July Wrap Up! (2k18)

After being stuck in a loop of a reading slump this entire year, I surprisingly got back into reading this July and I managed to read EIGHT freaking books! I am very proud of myself to have finally getting my reading game on without slacking or procrastinating to tick off all the books on my TBR which happens to grow every minute. Anyway, lets get right into my July Wrap Up!

1. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

This book had been lying on my shelf since, I don't know, 2016 and I finally managed to pick it to read it. I must say I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY!! This books follows two main characters starting with a girl called Laia and a boy named Elias. Now this is a Young Adult Fantasy and this book was so well crafted, the entire setting and the whole character development was exceptional. 

The story of Elias and Laia is set in a place called The Empire which is kind of based off the ancient Roman Empire. The Empire is divided into a set of tribes or groups knowns as the Scholars, Tribesmen, The Martials etc. Laia is a scholar and also a part of the rebel group called the Resistance that fights off the treacherous ways of the Empire. However, on night her brother gets abducted by these people from the Empire and she sets off on a journey to rescue her brother.

Elias Veturius is a solider/mask/martial at the Blackcliffe Academy who does not seem to agree with their ways and norms. Hence, he is planning to escape the academy which is a crime punishable by DEATH! 

Doesn't that sound like a juicy plot? Well, it is. 

I gave this book a 5 out of 5 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

2. A Torch Against the Night (AEITA #2) by Sabaa Tahir 

This is a sequel to An Ember in the Ashes and this was just as brilliant as the first one. That is pretty much all I have to say without giving away any spoilers to the first or second book. 

I gave this book a 5 out of 5 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

3. A Reaper At the Gates (AEITA #3) by Sabaa Tahir

Well, I bet you aren't surprised that I managed to read all 3 books in this series in July because it was so good that I was completely obsessed with Elias, Laia, Helene, Harper and all these darn beautiful characters that I just couldn't get enough of them. Although a lot of people had mixed reviews about the 3rd book in the series, I, on the other hand, found this one to be better than even the first two because I found myself to feel way more connected with the characters. 

 Can't wait for the 4th book coming out next year!

You know it, 5 out of 5 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

4. Listen to Your Heart by Kasie West 

Aftering hearing nothing but good stuff about Kasie West's books, I decided to pick up her 2018 debut and I was not disappointed by it. It follows a girl name Kate Bailey who is known to be quite an introvert and is not particularly good at making friends or socializing with people. However, after the summer, her best friend convinces her into joining a podcast class and much to her dismay she ends up hosting the podcast for her school. 

This book was so fast-paced, cute and really adorable that I couldn't stop smiling throughout it. It was the perfect summer read and a very quirky YA contemporary that just left swooning over the characters

I rated this book a 4 out of 5 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

5. All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover 

Most people who know me, know that I am a sucker for Colleen Hoover's work. And this was one of the most anticipated books of 2018 for me. Even though the cover is slightly uglier than the rest of her books, it really made me think of the cliche term "Do not judge a book by its cover" because Oh my Goodness, this book was a rollercoaster of emotions and made me cry. Literally. 

This book centers around a couple Quinn and Graham who have been married for seven years now, and once used to be head over heels in love. But for some reasons (I do not want to disclose cause it might be a spoiler) there marriage is no longer how it used to be. They are drifting apart and Quinn and Graham struggle to keep their marriage together even though now they are starting to see no hope for it ever igniting any sparks between them.

This book was more than just a sappy romance novel and highlighted pretty deep issues about marriage. It reminds you that marriage is not easy and takes so much effort from both spouses because it is a whole commitment of body and soul to each other. I was so impressed by this book and it definitely made it to my top 3 favourite books by Colleen Hoover with Confess and It Ends With Us being the other two favourites. 

I gave this book a rating of 5 out of 5 stars.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

6. Almost Midnight by Rainbow Rowell Ilustrated by Simini Blocker

After an intense and emotional read by Colleen Hoover, I decided to read a quick fast paced book by Rainbow Rowell. After I had been completely disappointed by Fangirl (Sorry guys, I know everyone loves it to death) I never picked up another book by her again. But this book made me change my mind.

Almost midnight consists of two short stories Midnights and Kindred Spirits.

Midnights: It is about a girl named Mags and her best friend Noel who meet on the same day on new years'  eve every year. 

