Review on Demon Princess

 After her father and brother go missing, Adriana reluctantly takes up the the throne as the Demon King until their return. However, Adriana finds herself mysteriously teleporting into the midst of a group of humans she has never met before, and finds that she has become the summon beast of Aldric, a young and arrogant mage in training. Adriana must find a way to break the bond between them and escape back to the Demon Kingdom. But with Aldric having the power to control her every move, its going to be more difficult for Adriana than she thought.

This book immediately caught my interest and I was really excited to read it! The story is told through a first person narrative by Adriana, who we quickly find out is a demon princess who must take up the throne in the absence of her father and brother. I initially disliked Adriana, as she acted like a typical princess and was used to having guards and servants and not doing much for herself. However, once she became Aldric's summon beast I started to sympathise with her, and the majority of my dislike for her was replaced by my dislike for Aldric. I immediately disliked Aldric, and this dislike for him grew as the story went on. Although he believes that Adriana is a human, he treats her like she is an animal. He initially does not provide a bed for her and expects her to eat off the floor, and only starts treating her a little better once he discovers the extent of her powers as she then becomes useful to him.

I loved how the roles we have come to expect from demons and humans were switched round completely with Aldric and Adriana, as we come to sympathise with Adriana and are rooting for her to find a way to break her bond with Aldric, yet we dislike Aldric, who in most stories would be the type of character who would fit the description of the hero. I thought this was an interesting twist and made the story more original.

I loved the rest of the characters in the book, especially Keldrin, Aldric's room mate at the academy. He is the only person who treats Adriana like a human from the start, and provides her with food and a bed. I thought he was a really sweet character, and I loved how unselfish he was, as he was the only character who entered Barren Land without the motive of gaining something for himself. I also liked Razen, as he was quite mysterious and I loved how sneaky he was in his tactics of trying to prove that Adriana was a demon. However I did feel as if Xander was lacking as a character, and I felt that I knew very little about him. As he was the only member of the company trying to help Adriana who was not a mage, I felt that he had a lot more potential as a character and I hope that his character is developed more in future books in the series.

The thing that slightly ruined this book for me was the romance. Although I did love Keldrin and knew a romance between him and Adriana was inevitable, I am never a fan of love at first sight, and I felt that Keldrin telling Adriana that he loved her even though they had known each other for two months was far too soon. As Adriana had been keeping a huge secret from him for all that time, I felt that him immediately forgiving her and declaring his love for her wasn't believable at all, making the romance feel too forced. I also felt that the “forbidden love” aspect was all a little too cliché, as I feel as if forbidden love between a supernatural creature and a human is drastically overdone in fantasy novels, and although I did initially enjoy their relationship growing, I felt that the last couple of chapters forced it to happen too quickly. As this book is quite short I felt that their relationship seemed rushed at the end, as if the author was trying to prove that they were in love just so that she could create a tragic ending.

However I did enjoy the majority of this book, and as there are still many unanswered questions at the end I would love to continue reading this series!

Demon Princess is now available to purchase!

Amazon US | Amazon UK

Review on When Everything Feels Like the Movies

Jude Rothesay is in his last year of middle school, but unlike most teenagers his age he has big plans for his future. Jude plans on moving to Hollywood and becoming a movie star. He wants to get away from his small town and his abusive step dad. Not to mention the bullying he has to suffer due to his sexuality and unconventional gender identity. At his school, Jude doesn't fit in anywhere. He isn't popular like a movie star, yet he isn't ignored completely like an extra. However, once he moves to Hollywood, everything will change for the better

I found this book while browsing through Netgalley as the gorgeous cover caught my eye, and as it is extremely rare to find a YA novel with a gay protagonist I knew I had to read it! When Everything Feels Like The Movies follows Jude Rothesay, a boy in his last year of middle school who doesn't quite fit into normal society. Jude enjoys wearing make up and borrowing his mothers clothes, and is constantly bullied by his peers for it. I thought that Jude was an extremely funny protagonist, and although he is quite vulgar in his language I thought that it showed an accurate portrayal of what the majority of teenagers are like. I feel as if a lot of YA novels try to make teenagers seem innocent, when the reality is that many teenagers do take part in underage sex,swearing, drinking alcohol and taking drugs. I find it strange that I've seen reviews on this book where people have been offended by the content when the truth is this book is a lot more accurate to how teenagers really act than the majority of YA books out there.

Although I initially liked Angela, I started to dislike her as the book progressed. I felt that she was the only person in Jude's life who he could actually talk to about his problems, and she seemed to turn against him like everyone else near the end of the book. I also hated that that even though Jude had told her that he had a crush on Luke, she still went ahead and tried to sleep with him.

