August 2016 Book Wrap-up

Hello World!

August. The month which here in England, the thought of school never needs to pop into your head. I really do love August. August is the month where I can properly sit down with a book and read it without any interruptions, or thinking "Oh wait, I have an English essay due in tomorrow - Chapter 8 will just have to wait." As a result, I tend to get through a lot more books in August then any other month. Here's what books I picked up and managed to read!

August Book Haul

6 books - not bad!

Last month, I managed to gain six books! Five out of the six I picked up from a charity shop for 25p each which is a positive bargin! Especially as all the books are exactly like new! Kudos to those who either kept the books in pristine condition while reading them or just decided to donate completely new, unread books. The world needs more people like you. The other (Vampire Diaries by LJ Smith) I won in a giveaway and was sent to me by this lovely person on Instagram! Thank you so much! <3

Soooo on to the books themselves:

• 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' - Mark Haddon
• This is the only book out of these six that I managed to read this month, so there shall be more on this one later...
• 'Fallen' and 'Torment' - Lauren Kate
• These are the first two in a series of 5 books in the Fallen series (not including book 3.5). I bought them both at the same time and it is safe to say they are both definite cover buys! They are absolutely beautiful. The story itself also sounds amazing - it is a YA Fantasy / Romace book (my favourite genre) and I just can't wait to ge stuck in!
• 'The Time Traveler's Wife' - Audrey Niffenegger
•  I have heard so many great things about this book, but had never got round to reading it and / or picking up my own copy, so when I found it sitting on a shelf in the charity shop, I instantly grabbed it. I am also yet to watch the film, but plan to as soon as I find the time!
• 'The Diamond of Drury Lane' - Julia Golding
• This is the first book in the Cat Royal series by Julia Golding. I am notorious for reading book series in the wrong order ( I read Percy Jackson 1,2,5,3,4, and don't even ask how I read Harry Potter), and therefore I can say with complete and utter confidence that 'Den of Thieves' (the third book) is amazing, even if I had pretty much no idea how old any of the characters were etc etc etc. I'm hoping reading this first one will put my mind at ease!
• 'The Awakening & The Struggle' - LJ Smith
• I do love it when there is more than one story in a single book. The convenience is bliss. Anyways, these two are the first two in The Vampire Diaries, and I honestly cannot wait to get my teeth into this book! (Pray excuse the pun :D)

August Wrap-up

Featuring the beautiful beaded bracelet I acquired a while ago from TwoJewelers

Seven books in a month means a book in 4.43 (to 3 sigfig) days! And now that I've seen that figure, I am really rather ashamed of myself! But anyhoo, the books:

• 'Lament' and 'Ballad' - Maggie Stiefvater
• Despite all the hubbub about the release of 'The Raven King' recently, I haven't read that much Maggie Stiefvater. Before I read these two books, I had only read the first two books in The Raven Cycle: 'The Raven Boys' and 'The Dream Thieves'. However, when I saw these two in my school library, I felt the need to take them out for the Summer. I do not regret that one little bit. I absolutely LOVED these two books (together called The Books of Faerie). Go read them. Perfect amount of romance, fantasy and adventure. Maggie Stiefvater really does write well!
• 'The Sleeping Prince' - Melinda Salisbury
• (Two authors, both with the same initials!) 'The Sleeping Prince' is the 2nd installment in The Sin-Eater's Daughter series! It is very easy to say that Melinda Salisbury is not one of those authors who writes a good first book, then thinks, "My first book was extremely successful, which means the rest of my series can be less good!" Oh no no no no, Melinda Salisbury didn't just match the extremely high standards set in her first book, but doubled them. 'The Sleeping Prince' was insane in the best way possible. 'Nuff said. I simply cannot wait for the release of the third book next year!

  

  Throwback to when I met the amazingly sassy Melinda Salisbury!

