Book Haul – Jacqueline Wilson Books!

This year I’ve made quite a decision with books that I am reading. I’ve been logging my thoughts on and off for the last ten years and reading a lot of books that I thought I should be reading – like classics, literary fiction, historical novels etc that other people have been raving about. this year I decided that I would read books that I would like to read and one particular type of books that I love is young adult and children’s books.

While I was growing up I really enjoyed Jacqueline Wilson books I read a lot of her early ones but as I grew up I missed a lot of her books as I thought I had outgrown them. One of my favourite things as an adult to do is revisit old childhood favourites and enjoy them again.

This authors books are one of the ones I’ve been wanting to revisit for a while. I saw a bundle of them on eBay, quite cheaply!, so I thought it was as good a time as any to get back into these books. Some of the books are ones I have read before, some are part of the reading challenges I’m doing and some are new to me and quite honestly I cant wait to jump into these!

Above is a picture of the books on my shelf however I’ll also list them below!

• Dustbin Baby
• Best Friends
• Starring Tracy Beaker
• The Story of Tracy Beaker
• The Lottie Project
• Secrets
• Vicky Angel
• Midnight
• Clean Break
• The Diamond Girls
• Candyfloss
• The Suitcase Kid
• The Illustrated Mum
• Cookie
• The Worst Thing About My Sister
• Queenie
• Diamond

I’m really looking forward to reading these – what are your favourite books by this author?

Eve of Man – Tom and Giovanna Fletcher * Book Review *

Synopsis – Eve is like any other teenage girl . . .

Except that the fate of the entire world lies on her shoulders.

She’s the first girl born in fifty years.

She’s the answer to their prayers.

She’s the final hope.

Which means she has one function alone . . .

At sixteen, Eve must face her destiny and make a choice.

She will choose a man, one out of three carefully selected suitors.

But what about Bram?

The future of the planet hangs on Eve making the right choice.

Will she?

COULD YOU CHOOSE BETWEEN LOVE, AND THE FUTURE OF THE HUMAN RACE?

My Thoughts – I am a massive fan of these two authors and when I heard that they were writing a young adult novel I just knew I would love it!

This book is the first in a trilogy and it centres on two characters, Bram and Eve. Eve is the first girl born on 50 years and so much has been put in place to protect her. Bram is a boy who works where Eve has been living for most of her life – the tower.

Eve is coming up to a crucial point in her life and is discovering that things maybe arent always what they seem.

I really enjoyed this book – it was a little bit simular to start with to Lauren Olivers Delirium book but it soon took its own way. I really enjoyed how the book went from the two characters perspective too. I was gutted though that the book ended on a cliffhanger – I wanted to read the next in the trilogy however its not out yet!

Rating – 5/5

Alex Rider Series -Anthony Horowitz * Reading Challenge Recap*

Challenges

1/672 Ultimate Book Guide

1/691 Ultimate Teen Book Guide

1/782 Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition

Books in the Series

• Stormbreaker
• Point Blanc
• Skeleton Key
• Eagle Strike
• Scorpia
• Ark Angel
• Snake Head
• Crocodile Tears
• Scorpia Rising
• Russian Roulette
• Never Say Die

Synopsis – In the number one bestselling series by Anthony Horowitz, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is forcibly recruited into the deadly world of espionage and sent on his first mission. But the teenage spy soon finds himself in mortal danger, and in demand again by MI6. The ever popular Alex Rider series has action, adrenaline and adventure at every turn.

My Thoughts on this series – I read the first three books in this series last year however they didn’t capture my imagination as much as I’d hoped they would. I found them quite samey which was quite unfortunate as I really wanted to enjoy this series. I think that I’d probably try to read them again in the future but I think my kids would probably enjoy them once they get old enough!

Rating – 2.5/5

Recommendations from the Challenges

Ultimate Book Guide – The Power of Five – Anthony Horowitz (Challenge Book), Cherub series – Robert Muchamore (Challenge Book), The Joshua Files: invisible City – M. G. Harris (Challenge Book)

Ultimate Teen Book Guide – The Power of Five – Anthony Horowitz (Challenge book), The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp

Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition – The Power of Five – Anthony Horowitz (Challenge Book), Empty Quarter – Julia Golding, The Devil’s Breath – David Gilman (Challenge Book)

 

Delirium Stories – Lauren Oliver * Book Review *

Format – Paperback Book

Synopsis -These four short stories are now available in one beautiful paperback edition and include an exclusive sneak peek at Lauren Oliver’s brand new novel Replica – coming soon!
All the stories expand upon and enrich the Delirium world, illuminating events and characters through different perspectives.
HANA adds nuance to the life-changing summer before best friends Lena and Hana are to be cured – a moment when the girls’ paths diverge and their futures are altered forever.

