When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon Review (Contains Spoilers)| CarenzaOnBooks

Taken from Google

Title- When Dimple Met Rishi
Author- Sandhya Menon
Series- N/A
Published- May 30th 2017 (Hardcover in US), July 13th 2017 (Paperback)
Page Count- 380 (Hardcover), 384 (Paperback)
Publishing House- Simon Pulse (US), Hodder&Stoughton (UK)
Rating- 4/5 Stars
Note- Thank you to Hodder&Stoughton via NetGalley for sending me an eBook ARC of this book.

About the Author

My name is Sandhya Menon, and I’m a New York Times and national Indie bestselling author. I write books for teens (and those who still feel like teens inside!). I currently live in Colorado, where I’m on a mission to (gently) coerce my husband, son, and daughter to watch all 3,221 Bollywood movies I claim as my favorite. Also, I love my pets a little too much, as you can probably tell.

(Taken from Sandhya's website)

Plot

A New York Times bestseller.

The rom-com that everyone’s talking about! Eleanor & Park meets Bollywood in this hilarious and heartfelt novel about two Indian-American teens whose parents conspire to arrange their marriage.

Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right?

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.

The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not?

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to proves itself in the most unexpected ways. 

(Taken from Goodreads, my Goodreads review)

Opinions

Once again, thank you to Hodder&Stoughton for sending me an eBook ARC of this book. I have to state that I am not being paid to promote this book. I also want to state that even though I was sent this book for review, this review is 100% my honest opinion. No matter if I am sent something, my reviews will always be my 100% honest opinion. Final thing I want to state is that I am experimenting with my review style, so this review will be in a slightly different format to my usual reviews. I will start with positives and then move to negatives rather than bouncing between the two.

I had been hearing great things about When Dimple Met Rishi since ARCs were being sent out, so I was very excited when I saw it was on NetGalley. I have been in a bit of a reading slump following reading Lord of Shadows and this book got me out of my slump. It was the cute, summer contemporary that I had been looking for and I am now in the mood for more contemporary books.

Dimple was a really strong character and I loved the fact that she was a feminist. It was established early on in the book in a conversation between Dimple and her mother. What I liked was that it was refreshing to see a character standing up for their beliefs for the entire book. I also saw it in the relationship between Celia and Dimple. Dimple tried to make Celia see that what Harri and Evan were asking her to do at the talent show was degrading. 

Usually in contemporary books, it's the girl that has to change everything for the boy, but it was Rishi that learned to change through his relationship with Dimple. Rishi began to understand that, while tradition is important, it isn't everything in life. He also decided that he wanted to become an artist through Dimple pushing him in the right direction. It was nice seeing a relationship where the people involved where looking out for the other and trying to help them grow as a person.

As someone who knows nothing about Indian culture, it was very interesting learning about the Indian culture through this book. It was especially interesting seeing different generations perspective on tradition and culture. Rishi and Dimple's parents both believed in tradition, but they were willing to let their children do what made them happy rather than force them into a traditional arranged marriage.      

Now that I've finished gushing about the things I like, I have to talk about the things I didn't like. My main issue with this book is that it felt very much like it was "insta-love". From the title and the dual perspective, you could tell that Dimple and Rishi were going to end up together. So, when they did start dating, it wasn't a shock. It also followed the very traditional style of a cute, summer love story of boy and girl meet, they hate each other, they fall in love with each other, they do something behind the other's back which ends in a break up, they realize how much they love each other and they decided to remain together. The second Dimple sent Rishi's drawings to Leo, I could see that that would cause an argument between them. It was understandable for Rishi to get annoyed at Dimple for going behind his back. 

At the very beginning of the book, I didn't like Dimple that much. She was very violent towards Rishi, and it wasn't in a play fighting way, it was verging on being abusive. She tried to force him to leave when they became partners (which didn't come as a surprise) and she was just rude to him. I understand that their first meeting went horrifically wrong, but that is no reason to be outwardly rude to him. It wasn't until Dimple softened to Rishi, that I began to like her.

From the beginning, before the competition even started, I knew that Dimple and Rishi weren't going to win. It's just not how these stories go. It was surprising that Evan, Harri and Isabelle won. It felt to me as though Dimple and Rishi needed to lose the competition in order to enter the "argument" stage of the book. I've seen it in other books like When Dimple Met Rishi, were the main character was really determined to win but they don't and they fall into a depression.

