even have a favourite of the year, The Tempest.
This year I have finally finished the Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), I don't think I enjoyed them enough to read them again any time soon as it took so very long to get through them all but it was a fantastic read. I have this gift I think, I can read the first book in a series (The Fellowship of the Ring for example) in 2015, I can read the next book in the series a year later and the last one a year after that and still remember exactly what has happened in the previous books. Just thought you'd all be curious.
I have also developed in my love for a genre called cozy mysteries which consist of books written by people like Agatha Christie (1890-1976) and Frances Brody, cozy mysteries are defined as being "a sub-genre of crime fiction which sex and violence are downplayed or treated humorously, and the crime and detection takes place in a small, socially intimate community". I have spent many an evening curled up next to our wood burning fire reading books in this genre.
Overall I feel I've had a pretty good reading year and if anyone is curious in what I've been reading then feel free to click the widget above and it will take you to goodreads.

As for next year, I am going to continue to read books I haven't read before, I am going to read more books to do with the technical theatre industry and I am going to learn to write reviews, improve my Bookstagram (@book.monkey) and hopefully expand how far this blog is reaching.

Thanks for reading.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from me xo

The Case of the Caretaker's Cat by Erle Stanley Gardner Review

As ever Gardner's writing is brilliant.

In his will, Peter Laxter guaranteed his faithful caretaker a job and a place to live for life. But Laxter's grandson Sam says the deal doesn't include the caretaker's cat. When Perry Mason takes the case, he finds there's much more at stake than an old man's cat -- a million dollars to be exact. And as he investigates, he finds a web of greed and treachery among the heirs. But which one actually pulled off the almost perfect crime?

Perry Mason, criminal lawyer or seems to work as a detective an awful lot of the time.

Della Street, the attractive (well she is in my head) secretary to Perry Mason.

Unlike some of the books I've previously read by Gardner (no where near the majority) there seemed to be a lot more law as opposed to detective work, including one point where Mason referenced one of his law book (Chapter 13). That was one of the reasons I really enjoyed this book, seeing the law side of a crime instead of just the chase is really interesting for me. Other reasons being the story line, the conclusion and the fact Perry Mason is in this book.

I enjoyed that the whole story line developed from a Caretaker's Cat in such a dramatic and yet catchy way. And although it definitely didn't feel like something that could happen in real life (as in the development from something so small, to something so major), there was a well developed line of reasoning throughout making it intriguing and keeping a certain amount of realism.

I mean isn't that why we read fiction.

And like other Gardner books the conclusion was genius and went completely over my head. I really enjoy reading books that I can't work out the ending, just as much as I like the ones that make perfect sense. I think I enjoy being outsmarted for some odd reason. 

I really liked the development of Mason and Street's relationship, which again I can't describe too much due to spoilers but I squealed... Della is completely loyal to Perry and I really love that she seems to have complete trust in Mason as he often puts her in situations that could get her arrested it. And in this book that was done, but Gardner added a quality to Della that I haven't seen in previous Perry Mason books and that was her own knowledge of law that she learnt just working with Perry (or so that is implied). I enjoyed that, as it gave her empowerment that isn't often seen in women of books written in the 1930's. 

I have no complaints about this book except for the slight confusion I got just before the trial, however it was all explained in Perry's magical way at the end of the book so I can't complain. 

Would highly recommend 9/10

And FYI you don't have to have read any other book in the series to understand what happens.

xo

A post shared by |wonderland| (@book.monkey) on Dec 16, 2017 at 6:09am PST

Book first published 1935 

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson Review

Well I must admit that was the perfect ending to a beautifully suspenseful book.

On a night flight from London to Boston, Ted Severson meets the stunning and mysterious Lily Kintner. Sharing one too many martinis, the strangers begin to play a game of truth, revealing very intimate details about themselves. Ted talks about his marriage that’s going stale and his wife, Miranda, who he’s sure is cheating on him. Ted and his wife were a mismatch from the start—he the rich businessman, she the artistic free spirit—a contrast that once inflamed their passion, but has now become a cliché.

