September Wrap-Up Post.

Well frankly, this is going to be a short post. I have had an appalling reading month, managing only my three challenge reads (and barely). I didn't touch any of my Netgalley/Edelweiss reads, let alone the extras I wanted to get onto. I have to say, I think my excuse of settling into London is a pretty good one though, so I won't be so harsh on myself.

Physical Books:

1. 'Carnival Of Shadows'; R.J. Ellory. I did enjoy this book, despite Thrillers and Mystery/Crime books really not being my thing. Thank goodness for authors like Ellory that allow people like me to break out of our comfort zones and try a genre we rarely read. The constant flashbacks and memories were probably the one thing that really let this book down. Great characters and plot twists otherwise, so well worth a read. 2.5/5 stars.

Kindle Reads:

1. 'Coraline'; Neil Gaiman. My second Gaiman book and again, I really liked it. I had watched the movie before and liked recognising parts but there were some things that were a little different and really highlighted the creepy atmosphere of this story. I loved the characters, especially the Cat. 4/5 stars.
2. 'Aristotle & Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe'; Benjamin Alire Sáenz. This book. I haven't felt this way about a book for quite a while, I enjoyed it so much! The romance was great, really well-built and I loved the characters. The book was broken up beautifully and to be honest, I was pretty sad when it finished. 5/5 stars.

That's right, three books. Let's move on.

A Stand-Alone: The Silent History, Eli Horowitz. REVIEW.
Sky On Cover: Dragon's Curse, H.L. Burke. REVIEW.

MC is LGBTA: Aristotle & Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe, Benjamin Alire Sáenz. REVIEW.
Pink Cover: Divergent, Veronica Roth. REVIEW.
Starts With S, U, M, E or R: Smiler's Fair, Rebecca Levene. REVIEW.

A Thriller: Carnival Of Shadows, R.J. Ellory. REVIEW.
Set On A Boat: Life Of Pi, Yann Martel. REVIEW.
Middle Grade Novel: Doll Bones, Holly Black. REVIEW.
A Retelling: Cinder, Marissa Meyer. REVIEW.
Freebie: Poison Study, Maria V. Snyder. REVIEW.
Blue Cover: If You Find Me, Emily Murdoch. REVIEW.
A Summer Release: Queen Of The Tearling, Erika Johansen. REVIEW.
Strong Sibling Relationship: Moonfall, Vanessa Morton. REVIEW.

Featuring An Animal Companion: Coraline, Neil Gaiman. REVIEW.
Set On An Island: Lord Of The Flies, William Golding. REVIEW.
Magical Realism: A Discovery Of Witches, Deborah Harkness. REVIEW.
Set In Europe: Rivers Of London, Ben Aaronovitch. REVIEW.

Book Review: Carnival Of Shadows; R.J. Ellory.

So this was my third read of the month and I have to be honest, I was a bit unsure how I would feel about it. Thrillers are not normally my cup of tea. Nevertheless, I ended up rather enjoying it and can't wait to share my thoughts! I'm entering this into the September Key Words challenge.

SOURCE: Goodreads Giveaway
TYPE: Paperback

TITLE: Carnival Of Shadows
AUTHOR: R.J.Ellory
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: Orion Books
PAGES: 652
GENRE: Thriller, Crime, Mystery

RATING: 2.5/5 Stars

Blurb:
Kansas, 1959. A travelling carnival appears overnight in the small town of Seneca Falls, intriguing the townsfolk with acts of inexplicable magic and illusion. But when a man's body is discovered beneath the carousel, with no clue as to his identity, FBI Special Agent Michael Travis is sent to investigate.

Led by the elusive Edgar Doyle, the carnival folk range from the enigmatic to the bizarre, but none of them will give Travis a straight answer to his questions. With each new turn of the investigation, Doyle and his companions challenge Travis's once unshakeable faith in solid facts and hard evidence. 


As the consequences of what has happened become ever more disturbing, Travis struggles to open his mind to a truth that defies comprehension. Will he be able to convince himself that things are not what they seem? Or will he finally reconcile himself to a new reality - one that threatens to undermine everything in which he has ever placed his trust?

