Books · Monthly Tags

My 2018 Reading Year in Review

Hello Lovelies!

2018 was an amazing year for me, as I managed to read 74 books, which is triple of what I read last year. This year I completely dedicated myself to this blog and this amazing community, and I want to thank you all for being here, for reading my reviews and for suggesting me books that I absolutely loved. Here’s to another amazing year ahead of us! 

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Best books I have read in 2018 (in no particular order):

🌟 Ready Player One – Ernest Cline

🌟 My Name is Anna – Lizzy Barber

🌟 Day Of The Accident – Nuala Ellwood

🌟 Fawkes – Nadine Brandes

🌟 A Game of Thrones (A Song Of Ice and Fire #1) – George R. R. Martin

🌟 City Of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1) – Cassandra Clare 

🌟 The Cruel Prince (The Folk of The Air #1) – Holly Black

🌟 Uglies (Uglies #1) – Scott Westerfeld

🌟 Warcross (Warcross #1) – Marie Lu

🌟 The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides

 

Book that disappointed me:

Books of The Month:

🌟 January:

Moonlight Over Manhattan – Sarah Morgan

🌟 February:

Ready Player One – Ernest Cline

🌟 March:

The Night Raid – Clare Harvey

🌟 April:

Coming Home – Fern Britton

🌟 May:

Now You See Her – Heidi Perks

🌟 June:

Quidditch Through the Ages – J.K. Rowling

🌟 July:

Fawkes – Nadine Brandes

🌟 August:

Never Forgotten (Never Forgotten #1) – Kelly Risser

🌟 September:

7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – Stuart Turton

🌟 October:

A Game of Thrones (A Song Of Ice and Fire #1) – George R. R. Martin

🌟 November:

Uglies (Uglies #1) – Scott Westerfeld

🌟 December:

Warcross (Warcross #1) – Marie Lu

 

Happy New Year!

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Book Review · Books

Warcross (Warcross #1) by Marie Lu [BOOK REVIEW]

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★★★★★

A fantasy of a virtual world, and a game that brings people together. A story of a girl that struggles to pay her rent, and her ability to hack the most important game of the year – Warcross. And when the creator of Warcross hires her, needing her help – she begins her adventure.

From the first moment that I read the synopsis of Warcross, I knew I wanted to have this book on my shelf and read it immediately. A couple of reasons stand behind this story:

  • A girl is a main character, and a fierce one. As boring it might seem, I love a book with brave characters, especially if it’s a teen girl. I think when girls are featured as brave and fearless in books, it gives encouragement to a lot of girls reading the book, that are struggling through their teenage years.

  • I am a vivid video games player. I play a lot of games, and this is something you might not have known about me. Feel free to ask me anything in the comments. I love the gaming community, and I believe that if it weren’t for the video games, I wouldn’t be who I am today.

  • If you haven’t read it, you have all probably heard about Ready Player One. I absolutely loved it, and watched the movie, and I am still in love with it. And when book reviewers started comparing Warcross to Ready Player One, I had to see if this was true. I just had to check for myself.

And then, I got this book as a birthday gift from my boyfriend. (see my Birthday Haul). So here we are, a few reasons after, me having read this book and telling you all what I thought.

Firstly, I feel like I need to say this – Warcross is nothing like Ready Player One.

Yes, we have a virtual world, and (surprise) virtual characters in the world. And yes, there is a game and the creator of the game is involved. But the whole plot and story are so much different in so many ways.

The descriptions of the virtual world, the story lines, the dialogues, the way the story flows, the romance – it is all unique and original.

And for you out there that compare this to Ready Player One – it is as if you are comparing Romeo and Juliet and Tristan and Isolde, only because they both have a plot of romance and forbidden love. It is ridiculous, let me tell you.

Even though the Warcross game as its own was brilliantly explained and described, I felt like we didn’t see much of the rest of the virtual world. I loved the way Marie Lu would talk about the world – so much passion in each chapter.

The discussion opens on virtual reality and the worlds that could be created. It is not a matter of whether it will happen, but when? I keep thinking I might be alive when we will live in a world of ”virtuality”. Would we be happier? Would we be smarter? Or would this just be another tool for people to get richer, by using its users? Is the future scary? Should it be?

Emika is a character I think many girls will relate to. Brave and fierce, even though she is afraid inside. A strong, young woman, that stands for what she believes in, even when this might mean losing the people she loves the most.

