July Wrap Up

Half of 2018 has crept by so quickly, how? I’m not so sure!! This month has definitely been a better reading month for me than June. Overall, I read six books in the month of July!

Which were:

• Between the Shade and the Shadow by Coleman Alexander, I gave this book five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Diana Christmas by F.R. Jameson, I gave this book four out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Viable Body: Pilgrimage by Yuan Nomos, I gave this book five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• AndroDigm Park 2067 by J.M.J. Williamson, I gave this book five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• The Freedom Club by Cindy Vine, I gave this book four out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
• Chateau of Desire by Monica Bentley, I gave this book two out of five stars ⭐️⭐️

I had quite a good reading month and am happy that I managed to read a lot more than I had done in the previous month of June. I read a few books which I thoroughly enjoyed (as you can see by my star ratings).

I have just finished a book that I started in July but will feature in my August Wrap Up post and I will be posting the book review later on today for it. The book is called The Devil’s Playground by Alice J. Black.

How many books did you read in the month of July? Which one did you enjoy the best? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy reading,

Claire 📚

April Wrap Up

This month has been jam packed with lots of books I’ve been reading from review requests and I’m so thankful for every author and publisher who has contacted me for those opportunities.

I read a total amount of seven books in the month of April, which included:

• Sentient: Book Two by Kenechi Udogu
• Keepers: Book Three by Kenechi Udogu
• Broken Ties: Prequel by Kenechi Udogu
• Chipless by Kfir Luzzatto
• The Watchmaker’s Doctor by G.M.T. Schuilling
• Star-Seer by April Marcom
• Ground Floor, Second Room to the Left by Chris Sarantopolous

I really enjoyed The Mentalist Series which included: Aversion, Sentient, Keepers and Broken Ties. I would give the whole series an overall score of four out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Below are the book review links to:

• Aversion
• Sentient
• Keepers
• Broken Ties

The other book that I thoroughly enjoyed this month was The Watchmaker’s Doctor by G.M.T. Schuilling which I gave five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ click here to read my review for this book.

This evening I finished Purgatorium by J. H. Carnathan.

I have started a new book called The Road Ahead by Hali C. Broncucia, you will find both in my next Wrap Up at the end of May!

How many books did you read in the month of April? How many are you hoping to read in May? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy reading,

Claire 📚

December Wrap Up (Christmas Bookathon Wrap Up)

Good morning guys!

I finished my sixth challenge last night for the Christmas Bookathon that I participated in. I chose to read Christmas Cakes & Mistletoe Nights by Carole Matthews for the challenge to read a book that you can make the word CHRISTMAS out of the title (can use the author’s name if you can’t out of the title).

You can find my book review for that novel here.

So, to wrap up my December reading month/Christmas Bookathon month, I thought I’d recap over the guidelines and see how many challenges I officially covered.

Guidelines:

1 Read a white book – for this challenge I read My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella which I thoroughly enjoyed and gave this book four out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

2 Read a book you have bought someone as a Christmas present in the past – I gave my sister Where Am I Now? by Mara Wilson in 2016 as a Christmas present and I was planning on reading this, but unfortunately I ran out of time and couldn’t complete this challenge.

3 Read a book you have started then stopped to read within 2017 – this is difficult considering I have a problem with not finishing a book that I start, so there isn’t actually a book that I have started and not finished. I like to have closure, you see, no matter how badly I’m not enjoying the book.

4 Read a book that you can make the word CHRISTMAS out of the title (can use the author’s name if you can’t out of the title) – for this challenge I read Christmas Cakes & Mistletoe Nights by Carole Matthews which was such a delightful read! I gave this book five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

5 Read a book that has stars on the cover – for this challenge I read Geekerella by Ashley Poston. I loved this modern take on a retelling of Cinderella novel and gave this book four out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

6 Read a Christmas romance – I didn’t announce this on my previous posts, however Christmas Cakes and Mistletoe Nights was also a Christmas romance story, so technically I have covered two challenges with one book!

7 Read a book you have been putting off to read for the entire year – for this challenge I chose Illuminae by Amie Kauffman & Jay Kristoff. I was very intimidated by the size of this book, however I cannot wait to get my hands on Gemina now after reading this incredibly laid out book! I have given this book five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

8 Read an unread 2017 release – for this challenge I can also use Geekerella by Ashley Poston as I had not read it before and it was released in 2017

9 Read an angel book – for this challenge I chose to read Kissed By An Angel by Elizabeth Chandler. The size of this book threw me back just like Illuminae did, however the font was a lot bigger and I remember (ever so slightly) reading it back in secondary school, so knowing that I had completed it once, I knew I could do it again! I have given this book four out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

10 Read a book with a number between 1 to 12 in its title (for example Ready Player One) – for this challenge I chose to read November 9 by Colleen Hoover, which soon became one of my favourite books and authors! I was completely taken by this story and Hoover’s writing style! There were real tears shed whilst reading this book. I was more annoyed at the fact that it’s taken me this long to pick up one of her books! I have given this book five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

11 Read a book that’s been on your TBR since last Christmas – again, Illuminae has been on my TBR since before last Christmas, so technically I can use this for two challenges too!

