Hey lovelies, so about 2 months ago I went to Bali for a week and I had an amazing time. I thought it would be cool to do like a short little post of things to be wary of when going to Bali because as much as it is a nice place to go to, safety is always first when travelling overseas.

Bargaining:

If you've been to Bali you'll know what I mean when I say that everyday is a new scam. Nearly every day I found out I got scammed the day before because I would find something I bought cheaper at another place which is super frustrating. So here's some quick easy steps to ensure you're getting the price you want:

1. Say you're buying a fake Gucci T-shirt and they say it is $20 (this is outrageous, don't spend more than $5 because it is obviously fake and cheap quality) but you only want to pay $10 at most
2. Start as low as $5 and they'll usually try to bargain with you and say $10
3. If you're comfortable with this price take it, if not pretend to walk away and say something like "No I've only got $5 on me," or "I saw it at another stall for cheaper"
4. Most of the time they'll settle with whatever price you offered. 

My friend was awful at bargaining and she got ripped off many times. 

Hotel Scams:

When we first arrived to our hotel, the staff in the lobby said that we got a "free" upgrade that was better. Of course we jumped at the chance because it sounded amazing. I was travelling with 2 other friends and we were originally meant to get a room with 3 single beds. Instead this "upgrade" turned out to be a single bed in the living room area and a king sized double. So I was stuck out in the other room with my friends. 

Another little scam I noticed throughout the week was, in the kitchen area they had small bottles of water that was for free, and then large litre bottler that were $2. By about mid week we noticed they had raise the price of the large bottles to around 3-4 dollars without notifying us which I thought was a little dodgy.

Oh and a side note, you can get large bottles for crazy cheap, like $1.

The infamous 'Bali Belly'

Luckily neither me, or my friends got Bali Belly which was something that was playing on my mind every meal I ate. But here are some simple steps to avoid it:

• Come prepared - buy hydralyte tablets which will replace your fluids if you do encounter Bali belly.
• Never drink tap water! - This is because your stomach is not used to the bacteria that is in the water over there. This is a general rule when travelling overseas. You'll find yourself buying loads of water. 
• Brush your teeth with bottle water - this was a hard one to wrap my head around. It's so difficult breaking routine. 
• Avoid getting ice in drinks - this surprisingly is a hard one, and you'll sometimes forget. It's not a huge deal because we had plenty of cocktails that would have crushed ice in it but just try to limit how much you have in it. 
• Buy foods from restaurants in reputable areas and where you see other tourists eating! You'll see plenty of aussies in Bali so it's not hard to tell which restaurants are best. 

Alcohol

Now this is one of the major things to be wary of in Bali. Unfortunately in some dodgy bars they like to serve a cheap alternative to alcohol called "Arak." They may not necessarily tell you they're serving it and will just poor it into a well known Smirnoff bottle. It's basically a cheap alcohol they make because there are high taxes on alcohol in Indonesia. It's basically like moonshine which is extremely potent. 

The risk: To my horror which I later found out, arak can literally cause blindness, organ failure, put you in a coma and in worse cases death. This is because whoever makes it, does not distill the alcohol properly which gets rid of all the toxins. If you look at a bottle of vodka it will say distilled 5 times or something, which is to ensure its safe. 

Ways to avoid this:

• If you see drinks that have spirits that are $5 or less I'd seriously avoid it. My dumbass bought vodka redbull's with double shots for $5. In Australia a single vodka redbull can cost like $13-$15 which puts it into perspective. 
• Even cheeky deals where you can get like 2 cocktails for $10 you have to be wary of.
• Like the food, look for popular bars with lots of other tourists.

Drink responsibly kids 'cause I sure don't!

Taxis

So here's a little hack I found when travelling in Bali. Choose the light blue taxis!!! I repeat choose the light blue taxis!!! Or any taxis that do it by metre. Usually in Australia, having a metre in the taxi is a no go because it is so pricy, and do you all feel that fear when you see it ticking up the price by like 20 cents.

Most the time we drove in dark blue taxis and they'd charge us up to $20 a fare which is decent for Sydney. However we later found out it could cost as little as $3!!!