Overall, I did enjoy this book and I'm glad I've read it. I'll definitely pick up Sandhya's next book, From Twinkle, With Love (coming out summer 2018). When Dimple Met Rishi got me out of a slump and has got me into the mood for contemporaries. 

Carenza x 

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare Review (Contains Spoilers)| CarenzaOnBooks

Taken from Google

Title- City of Bones
Author- Cassandra Clare
Series- The Mortal Instruments
Published- March 27th 2007 (according to Google)
Page Count- 506 (UK Movie Tie-In Edition)
Publishing House- Walker Books Ltd (UK Movie Tie-In Edition)
Rating- 5/5 Stars
Note- This was a reread in preparation for Lord of Shadows (review coming soon)

About the Author

Cassandra Clare was born to American parents in Teheran, Iran and spent much of her childhood travelling the world with her family, including one trek through the Himalayas as a toddler where she spent a month living in her father’s backpack. She lived in France, England and Switzerland before she was ten years old.

Since her family moved around so much she found familiarity in books and went everywhere with a book under her arm. She spent her high school years in Los Angeles where she used to write stories to amuse her classmates, including an epic novel called “The Beautiful Cassandra” based on a Jane Austen short story of the same name (and  which later inspired her current pen name).

After college, Cassie lived in Los Angeles and New York where she worked at various entertainment magazines and even some rather suspect tabloids where she reported on Brad and Angelina’s world travels and Britney Spears’ wardrobe malfunctions. She started working on her YA novel, City of Bones, in 2004, inspired by the urban landscape of Manhattan, her favourite city. She turned to writing fantasy fiction full time in 2006 and hopes never to have to write about Paris Hilton again.

Cassie’s first professional writing sale was a short story called “The Girl’s Guide to Defeating the Dark Lord” in a Baen anthology of humor fantasy. Cassie hates working at home alone because she always gets distracted by reality TV shows and the antics of her two cats, so she usually sets out to write in local coffee shops and restaurants. She likes to work in the company of her friends, who see that she sticks to her deadlines.

(Taken from Cassandra's Website)

Plot

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder― much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know... 

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride they never want to end.

(Taken from Goodreads)

Opinions

If you have been following me for a while, then you will know I am a massive Cassandra Clare fan. From 2013 when I first discovered the books to 2015, I have reread the books more time than I can remember. But, I haven't reread the series in a while and as Lord of Shadows was close to being released, I thought I would reread it. I do feel that my nostalgia and love for this series has made my rating higher than I would have given it if I was reading it for the first time.

I have to say that City of Bones is not my favourite in The Mortal Instruments, but without it, I wouldn't have picked up these books. I do like it, it's just not my favourite (as I already stated), but I did enjoy rereading it. I can see that it isn't the perfect book I thought it was when I first picked up and this review isn't going to be me fangirling. I want this to be a critical review.

The world building is very strong in this book. It is established fairly early on that this world (the Shadowhunter World) is similar to our own and coincides with our own. There are definitely times where we get a lot of info-dumping, which is something I hate. I understand that when world building you need to lay down the rules early on so the reader can get to understand them. However, there is an entire chapter that is just info dump in this book (it's Luke's chapter called The Werewolf's Tale). I feel as though we didn't need a whole chapter for this story of Jocelyn, Luke and Valentine's story. I think that this is a personal preference, rather than something that is flawed within the book.

The humour in this is something I love and it's something we still see popping up in Cassie's books today. Although it's not the comedy gold we know and love in her later books (people who've read LoS will know what I'm on about), it still makes me chuckle. I love the scene where Clary slaps Jace and it makes me so sad that they didn't include in the movie (I'm not referencing the TV show as I haven't seen it and most likely won't). I also love how sarcastic Jace is and Magnus is just fabulous (but then he always is). 

I personally found the characters a tad annoying in this book, especially Clary. At times she would do quite stupid things for no reason. It definitely shows how Cassandra Clare has grown as an author as by the end of the series, the characters aren't as annoying. Jace in this book is a total dick, I'm sorry if you're a die-hard Jace fan, but in this book he is rude and very much a narcissist. Thank God, he grows out of it. I do love Magnus and Alec, I've loved them from CoB and I'm so happy they are getting their own series as they deserve it. I also adore Simon, he's definitely one of my fave characters from TMI. 

At times, the plot was a bit predictable. You could tell from the beginning that Simon was in love with Clary and it was frustrating to see how ignorant she was. You could also tell that something was going to hinder Jace and Clary from being together. I still love this book, but now as a more mature reader I can appreciate it has flaws and not support it blindly.

