Month in Review: August

Summer is officially over and I feel like crawling into a hole and dying because I'm entering grade 12 :( That being said, August was an amazing month and I'm so thankful for having an amazing summer.

What I Read: 

A Court of Mist and Fury by: Sarah J. Maas: 2/5 stars
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by: J.K. Rowling and Jack Thorne: 4/5 stars
Me Before You by: Jojo Moyes: 4/5 stars
Finding Audrey by: Sophie Kinsella: 5/5 stars
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by: Ransom Riggs: 4/5 stars
Salt to the Sea by: Ruta Sepetys: 5/5 stars

Favourite book: Definitely Salt to the Sea! It's been a while since I've read historical fiction but I think it's the most amazing genre. This book was heartbreaking, but also called attention to some harrowing moments in history that not many people know about.

What I Blogged: 

I feel like this was the month of tags, tags and more tags! I was pretty busy to write posts so tags seemed like the easiest thing to do to be honest. I really liked the Book Sacrifice Tag, it was really fun to do and allowed me to get out some of my *harsh* opinions on books.

Favourite Blog Posts of the Month: 

Ruzaika does the 100 Questions Tag! 

Thomas explains the 9 Reasons why Social Media is Important for a Blogger. 

Denise goes on a Feminist Rant

Temecka has Five Reasons why You should Read Marley and Me  

Blogger of the Month: 

This month's featured blogger goes out to a blogger who I have known for a while, and I really want to show some appreciation for! It's Sierra @ The Nerdgirl Review! 

Sierra just celebrated her two year blogiversary, and throughout those two years I have seen her bring out the most honest and genuine posts. She speaks her mind and has a great blogging voice. This month goes out to you, Sierra!

Personally of the Month: 

The month started off with my family and I going off on vacation to Vermont. It was so beautiful up there and I never wanted to leave. I even got to zip line over Mount Mansfield, which was such a crazy experience. Definitely once in a lifetime.

When we came back it was just a matter of savouring the last month of summer as best as we could. I spent a lot of time with my cousins who were visiting from England, and it was great to see everyone together again. This was only a small portion of all my family together:

Now it just comes down to preparing for school to start and getting my life in order. I watched a lot of Game of Thrones and Friends to try and take my mind of things. I'm not excited for the school year if I'm being completely honest, and I am worried for the future. I think I just need to take things one day at a time.

That was my August! How was yours? Did you all have a good summer?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

The Martian by: Andy Weir

Genre: Science Fiction
Published: February 11, 2014 by: Crown
Pages: 369
Rating: 4/5 stars

Mark Watney had just become one of the first astronauts to walk on Mars. Then, after a dust storm causes his crew to evacuate and assume he was dead, Mark finds himself stranded on the red planet. All alone. But Mark is determined to survive. With his botanic engineering skills, he constructs a plan to grow food, rebuild damaged rovers, and get contact back to Nasa. But time, along with his food supply, is running out, and Nasa must decide how to get the first man on Mars, off of it.

I committed the sin of watching this movie long before I read the book. IT WAS OSCAR'S SEASON AND I WAS WATCHING ALL THE MOVIES, OK?! But anyways, this book filled up all the expectations of what I thought was a great movie. It was funny, clever, and even light hearted at times.

I liked how this book uses humour as a main element to it. It's not all drama, death and science fiction, but Mark had a great wittiness about him and provided comic relief to even the toughest of times. The author gave Mark a brilliant and very distinct voice, that I found myself even laughing out loud at times. It was very well done.

I also liked how this book was very easy to get through. I didn't find it boring even though there were heavy scientifical elements, and I think the humour helped with that. I definitely think that even if you're not a fan of science fiction, you would still like this book.

The one somewhat negative thing I'd have to say about this book is that I think that if I hadn't seen the movie first, I wouldn't have understood the book that much. I think that some scientific terms and problems that Mark encountered could have been hard to understand having not seen to first, so I think the movie helped a lot. It might be a bit confusing.

Overall though, this book was very well done. It was hilarious, interesting, and will have you cheering on Mark the entire way.

Have you read The Martian? What did you think?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

The Book Sacrifice Tag!

Thanks to Thomas @ Intro To Blurb for tagging me to sacrifice some books! Let's get started:

Situation: You are in a bookstore when a zombie apocalypse hits. You are informed that over hyped books are the zombie's only weakness. What over hyped book do you chuck at the zombies? 