• 'Den of Thieves' - Julia Golding
• As I mentioned before, this is the 3rd book in the Cat Royal series! This book was great. I would completely recommend it to anyone who loves a badass female protagonist, a good adventure and a wonderful mix of all sorts of well-developped characters!

  

  Vive la Revolution!

• 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NIght-time' - Mark Haddon
• I had already seen the play before reading this book, so I had very high standards in accordance to how brilliant the play was. I could not have hoped for more in the book! I loved all the chapters and little bits of detail that the play missed out, as well as just simply rereading the scenes that were included. This book is pure genius. Definitely one of my absolute favourites.

  

  Featuring one of my many school Maths books

• 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' - Newt Scamander (JK Rowling)
• A perfect little book to accompany my Harry Potter addiction! I loved it. All I need now is a completely illustrated version (which I guess is the Creature Vault but I need MORE!) to wander my eyes over! Five years since my Hogwarts letter should have arrived and I am still in denial that I am a muggle. I blame the Nargles. ALSO, Slytherin Pride!
• 'The Silver Sword' - Ian Serraillier
• I've owned this book for ages and for years, I had only read half of it, so I thought this summer would be a good time to finish it. This book was so beautiful and it made me cry at the end. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a happy ending! (It's only 3 days past #HeathersDay shhhhhh.)

Sooooo that is all of the books I finished reading in August! With GCSEs looming in the near future, I doubt I will be able to get may books read before next Summer! My fingers are extremely crossed. Here's to a successful bookish Summer!

Me x

NB. Shameless self promotion: If you wish to find out more about my bookish adventures, feel free to check out and follow my Bookstagram! I post bookish photos more or less daily and would love you to explore the world of literature with me!

Book Review: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Hello, World!

Rise, red as the dawn.

These last few days I have been reading a book called Red Queen, written by Victoria Aveyard, and thought I might post some of my thoughts about it on the internet.

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This is a world divided by blood - Red or Silver.

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to seventeen-year-old Mare, a Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

But Mare possesses a deadly power of her own.

One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

Fearful of her potential, the Silvers hide Mare in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess. Knowing one false move will mean her death, Mare must use her new position to bring down the regime - from the inside.

Now Mare has entered a game of betrayal and lies.

This is Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart...

I actually had this book sitting on my shelf for around half a year before I found time to read it. The cover is fantastic! It instantly drew me towards it while I was just wandering around Waterstones. The picture of the silver crown dripping with, what I perceive to be, red blood is quite simple but I find it very effective, and it becomes especially poignant as you read through the book. Kudos to everyone who partook in the designing of the cover.

Blurb wise, it is intriguing, but maybe it gives a little too much away? I can't really complain, because upon reading it, I instantaneously decided to pick it up and buy it. One part of the blurb I absolutely love is 'prince against prince'. I don't think those three words are understood fully until the very end of the book. All the way through the book, those three words could mean a multitude of different things. I'm not going to say anything as it would be a MAJOR spoiler.

As the blurb states, the book tells the tale of Mare, a normal 15 year old teenage Red girl, living in a small village in a land ruled by the Silvers when a revolution, started by a group called the Scarlet Guard. Imagine Cinderella, with Cinderella as a Red and her evil stepmother and ugly stepsisters as the Silvers. The thing that makes a Red a Red and a Silver a Silver is their blood colour. I can't help but think how awesome it would be to have silver blood, but then all of that sitting in school Biology lessons makes me realise that for the blood to be silver, it can't possibly be haemoglobin, meaning that realistically we would die? But what if........? However, you still can't deny that silver blood would be pretty cool. Another great thing about the Silvers is their 'magic powers'. All Silvers are born with some sort of power, whether it be telekinesis, mind-control or being able to control metal or fire. Not gonna lie, that would be pretty awesome too. One last thing that I guess would make most people want to be a Silver over a Red is that the Reds aren't peacefully ruled over and treated fairly etc like any good kindom, in this dystopian land, the Reds are seen as the lowest of low and treated like mud. Meanwhile, the Silvers (even the ones not connected to the royal family) live in luxury. I feel like the circumstances would make anoyone want to start a rebellion if they were in the tattered and worn shoes of the Reds.

