February Wrap Up

January was a really good reading month so this month I wasn’t and haven’t put to much pressure on myself. In my TBR post I said I wanted to read Crossed and at least start Reached. I’ve read Crossed. Haven’t even started Reached. I need a break from that series. So I read a full series. A completely different series. LA Candy. It’s only three books but such a quick three books. 



LA Candy by Lauren Conrad was the first book I read in February. It took me to 10 books completed out of my 24, which is 42% and 8 books ahead of schedule. 

Crossed by Ally Conde. It still kept me at 8 books ahead of schedule. I have read 11 books out of my 24 book challenge. I have completed 46% if my challenge. 

Sweet Little Lies by Lauren Conrad. 12 out of my 24 books read. 9 books ahead of schedule. And 50% of my challenge done. 

Sugar and Spice by Lauren Conrad. 13 out of 24 books read. 54% of my challenge complete. 

I’ve started Eat, Pray, Love. 

Compared to this time last year I am so much further ahead but I have read books that are shorter or I’ve read before   

Books I Could Re Read Forever

Welcome to a Top Ten Tuesday post on books that I could reread forever. 

- Any of the books by Dorothy Koomson 
Seriously this woman is my queen. I love her books. 

- The Devil Wears Prada 
This is the first book I remember reading that was out of my comfort zone and I just fell in love. It’s not an amazing book or anything but I loved it. I’ve read it so many times and can’t believe it’s not even falling apart 

- Harry Potter 
I mean if your a Potter head then you can re read it over and over.  

- Safe Haven
I like books out of my comfort zone with topics they cover Safe Haven did that. 

- Looking For Alaska
Looking For Alaska was the first John Green book that I read and I’ve read it over and over again and I love it 

- The Great Gatsby 
The Great Gatsby is my favourite classic book and it’s one the really holds my attention. 

- Matched
I have only read Matched and Reached and Matched is a book that I love. 


- One Day 
Literally hated the book the first time I read it but the second time it became one of the books I could read all the time. 

- Hate List
One of my favourite books of all time. 




Lauren
xoxo

Matched Discussion

Matched Discussion 

If you know anything about me you know that I am a massive fan of Discussion questions. 


Would you want to live in Cassia's world?

I would and wouldn’t like to live in her world 🌎. It has both good qualities and bad qualities but personally I am going more towards not wanting to. 


I would hate the fact that my whole life is mapped out for you from birth and even before birth. You were meant to have those parents and grandparents, and you are Matched with. Everything seems so micromanaged. The age your Matched, who your Matched To, the age you get married, have kids, even before that with friends, activities, schooling, work, death. 


I think living a life where everything is planned out for you is a cool aspect of life but a bit cult like. 


I would hate all the small little rules within the main rules as well


While having people in life know what’s best for you is kind of scary. It’s like they know what’s better for you than you and you can’t have any experience of life. 



- Could it ever be worth it to sacrifice choice and free will in order to avoid tragedy and destruction?

Personally I think it’s like being between a rock and and hard place. You want people to be able to live their life’s free, and without people knowing every move you make but knowing that it could affect people for the rest of their lives doing something that’s forbidden 




- Although Cassia falls hard for Ky, a part of her loves Xander as well. Choosing Xander would keep her family and Ky safer. What would you do if you were Cassia?


I have no clue how to deal with it or what to do. Because if she chooses Ky, then not only her family but those of Ky and Xander’s would be effected yet if she chooses Xander then Ky would be outcast more then he already is. Cassia is between a rock and a hard place. I 


- Is Cassia truly motivated by giving everyone the opportunity to have choices, or would she have gone down a different path if her true match had been Ky all along?

I think she is motivated to let everyone have a freedom to make their own choices but I think because of her feelings for Ky are just as strong as those for Xander. If she had been matched with Ky instead it would have been an easier choice for her to do,  


- Is there anything appealing about having your life partner chosen for you to maximize your health and happiness (and that of your future children)?

I think that knowing your children will be healthy and happy would be a good thing. 

But I also think that knowing how your life will be planned out in detail is scary


- Is the Society a dystopia or a utopia? Is there a difference?

The society in the way that they see it is utopia. Where as the readers may say it’s a dystopia.  



- There are a lot of things that are not fully explained in Matched, including how exactly the Society came to be. Does it seem possible to you that the world today could evolve into this, and are there things we should be doing to prevent that?


