Book Review Monday- Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli| It'sCarenzaB

Hey Guys!
How are you?

If you have followed me for a while, then you will know I love to use the Overdrive app. Overdrive is an app that connects to libraries across the world and using your library card you can see what ebooks and audiobooks your library has. My library, unfortunately, has a very poor selection of audiobooks. But recently, the audiobook for Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli had appeared and after seeing it in shops, I thought I would listen to it. 2 hours later, I didn't feel like I had gained anything from listing to the audiobook. I gave it two stars of Goodreads and in this post I am going to be discussing why I had such an issue with this book. If you have not read this book, then you will be spoiled as I plan on discussing spoilers.

Plot

Stargirl. From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of “Stargirl, Stargirl.” She captures Leo Borlock’ s heart with just one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with just one cheer. The students of Mica High are enchanted. At first.  

Then they turn on her. Stargirl is suddenly shunned for everything that makes her different, and Leo, panicked and desperate with love, urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her: normal. 

In this celebration of nonconformity, Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli weaves a tense, emotional tale about the perils of popularity and the thrill and inspiration of first love. 

Opinions

Like I said at the beginning of my review/ discussion, I really didn't enjoy this book. It may be because it came out 17 years ago or it may be because it was aimed at people younger than myself. I'm just going to jump straight into why I didn't like it. When Leo and Stargirl begin dating, Leo urges her to change so that she fits in and she does. But as their relationship develops, Stargirl becomes unhappy with her new identity and Leo can't accept her for who she is. I can't remember the direct quote, but Leo says something like I was so happy she changed.

If you are in a relationship with someone and they force you to change who you are so you fit in, they are not worth it. It is disgusting that the author included a character who cared more about his popularity than about his own girlfriends happiness. 

I personally found all the characters annoying. I understand that Stargirl is supposed to be seen as "unusual", but the other just made her seem mad. Maybe I read this book at the wrong age, but this book just wasn't for me. I have no intentions of picking up the sequel and I wish I could have the two hours back I spent listening to it.

So that concludes my rather short review. I decided not to do this post in my usual style as this was more of a discussion rather than a review.

Love,

Carenza x

Beauty and the Beast Live Action Movie Discussion| It'sCarenzaB

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How are you?

Last Friday, on March 17th, the live-action version of Beauty and the Beast was released into the world. It's safe to say that it has been very successful at the box office and lots of fans have been loving it. When I first heard they were doing a live-action version, I was very dubious as Beauty and the Beast is my all time favourite Disney film. I wanted to be Belle and find someone who could give me a library (still haven't found them tbh). But, in this post I am basically going to be gushing in a fangirly way over the film. This will contain spoilers for the film, so if you have not watched either versions, you cannot read this post.

Beauty and the Beast Live Action Movie Discussion- Contains Spoilers

Can I just say that I love the movie poster? I managed to buy a A4 print from eBay that was signed (someone had printed the signatures onto the print) and I can't wait to pin it up.

As I have already stated, I am a huge fan of BatB (Beauty and the Beast), so I was worried that it might not live up to my expectations and ruin my memories of the original. In my opinion, the live-action version is better than the original. It fixes plot holes the original had and I found I could relate to it more seeing real people rather than cartoons.

Emma Watson and Dan Stevens as Belle and Beast retrospectively were amazing. They had a wonderful on screen chemistry (and off-screen, I have been binge watching interviews they have been doing). The rest of the cast were brilliant and I have been listening to the soundtrack on repeat.

My favourite song is Evermore, which is a new song that the Beast sings as Belle leaves. It filled the gap that the original movie left and was one of the most emotional songs ever. Dan Stevens is an amazing singer. I am 100% going to be buying the deluxe version of the soundtrack as it is just too perfect.

When it was announced that LeFou (Josh Gad) was a gay character, there was a lot of controversy. In my opinion, the controversy hype was overwhelming. There were very subtle hints, but nothing was explicitly shown that LeFou was gay. I personally see it as him looking up to Gaston and there is a tiny bit of love in their relationship. 

The cinematography was truly beautiful. The CGI or whatever they used to create the Beast and the castle's inhabitants was amazing. I liked how you could kind of see the actors faces through the characters they played. Looking at the poster, I can see Dan Stevens face through the Beast ( I am not saying that Dan Stevens is a beast, but I can see him through the Beasts face).