Although, the whole Red/Silver thing does sound amazing, doesn't it sound a little farmiliar? I completely understand that this whole dystopian future genre is really popular right now, especially in YA fiction, what with The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Maze Runner etc, but I feel that it has gotten to the point where, if the book hasn't got either something really different and memorable, or a film franchise, its plot just blends together with every other book written in the same style. 

The immediate effect this book had on me was: "OH MY GOSH THIS WAS SO GOOD AHHHHH I NEED TO TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THIS BOOK AHHHHHHHHH IT WAS TOO GOOD THIS BOOK IT IS TOO GOOD FOR THE WORLD I AM NOT WORTHY". However, upon reflection, I think I have that reaction to around 70% of the books I read. Out of that 70% though, there are very few books where that feeling will stick around for longer than a week. It has only been less than two days since I've read Red Queen, and the feeling has already faded considerably. The book, whilst I was actually reading it, was absolutely gripping. I quite literally couldn't put it down and I read it easily in about 3 hours. It was such a fast-paced book with so many exciting twists and turns that I actually didn't want to close the book in case I missed something and I returned to the book to find out that Mare has been murdered for doing the wrong thing or *SPOILER ALERT* Maven's secret has been found out *END OF SPOILER* or Evangeline picks a fight with Mare etc etc. 

Although the pace was quite quick, you didn't feel like you were being hurried along by the book, missing a lot of detail in the process. Personally, I found the book a very nice balance of speed and description. Victoria Aveyard most definitely writes well for the reader.

Apart from the actual writing of the book, one thing I did absolutely love was the characters and their addition to the story. One of the other things I found really magical was the character develpment that happens throughout the story. I can't say I have a favourite character, but I do like the character of Mare. She is strong, yet weak at the same time (which granted, is basically the underlying description for all heroines of this genre) and Aveyard really weaves this carefully into the plot. Maven is a very interesting character. Up to the end, I will confidently say I am #TeamMavey (even if it was just by a whisker), and as soon as I read the ending I was like "Nope. I am DEFINITELY #TeamCal now." But now that I've had time to reflect upon the book, I am torn between #TeamCal and #TeamMavey.... which is odd as I am usually a sucker for a good the-type-of-character-Maven-actually-is (for want of not spoiling the book!). I think the thing that drew me to Cal at the end was Maven's reasons behind his doings.... Farley is forever mocking the teenage romance between Mare and Cal, but I can't help but find the thing between Cal and Maven, especially seen from Maven's point of view, a little pathetic? Not the fault of the writing, of course, as without the pathetic little squabble, the book would be nowhere near as inticing as it is! Plus, it is crucial for character development. Maven's mother, the Queen, reminds me of a mix of Cersei Lannister and Richard III. If you've read Red Queen, you'll know what I mean. Another character I have mentioned is Farley. Farley is the leader of the Scarlet Guard. I just think Farley is a fabulous character. She is brave, sassy and very mysterious. I aspire to be like Farley... or on second thoughts, maybe not! Evangeline is also one to look out for if you want sass and fire. She also has great outfits. But she is also an unbearable brioche. Ah well - no one is perfect!

One last thing I would like to say about Red Queen is that, as much as I enjoyed it, for some reason I see it working much better as a film. I'm not saying that because "if the book hasn't got either something really different and memorable, or a film franchise, its plot just blends together with every other book" and that the book was a LITTLE lacking in the former, but that, this was one of the books that I couldn't help mentally staging and designing costumes and composing music and just generally seeing on silver screens (no pun intended) as opposed to on milky cappuccino-coloured paper. Everything in the book just jumps out at you and just begs you to write a script for it. Perhaps this comes from the fact that Victoria Aveyard is also a screenwriter? Whatever the reason, I am DYING for Red Queen to be turned into a film!

