Book Review - Endgame Sky Key By James Frey

Endgame Sky Key is the second book in what I think is going to be a trilogy by James Frey.

 

The first key, Earth Key, has been found and the remaining nine players in the game have to fight for the last two keys. Only one person can win. But Aisling Kopp thinks that Endgame can be stopped and then she meets the CIA, they know about Endgame and they want Aisling to help them. On the other side of the world Sarah and Jago are winning with Earth Key. The other players are spread throughout the rest of the world and they will stop at nothing to get Sky Key.

I loved this book. I read the first one earlier this year and it was just as good. It kind of has some of the Hunger Games feels to it in some ways but in others it's the total opposite. All these people are stuck in the game trying to find these keys in order to win but they are able to travel all around the world and the keys could be anywhere. One thing I love about this book is that it is told from all the player's perspectives, this allows the reader to get to know all the characters equally and not just the main ones. I rate this book a 4/5 stars.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes The Hunger Games and to anyone who likes adventure, action books in general.

Leah.  

Book Review - Rebel Belle By Rachel Hawkins

Rebel Belle is the first book in Rachel Hawkins Rebel Belle series.

The main character, Harper Price, lives in Southern America and has always wanted to be homecoming queen. But after a strange night at that dance she ends up with incredible powers of strength and fighting instincts. She figures out she is a Paladin from an ancient line of guardians, but she doesn't know who she's supposed to be protecting. But then she realizes it's David Stark who is her least favourite person in the world and to add to that David's fate may or may not destroy Earth.

Rebel Belle is a great blend of romance, humour, action and magic. Harper is a great character who is very dedicated to her school work and loves fashion. She also can be very funny and the author does a brilliant job at showing off her personality. I also loved reading about how the relationship between Harper and David developed and how they explored and discovered more about Harper's powers and why she had to protect David. I was so engrossed in this book I couldn't put it down, though at times the plot was slow and the main action part was at the very end, leaving the book in a very frustrating cliff hanger!! I would rate this book a 4.5/5 stars. 

I am so excited to read the sequel and I would recommend it to anyone.

Leah.

Book Review - Six Of Crows By Leigh Bardugo

This book is the first in a new series by Leigh Bardugo. 

It is set in the same world as in the author's old trilogy, The Grisha Trilogy, but follows completely different characters, this means you don't need to read the other books before this one. It follows a criminal called Kaz Brekker who has been offered a lot of money to go on a very dangerous heist. But Kaz knows he can't pull it off alone so he puts together a crew of six outcasts in order to have a chance.

The world is very magical and unique and Leigh Bardugo did an amazing job at bringing her world to life for the reader. All the characters were great fun and we even got an insight into a few of their backgrounds as children. I loved the fact that the book was told by the criminals of the story rather than the heroes and that made it even more unusual to read. The author's writing style flowed so well and I really want to read her other trilogy after reading this book. I also can't wait for it's sequel to come out! I will rate it a 5/5 stars!

I highly recommend this book, and if you have already read it or Leigh Bardugo's other series tell me what you thought.

Leah.  

Birthday Wrap Up

My birthday fell on the 27th of November and I received three hardback books that I am very excited about! Here is the wrap up of the books I got:



The first one I got is Endgame: Sky Key by James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton. It is the second book in the Endgame series. Two of the players of Endgame found Earth Key in the first book and now the 9 remaining players are on the hunt for Sky Key. I've been waiting for this book to come out for so long now and I'm very excited to read it.







The second book I received is The Wrath and The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh.
It's about a girl named Shahrzad who lives in a land where the eighteen year old king takes a new bride every day and kills her in the morning. Our main character decides to volunteer so she can get revenge on the prince, Khalid, for murdering her best friend along with all the other women. Through a devious plan she survives the night and the story evolves from there.
I have had this book on my wishlist for a good while now and I am so delighted I finally got it. Not to mention, the cover is absolutely beautiful and the pages have deckle edges!!






