Book Review: we were liars by e. lockhart

we were liars by e. Lockhart

I really don’t know where to start with this book. I mean the fact that I managed to read it within a couple of days should say something. I guess I can start with what the book is about and go from there.

I am going to try to do this without giving anything away. The story is told from the point of view of Cadence and she discusses her family that spends every summer on an island that her grandparents own. The “liars” are Cadence, Johnny, Mirren (who are all cousins) and Gat who is Johnny’s mom’s boyfriend’s nephew. Cadence goes through many summers and then summer 15 happens (the summer that all the liars are 15) and there is a terrible accident. Cadence then goes into trying to figure out what has happened because she has trouble remembering most things about that summer.

That is as basic as an overview I think I can give. I am not one to read the backs of books because I like to be surprised about what I am about to read. I had no idea what I was getting into when I was reading this book and I am happy that I didn’t because I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. I think that reading from Cadence’s perspective is not something I really care for, but that is more because YA perspectives tend to be teenagers who just won’t quit. I always enjoy the stories in the long run, but trying to read it is like scratching a chalkboard for me. However, Lockhart’s writing is absolutely poetic. This is what kept me reading the whole time. It was truly captivating for me. And it wasn’t just poetic in words but also in format which I enjoyed far more than I thought I would.

Overall though, while the writing style kept me reading this book it is the ending of it that makes me want to read more from Lockhart. It wasn’t what I was expecting and I was wondering where the story was going, but the ending really tied it all together. I was feeling too many feels by the end of this, and I’m not even mad about it. It is the kind of story that leaves you feeling a little numb inside and only really good books do that. Would recommend this to anyone and everyone.

Pokemon Indigo League Readathon (My First Readathon!)

Hello lovelies, I recently watched a video from Emily Fox in which she chose the books to go along with this readthon that is from August 14 to September 4. I have never done a readathon before because they are typically a lot of books in a very short amount of time, but I took a chance with this one because I loved watching Pokemon growing up and why the heck not join in right? I am hoping that I will get through these books that I have chosen. This is the last 2 weeks before teh new semester and I am not sure how much spare reading time I will have so I want to read a lot before then. So I will just get right into it!

Pewter Gym - First Book in a Series - The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan. I am aware that I should have read this already at some point in my life, but better late than never right?

Cerulean Gym - Book that Might Make you Cry - We Were Liars by e. lockhart. My sister told me that she was on the verge of crying when she read this, so I just went with it. Also I really wanted to read this for a while.

Vermilion Gym - Book with Thunderous Hype - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by j.k. Rowling. Is anything more hyped than the Harry Potter series?

Celadon Gym - Book that Focuses on Diversity - Flawed by Cecilia Ahern. Not sure if this fits perfectly but my sister says it does and I am going to go with it.

Fushia Gym - Book with Great Romance - Ciao Bella by Gina Buonaguro and Janice Kirk. This is in my 5 by Nov. 5th so I wanted to add something from there to not totally abandon that book challenge, but also because the main character must deal with the love for her missing husband as well as finding new love in an American soldier.

Saffron Gym - Book with Fantasy/Supernatural Elements - The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks - Don't know much about this trilogy, but excited to get into it.

Cinnibar Gym - Book with a Red Cover - Scarlet by Marissa Meyer. The cover has a lot of red on it, so that counts.

Viridian Gym - Post-Apocalyptic Setting - The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson. As I come close to finishing the Mistborn Trilogy I don't think I can move away from Sanderson's writing just yet. He has definitely become one of my favorite writers as of late.

So there are my choices and I don't think I will get through all of these books because there are a lot of them and I am a slow reader that has a full time job, but I am going to try!

Are you joining in on this readathon? What books would you choose?

Read 5 by Nov. 5th Book Challenge Update #1

Hello lovelies, it has been a month since I have started the Read 5 by November 5th book challenge. I finished one and made my way through some of the others.

