Meant To Be by Lauren Morrill

Genre:young adult, romance, contemporary

Published:January,7th 2014 (paperback)

Pages:304

Publisher:Ember



               Synopsis

 

 

It's one thing to fall head over heels into a puddled of hazelnut coffee, and quite another to fall for the-gasp- wrong guy. Straight-A student Julia may be accident-prone, but she's the queen of following the rules and being prepared. That's why she keeps a pencil sharpener in her purse and a pocket Shakespeare in her... well, pocket. Julia also believes in fate, and that Mark, her childhood crush, is her MTB-her meant to be.              

     But this spring break, Julia's rules are about to be defenestrated(SAT word: thrown from a window) when she's partnered with her personal nemesis, class clown Jason , on a school trip to London. After one wild party, Julia starts receiving romantic texts... from an unknown number! Jason promises to help discover the identity of her mysterious new suitor if she agrees to live a little along the way. And thus begins a wild-goose chase through London, leading Julia closer and closer to the biggest surprise of all: true love.

     Because sometimes the things you least expect are the most meant to be.

 

 

 

Thoughts

 

So, when I picked up this book from the bookstore, I was quite happy because of the fact that I have been wanting to read it for quite some time, and I was very much drawn to the plot, and how different it was from just another typical romantic-contemporary.

 

From what I understood of this story, was that Julia was a good girl who never broke the rules and was always prepared. Then she is partnered with her nemesis Jason, on a class trip to London on spring break. Then after a party that she goes to, she starts breaking all the rules. Then (for me) it just goes downhill from there.

 

The thing was, was that I really wanted to enjoy this story, and I tried so hard to love it. But for some reason, I just couldn't. I did however think that this was a very entertaining read. I also liked how there was balance between happy and sad, throughout the novel. I actually really loved reading about the different places that everyone went to while in London, like the Globe Theater, Shakespeare's birthplace etc..

Julia was a part of the novel that I did not enjoy so much. Julia was okay, but she wasn't the greatest character to read about. I found her to be really stuck up and annoying, and she seemed to be that type of person where she just had to know everything about anything and in real life(remember that this is a fictional story), THAT IS NOT OKAY! She was constantly living in her own fantasy world, and was always looking down upon people all the time, (which luckily, Jason literally calls her out on both of those things). Into which I had a really hard time connecting and relating to Julia as a character, which sort of made me not love this book 100%.  

Jason, was very funny, entertaining, and super crazy. He was a great character, and I really liked him a lot, in comparison to Julia. Jason was actually the reason why I kept reading, because he was so full of life, and energy. I wouldn't say he was witty necessarily, but just that he was very good with his words. His look was also different than any other male character in the young adult genre, with his red hair (I'm not sure on his eye colour, and anything else about his looks for that matter), but it was very refreshing to read about. It would have been interesting to read the book through Jason's eyes, just to see his way of thinking be different compared to Julia's in the novel. 

I loved them when they were together, I found it to be really funny when Jason and Julia just start hating on each other, with Jason constantly calling her 'Book Licker', and her absolutely despising it. I liked how these two characters were portrayed as complete opposites of one another. In general, I really like reading books about the main character hating the love interest, and seeing how it all goes down from there.

 Overall this book was not a favourite of mine, but I do like it enough to give it a good recommendation. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it completely.

  Rating

 

3.5/5





Currently Reading(s) + Update!

Update!


Hello everyone it is Nicole Henderson here, and before I start anything with the books that I am reading right now, I just wanted to give you guys an update on why I have been away from this blog for so long. The first thing is obviously: school.  School just caught up with me and I had so much homework and second semester was starting as well and that became so busy. Yes, I had time to read but I didn't have time to actually sit down and write a review. The second reason why I was so busy was because I had many personal things involving my family, and the current issues that we are dealing with are very hard on all of us. I rather not share for again, personal reasons. So that is it for the updates, and let's get on with what I am currently reading.


Currently Reading.

The first book I am reading right now, is called My Journey with Josie by Salvina Grice. I am halfway done the book, and I must say it is pretty good. This memoir is about this authors sister who died of cancer, and it just talks about her journey of coping with all of this. It also talks about her own family background of being an Italian girl who was sheltered,and that her mother died of cancer, so the whole family struggles with that. It is a very heart wrenching read so far. It is very sad, however I have not cried yet. Now, this book is very personal to me for many reasons. I will do a book review on this when I am done, so I will explain them on there, as well as going into more detail of what the book is about. So far, I'm liking it.