I cannot wait for this to come out on DVD and I will be making another trip to my local cinema at some point soon to go and see it again because I cannot wait for it to come out on DVD.

So that concludes my fangirl-esque discussion of Beauty and the Beast. Let me know what you thought of the movie and if you loved it as much as I did.  

Love,

Carenza x

How to Bookworm #6- Book Blogging| It'sCarenzaB

Hey Guys!
How are you?
Today I have what could be my final post in my How to Bookworm series. At the moment, I am stuck for ideas, so it may be a while before another one is posted. In this one I am going to be talking about book blogging. I've been blogging for almost 2 years, and I started book blogging in January 2016, so I think I've finally got to grasps with what is important to do on a book blog. If you have any further tips that I haven't mentioned, please mention them in the comments.

Reviews

Something that I think is key to a book blog is reviews. Whether this be for a book, subscription box, bookish item or book-to-movie adaption, reviews are important. It lets people in the community now your opinions and often helps people to decide whether they are going to read the book.

I will admit that writing reviews is very hard. They're often the least read things on my blog, but I still enjoy writing them. I know a lot of book bloggers post reviews frequently, I like to post mine on a Monday, but I am thinking of changing that up a bit.

One tip that I recommend is to have a structure to your reviews. It means it's easy to read. I like to start with a disclaimer that the post will feature spoilers, then a non-spoiler section for people who haven't read the book, then a cover discussion as covers are really important, then a plot summary which I take from Goodreads and finally an opinions section in which I discuss things I like and things I don't like.  

Something that I have recently started doing is linking an Amazon page so people can go directly to purchasing the book. I also like to link the Goodreads page so then people can see what other people have thought of the book.

Discussions

Another important part of the book community, is discussions. We like to discuss issues that are relevant at the time. I know that they're are a lot of discussions about the lack of diversity in books at the moment. I like to post a discussion about once a month on an issue I feel is important. 

If there is an issue you feel strongly about, write a post about it and see what others think. You may encounter people who have different opinions, but you will have to learn to respect their opinions even if you don't agree.

Tags

Sometimes I feel as though tags are limited to BookTubers, but tags are fine on blogs too. If there's a certain theme for a tag you want to do, do it. I know that there are a lot of Disney themed tags and there's at least one Hamilton tag that I would love to do.

Tags allow your audience to get to know you without you having to spew random information about you. You may also find people who share your opinions and you could find a new friend out of it.

Promote other bloggers and companies

This is something I want to start doing as I feel very out of touch with the blogging community. The blogging community was how I discovered the book community. A lot of people in the book community have blogs which they spend a lot of time on. Find blogs that you like and see what they are talking about. It might led you to discover something new that you didn't know you liked.

So that concludes my How to Bookworm post on book blogging. Like I said at the start, let me know if you have any other tips for book bloggers.

Love,

Carenza x

Book Review Monday- The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye| It'sCarenzaB

Hey Guys!
How are you?

Recently I read The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye and as I really enjoyed it, I thought I would review it. With the sequel coming out in a few months (June 29th in the UK), it is the perfect time to pick it up. If you love fantasy and emperors, then you will love this book. To read a summary on Goodreads, click here. To buy it from Amazon, click here. Like all my reviews, this will contains spoilers, so if you have not read this book, you will not be able to read this review.

The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye- Contains Spoilers

Non-Spoiler Thoughts

I gave this book 4/5 stars, but looking back I think it's closer to a 3.5/5. While I did really enjoy it, I had issues with the pacing and at times I found it a bit predictable. I am looking forward to the sequel coming out and as far as I know it is a duology. 

Cover Chat

Despite that my copy is a bit battered, I do love the design for the cover. It looks like a city and a crown, the cover for the second book is just as beautiful!

Plot

Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.

And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.

Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has?

For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with—beautiful, whip-smart, imaginative—and he can’t stop thinking about her.

And when Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love…or be killed himself.

As long-buried secrets emerge, threating the future of  the empire, it becomes dangerously clear- the Crown's Game is not one to lose.

As always, this summary is taken from Goodreads were the average rating is 3.82/5 stars.

Opinions

Like I said in my non-spoiler section, I did really enjoy the Crown's Game. I've never read a story quite like it and it was nice to read a story set in Russia. As I have studied Russian history in school and college, it really helped me with my current studies. 