I am only going to update on the books I have read and so that this won't be too long. If you would like to see the books I chose for this challenge you can see that here.

to all the boys I loved before by Jenny Han - I made it through this one fairly quickly. It is an easy read, kind of predictable, but still nice for an easy summer day. Han's writing was a bit frustrating for me since it was full of fragments and incredibly short chapters. It isn't something that I thought I could get used to, but it made having only a couple of minutes to read easier since I like to stop at chapters or page breaks. Reading this peaked my interest into more of her work though so I guess it did its job. I know that there are a couple of books that follow this story and once this challenge is over I will probably seek them out.

Morning Light by Catherine Anderson - I am so close to finishing this book. I probably have 2 more days worth of reading (yes, I am a really slow reader.). This was a reread, and quite frankly I am questioning everything I read when I went through my romance novel phase. It wasn't completely bad, just some parts that I think could have been written out a little better.

A Short History of Women by Kate Walbert - This isn't the worst book that I have ever read, but I can't exactly see myself rereading it. I might just to see if I can make more sense of it. But I think that this book needs to be read on its own and within a short period of time so that it doesn't confuse you. Those are 2 things I am not very good at though.

Ciao Bella by Gina Buonaguro and Janice Kirk - I only read a couple of chapters from this one so I don't know what to make of it yet, however I am excited to get more into it. I love the use of descriptive scenery since it is the closest I will get to Italy at the moment.

So, 1 down and 4 out of the 5 left to go. I have decided that I need to focus more on one book at a time, or at least try to. Having random stacks of books all over my desk is getting frustrating for me. As for the next update I know that I can have the Catherine Anderson book done, and possibly the Kate Walbert one as well.

How is this reading challenge going for all of you?

Read 5 by November 5th! Book Challenge

Hello lovelies, so I realize that the content of my blog has been lacking in all things bookish as of late, but I am changing that today! I have been seeing a challenge floating around in youtube to read 5 books by November 5th which is Bonfire Night. This is a cross between my love of books and my love of project panning, so of course I decided to join on in. I have chosen 6 books instead of 5 because I am not sure that I can really commit to some of these, but I really want to finish them. I have too many unfinished books on my shelf that I need to finish so I can enjoy all the other books that I have recently purchased and want to read. I have already started 4 of the 6 books, but I haven't gotten real far in any of them except one of them.

1. Morning Light by Catherine Anderson - This is going to be a reread for me. I went through a phase where all I would read was romance novels, but it has been a while and I am actually excited to get into this one again. A girl with visions, a rancher, and a lost boy make up the story and I am excited to rediscover this book.

2. A Short History of Women by Kate Walbert - This book follows 5 generations of women, starting with a suffragette in 1914 and ends post 9/11. I started this book a little while ago, and it seems like a really short read, however I haven't been able to really get into it just yet. 

3. Ciao Bella by Gina Buonaguro and Janice Kirk - I bought this book off of bookoutlet a little while ago because it seemed like a combination of some of my favorite things - historical fiction, Italy, and a love story. I haven'tread much of it, just the prologue, but I am curious to see where the story goes with this book.

4. to all the boys I've loved before by Jenny Han - A contemporary novel that came highly recommended by my sister who is obsessed with all things book (@areaderguide on instagram!). I am always up for easy reads and this seems like one. I have heard amazing things about Jenny Han's writing so I look forward to reading this, even though I have found that reading anything from the perspective of a teenager is not really what I am into anymore. I'll have to see how this goes though.

5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling - I started this and haven't gotten past chapter 2 because life keeps getting in the way. It is too heavy of a book for me to carry around, so I am limited on when I can reach for this. I do want to get through this one though because I really loved this movie and I want to finish the Harry Potter series if it is the last thing I do! 

6. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson - I started this book years ago and I am just shy of being half way through the book. I really enjoyed the first 2, but they are pretty slow paced to start and don't get to the point where I can't put them down until closer to the end of the story. I want to finish this and what better a time to pick it up again than when I am challenging myself to read it.