I loved the way Cassandra Clare handled Alec being gay. As I was only little at the time, I can't say this will be 100% accurate, but I feel like this was something that wasn't really talked about in YA at the time and it's only in the past few years that YA has become better at dealing with diverse subject matters. Cassie deals with Alec's sexuality in such a delicate way. It's not included to shock readers, it's simply a part of the book. I've seen interviews with Cassie saying that so many people have found it helpful having Alec be gay as it's helped them to understand their sexuality. Alec is such a well developed character and, although he appears quite rude at the beginning, you do learn to love him.

I still love TMI and all of Cassie's works, but now as a more mature reader, I want to review them in a more mature manner than just saying I love them and that be that. I do plan on continuing these reviews once I carry on with my reread.

Carenza x      

Bookshelf Organization Methods| CarenzaOnBooks

As someone who is constantly running out of space to store books (I'm talking I have books in boxes and cupboards lack of space), I'm always trying different methods of organizing my books. At the moment, they are organized by genre and within the genre, alphabetically by author surname. But over the years, I have tried many methods of organizing my books and I thought I would share them with you. I haven't tried all of these, but at some point I probably will.

Genre

By organizing your books by genre, you have a methodical system which means every book has its home. It means that if you need to assess all your fantasy books, they are all in one place. Here are some photos of my shelves which are organized by genre.

A general overview of my shelves. The top two shelves are organized very strictly by genre, but after that it was like playing a game of tetris. 

Pros: Everything has its place and easy to find books.

Cons: If an author writes in more than one genre, their books will be split up.

Alphabetically

This time last year, my books where organized completely by surname. Regardless of genre. I had it like this for about a year, but soon found it was hard to see which books went where. I still have them organized by surname, but within the genre category.

Pros: Regardless of genre, the authors books will be kept together and it is very logical (it is a good method for people who like libraries).

Cons: Can look quite messy and books are hard to find.

 Height

I once watched a YouTube video about organization methods and they organized their books by height. It looked very satisfying to see the books gradually get smaller and it had some logic to it.

Pros: Very nice to look at and good for shelves that have been mounted to the wall (i.e not your traditional bookshelf).

Cons: In the UK new paperbacks are taller than when the book goes into reprint, meaning that if you join a series half way through, that series will be separated due to different heights.  

Rainbow

I know that this is a lot of peoples preferred method of organizing books, but personally, it isn't for me. Like the title suggests, the books are organized by the colours of the rainbow and if done with lots of different coloured books, can look truly beautiful. If I have a selection of odd books that don't fit into a certain genre, I may include a rainbow shelf next time I organize my books.

Pros: Exceptionally pretty to look and good for people who can visualize colours.

Cons: Series get separated and can be quite time-consuming for people to organize.

Those are all the methods I know for organizing books, if there are any that I have missed out, then please let me know.

Carenza x

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Turns 20 Years Old| CarenzaOnBooks

Happy 20th Birthday Philosopher's Stone!

A quickly made college, photos can be found on my instagram @CarenzaOnBooks

It's crazy to think that the series that got me into reading has turned 20 years old. Harry Potter has and always will be a huge part of my life. I can't remember a period of my life where Harry Potter wasn't important to me. I am proud to say that I am part of the Harry Potter generation and even though I've grown up and can appreciate these books as an "adult" (I'm no an adult, but I'm more mature than when I first read them), I still love Harry Potter.

Harry Potter introduced me to the magical world of reading. If it wasn't for these books I would probably not have started my book blog (I'd also have more money and more bookshelf space, but let's not read into that). These books gave me friends when I felt like I didn't have any. These books gave me a place to escape to when I was having a bad day. These books made me feel at home when I was reading them.

I have so many fond memories of reading the books and watching the movies. I completed the books by the time I was 9 years old (which some told me was very advanced and I should be proud of) and by then, I had been converted to being a Potterhead. 8 years later, I am still a Potterhead and if anything, I'm more of a Potterhead than I was aged 9. Reading the books was something I did and bonded over with my family.  I have fond memories of being told I wasn't allowed to watch the movies until I read the books, even though my peers were all watching the movies. I can vividly remember, to this day, walking out of a cinema somewhere in Scotland (I believe it was in Glasgow) crying my eyes out at the events of the Half Blood Prince.