I would like to see how the Society came about (maybe Ally Condie could do a Novella about just the Society). I think that there are already cults in the world that make their members believe that people know everything about them. I also believe that with the way modern technology is always evolving that at some point in years to come that there will be something like the Society and we won’t be able to ever stop it. 



- Describe the arc of Cassia’s character development in the book.

She is branching out more and starting to think about things within the Society and how she grew up differently. She is realizing just how controlling the society is about everyone’s life. 



- Compare and contrast Xander and Ky’s influences on Cassia's life.


I think Xander is the safer option. Cassia already knows him her family knows him. Where as Ky is so different. He’s experienced different things then both Xander and Cassia. Ky brings out a side of Cassia that makes her think about things more.  




- Describe the influence that Cassia’s grandfather had both on her life and her character development throughout Matched.

I believe Cassia’s grandfather had a massive impact on her life both before he died and after. Though we don’t see much of him until the day he dies, Cassia respects him enough to tell him about her match with Xander. I think it’s her grandfathers death that started her change of mind rather then Ky, who I feel just helped it along 



- Describe Cassia’s view of her parents’ relationship on its own, as well as in relation to her relationship with Xander.

I believe Cassia sees her parents relationship as perfect in the beginning and while she still thinks of it as that she wonders if her relationship with Xander will ever be like that. I think that when she finds out what the Society has done that she see that not all relationships are as happy as they seem. 




- Choose a character other than Cassia from Matched. Describe the story might change if it were told from their perspective.

I would like to see it from Xander’s perspective. I think that because of everything that goes on between Ky and Cassia, the Match etc it would be interesting to see how he deals with it. 

Mini Book Haul

I love shopping at thrift stores. Ok actually let me re fraze that. I like thrift store shopping for books and nick knacks rather than clothes. It something about wearing other people’s clothes that I don’t like about thrift stores. 

I use two thrift stores for cheep books. Teen Challenge which is closer and cheaper. And Goodwill which is further away and a little more expensive but has more options and organized better. 


Last week I went to Teen Challenge with my dad. He had to pick something up but it had gone by the time he’d got there. While he was looking around I looked at books. I was tempted to pick up the Pretty Little Liars books they had. And there was a lot of them. But instead picked up two different books. 

The first is Eat Love Pray. I remember about 6/7 years ago I picked a copy up. It was the movie cover version of the book. Since then I have moved three times and couldn’t tell you where it is now. So for $1.50 I picked up another copy and this time it is the original cover

I also picked up Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Wiesburger. I have only ever tread The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren and even though I have another book by her I couldn’t pass up $2.50 for a hard back book. The reason I like picking up Lauren Wiesburger’s books is because the covers always appeal to me.  

I should have really blogged about my mini book haul before now. But I had put the books in the car and completely forgot to pick them up when my dad dropped me off home. 

LA Candy Book Review

Book: LA Candy

Author: Lauren Conrad

Publisher: Harper Collins

Publish Date: June 16th 2009

Start Date: Feb 7th 2018

End Date: February 13th 2018

Good reads Rating 3*

When The Hills was on TV I absolutely loved it. Lauren Conrad was always my favourite cast member. I have all the seasons on DVD and watch them from time to time. 

LA Candy is based loosely on The Hills. Jane and Scarlett move to LA, they have known each other since childhood



It’s not a great book but as books go biased on real life that I’ve read this is the best. It’s book cheese. And I like it.



 I love that it’s really loosely based on The Hills. But can still tell which character is biased on who, and that even though it’s braised on the four main girls they also have their own personalities within the book. 



I like how even though it is loosely based on The Hills that they changed a lot of what happened within the show. And the personal lives. That you don’t just automatically think ‘oh this is the Hills down to a dot’. And that each person from the show is in each of the characters a little bit. 



Madison for example is the one who started the rumour in the book but in real life it was Heidi. 

Love Freebie

Welcome to a top 10 Tuesday inspired post. This week on TTT is a love freebie as tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. Even though I haven’t done 10 things 



- Unexpected 

Ok so Sarah Dessen is the female version of John Green for me. Out of the two books that I have of hers I have only read one yet I have a love hate relationship with her work. In Lock and Key I was expecting Ruby and her neighbor Nate to get together but was surprised when they didn’t but I liked it. A lot. 







