On The Fence by Kasie West

Let me tell you a thing: I love romance novels. In fact, it's probably a secret pleasure of mine. My kindle is full of cringe worthy romance tales found during endless scrolling on amazon. To tell you the truth, they cheer me up and make me happy. Nothing like watching two fictional characters, who are your age, fall in love to make your mood improve. That sounds creepy. Anyway, so I was still recovering from the sadness that was finishing Nottingham Potential Summer School on Saturday and needed something to lift my spirits. I found this review of Kasie West's Distance Between Us and knew that this would be a good read. If not for the literate greatness but for my emotions. Obviously, I did not read The Distance Between Us, instead, due to limited amazon gift card funds, I read On The Fence.

Now, this didn't have me immediately want to reread like an Elizabeth Scott novel, however, did keep me entertained for about three hours. Yes, I did read it in one night. Unlike most cheesy romantic novels I have shamelessly read, On The Fence managed to push the romance aside for most of the novel and focused on Charlie's relationships with other significant characters, such as her three brothers and her father. This is what stops this book from being a simple romantic cheese-fest but a story with deeper meaning and issues. Whilst dealing with her Mothers death, we see Charlie transform and open up for new experiences, even if that is just trying on make-up. Surely, this is something everyone can relate to? Trying new experiences isn't a bad thing, and this is what we discover whilst following Charlie throughout her journey.

Whilst this isn't a novel full of deep meaning and probably won't become known as one of the literary greats, it was definitely enjoyable and somehow mad me reevaluate my approach to life. New experiences may be daunting but they aren't bad and even though this probably wasn't the main message West wanted to project to the world it's what I got from the novel and hope to stop saying no, and instead, say yes to more things that are offered to me. No matter how awkward or stupid I feel.

Next time, there will probably be a review of The Kill Order by James Dashner. Or photographs from my trip to Lincoln two weeks ago. I'm not sure yet but please look forward to those things!

Bye :)

Nottingham Potential Summer School 2014

This week I stayed at the University of Nottingham for a taste of what University would be like and it was honestly one of the best experiences of my life. I'm so glad I had the courage to apply, not only did I meet some fantastic people, but I also laughed a lot and became more confident within myself. Here's a few points about this week:

• I'm really shy, so naturally I was really nervous, to the point I began to worry I would make no friends and spend the whole week alone. I actually shouldn't have been worried about anything because everyone was lovely, I didn't speak to everyone but it felt as if we were all friends and I've never experienced that before.
• Mind games were played constantly and I can successfully say I understand most of them. 
• I now know I definitely want to study English and History at university, the academic sessions were really interesting and I found myself enjoying the majority of them. I also learned some old English - am I bilingual now?
• The University of Nottingham is so pretty and wonderful, I enjoyed myself so much I have the dilemma of maybe wanting to go to a university close to home. A thing I didn't want to do at all before this week. 
•  My new favourite game is called Pony and sounds a little perverted. I'm actually really sad that I'll probably never play it again for a long time. 
• Chanting is thing that has destroyed my throat forever.
• Some participants and ambassadors changed Jason Mraz's 'I'm Yours" to suit the Summer School and I probably won't be able to listen to that song for a while without feeling extreme sadness
• I'll miss all the people immensely. Not only the people who became my friends but also those I never spoke to and all the ambassadors. Thank you for being wonderful and fantastic.

I hope to never forget this experience.

If you're reading this and considering applying to a Summer School, I 100% advise that you do. Not only will you be able to stay at a university for a week, you will meet some amazing people and experience some amazing things.

The Maze Runner Trilogy - James Dashner

Sometimes, just sometimes, you avoid book series' because the title, and the whole concept, puts you off. I know you aren't supposed to judge a book by it's cover, but I did. Or, at least I judged it by it's title and blurb. It wasn't until I saw the movie trailer before watching Divergent that I thought, hey, this might actually be good, and when I received a book voucher for my birthday you can guess what I did. I bought the entire trilogy, and then waited about three months to read it. Story of my life in those eight words.

Anyway, on with my ramble slash discussion slash review of The Maze Runner trilogy so I can go read the prequel.

Despite my initial reluctance to read this trilogy, I will say that is good, original story that, if only for curiosity, will keep you interested and hooked. The first book, in my opinion, is a little slow and can be uninteresting at points. Maybe it's because there was so much mystery and unknown, I often found myself staring at the words but not reading them. Especially during any sort of battle scene between the Grievers. However, this lack of interest stayed with me throughout each action-like scene in the trilogy - so maybe it's an individual thing.

Now let's talk about characters. My favourite's were probably Brenda and Chuck. Although, I spent most of the time pitying Chuck. I still feel sadness towards the thought of him. So maybe he shouldn't be up there as being a 'favourite' of mine. I liked Brenda from the beginning, she's different from any other character. In a male dominated story line, Brenda mixed it up a bit. Teresa, the only other main female protagonist, got annoying real fast and that makes me sad because I liked her.  I believe Thomas, the main character we as readers follow throughout the story, would have been my favourite, if the story line didn't focus around him. Of course the story line should zone in on him, he is the protagonist, but sometimes I found myself almost predicting what would happen. Let someone else be the main target for once. In fact, the only times I was surprised were when revelations were made about other characters. Take for example, the revelation made about Chuck in the third book, The Death Cure. (At least I believe it was the third book, third or second).