Mopeds/Bikes

The first thing you will probably notice in Bali is the traffic and no road rules!!! To my horror all these people on mopeds and motorbikes would ride around with no care in the world. They will literally cut in front of cars and taxis and you will 100% be pushing your imaginary breaks in your mind. But after a while you get used to this style of driving and will soon admire how little accidents occur. 

I don't recommend riding a motorbike yourself but if you're going to do it, do it with a driver. At least they're used to the roads. However I will admit one drunken nights, my friends and I hopped on the back of a bike when leaving a club and I will say it is the most exhilarating experience. We were lucky because there was 0 traffic on the road because it was like 4am. 

So all in all these are the main things to be wary of in Bali. If you would like a post on fun activities to do let me know in the comments!

Hey guys, so I figured I owed you all a short explanation before you get spammed with content you may not want. I've decided to change this blog into more of a lifestyle blog in the sense that I'm going to be posting about stuff that I am interested in outside of YA. I will continue writing reviews for books as YA will always be a significant influence in my life. But I feel like there is much more to me that you don't see.

Expect to see posts in the future like:

• Body positivity
• Life hacks
• Baking 
• Travel (I'll be in Bali in a week!)
• Maybe even a record of my weight loss journey
• Music and festivals 

So if any of these topics don't interest you, I won't be offended if you click the unfollow button because I'm blogging for fun now ;).

ALSO! More exciting news, Sunny and I have collaborated in the past and we figured for memories sake we'd do it again. We're cooking up some new and exciting content so stay posted on twitter!

Author: Claire Kann
Release: January 23rd 2018
Publishers: Swoon Reads 
Pages: 288
Genre: Contemporary | Romance | LGBT
Links: Goodreads | Book Depository

Alice had her whole summer planned. Nonstop all-you-can-eat buffets while marathoning her favorite TV shows (best friends totally included) with the smallest dash of adulting—working at the library to pay her share of the rent. The only thing missing from her perfect plan? Her girlfriend (who ended things when Alice confessed she's asexual). Alice is done with dating—no thank you, do not pass go, stick a fork in her, done.

But then Alice meets Takumi and she can’t stop thinking about him or the rom com-grade romance feels she did not ask for (uncertainty, butterflies, and swoons, oh my!).

When her blissful summer takes an unexpected turn and Takumi becomes her knight with a shiny library-employee badge (close enough), Alice has to decide if she’s willing to risk their friendship for a love that might not be reciprocated—or understood

Review

This novel was such a cute and light read. And it warmed my heart to finally read a contemporary romance with a black girl as the main character. I honestly don't think I've ever read a book with a POC as the main character. I wish I could teleport back in time and hand my 12 year old self this book. It would have been a major confidence boost having a protagonist I could relate to in some ways. Little things like struggling with hair is something a black girl struggles with on the daily and Claire Kann was spot on in her description. 

Another aspect I loved is that it tackled the issues of dating while being asexual. I'll have to be honest that before this book I didn't know too much about it but I definitely got something educational out of it. This is what I mean when I say we want more diverse books! I would never have understood how frustrating it would be meeting someone you like and them not understanding what asexual is before this book. It made me so much more open minded about it and it's interesting to see dating from that perspective as it so completely different to my views. 

The characters were so different from what I was used to and in a way more realistic. Like the tensions between Alice and her two best friends who were dating. I can totally understand how that would be hard in real life to balance the friendship as well as the relationship without leaving somebody out. The whole time while I was reading it I could just imagine it as a good TV series.

Another plus is that we had an interracial couple. Not very often in YA would we have an asian love interest and that was really refreshing. I really loved Takumi's personality and the slow build up of their relationship was SO cute! If I could describe their relationship in a few words it would be rainbows, unicorns  and cupcakes haha. 

I think this read is more of a 3.5 hearts. It's more than satisfactory, it's honestly a cute read you would take on a holiday.

