We were liars - E. Lockhart.

Title: We were liars. 

Author: E. Lockhart.
Format: Paperback. 
Release date: May 13th 2014
Genre: YA Romance, Mystery, Realistic fiction. 
Stars out of ten: 

SUMMARY

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

REVIEW

A girl named Cadence suffering with head splitting migraines and a supposedly perfect family in which she is a part of. Cadence has forgotten everything that had happened before the summer of fifteen, where she knows that she went into the sea but cannot remember anything afterwards, but the strange thing is that it seems as if nobody wants her to remember claiming that they 'want her to remember in her own time.'  She is a part of a group called the Liars with her two cousins, Mirren and Johnny. And also Gat the boy that she was in love with. After the accident Cadence had sent them many emails, to which they didn't reply. Cadence supposed that Gat didn't want to talk to her, instead he had another love a part from the island, and Mirren and Johnny were going to college (something that she wasn't during due to her medical treatment and migraines.)

In summer Seventeen Cadence goes back to the island in hope of remembering what happened  and after not being there, with the Liars for summer Sixteen she felt that she would have been missing out on their goings on. So still suffering with amnesia and migraines, she goes back to Beechwood Island.

You later find out that the Sinclair Family is not as perfect as you are lead to believe to begin with. With family arguments a natural recurrence, but they still manage to come across as a perfect family. In summer 15 Cadence finds out that Clairmont (the main Sinclair family house) was burned down, and that it was her and the liars, they didn't want to see the family be torn apart due to who inherited the Sinclair family home. 

In summer Seventeen Cadence believes that she was talking to the liars, she was falling in love again with Gat, she was spending more time with Mirren and Johnny but she wasn't. They had burned to death in that house and until the end of summer Seventeen she realised this and had to say goodbye to the liars. 

FIRST SENTENCES

Welcome to the beautiful Sinclair family. 

No one is a criminal. 

No one is an addict. 

No one is a failure. 

MY THOUGHTS 

At the beginning at the fault in our stars Hazel Grace says that she is addicted to one book, reading it over and over again. This is the book for me. So many of the pages are dog eared so many quotes are underlines (in pencil) it's such an amazing book with such amazing characters, its just so sad. And even just reading short chapters of it now makes me want to cry. 

Cry because its amazingly written. 

Cry because it's so sad. 

Cry because of Gat, Mirren and Johnny. 

Cry.

It is definitely worth the read, a title you will not forget. 

MY BLOG IS BETTER THAN YOUR VLOG

ELLIE

(A/N: SORRY FOR SO MANY SPOILERS)

New Releases - May 2014

I think its that time again for me to apologise for the lack of posts, however I have exams next week and I've been very busy. But not to worry we only have four more weeks of school and then we will have eight weeks full of blog posts and reading. It sounds like heaven. 

It is time for our very new feature; New releases, which has been done many time which I guess means it isn't as new as I'm making it out to be. 

Lets crack on with new release for May 2014.

CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE. 

Author: Cassandra Clare 

Blurb: 

ΕRCHOMAI, SEBASTIAN HAD SAID. 

I am coming.

Darkness returns to the Shadowhunter world. As their society falls apart around them, Clary, Jace, Simon and their friends must band together to fight the greatest evil the Nephilim have ever faced: Clary’s own brother. Nothing in the world can defeat him — must they journey to another world to find the chance?

MY THOUGHTS;

I am currently reading this book and so far; its perfect. Cassandra Clare is a Queen and she is perfect at creating made up worlds. I mean just read the blurb, and she has already used a rhetorical question and mentioned four people's names. If you've read the first five thios is well worth a read. 

THE ONE. 

Author: Kiera Cass 

Blurb:

The Selection changed America Singer's life in ways she never could have imagined. Since she entered the competition to become the next princess of Illéa, America has struggled with her feelings for her first love, Aspen--and her growing attraction to Prince Maxon. Now she's made her choice . . . and she's prepared to fight for the future she wants.

Find out who America will choose in The One, the enchanting, beautifully romantic third book in the Selection series!

MY THOUGHTS; 

I have been raving about this book for ages, and eagerly awaiting the last book to the selection series. However it is not available in England yet and I haven't been able to read it. Which is very disappointing.

WE WERE LIARS. 