12 Read an extravagant/sparkly/beautiful/decorative book that is unread – once again, Geekerella by Ashley Poston has a beautiful, sparkly cover which I believe can cover this challenge as well, I mean come on, look at it!: All in all, I completed 10 out of the 12 challenges set for the Christmas Bookathon! (If the doubling up the books on other challenges are accepted that is)! I had a lot of fun participating and challenging myself to read as many books as I could in the Christmas Bookathon and I hope to do another this year!

How did you guys do with your Christmas Bookathon challenges, if you participated? Let me know in the comments below.

Happyreading,

Claire ☺️

November Wrap Up

This month has been quite a slow reading one. I have managed to finish three books, one of which I started at the end of October.

The books I read in November were:

• Little Sister by Isabel Ashdown
• Midnight Crossroad (Midnight, Texas, #1) by Charlaine Harris
• IQ by Joe Ide

I received all three books from the Trapeze Books Publishing Company in exchange for honest reviews. I have received two other books as well from Trapeze which I am hoping to finish in December, however I will be taking part in a Christmas Bookathon starting from tomorrow as it’ll OFFICIALLY BE DECEMBER!! I have no idea where the time has gone this past year!

My favourite book out of the three that I read this month, was:

 

Little Sister by Isabel Ashdown

I gave this book five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – This book gave me shivers all over. It’s quite a dark, disturbing psychological thriller which I thoroughly enjoyed. I don’t want to give too much away as it’s one of those gripping stories full of twists and tense moments that you should really get your hands dirty in without knowing a lot from other reads spoiler reviews. The narrative of this book is filled with flashbacks of the past which unravels a lot between the two sisters and why there is so much tension and trust issues. I’m glad I took my time to read through this beautifully written book. There was one particular character which I couldn’t stand throughout the entirety of this book and was hoping that the character would get given the punishment they deserved.

How many books did you manage to read in November? Are you participating in a Christmas Bookathon in December? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy reading,

Claire☺️

January Wrap Up

I’m really happy that I’ve managed to kick this year off with reading a couple of books in January. I didn’t think this month would be as hectic but January, you surprised me and ended up being rather busy!

This month I have read two books and started a third (which I finished yesterday, so close to keeping it within the month of January but not close enough!)

These were:

• Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
• Cress by Marissa Meyer
• Winter by Marissa Meyer (such a huuuuuuge book!)

As you can see I kept to the Lunar Chronicles series throughout January, so it was full of fantasy goodness! I loved this series so damn FRICKIN’ much! I really can’t fault Marissa Meyer at all, especially with Winter. That book was adventurous, thrilling and jam packed with lots of events! (I shall be doing a book review on Winter shortly).

I have already started my next book which I received through Goodreads Giveaway in exchange for an honest review, called Relativity by Antonia Hayes. I’ve read just under 100 pages so far today and WOW! Hayes’ writing is breathtakingly beautiful, I’m finding it quite difficult to put this book down unless I really have to.

Speak soon,

Claire

April Wrap Up

Apologies are in order as I have been quite inactive over this past month, I’m afraid it’s just been so busy! I haven’t been able to focus on book reviews and reading as much as I would have liked to and for that I am truly sorry. I’m going to do my best and read as much as I can in my spare time and write more book reviews over this month.

In this coming week I have a work conference I am going to, which requires me to stay over in a hotel so I shall read, read and read when I can! This Sunday I am going to be skydiving *gasp* which I’m very excited for to say the least! My boyfriend got me this thrilling experience for celebrating our first anniversary together! I have a Busted gig and my boyfriend’s aunt and uncle’s wedding anniversary party lined up in this month too. So hopefully I shall be able to fit in reading here and there.

Moving on, this month I have read four books, these were:

• Now Is Good by Jenny Downham
• Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
• Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
• Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

I am currently reading the third companion book in the Anna and the French Kiss trilogy which is called Isla and the Happily Ever After.

I’m really happy with reading four books this month considering how busy it has been, although it’s not near enough how many books I would have liked to have read.

