Wanderlust

Wanderlust
-n
a great desire to travel or rove about

I love to travel, who doesn't. The chance to explore a new place, delving into new experiences and new cultures. I love it all.

A couple of years ago I spent two and half months travelling around America, it was one of the best experiences of my life and now in six weeks time and going back again, this time not for as long, just three short weeks but I can't wait.

I'm starting off in New York, then flying to Vancouver, then off to Seattle, then onto Portland and finally to Chicago. I've been to both Chicago an New York before, I loved both cities so much that I am really eager to return. But Vancouver, Seattle and Portland will be a whole new adventure for me. I've never been to Canada before, but its one place I've always wanted to go and I've only ever heard great things about it. I've spent weeks reading through travel blogs and books trying to find the best places to visit to make the most of my short time. I'm going with a couple of friends from work, and considering we are all book crazy we want to try and visit as many bookstores as we can, from the big mega bookstores to the small independent ones, I want to see as many as I can. I want to experience the American and Canadian nightlife, I want live music and local bars. I want to see the local markets, the parks and museums. I especially want to visit the museums, I love going to museums, (side note: I would love to travel around Europe one day on  tour of museums). There is just so much to see and do and I don't want to miss a moment.

"Travel as much as you can. As far as you can. As long as you can. Life's not meant to be lived in one place."

Are there any places you think I should visit whilst I'm there?

Top Ten Books of 2013

2013 was actually a good year in terms of books read for me I beat my goal of 100 by 4 books and I know if I hadn't of slacked of in December and actually finished some books then that number would have been a lot bigger which is why I have set myself a target of 150 for 2014, if I meet this goal then it will be the most books I have ever read in one year, its going to be quite a feat for me but I think will a little perseverance, I am more than capable to doing it.

Now onto last year, as I said I read 104 books last year, some of them I liked, others I loved and some I actually obsessed over. It was really hard for me to pick just 10 books that I loved and would encourage you to read but here are the ones I would recommend you drop everything you're doing and read right away because I loved them that much.

 

1. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

 

Rainbow Rowell was defiantly my discovery of the year in terms of new authors, I fell head over heels with both of her books and the characters and worlds she creates. Fangirl spoke directly to my inner book nerd, I loved Caths obsessive behaviour with the world of Simon Snow, she reminded me of my younger self and my love of Harry Potter fanfiction. Rowell created a wonderful world in which Cath learns to grow and enters the 'real world', a world full of magic of its own kind.

 

2. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Lani Taylor

 

I remember when I found this book, I don't think I shut up about it for weeks and I think I may have actually have fallen in love with Laini Taylor and her words when I read it. From the minute I read the first page, I wanted, no needed to know more. Taylor created a magical and beautiful world and merged it with our own, her words left me speechless and her characters were beautifully flawed, I don't know if I would recommend another book as much as I would this one. I promise you wont be disappointed.

 

3. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephaine Perkins

 

 This book was a breath of fresh air, it was beautiful and heart-breaking and made me want to go back to Paris and have the same experiences as Anna. I wish I could express how much I loved this book, it was beautiful and mesmerizing, Stephanie just has a way with words that creates a world and characters that I would love to experience and to know.
 

4. Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas

 

 

This book is filled to the brim with action, tension, murder, mystery, romance and with a sprinkling of magic. Loyalty is questioned, battle lines are drawn and it is just the start to what is sure to be an epic series. Celaena is such a refreshing chance from the stereotypical characters we often see in books, she is good looking, smart and extremely skilled in combat and boy does she know it. 

 

5. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

 

 

I hadn't heard much about this book before it appeared in work one day and after finishing Daughter of Smoke and Bone I was eager to read something in a similar vain and let me tell you I was not disappointed. Shadow and Bone was an epic fantasy, the characters, the world building all blew me away, from the prologue to the end I was hooked, the writing was beautiful and kept me captivated throughout.