The last book I got was Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins.
The main character, Harper Price, is a southern belle who finds out she has incredible abilities after a homecoming dance! She has developed super strength and lethal fighting instincts. She then is given someone she has to protect, David Stark, who is probably her least favourite person in the world and also has the fate to destroy earth. I love the cover of this book too. The pearls suggest a frivolous, light read but then you notice the knife and it's not so frivolous anymore!! I love the shade of pink on the cover as well. 





I was very happy with all the books I received for my birthday and I can't wait to read them all and I'll make sure to post reviews when I do as I know I've only put a very brief description of each above.

If you have read any of these books I'd love to hear what you thought of them.

Leah.

Book Review - The Rest Of Us Just Live Here By Patrick Ness

As far as I know this is a stand alone novel by Patrick Ness.

This book is about the people in a novel that are... just there. They're not the "chosen ones" or particularly special they just live there, like Mikey. Mikey just wants to finish school and go to prom, but things aren't that easy where he comes from. What they call the "indie kids" (chosen ones) seem to have a weekly schedule of trying to destroy the world and are dying left, right and centre and never care for the likes of Mikey and his friends. Caught up in these events Mikey has to try to find the extraordinary part of his life along with his best friend, Jared, who is worshiped by mountain lions!!

It was such an easy read. I read it in one sitting and just loved it. It's nice to read about how the ordinary/side characters feel in books. I never would have thought about them before but now I think I always will. Mikey and his group of friends were so close, especially him and Jared, who I loved. A god of mountain lions he was a bit of a random addition to the book but he was so funny throughout. The opening chapter drew me into their little group and I found each of the characters very individual and equally interesting. This book gets a 4/5 stars. 

If you read this book be sure to tell me what you thought of it.

Leah.

Book Review - Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children By Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is the first book in Ransom Riggs trilogy.

It follows a sixteen year old boy named Jacob who, after a family tragedy, is journeying off to a remote island near Whales. There, he finds the dilapidated Miss Peregrine's home for Peculiar Children. As a child Jacob's grandfather had told him stories of the home where he spent a lot of his childhood living. He showed Jacob pictures of the people that used to live there and now Jacob realizes these people are much more than peculiar and he soon discovers the house is not as abandoned as he thought it was.

This book was a wonderful mix of photography and fantasy. The photographs helped to create an image in my mind of the different characters and they often added to the suspense of the story as well. All the character were very unique and I loved hearing the stories from Jacob's grandfather at the beginning of the novel. I would rate this book a 4.5/5 stars. My only problem was at times I found Jacob a bit boring and annoying but other than that it was brilliant! The ending was great too and really made me excited for the next book.

I cannot wait to finish this series very soon. Thanks for reading.

Leah.

Epic Reads

This is yet another website I commonly use for book recommendations.

This website gives you a large variety of book recommendations from the genres of your choice. It also gives you a book description and a reader rating of each book, which is very useful. Along with this you can find a list of authors you can click into and each author is given their own page including a biography and a list of books written by them. This is very handy if you are looking for a particular author.

In addition to this the website includes a 'fun' page which includes giveaways, quizzes on books and polls. The giveaways are often just for members of the US but sometimes they do international ones which I always keep an eye out for. 

Epic Reads has a YouTube channel as well which is great. They do facts about authors, quotes from specific books, they explain books and every Monday they put up these funny, short videos called 'Book Nerd Problems' which are hilarious and very relatable might I add!

If anything look up the YouTube channel and subscribe to it if you are interested in that sort of thing.

Leah.  

Book Depository

Another website I love to use is Book Depository. This website allows you to buy books at a reasonable price.

The Book Depository is a brilliant site for anyone who loves buying physical books. It sells most of the latest, most popular books that young people are interested in, in both paperback and hardback editions. The books are sold for an amazing price with no added VAT and free postage and packaging internationally. Another bonus with this website is that it often has great sales on. Sometimes up to 35% off and can go up to 50% off with some novels! It also doesn't take very long to deliver the books you order to your address once they are dispatched and they always arrive in perfect condition I think this is another great aspect with this website.  

You can sign up with your email address and you will get email notifications when any sale is on. It allows you to keep a wishlist, in which I love to keep track of the books I'm dying to read.  

I much prefer this website to the likes of Amazon for price reasons. I hope this post was useful to you.

Leah.

