Top Ten Tuesday: My picks for 'Websites I Love That Aren't About Books'.

I feel like quite a large number of my answers will probably be Social Media or Shopping, seeing as I Don't use the internet for an awful lot else! This is a great topic, but definitely a tricky one!

1) I spend a huge amount of time on Youtube. I love browsing videos on there, listening to music and watching people play Video Games above all else. I'm also a pretty big fan of Booktubing but obviously I can't talk about that for this category...*whistles innocently*.

2) I browse more than I post on Tumblr, but it's still a huge part of my Internet browsing life! This is mostly down to the fact that Tumblr is a community of Super Nerds, just like me. I find so many people who love the same TV Shows, Books, Movies, Games etc. as me and it's so much fun reading some of the memes and jokes found on this website.

3) Oh my goodness, I love this site. Outside of my love for books, I'm also a great admirer of both Photography and Art, and I have boards where I post and link to pieces that I really love. Of course I'm no good at those things myself but I do love to admire them! Other boards I post to include Outfit ideas, Interior Design inspiration and gorgeous make-up/nail polish looks!

4) As I said, I love art. Especially illustration. I just like looking at it (Fan Art is fun, but even Original pieces or concept art inspires me). This website holds the biggest online collection I've ever seen and I always find such interesting, unique art styles on there! Art lovers should check this website out!

5) As if this wasn't going to be on the list. Etsy is one of my favourite go to places when I'm looking for a unique gift or find myself desperately wanting to support small businesses instead of the huge High Street chains out there. There's some really neat stuff from all over the world and I really enjoy browsing.

6) Is this cheating? I spend an insane amount of time on Twitter, and while it's mostly to talk to my Bookish buddies, I do also use it to find out what's going on in the world, follow my favourite celebrities, etc. At times the 140 character limit is limiting, but it does stop me from rambling.

7) This may seem like a strange one, but I send a surprisingly large amount of time on this website! Because I watch so many movies and TV shows, I often find myself exclaiming loudly "I recognise him/her!". IMDb is a godsend in terms of finding out exactly where I've seen them before, because otherwise something like that would be bugging me for days!

8) Instagram is a website I only found myself getting into in the last year or so, but I love it! Yes, taking photos of your food seems strange, and perhaps it isn't a great idea to live your life behind the lens but I just love capturing little moments of my life from time to time to share with the world. It makes me feel content.

9) Some of you may consider this one cheating, seeing as Heidi posts a lot about Fairy Tale Retellings, and Fairy tales are a type of story. However, I first fell in love with this website because it taught me so much about a topic that I find interesting. I don't think it counts as being related to books for me purely because I don't really use it for recommendations. More for the critical analysis and history side of things!

10) While I don't get much time to play games any more, I love the Steam store! There are so many great Indie games on there (as well as some classics) and they're normally well-priced! I always look froward to the Steam sale to see if I can grab some bargains!

Last Week's Shenanigans (2nd May - 8th May)...

Last week was one filled with personal issues, but in terms of actual activities I didn't do an awful lot. For most of the week I just worked, but at the end of the week Mat and I went to visit both mine and his parents. We went to mine first and spent most of the morning/early afternoon catching up with a cup of tea. We then made our way to Mat's parent's house for a barbecue, and I have to say the weather was absolutely gorgeous! It hasn't been so hot in England for a long time. It was nice to have it feel like Summer again, even if it was only for a while!

I Read:

I Received:

- 'Pantomime' by Laura Lam: Bought on Amazon (02/05)
- 'The Outliers' by Kimberly McCreight: Approved by Netgalley (04/05)

Memes:

Top Ten Tuesday: Childhood Characters I Would Love To Revisit As An Adult
Six Degrees Of Separation: Only Ever Yours, Louise O'Neill

Book Review: A Court Of Thorns & Roses; Sarah J. Maas.

I finally got round to reading a book by the extremely popular YA author Sarah J. Maas. It had to be this one because of course, it's a Fairy Tale retelling! I've always loved 'Beauty & The Beast', as well as being intrigued by 'Tam Lin' so this was a great crossover book of the two!

