It happened!

I finally got around to posting my first BookTube video: the BookTube Newbie Tag!

I'll be back to posting my usual reviews and things on Friday, so don't be mad at me for so many updates! If you have a YouTube account, please head over there and subscribe to my channel and like the video; it would really mean a lot to me.

On Friday, I'll finally be posting the quick reviews from my BookTubeAThon reads, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Happy Reading!

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BookTube Announcement

With the BookTubeAThon ending last week, I've found myself reflecting a lot about the goals I have for this blog. I created this blog so that I could share my love of books and reading with like-minded people and it's really allowed me to connect with those people, which is great. However, I now am wishing to share this love with a bit of a larger audience. Enter BookTube.

I've been watching BookTube videos for several years now, basically before BookTube was really that huge. I never really thought about it but I suppose that BookTube is the reason I created this blog. I've always wanted to make videos, I just never thought that it would be possible for me to do so. But circumstances have changed, and I've decided that I'm going to be uploading my introduction video today. 

I'll still be posting here on this blog, so if you're not interested in watching my videos you can still be updated with my reading here. Most of the time, similar contented will be uploaded on both websites so no one will miss out. 

Sorry for such a boring post, but it is Friday so I still wanted to have something up like always. If you're interested in my YouTube channel and videos, there is a link to subscribe in the Contact Me page and at the end of this post. Happy Reading!

You can follow me on Twitter here.

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You can add me as a friend of Goodreads here.

You can subscribe to my on YouTube here. 

BookTubeAThon Wrap Up!!!!!!!

Where did the past week go?! BookTubeAThon was such a blast and the week just flew right by. I had such a fun time and I read a lot more than I usually would in a week, which I'm incredibly proud of. So here it is, my 2014 BookTubeAThon wrap up post!

I total, I read four books in the week. Four! I normally average a little less than a book per week, so to read four in one week is a huge achievement for me. So the books that I completed this week were:
1. Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carol
2. Unwind by Neil Shusterman
3. The Romeo and Juliet Code by Phoebe Stone
4. Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card

I'll be post a quick review of all four books on Friday, so if you're interested in finding out how I felt about them keep your eyes peeled for that post.

In total, I read 1,460 pages!! That averages to be around 209 pages each day, which is insane. I'm so happy with how well I did!!

The challenges I completed were:
1. Read something with red of the cover - Unwind
2. Read a book of the genre you've red least this year - The Romeo and Juliet Code (not the book I planned for this challenge on my TBR, but it was still a historical mystery)
3. Read a book and watch its adaptation - Through the Looking Glass (only half completed because I didn't end up watching the movie)

Three out of seven is actually pretty good. My goal was four, but because I went rogue and didn't follow my TBR I didn't read a book that someone else had picked for me, which is a bummer. But I'm happy with the books I read and the challenges I completed.

I hope that everyone else's BookTubeAThon went swimmingly and that you all achieved your goals! Let me know how you went in the comments or on the links below. Happy Reading!

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You can add me as a friend of Goodreads here.

BookTubeAThon Day Six!!!!!!

Another day has past, and the BookTubeAThon is almost over!

Again, today was another really slow one for me. So far today, I've only read 38 pages of Pathfinder. I know, I'm a pitiful human. I'm sorry. It's only 10pm at the moment though so I'll try and get a few more pages done tonight. I probably won't though.

I'm just a little tired of reading at the moment. I know I haven't read anywhere near as much as some of you guys, but I've so far read so much more than I normally would. I've almost read four books this week, which I'm incredibly proud of.

I know this update is a short one, but there is really only a short amount of pages that needed updating on. I hope the rest of your BookTubeAThon goes well. Happy reading!

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BookTubeAThon Day Five!!!!!

It's 12:32am at the time that I'm starting this update, so day five has just finished for me.

Today was another pretty slow reading day, so this update will be a quick one. My weekend is going to be extremely busy as well, so my reading will probably slow down a lot for the rest of BookTubeAThon.

In total today, I read 212 pages of Pathfinder. I'm still really enjoying the story and will hopefully be able to get through the last 200 or so pages tomorrow, which I think I can do. I'm hoping to read one more book for the last two days of BookTubeAThon, which I think is plausible if I make sure to set aside some reading time.

