Best Books of 2014

Hello friends! Can you believe that 2015 is right around the corner, ready to knock on our door and demand a cold lemonade? Nor can I. Anyways, to celebrate and farewell dear old 2014, I shall today discuss the best books I read this year. Thanks to the wonderful site goodreads, I was able to review every book I rated 5-stars this year (I promise I'm not being sponsored I just genuinely love goodreads). So here we go!

I rated 34 books out of a total 90 5 stars this year. That's almost 38%!

These are a selection of the books I rated 5 stars that I would rate 6 or more if I could.

City Of Heavenly Fire, by Cassandra Clare

If you didn't guess I'd put COHF in here, you don't know me. The conclusion to the fantastic The Mortal Instruments series was definitely not a let down. It was beautiful and heartwarming and I loved it. It was also the longest book I read this year, coming in at 725 pages. Woah. You can check out my review for COHF here; if you haven't read TMI, go get yourself City Of Bones right now. Don't even finish reading this sentence. Go.

My Life Next Door, Huntley Fitzpatrick

This cutesy, heartwarming love story has to make the top books of 2014. It follows the story of two next door neighbors, the reserved, neat family of three and the wild, rambunctious family of who-knows-how-many. It's a sstory of family, love, friendship and there's also a mystery and a secret in there, too. It's beautiful and hilarious and everything about it is gorgeous. Highly, highly recommend.

The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

This was something that's been on my TBR list for a very, very long time. I am a huge fan of Oscar Wilde's poetry and The Importance Of Being Ernest, and so I was desperate to read this. And it has now turned into one of my favourite books of all time. It's a classical novel about a beautiful, beautiful boy named Dorian. His vanity drives him to do something horrible... you'll just have to read to find out. Oscar Wilde's writing is hilarious and wonderful, and if you want a funny, classical novel with a good story, I highly recommend The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Throne Of Glass, Sarah J Maas

Throne Of Glass was the fantasy series I wanted. Awesome female lead, amazingly developed characters, royalty, magic, a brilliant storyline and a half-love triangle that was important but not too important. It is slowly becoming one of my most favourite fantasy series of all time. The main character is an assassin, and her adventures and the storyline are too difficult to explain in just one paragraph. Amazing world-building, character developing and storyline.

Wildlife, Fiona Wood

As a part of the book club I'm in, this year I tried to read all the novels in the Australian shortlist this year. Wildlife definitely deserved to top the shortlist. This story is about a school that sends its year ten students on a term-long wildlife adventure camp. You get to see these characters interacting and dealing with the issues of this camp. The thing that is beautiful and perfect about this book is the writing. The writing was amazing; some of my favourite quotes of this year come from that book. Definitely give it a go if you like fabulous writing and Stephanie Perkins-style writing.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue, Maggie Stiefvater

You guys know that I love the Raven Boys series, as shown by my reviews of the first book, The Raven Boys, here, and my review of the second book, The Dream Thieves, here. This book is the third book in the series, and I'm pretty sure there's one more coming. The series is about this weird town, psychics, and a group of gorgeous characters. It's a really interesting and beautiful read, and so I highly recommend it to anyone who loves mysterious, supernatural stories.

Fairytales For Wilde Girls, Allyse Near

This book is odd. Really odd. It's almost like a psychological thriller mixed with fantasy and supernatural. It's really weird and intriguing, and you really can't put it down. I wouldn't say anything about it, but it's really, really fantastic and I highly recommend it.

Anna And The French Kiss and Lola And The Boy Next Door, Stephanie Perkins

You guys know how much I love Stephanie Perkins. I've talked about them so many times, because they're some of my very favourites. If you're into extremely cutesy and beautiful contemporaries, then click this link for my review of Anna And The French Kiss and this one for Lola And The Boy Next Door.

Gale Hawthorne - A Reflection

Okay so as some of you may know, I'm not a huge fan of The Hunger Games book series. I do like it, but I don't love it.

But there are three things I love about the series.

1. Katniss Everdeen's character development
2. Finnick Odair
3. Gale Hawthorne

And today, I would like to discuss the third of those things I love. Gale Hawthorne is, in my opinion, possibly the best character in The Hunger Games and I will happily fight whoever disagrees to the death. Just kidding. Sort of. But I am always up for a friendly debate.

So with the recent release of Mockingjay Part 1, I went to go see it with some of my friends. And throughout the whole movie, all I heard was "I want Gale to die", "I hate Gale", "ugh, it's Gale again" and variations of the above. And I was so angry I spent hours afterwards ranting about how much I love Gale to my very disinterested family. So here are the reasons why Gale is the best character in The Hunger Games.

1. He deeply cares about Katniss, his family, her family and just everyone in general.

Gale does, unarguably, care deeply about Katniss. He loves her, as a friend and more, but instead of being fixated on convincing her to love him back, he simply cares for her and her family. He takes care of her mother and Prim whilst she's in the games, and he rescues half of District 12. He is selfless and always ready to help not only Katniss, but everyone he cares for.

2. He's a respectful and wonderful (boy)friend to Katniss.

Gale, despite being in love with Katniss, never pressures her into anything. He never tries to convince her to love him. He respects her and her decision to love Peeta and not him. He even supports her in this decision, by going to rescue Peeta. He loves her enough to not only respect her decision to not be with him, but to also actively work to peruse her happiness, even if it won't make him directly happy, because her happiness and well being comes first to him. He loves her enough to let her go, and to respect her choices. He doesn't ever accuse her of "friendzoning" him.

3. HE DID NOT KILL PRIM SO STOP SAYING IT

Okay. This is what really gets me riled up. Gale DID NOT KILL PRIM. Half the internet seems to believe Gale held a gun to Prim's head and laughed manically, followed by, "I am killing Prim!". Just because he built the bomb that did eventually end up killing Prim doesn't mean he meant to or even did kill her. That's like blaming the company that makes ink for a mean letter used to bully someone else. Ridiculous.

4. The Mockingjay epilogue was extremely out of character, and so it really shouldn't count, anyways.

Let's be real, everyone should be able to agree the Mockingjay epilogue was very, very out of character. Katniss didn't even sound like herself, not to mention the fact that she had children when she directly and repeatedly said she did not ever want children (which could mean Peeta pressured her into having children maybe but that's an issue for another post). And that quote in the epilogue about Gale, that tiny little explanation of what happened to him really didn't do him justice. People often combat my pro-Gale argument by saying, "he left Katniss at the end of Mockingjay!". And I guess in some ways, that's right. But she'd also made her decision to be with Peeta in District 12, and is it so unreasonable that Gale would move somewhere else, create a new life for himself? He had no real obligation to stay with Katniss, although it would've been nice. And that quote about him kissing another pair of lips- what the heck? Even if he did move on, which is pretty unbelievable knowing Gale's character, how would that be his fault? Katniss made her decision pretty clearly towards the end of Mockingjay. She wanted to be with Peeta, which was fine, but blaming Gale for then moving on? Not only is this very un-Gale and un-Katniss, it's a sloppy end to Gale's part of the story. I feel like the explanation was an easy way out, a quick, we-don't-really-care-about-this-character approach. Which is ridiculous because I can't be the only person on earth who loves Gale and was very put out by the end to his story (I like to imagine he ends up with Johanna somewhere, an idea my dear friend Lian convinced me on). Conclusion- the epilogue was really out of character, and if you want me to flesh this out more, I would be more than happy to, just let me know.

