The Month In Books: April

So, is it me, or are the months going by reaaally fast?! I'm not sure I like it! 

Anyway, here we are with another wrap up for the month! There are a couple of books missing because I have books all over the place right now and keep failing to locate them! 

I actually managed to read 14 books I think this month, Jane Steele is missing though! Now everyone keeps saying to me how well I'm doing with my GoodReads challenge, I'm nearly half way I think? Well that's because of manga and graphic novels, mostly manga. You can see below how many manga volumes I read this month, I'm beginning to think I should exclude manga and graphic novels from my GoodReads challenge, I feel like I'm cheating! 

Look at all the manga I read...I can't even. But then it only takes me like 45 minutes or so to read one volume....no wonder I read so many! Honestly all of these books pictured are so original and fun and deserve a read! 

The Seven Deadly Sins Vol 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

I love this manga series and I loved the anime, which I actually watched first! I'm beginning to see now where the anime has deviated here and there from the manga! I'm loving all the different magics and the little intrigues and so on, but it's left off in an annoying place! 

Blue Exorcist Vol 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

Basically, I've been waiting ages for volume 9 but it got lost in the post and I've had to re-order it and it only just showed up in time for me to read all of the volumes left just before May started! I'm not all caught up on Blue Exorcist, and man was the anime waaaay off base! 

Seraph of The End Vol 1

This went in a direction I wasn't expecting, it was like...the vampires where lying and I don't know why I thought that wasn't the case but there you go! I'm intrigued to see what's going to happen in this one although I KNEW that dude was alive. I KNEW IT. 

Twin Star Exorcists Vol 1, 2, 3

I'm now one volume away from being caught up and this time I didn't know the dude was still alive! This one managed to surprise me as well, I caught the first few minutes of the anime and it intrigued me, although I was a bit iffy at first, again...I'm intrigued to see where this one is going. 

Fairy Tail Vol 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

I love Fairy Tail okay, and reading the manga is going back in time for me because I've watched nearly all of the anime, and I'm enjoying seeing how things are or aren't different in the manga and reading back favourite scenes from the anime. This is another one with an expansive world and amazing magic!

DC Bombshells: Enlisted

This is so awesome I can't even! It's World War Two but with all our favourite ladies getting involved, Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Harley Quinn and so on and I love the art, I love the story, and I need volume two now but I can't find a release date! Even Constantine is in this! 

Harley Quinn and Power Girl

This is a bind up of the 6 volume spin off from the Harley Quinn New 52 comic series, and I finally got around to reading it...it was interesting. I love Harley Quinn, and she was brilliant in this, but this one hit a bit of a weird point! I was like okaaaayyy, this is odd! But it was still good! 

Spider-Gwen: Most Wanted

Everyone raves about this and now I can see why, I'm glad I picked it up and volume two is SO CLOSE! I just completely loved this one, I read Silk recently as well and I love both of the two so much! I haven't actually read that many Spider-Man comics, because I haven't found one I like, but I'm loving Gwen as a Spidey person! 

Mug that I am, I decided to take these photos when it was hailing one minute and sunny the next and lighting was not my friend okay! Which is why Storm and Stone is nearly whited out! These are the review books and books from my TBR that I delved in to this month! 

The Amber Shadows by Lucy Ribchester

I'm a little bit in love with Lucy Ribchester okay, I loved Hourglass Factory and I completely loved Amber Shadows. This time around it's WW2 and we're getting a nice in depth look at Bletchley Park and all that went on there, along with a nice little mystery thrown in. Ribchester blows my mind with the amount of research she does, every single time. 

Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine

You guys voted for me to read this and I'm so glad you did! I love Rachel Caine and I started reading and I was a bit like...so when's this going to get going? Nothing much was happening, but then it got better and better and things got going and I became engrossed in this book, and I need the second book now! It's so original and I was enjoying picturing the world of the book and what things would be like! 

