Book Review · Books

Vampire Academy – Richelle Mead [BOOK REVIEW]

vampire academy richelle mead novel book books book review diary of difference blog blogging blogger popular trending uk england

★★★

It happened, people. I finally did it. I have officially read Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, and I have mixed feelings about it.

After years of you guys begging me to read this book, I have finally managed to dig into this vampire world with Lissa – the Moroi (mortal) vampire and Rose – her guardian, sworn to protect her.

These two best friends are on the run, after Lissa’s family has been killed. Now, they unwillingly return to the Vampire Academy, and try to live their normal lives, but danger is on their doorstep.

I loved the plot, and the idea of the world building, even though, I have to admit, I wish we had more pages of the Vampire Academy description. Or maybe this is just me screaming – ”I want a vampire Hogwarts description right here, right now!”

I loved their friendship, and I loved how both of them would sacrifice so much for each other. It is a character quality we rarely see, and it was so well delivered that it gave me shivers for a few scenes.

However, the characters themselves weren’t much likeable. Lissa, well, we hardly get to really know her. She is mostly a shadow of Rose’s opinions of herself. And as of Rose, as much as I admired her bravery and wisdom, sometimes she was just so dumb for her own good.

I loved the plot twists, and the cliffhangers, especially the few ones right at the very end, but it took so long for them to come. Despite that, this book was still such a fast read, and you can’t take your hands off it.

”For they (women) are strange and mysterious creatures,” he continued in his scholarly voice, ”and a man must be a mind reader if he ever wishes to make them happy.”

I wanted to not mention the romance bit of the novel, but I have to stay honest to myself and do it. Unrealistic romances will happen that will make you cringe. I won’t spoil it for you, but I happened to love these two people together, even though their so called love happened instantly.

”And sometimes, if I was really, really lucky, he’d smile at me. A real smile too – not the dry one that accompanied the sarcasm we tossed around so often.”

A typical high-school fantasy novel, with vampires included, this will be a great addition to your shelves if you love this genre. I greatly enjoyed it, but being older I think these things stuck a bit to me.

If you haven’t read this, I do recommend it. Even though it had a few weak points, I would definitely read the second book of the series.

Have you read Vampire Academy? Is it on your TBR?        I would love to see what you think! 

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Books · WWW Wednesday Tag

WWW Wednesday Tag #3

WWW Wednesdays (3)

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly tag revived by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. It’s quite simple. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three W’s are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

flower-divider-flower-dividers-clip-art-flowers-line-divider-stock-vector-illustration-of-elegant

What are you currently reading?


I am currently reading The Psychology Of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas. It is an ARC copy I received from Netgalley and the publishing date is in February 2019. I am excited to share my thoughts with you on this one.

Purchase links:

The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, and I really enjoyed it. I haven’t written my review yet, so watch this space, but I am so so so happy that I finally managed to get if off from my TBR list, after a few years of procrastinating.

Purchase links:

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

What do you think you’ll read next?

Same as last week, I am planning to read a few book that I have been sent by some authors, a great promising books that I can’t wait to share more of with you.

The first one being Awaken by K.S. Marsden. This is the sequel of Winter Trials and you can find my review of the first book HERE. It is a story about high-school, magic and LGBT relationship. The first book gave me an incredible Christmassy feeling, and I can’t wait to dive into the next one.

The second book I plan on finishing before the end of 2018 is Curses of Scale by S.D. Reeves. The cover is so gorgeous. I mean – look at it! It reminds me of Christmas, and also of Hearthstone ( A Blizzard game). It also features a young girl, and dragons and fairies and a fantasy world. I can’t wait to hop into this adventure!

Purchase links:

Awaken by K.S. Marsden
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Curses of Scale by S.D. Reeves
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

flower-divider-flower-dividers-clip-art-flowers-line-divider-stock-vector-illustration-of-elegant

How does your WWW Wednesday looks like?

Follow me on all the social media (see links below), and don’t forget to leave a comment with your link. As always, I love reading your posts.