If I haven't managed to convince you that Gale is an valuable and precious character in this series, then you should at least take this home- it is not fair to hate on a character just because they get in the way of your ship, or because it is easier to. Don't hate on a perfectly fine character, particularly one that is as innocent and blameless as Gale is.

Please don't think I'm hating on Peeta or Peeta/Katniss, I'm really not. Would I prefer Gatniss was endgame? Yes, but it really doesn't bother me that much.

Feel free to express your opinion in the comments below, my twitter @lilypherondale.

Thank you for listening, please let me know if you're a fellow Gale-lover and agree!

Lily xoxo

Christmas Special Post!

Well, since it's Christmas (well, it was yesterday for me, but it might still be Christmas where you are??) I was going to do something really special I hadn't done before on this blog. A book photo shoot!

I was going to take beautiful Christmassy/wintery photos with my Christmas book for this year, My True Love Gave To Me, which is an anthology of different holiday love stories. The edition I ordered is beautiful; here's a picture:

But thanks to Dymocks Australia and their unpredictable shipping methods (although the site did assure me it would arrive before Christmas... >:( not very happy at all...) my book did not arrive and I therefore cannot do the photo shoot. 

However, do not fret! The photo shoot is coming. I promise it is. As soon as the book arrives, I will do it just for you guys. I'm leaving my Christmas decorations up just so I can.

To make up for this tragedy, I will instead talk briefly about each story and rate each one, with no spoilers because the book was published fairly recently, and there's a fair chance many of you mightn't have read it. 

Midnights by Rainbow Rowell

Midnights is quite adorable. It's a quick insight to two friends every year on New Year's Eve, from the time they met. This one has to be up there in my favourite stories from the book; it's so cute and it was a really good start to the book. 5/5 stars.

The Lady And The Fox by Kelly Link

This story is about a girl who goes every year to her godmother's house for Christmas. And every year, there is a mysterious man outside in an exquisite coat. This was mysterious and intriguing. I really liked the whole story and all the characters, and everything about it made me want to keep reading, however the end was quite confusing. I was left wanting a lot more. It is also one of my favourites in the book. 5/5 stars.

Angels in the Snow by Matt de la Peña

This story was cute and interesting, but not as fun to read as Midnights. It's about a boy who's cat sitting in the apartment below a pretty girl whose shower isn't working. I liked reading it quite a bit, but it just didn't have the specialness other stories did, and I didn't really connect with the main characters. 4/5 stars.

Polaris Is Where You'll Find Me by Jenny Han

The is probably towards the end of my favourites list. I didn't really love the main character; I found her to be rather annoying. I also didn't really connect with the story or the characters. This story is the only story set in the North Pole, with elves and Santa's human daughter. I found it quite dry, and not really a love story... 2.5/5 stars.

Your Temporary Santa by David Levithian
This was cute but there were some bits I wasn't sure whether I liked it or not. It's about the main character dressing up as Santa for his love interest's little sister. I won't explain the bits I didn't like, because it will spoil the story, but all in all, it was rather cute. 3.5/5 stars

It's A Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins
This was for sure one of my favourites. It's definitely up there with Midnights and The Lady And The Fox, which is to be expected from a Stephanie Perkins story. It's about a girl who doesn't really need a Christmas tree, but she keeps going back to the shop, because there's something else there she needs. It was so, so cute and everything about it left me wanting more. I want a whole novel about these two. Please. Now. 5/5 stars.

Krampuslauf by Holly Black

Krampuslauf  is about three best friends getting revenge on a boyfriend with a vintage cocktail party... and... magic? This story was at times hard to follow, to be perfectly honest, but it was pretty great. I did love the mystery, but I felt like it could've been fleshed out more. 4/5 stars.

What The Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? by Gayle Forman
This one wasn't up in my favourites, but I definitely loved it. I disliked the main character; I', not quite sure why. She was just a bit annoying. But the relationship was very cute and adorable and I quite enjoyed the story. It's about a girl whose counting the "what the hell have you done?" moments from her year, and as she thinks she's creating another one, she learns she's doing quite the opposite. 3.5/5 stars

Beer Buckets And Baby Jesus by Myra McEntire
Wow. This is one of the more memorable stories from the book. This story is about the boy who blew up the church storeroom and the pastor's daughter. The characters were all really fun and interesting and the main character's point of view was brilliant. I loved this story. 5/5 stars

Welcome To Christmas, CA by Kiersten White
This one is definitely close to being my favourite, if it isn't already. It's about a small not-even-a-towm called Christmas, and the people living there. The characters in this were all spectacularly developed for a short story, and the main character went through serious development during the story. The main relationship was absolutely perfect and I loved the whole thing. 5/5 stars.

Star Of Bethlehem by Ally Carter
I didn't expect to love this story, because I'm not a huge fan of Ally Carter's previous books. But this story about two girls who switch places was fantastic, and I loved the element of mystery in it. The characters were all beautiful and I really really liked it. 5/5 stars

The Girl Who Woke The Dreamer by Laini Taylor
This was so interesting and mysterious, but it was very info-dumpy for a short story. There were large chunks of text explaining the mythology of the book and so it just wasn't as fun to read as the others, even though it was spectacularly crafted. It's about this mythological land where on each day of advent, admirers leave tokens of love on the girl they admire's doorstep. 4/5 stars

So those are my reviews of the stories, and I think it has come time to rank them from favourite to least favourite. Are you ready?

1. Welcome To Christmas, CA
2. It's A Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown
3. The Lady And The Fox
4. Beer Buckets And Baby Jesus
5. Midnights
6. Angels In The Snow
7. Star Of Bethlehem
8. The Girl Who Woke The Dreamer
9. Krampuslauf
10. Your Temporary Santa
11. What The Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth?
12. Polaris Is Where You'll Find Me

Let's be clear on the fact that I loved all these stories and it was so hard to choose my favourite ones you have no idea!

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and I will see you tomorrow with another post!

Lily xoxo

We Were Liars Review

So if you haven't heard of We Were Liars you clearly don't spend enough time in the book blogosphere. This book has been circulating like wildfire through book blogs, booktube and goodreads. And for some unknown reason, I'd been putting it off and off and off, until I saw it on sale in K-Mart the other day and bought it. I'm glad it was only $9, because I read it in a few hours.

We Were Liars is about a brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy; a boy who is bounce, effort and snark and a girl who is sugar, curiosity and rain.

In some ways, it is about a family. In some ways, it is about a mystery. In some ways, it's a story of friendship, and of love.

I don't want to say too much, because it's really the sort of book you want to go into knowing very little. But I definitely recommend it; I'll give it 4/5 stars.

So go read it if you haven't, then come back here to read my review and discuss!

***SPOILERS***

Woah. Just woah. I'm typing this approximately fifteen minutes after reading the very end of the book, and I'm still dumbfounded. My brain is ticking and whirring, trying to piece everything together and just understand everything I'd missed.

First of all, however, I'm going to talk about the characters. There are some books where the main focus of the novel is the world it's set in, or the actual storyline and events. However, there are some books, and I'd argue that We Were Liars is one of them, that focus on the characters, and their interactions and the way they deal with certain events.