So, there are teh 6 novels that I hope to have at least 5 of read by November 5th. When I mentioned this to my sister she laughed in my face and said "It's going to take you that long to read 5 books?!" To that I say yes, it will because I am the worlds slowest reader, which I am okay with. However I also like to read multiple books at a time and I tend to not finish books because of it. I look forward to getting all these unfinished books read!! 

Current Reads September 2015

Hello people of the internet, so here for you today I have yet another current reads for you. I guess I will go from left to right. Lets just pretend that my planner isn't there, I couldn't be bothered to move it. 

1. apples & chalkdust by Vivki Caruana

This is a really cute read. Its just little stories and things of encouragement for teachers. Caruana uses her own experiences as well as from a couple of other teachers. Really cute read for anyone going into education.

2. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

This is I believe the fourth book I am reading from Rowell. I have come to appreciate her adult contemporary novels and this is one of them. I just started reading it, so I don;t know how much I like this one, but so far it seems like an easy read. Sometimes I need something like this to get me out of a reading slum. 

3. The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks

Working through this pretty slowly; possibly because I have already read it before. I go to this whenever I am in the mood to read and just don't know what to read. I know when the story develops a bit more I won't be able to put it down, but it is a bit slow in the build for now and that is how it reads.

4. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Still working on reading all the Harry Potter books. Clearly I got stuck on the third one. There is nothing wrong with the book, but like with the Sparks book, it is taking a minute to get started. I realized this with the other 2 as well. Once I get to the good part, I am sure I won't be able to put it down.

So there you have it. I am doing a lot of reading for my classes at the moment and so my personal reading is taking a bit of a back seat. I am so far off from my goal of 24 books by the end of the year, but I will keep at it. I will be happy if I could read even 12 honestly. Happy reading everyone. 

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Hello lovely people, today I have a book review for you all.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I don't exactly know where to start with this book, maybe I shouldn't call it a review, I just want to give my opinion on it and I am not sure how I actually feel about it.

It is a contemporary novel about a girl who starts college and is obsessed with writing fanfiction. There is much more to it, but I don't want to give the  story away. If you don't understand fandoms or even know what they are, you probably shouldn't even consider reading this. Since I am not so into the fandom thing anymore, some of this wasn't all that interesting to me. In between chapters there was little excerpts from Cath's fic and some from the book that she wrote based on; I began to just skip over these because I realized it did nothing for the story line. The story line did nothing for the story line. There was nothing exciting about the plot and it was painfully slow moving throughout.

The main character, Cather, was slightly mentally ill and her dad was a little more than slightly, her twin sister Wren wasn't crazy by any means but she was an alcoholic at the age of 18 and kind of broken. All three were broken because the mom left when they were just 8. Cath says this is what caused her and her dad to go crazy. The whole story makes sense in its realistic ways, but it felt awkward and uncomfortable to read. Maybe because I saw some connections between me and Cath at time.

However, with everything mentioned above, I found myself not wanting to put the book down. I finished it in a matter of days. I don't remember the last time I read something that fast, especially considering that I didn't really care for it. The characters weren't the worst, kind of likable I guess. Maybe that was the saving grace, the characters and all their issues. I have a weird weak spot for reading books and watching movies where there is a character who is psychologically broken.

When I made it to the end, I was kind of angry with Rowell. It was abrupt and left more than a few questions unanswered. Of course it is a stand alone and there is no sequel. The reader is left to wonder for the rest of their lives about everything that happened next. This book could have been made into a great independent film had it not been for the ending. I can see how in a movie they would want to answer some of the questions, but it would seem forced and unnatural to the story.

Overall, I think this would be a good read for anyone who is part of a fandom or loves fanfiction, especially if they are going into their first year of college. Maybe just the college part would be enough to get you to read this. Everyone gets nervous about going to college and if you are someone who has constant anxiety this can be scary.

I look forward to reading more by Rainbow Rowell because like I said, I couldn't put the book down if I wanted to. Sorry if this was all over the place, that is kind of how the book made me feel. Read it or don't, you won't lose or gain anything from it.

"Life of Pi" Book and Movie Review!

