So it's time for another summary! This time it's the April summary. Funnily enough. I mean... April is ending... so... yeah... April summary.
I had a great reading month, and I read more than I thought I would. Besides all the books listed below, I also started Les Misérable, which I don't really plan to finish till June, because of school, and also because it's so damn long.
All in all, I gave 33 smileys out of a possible 35! That's 94,28% of the possible smileys. Pretty good, if I should say so myself.
As always, reviews are spoiler free. All pictures are found on Google.
I had a great reading month, and I read more than I thought I would. Besides all the books listed below, I also started Les Misérable, which I don't really plan to finish till June, because of school, and also because it's so damn long.
All in all, I gave 33 smileys out of a possible 35! That's 94,28% of the possible smileys. Pretty good, if I should say so myself.
As always, reviews are spoiler free. All pictures are found on Google.
Escapism. Apocalypse. Mutants.
The first book I read in April was Plague by Michael Grant, which I already mentioned in my March Summary. As I said before, I LOVE the Gone series, and tbh Plague was no exception. I loved that the plague wasn't just some normal decease, but a horrifying thing I never hope happens IRL. If it did, I would be so scared. Like I would die of fright if this kinda plague came to Earth. However, as in every series, there are also exciting things happening. Sam and a couple others leave Perdido Beach to go exploring and we get to see the northern part of the FAYZ in more detail, which I think is very interesting.
But the thing I liked best about Plague was the fact that we get to see into Little Pete's head! I'm not even kidding! I was so hyped when I opened the book and saw the first chapter was Pete's POV. I was with a friend and I literally gasped xD And not just one chapter, guys. We get FIVE chapters from Pete's POV!
Honestly, I just love this entire series so much, and even though Plague wasn't as good as Lies, both were deffi 5 star books.
The only thing I didn't like about this book was the countdown. This one was sorta hard to guess, and when it arrived, I wasn't even sure it was it. Slightly disappointing, but what can you do?
OTP: Diana and Caine (Caiana?) I don't care how sick they are, they're like the only cute-ish ship atm
As I just said:
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5 of 5 smileys.
Paranormal. War. Romance.
The second book I read in April was City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare, and when I read it, I thought it was the best of the TMI series, but after having read City of Lost Souls, I gotta change my mind, cuz City of Lost Souls blew my mind. More about that later.
I picked up City of Fallen Angels because I knew City of Heavenly Fire was coming out soona nd I wanted to read the TMI series, so that I wouldn't be behind. I hate being behind. If you read last month's review, you will know that I loved the third book, City of Glass. It kinda gave me high expectations for this novel, but no worries, cuz City of Fallen Angels totally lived up to all of them!
I don't know how many of you know this, but this book is so much shorter than all the other books in the series. Therefore I was glad when it jumped straight into the story, and Simon looked like he was in some deep shit. I do love Simon, but usually, characters who get in trouble are featured more in a book, than the ones who just have perfect lives. So yay, more Simon!
We also get Magnus' POV for what I think is the first time, and I really like that, cuz who doesn't love Magnus Bane?!
All in all, I loved this book, and if you didn't care that much for the first three books, lemme give you some advice: READ THE OTHER TWO BOOKS THEY ARE SO FABULOUS I CAN'T EVEN
OTP: Simon and Isabelle (Simonbelle? Isamon?)
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5 of 5 smileys.
Comedy. Love. LGBT.
After two paranormal books, I wanted something kinda down to earth, or at least more realistic, but I'm not quite sure I got that from Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. I thought I was just gonna read a normal contemporary, but I jumped into what has deffi been the most surprising reading experience of 2014. For some reason, no one had told me that WG,WG was a lgbt book, and so I was surprised when like half the characters turned out to be gay. I don't mind it, it just came as a surprise.
Along with his, came all the hilariousness that is Tiny Cooper. Dayum, I have never met any character like Tiny. He is gay, and he is fabulous, and to just summarize him, he falls in love 3 times a day, and doesn't give a shit, what anyone thinks. Also he can sing.