Kindred Spirits: This one was about a girl named Elena who is a die hard Star Wars fan and decides to be a part of the line to be the one out of the first three to see the new star wars movie coming out. She befriends two more people who had already arrived before her in the line.

These were really cute and quirky stories and the iillustrations by Simini Blocker just made me swoon and made everything even better! I would recommend everyone to give this a try, ofcourse those who love YA contemporary rom-com.

I rated this 4 out of 5 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

7. The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West

After enjoying her 2018 debut, I picked up this book by her. Although the writing was a little cringey compared to the other novel I read, I did thoroughly enjoy this. This novel is about a girl named Gia Montgomery who gets dumped by her boyfriend Bradley on the night of prom. She is worried not because she loved him, but mainly because she doesn't want her frenemy Jules to think she had been lying about him all year. She finds another boy waiting in the parking lot and begs him to act as 'Bradley' for just one night. To her surprise, he does a pretty good job of it because of which he doesn't leave her mind.

I gave this a rating of 4 out of 5 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

8. Always Never Yours by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

All I have got to say is WOW. This book was everything.

Megan Harper is known as the ultimate "flirt"of the school and everytime she dates someone, they end up finding their one true love. She has become used to that pattern and refuses to feel upset about any of her break ups. She dreams of being a director but to her dismay ends up landing the role for Juliet at the play Romeo and Juliet in her school. During this experience, she learns everything she needed to about herself, love, and most of all friendship.

This was the best YA contemporary romance I read this month and immediately fell in love with all the characters. 

I gave this a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

So there you have it guys. I hope my July Wrap Up might convince you to pick up any one of the books I mentioned above and also, I was stunned that I enjoyed every book I read this month. Hopefully next month its the same. Happy reading, bookworms!

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover - Book Review

I started off my reading with Maybe Someday as the first book I have read in 2018, so an applaud for myself for finally going back into reading.
Hoover's my favourite author so I was quite hyped to read this book as many other readers suggested and recommended it to me. Undoubtedly, Hoover's exceptional writing style and her ability to capture the reader into her world with her words was still the same, I was not very blown away by the whole plot or even the ending.
The story is about a 22 year old girl, Sydney, who lives with her two room-mates. Her best friend, Tori, and her boyfriend, Hunter. On the night of her 22nd birthday Sydney discovers that she was being cheated on because of which she ends up homeless and moves into the apartment of her neighbour Ridge, who's a guitarist. The story then progresses about their relationship as they both seem to be extremely intimidated by each other and all circumstances that keep them apart.
Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy reading the book but the ending was quite predictable. Maybe the whole time I was into the book, I was comparing it with Hoover's other novels that I have read and loved. One thing that I absolutely loved about this novel was the soundtrack that came with it and I think it was very unique and the composition of the songs was outstanding.

This was my favourite one out of the entire soundtrack which was called "Maybe Someday": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcQnA4RvOzM

Anyway, the book was 3.5 stars out of 5 for me. I definitely recommend it to other readers to grab this book and give it a read as you'll love it, as did I, but I guess I just expected a little bit more.

“Sometimes in life, we need a few bad days in order to keep the good ones in perspective. -Colleen Hoover, Maybe Someday

Order book here: http://www.libertybooks.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=24928&search=colleen+hoover&category_id=0

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia - Book Review

5/5 stars
Genre: YA contemporary

I have only one word for this book: INCREDIBLE.
This book is basically about a girl named Eliza who has created the comic Monstrous Sea online, and is a sensation on the online world. However, nobody really knows her true identity  but is known as LadyConstellation. She suffers from an anxiety and has an issue while trying to interact with real people outside the internet world.
Eliza has no interest in making friends at school because she thinks she has enough friends online who read and are fans of her comic book. The story progresses on when she meets a new boy Wallace Warland who is a fan of Monstrous Sea himself and writes the most famous fanfiction about it. A quick connection sparks between the two while they uncover each others secrets, pasts and true passion.

This book was slightly slow paced in the beginning but once I was emerged into it, I could not stop reading. The character development was flawless and within a few pages I was so attached to them. Wallace's character was probably my most favourite as he too did have slight issues with anxiety and he would write down notes to interact with Eliza at certain points. Zappia had also included excerpts from Eliza's comic books and her illustrations which just added a bonus to the already fascinating story. I do not want to write more about it because I don't want to give away much about the story.
Eliza and Her Monsters is perfect for the fans of Fangirl but in my opinion I enjoyed reading this book a lot more than reading Fangirl.