What I Liked:

• The characters. In particular, the main character: Michael Travis. Normally when I read Crime books, I find myself getting at least a little irritated with the Hero/Heroine of the story doing the solving. In this case though, no! Michael Travis had an interesting past, a sense of humour and yet a personality that remained serious, yet interesting enough to keep me reading. He was clever, but not arrogant. Focused, but not rude or grumpy. I liked him a lot. The side characters too were memorable and interesting, and it was fun to learn about them as the book progressed.
• Ellory writes very well. As I mentioned, this genre is not normally my thing, but this might be the Author to change my mind. There was a lot of humour, a well-written story and I enjoyed the world that he built. The plot was full of twists and turns, the final one being one that I did not expect in the slightest! It certainly kept me on my toes!

What I Disliked:

• There was quite a bit of jumping about in time as our hero had a series of Flashbacks during the story. I don't normally that kind of thing but for some reason, it just felt a little distracting from the story-line in this case. They did contribute to the story, I just wish they had been a little more spread out and not quite so long.

Overall Conclusion:

I really did enjoy this book and I'm so glad that I got a chance to read it. It was well-written, the characters were fantastic and I loved the world-building. I was pretty hooked from start to finish, though at times the story felt a little interrupted by glimpses into Travis' past that could be a bit lengthy at times.

Top Ten Tuesday: My picks for 'Books That Were Hard For Me To Read'.

This is such an interesting topic, I remember there was a previous Top Ten Tuesday with a similar subject. I've done quite a lot of reading since then, and can't wait to share my list with you guys.

1) 'The Luminaries'; Eleanor Catton.

This book has appeared on my lists a few times. Sometimes I'm praising it, others I'm most certainly not. As mixed as these messages are, I shall explain as best I can. This book was written beautifully; it was intricate, it was complex and massively detailed. A colossal amount of hard work and effort had clearly gone into it. Unfortunately, it was also long. It took a long time to get to the point, and when it did reach the climax of the story, it felt a little like if I blinked, I would have missed it! This book was one of those that frustrated me and I became a little bored while reading it. It was an intriguing concept though, and I wish that all Historical Fiction would be this accurate in it's detail.

2) 'A Red Tale'; Nicola Mar.

I wanted so badly to enjoy this book, but unfortunately, it just didn't work for me. Everything felt rush and there were certain areas that seemed contradictory. The plot-line was okay I suppose but I just felt a bit confused as the plot progressed and that always turns me off of books. None of the large number of plot elements seemed to tie up overly well for me and in the end, I gave it two stars  for it's efforts. I ended up getting pretty annoyed with some of the characters too.

3) 'One Hundred Years Of Solitude'; Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Oh I think this could be controversial and I'm really sorry, but I find this one quite hard to get through. I did enjoy it in the ed and Marquez has a fantastic imagination, I'll say that much for it. But why must all of the characters have the same name? I became so lost and confused at points in this book (purposeful I'm sure, but I didn't like it) and some of the strange events that happen just seemed to happen for no reason at all. In fact, they were often never mentioned again. How could I become attached to characters who at any minute could fly off, never to return or be heard from again?

4) 'The Queen Of The Tearling'; Erika Johansen.

This book has received some negative reviews and for the most part, I disagreed with them. I enjoyed the story-line and I liked the multiple viewpoints and the world-building was actually okay. My issues came with the main character, and some of the opinions expressed. She was far too fixated on beauty, and her own looks, and her constant insecurities bored me to death. It felt like every other line mentioned how plain she was or how no one could ever fancy her because she was ugly. I didn't understand the need to constantly mention it. The setting too was very confusing and I think it very much befuddled others who read this book too.

5) 'A Discovery Of Witches'; Deborah Harkness.

This book was actually pretty gripping, I did enjoy it. But I did not like the Main Character and having to read from her perspective constantly just made it a struggle. I suppose I liked her better towards the end, but for most of the book she made me very angry. She was spoilt, selfish and frankly a little idiotic. I want to continue with this series, but I really hope that she as a character improves.

6) 'Before I Die'; Jenny Downham.

This book was hard for me to get through purely because it dealt with a difficult subject. Seriously, it broke my heart a thousand times over, and fans of 'The Fault In Our Stars' might want to consider this one. Downham approaches Terminal Illness in a completely different way to Green, but I liked both interpretations. I would love to get round to reading more of her work.

7) 'Breaking Dawn'; Stephanie Meyer.

Now normally I would band the whole series together, but in this case I will mention this book specifically. I didn't enjoy any of these books particularly, but 'Breaking Dawn' in my opinion had one of the worst endings I've ever read! I know there are people that adore these books and please believe me when I say that I am not picking on Meyer because I loved 'The Host'. I just felt that this book was very rushed and it felt like I was thrown into something completely different from it's predecessors. I spent the whole time that I read this book looking very confused.

