Book Review - Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children - Trilogy
Ransom Riggs

YA/Adult/WW2/fantasy/
Easy Read

Soon to be a major motion picture

Miss Peregines Home for Peculiar Children
7 Stars
348 Pages

Abe Portman is a master storyteller, tales of the children he grew up with (who had super strength, could fly, were invisible and other such amazing talents) living in an enchanted school house during WW2. Abe himself left the home to battle monsters and save his people. Jacob Portman believed every word his grandfather spoke was gospel, until he grew up and realized the story's where really a retelling of the Holocaust. Or was it? Grandpa Abe is killed by wild dogs in front of Jacob, the fact that Jacob saw a monster right out of his grandfathers stories was just a stress reaction of course. In an attempt to come to terms with his grandfathers death and what he saw, Jacob retraces his grandfathers life travelling to the island of the "enchanted" school house hoping to meet someone who may have known Abe as a child, literally thrown for a loop Jacob finds his grandfathers long lost friends and much more than he bargained for.

I first read Miss Peregrines when it was first released, finding it in the airport and reading it all in one sitting while I flew. I always find with a reread that I get so much more out of the book than just the story, because I am not rushing to know what happens next. This is yet another novel that is between YA and adult, fast passed but not what I would deem to be action packed. I found all the characters to be strikingly real. This is one of those novels where, there is so many overlapping layers, and so many different ways to consider it and interpret it. The pictures add so much to this novel as well, putting faces to names, I look at it as the book came from the pictures vs the pictures trying to fit the book.


PS: I have now read this first novel, four times, maybe five and love it and wanted to continue the series and even started Hollow City, but I just can't get into it or its the wrong time or when I am in the mood I don't have the books on hand.
Super frustrated by this.

Totally recommend this book and the series

PPS : I wrote this review in early 2016 maybe in 2015 and its been sitting as a draft until now. So like 2 years because its 2017. I figured I had better just publish it already, I was going to just publish one post for the whole trilogy but... obviously not... so yeah enjoy!

Full Wrap Up 2016!

I read ______ books in 2016 my goal was 52 books (which I had accomplished by September!) 

