Top books published in 2015

Hey Guys!
2016 has arrived! And that also means that 2015 has ended. I'm really happy to say that 2015 has been a great year and regarding my reading this year, its been great. This blog is officially 1 year old! Wohoo! I don't think it's normal for blogs to have birthdays, but im just so happy that i've been able to keep this blog going for 1 whole year! i actually thought it was going to be impossible but in the end I've done it! So thanks so much to you amazing people reading this blog who have been encouraging me! 
So now, 2015 has been a really good year for young adult readers. A lot of series have ended with an amazing ending, but then again, other series have begun and look like they are going to be awesome. That's one of the reasons why I'm so excited about 2016. I mean! who isn't excited for Sword of Glass!? 

Number 1

RED QUEEN  (Red Queen, #1) by Victoria Aveyard 

Originally published: February 10, 2015
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Genres: Young-adult fiction
Page count: 388
Publisher: HarperCollins
Awards: Goodreads Choice Awards Best Debut Goodreads Author

Nominations: Goodreads Choice Awards Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction

Summary:
 This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.
The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.
That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.
Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.
But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart ... 

Number 2

WINTER (The Lunar Chronicles, #4) by Marissa Meyer Originally published: November 10, 2015 Author: Marissa Meyer Preceded by: Cress Page count: 832 Genres: Young-adult fiction, Romance novel, Science Fiction, Utopian and dystopian fiction Nominations: Goodreads Choice Awards Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction Summary:  Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana. Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters? Number 3 QUEEN OF SHADOWS  (Throne of Glass, #4) by Sarah J Maas Originally published: September 1, 2015 Author: Sarah J. Maas Page count: 656 Age range: 13 and up Awards: Goodreads Choice Awards Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction Summary:  The queen has returned. Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past… She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight. She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return. Number 4 I WAS HERE by Gayle Forman Originally published: January 27, 2015 Author: Gayle Forman Page count: 288 Age range: 14 and up Nominations: Goodreads Choice Awards Best Young Adult Fiction Summary:  Cody and Meg were inseparable. Two peas in a pod. Until . . . they weren’t anymore. When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how was there no warning? But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met in her dead-end small town in Washington. About Ben McAllister, the boy with a guitar and a sneer, who broke Meg’s heart. And about an encrypted computer file that Cody can’t open—until she does, and suddenly everything Cody thought she knew about her best friend’s death gets thrown into question. Number 5 THE WRATH AND THE DAWN (The Wrath and the Dawn, #1) by Renee Ahdieh Originally published: May 2015 Author: Renée Ahdieh Page count: 404 Age range: 12 and up Summary:  One Life to One Dawn. In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all. Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she'd imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It's an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid's life as retribution for the many lives he's stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?

Sarah J Maas Meet Up

Hey guys,

So as you probably know from earlier posts, not long ago, i got to meet sarah J Maas. She is a magnificent author who has written many popular YA books, including a Best selling series, Throne of glass. Fortunately, Sarah travelled around AussieLand (australia), to meet all of her fans, and that included me! The event in Melbourne was quite a short yet very entretaining one.

Firstly, I would just like to describe the venue by quoting Sarah J Maas, it was like “a high school hall where everyone was forced to sit down and listen to her”. Of course, none of the people attending the event where forced to be there. In fact, most the people I met had been waiting and counting down to this day for months. There was a great lot full of young and grown up book worms. Absolutely amazing.

So the night went like this:

Everyone who walked in was given a lollie which represented their group for the book signing. Then we were able to sit aroud the hall freely. There was a lot of chatter between fangirls as everyone waited for the author that could have possible changed their booklovers lives. It didnt take long for sarah J maas to step in and see all of our extremely excited faces.

