Top Ten Tuesday Fourteen

Top ten authors I've read the most books from:

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/ meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish.  After not participating in this for a while now, I was determined to get back into it, and so this seemed like the perfect week to do so.  I didn't take much thinking for me to figure out which authors hold the top spot, but it was interesting to figure out the authors that make up the rest of the list, some of whom surprised me.  I did decide to keep four as my lowest total, as I have read so many trilogies that it would just get pointless.  So here is my list for the top ten authors I've read the most books from: 

1) Amanda Hocking- So far I've read a total of twelve books by her, these being the Trylle trilogy (this being my favourite out of the series I have read of hers), Watersong series, all the current books in the My Blood Approves series and the first book of from the Kanin series, Frostfire, taking Amanda Hocking straight to the top of this list.  

2) Michael Grant - I've read all six books in the Gone series, as well as Eve and Adam (which he co-wrote with Katherine Applegate), although I did read all of these a while ago now, taking the total up to seven books. 

3) Malorie Blackman - I have read a total of six books she has written, these being the four books in the Noughts and Crosses series, Boys Don't Cry and more recently Noble Conflict.  My favourite of these had to be Double Cross, the fourth and last book in the Noughts and Crosses series.  

4) Stephenie Meyer - As I'm sure alot of people have, I did read all four of the Twilight books, as well as The Host by her, this being my clear favourite out of the five.  

5) David Levithan - Despite having read 5 books written by him, on three of the books (Will Grayson, Will Grayson, Invisibility and Dash and Lily's Books of Dares) he did co-write with another author, leaving only two of the five I have read which he wrote single-handedly, these being Everyday and How They Met. 

6) John Green - Again, John Green is another author where I have read five of his books, but these do also include collaborations with other authors with Let It Snow and Will  Grayson, Will Grayson.  Other than these two though, I have also read The Fault In Our Stars, Paper Towns and Looking For Alaska, this and Will Grayson, Will Grayson being my favourites of his.  

We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

Review:

After first buying this only a couple of months ago now, I was initially planning on waiting a while longer and getting through some older books before I read this.  But after being in a reading slump for far too long, with every book taking me a couple of weeks before I either gave up or finally finished it, I was in desperate need for a book which I both wanted to read and one which wouldn’t seem like too much of a struggle to get through.  And after a long hard look at my bookshelves, I decided that this would be the one to revive my urge to read – something I am pretty sure it did.

One of the first things that I found worked well was the four-way split POV.  I liked how we saw the world through more than one set of eyes, as well as how different each character was, with everyone having different personalities and roles to play in the story.  I also enjoyed watching as they all evolved and grew as people as the book went on.  My only problem with the split POV was that sometimes I found it confusing as to who was speaking, especially when they had scenes together or it went over an event that had already been told from another’s perspective.

               

Staying on the topic of characters, I also liked how all their stories slowly began to interlock, with them all having an impact on the other three’s lives.  I really enjoyed watching as the four grew together and slowly but surely began to interweave themselves into one or two plots instead of four completely separate ones.

One thing that I think really helped me get through the book was the writing style, which, despite not being particularly unusual or unique, I found to be more interesting than most, something which really kept me reading.  The different sections of the book also helped to make the book more manageable, as instead of being one 370 page book, the way it was split up made it more like ten, 40 pages sections; something which I found alot less daunting almost.

As for the story, all in all I enjoyed most of the plots and subplots, with all them nearly always incorporating more than one of the four main characters into each.  However, I did find the story slow to start, likely down to the four different characters who all needed to be introduced and whose stories needed to be set up before everything could really begin.  Due to this, I would definitely say that I preferred the later half of the book to the first, as by this time everyone was well in pursuit of their goals and they well all beginning to develop as characters.

In addition, this may be an explanation as to why I loved the ending/ last section of the book.  I really liked how everything ended on a huge cliff-hanger, as it allowed the individual reader to truly decide the character’s fate, rather than the author already setting that in stone.