The characters in We Were Liars were an essential part of the story. In fact, they were half the story. And so I was so thankful that they were so interesting and fleshed out, that they were all very different despite being cousins. I loved the way they interacted with one another, the way they accommodated each other and were all so close. 

If you've forgotten, there are four main characters, the "Liars". There's Cadence, our narrator, who went through some mysterious accident and cannot remember the entirety of her fifteenth summer on her family's island; there's Johnny, the snarky, energizer bunny of the group, the outdoorsy, show-off type; there's Mirren, the calm, collected and rational peace-maker; and then there's Gat, not part of the family, very different but still very much a Liar.

I found Cadence to be rather annoying throughout the majority of the book. I don't quite know why; maybe I found her whinny and frustrating, or maybe it was because she couldn't remember things I wanted her to. One thing that really annoyed me about her was that she was giving all her things away for "charity". It was clear to see that she was giving those things away not because she was charitable, but because she was using it as a coping method, a symbol of rebellion from her wealthy, worldly family. However annoying I found her, however, I eventually managed to adapt to her narration. Despite finding her annoying, I was easily able to slip in and out of her narration style. It was clear and neat, but still beautiful and a bit poetic at times, yet still managing not to be pretentious and hard to understand. She was also very mopey, and after finishing it, you understand why, but during the book, her mopey-ness was a tad frustrating.

I really liked all four of the Liars. I love best friends and family, and I love watching their relationships strain and evolve following a disaster or something of the like. Hence why I just wrote a book about that sort of thing for NaNoWriMo 2014! (shameless plug for my novel which should be available for download sometime next year, before June... I'll let you know when). But despite loving them all, I often found Johnny and Mirren to be like the rest of their family, where Cadence and Gat definitely weren't. Johnny's love for expensive things, Mirren telling Gat to stop talking, were just two events that showed they were still very attached to the Sinclair family, whereas Cadence was already on her way to leaving and rebelling.

However, all the Liars were wonderful, and I think my favourite would be Johnny, surprisingly enough. He was not annoying like Cadence and Gat, but not as faint and pale as Mirren. Mirren, due to her "being sick", was rarely around, and she just didn't make hilarious jokes or say things that made you want to keep reading. She was kind of wishy-washy, but I did love her relationship with Cadence, and I would've loved more scenes of them together. I don't have a female cousin my age, and so it was interesting to see the dynamic and they way they interacted.

I found Gat to be a little vague at times. Overall, I did love him, and I thought Cadence and him were very cute, but he was always standing in between Cady and the accident. Of all the characters, now I look back on the story, he would've been the one to give it away (had I had any idea of how the book would end). It annoyed me that he never discussed why he left, or what had happened to him and Raquel, which I understand now, but during the book, I didn't. Throughout the book he was just very distant, more distant than I would've liked him to be. But don't think I don't like him, because I definitely, definitely do.

The whole Sinclair family were puppets controlled by Harris, or as we know him during the book, "Granddad". Snr Sinclair, as I shall call him for convenience, was just not a very nice person. Blackmail in general is not cool, but blackmailing your family is something that just made me sad. The fairytale parallels throughout the book were perfect, just perfect, and they worked brilliantly. It was easy to compare Snr Sinclair to the father figure in them all, the King, or the merchant. And the three aunts were easily compared to the three daughters. Everything about the family was sort of fairytale-like, and so these parallels, and the fact that Cadence was slowly using the fairytale stories to piece together her memory again, was just brilliant.

I just wished the aunts would move off that island, get their own places, their own jobs and stop being spoon-fed by their father, and on that note, I could relate to Cadence's frustration. Like, they needed to grow a backbone if they ever wanted to leave the emotional and stressful life of being tormented by their father.

Now the ending, what you've all been waiting for. No, I did not, in any way, see that ending coming. I genuinely had no idea what would happen, but whatever whacked out conspiracies I was coming up with, they were certainly not that.

I did not think Gat would die. Nor did I think Mirren and Johnny would. And so when I found out that not only were they going to end up dead, but they were already dead, I kind of died a little myself. In fact, I'm pretty sure my heart stopped beating. I didn't even believe it. I thought she must be lying to herself now, haven't Mirren, Gat and Johnny been a critical part of the story? Of the family? I couldn't even believe it. When I realised that this was, in fact, the truth and the dreaded, infamous end to We Were Liars, I knew I'd have to read it again. Read through the whole thing again, realising that three of the main characters were figments of the narrator's imagination. And I will do that, at some point probably next year.

I don't know how I feel about the ending, not that it makes me sad, but that it was just that I sort of felt they'd died for shock factor, but all in all, this novel was amazing and spectacularly crafted, and definitely a story I am cranky for not writing myself. There you go kids, the take-home message from today's review.

Thank you for reading my review! I hope you enjoyed it. I apologize for being so absent lately, I've just been so busy and I've fallen into a bit of a slump. Hopefully as I read more in the break, I'll have some more reviews for you!

Leave your thoughts and ideas about We Were Liars and also any books you think I should read over the holidays and I will read them. Also, if you want to contact me to talk about anything or recommend a book, you can send me a tweet/dm @lilypherondale, leave me a tumblr ask, sherlockcrumpets.tumblr.com, or leave a comment below ^.^

Since it is once again the end of the year, you can look forward to some Best Books of the Year posts and a summary of every book I've read this year (so far, I've read just under ninety, I was aiming for 100, but you know, work and etc really get in the way), and also a holiday reads post. So look forward to that, and I'll see you very soon!

Lily xoxo

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WORDS ARE ARROWS!

Well, yes, you have read correctly. It is this blog's 1st birthday! It has been a whole year since I first

got the idea (and confidence) to create a place to share my thoughts about the things I love most- books. So to celebrate, I am going to give you a snippet of my NaNoWriMo project- something very few people have seen.

I'm very busy this month with NaNoWriMo so if you enjoy this please let me know, and I can post more snippets! Check here to see the synopsis first (also feel free to add me as a writing buddy, I'd love to chat!) and to check my progress through this month.

Basically the story is about these teenagers living in this really odd town, where the police seem to be in control of everything, including what times the residents are allowed out of their houses and where they can go. Something catastrophic happens within these teenagers' friendship group, and everything falls apart. And they start to realise something isn't quite right with where they live...

**********

   “Did the police call you as well?” I murmured, trying not to talk too loudly.

“Yeah. Suicide. Seems unlikely but I suppose they must be right, they’re the police,” he sighed.

He won’t believe you. He won’t believe you, just like Sebastian didn’t.

“I don’t think it was suicide,” I said, much too casually for what I was suggesting.

Gabe’s eyes flicked up from the table. “What?”

“I don’t think it was suicide. I think the police are wrong.”

Gabe continued to fidget with the salt and pepper shakers, growing visibly more nervous. “Ellie. You have to realise the seriousness of that accusation.”

I looked towards the door as the bell rung and a group of kids from school walked in, laughing and joking.

I sighed. The waiter came over with our hot chocolates and muffins.

“Blueberry muffins are my favourite,” Gabe said, poking the muffin with his plastic fork.

I shrugged. “I know. We’ve been friends since we were five, remember?”

