The One - Cover Reveal!

Oh my gosh the cover for The One which is the last book for The Selection series has been revealed. Just look at how pretty it is! I've got to say, I reckon The Selection series has the prettiest covers ever! Kiera Cass must be so proud.

50 Random Facts Tag

Hey guys, so obviously my blogging hiatus isn't going well but I got tagged by Sunny to do this 50 random facts about me tag. Can I just say before I start, this is harder than it looks.

1. I'm a massive fan of these TV shows/Movies: Doctor Who, Sherlock, Supernatural (hehe...SuperWhoLock), Avengers, Transformers, anime/manga (not getting into those because we'll be here for days), Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, Teen Wolf
2. I have an obsession with nail polish 
3. I love drawing (though I'm not very good at it)
4. My birthday is in February
5. I am a Pisces 
6. My favourite school subject is history 
7. My favourite fruits are mango and pineapple 
8. I seriously dislike cream, custard (although I'm growing to like it), and white chocolate 
9. My dream is to go to Paris and speak fluent French.
10. I want to learn how to surf 
11. I wish to have a published novel one day
12. I also want to become a famous author 
13. I have owned 4 rabbits 
14. I haven't had WiFi in more than a week and I think I'm dead
15. I'm currently reading The Elites by Natasha Ngan 
16. My favourite colours are blue and purple 
17. I have a younger brother
18. I have two older half sisters and an older half brother
19. I love Disney Movies
20. My favourite genres of music are R n' B, hip hop, rap, metal and K-pop (I know weird variety) 
21. I'm already failing to think of interesting facts
22. I want to be a vlogger but I think I have to build up the courage first
23. When I grow up I want to be an astronomer 
24. I play tennis, basketball and volleyball
25. I've known Sunny since we were very little 
26. I've won two giveaways 
27. I started my blog on May 10th
28. I want to reach my 1 year blogoversary 
29. I really need to read another John Green's book
30. I also need to continue on with The Mortal Instruments series. 
31. I have 290 books on my 'to-read' shelf on Goodreads 
32. I learn French and I suck at it...
33. If you haven't already guessed my name is French
34. I play piano but I haven't practiced in ages...
35. I love to dance and sing
36. I also love baking
37. I am a huge fan of Greek Mythology, Dystopia, Paranormal Romances (not so much any more...my vampire craze has sort of ended) Science Fiction
38. I love to swim in my pool and at the beach
39. My exams are like in 5 weeks and I'm freaking out!
40. I am so excited for when House of Hades comes out!!! It comes out in like 10 days!!!
41. I have a seriously overdue book at the library that I need return (The 5th Wave) 
42. I've had so many great books to read but have been in a bit of a reading slump
43. Why couldn't this tag be 30 random facts?
44. My favourite animal is a Meerkat 
45. When I'm older I really want to own a Camaro which is probably not possible 
46. When I'm older I want to live near the beach
47. For gap year I want to go all around the world
48. I want to start a job (so I can save up for that gap year) , preferably in a book store 
49. We have so many good movies, books, TV shows coming out this year that I'm looking forward to. (Thor 2, Catching Fire, Vampire Diaries and The Originals Spin-off) 
50. I REACHED 50 RANDOM FACTS!!!

Ok guys, so obviously from here you can tell my life is pretty boring...I seriously challenge anyone who hasn't done this tag to do it! It is way harder than it looks. 

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

Goodreads Description -
In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake: she got caught.

Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament—fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?

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Review - No spoilers 

*Thank you Bloomsbury for giving me this book in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion in any way.*

This book is now one of my favourite books ever. I loved it so much that I have heaps to say but I just can’t get it into words so I apologize in advance if this review is a little bit of a jumbled mess. Throne of Glass was everything I wanted in a good novel and I am so glad I picked up and now I’m beginning to wonder why it took me so long to pick it up. This book was the reason that I neglected my studies but I can tell you now…it was worth it.

The world building in this novel was flawless and I love the little map at the beginning of the book. I thought this was clever so if I ever got confused as to where everything was I could just refer back to the map, though I very rarely had to do this as it was well descripted. The writing style in this book was one of the first things that grabbed my attention. I usually don’t like 3^rd person but the author is such a skilled writer and she was able to pull it off well. So much happens in this book that it needed to be in third person.

I like how this is sort of set in a ‘medieval world’ so everything was proper and the characters spoke very formally but not too formally that you just feel like screaming, “Speak English!” I think the author would have had to do a lot of research and I can tell a lot of time and effort was put into this book and I just want to give a small applause to the author for doing such a wonderful job. The plotline was completely unique and it was just so refreshing reading such an individual storyline. I read it in one sitting and it had me flipping pages into the early hours of the morning. There was never a dull moment in this book and the emotions that it induces while reading is crazy. The suspense, drama, action, romance and intensity of what was going was the perfect recipe to create a good novel.