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: A Court Of Thorns & Roses
AUTHOR: Sarah J. Maas
SERIES: A Court Of Thorns & Roses (#1)
PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury Children's
PAGES: 432
GENRE: Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Young Adult/New Adult

RATING: 3.5/5 Stars

Blurb:
When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it...or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

What I Liked:

• The characterisation in this book for the most part was good. I enjoyed reading from Feyre's perspectives, and Maas built a lot of personality into side characters such as Lucien and Rhysen. I hope to see more of them in the next book because they were great! To begin with, I liked Tamlin too though as things went on I began to dislike his constant brooding and I'm a little suspicious of his true motives.
• The promise of the future was one thing I really liked about this book. The romance looks to make a possible turn down love triangle lane in the future, and though I'm not normally a fan, I feel that Maas might do something interesting with the trope and I'm excited to see what kind of development she'll employ with the world-building, characters and story.

What I Disliked:

• I did enjoy this book, and yet I was a little disappointed that it didn't totally blow me away. It had such potential! But the pacing was a little all over the place and I found most of the world-building in an info-dump from Alis later in the book. Not only that but the villain was absent from most of the book and didn't really have a lot of substance to her. I would like more development next time around.

Overall Conclusion:

This was a really great book, and a very imaginative adaptation of the original Fairy Tales it drew it's source material from. I like that Maas has taken ideas from so much lore and look forward to seeing more development of this in the future (I'm thinking a Hades & Persephone style story-line? My favourite myth!). There are a lot of things I liked but in the end, I really wanted a little more from such a highly acclaimed author and series. I have good feelings about the next book though!

Six Degrees Of Separation: YA Edition! (Only Ever Yours; Louise O'Neill)

The first Saturday of May has arrived and Round 4 is here! I love this Meme so much, and have been really looking forward to finding out about this month's chosen book. This Meme is run by Jim from YA Yeah Yeah so be sure to check out his blog and maybe take part, it's a whole lot of fun!

The book Jim has chosen is another one I haven't read yet (feeling so behind the rest of the world right now...) but it's high on the pile! 'Only Ever Yours' by Louise O'Neill is Speculative/Dystopian YA Fiction that is very reminiscent of 'The Handmaid's Tale' in that women are bred just for the sole purpose of pleasing men. It's a great choice and there are so many paths you could go down with this one!

'Only Ever Yours' deals with some pretty hefty subject matter, but the main synopsis instantly drew the plot-line of another book to mind: Kiera Cass' 'The Selection'. Both books essentially focus on a competition between girls in which they compete for the love and affection of a man and the 'privilege' of being his wife. I imagine that O'Neill's plot is much darker than Cass', but no one can question the similarities.

'The Selection' has a cover you can't ignore, and is just one of many popular 'pretty dress' covers that can be found in YA. Another one such cover that receives a huge thumbs up from me is 'The Winner's Curse' by Marie Rutkoski. Gorgeous, flowing, frilly dresses that are shot at interesting colours and are strong colours. I love them both!

'The Hunger Games' by Suzanne Collins, like 'The Winner's Curse', involves a rebellion. It's a pretty common story element found in YA Fiction (particularly Dystopian and Fantasy) but these two stories really made it an integral part of the story-line. In 'The Hunger Games' a failed rebellion caused the games to become an annual events and the misery of Katniss' people. In 'The Winner's Curse', it becomes a pretty hefty part of the last third of the book that completely changes the course of events.

'The Hunger Games' became massively popular after introducing a pretty cool element to the story: the games themselves. When I read 'Hunter' by Mercedes Lackey it involved a lot of similar elements. There are young teens, fighting monsters and facing perils while also being filmed, betted on and adored by the public.

'Hunter' was published by Disney-Hyperion (a publishing company whose books I don't seem to be getting along with so far). Another book that I actually read quite recently published by the same company was 'Passenger'. Both of them really didn't impress me all that much, which is a shame because the covers are both great and the authors highly renowned.

Top Ten Tuesday: My picks for 'Childhood Characters I Would Love To Revisit As An Adult'.

Some of my favourite TTT topics have involved me going back to the books of my childhood, so I was pretty happy when this one came up. There were so many great books to read back then!

1) Tracy Beaker from 'The Story Of Tracy Beaker'/'The Dare Game' by Jacqueline Wilson.