Since joining the book community, I have met so many other Potterheads. I am nowhere near as extreme as some who have multiple editions of the complete series, but I am slowly catching up to them. In the past two years, I have had a Potter identity crisis and have no clue which house I belong. I have visited the Studio Tour near London and am visiting it again on my birthday. I'm going to see part 1 of Cursed Child. I'm most likely going to the exhibition at the British Library later this year. This year has been the year of Harry Potter.

Harry Potter will always hold a special place in my heart. From the moment it had an influence on me as a 7 year old to the moment I die. And when I'm 80 and surrounded by my family and still reading these books, I can imagine them asking me "After all this time?", to which I'll reply "Always".
Carenza x

Attack on Titan Anime Discussion (Contains Spoilers)| CarenzaOnBooks

With the final episode of Attack on Titan Season 2 being released to the wider public (via Crunchroll which is how I watch Anime) this Saturday, I thought that this was the perfect time to discuss my love for this Anime. Considering I only started watching Anime on May 24th, I have binge watched rather a lot of it. Attack on Titan is definitely one that grabbed my attention from the beginning. If you read my Yuri on Ice Discussion then you'll know I want to start doing some Anime Discussions. I've only completed these two so far and it may be a while before I complete another as I am literally drowning in college work, but let's forget all that and discuss Attack on Titan. This post will contain SPOILERS for both seasons.

Opening Credits

I commented on this in my Yuri on Ice post, but the Anime industry seriously put Western opening and closing credits to shame. They are a work of art. I really don't understand how someone could skip them, they're too beautiful not to look at.

Attack on Titan also has the best closing credits, in particular the first half of Season 1. I loved getting to see my favourite girl Mikassa.

Something that I have spotted with Attack on Titan is that they have changed the song three times. The first is still the best and I do wish they'd bring it back. 

Opinions

Like Yuri on Ice, I adore Attack on Titan. When I first heard about I assumed I would never enjoy it. I hate blood and guts and gore, but because this is animated and you don't directly see how gruesome it can get, it doesn't bother me as much. 

I find it quite odd how something set in such a terrible world cheers me up. My mum is always telling "there is nothing like watching an apocalypse movie to cheer you up". And she's right. Seeing all these characters suffer in such awful ways makes me forget whatever is on my mind and I become entirely invested in the story. 

Levi is my precious little thing and I adore him. There is nothing like a broody captain, bullying everyone to cheer me up. He's so sassy and puts Eren in his place (which that boy needs). I would be very happy with a Anime series about him. 

I fear this is were the fandom will hate me for saying this, but I'm not the hugest fan of Eren. *waits for the fandom to come for me*. Don't get me wrong, I do like him, it's just st times he can be quite annoying and self-centred. I understand that he's been through a lot, but there are times where I want to scream at my phone (that's what I watch it on) and tell Eren to take a chill pill. Thank God he has Mikasa to look after him.

Every single episode ends on a cliffhanger, which makes it really addictive. You just keep on wanting to know what happens. I feel sorry for those that have had to wait for ages between series 1 and 2.

I'm very excited to see how season 2 ends and I hope the wait between season 2 and 3, if we get a 3, won't be too long as I have so many questions. I also need more of Levi in my life as he is my precious little thing.
Carenza x

Yuri on Ice Anime Discussion (Contains Spoilers)| CarenzaOnBooks

Recently, I fell headfirst down the dark hole that is Anime and I am loving every single second of it. I have been a massive fan of Studio Ghibli since 2012 and I figured it was a crime that I hadn't watched Anime, so once my exams had finished I signed up to a handy-dandy website called Crunchyroll. It's tag line is literally "everything anime" and that is the best way to describe it. If you are looking for a good and reliable Anime streaming platform, then Crunchyroll might before you. I would like to state that I am not being paid to promote Crunchyroll, I just really love their site.

But with falling headfirst into Anime, the world of Anime discussions have now been opened up. The first Anime I would like to discuss is the first one I fully completed and that is Yuri on Ice. When it was first released last November, Yuri on Ice was huge (and deservedly so). Even someone who had no interest in it (like myself at the time) had heard of Yuri on Ice. 

Now I have completed it and like the rest of the fandom, patiently wait for the feature movie to drop, I would like to discuss Yuri on Ice with those who have finished it. This post will contain spoilers, so STOP READING if you don't want to be spoiled. Yuri on Ice is only 12 25 minute episodes, so you can easily binge watch it and come back to this post. I'm sure you don't need anymore encouragement from me to spend an afternoon binge watching some Anime. 

