May/ June TBR

As I've said before, recently I've been in a little reading slump, mainly because I just have so little free time to read that often I won't pick up my current read for days on end.  And so, I 've decided to try making a little TBR for the next month and half or so, in an attempt to get my reading some more.  I probably won't get to all of these (although you never know), and I might end up reading completely different books to the ones here, but nonetheless, here are some of the books I plan to read in the remainder of May and June.  And so, enjoy! 

1) An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir - 

I picked this one up from the library a few weeks ago now, but as I haven't been reading a ton I unfortunately haven't yet managed to start it.  I've been really getting into and reading a lot more fantasy recently, so I'm excited to get into this one as soon as I finish Night Owls.  To be perfectly honest I don't have an amazing idea of what this one's about, but I've heard pretty good things and if the quote on the back is anything to go by then it shouldn't be too bad by any means.

2) Mosquitoland by David Arnold - 

This was one of my most anticipated releases of last year, and yet still it has been sitting on my shelf, unread for months now.  It follows Mim as she takes a bus back to her old home where her mother has recently become ill.  Not only is a roadtrip-esque book, but it also just sounds so interesting and unique that I can't wait to see how wonderful a read this - hopefully - turns out to be.

3) Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - 

Their is only one reason why I have yet to pick this book up yet: its length.  For some reason everytime I go to pick up this one, I put it off simply because its not the shortest of books, despite happily picking up longer books in the meantime (I know, it doesn't make sense to me either).  It sees the main character Cath face new challenges as she moves to college and is forced to find her own without her twin sister, Wren by her side.  I've also heard such great things about this one that I really want to finally get to it and see what its all about!

4) Thanks for the Trouble by Tommy Wallach - 

Seeing how much I adored Tommy Wallach's first book, We All Looked Up, I couldn't not pick this one up when it was released in February.  But, as is always the case, I've been putting this one off because I know once I've read it, I won't be able to read another new book by Wallach until next year at least.  However, I am determined to give in and read it as I'm so excited to finally pick it up after anticipating for so long.

5) Brooklyn by Colm Toibin - 

This one has been on my TBR for a few months now, ever since the film first came out.  The only reason I haven't picked this up yet is because its adult fiction, something I'm still a little nervous about.  However, I am determined to at least give this one a go soon as its pretty short, and so hopefully I can finally pick it up some time in the next few weeks or so.

6) Everyday by David Levithan - 

This one will be reread for me, after first reading and loving it quite a few years ago now.  This one follows A, who wakes up everyday in a different person's body, and is one of the few books I have ever read in one sitting.  I adore this story and so can't wait to revisit it, especially as afterwards I can pick up Another Day as well!

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Top Ten Tuesday Fifty One

Top Ten Blogs I love that aren't about books

Top ten tuesday is a weekly feature/meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish.  I was quite excited for this weeks topic, as not only can I share with you some of my favourite non-bookish blogs and websites , but I can also find some new ones too.  That said, once again time did mean that I only got six, but I still thought they were all worth sharing.  And so, enjoy! 

1) Paper & Stitch - 

If I ever need an idea for a DIY or just need a little inspiration, this is the first place go to.  I love having a look at some of their DIYs for the weekend and I can't tell you how badly they make me want to get up and give each and everyone a go as soon as! 

2) Abbiee music blog - 

I can't even remember exactly how I discovered Abbie's blog, all I know is that I'm so glad I did!  I love the combination of different things on her blog, and how I can always go there for good music suggestion as well to envy over how good her pictures are.

3) Kalyn Nicholson - 

Despite loving her YouTube channel as well, I can't help but also love her blog too.  I love the simplicity of her posts and how they differ from lifestyle chats to fashion video, but how everyone is still always a worth a little read.  

4) Hannah Witton - 

Despite her being a youtuber, her blog is the thing I follow, and I have to admit that I never mind seeing one of her posts pop up.  I love how normal she seems and how different the topics she talks about can be.