Book Review - Queen of Shadows By Sarah J. Maas

This book is the fourth in Sarah J. Maas' Throne Of Glass series. 

It follows Celaena Sardothien who is now Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. She is back in Rifthold and now everyone she loves has been taken from her. She has to fight to get her cousin, her friend and her people back but Aelin has to get past the king first. He has joined forces with the witches and their army is getting bigger. 

This book was fantastic. This series is one of my favourites and I've been waiting for this book for ages and it definitely did not disappoint. Although it was a slow start, once the action kicked in it was there to stay. Aelin is a woinderful character and I love her personality. Another thing I liked was that it was told from a lot of different perspectives, each just as interesting as the others. I cannot recommend this book and series enough, 5/5 stars!!!  

If you decide to read this series, please read them in order otherwise you can't appreciate the story enough. I also have book reviews up for the other books in this series which I posted in July, if you want to check out what I thought of those too.

Thanks,
Leah.

Book Review - Invaded By Melissa Landers

Invaded is the second book in the Alienated series by Melissa Landers.

This book follows both Aelyx and Cara once again. But they are now separated. Cara is on the planet L'eihr and Aelyx is down on earth. The two characters have planned to live on L'eihr once they can get back together but Cara hates L'eihr and as she continues to get to know the planet's cultures, she wonders if she'd ever be able to create a life there. 

That is all I can tell you considering that this is a second book in a series. It was a brilliant sequel, following up where the first left off. The two main characters were as charming as ever and a couple of other new, interesting characters were introduced as well. Another aspect of this book that I loved was that it went deeper into Cara's relationship with her brother. I would definitely give this book a 5/5 stars. 

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a romance, science fiction book. 

Leah.

Book Review - Crystal Magic By Madeline Freeman

This is the first book in the Clearwater Witches series.

It follows a strange sixteen year old girl named Kristyl Barnette. When Kristyl is around things happen. Windows break, lights flicker and things are throw across the room without being touched. Because of this, Kristyl is an outcast and is constantly getting in trouble for these things even though she claims she doesn't do anything. Then a tragedy happens and Kristyl has to move in with her aunt, Jodi and is forced to move school. Now, Kristyl is determined to change things and she even manages to makes some friends. But after a short encounter with Crystal Jamison, the schools mean girl, Kristyl finds that Crystal is always watching her. Because Crystal knows what she is, a witch. Jodi has told Kristyl she doesn't want her using magic but as Jodi falls extremely ill from a mysterious illness, Kristyl is forced to enlist the witches in order to save her aunt.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Straight away as it opened I was engrossed and the writing flowed so well. Kristyl was a lovely character and I really knew her well by the time the book ended. The whole story surrounding the witches was brilliant and they were some slight twists to do with that part that I loved. Overall this book is worthy of a 4/5 stars.....

And if we were talking about the cover a definite 10/10 for that too!!! For once, they did people on covers right. I just absolutely love it. Sadly I read this on kindle so I don't get to appreciate the cover fully but it's pretty amazing if you ask me.

Thanks for reading and I hope you give this book a try.

Leah.

Book Bub

I recently found this new website called Book Bub. All you need to do is sign up and it will send you emails recommending books you can get on your e-reader.

After you sign up it will ask you what kind of device you have so if you do not own an amazon kindle but another type of e-reader that will probably work too. It then lets you choose your favourite genres so that your emails are specific to what you like.

Once that is done you will start to receive daily emails giving you books, from the genres you have chosen, that are reduced on your e-reader and sometimes even available for free!

I find this website very useful as sometimes kindle books can be very expensive and it shortens the whole process of finding a book to read. I usually download most of the recommendations I get by email on the day I get it as the prices can often increase very quickly and it's good to have a good few books lined up to read whenever I need one.

This website is very handy for anyone who uses an e-reader and can save a lot of money you'd be spending on books otherwise. 

  

Book Review - Alienated By Melissa Landers

This is the first book in Melissa Lander's Alienated series.

