Amy Leigh Reads

Reading Rush Wrap Up

July 29, 2019July 31, 2019by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment

I accomplished all the goals I set for myself and completed some great books along the way! All of my ratings for the books will be in my monthly wrap up!

The books I completed were:

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

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The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

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Geekerella by Ashley Poston

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The Help by Kathryn Stockett

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My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodie Ashton and Jodi Meadows

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Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

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A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

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All the badges & challenges I collected were:

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Pages read per day:

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Overall Experience:

I had a great experience for the Reading Rush! I didn’t have a whole lot going on this week so I was able to get a good amount of reading in and managed to fit 7 books in 7 days. I read a total of 2734 pages over the course of the week and managed to finish a lot of books that I have been putting off for a while!

⭐️ 5/5 stars for The Reading Rush

Reviews

Geekerella Review

July 26, 2019July 26, 2019by amyleighreads1 Comment

81E7BnpXpZL This was cute!

This is a Cinderella retelling but with a bit of a twist. We follow the story of Elle who lives with her step-mother Catherine and her twin daughters Cat and Chloe. Elle works on a food truck and is a hard-core fan girl for a classic sci-fi show called Starfield that she grew up watching with her father, that is about to be readapted into a new blockbuster movie! Darien has just cast as the lead character in the new Starfield and has to judge a cosplay contest at the ExcelsiCon that Elle has decided to enter.

Darien I actually quite liked that he wasn’t just a typical young Hollywood actor. He also had a lot of issues in his life and obstacles that he had to deal with on his rise to fame. I liked that we delved at lot deeper into his past and how everything unfolded with Brian. Having his timeline run concurrently with Elle and seeing how the texts connected them was super cute and really had me invested in the plot.

For the majority of the book Elle just got on my nerves. Letting Catherine and Chloe walk all over her and just bowing down to them and not doing anything about it. Just accepting all of the horrible things they do to her and not trying to fight back at all. I honestly can’t stand female main protagonists that have no backbone. I realise she has had to live and cope with them for years and this is her way of dealing with all of the manipulation, but I needed her to be stronger and fully snap back at them and take charge. Sage was the one who stole the dress back from Chloe; Darien was the one who stood up to Chloe at the ball. Elle had maybe one scene where she opened up to Catherine, but she cried through most of it and it wasn’t really enough. There wasn’t really any conclusion to that part of her life, she kind of just ran away from them.

Other than that I really enjoyed the rest of the book. The pacing was quick and the overall premise I thought was a unique take on the classic Cinderella tale. Sure it was a little tropey at times but it was entertaining and fun and exactly what I needed in the middle of this read-a-thon!

⭐️3/5 Quick, fun, cute read, I was just left a little unfulfilled!

Book vs. Movie

📚 Book vs. Movie 🎥

July 25, 2019July 25, 2019by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment

This month I thought I would do a little throw back to The Help.

I watched the movie first back in 2011 when it was released and then when I found out it was actually based off a book I decided to pick it up and see how it compares. It’s now been a good 3-4 years since I’ve read/watched The Help and when I saw the challenge in the Reading Rush to read a book and watch the movie adaptation I thought this was the perfect opportunity to give The Help another look!

These were my thoughts on The Help:

Pros: The book was highly engaging from the start. I loved the contrast between Skeeter and Aibileen. Skeeter so eager for change and willing to risk anything to get this book done and spark a difference in the world. Risks that Aibileen and the other maids weren’t prepared to take at the start and making Skeeter aware of everything that they have to lose. This was one movie where I thought they got the casting perfectly! Mostly when I read a book and then watch the movie/TV adaptation the actors and actresses aren’t what I imagined at all and it throws me off the whole movie. This isn’t the case with The Help. I loved everyone and I thought they all portrayed their respective character so well!

Cons: The only real con I have about this adaptation is that they tweaked the storyline with what happened with Constantine. Making her daughter black instead of white and how everything went down at the DAR meeting. I definitely preferred the way it played out in the books compared to the movie, it just made more sense and had a lot more of an impact!

Overall thoughts: I thought this was a fantastic adaptation! The characters were portrayed perfectly and there wasn’t a lot of content from the book that was cut out in the movie.

My Recommendation: Honestly either, I loved them both!

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Reviews

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet Review

July 24, 2019July 24, 2019by amyleighreads1 Comment

51BhQZOH9zL Good not great!

This book follows a ragtag mixed species crew aboard a tunneling ship called the Wayfarer. They are given a contract to travel to a faraway planet that’s been recently added to the international treaty list and punch a wormhole back to more well-traveled airspace.

The characters were definitely interesting and intriguing. I loved all of the different species that are explored throughout the book, especially when it goes into details about their history and culture, seeing how different they are to humans.

Rosemary’s character was a little boring at the start. She kind of blended in behind all of the other dynamic characters aboard the Wayfarer. I wasn’t all that invested in her and I wasn’t really compelled to figure out what she was running from back on Mars. And when it was eventually brought to light, it wasn’t all that shocking to be honest.

I loved the relationship between Kizzy and Jenks! The banter between them and all of the kind of manic energy they brought to the storyline. Jenks’s subplot was highly interesting to me; him being in love with Lovey and then contemplating getting her a body and then when everything happens seeing him grieve and lean on his fellow crew mates and how they supported him throughout. It was very touching and really displayed the levels of companionship, love and respect they all have towards each other!

Unfortunately a good majority of the book bored me. All of the spacial/sciency talk didn’t do anything for me personally and kind stilted the pace of the book. It was only 400 pages but it felt like closer to 600 to me. I picked this book up and put it down several times during the month and really the only reason I managed to finish it was because it fit a challenge in the Reading Rush. There wasn’t really anything in the book that was driving me to pick it up and finish.

This was definitely more of a character driven story whereas I prefer a more blend of action and adventure with character development throughout.

⭐️3/5 stars I spaced out for most of the book…

Book Lists

Settings I’d like to see more of

July 23, 2019July 23, 2019by amyleighreads9 Comments

This week’s Top 10 Tuesday is settings I would like to see more of in books and honestly that had me thinking for a minute. There isn’t really that many common themes when I thought about all the books I loved and where they were set, I did however, manage to think about 5 settings that I love to read about in books and would definitely love to see more of in the future!

Australia – I have just always wanted to read an urban fantasy book set in Australia! Sadly I don’t have any examples…

School – there is just something about a school setting that I absolutely love. Of course it stems from reading Harry Potter growing up but there have been various other books I’ve read in a school setting that I ended up loving! Examples include:

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Offices – Office romances is one of my favourite tropes in the romance genre, so every time I come across one I usually always end up loving it! Examples include:

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Space Stations – Space explorations isn’t one of my favourite genre though I’ve found I can appreciate a fantasy/sci-fi story based solely on a space station of some kind! Examples include:

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