Big March-May Wrap-up!

Hello! Hope you're well :) Today I am bringing you all the books I read in March, April and May since I didn't do a wrap-up for them I figured I'd mash it all together. I didn't much reading in January or February but in March I read 3 books,  5 in April and _ in May

March: The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson. This was a re-read and it is one of my favourite books ever! Anna is a refugee from Russia in England, 1918, she has to work as a maid and keep her identity hidden from her employer the Earl of Westerholme but it is so much more!. It was just as good as I remember, 5 (billion) stars :)

Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame. This was a blast to the past for me and I picked it up due to Classic Alice and it was just really fun and I liked the writing style too. 3 stars

Northanger Abbey, Val McDermid. This is a retelling of Jane Austen's story and overall I really enjoyed it, if you want to know my thoughts I posted a review a few days ago. 3 stars.

April: Elizabeth is Missing, this is a mystery novel about a lady, Maud, who has dementia, a review will be up soon so look out for that as I have many mixed feelings on it. 2.5 stars.

The Tinder Box, Hans Christian Andersen. This was a small collection of his work and I really enjoyed it, again I have a review up. 4 stars

Cress & Fairest, Marissa Meyer. These are the 3rd and the 3.5 (maybe) installment to 1 of my favourite series, The Lunar Chronicles. Cress carries the story and was really good but fro me not as good as the first two. 4 stars. Fairest is the backstory of the villain Queen Levana which was interesting but again not amazing. 3.5 stars.

The Beautifull Cassandra, Jane Austen. This is another short collection of just little stories and it was classic Austen but you can tell that she was just having fun and it was so spectacularly ridiculous! 5 stars.

May: I took part in two readathons this month so instead of repeating myself and taking up room here are the wrap-aps from them: Bout of Books 13 & #RYBSAT.

Then in the last week of May I read a smidge of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

And that  is what I have been reading these past three months :)
Speak soon,
Jade xx

Bout of Books Update

Hello! I hope you're all well and that if you are taking part in Bout of Books like me you are enjoying yourselves! I thought I would give you a quick update on how I'm doing. So far I'm really happy with my reading!

On Monday which is the only day I had stuff to do; I finished Medea by Euripides (23pgs), read 58pgs of All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher and listened to 11pgs of Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell.

Tuesday I listened to another 100pgs of Cranford. I've discovered the joy of audiobooks this week because it means I can multi-task and read even when I have jobs to do, yesterday I played Animal Crossing while listening to it and it was a wonderful day! I also read 18pgs of All I Know Now and 38pgs of The Bronte Sisters by Catherine Reef.

Wednesday I finished All I know Now (46) and Cranford (104pgs) bothe of which I thoroughly enjoyed! I also read 29pgs more of The Bronte's

Then yesterday I read nothing, no reason just didn't do anything, but I'm back on the wagon and ready to go today!

So the numbers so far are: (drumroll!)

• 427 pages read
• 3 books finished 

I'm updating more regularly on twitter and instagram so check them out.

Speak soon,

Jade xx

Bout of Books 12 Challenges: Day 2

So today's challenge is from Trees of Reverie and it is you Top 10 Recommendations. With that in mind I have picked 10 of my favourite books that are a bit of a spread when it comes to genres and things like that. Actually now I look at them I think these sum up my reading tastes pretty well. :)

1. Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen. This is 1 of my favourite books because it just warms my heart and I love the characters, writing style... I could go on and on about this book and I think anyone who is slightly interested in this should pick it up!
2. North & South, Elizabeth Gaskell. This book is about a young lady who moves from the quiet country to the middle of the industrial revolution. I comments on social classes and prejudices of the time. Also a little something I like about this is that we get a lot more of the man's perspective and not just Margaret's. 
3. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte. I think the thing that grabbed me with this book was the setting. You have the gloomy, mysterious halls of Thornfield to match it's brooding master. Then the windy, wild moors, it is all very romantic in the Victorian sense of the word.
4. A Little Princess, Frances Hodgson Burnett. This is aimed at younger readers but anyone could read it. Sara is treated like a princess in every way until she loses every penny. She is forced to be a servant at her own school but she still manages to be a princess.
5. The Miniaturist, Jessie Burton. Set in Amsterdam 1686, Nella comes to her new home expecting to be a wife but then her wedding gift- a dollhouse- begins to mimic the real house. Plot twist after plot twist unravels each characters layer by layer. This books is just so intriguing!
6. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs. This book using old, creepy photographs to build characters and from them a story. The concept works brilliantly and the story is so fun and not what I was expecting at all.
7. Cinder, Marissa Meyer. This sc-fi, fairytale retelling just has everything! An amazing world, complex characters and a little romantic tension, a good story. 
8. Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell. I could really relate to the main character in this book, Cath is an introvert who feels very alone and she is very nerdy also. This is a coming-of-age book if anything else as Cath moves to collage and deals with everything that comes with it. 
9. Landline, Rainbow Rowell. This is an adult book where a marriage is on the rocks and the wife calls her husband on her old landline, he picks up but from before they were married! This is a very interesting dynamic as Georgie questions pretty much everything she knows.
10. The Secret Countess, Eva Ibbotson. I have read this book over and over. Anna is a Russian refugee in 1919 London. Penniless she goes to work as a maid for an Earl and tries to keep her secret identity of Countess secret. This is such a romantic, heartwarming story and I adore it. 

Bout of Books 12 Day 1

Hello, hope you are well. Today is only a short update because I ended up being 50 times busier than I thought I was going to be but I still got a little reading done. I read 49pgs of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. This book is for school so I need to read and so it seems good but to be honest I don't really know yet. I also did the 2 challenges yesterday so check that out if you want.

Speak soon,
Jade xx

Bout of Books 12 Challenges: Day 1

Bout of Books is here! Yay! I love the January 1 because it gives the year a good start :) The 2 challenges today are hosted by Caught Read Handed and The Book That... so thanks to them for hosting these, I love the challenges for Bout of Books because they aren't pressuring just fun :)

Bookshelf Scavenger Hunt. For this there are 7 things plus a bonus thing to find!

1. Find an author with the same initials as you
2. Find a book with the color yellow on it
3. Find an author’s name with the letter “S” in it
4. Find a book with a female protagonist
5. Find the longest book you own
6. Find a book with a map in it or on it
7. Find a book with a face on it (photograph or illustrated)
Bonus: Find something on your shelf that isn't a book.

Here's me treasure! ;)

1. Jenny Han.
2. Tape, Steven Camden (very yellow!)
3. Jessie Burton
4. Laurel from Love Letters to the Dead (most of the characters are female in this book actually)
5.War and Peace clocking in at 994pgs!
6. Inkspell by Cornelia Funke has a map of the Inkworld
7. Emma, Jane Austen
Bonus: This crystal with a dragon on it :)

New Year's Resolution Challenge This is where you match books to your resolutions.

1. 50 books challenge: Women in White, Wilkie Collins. This book is a pretty big and I would like to get to this year too.
2. Review more books: Cinder, Marissa Meyer. This is 1 book I have actually reviewed.
3. Buy less books: All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr. This is the last book I brought a few weeks ago.

So I'm off to do more reading!
Speak soon,
Jade xx

Bout of Books 12 Goals.

Today I am going to share with you my goals for Bout of Books. I know there isn't linky for them this year but I want to have some direction with my reading. I haven't gone overly ambitious like normal because it is my 1st week back at school so I have all of Monday to read but after that it will be whenever I can :)

So my plan for this week is to make headway with the books that I have started, it has got a little out of hand and I currently have 10 books that I picked up sometime last year (mainly last month) and never finished them so I want to sort that by the end of February. Some of these are:

• Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
• My True Love Gave To Me edited by Stephanie Perkins
• Shadow Kiss, Richelle Mead
• S by JJ Abrams & Doug Dorst
• Emma, Jane Austen
• Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
  

And that's that! Good luck to anyone taking part, I hope you have fun!

Speak soon,

Jade xx

Bout of Books 12!

It is that time again! I will be taking part in Bout of Books 12 which is from 5th-11th January. This will be my 3rd Bout of Books and I 'm really looking forward to it! In case you don't know what this readathon is here is the blurb thingy:

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, January 5th and runs through Sunday, January 11th 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 12 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I will be posting daily updates and doing some of the challenges, but keep an eye on my twitter and instagram (@jadeling97) as I will probably be posting there too :) I will let you know my goals soon!

Speak soon,
Jade xx