But their game turns a little darker when Ted jokes that he could kill Miranda for what she’s done. Lily, without missing a beat, says calmly, “I’d like to help.” After all, some people are the kind worth killing, like a lying, stinking, cheating spouse. . . .

Of a book that consists of murders left, right and center this still had a constant air of suspense of mystery. Ted is a character that seemed to be slightly dull for the most part until he was with Lily where talking to her made him seem more alive and I am one who looks at the world thinking we all just continue with our lives just coping and moving on. I think Ted is a slight representation of that fact of the world, then something perfect comes along that can solve all lives problems and you grasp on for dear life. Meanwhile Lily is smart, beautiful and unattached to the world making her what I think to be the makings of some kind of sociopath, one who has a weak consciousness but can still have feelings of morality and guilt and this is one of the reasons I love her character (I have a certain love for the study of behaviour). Absolutely beautifully written.

The book is split into 3 parts and changes point of view for each chapter meaning you learnt what each character knew and thought. I loved the way the story went up and down in how it was written with twists then a settled feeling with too many pages left (I wonder if you understand that feeling). There was never much to guess about but somehow Swanson could keep the suspenseful feeling throughout. My favourite parts by far were the chapters written from Lily's point of view (again my love love for abnormal behaviour has sparked that), they were smart and brilliantly executed. I especially loved that they started Lily's POV when she was a child and going through her youth to get her where she was. I enjoyed knowing that history yet still meeting her at the beginning of the story.

There were some chapters, particularly Miranda's that I found to be quite dull, but I remembered how good The Girl with the Clock for a Heart was, and stuck with it. I must say if you feel it to lag, just know it gets amazing so do stick with it.

But it's story was overall very good, and I couldn't put it down apart from when I was working. I will be handing this over to my mother and recommended it to anyone who will listen.

My rating: 8.5/10
xo

A post shared by |wonderland| (@book.monkey) on Dec 11, 2017 at 12:10pm PST

Book Published 2015

I See You by Clare Mackintosh Review

Every morning and evening, Zoe Walker takes the same route to the train station, waits at a certain place on the platform, finds her favorite spot in the car, never suspecting that someone is watching her...

It all starts with a classified ad. During her commute home one night, while glancing through her local paper, Zoe sees her own face staring back at her, a grainy photo along with a phone number and listing for a website called findtheone.com. 

I am going to start this review by saying that the blurb of this book isn't nearly as exciting as the content. This book is about stalkers, murders, rapes and altogether things that make you scared to walk alone at night, by the time I'd finished this book it was past midnight and I needed a drink of water. I have never ran so fast or been so scared about going downstairs to my own kitchen, though by the time I woke up this morning I was fine. I am thankful that I didn't start reading this book until I was on the train leaving from London, this book is not only based in London but in the South of London where I've been staying for the past two weeks, I'd never have been able to leave the house. 

The two main characters in the book is Zoe Walker a mother with two children over 18 and a PC Kelly Swift, and although both these characters were quite something and developed a lot throughout the book neither was my favourite. My favourite character was actually Katie Walker, Zoe's 19 year old daughter, the reason she was my favourite character in this book was that I can relate to her at this point in my life, her a wannabe actor and me a wannabe technician. But this isn't about me. Both Zoe and Kelly have back stories that are necessary to the plot but seem slightly unrealistic in some of the ways Mackintosh linked the past to the present. However the characters themselves felt real, and during the climax of the story (the last few chapters where shit goes down) I felt like I was each character in turn, feeling the fear and betrayal that came with the story.

Side Note: I feel there is a certain art to making the reader feel exactly what the characters feel.

I am the type of person that enjoys working out a problem so the favourite part would have to be the conclusion, the catching of the bad guy (I'm using the word 'guy' in a gender neutral manner) but because it is the conclusion and the catching I can reveal very little. Though I can tell you that a was shaking, inches away from tears and frankly I was so caught up that my house could have burnt down and their is a very high chance that I would not have noticed, the story had twists and turns and I spent the whole time accusing every person that was mentioned. 