Although there is a lot of comedy in this book, I loved that it also covered extremely important themes such as homophobia and domestic abuse. Ray was the perfect example of how not to treat your child, and I found the scene where he abused Keefer for wearing make up extremely powerful. I have personally witnessed on several occasions fathers telling their sons off for playing with toys that are meant for “girls” as if it is a shameful thing to do and that it will “make them gay.” Children do not understand the insane gender roles that society has created, and I feel as if parents should let their children be children and play with whatever toys they want to. Just because your son wants to play with barbies or your daughter wants to play with toy cars doesn't mean it is going to affect their sexuality or gender identity.

I found his relationship with Abel adorable and was rooting for Jude to forget all about Luke and get with Abel instead! I loved how Abel seemed to be struggling with his sexuality, as although he had a girlfriend he also had feelings for Jude. I feel as if this is something that many teenagers go through and I loved how it was portrayed in this book.

The ending of the book was extremely shocking and upsetting and I was not expecting that to happen at all! I am still emotionally distraught by how it ended as I was expecting Jude to get his happy ending. I would like to point out that there are quite a few themes that people could find upsetting or triggering, including self harm, bulemia, domestic abuse and drugs. However I feel as if this book is a step in the right direction towards portraying LGBT characters in YA novels and I highly recommend it!

When Everything Feels Like the Movies is now available to purchase! It will be available in hardback in the UK from February 11th so be sure to pre-order it!

Amazon US | Amazon UK  | Waterstones  | WH Smith | Barnes & Noble

My 100th Post!!

SO THIS IS MY 100TH BLOG POST!!

When I first made this blog to keep track of the books I was reading during my Summer break in my second year of University I didn't think that I would have carried on with it for so long! I would like to say a big thank you to all the authors and publishers who have provided me with wonderful books to review. I would not have been able to keep this blog going for so long without you all providing me with a constant stream of books! I would also like to say thank you to everyone who follows and reads my blog, you guys are awesome. I thought I would celebrate this by taking part in a little Q&A to share a little more about myself!


When did you start blogging?

I created this blog in January 2012, but as I had so much work to do at University I didn't really start using it properly until around June. I initially didn't intend for it to be a book blog, as I thought I would use it to not only review books, but also review movies and talk about my life in general. However once the summer break started, I decided that I would use my blog to keep track of and review books that I read over the break. Back then I wasn't aware that book blogging was a huge community, so I just did my own thing, reviewing books that I would pick up at the library and giving them a rating. This was purely for my own benefit, as I was planning on stopping once I returned to university and looking back to see what I had read, along with what I enjoyed and didn't enjoy. However, although the blogging did slow down once I returned to University, I decided to keep the blog for when I was able to find time to read again.


How many books do you review per month?

It all depends on the amount of free time I can find to read, and the length of the books. Also I am a slow reader, so on average it is around three to four.

How do you choose which books to review?

This is always a difficult decision for me. I tend to get around six requests per week, which sadly means that I can never accept them all. I usually look at the genre of the book and read the blurb to see if it interests me. However I will admit that sometimes I make assumptions. For example I tend not to enjoy heterosexual contemporary romance novels, with the exception of some exceptional authors such as John Green and Rainbow Rowell. The amount of YA contemporary romance novels that I have read that have been more or less the same storyline is shocking. I'm also not a huge fan of love triangles and I feel as if they are usually horribly cliché. However I do enjoy certain love triangles where it isn't the typical two boys and a girl with the boys hating each other. A good example of a love triangle I have enjoyed is found in The Infernal Devices series which I highly recommend! (Also read to the end of this post to find out how you can win a copy of the first book in the series, Clockwork Angel)

So what is it exactly that you're looking for from a book?

I have always loved the fantasy genre. It's always exciting to lose myself in a brand new world and get away from the mundane world. I also love when romance isn't a central plot in fantasy novels so that I can focus on the action rather than who has a crush on who. I would also love to see more diverse characters. All of the YA books I read tend to centre around white Americans, and I would love to read a book set in a different part of the world. I always love it when a novel is set in a British high school as they seem extremely rare to find. I would also love to see a more diverse range of sexualities. I always love it when a character is not heterosexual, but their storyline doesn't revolve around the fact that they're not heterosexual. I would also love to see characters who identify with lesser known sexualities, such as asexual and pansexual. I would also love to see love triangles that don't conform to the typical two boys and a girl.