Author: E. Lockhart]

Blurb:

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

MY THOUGHTS. 

I recently read this book and finshed it. Its quite a short book with 225 pages, but such as strong story line. The characters were so vivid and the blurb is very mysterious. Well worth a read. I will do a review on it in the near future. 

ALL THE LIGHTS WE CANNOT SEE. 

Author: Anthony Doerr 

Blurb:

From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, a stunningly ambitious and beautiful novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks (there are thousands of locks in the museum). When she is six, she goes blind, and her father builds her a model of their neighborhood, every house, every manhole, so she can memorize it with her fingers and navigate the real streets with her feet and cane. When the Germans occupy Paris, father and daughter flee to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast, where Marie-Laure's agoraphobic great uncle lives in a tall, narrow house by the sea wall.

In another world in Germany, an orphan boy, Werner, grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, both enchanted by a crude radio Werner finds. He becomes a master at building and fixing radios, a talent that wins him a place at an elite and brutal military academy and, ultimately, makes him a highly specialized tracker of the Resistance. Werner travels through the heart of Hitler Youth to the far-flung outskirts of Russia, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his path converges with Marie-Laure.

MY THOUGHTS: 

I dint know whether I am one to read war books or not. I mean I have read my fair share of them and enjoyed them, but others I have read and stopped half way through. 

I like the storyline and the two different people in different countries and all but I cannot tell you whether I would read it or not. 

RUSH TOO FAR. 

Author: Abbi Glines 

Blurb: 

Fallen Too Far was Blaire's story. Now it's time for Rush to share his side.

Everyone in Rosemary Beach thinks they know how Rush Finlay and Blaire Wynn fell in love. But Rush is back to tell his side of the story...

Rush has earned every bit of his bad-boy reputation. The three-story beach house, luxury car, and line of girls begging for time between his sheets are the envy of every guy in Rosemary Beach, and Rush handles it all with the laid-back cool of a rock star’s son. All he needs are his best friend, Grant, and his sister, Nan.

Until Blaire Wynn drives into town in her beat-up pickup truck with a pistol under her seat. The Alabama farm girl instantly captures Rush’s attention once he discovers that the angelic beauty is his new stepsister, but he vows to keep his distance. Even if she needs his help. Even if he craves her.

Because Rush knows why Blaire is all alone in the world, forced to ask for help from the father who abandoned her three years ago. And he knows if he gets too close it will destroy Nan, who has a secret connection to Blaire.

He has every reason in the world to stay away from her. Find out why he doesn’t.

MY THOUGHTS;

This reminds me of a Wattpad story, and if you do not know already I love cliché wattpad story's. I'm not a big fan of the cover though, I don't like it when the main character is on the cover because I cannot imagine them as well.

MY BLOG IS BETTER THAN YOUR VLOG

ELLIE

Starcrossed - Joesphine Angelini

Title : Starcrossed
Author: Josephine Angelini
Format: Paperback 
Release date: May 31st 2011
Genre: YA romance, Fantasy. 
Stars out of ten: 

SUMMARY 

How do you defy destiny?

Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.

As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart. 

REVIEW

This book was gripping, from the first time Helen Hamilton meets Lucas Delos whose family has just moved to the small island of Nantucket she wants to kill him. She has no idea why and over the course of time they both are at neck and neck with each other. Helen is being haunted by Furies and nightmares. During one of these nightmares she sees Lucas on his hands and knees, feeling around as if he is blind. Cutting his hands on sharp stones, looking very afraid. Helen walks over to Lucas and tries to talk to him but all he does is mouths her name and begs her to leave him behind, Helen thinks is going to be stuck in the dry land of her nightmare forever pulling him up forcing him to walk with her. She is half awake thinking she is on a raft, only to find when she gains full consciousness that she is actually lying on Lucas, and that he saved her life. He explains that he is a Scion, lying on top of him Helen realises that she doesn't detest Lucas any more and later on realises that the fall abolished the Furies tat were haunting them both when they were near each other. 

Helen learns that she is also a Scion and that she has many abilities as every Scion has. But he is powerful but cannot control it, she gets trained by the Delos family who are trying to help Helen in finding which house she belongs to. 

