DNF Review: The Force Awakens Novelisation

Synopsis:
Set years after Return of the Jedi, this stunning action-packed adventure rockets us back into the world of Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Luke Skywalker, while introducing a host of exciting new characters, including Rey, Finn, BB-8 and Kylo Ren.
Darth Vader may have been redeemed and the Emperor vanquished, but peace can be fleeting, and evil does not easily relent. Yet the simple belief in good can still empower ordinary individuals to rise and meet the greatest challenges.
So return to that galaxy far, far away, and prepare yourself for what happens when the Force awakens…

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So, I’ve been in a reading slump and haven’t had much time to read due to college + life stress. I finally decide I am in the mood read, I have been loving sci-fi lately and what’s better than Star Wars? I thought this would be a perfect choice. Nope nope nope.

Plot:
Let me just start off by saying, I absolutely adored the film. It’s one of my top favourites outside of the original trilogy. But man this book…
The plot is well… exactly the same as the film but boring.
Obviously, the plot is going to be the same as the film, that is the point. However, I was hoping for some ‘unseen’ extras. The changes in the book annoyed me more than anything, I wish it had just stuck to the original dialogue. As some who has watched The Force Awakens many, many times, I do actually remember a lot of the things said. The added dialogue changed the whole tone of the story for me. All of it was unnecessary and some of it made the characters seem… different. And not in a good way.
The writing is just appalling. I couldn’t get into at all. It was bloody AWFUL.
It takes so long to read too? It’s only 260 ish pages but my god it feels endless.

30% way through feelings: Meh. So boring. I don’t understand. The story isn’t boring but the book does it no justice. Seriously considering DNFing it.

Just under 50%:  I don’t think I can finish it, it’s just not fun. DNF.

Compared to some of the amazing books in the new Star Wars canon, this is just utter crap. I’m so disappointed this fell so flat for me.
I definitely recommend just sticking to the film for this one. Claudia Gray’s Star Wars novels are the best, I highly, highly recommend (beg) you read those!

Rating: 2 very disappointed Stars

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Blog Tour: No Turning Back by Sam Blake Extract

The lovely people at Bonnier Zaffre invited me to be part of the blog tour for The Cathy Connolly trilogy by Sam Blake to celebrate the release of the third book!
Due to the books not arriving in time for this post, this will just feature an extract from the third book No Turning Back! I will have reviews up for each book when I read them, so keep an eye out for those!

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Extract:
‘Sit down will you, you’re making me nervous standing up.’
Arching her eyebrows, she pulled the guest chair out from in front of his desk like a belligerent teenager. And like a belligerent teenager, she sat and immediately leaned back until it tipped precariously on its back legs. O’Rourke looked at her witheringly.
‘If that chair falls over, Cat Connolly, and you injure your wrist trying to break your fall, you’re going to have a lot of explaining to do to McIntyre. When’s that fight?’
‘Middle of April.’ Cathy abruptly set the chair straight.
He was right. The Boss, Niall McIntyre, her friend and coach, would kill her if she injured herself. As a result of the explosion she’d been off the kick-boxing competition circuit for a year. Now she was fit again and they were putting everything they had into getting her ready for the next National Championships. She was going to win back her title and she was going to wipe the floor with her rival, Jordan Paige.
‘That’s better. Now let’s look at the promotion list properly, shall we?’
O’Rourke flipped open his laptop and pulled up the members’ portal on the Garda website, running his eye down the list to ‘Forensic Profiler’. It was a new position, listed last after other roles and ranks: Sergeant Sub-Aqua, Warrant Officer, Dog Handler, Community Liaison. It was the first time An Garda Síochána had created the position, mainly through lobbying from Cathy and her report on their last case. Uncovering a trans-European criminal empire had been an added bonus to finding her best friend alive, despite getting shot at twice during the process.