Jacqueline Wilson's books were a big childhood favourite of mine, and I went through all of them trying hard to work out which character I would like to revisit most. When I reached 'The Story Of Tracy Beaker', I stopped looking because I realised I'd found it. Her antics, both in written form and on the popular TV Show, were a huge part of my life. The TV Show had her as a Care/ Social Worker when she grew up but I wonder if Wilson would write her finally jetting off to fulfil those daydreams she always made up in her head when she was young.

2) Mandy Hope from the 'Animal Ark' series by Lucy Daniels.

This series was a real favourite of mine and my sister's when we were younger. Books like 'Puppies In The Pantry', 'Bunnies In The Bathroom' and 'Kittens In The Kitchen' filled our shelves, all telling the tale of the Hope Family's veterinary practice. Mandy herself wanted to continue on and help animals when she was older, I'd love to see if she achieved that or ended up doing something else with her life. 

3) George from 'The Famous Five' series by Enid Blyton.

Really, I loved reading about all five of the crime-solving gang in this series. But George always held a special place in my heart because she was such a tomboy, (and official owner of Timmy the Dog, whom I adored). I would be interested to see how her life turned out: she always seemed the unhappiest and loneliest so I'd like to imagine that she became a lot less spoilt and found happiness.

4) Jimmy from the 'Circus' series by Enid Blyton.

Another Enid Blyton read that I loved during my childhood, but when I say Jimmy I would really like to enquire about the Circus in general! Did Jimmy and Lotta fall in love over the years? How did Jimmy's act with Lucky the Dog develop? Does Mr Galliano's Circus even still exist? In fact, now I'm desperate to read those books all over again, they were so fantastic!

5) Robbie from 'Cool!' by Michael Morpurgo.

This was a really interesting book about Robbie, a young boy who is hit by a car and ends up in a coma but able to hear everything going on around him. Of course it ended happily with Robbie waking up (thanks to his loving dog), but I wonder how the trauma of it all affected Robbie in the long run. Did he grow up to be a well-adjusted adult or did he develop health issues such as anxiety (or even a physical disability?) which he endured through his whole life?

6) Matilda from 'Matilda' by Roald Dahl.

Oh, we all knew Matilda would get on this list. I have a ton of Roald Dahl characters I would love to visit as an adult but Matilda really has me curious. Does she still have her powers? What did she end up doing with her life? And did sweet, wonderful Miss Honey ever find love? I'd like to think she did and he ended up being the Father figure that Matilda deserved.

7) Hermione Granger from the 'Harry Potter' series by J.K. Rowling.

Well this is ever so slightly cheating because not only does Rowling give a small glimpse into an adult Hermione anyway, but I'm going to see the play in September where I'll definitely be able to see more details of Hermione when she's older. I'm so excited as I have real questions about the rocky roller-coaster that is probably her marriage to Ron and how her life of studying hard turned out for her.

8) Gwyn Griffiths from the 'Snow Spider Trilogy' series by Jenny Nimmo.

This book took a couple of reads before I fully understood what was going on, but I still loved it. Spiders were never really my thing, but this one was so pretty and helpful, and I ended up wondering what happened to Gwyn when he grew up. Being a magician must have left him with a lot of options for life. Did he have any other strange adventures?

9) Bastian Balthazar Bux from 'The Neverending Story' by Michael Ende.

Another Fantasy story with a young boy whom I would very much like to meet again. I've always wanted to read a sequel of some kid where a grown-up Bastian has to return to the book and save all his friends and the Childlike Empress once more. With a repaired relationship with his Father, I'd be interested to see the kind of man that Bastian became. 

10) Melanie Beeby from the 'Angels Unlimited' series by Annie Dalton.

This is a book that I never really talk about, but I really loved it when I was young. A young girl, whose life is promptly cut short, ends up becoming a time-travelling angel who goes on missions to prevent horrible things happening in the past that might detriment the future. It's difficult to find out how Melanie Beeby fared in Adulthood, considering that she died, but I never got to finish the series properly so would like to know whether she became a fully-fledged time traveller and whether she ever found a sense of closure.

Last Week's Shenanigans (25th April - 1st May)...