1. In the After Light, Alexandra Bracken
2. Never Fade, Alexandra Bracken
3. Superstitious, RL Stine
4. Twisted, Andrew E Kaufman
5. Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz
6. Forever Odd, Dean Koontz
7. Odd Interlude, Dean Koontz
8. Brother Odd, Dean Koontz
9. Red Dragon, Thomas Harris *reread
10. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser
11. From Darkness Comes the Horror Box Set (8 books)
1. That Ghoul Ava by TW Brown 
2. Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke 
3. The Colony: Genesis by Michaelbrent Collings 
4. Chronicler of the Undead by Mainak Dhar 
5. Painted Darkness by Brian James Freeman 
6. Chasing Spirits by Glynn James 
7. The Home by Scott Nicholson 
8. Preta's Realm: The Haunting (Book 1 of The Hidden Evil Trilogy) by J. Thorn 
12. Wife Number Seven, Melissa Brown
13. Under the Banner of Heaven, John Krauker
14. Berserk, Tim Lebbon *reread
15. A Babies Cry, Cathy Glass 
16. Winter, Marissa Meyer
17. A Head Full of Ghosts, Paul Tremblay
18. Cabin in the Woods, Tim Lebbon
19. The Saddest Girl in the World, Cathy Glass
20. Please Don't Take my Baby, Cathy Glass
21. The Stain, Guillermo Del Toro
22. The Fall, Guillermo Del Toro
23. Eternal Night, Guillermo Del Toro
24. Sickened : the memoir of a munchausen by proxy childhood, Julie Gregory 
25. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde, Robert Louise Stevenson
26. Cress, Marissa Meyer
27. Dark Hunter Box Set (Books 1 - 21), Sherrilyn Kenyon
28. One Foot in the Gravc, Jeannie Frost *reread
29. Halfway to the Grave, Jeannie Frost
30. At Graves End, Jeannie Frost
31. Long Hard Road Out of Hell, Marilyn Manson *reread
32. Serial Killers the faces of evil - Magazine
33. In the Afterlight, Alexandra Bracken
34. Killer Families : murder by dads, moms, kids and spouses, Sylvia Perrin
35. The Stand, Stephen King
36. Misery, Stephen King
37. Salem's Lot, Stephen King
38. The Fireman, Joe Hill
39. Bloody Bank Heist, Tim Miller
40. Hell Texas, Tim Miller
41. The Summoning, Kelley Armstrong
42. The Awakening, Kelley Armstrong
43. I Ripper, Stephen Hunter
44. The Reckoning, Kelley Armstrong
45. Omens, Kelley Armstrong
46. Bloodtraitor, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
47. Visions, Kelley Armstrong
48. Deceptions, Kelley Armstrong
49. The Lord of the Rings : Two Towers, JRR Tolkien 
50. Betrayals, Kelley Armstrong
51. The Masked Truth Kelley Armstrong
52. The Lord of the Rings : Return of the King, JRR Tolkien
53. Animal Farm, George Orwell
54. Fingers Keepers, Stephen King
55. 1984, George Orwell
56. A Madness so Discreet, Mindy McGinnis 
57. Fairest, Marissa Meyer
58. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien 
59. Odd Apocalypse, Dean Koontz
60. Deeply Odd, Dean Koontz
61. Saint Odd, Dean Koontz 
62. Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen
63. The Zoo, James Patterson 
64. Northanger Abby, Jane Austen 
65. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen 
66. Persuasion, Jane Austen
67. Sin City : The Hard Goodbye, Frank Miller
68. Skeleton Crew, Stephen King
69. A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness
70. Sin City : Family Values
71. Throne of Glass, Sarah J Maas
72. Sins of the Mother, Irene Kelley
73. Nightmares and Dreamscapes, Stephen King
74. Eleanor, Jason Gurley
75. A Thousand Lives : The untold story of hope, deception and survival in Jonestown. Julia Scheeres
76. The Girl With All the Gifts, M R Carey 
77. Just After Sunset, Stephen King
78. Everythings Eventual, Stephen King
79. Four Past Midnight, Stephen King
80. Different Seasons, Stephen King

Wrap Up - September 2016

Starting school this month meant that I wasn't sure how my reading routine would be set up. I was kind of hoping for about 30 minutes a day, I think I ended up with closer to 60 minutes on average. Probably closer to 2-3 hours on the weekend - with the first week of September being the long weekend. I am pretty happy with how it all ended up. I have been really bad with publishing TBR's this year and didn't get one out until have the middle of the month :(  so it was a combination of September and October (link here) . While 15 books a month seemed ridiculously ambitious at the time I might get pretty close to finishing, although I doubt it will be the books I had listed. Any of the novels with a  " *** " where on my TBR. And (for once) this months list is in the order I read them!

*The links over the novels is too the full book review

1. Omens, Kelley Armstrong ***
2. Bloodtraitor, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
3. Visions, Kelley Armstrong ***
4. The Lord of the Rings : the Two Towers, JRR Tolkien 
5. Deceptions, Kelley Armstrong ***
6. Betrayals, Kelley Armstrong ***
7. The Masked Truth, Kelley Armstrong
8. The Lord of the Rings : Return of the King, JRR Tolkien
9. Animal Farm, George Orwell
10. Finders Keepers, Stephen King ***
11. Every Heart A Doorway, Seanan McGuire
12. A Madness So Discreet, Mindy McGinnis 
13. 1984, George Orwell

Started 

1. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
2. Fairest, Marissa Meyer

I also read a few essays/short stories this month 

A Door in the Wall, HG Wells
The Open Window, Saki
The Verger Somerset Maugham
Rocking Horse Winner, DH Lawrence

Favourite Book this month was :

Wrap Up - August 2016

Got lots of reading done this month. Had lots of time to read in the airport, travelling is one of my favorite reading times because you don't really have anything else around to distract you. Extended uninterrupted reading time for the win!