And everyone reckoned that the job was made for Cat Connolly. Very few applicants had her specific training in forensic psychology, her experience. She’d got a first in every single assessment she’d handed in for her Masters. The final piece, due in May, would give her the formal certificate in Forensic Psychology, but her tutors were confident it was a foregone conclusion, had written her a glowing recommendation. She’d ploughed through ahead of most of her classmates, knowing her time wouldn’t be her own when she was back in the unit and fully operational.
‘So who got it? Who’s the wonder boy?’ Cathy didn’t even try to keep the sarcasm out of her voice, pulled her necklace from the neck of her black sweater, running the Tiffany dog tag along its silver bead chain as she waited for him to answer. She couldn’t look at him.
O’Rourke stared at the name on the list for a long moment. Running his hand over his chin, smoothly shaven today, he took his time replying.
‘Well?’ Cathy stared at him suspiciously. At times like this his broken nose and military buzz cut made him look seriously shifty, but he couldn’t hide anything from her; after all these years she could read him too well. ‘What are you not telling me? One of the lads said he was from Donegal. Why have I never heard of him if he’s gone and got my fecking job? Has he trained with the Met or something?’
‘You’ve done that.’
‘I know, but … What?’ She could tell from O’Rourke’s face that something was wrong.
‘He’s a sergeant. He was stationed on the border.’
‘So he’s got a rank on me.’ She looked at him; she could almost feel her mouth turning down at the corners. Glum, that was the word.
O’Rourke glanced at her. ‘He’s in his thirties.’
‘So he’s got a Master’s or a PhD, has he?’
O’Rourke shrugged. ‘Maybe.’ He hesitated, ‘He’s the Taoiseach’s nephew.’

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Make sure you check out the posts from the others involved in this blog tour!

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This or That Book Tag!

 

Reading on the bed or the couch?

Bed! So much more comfortable!

Male main character or female main character?
Female!!

Sweet snacks or salty snacks when you are reading?
Both!

Trilogies or Quartets?
Trilogies

First person point of view or third person point of view?
Third person is definitely easier to read from!

Reading at night or in the morning?
I like both!

Libraries or bookstores?
Unpopular one: Libraries. I very rarely buy books from bookstores as they are so expensive. I usually buy books from Amazon or second-hand.

Books that make you laugh or cry?
Laugh! I love a funny book. Emotional books are good too but laughing is definitely better!

Black book covers or white book covers?

I really, really love white book covers.

Character driven or plot driven?
Character driven. If I am attached to the characters the plot could be non-existent and I could still love it. However, no matter how exciting the plot is, if I’m not keen on the characters it can ruin the whole book for me.

*Credit to the original creator, I did not make this tag.

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I’ll be back posting reviews when I have more time, today’s post is just a quick one as I haven’t been reading as much due to college!
Hopefully, I will have more time to read soon, then I’ll post more reviews!

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Non-Fiction TBR

 

 

Hello everyone!
Now if you read my 2018 reading goals, you’d know I said I wasn’t making TBRs anymore but that was just monthly TBRs, as I never stick to them as I’m a huge mood reader. However, I never read outside of my comfort zone so I am hoping to change that, that was another of my goals. I did a post on the Classics I want to read, now to go even more out of my comfort zone and go for Non-Fiction!
I very rarely read Non-Fiction and it’s not because I don’t like it, it’s just I never tend to pick it up and it also takes me so much longer to read. So I am making an effort to read it more since there are actually quite a few I want to read.

These are in no particular order:

First up is Shockaholic by Carrie Fisher, if you know me then you know I a huge Star Wars fan. (I’m completely obsessed) Carrie Fisher is a huge idol of mine, I’ve read three of her books so far, I’m trying to get to all her books particularly her memoirs. She is SO funny, her books make me laugh so much. I just bought this so I am hoping to get to Shockaholic ASAP!

 

 

The next book I’d like to read is Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge.
I’ve been meaning to pick this up for a while, it sounds like a really important read. I hear a lot about race issues in the US but hardly anything about the UK so I’m really interested in this topic!

                              

The next book on this list is Daemon Voices by Philip Pullman. This is another most likely book I’ll read from this list soon since I already own it. I won this in a twitter giveaway in December and haven’t got around to reading it yet! I really need to pick this up.
I love Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy so I’m really interested in his essays on storytelling. 

 

And of course, I had to include a feminist book Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard. I don’t know a lot about this but I’ve heard really great things about many of Mary Beard’s books.

Last but not least I would like to read Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.
I feel like everyone has read this? I’ve heard non-stop great things about this, I need to see what the fuss is about.
I really love history so I am excited to get around this!

 

 

 

 

That’s it for my Non-Fiction TBR. Let me know if you’ve read any of these books and what you think. Also, let me know what non-fiction books you want to read!

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*Update – Since writing this post, a few weeks ago, I have actually read Shockaholic by Carrie Fisher and I’ve started Daemon Voices by Philip Pullman!

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Review: Charmcaster by Sebastien De Castell (Spoiler Free)

Synopsis:
The third book in the page-turning SPELLSLINGER fantasy series.

‘I was getting almost as good at running away from enemies as I was at making them in the first place. Turns out, I wasn’t running nearly fast enough.’

