Taylor Swift Book Tag

We may be jumping on the bandwagon a little late with this one, but Katytastic did a Taylor Swift Book Tag (find it here) and we thought we'd give it a go.

 1) We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together: pick a book or series that you were pretty sure you were in love with, but then wanted to break up with.

Ann: I picked Divergent by Veronica Roth, or more accurately Allegiant. No spoilers but if you've read it you probably know why.
Clare: I was going to go for that but I so knew Ann would get there so, Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. I went through a totally obsessed stage where I loved it. And then I tried to re-read it. Which was pretty much the death of that relationship.

2) Red: pick a book with a red cover.

Ann: I picked Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud, an author that I love. The first book of his I read was The Screaming Staircase and I ended up reading more of his books.
Clare: I'm gonna pick a recent one and go with The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh. Love. Love. Love this book. Possibly my book of the year so far.

3) The Best Day: pick a book that makes you feel nostalgic.

Ann: The obvious choice is Harry Potter and since I can't think of anything else right now that's what I'll go with.
Clare: Just to be different (although my true answer is probably Harry Potter again) I'm going to say The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye. I loved that book so much when I was younger and it still makes me smile.

4) Love Story: pick a book with forbidden love.

Ann: I picked Delirium for this one, because in that world love is against the law.
Clare: Hello, pretty much every ya novel. I was going to say Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma. Actually I'm still going with that one, it's a really complicated thing and I don't want to over simplify it, but their love is definitely forbidden. With a capital F.

5) I Knew You Were Trouble: pick a book with a bad character you couldn't help but love.

Ann: I know I always pick Sebastian from The Mortal Instruments for any question like this, but I am picking him again.
Clare: Oh god. I'm a sucker for bad characters. And morally grey characters. I can't pick Warner (Shatter Me) every time, much as I might want to. So... Anise from Winterspell by Claire LeGrand. There were so many things I loved about this book, but for a moment there I totally rooted for Anise. Which considering everything she does is either a testament to how well written her character is, or a statement on my insanity. Or both.

6) Innocent: pick a book that someone ruined the ending for.

Ann: For this one I picked Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter which my friends all read and then kept on talking about around me so they ruined it a bit.
Clare: I am sooo careful with spoilers, I didn't read Allegiant as soon as it came out and avoiding spoilers for that was a struggle. But I managed it. I did kinda ruin Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier for myself accidentally which totally interfered with the suspense element.

7) Everything Has Changed: pick a character who goes through extensive character development.

Ann: I picked Meghan Chase from The Iron Fey series because she goes through a pretty huge change.
Clare: The main character in New Girl by Paige Harbison, or actually any main character in her books she does character development so very well.

8) You Belong With Me: pick your most anticipated book release.

Ann: I don't really pre-order books (I'm only 14) but I am excited for Zoe Sugg's second book which doesn't have a title yet.
Clare: My pre-order's are completely out of control. Especially October. Good God October. And it is one of October's releases I am most excited about and that's Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. This book is like an actual answer to my prayers. I need it.

9) Forever and Always: pick your favourite book couple.

Ann: So I don't pick the same ones as Clare, I will pick Penny and Noah from Girl Online by Zoe Sugg.
Clare: I am incapable of choosing so, Four and Tris from Divergent AND Katniss and Peeta from The Hunger Games. Obviously very different couples. I love how Four and Tris are kind of independently together, they don't rely on each other, they're fine on their own they're just better together. And with Katniss and Peeta - I remember when I first read the books I was SO STRESSED that she'd pick Gale. They just work so well. Rambling over. Sorry.

10) Come Back Be Here: pick the book you would least like to lend out for fear of missing it too much.

Ann: The Magyk series by Angie Sage. I love it so much.
Clare: OK, so I have a specific hardback signed copy of TFIOS by John Green, which is obviously never leaving me. But I have 3 other copies which I happily lend out. I love lending books, which is an odd thing to say when I consistently lose books this way and I am so stressed but there are some books I just want to shove at everyone.

11) Teardrops on My Guitar: pick a book that made you cry a lot.