That'll be Throne of Glass by: Sarah J. Maas! This over hyped series was so incredibly boring for me, plus Celaena was such an annoying protagonist.

Situation: A torrential downpour. What book do you use as an umbrella to shield yourself? 

Honestly, at this point, probably ACOMAF by: Sarah J. Maas. I haven't even finished it yet but it is just not doing it for me. Also, it's really heavy and big for maximum protection.

Situation: You're in English class and your professor talks about a classic book that "transcends time". If you could go back in time, which classic would you stop from being published? 

The Hobbit by: J. R. R. Tolkein. Yeah this book was way too boring and dreadful for me.

Situation: Global warming=suddenly frozen wasteland. What book will you not regret burning to warm yourself? 

After by: Anna Todd. Again, very big for a huge fire, and such a shit book.

That's it for the tag! I hope I didn't sound too salty... oops. I'd like to tag anybody interested!

Emily  @ Paperback Princess

A Darker Shade of Magic by: V.E. Schwab

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy
Published: February 25, 2015 by: Tor Books
Pages: 400
Rating: 2/5 stars

Kell is the last line of a set of rare magicians called Antaris. Because of his gift, he is able to travel in between the parallel worlds of the Londons. There's Grey London, Red London, White London and Black London, and Kell has traveled through them all. Kell will smuggle anyone through the different worlds if they want to, but if the King of Red London were to find out, he would be punished for treason. Enter Delilah Bard, a fearless young woman with a passion for adventure, She persuades Kell to take her through the different worlds, but doing so will soon put them in immediate danger.

I really, really, really didn't get the hype on this book, I thought that the concept would be so cool and unique, however I found myself bored to sleep and even confused as to what was going on. I thought the cover of this book was very beautiful, but everything else pretty much fell flat for me.

I guess the only good thing I can say about this book is the fact that I did think that the concept was unique. I admire Schwab for putting together a very unique piece of work, but I think it could have been executed better. It wasn't like anything I had read before.

I just found this book to be so incredibly BORING. I didn't know a thing that was going on, the words went right over my head, and I couldn't grasp anything important about this book. I don't know if I was just in a slump, or if this style just wasn't for me, or if it needed to be executed better, but nothing about this plot stood out to me. There's nothing else left to it really.

So really, I don't really have anything else much left to say about this. I won't continue with the series, but I did want to enjoy this book a lot. I just couldn't :(

Have you read A Darker Shade of Magic? What did you think?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

The Happiness Tag!

Thank you very very much to Ruzaika @ The Regal Critiques and Gennifer @ Ready Set Read for tagging me to do this adorable tag! You both make me very happy!

5 Things that Make you Happy 

Books- Well obviously this would be one of them! Books make me happy because it allows for me to be emotionally attached to characters and worlds that provide and escape from reality.

Good Food- There's nothing better than sitting down to one of your favourite foods. I love to cook, and there's something so rewarding about eating something that you've prepared.

Concerts- Concerts give me a thrill like no other. They allow me to let loose and be myself, and I always leave a concert feeling on top of the world.

Skincare- One of the things that leaves me most content is pampering my skin. Skincare is one of my passions, I enjoy the ritual of cleaning away the day and I love how relaxed I feel afterwards.

My dog- Last but not least, my dog makes me so happy! She's always there to cheer me up and her adorableness lifts me up!

5 Songs that Make you Happy 

Hair by: Little Mix- This song is my JAM! I can never not dance to this song and it lifts me up so much!

Castaway by: 5sos- This song always brings me back to a concert with my sister and cousin in which we literally went insane to this song. It brings back amazing memories.

Wolves by: One Direction- Yes I still like 1D and yes this song is such a bop. This band is a class act.

Fly with Me by: The Jonas Brothers- This band was the first band that I ever became obsessed with and I will never not love this song.

Rude by: Magic!- I LOVE THIS BAND SO MUCH! This song never fails to make me belt it out.

5 Bloggers that Make you Happy 

Cee @ Diary of a Reading Addict- For her constant support and brilliant encouragement!

Geraldine @ Corralling Books - For being one of the kindest bloggers out there!

Jillian @ Jillians Books- For being so nice and for putting out the most amazing posts!

Anna @ Annaish- For always being there to chat about the Raven Cycle and for being so passionate about the books she loves!