This might have been the funniest book I ever read. It was so light hearted, and even though it wasn't what I had been expecting, I greatly enjoyed it.
However, if you know me, you will know that I am not a contemporary-lover, and this is very contemporary, so I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it.
OTP: David's Will Grayson and Isaac
☻☻☻☻☺
4 of 5 smileys
Reaslism. NYC. Characters.
The next book I have is a Danish translation. One of my 2014 reading goals is to read at least 3 Danish books, and that is why I picked up Lad Kun Verden Tumle Sig, the Danish translation of Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. This is an adult book, and I don't read a whole lot of those, so I was really happy that I happened to pick up a good quality one.
The very first thing I can say about Great World is that it is a very character-focused story. You get 11 POVs, only one of them appears more than once though. This means you get really long chapters with the same character, and that is really nice. You see the same day over and over again from different people's views, and as these people know each other, they make cameos in each other's chapters, which is so cool.
Also, these characters grow with you, and ofc you have your favourites, but you kinda love all of them.
The thing about this book is, it fills you with a great feeling. It tells you that you are not the only person in the world with problems, because most of these characters' lives have taken unexpected turns for the worse. Also, if you look at the cover of the copy that I own, you see New York City at the bottom. Clean and still and happy, but if you turn it upside down, you see New York City all crooked, and tumbled up. I think it was made this was to show that even though someone might look perfect from the outside, a lot of things are going on the inside, and no one is ever 100% OK.
OTP: John Corrigan and his girlfriend-whose-name-I-can't-remember
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5 of 5 smileys.
Investigation. Paranormal. Characters.
Yes, I also read City of Lost Souls. Totally haven't mentioned that already. Like I said, it blew my mind, and so far it was my fave of Clare's books. First of all, I thought it was very fast paced compared to the previous four books, and who doesn't love fast paced books? Also there was loads of character development, which I felt I had kinda been missing.
I especially loved all the cute Malec scenes, because Malec is one of my fave OTPs ever. That is also the reason for my heart breaking during the epilogue D: Not gonna spoil, I'm just gonna say, that Magnus didn't seem like himself to me. He seemed so unemotional.
But as all Cassandra Clare's books, even though there are loads of ships and cute scenes, it is not only about love. Mostly it is about Jace and Sebastian going missing together which drives all the others to go look for them, even if the Clave won't. Clary goes sorta undercover to help find out Sebastian's plan, but that can be very dangerous when he can't be harmed, without Jace also getting harmed.
Basically, if you have liked the other TMI books, you will really enjoy City of Lost Souls.
OTP: MALEC MALEC MALEC MALEC MALEC
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5 of 5 smileys
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Teenagers. Competition. Drama.
Wanna play a game? Then let's play Panic! Panic is a game played by senior high-school students in the town of Carp, NY. This game is very dangerous, and you may face your worse fears buuuuuuut.... YOU CAN WIN $67.000.
Sound like something for you? then you should go right ahead and become a citizen of Lauren Oliver's fictional town, because only then will you be able to play. Honestly, I don't think I would join. I like my life. I don't need to risk it just to win money. But Heather and Dodge kinda do. Heather wishes to leave Carp as soon as possible, so she and her younger sister don't need to live in a trailer park with their junkie mother. Dodge needs the money because his older sister was in an "accident" and now she can't use her legs. Basically he needs money for therapists and doctors and whatnot.
So both of them enter Panic but only one of them can win. That is, if one of the other kids doesn't win.
It doesn't help either that Dodge has a crush on Heather's friend Nat, or that Nat is realising she might want to be more than friends with Bishop, her friend since childhood.
As the game escalates and get more and more dangerous, more and more players get eliminated. At the same time, the police has put out an arrest order for everyone who is caught playing Panic.
I enjoyed Panic and I definitely recommend it if you like the Delirium trilogy also by Lauren Oliver.