I hope everyone else's BookTubeAThon is going well and that you're all achieving the goals you set for yourselves. Happy Reading!

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You can add me as a friend of Goodreads here.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen - Review

**A note on my notes: This review is spoiler free.**

"Life is the most spectacular show on earth." 

I saw the movie adaptation when it first came out, and I loved it. The movie is actually what inspired to me pick up the book, which I did shortly after. It's been sitting on my shelf, gathering dust, ever since. I finally got around to reading it last week, and my love for the story was renewed.

The novel follows an about-to-graduate college student in the time of the Great Depression. Suddenly, Jacob finds himself all alone in the world and is forced to start afresh with absolutely nothing. Seeking a new beginning, he hops aboard a train speeding past him, which unknown to him at the time, happened to house a travelling show. Jacob soon earns a place in the circus, and the novel follows his adventure.

The Good
As I said earlier, I really enjoyed this book. I thought the character development was incredible and the plot was extremely interesting. The author committed over four months of research for this novel, and I think that effort really shows in the writing - it's easy to believe that the fictional tale is actually truth because of how realistic the situation is described to be.
The story is told from the perspective of Jacob both as an old man in a nursing home as he reflects and remembers his life in the circus. I think this way of telling the story worked perfectly and I found myself often connecting more to the story when the elderly Jacob was talking about being an old man.
I loved the ending. I thought it was beautiful, wonderful and all things good.

The Bad
I found the beginning of the novel was pretty slow. Not a lot of relevant plot points occur until just before halfway, as the beginning contains a lot of character and world building, which as a historical fiction novel, I understand is important. However, this slowness didn't really bother me because I had seen the movie and knew what was going to happen and what I had to look forward to.
There were a few scenes that I think actually translated the meaning better in the film than in the book, which is rare. Because of this, I knew how touching certain scenes and situations were as I had seen the movie prior to reading, but if you haven't then you might not be as touched. That's not to say that the book is unemotional or anything like that, because it's still a very emotional tale, I just found the movie sometimes expressed that emotion more poetically/beautifully.

The Recommendation
If you haven't seen the movie, I would definitely recommend watching it soon after finishing the book, because the story really is touching and the movie sometimes portrayed the emotional messages a bit better/clearer. If you're interested in the inner workings of historical travelling shows, I would recommend that you read Water for Elephants. If you have someone who is toward the end of their life cycle, like a grandparent or someone of similar old age, I would 100% recommend that you read this book, because it was really eye-opening for me in that regard.

Overall, I loved this book and while I won't be reading it again any time soon, the story and its message will stay with me for a very long time.

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You can find out more about Water for Elephants here. 

BookTubeAThon Day Four!!!!

The halfway point has already been crossed, and the forth day of the BookTubeAThon is almost over.

Toady was a lot more successful for me than yesterday. I managed to finish The Romeo and Juliet Code, and then picked up a new book almost straight away. The book I choose to read was not on my original TBR list, but I needed to choose a book I new would be fast paced in order to catch up for the lack of reading I achieved on day three.

The book I choose was Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card. This book is huge, with a total of 657 pages. It's a science fiction novel and I tend to really enjoy that genre, which is one of the reasons I decided to pick it up. So far today, I've read 228 pages of it, and I'm hoping to get about halfway - at least to 330 pages - before I go to sleep tonight/tomorrow morning.

In summary, today I read:
The Romeo and Juliet Code - 158 pages (completing the 296 page book)
Pathfinder - 228/657 pages
Total Pages for Day Four (so far): 386
Total Pages: 1,031

I am absolutely stoked with these totals! I'll be back tomorrow with another update. Happy Reading!

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BookTubeAThon Day Three!!!

Day three is drawing to a close for me here in Australia, so here's my update! 

I ended up finishing Unwind early this morning at about 1 am, and I did really enjoy it. I'm hoping to post a quick review post of all the books I read this week on Monday, so if you're interested in my thoughts on any of these books, keep your eyes peeled for that. 

Like I mentioned in my update for day two, I didn't really feel like picking up anything I'd put on my TBR. Because of this, I chose a completely different book, The Romeo and Juliet Code by Phoebe Stone. This book was a birthday gift several years ago and I just never got around to reading it, so I was keen to finally get into it.