This week has been a largely work-filled week, but I have ended up doing a few other bits and bobs throughout. On Monday, around midday, Mat and I left my parents' house and went to visit his family! We had a really lovely afternoon there and stayed until late evening where we returned home in time to watch Season 6 Episode 1 of Game Of Thrones. Guys. I am so excited about this season. Firstly, I really think that the women of this series (Cersei, Brienne, Sansa, Arya, Ellaria, etc.) are going to be so strong and really come into their own and I'm looking forward to seeing some major ass-kicking character development with all of them! Also, I feel like a few of the horrible characters are going to get some much needed comeuppance and I'm crossing all of my fingers and toes that I'm right!

On Wednesday I went to see The Jungle Book, Disney's live-action adaptation of the animated classic and I adored it! The voice acting was phenomenal, and is it any wonder with such a talented cast? Ben Kingsley, Scarlett Johanssen, Christopher Walken and Idris Elba (to name but a few) just blew me away! I was so impressed to learn that during the making of the film, Neel Sethi (Mowgli) spent most of the time in  room by himself talking to sock puppets. That kid has a bright future ahead of him, as he did such a great job! I also saw Captain America: Civil War on Friday and was equally impressed by how good it was! I've always loved the Marvel films, and feel like they just get better and better (though watching heroes fight each other was sad).

I Read:

I Received:

- 'Thin Air' by Michelle Paver: Approved by Netgalley (28/04)
- 'Foul Tide's Turning' by Stephen Hunt: Free Gift from Sci-Fi London Film Festival (29/04)

Memes:

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookworm Delights

I Posted:

April Wrap-Up
Planned Reads For May

Planned Reads For May.

I'm really on top of my planning over the last couple of weeks and have picked some pretty exciting reads for this month! I hope that I enjoy them all! 

Here is my current read that I just started.

1. 'A Court Of Thorns & Roses'; Sarah J. Maas. This is a book I've been wanting to get hold of for a while, and it came up on Amazon Kindle pretty cheap recently, so I snatched it up! I've been dying to get into more books about Faeries and love that this is a retelling of 'Beauty & The Beast' though it has received pretty mixed reviews so I have my fingers crossed that it's not a passenger of the Hype Train!

And here are the rest of the reads I picked for this month!

1. 'Thief With No Shadow'; Emily Gee. I have had this book on my shelf for a long time. It was actually a Birthday present from so long ago that I never got round to reading, so finally I've decided the time has come to see what it's like! It's Fantasy, which is a genre I'm eager to get back into, so I'm really looking forward to this read.
2. 'Allegiant'; Veronica Roth. It's about time that I finished this series. I read Book Two fairly recently and didn't enjoy it as much as the first, plus, I've heard some seriously worrying thoughts on the final installment which has really put me off. I won't feel at peace with this one if I don't judge it for myself however, and now is the time to do that.
3. 'Salt To The Sea'; Ruta Sepetys. Historical YA is always something I appreciate reading, and this one looks really good. It's based on true events, but told from the perspective of four teenagers and I'm really intrigued to read Sepetys' writing. I've heard great things! Plus, I haven't read Post-WWII fiction for a while.
4. 'I Am Malala' (Young Readers Ed.); Malala Yousafzai & Patricia McCormick. Continuing with my new desire to read more Non-Fiction, I received this book from Netgalley quite a while back. I've always wanted to read Malala's story and now have the opportunity to do so, though I'm fully aware that this is aimed at a younger readership and might not reveal some of the true horrors to their fullest extent. Nevertheless, this is one of my most anticipated reads this month!
5. 'World After'; Susan Ee. I read the first book of this series about two thirds of the way through last year and loved it. In fact I recommended it to one of my fellow readers at work, who also thought it was great and proceeded to totally outdo me by finishing the entire series while I lagged behind. So now this is my effort to catch up and I'm determined not to leave so long before finishing it altogether.
6. 'Pantomime'; Laura Lam. I saw this book a while back but wasn't totally convinced by it. However, Amazon recently recommended it to me again and along with this gorgeous new covered, I'm curious enough to give it a try. I like the idea of an Intersex MC a lot, not to mention the inclusion of a Circus! I can't wait to dive in!