Opening Credits

Something I have noticed about all the Anime's I have watched so far is that they take opening credits to a whole other level. I honestly don't know how anyone could skip an opening credit for any Anime as they are so beautiful. But aside from Attack on Titan (discussion post coming soon), Yuri on Ice has some of the best opening credits I've seen.

They are seriously a work of art. I love the water colour aspect of them and am planning on getting a phone case inspired by the opening credits.

Opinions

As I just changed my username to be a parody of Yuri on Ice (CarenzaOnBooks is a very subtle tip to how amazing this Anime is), I can safely say I love it. It's short, it's sweet and it hooks you in, which makes it perfect for  first Anime. I have never been someone who is interested in sports, but watching Yuri on Ice makes me want to learn figure skating. It was also surprisingly educational as I don't think the average person knows much about figure skating and figure skating competitions. 

Yuri K is the sweetest character to exist. I adore him. The depiction of someone suffering from anxiety and learning to overcome their fears was one of the best things about this Anime. Yuri K felt so real and like he was someone you could bump into on the street. He also had the perfect reaction when his idol, Victor, became his coach. If you put me in a room with my idol and told me they were going to coach me, I'd flail uncontrollably for about a week.  

I also loved Victor. He was exactly the kind of coach Yuri K needed, someone who was going to push him, but understand how challenging it would be for him. In truth, we all want someone like Victor in our lives. Someone understanding, but helps us to achieve our dreams.

Whilst researching for this post, I read some criticism about the relationship between Victor and Yuri K, saying that in episode 7, they hid a kiss. I read about this on Wikipedia so it may not be true, but watching clips on YouTube, it does suggest that there was a kiss an Victor's arm hid it. If that is the case, then it would be a disappointment as apart from that the curators have been great at depicting the same-sex relationship. A part of me wants Yuri K and Victor to be in a romantic relationship, but part of me also is content with them being friends. It will be interesting to see how they deal with it in the feature film.

Each episode ended on a mini cliffhanger and made you want to watch more. I finished Yuri on Ice in around a week. I am unbelievably excited for the feature film and hope it has all the feels that the Anime had. I would like to see how the other characters (i.e Yuri K's family and the other figure skaters) are doing. I will admit that I hope it focuses on Victor and Yuri K, as I don't care for Yuri P that much.

It made me very happy to see members of different ethnic groups as well as sexual orientations and countries. Of the Anime's I've been watching so far, there is a lack of representation and this filled the whole that was missing.

I've already said I adored Yuri on Ice, but I'll say it again. It wasn't just about figure skating, it was about achieving your dreams and great relationships. I hope the feature film does this beautiful story justice.

Carenza x     

Here's Two Many More Years| CarenzaOnBooks

Today, June 12th 2017, my blog turns two years old (hence the misspelling of two in the title). I started it back in 2015, with no real plan of what I was doing. I thought that I was going to be the next big beauty blogger. But as time passed, I discovered I had no idea what I was talking about and I wasn't enjoying blogging.

So in 2016 I changed to book blogging. I loved book blogging as reading is my one of my greatest passions, so being able to talk about something I loved was great. I continued with this theme into 2017, but as time went on I began to no longer enjoy it. Putting out a certain amount of posts a month became a chore rather than something I did for fun.

Now that my blog has turned two, I feel that it is time to change. I have decided to make several changes. The first being my upload schedule. I am no longer going to upload on Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's. I am going to upload a certain amount of posts a month (i.e 10) and spread them out equally throughout the month. This way, I can spend more time writing them and getting them to the quality I want them to be. This does mean that Book Review Monday will be coming to an end. I want to upload more book reviews, but not be restricted by one upload day.

Another thing that is going to change is my username. For two years I have gone by the name It'sCarenzaB, which for the first year was good username. But now I feel it is time to choose a username that reflects my interests and if you've read the title fully, then you'll know the username I have selected is CarenzaOnBooks. I wanted to keep my name in the username but I wanted it to be a play on a title of something I like. I have been thinking up usernames since April and I finally settled on CarenzaOnBooks which is a play on Yuri On Ice. By the end of the month, I will have changed my username on all my social media accounts to this.

The final big change is the type of posts I am going to be posting. I still want to post about books, but I also want to talk about my other interests such as theater and nerd culture. I want to talk about the theater I am going to see or nerdy things I'm interested in. I want to fangirl about Anime and Disney. I want to talk about things I love.

So a lot of things are going to be changing around here and that may seem scary, but I have always been someone who believes that change can be a good thing if you're no longer happy with the things you are doing.