Today has been completely jam packed for me, so so far today I've only read 138 pages. I'm hoping to finish this one tonight, but I'm not sure that I will. When I do finish it I have no idea what book I'll be reading next. 

Here's a summary of what I've read so far:

Through the Looking Glass - 172 pages

Unwind - 335 pages

The Romeo and Juliet Code - 138/296 pages

Which brings my total BookTubeAThon reads so far to 645 pages, which I'm happy with.

I'll be back tomorrow night with an update for day four. Happy Reading!

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BookTubeAThon Day Two!!

Day two of the BookTubeAThon will soon be coming to a close here in Australia, so it's time for another update.

Today was a fairly busy day for me, so I didn't get as much reading done as I would have liked. So far I have read 156 pages of Neil Shusterman's Unwind and I really do like this book so far. I'm excited to see how the story ends and what happens to the characters and all that jazz. The plan is to finish this book tonight, which is definitely plausible because I have less than 100 pages to go.

So the next book that I should be picking up, according to my TBR list, is either Brave New World by Aldous Huxley or The Adventures of Sherlock Homes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. At the moment though, Unwind has put me in the biggest YA mood and I don't really feel like reading either of those. In fact, I'm leaning towards picking up the sequel to Unwind, which is UnWholy, but I don't think I'll be able to do that within the week. So I'm not sure what book I'll be reading tomorrow.

If you're participating in BookTubeAThon, good luck to you! I'll be back tomorrow with another update. Happy Reading!

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BookTubeAThon Day One!

The first day of BookTubeAThon is nearly over! Today has been pretty successful for me and I'm happy to say that I'm on track with my goals and the challenges.

The weekend just past was a huge one for me, so I was way to tired to stay up until midnight for the beginning. Because of this, I started reading today at around 10am and have been reading for the most part of today.

To start off with, I picked up Through the Looking Glass. As most of you probably know, Alice in Wonderland is complete nonsense; the characters are ridiculous and the plot is almost non-existent (or at least not coherent), and that is exactly what the story is supposed to be like. Because of this, I moved through the book pretty slowly because there were no cliffhangers to keep me hooked on the story. I did quite enjoy it though, and I'm glad I've finally read it.

Through the Looking Glass completed two challenges for me: reading a book with pictures and reading a book and watching its associated movie. I haven't gotten around to watching the movie yet, but I will try and get to it later in the week. So far then, I've completed one and a half reading challenges!

I also started to read Unwind by Neil Shusterman tonight and have so far read 90 pages.This book covered the challenge of reading something with red on the cover. Hopefully, I'll get through a bit more of this book tonight and my goal is to finish it by the end of day two, which is definitely plausible because I'm really enjoying the tone and concept of the novel so far.

I hope everyone else has a successful first day of their BookTubeAThon! You can all look forward to another update tomorrow night. Happy Reading!!

BookTubeAThon 2014 TBR!!

If you're unaware, from the 14th to the 20th of July BookTubeAThon is happening!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BookTubeAThon is a readathon that was created for people who make videos about books rather than blog posts. At the moment, I don't make YouTube videos; however, I am an active member of the BookTube community and I absolutely love watching book related videos. Because of this, I am still participating in the 2014 BookTubeAThon and I plan on blogging my progress, rather than vlog it. This is my first year participating and I am 100% excited.

Just a slight disclaimer: I don't read very fast. 

Because of this, I've only chosen four books for my TBR pile, and I'm not even sure that I'll get through those. Hopefully I do though, because that will mean I'll be only one book behind schedule for my 2014 reading challenge of reading 50 books.

As well as trying to read as much as you can, the BookTubeAThon has a list of seven reading challenges and seven video challenges. I obviously won't be completing any of the video challenges (although I will be posting daily updates this week here on my blog as well as on Twitter), but I do aim to complete five of the reading ones. So without further ado, here is my 2014 BookTubeAThon TBR!

1. Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carol (Alice in Wonderland #2)

I read Alice in Wonderland earlier this year, and have been meaning to get through the second instalment for a while. I have the Vintage Classics bind-up edition and I'm excited to finally cross this book off the list and move it off my TBR shelf/section/pile. This book covers two challenges, the first one being read a book with pictures in it - my edition has really intriguing black and white illustrations in it. The second challenge this book completes is to read a book and watch it's associated movie, in which I will probably be watching both the animated version and the more recent version because I love them both.