8) 'This Lullaby'; Sarah Dessen.

I actually ended up liking this book, but I won't be reading any more of Dessen's work. Why? Because 'This Lullaby' just summed up everything I don't like about Romantic novels. Sure, the male lead was sweet and the plot-line was okay. But the grumpy, bitchy, cynical female lead irritated me so much and I predicted the end so quickly that I was very disappointed that this book surprised me in no way. I'm not a fan of predictable stories.

9) 'If On A Winter's Night A Traveller'; Italo Calvino.

This book was such a frustrating read! It started off so well, and then as time went on, it just became harder and harder for me to finish it. Everything just suddenly trailed off in a ridiculous and unbelievable direction for no reason, and the fact that this book was about a man with writer's block essentially told me everything. Because I figured out pretty quickly that Calvino himself must have suffered the same thing and tried to turn a hundred beginnings into a genius masterpiece. By the time the book ended, it just felt like a man with writer's block trying too hard to be clever and not pulling it off.

10) 'Demolition Queen - Champagne, Murder & Chaos'; Betsy Speer Cook.

I was sent this book to read by the author and while I thought it was alright, there were points that I did not enjoy. I found the main character a little cocky and irritating and I just wish that it hadn't taken me so long to get into the story. I love strong and independent women but not when they come across as completely heartless. I'm glad I stuck with it because I liked it by the end, but it should not have taken me so long to do so.

Life Of A Blogger: Clothing.

Okay, I am really not very big on Fashion. I wear practical clothing for comfort, and find that most bold Fashion statements don't suit me. Having said that, I still like to look nice. What that means is, I like comfortable and practical, that still suits me without making me look like I really couldn't be bothered. My go to outfit is always tight fitting jeans, a nice but simple tops and a cardigan if it's a it chilly. In the summer, I do like to wear dresses or a vest top and skirt, but again, nothing too elaborate.

Favourite shops to buy clothes in include:

             

Top Ten Tuesday: My picks for 'Books On My Autumn 2014 TBR List'.

This topic has really made me think about what I do actually want to read this Autumn. I normally don't stick to my TBR lists because I'm either too slow or feel like reading other things when the time comes. Nevertheless, I have picked ten books that I would really like to read at some point! Why not Autumn?

1) 'The Witch Of Salt & Storm'; Kendall Kulper.

I was extremely excited when I was approved for this book, because I adore the front cover! It looks like such an intriguing read and I would really like to get back into reading books about witches!




2) 'The Ocean At The End Of The Lane'; Neil Gaiman.

Ahh, Neil Gaiman. Before I started this blog I had not read a single one of his books. Now I have read two, and I am determined to get through every single one because they all look so good! I actually bought this one recently, so I decided to put it on my Autumn TBR!



3) 'Red Rising'; Pierce Brown.

This is currently on my September TBR, but I know I am not going to get to it in time. Therefore, I have decided to save it for the next couple of months. I don't think I read enough Sci-Fi and it's a genre I would like to at least try and explore!




4) 'The Pillars Of The Earth'; Ken Follet.

My lovely boyfriend Mat recommended this particular series to me and I would really love to get onto it this Autumn because it looks so good! Seriously, I'm a huge fan of Historical Fiction and this guy looks like the guy to go to for a really in-depth, well researched story.



5) 'The Miniaturist'; Jessie Burton.

I bought this pretty recently (signed) and absolutely love the look of it! It was on the Autumn TBR list from the start and was the first book I thought of when I saw this category!





6) 'House Of Ivy & Sorrow'; Natalie Whipple.

I adore the cover to this book, it attracted my attention immediately. Reading the synopsis grabbed me even more. More witches? something about Halloween coming up puts me in the mood for the Paranormal, especially witches. Yes please!




7) 'Green Rider'; Kristen Britain.

I really do want to get round to reading a Fantasy book again. I kind of miss them and this one I bought a while back. It would be great to get round to this one, it looks so good!





8) 'Scarlet'; Marissa Meyer.

I loved Cinder so much and I really need to read the second one. Like, right now. Instead, I'll have to read it this Autumn because if I don't read it soon I might explode. No exaggeration.






9) 'Lempriere's Dictionary'; Lawrence Norfolk.

This book was one that I bought quite a while ago. As I mentioned with Follet, I love rich, detailed Historical Fiction. I've heard such good things about this book from Amazon reviews and it's been recommended to me a couple of times.




10) 'A Natural History Of Dragons'; Marie Brennan.