Author: Nicola Yoon
Release September 1st 2015
Publishers: Corgi Books 
Pages: 307
Genre: Contemporary | Romance
Links: Goodreads | Author's Website | Book Depository

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Spoilery Mini Review

This year I have set a little bit of a goal for myself reading wise - books that have more diverse characters. Growing up I've never really had characters that I could relate to wholly because I never read books that had protagonist that was a POC. But now with movies such as Black Panther that has sparked a huge debate regarding this topic I think its time I join the discussion and expand the type of novels I read. Everything Everything was a perfect start to my little challenge because it a) was an easy read and b) got me out of my reading slump. 

Now where to begin?

The first thing I noticed about this novel is the format of it. It's super creative and hardly ever do I read books that have cute little visuals. I loved every little bit of it like the graphs at the beginning to the emails, to even her little recipe to creating a bundt cake. I even loved the titles, its very rare that books that have fun titles instead of the usual, boring chapter 1, 2, 3...

Bet that mad ya yawn didn't it??? ;)

Maddy was a unique character and it was interesting to see her relationship with her mother and nurse, Carla. If I'm completely honest I feel like Yoon grappled with some philosophical ideas but I was still looking for more depth. I can't imagine what it would be like to be in Maddy's scenario and only have your mum and nurse as your only friends. I know she had online friends but that's no substitute for real life friends and I can't imagine what it would be like being so closed off to the world. It would have some serious effect to your mental health and the novel could have explored this a little more. 

Olly was a good love interest and I liked that he had a quirky side. I wish we could have gotten more insight to his character and the relationship with his family and the whole abuse thing with his mother and father. But at the same time it was more effective having it from Maddy's perspective. We were limited to seeing things from her window but in a way that was more impactful because it's what you don't see behind closed doors. And I think that was the hidden message behind it. 

The romance was pretty cute but a little rushed in my opinion. But to be honest the trip to Hawaii was super cute and exactly what the book needed to further their relationship. I mean how are they going to get anywhere by basically doing sign language across the window and IM chats. 

The plot twist...

I personally thought it was predictable and could see it coming from when I started reading it but it didn't affect my enjoyment of the book. Again I feel like Yoon could have gone into more detail with Maddy's emotions. If I found out that my mum was lying about a disease I had regardless of her mental issues, my anger would sky rocket. Maddy was way too calm for my liking. But I guess every person reacts differently and Maddy dealt with it in her own way.

The ending was super cute though I'm not going to lie. Yoon left it at a good spot where it was kind of wrapped up in a nice little bow. I wanted a little more like maybe a 1 year later epilogue like where are the characters now sort of thing but I think I like that you're kind of left wondering what happened. 

All in all I think I'll give it:

Long time no see!

This time round I'm not going to make any crazy promises I can't keep because I simply don't have the time to read or review anymore since I'm in my last year of high school. And recently I've been feeling the withdrawal symptoms as I miss all the fun that's happening in the blogosphere.

So here's my holiday TBR list!

1. Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas

2. The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

3. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

4. Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

And sadly for school I have to read these:

So there's my holiday reading and I'm excited (except for the school books). What's on your Christmas holiday list? If you've read any of these, did you enjoy them?

Have you ever come across a book where you know the writing is terrible but you can't help but love it? Today I was talking to a couple of my friends and we started talking about a series that we love but the writing is not so spectacular.

If you've read Prince of Wolves, you probably can agree that it's not the best. But I can't help but love it. 

So the question is why?

Sometimes you don't need to have a reason why and it's as simple as you enjoyed the story and the characters. I loved the characters and the dry humour in Prince of Wolves. All in all, your enjoyment falls down to how much your involved with the storyline and the characters I think personally. 

Prince of Wolves in emojis:

Obviously I'm not saying that I can enjoy every book but there are just some where you can excuse the small flaws. 

What is the deal breaker for you? Does the writing have to be amazing for you to enjoy it? Do you read inside a particular genre? 

Now that's its going into the colder months I thought it would be cool to share with you how I spend most of my winters! I like to call it the "hibernation mode" which basically means, I never leave my room unless I have to. (school and work) So here's the ultimate Winter Starter Pack for all us book lovers!

