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...

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...

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...