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Books · Down The TBR Hole Tag

Down The TBR Hole #11

down the tbr hole book books blog diary of difference

I am always excited when doing this, and a few days before Christmas, I am in the mood of just keeping all books, so I know this will be a tough one.

Credit for this tag goes to Lost in a Story.

How it works:

❤ Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
❤ Order on ascending date added.
❤ Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books.
❤ Read the synopsis of the books.
❤ Decide: keep it or should it go

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Here’s the next patch:

down the tbr hole book blog books love novel author writer diary of difference

Shatter Me (Shatter Me, #1) by Tahereh Mafi

I did a summer challenge this year, where I read books that my sister recommended. Some of the books were cringy, but some of them were hidden gems and I am so grateful to her for letting me find them. This is one of the recommendations, but I never got to read it. I am keeping it, as I am curious how it will turn out.

Verdict: KEEP  ☑ 

Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft by Tess Sharpe

Look at that cover! Ever since I saw it, I wanted to have it! And I kept hearing amazing stories, and I love witches and witchcraft. Can’t let go of this one.

Verdict: KEEP  ☑ 

The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O’Neill

Again, very hard choice, as I had this book on my TBR for a very long time, but every time I read that synopsis, I keep being reminded how much I need it.

Verdict: KEEP  ☑ 

The Love of Her Life by Harriet Evans

I used to love reading these types of books, but at the moment I am not in a mood for chick-lit.

Verdict:  REMOVE ✖

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak

Markus Zusak? Yes, please! But this time, I will remove this book, because I already have a few other books from him on my list.

Verdict: REMOVE ✖

The English Agent by Clare Harvey

After reading The Night Raid, I had to read another another book from Clare Harvey. Looking forward to read this one.

Verdict: KEEP ☑  

The Astrologer’s Daughter by Rebecca Lim

I am not sure why I have this book on my list. Seems alright, but not interesting enough to keep my attention.

Verdict:  REMOVE ✖

Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple #1) by Agatha Christie

I love Agatha Christie, and I loved the type of mystery she writes. This is the first book from the Miss Marple series, and I have to read it. AND SOON!

Verdict: KEEP  ☑ 

Come Sundown by Nora Roberts

The Obsession by Nora Roberts

I am putting both of the Nora Roberts books together, because I will remove them both. No particular reason, I actually love reading her novels. But she has so many, and I have a lot of them on my TBR, so I decided to only keep one at a time from her, starting from the ones I would want to read the most. And these two don’t seem that interesting at the moment.

Verdict: REMOVE ✖

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My TBR has improved so much!!! I am so happy, and looking forward to listing all my books and reducing my TBR even more. I managed to remove 5 books this week.

Let me know if you have read any of these, and if you want me to keep or remove any of these books from my list! I look forward to see what you think!

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Book Review · Books

All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth [BOOK REVIEW]

all these beautiful strangers by elizabeth klehfoth book review blog diary of difference books blogging blogger reading novel goodreads netgalley summer author writer diaryofdifference

★★★★

A beautiful story about families, love, betrayal, the difference between the rich and poor, and a girl that tries to discover what happened to her missing mother, while discovering herself.

Charlie Calloway has a life most people would kill for – a tight-knit family, a loyal set of friends, and top grades a privileged boarding school. But Charlie’s never been interested in what most people want. Like all Calloways, she’s been taught that she’s different, special – better. So when her school’s super-exclusive secret society extends a mysterious invitation, Charlie’s determination to get in is matched only by her conviction that she belongs there.

But their secrets go deeper than she knows.

Charlie finds herself thrust into the centre of a decades-old mystery – one that implicates her family in not one terrible crime, but two. Uncovering their past may destroy everything she knows – or give her the answer she’s always craved: Who or what was behind her mother’s disappearance ten years ago?

I haven’t heard about this book until I received it as a birthday gift from my sister. The cover is just – gorgeous! You can feel the raindrops on the cover, and the sides are painted black, and you can read out ”I KNOW”. They have been thinking of all the little details.