- The Power Of Love

We all know that Harry Potter didn’t die because of his mother’s unconditional love while she died was protecting Harry. Molly threw deviation and love killed Bellatrix. In a strange twisted way Bellatrix loved Voldemort. 

- Romance Done Well

I like romance within a book, but I’m not a massive romance novel kind of person. What I like about romance in books that I read is when there are two people after one person, and either one could get that person. 

I also like books that deal with hard hitting topics when it comes to love and romance





The Ice Cream Girls deals with two teenage girls who are in a ‘relationship’ with their teacher. Obviously it’s not a good situation to be in and it’s illegal. But the romance ends when both girls end it and the teacher ends up dead. One girl is out in jail while the other gets on with her life. 

 My Best Friends Girl deals with adoption and a romance or two.  

The Pact was an ok book in my opinion but I loved the fact that Chris and Emily’s families were friends for years and that they got together 





Safe Haven is one of those books that deals with domestic violence and even though king through its sucks it shows that there is a rainbow at the end of the storm. 

- Bad Romance 

Even though I am not a massive fan of romance books, I do like romance in books to be well done 







To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, I felt was a love story that could have potential but was poorly done. 

Twilight. Ugh those books. Thinking about it I think it could have been such a great romance if the actors didn’t let it down when it came to making the movies.  

-

How I Over Come: A Reading Slump

Welcome to a post about how I Overcome a Reading Slump. 

- I’ll Take A Break From Reading and Not Worry About It

I know this sounds crazy and not a lot of people do it but if I am in slump I just don’t even wanna look at my bookshelf’s. So I won’t. I know I’m in a slump because I just need a break from reading for a while so that’s what I’ll do. We all need breaks from reading and it’s ok. 





- Read A Book I Love

If I know I am ready to read but still in a little slump/end of the slump I will read a book that I know I love. Reading that book means that I want to get back into my stride and it normally dose get me back into it. 





- Depending On How Bad The Reading Slump Is

Depending on how deep the slump goes depends on if I re read one book or 5.  





- What Kind Of Book

Depending on how deep my slump is it will be full on novels such as The Devil Wears Prada or it will be a quick and simple Jacqueline Wilson book. As long as it’s a book by someone I like then I know I’ll be ok. 

Love/Hate Books

Love/Hate

Welcome to my Love/Hate books. Not all of the ones on my hate list are ones I hate more just Disliked less then the ones I love 


Similar Books


Loved Book: Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Mattson
Hated: Paper Towns by John Green 

- I have a love hate relationship with John Green’s books. Out of the three books that I read Paper Towns was the one I didn’t like. I read it around the same time as Since You’ve Been Gone and found them very similar but preferred SYBG. 
- Both books have the theme of someone being lost/missing and a group of people go and find them. What I liked about SYBG was the music aspect of the book and how the relationship between Emily and Frank developed more natural then Margo and Quinten

Books By The Same Author

Loved: Safe Haven
Hated: The Last Song

Safe Haven is one of my all time favourite books (and movies, and one that went from book to movie) I loved how something bad became something good and how they played out at the same time. Where I found The Last Song really dull and boring and that to many people had chapters on their time over the summer and it just didn’t work for me. 

Loved: Harry Potter and the Philophisors Stone
Hated: 50 Shades of Gray

I could have so easily said Twilight for the hate but I liked the first book in that series where I Disliked 50 SoG. Where as HP is my childhood 

Books in Series
Loved: Cinder
Hated: Scarlet
- I loved Cinder so much but as each book went on it got more and more disheartening and less and less about the actual ‘princess’ it was based on. That I kept forgetting that each book was based on one.




Hard Topic
Loved: The Ice Cream Girls
Hated: Love Anthony

The Ice Cream Girls and Love Anthony both covered very different hard topics but I found that Dorothy Koomson covered hers so much better in The Ice Cream Girls. I want to love Love Anthony. But I just can’t get past the first chapter

Full Series
Loved: Harry Potter
Hated: Twilight

I feel like Harry Potter and Twilight are like iPhone and Blackberry. You love one more than the other and your a die hard of that series, and even though you try and read the other it’s impossible. I’m a HP lover. I can’t fault the books in any way shape or form. But when it comes to Twilight Saga. I wanna rip my eyes out.



Lauren
xoxo

Books I Struggled With

Welcome to a post all about the books that I have struggled with. 

