At the moment, I'm listening to: Drinking from the Bottle by Calvin Harris, Troublemaker by Olly Murs, Thrift Shop by Macklemore, I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift and Wings by Little Mix. How much time do you spend reading it week? It fluctuates a lot. Usually I try to read for at least 30 mins - 1 hour per day, sometimes more if I'm not busy or the book is really interesting. What was the last thing you Googled? I just searched for information about Pride and Prejudice - I'm obsessed with the Lizzie Bennet Diaries webseries on YouTube, and I just wanted some extra information. Favourite places to travel? I don't really travel, so pretty much anywhere is good. What is your favourite way to spend a rainy day? Wearing something comfy at home while reading and watching TV.
Carrier of the Mark (Carrier Trilogy #1) by Leigh Fallon Release Date: 4th October 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins Format: Paperback Pages: 342 Rating: 3.0/5.0 This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS and 2013 ODY Summary from Amazon:
"Their love was meant to be.
When Megan Rosenberg moves to Ireland, everything in her life seems to fall into place. After growing up in America, she's surprised to find herself feeling at home in her new school. She connects with a group of friends, and she is instantly drawn to darkly handsome Adam DeRís.
But Megan is about to discover that her feelings for Adam are tied to a fate that was sealed long ago—and that the passion and power that brought them together could be their ultimate destruction."
Review: Oh god this book. I really wish I hadn't wasted my time on this, because it really wasn't good. Granted, it did pick up towards the end, but I can tell you now I won't be continuing on with this trilogy. This just. wasn't. good. At the beginning it was just weird. A guy and a girl can't stop staring at each other. Then, they decide to get together. Then comes an onslaught of new information, which took me a while to digest. All during this stage, the book isn't any good. The story doesn't make any logical sense - at all. Then, eventually, the story picks up. I would say around about the moment when they travel abroad (I can't even remember which city they travelled to), that's when things picked up a little in terms of the fantasy storyline. The romance - not so much. Then, the end was all very dramatic, and it was over. To be honest, reading this book just felt like I was going through the motions. I wasn't paying too much attention to the story, but just trying to get through it. I took this book to work the other day, when there was a lot of downtime, which was how I managed to finish this book without stopping midway - I read this book to avoid boredom, not really because I wanted to. Some people will love this story, but I just didn't. The fantasy aspect interested me, and this element of the story did go places, which is why I gave this book a rating of 3 instead of 2/5. But overall - I wouldn't bother if I was you.
Shy, Smart, Kind, Organized, Lazy, Witty, Reliable, Honest, Bookaholic, TV-aholic, Favourite TV shows? Oh there's quite a few: Pretty Little Liars, Vampire Diaries, Once Upon a Time, Scandal, Castle, Grimm, Criminal Minds, Offspring, Puberty Blues, Smash...that's all I can think of at the moment. If you could take over the world, what would you do? I think I'd be too lazy to be bothered, to be honest. Who was the first boy you kissed? Lets not go there... How to do unwind? Reading and TV.
This weeks musing asks...Tell us what you're reading right now - what you think of it so far; why you chose it; what you are (or aren't) enjoying about it.
I'm currently reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, and oh my lord it is good. I'm reading it as part of the Off the Shelf Challenge, and I can't believe I left this goody sitting on my shelf for a good 6 months or so. I'm really enjoying that this book is able to surprise me - I find a lot now-a-days that stories can be too predictable for me, but this one definitely isn't. What about you? What are you currently reading?
Ingenue (The Flappers #2) by Jillian Larkin Release Date: 12th June 2012
Publisher: The Inkhouse Format: Paperback Pages: 351 Rating: 4.0/5.0 This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY and 2013 BSR Summary from Amazon:
"In the city that never sleeps, Lorraine Dyer is wide awake. Ever since she exposed Clara Knowles for the tramp she was—and lost her closest confidante in the process—Lorraine has spent every second scheming to make her selfish, lovesick ex-best friend pay for what she did. No one crosses Lorraine. Not even Gloria.
True love conquers everything—or so Gloria Carmody crazily believed. She and Jerome Johnson can barely scrape together cash for their rent, let alone have a moment to whisper sweet nothings in the dark. And if they thought escaping Chicago meant they'd get away with murder . . . they were dead wrong.
Clara was sure that once handsome, charming Marcus Eastman discovered her shameful secret, he'd drop her like a bad habit. Instead, he swept her off her feet and whisked her away to New York. Being with Marcus is a breath of fresh air—and a chance for Clara to leave her wild flapper ways firmly in the past. Except the dazzling parties and bright lights won't stop whispering her name. . . ."
Review: I really enjoyed this second instalment in Jillian Larkin's 'The Flappers' series, but to be honest, writing this review about a week after finishing the book, I'm finding it to be a bit forgettable. When I was reading the story itself, I was enthralled with it. I enjoyed reading each girl's story, just as I had the first time, but I found this time around, their stories followed a much more predictable path. Lorraine tries to scheme again, but of course it all comes crashing down around her, Gloria continues on her tumultuous relationship with Jerome, and Clara is back on the wagon (sort of). Whilst I enjoyed reading each girl's story, it was pretty predictable. However, there was a little twist in there regarding Lorraine and a love interest, so there are still surprises to be had. What I did enjoy immensely was the setting. Historical fiction has to be one of my favourite genres, and this novel vividly depicts the 'Roaring 20s', both the good and the bad. The underground culture of speakeasies during the prohibition, the racial tension between black and white, the life of the high society - I can't really flaw on its portrayal of this era. Overall, Ingenue is a fitting second novel in this trilogy, and I'm interested to see where the third and final novel takes each girl's stories (especially Gloria's).
The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald Release Date: 10th April 1925
Publisher: Scribner Format: eBook Pages: 144 Rating: 3.5/5.0 This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY, 2013 EBC and 2013 GVR Summary from Goodreads:
"A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--" Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.
It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. "Her voice is full of money," Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose,The Great Gatsbyis as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem."
Review: This took me longer than I thought it would to get through it. Probably because I didn't enjoy it all that much. Which I find strange, considering this novel is one of the great American classics. I really, really thought that I would like this book more. My problem was with the characters and the plot. The characters themselves, were not all that likeable. I hear that that's the point, but still - I tend to need characters I like, or maybe love to hate, in order to enjoy a book. These characters - I didn't love to hate them, I just disliked them. On top of that, I had some issues with the plot. Now, there were some twists and turns in there that I wasn't expecting - those parts of the novel I enjoyed. But that ending. I just didn't feel like anything had been resolved. We basically ended up back where we started from, and where we started wasn't that great to begin with. I am, however, looking forward to seeing this on film. I think this book could be adapted really well to film - with the added bonus of being able to see scenes not involving our narrator Nick. Overall, the novel was interesting. Read it if these sorts of novels interest you, but if you're like me who felt the need to read the book before you saw the movie, then you can probably give this novel a miss.
Probably my bed. Are you a fast or slow reader? (you can test your reading speed here) According to the test, I'm above average, but I think it depends on the book. I can fly through a good book quite quickly, whereas others may take me a little longer to read. Fanfiction - love it or hate it? Have you ever read/written it? I tend to stay away from fanfiction. I did read some a couple of years ago, but only because a friend sent it to me and wanted my opinion on it. Summer or Winter? Summer. Truth or Dare? Truth. I don't think I've ever picked dare in a game of Truth or Dare.