Favourite:

Scene(s): Protest outside the air base

Character(s): Anita

Quote(s):  “The best books, they don’t talk about things you never through about before.  They talk about things you‘d always thought about, but that you didn’t think anyone else had thought about.  You read them, and suddenly, you’re a little bit less alone in the world.”

“Who’s dumber? The guy who does his own thing or the girl who does someone else’s thing?”

“You didn’t win the game of life by losing the least…. Real winning was having the most to lose, even if it meant you might lose it all.  Even if it meant you would lose it all, sooner or later.”

Relate a:

Song(s):  The Kids Aren’t Alright – Fall Out Boy

The Fall – Imagine Dragons

Other Book(s):  Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky

Rating:

4/5

Frostfire by Amanda Hocking

Review -

As I have said many times before, Amanda Hocking is one of my favourite authors, with the trylle trilogy being the first books I read of hers.  So when I heard that this was coming out earlier on in the year, I was more than excited to return to a familiar world.  But for some unknown reason, despite Frostfire being first released in January, it has taken me until now to so much as pick it up and read an author who I know will keep me hooked.

One of the key reasons why I was drawn into this book had to be how fast paced it was.  Particularly through the beginning of the book, there was a large amount happening, with alot of action taking place in those first few chapters, which ended up causing me to turn page after page without putting it down.  It was quick to introduce the key plot points and didn't waste time in useless or pointless information.  

Another aspect that I really enjoyed was the mystery aspect that provided the main storyline for the book.  I liked how vague the reasons for the kidnapping were and enjoyed trying to figure out for myself why certain things happened.  This also lead me, strangely, to like the character of Konstantin as I always felt as though there was a reason for his actions and that he wasn't as bad as he first looked.  

Speaking of characters, I did like many of the characters in this book, especially Tilda and Ember.  I loved how Tilda stood up for herself and how Ember stood up for her friends - overall I just loved the trios friendship, even if it wasn't shown a huge deal.  However, saying that, one character I was not hugely keen on was Ridley.  I found him slightly arrogant and really got on my nerves particularly towards the end of the book, so much so that I was almost entirely against any romance (or hope of it) between him and Bryn;  I just couldn't like him!

Keeping with characters, I couldn't write a review without mentioning the small involvement of old characters in this book.  I loved how Hocking gave Ember a role in this novel, something which also allowed her brother (Finn) to make an appearance, even if it took me a little too long to realize the relation... Saying this, I did also like how the book wasn't overridden with old characters and how any who were mentioned or involved actually had a good reason to be there and weren't just there for the sake of it.   

Finally, I have to say that I have extremely mixed feelings on the ending of this one.  Personally, the last 20 pages or so felt really rushed, as alot of fairly major incidents happened in such a short space of time, with the book just seemingly to want to end instead of wanting to provide a good ending.  I also found it kind of anti-climatic, possibly due to the speed of it, and I kinda wish that the book was longer just to make the ending more satisfying.  

But all in all, I did really enjoy this book, with all its twist and turns and sub-plots adding even more to it.  It's safe that I will be picking up the second book really soon! 

Favourite :

Scene - Tove and Bryn confronting and capturing Konstantin and Bent

Quote - no notable ones - sorry! 

Character - Tilda

Relate a: 

Song - Tiptoe by Imagine Dragons 

Other Book - Switched (because if you liked Frostfire, then this one is a must-read)

Girl of Nightmares by Kendrae Blake

Review:

(Contains spoilers for both books)

After reading Anna Dressed in Blood near the end of last year (review here), I have been anticipating picking this up ever since.  I really enjoyed the first one, and so couldn't wait to read this, the sequel, and finally find out how everything worked out after the cliffhanger ending the story was left on.  And, despite enjoying it (particularly towards the end), I did find myself a little less interested and with a few more problems this time.

Firstly, I did find the beginning of the book very jumpy, and felt that it often covered alot of scenes in a very short amount of time.  It didn't seem to stay on some scenes long enough, only really giving us the information we needed and nothing more.  This made it all incredibly fast paced to start off with, causing alot to happen within these first few chapters.  That said, I did begin to enjoy the story alot more as it progressed and slowed down, with the plot beginning to grip me when they first reached London.