Throughout all that is happening she is being hunted by Creon who wants her powers, but Helen is also falling in love with Lucas which is forbidden. They know that Helen belongs to a different house to the house in which Lucas is, the houses cannot mix. They are at war with eachother. 

FIRST SENTENCES

Chapter One: "But if you brought me a car now, it would be yours when I go away to school in two years. Still practically new," Helen said optimistically. Unfortunately her father was no sucker. 

MY THOUGHTS 

I really liked this book, because it was so fast paced and I like books that are easy to read. However I did find the whole story line a bit difficult to grasp, and the relationship between Lucas and Helen I didn't think was that great because Lucas always seemed a bit distant and his personality didn't really come through and that was a bit disappointing. However I would recommend it. 

MY BLOG IS BETTER THAN YOUR VLOG

ELLIE

Writing about the Coverflips

Finally it is time for the first feature of Cover flips, where we closely study the variation between book covers over the world! It sounds very nerdy and I'm not sure it is as nerdy as it sounds. This has been done by many people, but just sit back and enjoy. 
Lets crack on!

PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

Charlie is a freshman.

And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it.

Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But he can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

MY THOUGHTS ON THE COVER AND BLURB

I have read this book. I prefer the cover on the left, it just seems so much more inviting and happier and to me seems to have more relevance to the actual book. The one on the left is just ugly, I mean its a dodgy lime colour and has a pair of legs that look like a guy from the 1930's, I don't know.

The blurb is ok, in my opinion it's not a strong storyline and I found it very, very, excruciatingly difficult to read it and to force myself to the end. I think somebody told me to read it, so I brought it and was like "okay lets start!" without reading the blurb, or maybe I was drunk... who knows?

DELIRIUM

Ninety-five days, and then I'll be safe. I wonder whether the procedure will hurt. I want to get it over with. It's hard to be patient. It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn't touched me yet. Still, I worry. They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness. The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't. 

MY THOUGHTS ON THE COVER AND BLURB

Ok, the cover on the left I found on Tumblr and it intrigued me, the caption for it was "Delirium Coverflip → What the Delirium cover might have looked like had it been written by a male author, inspired by Maureen Johnson’s challenge" 

The cover isn't a published cover or anything I don't think, I know it completely defeats the objective but its hypnotising. Is it just me that thinks it is absolutely perfect. I like a book that has a good cover, that I can show off to people as I walk around with my school books and my reading book with the perfect cover perched on the top. 

The blurb is writing brilliantly, I love blurbs that have quotes on them. You knind of know then what to expect from the book 

CATCHER IN THE RYE 

Since his debut in 1951 as The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with "cynical adolescent." Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists. It begins,
"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them."

His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive) capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation. 

MY THOUGHTS ON THE COVER AND BLURB

I like both of the covers, I mean lets be honest they both look cool. I haven't read this and it seems like a must read, but the two covers lack similarity. If I had read this book I could say one doesn't have much relevance to the story. However you cannot judge a book by its cover, I remember being told this in Primary School browsing through the 'free readers' books. Actually the first time I actually experienced book heart break I was seven and had read black beauty, it ruined me to say the least. 

Anyway, the blurb seems awesome and I have only just read it. I cant believe it, I dont know whether this is my sort of book. But I do believe that Celine has read it. 

A Clockwork Orange 

A vicious fifteen-year-old "droog" is the central character of this 1963 classic, whose stark terror was captured in Stanley Kubrick's magnificent film of the same title.

In Anthony Burgess's nightmare vision of the future, where criminals take over after dark, the story is told by the central character, Alex, who talks in a brutal invented slang that brilliantly renders his and his friends' social pathology. A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil, and the meaning of human freedom. When the state undertakes to reform Alex—to "redeem" him—the novel asks, "At what cost?"

MY THOUGHTS ON THE COVER AND BLURB 

I love the covers both of them are totally different but captivating and eye catching. The one on the left I think would appeal to more teenagers, because it looks more modernised than the one on the right. 

The blurb looks awesome, it seems very deep. I love books in which question our existence and how bad our future is going to be, it leaves my mind to wander in crazy places. 

I'm sorry this is such a short, late post. I am very tired and hope you all don't crave your bed as much as I do right this minuet. 