The first thing that took place after the author arrived was a Q’n’A about her books and their characters which was very entertaining, but unfortunately we weren't allowed to film so I can't tell you what the questions and answers were:(

After the questions where asked, we were sent down in our lollies groups to meet the author personally and get our book signed by her. The excitment to meet sarah was shown in every single one of the fan’s faces. For most of us, it was our first book signing and porbably the first author we had met in our lives since not many authors are able to travel all the way to the australia.  Just knowing that you were in the same room as the person who wrote the book that you were holding between your hand, the book that made you fall in love with mnay characters, that made you cry and laugh, the feeling was just unreal. So,  like many other things, after waiting, everyone got their turn to have a chat with Sarah and have their books signed.

And Sarah had a surprise for us too, she brought  along a copy of Throne of glass which she takes every where and gets her fans from all around the world to sign it. And we, fans from Melbourne, weren't an exception. All of the bookworms who wished to sign Sarah’s own copy of her book were able to do so:

And the last surprise was a give away! The hosts were giving away 4 huge/real size cardboard Celaenas. And no, I didn't get one even though I would have really liked too!

So! That was about everything that happened on that day. I had so much fun and from what i got out of conversations with other bloggers and attended, everyone enjoyed it very much. If there is an event around you with Sarah j mass, I strongly recommend you attend, she is so hilarious.  And for all of you readers from Melbourne, I’ll keep you updated if there are any other events.  For now, I hope you enjoy the reading time you hopefully have during the Christmas holidays.

Byeeee

Christmas TBR List

Hello Readers! 
We are officially 25 days away from Christmas and that means that holidays are coming really soon. That also leads into a lot of free time... which ends up being amazing reading time! So I've put together a list of books that I am looking forward to reading this Xmas and hopefully this will inspire to pick up a book to read during this cozy time. 

• Girl Online • by Zoella (Zoe Sugg)

Girl Online follows a typical girl-meets-boy storyline with a few 21st-century twists. The "girl online" is Penny – a clumsy, anxious but thoroughly likeable lead character who struggles with panic attacks that have plagued her since she was involved in a car crash. Like all teenagers today, Penny has to deal with the cripplingly awkward period of young adolescence while also coping with her life being broadcast online. She struggles with growing up in a world where her friends post bitchy comments on her blog and publish a video of her accidentally flashing her knickers during the school play. Her blog is the only place where she feels safe to open up to the world – but she learns the hard way that it's not where personal secrets should be shared. After falling in love with a boy called Noah on holiday in New York, she returns home to find that he is, in fact, a famous musician with a huge YouTube following – and a girlfriend. Her supposed best female friend leaks her relationship with Noah to an online celebrity news site and her blog goes viral. Penny vows never to write on her blog again. Penny's best male friend is her next door neighbour Elliot, who is rejected by his father after coming out to his family. The pair mock Elliot's dad's comments that you can "grow out of being gay".

So as you can probably tell, it's more of a contemporary novel rather than Sci-Fi, which is what I usually read. But the reason why I'm going to read it is because this book has been recommended to me by more people than I can remember. So after a few months of people telling me that i have to read it, i have finally picked it up and I'm really looking forward to reading it. 

• The Iron Witch trilogy • by Karen Mahoney

Freak. That's what her classmates call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood. When she was seven, a horrific fey attack killed her father and drove her mother mad. Donna's own nearly fatal injuries from the assault were fixed by magic—the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. The child of alchemists, Donna feels cursed by the magical heritage that destroyed her parents and any chance she had for a normal life. The only thing that keeps her sane and grounded is her relationship with her best friend, Navin Sharma. When the darkest outcasts of Faerie—the vicious wood elves—abduct Navin, Donna finally has to accept her role in the centuries old war between the humans and the fey. Assisted by Xan, a gorgeous half-fey dropout with secrets of his own, Donna races to save her friend—even if it means betraying everything her parents and the alchemist community fought to the death to protect.

I've actually had this trilogy waiting on my bookshelf ready to be read for about a whole year now! But in that whole year, I was never able to even bother to pick it up Recently, I was rearranging my shelf and found this books. So I did some research on them and it turn out that they look amazing! And I will definitely write a review about them when I finish reading them!