I will admit, it was a very slow start but once it picked up it didn't stop. And as I mentioned earlier I had some issues with how the past of the characters fitted perfectly with the events that were happening now, it just felt unrealistic. But of course I have never been a policeman or a victim of stalking, rape or murder so for all I know links between the past and the present happen all the time.

One last thing that I will mention before I finish is that I like how the chapters were set up, it would start with Zoe in first person then for the next chapter it was switch to Kelly's story but in third person, then ever five or so chapter you'd get narrative from the bad guys (again gender neutral) perspective. I will tell you know that narrative chilled me to the bone. If you are reading a book in the middle of the night and you turn the page to find the first line saying "I see you. But you don't see me. You're engrossed in your book..." Then believe me you will be chilled.

I would and will recommend this to anyone who will listen.

9/10 

xo

A post shared by |wonderland| (@book.monkey) on Nov 10, 2017 at 4:18am PST

Book published April 2017

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka review

Well overall this is an odd book and I have no idea how to start.

As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes.

From what I understand of this book when it was written it came as something of a shock to the world as nothing had ever before been written like this. The Metamorphosis seems to have no real story line, very few twists or tricks and yet I couldn't put it down. I found Gregor to be an interesting character who seemed to value family and how they felt more than anything else, he also seemed to take to the whole turning into a giant insect thing very well.
Besides Gregor I found Greta to be one of the more interesting characters as she, unlike Mr and Mrs Samsa seemed to value the idea that family is more important than anything else in most situations, she also seemed more humane than the Mr and Mrs. I had mixed feelings about Mr and Mrs Samsa, they didn't develop as characters and I could barely understand what they thought of Gregor or how they were dealing with the situation. But perhaps when your son turns into a giant bug there isn't any understandable way to deal with it.
Side Note: none of the actions of any of the characters caused me any strong emotions, I neither cried nor laughed.
I didn't enjoy the minimal amount of dialect within this story, for me that tends to slow a book down considerably however in context of The Metamorphosis that lack of dialect does make sense and Kafka may have lost what the story was meant to be if he had added more dialect.

I don't really understand what this story was about and like I didn't know how to start the review I am also pretty clueless on how to finish it. Someone I know mentioned she had studied this in uni or perhaps college, either way she told me that a theme she believe The Metamorphosis covered was whether we were human even if in physical appearance we weren't. I considered that idea throughout reading this book and when I finished it, I had my conclusion. We are, humanity is within us, it's our personalities, our thoughts and memories. If you think about that while reading The Metamorphosis you might agree or you might not.

I'd rate this 6/10 but would defiantly hand it on to a friend or foe as I still think it is something that should be read in life.

A post shared by |wonderland| (@book.monkey) on Oct 20, 2017 at 2:51pm PDT

Book Published 1915

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-Mi Hwang Review

This is the story of a hen named Sprout. No longer content to lay eggs on command only to have them carted off to the market, she glimpses her future every morning through the barn doors, where the other animals roam free, and comes up with a plan to escape into the wild—and to hatch an egg of her own.

This book which has been adapted into a film, comic strips and translated into 27 languages was nothing I've read in a very long time. Being a stand alone books means you can pick this up at any point and read away, personally it took me less than 24 hours. This book is about an egg laying hen who doesn't like being in a coop and wants to explore, fly and hatch her own egg. This is about motherhood, standing up for what you believe in and taking chances. I tend to avoid general fiction but this was worth the read.
I haven't picked a favourite character because every one has certain qualities that are brilliant. However I really liked Sprout the main hen in this story, she had a strong personality and apart from the fact she's a chicken she is someone I would love to grow up to be. The Hen who Dreamed was written very well, in a way that made every character feel real and like I was witnessing the story as it took place. It also had fantastic twists and didn't shy away from the theme of losing friends/family, I read somewhere this book was classed as a fairy tale however I wouldn't put it in that genre, there wasn't magic or communication between little mice and princesses it felt very much like a real story that was taking place. (So don't pick this up if you are expecting something Cinderella.)
My favourite chapter was chapter 5, "A farewell and a greeting". This chapter I found stirred up my emotions the most making me feel like crying followed by me smiling like an idiot. That chapter along with all the others kept me reading almost none stop, and constantly excited for what would happen next to Sprout.
My copy is a paperback and consists of some of the most beautiful artwork at the beginning of each chapter, it set the scene for each chapter and made me look forward to what was ahead.. (See image below, sorry about the quality)