If you had read my discussion post with Sunny on What makes a good protagonist and antagonist?  you would know what we want in any good main character, well I can tell you now, Celaena just checks off all those points. She was likeable and she never did anything stupid that annoys you throughout the book. Obviously she has her flaws like any character does but these flaws are what make you like her. The character development was spot on and Celaena really grows as a person throughout the book. She had some really funny scenes and the way she interacted with other characters were truly hilarious. She is badass and she makes a really cool heroine.   

Overall I adored this book and it is definitely one of my favourite novels. Now I know what everyone was talking about and it lived up to the hype surrounding it. The ending was well wrapped up and I can’t wait to start Crown of Midnight. There was nothing I didn’t like about this book and I recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read it yet. And on a last note, how awesome is the cover?! As always, thanks for reading my review.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Goodreads Description -
After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

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Review - no spoilers

The 5th Wave is one of those books where I can't decide whether I liked it or not. I don't think I can really blame the hype for ruining for me because I think it's just one of those books that I don't like. This is strange because I am a huge fan of Sci Fi but this one just didn't do it for me. The 5th Wave was a hardcore apocalyptic book that was very well thought out but there were some issues that made it hard to like it. 

First of all, the number one issue that made it hard for me to get into is the slowness of pace! You must be thinking yeah but it's an apocalypse so it's going to be full of action though! Don't get me wrong, there was heaps of action it just seemed too slow for me. I don't know how I was able to sit through and read 457 pages. If you've read it, you may or may not agree with me but it took me 3 weeks to read it but that was mainly because of school (hence the mini-hiatus) but every time I tried to read it, I'd only read like 3 chapters. It started feeling like more of a task than anything. 

The characters in this book were alright. I loved Cassie as a main character because she was a kick-ass heroine but sometimes I felt like she would go on forever. She had really good self-determination and she had that moral of kill or be killed which I liked because of the circumstances. She had the right attitude to this sort of apocalypse which made it more realistic. Throughout this book you change perspectives between characters and I found it so confusing the first time! It doesn't give you any indication that it's a new character so it was a little frustrating. 

One thing I really liked about this book is how there is two sort of story-lines in the one book. We mainly follow Cassie, but we also follow this other character Zombie. It was cool because they were both dealing with their own problems and they were both unaware of each others presence, so it's like we get two different aspects to the 5th wave.

The overall 'apocalyptic' storyline was great. I liked how they came down in waves and it just made if very dark. You could never trust anyone because they had no idea what the aliens looked like. Sometimes I hate these books because it always feels like the enemy has the better weapons and it just seems  impossible to win. But I did like the whole concept of the book and I think it was very well thought out. 

In the end I both hated and loved this book. I don't think it's everyone's cup of tea as I think you have to be a fan of science fiction and apocalyptic novels. I didn't like the slow pacing and I found it really hard to finish and it started feeling more of a task than my own enjoyment which is what you don't want out of a novel. I'm not too sure whether I'll ever read the second book when it comes out but I think my curiosity will get the better of me.(I always want to know how they win!) Anyways don't go off my negative review and not read it because you never know you may love it. This is only my opinion and I hate to give negative reviews.

I rate this:

Two Diva's Bookish Discussion - What makes a good...?

Hi we're Francoise and Sunny and we have known each other since our nappy days. We're constantly having rants and raves about the latest books and bookish news.This is a fortnightly discussion that you can find on both of our blogs, so please make sure to stop by both blogs as our written content is different, although on the same topic. Our posts are not intended to offend anyone or anything but this is just our opinions and we would love it if you would share your thoughts in the comments below. This is a new feature we decided to add and the purpose is not only for you to get to know more about us but for you to be able to join in and have fun.

Before I get into my post, I just wanted to say, jeeez 2 weeks goes fast! It was only 2 weeks ago I posted my last discussion with Sunny. So today's discussion is continueing on with the What makes a good...? theme but today's topics are different. What makes a good...?:

Dystopia

• World building - The world building in a dystopia novel must be really good. That's basically the basis of any dystopia. If it's weakly set up (and this goes with a lot of books) then it just doesn't work well. It leaves a  lot of questions that aren't answered and it's just a plain 'don't do' so I think it has to be well structured and well thought out.