Love Song by Sophia Bennett

Ah, my kinda guilty pleasure! I loved this, I only meant to read a chapter or two and ended up reading the whole thing in one go and getting a really late night! The soundtrack was brilliant, the romance was adorable, and the book was about so much more than the romance! 

Storm and Stone, Stung and Shaken by Joss Stirling

So, basically, I got sent Shaken to review and I decided it was time to re-read the first two books! Check out my super old original cover for the first book! I really need to re-buy it so it matches the others! Anyway, Joss Stirling is one of my favourite authors, I love her Savant series and I'm loving this series, although I can't believe we STILL haven't had Joe's story! Anyway, these ones are thrillers, there's action and mystery and SUCH CUTE romance! 

Order of The Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

I still can't believe this is the biggest Harry Potter book and my lord. I read this and then watched the movie and I can't believe that I forgot just how much had been cut from the book, I mean obviously a lot had been but still! I also hate book Umbridge a little bit more than the movie version! 

Flamecaster by Cinda Williams Chima

 I was intrigued by this book okay, but I was really surprised at how much I ended up loving it because I was a bit eh in the beginning and not really grabbed until things got going a bit in to the book, and from that point I completely loved it! There's magic and action and adventure and dodgy villains, and rich history and politics and romance and it was so brilliant, and I need to read the authors others books! 

Chasing The Stars by Malorie Blackman

Yes, I had some issues with this because of the ending, it's an open ending and I hate those, and in this case the ending was perfect except for how the romance was wrapped up, I found myself a little bit disappointed even though I'd loved the book! The insta-love thing was done in a way that didn't annoy me as much as they usually do, I think the fact one of the characters is a bit iffy about the whole thing made it seem more realistic and less..kind of...really!? If you know what I mean! 

The Silver Tide by Jen Williams

The final book in a trilogy that I have enjoyed and I'm quoted in the front of this book! JUST SAYING! Anyway, I was very satisfied with the ending for this, and I'm still a huge shipper of Frith and Wydrin. That is all haha! 

Knights of The Borrowed Dark by Dave Rudden 

Bloody brilliant, original, fun, full of action and kinda dark. I found myself getting so involved in this book it was insane. I loved all the original takes on things, how rich the lore of the book was, there where creepy bits, other bits full of action, and it leaves you wanting so much more! 

Riverkeep by Martin Stewart

This one intrigued me when it showed up as a surprise book parcel, and it had a really cool map and I liked the sound of it. I started to read it and I mean...all of the author names on the front of the proof are correct, there was a little bit of everyone in there, with the authors own voice. It was dark, it was really imaginative, and I actually found it a little bit uncomfortable to read because Wull's father reminded me a bit of my Grandad right towards the end of his illness. 

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

This took me way longer to read than it should have, purely because I'm nearing a reading slump, I've completely burnt myself out! But I loved this book, I see now why everyone raves about Brandon Sanderson and I'm eager to get the other books in this series read, and then delve in to the other worlds he's created in his other books. This book was so original and had a brilliant magic system, I loved the heist vibes it had and the characters and how they worked together. It's definitely one to get lost in! 

And there we have all the books I've read this month, I mostly read all the manga because I was finding it hard to actually read an actual book! How did you guys get on with your TBR piles for the month? Good? Bad? Let me know! 

Review: Chasing The Stars

Chasing The Stars
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

What happens when love brings loss? When love brings lies? When love brings hate?

Olivia and her twin brother Aidan are heading alone back to Earth 
following the virus that wiped out the rest of their crew, and their family, in its entirety. 

Nathan is part of a community heading in the opposite direction. 
But on their journey, Nathan’s ship is attacked and most of the community killed.
Only a few survive.

Their lives unexpectedly collided, Nathan and Olivia are instantly attracted to each other, deeply, head-over-heels – like nothing they have ever experienced.

But not everyone is pleased. Surrounded by rumours, deception, even murder, is it possible to live out a happy ever after . . . ?