(If you want to see more book-related stuff, feel free to add me on Goodreads or follow me on Instagram!)

The truth is what I make it. I could set this world on fire and call it rain.

Me x

Favourites: TV Shows

Hello World!

So I started my exams on Friday.... so instead of revising (which I probably should do...) I have decided that it would be a good time to talk about sone of my favourite TV shows!

First off, my all time favourites. Number one on this list HAS to be BBC Sherlock. So good. If serious sleuthing with Bendybatch, co-created by Mark Gatiss, great plots, and just the best characters ever isn't your cup-of-tea (made by Mrs Hudson, obviously), I'm not too sure what is! Another reason I love it is the fact that it is not one of those detective series where you figure out the whole story within the first 10 minutes. My only issue is the LACK OF EPISODES. 2017 is so far away......

www.thetimes.co.uk

Another show I really love is Once Upon A Time (or OUAT). I need to catch up on this so badly! I'm just waiting for my sister to finish Season 3 so we can watch Season 5 together. It is like Disney fanfiction with other myths and fairytales thrown in. I love it. I even have a chipped teacup necklace to prove it!!

www.insidethemagic.net

A TV series that I JUST recently started watching was Game of Thrones. I am led to believe this is an 18, so I feel like I should probably warn you of that before you actually go ahead and watch it. AMAZING so far! I already love it and I'm only 2 episodes in!! But it is MOST definitely not the thing for you if you do not like to see lots of the 'outer human anatomy' and learn what actually happens 'when a man and a woman love each other very much....."....yeah..... but SO great otherwise!! #WinterIsComing

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Not too sure if this next one counts, but once every year, the BBC has a televised baking competition called The Great British Bake-Off (or just Bake-Off) in which many amateur bakers compete to win and be the Bake-Off champion. I SWEAR everyone in England watches this. At least everyone I know does! Apparently, I heard that Taylor Swift loves it so much, that she has it specially streamed?! If you have never seen a single episode of Bake-Off, you are missing out. If you visit the UK at any time, please do so during the Bake-Off season!! Hosted by Sue Perkins and Meg Giedroyc, with Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood as your judges, what's not to love?

www.telegraph.co.uk

I feel like this is blog post is turning into a "Reason Why I Love the BBC" post, but their TV series are so good!! Two recent smaller ones I loved are Thirteen and Dickensian. The first of the two is about a 26 year old woman called Ivy Moxam who was kidnapped as a 13 year old and kept hostage for 13 years until she escaped. The series tells of her life from the day she escaped - the feelings her family face in their reunion, the police investigation into her kidnapper, the childhood memories Ivy still remembers..... so good. I love it. Plus, it is only 5 one-hour episodes long, so perfect for binge-watching!!!

www.bbc.co.uk

The latter, Dickensian.... don't even get me started. I will have a massive, Nile-long rant about it being cancelled. They say it was because of a  lack of live viewers, but that was the fault of the really, really bad TV scheduling. Dickensian is so much more interesting than the Eastenders Christmas Special! Dickensian is a little like OUAT, except instead of being Disney fanfiction, it is VERY well written Charles Dickens fanfiction. I cannot express my love for this enough. ONLY IT GOT CANCELLED AFTER ONE SEASON. Anyway, I shall move on before this 4132 mile long rant ACTUALLY happens.

www.bbc.co.uk

I am still so bitter.

One last TV series I feel like I should mention is Doctor Who. This is literally timeless. If you haven't heard of it - where have you been?! Maybe you are from 53 years ago, before Doctor Who exists? Who knows? But Doctor Who, as well as just being a fantastic sci-fi TV show, taught me so many things. Like how fish fingers and custard taste great together, or how you should never blink when you see a stone angel. And once again, this is one of those TV shows that I have to wait until 2017 to see the next season of! I need to find myself a wibble-wobbly-timey-wimey-machine and fast forward to 2017!!!