But finally, I want to say thank you for sticking with me over these past two years. Whether you've been with me from the beginning or just discovered me today, thank you for reading my blog and taking an interest in my little corner of the internet.
Carenza x  

May Fairyloot Review| It'sCarenzaB

Another month, another Fairyloot unboxing. Every month Fairyloot just keeps on upping the game and I'm so proud of how far they've come as a company. Every single box has been a delight to open and I can't wait to see how they grow. But, in May the theme was Warriors and Legends. I'm pretty sure as soon as Fairyloot announced this theme, everyone knew what the book was, but it was still exciting.

The first item in the box was this exclusive Warriors and Legends Tea from The Tea Leaf Company. I'm not the biggest fan of tea, but this one smells great so I may end up liking it. Unfortunately, I don't have a tea strainer at my Dad's house (where I spend most of my time) so I'll have to wait to go to my Mum's to drink this.

Fairyloot is the best at sending out candles and of the 8 boxes I've had, only 1 didn't have a candle in it. This is Mist made exclusively by In The Wick of Time and it smells of Warm Stone and Woodsmoke. I do like this scent, but having seen what the other candle smells of, I wish I had got that one.

There were two books in this months box, the first being World Mythology In Bite Sized Chunks by Mark Daniels. I love reading about mythology, so this book is perfect as you can dip in and out of it. 

For the first time ever, I received some socks in a subscription box. I have no idea why this makes me ridiculously excited. These were designed exclusively by Fairyloot and they are inspired by Celtic warriors and patterns.

My favourite item in the box was this wooden Lord of the Rings bookmark made exclusively by Ink and Wonder Designs. I have been drooling over their designs for ages and having a Lord of the Rings inspired one fills me with lots of excitement.

Probably my least favourite item in the box was this Metallic Feather Pen sent out by Flora's Wonder Emporium. I can see the appeal of it, but it is a bit tacky (but in a good way).

I have never received a chapter sampler before, so I am very excited to have this in my collection. It is for a book called Naondel, which is already out. I'm looking forward to reading it.

The book in May's box was Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh. I have heard mostly good things about this book and am really looking forward to reading as it is set in Japan.

Fairyloot has some of the best info/ spoiler card out there. I love pinning these up in my room. Since April, Fairyloot have started sending out matching bookmarks with the same design for subscribers to collect.

As always, there was a signed book plate, letter and there was a cool Flame in the Mist inspired bookmark.

I do love reading each month's Fairyscoop, though I do miss the back page being something from someone in the book community. My hashtag for May was #FairyLoot05858










And that concludes my review of May's box. It makes me so happy to see how Fairyloot keeps getting better each month and I'm very excited for this months box.
Love,
Carenza x

  

Pop Funko Wishlist 2017| It'sCarenzaB

In February 2016, I began collecting Pop Funkos (also known as pop vinyls or Funko Pops) and since then, my collection has reached double figures. And while I have a lot and I'm very grateful to have so many, there are more that I want to add to my collection. I just want to say that this list is me talking about which ones I want. I do not expect to get all of these. There are so many I want to add to my collection, but these are the ones I really want.

Harry Potter

While most of my collection is Harry Potter themed, there are some that I don't have because they are exclusive to American stores. I'd get them, but shipping is ridiculously expensive and I can't justify that much money on shipping on Pop Funkos.

As I own at least 5 Harry Pops, I'm not too sour about not having this one. It would be nice to add to my collection, but I won't lose any sleep over not having Harry in his hand-made Weasley jumper.

 While I'm not too fussed about owning Harry, I would love to have Ron in his Weasley jumper.

I would be over the moon if they brought this version of Bellatrix over to the UK as I love the detail of the Azkaban uniform.

Again, this is another one I wish we had in the UK as the detail on the mask.

 I've already said I have a lot of Harry's, but the little Hedwig on this one is just too cute not to want!

Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

Now, I'm not sure how many of these are still being made, but I would love to add these to my collection as I love watching the films and I'm determined to read the books this summer. 

I know there is a new line of LotR Pops coming out this summer and I have to admit, I do love them all. The Belrog is probably my favourite as it's so detailed, but Frodo and Sam are pretty cute.

The one I want the most from the Hobbit range is Smaug as he's amazing and who doesn't want a Dragon Pop Funko?

Here are some of the other characters in the Hobbit line. I would love to have Legolas as he's one of my favourite characters from the movie.

Game of Thrones

Having recently acquired my first Pop in this line, there are several more I would love to add to my collection. I think I might make a separate wishlist for the Game of Thrones Pops as there is so many.

