A Hungry, Happy, Hippie

Sandhya Menon's newest young adult read is all about culture, high school friendships and first love. It tells a one-of-a-kind story that is sure to make you bawl your eyes out. (Which I can confirm - I did). Aspiring filmmaker Twinkle Mera has spent her whole life with a crush on Neil Roy. This all begins to change when she begins to work on a film with his twin, Sahil. And not only is she navigating her confusing love life, but also navigating her high school friendship circle with (but more like without) her best friend Maddie. Similarly to many real life high-school students, Twinkle just wants to find her way through friendship groups, popular cliques and the boys in her life. Sandhya Menon has done a great job of creating a realistic high school setting. Too often main characters of young adult novels, feature the popular girl without a care in the world and a sure ride to college. Twinkle is the exact opposite. Her best friend Maddie has become friends with what Twin...

I See London, I See France  by Sarah Mlynoski is the perfect book for a summer read. When it seems like all your friends are going to Europe and you've got the biggest case of FOMO, it is time to pick up this book. Scattered with journeys from all over Europe, you won't feel like you're missing a thing! Sydney is spending her first summer in college, travelling through Europe with her childhood best friend Leela. Unfortunately her plans have been thwarted when Leela's cheating ex-boyfriend (and his very, VERY hot friend), turn up on the same travel cycle. It doesn't help that all Sydney can worry about is the fact that she's left her mother who suffers from a mental illness, back home with her little sister. Sydney just wants to find the balance between planning things out, and letting go. This book made me feel like I was right there in Europe with all the characters. Reading through Sydney's adventures will make you feel the need to kick your feet up a...

Wow I haven't done one of these for so many months! I actually miss it. Read: Beautiful, Broken Hearts by Kami Garcia I loved everything about this young adult novel. It was just so glorious. Most of what I loved was that it dealt with an issue that is so important for young readers to read about. Peyton begins her senior year with her perfect boyfriend Reed and accepting a soccer scholarship from her dream school. That is until a confrontation with her boyfriend results in her being thrown down a flight of stairs. And now she's stuck in a town where next to no one believes her. She thinks her life is officially over when she can't play soccer anymore when her mother sends her off to a small town to live with her uncle. And when she meets the sexy boxer Owen Law she doesn't even know what's going on! This is so much more than just a teenage romance novel. I love that it deals with abuse both physical and emotional abuse and how so many victims' stories aren...

Ya girl is stoked to have so many cool new book releases in 2018! I literally went through every single book (all 800+ of them) on the goodreads site to pick out which ones were my fave. Whether I can read them all IN 2018 is another question but I'm sure we'll get there eventually. And She Was  by Jessica Verdi (Expected in March) When Dara, who's been with her single mum her whole life, finally sees her birth certificate, she has absolutely no idea who the two people on there are. It turns out that her birth mother passed away when she was younger and her mother is actually her father. Her mother is transgender and she was once her father. I just think this will be such an interesting story about family relationships and hopefully will do a great job of representing the trans community. Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare (Expected in Dec) This might be my most anticipated release of 2018. I literally cannot wait to read this whole series (I've been h...

All the books I read in 2017! The ones in bold were my favourite. Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige Holding Up The Universe by Jennifer Niven Girl Online On Tour by Zoe Sugg Girl Online Going Solo by Zoe Sugg Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver Requiem by Lauren Oliver Raven a novella by Lauren Oliver Lorali by Laura Dockrill Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins The Sun is Also the Star by Nicola Yoon On the Fence by Kasie West Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson Frostfire by Amanda Hocking Ice Kissed by Amanda Hocking Crystal Kingdom by Amanda Hocking Daughter of Smoke and Bone  by Laini Taylor Landline by Rainbow Rowell When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally The Fill-In ...

I'm going to be honest...I did such a shit job at fulfilling my 2017 TBR. I feel as if all I did in 2017 was complain about how much school work I had to do and then proceed to forget to read ANY books. But don't worry everyone, there's always 2018! 1. To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han I'm going to blame this on my friend Sarah. She bought this series for me for my birthday and has managed to give it to me like a week ago (my birthday was in June). SO, I haven't been able to start reading the series until yesterday. However I just finished the first book and I love it already. Jenny Han always does really good YA series' that explores not only love but also the themes of family and friendship. SO GOOD. 2. The Darkest Mind Series by Alexandra Bracken  I read Never Fade in January and thought it was pretty awesome. However, I then proceeded to forget this series ever existed. I have the last book on my phone, I just haven't pushed myself...