I am a HUGE Malorie Blackman fan, and not just because she sent all of us booksellers Hummingbird Bakery cupcakes that one year! I remember reading Noughts and Crosses back when I was at school, and it's one of my favourite books, and I remember waiting for each new book to come out with baited breath! It was a given that I was going to read her latest book, but I mean....Shakespeare in space!? Blackman's book is begging to be read for that alone! I will admit, I've been in a near book slump so I actually picked this up the other week and kind of went to read it but wasn't really in the mood! I've spent the last week reading graphic novels and manga, this is actually the first book I've picked up since then! 

Once I started reading Chasing The Stars, I got more and more hooked until I couldn't put it down. Knowing Shakespeare and Othello and how it ends, I was waiting for all the bad things to happen, but the book actually surprised me with it's ending, it wasn't what I was expecting, I was expecting a lot more death! The ending is also my one thing with this book but more on that later! 

The story is told from two points of view, Vee and Nathan. In the beginning, Nathan's is the more action filled POV, it's the one that drew me in and there's hints of the "Authority" and the negative connotations of it, and the tensions with the Mazon. Vee's point of view gives a different opinion on the Authority so it was interesting to see the differing thoughts they had on certain things. Especially when it's revealed what Nathan is and how Vee reacts to it, realising everything she's been taught is wrong. Anyway, both POV's are different, they have a different way of talking or thinking and you can tell who it is who's narrating, but there's two different fonts as well which was a nice touch I thought, as it showed they where different! 

Chasing the Stars is snappy and fast paced and the plot pulls you in more and more. You have the action filled beginning with the escape from the Mazon, then you have the murders on board which adds a nice mystery element to it, along with the romance and the drama from that. There really is never a dull moment in this book and I'm glad I read it in one go because I'd struggle to find a place to put it down! The pacing is literally perfect and it ramps up as we near the climax of the book! The combination of sci-fi elements, action, romance and fight scenes is brilliant! I'm not usually one for sci-fi but I can't imagine this book working any other way. The whole murder mystery element works so well because of how claustrophobic the spaceship is! 

Character-wise I loved Vee, and I really felt for her. She's been through so much, and you can't really blame her for thinking the worst at some points, and reacting how she does. Especially when it's her brother telling her things. I thought she was courageous, brave and determined to help the others even though for the majority of the time, hardly any of them appreciated it. I loved Vee and Aidan's banter and relationship, but as the book went on Aidan took a sinister turn. Something weird was definitely going on with him and he became very manipulative and unpleasant, but at the end of it all, I felt for him too and there as a completely heartbreaking scene or two involving the two of them! 

I really liked Nathan as well, he made me laugh as did his banter with Vee! They really where hilarious together. Nathan was funny, he was trying to be the peacemaker between everyone at a few points, I would say he's intelligent but his behaviour towards the end negates that in my opinion! Nathan takes a rather bad turn when he becomes the world's biggest prat. The thing is...I understand where he is coming from just as much as I understand where Vee is coming from, the thing is...Nathan doesn't understand where Vee is coming from at all. He refuses to see her side of things, even when his mum has a word with him! Vee's brother was all she had for so long so of course she's going to trust him and things did look pretty bad and Nathan wasn't helping much with his behaviour but he refuses to acknowledge all of that! Much as I loved his character, he annoyed me so much at the end! DAMN YOU NATHAN. 

"Nathan, my hand is itching to give you an attitude adjustment slap"

Same Catherine, same! Speaking of Catherine, she's Nathan's mum and I'm not going to lie to you all, I thought she was a bit of a cow in the beginning. What she tried to do to Vee and everything after and the atmosphere of the book kept me a little bit distrustful of her to be honest. There was one point when I was like...oh wow what if her being nice was all just an act!? But I actually ended up quite liking Catherine, she started to trust Vee, she gave Vee a pep talk when she needed it and reminded her that she could do this and all of that, and I liked those moments between them when she refused to let Vee give up. I was wary of her for a while but I still liked her and then as we got near the end you really got a feel for what her character is normally like without all the stuff going on that she has to deal with. Almost like a surrogate mum to Vee towards the end! 

