Top Ten Tuesday: Hyped Books I've Never Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke & The Bookish.

This weeks topic is:

Top Ten Hyped Books I've Never Read

This was a little hard for me, trying to come up with books that I haven't read yet and that I would consider 'hyped' books. I decided just to go for books that I hear endless things about and seem to see EVERYWHERE!

The Holy Bible by Anonymous, Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon 

The FIND ME Book Tag: Photographing the Precious!

    The
         FIND ME
                      Book Tag

A book tag where I get to take pretty pictures of books... Yes, please! I saw Cait do this and knew I would have to get to it soon. Then Amanda did it too, which reminded me that I totally said I'd do it, then never did. So off I went to mess up my beautiful and perfectly organised bookshelf, in order to hunt down a book for each of these! I am rather happy with how these turned out.

Just found out this is a tag from Novel Ink, so I am linking back to that here!

A BOOK WITH A SUNSET

The Start of You and Me by Emery Lord 

This was such a wonderful read, and it'll make a perfect summer read if you want something to read whilst lounging on the beach. You can go and get swept up in this adorably cute book!

A BOOK WITH WATER

Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund, Under the Influence by L.B. Simmons & Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

Apparently I really like covers that include water in them. I like them so much that I found it really hard to just go with one picture for this one. So I had to go with three. But, can you blame me when the covers are all so pretty!

A BOOK WITH A FLOWER

Elixir by Hilary Duff

I own hundreds of books and yet I seemed to really struggle to hunt down any books with a flower on the front cover. At least this finally proves that there was a reason I still haven't gotten rid of this book, despite the fact I have zero intention of reading it. At least now I have found some little use for it, I will feel better when I finally do get rid of it without reading it. 

The DUFF by Kody Keplinger: Book & Movie Review

Title: The DUFF
Author: Kody Keplinger
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Buy this book: Amazon (US) / Amazon (UK) / Book Depository

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn't think she's the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her "the Duff," she throws her Coke in his face. But things aren't so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him. Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she's falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone. And eventually, through this realization, Bianca begins to see how harmful her unhealthy way of dealing with her problems has been, and finds a way to confront them head on.

I am the first to admit that I have a problem with buying books and then just leaving them unread on my shelves for years. The DUFF was one of those books, and I am so mad at myself for waiting so long to read this book. I'd keep looking at it on my shelf and thinking that I should really hurry up and get to it, but four years went past and it just never happened. That is until the film trailer dropped. The movie looked like it was going to be so much fun and I knew I just had to read the book before I went to see it. I am so glad that I did because I ended up absolutely loving this one, even if it turned out to be completely different to what I was expecting.

The trailer for this books movie adaptation had me expecting this book to be quite a light, funny but somewhat predictable and clichéd read. But you quickly realise that the book is going to be a lot different from the 'geek girl works with popular jock guy to become less of a DUFF and score the guy!' type storyline that the movie is obviously going for. I am so glad that turned out to be the case because this book brought so much more to the table. It's been one of the stand out reads for me this year and I really wish more YA books were like this.

Top Ten Tuesday: My Top Reads of 2015 so far!

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke & The Bookish.

This weeks topic is:

My Top Reads of 2015 so far!

Yay! I always love the top ten reads of the half year/year posts. Not only because I get to share all the amazing and wonderful books I have read so far this year. I also love it because I usually find a ton of amazing books to add to my own TBR pile.

I've read 66 books so far in 2015 so picking just ten turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. It also made me realise how many reviews I need to write, as I haven't wrote reviews for any of these yet, except for one book this year and the two I read and reviewed last year,

The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough

WOW!!! No other word describes this beautiful book better. It is absolutely wonderful and I highly recommend it. I really wish this book was getting way more attention because it absolutely deserves it. It tells the story of Love and Death, and the game they have been playing for centuries. They each choose their players, set the rules and see who comes out on top. Death has always won! Henry and Flora are the players that are picked. Flora has dreams of becoming the next Amelia Earheart and sings in jazz clubs during the day, and Henry is guaranteed a bright future by his wealthy adopted parents. It's set during the time of the Great Depression and has everything I could have asked for - fascinating and diverse characters, fantastic writing, a beautiful romance, LGBTQ themes and heartbreaking moments that had me sobbing. I highly, highly recommend. Especially to anyone who was a fan of The Book Thief or similar books.

P.S. I will be posting a gushing review of it very soon, and also including a giveaway and possible author interview.

Half Bad & Half Wild by Sally Green

I really need to hurry up and review these books. I actually can't describe to you how much I loved these. When Half Bad came out, I'd seen mixed reviews and it had made me so nervous to get to this series. I shouldn't have worried, I read it and it became one of my top reads of the year. It has magic and witches, not to mention this also has diverse characters and LGBTQ themes too. I adored every moment of reading these books and I am so desperate to get my hands on the third book. I met Sally Green and totally had to stop myself fangirling and hounding her with questions about the third book. I know there were many people who just couldn't get into this series, but I adore it and it's become a top favourite series of mine.

My Weekly Wrap Up: 27/06/2015

I'm really proud of myself this week! I have posted for the last five days in a row, which is really surprising for me. I have been suffering from the worst blogging slump - before this week I'd posted only 17 posts in 4 months. But something just clicked this week and I was finally able to do some blogging. I really hope I can keep this up and get back on track.

My weeks have mostly been filled with working and not much else. But I did get to attend an amazing event at Bloomsbury's offices in London last week. It was an evening with Sarah Crossan and Jenny McLachlan, who were there talking about their latest books. It was such a fun event and those two had us all in stitches. I went with my best friend, Kevin, and we had a great time catching up.

I've been realising that I am acquiring books at an alarming rate and really need to cut down. We shall see if that actually happens though!

FAR TOO MANY!!!

Mud Vein by Tarryn Fisher

When reclusive novelist Senna Richards wakes up on her thirty-third birthday, everything has changed. Caged behind an electrical fence, locked in a house in the middle of the snow, Senna is left to decode the clues to find out why she was taken. If she wants her freedom, she has to take a close look at her past. But, her past has a heartbeat... and her kidnapper is nowhere to be found. With her survival hanging by a thread, Senna soon realises this is a game. 

A dangerous one.

Only the truth can set her free. 

Marrow by Tarry Fisher

Margo is not like other girls. She lives in a derelict neighbourhood called the Bone, in a curse house, with a cursed mother, who hasn't spoken to her in over two years. She lives her days feeling invisible. It's not until she develops a friendship with her wheelchair-bound neighbour, Judah Grant, that things begin to change. When neighbourhood girl, seven-year-old Nevaeh Anthony, goes missing, Judah sets out to help Margo uncover what happened to her.What Margo finds changes her, and with a new perspective on life, she's determined to find evil and punish it - targeting rapists and child molesters one by one. But hunting evil is dangerous, and Margo risk losing everything, including her own soul. 

Under the Influence by L.B. Simmons

Dalton,

I love you once. A love I thought irrevocable. A love I mistakenly believed could transcend both time and circumstance. Under the influence of my dimwitted, naive, traitorous heart, I became intoxicated with what I now know was simply a figment of my self-indulgent imagination. So drunk on the feeling, I couldn't see what was right in front of my face. So foolishly enamoured, I blindly followed my heart into the depths of an emotion that would ravage me.

Years later, I know now what I wish I knew then. I am stronger. Smarter. Tougher. I will not allow myself to be broken again.

I loved you.

I raged for you.

I wept for you.

And now, I'm letting you go.