July Book Haul

Originally I planned to just do one big end of summer haul but considering the amount I have gained already and the fact that I know I will be getting more I have decided to do one now and another later. So without further ado on with the haul. :)

First of all I got Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo. I read this in school in year 8 and I really want to read it again. It is about 2 brothers in WW1.

I also got The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, I got this in preparation for my A-level as it is the book I'm studying.

I went on holiday to Wales and while there we went to Laugharne which was where the Poet Dylan Thomas and his family lived and there was a nice little museum. I picked up A Dylan Tomas Treasury, so basically a collection of his work.

Next I got War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I got this because one day I want to read it and it was only £1.99, which is bloody good.

Then I got a book that so many people go on about- Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins. Over the past 6 months I've really started to enjoy contemporaries so I'm looking forward to this one.
 
Finally I picked up Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas. All I know about this is that it is about an assassin and she has to fight all the other assassins in the kingdom to earn her freedom? Anyway as soon as my friend found out I had this she demanded that I read it straight away- not that I did- but I think that is a sign that it is good don't you think?

Those are all the books that I have aquired over the past month. I don't mind me collecting more as I've managed to practically half my TBR pile this year :)

Speak soon,
Jade xx

July Wrap-up!

This month was the best for reading in a long time! I read 7 books in July which I am super proud of and attribute to all the readathons this month. Because of the amount and the fact I want to write reviews for pretty much all of these I'm not going to tell you about my thoughts on the books like I normally do.

First I read a book I have been longing for for months- The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su and Kate Rorick. This is a novel based on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, it is Lizzie's diary spanning just before to just after her videos and gives us insight into more of Lizzie's thoughts, conversations and other things that Lizzie didn't share in her vlogs. I adored this book and gave it 5 stars.

Next I finished Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. I liked this book, I just found it a little slow and ended up giving it 3 stars which was not something I thought I would do with a Jane Austen novel.

Then I read Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. This was brilliant! It follows 2 Will Grayson's and what happens to them on their own and also when they meet also Tiny who is awesome. I gave this 4 stars.

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs was my next read. This is the sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and is continues straight on from it. This book had the same strange, quirky, tense vibe as the 1st except it was way more action packed; 5 stars.

Then I tackled Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. This is set in 1999/2000 and is about a guy who's job is to read people's emails in an office to make sure they aren't breaking any rules. But instead of sending a warning to these 2 girls he starts falling for 1 of them. I wanted to read this in time for meeting Rainbow Rowell- which as of right now (when I'm writing this) is tomorrow and I can't wait!- cause I can't go if I haven't read one of her books that I own! I gave it 4 stars.

I also read another Northanger Abbey this month but this time by Val Mcdermid. This is a modern retelling of Austen's novel; I liked it but I had a few issues with it that I will go into more depth in my review. I gave it 3 stars.

Lastly I read Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnely. A mermaid book. It is beautifully made and its a good story too. It follows a group of mermaid who have to save their world. I gave it 4 stars.

On the last day of July I read a really good chunk of Landline by Rainbow Rowell and I am loving it!

So that is what I read in July 😃 I don't know how much I am going to read in the first 2 weeks of August as I'm holiday but I will post a small tbr soon.

Speak soon,
Jade xx

Bout of Books 11 TBR!

As I mentioned previously the read-a-thon- Bout of Books 11 starts on 18th August till 24th and I am planning to read a couple of specific books and then read whatever takes my fancy :) The 3 books I have in mind however are:

• Tape by Steven Camden
• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins ( I really need to get this read!)
• The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald (I'm looking forward to this but mostly I need to read it before I start studying it next year)

Those are the only books that I'm setting myself to read and if I get through them I'll just pick up what I'm feeling at the time. Again I'll be posting updates and also doing some of the challenges. What are you planning on reading during the week? I know I'm probably going to have some new books by then so I might read one of those :)

Speak soon,

Jade xx

Bout of Books 11!

In January I kicked of the year well. I took part in Bout of Books 10.0 and now I am taking part in the next one! YAY! It you don't know what Bout of Books is here is a brief explaination:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team.

Yes, another read-a-thon. Apparently I can't get enough of them :) I will be posting daily updates every day (hopefully) here, and will probably post on instagram and twitter also (@jadeling97). I'll let you know what my TBR is in a couple of days too. Let me know if your looking forward to this as much as me :)

Speak soon,
Jade xx

Under-hyped Readathon Wrap-up

The readathons for this month have come to end :( But there is another next month and the Under-hyped one was a brilliant way to finish it all off. I read 2 books this week, both under 3,000 ratings on Goodreads. They were:

Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid. This is the 2nd book in the Project Austen campaign thingy, it is a modern retelling of Jane Austen's novel. I have mixed feelings on this book, I did enjoy it but I also had quite a few issues with it. Overall I gave it 3 stars

Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly. This is the first book in a children's series about mermaids. I enjoyed this one a lot more, the world is awesome and it was really fun I gave it 4 stars.

So those are the books I read during the readathon, let me know what you read!

Speak soon,
Jade xx

Booktube-A-Thon 2014 Wrap-up

It has come to an end :( Sorry I didn't post updates for the last half of the week but I didn't much free time and if I did I was either sleeping or reading, so I decided to leave it till today's post. I didn't read as much as I originally wanted to but considering how busy I was I am pretty proud of myself!

I read 3 books this week all of them pretty good too:

First I finished Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. I gave this book 4 stars and I really enjoyed it, I went into it blind and I certain never expected it to be so fun and wacky! I'm not going to into too much detail as I am planning to get a review up soon-which is the same for all of these so keep your eyes peeled! My friend Carolina picked this for me to read so it completes the challenge of reading a book that someone else picked.

Then on Saturday I finished Hollow City by Ransom Riggs, the sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. This was so good and I desperately need the next book! It didn't stop from beginning to end, there was always something happening and the author did an amazing job at creating tension. Easily a 5 star book! This completed the challenge of reading a book with pictures in it.

Finally on the last day of the booktube-a-thon I finished Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. This I found quite slow at first but I adored the 2nd half! It was very different to the books I normally read being an adult book and so it kinda dealing with different issues and trials. I have a lot to say on this book so look out for my review. Overall- because I did have a few issues with it- I gave it 4 stars.

And that is all I read during the booktube-a-thon. 3 books, 3 challenges, I am pretty happy with that. Are you happy with how you did if you took part? Yes, I planned to read a lot more but I found that even though I didn't reach my original goal-heck I even changed my TBR slightly- I still enjoyed it and that is the main thing.

Speak soon,
Jade xx

Under-Hyped Readathon TBR

So starting on the 21st July it is the Under-Hyped Readathon! So as I mention in an earlier post the idea of this is to read the books that you own that have been pushed aside by super popular, hyped-up books. For me I went with books that have less that 3,000 ratings on Goodreads and these are my books that fitted in that bracket and will therefore be reading:

• Tape by Steven Camden
• Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly
• Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid (Project Austen #2)
• Because it is my Blood by Gabrielle Zevin 
• Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas

So hopefully I will get through all of these but I at least want to read the first 3, the others will be a bonus :) Let me know what you're planning on reading.

Speak soon,
Jade xx