While reading this book, I liked to listen to The Night Starts Here, a song by the band Stars. As it is sung from both a boy and a girl's POV, I feel like it fits Panic better than any other song. If there was a passage I couldn't get through, I put on my head phones and turned up the music.
OTP: Heather and Bishop
So both of them enter Panic but only one of them can win. That is, if one of the other kids doesn't win.
It doesn't help either that Dodge has a crush on Heather's friend Nat, or that Nat is realising she might want to be more than friends with Bishop, her friend since childhood.
As the game escalates and get more and more dangerous, more and more players get eliminated. At the same time, the police has put out an arrest order for everyone who is caught playing Panic.
I enjoyed Panic and I definitely recommend it if you like the Delirium trilogy also by Lauren Oliver.
While reading this book, I liked to listen to The Night Starts Here, a song by the band Stars. As it is sung from both a boy and a girl's POV, I feel like it fits Panic better than any other song. If there was a passage I couldn't get through, I put on my head phones and turned up the music.
OTP: Heather and Bishop
☻☻☻☻☺
4 of 5 smileys
Mystery. Action. Post apocalyptic.
So you know how in lots of books you kinda get a little heads-up on where you are and what's going on before the story really starts? Yeah well, don't expect that from The Maze Runner by James Dashner. You will get plunged straight into the plot on basically the first 3 pages.
The story starts with a boy who wakes up in an elevator, that brings him to a mysterious place, apparently known as The Glade. The Glade is an enclosure in the middle of a maze, and no one there can remember anything but their names and random facts about Earth. For example, Thomas can remember that his name is Thomas, and that the Sun is out in the day time and gone in the night time. He can remember the difference between boys and girls, and he knows what a maze is. But he can't remember who he is, where he came from, or anything from before the moment he woke up in the elevator.
I don't wanna tell you guys anymore about this book, because it is best to go into it blindly. If you have no idea what is going on, you will be on the same level as the main character, and that is always fun.
I buddy-read this with my good friend Signe (@allgreatbooks on Instagram) and we had so much fun! We both found clues the other had overlooked, and together we were incredibly confused at the ending. It's always better to have to someone to be confused with. Being confused alone is no fun at all.
I also listened to music while reading The Maze Runner and the song I listened to this time was Home by American Authors. I feel like the point of the song is something Thomas would feel, but I'm no judge, so if you don't agree with me, that's ok.
OTP: Thomas and Teresa (They're literally the only couple. Unless you ship Newt and Alby, I guess xD)
So you know how in lots of books you kinda get a little heads-up on where you are and what's going on before the story really starts? Yeah well, don't expect that from The Maze Runner by James Dashner. You will get plunged straight into the plot on basically the first 3 pages.
The story starts with a boy who wakes up in an elevator, that brings him to a mysterious place, apparently known as The Glade. The Glade is an enclosure in the middle of a maze, and no one there can remember anything but their names and random facts about Earth. For example, Thomas can remember that his name is Thomas, and that the Sun is out in the day time and gone in the night time. He can remember the difference between boys and girls, and he knows what a maze is. But he can't remember who he is, where he came from, or anything from before the moment he woke up in the elevator.
I don't wanna tell you guys anymore about this book, because it is best to go into it blindly. If you have no idea what is going on, you will be on the same level as the main character, and that is always fun.
I buddy-read this with my good friend Signe (@allgreatbooks on Instagram) and we had so much fun! We both found clues the other had overlooked, and together we were incredibly confused at the ending. It's always better to have to someone to be confused with. Being confused alone is no fun at all.
I also listened to music while reading The Maze Runner and the song I listened to this time was Home by American Authors. I feel like the point of the song is something Thomas would feel, but I'm no judge, so if you don't agree with me, that's ok.
OTP: Thomas and Teresa (They're literally the only couple. Unless you ship Newt and Alby, I guess xD)
☻
5 of 5 smileys