I think I might keep this shortish because what kept me interested was the lack of spoilers and information I was given before reading. Will I go watch the film in the cinema? Maybe. Or probably I'll just wait for the DVD. I'm interested to see how they'll adapt it into a movie.

Now, I'll read the prequel The Kill Order, maybe that will increase my opinion about this trilogy.

Bye!

Ps. Check out my YouTube Channel plus other social networks and maybe talk to me if you want :)

Struggling

In this post I said I would have a review/post about The Maze Runner trilogy and I stated  that I wanted to write it before July. Well there's about 3 days until July and I'm not even halfway through the second book. I know. I'm sorry. I'm now pushing that deadline of sorts, back to 12th July. I have two weeks to read 1 and half books. Why 12th July? Well that's when I attend a University residential thing and I probably wont have time to read or write for a whole week.

Meanwhile: Enjoy this list that I have assembled of the things that have happened to me recently:

• I offended a 15 year old by calling him twelve. I'm not sorry.
• I watched The Fault In Our Stars and cried. Here's the video
• I received Ed Sheeran's new album a day early on Sunday. I was confused because Harry Potter taught me that there is no post on Sundays
• I started playing The Sims again
• I returned back to school and I may or may not be excited for the English coursework I have to do
• I didn't brush my hair this morning and only realised when I was actually outside with real people.
• I want to go to VidCon. 

Okay, I now have to start researching things for History so goodbye! 

Ps there may or may not be a new video on my YouTube channel tonight listing all things British so check it out and subscribe if you want? 

The Fault in Our Stars and Epiphanies. Sort Of.

I went to see The Fault in Our Stars earlier this week and I made a video about it.

I am currently reading The Maze Runner Series, so I'm hoping to have a post about that soon. Hopefully before July.

Until then, goodbye :)

True Fire - Gary Meehan

Now, I'll be honest, books that involve mythical creatures and tend to fall in the fantasy genre usually fail to keep my interest, unless it's Harry Potter or Game of Thrones. I'm not entirely sure why, magic and what not just doesn't seem to captivate me. I never did like The Faraway Tree or Artemis Fowl as a child.

So, when I saw a section of the internet going crazy over Gary Meehan's book, I was curious. This was before I knew what it was actually about. So when I saw it was 'book of the month' in my local supermarket, I finally realised what this book entails. Witches. Oh. This put me off reading the book, it wasn't exactly my 'cup of tea'. But, joined together with the fact that people seemed to love this book and that the protagonist and I shared the same name - I bought it, and read it anyway. Hoping that these individuals I was trusting from the internet were correct and this book was 'different' from all these other 'witch' books. They were correct.

I'll admit, the first 100 pages were slow, and I was beginning to think that books that involved mythical story lines were just never going to be my thing. I couldn't find any interest in Megan, Eleanor, or Damon and their quest to find Megan's twin, Gwyneth. I couldn't find reason for caring about why the witches took Megan's sibling and I even found Megan's determination to find her sister a little bit unbelievable and often found myself cringing at her actions. Maybe because I'm an only child and I've never had any siblings to worry about.

Then - as I'm contemplating giving up entirely - Megan, Eleanor, and Damon arrive in Eastport and it's like I finally left the slow broken down car, that should not have been on the road, and jumped into a Grand Prix racing car because it got good. Really Good. Instead of taking a week to read the next 100 pages, I read them in a day. I was finally captivated, and actually interested in the priests, the witches, and the quest to find Gwyneth. I suppose there is always light at the end of a very slow beginning.

Even though the novel had gotten considerably more interesting and fascinating, I still found myself questioning why these three strangers were trusting each other in a world where no one is who they say they are. Even the priests, who seem initially good, begin to appear corrupted. The witches, a group of tattooed men, I personally imagined biker-like individuals minus the motor bike, who go by the name The True, initially seem to be evil and cold, might actually be the good guys within the story. I'll be honest, I've finished the book and I still don't know who to trust. Maybe it's a case of which evil is less evil at this point. Which means I'll definitely be sticking around for book number two, True Dark. Oh yes, this is a trilogy.

My favourite character, by far, is Damon. The first meeting had be believe that he was just a head on the beach. Without a body. Thankfully he wasn't. He has a body. Good job because I was beginning to question what sort of messed up world this book was set in because a body-less head talking to you on the beach is just creepy. Not the most intelligent character in the novel, and appears to be more focused on getting drunk and making money from gambling, he adds the necessary sarcasm and humour that is needed in a world so dark and full of secrets. He also seems to generally want to be good and do the right thing. Which is always a positive when you have no idea who trust.

With so many twists and turns, it's easy to get caught up in this tale. This book not only managed to keep me interested when I loosing faith, but has also got me waiting anxiously for the next installment.

Interesting, captivating and dramatic True Fire can be bought here

Until next time, goodbye.

Ps. Check out my new YouTube channel.

Flowers and rainbow cake.

Today I went outside. Only as far as the garden but that still counts right? Anyway, I took some photographs of some flowers that now reside in our garden.

I also uploaded another YouTube video where I made rainbow cake

The review/post/discussion about True Fire by Gary Meehan will be up soon!