Why have I not read this yet? It's been sitting on the pile for quite a while, I really ought to get onto it! specially as I've seen there is a sequel and I want to read that to!

Last Week's Shenanigans: Graduation, and Wifi at last!!

This week has been quite busy compared to the last few, and pretty exhausting. I've come out of it feeling really happy and proud of myself though and I can't wait to share my activities with you guys!

Monday 15th: We had a bit of a lay-in, before packing up and heading back to Ashford in preparation for my Graduation Ceremony on Tuesday. We were picked up by Mat's Mum and went to his house first to see his family and catch up on some TV that we missed (seeing as we had no Wifi at the Flat). I had a lovely dinner there before heading to see my parents and sister! We had such a lovely evening in and I was so happy to get to see them!

Tuesday 16th: Tuesday was Graduation day! We set off late morning so that I could collect my robes and have my picture taken before the ceremony. I took a quick trip to Clarks in Canterbury to see my old work colleagues and it was pretty emotional. I have missed them all so much! The Ceremony itself was quite long, but I sat with everyone that I had known at Uni and it made me really happy and proud to be part of it. The whole day seemed to go so quickly and it felt like a bit of a blur. In the evening, Mat and I returned home to London (after a delicious curry) and we got back fairly late.

Wednesday 17th: I went back to work today, though still felt a bit emotional and tired out from the day before. To be honest, after Graduation, there wasn't a whole lot to talk about. I had finished reading 'Aristotle & Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe', which I really enjoyed! I probably spent most of the day cursing that our Wifi had not been sorted.

Thursday 18th: I had work again, though not before enjoying a nice lie-in as I didn't start till late. I really am enjoying working at Clarks in London, the people who work there are so friendly and have really helped me to settle in. Other than work, I made a good start on 'Carnival Of Shadows' and wrote my 'Life Of A Blogger' post.

Friday 19th: I spent a good part of this day living in vain hope that the Wifi would finally be activated. They told us it would be on this day but to give it until Midnight because they would probably run tests. we did. It didn't. As well as this, I had work again. The best part of the day however came in the evening, when three of my friends that I went to school with came to visit me!We went out for a lovely dinner at Cafe Rouge, and then back to my flat for a cup of tea and a chat.

Saturday 20th: An engineer came out today, and hooray! We finally got some Wifi! I mean it was only two or so weeks late, right? Still, we were happy to have it working and so I spent most of the morning fiddling with the blog and changing my address on important things. In the afternoon/evening, I worked.

Sunday 21st: A day off? Splendid! Mat and I decided we would spend the day in and watch a lot of TV, as we were both pretty tired. I decided that instead of a shower I would run myself a nice, hot bath. Unfortunately I soon discovered that due to the hot tap having no real power behind it, it's cold baths or a shower in this flat. It was still a lovely day off and I was sad that it went so quickly.

Book Review: Aristotle & Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe; Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

I have finally got round to reviewing this book! I actually have an excuse as to why it's taking me so long to get posts up and why I'm not being as attentive to this blog. I have not had Wifi until yesterday. We have had all manner of problems trying to get it set up but I won't rant too much, as much as I want to. I'll just rejoice that I have it now and get back to actually posting on this blog. This book absolutely blew me away and I can't wait to get into this review! I'm entering this into the Jumble Your Genres challenge this month too.

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: Aristotle & Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe.
AUTHOR: Benjamin Alire Sáenz
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster
PAGES: 359
GENRE: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, LGBT

RATING: 5/5 Stars

Blurb:
Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

What I Liked:

• Firstly, this book is written beautifully. Rarely have I picked up a book and been so taken with every word on the page in front of me. I was hooked from start to finish, and when I wasn't reading it, I was looking forward to the next moment that I would so that I could immerse myself in Sáenz's writing again!
• Dante and Ari were fantastic characters to get behind them. I loved them both immediately and it was such a great joy to read their friendship as it developed! his book is a wonderful coming-of-age tale and Ari was a great narrator to see the story from. The side characters were great too, especially the Parents on both sides.

What I Disliked:

• Wait, do I have to write something here? I didn't have any disliked about this book, other than the fact it ended. I suppose I did find the ending to be a little bit abrupt actually, I wish there had been a little bit more to it.

Overall Conclusion:

This book was just beautiful. While reading it, I spent the whole time smiling, but finding myself wanting to cry at the same time. To anyone who is on the fence, I would definitely say that you are missing out and need to read this book, it is cleverly written, witty, and beautiful to read. It will certainly touch your heart and I myself want to read more of this man's work.