5)Lauryn's Notebook - 

If I ever just need to indulge in some gorgeous writing, this is exactly where I turn.  Each and everyone of her blog posts is so beautifully written that I can't help but adore each and every one, plus her photos are also amazingly gorgeous.

6) Sincerely Lauren Emily - 

Finally, despite being a very recent find, I couldn't not put this gorgeous little blog on here.  I love how basic yet how good all of her posts are and how unique they all seem, plus they always give me something to think about or to lift my mood a little.  

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Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

I picked this one up recently after never getting round to it last year after the movie release.  I was so interested in this when I heard about the adaptation, but for some reason, I never got round to it and so, I finally decided to give it a go last month.

This book follows the main character Greg Gaines, who is forced to become friends with Rachel, who has recently been diagnosed with Leukemia.  Apart from that, this book didn't have much o a plot at all, with alot of focusing on random conversations and scenes that didn't really follow one central plot line.  Although I understand this was meant to be the case, and at times I didn't mind it, I still did sometimes find that this caused the book to drag as it all just seemed like nothing was happening at all.  For me, it just

Moving on from the plot, I have to admit I didn't mind some of the main characters, such as Rachel and Earl.  I liked how Rachel was portrayed as not all happy and positive and how she wasn't prepared to fight, as I found it gave a different view on a subject that is written about quite a lot now.  I also liked how Earl was actually trying to help Rachel and how he understand alot better than Greg did or ever tried to.  Even though he didn't need to help or get involved at all, he still tried to do the right thing, something which I really enjoyed seeing, especially here.

As for Greg himself, unfortunately I really couldn't like him at all.  I found him to be so insensitive and irritating how he never seemed to care for Rachel and how even when his actions seemed to show that he did, he still tried so hard to convince the readers that he didn't.  In general, I just found him to be very unrelatable and a character who I just couldn't grow to like at all.

One of the reasons I found Greg to be quite annoying was because of the constant reminders of the key concept and idea of the book.  It seemed as though on every other page, there was some remark about how badly he didn't feel for or how bad a writer he was.  At first it didn't mind it, but by the end of the book it just seemed to have gone way too far and just became increasingly irritating as it went on.

Due to the lack of plot, one of the main things that kept this book going was the humour.  Although I did sometimes think it went too far, I did find it to often work and help keep the book going at times when otherwise it would have had nothing going for it.  It definitely helped keep the reader interested at points when they otherwise wouldn't have been, however, in the end it still wasn't something that I found amazingly funny or something that made me love this book or alter my opinion on it greatly.

Finally, I can never seem to write a book review without talking about the writing style, something which I did like in this book.  As always, I enjoyed seeing different things, such as scripts and detailed lists, included in here, especially at times when the book was beginning to drag.  It really did help to keep me interested and to move things along at times when I was considering putting it down, as it gave a nice change to the normal style of writing, something which suited this book especially well.

So, overall, this definitely wasn't the book for me.  I didn't like the lack of plot or the main character, and unfortunately the humour just sometimes went a little too far for me.

Favourite:

Character: Earl

Quote: The best ideas are always the simplest

Relate a:

Song: Young and Dumb - The Lucksmiths

Other Book: It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

Rating:

2/5

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Top Ten Tuesday Fifty

Ten Characters I'd Love To Revisit As Adults

Top ten tuesday is a weekly feature/ meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish.  This weeks topic was one I honestly didn't look at very far in advance, so although I was excited for it, I also didn't have that long to create this list.  However, I did still enjoy making this top ten, plus this is my fiftieth TTT post - yay!  But anyway, here are some of the characters I wouldn't mind revisiting, and so enjoy!

1) All the main characters from We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach - 

Now this may seem like a strange one even if you have yet to read it, considering the premise of this one.  But, if maybe some things hadn't happened, then I would have loved to have seen what would have happened to all four of these characters as they grow up.  