There are plenty of other brilliant characters in the book that you both love and hate. I wasn't too sure of Erica because I wasn't sure what she was up to, I loved Mike and Anjuli even if I then was wary of Anjuli at one point! Her and Mike where funny and such great characters and so willing from the beginning to get to know Vee and become her friends. Darren I hated, he was a complete a-hole. Like in the beginning I got what his problem was and why he was upset but then he still continued to blame Vee even though it wasn't her fault and he continued to be a really horrible character right up until the end. He consistently tries to undermine Vee at every turn, blames her for everything and keeps calling her a child and saying she doesn't know what she's doing. I really wanted to smack him one and I did cheer a little bit when he got his comeuppance! 

I've mentioned the atmosphere of the book a lot because it's something really palpable as you're reading. You're with the characters on this spaceship, which I'm imaging to be really claustrophobic once you've been on there for a while! Once these murders start to happen the distrust gets more and more palpable, you start to become suspicious of all the characters and unsure of their motives and you lose all trust right along with Vee and Nathan. It certainly makes reading the book an experience as you try to work out who to trust! You can feel the conflict brewing as you read, especially with characters like Darren stirring things up. It's a very negative environment as the book goes on! I mean, I just loved how Vee saved everyone and then they're all trying to take over the ship and take it from her! That's the other thing, the book makes you feel as you imagine the characters to feel, angry at the way they're being treated, and at other's behaviour, sad at other points and so on. 

The romance I need to talk about because we all know I don't like the whole insta-love thing, and there's the whole love at first sight thing in this book. Now I think it would have bothered me a lot more than it did if Vee wasn't questioning it and her feelings at points, not being sure if the feelings where real or just proximity or whatever the line was! Her doing that made me feel like the romance wasn't as ridiculous and unbelievable as most insta-love situations in books! That and the book is based on Othello a Shakespeare play and he does love a bit of insta-love! SO I rolled with it in other words, and ended up liking the romance a lot more than I would have under normal circumstances! That and the fact that once the romance really gets going it's not all sunshine and rainbows and happy ever afters, there's obstacles to overcome, there's drama and angst and it made the romance a lot more believable than it would normally be! I mean, as much as the ending bothers me, it fits with what you imagine the reality would be of a love at first sight situation and the situation the characters are in! 

I'm sure you all know that Chasing The Stars is based on Othello, and I'm sure some of you are wondering just how similar it is so I'm going to try to help you out briefly! First off, my knowledge of Othello is very vague, we never studied it at school we did Romeo and Juliet instead! I have read Othello on my own, but it's been a while shall we say! I need to re-read! From what I'm aware of, Blackman has twisted some of the things from the play as only she can! I feel like Aidan is Iago to an extent, there's a scene where Aidan refuses to answer after everything goes down and I'm 99% sure that's Iago in one scene in the play! Nathan and Vee are obviously Othello and Desdemona, there's changes to what happens though! They're switched around he's accused of the thing instead of her like in the play, and there's a lot less death than in the play, I mean knowing how it ends I was expecting death at the end of the book which is why I was so surprised with the ending! It's not a happy ever after ending, but it wasn't as death and despair as I was expecting. 

Chasing the Stars has plenty of emotion to hit you with, it has it's funny scenes, tense scenes, and heart breaking scenes. I mean...I choked up once or twice reading this and couldn't believe my eyes at other points, there where plenty of plot twists! It got closer and closer to the end and I really didn't want it to end, and I was surprised right up until the end! 

The ending we need to talk about because I mentioned it was one of the things I wasn't happy with. The thing is....I'm in two minds about it! I mean on the one hand it's kind of perfect, with Vee flying off in to the sunset and the surprise crew that joins her, I mean that scene gave me the warm and fuzzies! But at the same time I was left a little unsatisfied on the romance front, there was no solid ending there. I'm a bit fickle with open endings, sometimes I love them and sometimes I don't, it depends on the book, and in this case I really wasn't down for the open ending! I NEED to know what happens to Vee and Nathan next, it's driving me up the wall! Nathan was the worlds biggest prat and like Vee I had hope right up until it became obvious he wasn't coming. I mean he sent the thing but still. 