1. The Stand, Stephen King
2. Hell, Texas, Tim Miller
3. Bloody Bank Heist, Tim Miller
4. The Fireman, Joe Hill
5. Salem's Lot, Stephen King *I am not going to do a full book review for this book, I just don't have enough to say, It was great, a must read for Dracula fans. Very much a vampire novel, not so much a typical King.
6. Misery, Stephen King
7. I Ripper, Stephen Hunter
8. The Darkest Powers Trilogy, Kelley Armstrong
1. The Summoning 
2. The Awakening 
3. The Reckoning

Favorite Book This Month

Wrap Up - July 2016

Once I started this list I realized I had done more reading than I thought, pretty happy with what I got through this month.

1. One Foot in the Gravc, Jeannie Frost *reread
2. Halfway to the Grave, Jeannie Frost
3. At Graves End, Jeannie Frost
4. Long Hard Road Out of Hell, Marilyn Manson *reread
5. Serial Killers the faces of evil - Magazine
6. In the Afterlight, Alexandra Bracken
7. Killer Families : murder by dads, moms, kids and spouses, Sylvia Perrin

Was really excited to get back into Jeannie Frost's, Night Huntress Series, they are quick and easy reads. I really like her characters and will post a review of it all. I did find that by the end of the third novel I just wasn't feeling it (nothing to do with the book). I didn't start the fourth, tried a different romance, couldn't get into it. Tried a few lighter novels one adult one ya, just wasn't sparking any interest. In a bit of a reading slump.

Also picked up The Stand, read just under half on several occasions, its a pretty sizable detailed slowish read. Around halfway through it now hoping to finish it in August.

Series Review - DarkHunter - Part 1

The Dark Hunter Verse
Books 1 - 21

9 Stars
Fantasy / Supernatural / Romance / Fiction / Adult / Erotica /

I want to start by saying that I am in love with Kenyon's writing, and that more than half of these books are rereads for me. These novels are in chronological order and while each book is its own story and can be read separately, it adds so much to the books reading them in sequence.

Review
I am reviewing the collection as one book.

The world is one of the best I have ever read, right up there with the Stephen King Universe with the complex interwoven multifaceted plots and characters. While the novels have great depth and many layers, they are first and foremost romance novels. I am reviewing them as such; meaning that I am aware they all fallow: the man (scared past, tough, unloving, distant, strong, handsome) falls in love with the woman (also has baggage,beautiful but doesn't know it) and dispite the 1001 reason why they cant be together, they end up together relatively happily ever after.

Yes the general layout is repetitive and predictable but that is romance novel 101. Each on of these stories is also very unique. To anyone who has read and enjoyed the Percy Jackson novels (once your old enough) grab up these. Focusing on ancient Greece and Rome, and slowly as the series progresses spreading out the other ancient civilizations. Kenyon incorporates the everyday realities in with the impossibly fantastical world of gods and monsters flawlessly.

Warning! These books also step over a few boundary lines into areas such as torture, sex slaves, rape. Some fairly heavy topics that are more erotica than romance.

Series Review - Odd Thomas (Part 1) SPOILERS!

Odd Thomas 

Dean Koontz 

Mystery/Supernatural/Paranormal

7 Novels

*Read on audiobook by David Thomas Baker

The first three novels in this series where a roller coaster for me, ranging from distaste all the way through to absolute adoration. These are the first books I have read by Dean Koontz although many of his novels (most notably the Frankenstein series) have been on my TBR much longer than the Odd series. Deciding that it was time to start reading - or in this case listening - to a medium sized well reviewed series.

