Popular YA Books I Still Haven't Read

As you may know, I've read quite a few books throughout my life. However, there are a lot of popular reads I've never cracked open, and may or may not plan to read in the future. Here is a list of some of the books I've heard a lot about, but strangely haven't read yet!


1. The Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children Series by Ransom Riggs

 

2. If I Stay by Gayle Forman

3. All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

4. The Throne Of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas

5. The Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer

6. The last two books in the Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins

7. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

 
There we have it! There are many more, but that's it for today's list. Who knows, maybe someday I'll make a part two! What well known books haven't you read? Let me know in the comments below! Have a great day!

5 Things To Consider When Reviewing A Book

Before I started blogging, I could read almost any book and enjoy it. Now, not so much. I have more specific criteria for what I consider a good book. However, some of you who have just started blogging recently might like some tips on what to consider when rating a book, and what to discuss in a book review, so I thought I would share my ideas with you.

1. Plot

Did the book capture your attention? Was it exciting? Fast paced? Slow and boring?

2. Difficulty

Was the book (too) hard to read? Was it so easy that it bored you? Did it confuse you due to poor explanation/plot holes/too much going on/poor worldbuilding?

3. Characters

Were the characters realistic and relateable? Did they annoy you? Did the have any quirks you loved? Were you able to connect with the characters?

4. Emotions

Did this book make you laugh/cry? Did you feel happy/sad for the characters?

5. Maturity

This doesn't have to affect your rating, but it's something to include in your book review. Was there a lot of swearing/mature scenes? That might be worth mentioning if the book is more mature than what you usually read and review on your blog.

Of course there are many more things you can mention in your book reviews, these are just the top 5 things that work for most books. Feel free to leave your own opinions and tips in the comments. Have an amazing day! :)

Book Review -- The Shadows of Atlantis: The Emergence of Engi by Donsha Hatch

As a request by Donsha Hatch herself, I recently finished reading the book, The Shadows of Atlantis: The Emergence of Engi.



Here's a quick summary of the book:

Eiris is a normal teenager, or at least he thought so. Until weird things started happening, such as his iris' glowing a bright purple, or always having the sensation that someone was watching him. Then everything changes. Eiris discovers that he isn't really as normal as he thought...

This book was an okay read. The ideas of the book were well thought up. Although the ideas were great, they weren't always presented in a manner that made complete sense, but I managed to get the idea of the book over some time. This book was interesting!

To start off, I'll start with the characters of the book. To be specific, the character named Eiris.

Eiris is smart, witty and brave. In fact, he had a handful of good qualities. Even though he seemed like a character that one could relate with, I couldn't relate with him or connect with him at a deep level. Perhaps this was because he reacted strangely when he discovered that he was not only royalty, but alien too. Usually, a person would be shocked, confused, and bewildered, but Eiris seemed too calm. The way he acted was unrealistic, it was as if he knew he had been a royal alien from birth. One thing that I like about Eiris was that he exemplified a bit of moral courage. When the characters were supposed to choose their guild's, Eiris chose one that he wasn't really supposed to choose because of stereotypes, but he chose it anyways. Eiris is also very bold, and leaves a mark wherever he goes.

At the beginning of the book, I was quite confused. The writing style could've been improved and I found it difficult at times to completely understand what was going on. The flow of events could've also been written differently to help the reader understand the plot line more clearly. Punctuation wasn't used properly either, and sometimes, the book wasn't completely enjoyable. The book bored me at times. The pace was slow, and sometimes, I had to force myself to keep reading until it got enjoyable again.

I enjoyed the characters of the book and the fact that everyone on the planet got to find themselves a guardian animal! I love animals and this warmed my heart. :)

Overall, I give this book 2.3 stars. This book wasn't exactly my book type, but it was alright. It was a decent book, but also impressive, because it was the author's first novel! Congratulations! ;)

Have a great day!

Book Talk - The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins

I was at my local bookstore a while ago to study for final exams with Pegasus. I didn't think I would actually buy a book, but this one caught my attention. I had heard about it before, and the summary sounded intriguing, so I bought it!

