Heist Society by Ally Carter

332 Pages

Rating: 4/5

Heist Society is the story of a girl named Kat as her and her friends set up the biggest theft in history. Having grown up in a family full of thieves, Kat knows a thing or two about the family profession but will they succeed?

I really enjoyed this book however for some reason didn't love it. I'm not quite sure what it was about it but I didn't find it as gripping as Ally Carter's other books that I've read. I still think it's an original story with a good plot and lovable characters regardless of my not loving it which is why I think it deserves a 4/5.

Although I didn't love this series like I did with the Gallagher Girls series I still think it's a fantastic book and I can understand why other people love it.

(Book 13/50)

Lucy x

The History Boys by Alan Bennett (Play and Movie Review)

This is one half of what I studied for Year 11/Unit 2 English Literature GCSE. To see the review of the other half (Lord of the Flies) click here.

Play Rating: 3/5
Movie Rating: 3.5/5

The History Boys is a much loved play written by Alan Bennett. Set in 1980's Yorkshire, The History Boys follows the story of 8 boys as they strive to get places at Oxford and Cambridge.

I found the play enjoyable to read however I found after watching the movie I enjoyed it a lot more. The way some of the actors (particularly Richard Griffiths as Hector and Dominic Cooper as Dakin) brought the characters to life was incredible and I feel it added so much to the story. They managed to give the characters so much depth that I felt was a lot harder to get from just reading the play.

In my opinion, the casting for the movie was perfect. Richard Griffiths and Dominic Cooper especially I felt fitted the roles perfectly and I couldn't imagine them being played by any other actor. The casting of each character I felt was brilliant however those two stood out to me personally.

If this were not part of the English Literature course I probably wouldn't have picked it up. I did enjoy reading it but if I hadn't studied the themes and choice of language etc in school I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it half as much.

After a lot of debating with myself over whether to count this as part of my 50 books challenge or not I decided I would as I feel that although it's not a novel it is still noteworthy. What are your opinions on what counts and doesn't for the 50 books challenge?

(Book 12/50)

Lucy x

Bout of Books 7.0 Read-a-thon (Why I Can't Take Part)

As many of you are probably aware, the Bout of Books 7.0 read-a-thon runs through this week (13th May - 19th May). Unfortunately for me, this is also the first week of my GCSE exams in school. For those of you outside the UK, GCSE exams are the exams taken in Year 11 (aged 15 or 16) that pretty much determine whether you do A Levels (higher education that often leads to going to university), a college course or get a job. They're kind of a big deal. Because of this, there's no way I would be able to justify taking part in a read-a-thon when I'm meant to be revising but that doesn't stop me from following others who are taking part and following their progress!

I first found out about the read-a-thon by watching LittleBookOwl's video on YouTube explaining it. She's a fantastic book-tuber who I really enjoy watching and is posting video updates throughout the read-a-thon.

For her blog post about Bout of Books 7.0 click here or for the video click here.

Another of my favourite book-tubers who is taking part is JesseTheReader. He is also posting video updates along the way.

To see his initial video about Bout of Books click here.

Although I can't take part in this read-a-thon my exams will all be over by June 13th so if anyone knows of a read-a-thon during the summer please let me know. I love the idea of read-a-thons and would love to take part in one!

The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan

210 Pages

Rating: 5/5!

The Realm of Possibility is a novel written in verse from the perspective of 20 different high school students. The short insight to each characters life is done in such a way as to tackle many issues teenagers face on a daily basis without going into too much depth.

When I bought this book online, I had a feeling that I would absolutely love it and I did. I found it from seeing a page of it posted on tumblr and I fell in love with the writing immediately and  ordered it that same night. I don't really have much to say about this book, I just think if you have even the slightest interest in novels written in verse, poetry or even just beautiful pieces of writing such as song lyrics you should read this book.

(Book 11/50)

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

317 Pages
Rating: 5/5!

13 Little Blue Envelopes follows the story of Ginny as she travels Europe following the instructions from her dead Aunt. Each envelope tells her to go to a different place and complete a unique task and she may only open the next one when she has done so.

I loved this book. The writing style was so easy to read that I found myself finishing the book quickly despite being very busy at the moment with revision for exams in school and the plot itself was brilliant. I loved each country Ginny visited and I found that the people she met and things she did in each country made it all the more interesting.

I would definitely recommend this book, especially if you're looking for a something quick and fun to read this summer. I will definitely be reading some more of Maureen Johnson's books in the future!