Top 5 Wednesday - March

March 2 - Biggest Book Hangovers

1. The Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy, Laini Taylor *How could anyone write a blended reality/fantasy world as perfect as this one? 
2. The Hannibel Lecter Quartet, Thomas Harris  * the perfect villain, it doesnt get any better than Hannibal the Cannibal, the original serial killing psychopath
3. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkein 
4. Redwall, Brian Jaques
5. It , Stephen King

March 9 - Books That Feature Time TravelThis is a hard one, I know lots of novels that are about time travel but I havn't read many. Its not one of my big "hunted for" topics. Had to search quite a ways through goodreads

1. Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
2. 11/22/63
3. Ruby Red, Kerstin Gier
4. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban *Hermione
5. Dark Hunters, Sherrylin Kenyon *this one is a bit of a stretch there is the ability to time travel and there are lots of immortals, but I can't remember reading a scene where they actually jumped through time

March 16 - Fictional Items You Want (Invisibility Cloak from HP, Amplifiers from Grisha, etc)So I am not going to repeat novels, because its kind of a specific question and I would honestly rather put myself in several worlds vs having an object (also not naming powers)

1. Time Turner, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, JK Rowling *or Mrs. Weasly's wand (because it cooks and cleans and keeps house)
2. Wish Tokens, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Lani Taylor
3. Gwens wardrobe, Precious Stone Trilogy, Kerstine Gier
4. The curse from Thinner, Stephen King *you can eat anything you want and lose weight (eventally you do die from this so id modify it just to not gain weight from my ideal.. cake for days!)
5. Talking Leopard, Icemark, Stuart Hill *not sure if I can pick this not exactly an item

I had a much harder time with this question than I thought I would, I just couldnt think of actual items powers yes, places yes, things maybe not so much?

March 23 -Books You DNF
I am big on finishing even if I really don't like the book so

1. Wicked, Gregory Maguire * I stopped about 100 pages in
2. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger *I was so close to the end, someone spoiled for me, I was reading it for school, I had what I needed for my reports and such. Really didn't like it.

March 30 - Least Favorite Book in Your Favorite Series

This is so hard I have been struggling with all the questions this month and this is just the perfect ending to wrap it up with. Trying not to chose final novels because I have done a few posts on my least favourite endings already and obviously it can't be the first novels because if I wasn't thrilled with #1 I don't continue the books

1. The Crow, #3 The Books of Pellinor Quartet, Allison Croggon
2. Hell To Pay, #7 The Nightside Series, Simon R Green
3. Red Dragon, Hannibal Lecter Quartet 
4. The Days of Blood and Starlight, Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy, Laini Taylor
5. Odd Hours, #4 Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz

Top 5 Wednesday - January 2016

Will be Publishing T5W on the final Wednesday of every month, I just can't seem to find the time to keep up with it all each week.

January 6 - Favorite Fandoms (books, tv, movies, etc)

1. Hannibal, Thomas Harris
2. Harry Potter, JK Rowling
3. A Game of Thrones, George R Martin
4. Jason Bourne, Robert Ludlum
5. Twilight, Stephanie Meyer

All of my choices are books, movies and Tv shows, I organized the list from my most favourite to my least favourite. 

While I have not seen the Tv series that goes with A Game Of Thrones, I have read all the books and seen all the films that go with the other 4. 

*Twilight is the exception to my choices,  I am part of the fan base for the other 4 choices. I am NOT a Twilight fan (although I will admit I enjoyed the first book). The Twilight Fans made the list because they are so hardcore. I find the bickering that goes on within the group - Pro Jacob, Pro Edward, Book 1, 2, 3, 4, ect. - and the fighting that goes on between "twihards" and "anti-twilighters" to be hilarious. I don't think I have ever seen another group of people who are 100% a "diveded united front". Reminds me of a disfunctional family.

January 13 -Favorite Self-Published Books

I thought that this topic was going to be a piece of cake. I mean tons of novels are self-published right? erm no...

1. 50 Shades of Grey, EL James

Sadly this is seems to be my only self-published novel, and of all the book it had to be 50 Shades (of which I am moderately ashamed to have even read)

January 20 - Favorite Buzz Words (words used to describe a book that is a guarantee buy for you)

1. Gory
2. Repulsive
3. Twisted
4. Shocking
5. Taboo

These words hold even more weight if they are "spoken by"  Stephen King or Fearnet. 

