Top Ten Books I've Read So Far In 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme held over at TheBrokeandtheBookish.

This week's topic is: top ten eight books i've read so far in 2015.

8. Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard

I really ejoyed this book! It was gripping and fun to read through. I really liked the characters and the plot. I enjoyed how the love triangle wasn't the main focus of the novel. The hype was a bit too strong, there were quite a few flaws, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. My review here.

7. The Blood of Olympus - Rick Riordan

I was somewhat disappointed in BoO because it was the finale to one of my favorite series but I still loved this book so much. It was fun and entertaining and I cried so much. My review here.

6. Slammed - Colleen Hoover

I love slam poetry so I really enjoyed this book. I didn't really get into it until the last 100 pages but ohmygosh I cried so much in those pages. Definitely recommend!

5. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

I had to read this for school and I wish I had read it sooner! It's a wonderful classic romance.

4. Hopeless - Colleen Hoover

Hopeless was so intense and amazing, I couldn't put it down. My review here.

3. It's Not Summer Without You - Jenny Han

It's Not Summer Without You is the second and my favorite of the Summer trilogy. It hit me real hard with the feels and I cried throughout the entire novel (which is always good).

2. Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

Ready Player One blew me away. I've never been a huge fan of science fiction but wow this was amazing. It was action-packed, exciting, and unique. It was one of those books that I couldn't stop thinking about after I finished it. My review here.

1. These Broken Stars - Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

It's been 5 months since I've read These Broken Stars, and I still think about it. It's a wonderful blend of sci-fi and romance, though very romance-heavy. There is so much hype surrounding this novel, but it's hype well deserved. If you haven't read it, what are you doing? Go read it now. My review here.

What are your favorite reads of this year?

April Reading Wrap Up

This month I read 4 novels and 4 graphic novels!

The first book I read this month was Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. I really ejoyed this book! It was gripping and fun to read through. I really liked the characters and the plot. I enjoyed how the love triangle wasn't the main focus of the novel. The main reason it's not a 4 or 5 stars is because of the amount of similarities to other dystopian novels. It's basically what The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Selection, and Shadow & Bone would be if they were smushed into one book. The worldbuilding could have been better as well. 3.5/4 Full review here.

The next book I read was The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson. I mean I didn't hate it. There's a lot of hype, underserved hype, surrounding this book. the premise of the story is interesting but nothing special. The first 230 pages were pretty good but then it went downhill. The world building was really weak and romance was so superficial. The characters were more character tropes than actual characters and were very one-dimensional. Life is too short for mediocre books so I wouldn't recommend reading this. 2.75/5 Full review here.

Next I read the graphic novel, Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez. The story was somewhat interesting but I wasn't a huge fan of the art style so I'm not sure if I'll continue the series. 3/5

This was such a short and sweet coming of age graphic novel! 4/5 Review here.

As a big fan of the Infernal Devices and the Shadowhunter Chronicles in general, I was so excited to read the manga version of Clockwork Angel! It definitely didn't disappoint. It stayed very true to the book and was a great adaptation. 4/5

I loved Rebel Belle so I had high hopes for Miss Mayhem. Unfortunately I was somewhat disappointed. I felt the book was really out of place and not a great sequel, however, I did really enjoy reading it! 4/5 Full review here.

This was a really interesting graphic memoir! I though the story was great as well as the art. 4/5

This was a mostly interesting book but I thought it could've been better. 3.5/5 Review here.


Well thoseare the books I read this month! Let me know what you read:)

Red Queen | Book Review

Title: Red Queen
Author: Victoria Aveyard

Series: Red Queen #1

Publisher: Harper Teen

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Dystopian

Pages: 320 (Hardcover)

Average Goodreads Rating: 4.14/5

My Rating: 4/5

Mare lives in a world where Reds are the poor commoners and Silvers are the rulers of the land. When she discovers she has powers similar to what the Silvers have, her life is flipped upside down and changed forever.

This book was definitely worth the hype. It was gripping and fun to read through. I really liked the characters and the plot. If you haven't read this yet, I definitely recommend it.

First of all, let's just take a moment to admire this cover. So one thing I really enjoyed was the writing. It was really easy to follow and the action sequences were written really well. Usually in an author's first book, the writing is mediocre but I think Aveyard did a pretty good job. There was a ton of badass moments, which is always a plus. Often in dystopian books, the love triangle takes over the story but the love triangle (possibly square) took a backseat and didn't overshadow the plot in Red Queen. Some of the characters were really interesting as well. I enjoyed Mare and her ability to understand her emotions and face them head on rather than deny that they exist, as well as the complex personalities of Maven and Cal(sort of).The plot twist was also well done. I had no idea that was going to happen but thinking back I feel like I should have known.

The main reason this was a four star rather than five was that there were too many similarities to other dystopian novels. Throughout the book I constantly found myself thinking "this is a lot like Divergent/The Hunger Games/The Selection/Shadow & Bone". Normally, I don't like comparing books to each other and I understand that dystopian books have a lot of the same elements. However, I felt Red Queen wasn't too original and was basically what Divergent, The Hunger Games, The Selection, and Shadow & Bone would be if they were one book. I also felt that the world building was a bit underdeveloped but there's supposed be a lot more of it in the sequel so it's not too big of a problem. One thing I didn't like was how the characters weren't very real. Besides the three main characters, the others were pretty one dimensional. Mare, Cal, and Maven also had so much room to grow but that didn't happen. Cal's personality didn't really make sense to me either. In the beginning and end he seemed to have a pretty strong personality but it just faded in the middle, but since the book is from Mare's point of view, it kind of makes sense. The villains also didn't have a real reason to do what they did. They were evil just for the sake of it. Another problem I had was the romance. I didn't think the characters had much of a connection.

It seems like I disliked the book more than I liked it but I really did enjoy it. I think the second book will probably solve most of my problems and I can't wait for it to come out! (in 2016 //cries) 

Happy reading!

Hana

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