Tag: book blogger

Top Ten Tuesdays

The Last Series I abandoned

by amyleighreads12 Comments on The Last Series I abandoned

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is the last 10 books I abandoned. As somewhat of a completionist I have a tough time DNFing a book or not completing a series when I am already a few books in. I would just kind of prefer to force myself to finish off the book/series and then put them back on my shelves and never think about them again. However, there are two instances where I have started a series and have no intention of every finishing them which I thought I would share with you today!

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The Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi – I read the original trilogy a couple of years ago now and I liked the first book and gradually my attention span and interest just dwindled as I continued through the series.  This was around the time that Restore Me was first released and before I had even read any of the series I bought a brand new hardback copy because I was sooo sure I was going to love this series as much as everyone else, alas it is sitting on my shelves unread and I have no interest in continuing on!

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Lorien Legacies series by Pittacus Lore – I started this series right around the time the movie was first released which was nearly ten years ago now and I think at the time only 2-3 of the books had been published. Over the next couple of years I did end up picking up each of the books as they were released but eventually my interest and my reading preferences changed and I gave up on ever completing this series!

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Reviews

I Believe in a Thing Called Love Review

by amyleighreads3 Comments on I Believe in a Thing Called Love Review

 *SPOILERS BELOW*

31145133Desi is a senior in high school who has achieved everything she has set her mind to, she is valedictorian of her class, she has many extracurricular activities and has her mind set on Stanford but she’s never had a boyfriend. In fact, she’s a known disaster in romance, a clumsy, stammering humiliation magnet.

I think this was supposed to be a fun, light, fluffy contemporary romance but I just found it to be a little silly and cringey to be honest. Desi, even though she is portrayed as being quite smart and switched on is woefully naïve and immature at times. Choosing to keep her interview a secret from Luca and continuing with her list and her plans even after they are together was almost frustrating to read. 

I think the plot was too predictable as well. Like we knew Luca was going to end up finding the list and would break up with her and still she never really dwelled on her actions and accepted how wrong she was keeping this whole scheme a secret. Even going that step further and trying to manipulate him into getting back with her at the prom really demonstrated how little she had grown over the course of the story line.

I really liked Desi’s friends, I think they really shone in this book. They are both supportive of Desi and call her out when they know she is going too far. We are given a little background into their friendships and how they came to be so close and I appreciated the dynamics between them, it felt realistic.

The overall premise of the book was quite unique and entertaining. I liked that we are given some cultural diversity with the Korean culture. I am quite the fan of K Dramas myself so it was quite fun to get the references to the different shows thrown in there as well! You are kind of on the edge of your seat throughout the book just waiting for that other shoe to drop, and when it does the drama definitely ensues.

⭐️3/5 A tad too immature for me!

TBR

Tome Topple Readathon TBR

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on Tome Topple Readathon TBR

I’ve had a lot of fun doing small little readathon’s throughout the last couple of months so when I seen that Thoughts from Tomes on Youtube was hosting another round of the Tome Topple I decided I had to participate. The Tome Topple Readathon will be taking place from midnight in your time zone on May 9th to 11:59pm in your time zone on May 22nd. I have seen this readathon floating around Booktube for a while now and I have quite a lot of big books on my TBR so I figure this was a great way to finally get around to reading  a few of them. I definitely won’t be completing all of these books but I am hoping I’ll be able to either become a Scholar or a Sage!

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The tome that has been on your TBR the longest

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A tome audiobook

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Tome that’s part of a series

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A standalone tome

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Read 1 tome

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A tome featuring a AAPI main character and/or written by a AAPI author (for Asian American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month)

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Tome from a genre you don’t usually read

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The tome on your TBR with the most pages

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An adult tome

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Tags

The Finished Books Tag

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on The Finished Books Tag

Kristin @ Kristin Kraves Books always has fun bookish tags that I like to recreate, I seen this one pretty recently on her blog and I wanted to give it a go!

Picture1I do on Goodreads! I started my account in early 2018 and I have never looked back! I also have a reading journal at home that I like to keep a physical record of all the books that I read!

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Picture2I do record monthly reading stats and I usually post them at the end of every month on my blog. I keep track of the total number of pages read in the month and the average number of pages per day, the format of the books I read, the different genres, male vs female authors, the longest and shortest book I read in the month , my favourite book of the month and my star ratings! Here are my stats from April, March & January (somehow I skipped Feb this year)

April Statsmarch statsStats December

Picture3I do rate all of the books I read, it’s very subjective but I usually rate per my enjoyment of the book. ⭐️1 star = hated, ⭐️2 star = didn’t like, ⭐️3 star = liked, ⭐️4 star = really really liked, ⭐️5 star = absolutely LOVED!

Picture4I review most of the books that I finish but not all of them. I read quite a mix of books but the ones that I kind of prioritise to review are the more new releases and hyped books but if I have some thoughts I need to share I will definitely post it!

Picture5I have 3 bookshelves in my room that hold all of my books, both read and unread.

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Picture6I will usually just mark it as ‘read’ on Goodreads, take my bookmark out and put the book back on my shelves! If I have intense feelings I will start my review straight away, but usually I like to leave it until the next couple of days before I write anything down just to let my thoughts settle.

happy-reading

Reviews

Stalking Jack the Ripper Review

by amyleighreads1 Comment on Stalking Jack the Ripper Review

40727470._SY475_Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord’s daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life. Against her stern father’s wishes and society’s expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle’s laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine.

I liked Audrey. She was at times I think a little too full of herself, especially when she decided to sneak out onto the streets at night and try to catch the killer herself. Even though it was a way to rebel from her father and his quite stringent rules she did just want to save the women and prevent any more deaths. She is very self-motivated and I liked the way she didn’t conform to society’s expectations and did what she was interested in. She does evolve over the course of the story line and becomes more self-assured, actually standing up to her father and initiating the kiss with Thomas.

Thomas was quite an enigmatic character. He’s very aloof and comes across quite arrogant yet charismatic at the start of the book. I like that we gradually get to see him open up and express his feelings to Audrey in an almost offhand way, making jokes and shamelessly flirting. We learn more about his family and the reason why he is so adamant about learning all he can from Jonathan. I can appreciate the subtle nod to Sherlock Holmes with his character and I really enjoyed the banter between him and Audrey.

I didn’t really think the love triangle was necessary, other than introducing another character for Audrey to suspect. I guess Blackburn was necessary to drive the plot along but I didn’t really see a point to his character. After Audrey declared she no longer trusted him he didn’t really make any more impact on the story, I am hoping we get to see a bit more of him in the rest of the series though because I actually quite liked him. 

The fact that the book didn’t shy away from becoming too gruesome definitely kept me engaged. It goes into pretty grim details about what happened to each of the murdered women and the autopsies they performed. It gave the book a sense of realism in a way and added much needed depth to the plot. The mystery aspect was a little bit predictable but I was entertained and eager to read on and figure out who was Jack in the end. 

⭐️3/5 stars Gruesome, dark yet still quite charming!