Kellen has begun to master his spellslinging and the Argosi tricks for staying alive, and he and Reichis have found a career that suits them both: taking down mercenary mages who make people’s lives miserable. But Ferius is concerned that Kellen is courting disaster . . .

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Charmcaster is the third book in the Spellslinger series by Sebastien De Castell, review for the first one here.  

This book series has magic, mages, a magic-school and it’s set in a deserty-kinda-Western world. (At least it gives me Western vibes)

I’m going to make this review pretty short, as it is the third book in the series and I don’t want to spoil anything.

Plot:
This one started off slower than the rest, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing and I still really enjoyed this book. I still really wanted to keep reading and couldn’t put the book down once I got into it.  The characters for me really make this book, they are just amazing, likeable and relatable, the plot could be literally anything and I would adore it.
Some familiar faces appear in this novel, which I really enjoyed and I was pretty shocked by! The plot twists are amazingly done, as with the previous two books.
Charmcaster had so many feels, I wasn’t expecting it to be so emotional. This one hit me right in the feels. The ending left me really emotional over certain characters…

Characters:
Kellen: I LOVE HIM. Bless him. He’s so relatable, nothing goes his way and someone is always out to get him. His character development throughout these books is just wonderful to see. He’s really starting to grow up and it’s so sweet to see him develop throughout this book and make decisions for himself. I cannot wait to see where his journey goes in the next 3 books, I’m sure they’re going to be amazing as well!

Ferius: Ferius is an actual babe. I love this woman. Her sass, her personality she’s just AMAZING. Ferius and Kellen have the best friendship and they care so much about each other. All I can say is the FEELS, man, the feels.

Reichis: Still as angry and sassy as ever. God, I love him, he’s so funny. I want a squirrel-cat companion. Cannot wait to see more of him in the next book!

There is going to be six books in this series! I’m so hyped, there’s two being released a year so not much waiting time for new books. I highly recommend picking up this series, Sebastien De Castell has created such a fun, imaginative and addictive series. It has become one of my all-time favourites.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Charmcaster is out tomorrow, May 17th!

* HUGE Thank you to Hot Key Books for sending this to me for an honest review!
ALL opinion our my own.

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Review: Geekerella by Ashley Poston

Synopsis:
Cinderella goes to the con in this fandom-fueled twist on the classic fairy tale.

Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom. Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfieldmovie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball, and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck (and her dad’s old costume), Elle’s determined to win…unless her stepsisters get there first.

Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons—before he was famous. Now they’re nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but the Starfield fandom has written him off as just another dumb heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.

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Plot: Super corny, cutesy and slightly cringy contemporary.
From the description, it sounded like I’d absolutely love this book. However, I am disappointed, it didn’t live up to my expectations.
I mean it has so many points I can relate to:

• Geeky girl main character
• Fandoms
• Bloggers
• A cute dog
• Geek conventions
• Girl friendships
• Loss of parents

The actual plot fell kind of flat for me. The first half of the book I was quite bored/ didn’t really care much. However, the second half was so much better that’s when I really started to enjoy the book. It was a fast read, so I’m glad about that.
And texting strangers? Not exactly a great messaged to send to teens…
I don’t whether I’ve outgrown YA cliché romances but it’s just too unrealistic/cringy/cutesy for me.

Characters:
Elle: I liked Elle. I liked her friendship with Sage, that was super nice to read! I like that she was geeky and ran her own blog about ‘Starfield’, it was relatable.
Darien: Really not keen on Darien. I didn’t find him ‘swoon-worthy’, in fact, I found him God damn annoying. He wasn’t so bad when he texted Elle and he did slightly improve by the end of the book. I found his chapters to be pretty boring, especially whilst he was on set. Also, how many times is it mentioned he has INSURED ABS. Ugh. So cringe-worthy.

Rating: 3 Stars

*I received this book from NetGalley for free in exchange for an honest review

 

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Thoughts On A Court of Frost and Starlight

So, since everyone ACOTAR fan, book-blogger will be reviewing ACOFAS I thought I would mix it up and instead just state a few thoughts rather than a full review. (As I’m sure you’re sick of them)

So let’s get on with my thoughts!

1) NOT ENOUGH AZRIEL
Why is there never enough Az?! I love him, I would’ve loved a chapter from his perspective for once. I always feel his character takes the back seat, I wish we could know more!

2) Rhysand just wants sex??
I was really looking forward to reading from Rhys’ perspective but he just thought about having sex with Feyre for the most part. I was kind of disappointed by his perspective, I really love Rhys, he’s one of my favourite characters but on the whole, he wasn’t as good as I hoped.