Life Of A Blogger: 'Languages'.

Despite the fact that I don't really have an awful lot to say on this one, I do really like this ropic! Languages are such an essential part of human life that it will be interesting to see which ones are spoken by various bloggers!

I myself can speak only English fluently. I really wish I had time to sit down and learn a language properly but I haven't unfortunately! I was taught a fair bit of French at school and took it at GCSE level, so I would say that is my second strongest language. I also learnt a bit of Spanish at school too. The language I would really love to learn is Japanese! I bought some books many years back, then didn't get beyond the first page (again, a time thing). All in all, we can conclude that my own language learning adventures have been unsuccessful for the most part. I would love to find time to rectify this! 

Top Ten Tuesday: My picks for 'Authors I've Only Read One Book From And Need To Read More'.

I love doing these every week and I know I have been a bit naff, but I've been really busy so I have a lot of catching up to do. This week's topic looks like a lot of fun!

1) George Orwell. 

I read, quite a while back, '1984' and I really liked it! It was a great book to analyse and a well constructed story too. I would love to read some of Orwell's other work. 'Animal Farm' looks like a good read! 




2) Susan Hill.

'The Woman In Black' is an amazing horror story! I found it so chilling and filled with atmosphere that of course I want to read more of Hill's work! I'm a bit of a fan of Ghost Stories and Hill seems to be the way to go for a good one.





3) Markus Zusak.

Okay, so anyone who has read 'The Book Thief' will know exactly why Zusak is here. It is my favourite book of all time! I need to get my hands on another of his books!  





4) Patrick Rothfuss.

I read 'The Name Of The Wind' a few years ago and adored it. As a fantasy, it was so rich in characters and world building (which we all know I look for in books) that I couldn't wait to buy 'The Wise Man's Fear'. I did buy it, and then tragically never found time to read it.



5) Andrew Miller.

'Pure' was such a great Historical Fiction book that I remember thinking at the time: 'I need to read more of this man's work'. Unfortunately, my busy reading schedule has not allowed me near any more of his books yet! 




6) Sue Monk Kidd. 

This lady wrote 'The Invention Of Wings', a book which gripped me from start to finish. I so badly want to read her other book 'The Secret Life Of Bees' and see what that's like! 





7) Leigh Bardugo. 

'Shadow & Bone was phenomenal and I am supposed to be reading 'Siege & Storm' this month which excites me! I really want to find out what happens next!






8) Maria V. Snyder.

'Poison Study' absolutely blew my mind as a book. Of course I want to read the next one! I can't believe it has taken me so long to read just one book by this lady! 





9) Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

I just finished reading 'Aristotle & Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe' and found it was one of the most incredible books I've read in a long time! Seriously, to those who haven't read it, it's a fantastic book! I want to read more from this man! 



10) Marissa Meyer.

Of course this lovely lady was going to make it here, she wrote 'Cinder'! I loved that book so much and need to get onto 'Scarlet' and 'Cress' as soon as possible! 

Last Week's Shenanigans: My first week as an official adult.

So the end of my first week living in London has come and it's been a bit of a roller coaster with lots of change. I have enjoyed it though and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Monday 8th: My third full day in the new flat and my last day off before heading to work the next day. I had a bit of a lazy day if I'm honest, watching a fair amount of TV and not doing an awful lot else. Finishing 'Coraline', I started on my next read: 'Aristotle & Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe' and found myself really getting into it! A man came to have a look at the fridge and told us we would need a new one, and one of the girls made some lovely Victoria Sponge to eat.

Tuesday 9th: My first shift at work, and I arrived pretty early. It mostly consisted of me settling in and finding my way round. Everyone was very welcoming and nice and I got to meet a lot of my new work colleagues. After, I found myself pretty tired but happy. I also travelled on the Tube alone there, but as I finished at 9 in the evening, Mat travelled home with me. When we got home, I wrote my Top Ten Tuesday post and went to bed. 

Wednesday 10th: I had my second day at work and again, really liked it. I'm so lucky really that I do like my job as full time can be pretty wearing. I started and finished earlier though, so I had a nice evening in after work to sit back and watch 'The Great British Bake Off', a show I love!  We also watched 'Our Zoo'.

Thursday 11th: Work again (yes this is getting repetitive) and I had a mini celebration that I had reached halfway through my week's shifts. .When I got home, we decided that we would watch 'Hot Fuzz', a film I haven't watched for quite some time. I loved seeing it again! We had popcorn too! 

