Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan

358 Pages

Rating: 4/5

Invisibility is the story of a boy who has been invisible his whole life. No one, not even his parents, have been able to see him until one day, all that changes. Invisibility follows the story of the invisible Stephen and Elizabeth, the only person to ever see him, as they try to learn why everything is the way it is.

I've read a few of David Levithan's books before and he is probably one of my favourite authors (along side John Green of course) but before coming across this book I'd never heard of Andrea Cremer. I really enjoyed this book and the only reason I didn't give it 5/5 is because although I liked it, it isn't the type of book that changes your perspective on the world or anything similar and it didn't quite live up to other David Levithan books.

I loved the characters in this book (particularly Laurie, Elizabeth's brother and a sort of side-kick throughout all the craziness) and I found myself totally engrossed in the story mainly because the characters were so strong.

I'd recommend this to anyone who's interested in books with a bit of magic in them because, although it wasn't my favourite book ever, it's still a very good book!

(Book 27/50)

Lucy x

Bout of Books 8.0 Update 7: Sunday + Wrap Up!

DAY 1: 172 Pages read  -  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
DAY 2: 185 Pages read  -  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows   *BOOK COMPLETED*  
        +: 17 Pages read  -  The Oxford Book of Modern Verse         
        +: 23 Pages read  -  City of Bones
DAY 3: 61 Pages read  -  City of Bones
DAY 4: 18 Pages read  -  City of Bones
DAY 5:  52 % (54 Pages?) read  -  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz 
DAY 6:  48 %  (55 Pages?) read  -  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz  *BOOK COMPLETED*
        +:  25 % (45 Pages?) read  -  The Great Gatsby
        +: 18 Pages read -  City of Bones
DAY 7:  70% (135 Pages?) read  -  The Great Gatsby  *BOOK COMPLETED*
        +:  8 Pages read  -  City of Bones

Total: 791 Pages read!

On Sunday I managed to finish reading The Great Gatsby which meant although I abandoned my TBR for the week I still managed to read 3 books this week like I planned originally! Seeing as though normally I read about 1 book per week (give or take, never more than 2 though unless I'm in a particular hard-core reading mood) I am really happy with how the week went, especially with everything else that was going on!

As you can see above, the 3 books I managed to complete were Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The Great Gatsby. An added bonus is I have a feeling The Great Gatsby is one of the books we might be studying for English Literature A-Level so I feel like I've been productive by reading it! (I really should be reading more of the ones of the reading list but there's so many others I want to read!)

If you took part in the readathon, how did you do? If not, you should attempt it next time, I really enjoyed it and I felt as though there was absolutely no pressure with Bout of Books as their blog says the aim is to just read more than you normally would in a week whereas some other readathons set goals for you. For me personally, I can never tell whether I'm going to be in the mood to read a lot or not at all so Bout of Books was perfect for me! I'll definitely be keeping up with when the next one is!

That's my first readathon (lets ignore the booktube readathon, it didn't go to plan...) complete! I'd say that was a success!

Lucy x

Bout of Books 8.0 Update 6: Saturday's Progress!

DAY 1: 172 Pages read  -  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
DAY 2: 185 Pages read  -  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows   *BOOK COMPLETED*  
        +: 17 Pages read  -  The Oxford Book of Modern Verse         
        +: 23 Pages read  -  City of Bones
DAY 3: 61 Pages read  -  City of Bones
DAY 4: 18 Pages read  -  City of Bones
DAY 5:  52 % (54 Pages?) read  -  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz 
DAY 6:  48 %  (55 Pages?) read  -  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz  *BOOK COMPLETED*
        +:  25 % (45 Pages?) read  -  The Great Gatsby
        +:  18 Pages read  -  City of Bones

Total: 648 Pages so far!

Saturday was a little better than the last few days have been in terms of reading as the statistics show! 

Although my Mum and I did go out for a few hours in search of a school bag (we ended up buying shoes for school instead and ordering the bag online when we got home, woops!) I spent pretty much the rest of the day reading.

I'm completely in love with my Kindle and the reason I've sort of abandoned my TBR for the week is because I'd rather read on my Kindle while I'm in the mood to! Because of wanting to test it out, I've felt like all I want to be doing is reading since I got it which can only be a good thing in my opinion! (especially when in the middle of a readathon!) That's why I've decided not to read Of Mice and Men like I'd originally planned and I probably won't finish City of Bones tomorrow in time either (did anyone else find it difficult to get into?). 

As you can see from above, I finished reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on my Kindle yesterday and I really enjoyed it! (You can expect a review up soon! I've got so many posts to write after this week - how exciting!)

How are you doing with the readathon if you're taking part? One more day left!

Lucy x

Bout of Books 8.0 Update 5: Friday's Progress (I Got A Kindle!)

DAY 1: 172 Pages read  -  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
DAY 2: 185 Pages read  -  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows          
        +: 17 Pages read  -  The Oxford Book of Modern Verse         
        +: 23 Pages read  -  City of Bones
DAY 3: 61 Pages read - City of Bones
DAY 4: 18 Pages read - City of Bones
DAY 5: 52% (54 Pages?) - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Total: 530 Pages so far!