2. Unwind by Neil Shusterman (Unwind #1)
I bought this book at the end of 2013 because I saw a short film of one of its scenes on YouTube. I loved the video and I found it extremely interesting, so I decided to buy the book, and it's been sitting on my shelf ever since. This book covers challenge number three: read a book with red on the cover. I've heard really good things about this book so I'm excited to finally get around to it.

3. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
I am a huge fan of classic dystopians - The Clockwork Orange, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm are some of my all-time favourite novels. I picked up Brave New World last year because I knew that I would love it, but I just haven't gotten around to reading it yet. This one covers the fourth challenge: read a book someone else picked out for you. A few books ago, I asked my boyfriend to picked which book to read next and he chose this one because he really liked it. I didn't feel like reading it at the time though so I'm going to read it now.

4. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I have never read a Sherlock book, or any of the short stories. I did see one of the recent movies and I loved it, so I recently bought this compilation of short stories and I've been super keen to dive into it. This book completes the challenge of reading a book of the genre that you've read the least this year. I don't think I've read any mystery novels, or any short story bind-ups at all in 2014, so this book is the perfect choice.

There are two more challenges in the list: start and finish a series and read seven books/average 300 pages a day. I don't own any complete series at the moment and I don't think that I'll get seven books read in seven days so I'm not setting any goals to complete these two.

I'm super excited to read these books over the next week! If you're participating in the BookTubeAThon, I'f love to here how you're going, so visit my Contact Me page to get in touch. I would strongly recommend trying to read as much as you can next week, even if you don't want to participate fully. The BookTubeAThon is all about uniting people through literature, which is a fantastic cause and one I'm privileged to be a part of. Good luck!

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You can find out more about the BookTubeAThon here.

Breathe by Sarah Crossan - Review

**A note on my notes: This review is spoiler free.**

"Oxygen is essential for most living things. For 2.5 billion years, it was the most abundant chemical element of Earth. Until the Switch."

Synopsis 

Breathe by Sarah Crossan is a young adult novel of the dystopian and science-fiction genre. It's told from multiple perspectives of teenagers living in a post-apocalyptic Earth where the planet no longer has enough oxygen to sustain its populations. In this world, the human race is confined to a large area that is 'domed'-off from the rest of the planet in which air is manufactured for them. In order to be able to breathe, everyone must pay a tax, and therefore there are strict rules that govern how much oxygen each citizen is allowed to consume, and these rules heavily limit the activities that people of different demographics can perform. 

The Good
First of all, I thought the concept of this book was brilliant. I've never read a book that dealt with the issues of deforestation and overpopulation in this way, so I really loved that. The setting complimented these major themes nicely and the world-building description was fluid and well-written. As with the majority of dystopian novels, a corrupt government was a major part of this world. While in some novels, the focus is too much on this corruption and takes away from the actual story, in Breathe, it only adds depth to the narrative.

The Bad
While overall, I enjoyed this book, I did have a few issues with it. I found that towards the middle, the story became a bit slow; however, that could just be me not finding enough time to read for a decent period. I also found that the characters relationships to be unbelievable at times, particularly between Quinn and Bea. I didn't really like Petra as a character at all, through she was necessary to the story and played an important role.

The Recommendation 
I gave this book a 3.5 star rating on Goodreads, which is pretty close to the average rating. While I did enjoy it, I didn't love it. I would recommend it to everyone because I think the themes and concept of the novel are really important for the people living in our world today. However, the plot isn't for everyone, so if you don't usually enjoy dystopian stories or young adult novels/main characters, then this book probably isn't for you.

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You can find Breathe on Goodreads here.

American Horror Story - Seasons 1-3 Review

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**A note on my notes: This review is spoiler free.**

Over the past two weeks, I've binge watched American Horror Story, and I'm not ashamed to say I've finished all three seasons. It's not my favourite television show of all time. In fact, it's not even close. It would never make my top five, probably not even my top ten, but I did really enjoy this show.