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So that was a short overview of some of my favourite TV series!! There are MANY more, but if I was to mention them all, this post would be longer than my rant on the cancelling of Dickensian. I might have a 'My Favourite TV Shows 2' in which I mention The Next Step or ITV's Jekyll and Hyde or Agatha Christie's Marple! Who knows?

Well I think I should probably sleep now if I want ANY chance of at least passing my exams tomorrow!!

Me x

My Top 10 Tips to: Procrastination

Hello again, World! 

As you will all know, it is exam season again! Whoop whoop. And we all know what exam season means - ACTIVATE MASS PROCRASTINATION MODE. In fact, as I type this, I have a whole week's worth of exams to revise for as well as lines to learn, a short enchainement to choreoghraph and a DofE route card to do for tomorrow morning. Sooooo, seeing as I am a professional procrastinator, I thought I might share with you my 'Top 10 Tips to Procrastination'.

1. Keep your phone on with all notifications turned on.

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This actually works wonders. You get distracted every time to hear your phone go 'ping!' or 'blupblup!' or whatever sound you have set it too. So effective. Works best if you are in MANY group chats in MANY different forms of social media. Trust me.

2. Rearrange all your stationery.

foreverorganised.com

You do it once, and have all your highlighters in rainbow order, all your pencils perfectly sharpened and all facing the right way and all your rubbers lined up. And THEN you decided that your glue sticks need to be in the fluffy pencil case and your protractor needs to be in front of your compass, not behind.........

3. Go get a drink.

www.getfit.co.ke

You sit down, about to start your revision, then you suddenly think: 'Hmm, I think I'll go grab myself a drink before I start so I won't have to interrupt my revision and get up half way through it.' You venture into the kitchen and pick up a glass. You fill it with water. Just as you are about to leave the kitchen, you see that half-open cupboard with a bar of chocolate peeping out, begging to be eaten. You open the cupboard to investigate. And don't lie - we've all done it. We go to the kitchen for a glass of water and instead come back with the whole contents of your kitchen cupboards and fridge. Been there, done that. SO many times.

4. Watch a YouTube video.

ourpact.com

YouTube has this magical power where you click on one video, and suddenly you are dragged into a vortex of continual clicking until you realise that 3 hours have passed and all you have done is watch a multitude of different YouTube videos. I find Thomas Sander Vine compilations, BuzzFeed videos or DIY Tutorials are a good way to get started on your clicking spree. Some YouTubers that I love and personally recommend are: Danisnotonfire, AmazingPhil, ItsWayPastMyBedtime, Grace Helbig, Tyler Oakley and ThatcherJoe. 

5. Listen to music.

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PROTIP: Sing along. Works best if you get VERY involved and have a private karaoke and dance party at the same. Otherwise, you may find that it actually helps you concentrate and get stuff done.

6. Get stuck in a good book.

DO NOT QUESTION MY MIDDAY CEREAL EATING HABITS. I AM STRANGE. WE HAVE ALREADY CLARIFIED THAT. But this weekend alone, instead of revising or doing ANYTHING that I probably should be doing, I managed to add another 3 books to my Goodreads 'Read' list. Rather proud. (Also if you want to friend me on Goodreads, my user is Bobollybee). Reading books is so good - a good book sucks you into the world created by its author until real life and this other world blur into one and you are wandering in a haze, wondering from where that parrot will fly down from, or that neon green monster will appear from......

7. Start watching a new TV series.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Recently started watching Bake Off: Creme de la Creme and Game of Thrones. No regrets. Might later do a blog post with TV series I adore. Sherlock will be VERY high up on that list!