• Original - This goes with the world building idea. It has to be original, something we haven't seen before. Most dystopia novels are usually different to each other but sometimes we get the same sort of things over and over again.

• Controlling society - I know this is sort of contradicting my last statement but I really like it when it has a controlling society. For example: Hunger Games and ACID. Even though it's been done before it can still be done uniquely. I like it when the world has to be fixed by either creating a new way of living or destroying a corrupt government. 

• Action - This isn't necessarily true but I think a good kick-ass dystopia has to have action. It just makes it all the more exciting and I just love reading about how they figure out hard situations.  

• Character development - This goes with every well-written novel but I think especially in a dystopian novel, a lot character development is needed because so much is happening and relationships are put to the test.

• Romance - I really don't like it when romance completely takes over the plot! A heavy romance can only work well with certain story-lines but I just hate it when the main character is just so absorbed in there relationship when the world needs fixing and just everything is turning to shit. 

• Couples working together - I don't know about you but I just love it when couples work together. It's just so cute and it usually strengthens there relationship.

• Relationship should be impacted - If there is romance in it, I think the relationship should be impacted even if it's a little bit. If you read my discussion on a good romance, you'll know that I think there has to be some disagreement. Even if it's not romance, friendship can go through some difficulties. 

• Death - If it's a hardcore dystopia full of action and there's a war going on, there has to be at least one death of somebody who is close to the main character. I just find it a little unrealistic if everything turns out okay and everybody doesn't get hurt. There has to be at least an injury. 

• Not predictable - This is obvious and I'm sure you all agree. Any good novel including dystopia has to be unpredictable. It doesn't matter what genre but it's just that one moment leaving you gasping for breath and you don't let any human contact disturb you from your reading that makes a good book. 

So these are my points that I think make a good dystopia novel. You may not agree but I would love to know what you think in the comments below!

Fantasy

• Not too complicated – Sometimes I find with fantasy or science fiction things can get a bit too complicated. I think when a book is well written things are explained well and it means the readers aren't left confused. 

• World-building – If the world building is nicely structured it means it's not complicated. Also I think fantasy novels have to be fairly descriptive so that it's easy to imagine and you can picture it easily. 

• Type of plot - When I think of a fantasy I immediately think of fairies and unicorns so I don't think it's meant to be too serious but sometimes I think a fantasy can be really dark and that can make it really interesting and unique so I think it really depends on the authors choice. 

 

• Characters that always lighten the mood - I love that character that is always so cheery and nothing every seems to get him/her down. I also love that funny one that is sort of like a jester in the group and they somehow manage to cheer up the mood. 

• Originality - I haven't read many fantasy books but I think there needs to be more variety with plots. Correct me if I'm wrong as I am not a huge fan of this genre.

• Balance - There needs to be an appropriate balance of good and evil

• Royalty - Even though this is quite common, I just love the whole thing of royalty in a fantasy. This has been done a hundred times but I just love the princessy sort of books. 

These points are more what Sunny and I are looking for in a good novel:

I find in a lot of books that this plot happens a lot (even in other genres):

An ordinary girl who is usually in the background has her life changed by some boy from an unknown world. We want a story where the world is already known to a protagonist. If you know of one please recommend it to me in the comments, I would love this because it would be different to what I'm used to. If the world is unknown to the main character, I would love it if it was a girl who introduces it to her/him instead of the usual guy who is mysterious if you know what I mean.

So here is our discussion for today! I hope you enjoyed our opinions on what makes a good dystopia and fantasy. Of course you may not agree or maybe you have some other points that we may have left out. Remember to go check out Sunny's discussion as well as ours are completely different but on the same topic. As always, thank you for reading!

Mini-hiatus

Hey guys
I'm sorry for the lack of activity on this blog but I haven't really had time to read anything lately. I know I have commitments as a blogger but it's hard to get into the swing of reading with school getting in the way. Thankfully Term 3 of school ends on Thursday so I'll be able to get back into reading in the holidays BUT I have to start studying for my exams next term which is in week 4 so I don't know when my next posts will be. You may get the occasional review for a book.
Currently I'm reading The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey and it's great. The start is a little slow and hard to get into but I think I'll love it in the end.
After that I'm thinking of reading in this order:

1. Throne of Glass
2. The Elites
3. Crown of Midnight
4. Vivian versus the Apocalypse. 

These are all books I got for review in exchange for an honest review. 

So again sorry for the lack of activity on this blog but school gets in the way!

- Francoise

Bibliotheca 8

Hello guys, if you don't already know who I am, I'm Francoise a teenage blogger who owns My Crazy Bookish World. Bibliotheca 8 is a new feature that I have joined on the blog The Bookish Owl. It is a guest post and you choose a topic of your choice and write 8 things about it. Go to her blog to sign up if you would love to join! For my topic I chose "Over-hyped books!'