 

6. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

 

I had been eager to read Eleanor and Park since I had first heard about Rainbow Rowell and I think this book is a contender for being my absolute favourite of the year. Eleanor has to be one of the best female characters I have ever had the pleasure of reading about, she individual and quirky. This book gave me those butterflies in my stomach, it made my heart clench and it sent me on a roller-coaster of emotions and the ending, I think I screamed in frustration when I read it, I kept turning the page hoping for something more.

 

7. More Than This by Patrick Ness

 

More than this is an utterly compelling and wonderfully bizarre book, that will keep you hooked from the opening chapter, when our main protagonist dies whilst swimming on the beach and wakes up back in his childhood home. The events that occur throughout the rest of the book will have you second guessing everything you thought you knew. Ness keeps us on the edge of our seats and has created a diverse set of characters that you'll learn to love. More than this challenges the human nature and the fact that we are always searching for 'more than this'.

8. All my Friends are Superheroes

 

I think this was one of the shortest books I read this year and it was recommended to me by a lot of the people I work with and I loved it. It was funny and quirky, I loved all the little descriptions of the different types of superheroes that exist. It was a romantic comedy in a small little package and will leave you feeling warm inside. 

 

9. Forgive me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

 

This book was an interesting look and compelling story about a depressed teenager and what he perceives to be his last day on earth, the book jumps between different times in Leonards life and those life changing moments, as Leonard starts to say goodbye to all the people who have changed his life in some way, whether they realise it or not. It was a surprisingly sweet story and made me think about how people effect may our lives in the smallest of ways.

 

10. Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder

 

This was the last book I read in 2013 and from the moment I picked it up I couldn't put it down. Touch of Power is the first book in the Avery of Kazan series and if you like high fantasy then you should defiantly give it a try. Snyder has created a magical world, full of mayhem and danger, her characters are funny and loyal. Every chapter brings a new threat to Avery so its never boring. I ran out and bought the sequel as soon as I had finished it.

In other news, as I'm writing this post I am actually watching or should I say catching up on some NHL, I haven't watched that many games before but one of my close friends is a major Chicago Blackhawks fan and considering we are heading over to America in a couple of weeks and we are actually going to watch a game I figured I should get to grips with it.

Now if you didn't know I am more an NFL girl myself but I have to say once I got my head around the speed of the sport I am really enjoying watching it, I'm not sure I fully understand all the rules yet but I am sure that that will come with time. It's definitely more of an aggressive sport, its strange that fighting is actually acceptable but boy do these guys have some skill on the ice, I'm more of a grip the sides of a rink girl myself.

 

What were your favourite books of 2013? Do you agree with any of mine?

Book Club

I think I may have mentioned it in a previous post but I actually run a teen book club in which we discuss, yes you guessed it, teen books. I've been running it since September and I thought it might be an idea to merge my book club and my blog together a little bit.

 

Now just in case anyone reading this is in the area and would like to join along in person are next meeting is 14th January at Waterstones in Liverpool One but if not don't worry because I have decided to post a little round-up of our discussion here on my blog for everyone else to join in on. I want to hear your opinions about the books were reading. Do you love them or loathe them?

 

Now this months books are two dystopian picks, Gone by Michael Grant and The Maze Runner by James Dashner.

 

 

 Happy Reading

Let's talk: Reading Habits

Okay so I've got a little confession to make, recently I've been starting books but not actually finishing them now this isn't one or two books its a lot, 11 to be exact.

I don't know why I keep doing this, sometimes is simply because I just am in the mood to read a different genre of book and sometimes its because the story itself isn't keeping me entertained and then other times its because I can tell something bad is about to happen in the story and I don't want to read about it just yet, I just want to keep envisioning everything being perfectly happy for my characters for a little while longer and then in one case its because the subject nature of the story hit a little close to home and I couldn't quiet bring myself to carry on reading it just yet.