8. Contemplate life.

iammichaelcanton.com

This is great. I often do this late at night or just randomly in the middle of the day. PROTIP: I like to lie down while contemplating life. Ask any of my friends at school. I will just happily lie in the middle of the floor and just..... life. Great way to waste time procrastinate. Just don't get too deep. Mid-day existential crises are best avoided.

9. Tidy up. 

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Usually, I hate tidying up. My bookshelf will always be arranged immaculately, but apart from that, I'm happy to live in what my mum calls a 'dog-kennel'. Well, mother dearest, it is organised mess. At least I can find everything! However, when I want to do some serious procrastinating, I will actually tidy up. You know I have many an exam coming up when my bedroom is spotless to the utmost perfection. As of writing this, I have not quite entered that phase of procrastination yet. Give it a day or two.

10. Write a blog post.

www.cogointeractive.com

Come Summer, I will be procrasting instead of writing a blog post, but now, exam time, I am writing a blog post in order to procrastinate from actually revising and doing work. And this is going SO well. Almost 2 hours wasted, including the time I spent at the beginning where I was just randomly on Twitter, pondering over my priorities (which is how I came up with THIS as a blog post.)

Well, that has been 10 ways in which I like to procrastiante. I honestly would not recommed trying any of them if you have exams or anything happening that may impact your future life. Go and revise and do well in you exams or whatever you may be doing. And I am such a hypocrite. But PLEASE. CHOOSE SUCCESS OVER PROCRASTINATION.

It is almost midnight now so I think it is about time I actually do SOMETHING useful.

Me x

Hello, World!

Hello, World!

Well, I guess this is my first ever blog post! Hi! I feel like first things first, I should introduce myself, and to do that I've decided to fo through the alphabet and for each letter, think of something that I like and makes me ME.

So, here goes!

A - Apples. Anyone who knows me will know that apples are my everything.
B - Books. As you can probably tell from my URL. I read like there is no tomorrow.
C - Coke and Water. Basically diluted Coca Cola. BEST THING EVER. Try it.
D - Dance. This is such a big part of my life. I used to do allsorts but I now mainly do ballet.
E - Equality. Without going too in depth, THIS IS IMPORTANT.
F - Friends and Family. Cliche, I know, but it's true. I don't know what I'd do without them.
G - Going Places. Metaphorically AND literally. I love exploring unknown places.
H - Harry Potter. Duh.
I - Internet. I HATE the internet as I get no work done. But I love it so much too.....
J - Jokes. I am will make bad puns and jokes when you do want them, and when you don't.
K - Knowing Things. I think everyone likes to know things? I was just stuck on K.
L - Late Nights. I have learnt to function properly on VERY little sleep. I blame the Internet.
M - Music. If I said Dance was a big part of my life, music is a hell of a lot bigger.
N - Nostalgia. I do love digging into the life of myself 'back in day'.....
O - Once Upon a Time. The TV show and just stories in general. I do love a good fairytale.
P - Photographs. Ultimate shutterbug. I take photos of everything EXCEPT food. I eat that.
Q - Quotes. I am also one to slip random quotes as well as puns (see 'J') into daily life.
R - Ribbons. Maybe it's a dancer thing BUT AHHHHH RIBBONS.
S - Shoes. I have too many pais, but a girl can never have too many shoes, right?
T - Theatre. CAUTION. WILL BURST INTO SONG AT ANY GIVEN POINT.
U - Umbrella Twirling. Wow that sounds tumblr. But it's so pretty!
V - Vegetables. I prefer fruit but I couldn't think of anything else beginning with V!
W - Wicked the Musical. I NEED NO WORDS. Call me common but WICKED IS MY LIFE.
Y - YouTube. I can spend hours on end watching random videos on YouTube. My No. 1 Talent.
Z - Zzzzzzz. I like sleeping. No effort is needed. I like no effort.

I guess 'L' and 'Z' make no sense together but ah well!

So I guess this is me, and I hope you will enjoy my blog as much as I will having posting random things about my life!

Bye!!

Me x