Ok I'm sure all of you can agree that when there is an over-hyped book it's just EVERYWHERE!!! Sometimes it just gets tiresome seeing it over and over again. So here's a few things I wanted to say on this discussion:

1. Writing Reviews!

This point is more for my fellow bloggers. Do you guys think that once you've read an over-hyped book that there's any point to writing a review? Well I was thinking the other day when I was writing my City of Bones one, is there any point? I use my reviews to alert avid readers like me to book that I think deserve a attention but if a book already has it is there any point? I guess I might be looking at it the wrong way as blogging is a way to share your opinions about book but sometimes I think a book already has enough attention. 

2. Do over-hyped books change your opinion?

When I know there has been a lot of hype surrounding a book, I try to lower my expectations so that it's more amazing. I find that if I have too high expectations it might lower the books standards. I reckon if you haven't heard much about a book and you know nothing about it, it makes it more of a surprise. I had heard SO much about John Green and when I tried The Fault in Our Stars I thought it was good but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't heard so much about it. 

3. Too much attention

I hate it when a book receives so much attention my enjoyment of reading it just plummets. I know people always say, "It's the same as it was before, just more people like it." but I'm sorry I do not agree. I hate it when non-readers watch the movie or something and they call themselves true fans. READ THE BOOKS! I hate it when it's the only thing people can talk about it. Yes the book was amazing but so is plenty other books!

4. Highly Anticipated books

Sometimes I think it's bad when a book hasn't even been published yet and it gets so much attention. The 5th Wave was one of my most highly anticipated books of the year and now that I'm reading I think it's good but if I had heard less about it, I think I would have enjoyed it more. 

5. If you dis a popular book

Holy crap, this isn't necessarily an issue but if you say anything bad about a popular book or author you have declared WWIII. I'm sorry but if you insult someone's favourite series it is your fault that you have highly skilled assassins after you. That is something you just don't do. It is the unwritten rule that you do not cross.  

6. Over-hyped authors

Sometimes I think when an author becomes really popular, I just think those fans just like to shove their books down your throat if you have not read it. I'm not pointing any fingers but geez Cassandra Clare fans are crazy. I think I find this more amusing than anything. And by the way, I can't say I don't get a little crazy when someone has not read a book. 

7. The cons to not reading a over-hyped book

I think if you don't read a book that's receiving a lot of attention you are more prone to accidentally hearing spoilers! If you're like me and you hate spoilers this is very annoying. It usually goes along the lines of reading a review on the internet and the person forgetting to write a spoiler alert sign and thus leaving you blinded forever. The things you cannot unsee...

Also you might hear bad things about it and this might turn you off from reading it and it actually could be something you enjoy.

8. Positive things

I think there are definitely positive things to bringing a lot of attention to a book/series. First of all it means the author gets a chance in the spot light. Also sometimes I think books deserve more attention because some don't get noticed and that is pretty sad. I also think when a book becomes popular and everyone is talking about it, it becomes conversations starters and I just love discussing good novels to other people. It becomes a sort of community and it is always a good feeling when you are part of a certain fandom! 

So these are my 8 points on "over-hyped" books! As you can see there are negative and positive things to it. Of course this is only my opinion and you don't have to agree but I would love your feedback. Make sure to keep watch on the new Bibliotheca 8 feature on The Bookish Owls post.

Of Triton by Anna Banks

Published: May 28th 2013
Publishers: Feiwel & Friends
Paperback 246 pages

- Goodreads Description -
In this sequel to OF POSEIDON, Emma has just learned that her mother is a long-lost Poseidon princess, and now struggles with an identity crisis: As a Half-Breed, she’s a freak in the human world and an abomination in the Syrena realm below. Syrena law states that all Half- Breeds should be put to death.

As if that’s not bad enough, her mother’s reappearance among the Syrena turns the two kingdoms—Poseidon and Triton—against one another. Which leaves Emma with a decision to make: Should she comply with Galen’s request to keep herself safe and just hope for the best? Or should she risk it all and reveal herself—and her Gift—to save a people she’s never known?

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Review - May contain spoilers if you have not read Of Poseidon 

I absolutely missed the characters from this series. It's been a while since I've read Of Poseidon and I have to say...I missed the characters a lot. Do you ever find that? Anna Banks never fails to make her book funny. Some of the lines in this series is hilarious and had me cracking up for ages. The cover is beautiful but I just have a thing against having kissing couples on covers...it's just awkward. 