• Dance of Shadows • by Yelena Black   

Dancing with someone is an act of trust. Elegant and intimate; you’re close enough to kiss, close enough to feel your partner’s heartbeat. But for Vanessa, dance is deadly – and she must be very careful who she trusts . . . Vanessa Adler attends an elite ballet school – the same one her older sister, Margaret, attended before she disappeared. Vanessa feels she can never live up to her sister’s shining reputation. But Vanessa, with her glorious red hair and fair skin, has a kind of power when she dances – she loses herself in the music, breathes different air, and the world around her turns to flames . . . Soon she attracts the attention of three men: gorgeous Zep, mysterious Justin, and the great, enigmatic choreographer Josef Zhalkovsky. When Josef asks Vanessa to dance the lead in the Firebird, she has little idea of the danger that lies ahead – and the burning forces about to be unleashed . . .

• Breath of Snow and Ashes • by Diana Gabaldon 

A Breath of Snow and Ashes continues the extraordinary story of 18th-century Scotsman Jamie Fraser and his 20th-century wife, Claire.

The year is 1772, and on the eve of the American Revolution, the long fuse of rebellion has already been lit. Men lie dead in the streets of Boston, and in the backwoods of North Carolina, isolated cabins burn in the forest.
With chaos brewing, the governor calls upon Jamie Fraser to unite the backcountry and safeguard the colony for King and Crown. But from his wife Jamie knows that three years hence the shot heard round the world will be fired, and the result will be independence — with those loyal to the King either dead or in exile. And there is also the matter of a tiny clipping from The Wilmington Gazette, dated 1776, which reports Jamie’s death, along with his kin. For once, he hopes, his time-traveling family may be wrong about the future. 

As you may know if you are one of my readers, I am currently reading the Outlander Series and it is safe to say that I am in love with this books. I have read the first 5 books and I'm really, really looking forward to reading this 6th one. Everyone of this books is outstanding and from what I've heard, this one won't disappoint me since it is great as well. 

You can probably tell that I'm not reading the books one after the other, instead I'm reading books in between them. This isn't because I need a break from them, but instead because i don't want to get bored or sick of them since I am not use to reading such long books and so many of them. By separating them, it gives me a bit of time to get into my normal reading speed and stuff and then I get back onto reading them! 

So! this are the 6 books that I will be reading over Christmas. But also, I have very exciting news! As I said in one of my earlier posts, Sarah J Maas came to Melbourne this month! And meeting her and talking to her was so amazing and it was such a great experience. I will definitely write a post about this event so stay tuned! 

City Of Bones Review!

hey Readers!

During the Christmas holidays, I've read a few books, but I just wanted to share a review about my favourite one; that doesn't mean I didn't like the rest, becuase, NO way, all the books I've read over the holidays were amazing, I loved Ruby Red and the book after it, I loved reading Angel's Fury, it was breath taking; and I also really enjoyed reading An Abundance Of Katherines by John Green, which you probably already know, wrote The Fault In Our Stars. So, as I was saying, during Christmas I read the whole The Mortal Instruments series. I will write a review about the City Of Glass and City of Heavenly fire soon, so if you are interested, it will come up soon. But this post is going to be about the first book in the series: City Of Bones!!!! Which also is a movie, but, as I always say: "Read the book before you watch the movie!". The book was just briliantly written by Cassandra Clare and I personally think it had a great storyline.

The summary of the book:

 When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder― much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? The Shadowhunters would like to know... 