It is about a girl named Cara, who is hosting the first ever intergalactic student exchange program from the planet L'eihr. We hear from her perspective along with Alex's, who is Cara's exchange student. The humans aren't happy about this exchange program and as a result they will  not stop threatening Alex and Cara until Alex goes back to where he came from. But it's not that easy. Cara doesn't know the real reason why the exchange program was established or about Alex's real purpose on Earth but as the two get closer Alex begins to feel guilty about the L'eihrs plan with Earth.  

I loved this book a lot. Cara was a great character who I just loved from the word go. I loved hearing about the planet L'eihr as well and I though the author did an amazing job with describing the planet and including little stories about the planets culture as well as showing the differences between the humans and the L'eihrs. I also loved the fact that we got to hear from both perspectives which showed how the relationship between the two characters built up. I flew through this book and I cannot wait to get to the next one! I rate this book 4.5/5 stars.

Thanks for reading.

Leah.

NEW TWILIGHT BOOK!!!

Hello!
I just found out that a new Twilight book is being released for it's 10th anniversary! It's called Life and Death and although it is still Twilight, the genders of the main characters have been switched! For example, Edward is now Edythe and Jacob is Julie. The new story is told by Beau, who is the male, Twilight equivalent of Bella Swan.

The 10th anniversary edition of Twilight is now released and the book’s cover is so special it has the cover of the first Twilight on the front but the back reveals the cover for Life and Death also the first half of the book is Twilight but then it flips around and turns into the new book, Life and Death!!

I'm so excited to read this book and I hope I'll be able to review it after I do!!!

If you read this book soon, tell me what you thought. I'd love to know.

Leah. 

Book Review - I Am Number Four By Pittacus Lore

This is the first book in the I Am Number Four series by Pittacus Lore. 

This book is about a boy, John, who is an alien from the planet Lurien. Along with his guardian, Henri, they move around and change their names and identities constantly to make sure that the things hunting John will not find and kill him. But when they move into Paradise, Ohio, John decides to try to make friends and settle down. Once he has make friends things begin to go wrong. Three have been killed, and John is next in line.    


I found this book kind of slow paced. I didn't really feel anything towards the characters and I thought the plot was quite boring. I would only rate this book a 2.5/5 stars, it took me a few weeks to get through and it was so dull at times.       

I'd love to hear your opinions on this book if you have read it.

Thanks,
Leah.  

Book Review - Let It Snow By Maureen Johnson, John Green and Lauren Myracle

This is a book of three short stories written by Maureen Johnson, John Green and Lauren Myracle. 

Each is written at Christmas time and the characters all link up throughout the stories. It follows a group of teenagers in different parts in Gracetown while a big snow storm is happening. One girl goes out into the storm from her stranded train and meets a lovely stranger, another group of friends try to win a race to a Waffle House and the last story is about a teacup pig whose fate lies with a teenage girl name Addie. 

I liked this book. I thought the first short story was definitely the best and also the characters in this story seemed the most realistic. Overall I liked reading from the different authors writing styles and I would rate this book 3.5/5 stars.

If you are looking for a cute, light, holiday read, I would definitely recommend this book.

Leah. 

Book Review - Playlist For The Dead By Michelle Falkoff

This is a stand alone novel by Michelle Falkoff. 

It follows a boy named Sam whose best friend Hayden, just killed himself. He left two things behind for Sam to find - a suicide note and a playlist of songs on his iPod.  All Sam has to do is piece together the puzzle of Hayden by listening to the songs he has left. But Sam has no idea what it means and after a while he finds that the only way he will be able to find out why Hayden committed suicide is if he opens up to the people around him.

This was a beautiful book which dealt with true friendship,suicide and loss in one. Hayden and Sam were so close to each other and when Hayden died Sam was by himself. But as he came out of his shell he found more great friends and together they pieced together Hayden's story. I rate this book a 4.5/5 stars.

Brilliant book, highly recommended.

Leah.  

Book Review - The 5th Wave By Rick Yancey

This is a first book in the 5th Wave series by Rick Yancey.

The 1st Wave - Lights Out!
The 2nd Wave - Surf's Up!
The 3rd Wave - Pestilence!
The 4th Wave - Silencer!
The 5th Wave - Is Coming!!!