(Book 10/50)

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

387 Pages

Rating: 4/5

Cinder is a futuristic re-telling of the classic fairy tale Cinderella... with a twist. Cinder is a cyborg in New Beijing who is also a gifted mechanic. When her step sister falls ill very suddenly, Cinder is blamed for it. The novel follows Cinder as she learns new things about the world she lives in and new things about herself.

Despite being skeptical when I started reading this book, I really enjoyed it. I wasn't sure that the futuristic side of things would be for me but I found it really enjoyable and it's written in a way that makes it all very easy to read and understand.

I found it really interesting how Cinder learns new things about herself throughout the book. I thought it put a really nice twist on the classic fairy tale and made it different to other re-tellings.

All in all, I enjoyed Cinder a lot and will definitely be reading Scarlett soon as I'm interested to see the development! If you're thinking of reading it and are put off by the futuristic side of the novel or the fact she is a mechanic, don't be. I enjoyed it even though that's not the usual type of thing I go for.

(Book 9/50)

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Rating: 4/5

393 Pages

Delirium by Lauren Oliver is set in a world where love is a disease. At the age of 18, everyone must undergo a medical procedure that means they are no longer able to love. The books follows the story of Lena, a 17 year old girl living in Portland, in the build up to her procedure, but as she learns more about the world she lives in and what is outside the electrocuted fence that surrounds her city, she discovers there are a lot of things that the government are keeping secret. 

As I started reading this book, I thought it was going to be exactly the same as Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, a book which I did not enjoy, but I soon realised this wasn't the case. The concept of this book alone I found really interesting. There's a lot more to the world Delirium is set in than just having the ability to love taken away. The way Lauren Oliver also includes that in their world only the rich people use electricity often and have cars I found really interesting. I also liked the way she described the obviously well thought out main side of the plot. The fact that after the procedure people seem 'numb' and the ability to love being taken away also means the ability to hate has been taken away was really interesting. I also really enjoyed the relationships between Lena and her friends and family. The way she subconsciously acts different around the cured to the uncured was handled beautifully.

I must admit, one of the things I did like about this book is that what you expect to happen doesn't. I've read a lot of books similar to this and I thought when I started reading it 'I know exactly what's going to happen' and then it didn't. Also, the relationship between Lena and Alex was beautiful.

Although I'm not the biggest fan of Lauren Oliver's writing, I can't fault her plots. There is something about the whole concept of this book that makes up for the writing style. I would definitely recommend it.

(Book 8/50)

Book Haul! (Haul #1)

I've found that recently I haven't been reading as many books as I could be. I'm not sure whether this is because I feel that with studying for my GCSEs I've been reading too much as it is or whether I've just lost the motivation due to being busy at the moment but, either way, I thought it's time to fix that. The way I decided to fix it was by buying some books I've wanted to read for a while that will hopefully get me excited for reading again.

 I ordered 4 books, one of them from thebookdepository.com and the others from amazon. When I was deciding which ones to get I chose ones that either I've wanted to read for a while or ones that I've seen lots of good reviews about whether it's a written review or a review on YouTube.

'When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her to the Louvre...to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her uncle travelled to Austria... to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she conned her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. But now her dad's life is on the line, and Kat must go back to the world she tried so hard to escape...'

The first book I got is Heist Society by Ally Carter. After reading Ally Carter's other series The Gallagher Girls series and loving it, when I saw many good reviews of this series I had to read it. I decided to only get one other them although I'm sure I'll be ordering the others as soon as I finish it. 

'If your free-spirited aunt left you 13 little blue envelopes: Would you follow the directions? Would you travel around the world? Would you open the envelopes one by one? Everything about Ginny will change this summer, and it's all because of the 13 little blue envelopes...'

Being the massive John Green that I am, I'm actually surprised that I've managed to go this long without reading a Maureen Johnson book. I've wanted to read one of her books since I first heard about them last year and I finally got round to buying one. 

'Cinder: a gifted mechanic in New Beijing, is also a cyborg. She's reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's sudden illness. But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai's she finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen - and a dangerous temptation.'

Over the past few weeks I've seen so many people getting really excited by Scarlett, the second book in this series by Marissa Meyer. I thought I'd look a little more into the series and see what it's about and when I discovered that it was a futuristic re-telling of Cinderella I knew I had to read it. I've wanted to read a re-telling of a fairy-tale for a while and I hope this one's worth it!