April was a good reading month of great books, the companion, contemporary trilogy by Stephanie Perkins was definitely needed after reading Everything, Everything!! I wasn’t expecting the story to turn out the way it did and it definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. I shall be doing a book review for Everything, Everything very shortly so you can find out a bit more about that novel if you haven’t got your hands on it already.

There wasn’t one book this month which I didn’t enjoy or couldn’t quite get into it to begin with, which was a result.

Once again I am sorry that I’ve been AWOL recently,

Happy reading,

Claire 🙂

March Wrap Up

This month went faster than I expected it to! Unfortunately, I haven’t been very focused on reading this month due to an apprenticeship I have to revise for each month at my work, lots and lots of driving lessons (as my driving test is next week AH!) and quite a few family shindigs happened this month. So although in my last wrap up I said i’d want to read more than six books, I didn’t manage to achieve that goal and so i’m really hoping I can focus on that in April.

Then again April is going to be quite bad too as my birthday is next week, my stepdad is abseiling the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth towards the middle of the month and I have quite a few surprises that I (obviously) don’t know about to do with my 21st!

Now enough about my personal bits and bobs, let’s get onto the wrap up!

This month I have read three books, these were:

• After Anna by Alex Lake
• Crossed Stars by Christy Blow
• From Ashes Into Light by Gudrun Mouw

All three of these books were received from Goodreads Giveaways in exchange for an honest review. My favourite book of the month was definitely After Anna. It was such a thirlling story, I loved every twist and turn I came across. I did not expect the ending of the book to finish the way it did, I can tell you now that my jaw was probably a centimeter away from touching the ground (maybe a slight exaggeration but that’s what it felt like!). Unfortunately, I wasn’t a great lover of Crossed Stars but I really enjoyed the concept of the book, it was just a shame on how it was written. From Ashes Into Light was such an interesting story to read about as I haven’t read that many historical based fiction books so this one was a complete eye opener and drew me in almost instantaneously.

Yesterday I started reading Now Is Good by Jenny Downham, I love the movie adaptation to this book and finally i’m getting round to reading the book. Already just over 100 pages into the book and I love it so so much! I can definitely see differences in the book compared to the movie but i’m trying to not let it bother me as I just want to enjoy this book as much as I did the movie.

How many books did you manage to read this month? Why not let me know in the comments below!

Happy reading,

Claire 🙂

February Wrap Up

I can’t believe March begins tomorrow, this month has flown by so quickly! Once again i’m amazed at how many books i’m able to read in a month. I’ve managed to read in the morning, during my lunch at work, at night and on my bus or train journeys. I’m so proud of myself for keeping this up, even if i’m behind on my challenge – i’m still making good progress.

This month I have read six books, these were:

• Here’s Looking At You by Mhairi McFarlane
• Crazy, Beautiful by Jessica Serra Huizenga
• We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
• It by Alexa Chung
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• The Butterfly Summer by Harriet Evans

Both of the books I received from Goodreads in exchange for an honest review were my two favourite books of this month. Crazy, Beautiful by Jessica Serra Huizenga was such a great contemporary read and I can’t wait for the next book to be released later on this year! The Butterfly Summer by Harriet Evans (I’ve literally just this second finished it!) holds a lot of mystery, secrets and intrigue. I shall be reviewing The Butterfly Summer very shortly. There were two books which I was not a great fan of which were We Were Liars and Station Eleven. For some reason I just couldn’t connect with either story and I felt there was something lacking. Even when I start to read a book i’m clearly not enjoying, i’m unable to just put it down and walk away from it forever.

I. Have. To. Finish. It.

Reason being, I don’t like leaving something left unfinished.

I know I have a couple of events i’m attending in the beginning of March, but I am hoping to read more than six books this month!

Let me know in the comments below how many book you guys intend on reading this month, year etc.

Happy reading,

Claire 🙂

January Wrap Up

I’m astounded by how many books I’ve been able to read during one month! Normally, it would take me months to read just one book because I wouldn’t spare any time to read due to being tired or out with friends and family. Whenever I get a spare moment now, it’s spent by reading.

This month I have read six books (which I shall be reviewing shortly!)

These were:

• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
• Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
• The New Hunger (prequel to Warm Bodies) by Isaac Marion
• Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor
• The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes by Anna McPartlin
• The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

I was going to pick my favourite book out of the above which I read this month, but there’s more than one book that became my favourite! The Night Circus and The Girl on the Train took me by surprise, they were brilliant reads and I didn’t want the stories to end!

I shall start book reviewing in the next week and work on expanding my blog,

Speak soon,

Claire