He scooped up some of his muffin. “Of course. Everything feels different. Different and wrong.”

I nodded. “I know.”

I glanced at my watch. “We’re going to be late for school,” I muttered.

“You want to go?” Gabe said, looking up at me, his eyes big and innocent, just like they had been the day I first met him. He’d been playing in the sandpit in the preschool, and Tilly and I decided it would be funny to tip a bucket of water on the new boy. And so we did, and then, unexpectedly, Gabe smiled cheekily and begun chasing us with mini water pistols, which ended in Tilly falling into a small ditch and grazing her knee. We were all in uncontrollable laughter as we were rushed into the nurse’s office. We’d been best friends since that very day.

“I really don’t,” I admitted, violently stabbing my raspberry muffin, but not eating it.

“Then let’s not go.”

I just nodded. I never wanted to go back there, never back to the picnic area, never wanted to see anyone again.

“Have you met up with anyone?” I asked.

He nodded. “You and Rena. Rena and I walked back from school together on the day the police told us.”

“Seb and I went back to his place, too,” I thought out loud. There were already divides in the group. 

Previously, we’d never have been alone in a crisis, it would always be all of us in it together.

My problems were theirs, their problems were mine.

But having all four of us together now felt incomplete, broken, just plain sad. Like all of us individually, just amplified.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. “It’s the police station,” I breathed, and Gabe shuffled next to me in my seat so he could hear. I flicked it onto speaker phone.

“Hello, this is Elendra Parker speaking,” I said cautiously.

“Miss Parker. We are sure you know that this is the police station. Could you please come to the police station for further questioning at one o’clock this afternoon?” the gravelly voice on the other end answered.

I tried to slow down my breathing. “That should be fine.”

“Oh and Miss Parker? Please let your friend Gabriel know.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” I replied, anxious to get them off the phone.

“We know. He’s sitting right next to you.”

And then a long, soulless beep.

**********

So I hope that interested you, and that you want to read more! I love feedback, so if you want to contact me through any of my various social media sites, feel free to!

So happy birthday to My Words Are Arrows, and I hope there are plenty more years we can celebrate November 10 :)

Have a lovely day!

Lily xoxo

NaNoWriMo 2014

First of all, I am so sorry I've been so absent lately, but I actually have a real reason. This year, I am participating in NaNoWriMo 2014. For those of you who do not know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and every November, writers all around the world take on the challenge of writing a 50,000 (give or take) word novel.

This year, as it is my first year, I am doing the Young Writer's Program so I don't get overwhelmed (I'm still getting the hang of this thing). You can see my account here, where you can check out the synopsis of my novel and even an excerpt. You would also be able to see the title, but as you know (if you know me and my writing habits), I'm terrible with titles and can never come up with them. If you read the synopsis and think of something that may work, please do not hesitate to send me a tumblr ask to my tumblr, a tweet to @lilypherondale, a comment on this post or even a message via the NaNoWriMo site. I'd be ever so grateful and I'd love to have your opinions!

So I just wanted to fill you in on where I've been over the last month and why I'll be inactive during this month. I hope you'll check out my page, maybe let me know via comments or my various social media sites if you're doing NaNoWriMo as well and then we can be writing buddies.

Have a lovely few weeks and I hope to be back with you soon to celebrate the one year anniversary of my blog, the end of my yearly reading challenge and book-mas!

The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl Review

The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl by Melissa Keil, or TIAOCG, as I will refer to it, is a
cutesy, relatable contemporary about figuring out where you want to go in life and dealing with the future. There's love, comics, friendship and the apocalypse, so basically, it's the whole package.

The story follows Sarah Albany, or Alba, a wannabe comic book artist living in a small, rural town. She lives in a bakery and wakes up to the smell of cooking pastries and cinnamon every morning, and between this and her group of close friends and caring mother, Alba is pretty happy with her life.

But with school over, and her friends wanting to leave, a boy she never thought she'd see again returning to town, a misbehaving superhero and the apocalypse, Alba's life is thrown unexpectedly into the deep end, leaving her confused and unsure.

TIAOCG is a beautiful, 4 star novel by one of my current favourite Australian authors, Melissa Keil, the author of Life In Outer Space. I recommend it as a cute, light read, so if you haven't read it, go grab yourself a copy and head back here to read my review and discuss!

***SPOILERS***
Right. Cinnamon Girl has so many interesting aspects of it, I don't quite know where to start!

Firstly, the setting. TIAOCG is set in a small, rural Victorian (I mean the state, not the era) town called Eden Valley. Eden Valley was made out by the characters to be some sort of farming hell hole that everyone wants to escape, but I couldn't help seeing it as kind of a cute little town. Everyone was so friendly to one another and it seemed like quite the idyllic little community. I loved reading about a town like this, because it is so different to what I'm used to in a community. I barely know all the people in my street, let alone my whole neighbourhood! I definitely understood Alba and that she wanted to stay in Eden Valley, however I also understood Grady and Caroline and their desperate need to get out.

Speaking of which, I'll talk now about the characters and about my love for them. All the characters were so different, from Eddie to Grady, from Alba to Tia, they all had their own distinct personalities and you could empathise and understand each of them even though the story was in first person, in Alba's point of view. It was easy to love Grady from the start, but seeing as though the story ended the way it did, it's easy to assume Melissa Keil did this on purpose. I think she did the same thing in reverse for Daniel, however I my opinion, it did not give depth or explain his character any more.

I feel like Daniel was poorly characterised, because he went from being Alba's cute, doting best friend and then he came back and was this arrogant, careless teenage boy. And that makes sense, I mean he's come from a few years of being a bit of a celebrity, of course he'd be a bit arrogant. And so he's a bit flirty with Alba, and Keil seems to be setting Alba and Daniel up at this point, seeing as though she's eluded to Alba liking Daniel before he left and then Alba saying she gets butterflies when Daniel smiles at her.

But then, he buys her that diet book, which completely horrified me, and I lost all respect for his character. And here's the final catch- he seems to justify his awful behaviour by saying he was trying to set up Grady and Alba? It's a plot twist that completely came out of nowhere (which I'll elaborate on further in the review), and didn't really make sense or fit with Daniel's characterisation. Did Daniel never have any feelings, and was leading her on just to toy with her? Because no friend should or would ever do that. Or did he actually like her, which then doesn't fit with his final conversation with her, before he left? I didn't at all understand what was going on with Daniel, and it was a pretty major down point in this book for me, however it is one of very few down points.

Moving onto my second down point, which follows on nicely from my previous point, is the love triangle situation. To be perfectly honest, I didn't even see a love triangle, because Alba always said in her narration that Grady was like her brother. She made no sly comments or anything like that to let us as the audience know that she had any romantic attraction to Grady at all. In fact, she made more references to a possible attraction to Daniel, both before and after he left, than she ever did Grady. And it is for this reason I found the ending rather unbelievable. It wasn't even as if she said something along the lines of, "I finally realised what I'd been trying to ignore for so long- Grady was definitely more than a friend in my eyes" or "I had a sudden realisation that I'd loved Grady all along". She just basically said she'd loved him forever and that was that. It's hard to believe that she actually did like him, because there was absolutely nothing to foreshadow it at all, despite maybe some comments of how she thought he was beautiful. It was a shame I found the love triangle so unbelievable, because otherwise, this book might have been a 4.5 star.