The third indicator is a Bram Stoker award, books that have all three are deadly.

January 27 - Disappointing Eye Candy (books that looked beautiful, but the inside did not match up to the outside)

Before I start to seem two faced, I want to clarify that these are not my most hated books. I honestly liked the novels. But the T5W title is "Disappointing  Eye Candy" . Therefore judging them based on the covers they would have all been 5/5 stars but in reality they fell a little short. 

1. Emerald Green, Kerstin Geir 
2. The Twilight Series, Stephenie Meyer
3. Blood and Chocolate, Annette Curtis Klause
4. The Nightmare Affair, Arkwell Academy, Mindee Arnet
5. Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson

Update - Series, Trilogies, Duologies 2015!

This was my TBR Series of 2015

The Lord of the Rings, J R R Tolkien --> started

The Maze Runner, James Dasher -->

Sookie Stackhouse, Charlaine Harris -->

The Lunar Chronicles, Marissa Meyer --> Completed :)

the * indicated that I started this series before 2015 

Started

1. The Chronicles of Nick, Sherrilyn Kenyon
2. Lacey Flint, SJ Bolton
3. Jason Bourne Series, Robert Ludlum
4. A Game of Thrones, George RR Martin
5. The Heroes of Olympus, Rick Riordan
6. Darkest Minds, Alexandra Bracken 
7. Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz

Up to Date These are the book series that still have books to be published up I have read all the novels that are currently released.

1. The Maeve'ra Trilogy, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
2. Mr. Mercedes, Stephen King

Series I'm Not Going to Finish

1. Arkwell Academy, Mindee Arnett
2. Crank, Ellen Hopkins

Completed : I have tried to order these from my least favorite to my most favorite.

1. The Lunar Chronicles, Marissa Meyer
2. The Bone Collector & Skin Collector Duology, Jeffery Deaver *
3. The Dead River Trilogy, Jack Ketchum
4. The Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy, Laini Taylor
5. The Chemical Gardens Trilogy, Lauren Destephano
6. The Precious Stone Trilogy, Kerstine Gier
7. The Darkness Rising Trilogy, Kelley Armstrong
8. Divergent, Veronica Roth

Links to my previous posts about this topic

Competed Series, Trilogies, Dulogies

Unfinished Series

Series Review - Divergent

The bookworms archenemy ; the popular books you HAVE to read, that you know are SO over hyped and media inflated (especially when there are movies involved), that you want to read but don't at the same time. Then you read the darn thing and its only OK. It's the OK that I really have a problem with, I am very rarely in the "grey area" with novels, I am a love it or hate it kind of person. All of the YA trilogies lately have been falling in the grey area and its driving me crazy.

Divergent Trilogy

Veronica Roth

Dystopian/ YA
Easy Read

Divergent
5 stars

Introducing our setting, five factions based on the five evils that cause war. Abegnation that believe it is selfishness, Erudite that believe it is ignorance, Dauntless that believe it is cowardice, ect. Amity and Candor are the other two factions. Four factions live together in a  city, Amity the fifth lives just outside the fence. The factions do not interact with each other on base levels, they do not work together, go to school together, or get married outside of their own faction. When the teens of the city turn 16 they take an aptitude test and then there is a choosing ceremony, each person is born into a faction, the choosing ceremony is the only time when a person can decide to change factions. Hence the name during the choosing ceremony each person will choose what Faction they want to devote their lives to *the Factionless also live within the city, they are essentially the homeless. To be Factionless is considered a fate worse than death.
Tris is our main character, she was born Abegnation but her aptitude test is inconclusive which makes her Divergent (she could join Dauntless, Erudite or Abegnation equally). Divergence is dangerous, although the majority people don't know of its existence and those who do don't know why it is dangerous. Tris becomes Dauntless where she meets Four who has secrets of his own... and suddenly the world as they know it begins to unravel at the seams.

