'Eleanor and Park' by Rainbow Rowell

Hey guys! 

The book I recently finished is called 'Eleanor and Park' By Rainbow Rowell. I read this so quickly (which i usually say when a book is good enough to make an appearance on this blog) as it was so gripping. 

It's a love story. This book is about a Asian boy, and a girl who sticks out for being "different", who fall in love. 

It all starts when they meet on the bus and she starts reading his comics. 

Slowly but surely, they fall in love. 

There relationship isn't easy to say the least as they both have valid reasons to keep their relationship a secret. 

Eleanor comes from a broken home, with a abusive stepfather. She has to keep her relationship with Park a secret, or the consequences would be dangerous and end up with getting kicked out of her home. 

Park doesn't want to be teased at school about being with Eleanor. Eleanor is very different and doesn't really fit in with the crowd and is constantly picked on and bullied. Park doesn't want to get bullied as well for being with Eleanor but doesn't want her to know that he is embarrassed to be with her. 

I really liked this book, as there relationship was so detailed and so thoroughly built up, which made it so much easier to believe the relationship and makes it more real and not just a book. 

This book doesn't have a strong story line, but really builds up thier charecter. I would really reccomend this book, and it's not really the typical love story. 

I hope you enjoyed this blog, and as always let me know what you think about it if you had read it and leave me any reccomendations! 

Love you guys, 

JJ xx 

'Slated' a trilogy by Teri Terry

 

Hello guys! Hope your well.
So I was waiting until I finished the whole trilogy before I reviewed this, and I did and I finished it quicker than I thought! These were such good books, and I really enjoyed them. I am only going to give you the blurb for the first one, and that is what they are all (kind of) about.

Kyla’s memory has been erased,
her personality wiped blank,
her memories lost for ever.

She’s been Slated.

The government claims she was a terrorist and that they are giving her a second chance - as long as she plays by their rules. But echoes of the past whisper in Kyla’s mind. Someone is lying to her, and nothing is as it seems. Who can she trust in her search for the truth?


So to be honest its all a bit of a blur in which parts happened in each book, but I can remember the overall story.

Slating is legal in this book. Slating is their take on a second chance in life; you get a new one. You are assigned a new family and you have to set out on a better life. All monitored by the government of course. You have a 'levo' on your wrist until you are 21 and this monitors your emotions and is meant to stop you from getting dangerous. If your levo gets too low (because your too sad, or felling angry which may make you dangerous, or upset) in causes you to become unconscious. And if it gets really low, it will kill you. This controls your life.
But Kyla is different. She can remember things, mostly in her dreams, but she can. This is a threat to the government and it could cause her dangerous consequences.  She discovers her past, and learns for the first time in her life the feeling of loss.

I love this book, as it has everything. Mystery, love, danger, excitement, adventure, action. Its all anyone could want in a book. The books finish in a way that you are left not knowing everything, but knowing a little. This leads you to read the next book, but you find out the basics in the 1st book, but they then lead to worse and better things which come in the later books.

Its misleading with characters, and some (not all) are built up well.

This may not be the most intelligent or intellectual book, but its not a simple one either. I learnt new vocabulary without getting bored. You start to realise what a good life you actually have!

I would give this book a 5* rating, and I highly recommend you read it.

Let me know what you think in the comments, and as always I would love some book recommendations!

Thanks for reading,
JJ xx

A competition for you guys!

Hey guys!
This is not a book review today, but I started a book competition at school today, and I thought maybe you guys could take part too.
SO the competition is how many books we can read in 2 months, and I thought as a fun thing to do, you could make a note of the books you have read this month, and list them in the comments at the end of the 2 months.
I would love to hear about them, and what you thought, and the winner can send me a review on any book they want, and I will publish it, on this blog!
I hope you all try to get involved, as I think it would be great.

Love you guys,
JJ xoxo

'Girl Online' by Zoe Sugg

Hey guys, welcome back. I hope you had a great Christmas!
So today I thought I would share with you a book I read recently, and I enjoyed. (kind of a guilty pleasure!). The girl who (partly) wrote this is a very famous YouTube, and is called Zoella!
So anyway she wrote this book a couple of months ago, and its called girl online.