My favourite quotes:

1. “Have you fallen in love with the wrong person yet?' - Clary

"Unfortunately, Lady of the Haven, my one true love remains myself." -Jace

"At least, you don't have to worry about rejection, Jace Wayland." -Clary

"Not necessarily. I turn myself down occasionally, just to keep it interesting.” -Jace

2. "Is this the part where you start tearing off strips of your shirt to bind my wounds?"  -Clary

"If you wanted me to rip my clothes off, you should have just asked.” -Jace

3. “Don't touch any of my weapons without my permission." -Jace

"Well, there goes my plan for selling them all on eBay," -Clary

"Selling them on what?" -Jace

"A mythical place of great magical power.” -Clary

• So, as you can see, this book has a lot of fantasy in it. There are a lot of vampires and werewolves and shadowhunters (the ones who keep the demons away from the mundane world (human world)). And I think this is mainly why I kind of fell inlove with this book series; because there is so much fantasy and fiction involved, but still, you can relate to it becuase it all hapens in our world, in New York to be exact. There is a bit of romance involved too, between Clary Fray and Jace Wayland, the two main characters. But still, it's not like one of those romantic novels, that are all about thier realationship, it's more about the way they behave when they are around each other and it shows how different things can be when you fall inlove. But as I was saying before it is defenitely not romantic book, it just has a touch of it to make it more interesting.  This book is great, amazing, perfect, whatever good adjective comes up in your head, it belongs to this book series. It is mind blowing; and is you like  young adult fiction, you should really, really read this book, or even if you don't really enjoy reading that much; there is also a great movie, though, I recommend you read the book first. the movie is called City of Glass and it has great actors in it, such as Lily Collins as Clary and Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace. So enjoy, reading this book is defenitely worth it.

The Cast 

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon review!!

Hey Everyone,

in Australia, we are currently in the holidays between term 3 and 4. So this is giving me a lot of great reading time, which means that i can finally read a long book that i have been dying to read for ages but have never gotten a chance to read because it took too much time and concentration. As you may have already figured out, the book im talking about is OUTLANDER!!!!!

Before you start reading, you must know that there are SPOILERS in this summary! If you don't want to read the biggest spoiler, do not read past the photo of the Scots :)

Enjoy! 

Summary: After separation by their work in World War II, British Army nurse Claire Randall and her husband Frank, a history professor, go on a second honeymoon to Inverness, Scotland, where Frank conducts research into his family history and Claire goes plant-gathering near standing stones on the hill of Craigh na Dun. She faints when investigating a buzzing noise near the stones; upon waking, she encounters Frank's ancestor, Captain Jack Randall. Before Captain Randall can take her into his custody, he is knocked unconscious by a Scotsman who takes Claire to his party. When the Scots try to repair the dislocated arm of their comrade Jamie, Claire uses her superior skill to relocate Jamie's arm; whereupon the men identify themselves as members of Clan MacKenzie, and Claire eventually concludes that she has traveled to the past, and represents herself as an English widow who is traveling to France to see her family. The Scots do not believe her and take her to Castle Leoch, where Claire searches for a way to return to her own time.

The Scots see Claire as a "Sassenach", an Outlander, ignorant of Scottish Highland culture. Her medical skills earn their respect; but the clan chieftain, Colum MacKenzie, suspects her of being an English spy. Colum sends her with his brother, Dougal, to collect rents and solicits donations for the Jacobites. This is overseen by Ned Gowan, a lawyer from Edinburgh made part of Clan MacKenzie. Captain Randall tells Dougal to bring Claire to him for questioning. To keep Claire from Randall, Dougal tells her to wed Jamie, which she does. Torn between her attachment to Jamie and the thought of Frank, Claire tries to return to Craigh na Dun. When prevented, Claire accepts the position of castle healer, in which she relies on her medical experience, and befriends Geillis Duncan, the wife of a local official, who shares her love of medicine. Eventually Claire and Geillis are charged with witchcraft while Jamie is away, but Jamie returns in time to save Claire. Just before their escape, Claire realizes that Geillis is, like herself, from the future, when she sees asmallpox vaccine scar on Geillis' arm. Geillis also sees Claire's scar.