On my final negative point, I personally felt Alba's narration very hard to get into. I found it bulky and awkward and much to informal for my tastes, but once I got into the story, I was able to shift into her narration style and get into the story more. I am very interested in what you guys think about the prose in Cinnamon Girl, and would very much appreciate a comment or tweet (@lilypherondale) or even a tumblr ask (sherlockcrumpets.tumblr.com) telling me your thoughts.

Shifting back into my positive points, the whole "the world is ending" part of this story was a really clever and interesting addition. If anything, it keeps the audience reading, because there's always that seed of doubt in our minds, just like there is in the characters', that maybe the world is going to end. I was really interested to see whether to world would end at the end of the story, however I was leaning more towards it not actually ending. And I was correct, so props for Lily!

Another thing I liked about TIAOCG was Alba's love of comics. Of course, being a bit of a nerd, I rather love comics, particularly Marvel and DC, so my heart leaped with joy at all the shameless references. I've read so few books where the female main character is geeky. Not "I read deep poetry and classic novels I'm so different" geeky, but genuinely geeky. And I loved Alba's fearlessness to display her geekiness. I know in our world today, lots of girls are told that "you only watched Captain America because of Chris Evans" or "you don't actually read the Avengers, you're just wearing that shirt as a fashion statement". Heck, it happens to me a lot! And so I adored the change of seeing a female main character be really geeky. It is a trend in Keil's books so far, so if you love all things nerdy and geeky and haven't read Life In Outer Space yet, I highly recommend you go find yourself a copy.

Speaking about comics, I really liked the whole storyline focusing on Cinnamon Girl the character, and I was so interested where Alba's art and invention of her character would go. As you can probably imagine, I was very satisfied when Cinnamon Girl worked out.

The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl was just a very cute, light read that I really enjoyed. As always, please leave a comment, tweet (@lilypherondale) or even a tumblr ask (sherlockcrumpets.tumblr.com) to receive fun things like social media shout outs and follows.

I hope you've enjoyed this review and I'll see you next Sunday for another recommendation!

Lily xoxo

Book Hangover Recommendations Part 2

Welcome book nerdy friends! This week, as promised, I have the continuation of last week's post- guidelines for picking books to read during a book hangover. For the purposes of now, I'm going to call these books "cure books". I often use these rules and they are very helpful to me, so I hope they will assist you guys the same!

Rule #1- Steer away from high fantasy and fantasy epics
I use the terms "high fantasy" and "fantasy epics" quite often here, and I use them when talking about
extremely complex, very built up fantasy series. You know the type, nine-book series and about 500 pages per book. The ones that are hard to get into, hard to explain, but ultimately, just plain brilliant. The world building and the characters are complex, and everything about it just completely engulfs you. And when looking for a cure book, you should definitely, absolutely avoid these at all costs. When you're finding hard to get into stories (a typical symptom of the book hangover) the last thing you want is to try, fail and get frustrated at really good books because you just don't have the patience for them at the time. Battling these series is not what you want to be doing when you're suffering from a book hangover. Fantasy Epics include- The Mortal Instruments, The Raven Boys, Daughter of Smoke and Bone and etc.

Rule #2- Steer away from sad, dismal books
This is less important than Rule #1, but still relatively important. If you're in the middle of a book hangover, chances are you've just finished a series. And everyone knows that the end to a series is super bittersweet, and you're probably in emotional pain from the book. This is why you should not, NOT pick up super-sad books when you're getting over the book you just read. Sad, dismal books include- If I Stay, The Fault In Our Stars (although TFIOS isn't that great anyways) and etc.

Rule #3- Find a book that is short and sweet
The best type of book for book hangovers is the contemporary. These are often short and sweet, set in our real world with easy, relatable characters and an entertaining and fluffy storyline. They're really easy to get into and really easy to keep reading, more often than not, there's no trouble getting through them. The story just picks you up and hugs you, and doesn't let you go until the very end of the book. Contemporaries are just the right thing for a book hangover. Examples of good contemporaries- Anna And The French Kiss, Lola And The Boy Next Door, My Life Next Door, Life In Outer Space, Stargirl etc.

Rule #4- Steer away non-fiction and historical fiction
When experiencing a book hangover, chunky, info-filled books are not going to hook you back into reading. They're fairly dense and tough to get through, with lots of information to get your head around and concentrate. They're not as engaging and engrossing as fiction novels, and so you're more likely to start reading one, read a bit here and there, and then procrastinate reading it because you're getting bored, or you're not able to concentrate. Don't think I'm saying these types of books are bad, however, they most certainly are not, but they're probably not the most helpful during a book hangover. Non-fiction and historical fiction include- informative books, books about historical figures (it's very broad, I know).

Rule #5- Set the atmosphere!
When trying to get back into reading, it's best not to select the right book and be all ready to try again but then read in snippets and unfocused minutes on the bus, or at a function. It's best to start the book with the perfect atmosphere. I'm not going to tell you the "right" type of reading

atmosphere, because they differ from person to person. My ideal environment to read would be in bed, late at night, cuddled up under my blankets with a cup of tea, or on my lounge under a blanket with hot chocolate. But yours might be at a warm coffee shop, in your own little booth, or at the beach. It's really up to you to decide what your ideal environment is, but atmosphere is really important when breaking a book hangover.

So I hope these tips will help you in the future when you're trying to get over a book hangover! If you have any questions, comments, post ideas or more book hangover tips, leave a comment, send a tweet to @lilypherondale or a message/ask to sherlockcrumpets.tumblr.com :)

Have a lovely week and I'll see you next Sunday!


Lily xoxo

Book Hangover Recommendations Part 1

Hello dear book friends! Today I will be writing up a post that I know I would find very helpful, so I hope you guys do too! I will be suggesting books you can read if you are in a book hangover.

For those who do not know, here is the Urban Dictionary (yep, the epitome of all sustainable knowledge) definition of "book hangover"-

"When you've finished a book and you suddenly return to the real world, but the real world feels incomplete or surreal because you're still living in the world of the book."

Basically, a book hangover is when you've read a really, really good book and you cannot move on or concentrate on any other book because they just aren't as good as the last book you read. I find it really difficult to get back into other book when I'm having a book hangover, and since I get them quite frequently, I've had to learn what books to choose to help me get over them.

So here are my top five books to help you get through your book hangover!

1. Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Okay, so as you probably know, I love Stephanie Perkins and her books for me are just a fluffy cushion to fall back on when I'm sad or angry or tired of reading bad contempories. Anna and the French Kiss (review here) is about a girl who lives in America whose parents send her off to Paris for boarding school. The book is all about how she adjusts and is focused around a love story. Lola and the Boy Next Door (review here) is about a girl whose dream is to be a fashion designer. Everything in her life is pretty perfect until the Bell twins return to town- one being her worst enemy, and the other being her first heartbreak. These books are perfectly lovely and always lift my spirits, so they're perfect for book hangovers. 5/5 stars for effectiveness, 5/5 for quality.

2. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
I don't think I talk enough about how much I love this book and series. It's probably one of my favourite books and it was the book that got me into psych thriller. It is about a girl suffering from PTSD and weird things start happening… I don't want to explain too much, as it will ruin it, however I can say that it is so easy to read, even if it sounds heavy, you just get absorbed so fast. It's a bit dark and scary, actually, it's quite dark and scary, so it's probably not for the light-hearted, but it is very effective in eradicating book hangovers. 4.5/5 stars for effectiveness, 5/5 for quality.

3. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Rainbow Rowell's characters are very real and wonderful, which makes them so easy to read and relate to, at least for me. Fangirl is about a girl obsessed with the equivalent of Harry Potter in their world, called Simon Snow. She writes fanfic, draws fanart and is an avid member of the fandom (see why I could relate to her?). But as she goes to college, she must deal with new relationships, as well as her crumbling relationship with her twin, and juggle all that around writing her fanfiction. The book is very, very good and I really liked it. Once you get about two, maybe three chapters in, you start to really, really enjoy it, and you will easily be lifted out of your book hangover.
4.5/5 for effectiveness, 5/5 for quality.

told you it was beautiful.

4. These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Megan Spooner
Not only is this the prettiest book cover I've ever seen (no exaggeration, it's my favourite book cover ever), it actually had a really good story to match! This book is sort of Titanic in Space, and the story starts when two people who probably would never have ended up in the same room get stranded on a foreign planet together. Their mission? To escape the planet without anything killing them- including each other. But whilst stuck on the planet with possibly no hope of getting off, the two find what they do not expect. This book was just so easy to read, I'm pretty sure I smashed through in something like four hours, including breaks. It's easy to get into and easy to read, and should absolutely help with book hangovers. 5/5 for effectiveness, 4.5/5 for quality.

5. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
This book isn't so great quality wise, but if you've just spent weeks reading an epic-fantasy series (The Mortal Instruments, Vampire Academy, etc) and you're in need of something super easy and even a little cheesy, then this is your book! Yep, this book is about angels. That's all I'm going to say, because otherwise you'll probably guess the whole plot. But it's not a bad read, it's fun and easy, and, much like The Beautiful Dead series, it's great for if you don't know what you want to read in a book hangover.5/5 for effectiveness, 3/5 for quality.

Now that you've got a few books to start you off, it's time I gave you some rules as to how to pick a book for when you're suffering a book hangover. But unfortunately, because this post is already pretty long, I'll put it up next week, as a part 2, instead of a recommendation. If you're interested in seeing the "Rules for Choosing Books to Cure Book Hangovers" post, leave a comment, send a tweet or contact me in some way and I shall make sure you are notified when it is posted. Additionally, I will be letting everyone know when it's posted on my tumblr (sherlockcrumpets.tumblr.com) and via my twitter (@lilypherondale), so you can check there too.

So I'll see you all next week for the continuation of this post!

Have a fabulous day!

Lola And The Boy Next Door Book Review

My goodness, it's been an age! I'm so sorry, I can't believe it's been almost three months since I last
posted. I am very sorry; it's been so hectic lately juggling proper work, editing my manuscript, writing the next manuscript in my series and reading books, and writing up reviews just hasn't found itself a place in between it all, which makes me sad because I love writing things for this blog, and I love interacting with you guys, I'm just hella busy. I am very sorry.

In better news, today I shall be reviewing a book called Lola and the Boy Next Door, by Stephanie Perkins, who I have now deemed the Contemporary Queen.

Anyways, for those who do not know, LATBND is the sequel to Anna and the French Kiss, which I read and wrote up a review for. You can find this review here. I really liked Anna and the French Kiss, so when I came across LATBND in my library, I just had to pick it up.

This book is about Lola Nolan, an aspiring fashion designer. She has the perfect life- a great best friend, loving parents, a passion for all things fashionable and a rock-band boyfriend. Well, it seems like the perfect life, until the Bell twins return to the house next door.

Twins Calliope and Cricket were two people Lola hoped to never she again, and on the return, her whole world is turned around and she has to deal with years of heartbreak and confusion caused by one of the Bell twins in particular- Cricket.

And yet again, Stephanie Perkins made me feel like, a), I do not have a very exciting life, and b), totally jealous because I can't for the life of me write cute, fluffy contemporaries like she can. I loved this book, it was in some ways, better than AATFK. However, I love both of them, so I highly suggest you read them and then you can come back here and discuss with us about the book! Okay, bye!

***SPOILERS***
Well, this book left me awestruck and amazed and enlightened and just good, and I would even go as far to say that maybe, just maybe, I liked it better than AATFK. Maybe.

As soon as we were introduced to Lola, I was hoping and praying for Anna and Étienne to make an appearance, because I started seeing similarities in Étienne and Lola. I knew they'd make great friends. And when they did show up, I was ecstatic, mainly because not only did I get a glimpse into their life after the end of AATFK, they were also rather important in the actual story of this book, especially Étienne.

It was easy to see the parallels between Étienne and Ellie and Lola and Max. And towards the end of the book, when Lola started to wonder what her relationship with Max was going towards, I imagined Étienne thinking exactly the same things.

And that's one of the things I love about Stephanie Perkins. I've said this before, I'll say it again. Her characters and their situations are so real. Of course a pretty, talented and outgoing girl like Lola would have a boyfriend. And I find that in a lot of YA romances, the gorgeous, wonderful female protagonist doesn't have her eye on anyone, let alone an actual boyfriend. It's just so much more complex and realistic and it makes for a better all-round story, which makes me as a reader very happy.

Another thing that I can now confirm about Stephanie Perkins is that she doesn't just have one story and one set of characters that she uses over and over again. One of my main fears when reading a sequel to a book that has a different set of characters to the first one is that these new characters are just going to be based off the original characters, and just thrown into a vaguely different situation. That isn't what happened in this book. Lola was so, so different to Anna. Where Anna is very worried and highly-strung, Lola is free-spirited and strong-willed. Again I bring up the point that she was more like Étienne than Anna. She had this flair and freeness about her which I seriously loved reading. Even though I am much more like Anna, reading Anna is like reading a gust of wind- calming, peaceful and easy. Reading Lola was like reading a firework- unpredictable and different. I like reading about both girls, but I was just so impressed at how different they really were.

Then there's Étienne and Cricket. Cricket is more quiet, and he was such a sweetheart. Everything he did was genuinely in the best interest of others, and he was just a good person. It's not that common to read a boy like Cricket in YA; most love interests have a very sassy, cocky feel to them, but Cricket was very sweet and quiet and he cared. Étienne was very much more the sassy, charming French Prince, and even though he was a great, fun character, I felt myself "awwww"-ing more whilst reading about Cricket. Honestly, though, if you asked me to choose one, I couldn't, because I love them both.

Just a sidenote, one of my favourite things in this book were the parallels in Cricket and Étienne's heights- Étienne is constantly picked on for being short, whereas Cricket is constantly picked on for being tall. It was really quite gorgeous to see.

Let's talk about Max. I knew he wasn't going to be as perfect as Lola narrated him as, especially once she explained that not only was he twenty-two, he also had a rock band, tattoos and was a bit of a jerk. Even she could admit that. He was just generally not very nice, especially when he kept saying stuff like having brunch with her parents was a burden. He was also super possessive, which I never like in a male character. He wasn't so much controlling as he was jealous, but the way he made her feel guilty for even just talking to Cricket bordered on the controlling side. I was glad when she finally broke up with him, and he finally let everyone know what he thought about Lola. I was even more suspicious, because I only recently read Breaking Beautiful, where there is a major plot twist in the love interest's character… Although I highly recommend it, so if you like crime and mystery stories, try Breaking Beautiful!

