The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

Hello Book Lovers!!!

Yes, he's back!!! Nicholas Sparks :D I thought I would give myself an easier read to end the month off as I have a performance day tomorrow and Friday so I won't have a lot of time to read over those two days. I'm excited to get back into a Nicholas Sparks book and the one I'm reading is The Choice. This is the last Nicholas Sparks book on my shelf that I haven't read so until I get some more of his books I won't be reading any more for a while after this one. 

I don't know too much about this book other than it obviously has the romance element to it and it has something to do with next door neighbours; the guy liking the girl but the girl not interested in him. That's about it for now!!!

Happy Reading!!!

xHannahx

Missing You by Harlen Coben - Review

Hello Book Lovers!!!

Sorry I've not posted this week, I've been here there and everywhere, but on Saturday I go home for good so I should have more time to read :) I've eventually finished Missing You by Harlen Coben and I wasn't as impressed as I thought I was going to be.

This novel is about a woman called Kat. Her friend Stacy sets up an account on a dating sight for Kat to try and find her a man. Kat soon discovers a profile of her ex Jeff from 18 years ago. She decides to contact him, only to find he doesn't seem to remember her.

Kat is a Detective and finds Jeff's behaviour in his messages odd and so looks into them further, finally deciding something is definitely not right. Is Jeff who he says he is or is something being covered up?

A boy named Brandon goes to see Kat about his mother that went on holiday with a man she had met online. His mother had not returned from the holiday but Brandon had received texts off her saying she was fine, although these messages seemed odd to Brandon, leading him to speak to Kat.

Once Kat starts investigating both of these cases, she notices links between them and soon starts to unravel clues as to where Brandon's mother is, and just who Jeff on the dating website is.

I thought this book was a little slow as nothing much seemed to happen for a lot of the book. I also didn't seem to get attached to the characters and found it difficult to picture them as the character's appearances weren't really described.

Further into the book when things are being revealed, the story does start to become more exciting and I felt at these points I didn't want to put the book down. It just took me a while to get to this stage.

I would recommend this to anyone that likes crime novels, but not younger readers as there are some rather graffic scenes during the story. Overall I think this book was a good read when it eventually got into the exciting parts, but it just took too long to get there.

Rating /5

3

Happy Reading!!!

xHannahx

Missing You by Harlen Coben

Hello Book Lovers!!!

First things first, what do you think of the new look? I love it!!! Still working on changing a couple of things but this is it for now :) 

Sorry I haven't been posting this week. I've had my final performance and uni and haven't had time to do any reading. But I'm back now!!! The next book I will be reading in May is Missing You by Harlen Coben. This is a fairly new release of his and I've read one of his books a few years ago and loved it so I'm excited to start this one. All I know is it's in the thriller genre and I haven't read any thriller in a while.

Happy Reading!!!

xHannahx

Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler - Review

Hello Book Lovers!!!

I've just finished Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler and I really enjoyed it. It was possibly the most beautifully written book I've ever read. 

This novel is about 4 boys who have been best friends since childhood. Henry, Lee, Ronny and Kip. They have grown up together but as they get further into adulthood they realise that their paths are going to take them in separate directions. Family and relationships mean the boys are unable to see each other as much as they're used to and a secret from the past is revealed which has a huge impact on the friendship between Lee and Henry. 

Each of the boys share their own stories throughout the book and the chapters are split up into each of the character's perspectives. We also get to hear from the perspective of Beth, Henry's wife throughout the book. 

Although this book was beautifully written, I would have liked to have learnt more about some of the characters as I don't feel like I know that much about some of them and I couldn't get attached to them. One of the characters I did really get attached to though was Ronny. He's such a good, down to earth guy and you could tell how much he treasures the friendship he has with Henry, Kip and Lee.

I would recommend this book, possibly not to younger readers, I would say nobody under the age of 16 as there is some adult content in there. If you are 16 or over though I would definitely recommend this book if you don't just analyse the narrative, but the writing style as well. 

Rating /5

4

Happy Reading!!!

xHannahx

Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler

Hello Book Lovers!!! 

The next book I will be reading is Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler. I don't know much about this book before but I got it recommended to me by one of the staff in Waterstones. She said it was her favourite book at 2014 so I thought I would give it a read :) I also really like the cover of this book. It's quite different to the rest of the books I own :)

Happy Reading!!!

xHannahx

All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher - Review

Hello Book Lovers!!! I've finished All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher and I have to say I really enjoyed it :) Carrie writes so beautifully throughout each chapter and had me laughing on many occasions with her hilarious stories from her time growing up through the teenage years.

Not only do I really like the content in this book but I also love the way the book is set out. Carrie is an actor (currently playing Eponine in Les Mis in the West End) as well as a writer, and her book is set out into Acts and within these acts are the chapters just like how a performance is set out. I loved this element to the book as it brings out more of who Carrie is.