Although I thoroughly enjoyed almost every aspect of this book, I have a certain love for stories involving crime, thrills and mystery - this story had none of those. And although I wouldn't lower any rating a make because it isn't the genre I normally read, I'm not 100% sure how to rate or judge this book. I'm used to thinking about the crime and the conclusion, neither of which I can really look at in this book.
 As an 18 year old I enjoyed this book, I would also recommend this to my 13 year old sister along with my aunt and my mother. I think I covers a lot of themes that are rarely covered in books for younger reader as they can be considered slightly taboo. These themes are lose, unconditional love and perhaps discrimination, but since the entire book is from Sprout's point of view, and looks at the relationship between the chickens and the ducks young people could very well understand the messages it could be trying to put across.
I would recommend this to a friend or family member.
4/5 simply because it didn't have the thrill of the chase that crime books often do.

A post shared by |wonderland| (@book.monkey) on Nov 4, 2017 at 9:44am PDT

Book Published 2000

Normal by Graeme Cameron Review

**SPOILERS**

Published: 2015 by Harlequin MIRA

"He lives in your community, in a nice house with a well-tended garden. He shops in your grocery store, bumping shoulders with you and apologizing with a smile. He drives beside you on the highway, politely waving you into the lane ahead of him. 

What you don't know is that he has an elaborate cage built into a secret basement under his garage. And the food that he's carefully shopping for is to feed a young woman he's holding there against her will—one in a string of many, unaware of the fate that awaits her."

This book seems to be anything from "Normal", I have to admit it really was nothing like what I was expecting (see below), the cover suggests a book full of crime and mystery with an unexpected twist at the end but it seems almost like a romance. In all honesty I much preferred this to what I was expecting.

Unknown, as we never once discovered the name of the main character is a serial killer with a cage in his basement. I rarely read books written in first person as I find that over time they can confuse me or just get boring but somehow this book kept me hooked throughout. Last night I was up till 3 o'clock in the morning with my nose in this book because I literally couldn't put it down, this is the first time in a while I've read a book that has woken me up more as the night progressed instead of making me fall asleep. The paragraphs I found were snappy and didn't talk a great deal into unnecessary information.

The most interesting character I found was not Unknown, but Erica... Her character developed, I think most throughout the whole book but not in the way that a lot of people talk about character development. Micky Smith from the Doctor Who reboots had a positive character development between season 1 and season 4, Erica most certainly didn't although it was extremely interesting psychologically. Not to say I didn't find Unknown's character very interesting, the psychopathic inability to understand emotional feelings was very well portrayed in how this book was written, including quite a deep connection to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs [1], which is suggested that psychopaths would only ever need to reach the first two stages which are Physiological needs and safety needs. This is shown quite plainly that Unknown hasn't reached the third stage, Love and belonging in the quote, "It doesn't depress me that I don't get birthday presents. I've got all the material things I want." [p.147] But to continue the quote, "Although I'd maybe like to have received a card, just to show that someone, somewhere was thinking about me", it can be noticed that the quote is about in the middle of the book cause this clearly shows that the stages he had originally hit (stages one and two) had began to progress to Love and belonging, stage three.

To sum up in three words: fantastic, chilling, abnormal

Any book that I can't put down till 3 o'clock in the morning deserves high praise from me.