Denise @ The Bibliolater- For being so lovely all the time and for being a great friend!

That's all for this tag! I'd like to tag all of the bloggers I mentioned above, this post is oh so lovely :)

Emily @ Paperback Princess

This is Where it Ends by: Marieke Nijkamp

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary
Published: January 5, 2016 by: Sourcebooks Fire
Pages: 285
Rating: 3/5 stars

The new semester starts off like any other at Opportunity High School. The students gather in the auditorium, as the principal finishes her annual speech. However, as the students get up to leave, the auditorium doors won't open. Then the sounds of gun shots ring out. This is Where it Ends is told from multiple perspectives over the timespan of 54 minutes. In those minutes, a student has taken revenge on his classmates and peers, and it will cost some of them their lives.

I don't even know where to start with this book. It was very upsetting, very emotional, but somehow needs to be taken with a grain of salt. It is about a school shooting. Now I can't really comment on the realisticness of the novel, but there were some moments where I wondered if this book was all that accurate. That being said, I do think that it was an important book with an important message.

The book had many diverse characters throughout it, which is why I think that it is very important. Not only was the main character a lesbian, but there were also many POC's, people with mental illness and other diverse elements. I think it was great for the author to capture the true student life of an actual high school.

I did think that there were parts of this book that were not very true to perhaps a real school shooting situation would be like. For instance, a lot of the students tried to act like a "hero" in the situation. Now put 200 teenage students in a dangerous situation, and it should be every man for himself. However many students made poor decisions that costed them their lives, which I thought was very unrealistic.

I also didn't like the portrayal of the shooter himself. Given his story, it may seem like he probably had a mental illness that drove him to this situation. However as he goes on, he is described as just evil, smiling as he kills students. It just didn't think he was very realistic, if anything, he fit more into the description as a stereotypical killer in a horror movie.

This book wasn't bad, however I don't think it was brilliantly executed. I liked the diversity, and I liked the message. However there were some things that didn't add up.

Have you read This is Where it Ends? What did you think?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

The Diverse Books Tag!

Thank you very very much to Cee @ Diary of a Reading Addict, for tagging me to do this awesome post created by Read  Diverse Books. Because seriously, we need diverse books.

1. Find a Book with a Lesbian Character 

Pretty Little Liars by: Sara Shepard.

Although I haven't got the patience to sit through this entire series (that's another story) this series has a wonderful protagonist named Emily who struggles with her identity but eventually comes to terms with it.

2. Find a Book with a Muslim Protagonist 

I Am Malala by: Malala Yousafzi.

This incredible work of non fiction features the strong teen Malala, as she fights for education in Pakistan and across the world.

3. Find a Book set in Latin America 

I Am a Taxi by: Deborah Ellis 

I've read a few of Ellis' books, but I haven't read this one set in Bolivia! She writes wonderful stories of social justice. 

4. Find a Book about a Person with a Disability 

Blindsided by: Priscilla Cummings

This story is about a girl named Natalie who develops a condition that makes her blind, and so she is sent to a school for blind girls in order to learn how to cope. It is heartbreaking but also educational.

5. Find a Science Fiction or Fantasy Book with a POC Protagonist 

The Wrath and the Dawn by; Renne Adhieh

This beautiful tale inspired by A Thousand and One Arabian Nights will make you fall in love with the main character Shazi.

6. Find a Book Set in Any Country in Africa 

The Heaven Shop by: Deborah Ellis

Again touching on social justice, this book goes into the HIV/Aids crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa, and will make you root for the protagonist and her family.

7. Find a Book Written by a First Nations Author 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by: Sherman Alexie

I can't wait to read this book! It looks funny but also so informative.

8. Find a Book Set in South Asia 

Three Cups of Tea by: Greg Mortenson

If you haven't read this book, put down all that you're doing and read it now! It will make you laugh, make you cry, and teach you an important lesson in community.

9. Find a Book with a Biracial Protagonist 

Everything, Everything by: Nicola Yoon

This contemporary features an awesome biracial protagonist battling a rare disease.

10. Find a Book about Transgender Issues 

The Art of Being Normal by: Lisa Williamson

I really want to read this book about a transitioning teen!

That's it! I'm tagging anyone who hasn't done this post already! Everyone needs a little diversity in their lives, and so I challenge all of you to go out and find some recommendations with all these categories!

Emily @ Paperback Princess