2) Wanda from The Host by Stephenie Meyer 

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I've kind of given up on all hopes of a sequel to this one, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to know what happened next, or even a couple of years after the end of the book.  I'd just love to find out how it all went with the humans trying to revolt and with Ian and just everyone basically. 

2) A from Everyday by David Levithan - 

After this ending, I need to at least have a little bit of an idea what happened next for them.  As much as I really liked the ending, I still wouldn't mind catching up and seeing how events unfolded a couple of years down the line or so.

3) Aaron from Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher - 

Aaron was one of my favourite characters in this, and we didn't really see what happened to him or get an idea of what was going to happen to him at the end of the novel.  So of course I wouldn't mind coming back in ten years or and seeing how he's got over certain things that happened and just revisiting him. 

4) Annie from the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 

 - Okay, so she may not have been a main character, but she's still been through quite a bit and honestly I just want to see if she's okay after everything.  Like, how's she coping?  I need to know!

6) Max from The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 

- I think Max may be the character I most want to revisit, as his story ends quite abruptly and we never really get an explanation of what happens with him after the end of the novel, or even for parts of the novel.  Plus I'd just love to find out more about him outside of his time on Himmel street.

7) Basically everyone from the Anna and the French Kiss series by Stephenie Perkins - 

If I could, I would love to revisit all the main characters from this series and see how they've all grown up 5 years or so down the line, and see if certain people are all still friends and just to read more about them.  I really wouldn't mind.

8) Eleanor from Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell - 

Anyone whose read this might understand my reasoning for this, as I really just need to know what happened to her after the novel.  I have so many questions (too many probably) and I'd also just like to revisit her a couple of years later.  I also wouldn't mind seeing Park again, but I feel as though I've already done multiple characters from a lot of books so.

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April Wrap Up

I can't believe April's already over!  Despite setting myself some pretty high goals this month for reading and being really motivated to stick to them at the start of April, it wasn't a great reading month for me as I only managed to read three books once again, a number I really want to improve upon next month.  Nonetheless, here are the three books I did read, as well as the book I am currently reading.  And so, enjoy!

1) City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare - 

As I said in my March Wrap up, I actually started this at the very end of March, but I managed to finish it quite early on in the month.  I was really excited to continue on with this series as it had been a while since I read the fourth one, and the recent Shadowhunter Tv show had really got me in the mood to return to the world.  I really enjoyed continuing on with the series, and actually found I prefered this book to the last one, something I really wasn't expecting to happen. As always, I loved the characters, the storyline (even if it was slightly slow to get started) and I can't tell you how excited I now am to read the final book.  

2) The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig - 

My second book of the month was quite an impromptu one, but one I'm really glad I did end up picking up.  It was one I'd heard only a bit about beforehand, so I was quite excited to go into without the hype and high expectations that often comes with some of the books I read.  Fortunately, I ended up loving this one with all its time travel and pirate adventures, and I really enjoyed reading about and watching the storyline and plot that this followed slowly unravel throughout the book.  I also adored so many of the characters in this, especially members of the crew, and I'm so glad I decided to give this one a go.  

3) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews - 

My third read ended up acutally being my last full read of the month unfortunately, despite the first two books taking me only a week or so to get through.  Ever since the adaptation of this one came out last year, I've been interested in reading it before seeing the film, and so I finally decided to pick it up last month.  Unfortunately though, I wasn't much of a fan of this one and considering giving up on it at quite a few points.  I just didn't like the lack of plot and found the humour to sometimes go a little over the top and too far, although I will admit that at times it wasn't too bad.  However, overall it just wasn't a book for me and I'm not sure whether or not the film will be something I'll be watching anytime soon.

4) The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa (currently reading) - 

Finally, I haven't managed to get a ton of reading done the rest of the month as I've had barely any time and so I am barely 150 pages through this one at present.  So far I am enjoying it, but I'm just not loving it enough to actually make time to read it.  Hopefully soon I will be able to find time to read again!

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