Ann: I don't cry at many books but I did cry at Allegiant by Veronica Roth. One of the few books to ever make me cry.
Clare: I cry at all the books. I'm not even kidding. I just read a chick-lit book with zero sad moments and I cried because the ending was so happy. I'm hopeless. I agree with Allegiant it's the first, and hopefully last, time I have hit a book against the wall whilst sobbing. I was a fairly non-crying child and the first book that really made me cry was A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens when I was a fair way through my teens, so I'll go with that.

12) Shake It Off: pick a book that you love so much, you just shake off the haters.

Ann: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud, none of my friends like it but I really love it.
Clare: I don't usually mind whether people love the books I love, but I have definitely guilty pleasure books. I am probably not supposed to pick a genre for this, but in the interest of laziness - regency romance. The ridiculous over the top clearly historically inaccurate type. You can tell me as much as you like that it's rubbish but sometimes I just want a guaranteed happy ending. I don't care if it makes me look silly.

Ann Reviews: Girl Online by Zoe Sugg

Title: Girl Online

Author: Zoe Sugg

Rating: 5/5

Blurb:Under the alias Girl Online, Penny blogs her hidden feelings about friendship, boys, high school drama, her crazy family, and the panic attacks that have begun to take over her life. When things go from bad to worse, her family whisks her away to New York, where she meets Noah, a gorgeous, guitar-strumming American. Suddenly Penny is falling in love - and capturing every moment of it on her blog.

But Noah has a secret, too, one that threatens to ruin Penny's cover - and her closest friendship - forever.

I was looking forward to reading this book as I am a fan of Zoe Sugg. After I read it I understood why lots of people loved it. I even decided that I was going to reread it the day after I had read it the first time. It most definitely did not disappoint. It is one of the best books I have ever read.

The main character Penny was a very well described character who you could relate too. She wasn’t just a character in a book she was a real person who had real problems. She also helped me understand what it is like for people who suffer from anxiety attacks. I also thought that the love interest Noah was a very complicated character that had a lot of secrets that he was hiding but there were a few hints that were very subtly put into the story that you don’t notice until you read it a second time and know what his secret was. All the characters were really well described and they didn’t just feel like characters in a story.

I thought that the plot of Girl Online was great and it didn’t give away too much information, as it developed so you couldn’t figure out what Noah’s secret unless you read the whole book. Although it could have developed better, instead of most of the action happening at the end of the book.

The places in the book were really well described. While reading the descriptions of the place you could really see the places that were being described. The description of Brighton was easier to imagine than the description of New York but that is probably because it is easier to describe a place that it is right in front of you  rather than a place you have only been to a couple of times.

Overall it was a great book and I would recommend that you read it. I have already told some of my friends about it and recommended that they read it.

Clare Reviews: Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Title: Wicked Lovely

Author: Melissa Marr

Series: Wicked Lovely

Rating: 2/5

Rule #3: Don’t stare at invisible faeries.

Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in the mortal world, and would blind her if they knew of her Sight.

Rule #2: Don’t speak to invisible faeries.

Now faeries are stalking her. One of them, Keenan, who is equal parts terrifying and alluring, is trying to talk to her, asking questions Aislinn is afraid to answer.

Rule #1: Don’t ever attract their attention.

But it’s too late. Keenan is the Summer King and has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her, summer itself will perish. He is determined that Aislinn will become the Summer Queen at any cost…

Suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working any more, and everything is on the line: her freedom; her best friend, Seth; her life; everything.

When the words "I had to force myself through it" are used in reference to a book its probably not the best sign. There are five books in the Wicked Lovely series. I managed four and a half before I reached breaking point. Don't get me wrong, I understand why this is a popular series and I appreciate all the faery details.

But here's the thing, too much detail with not enough explanation doesn't make for great world building. I've read a few faery stories so I understood most (though definitely not all) of the references, but somebody going into this with no prior knowledge would probably be incredibly confused, and making great use of google. I loved the idea of the courts and before I read this everything I had heard led me to believe I would love it.