So, I have a  list of books  that I wanted to read in 2016. And I decided to do a follow up blog post to see what I've done this year. I can't believe that it's 2017. I still think it's 2014 and I'm still in high school. And I have my 2017 TBR for you which hopefully I manage to actually get all read this year! I haven't done a good job of reading what was on my TBR in 2016, I'll be honest. I just got sidetracked with reading other things (see The Mortal Instruments). But I did read some of the books on my list. 1. The Maze Runner Series by James Dashner I tried to read this series. And from memory I got through 30 pages before I just couldn't read anymore. The slang and language the character's use is so confusing. I don't understand what they are trying to say and I feel as if I need a glossary of terms to understand their slang. Maybe I will try to read this book again but right now I prefer the movies. 2. To All The Boys I've Lov...

I will be the first to admit I didn't like All The Bright Places , so picking up Holding Up the Universe was a leap of faith. But I surprisingly really really liked it. I just wanted to cry with how much I liked it and how great it was. I don't have a bad word to say about it. My favourite thing about this book was the diverse characters. Both Libby and Jack are very different from your stereotypical protagonist. Libby was known as America's fattest teen and she is now in a place where she has lost a lot of her weight but she's still considered 'fat'. And so her journey in this book is very much dealing with body image issues and also dealing with people who think they are above her because of her weight. Despite this, Libby is a bad ass. She is confident (although she falters from time to time) and super caring. She's an aspiring character for readers. Jack is a pretty diverse character too. He's half African American and Jewish if I remember c...

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I decided at the end of 2015 that I would record every single book I read in 2016. So here's the list, the ones in bold are my favourite.  My Life Next Door  by Huntley Fitzpatrick Brooklyn by Colm Toibain The Finisher by David Baldacci The Second Summer of  the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini How to Love by Katie Cotugno Star Wars: A New Hope  by Alexander Bracken Life is Sweet by Cathy Cassidy City of Bones by Cassandra Clare City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare City of Glass by Cassandra Clare The Help by Kathryn Stockett City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare This Raging Light by Estelle Laure The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han The Royal Diaries: Anastasia by...

I'm only one month into university and I have already read SO MUCH LESS. It's not my fault okay. It's because every unit I'm doing makes me read like 50 pages each and it kills me. It's not even like novels (which you think you'd get when doing creative writing) but it's like reading on what diegesis and the power of language. Tell you what, if anything, I feel right smart! I do know yes, this is September. I'm struggling ok. Please tolerate me haha. I'm going to do two read's and one reading and just skip the 'to be read.' Read This month I finished reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgernstern. I didn't actually know this, but this book came out of Nanowrimo (National Writing month for November. You should look it up it's very good for aspiring writers). I just think it's really cool that this novel came out of a writing competition basically anyone can enter. The book is about Celia who is a magician. She operat...

WJuly is my last month to do some solid reading because university starts in August (which I suppose I should be excited for but I quite like doing what I want) and I've got to sort out other adult things in my life. Don't grow up it's shit. So I've been trying to power read through some books before I get busy. Also I've gotten like a lot of books because my friends got me a heap for my birthday in June. And then I've bought some too...whoops. I have to admit though, I'm not too Read I read The Magicians by Lev Grossman this month. If I'm being honest, I wish I liked this more than I did. People have said it's like an adult Harry Potter, which is true to an extent. There's definitely an R rated dynamic to it but I just found myself disappointed with the book once it finished. This is about Quentin Coldwater who is about to graduate high school and is obsessed with the Fillory series of books (which resembles Narnia very much). He feels emp...

I'm so sad because February is over and that means that summer is officially over and this also brings an end to lovely beach days and swimming every single day. But I've got some favourites that I hope you enjoy because I've been enjoying them. Sukin Revitalising Facial Scrub  After coming back from Malaysia, the weather and the greasy food I'd been eating tore up my skin and my usual face wash wasn't fixing my terrible skin. However this Sukin natural facial wash fixed everything and my skin was finally back to normal. It's also 100% natural and vegan and is not tested on animals. It goes on your face really smooth smooth and doesn't leave that stinging sensation that some facial washes do.  Circular Sunglasses I told myself at the beginning of Summer that I wouldn't buy anymore pairs of sunglasses (because I am addicted to them) and here I've gone, breaking promises. I just couldn't help myself. I was out with my friends who are t...