The Help
With The Help I was reading it and would get to a point where I couldn’t go it anymore and would put the book down. Then the next time I would read it form the beginning and get a little further. I did this 4 different times before I actually finished the book. 

Sense and Sensibility 
What I found with sense and Sensibility is that I got confused by the book more then actually enjoying it. I never knew who as who and when I did I was even more beyond Confused . 

Jane Eyre 
Just like Sense and Sensibility I was confused by the book though I did get further into the book than I did with S&S. 

Paper Towns
I don’t know what it was about this book. I know that it wasn’t because of John Green as I’d read 2 other books by him but something about this book 




Animal Farm
- George Orwell
This is the first classic I ever properly read. I read it in 2015, Review HERE. To say I was so confused about it is an understatement 




Lauren
xoxo

Matched Book Review

Book: Matched

Author: Ally Conde 

Pages: 368

Good reads Rating: 4*

Matched is one of those books that is just a breath fresh air. What I like about this book was that even though it’s got a love triangle in it, there is so much other stuff going on that it’s actually nice that the love triangle isn’t the only thing that the book is based on. Cassia could easily be like other girls in her position but she seems to have her head screwed on. 

Imagine if your whole life is planned out for you. Your schooling to your activities, who you marry, when you marry to when you die. Your food. What you can read and listen to. What ages you can have curtain things. When you can go to curtain things. What your job is. What happens after you die. 


I liked the fact that the book though a typical love story isn’t set like a typical love setting. I like how the characters lives are so different then everyone else. 

I can’t really explain why I like this book. Maybe because it’s a different kind of love story setting, or the lives of the characters are so different. 

What scares me most about the books is how planned out everyone’s lives. Its scary to think you only have a limited time to do things in and everything is planned out well for you. While it can be a good thing it’s also a really scary thing. 


So I know Cassia is the main character but I feel as if she has so much pressure on her because of her Match being so unusual. 

I love how even though it’s a love story there is the caring side of Cassia, Xander and Ky for each other and for their friends. In other love stories I find that the friends are left out because of the love aspect of it. 

I love book endings. I have no idea why. But Matched is one of those book ending that I find brings a lot to the table and is one of my all time favourites. *spoiler* When Ky is taken away right after the last hiking trip to the end of the book I think is just brilliantly written, it’s heartfelt, heartbreaking but wraps up the book so well

February TBR

Welcome to my February TBR. This month I am not putting to much pressure in myself. In January I read 3 and half full on novels and a few smaller books so this month I am just continuing on with the Matched trilogy 





Crossed by Ally Conde 
There have been a lot of people that dislike this book but I’ve always wanted to read it and as I’ve finished Matched recently I want to start and finish the book

Reached by Ally Conde
Hopefully I’ll at least start the book before the month is out. 

Lauren

xoxo

January Wrap Up

I set myself a 24 book reader my challenge on Goodreads for the second year running. I feel as if that’s a perfect fit for me. 



- Harry Potter Wand Collection finished January 1st making my Goodreads Challenge 4% and 1 Book ahead of schedule 

- Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince finished January 7th Goodreads Reading Challenge 8% and 2 books ahead of schedule

- Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows finished January 10th making my goodreads 13% Complete and 3 books ahead of schedule 

- Enchanted World of Winnie The Pooh. Finished January 12. Goodreads challenge 17% Complete with 4 out of 24 books read. 

- Spice Girls. The Hottest Band Around. Finished January 13th. Goodreeds Challenge. 21% Complete with 5 books read of 24 and 5 books ahead of schedule 

- The Snowman. Good reads challenge 25% Complete. 6 out of 24 books read and 6 books ahead of schedule. 

- Disney Year Book 1995. 29% goodreads challenge Complete. 7 of 24 books read. And 7 books ahead of schedule. 

- Lola and The Boy Next Door. Goodreads challenge 33% Complete. 8 books complete of 24 and 7 books ahead of schedule. 

- Matched. Good Reads Challenge 38% Complete. 9 out of 24 books read and 8 books ahead of schedule. 

What I do wanna say is that I know I haven’t done any reviews on the main 7 Harry Potter books. Ever. And that’s for the simple fact that I feel a lot of people have already read the books. Know what the whole series is about and that my views on each book reviews would be pretty much the same. That I love them. And I don’t want to post 7 separate reviews basically saying the same just to have seven reviews on my blog.  


Lauren
xoxo