Some of the first wave of GoT Pops

The newest wave 

I am dying to add this to my collection!

I love how cute these dragons are!

Sherlock

If you've been following me since January, then you will know that I love the BBC series Sherlock and I have been eyeing up the Pops in that line for a while. I got my friend one of them for her birthday two years ago and she loves it.

Look at little Sherlock's face! I would love to have a little Sherlock Pop in my collection!

Beauty and the Beast

With the new movie coming out on DVD, I would love to get my hands on the Pop Funkos from the live action movie. They're so beautiful and detailed, plus who doesn't want more Emma Watson in their life?

I also would love to add the original cartoon versions to my collection as the cartoon is my favourite Disney film.

Plus look how cute the Beast is and they have a Gaston!

Nightmare Before Christmas 

I would love to add these Day of the Dead editions of Sally and Jack as they are so beautiful.

Attack on Titan

With my recent descent into the amazing-ness of Anime, I would love to add the Attack on Titan Pops to my collection.

I would literally die if I could add Mikasa to my collection as she is impossible to get in the UK without being ridiculous expensive.

I am so excited that they are making a Levi Pop Funko as he is my favourite character in the series.

Sadly, Armin is a US exclusive, but one day I hope to add him to my collection.

I have no idea if I'll ever add this to my collection as I don't even know where you can buy him, but any excuse to have more Levi in my life is a good excuse.

And that concludes my very long Pop Funko Wishlist, no doubt in the future I will make another one of these as new Pop Funkos are being released all the time.

Love,

Carenza x 

Book Review Monday- A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas(Contains Spoilers)| It'sCarenzaB

Title- A Court of Wings and Ruin
Author- Sarah J Maas
Series- A Court of Thorns and Roses
Published- May 2nd 2017
Page Count- 699
Publishing House- Bloomsbury
Rating- 4/5 Stars

About the Author 

Sarah J Maas is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Throne of Glass series and A Court of Thorns and Roses series, as well as a USA Today and international bestselling author. Sarah wrote the first incarnation of the Throne of Glass series when she was just sixteen, and has now sold in thirty- five languages. A New York native, Sarah currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and dog. (Taken from Sarah's website)

Plot

A nightmare, I’d told Tamlin. I was the nightmare.

Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin’s maneuverings and the invading king threatening to bring Prythian to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit—and one slip may spell doom not only for Feyre, but for her world as well. As war bears down upon them all, Feyre must decide who to trust amongst the dazzling and lethal High Lords—and hunt for allies in unexpected places.

Taken from Goodreads.

Opinions

Following A Court of Mist and Fury, I had very high hopes for this book and sadly my high hopes weren't met. I have been a fan of Sarah's since 2015 and managed to catch up with all her books very quickly. I can say that I prefer the ACOTAR series as I prefer trilogies, so when I knew that this part of the series was coming to an end, I was excited to see how Sarah wrapped it up. I know that a lot of fans of the ACOTAR series were either happy or let down by ACOWAR, but I fall somewhere in the middle. I enjoyed it, but it didn't compare to ACOMAF. I ended up giving it 4/5 stars, which is still a lot more than you would have thought. 

Trying to turn my opinions into something articulate with structure is going to be a challenge, so I'm settling for articulate rather than structure. One thing I loved about this book was how fast paced it was. I was sure that it was going to be a very long time before Feyre and Rhysand were reunited, but it happened after over a hundred pages. I think the pacing of the book was one of the reasons why it got higher than what I was initially planning on giving it. It hooked you in and was almost impossible to put it down. I haven't felt that way about a book in a very long time.

Something I had an issue with was the way Sarah handled Mor's sexuality. I know that several fans of the series have had issues with this part of her character. For someone as big as Sarah in the YA writing world, the lack of diversity in her books is shocking. But when she did included some diversity, it was (in my opinion) poor. Having a character who is gay suppress their sexuality for hundreds of years and lead someone on is just wrong. It was a chance for Sarah to have some great representation of diversity in her books and in my opinion, she just threw it away.

The character development from ACOTAR to ACOWAR is amazing. These books have been very character driven, which is something I am not usually a fan of, but in Sarah's books it is something I like. I think that this is what invested me in the story line when I picked it up last year. Characters such as Lucien, Cassian and Azriel are the ones I am the most invested in. I know that lot's of people are invested in Feyre and Rhysand's story, but I personally don't care for them. I found them quite irritating in this book and considering they were both narrators, that's not a good thing.