• Tea/Coffee/Hot Chocolate: I know a lot of people don't like tea or coffee so what ever your favourite hot beverage will do. I practically live on tea or hot chocolate during the colder months. There's nothing more satisfying than being in bed with a mug of hot chocolate warming your hands and reading your fave books.
• A cosy spot: Every book lover needs there own special reading spot but during winter it has to be warm! My bed usually works.
• Fireplace: I absolutely love my fireplace and sitting by it while reading is magical. You just get sucked up in your own little world, cocooned in absolute warmth.
• Cosy Pj's: I love my pyjamas and I practically live in them. As soon as I get home from school, BAM I'm somehow in my pj's. Reading while in them is so comfortable. 

If you liked photos like these, follow Bookalicious Delights on Pinterest for more :)

What are your favourite reading spots? Do you like the winter months like I do? Are you a tea or coffee person or neither?

Author: Sarah J Maas
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #1
Release Date: May 5th 2015
Publishers: Bloomsbury 
Pages: 416
Genre: Fantasy
Links: Goodreads | Author's Website | Book Depository

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Review

As soon as I heard of A Court of Thorns and Roses, this was exactly my reaction:

If you recently read my Top Ten Tuesday post, you'd know that Sarah J Maas is one of my favourite authors. She quickly amazed me with her Throne of Glass series with her ability to engage the readers with the amazing worlds she builds. A Court of Thorns and Roses did not disappoint with her new characters and faerie worlds. How does Maas manage to write so many crazy novels at once?

Feyre hunts for her family to survive but once she kills a fae mistaking him for a wolf she is swept into the world of Prythian. As punishment for her wrongdoing she must stay on the estate with the high lord, Tamlin in the Spring Court, but as secrets unravel, the safety of human existence is threatened.

I feel like I've fell in love with Sarah J Maas's writing all over again as I adore each and every character in this book. The characters had so much depth to it and I felt like I knew them personally. I haven't felt so emotionally invested in a story in such a long time as I felt like I was part of the world Maas created. 

Feyre is a bow and arrow wielding huntress that is incredibly strong willed. She did not take any crap from characters and took the insults in strides. Feyre had a great voice as I really got a sense for her hatred towards the Fae. I felt her struggle and her emotional torment between fulfilling her duty by protecting her family or being free and choosing a better life. Never at any point did she give up in trying to do what's right even if it meant making the ultimate sacrifice. And at the end where things got so intense, I felt the desperation. Sarah J Maas's writing is absolute perfection as she does in a way that makes you want to be a part of the story. 

"In our miserable human world a promise was a law; a promise was currency; a promise was your bond" - Feyre 

The fae in this novel were nothing but pure sexiness...Tamlin and Rhysand have sky rocketed to one of the top few on my book boyfriends list. Once again Sarah J Maas has succeeded in creating even more attractive males. This book doesn't let up on the hot and heavy stuff between certain characters and it was almost borderline NA but we can all handle it right? The romance, oh my god. You have to read it to be able to experience the feels I'm going through right now! 

This book has me thinking why aren't all Sarah J Maas's books a TV series or a movie? Her writing is in so much detail it's not hard to translate it onto a movie screen. Unlike Throne of Glass, I din't find it difficult to get into the story. Sorry if my thoughts were a little scattered, this is written at 1:00am because I just can't sleep after finishing that book. If you've read this feel free to discuss it with me! And for those who haven't...buy it now, in hardback. You won't regret it! 

1. J. K. Rowling - I will always hold a special place in my heart for the Harry Potter series that first got me into reading in the first place.
2. Rick Riordan - No words can explain how much I love Rick Riordan for bringing Greek mythology to life in the Percy Jackson series. 
3. Stephenie Meyer - I am not ashamed to admit that I actually loved vampires that sparkled at a time. Twilight has received so much hate over the years and twi-hard fans are always being teased but I don't care. I actually loved this series once and I'm not ashamed to still support it. 
4. Sarah J Maas - This author is AH-mazing! Her Throne of Glass series is crazy and she is a master in the fantasy genre. Her writing is so detailed and the world she builds is flawless. 
5. Tahereh Mafi - I really hope Tahereh Mafi writes more because I am simply not satisfied with just the Shatter Me trilogy. I need more!