I don't have much to say about this book, its a good read, its not original, there are movies. Its a dystopian YA.

BEWARE SPOILERS!!!

Wrap Up - September, October, November 2015

This list is pitifully small, I have not picked up very many new novels, although I did do quite a bit of rereading lately.

September

Off Spring, Jack Ketchum

October

Daddy's Little Girl, Tee Morris

The Doll, JC Martin

November

The Woman, Jack Ketchum

Divergent, Veronica Roth

Insurgent, Veronica Roth

ReRead's

Under the Dome, Stephen King

The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning, Jimmy Palmiotti

 The Doorkeepers, Graham Masterton

I have also started quite a few novels, with this reading block I haven't really been forcing myself to continue anything so I have a long list of partials right now.

Darkest Minds, Alexandra Bracken

The Stand, Stephen King

The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien

Watership Down, Richard Adams

TBR - December 2015

I have not published a TBR list in a few months now. I have been in somewhat of a reading slump, some of it is lack of motivation and I just haven't had the time.

The bit of reading that I have done has been rereads more than anything.

I am going to be really ambitious for December however.

• The Darkest Minds Trilogy, Alexandra Bracken
• The Darkest Minds
• Never Fade
• In the Afterlight
• The Right to Life, Jack Ketchum
• The Stand by Stephen King
• Allegiant, Veronica Roth
• Watership Down, Richard Adams

Plus continuing on with the Lord of the Rings, Audiobooks

Wrap Up - August

1. Fever, Lauren DeStephano
2. Sever, Lauren DeStephano
3. The Island of Dr Moreau, HG Wells
4. Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Tayor
5. The Days of Blood and Starlight, Lani Taylor
6. Dreams of Gods and Monsters, Lani Taylor
7. True Crime : 17 Deadly Women Through the Ages, Stephenie Glover
8. Twisted Imaginings Vol 1-4, Garry Charles
9. Off Season, Jack Ketchum
10. Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
11. The Fellowship of the Ring, JRR Tolkien

My favourite novel this month was : Off Season, Jack Ketchum

The Dr Seuss Book Tag

I wanted to put this at the top of my post because this was what gave me the idea for this Book Tag

The Butter Battle Book - A book involving nuclear war

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, Eleanor Coerr 

Wither, Lauren Destephano

The Sneetches and other stories - A book involving racism

The Help, Katheryn Stockett

The Lorax - A book about the environment OR A book regarding the destruction of the/an environment

The Secret Garden, Frances Burnett-Hodges

Yertle the Turtle - A book with an unquestioned tyrannical ruler (government/ king/ religious leader)

Not Without My Sister, Kristina Jones

Brian Jaques - Redwall theme

How the Grinch Sole Christmas - A Christmas novel OR A book regarding extreme materialism

NOS4A2, Joe Hill

Green Eggs and Ham - A book with a difficult, frustrating main character

Gwen, The Precious Stone Trilogy, Katherine Gier

Horton Heres a Who - A book about a world within a world

Under the Dome, Stephen King

The Cat in the Hat - I Can't Think of a Good Enough Question to go with this book... Suggestions????

Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political, and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decisio

Efficiency the ability to do things well, successfully, and without waste

Skepticism a questioning attitude towards any knowledge that is stated as a fact. For you to believe requires all information to be supported by evidence.

TBR - August 2015

TBR
August 2015

So I just moved to New Zealand and things are crazy so I am not really expecting to be reading much this month, setting my sights pretty low, its still 6 books that have been in my TBR pile for a little while now which is good.