My main issue with this book was the pacing. I've been having this issue a lot recently. It might just be because of how busy my personal life is, but I found the pacing to be really slow. It was all in the final 50 or so pages that everything seemed to happen. I personally like the action to be spread out through all the book.

Another thing I had a bit of an issue with was the romance. Despite the fact that it is stated in the plot summary there will be a love triangle, I still didn't enjoy it. I am really not a huge fan of a love triangle, the only one I like is from The Infernal Devices. The romance felt very typical for a YA, it was very much an insta-love story. 

The magical elements were my favourite to read. I could clearly picture them in my mind and that is what makes me love reading. As magic was a predominate part of this story, the descriptions showed how important the magic was to the characters.

So that concludes my review of The Crown's Game. Let me know what you thought of it in the comments.

Love,

Carenza x

February Fairyloot Review| It'sCarenzaB

Hey Guys!
How are you?

As you guys know, I have a subscription to Fairyloot. This means that I can post monthly reviews on the boxes I get. The February box was one of my favourite boxes I have received so far. I'm pretty sure that it is safe to post this review as the March boxes are being shipped next week. If you don't want to be spoiled, do not read this review.

February Fairyloot- Emperors and Fugitives

So this is an overview of what was in the box. There was quite a lot packed into it.

The first item in the box was this exclusive full size Kalusian Sunset candle designed by Happy Piranha. I love that Fairyloot includes a candle almost every month.

It is this amazing purple colour that matches the purple worms Fairyloot uses. The scent is strawberry and champagne. It's probably my favourite candle Fairyloot has included.

Then there was this Rebel of the Sands pouch designed exclusively by Alisse Courtier. This is my favourite item in the box as I had been in need of a small pouch to keep all my important items in when I'm at college as my rucksack has no pockets. It says "the world makes things for each place" and is in this beautiful typography.

Fairyloot included a Baby Groot keychain Pop Funko. I only have one keychain Pop Funko, so I'm happy to have more.

He's so tiny and detailed. He's also a bobble head keyring. I'd attach this to my keys, but I'm terrified it will fall off!

This is my first ever book themed bath bomb and it was designed exclusively by Bathing Beauties. It's a celestial gunpowder bath bomb and smells of cupcakes. I'm not the biggest fan of sweet scents, but this one isn't too bad and I can't wait to use it.

Another first for me is bookish coasters. This one was designed exclusively by Read at Midnight. The quote is from Illuminae, which I have not read. I am going to read it, I think I'm going to wait for all the books to be out and then read it. I love this coaster as it's minimalistic.

 This blue space girl bookmark was designed exclusively by Till and Dill. I have wanted to get one of their bookmarks for ages, so I was really happy when Fairyloot included this. It reminds me of the Blue lady in Guardians of the Galaxy played by Karen Gillian.

Fairyloot included another double sided print this month. It was from Throne of Glass and this side is Prince Dorian (my fave). This was designed exclusively by Taratjah. I have been dying to get my hands on some of her designs and I'm definitely going to be getting some in the future. I love her Cassandra Clare designs the most.

The other side of the print is Manon. I'm probably one of the few people who doesn't like Manon, so I have mine displaying Dorian.

The book included was Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza. I hadn't heard of this book before, but I understand that it's a mix between fantasy and sci-fi. I've read a chapter and I'm finding a bit confusing, but hopefully I'll get into it soon.

As always, Fairyloot included this amazing info graphic card. I love the designs Fairyloot uses.

Fairyloot has this system that helps you find your reading buddy. Out of the 5 boxes I have got, I've only found my buddy once. My hashtag for February was #FairyLoot06878.

Since September, Fairyloot has included Fairyscoop. It's a leaflet which interviews the author and includes articles on the back from someone in the book community.

Fairyloot is amazing at including promotions for bookish companies and publishing houses. This months was a 30% discount code for MyBookmark. I haven't used this as the bookmarks are very expensive and unfortunately I can't justify that much money on a bookmark.

The other promotional item was for The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr. This book is already out, so I'll pick it up eventually.












So that concludes my review of Fairyloot. I've decided to move my reviews to earlier in the month as I feel that the end of the month is too late.
Love,
Carenza x

Book Review Monday- After You by Jojo Moyes| It'sCarenzaB

Hey Guys!
How are you?

Last Monday, I posted my review of Me Before You by Jojo Moyes and this week I am reviewing the sequel, After You. As After You is a sequel, you will not be able to read this review if you have not read either books. I am going to be discussing spoilers, so you have been warned.