1. Josephine Angelini - She's another author that sparked my interest for Greek mythology. If you're a fan of that genre I seriously recommend her Starcrossed trilogy. It's an underrated book that needs to get more notice!
2. Wendy Higgins - Sweet Evil is another underrated trilogy which is a pity because it's such a good read! I recommend it if you like the whole angels/demons thing! 
3. Susan Ee - Susan Ee is the author of Angelfall which is such a kickass, apocalyptic book which always gets me out of a slump. I can't wait until the next book comes out this year! 
4. Stephanie Perkins - I am definitely a fan of her contemporary novels and she's one of the authors that got me into that genre. I used to hate contemporary novels because I thought they were boring but now my opinion has changed! 
5. Kasie West - I'm a huge fan of her writing and the characters she creates. I loved Pivot Point and I can't wait to read her other novels! 

So what are your top ten authors? Do we share the same favourites?

Thanks to my amazing friend Laura she has been able to do this great design for me. She has been unbelievably patient with me as she has had to endure my ever changing ideas for this design. One moment I wanted to be self-hosted, and then the next I didn't. One moment I wanted this design, and then another I didn't. She took my indecisive personality in strides and in the end it worked out!

The different stages in her design

My blog is no longer called My Crazy Bookish World, it is now Bookalicious Delights!

Not say I don't love my old design, I just thought it best for a change. If you would like someone to do your design, please don't hesitate to contact Laura. She's amazing to work with and incredibly patient with your ideas.

Just as a side note, my URL will stay the same for now until I change it to the domain name I already bought. I just need to sort out some things with Bloglovin and everything. 

Author: Victoria Aveyard 
Release Date: February 10th 2015
Publishers: Hachette
Pages: 383
Genre: Dystopia
Links: Goodreads | Author's Website | Book Depository | Hachette

The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.

To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.

Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of
those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.

But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?

Review

Red Queen is such a hard novel to write a review on because I have such mixed feelings about it. I can't say that I didn't enjoy it because I did, I really did but I couldn't help but think that this was a cliche dystopian novel. From the summary I'm sure you can already tell but I was looking for something more.

The world building was well done in Red Queen which is what you need to make a good dystopian. I loved the way Victoria Aveyard described the slum area the Reds lived in since It created such vivid imagery in my head. I could easily picture what everything looked like and I really think it could be a good movie one day. The only thing I would have liked to know more about is the history of how everything got like that. There were many unanswered questions like why there was a divide between each class? If these small little holes were fixed it would be perfect ;) 

I loved Mare as the protagonist! She was so funny and she could be very arrogant at times. But I liked her keen sense of survival and to be honest I think she could have done well in The Hunger Games! She had a strong sense of duty to her family and would do anything to save her family. Mare was very relatable because she always felt second best to her sister and I think a lot of people can relate to that.

The romance didn't completely overtake the storyline which was good. A lot of it was focused on the war between the Reds and Silvers which I liked. I hate it when the romance take over completely like in The Selection. This novel had a good balance between romance and the conflict that's going on. 

I really liked Red Queen but there were a few faults. Not to say I didn't enjoy it and I'm excited to see what happens in the next one. Hopefully all the unanswered questions will be solved then. I definitely recommend it if you feel like a dystopian read at the moment because you will become so invested with the characters.

I give it 3.5 Stars!

So you've probably been wondering where I've been. Especially since I said I was officially back and all but don't worry I haven't vanished. You must think I can't stick to my goals, especially since my New Year's Resolutions were only set about a month ago!

My Crazy Bookish World is undergoing some major changes and my main focus has been on that. It will have a complete name change and design and it's confusing trying to figure out whether I'm moving to Wordpress or not. I easily got lost in the amount of hosting websites and prices and I'm trying to create a solid plan. Laura has been a major help with my design and I don't know how she's put up with me ;) I am a very indecisive person and I think she's figured that out...I'm so excited to show you guys the new name and everything!!!

Currently I'm reading:

And my next upcoming reads I've planned are:

So that's just a little update on me. What's the latest news with you?

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish which has a different theme every week.

