Book Review : Before I Fall

      Now a part of the popular girls groupie, Samantha Kington has this life of a teenage girl, having fun with friends, a boyfriend and parties. But then this one day comes, this party, a typical Friday and a typical party.  Despite the party going alittle bit different than Sam had planned, and the supposed day with her boyfriend also went wrong. She and her friends were still laughing in the rain and drinking on their home. But it turns out to be her last moment. She dies in a horrific accident. Yet she does get a chance, actually seven chances to repeat this same day, as she wakes up thereafter to find herself up in her bed, yet it's still the same Friday. What would change in her life and how will she act, spending her last day in life with seven different shots?

    It honestly took me a long while to get into this book, the beginning didn't attract me at all, due to the normality of it. However, it turns out to be a book that I loved but hated for the tragedy of it. To start off, it was the characters that got me hooked at the beginning. They were realistic, in a way that I could visualise.
   
   The thing is that as you go on with the story, the bams flows bit by bit. And by bams I mean the development of Sam's character and her changing perspective of almost everything around her.
    
    Despite, the story being about one day repeated again & again. Everyday seems like everthing is possible to happen and the future is changeable. But what gets to me is how much Sam changed. I mean we all wish to relive a specific day once, take something back? 
   
   However, out of the seven shots of that chronic day, i think that each day has something remarkable. Yet, I don't want to give away anything, but I will just leave it here saying which day was my favourite, which is the seventh, the last. It is sort of traditional, yet thinking about it, she did everything for others but herself. She did the right thing.  
   
    Sam, herself is a character that I despised but her attempts to get things right, made a change of heart in me towards her, from the second she began to see things right, I was able to love her. However, the secondary characters in the novel, from her best friends, to her adorable sister to Anna to Kent to Rob, all seemed to be down-to-earth.

   Oliver, I believe aimed to capture the closest thing to high school students experiences and she, in my opinion, did it wittily. But again Lauren Oliver is a very talented writer, from different aspects really. 
   
   It's a book that I enjoyed and definitely recommend it. It's a breathtaking, amazing YA novel and a well-crafted one as well. A book that can show you the consequences of your everyday actions. Yet, not everybody has a chance like Sam did and it's never too late.

Author: Lauren Oliver
Grade Rating: A
Pages: 470

On My Wishlist #1

     On My Wishlist is an awesome weekly meme hosted by Book Chick City that runs every Saturday. It's a place where you can put up all the books you're desperate to read, but haven't actually bought them yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. And, even better, everyone can join in with too, because there's a Mr Linky so you can put your post up. All you have to do is click on the link below:

 

And this is my first........

DESTINED ( House of Night #9 )

Author: P. C. Cast & Kristin Cast
Published: 25th October 2011 

Genre: Paranormal/Fantasy

The outline of Goodreads Summary :

    Zoey is finally home where she belongs, safe with  her Guardian Warrior, Stark, by her side, and preparing to face off against Neferet. But then there’s the mysterious Aurox, a jaw-droppingly gorgeous teen boy who is actually more—or possibly less—than human. Only Neferet knows he was created to be her greatest weapon     

    Will Neferet’s true nature be revealed before she succeeds in silencing them all? And will Zoey be able to touch Aurox’s humanity in time to protect him—and everyone—from his own fate? Find out what’s destined in the next thrilling chapter of the House of Night series.

    Since I enjoyed reading the other 8 books in the House of Night series, I really wanted to read this one although in my opinion, the story should have ended in the last book Awakened. Yet I still am really excited to see what's next in the Zoey's problem-ish life.  

 THE CONSTANT PRINCESS ( The Tudors #1 )

 Author: Philippa Gregory

Genre: Historical Fiction

Published: 6th December 2005The outline of Goodreads Summary:

      Katherine of Aragon is born Catalina, the Spanish Infanta, to parents who are both kings and crusaders. At the age of three, she is betrothed to Prince Arthur, son and heir of Henry VII of England, and is raised to be Princess of Wales. Her faith is tested when her prospective father-in-law greets her arrival in her new country with a great insult; Arthur seems little better than a boy. Slowly she adapts to the first Tudor court, and life as Arthur's wife grows ever more bearable. Unexpectedly in this arranged marriage, a tender and passionate love develops." But when the studious young man dies, she is left to make her own future: how can she now be queen, and found a dynasty? Only by marrying Arthur's young brother, the sunny but spoilt Henry. His father and grandmother are against it. She will do anything to achieve her aim; even if it means telling the greatest lie, and holding to it.

     This is the first book in the Tudors series, and I'm so interested in this type of genre, espcially after reading The White Queen. In addition that Philippa Gregory is one of my favourite authors.

THE LOOK

  Author: Sophia Bennet

Published: 1st March 2012

Genre: Young Adult

 Goodreads Summary:

    Ted is fifteen, and...oh yes...tall. When she's spotted by a model agency, she can't believe it.

   At the same time, Ted's fashionista sister, Ava, is diagnosed with cancer. With her world turned upside down, Ted has a lot of growing up to do, some of it in five-inch platforms. Should she be the model sister for Ava? Life in front of the camera is harder than it looks. And will they still be smiling when it’s over?

Read so many good reviews about it. Can't wait to read it.

DIVERGENT ( Divergent #1 )

Author: Veronica Roth

Published: 3rd May 2011

Genre: Science Fiction/Distopia

Goodreads Summary:

In a future Chicago, 16-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

That was mine !!
What about you, what's on your wishlist ? :)

xoxo, Mariam

Book Review : Pandemonium #2

       And the journey continues, Lena Haloway is out into the Wilds but alone without Alex just the sorrow of losing him for what seems to be like forever. But Lena is now a resister, an Invalid. Her life in the Wilds changed, she is not the old Lena we know, the old Lena is dead. Hardship, deprivation and bereavement, it all changed her. Happiness is a long lost defintion for her but maybe not  anymore, Is she falling in love with someone else? What would that be regarding Alex, a way to be over grief? And will she be able to keep her mind on her mission, as an active member in the resistence? 