Like I mentioned, I wasn't invested in Feyre's story line as I found her annoying as a narrator. When you find the narrator annoying, it's never a good sign. I found her very whinny and self-centered in this book. All the things she did to Tamlin were cruel and even if Tamlin made many bad mistakes to get Feyre back, what Feyre did to Tamlin was equally as bad. Putting an entire group of people at risk because one person made a bad mistake is idiotic and selfish.

I'm very glad that the remaining books in this series won't focus on Feyre and Rhys as I'm done with their story. I am going to be continuing with this series, but I am looking forward to reading more about some of the other characters.
Love,
Carenza x    

April and May 2017 Favourites| It'sCarenzaB

For the first time in a while, I am doing a combined favourites post as due to exams I didn't have time to post one in May for April. But, it does mean that this post is going to be twice as long which is a good thing.

Books

My favourite book for April is The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I had the pleasure of meeting Angie while I was reading this book and it added to my experience. If you are looking for some diverse reads, then this is a great book. 

Seeing as I only read one book in May, my favourite book in May was A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas. My review is coming very soon, so stay tuned for that.

Culture

April

I have two favourite plays, the first being Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead at the Old Vic. It follows the characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from Hamlet and shows us their side of the story while interlocking with Hamlet (the play). The main reason I went and saw this was because it had Daniel Radcliffe in it. Even if it hadn't had Daniel in it, it was a phenomenal play and I would love to see it again in the future.  

My other play favourite is The Ferryman by Jez Butterworth. I have already seen Mojo by him, so it was exciting to see his new play. I believe it is still on at the Royal Court and if it isn't, I know it's transferring at some point into the West End. It has elements of comedy, but also has a message running through it which is something that happens in some of his other plays.

A film I was very excited to see was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. I had loved the first one and was so happy to see the second in the cinema. I will say that my favourite thing about this film is Baby Groot. I would happily sit and watch a two hour feature film of Baby Groot being very cute. It's been over a month since I saw it and I still can't decided if I love volume 1 or 2 more.

May

I spent the majority of May listening to the La La Land soundtrack. I adore the film, so listening to the soundtrack has been great while I wait to get the film on DVD. It's a very calming soundtrack, so listening to this while revising was nice.

If you saw my last favourites post, then you'll know that a play from the Royal Shakespeare Company made it on to the list and another one has this month. I went and saw Visa Versa, which is a new comedy set in Rome. If you can get to the RSC and see this, then you will have a great time. Even if I did sustain a very mild injury from one of the actors, I had a great time. (It was very mild, and more of a shock than an injury) 

Another great play I saw in May was The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the Donmar Warehouse. It was a great play and Lenny Henry played the title role. It was quite scary how the title character was very similar to several politicians, both alive and dead. 

Something I finally started watching in May was Anime. I have been a fan of Studio Ghibli since 2012, so it was time I dived headlong into the dark hole of Anime. I absolutely love it. I've been using an app called Crunchyroll to watch it. I've completed Yuri on Ice (review/discussion post coming this month) and have watched 15 episodes of Attack on Titan. If you are a fan of Avatar the Last Airbender, then you will love Anime.

Bits'n'Bobs

April

With the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, I loved having my Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 tsum tsums on display. At some point, I plan on getting the Vol 2 tsums as Baby Groot is adorable and needs protecting.










May
In May, I added four new Pop Funkos to my collection. Two Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (they're both Baby Groot), Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones in her outfit from season 1 and the Demiguise from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

With exams squashing me in May, I needed to find time to relax and when I wasn't revising, I was colouring as it was really calming and I actually quite enjoyed it. My mum bought me an amazing Sloth themed colouring book which I have been enjoying colouring.

So that concludes my rather long favourites post for April and May, hopefully in the future these posts won't be as long.
Love,
Carenza x  

May(ish) Wrap Up| It'sCarenzaB

I've officially had the worst reading month since January 2016 where I only read two books. For the last three years, May has become one of the most stressful and busy months in the year because of exams. And this year was no exception. I spent the entirety of May drowning in revision and so I only had time to read one book. Now that exams are over, I have more time to read and plan on catching up on all the books I want to read.

The only book I read was the final book in the main A Court of Thorns and Roses series. A Court of Wings and Ruin hit shelves on May 2nd and after much waiting and pain, I finally got my copy. I am going to be posting my full spoiler review very soon, so stay tuned for that. 

So that concludes my very very short May Wrap Up. I promise these posts will be longer in the future now I have more time to read.

Love,

Carenza x