The next book that I'm currently reading at the moment is Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill. I am not to far into the book to make a verdict on whether I actually do like it or not. But I will say that it seems like it is a very lighthearted book, with full of wittiness and funny dialogue.
It is about this girl named Julia and she goes on this school trip to London, England with her classmates for spring break. Now Julia is a good girl. She doesn't break the rules, and she is always prepared for anything. But that is about to be broken, when she is partnered up with her 'personal-nemesis' Jason. She goes to one party, and she ends up getting a mysterious number from someone. So Jason promises Julia that he will help her find out who this other guy is. So, to me it seems like a typical romance with humor, and a sense of adventure. So, I will see how this novel turns out.




So that is all for what I am currently reading at this moment, as well as my update. My next post will be a book review for sure. So that is it and until then, goodbye everyone.

Revealed by P.C Cast and Kristin Cast

Genre: paranormal(vampires), young-adult, romance, fantasy

Published: October 15th 2013

Pages: 306

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

                                                                        

                        Synopsis(from flap)

Drastically altered after her fall. Neferet is clinging to life with one goal in mind: to regain her strength and consciousness. But before she goes into hiding to relive her past-and hopefully find the key to surviving in the present-she will make one deadly strike. This time against a human. And the aftershocks will leave no one untouched.
  In the wake of a gruesome murder, Tulsa humans are panicked, blaming the House of Night for what was clearly a vamprye attack. But Zoey and the rest of the school know that none of them was involved. So who killed the mayor of Tulsa? As the police open an investigation, tensions on the other fronts are growing even higher-Dallas is on a rampage against Zoey and her friends. When he finally makes a move against Stevie Rae and Shaunee, the battle lines are drawn-and someone will have to take the fall.
  Meanwhile, somethings going on with Zoey...and not the fun kind of something. She's feeling strange and stressed all the time-well, more stressed then usual. Which shouldn't be a surprise, considering that a powerful immortal is on the loose and she's having some boyfriend issues. Again. But is something bigger at work? Z might not have long to find out. Light and Darkness are out of balance, awakening Old Magick....and Old Magick always demands a sacrifice.
   In the thrilling eleventh House of Night novel, more then just the House of Night is at stake in a dangerous battle for Zoey's life-and soul. Can the Nerd Herd help her stay free long enough to fight back?

                                                                                                                     

                                                                 Thoughts

I have been waiting a full year to get this book into my hands, so I can read it. But I had a very complicated experience to get this book, so it was definitely worth reading. So, after I got the book after the experience(which I rather not share), I decided to wait a few weeks to read it since I was already reading another book at the time. But I just couldn't wait anymore(after a few days), so I started reading.
 I was expecting this book to be dramatic and heavy, which it was. I was also expecting it to just sort of have a conclusion  on what they are going to do. What I mean by that is: for Zoey and her friends to  have an actual solution on how to kill Neferet.  But they came up with nothing instead, which made me feel disappointed.

Now, I have been reading the entire series since 2009, and I always have had mixed feelings on the series. But reading this just escalated these mixed feelings even more. Like I don't even know what to think about it anymore. Some books are good, and some are bad. With the reviews, some have been good and some were bad. But I will be giving a mixed review.  

Revealed was not the best book in the series, but I still had a great time reading it. I loved the characters(expect Zoey), and the overall plot is pretty good. But what I didn't like in the book was that the plot in this book was just sort of the same plot from the previous book; Hidden, but it was just mixed around to make it more dramatic, and to make the plot (for lack of a better word) worse(or better, whichever way you want to put it).

Zoey, Zoey Zoey, what should I say about you first? Oh! I got it! Zoey is one of the worst main characters I have read in a book. I don't know what the thing is about her, it's just that I don't like her. But, there are also lots of little things about her that make me not like her ethier. And trust me there are too many little things to say, so I won't be explaining any of them right now (I'm being serious). Another thing I want to say, is that Zoey just irritates me so much, and just her attitude was getting me angry. What she was going through with the stress, is way to much for a 17 year old to go through. It's not healthy. And the whole point of reading a book is to escape reality, but reading about her stress just brings my current reality into reading, and it makes it less enjoyable. 

Overall, I won't go into too much details, but it wasn't the best book ever  but it was still entertaining. I seriously cannot wait for the final book, I just hope they end the book on a really good note. And actually end the series well.