1. Divergent Trilogy, Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant, 
2. Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy, Lauren Taylor

Bonus for this month would be 

• one classic
• one horror novel
• AND OR
• Starting the hobbit/ lord of the rings (because the movie sets are here in NZ and I should get around to reading those books soonish)

Series Review - The Chemical Garden Trilogy - Fever & Sever

Series Review

The Chemical Garden Trilogy

Lauren DeStephano

Review For Wither


Fever
8 Stars

I read this on my trip from Canada to New Zealand its my mission to finish as many of my started Duologies and Trilogies as is possible this year.
This is one of the rare sequels that rivalled the first novel. I finally thought that the characters matched the story and the world. During the first book Rhine's behaviour seemed childish and naive there was a whiny tone that I couldn't grasp considering the world she was living in and the life she had lived before. I was left in disbelief and the end of the last novel when she escaped the Ashby mansion.  I was not in love with Gabriel and was very much against a relationship between the two of them.

SPOILDERS BELOW, SEVER REVIEW

July Wrap Up 2015

1. Cinder, Marissa Meyer
2. Wither, Lauren Destephano
3. Devil's Child, Jerry Coyne
4. Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine
5. Abandoned, Anya Peters
6. BloodWitch, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
7. NOS4A2, Joe Hill 
8. BloodKin, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
9. Now You See Me, SJ Bolton
10. The Nightmare Affair, Mindee Arnette, 
11. Infinity, Sherrilyn Kenyon
12. The Skin Collector, Jeffery Deaver
13. Ruby Red, Kerstine Gier
14. Sapphire Blue, Kerstine Gier
15. Emerald Green Kerstine Gier - Precious Stone Trilogy Completed.
16. Twisted Imaginings Volume 2, Garry Charles

I started two books that I put down this month

Wicked, Gregory Maquire

Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn * I will probably give this one another shot at some point I was getting into it and then I just lost it. Might break my rule and watch the movie first with this one. If I like the movie il pick it up again ASAP. 

Series Review - Precious Stone Trilogy

Series Review

The Precious Stone Trilogy

by Kerstine Gier

Ruby Red

YA/ Historical Fiction/ Fantasy/ Time Travel/
Easy Read
6 Stars

Gwen is a normal British teenager, she hangs out with her best friend, listens to music, goes to school. While living in a large London mansion with her two aunts, cousin, grandmother, mother, brother and sister might be a little out of the ordinary, its nothing compared to the secret that her cousin Charlotte is a time traveller...or so they thought. When Gwen begins to jump into the past her life takes a 180 degree turn.  Brought into London's secret time travelling society, she attempts to catch up on a lifetimes worth of special lessons, avoid her furiously jealous cousin and aunt, jump back in time at least once a day and continue her normal life. As if this wasn't enough to make her head spin the handsome Gideon De Villers captures her heart.

I went into this book with a rather bleak outlook, I had heard quite a few negative reviews and while I found the story to be interesting I wasn't entirely sold on the idea. I thought that this was a great story and the writing was good but not great. The major flaws of this book are Insta-Love primarily, a love triangle between the impossible handsome Gideon with Gwen vs Charlotte. The bad characters are balanced out with the good ones, Gwen is likeable and relatable which mostly redeems for how irritating and frusturating she can be

Top 5 Wednesday - Favorite Character Tropes

Top 5 Wednesday

Favorite Character Tropes

July 29th

*a character trope are things you see often in books, maybe sometimes they get redundant or are overused (especially in ya) but you can't help but love them. A couple examples
- one girl against the government
- two best friends falling in love

• The Love Triangle  
• Two guys, one new flame, one old friend, + the girl
• Bad boy, Shy boy combo
• Anti Heroes
•  Bad boys who are good men
• The childhood and or past trauma 
• that is the root of all things evil 
• the reason why a character is so determined to "do good"
• how the other characters react
• maybe its something just the reader and the main character know
• That side character you always relate with or crush on
• For me its often the big muscly guy who has a : always had the same girlfriend or is always single with no one really interested in him
• Destiny. Fate. Signs ect
• This is a hard one to put down because there is so much love hate. Some books have it written in perfectly and with others I just find it unnecessary and frustrating. 
• Love should never be destined
• Birthday transformations are a grey area
• Prophecies are a favourite of mine
• Birth Marks are a grey area