The Girl On The Train is one of my first mystery books, and I really enjoyed it. It's absolutely one of my favourite books.

In this book, a girl takes the same train to work everyday. Everyday, from the window of the train, she watches the same couple on their terrace. She sees them so much she even feels like she knows them. Then, one day, she sees something impossible to ignore. She cannot keep her discovery to herself, and so she tells the police. Yet they do not think she is reliable. Soon she is entangled in the investigation and the lives of everyone involved in it.

The characters in this story were very complex, Rachel especially. Nothing about her character is really likeable, given that she is an insane alcoholic, but for some reason I liked her. She was so complex and seemed so real. I was able to relate to her and really liked her as a character. Logically, I should prefer Anna, right? She has her life together and has a happy family. Yet throughout the whole book I preferred Rachel, which was quite interesting.

This book was very hard to put down. I read it whenever I had time. It was fast paced, and I liked that it was broken up into days and different times of day. It kind of reminded me of a diary, which was a neat aspect. The end of the book left me thirsting for more, which wasn't necessarily a good thing. Yes, there was an ending, everything was resolved, but I wanted to know what happened to the characters afterwards. Like Scott. What happened to him afterwards?

I love how each piece of the story unfolded one by one. It was a very well put together mystery book. I'm going to give this book 4.5 stars. It was pretty fantastic! It is more of a mature read with quite a bit of swearing and such, so if you're a younger reader I wouldn't recommend this book to you.

If you're looking for a fast-paced mystery book to read, I highly suggest picking this one up.

As always, thank you so so much for stopping by! Have an amazing day!

The Ultimate Book Tag

Hello everyone! It's me, Unicorn.

Firstly, I'd like to apologize for the lack of blog posts in the last while. I've been extremely busy studying for my upcoming final exams and doing homework, and have had hardly any free time. Pegasus as also been having this same problem. But as my exams are now coming to a close, I decided to do a book tag! This tag was created by Megan on Goodreads, but I originally saw on on Books With Bite. Hope you enjoy!


1. Do you get sick while reading in the car?
Unfortunately, yes, I do. I can't read in the car for very long without getting a headache.

2. Which author’s writing style is completely unique to you and why?
Leigh Bardugo! I've only read Six Of Crows, but I really liked it. The style had a very different feel than that of the books I usually read.


3. Harry Potter Series or the Twilight Saga? Give 3 points to defend your answer.
To be honest, I have no idea. I haven't read or watched Twilight, so I can't really say which I prefer. From what I've heard about Twilight, I'd have to say Harry Potter, because 1. All of the characters are amazing. 2. The world building is just fantastic and there's magic and wizards and witches and sorting hat ceremonies and Hogwarts and everything. 3. The Golden Trio is so perfect and I just want to be friends with them so badly.


4. Do you carry a book bag? If so, what is it in (besides books…)?
I don't actually have a book bag. I usually take books to class with me in my bag, but that mainly just has binders and notebooks in it. So fascinating, I know. ;P


5. Do you smell your books?
Sometimes, yeah. You can't let all that delicious book smell go to waste, after all!


6. Books with or without little illustrations?
I have no trouble reading either, but I greatly prefer books with illustrations. Like Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon, for instance. I also really want to read Ms Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs because it has photos, which look pretty epic.


7. What book did you love while reading but discovered later it wasn’t quality writing?
I don't really know. I never reread books, so for most books I just go off of my first impression. Before I can realize the writing isn't good, I've usually already read 3 more books.


8. Do you have any funny stories involving books from your childhood?
I'm trying so hard to remember something, but I really can't. I could literally do a whole post of embarrassing/funny stories, but I can't remember any book-related ones. :(

9. What is the thinnest book on your shelf?
My drawing prompts book, but that doesn't really count, because it just gives you drawing ideas. (It's pretty fantastic though.) The thinnest book on my shelf is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, which I have the paperback of.