MY BLOG IS BETTER THAN YOUR VLOG

ELLIE

The Fault in our stars - John Green

Title: The fault in our stars 
Author: John Green 
Format: eBook 
Release Date: January 10th 2012
Genre: YA Romance
Rating: 

SUMMARY 

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

REVIEW 

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, when a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs...for now.
Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

FIRST THOUGHTS

Chapter one: Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my of my abundant free time to thinking about death. 

MY THOUGHTS 

This book has literally hit everybody in my year, the amount of girls I see walking around with this book at the moment in my school is unreal. I read this book this time last year and still sticks out to me, such a powerful storyline, such a deep and diverse subject to read about. The writing is captivating, and the ending is horrible. John Green's words have the power to move oceans, I swear to you. 

UPCOMING MOVIE

This is utter perfection, when I found out this was being made into a movie I was so excited and eagerly anticipating the book to come to our screens. Waiting for other people to share the heartache with, makes me so much happier, like I am surrounded by bubble wrap. 

After seeing Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort working together in Divergent I was certain they would be able to pull this off and make the characters seem as vivid as they are in my mind. 

June 6th - A date to keep in your diary. 

MY BLOG IS BETTER THAN YOUR VLOG

ELLIE 

The Forest of Hands & Teeth #1 - Carrie Ryan

"I want to sleep, I want dreams to pull me from this world and make me forget. To stop the memories from swirling around me. To put an end to this ache that consumes me."

I've finished!

In Mary's world there are simple truths. 

The Sisterhood always knows best. 

The Guardians will protect and serve. 

The Unconsecrated will never relent. 

And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. 

But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. 

And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

I hadn't researched the book at all before I picked it up and decided to buy it. All I knew was that I was hooked and intrigued by the title. So when I realised that The Forest of Hands & Teeth was about a zombie apocalypse, you could say I was quite surprised. 

The 'Unconsecrated' are the zombies which are trapped in the 'Forest of Hands & Teeth'. There is a small village which the forest encircles which everyone had been told they can't go through. Mary has ended up temporarily being in the Sisterhood which is basically like nuns. In the cathedral she finds out that there is a way to get into the forest and that she, along with everyone else has been lied to, and so the journey of Mary begins...

This book was very powerful with a steady, consistent pace and even though this may be because I was trying to stay up and not fall asleep, it had me gripped and wanting more. The book was very action-packed and had several turns which were pretty predictable but hey ho. You could really capture Mary's loneliness and longing to see the ocean; she was a curious character. There were always questions that you'd be asking yourself and wanting to know straight away. Her longing to see the oceans that her deceased mother told her about gets extremely overwhelming. In fact, she lets a few people die for it...

...which leads to reasons why I did not like this book.

I think this book was mostly focused on a breakdown and I honestly thought she was crazy. The negatives were mostly because of the main character. 

-She was selfish as hell. 

-The character lacked excitement. Sure, she got excited about things but I didn't think she, herself was an exciting character. 

-She is more than happy to steal her bestfriend's guy, even though the guy has a brother who is really into her.

-The characters seemed to bland, especially her love interests. You didn't really get a full background to their relationship.

All in all, this book was a good kind of different and even though I thoroughly enjoyed it, there were also a few bits here and there that made me want to stick a knife in my eye. (Though I will probably read the second book just because of curiosity).

★★★

-C E L I N E

Late Night/Early Morning Reading

I'm making this post on:

& it's 00:21 and I'm in the bathroom reading...

Why am I in the bathroom?

As a fellow roommate to three other people, I don't want to disturb them from their precious beauty sleep and it's pretty evident that they all need it, especially someone whose name starts with an O and ends with an N ;). Just joking guys, I hope you never see this. 

Why am I reading at this time especially when tomorrow is the first day of Summer term?

Well as you can see from my calendar above, the first thing on my calendar is indeed 'flying' at 06:00. Basically my school will take a group of people to fly, (yes fly an aircraft!) and the last time I was meant to go I overslept and completely missed out so this time I am being very prepared. 

My definition of being prepared is not going to sleep so there is an 80% chance that I will not miss it this time. I could always accidentally dose off but I've done this plenty of items before and it is not likely. 

If you haven't already figured, this means that I get to miss the first day, woo! :D

What am I reading?

The Forest of Hands & Teeth - Carrie Ryan

Even the title oozes excitement & who knows, I might finish it within a couple of hours!

Stay tuned :)

-Celine