'There's the girl who is in love with Holden Caulfield. The boy who wants to be strong who falls for the girl who's convinced she needs to be weak. The girl who writes love songs for a girl she can't have. The two boys teetering on the brink of their first anniversary. And everyone in between.'

I actually found this book via tumblr when I saw a photo of a book that contained a really lovely quote. When I found out that it was written in verse it made me want to read it even more. I've thought about reading something that's been written relatively recently but is written in verse for a while and this seemed like the perfect opportunity!

So that was a little insight into why I chose the books I did and the blurb from the back of each one. I'll be reviewing these books after I finish them so keep a look out for that if you're interested in getting any of them. Also, if you've got any suggestions for books I should get in the future please let me know! I'm always on the lookout for more!

50 Subscribers on YouTube, Where I've Been and Too Close by Alex Clare Cover

For those of you who don't know, I have a channel on YouTube which I use to post videos of me singing (mainly original songs but the odd cover from time to time). In recent months I have neglected my YouTube account because I haven't much free time. I'm currently in year 11 which means I'll be sitting my GCSE exams in May and June and I've had lots of coursework deadlines and revision things that have needed to be done. Seeing as though last week and this week were my Easter holidays, I had hoped that I would be able to film a few videos that I could use to upload over the next few weeks so I could create an almost regular schedule to upload video but it hasn't really worked out that way. Over the summer I hope to be able to film regularly because I'd really like to be able to get into the process or uploading videos regularly, whether that will be weekly, fortnightly or even monthly, anything is better than my current absences that last for months on end.

While I was away from YouTube I managed to reach 50 subscribers. I'm sure any of you with an interest in YouTube will think of this as a very small number but to me, it seems massive. When I think of it as 50 people turning up to a show to see me and only me, it just seems incredible. Also, in my opinion, 50 is the first milestone of follower/subscriber numbers and I can't even explain how grateful I was the day I reached it. If you've subscribed to me, thank you. I really do appreciate it.

The latest addition to my YouTube channel is a really quick cover of Too Close by Alex Clare that I recorded today. I was having a break from revision and the sun was shining so I thought I'd take advantage of having decent lighting (which is a rare occurrence where I live in Wales) and just film it. It's full to the brim with little mistakes and flaws but I figured a rough and unpolished video is better than no video! Especially because my last one was uploaded in December!

Let me know what you think of my YouTube channel and if you've got any helpful hints or tips I would very much appreciate them! Thanks for watching it and reading this and just being generally lovely. :)

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

338 Pages

Rating: 5/5

Lola and the Boy Next Door follows the story of Lola Nolan, a costume enthusiast who vows to never wear the same thing twice, as she finds herself in various difficult situations. 17 year old Lola is completely in love with her 22 year old boyfriend Max, but when her next door neighbours move back after several years she finds it difficult to remind herself of this fact. Her neighbour, Cricket Bell, has grown up and matured since the last time she saw him. With Cricket's new sense of style, maturity and height also comes the old feelings Lola once had for him. But what will she do?

Having read Anna and the French Kiss last summer, I was so excited to read this book and I'm happy to say, it didn't disappoint in the slightest. I didn't find the characters as lovable as those in Anna and the French Kiss, however they were still very likable. Stephanie Perkins' talent for writing never ceases to amaze me and reading this made me extremely excited for her next book, Isla and the Happily Ever After, to come out.

If you've not read Anna and the French Kiss I would definitely recommend reading that first. Although the story doesn't continue, there are certain things that were much nicer to read having known certain things from Anna and the French Kiss. Other than that, I would recommend this book very highly!

(Book 7/50)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

262  Pages

Rating: 4/5

This is the first classic book that I've read outside a classroom situation and entirely because I wanted to read it and I have to say, once I got used to the older language in it I found it very enjoyable! It was less difficult to understand and follow than I expected it to be and I found that by around halfway through I was just enjoying it and I was used to the writing style along with everything else.

I'm sure the majority of you are aware of the story of Pride and Prejudice, but it follows Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters. It sees them deal with difficult situations and follows their quest to find husbands.

Personally, I feel that this is the kind of book that everyone should read at least once in their lifetime. It's such an iconic book and I can definitely see why. I would recommend it to anyone who loves reading and wants to read a classic book, even if they haven't read one yet.

One of the things that inspired me to read this book is the web series adaptation that I'm currently following called The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. The web series (created by Hank Green) is based around a modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Lizzie tells the story entirely through video diaries. It's definitely worth the time it takes to watch it. It can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/user/lizziebennet

(Book 6/50)