What is your favourite book series of all time?

My answer to this question has always been, and will always be the same, and that is Harry Potter. I started the series when I was around nine years old and from that moment I have been obsessed with the wizarding world. I grew up reading the books and being the same age as Harry, and I don't think that I will ever enjoy reading a book as much as I have enjoyed reading Harry Potter. I am always torn between wanting to read new books and wanting to re-read this series.

You're 24 years old, why are you still reading YA books?

I just find that teenagers have more exciting lives! They never have to worry about adult problems such as taxes, jobs and looking after children. Overall they just seem more free to do what they want, which means that I always find the storylines more exciting than I do in adult books!

Can you recommend some books?

Yes I can! The book that i'm currently always ranting about is Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. This book has messed me up in so many ways. As you have probably seen by now i'm not a huge fan of romance, but the romance in Carry On seemed extremely real, and although it is a fantasy, it was far more believable than the majority of contemporary romance' that i've read. The relationship in this book literally brought me to tears it was that perfect. And not only was the romance beautiful, but the storyline was action packed and I was constantly on the edge of my seat!

I also recommend the Mortal Instruments series if you haven't already read it, as it is one of my favourite YA series of all time.

If you're not into fantasy, then I recommend the Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's beautifully written and the storyline will have you in tears. I also have to say that the movie adaptation was brilliant, so if you enjoy the book then definitely give that a watch! 

As I am extremely close to reaching 100 followers, I thought this would also be a good time to announce that once this happens I will be doing a giveaway! I am going to be giving away a copy of Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, the first book in the Infernal Devices series! I am going to try my best to make this giveaway international, but i'll give more details once I reach 100 followers. If you would love to win a copy of this book then please give my blog a follow!

Reviewing the Classics #1 Pride and Prejudice

Something that I’m constantly wanting to do is read more classic novels. As an English Literature graduate, I have of course read my fair share of classic novels, from Charlotte Brontë to Mary Shelley. But there are many more out there that I have not yet read and would love to read. I thought that keeping a schedule and creating a section on my my blog to review the classics would be the perfect way to give me the motivation to do this! As classic novels are usually quite lengthy, and the archaic language can make them somewhat difficult to get through, I have decided that I will read and review a class novel once every two months on my blog! If you have any recommendations for classic novels that you think I absolutely have to read then please leave them down in the comments! For my first post, I shall be reviewing Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Goodreads Summary:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." 

So begins Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's witty comedy of manners--one of the most popular novels of all time--that features splendidly civilized sparring between the proud Mr. Darcy and the prejudiced Elizabeth Bennet as they play out their spirited courtship in a series of eighteenth-century drawing-room intrigues. 

When I told my friend that I had got through five years of studying English Literature without once reading a Jane Austen novel she was actually shocked. I actually have no idea how a Jane Austen novel has never come up in my studies, despite having studied novels from the Brontë sisters, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Herman Melville, Oscar Wilde and F. Scott Fitzgerald just to name a few. I thought that this needed to change! So I have started with what is arguably Austen’s most popular novel, Pride and Prejudice.

I have somehow avoided watching any of the movie adaptations of this book, and the only thing I had heard of it was that there was a character named Mr Darcy who everyone thought was the best man in the world. I have actually heard people saying how they would love to marry a man like Mr Darcy, so I went into the book thinking he would be perfect and have no faults. I was actually shocked that he was extremely condescending and thought that he was too superior to dance with Elizabeth. Why would people say he was the perfect man when I thought he was a huge asshole? I loved that the book instantly had me questioning something and changing my expectations of what the book would be like. It instantly made me understand the title of the book, with Mr Darcy obviously being the pride and Elizabeth being the prejudice.

I always love when two characters hate each other but then grow closer, and even though this is a classic novel I still enjoyed watching that happen. The change that both Mr Darcy and Elizabeth go through to overcome their faults was interesting to read, and I loved that Mr Darcy realised his faults and changed his ways. It gave an important message that people can change, and just because they have done something bad in the past which they obviously regret, they should be given another chance and not have someone constantly bring up the past. I loved that Elizabeth allowed herself to have feelings for Darcy once he showed her kindness and that he could be selfless.

i really didn’t like Elizabeth’s mother, as it was obvious that she didn’t care about her daughters happiness, she only cared about getting them married off. It was interesting to see that to her a woman was worthless unless she had a husband. I found it funny how much she hated Mr Darcy, but the minute Elizabeth told her he had proposed to her, she changed immediately and started saying how tall and handsome he was. I did however like Mr Bennett as he seemed to genuinely care about his daughters, especially Elizabeth.