I thought for a change I'd participate in this fun meme! Today the topic is top ten book related problems

1. No Sleep - Once you get into reading be prepared to lose sleep over it
2. Bookmarks - My worst problem is having no bookmarks! I lose all of them somehow and often the case is I'm reading more than one book. So...I have to resort dog-earing my pages
3. Space - I look at all the popular booktubers and I'm always so envious. They have heaps of books and space!!!
4. Money - I don't know about you but I certainly can't afford to by every book I want.
5. Time - Now that I'm in year 11 I have no time anymore! It's only week 4 and I haven't had a chance at all.
6. Spoilers - I can't stand spoilers and I feel like I have to ban myself from social media to avoid them
7. Judgement - I hate it when you're trying to explain your most favourite book to someone who doesn't read and you can just feel the judgement...
8. Attachments to characters - When you have to remind yourself that they're not real...
9. Bad Books - I hate wasting my time on books that I end up hating
10. The End - I hate that feeling of having to finish the book and return to reality.

Can you relate with me on this? With great books, come great sacrifices.

Before I was a blogger it was pretty easy for me to find a book and enjoy it. I could go to a library, pick a random book and simply read it. No muss no fuss!

Since blogging it has affected my reading so much, both in good ways...and bad ways. I find that as my experience for reviewing novels grow, I'm so much more critical. I analyse what I'm reading way too much and I'm worried that it's ruining the ease to find a book.

Nearly every time I go to a bookstore and pick up a book I have to check the goodreads rating or read some reviews for it. Ratings on goodreads doesn't matter to me as much but it does help a lot in making my decision.

I noticed I'm so much more picky and I don't know whether that's a good thing. It means I don't waste time on books I don't like but it also means I don't give many novels a chance. I know I shouldn't worry and it just means my taste has changed over the years but my main issues are the slumps.

My last slump felt endless and I feel like blogging put a lot of extra pressure. With the new year I've decided not to worry as much and let myself enjoy the novels I'm reading but when it comes to reviewing a novel it feels like I'm picking it apart. I always hate it when people do that in movies and it's the same for books.

I know this was a weird discussion but it's been on my mind for a while.

Do you think reviewing books has affected your reading?

Author: Michelle Hodkin
Series: Mara Dyer #1 
Release Date: September 27th 2011
Publishers: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Pages: 456
Genre: Paranormal
Links: Goodreads | Author's Website | Book Depository | Amazon |

Mara Dyer believes life can't get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed.
There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.
She's wrong.

Review

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer has always been a trilogy I've seen around but never have heard much about it. It was not until Sunny recommended it did I give it a chance and I'm so glad I did!  This novel took me on a whirlwind of emotions as I had to second guess every twist and turn the plot took.

Mara was the only survivor in a tragic accident with her friends. It was a miracle she survived but she didn't come out completely unscathed. She now suffers from severe PTSD from the traumatic experience of losing her friends and boyfriend in the accident. Mara doesn't remember anything from the accident, except from what her parents told her. She and her friends were in an abandoned asylum late at night and it collapsed. That's all that's to it right? Because she has PTSD she sometimes hallucinates and it's a battle to figure out what are hallucinations and what aren't.  

Mara and her family move towns in an attempt to start life anew in a new house and a new school. She thought that after losing her boyfriend that she could never love again, that was until she met a boy who was more alike her than she first thought. 

If I had to sum up this book in one word it would be creepy. Michelle Hodkin doesn't hold back when it comes to describing in detail. She succeeds in creating such vivid imagery and exploring some dark themes that authors tend to avoid. Since it's been ages since I've last read, it's been interesting reading in Hodkin's writing style. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is a perfect read for getting back into the swing of things because it jumps straight into the storyline. 

This book is not predictable. It was exactly what I needed to keep me engaged in the storyline. The whole time I was thinking, "What's going to happen next?" and I could not stop turning the pages. Throughout the novel it's like you're seeing everything as Mara and you never know what's a hallucination and what's reality. It's extremely confusing but in the good kind of way. By the end of the novel there's a bit of a cliffhanger that makes you second guess a lot that happened in the novel and you can't help but start the next novel immediately. So my advice, is to have the whole trilogy when you start this. 

