Summer Reads

As it is now summer, we all have a break from school/college/university - hoorah! One activity I enjoy very much is reading. I can lose myself in a book and somehow escape normal life for a few minutes or hours. Here, I am going to talk to you about some of my personal favourites that you need to get your hands on.

1) The Potion Diaries - Amy Alward. This is a book involving magic, but never how you have seen it before. Princess Evelyn falls in love with her reflection after taking a doomed love potion intented for her suitor. The King and Queen announce a 'hunt' - a competition to find ingredients to reverse the potion. Samantha Kemi is an ordinary girl, with extrordinary talents being a natural alchemist (one of the few remaining). Can she battle with the superpowers of those higher up on the hierarchy?

This is such a funny read, and written extremely well. Evelyn falling in love with herself and being confused why her reflection or girlfriend 'Lyn' won't respond is hilarious! Samantha is a very relatable character you quickly learn to love. I would recommend this for a lighthearted read.

2) Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell - Without spoiling the storyline, all I can say is that it shows the love/hate relationship between two twins called Cath and Wren. Wren is extroverted and wants to become her own person at University, whereas Cath struggles with social anxiety and becomes a shell of herself. 

I think if you are a twin, a teenager or you have anxiety, you will really relate to this. It is a heartwarming read and a really good one to pick up. It is a chunky book though with over 400 pages, meaning it is perfect to read in the remainder of the summer holiday!

3) Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green & David Levithan - in summary, two Will Grayson's start off leading seperate lives and then intertwine, becoming friends at the end of the book through their love of music. One Will Grayson is a straight young student, living in Chicago. He is introverted, but generally happy, with his sections of the book written using correct grammar and punctuation. The other Will Grayson is a gay teenager, struggling with his sexuality and depression. His perspective is more of a monologue, with a no upper-case letters. The ending is a happy one too, which I always like!

It is a book that is very intelligently written and one that I have a lot of respect for. It focuses on the pressures of young people with the concepts of love, peer pressure, and sexuality. It was also the first LGBT book to be nominated for the New York Times. 

The Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard - I can only describe this book as a cross between The Hunger Games and Divergent. Two classes are divided by their blood type; Red (common people, who are poor) and Silver (royalty, with various talents, who rule over the land). Mare is a rare cross and is taken from her poor Red life into living in the palace under secrecy. The whole book is full of twists and turns, and even I was surprised by the ending! 

It has to be one of my all time favourites, I was on edge and could not put this down! 

So those are my summer picks! What are your favourite reads this summer? Let me know below!

Katy x

Winter Reads

Hi,

I feel like winter is the perfect time to curl up in your room, with fairy lights, a candle burning on the side, with a hot chocolate next to you with a good book.

I did a similar post back in July about summer reads - if you missed this or are interested, it is here.

So, here are my favourite 5 books I would recommend at the moment!

1) The Girl On The Train - Paula Hawkins
I mentioned this in my 2015 favourites, so I won't ramble on about this too much, but I love this book so much! It is quite involved, with stories from several different perspectives, but is such a good read once you get into it.

2) Prisoner Of The Inquisition - Theresa Breslin
Admittedly, I haven't finished this book so I can't tell you about the full story, but that would spoil it anyway! A young girl lives in Spain with her father, with a seemingly idealistic life - she is spoilt for choice for men, and is free to do what she likes. However, suddenly things go downhill with her mother dying, her father marrying a woman she hates and after a bad decision, things go from bad to worse. I would recommend reading this 100% - this has plenty of plot twists and I am really enjoying it so far!

3) The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
I started to read this a couple of months ago after a friend recommended me to read it once I'd bought it in Berlin to help with my GCSE History course and although a tearjerker, it is so worth a read. Based in Nazi Germany in 1939, you really feel like you have been transported back in time. Without giving away the plot, there are 3 deaths in the book, each affecting this young girl in various ways and it really shows the trouble you can get into for adopting jews into the house at the time. For anyone it is amazing, however, if you are doing History at school/college/university, it makes everything seem much more real and sticks with facts in your head without reading a textbook!

4) ...and that's when it fell off in my hand - Louise Rennison
This book was given to me by my cousin when she had a clearout a year ago and I've recently re-read it and it definitely deserved a mention. This book is a laugh out loud sort of book - written in diary format, it shows a girls hilarious and awkward encounters with boys and love. It is so comical and well written, I read it in a day. If you need cheering up or love advice from another perspective, I would so buy this.

5) Noughts & Crosses - Book 1 - Malorie Blackman
The plotline of this book reminds me of the racial discrimination in Africa before Mandela, or the discrimination of Jews in Nazi Germany, but slightly different. A boy and a girl from different backgrounds and classes - one higher up the hierarchy than the other - fall in love with each other and break several laws to be together. It is such a beautiful book and leaves you on such a cliffhanger - I've asked for the other two following books for my birthday as I am obsessed with them!

I hope you've enjoyed this very chatty blog post and you consider buying some of these books that take your fancy. You can buy them from Waterstones, WHSmith or Amazon online or in store.

Have a nice week,
Katy x

Summer Reads

Reading is one of my favourite things to do - I have an extensive collection of books! During my GCSE's, I barely had any time to read as I was revising the whole time. Now, I'm on a massive summer holiday, so I have plenty of time again.

I feel like by reading, you can be taken into an entirely different world and be whisked into the storyline. You can take a book anywhere and read it anytime - whether you're on holiday or at home in your room. I am a bookworm at heart!

Here are my top 5 books that I'm reading this summer:

 A Work In Progress - Connor Franta
Even if you aren't into YouTubers, I'm sure you'd still love to give this a good read! 22 year old Connor talks wholeheartedly about his experiences in life so far, from school to photography to getting to know himself. It's full of hilarious phrases and truthful advice for teens. I'd highly recommend it - I've only been reading it a couple of days and have nearly finished it already. I can't even put it down!

Dream A Little Dream - Giovanna Fletcher
After seeing glowing reviews about Giovanna's writing, I thought I'd pick up her latest book. I'll try not to give too much away in case you haven't read it, but its about a young woman who's been single for a while and wants something to look forward to. Once she's started dreaming about a perfect stranger, the man himself comes along into her life in reality and not her dreams!

14,000 Things To Be Happy About - Barbara Ann Kipfer
This is very different to the other books I've spoken about so far, but incredibly good nonetheless! If you prefer reading books by small chunks a time and not long chapters, this is for you. This book has a simple and clear objective, but is brilliant in this - simply listing things to be happy about! This makes you smile if you're down and makes you happy. With things ranging from 'a riot of colours' to 'electric blankets', this book is perfect for anyone and everyone.

Cross My Heart - Carmen Reid
This book is history made much more interesting then in class! The plotline is a young girl that is determined to fight for freedom, risking her life in the process. There is love, death and much more in this. I actually cried at the end - it is heartbreakingly beautiful, but so worth the read. The fact that it's inspired by real people makes it even more emotive and amazing.

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
Now made a modern classic, this story is about a socially awkward schoolboy who struggles with things like girls, love and making friends. He slowly realises he should get more involved. This is a beautiful tale and really encourages you to re-assess your life and get more involved! Its brilliant.


So there we go - my personal reading list for summer. This is a range from autobiography to fiction and there is something for everyone. If you aren't into reading and didn't enjoy this, sorry; things will be back to normal next week.

What are you planning to read this summer?

See you next week,