My very kind parents decided that as a present for my results they would get me a kindle! (VERY kind of them, I've been wanting one for ages!) After spending rather a long time flitting back and forth between the kindle fire and the kindle paperwhite I decided on the paperwhite because I wasn't too sure about the screen on the fire.

Naturally, because the kindle was here by the time I got home from a day out with my friends I then spent the entire evening sat on my bed reading on it. (I think I'm in love). So far I've only downloaded a few free books but I'm so excited to own a kindle!

There will be a review of the kindle paperwhite up soon so keep an eye out for that if you're interested!

Do you have a kindle? If so, which one and do you like it?

Lucy x

Bout of Books 8.0 Update 4: Thursday's Progress (Results Day Reading)

DAY 1: 172 Pages read  -  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
DAY 2: 185 Pages read  -  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows          
        +: 17 Pages read  -  The Oxford Book of Modern Verse         
        +: 23 Pages read  -  City of Bones
DAY 3: 61 Pages read - City of Bones
DAY 4: 18 Pages read - City of Bones

Total: 476 Pages so far!

For those of you who don't live in the UK or weren't aware, yesterday was GCSE results day which meant that for the first time in my life I had to pick up results that could actually affect my future. Because of this, it was a crazy busy day which involved not only going to collect my results from my old school but also driving to my new school where I'll be going for sixth form (which is about a 35 minute drive), ringing various relatives, spending time with my best friend (who I will be in the same school as for the first time in 5 years in September!) and going out for a meal in the evening with all my family. I feel like it is justified for me to not read much with all that going on!

For any of you wondering, I did well in my GCSEs and am very pleased with my results! :)

Did any of you have GCSE results to collect? How did you do?

Lucy x

Bout of Books 8.0 Update 3: Wednesday's Progress! (or lack of)

DAY 1: 172 Pages read  -  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
DAY 2: 185 Pages read  -  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows          
        +: 17 Pages read  -  The Oxford Book of Modern Verse         
        +: 23 Pages read  -  City of Bones
DAY 3: 61 Pages read - City of Bones

Total: 458 Pages so far!

So as you can see from the summary above, Wednesday wasn't a good reading day for me.

My 2 cousins and aunt have been staying in the UK for the last 6 weeks and went home yesterday (Wednesday) to their home in New Zealand. (For those who aren't sure how far away that is, it's half the world or a 24 hour journey give or take a few hours). Their flight didn't leave until the evening so I spent the day with them and then when I came home I was so nervous about picking my GCSE results up the next morning I couldn't concentrate on reading at all so settled for watching the 7th Harry Potter film instead.

How're you doing if you're taking part? Have you had any bad reading days this week?

Lucy x

Bout of Books 8.0 Update 2: Tuesday's Progress!

DAY 1: 172 Pages read  -  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
DAY 2: 185 Pages read  -  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
          +: 17 Pages read  -  The Oxford Book of Modern Verse
          +: 23 Pages read  -  City of Bones

Total: 397 Pages so far!

As I didn't have any plans for today, I decided to spend most of the day reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I ended up finishing the book (although I cried a LOT. I'm sure it wasn't so heart-breaking the first time I read it...) and my review will be up on here soon!

After finishing the Harry Potter series, I had the usual post-Potter feeling of 'no other book can possibly live up to this' so took a break for a few hours before deciding that next to tackle was City of Bones. I read about 2 pages however and didn't really feel like it so read a bit of a lovely little book I bought on a family trip to St Davids (West Wales) a few weeks ago (I have a post planned from this trip if I ever get round to writing it...) called The Oxford Book of Modern Verse before going back to City of Bones. Although The Oxford Book of Modern Verse wasn't on my initial TBR for the readathon and I don't plan on reading it in its entirety this week, I do think I'm going to read a little bit of it every now and then because it's the kind of book that you dip in and out of rather than sitting down to read it cover to cover.

If tomorrow goes to plan, although I won't have loads of reading time because of plans in the real world (shocking I know) I should be able to fit in some reading time on the train and when I get home so I'll be taking City of Bones with me I think!

If you're taking part in the readathon, how're you getting on with it? Are you still feeling motivated?

Lucy x

Bout of Books 8.0 Update 1 : Monday's Progress!

DAY 1: 172 Pages read!

Despite being out of the house for most of the day with my family, I managed to read far more in a day than I usually would have!

When I got home from our day out and I had eaten my tea and would usually go on my laptop for a bit (I say a bit, it would normally have been tumblr until the early hours of the morning followed by a little bit of reading) I told myself that instead of watching hours and hours of YouTube videos I needed to get some reading time in and seeing as though I wasn't doing anything more productive, that was the perfect time. I read a little bit and then at 9pm I decided to go and make a cup of tea and cwtch (for all you non-Welsh people, translated literally that means hug but in reality it's a little different, just go with it) up with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. One cup of tea and 3 hours later I could hardly believe that my reading time was up for the day! I'm definitely going to spend my evenings doing this more often, I found it gave me much more of a chance to get fully engrossed in the story whereas if I read just before I go to sleep for an hour or so my concentration is sometimes lacking a little.