Back onto LATBND. This was a delightful book filled with cutesy romance, cutesy characters, cutesy scenes and just all round Stephanie Perkins perfectness. It was a joy to read and I am anxiously awaiting to get my hands on a copy of Isla and the Happily Ever After, and wondering whether Lola, Anna and co. will make cameos! (also pet hate of mine I've seen a few people calling Isla "is-la". It's pronounced "eye-la", as confirmed by SP herself. I just want to clear this up for people before they read the book so their entire world doesn't come crashing down when they realise they've been saying Isla wrong.)

Anyways have a wonderful day and I shall see you all soon!

Hunting Lila- Recommendation

Heyyyy! It's that time again! Time for a recommendation from yours truly! So today I am recommending you a book called Hunting Lila, by Sarah Alderson. I found this book on goodreads (check out my account if you wanna here), and I've had it on my "to-read" list for ages. So when I saw it in my library and was stocking up for a few weeks, I couldn't resist grabbing it.

I really enjoyed it, there was just enough of everything I love in a story in it to make me really appreciate the book. As with lots of books, however, the end of the book sort of deteriorates, but I'm hoping the second book will not let me down!

Lila has two secrets she's prepared to take to the grave. She can move things with her mind, and she's been in love with her brother's best friend, Alex, since forever.

Lila knows she's not ordinary. Dead mother, brother working for a mysterious government operation called The Unit and telekinetic powers sort of give a girl that impression. But after a dangerous and troubling mishap with her powers, Lila flees from her Dad and London, off to go live with her brother, Jack, and his best friend, Alex, in America.

Jack and Alex work at The Unit, a top-secret government military facility which is all too suspicious. Whilst living over in the strange world of odd alarms and midnight missions, Lila must deal with Alex. Lila has been in love with Alex since they were kids, and is determined not to let him or Jack know over her time staying with them.

Not only does Lila have to worry about Alex and The Unit, but also her powers. Mysterious men come up to her asking for her help and other odd things begin to happen, and she realises that maybe, everything here is connected.

So this book was hard to put into a genre. It's sort of crime and mystery, but also sort of psych thriller, and also a tiny bit supernatural, but it was just a really enjoyable story. I recommend this for people in book hangovers or mourning periods, because it's an easy story that you can really get into and enjoy with not too much effort.

I hope I've been able to give you guys an idea of something to read and I'll see you next week, right here!

Have a brilliant day!

My Thoughts on the New Harry Potter Short Story

the article on pottermore source: http://goo.gl/oPzecy

Hello! So as you may or may not know, earlier today, a new Harry Potter short story dropped, and at least to my knowledge, with no warning. It is an article, written by infamous wizard journalist Rita Skeeter. This was uploaded onto JK Rowling's interactive Harry Potter game site, Pottermore. I was rather shocked to find out that there was more content, especially since JK made it perfectly clear that she was done with Harry, Ron and Hermione- that their stories were over.

Anyways I don't know how I feel about this short story. Some of it made me want to throw my laptop out the window, but some of it was funny and/or nice to read. I'm so conflicted about it that I would appreciate a friendly discussion (at the end of this post there are several methods in which you can contact me :D). Let's start with things I did not like about this new content first.

Read the short story here.

Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione
Okay, earlier this year, JK made an announcement that she regretted putting Harry and Ginny together, and would've preferred placing Harry and Hermione together. This made me completely uncomfortable, because the whole series basically eludes to Ron and Hermione (Romione) being endgame (final pairing). It's quite obvious that these two pairings were clearly set up to be together. I'm not sure, and I say this hoping that you understand I have nothing but respect for Ms Rowling, but I think maybe, she might have done this for publicity, or just for the fun of it. I mean, can you imagine having that much power and being able to make millions of people all around the world go into a frenzy? But anyways, that really annoyed me. Like, you've written these two couples, they've been made endgame, please just leave them alone PLEASE PLEASE I WILL CRY.

Moving onto the point, in the article, Rita Skeeter eludes to their being problems in the Potter family, in this snippet-

"Are cracks beginning to show in a union that the Potters are determined to promote as happy? Should we read anything into the fact that his wife Ginevra has been perfectly happy to leave her husband and children behind in London whilst reporting on this tournament?"

And I mean, this could just be Rita Skeeter being Rita Skeeter. She's known for her ridiculous falsities and rumours that she spreads. But I can't help but feel that these two events are connected, and I'm really unhappy as a result. This makes Lily sad.

Neville and Luna
Okay so this broke my heart. Neville and Luna are clearly made for one another, and they clearly should have been endgame. I think the excuse JK gave for not having "Nuna" end up together was that it would be "too neat and perfect". But, if the protagonist (Harry) can end up with best friend's sister (Ginny), and best friend no. 2 (Hermione) can end up with best friend (Ron), the series end is already too neat. And plus, it is, after all, a children's series. I think this is something people often forget. It was written for children, so an incompetent villain and a pretty, neat, happy ending are completely understandable.

Neville ends up with Hannah Abbott, who I remember being a Hufflepuff, who, during Goblet of Fire, wore a "Potter Stinks" badge. And that's as much as I know about her. Luna ends up with Rolf Scamander, who no one has heard of or cares about. Rita describes him as "swarthy", and makes some assumptions about their family life, and guess what, they're all negative. This makes me so sad because if Luna deserves anything, it's a lovely life. She's an angel, always caring. SHE DESERVES NEVILLE AND I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THAT THEY ARE NOT IN LOVE AND MARRIED WITH CUTE LITTLE BABIES.

Ron's Later Life
So this will be brief I swear. In addressing everyone's favourite anti-hero, Mr Ron Weasley, there is mention of "mental illness" and "never being the same". Here's a direct quote-

"Was the work of the Auror Department too much for a man who has admitted that the destruction of He Who Could Not Be Named's Horcruxes 'took its toll' on him? He shows no obvious signs of mental illness from a distance, but the public is not allowed close enough to make a proper assessment."

Does this elude to Ron and Hermione's relationship also? I'm not sure, but this just seems uncharacteristically Ron for me, and all I want is for these characters to be happy okay?

Now onto some more positive things! There were some things that made this article a little lighter for me, and I shall discuss them now.

Teddy and Victoire
At the end of Deathly Hallows, we get mention of Teddy Lupin, son of Remus and Tonks, and Victoire Weasley, daughter of Bill and Fleur, being together. This was a perfect match for me, and it seems, according to this snippet, they're still together (well, it's not discussed whether it's official, but they seem to be an item??) and this brings joy to my broken shipper heart. (Yet again I'll just quickly bring up this- how is allowing these two together not being "too neat" with endgame couples? Just saying.)

Viktor Krum Being Seeker
I don't know why, but the fact that Krum was the Bulgarian seeker made me so happy. It was so cool to find out where he went as a character, because he was not really addressed in the later books. It just made the world seem even more real, that all the characters, even more minor ones, had realistic futures. It was also lovely to see that Harry and Viktor are still friends, and that Harry was introducing his sons to Viktor. New brotp? Maybe.