After You by Jojo Moyes- Contains Spoilers

Non-Spoiler Thoughts

I will say that I preferred Me Before You as I felt After You was simply answering the fans questions and giving the fans what they wanted. I didn't feel as though it added much to the overall story and I was quite content with how Me Before You ended. However, I did enjoy it as I have been loving contemporary books at the moment. I gave After You 4/5 stars, but looking back I feel as though it was more of a 3.5/5 star book.

Cover Chat

I quite like how minimalistic these covers are. I do wish I had the matching edition of Me Before You, but I do love my movie tie in edition.

Plot

Lou Clark has lots of questions.
Like how it is she's ended up working in an airport bar, spending every shift watching other people jet off to new places.
Or why the flat she's owned for a year still doesn't feel like home.
Whether her close-knit family can forgive her for what she did eighteen months ago.
And will she ever get over the love of her life.
What Lou does know for certain is that something has to change.
Then, one night, it does.
But does the stranger on her doorstep hold the answers Lou is searching for - or just more questions?
Close the door and life continues: simple, ordered, safe.
But Lou once made a promise to live. And if she's going to keep it, she's going to have to invite them in...

This summary is taken from Goodreads and the average rating on Goodreads is 3.71/5 stars.

Opinions

Like I said at the beginning, I did prefer Me Before You. I do think the story could have survived without this book, but I do understand why the fans wanted this. Me Before You left it open to interpretation, so it was interesting seeing where the author would take it. 

I'm going to say that I really didn't like Lily and found her story line uninteresting. She was really self-centred and just kept on getting into trouble. The only moment where I felt sorry for her was when she revealed someone had indecent photos of her. I would have been quite happy if she hadn't been in the book.

I also felt that it would be very unlikely for someone working in an ambulance to use it as a taxi and let people have lifts in it. It is an ambulance, not a taxi. It is used to save lives, not to drive people around. It would be highly unlikely for a paramedic to let someone distract them while on the job and also put that persons life at risk.

It was nice seeing how the relationship between Lou's family had changed. I did feel a bit disconnected from Lou's mum trying to become a feminist as I felt that it was put in there to make people laugh at Lou's father's reaction.

I did like how Lou had kept in touch with Nathan and that he had been able to move on. It was good that Nathan helped her get a job, which meant she could finally move on. I was happy that the author chose not to go down the romance line again. 

Overall, I did enjoy this, but felt that it wasn't necessary to the overall plot. Let me know what you thought in the comments.

Love,

Carenza x 

 

February 2017 Favourites| It'sCarenzaB

Hey Guys!
How are you?

It's reached that point in the month when I tell you what some of my favourites were from the previous month. This is probably the smallest favourites I have ever done as February just seemed to go so quickly and I had so much on I can't remember what happened. My posts are usually a lot longer, but I have under five favourites for this month. For the first time since I introduced the Bits'n'Bobs category, I have no random favourites.

Books

My favourite book that I read in February was Caraval by Stephanie Garber. I have a review of this, which you can read here. I have seen some mixed reviews about this book, but I personally loved it. I had started to hate reading fantasy, but this made me rethink my love for fantasy.

Culture

I only have one cultural favourite and that was a trip to London I made in mid-February. My family and I went to the British Museum and we saw an amazing exhibition on South Africa. I do like going to exhibitions, but sometimes I can find them a bit overwhelming, especially after a long journey. But I really enjoyed this one. We then went to a pub, which for the life of me I cannot remember the name, but it was one of the best pubs I have ever been to. But, the main reason we went to London was to see a play called La Ronde at a theater called the Bunker. It had one of my all time favourite actors in it, Alexander Vlahos. This play was definitely for more mature people as it dealt with sex and relationships. I'm not sure if it is still on, but if it is, I highly recommend.

My other vaguely cultural related thing is that I have been enjoying buying books from charity shops. Most of the books I have been buying are from charity shops. I feel that books from charity shops get a bad rep because they can be damaged, but at the end of the day you are getting a book and a charity is getting money towards its cause.

So that concludes my February favourites. I know this post is tiny compared to my usual favourite posts, but February went so quickly.

Love,

Carenza x    

Book Review Monday- Me Before You by Jojo Moyes| It'sCarenzaB

Hey Guys!
How are you?