After an emotional day of reading (Dobby-sob) I feel encouraged and inspired to do well in this read-a-thon! I might not be the fastest reader in the world and while some people might be reading hundreds and hundreds of pages a day I only managed 172 but for me, that's a lot! In the typical day I would usually read just under 100 pages (depending on the book of course).

How did you get on today? Is the read-a-thon going well for you so far or are you already slipping behind? Hang in there and keep reading!

Happy reading!
Lucy x

Bout of Books 8.0!

So after thinking about it for about a week, I've decided very last minute that I'm going to at least attempt the Bout of Books 8.0 read-a-thon!

If you don't know what Bout of Books 8.0 is, this is what it says on their website:
'The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team'

The last read-a-thon I attempted (the booktube read-a-thon a few weeks ago) didn't go to plan as anyone who stumbled upon my blog during that time will already know. It was the start of my summer which meant I was actually leaving the house (a shock I know) to spend time with my friends pretty much all day every day while the weather lasted. Now feels like a much better time to participate in a read-a-thon because things aren't so crazy and I've been reading a lot this week anyway so I thought I'd give it a shot. Another encouraging thing about Bout of Books is that they say the goal is to read more in a week than you personally would normally read and there is no competition between others or anything similar and I feel like that is a good thing for me personally.

My TBR (for now)

Because I decided on doing this read-a-thon so late I'm not going to pick out many books for my TBR because I can always add more and I'd rather not set myself a daunting challenge that I can't finish. I'm currently half way through reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows so I will definitely finish that and on top of that I'd like to read Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and at least start City of Bones by Cassandra Clare but these may change depending on what I feel like reading.

Are any of you taking part in the read-a-thon? Let me know in the comments and we can motivate each other :)

Happy Reading!Lucy x

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling

607 Pages

Rating: 5/5!

The fact that my re-visit to the magical wizarding world is drawing to a close (and far too quickly too) is making me very sad but I'm still loving the series so much.

Having not read this book since I was about 9 (even then I only read it once) and only seeing the film once (the scene with the Inferi and the Horcrux scared me a LOT when I was younger. Well, it still scares me now but now as much.. anyway, I'm rambling) I'd pretty much forgotten everything about this book except for very few key bits of the plot. I found that because I'd forgotten so much of it, it was so nice to read the book again because it was almost as though I was reading a completely new Harry Potter book (despite knowing what the final outcome would be) because all the little details I'd either completely missed the first time because I was so much younger or I'd just forgotten.

I'm just so in love with this series at the moment (as my tumblr shows only too well) and once I've finished re-reading the series there will (hopefully!) be a post about other Potter related things I've discovered in the last few weeks (even though I'm definitely behind on all of them, I can't believe no one told me earlier) that  I want to share with you guys. 

(Book 26/50)

Lucy x

Billy and Me by Giovanna Fletcher

 315 Pages

Rating: 5/5

Billy and Me is the story of Sophie May, a quiet girl from a little town who is used to the comfort of the tea shop she works in, and Billy Buskin, a famous actor who is known for his 'teen' roles and is trying to break free from his image. When Billy's shooting a film in Sophie's home town, it's not long before they meet and get to know each other and this book follows their story.

Now I would be lying if I said that the fact Giovanna Fletcher is married to Tom Fletcher (from McFly) had nothing to do with me buying this book but it wasn't the only reason I bought it. I've heard a lot of good things about this book and everyone I've spoken to that has read it really enjoyed it and I have to say, I absolutely loved it. It made me smile at the sheer loveliness of it and cry at how heart-breaking some of it was and I highly recommend it.

One thing I will warn you of is that this book isn't really suitable for a younger audience, maybe 13 at the youngest, as there are certain areas of the book that deal with more adult themes. I will also say that don't go into this book expecting a light, happy romance because there's a lot more to it than that.

I really loved this book and it made me feel every emotion you could possibly feel from a book. I spent most of my day today reading it and I thoroughly enjoyed doing so.

(Book 25/50 - Half Way!)

Lucy x

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

215 Pages

Rating: 4/5 (this time)

This was a re-read for me. Having read it last summer and finding it to be the perfect cute, quick summer read I decided to re-visit it this summer. For some reason though, this time I didn't find it as amazing as I did last summer.

When I read the story of Hadley and Oliver last summer (my review from then can be found here) I fell completely in love with the romance of it all. This time, not so much. Whether it's because I'm really not in a 'reading mood' these days (I refuse to call it a reading slump, for me that feels like giving in when I fully plan on fighting my way out of it) or because of something else I'm not too sure but what I do know is that the book didn't live up to what I remembered it being at all.

That being said, it is still a really lovely summer read (and a super quick one at that!) I read the second half of the book in one sitting and, in my opinion, the whole book could easily be read cover to cover on the beach.

In conclusion, if you're looking for a light, fun and romantic beach read, you've found it. If you're looking for something a little deeper than that, this might not be the book you're looking for.

(Book 24/50)

Lucy x