FEBRUARY & MARCH WRAP-UP

Hi! I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately, and haven't been reading very often. I find that when I read before I go to bed each night, I zip through books but recently... um... Netflix. Anyway, so I didn't feel like I read enough to bother making a wrap-up for February alone - I think it was something like just one book, yikes - so I'm combining the past two months.

• The first book I have is The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey.
   I read this book after I saw the movie, and I really enjoyed both. I think, despite negative reviews, they actually did quite a good job of adapting this to the big screen. My opinions will probably be different to someone who read this before watching the movie, but overall I think the adaption was really good. However, this isn't a movie review, oops haha. The book was enjoyable, the characters were likeable and there's romance, if you're into that.

• The next book is Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare.
  While some parts of this book struck me as similar to The Mortal Instruments series (such as the emotionally stunted blondes and the Malcom Fade/Magnus Bane characters) it was a quick, easy and exciting read. There was one scene on the beach with Emma and Julian - you'll know the one - where I was a little bit lost afterwards and didn't quite understand what happened until Julian brought it up. I don't know if that was because I was being a bit slow or if it was unclear to others as well. (by the way, if you want an uncut version of that scene, Cassandra posted it on her tumblr which you can find at: http://cassandraclare.tumblr.com/post/141990964319/as-promised-cassandra-jeans-emma-and-jules-from, which is much more obvious.)
  In the beginning I found it difficult to keep up with who was which character, there being so many siblings, but I quickly got over that. I loved the moments in this book where characters from previous series' made appearances - I think that will be a big attention grabber for other fans of her work, there was even a short story about the characters from The Mortal Instruments in the back of this book. I also really enjoyed the dark side of Julian that we caught a glimpse of and I am looking forward to seeing what Cassandra Clare does with that. Now the only problem is having to wait a year for the next book! I'll definitely need to refresh my mind on what happened haha.

• Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick was the third and final book I read during these two months.
  The reason I chose to read this book was because I desperately needed to get over my book hangover from reading Lady Midnight and one of my friends has been telling me to read it for years. This was an incredibly quick read, I read it in about a day or two, and it kind of reminded me of a slightly higher quality fan-fiction, but I can't say it wasn't fun to read.

Let me know what you've been reading! x

BRIGHT 2016

Over the weekend, myself and some family took a little trip to Bright. I had heard from a friend that in Autumn, the trees all turned a wonderful orange, which is something you don't come across much in Australia. Or, at least, in Melbourne you don't. And given that I'm more than slightly obsessed with American Autumns - which include many an orange leaf - I absolutely wanted to check out this Autumn-Wonderland-Town.
Upon arrival, I was only a tiny bit disappointed to find that it wasn't quite the orange wonderland I had expected, we had come too early. Nevertheless, the trees were beginning to turn, some had already turned completely, and the town was still very picturesque.
Once we had checked out the cottage we were staying in, which had a very aesthetically pleasing bathroom mind you, we went for a drive through the streets and up to Huggin's Lookout.






This was easily among some of the best views I've seen, in my 18 short years, and I can't say that the camera shots do it justice.

After Huggins Lookout, we drove down to the Arboretum (a memorial park, I think) and while this was not exactly filled with colour, as we had been told, it certainly contained some beautiful views and I managed to get some good shots of Rodney.

On our way back to the cottage, we detoured down a long road scouting for some Autumnal magic, and though we didn't find quite what we were looking for, it was a nice drive anyway.

Later that afternoon, we went for a stroll around the park near our accommodation and then retired for the day.

One thing I do wish I had brought with me, was some DVD's or my laptop. I found that I didn't have much to do when we weren't out exploring and I read nearly an entire book in the two days that we were there. (City of Ashes, if you were wondering).


The next day wasn't as eventful, but I managed to get some photos in the morning when we went down 'Cherry Walk'.



 The rest of the day was spent driving around the mountains, through most of which I managed to sleep. It wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but it made Rodney happy which was good.

Let me know where your last holiday was!

JANUARY WRAP-UP

Hello! SO I finished three books in January and there are two that I am still reading!

The first book I read was The Maze Runner by James Dashner. I pretty much knew what to expect because I had seen the movie about a year prior and I really enjoyed it. The book was good and what I really liked was that it's primary focus wasn't on a romantic relationship. It was actually about survival and getting out of the maze. I feel like it's easy for books to kind of forget the main point of the story and get too swept up in the romance side - not to say I don't still enjoy that, though.

The next two books I read were, of course, The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure - the two sequels by James Dashner. I didn't really know what to expect with these two, although I knew that The Scorch Trials movie was very different to the book, but I really liked The Scorch Trials! I thought it was interesting and I wanted to keep reading to know what happens - despite this being apparently the least popular out of the series.

The Death Cure was probably my least favourite out of all three - I read majority of it in one sitting and then it took me quite a while to finish the last third of the book. I just didn't find it as gripping or as interesting as the first two.
And although I generally enjoyed the stories of all three books, I'm not that crazy about James Dashner's writing style. It's quite young, something I'm moving further away from, though it does make the read very easy.