Well I have completed "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. . Let me start by saying that I was not really interested in reading this. Honestly if my brother didn't get it on audible (I use his account) I wouldn't have tried to get it on my own. That being said, I actually really enjoyed reading this. So here is a review, completely in my opinion, of the book and the movie. Before I start I should probably give you a mini-summary. It is a book about a young boy whose family runs a zoo in India. They are moving to Canada and because of all the animals, they are on a cargo ship. Something goes wrong with the ship and he ends up the only one off the ships. He tells his story of how he survived over 200 days stuck at sea with a tiger. The story is told from his perspective for the most part and also from the point of view of his therapist (I thought when reading), but in the movie it is someone who wants to write his story. All I know is that the voice changed between the two. That is basically it in a nutshell, without me getting too into detail and ruining anything for you. Sorry I am bad at summarizing, never was really good at it in middle school either.

The Book:
Like I said, I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the book as much as I have. I liked it a bit more maybe because I was able to listen to it and it was so convenient for me most of the time. As for the actual content of the book, it was all beautifully written. Very detailed in a way that has you envisioning everything. But I feel like that may be a little misleading because it isn't very detailed at all. To me it was almost as if it was vague. There were parts where it went into full detail, such as about one of the fish changing colors when he killed it, but there were parts that were left strictly to the imagination. I understand this a little bit though, because how many times can you describe the same ocean? The book is very captivating. There were times when I just stopped what I was doing and just listened. I stood in place and I listened to the words being read to me. There were also parts that I listened to again, just because I can. I am sure I'm not the only one who has ever reread a passage from a book out there. The religion aspect that the book brings up also intrigues me. I really enjoyed hearing about all the different religions and it made me want to take a religion class, and even consider shifting my major. That detail was just enough for me because it wasn't so overbearing and in your face, it gave the perfect amount of information. Something that bothered me a little was that it took so long before he made it into the boat. The whole first half I believe was just background and his childhood and little excerpts from the therapist/writer. I was getting anxious and I think I missed some things because I was just plain impatient and wanted to get on with the story. After reading it though I appreciate it as a whole and it bothers me a little less.

The Movie:
Well, the movie is another story for me. I know that movies pretty much never live up to the book they are based on. It started off fairly accurate and I appreciated that. There was of course things that were added in there so that people who have never read the book get a little extra to better understand the movie. I wish they focused a little bit more on the childhood part of the book, considering it was such a big part. I was disappointed that they didn't add the few chapters that were about religion, they kind of just stuck him into it. They took out a couple of people that I liked in the book and that were the reason his parents found out about all his religion practicing. I missed that a bit. There was also a part that was a little bit more important, but obviously not important enough, while he was at sea that they completely disregarded. I don't want to ruin it for anyone if they are reading it, but they will see when they watch what I mean. It made no difference to the movie, but I remember that I was just waiting for it. Me and my brother who also read the book, were not the happiest about that. I understand that for time reason that they had to cut it out, but it was one of my favorite chapters. All I will say is that it involves an island, which we know by the fact that he makes it "home" that he doesn't stay on for long. It would have been cool to see the animation that would have been involved though. They missed some other things that I wasn't happy about, but I could deal with I guess.

Overall:
I think you should definitely get the book and read it and then watch it. I thought it would be heavy reading but it wasn't at all. Also the movie wasn't too bad if you want to watch it without reading. My mom and sister did that and they seemed to have enjoyed it more than me. The ending is very mind blowing (for me it was) because it has you thinking a bit. I remember I was in a daze for a bit after finishing the book and it hit me again when I watched the movie. Maybe it is just me because I get like that after reading, but because of those last couple of chapters I would recommend this book for anyone and everyone!


B/N I realize after rereading my book review that I contradicted myself a lot about the detailing of the writing, but I don't know any other way to say what I needed to say. Sorry if it is confusing, I just hope someone out there understands what I am saying. Also I should be working on my schoolwork seeing as finals are around the corner, so my mind is a bit scrambled!