Claire relates her predicament, and Jamie takes her to Craigh na Dun. When Jamie allows her to decide whether to stay with him or return to Frank, Claire prefers to stay, and Jamie takes her to his home of Lallybroch, where they share a happy peace with Jamie's sister Jenny and her husband, Ian. Though Jamie is still a fugitive from the British army, he reclaims his position as Laird of Lallybroch until one of his tenants betrays him and he is taken to Wentworth Prison, where Captain Randall is stationed. Claire and the clansmen attempt a jail-break, but fail and Claire is captured by Randall, who threatens to have her raped. Jamie offers himself in Claire's place, and Randall ejects Claire into the woods outside the castle. Claire tells Randall that she is a witch and predicts that, after his marriage, he shall father a child, but never see it. Thereafter Claire is befriended by Sir Marcus MacRannoch, a former suitor of Jamie's mother. While MacRannoch's men distract Wentworth's main guard, the clansmen drive a herd of agitated cattle through the underground halls of the castle, trampling a man. They rescue Jamie, who has been assaulted physically and sexually by Randall, and take him to MacRannoch's stronghold, where Claire tends the worst of Jamie's wounds. As soon as Jamie is capable, they and Jamie's godfather, Murtagh, escape to Saint Anne de Beaupre's monastery in France, where Jamie's uncle is Abbot. As she and Jamie emerge from a sacred hot spring under the Abbey, Claire reveals that she is pregnant.

Originally Published: June 1, 1991
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Original Language: English
Followed by: Dragonfly In Amber, Voyager, Drums Of Autumn, ABreath Of Snow and Ashes
Page count: 640
Main Characters: Jamie Fraser and Claire Randal 


So, as you can probably tell by the summary, this is an amazing book with an amazing storyline! the characters are great too, specially Jamie (and just letting you know, he is mine. jks). There is so much action and then again so much romance in it. the book just grabs you from the second you start reading it; this is probably because she travels through the stones in one of the very first chapters, but its still amazing. 


Im just gonna write down some reasons why you should read this book and some reasons why I loved it:
1. as I said before, the Plot of the Story is great. Very different to any other books Ive read before. 
2. Characters. It may sound lame, but in this book, you get to know the characters so well because it is such a long book and so many things happen to them. And I specially like one character... you can pobably work that out by yourselves. 
3. Time Traveling. I mean! who has never dreamed of travelling through time. Well Diana makes this dreams come true; the book makes you travel to the 17 hundreds, which is in fact a time where lots of things happened in Scotland... and that leads me into the next point.
4. Scotland, Scots, War. yes! all of this things are part of the book. 
- Scotland: i personally love it. Everything about it is amazing (maybe not the weather...), but anyway. the accent, the traditions, everything about it is amazing. And I specially like the book because it takes place in the Old Scotland (1700s) which sound like a stunning place. 
- Scots: can we just talk about their kilts! 
- War: in case you didnt know, there was a war between the scots and the english during the 17 hundreds and that is exactly when Claire lands. the is the middle of the war. And can I just say, the is an English woman walking around Scotland during a time of war. Suspicious... yeah, thats what the scots thought
5. For any age. There is something about this book that makes it suitable for any mature reader. I often read YA books, but i still loved this book, which is an adult book. I dont know why that is, but I just thought it was amazing even thought it wasnt supposed to be read by someone my age. I am sure that adults who enjoy reading would love reading this book and any young adults that like reading long book would like it too. 


For all of you people who do not enjoy reading that much, you can still find out what is Claire Randal story by WATCHING THE TV SHOW.
The TV show is so, so, so good. Its really similar to the book, i think one of the best if not the best book to TV show adaptations I know and I have watched. And the last reason why the TV show is so great, is because the actor are stunningly good! 


Jamie Fraser is played by Sam Heugham



 Claire Randall is played by Caitriona Balfe

 Frank and Jonathan Wolverntorn Randall are played by Tobias Menzies





Hopefully this Post has encouraged you to read or watch Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. 


Please leave any book recommendation in the comment box below :)