“Penny has a secret.
Under the alias GirlOnline, she blogs about school dramas, boys, her mad, whirlwind family - and the panic attacks she’s suffered from lately. When things go from bad to worse, her family whisks her away to New York, where she meets the gorgeous, guitar-strumming Noah. Suddenly Penny is falling in love - and capturing every moment of it on her blog.
But Noah has a secret too. One that threatens to ruin Penny’s cover - and her closest friendship - forever.”

So this book is basically about a 15 year old girl who is not very confident about herself, and goes to New York on a holiday with her family. Anyway, here she meets Noah, a gorgeous boy, who she spends most of her time with on this holiday and finds her self falling love. During the book she blogs about her life and these blogs are inserted into the book.

There is not much to say about this book..... It is written in a very simplistic way, (I found) and was a very easy read. I didn't think much of the story line, but she developed it very well which made the book an intriguing read. it was sweet to find out about what they got up to, and how she finds he3rself being much more confident and feeling better about herself around him. I found it interesting (and sweet) how from the first day of being with him, she has shared her most embarrassing moments, and things which she would not dare to tell her (supposedly) best friends.

I have to say that part of the reason I wanted to buy this book, was because of its cover, its cover looks like this:

 

I found this the cutest, tumbleryish cover ever, and I think it only comes in hardback, which makes it even nicer! (yet much more expensive!!). Even though you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, if I am in a bookshop, I am not going to pick out a book with a horrible cover. Even though the content may be amazing, I probably wouldn't even get that far to reading the blurb!

I am thinking about doing a whole blog about front covers, and I will be posting pictures of my favourites, and why I like them!


I really did enjoy reading this book, even though I have to say the content would not be a book that got chosen to be read in English class! It is a great story line, and there are cute side things, like her best friend Elliot, who you learn to love, and her best friend (?????) in school, who you learn to hate. I read a couple of chapters when I first bought it, and then I picked it up again and read the rest in one day.

WARNING: IF YOU WANT THIS BOOK TO LAST YOU A COUPLE OF WEEKS,, DO NOT READ THE LAST 5 CHAPTERS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO FINSH THE BOOK THAT DAY!

There is a twist at the end which I really liked.

I am aware that this blog is turning out to be quite long, but I have a challenge for you. I dare you, to get one of your friends, your librarian, or your mum, to pick out a book for you and wrap it in brown?black/white paper. You must not know the title, the author, any of it! Just read it and see what you think. If you do this, let me know how it went in the comments!

Love you guys so much,
JJ

'The Perks of being a Wallflower' by Stephen Chbosky

Hey guys! Welcome back.
So last week I was off school as I was sick, so I was reading a lot (and watching a lot of movies I have to admit. ha!) and I started 'The Perks of being a Wallflower' a couple of days ago. This is a really well known book, and also a very well known film. So I tried reading this about 6 months ago, and was really put off when I came to a sex scene so I decided to stop. But I tried it again about a week ago and got through it! Anyway here is the blurb:

Charlie's not the biggest geek in high school, but he's by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent but yet socially awkward, Charlie is a wallflower standing on the threshold of his life whilst watching everyone else live theirs. As Charlie tries to navigate his way through uncharted territory - the world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends - he realises that he cant stay on the side-lines forever. there comes a time when you have to see what life looks like from the dance floor.

 

And here is the cover I read it from:

But this one is defiantly more well known:

 



  

This book is written by Charlie writing letter, and addressing them to 'friend'. He obviously is not a very confident boy, and he is writing to us, who he supposedly trusts. Charlie writes about his life in high school, and the crazy friends he makes. He learns how to express feelings and falls in love.

During the book, he mentions his Aunt Helen frequently and at the very end of the book, we find out what happened with her, and to her. This bit was very emotionally made out in the film, which I also watched. Charlie also refers to him worrying about going back to his 'bad' state. We never really truly find out what this is, but I could guess what its like.

The reason I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would, is because I found that it got slightly boring. I think that the middle of a book should be the best, most gripping bit of the book, and I found that it was the bit I enjoyed the least. Ironically, this is the bit where he is most happy, but the writer does not put enough detail into the bits the reader most wants to know about.

 I fell in love with the friends Charlie makes. Patrick, and Sam. Patrick is such a confident, funny, lively guy at the start of the book, and doesn't really care what people think of him. He is happy with the way he lives. But as the book goes on, Patricks ego is slowly crushed and its is very interesting and sad as you see the way it effects him. Sam also, she is so happy and friendly all through the book, but there is obviously more to her than comes to eye and Charlie finds this out after a while. Charlie is in love with Sam, and he realises this as the book continues. Its not just some high school crush, but a real love. He just needs to find a way to show it.