                                                                                                                       

                                                                              Rating

3.5/5

October-November 2013 Book Wrap Up (2)

Hello everyone it's Nicole Henderson here, and this blog post is going to be my book wrap up for October and November. I'm really sorry I have been so busy with school, and everything else in between, that I have not had a chance to read a lot. And as a result, I haven't had the time to blog. I only read 4 books in the last 2 months, and I normally don't read that amount.(I am so ashamed of myself) I promise I'll be reading more in the next two months mainly because of the Christmas break. So, without further ado let's get on with the wrap up.

The first book I read in the month October, was Blue Bloods by Melissa De la Cruz. It is the first book of the Blue Bloods series. Since October was the month of Halloween, I was in the mood for something more paranormal and creepy. And I also wanted to move onto a new vampire series since the House of Night series is almost done. Anyways, I loved this book, and enjoyed every minute of it, and I rated it a 5/5 stars. If you want more details, on why I loved it, I did a review on this blog. The second book I read in October, until the beginning of November was I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga. Since I finished Blue Bloods, I wasn't fully satisfied on my mood, so I picked up this book. And after I read it I was definitely satisfied. I loved this book as well, it was full of suspense, and mystery. Like, I have no more words to describe on how amazing it was. But it was a very different genre for me to read, as I normally don't read these types of books. I rated this a 5/5 stars. It was so good. I did a book review on this blog too.  

The third book I read throughout November was The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. I was now in the mood for something more romantic. So I chose this one, just because it was right there in my school library. It was sort of an impulse actually. I have seen the movie many times before, so just reading the book made me not like it very much. Yes, yes I wasn't a huge a fan of it. Things were very different from book to movie, and it was so confusing for me to understand. However, in my opinion the movie was way better. I rated this a 3/5 stars, if you want to know more details about why didn't like it so much,  I have a review on this blog.   The last book I read in November was Revealed by P.C and Kristin Cast. It is the 11th book to the House of Night series. I have wanted this book since last year, and it was a very complicated experience to actually get this book. But I read it just now, so I still need to collect my thoughts on it. But I will say to you now, that it wasn't as good as their other books have been. That's it, that is all I will say about the book. I will write a book review on this blog, for the full details on my thoughts on this book. 

 

So that's it for this book wrap up. And again. I'm super sorry I haven't been blogging, I have literally been so busy with life, and school, so I haven't had the time to read. I promise that during the holidays I will read A LOT more books(and they are going to be long ones).  

Until the next post, goodbye everyone.

Review: The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks

Genre: romance, adult-fiction, chick-lit, contemporary

Published: December 1st, 1999(first pub. 1996)

Pages: 254

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

                                                                     

             Synopsis(from copy/book)

At thirty-one, Noah Calhoun, back in coastal North Carolina after World War II, is haunted of the girl he lost more then a decade earlier. At twenty-nine, socialite Allie Nelson is about to marry a wealthy lawyer,  but she cannot stop thinking about the boy who long ago stole her heart. Thus begins the story of a love so enduring and deep it can turn tradegy into triumph, and may even have the power to create a miracle...

                                                                                                                                      

                                                               Thoughts

I have always wanted to read The Notebook since I first heared of it. So when I saw it at my school library, I thought I had to pick this up. Nicholas Sparks is such a great author, I loved every book I read by him(which was about 3 or 4).

There's also a movie based on this book starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, and I seriously liked the movie way better then the book itself. In the movie, there was a lot of detail about the relationship between Noah and Allie. In the book, there was not too much detail about anything. So in that sense, I was very disappointed and, I personally thought it was going to be better then the movie.

What was so sweet about this story was the true love that Allie and Noah had for each other. I think that's how love is supposed to be like; you meet someone, fall in love, and stay in love forever until you die. Love now-a-days is just so different from this. It's all about rushing, and less on taking you time to develop the relationship. I think every relationships should be like Noah and Allie's

                                                                                                                                  

                                                                      Rating


                                                  3/5

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

Genre(s): young-adult, mystery, thriller, horror

Published: April 2nd 2013(paperback)

Pages: 384

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

                                                                       

            Synopsis(from book)

It was a beautiful day.
It was a beautiful field.
                                                  Except for the body.

Jazz is the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, "Take Your Son To Work Day" was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops only wish they could-from the criminal's point of view. Now with bodies piling up in the sleepy town of Lobo's Nod, Jazz must work with the police to prove that murder doesn't run in the family.