Now I will get round to finishing them, that's actually going to be my goal for this month is to finish what I've started to read and this shouldn't be too hard to complete considering I'm over half way through most of these books.

Do you ever struggle to finish reading books?

A New Year, A New Blogger

 

I hope you all had a wonderful time bringing in the new year last night, whatever it was you choose to do.

 

Welcome to 2014, its a new year, time to forget about all the bad things that may have happened last year and a chance for a fresh start (even though I am a firm believer that it doesn't have to be a new year for you to have a fresh start). A time to make those new years resolutions and to try and stick to them.

 

So in keeping with the theme of a 'fresh start' and 'resolutions', I have decided to do this with my blog, I haven't posted a review since September and even though this was mainly due to my laptop dying a very slow and painful death it was also because I just wasn't putting any effort in, I would get so bogged down with real life that I never took the time to do anything with my blog and even though some may think that this was because I didn't like blogging, I can honestly say nothing is further from the truth, I love blogging, I love talking about books and sharing my passion with other passionate readers, I love discovering new authors, I've found hundreds of new books through reading peoples blogs, books I would have never dreamt of picking up before and you know what some of them have become my favourite books and now I recommend others to read them too. That is the point of blogging for me, to be able to share and express my love of reading.  So no more slacking off, instead of filling notebooks with ideas for my blog I actually need to put them into practise, this is the time for me to get back into blogging and this time to do so seriously.

 

• Write more reviews: This is one of my biggest downfalls in regards to blogging, I enjoy writing reviews I like that feeling of satisfaction I get when I've particularly loved a book and I get a chance to tell the world about it and I want to do this more. I need to write my posts in advance and schedule them so that I don't stress about finding the time to write one.
• Be more active: This is one of my biggest downfalls I don't tend to interact with many other people in the blogging community, consider I struggle sometimes to find time to write my own posts I never seem to have any time to look at other people's but this is going to change, even if its just a select few I keep updated with it will be an improvement on what I do now.
• Branch out: As much as I love books and my blog will never change to being solely centred around books, I do want to try and make this blog a little more personal, so this year you'll probably see more posts about me and what I've been up to. Plus I want to try and make everything more conversational, make posts that get people interacting and chatting.

 

I've got lots of ideas in my head at the moment as to what I want to do with my blog and now its just making sure I implement them. I've already got a few reviews written and ready to be posted. Sometimes starting anew is exactly what you need and that's what I feel like I am currently doing with my blog, I gave it a mini facelift yesterday and got rid of a lot of clutter and now I feel like it looks a lot cleaner and fresher.

 

 

Now onto the most important decision of the year so far what book should I read first?

 

A New Start

Today is December 31st or as its better known New Years Eve. This is the day we reflect on what the past year has brought us.

The past 12 months I've gone by in a blur, I graduated from university with a 2:1 and I couldn't be more proud of myself, after battling with depression throughout university and having to take time out to recover, going back and finishing felt amazing, I put everything I had into graduating and making sure I got a good grade and stepping up to get my diploma made everything I've been through these past 5 years seem worth it. I became a stronger person. I still have my moments of self doubt but these are far and few between, I finally learnt to look in the mirror and be happy with who is staring back at me, I rediscovered my passion for music and now life isn't so quiet anymore.

 I met some wonderful people through my teen book club, we converse for hours on end about books and I love being able to share my passion with other people. I went to Wembley to watch my first ever NFL game and even though it wasn't the Packers the experience was amazing.

And most of all I got to spend the year with my boyfriend Ben, I couldn't be more proud of what he has achieved this year and what he has managed to overcome. Overall this year was pretty great, it had plenty of ups and downs but I wouldn't change it for the world.

Now onto next year, I see big changes in my future but that's for another post!

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephine Perkins

“I mean, really. Who sends their kid to boarding school? It's so Hogwarts. Only mine doesn't have cute boy wizards or magic candy or flying lessons.”