ANNABEL untangles the mysteries surrounding Lena’s mother, detailing her journey from teenage runaway to prisoner of the state.

RAVEN crackles with the intensity of its title character, the fierce leader of a rebel group in the Wilds who plays an integral role in the resistance.

And ALEX explains what happened to Lena’s first love after the events of DELIRIUM, as well as the dark past that he has tried to forget.

My Thoughts – This book was in the box set of the Delerium Trilogy that I read last month. I really enjoyed the trilogy however the ending for me ruined it as there was so many unanswered questions and I hoped that this collection of short stories would answer some of these questions.

This book tells the story from 4 other perspectives. Hana is Lenas best friend and this really explains a lot as to the Lena and Alex story line. Annabel is Lenas mother and again this was a really good story. The Raven story. Wow. Now this is a story that I wish was continued! And Alex – oh Alex you really feel for him in his story. How he survived in the crypts and all his emotions made for a very deep story.

I did enjoy this book however it still left lots of unanswered questions. I’ve even been googling if there are more stories – there are not 😦 and I really wish that there was a better ending to this series as it could have been so much better.

I would read more books by this author thouugh as I did enjoy her writing style.

 

Rating – 3/5

Differently Morphous – Yahtzee Croshaw * Book Review *

Format – Audiobook

Synopsis -A magical serial killer is on the loose, and gelatinous, otherworldly creatures are infesting the English countryside. Which is making life for the Ministry of Occultism difficult, because magic is supposed to be their best kept secret.

After centuries in the shadows, the Ministry is forced to unmask, exposing the country’s magical history – and magical citizens – to a brave new world of social media, government scrutiny, and public relations.

On the trail of the killer are the Ministry’s top agents: a junior operative with a photographic memory (and not much else), a couple of overgrown schoolboys with godlike powers, and a demonstrably insane magician.

But as they struggle for results, their superiors at HQ must face the greatest threat the Ministry has ever known: the forces of political correctness….

Differently Morphous is the latest and greatest tale to emerge from the mind of writer (and narrator) Yahtzee Croshaw.

My Thoughts – I brought this book on audible as it was the daily deal a couple of weeks ago and I thought that it would be the sort of book that would really appeal to me. I do enjoy magical/young adult type books however for me it wasnt as good as I was expecting.

I really struggled to get into the plot of this and I got a little bit confused with the different characters. I think the main issue for me is that it isnt a book that is to be taken too seriously and for me I struggle with the writing style and humour in this type of book.

The overall plot was good – a little like if the world found out that there was a Ministry of Magic in Harry Potter but I just struggled with the sub-plots.

The author does narrate this book so it was nice to hear the book read by the author – I always find this quite interesting and it seems like the author has written more books.

There are lots of positive reviews for this book on amazon so I think its probably just one that I couldnt agree with.

Rating – 2/5

Requiem – Lauren Oliver * Book Review *

Format – Paperback book

Series – Delirium #3 Thoughts on Delirium #1 and Delirium #2

Synopsis – An all-out uprising has been ignited and Lena Haloway is right at its centre.

But things have changed. The Wilds are no longer a safe haven for the rebels and pockets of resistance have opened throughout the country.

And when a face from her past reappears, Lena is faced with a devastating choice that could tear her and the revolution apart.

My Thoughts – I’ve absolutely adored this series over the last couple of weeks and as this was the last book in the trilogy I was really looking forward to some of the questions being answered.  This book flits between Lena who is in the wilds and Hana who is still in Portland and has had the cure and the differences in their lives.

Then there is the triangle between Lena, Julian and Alex and how that is resolved and so much more – I was really hoping for answers in this book. unfortunately there is a lot of loose ends that don’t get tied up in this book and for that I’m quite disappointed. I wish there was another book to the series so that some of these ends were tied up.

It was still a good book and I did enjoy the conclusion to the series – I’ve just started the short stories book so I’m hoping that it will be just as good and I’m definitely going to be reading more books by this author!

Rating – 3/5

 

 

Ultimate Teen Book Guide 2nd Edition – Reading Challenge

So I’ve already been doing the Ultimate Teen Book Guide Challenge for a couple of years however I didnt realise that there was an updated version of the book. I’m still going to take part in the original challenge but I need to dig out my original book as most of my books are in boxes still from moving – and probably will do for some time!

Like with the Utimate Book Guide Challenge I’ve been working on the master list for this challenge which can be found HERE.