"You found me in a constellation."

Rating Criteria!

So, I haven't exactly posted any content in a while and I have thought about going back into writing book reviews again. Besides posting reviews on goodreads, it would be evident to give a full length detailed review about any book I have read.

Genre:
First off, I mostly like reading science fiction, contemporary, romance, dystopian, fantasy and young-adult novels. I am most certainly interested in picking up books that lie outside these genres, but the ones above are my preferred ones.

Rating:
I alot stars to books out of 5 and it is quite simple.

5/5 stars: When I absolutely enjoy a book so much that every single word about it appeals to me. The characters, writings, plot, everything seem flawless and there is no way the book could have been any better than it is.

4/5- A book in my opinion, loses a star for its slightly weak plot. Everything else is perfectly done, but the slightly weak plot line and the writing style that doesn't appeal well enough to me ends up losing one star.

3/5 - Now, this doesn't necessarily mean I did not enjoy the book. It just means that there is room for a lot of improvement and probably there were too many plot holes. The writing style could be the major concern here because whenever I am not able to get too much into the book it is because the style of writing bores me. Because of which, the book ends up losing 2 stars.

2/5- This simply means, absolute rubbish.

And I never rate any book below 2 stars because every writer puts their heart and soul and all their time and energy into their books. Despite me or anyone else not enjoying it, it still deserves atleast two stars for the effort the author has made.

I hope for anyone who would like to read my reviews in the future or provide me with books for reviews, will have an idea about my criteria. Happy reading!

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Part I & II) Book Review!

(Synopsis taken from readings.com.pk)

Being labelled as 'the boy who lived' for his whole life has not been easy for Harry Potter. In the official eighth installment of the Harry Potter series penned in the form of a two-part stage production play, J. K. Rowling weaves yet another thrilling and magical yarn featuring the life of Harry Potter nineteen years later in the post-Voldemort wizarding world. Harry Potter plays the role of a man finally living out the quiet, conventional lifestyle he always wanted to live as a Minister of Magic employee, who is a doting husband and father of three. Yet, he struggles to escape the haunting past, the demons of which continue to consume him. The play also features a grown up Albus Severus Potter following the footsteps of his legendary father and labouring to carry the burden of a family bequest and fortune he hadn't expected. As the past meets the present, the legendary father and son duo strive to come in terms with the darkness that lies within and overcome their inner demons. 

As we all were aware beforehand that this book was not a novel but in fact, a script or screenplay written by Jack Thorne and not J.K Rowling. I repeat, this was NOT written by J.K Rowling, just the story was originally hers but the dialogue, script was not her work.

Anyway, when I received my copy, I am not going to lie, I was extremely excited to read it. But others who had read it before me had not given any interesting reviews regarding this book. Most of the potterheads straight up detested the book but I, for one, actually enjoyed it quite a lot.

The book starts off from where we were left off in Deathly Hallows in the ‘nineteen years later’ chapter, which got me fangirling and it made me really happy to be getting another chance to go back into the wizarding world and of course my beloved school, HOGWARTS! As the book went along, I got completely engrossed into it but it was quite difficult for me to imagine it as a stage play and not a movie. The original cast from the movies were the ones running around in my head throughout the whole book.

I read tons of other reviews regarding Harry Potter and The Cursed Child and the main issue that everyone had with this book was that all of them were Out Of Character. I agree to some extent because in a script there are ONLY dialogues and no expressions or any lines in between to give us an idea as to what the respective character is feeling or thinking. The characters are brought to life by the actors, so we cannot judge if they really were OOC until we have watched the play ourselves. To sum up for the potterheads who have yet to read this book, go ahead, read it and enjoy the whole world of Hogwarts and Harry Potter one more time and please think of it reading as the script for the movies and not a novel. It will save you the disappointment!

NOW FOR ALL THOSE WHO HAVE READ IT! 

IF YOU HAVE NOT READ IT AND DO NOT WANT ANY SPOILERS PLEASE DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER ON! ABORT IF YOU HAVE NOT READ IT!

My most favourite thing about the book was Albus’s and Scorpius’s friendship, and the fact that Harry and Draco’s kids are best friends just blew me away. They had a great chemistry going on throughout the script. It also made me glad to read about two, brave, kind-hearted, selfless Syltherins, something that none of us expect from a fellow Slytherin. And yes, I was flabbergasted when Albus got sorted into Syltherin, I mean what is up with that?!