I recently read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes and I knew that I had to review it. I had seen lots of people in the book community talking about it, but never got around to picking up a copy until January this year. This review will contain spoilers, so if you have not read this book, you will not be able to read this review.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes- Contains Spoilers

Non-Spoiler Thoughts

At first, I wasn't overwhelmed by this book and for a while, I couldn't understand why there was so much hype around it. It wasn't until I was about half way through, that I began to understand why this book is so loved. It does cover a difficult and slightly controversial issue, but it covers it very well. I gave it 5/5 stars and had I not been on a train whilst finishing it, I would have cried.

Cover Chat

The version I have is the Movie Tie-In edition as the movie came out last year. I do like getting tie-in editions as it shows that a book was popular/ successful enough to become a movie. 

Plot

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex-Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair-bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

A love story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?

Opinion

I'm going to start this section by talking about why there is so much controversy surrounding this book. As Will is a disabled man, he believes he cannot going on the way he is. He isn't happy with his life and wants to die. The author is not saying that all disabled people feel like this or that they should all kill themselves, she is simply saying that this individual feels that their life isn't worth living. I'm sure that the author never intended to offend anyone. There are cases in the media of people who have become severely disabled through illness or accident who want to die because they feel they cannot live their lives to their full extent. I can see why there is controversy, but at the end of the day, this is a work of fiction and these characters are not real.

It would have been interesting if the author had chosen to write this from Will's perspective rather than Lou's, as at some points Lou's feelings cloud her judgement and gets in the way. At times I found Lou irritating as she wouldn't respect Will's wishes and feelings. I understand that in that situation it is hard, but it was Will's wishes and she was unwilling to respect it.

This story was not your traditional love story, which I was happy about. It was very subtle and didn't take over the central plot. I was happy that the author chose not to let Lou's involvement in Will's life change his decision. It would have felt like "oh, I just let this pretty girl change my decision".

I really liked the characters as they all had different voices. However, I felt it unnecessary when the author would change the chapters perspective as it felt as though she was doing this to fill us in. It didn't add to the story, it felt more like a info dump. If this was something she wanted to do, she could have chosen to add more chapters with perspectives from characters other than Lou's.

It wasn't until I was half way through, that I began to feel connected to a character. I guess this is because this book is for adults and I am used to reading about teenagers.  This was one of the most emotional reads I have ever read and like I said in my non-spoiler section, I would have cried if I hadn't been on public transport.

I'll end this on a positive, while this book deals with a saddening issue,  this book had moments of being really funny. Will and Lou's relationship was quite humorous. They would joke about each other and I really liked this as it lightened the mood for the whole book.

So that concludes my review of Me Before You. Let me know what you thought and if you agreed with me at all.
Love,
Carenza x      

February Wrap Up 2017| It'sCarenzaB

Hey Guys!
How are you?

Today I am going to be sharing with you the books I read in February. How are we already done with the first two months of 2017? I've decided to stop posting TBRs as I never stick to them and I want to be able to pick up books I'm interested in, rather than books that are on my TBR. So these posts from now on are going to be just wrap ups. These posts will be spoiler free, so if you have not read any of the books I have mentioned, you will not be spoiled.

February Wrap Up

The first book I read/ finished was Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken. This was the conclusion to the Passenger duology. I have a review up of this on here. I definitely preferred this to Passenger and I was very satisfied with the ending.

The next book I read was Caraval by Stephanie Garber. I absolutely loved this book. Again, this is another book I have a review for. I gave this book 5/5 stars and I cannot wait for the sequel!

 The next two books I read were Me Before You and After You by Jojo Moyes. I will be reviewing these books soon. I gave Me Before You 5/5 stars and if I hadn't been on public transport at the time of finishing this book, I would have cried. I enjoyed After You, but not as much as Me Before You.

Then I read the Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye. I read this because it was set in Russia and I am studying Russian history, so this was really helpful in helping me to understanding Russia's history. I gave this book 4.5/5 stars. I did enjoy this, but I did have some problems with it.

The final book I read was Columbine by David Cullen. This is a non-fiction book about the Columbine shooting in 1999. At times this was tough to read, so I would go through phases where I wouldn't read it. It was tough to read due to the subject matter. I read this as part of research project for class and I borrowed it from the library. I will be purchasing a copy at some point and I want to start reading more non-fiction books.





So that concludes my February wrap up. Let me know what books you read this month and if you have read any of these books.
Love,
Carenza x