5/5

Would highly recommend, warning contains strong language and sexual stuff...

xx

Diamond Rings are Deadly Things by Rachelle J Christensen Review

I was sent this book by www.ebooksforreview.com in return for an honest review.
I did the bad thing of reading the second book first and the first book second, so a couple of times it took me back to Adri's referral to what had a happened and it caught me out just a few times. If you love plot twists and most strong women in your books this is perfect, I'm 16 and I would recommend this to most girls my age and I know I'm going to be going up to my mum later and begging her to read it.
Throughout this whole book I completely fell again in love with Adri's character but also with Lorea who's the fantastic friend and colleague with no barrier on what she says. Dallas was probably the only character who you saw a great deal of development from my point of view he seemed to escalate quickly from the shy fellow to a more independent man. And throughout the book I was slowly but surely falling for Luke, man the guy I had in my head from the description was good looking.
The storyline kept me hooked and especially in the last few chapters my heart was racing as much as Adri's was described to be, I even started holding my breath and completely caught me in the moment.
This is one of those books where you put it down til you are at the end. And I can't wait for the third one to come out!

Becoming Tonks - Nymphadora Lupin

Monday.
Today I was retold that in the performing arts faculty we were required to dress up as Harry Potter characters for this years World Book Day on the 3rd of March. To begin with I was really torn up, because I didn't know who to go as. Then one of my teachers, Gemma said what about Tonks aka Nymphadora Lupin. I thought that was perfect, unfortunately when asking if I could go all out and dye my hair purple, she still said no, so decision number 1 I'm going to spray purple dye in my hair Thursday morning.
First thing to do is research, GOOGLE!
Tuesday.
Today I went to Yorkshire Trading Company and bought black nail polish for £1. And then when I got home I did the courageous thing of going outside to get a wand, which has a pretty pattern on.
Wednesday.
My friend Daisy brought in a big greenish coat for me to wear, I also have another coat at home which we found yesterday, I've worked out without seeing them together that they would look quite good together (fingers crossed). After school I'm going to go round the local charity shops and perhaps find a dress or skirt to wear underneath it all. I found my make-up bag and I have my eyeliners and eye shadows ready for tomorrow morning! Also the dyes are ready, I've decided to do a bit of a mixture of both pink and purple because I have both colours.
Thursday Morning.
OMG. So I've done my nails, my hair is purple and pinky although I think I've killed my hair from the hair spray. I've got my red boots on, black jeans, black top that says thieves of NY on it, a witchy cloak thing, the coat I borrowed from my friend, a pentagram necklace and a choker made of ribbon, also make up. It's weird I have my wand ready and my Psychology text book.
Thursday at school.
I looked so much like her, and I was told that by quite a few people though other people did go, and who are you supposed to be? It was so fun our head of 6th form was dressed up as Professor Trelawney and my friend Owen was dressed up as Professor Lockhart, and apart from the hair which was ginger, as opposed to golden.

Need to get:

• Ripped jeans Black (maybe stripy grey?) ✓
• Stripy top
• More Hair dye ✓
• Leather Jacket or something of that sort ✓
• Choker of sorts ✓
• Black Fingerless gloves
• Long Black skirt
• Fishnets ✓
• MAKE A WAND! ✓

xx

Honourable Mention 

http://www.ehow.com/how_4464261_dress-like-tonks-from-harry.html

http://www.polyvore.com/nymphadora_tonks_costume/set?id=38585191

Books, Tumblr and New Year

Today while browsing the Tumble instead of doing my Media homework I found a photo that has almost perfectly described this whole holiday from the hour after work after the last day of school til now, I have school tomorrow and I'm currently writing a blog post.

I had a pretty great holiday for the most part, I've read quite a few books, Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie, Rant by Alfie Crow, The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan, The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them by J.K. Rowling. I also went to Edinburgh over Christmas and I even got to spend a day in Glasgow (which is where I grew up).
I got a Kobo Glo HD ereader for Christmas from my nan which I haven't gone any without since I got it. Did you know it has up to 2 months worth of battery with out the backlight on!!

In all honesty I'm not particularly keen on Christmas as I said in my last post but I coped :)
I also forgot to tell the guy at work "Happy New Year" when I went into work on the 1st of January 2016 because basically I forgot I spent the whole of New Years Eve reading and then watching James Bond!

Have a fab new year.
xx