Word of the Week Wednesday[8]

Word of the Week - Balustrade - Struck pg 134

Meaning - A king of low wall that is placed at the sides of the staircases, bridges, etc., and is made of a row of short posts topped by a long rail.

Mini Review Monday[13] Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children GRAPHIC NOVEL by Ransom Riggs & Cassandra Jean

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

Ransom Riggs & Cassandra Jean

I don't read many graphic novels but if one is made for a YA book then I will probably read it as a refresher for when the next book comes out. That is the exact purpose that I used this book for. 

I liked it. It will never beat the real book in my eyes but it did help me to remember everything I may have forgotten. It gave me the ability to read the next book without having to go back and re-read the first book.

The graphical representation of the book was an wasn't how I pictured it. The characters looked different and the house looked different but it was still nice to see another persons view of the book.

I still find the relationship that is forming between Jacob and Emma to be a tad bit awkward but then again this entire book is strange and unexpected. 

I also found it very odd how well Jacob's dad took the new about him leaving for a while. It's like his dad knows more than he is letting on to.

Now I can go read Hollow City and see what happens with Millard and Miss Peregrine. 

Overall, I gave the book 4/5 Mini Kitties.

REVIEW: Half Bad by Sally Green

Title: Half Bad

Author: Sally Green

Format: Hardback

Source: Library

Publisher: Viking Juvenile

REVIEW:

I hate fantasy books. Well, I thought I did. But I had heard so much hype about Half Bad that I just had to pick it up and give it a try. Turns out, I don't hate fantasy. Or maybe this book was just THAT good.

The entire time I was reading, for some reason, I picture Nathan as Dylan O'Brien. If Half Bad was to be turned into a movie I would root for Dylan to play Nathan.

I enjoyed the plot and the story line. It had a Salem Witches time feel to it but it was told in present day which was a little hard to follow at first. It sounded like Nathan was living in a shack and had to make his own clothes and bread and then cell phones were thrown in and I got confused but I sorted things out after a while.

If you want a book with some violence, witches, a tad bit of romance and a good story then you should check this book out. Oh, and magic, did I mention magic?

The only real complaint I have is how it ended. It was RUSHED. And what I say rushed I mean it climaxed within 10 pages. It left me feeling cheated and I had a lot of unanswered questions. I know this is going to be a series but you shouldn't rush an ending like that. A 394 page book and it's ending is summed up in 10 pages. Really? 

I will be honest. This book is very hard for me to review. I am not sure what to say that isn't a spoiler but I will say that I think YA readers should check this out especially if you don't know how you feel about fantasy. I have been sitting on this review for a few weeks not and still have no idea what to write other than the fact that I am glad I read it. Never had a book left me so stumped about a review.

Overall, I gave the book 4/5 Kitties.

Word of the Week Wednesday[7]

Word of the Week - Archipelago - Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children Graphic Novel

Meaning - A group of islands. A sea or stretch of water containing many islands.

Mini Review Monday[12] Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl

Rainbow Rowell

REVIEW:

I really didn't think I was going to remotely enjoy this book. I normally dislike the books that people "fangirl" over. Haha, get it? Anyways, I actually adored this book to the point where I was actually mad it ended.

I felt myself really relating to Cath. Although I'm not really into fantasy books and I don't write fanfiction I still feel like I can relate to her. She likes to be alone and she has a passion she is really in love with. 

Then we have Wren. The other half of the nerdy twins. She wants to spread her wings and fly now that she is in college and it is both sad and expected when she crashes and burns.

Levi pushes a few buttons with me at first. You really shouldn't go around kissing multiple girls. He is lucky that Cath forgave him even though they weren't together. But by the end of the book I found myself wanting a Levi of my own.

The way the book ended made me scream. Like actually scream and toss the book in frustration. I wanted more information. I am literally dying for a novella or something that tells me what happened with Cath and Levi. I want to know if Cath finishes "Carry On, Simon." Maybe I will have to write me own fanfiction that satisfies my needs.

Overall, I have the book 5/5 stars. 

As a side note, I found myself laughing out loud while reading this book. Some of the humor was definitely aimed at the older crowd. The V. C. Andrews reference and a few other things just made me really adore this book.

REVIEW: We Are The Goldens by Dana Reinhardt

Title: We Are The Goldens

Author: Dana Reinhardt

Format: ARC

Source: Publisher

Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books

Publication Date: May 27 2014

REVIEW:

Have you ever read a book where it was okay and you finished it but you just feel like you could have lived your life perfectly fine without ever having read it? For me, that was this book. It was less than 200 pages and it took me three days to read it. 

The characters were very dull and they were just your everyday, run of the mill, high school kids. Nothing about them jumped out at me and I felt like I just walked through a school and started listening to a conversation that anyone could have.

Nell was slightly annoying and kept trying to prove that she wasn't a "baby." Her actions actually led me to believe otherwise. She did things that you would expect any random high school kid to do. She let a guy go a little bit too far. She had a guy best friend and that turned into, you guessed it, a little bit more. 

Felix was a good guy but lets face it, he isn't likely to exist. He seemed a little bit too mature for his age of fifteen. I guess there had to be one level-headed character. The only thing that made him seem real was his over active sex-brain. But even that was a little too dramatic in my opinion.

I think without the student-teacher relationship this book wouldn't even exist. And the bad part is, ever that part sucked. It wasn't very imaginative, we never got to meet "George" and it didn't seem as dangerous as it should have. I almost feel like if a young girl was to read this then she would feel it was okay to have a relationship with a teacher. 

There are many unanswered questions by the end of the book. What happened to Angel? What happens with Nell and Felix? What about the pregnancy? Real or not real? It just left my head spinning and left me feeling incomplete and unsettled.

If the book would have had a faster reading flow then maybe I would have liked it more but I just feel like I wasted three days of my life on something that I could walk through a mall and overhear.

Overall, I gave the book 3/5 Kitties.

Bout of Books 10.0

Sooo. I tried to do this last year and I completely failed. I have been having a rough couple of weeks and have been completely depressed about not getting out apartment so I want to do this and try to pull myself out of this hole.

Bout of Books 10.0 is a yearly thing and if you want any info please go to the BoutOfBooks blog.

I will be updating my progress on Instagram and possibly YouTube so please check out both of those.(Just click instagram or youtube in this sentence).

♫GOALS♫

♥City Of Ashes♥ 66 pages

♥The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden♥

♥The Redemption of Callie and Kayden♥ 46 pages

♥Mortal Danger♥
♥A Stairway To Danger♥
♥Miss Peregrines Graphic Novel♥
♥Signed, Skye Harper♥

And then whatever else I can read when I finished these books. I am going to try to make it doable and hope that I can read more than this but I will be happy if I only finish these.

*UPDATES*
May 12 9:04am - I have finished The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden, written my review for it and started book 2 in the series. YAY!

End update. So I didn't read very much. I did read more than normal but with my car breaking down and a lot of other stressful situations I just didn't have much time to sit down and read. I finished 3 books and read 112 pages from 2 other books. So, not bad, but not amazing! How did you do?

So are you joining too? Leave me a link to your post in the comments!