The story is a bit slow at the beginning. It took me a while to get into it, as they delay the plot for a while, but once you get past that little hill of boredom, it gets better and better. I could imagine myself climbing a mountain with my bike, struggling while climbing, just so I can enjoy the great fast downhill and wind in my face.

The story is told by many people’s perspective, and it changes after each chapter. The amazing thing was, the stories go back in the past as well, but the story keeps flowing in one direction, event by event, which I really enjoyed. If this was poorly made, the book would’ve been so confusing, but fortunately, it wasn’t.

Even though I didn’t expect, this turned out to be a great mystery-solving novel, with wonderful and unexpected plot-twists, and a cliffhanger until the end. Is the mother dead or alive?

Many of the topics covered are very relatable. The difference between children raised in rich families versus the children raised in not-s-rich families. Their thoughts and mindsets, their beliefs, and the people they hang out with. And when a girl like Charlie, who has a father from a rich family and a mother from a poor family, is on the cross-road, it is amazing to see this character develop and make choices for herself, that reflect on both her backgrounds.

A lovely read, fast-paced novel, with a beautiful cover and even more beautiful reading material, this is one of the stories that I would recommend for you to read on a rainy day, covered in a blanket, with a hot chocolate – despite the summer theme on the cover, this was a winter book for me.

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Books · WWW Wednesday Tag

WWW Wednesday Tag #2

www wednesdays tag www wednesday blog book blog diary of difference

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly tag revived by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. It’s quite simple. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three W’s are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

flower-divider-flower-dividers-clip-art-flowers-line-divider-stock-vector-illustration-of-elegant

What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. I have been asked by so many of you to read this one, and I was always prolonging it. So I went to the library and got it, finally.

I am also reading the Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. I wanted to read this book since I was a child, and for some reason, I never did. So when I went to the library, I also got this one. It is a short version, with about 60 pages, so I also got The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank by Willy Lindwer, to help with understanding the whole story. What happened in those camps and with those families was terrible, and I am always in a sad mood while reading them, but I think that every person needs to read a few of these books that are crucial for understanding the horrible histories.

Both of these books are from my Down The TBR Hole lists, so I am proud of myself, for making my TBR list even smaller.

Purchase links:

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank by Willy Lindwer
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, and I wish I have read this book way sooner in my life, back when I was a teen and needed this sort of advice, of a shy boy that understands things better than most adults. A must-read for people of all ages – a story of going through high-school, going through growing up and becoming adult, and facing challenges that we face as adults.

I have also just finished All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth, and my review is yet to be published on my blog. But in the meantime, I will just say that this was a beautiful read, of a girl discovering her missing mother’s story while discovering herself.

Purchase links:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

All These Beautiful Strangers by Elizabeth Klehfoth
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

What do you think you’ll read next?

I am planning to read a few book that I have been sent by some authors, a great promising books that I can’t wait to share more of with you.

The first one being Awaken by K.S. Marsden. This is the sequel of Winter Trials and you can find my review of the first book HERE. It is a story about high-school, magic and LGBT relationship. The first book gave me an incredible Christmassy feeling, and I can’t wait to dive into the next one.

The second book I plan on finishing before the end of 2018 is Curses of Scale by S.D. Reeves. The cover is so gorgeous. I mean – look at it! It reminds me of Christmas, and also of Hearthstone ( A Blizzard game). It also features a young girl, and dragons and fairies and a fantasy world. I can’t wait to hop into this adventure!

Purchase links:

Awaken by K.S. Marsden
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Curses of Scale by S.D. Reeves
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

flower-divider-flower-dividers-clip-art-flowers-line-divider-stock-vector-illustration-of-elegant

How does your WWW Wednesday looks like?

Follow me on all the social media (see links below), and don’t forget to leave a comment with your link. As always, I love reading your posts.

Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram | Pinterest