So in conclusion, I'm still undecided about this new article. There are some bits that I'm super happy I got to find out but there are multiple things that made me unhappy.

What are your thoughts on this new content? Pleased? Saddened? Wanting to sell all your emotions on eBay? Let me know with either a tweet to @lilypherondale, a tumblr ask to sherlockcrumpets or in the comments. Follow any of the above accounts or subscribe to my email alerts on the right of this column (under my popular posts section) to find out when I make a new post!

Have a lovely evening and I'll see you all very soon for a new recommendation :) xo

The Iron King Review

Hi, friends! Thank you for returning to my blog, or visiting for the first time! I hope you are having a brilliant

day :)

Today, I will be reviewing a book called The Iron King by Julie Kagawa. I am fairly certain that every person on the entire internet has read this book. And I loved the idea, the blurb and the title. So, you may be wondering, why, oh why, did I not pick this up until recently?

Well, purely because many things have gotten in the way of me reading this. I find other books, then I check my local library and it's out, and then I find other books and it just gets pushed back further and further. Please tell me in the comments or with a tweet if you can relate to this.. Anyways, it's been in my TBR pile for ages, and I finally got round to reading it. I borrowed out the entire series, and read the first three over the space of two days. Obsession? Maybe. Good writing, and me getting into the series? The excuse I'm using for obsessing over this story.

This book is about faeries, and is a very cleverly executed play on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. (I love Shakespeare, so this already had me hooked.) Meghan Chase has always known something was different about her, ever since her father disappeared in front of her when she was six. She has always felt like her mother was running from something, always felt like an outsider. On her sixteenth birthday, everything changes. When darker, magic forces threaten her family, she is thrown into the world of the fey, and must battle and fight to save what she loves. She joins forces with her best friend, who isn't who he claimed to be, a talking cat and a broody, dark faery prince to help her on her quest, but she soon realises that this is no longer just a rescue mission, but something much darker and more dangerous, something that she plays a crucial role in. Something that she can no longer run from.

I quite liked this book, and desperately loved the world it was set in, so I suggest if you haven't read it, you go to your nearest book shop or library and get yourself a copy (don't delay like I did).

***SPOILERS***

Well. This book, and entire series, is nothing like I imagined it. I guess that's the case with all good books, however. You come into it thinking one thing and come out thinking another. Anyways, I will explain why
I loved this book in a way that will probably maybe hopefully not be a positive rant.

As a fan of Shakespeare, I am always excited to see references to him in any book. This is arguably the reason I picked up The Fault in Our Stars (besides the internet having a fit over it, which did make me curious). And the blurb of this book did not explain that this would be inspired by A Midsummer Night's Dream, so I was completely surprised when I found out Robbie was Puck. I almost jumped with excitement. I hoped that this play on Shakespeare's work would carry through the whole thing successfully, and not just start and end with Puck. Thankfully, and to my utmost joy, it did.

As soon as we met Oberon, I was sure that she was the Princess. In fact, as soon as Robbie called her 'Princess' in the first chapter, I was certain it wasn't just a cute pet name. It was pretty predictable, but there is no way to make it a surprise, if you know what I mean. I'm sure no one was shocked when Hagrid said, "You're a wizard, Harry" in Harry Potter. It's the type of thing you can't really make shocking (much like Ash's "death", but I'll get to that later). I loved the way Titania was written, and it just took me back to A Midsummer Night's Dream. I was sad that not only did we see very little of her in this book, but very little of her in the next few books. I would've liked to see her warm to Meghan, maybe even be a tiny bit more motherly to her.

Another very predictable thing was Robbie/Puck's love for Meghan. As soon as I heard him call her 'Princess' (this seems to be a fundamental moment of realisation for me, doesn't it?) I had a feeling this was going to turn into a "best-friend-versus-mysterious-bad-boy love triangle", similar to The Mortal Instruments. And we always know that the Mysterious Bad Boy wins. So as soon as she talked about seeing a dark, attractive boy riding a horse, I had a feeling that he might be critical to the story. And when she saw him at the ball, I knew he was love interest number two.

I must admit, the fact this name was "Ash" made me want to groan a bit, because, well, it's such a… stereotypical-young-adult-fantasy-bad-boy name. But then I remembered that these faeries had a flair for the dramatic, because his older brother's name was Sage, for crying out loud. But it still annoyed a tiny bit. But I loved Ash, because he wasn't like other YA love interests. Exactly. In my mind, he was a quieter Jace, a more cold and calculating Jace (I'm referencing The Mortal Instruments here, go read it if you haven't already). He was just such a nice contrast to Puck, and I loved seeing the three of them interact, and I still do. I liked the way that he didn't just constantly profess his love for her, and constantly throughout the series he's like that. Sometimes I find that with male love interests in YA, they start out cold and cruel to the girl, and then once they finally profess their love, it's like they just can't stop. Every four seconds it's "you're beautiful" or "I love you" or more kisses, and I liked that just because he let Meghan know that he liked her didn't mean that he totally changed the way he was. It was constant throughout the book and throughout the series, and I admire Julie Kagawa for not following the normal path.

One of the best things about this book was the ability Julie Kagawa has to write as if it really is being narrated by an irritated, emotional teenage girl but still have incredibly pretty writing. Some of the words and sentences took my breath away, and this style was completely consistent as I travelled through the first three books. Even though this is from the third book, The Iron Queen, it was one of the most memorable sentences, even though it's not important to the story at all. Grim is sitting at an eating table, where breakfast is laid out, and it says something along the lines of "he observed the opaque, pearly droplets on his paw" (talking about milk of course). It was just so pretty and it made me jealous as an author. Why, oh why, can I not make drinking milk sound as pretty as Julie Kagawa can?

I think the reason why I made this a four star instead of a five star was because things sometimes felt a little too angsty or a little too… dramatic. I know Ash is an angsty character, as with most fey, but his effect on whole storyline made it so angsty that it started to be too dramatic. When Meghan trips and Ash catches her, they just have this awkward moment of staring at each other, I wanted to groan. It reminded me of that moment in the City of Bones movie where Clary fell on top of Jace and they just stayed like that. Ughhhhhh. If it had been Puck who caught Meghan (believe me, I totally think Meg and Ash were perfect for each other, this is just an example), he would've given her a cheeky smile and some smart, sassy quip that would've made the whole scene less groan-worthy and more cutesy. Anyways, I guess having angsty scenes is just an effect of having a more concealed character.

My other major complaint about this book was that Meghan was just a bit… wimpy. Don't get me wrong, if I was in that world, I would be clinging to Ash's legs and refusing to let go until he gave me a sword and some basic fighting lessons, but I'm not a YA protagonist. It just felt kind of deflating that she kept running behind the defences of the males around her. As a feminist, this made me a little irritated, but later on in the series, she asks Ash to teach her how to fight and she becomes stronger and much more tough and willing to fight. In my eyes, her fear to fight for herself in this book is there so it can be developed later on, however, looking at it from just this book's example, it did make me a little unhappy.

Anyways that's my thoughts on The Iron King, and I hope you can leave a comment with your thoughts, along with your twitter name and I will shout you out/follow you :)

Have a terrific day and I'll see you here next week for a recommendation!