In addition to some not-so-great-world-building there were the characters. This time I think it may be more of a personal thing, the characters do develop and some of them were interesting. But some of them were also kind of bland. Which in a side character might not be such a big issue. But if I don't like or particularly care about the main character (Ash in this case) and if the romantic interest exists only to be a romantic interest (I know he gets more important later in the series but I have barely got to that point and don't think I will get any further than I currently am) then I am just not going to be wildly excited to find out what happens.

All in all I found this series to be a little disappointing. I do have two other Melissa Marr books on my shelf (Graveminder and Made For You) which are not, I don't think, faery related. I will hopefully give them a go at some point in the future but I don't think I will be finishing this series.

If you are interested in reading a faery series then I strongly recommend Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston which I read and loved quite a while ago and my sister Ann would like to put forward The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa, I will be taking her advice and reading that series next. 

Disney Book Tag

The Disney Book Tag was created by Katytastic (You can find her video here) . Since we love Disney and we love books we thought we'd give this a try.

1) The Little Mermaid- A character who is out of their element, a "fish out of water".
Ann: For this one I picked Meghan from the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. She has to go from the "normal" world into the faery world which is not her element.
Clare: I chose Lilac LaRoux from These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. She comes from a really priveleged, safe world and the events of the book take her so far from that and she has to find a way to cope.

2) Cinderella - A character who goes through a major transformation.
Ann: Clary from the Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare. She becomes stronger throughout the series and learns so much about herself and her powers.
Clare: I had to go for Elisa from the Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy by Rae Carson. The girl she is at the end of the series is so, so different from who she was at the start, she goes through so much and it changes her. She is so much stronger by book 3.

3) Snow White - A book with an eclectic cast of characters.
Ann: Magyk by Angie Sage, all the characters have different specialties and personalities, its what makes it such a great book, no two characters are the same.
Clare: I went for what is possibly an obvious answer, the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. All the characters are so unique and wonderful and I loved reading about all of them.

4) Sleeping Beauty - A book that put you to sleep.
Ann: Suspicion by Alexandra Monir, I just gave up on that book because it was just so dull. To be fair I got a great nap out of it!
Clare: I struggled with this a bit at first but I decided to pick the Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr. I am reading it at the moment and I am just not making any progress.

5) The Lion King - A character who had something traumatic happen to them in childhood.
Ann: Harry Potter, when he was 2 his parents were murdered and almost murdered himself. And if that wasn't traumatic enough he then had to grow up with the Dursleys.
Clare: Caelena from the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas. I cant go into it without spoilers but wow. Kinda traumatic.

6) Beauty and the Beast - A beast of a book (a big book) that you were intimidated by but found the story to be beautiful.
Ann: The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, it was so daunting when I was 11 that I got Clare to read it to me instead. But in the end I loved it.
Clare: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. It was my first Dickens and I tried a couple of times to read it but failed because it was so daunting but when I finally did it I found I loved it and now it's one of my favourites.

7) Aladdin - A character who gets their wish granted for better or worse.
Ann: Lila from Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson. She wishes for her brother's best friend to fall for her but when he does its in the middle of a terrible situation.
Clare: I cheated a little for this and went for As You Wish by Jackson Pearce which is an actual wish granting. The main character in it, Viola, gets a Jinn to grant three wishes. But all does not go to plan.

8) Mulan - A character who pretends to be someone or something they are not.
Ann: Katniss Everdeen, she pretends to be in love with Peeta to gain audience support. There are a lot of times during the books when events force her to be someone she is not.
Clare: Anna from The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson. This is one of all time favourite books and Anna has to be a maid in a household in England because of the russian revolution.

9)  Toy Story - A book with characters you wish would come to life.
Ann: Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, me and my friends all loved this book and the characters and it would be so great to meet them.
Clare: Harry Potter. This series is so much a part of me and my childhood. But it just occurred to me I'd have to be really selective, I dont think anybody wants Voldemort to come to life.

10) Disney Descendants - Your favourite villain or morally ambiguous character.
Ann: Sebastian from The Mortal Instruments. Even though I was supposed to hate him I wound up loving his character because he is so well written and complex and so interesting.
Clare: Warner from the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi. I really hated him in the first book but by the end of the second book I was completely rooting for him and by the end of the third I was completely in love with him. Such a great character.