Nov/Dec Read, Reading and To Be Read

I don't know why I haven't been reading recently but I've just been in this really big reading slump. I think it's because I've been working more often now and once I finish work I just want to sleep or watch a TV show rather than have to strain my eyes to read. BUT, worry not, I have been forcing myself to read literally for the sake of this post! Although I have to admit even though I haven't been reading, I've been buying so many books it's unreal. Unreal to me and unreal to my bank account.

Read

I grew up reading The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot (I mean I probably shouldn't have been reading the series when I was 11). Princess Mia and Michael was like the first couple I ever shipped. Everyone related to Princess Mia; I mean she's royalty but likes her cat more than she does real people. I was feeling a bit nostalgic and read the final book of the series and I had NO IDEA that Meg Cabot wrote a small sequel to the series called Royal Wedding. This book is Mia eight years after her high school graduation. A lot has happened! She's still living in New York City, is still with Michael and she has less to worry about in terms of high school, but she's got new problems to worry about now. Her dad is up for elections again, her and Michael are struggling to see each other with their busy schedules and if you couldn't tell by the title, she's got her wedding to plan. So she's got all these grown up problems now but she still deals with them in her Princess Mia way. She definitely has grown up though, I mean she has to because she's the Princess but now she doesn't deal with her real life problems in a teenage way. In some ways this feels more like adult fiction but in other ways it still reads like teen fiction. Mia is more open about sex in her diaries than she was when she was a blushing 17 year old. I loved reading about Mia again and this book didn't disappoint my expectations. If I had to fault this book it would be that it was condensed with so many things going on at once that I was slightly overwhelmed. I wouldn't have minded dividing it into separate books.

4.5/5

Reading

I have been reading The Darkest Minds by Alexander Bracken. I had no intention of reading this series but my friend Nino told me that I had to read it. So I told him I would read it if he read The Mortal Instruments. I actually really like what I've read so far of this book! It's a dystopian novel set in a futuristic America where a deadly virus called IAAN has broken out affecting the countries youth. However, the country isn't interested in those who have died of the virus, their worried about those who have survived as they now have these crazy abilities. America's scared because the millennials have superpowers. Am I surprised? No. So the government starts putting these kids in 'rehabilitation' camps to ensure they're 'cured', but in reality these kids are treated like criminals and tested like subjects in a lab. The main character, sixteen year old Ruby, has been in a camp for six years of her life and she's been hiding the real extent of her powers. When given the opportunity to break out, she takes it. She finds herself on the run not only from the government but from basically the rest of the adult population. It's crazy. I'm surprised that I'm liking this book series so far because I don't really like reading dystopian novels because I find that they're just a Hunger Games rip off, but this feels so personal. Alexander Bracken has created a world where the youth are against the adults.  And I kind of love it. Her descriptions are great in this book, without how eloquently things are described, the book wouldn't be what it is. I hope the rest of the series is just as good!

4/5

To Be Read

One of the books for me To Be Read for this month is The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. Any book with the boys in the title is enough for me to want to read it. This is about Blue whose who has a family full of clairvoyants. She's never possessed this power until one day she's sat with her aunt watching the soon to be dead pass and she sees one person. A boy named Gansey from the neighboring all boys school Aglionby, the boys at the school also known as the raven boys. Blue is now involved with the raven boys and also this mystery of seeing Gansey when she's never seen anyone before. I am so excited to read this! I don't even know how to describe it in terms of fantasy. It feels like urban fantasy but there's something different about the setting. And this is practically a book about boys so I'm happy.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and a great New Year! I'm not for New Year's Resolutions because I feel as if I should just live in the moment and grow each year like a blooming flower, but if you have them good luck! 

Much Love

- E