I do have the fourth book, The Kill Order (which is a prequel), on my kindle but I am not in any rush to read it, though I'm sure I will at some point in time.

Have you read these books? What did you think of them?
-Gracie :)

BOOKS I READ IN 2015

HELLO, so something I love to do in my spare time is read. I didn't read heaps of books this year because I was being stubborn (I didn't want to read my school books but whenever I picked up a book that wasn't for school I felt guilty and thought if I'm going to read then it should be for school. Solution? don't read anything...) but nevertheless, here is a list of all the books I read this year (sorry it's SOOO long).

• Palo Alto by James Franco. This is a collection of linked short stories which were inspired by memories of life growing up in Palo Alto. The stories are all pretty much about teenagers who spend their time drinking and being angsty. The reason I read this book was because I loved the movie so much - it's one of my favourites - but I was a bit disappointed with the book. The stories weren't particularly gripping and I ended up forcing myself to keep reading.

• Cloudstreet by Tim Winton. This is an australian fiction book about two families living in the same house of a period of twenty years. I had to read this for school and I have to say, it's better than it sounds. I enjoyed this book, it's easy to read, the characters are believable, and although it can be slightly weird at times, I feel like most people could read this and enjoy it.

• The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting - a paranormal YA book that I read because it was suggested by Carrie Fletcher from itswaypastmybedtime. Overall, I enjoyed this book although I think it was a bit too young for me - it's definitely on the young side of young adult. It's about a girl who can sense the bodies of people who have been murdered and focuses particularly on her trying to find a serial killer (I think? It's been a while okay)

• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. To be honest, this wasn't my favourite book. While it was an easy read and the idea was cute, I felt myself disagreeing with how the themes of this book were dealt and worrying about the message it was sending. Eleanor (the main character) is a victim of domestic abuse and instead of dealing with this in a realistic and confronting way, it is as if she is rescued by her high school boyfriend, romanticising all the wrong elements of what could have been a meaningful story. 

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was a book that I reread this year. I originally read it for the first time in year eight (four years ago) although I don't think I ever finished it or really understood what was happening. This time I read it through and loved it. It is written so well and I love that it is written from the perspective of a young girl, simply a bystander to everything that is going on. I would definitely recommend this book.

• Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin is a book that I had been meaning to read for years so I finally picked it up and I was not disappointed. It's an autobiography (but it reads like a fictional story) about Li Cunxin's journey from poverty in China to being a world famous ballet dancer. It's been a while now since I read this but all I have to say is go read it!!

• Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. Basically it's a YA fantasy about a boy who discovers his family isn't as normal as he thought and there are time loops and special powers involved haha. It was a good book, I'd be interested in reading the next two but I'm not rushing out to buy them right now.

• All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. A YA about a girl, who is coping with her sister's death, and a boy with bipolar. I liked this book, read it very fast and if you're a fan of Paper Towns by John Green, you will enjoy this as it reminded me a lot of it. However, it is not dissimilar to any other YA contemporary books I have read so if you're looking for something more original, maybe keep looking.

• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. This book killed me. I read this because one of my friends practically insisted on it and I don't even know where to start with this book. I could write a whole review on it.  It's about the lives of four male friends from the time they graduate college until their deaths, and you go into it not really knowing much. It's very well written, the characters - for me - weren't all completely likeable but they were realistic, which impressed me. And let me tell you, this book is SO emotionally gruelling, your heart will hurt. I have never, and probably will never again read a book so completely heart wrenching.
  I hadn't been able to decide whether this is something I would recommend to people purely because I didn't know whether I wanted to put them through that pain, but it's such an important book. Read it. It doesn't romanticise anything, and a book that can make a person feel this much, must be a good book.

• City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. A YA fantasy book that I have been obsessed with ever since I first read it in 2012. This is no doubt my favourite book series (it's called The Mortal Instruments). I reread it this year because - keep in mind I'm trying really hard not to get too excited and write this in all caps - they're making a TV series!!! I love these books and the world that Cassandra Clare created. The characters are witty and wonderful and completely swoon-worthy (lmao I'm so lame) and this isn't just one book series either. It's a whole world with two series' already out and another one on the way. Do yourself a favour and read this book.

• The last book I finished in 2015 was Obsidian by Jennifer L Armentrout. To be honest, I wasn't that impressed with this book. I read this purely because I wanted something easy to read while I was stuck in the car for six hours, and I wanted it to be a romance that I could get excited about. So I downloaded this (on my kindle), not expecting much, although it had a big fan base which gave me hope, yet I can't even be bothered writing this because I'm just so frustrated with that book. There were very few good moments between the two main characters and by the end of the book, their relationship had not progressed at all. The writing was not impressive to me - it seemed like it was a fanfiction or something written on Wattpad. So if you're looking for a YA fantasy/romance where the characters are actually likeable, I wouldn't read this hahah.

Thanks for reading and Happy New Year! Sorry it was so long but leave me a comment on what you thought of these books, or which books you read in 2015!