      A new Lena seems to be invading this book, the sequel to Delirium, Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver. Lena is now dead to the world, an Invalid, living an adventure with sorrow buried deep down in her, upon giving up so many people she loved, her mother, Hana, Grace and Alex. But will she be able to give up more people inorder to keep another? At some point she says :  
" That’s when it really hits me, the certainty like a concrete wall going up inside of me. This is not what I wanted. This is not why I came to the Wilds, why Alex wanted me to come: not to turn my back and bury the people I care about, and build myself hard and careless on top of their bodies, as Raven does. That is what the Zombies do."
     
    You can see a real development in Lena's character, she was once guided by Alex, in Delirum but now she is all on her own. Oliver again excelled in writing the characters, maintanied all the new characters really well. Excelled in writing the book, overall and left me ravening for more. A cliffhanger, unpredicetable and full of twists and turns, you know when you are certain that something will go wrong but suddeny its even better than you thought it would be, that's how it was at some points.
    
    The story was told in an alternating periods of time, Now and Then. In the Then chapters, we follow Lena through her life in the Wilds, when she first came, after her escape. But in the Now chapters we see her life, after joining the resistance and out of the Wilds.
     
     I was really so into the story that I could truly feel for Lena and all her dilemmas, the girl suffured alot, although the begining of it disappointed me, it was to the point that I was bored. Yet, it somehow seems to me like a thing that would appeal to The Hunger Games and The Maze Runners fans. Had a hard time putting this book down. I would absolutely recommend it, although I do recommend reading Delirium first. But comparing Pandemonium to Delirium ( My Review ), I think they both have their ups and downs, perhaps Pandemonium has more action to it which makes it more interesting in a way. But honestly waiting for the third book Requiem which doesn't come out until 2013 is going to be a torture.

 

Author : Lauren Oliver
Grade Rating : A
Followed by : Requiem
Pages : 379

Invencible Covers #1

      Although they always say never to judge a book its cover, it is still a flamboyant feature in a book, at least for me. So, every now and then I will be sharing with you guys a cover that I really like.
     And this time, Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver really attracted me and even before knowing that it was Oliver's book cover of her second book, which I'm currently reading, it just caught my eyes.

       And this is the UK cover, which I also liked but I feel that it shows, or embraces the main idea of the book a tiny bit more, but its just first impressions since I just started reading this book.

xoxo, Mariam

Book Review : The Host

        Our world was invaded by parasitic but peace-loving aliens called  the souls. Melanie, a human being who refuses to fade away and leave Jared, her boyfriend and her brother, Jamie. Wanderer, the soul inserted into Melanie's body who had an honorable past in other planets, other than the Earth, seemed to be falling for humans. And as a result she helped Melanie on a journey she have never planned and thought was impossible, she went searching for Jared and Jamie, in Melanie's body and with her in her mind. But what kind of journey could that be? And how would it turn out to be? And which side would Wanderer be on, the humans or the souls? Whom will she betray, or will she....      

    
      Again, Stephenie Meyer enchanted me by this book. This story was nothing about vampires but rather another world of its own, a creative one, Wanderer's world. The scene opens with Wanderer, the soul being inserted into Melanie's body, a repel whom they hoped to tame but it turns out that Melanie is much stronger as well as her love and loyalty. What Wanderer always feared happened, she found human resistance.

      I'm a huge twilight saga fan but I feel that I absolutely loved this book maybe even a bit more. I think it was written better than the Twilight saga, maintained better, I guess. It was just breathtaking and addictive, I had a hard time trying to put it down. 

      

      If you can get through the first few chapters then you'll just love it and I think that's because you don't understand anything at all, yet its so unpredictable but as you go on you'll be hooked up, don't worry. But I'll try to clarify a tiny bit of it for you guys:

Okay, so when they refer to the souls they mean here the aliens who invaded the Earth. And the Seeker is just sort of a jailer or a policeman who gets the humans leftover  to the souls to insert one in their body, and by inserting a soul in their body it means they invade the body as well. A Healer is like a doctor and a Comforter is just a therapist for the souls. And they have some really weird names like Wanderer and Petals Open to the Moon, just plain weird.

    Those souls saw in us humans brutality and thought invading it was safe the world our savageness. Wanderer was different, she did hate those emotions of humans like hatred and cruelty but then her relationship with Melanie develops, and her feelings toward humans change, she found love. At the very beginning, Melanie just fills her head with memories of Jamie whom she had a mother like bond with him. And Jared, her boyfriend and how it felt to be with him and eventually she feels some initial affection toward him and sets off on a journey to find the man they both loved. Yet, i think that her love toward Jared wasn't that strong, i think it was because how she was hugely affected by Melanie's deep love and memories and when Ian, the missing part of the love triangle came into the view, the suspense was even more. I enjoyed how it at some situations was a sort of an internal struggle in Melanie's body, it gave it a huge twist.

    The ending which I thought at some point was horrific, that's when I actually cried, which I don't do that often, turned to have an unforeseen twisted, real ending which I loved. Also, another thing that I liked was the titles of the chapter, don't know why they caught my eye so much but they were so simple and gave me what I wanted to know about it.

  
    I just honestly really enjoyed reading this book and I can definitely see myself reading it again and I just can't wait for the two sequels to be out, which I don't know when will that be. But anyway, I really do recommend this book if you love that sort of thriller sci-fi novels with some romance, just give it a try. I loved it.     

Author : Stephenie Meyer

Grade Rating : A+
Pages : 867 ( Paperback )