So yeah, I'm so torn about the ending it's not even funny! The book is completely brilliant but that ending is just driving me mad! I'm also not entirely sure if there is going to be a sequel, and if there is going to be a sequel...is it going to be a continuation of Vee and Nathan's story or will it be other characters that aren't anything to do with them!? Will we get to see what happens with the two of them if there's another book that's set in the universe but not with them!? These are the questions I need answered! I'm really hoping for a second book with Vee and Nathan, not just for the romance issues to be resolved, but because of what Vee's going to be getting up to! I got such Han Solo vibes off her at the end! I actually daydream a lot about Vee's new life and her goals, not going to lie, because I'm thinking she's going to be doing some awesome things! 

April TBR

It's Aaappprrriiilllll! 
Which means it's time for a new TBR post! Normally I'd video this but I'm out of action on the videoing front for the time being so I'm doing a proper blog post instead! 
My April TBR so far is just review books, my classic for the month and my Harry Potter book for the month! It shouldn't take me too long to read them to be honest, so I'll end up reading some other books off of my TBR but rather than picking those out now, I thought I'd just decide at the time! 

Shaken

Shaken is the third book in a series that I love by an author that I love, I'm so excited to read it that I'm gonna re-read the other two first, even though I don't really need to because they don't really carry on from each other! These books are seriously awesome you guys! 

Love Song

Review book number one! It's a romance all about a girl who's the brand new assistant for the fiancée of a bands lead singer. She doesn't particularly like the band and there's loads of backstage drama, it should be a fun read! 

Riverkeep

This was a surprise book post book, and it came with a totally cool map and I'm intrigued to start it! It's about a family who look after a river, and the main characters father ends up getting possessed by a spirit and our MC has to find the cure which is in the belly of a sea beast! 

Knights of The Borrowed Dark

In this book we have our MC who's living in an orphanage, he's taken to meet his long lost aunt but is attacked on the way. Turns out there's monsters and an ancient order of Knights that he's connected to but they're a little bit on the shady side, it would seem! 

Flamecaster

I do love a fantasy, and I'm excited for this one! We have Ash who's a healer out for revenge and Jenna who's got a mysterious mark on the back of her neck and is being hunted down because of it. There's a series of murders throwing everything in to chaos and both Ash and Jenna don't really like the King all that much so I'm sensing a team up coming! 

Chasing The Stars

I love Malorie Blackman and it's been an age since I've read one of her books! Noughts and Crosses is the last one I read...well the last book in that series anyway! Othello in space. Yep. Sounds awesome right!? You have Olivia who's headed back to Earth with her twin after a mysterious virus wipes out their family and the crew. Then you have Nathan who's ship's attacked and who's one of the few survivors. The two meet, romance ensues, there's some murder and ya know....space! 

Emma

Yep, I'm going for my third Austen book! Persuasion might actually be my favourite so we'll see where this ranks on my Austen scale! I'm reading this for the 2016 Classics Challenge and I'm going to be buddy reading it with Rebecca! From what I gather, our main character is a bit of a matchmaker and things don't go as planned! 

Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix

After re-reading Goblet of Fire and realising quite how much is left out the film, I'm intrigued to compare this to the adaption! I'm really enjoying this HP re-read and I can't believe I haven't done it sooner! We have the reason I don't like the colour pink in this book....Umbridge. *shudder* 

So that's my April TBR, and once I've read those I'm going to be grabbing stuff off my TBR but I thought I'd wait and see what mood I was in rather than picking now! I'm hoping to get a fair few read this month, my goal for the year is to clear my TBR, or at least...most of it! The reviews for the books that I am reviewing will be up on the blog in the coming weeks! I'm not sure whether I'll be doing a video for Emma or just doing a blog post, it depends on how I'm feeling! 

Let me know what's on your April TBR down below!