Anna and the French Kiss has become one of my all time favourite YA books. I started and finished it all in one day, I haven't been so captivated and entranced by a book in such a long time. The romance is beautiful and the story line is sweet and endearing. I could harp on and on about this book all day and believe me I have been to my friends. It made my happy, I think I actually read this book with a huge grin on my face it was that good.

Anna is shipped off to boarding school by her father and she hates it, she is homesick and lonely.Anna is upset that her father has pulled her away from her best friend and a possible love interest, and the fact that she can't speak any French has left her feeling isolated and insecure. And then she meets a great host of characters, including the charming St Clair, who drag her out of her dorm room to experience the wonders that the city of Paris has. As the story progresses Anna and St Clair develop a beautiful friendship that starts to turn into more, with plenty of obstacles to overcome are Anna and St Clair brave enough to take the leap into something more?

I absolutely adored Anna, she was the type of female protagonist that I could find myself relating too, the girl with the raisin sized gap in her teeth and a stripe in her hair, she was imperfectly perfect. She is shy but has a witty and sarcastic side to her as well. I loved how well Stephanie balanced Anna's homesickness with her excitement to explore a new city, she is the type of character that I find myself becoming connected too, when she is embarrassed I feel embarrassed right along with her and that is a credit to Stephanie to create that type of connection. Anna is sweet and adorable, she over thinks everything down to the tiniest moment and sometimes I wished she would have been a little more perceptive to St Clairs feelings but I think that's one of the things that made the story so special watching there relationship grow throughout the course of the book was beautiful.

“I wish for the thing that is best for me.” 

St Clair was definitely swoon worthy, unlike a lot of other reviewers I didn't get the whole English accent thing, well that being because I am English and its nothing special to me but I do get what makes everyone give him the title of hottest male character. Unusually for a male lead he is actually a sweet, kind and caring guy, at first you can tell he honestly just wants to be a friend to Anna but as they become closer, especially over thanksgiving when they are running through Paris together having the time of there lives you can see the relationship switch but he never makes a move. Yes he has a girlfriend but he does try to do right by her, he tries to work on their relationship but this connection with Anna is always at the back of his mind.

“Why is it that the right people never wind up together? Why are people so afraid to leave a relationship, even if they know it's a bad one?” 

Like Anna St Clair is imperfectly perfect, he has a rubbish relationship with his father and even though he is definitely attractive he does has his imperfections, Stephanie has created two leading characters that are human, they aren't perfect, they both make mistakes but they learn from them and that's what makes them perfect.
Stephanie has created a whole bunch of characters that are just wonderful, you really feel a connection to all of them, they each bring something to the story.

Its not only the characters that makes this book it is also the writing, Stephanie has an amazing way with words, she creates breath taking images of Paris, that you can feel coming alive through the pages. She has turned such a simple plot into something extraordinary, you can feel the tension and the emotions of the characters as they all struggle to come to terms with there feelings, the story is dramatic in its simplicity and yet its so realistic, I could actually imagine this happening. Its Stephanie's writing that creates such an emotional response in her readers, she creates a connection between her characters and her readers unlike other authors.

This book was a breath of fresh air, it was beautiful and heartbreaking and made me want to go back to Paris and have the same experiences as Anna. I wish I could express how much I loved this book, it was beautiful and mesmerizing, Stephanie just has a way with words that creates a world and characters that I would love to experience and to know. Anna is a real character, she sees the world in such a realistic way and honestly she has a rather negative view of it that I can relate too, she suffers from anxiety and stresses about such small things. I feel like I've known Anna a lot longer than a few hundred pages. Considering I'm not normally one for what would be considered romantic fiction I think you can tell that I thoroughly enjoyed this book and maybe in the future I wont be so quick to judge a genre if it contains books like this one. Whatever you do read this book, I promise you wont regret it.

“The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things upset you.” 

My rating: 5