Friday 12th: Did I mention I'm working five days a week? All in a row? Yeah, I worked again but Fridays are my shortest shifts of the week which was nice. After work we played Monopoly and had a really lovely evening in. Sadly, I didn't win but I absolutely love that game! 

Saturday 13th: My last shift of the week! I had a really good day too and remained in an amazing mood all day. Before I had work, Mat's parents and grandparents came to see us which was nice. I also found out that I achieved top sales in my first week which made me pretty happy. All in all, a good day.

Sunday 14th: Finally! A day off! I stayed in bed for quite a while, as I was pretty tired. Then I went shopping with Mat. I bought a lot of new clothes and some new work shoes, as the ones I bought last week were terribly painful. In the evening we watch a lot of Game Of Thrones!

Life Of A Blogger: 'Where were you 13 years ago?'

This is a tough old topic for me, as I was 8 years old, and don't have a huge number of memories from that time. I would have just started Year 4 at that age so I would have been in my second year of Primary School! My goodness that's a while back! If I remember correctly, we had moved into our new house (well, it was new then) less than a year before so I would probably have still been settling into that. My main activities would have included:

• Going to school
• Playing in the garden
• A bit of reading
• Dreaming that one day I would be a fairy

Talking of dreaming, I used to be ridiculous when it came to daydreaming. My Mum and Dad would read my school report and it would always say that I was an intelligent girl but I never finished work because I was too busy daydreaming. It was at this age that my teacher got so fed up, she made me take my tray full of work home over the holidays to complete. The problem was, I was going away on holiday so I had to complete it in one day when I got home, which for a young girl of 8, was a very boring and stressful task. It definitely made me think twice before I started staring into space! 

Top Ten Tuesday: My picks for 'Underrated Books/Authors In The Paranormal Genre'.

I almost ended up skipping this one altogether because I don't feel like I've read enough books from any genre to pass judgement. I did come up with some choices in the end though, so here goes! 

1) 'The Saga Of Darren Shan' series by Darren Shan.

When I was about fourteen years old, I adored this series. Seriously, I was completely hooked. But next to no one had even heard of the author, let alone the books. I am just a bit shocked that nowadays, so few people have read his books. The 'Demonata' series was awesome too, though step back if you don't like gore! 


2) ' The Snow Child'; Eowyn Ivey. 

Now this counts in my eyes because it involves a normal family experiencing and dealing with a pretty paranormal situation. I love this book with a passion and it makes me sad how few people have read it.




3) 'Finding Sky'; Joss Stirling.

At first glance, this book follows a similar structure to 'Twilight'. In my opinion, it takes the basic plot, rewrites it with a few extra twists and then does it better. Sky as a character rocked! 





4) 'Tithe'; Holly Black.

What? Holly Black underrated? Nonsense! Actually I'm really shocked at how many people have read this series. Not many at all! 'Tithe' is the first book and the only one I've read and I loved it! Faeries are such an underrated subject in paranormal books.




5) 'A Certain Slant Of Light'; Laura Whitcomb. 

Talking of underrated book topics, lets talk about ghost romance. I adored this book when I read it, it was such a sweet, emotional read and I really want to read the next one! If you haven't read this book, I strongly recommend it! 




6) 'Thereafter'; Terri Bruce.

Now I specifically mention 'Thereafter'  because the first book in the series, 'Hereafter' didn't overly impress me. But the second book was so much better and made me really excited about this series! I would highly recommend it! 




7) 'Deep Blue'; Jennifer Donnelly.

This book only just fits into the Paranormal category but it is, in my opinion, highly underrated. I've seen a lot of negative reviews and I think they are mainly to do with the huge amounts of info dumping at the start. Get past that though and it's a fantastic book! 



8) 'The Host'; Stephanie Meyer. 

Now this might come as a surprise to those who loved 'Twilight' and this book as well, but I have seen a huge amount of people decide this book will be terrible because they didn't like 'Twilight'. I myself loathed that series, but I'm so glad I didn't let that stop me reading 'The Host' because it is one of my favourite books!


9) 'Generation Dead'; Daniel Waters.

This book came as a bit of a shock to me. A zombie romance does not strike me as the most beautiful of story-lines. Nevertheless, to my amazement, I loved it! I read it a while back and really wish I had got round to reading the rest of the series. 




10) 'Book Of Shadows'; Cate Tiernan.

This book is another one that I read a fair few years ago, and I got quite a way through the series. Why? Because it was good! I've seen this series get a bit of stick but if you like Witches in your books,  give this a go.