I did however feel as if there were too many characters to keep up with, and I was getting confused over who was related to who. I did love the main characters though, and I loved how as the book progressed I started to like Mr Darcy and realise why women see him as the perfect man. However, he is not perfect. He has many faults but he tries to work to overcome them which is why I ended up enjoying his character. He is not someone who enjoys attending balls and dancing with lots of women, which makes him come across to some people as being rude and I empathised with him for that. I loved that although he at first saw Elizabeth as an inferior, she soon becomes his equal who he both admires and respects. I loved how his proposal was so different than Mr Collins’ as it was obvious that Mr Collins had no respect for what she wanted at all, and took her refusal of his proposal to mean that she was playing hard to get and that she should keep asking her. However, when Mr Darcy’s proposal was rejected he accepted it, and although he explained why he had acted badly to her, he did not keep trying to get her to marry him, which I loved as it showed he cared about what she wanted rather than being selfish like Mr Collins had been.

Although I am not usually someone who enjoys romance novels, I did enjoy reading this book more than I thought I would. I definitely want to read more Jane Austen books in the future!

My Favourite Books from 2015!

I will be starting something new on the blog next week so watch out for that happening! For now I have made a video talking about my favourite books that I read last year!

Review on Let It Snow

On Christmas Eve, the worst snow storm in fifty years falls on the residents of Gracetown, causing chaos to it’s inhabitants. A girls train breaks down on her way to spend Christmas with her grandparents in Florida, cheerleaders have overtaken the local Waffle House, and a boy might just realise that the love of his life has always been standing right in front of him. From some of the best selling YA authors comes a collection of three romantic short stories, which are all expertly interconnected.


After searching for some Christmassy reads, I finally decided on a book that had been sitting on my shelf gathering dust for a year. I received this book as a Christmas present last year, but felt that it was a bit silly to start reading it after Christmas had finished, so sadly it has been abandoned. That is until now!

I initially wanted to read this book as it included stories by two of my favourite YA authors, Maureen Johnson and John Green. I admit this is the first time that I have read anything by Lauren Myracle, but as she was involved in a collection of stories with John and Maureen I figured she had to be good!

I really enjoyed the first two stories, especially Maureens. I loved Jubilee and thought she was an entertaining and funny character. I loved that the story turned a completely different direction to what I thought it was heading in, and I found the problems with the flobie village hilarious. Stuart was also a really sweet character, and I had secondhand embarrassment for him with his mum trying to get him to date Jubilee. We all have a family member who is constantly asking us why we’re not dating someone and who is always trying to set us up with someone, so I thought this was a great addition to the story. I loved that although it was overall a light and fun read, there was just enough suspense to make it impossible for me to put the book down.

I have been a long term fan of John Green, so I already had high expectations for his story. It was everything you would expect in a John Green novel, a bunch of teenagers going on a quest to do a certain thing where they have problems along the way but end up in a good situation. I wouldn’t say it was original for John, as the storyline was quite similar to Paper Towns, and the characters reminded me of other John Green characters, such as JP being similar to Ben from Paper Towns and Tobin being similar to every other male John Green protagonist. Once you’ve read more than three John Green novels, you start to see a pattern to how similar the characters are, and although I still always enjoy his stories it would be nice to see more diversity in his male protagonists. However I did enjoy the story and loved the light hearted humour. I thought JP’s obsession with the cheerleaders was so over the top that it was funny, as he would go to any lengths to make it to the Waffle House. Tobin and Angie’s relationship was also my favourite out of the three stories, as I always love stories where a friendship turns into something more.

I have to say that I did not enjoy Lauren Myracle’s story as much as the previous two. I started reading this one with no expectations, and ended up disappointed that I did not find it as enjoyable as the previous two stories. Although Addie’s story is all about redemption, I ended up feeling bad for Jeb more than anything else. However the teacup pig subplot was adorable and now I really want a teacup pig! Even though I did love all the characters from the previous stories coming together, I did not enjoy Myracle’s way of writing them. The character voice developed by John and Maureen was lost, and I felt more like I was reading a fan fiction version of these characters rather than it being canon. I also felt that Jeb could have been included more in the book overall, and thought that he was going to be a main character in Myracle’s story, but alas he only showed up right at the end which was a disappointment.

I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys light YA romance to read around Christmas time in front of the fire. Although it is not the best collection of stories i’ve ever read, I enjoyed them far more than I would usually enjoy contemporary romance stories and they definitely got me into the festive spirit!