10. What is the thickest book on your shelf?
Six Of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.


11. Do you write as well as read? Do you see yourself in the future as being an author?
I actually write quite a bit. I have a ton of unfinished books on my laptop that I've written. I always come up with great ideas that I love but I never have the determination to finish writing them. Right now, I'm working on a new book. I really like the idea of it, but I don't know if I will ever finish it. If I do, I might post a bit of it on this blog. :)


12. When did you get into reading?
In grade one, my class had a ton of really short kid books, and our daily homework was to take home a maximum of two books and read them. Whenever we finished a book, we got a sticker, and we had to fill up a sticker sheet. Once that was filled, we moved onto a bigger, cooler sticker sheet, and so on. I took home 5 books a day. My classmates always told me I was cheating, since we were supposed to only take two a day, but I just really liked reading, so I kept doing it. The teacher was fine with it. :D


13. What is your favourite classic book?
I never read any classics. *lowers head in shame* I don't think I've ever really read any books I would consider classics. I really need to do that!


14. Was Math/Language Arts your best subject in school?
As you've probably figured from the beginning of this post, I'm still in school. English isn't my best subject overall. My best is drama, or maybe math. My worst is gym. Oh goodness, gym. I've always been so bad at gym. Most sports I like are never covered in gym, so I've never been good at it.


15. If you were given a book as a present that you had read before and hated…what would you do?
Thank the person for thinking of me and getting me a gift. Then I would probably return/exchange the book if there's a gift receipt, or give it to someone who would like to read it.


16. What is a lesser known series that you know of that is similar to Harry Potter or the Hunger Games?

I haven't read anything that is similar to Harry Potter or The Hunger Games, now that I think about it. How weird.


17. What is a bad habit you always do (besides rambling) while filming?

I never really film things. But I feel like if I ever filmed with friends, I'd just laugh for most of it and not be able to focus on what we're trying to film.


18. What is your favourite word?

Bombinate and, as you may know because it's at the top of this blog, vellichor. I never really use either. I like vellichor because of the meaning and bombinate because of the sound. Bombinate. Bombinate. Hehehe.


19. Are you a nerd, dork, or dweeb? Or all of the above?

According to a venn diagram I found on the internet, a nerd is a combination of a dork, dweeb, and geek. Nerds have the qualities of all three combined; bad social skills, smarts, and they obsess over things a lot. I guess I'm a nerd?


20. Vampires or faeries? Why?

Faeries, I guess. Vampires are pretty terrifying and their whole blood thing kinda grosses me out.


21. Shapeshifters or angels? Why?

I've never really read anything with either, but shapeshifting is pretty cool.


22. Spirits or werewolves?

If it's werewolves like in Harry Potter (e.g. Remus Lupin), then definitely werewolves.


23. Zombies or vampires?

Vampires, because zombies are just horrifying. I cannot read or watch or play anything with zombies. Nope, nope, nope.


24. Love triangle or forbidden love?

Definitely forbidden love. I like that much better than love triangles, unless they're well written.


25. Full on romance books or action-packed with a few love scenes mixed in?

Definitely action-packed with a few love scenes mixed in. But if it's a nice contemporary romance that's well written and has a few other topics as well, then I like that too.



I hope you enjoyed this tag! I tag Neha (and Ananya) at Ink Affairs. I highly suggest you check out their blog if you haven't already. They do a fantastic job!

Have a great day!

P.S. We probably should have saved some of the posts we did in March and April and kept them for times like this when we actually really need posts but don't have time to write them. I'm not much of a blogging expert, as you can tell, but I'll keep that in mind. :D

Most Anticipated Book For the Past 6 Months

Greetings all! As you probably know, awhile back I read the first two books from Rick Yancey's trilogy, The 5th Wave. They were amazing! In fact, Unicorn and I recently watched the movie, which we both enjoyed, but we also talked about many improvements that could've been made to improve the film. 😄

Anyways, to the point! I am so excited to read The Last Star!!! I have been waiting ages and now that it is finally out, I cannot wait to read it!! Unfortunately, I am sick and stuck in bed so I cannot go to the library or to a bookstore to get it because I am stuck inside. Anyhow, I am highly anticipating this book and am so excited to read it!

I know this was an extremely short post but I thought I'd just post something anyways. 😄

Have a great day!

-Pegasus ;)

P.s. If you've already read The Last Star, share your thoughts! Did you enjoy it? :)