The one thing that I praise this book for, is not having the "No-Parent Syndrome!" You know what I mean right? YA literature is notorious for having it and so many authors fall under the trap. The "No-Parent syndrome" is when the parents are at the beginning of the novel and then suddenly they just disappear and are absent from the whole plot. 

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer was centred around Mara's recovery from the accident. Her mum and her elder brother are always there for her if not overbearingly. This made the novel so much more realistic and I love how the book wasn't solely about the romance but also about family. It was just small things like this that made it just the perfect balance.

Now I'm sure you've been waiting on my thoughts of the romance! Am I right? Noah Shaw is the love interest in this book and can I just say that he is now my #1 book boyfriend! Let's just take a little look at his description:

“These were the things that added up to Noah that morning, from bottom to top:
Shoes: gray Chucks.
Pants: charcoal tweed.
Shirt: slim cut, untucked, thin and pinstriped dress shirt. Super skinny tie, knotted loose around his open collar, exposing the shadow of a screen-printed t-shirt beneath it.
Days unshaven: somewhere between three and five.
Half-smile: treacherous.
Eyes: blue and infinite.
Hair: a beautiful, beautiful mess.
”
- The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer eBook

Has that got you interested yet? Not to mention he has a British accent!!! Noah Shaw is sooooo totally swoon worthy! He is the epitome of 'tall, dark and handsome' which is exactly my type. 

Mara and Noah's relationship was all about the banter. Witty and sarcastic comments thrown back and forth. It was a love/hate relationship at it's best. I'm not going to tell you much more, you're just going to have to read it ;)

In the end The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer was a highly enjoyable read. There were a couple plot holes and unanswered questions but I feel like they'll be solved in the next books. It's one of those books that you can't help but love and fall in love with the characters. I definitely recommend it and please comment if you've read it. I need someone to fangirl with!

Do you like paranormal fiction?

Have you read this yet?

So...hey....I know it's been a while. But I'm finally glad to say that

I know I say this every time but I am so sorry for being MIA. Will you forgive me? This has probably been one of the biggest slumps of my life but the end of year 10 proved to be hella difficult. There was so much happening in my last term of school such as formal, exams, camp etc. Ya know, a lot going on! 

Also I've learnt that pushing myself to read just never works. In other words, I took a massive vacation from blogging and reading but even that's got to end sometime. I miss blogging and talking to the wonderful bookish community and now I think I'm ready to tackle 2015! 

But now that it's a new year I think it's only appropriate to set some resolutions. (That I'll actually keep)

So the goals are written down and set in stone:

1. Post regularly - this has always been something I struggle with but I am motivated to commit more time to blogging
2. Participate in some memes - I noticed my blog is so boring and I never do anything fun. Doing some memes might add something to this blog. Any memes you would like to see?
3. Create a new style of reviews - when I first started blogging I mainly took inspiration from how other bloggers wrote their reviews. I think it's time I do something more me, if you know what I mean?
4. Read 50 books this year - I know this doesn't sound like many but I'm going into year 11 and it's going to be hard juggling my time.
5. Start a Pinterest board - I've finally gotten on board with Pinterest and I actually love using it. Pinterest might be a fun way to create something new on my blog.
6. Focus on the AUS community - when I first started out I was always trying to get involved with international bloggers. But over time I've realised that it's so much fun talking to people close to home. The AUS community is so lovely and it's so easy to interact with them. Not to say I'll ditch my close international buddies ;)
7. Comment regularly on other blogs - my commenting game was so poor last year and I am so sorry for neglecting your blogs! I promise to make an effort.
8. Increase followers - this isn't high on my list as I am pretty happy with the followers I got. I'm not so worried about the numbers anymore but mainly the feedback I get. 

9. Bloglovin - I need to keep up to date with all the blog posts so I don't end up with over 100 unread posts

10. Review books - keep up to date with all my review books. My pile keeps getting larger and larger as I prolong the inevitable. 

So this is it! 10 goals for 2015. Sounds reasonable right?

What are your 2015 resolutions for reading or blogging?