The 5th Wave is about a girl named Cassie, short for Cassiopeia and she has survived the first 4 waves of an alien invasion on earth. The aliens have come in human form so it is impossible for people to tell human from alien. But right now that is not a problem for Cassie as she is convinced she is the only human left on earth. Until she meets Evan who may be her only hope of staying alive.

I absolutely loved this book! If you enjoy reading books with lots of action or aliens, this will definitely suit you. Also it was written so well and even the blurb on the back of the book just draws you in. Cassie was such a great character and it was amazing to see that she just went from a regular teenager to a girl fighting to stay alive! This book was so engrossing with overall great characters and a wonderful plot line. I rate this book a 5/5 stars!

Read this book and then tell me what you think!!!

Leah.

Book Review - All The Bright Places By Jennifer Niven

This is a stand alone novel by Jennifer Niven. 

It's about a girl named Violet and a boy named Finch who go to the same school. In this book we get to hear from both of their perspectives. Violet's sister  has died in an accident and now Violet isn't the same. When she meets Finch, who is kind of depressed himself, her life begins to get brighter but Finch's is beginning to fade. 

It was a brilliant, thought provoking book with lovely deep characters. The relationship between the two characters was so cutesy and they were so good for each other and they made the other so happy. But, in all this book was not a light read! It was so sad and it really made you think about life. I rate this book a 5/5 stars. 

This book does deal with mental health and suicide so I wouldn't recommend this book for younger readers.

Thanks for reading,

Leah.

Book Review - Split Second By Sophie McKenzie

Split Second is the first book in Sophie McKenzie's series. 

It is told from two perspectives, Charlie and Nat. They are both witnesses of a terrorist attack but at the start they do not know each other. Both their families are devastated from the attack. Charlie and Nat end up at the same school and as they get to know each other Charlie begins to think Nat knows a lot more about the terrorist attack than he is saying. The story evolves from there. 

I loved the characters in this book and the events that happened were gripping and fascinating. The betrayal in this book was also very well written and even though I was suspicious of it it shocked me all the same! I rate this book 4/5 stars, I thought it was very good.

If you read this book, tell me what you thought!

Leah. 

Book Review - The Wicked Will Rise By Danielle Paige

This is the second book in the Dorothy Must Die series. 

It starts  just where the first book has left off and Amy has been told exactly what she needs to do in order to kill Dorothy, who is the Dorothy from Oz but in this series she has turned evil and Oz is beginning to be destroyed! 
Other than that I can't say much as I don't want to give any spoilers so you'll have to go read this series to find out what happens!!!

I enjoyed this book immensely! It definitely wasn't your typical "good always wins" situation anyway! The cliff hanger at the end too was so annoying, but in a good way, and I cannot wait for the next one! The action in this book was brilliant and the character development was really good too. You got to know the characters so much more in it and I love them even more than I did in the first one! I rate this book 4.5/5 stars.

Highly highly recommend these books! (Also they have beautiful covers, what a bonus!!!)

Leah.







Also, look at this cover. This is the next book in the series and the cover is amazing!!! Also the title just draws me in and I cannot wait for it to be released!! I'm so excited, the cliff hanger in The Wicked Will Rise has me anticipating this book so much!!!

Book Review - The Copper Gauntlet By Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

This is the second book in the Magisterium series.

It continues where the first book ends. Callum has just completed his first year in the Magisterium and is now gone home for the holiday. There, he finds out his dad thinks he is secretly evil and wants to try to destroy him so he runs away from home. It then goes on to follow Callum's journey to meet up with his friends and from there, their trip back to the Magisterium. After they arrive they go on a mission and most of the rest of the book follows their adventures there.

It was a really good read and I was quite satisfied with it as the second book in the series. It also answered a lot of questions I had about the first book. The characters were bubbly and so funny at times and the whole magic thing was done really well! Overall this book deserves 4/5 stars!

I really recommend this series, but read them in order otherwise it would ruin it so much!!!

Leah. 

Book Review - Panic By Lauren Oliver

This is a stand alone book by Lauren Oliver.

Panic is a competition that takes place in a tiny town called Carp. It started out as something to do during the summer and Heather, our main character, is now competing. She has to compete against some of her fellow graduating seniors, such as Dodge who is sure he will go all the way in Panic, in order to win. We also get to hear from Dodges perspective and we soon find out that he has a secret!