I’m also going to live by my series reading new mantra – I’ll read the first book in a series but if its not enjoyable for me then I will give up on it – purely because life is too short to be reading books that you dont enjoy – plus this always affects my reading mojo if I’m not enjoying what I’m reading!

According to my list there is 782 books in this challenge and I have read a measley 43 books – which equates to only 5.50% – however there are some amazing books on this challenge that I’m really looking forward to reading!

I’m also going to do some re-cap posts of some of the books that I have read with the reading recommendations etc!

Ultimate Book Guide – A Long Term Reading Challenge

I came across this book a little while ago on Amazon. I’ve already been doing the Ultimate Teen Book Guide Challenge (more about that challenge coming up in another post!) but this book is geared towards the age bracket of 8-12. Having gone through the book there is definitely some more grown up titles in this book too so it does look like quite an interesting challenge.

I’ve complied a list of all the titles to track my progress. This can be found – HERE.

This book runs along the same theme as the UTBG book – a book title, review and then some recommendations of both other challenge books and some others too which I always like.

I’m going to do this challenge slightly differently when it comes to series reading – I will read the first book in the different series but if I don’t enjoy it I’m not going to read the full series – this is something that I’ve adopted all throughout my reading lately. Life is just too short to be forcing myself to read books I’m not enjoying.

Having gone through the list I have read 34 books out of a possible 672 – which means I’m about 5.07% of the way through.I will be doing some catch up posts over the next few months of these books that I have read (In between looking after my 3 year old, having another baby in the next month, working full-time running our own business and studying for an accounting qualification!) as I want to catch up on the recommendations etc!

I have also not marked as read some books that I’d like to read again like the Famous Five series – I’m sure that I’ve missed a couple of books in this series so I’m going to try to read these again.

I am really looking forward to this long-term reading challenge and hopefully I will discover some really good reads along the way!

 

Delirium – Lauren Oliver * Book Review *

Format – Paperback Book

Synopsis -They say that the cure for love will make me happy and safe forever. And I’ve always believed them. Until now.

There was a time when love was the most important thing in the world. People would go to the end of the earth to find it. They would tell lies for it. Even kill for it.

But now love has been declared a dangerous disease.

Everyone who turns eighteen must be immunised with a procedure called the Cure. Lena Haloway is looking forward to being able to live the safe, predictable life the government claims the cure will bring. But meeting Alex, an enigmatic boy from the Wilds, might just make her question everything she’s been raised to believe.

My Thoughts – I picked up this whole series in The Works a couple of weeks back as its a book series that I’ve wanted to read for a while.

This book is centred on Lena, a girl who is really close to getting ‘the cure’ who has believed a system for her whole life despite the fact that it meant that she lost her mother at a young age. She also meets Alex, who challenges everything that she has been taught and believed.

This was a really good young adult book – it was full of twists and turns that I didnt expect. It was also quite easy reading – I read 3/4 of the book in one sitting.  it reminded me a little of The Hunger Games Series – in a good way! I have already started to read the second book in the series – Pandemonium.

Rating – 4/5

Tales From the Shadowhunter Academy – Cassandra Clare

 

Synopsis – Ten illustrated stories following the adventures of Simon Lewis, star of the #1 New York Times bestselling series The Mortal Instruments, as he trains to become a Shadowhunter. Simon has been a human and a vampire, but after the events of City of Heavenly Fire left him stripped of his memories, he isn’t sure who he is any more. When the Shadowhunter Academy reopens, Simon throws himself into this new world of demon-hunting, determined to find himself again. Whoever this Simon might be… Join him on his journey to become a Shadowhunter, and learn about the Academy’s illustrious history along the way, through guest lecturers such as Jace Herondale, Tessa Gray and Magnus Bane. The series features characters from Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments, Infernal Devices, Dark Artifices and the upcoming Last Hours series.

My Thoughts – The Shadowhunters universe has become one of my favourite fantasy places to escape to in recent years and I think Cassandra Clare is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. Her writing style is so good and so full of plot twists that you just dont ever know where the story is going.

This book is made up of 10 short stories that I think were orginally e-books? but they work really well as the author has collaborated with others on each of the stories. This goes more into depth on Simon who was very prominant in the Mortal Instruments series and his life. The other characters do pop up every so often but its written from Simons point of view.

Although it is a very long book as its short stories you can keep dipping in and out – which is what I did. There are also characters from the Dark Artifacts series in this book – which I will confess that I hae only read the first book in the series as the others are currently in storage – but more about that in another post!

Overall this was a very good read – lots of things happen that you dont expect and and also it makes you revist the mortal instruments series all over again – I really must re-read this series soon!

Rating = 5/5