I don't know why but for some reason the writing felt a little amateurish. I think it's because I've been reading some books of amazing authors and the contrast between books sort of lower my ratings. Nonetheless I still loved the story. Although I do have one issue, it was way too short! 246 pages is not long enough. I feel like Of Poseidon and Of Triton should have been one book. In my review of Of Poseidon I said that the changing of 1st person to 2nd person didn't annoy me but for some reason I just found it super confusing in this book. I really don't like it when authors do this and just prefer when they stick to the one writing style. 

The continuation of the storyline is great! After that cliffy at the end of the first one I was just dying to know what happened. The book kicked off straight after and just flew into some intense scenes. The good humor in Of Poseidon was still present which is what I love about this series. I missed Emma's sassy attitude, she likes to give poor Galen a hard time. But for some reason I feel like we didn't get much character development in this book. Galen isn't a book boyfriend I absolutely love like some other characters and I felt like sometimes this story is a bit bland. I think it's because I'm not very used to the 'mermaid genre' as this is the first series I've read about mermaid or Syrena if you want to call it. 

Overall I enjoyed this book but it was TOO SHORT! I wonder what's going to happen in the next book. I have no predictions, I'm hoping for a new plot twist to keep me hooked. Thanks for reading my review, I rate this 4/5 stars. 

 

Two Diva's Bookish Discussion - What makes a good...?

Hi we're Francoise and Sunny and we have known each other since our nappy days. We're constantly having rants and raves about the latest books and bookish news.This is a fortnightly discussion that you can find on both of our blogs, so please make sure to stop by both blogs as our written content is different, although on the same topic. Our posts are not intended to offend anyone or anything but this is just our opinions and we would love it if you would share your thoughts in the comments below. This is a new feature we decided to add and the purpose is not only for you to get to know more about us but for you to be able to join in and have fun.

What makes a good...Romance?

For today discussion we are continuing the theme of what makes a good...? and the topic is a romance. There are many factors that need to go into a novel that we think makes a good romance. 

A love interest with swoon-ability - I think the love interest has to have swoon-ability otherwise I don't feel the connection with him. It also makes it more realistic and it feels like you're the main character herself. 

Original Personality - This point will most likely come up with everything. This is because it just makes the story bland and it feels like every other character in different books. I hate seeing the same sort of love interest aka bad boy. This is why I love The Fault in Our Stars so much because Augustus is a character I'll never forget. 

Not the stereotypical pairing - I'm starting to get sick of the usual girl who's a nerd and nobody pays attention to her until some popular guy comes and swoops her off her feet. We've all seen this a million times!

Flaws - I find that if the love interest isn't flawed, the character feels unrealistic. This sort applies to any character as no body is ever perfect. But I don't know why and I'm not sure if you guys agree but when the love interest is perfect, I find they're less attractive. 

Insta-love - This has been a major topic amongst all readers and if you've read quite a lot of my posts you'll know that seriously dislike insta-love. Again it is just so unrealistic because they barely know each other but they fall in love. I prefer it when the characters hate each other at first and then it grows into something more. Then again this is just my preference so you may not agree. 

Some disagreement - When I say this I meant that there has to be at least one argument between the pair because relationships always go through ups and downs. Also when their relationship becomes tested (due to some problem) it strengthens the bond between them. 

Non existent friends/parents -  Sometimes I think in romances they get too caught up in their own little world they forget the people around them. Especially parents! Always we'll see the parents at the start of the book and then they're gone for the duration of the whole book. What did they just die without the readers knowing!

What makes a good...best friend/side kick?

Loyal & Dependable - A best friend of the protagonist is always there for her/him. I like it when times get rough they always have that deep conversation with each other and you just get that good sense of a bond. They're always that trustworthy and the protagonist can always rely on them. 

Protective - The best friend is always protective and they're always there to keep the main character in line. They're always that character that is a nice slap back to reality which the protagonist always seems to need. 

A history - I love it when they have been friends since childhood. But sometimes I find it refreshing when it's a character they just met and throughout the story they become closer. It shows a lot of character development

Funny - Do you always find that the best friend is funny, loud, sarcastic? I don't know why but I love these characters as the best friends. 

Own Opinion - I think that the best friend doesn't always have to agree with everything the main character is doing. I'm all for showing support but sometimes the protagonist has no common sense so again, it's good to have that strong anchor. 

So this is my opinion on what makes a good romance and best friend/side kick. You may not agree with everything I say but I would love your input in the comments below! Please remember to check out Sunny's post because hers is different.

Thank you for reading my posts!