The story flows so quickly, and each end of the chapter begs you to start another one, and before you know it, it’s 4am and you keep reading, unable to stop. This book has some strange power right there!

The twists were interesting, even though some of them were predictable. Even with the knowledge of this, I would always miss something amazing, and even knowing what will happen, the experience was always pleasant.

I am so glad I got to read this book, and I am so excited to read Wildcard soon as well. I am definitely recommending this to all of you – I am sure you will enjoy it.

If you have read it, let me know what you think in the comments – I would love to discuss it!

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Books

Piasa – Michael Kott [BOOK REVIEW]

The author – Mr. Michael Kott sent me this book for an honest review! I honestly enjoyed reading every single page, and I couldn’t put the book down, which deprived me from some sleep a few nights. This is what I thought about PIASA:

This is a very warm story that covers the life of Sara, a young little girl (don’t call her that, she’ll get angry!). My apologies – a young fifteen-year-old lady that survives a car accident while her whole family dies. In times when destiny is hard to accept, she will get involved into resolving the mystery behind the legend of the Piasa, and this adventure might actually mean a new start in life for her!

For a lady of this age, this destiny is extremely hard to accept, and on top of that, she has a few scars that will mark that experience probably for the rest of her life.

Her life is not easy – she lost her family, and all of her belongings, and here she is now, at her Aunt Claire’s hotel, still unsure whether she is ready to move forward with life.

Sara is a very unusual character. I have to admit that at times, she would made me cringe. Some of the things she says and does doesn’t comply with my opinion, but there are things that I really loved about her. I loved the way she is coping with all the challenges she has, after everything that she’s been through, her ability to admire someone the way she admires Mike, to start believing again, even despite everything that happens around her, to seize the day and enjoy the moments that life can offer. I love how she would find hope even in the darkest of places.

Even though I really liked the character of Sara, my favourite character has to be Mike. The way he thinks, acts and motivates everyone around him is unique. Mike is one of the characters that will make you realise and question some of your decisions in life.

The only character I couldn’t connect to at all was Pamela. I honestly am not sure why – it might be that there weren’t too many situations involving her that would make me care.

The story hooks you onto it and it is hard to put it down. I have never heard about the legend of the Piasa before, and one part of me wanted to find out before reading the book. I am glad that I didn’t, as I found out slowly about it, page by page, and that is an experience that will stay with me.

I love how it is presented that life is so unpredictable in so many ways, that mysteries are all around us, and that we are able to move forward and win – only if we wish to believe that we can do it. And sometimes, we are in doubt, and that is when precious people come into our lives – it all happens with a reason.

The only thing I wish was different about ‘’Piasa’’ is that I could’ve read this amazing book way, way sooner, when I was fifteen. I can’t wait to read the second book of this series – Cryptid.

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Postcards

The Art Of Carl Larsson In A Postcard

postcard
Brita in the drawing room – painted by Carl Larsson

When the love for receiving postcard will combine with the love of art, this is what happens.

It makes my day!

For those that are not aware, Carl Larsson was a Swedish painter, mostly painting using oils, watercolors, and frescoes. He considered his finest work to be Midvinterblot (Midwinter Sacrifice), a large painting now displayed inside the Swedish National Museum of Fine Arts.

The postcard that I have received is called Brita in the Drawing Room.

I really love it and this that it is ahead of its time.

What do you think? Do you like it?

Books

Suzy Spitfire Kills Everybody – a book review

Thank you Joe Canzano for sending me this beautiful book!

The name of the book is: ”Suzy Spitfire Kills Everybody” – Joe Canzano and you can find it on this link.

First of all – this book is AWESOME. The character of Suzy is described so perfectly well, and it fits her role and it reminds me of myself so much, that I was laughing at scenes in the book where I probably shouldn’t.

The scenes are amazing. This book takes you to an incredible adventure in time and space, introducing a new world, different than the one you are used to, and it takes you all the way in – leaving you breathless until the last page.

It is a story where Suzy kills her uncle and she’s not wanted on Earth. But soon she finds out that her father has been killed, and he has created something that endangers the whole universe. With a great motive behind her, she is determined to find that little something and save the world? Or is she?

With the great help of many others that she is not sure whether they’re trustworthy until the very end, she goes into this adventure, ready to lose it all, just for a very strong motive of unconditional love – even if it means her death.

Definitely a must read for every single person that loves fantasy, mystery, adventure, romance, thriller. It is all well put into this incredible book.

What is your favourite book?