                                                                                

                                                              Thoughts

Since the month of October, is the month for all things scary, and mysterious, I was in the mood for reading a dark-heavy(content) book. I first heared of this book, when I was looking up different books online in one of my classes at school(clearly I was bored). I showed my friend, who happened to be sitting next to me at the time, she thought it was quite interesting. Now going forward a few months later, I saw it and the rest is history.

At first I was a little uncomfortable reading this, but once the book progressed onward, I felt a lot more urgent, and confident. I loved how there was more mystery, then horror and gory, because I didn't want to be scared to death reading this, but I still wanted my heart to race from the suspense. And there was lots of suspense to look forward to!

Jasper "Jazz" Dent, was legitimately a bad-ass character who I liked. He wasn't too cocky, or anything like that. He was very rebellious, which I can completely understand why he was. He was very smart, he knew what he was doing, even though the police didn't believe him in the beginning. He was a perfect character, with a very dysfunctional life. His father killed many people, his grandma(who he was living with) had lots of mental problems. I felt so sorry for him, I just wanted to jump into the book(literally), and hug him. He had multiple problems himself though, but the major problem was, was that he had a voice in head, like taking control of his thoughts, and stuff like that, which made it a little scary for me. But I liked how he had a (sort of) father figure, who was G. William Tanner, the sheriff. Although Billy was his father, he wasn't a loving and supportive parent. G. William was the loving supportive father figure for Jazz, which I thought was really nice.

Connie, and Howie were okay characters. They were the first characters(ever pretty much), that I didn't like a whole lot. However, I will say I liked Howie a little better then Connie.
 Howie, was Jazz's best friend with a severe condition that whenever he gets hit, like a poke, he will bruise and bleed. The bruising and bleeding happened multiple times in this book. Anyways, Howie was always there for Jazz, which made it seem like Howie was Jazz's only friend. Even though Howie wasn't sure about Jazz's decisions, he always stuck by him. He was really funny, and sort off like a dramatic reliever for me.
 Connie, on the other hand, was Jazz's girlfriend of a different race(African-American). I did not like her at all. I know that girls get very emotional, and a time of death, and just about anything sad in general. Girls cry; that's how they express themselves and I totally get that, I cry sometimes too. But Connie, was crying ALL THE TIME! Just about every other page the she was in: crying. Like bitch please hold yourself together! Aside from all that, I appreciated her for being the race that she was. You don't see a lot of black girls in books too often, so it was a definite refresher and unique to see  that. And it was also nice how Jazz had a girlfriend, who can accept him for who he was.

Overall, this book was amazing! Loved the mystery, suspense, and just everything about it. Nothing was a disappointment(aside from Connie). This book was a very different book for me to read. I was completely out of my comfort zone, and that was a good thing. I needed to get out of it, and it made me realize that I do need to read different genres, besides the ones I do enjoy reading. I recommend this book 100%.
                                                                                                                   
 
                                                                 Rating



                                                                     5/5

Currently Reading

Hello everyone, it's Nicole Henderson here, and I hope all of you(Canadians) had a great Thanksgiving, and had a good time with your families. October has been a really busy month for me so far, and I haven't been able to find the time to read. But somehow, I ended up finishing Blue Bloods, and have started to read more of I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga; which is the book I'm reading at the moment. Since I'm halfway done reading it, I thought this would be the perfect time for me to post this, and do a quick summary on what this book is about.
Summary: Jazz Dent is the son of Billy Dent, who was the small town's serial killer. Jazz has learned lots from his dad, and has seen many of the crimes before. So, now when bodies are being discovered, Jazz realizes that a new serial killer is in town and "secretly" works with the police to figure out who it is.

Thoughts: First off, I think this book is really good, and I know it's going to get even greater as the book progresses more. At first I found it really hard to get into, and was quite slow pacing. But after the first 10 chapters, everything started to pick up, and it is now on a faster pace.
  Secondly, there's so much suspense, and a lot of mystery, it's really hard to put down this book.
 Thirdly, it's a little confusing, because this book is written in a third person perspective so I keep reading "I" instead of "He." I'm just so used to reading books in the first person, it's hard for me to adapt into reading in third person.
 And lastly, this genre of mystery, thriller, and horror is new for me. It's really cool to be reading something different, and unique. This book goes completly out of my comfort zone, which makes me realize that I do need to read things that I'm not really used to, and to expand my "reading" horizons.