Now, let’s talk about the parts I hated in the book. First off, Harry was a complete arse in the script or in a much civil tone, overprotective over his son. I understood that he had grown up without parents and a loving family so it was only natural that he did not want his kids to be deprived of that, but I think he took it way too far. He had a problem with Albus being friends with Scorpius but not a problem with him being in Slytherin? Wow, makes so much sense.

Another HUGE issue I had was Voldemort’s daughter! Like excuse me, how can Voldemort have made a child and especially before the battle of Hogwarts and with Bellatrix Lestrange, who is known to be married! What is this sorcery and how did J.K Rowling let this happen? Voldemort would never think anyone equal enough to him or he would never have wanted a child in the first place because he couldn’t put anyone before himself. His power was what was most precious to him and he even killed off his most loyal servants to get that, so will someone please explain this to me that HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN?! Voldemort was the most powerful wizard, and he knew everything there was (except the whole Snape thing of course) and if it was really his kid, then HOW in the heck was Bellatrix able to keep it a secret knowing she was always with the Dark Lord? So yes, that ruined everything for me!

I’ll conclude by saying that I did not hate the book, I thoroughly enjoyed it until I read about a child of Lord Voldemort and I swear it made me laugh because of how absurd that part of the plot was. Besides that, it was spectacular to go back into Hogwarts Halls once more and relive all the amazing moments once more!

Owlpost.pk Box Review!

BEHOLD! This was my very first box I ordered from Owlpost.pk, and for those of you who do not know, Owlpost is a monthly YA-book subscription box that has a different theme every month, with a box that contains the most anticipated YA novels along with 4 to 5 bookish goodies. It is perfect for all my fellow bookworms and nerds.When I came across their page on instagram (@owlpost.pk) I knew I wanted to order one right away!

So the box I ordered was their debut July box with the them 'Love-Actually'. Let me be honest, I have no idea what I was expecting in their first box but when it finally arrived in the mail, I could not keeo my composure and instantly rip open the box (almost ripped!).

It was spectacular and the presentation was impeccable! All the goodies that it contained were absolutely stunning and loved each and every one of them. The following were the contents of the box:
1. 2 button badges [MY MOST FAVOURITE]
2. 'Read Sleep'READ Repeat' coaster for a Mug
3.  A mug 'My Coffee Knows The Stories I Read
4. Two TBR cards to keep a track of your reading
5. A decal that said "Readers Gonna Read"
6. Finally a YA contemporary Romance Novel, "The Problem With Forever" by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Personally, I loved the button badges the most and obviously the book. It was one of the books that I had wanted to buy in a really long time so I was glad when I received it.
To sum it all up, I was NOT disappointed at all and wanted to buy subscribe for 12 months (lol!) but unfortunately after buying so many books this month, I am broke. But no matter, I will definitely be buying more boxes from them in the future and hopefully they will be as good as this one, or maybe even better!

The Movie Version by Emma Wunsch- Review

I received an arc of The Movie Version on NetGalley, an ebook, for a review.

When I started reading this book, I was quite into it as it was a great contemporary read. I thought it was my type of YA book but it was a lot more than that. The writing was exceptionally fast pace and a little different than what I had read before, which I enjoyed.

[Spoilers]

Now, the only issue I faced reading this book was with the protagonist. The story is basically about a girl named Amelia who idolizes her older brother Toby and they both are obsessed with movies. Toby gets diagnosed with schizophrenia which makes their world turn upside down. At the beginning of the book, the relationship between Amelia and Toby was great and quite heart warming to see a love so sweet between a brother and a sister. However, after Toby got diagnosed, Amelia started to annoy me by the way she acted. How she seemed too obsessed with what other people would think about her brother. She seemed ashamed of him being sick and I found that a little insulting to someone suffering from that problem. Another issue was Amelia's relationship with a city boy Epstein was kind of dry and there was very less chemistry between the two.

I concluded that this book was not a light, witty, romance YA read. It was a lot more deeper than that, mainly about what people go through and how families are affected when someone is suffering from illnesses like schizophrenia. The book had its flaws, but I did enjoy reading it and I am sure a lot of people will love this book. But if you're looking for a contemporary YA, light read like Eleanor & Park, or even Finding Audrey, this book is not for you!