Sorry I wrote so much this blog, the words just flew out of me. I didn't think I would write half of what I did. I recommended you to READ THE BOOK FIRST and then watch the film, as this always makes it easier and better for me. Its not my favourite book, but I defiantly enjoyed it.

Love you guys so much,
JJ 

'The Shock of the Fall' by Nathan Filer

Hey guys, sorry I haven't blogged for a while, but I haven't finished any books lately! Its not like me not to start a book and not finish it, but I just haven't found any books which have gripped or interested me in slightest.
Here is the cover I read it from:

 

But there is also this cover:

 



But the other day I picked up this book at the bookshop and I started the first couple of pages and to be honest couldn't really be bothered to read anymore but I carried on a couple of days later and was totally gripped. Here is the blurb:

'I'll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother. His name's Simon. I think you're going to like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he'll be dead. And he was never the same after that.

I really enjoyed this book. It is very well written, and its a incredible story.
Its about this boy who's disabled brother dies when they were younger, and you don't know how until the end. The boy is then growing up, and he goes crazy because of the death of his brother. His ends up in a mental hospital, and its about his life there and how he copes with what happened. He writes this book from the computer in the hospital and it is showing him developing character. He writes this book very truthfully, and not in a particularly positive way. He does not try to make things seem better, as it is like he is writing this book to himself, but is directed to us. He says at the end that this book was for closure and is it very good.
Mathew (the boy in the story) starts off in a normal kind of life, and when his brother dies, he does not show much grieving. He never cried about it, like his parents did. His mother goes slightly mad as well, as she is very afraid of losing another son and this makes young Mathew very angry.

As he grows up and moves into his own apartment, he does not let anyone into his world, and doesn't let anyone see what he is becoming.

This book is scary, but not in the way 'Stolen' or any other scary book is written, but it is scary in the sense that he blocking himself off from everyone and anyone who loves him and this leads to bad things.

I really enjoyed this book, and I am very glad that I pursued it and didn't give up when there got to a few tedious bits in the middle.

Overall i would give this book a 5* rating of: 4 1/2*
I really enjoyed this book and thanks so much for reading this blog.
Hope to see you soon!

xoxo
JJ

'Angus, Thongs, and full frontal snogging' by Louise Rennison

Welcome back everyone x
Sorry I haven't posted in a bit but I haven't had an good books to review about. I would love if you guys could send me some recommendation or some books you want me to try out, and I will read those as soon as possible. I wanted this blog to give my image of reading as quite a sophisticated recommendations, but before bed every night I love to read some crappy book, or some chick flick which I love to read, so I have nothing too heavy in my head before I go to sleep. And in case you hadn't realised the book which I am writing about today is one of those. Its not crappy, but its very funny and its an easy read. There are about 8 more in the series, and I have read a couple of the others. Anhway - I hope you enjoy this blog!

 

 

So this is the cover that I read it from, but I think there is also a cover with 'real people' on it. This book is also called 'Angus, Thongs, and Perfect snogging' but I on the book I read the title was different. I don't know why this is but I promise you they are the same book! Here is the blurb: ok - so I can't find the blurb anywhere and I don't have the book, I actually rented it out of my school library. But I thought I would try and give you a short synopsis for you?!! Let me know what you think of it. 

This boon is a diary of Georgia Nicholsen's life. She had a crazy family - a dad who also shouts, a mother who dresses like a prostitute, a little sister who is sometimes OVERLY affectionate. Georgia has a mad group of friends, but her best friend Jas is sometime the most irritating of all. She thinks that Jas could become a proffesional fringe fiddler. Her and her friends are on a mission to help Georgia get the 'Sex God' (in other words Robbie). A hilarious comedy and which I thoroughly enjoyed! 

It has also been made into a movie, which I also enjoyed. I think that it is a really funny and truthful and I loved every bit of it. Many of then teenage books I read, they are always going on dates and snogging and, truth be told, no 12/13 girl goes on that many dates. (well at least not my school)!!! But there in enough 'action' (sorry - don't know the less embarrassing word!!) so that I am not bored.

 

Like I said before, I would write some more blogs and more frequently if you could recommend me some books and I will read them and review them. I read a lot but haven't found any good books which I thought were good enough to review.

I love you guys sooooooo much, and will be back soon!

JJ