The book covers topics such as school, bullying, relationships, the internet, and the big scary world after going through education, and although I am past some of these stages (the school situations) therefore this doesn't apply to me now, these chapters did make me think back on what kind of person I was in school and how I've changed and grown as a person. The chapters taking about the scary bits after education really did apply to me though as I am in my final weeks of my dance degree then after that I'm left to my own devices!!! This really made me think positively about how I want to approach the next chapter of my life and made me believe that if I want something badly enough, I can achieve it. 

Carrie mentions quite early on in the book 'Top Tips for Stressful Situations' and one of these was blowing on your thumb as it regulates your breathing if you're nervous about something. She then goes on to mentions how this helps when going on stage to perform which is something I can definitely relate to because of being a dancer. I have a performance next week so I will sure be trying this technique out!!!

There are lots of reasons why I really enjoyed this book and I definitely think that it will help teenagers going through all the stressful situations teenagers go through. So if you are in that age range then I would definitely give this a read but I do believe that there is something in there for everyone. Because not all the chapters related to me as I'm past the teenage stage now I did find that those chapters didn't interest me as much even though I could think back on how I was at certain stages of my teenage life, but mostly I think this book has really helped me think much more positively about life and going into the big scary world that awaits!!!

Rating /5

4

Happy Reading!!!

xHannahx

All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher

Hello Book Lovers!!!

Today I'm going to share with you my first read of April and I'm so excited for this one!!! It's All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher. Carrie is known as the honorary big sister on YouTube so if you haven't checked out her YouTube videos I highly recommend them to you. She is also currently playing Eponine in Les Mis in the West End!!! Multi talented or what!!! 

This is a non fiction book (and my 1st non fiction book of this year) about how to deal with growing up through the teenage years into adulthood covering issues such as school life, relationships, heartbreak, and positivity. I really think this is going to be a fantastic book and I can't wait to start reading it!!!

Happy Reading!!!

xHannahx

April 2015 Wrap Up

Hello Book Lovers!!!

It's that time again!!! It's Wrap Up time :D April has been a quite good reading month, much better than March anyway. I managed to read 6 books and I've had dissertation hand in and a presentation this month for uni so not bad going at all!!!

Lets get to it!!!

The 1st book I read in April was A Place for Us by Harriett Evans.

This was a really enjoyable read about family dramas and coping when things don't exactly go how you were expecting. If you want a nice easy read, but something that keeps you gripped throughout, then this is the book for you!!! I gave it 4* on Goodreads.

The 2nd book I read in April was The List of my Desires by Gregoire Delacourt.

I read most of this while I was on a train to and from London and it made my train journey much more enjoyable. This is such a quick, easy read, so if you are having a super busy time but don't want to not be reading, then I definitely recommend you give this a read. You could easily read it in one sitting. It covers the positives and negatives of money and what having a substantial amount of money can affect, such as family, friends, and yourself. I gave this 3* on Goodreads.

The 3rd book I read was The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks.

This is a lovely story about how two people are separated but get brought back together again for a mutual friend's funeral. It's romantic, dramatic, and heartbreaking so if you want a cutesy yet heart wrenching love story then this is the book for you. I gave it 3* on Goodreads.

The 4th book I read was The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

I decided this month was the month to get my nose stuck into a series as I hadn't done so yet this year. I loved this book and the film is also fantastic. I gave it 5* on Goodreads.

The 5th book I read this month was Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.

This is the 2nd book in The Hunger Games trilogy and my favourite one!!! I loved this book so much and gave it 5* on Goodreads.

And the final book I read was Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.

This is the final book in the trilogy and although I did enjoy this book I didn't enjoy it as much as the other 2. I gave it 5* on Goodreads.

And my Favourite April Read is.....

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins!!!

Happy Reading!!!

xHannahx

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - Review

Hello Book Lovers!!!

I've finished the trilogy!!! Although I finished Mockingjay in May, I'm still going to class it as an April read as I read the majority of it in April. I have to say I didn't get into this book as much as the others. Catching Fire is still my favourite.book of the series.

The reason I think I didn't get into this part of the story as much is because for some reason throughout this book I just didn't feel connected to the characters like I have done in the previous books. I also didn't like the ending as I was 'on the other team'. If you've read the books you'll know what I mean. 

Although unfortunately I didn't get into this book as much as the other two, I did still enjoy it and I liked how it was a different kind of battle. The fight against the Capitol was intense and did keep me interested throughout this section of the story. There were just other sections within the story that I felt I lost interest in.

Overall I would still recommend finishing the trilogy and if you have, then what did you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments below :)

Rating /5

4

Full Trilogy Rating /5

5

Happy Reading!!!

xHannahx