So if you've never heard of American Horror Story, each season follows a completely different set of characters that are some how affected by something supernatural. The seasons aren't related at all, so if you are most attracted to season three or don't want to watch season two, it doesn't matter! Also, if you're worried about the show being scary, it's really not. Once you get past the opening credits, the show isn't scary at all.

Season One
This season follows a married couple and their teenage daughter who have just moved into what they hope is their dream house. Unfortunately for them, it turns out to be haunted. This is my least favourite season out of the three; however, I still enjoyed it. I think the characters were complex and had issues they were working through that were somewhat believable (apart from the haunted house thing). Just past halfway though, I did think the plot started to become a little bit repetitive, but I still enjoyed it. Overall, I did enjoy this season, though it isn't really anything special.

Season Two
In the second season, we move to an asylum. I really enjoyed this season, and I think the characters in this season were the best out of all three. They were really well developed, and their development wasn't rushed at all, which in a television show is compelling because you can become more invested in the characters. This season switches between between present day, where the asylum is shut down and abandoned, and the past, where the asylum is running. I didn't really like this aspect of it, because the present day events wasn't really relevant to the overall plot, apart from right at the very end of the season. There is some sort of supernatural/alien aspect to this season which I also didn't like because it wasn't developed enough. Overall though, I thought this season was a lot better than the first, and I liked it a lot.

Season Three
The final season follows a coven of witches. While the characters in this season weren't as developed as they were in the second one, they were still really interesting. If this show was a book, it would definitely be in the YA section because the characters are sassy teenage girls, which was a nice change from the crazed mental patients from season two. Emma Roberts plays one of the witches and I think she did an incredible job! I think the plot for this series was a bit stagnant at times, but I did really enjoy it. I think the ending about the next Supreme was very predictable, but was still a fantastic ending to the season.

Like I said before, I did enjoy this show, but I didn't love it. I will probably continue on with the other seasons as they're released, but I'm not excited enough for them to watch them as they come out weekly and will probably watch the entire season like I did this time.

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You can watch American Horror Story here.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - Review

**A note of my notes: This review is spoiler free. Please remember that this is my opinion of the book and that not everyone will agree with me.**

Time to fangirl about Fangirl.

I don't even know where to begin. I flew through this book and I can now say that it's definitely one of my all-time favourite novels and has helped to cement Rainbow Rowell as one of my favourite authors.

Summary
Fangirl follows Cath and her twin sister Wren as they start their Freshmen year at college. After sharing a room their entire lives, Wren decides that she wants to become more independent from Cath and doesn't want to be roommates, so Cath is left to fend for herself. The story follows Cath as she tires to find her feet in a completely new world and struggles to find the balance between her old life and the new one unfolding right in front of her.

The Good Excellent 
The characters in the novel are fantastic. Rowell developed them perfectly and they each had their own unique quirks and habits that made their voices really distinguishable. The thing I loved the most about the characters was that they were real; each of them were familiar in so many ways which made it easier for me to identify to the story.
The plot moves along at a good pace; there are no boring parts throughout the entire story. The situations that the characters are put in are also extremely realistic and really spoke to my heart because a lot of them were things that I've been through during my first year at university.
Cath writes fanfiction, and at the end of every chapter was an except from either Cath's writing or from the original world that Cath writes in. I loved these excepts, because I found that they were really relevant to the events that had just occurred in the chapter. Also, if you've grown up with Harry Potter, then you will absolutely adore the elements of Simon Snow in this novel.

The Bad Not-As-Good
I had almost no problems with this book, in fact, only two. The first being that I wish the book ended a little later than it did, or that there was an epilogue just so we could see where the characters were at after or during the Summer and especially what happens with Cath's fanfiction novel.
The other thing that I didn't like was the reference to Harry Potter about halfway through the book. The whole time, the Simon Snow series is paralleling Harry Potter, and then referencing actual Harry Potter made me feel very confused. I wish that the reference to Harry Potter wasn't there at all.

The Recommendation
I recommend this book to everyone, but I think you'll particularly enjoy it if you're about to start university. If you grew up reading Harry Potter, then I would doubly recommend this book to you, because you'll really understand the emotions Cath feels for the Simon Snow series. Fangirl is a fun story that's super engaging and easy to read, so if you're looking for a book like that, read this one.