There are some interesting and strange characters in this book and the plot is very intriguing. It is written beautifully just like Lauren Oliver's Delirium trilogy which I also have book reviews for. I would rate this book 4/5 stars, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I thought that Panic was a really cool game.

I definitely recommend this book, it was very good and the way Lauren Oliver wrote it made Panic feel as if it could be a real life game. So go read this!
And then Delirium because that was amazing too!!!

Leah.

Book Review - Requiem By Lauren Oliver

This is the third and final book in the Delirium series. 

I can't say much about this book without spoiling the rest of the series but I will say that it was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! It had me so engrossed in the plot and with the brilliantly written characters I felt like the whole thing was real! 

The ending was so frustrating!! I wish she put in an epilogue or something and if you read this series you will find out why and even though the ending was not very satisfying I DEFINITELY think you all should read it. I read this book in less than a day because I couldn't tear my eyes away from the pages. 

GO READ THIS BOOK!!! 5/5 STARS.

Leah.

Book Review - Pandemonium By Lauren Oliver

Pandemonium is the second book in Lauren Oliver's Delirium series.

It follows two perspectives, Then and Now. Both are about Lena after she managed to escape from her town and the cure, but Alex did not make it. As far as we know in the beginning he may or may not be dead but still Lena can't get over the loss of him. A lot of new characters are introduced in this book since Lena is in a different place, but in case you read the first book I don't want to spoil you so that's all I can really say. 

It was such a brilliant book with excellent characters, the way they were written made me feel as if they were real. I love how she wrote it from two perspectives and she creates such suspense when you get to the good part in one perspective and you're waiting to see what happens next when it just ends and changes to the other perspective!!! 

I will rate this book 4.5/5 stars.

Definitely give this series a try but I'd recommend reading them in order or you can't appreciate it as much. This book also contains a bit more action than the first.

Leah. 

Book Review - Delirium By Lauren Oliver

This is the first book in the Delirium trilogy by Lauren Oliver. 

It follows a girl named Lena who lives in a world where love is a disease and soon she will be cured which means she will not love anyone for the rest of her life. She is very much looking forward to this, until she meets Alex. As Alex and Lena fall in love they have to try to find a way for Lena to avoid the cure.

This book was so good. Although this book focuses a good bit on Lena and Alex's relationship, in the next book the action really begins. I usually love books full of action but this one is quite simple and I found that none of the scenes were dragged out too much even though the plot did not contain anything wild. I also loved the relationship between Lena and Alex and the way when they first meet Lena thinks she is "infected" with the disease until she realizes that love is not a bad thing. I love Lauren Oliver's writing style and I would rate this book 4/5 stars!

I would highly recommend this series. 

Leah.     

Book Review - Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan (Whole series review)

While I was on holidays I read the whole Percy Jackson series. It includes;
1. Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief,
2. Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters,
3. Percy Jackson and The Titan's Curse,
4. Percy Jackson and The Battle of The Labyrinth,
5. Percy Jackson and The Last Olympian.

They're about a boy named Percy Jackson who is 12 years old in the first book and gains a year each book. He is a demi-god which means he is half god and half human. The books follow his adventures and quests with his friends after he joins Camp Half-Blood which is a camp where all the half-bloods can stay and is the only place where they are safe.

I loved this series so much! All the books deserve 5/5 stars. There is a new adventure in each book and each is so gripping. Percy is such a funny and lovable character and I loved Rick Riordan's concept of the Greek Gods. I would recommend this series to anyone, It was brilliant.

I'm also reading the follow up series now called The Heroes of Olympus and it is so good already!

It's a quick to read series and I hope you give it a go!

Leah.

Holidays!!

Hi everyone,

I went to Italy this summer for two weeks. It was so amazing and I got to read so much. In total I read 18 books over the two weeks, which I think is a record for me!  

I also think this summer was the best ever from a reading point of view. I had a lot of time for it since my summer holidays are now longer in secondary school. I'm back to school in a week but I'll still read a good bit and do posts.

I hope you all had a great summer!

Leah.