Linking to this, I also enjoyed the evolution in the story behind the athame and his fathers past as well, as this made the story more than just Cas trying to reach Anna.  I also liked the end of the story and just in general the whole story of the Obeahman and the athame, as it followed on from the first book and created an ending which really did pull at my heart strings.  I thought the whole idea of it worked well and made sure that things were not easily worked out.

However, as I have said, I did have a few problems, mainly with the characters, which possibly stopped me from enjoying the story as much as I would have liked, the main of these concerning Carmel.  I didn't have a problem with her changing her mind about certain things (although I do feel that she could have gone about it in a better way), but I felt that she then should have stuck to her decision and not gone back on with no explanation.  I have to admit that I did prefer the group with her involved, but just felt that there was no need for her to be indecisive or even to change her mind if she was just going to change it back again later.

Another aspect that irritated me was the romance between Carmel and Thomas, something which I found came very out of the blue.  It was clear that there was something between them from the first book, but I still found that the jump in their relationship was very sudden and unexpected after her return.  Again, I had no problem with it, but I just found it all a little out of the blue, with few signs of it majorly beforehand.

Finally, I would have liked to have seen more of Jestines past, as I felt as though it was not revealed in great depth.  I felt that we were given the basic idea of who she was, but were not told anything more than the basics.

Overall, I did enjoy this one, but found it all a bit all over the place at times with some things well thought through and others a bit sudden and rushed over.

Favourite:

Scene - Suicide Forest

Quote - "She crossed over death to call me.  I crossed through hell to find her." 

Character - Thomas 

Relate a: 

Song - While the world let go - A Rocket to the Moon

Other book - Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

Top Ten Tuesday Thirteen

Top ten most anticipated releases for the rest of 2015

Top ten tuesday is a weekly feature/ meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish.  I have to admit, this weeks topic was not one I was hugely excited for - I was actually debating doing it at all.  But after a quick scroll through goodreads, I surprisingly found myself getting a fair list of books which I was excited about.  So here are my top ten most anticipated releases for the rest of 2015: 

1) Carry On by Rainbow Rowell - When I first saw that Rainbow Rowell had another book coming out, it's safe to say that I wasn't expecting something full of ghosts, mystery and fantasy, even if it was all mixed in with some romance.  But nonetheless, I am still very excited to read this one, maybe even slightly more now I know it won't just be a romance. 

2) The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness - Unlike the book above, I have surprisingly never read a novel by Patrick Ness, so I'm not only interested to finally read something he has written, but purely the concept of this is intriguing to me, with the ordinary boy finding his own remarkable and all!

3) The Night We Said Yes by Lauren Gibaldi -  This one just sounds like such a summery, contemporary read, with the alternating chapters just putting a slight twist on this romance read, and honestly I can't wait to get my hands on this one.  

4) The Creeping by Alexandra Sirowy - Despite not having read too many of them, I am definitely a fan of horror/ mystery books, so it's not surprising that this one drew me in straight away, with the time jump from the original incident, the memory loss and even purely the idea of happening over summer all intriguing me even more.  

5) Because You'll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas - This one just sounds both heart-wrenching and heart-warming (if that makes any sense!), with their friendship already drawing me and the idea of them never being able to meet just making this sound like such a more interesting read.  

6) Dreamland by Robert L. Anderson - Despite knowing that there being other books out there with this concept, I have yet to read one, and so this one just interested me straight away, due to this and due to the idea of the lines between reality and dreams slowly blurring - I'm just quite intrigued to see how it will all play out if I'm honest! 

7) The Next Together by Lauren James - This just sounds like my perfect book, with cool historic settings, time jumps and romance all mixed into one, with the added documents, diary entries and other features all just helping to get me even more excited for this one.

8) This Monstrous Thing by Mackenzi Lee -  I have to admit, historic, monster stories and retellings are generally not my type of thing, but somehow the synopsis of this one just drew me in, and I can't help but be intrigued to read this one and see how it is.