DECEMBER 2015 WRAP UP

So, I may or may not have lost the video footage from my December Wrap Up (oops) and haven't had the chance to re-film, so I decided I'd do it in blog-post format! Here we gooooooo!

The first book I finished in December was Feed by M.T. Anderson. This is set in the future where everyone has what's called a 'feed' implanted into their brain from birth which provides humans with constant advertisements, shows, chatrooms, etc right in front of their eyes. One day, while a group of kids are on a trip to the moon (yeah, the moon) something happens and their feeds stop working and they're like WHAT THE HECKY DO WE DO EVERYTHING IS SO BORING WE ACTUALLY HAVE TO TALK TO EACH OTHER. They all get their feeds functioning again, except for this one girl because she didn't have her feed implanted until she was older, so hers is deteriorating and because it's connected to her brain and therefore, her entire body, her limbs stop working and eventually, she'll die. At its core, this book is a satire and it is so, so clever. It's honestly the most realistic portrayal of our future that I've ever read about and it's so freaking scary. It absolutely astounds me that the author wrote this 15 YEARS AGO and he has already predicted so much of what's happening it's CRAZY. So many people hate this book, and I think it's because they couldn't get past the way the characters spoke (which was another super realistic thing in the book bc they had all these little sayings like we have YOLO and stuff) and from reviews I've seen, I think some people just didn't get that it was a satire? A goodreads user named Annalisa reviewed this and she PERFECTLY sums up how I feel about this book and its meaning, so in her words - "For all the dystopias I've been reading, I'm amazed that Anderson's world could discomfort me this much. And I've been thinking about his main character. While reading it, I was often disappointed with his choices, but now I think he was the perfect embodiment of this shallow world. I loved that Anderson offers no judgment or solution, just shows us this world with all its many flaws and lets it creep under your skin and make you uncomfortable with where the world is headed."  4.5 STARS

The next book I read was The Best Goodbye by Abbi Glines. This is the 13th book in the Rosemary Beach series, which is a guilty pleasure of mine! It's a New Adult series, so it's super steamy and full of drama and they are just SO fun to read and SO quick. 4 STARS

Then I read The Revolution of Ivy, which is the sequel and conclusion to the Book of Ivy duology by Amy Engel. If you're looking for a good dystopian, check out this duo! I fell in love with the characters and I couldn't stop reading! I think I loved the first book a little more than the second book, but I still recommend both! 4 STARS

I read November 9 by Colleen Hoover, which is her latest New Adult release. Colleen Hoover is usually a favourite of mine and I've loved all of her books except the Slammed series, but this one was a bit of a letdown. I loved the concept of the novel (A guy and a girl meet on November 9 every year for 5 years without any contact in between), but the love interest Ben said and did some things that really aren't okay. For an example (it isn't really a spoiler), but he's undressing her for the first time and she's crying and he doesn't even stop to ask what's wrong or anything, he just keeps going????? How is that acceptable? When appreciating her body, his inner monologue was also not great, as it made me feel like she was just a pretty object to him the way he was describing her. I don't know, I'm very torn on this one and it definitely wasn't my favourite of hers. 3 STARS

Then I reread Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix! I was rereading it for #HarryXmasToYou, but only ended up reading this one and a little bit of the Half Blood Prince because I read so many other books! I forgot how much teenage angst is in this book, but it's made up for by McGonagall being a SASS MACHINE! She's honestly one of my favourite characters EVER. 5 STARS (OBVS)

Then I read what is now one of my all time favourite books - Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. This is an adult contemporary all about 26 yo Louisa, who takes a job care-taking for a man who was in an accident and is now paraplegic. He used to be so successful and such an adventurer, but now he feels as though his life is over and there's nothing left to live for. Louisa takes it upon herself to convince him that life is worth living and OH MA LORD WILL THIS BOOK BREAK UR LIL HEART. I'm not going to spoil anything, but just know that this book touches on a very controversial subject and it's an interesting topic for discussion after reading this book. It's also funny, warm and witty, so I definitely recommend you check it out. It's so beautiful.
5 STARS

Next I read Where Rainbows End (also known as Love, Rosie in the U.S.) by Cecelia Ahern. This book started out so well! It's an adult contemporary romance that's told entirely in letters, emails, IMs and texts and was so cute and fluffy, but then it went downhill until I wanted to throw the book across the room. After the first 100 pages, it just gets so frustrating that these two characters who obviously love each other can't tell each other how they feel, and so they both move on with their lives. The amount of time it takes for these characters to get together was RIDICULOUS. And I'm not talking like a year or two. IT LITERALLY TAKES FOREVER OMG IT WAS SO ANNOYING. I just got too frustrated and ended up not enjoying the story, but loving Cecelia's writing so was very mixed on this one! 2.5 STARS

Then I decided to get into the Christmas spirit by reading this anthology! It has 3 stories that revolve around Christmas and they all intertwine and it's just fabulous! Each story was super cute, even if the main character in Lauren Myracle's story was super unlikable. I highly recommend you read this next holiday season! It wasn't anything amazing, but it was adorable! 4 STARS

I got 66 pages into Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody before I put it down and DNF'd it. It was just SO boring. The only redeeming factor was the talking cat but to be honest, I didn't want to commit to such a HUGE series where the books are like 1000 pages long if I didn't even like it, so I gave up. DNF

Then I read Apocolyptigirl: An Aria for the End Times by Andrew MacLean. This is a standalone graphic novel and I'll be honest, it was pretty horrible. It's all about the girl and her cat fighting things off after an apocalypse and the entire story made absolutely NO SENSE. I was so confused. But there was a cat in it, so I had to give it that. Other than that, so weird. 1.5 STARS

But then I read 2 graphic novels that totally made up for the sucky one and they are Rat Queens Volumes 1 & 2! THESE WERE FREAKING AMAZING YOU GUYS. It follows 4 DIVERSE girls who fight monsters in their magical world and OMG. I CAN'T EVEN DEAL. These are VERY mature though and contain lots of swearing, sexual content and drugs, so be aware of that. But if you're looking for a kickass series with AMAZING, colourful illustrations and super diverse characters, then pick this up! It's incredible! 5 STARS

I finished off a series by reading the fourth and final book in the Ruby Oliver series by E. Lockhart, which is a Tween series about a girl who has anxiety! I could relate to this SO MUCH and I wish I had this when I was 14! They're super cute and realistic and funny. I didn't enjoy this one as much as the others in the series, but I still recommend them! 3,5 STARS

Then I read the sequel to Me Before You and it was absolutely beautiful and full of shocking- jaw on the floor moments! I didn't enjoy it as much as the first one, but I still loved it. Jojo is amazing and I now want to read all of her stuff! 4 STARS

So I finally finished reading Memories by Lang Leav after 100000 years. So I've figured out that poetry is just not my thing, and I struggled to connect to the poems that Leav published in this book. I only connected to one. ONE! This was really meh, unfortunately. 2 STARS

Then I read books 3-6 in the Mediator series by Meg Cabot! I absolutely ADORE Meg Cabot and this series was SO MUCH FUN. It's classic YA Paranormal with a sexy ghost and a sassy MC, but it's just great. I gave book 3 4 STARS, book 4 5 STARS, book 5 4 STARS and book 6 5 STARS.

The second-to-last book I read in December was a review copy from Edelweiss! It's the 7th instalment in the Mediator series which also happens to be an ADULT instalment, so you get to revisit these characters 6 years after the end of the 6th book! I loved seeing them all grown up and how they've changed, but also stayed exactly the same :') I wasn't absolutely amazed by this book as I feel like it didn't have anything super crazy happen, but it was so fun and adorable and I love the characters so much. I'm loving how Meg is released adult continuations of her series! 4 STARS

The last book was a reread for me and I read it purely so I could reach 200 books for the year! I was running out of time, so I decided to reread my favourite picture book! It's very mature and I swear I cry every time I read it, it's just beautiful! If you ever get the chance to read this, just do it! 5 STARS




So those are all the books I read in December! My favourites were definitely Me Before You & Rat Queens! Thank you all for tuning in! :D

April xxxx