3) Oh my god, not another Feyre chapter!
After 3 whole books from Feyre’s perspective, it’s safe to say I’ve had enough of her.
Every time I got to another Feyre chapter I just rolled my eyes, she’s also kind of gone downhill?? She seems really pathetic in this book.

4) Nesta is the actual WORST person ever.
I have absolutely no idea how anyone likes or defends Nesta. I have hated her since ACOTAR and nothing she has done has redeemed her. She’s so unnecessarily bitchy and horrible. Terrible sister and overall shit person. I could write a whole post on hating Nesta…
I’m super anti-Nessian but this book really made me despise that ship.
Which brings me on to my next thought…

5) CASSIAN DESERVES BETTER
I hate with a passion that everyone ships Cassian with Nesta, he’s so sweet and lovely.
He deserves someone so much better. I know SJM is going to make Nessian canon but I will forever hate it with every fibre of my being.
On the brighter side… Cassian saying Amren looked like an angry snowball was hilarious.

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Just to let you guys know, I am NOT hating on ACOFAS, I did enjoy it for the most part but it definitely wasn’t my favourite in the series. I look forward to the next book and reading from the others’ perspectives. (DYING Azriel to be a POV in the next one…)
Review on my GoodReads

Overall, I gave ACOFAS 3.5 Stars.

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May the 4th be with you: Star Wars Book Tag!

 

Happy Star Wars Day!
In honour of May the 4th, I thought I would do a Star Wars Book Tag! I decided to make up my own questions/prompts, as the other Star Wars book tags I found I wasn’t keen on the questions/prompts.

LEIA ORGANA
“Someone has to save our skins!” – Favourite strong female character
I mean, if this was any other tag I would pick Leia but since she is the prompt I’ll pick someone else… I’ll go with Sarene from Elantris by Brandon Sanderson, having recently reread this book, it made me remember what a strong female lead Sarene is!

 

 

LUKE SKYWALKER
“Never. I’ll never turn to the Dark Side. You have failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me.” – A character who is wholly good
It’s hard to find a character who is well and truly good, but I think Ned Stark from A Game of Thrones comes pretty damn close.

 

 HAN SOLO
“You know, sometimes I amaze even myself.” – A cocky but lovable character
Rhysand from A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J Maas.
He is so cocky but who can blame him? He’s amazing.

 

DARTH VADER
“There’s still good in him” – Name a villain who was redeemed
Mrs Coulter from the His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman. She was kind of redeemed/ did something good in the end. She was a complete b*tch in the beginning.

 

CHEWBACCA
“Laugh it up, fuzzball” Han & Chewie –  Best friendship
Blue + The Raven Boys from Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Cycle.

 

R2-D2
“Bleep bleep boop” – Lovable sidekick
Reichis from the Spellingslinger series by Sebastien De Castell. Reichis is a squirrel cat who I never would’ve thought I’d like but I adore this character, he is hilarious!

 

C-3PO
“I am C3P0, protocol droid, human-cyborg relations. I am fluent in over 6 million forms of communication.” – A Multilingual Character
Karou from the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor. She speaks many languages, I’m not sure how many in total but it’s a fair few!

 

May the 4th be with you!

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April Wrap Up!

April has been an amazing reading month for me! I had the first two weeks off for Easter and so I read like a maniac! By halfway through the month I had read 5 books! However, things slowed down after I went back to college. All in all, I had a great reading month! So, since I read so many books I had to change the layout of my wrap up a bit, as I didn’t want the post to seem like an endless list, so I hope you guys don’t mind the change.

The first books I finished in April was Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi. This book was really good! I enjoyed much more than the first one.
Full review here.
Rating: 4 Stars

 

 

 

I planned on having a break between the Shatter Me books, but that didn’t work out, after finishing Unravel Me I just had to pick up Ignite Me! Which I ended up reading in one 4-hour sitting, it’s safe to say I was hooked.
Full review here.

Rating: 4 Stars

 

 

The next book I finished was How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
I enjoyed some of it, some parts I found quite boring and I’m quite disappointed I heard such great things about this book I was expecting to love it. The book didn’t have much of a plot, I had an issue with the pacing and the flipping back and forth between past and present.
Rating: 3 Stars

 

 

 

The next book I read in April was *The Electrical Venus by Julie Mayhew
Review here

Rating: 3/3.5 Stars

 

 

 

The next book I finished was Genesis by Brendan Reichs, I got this as an eARC from NetGalley, I knew I had to read it, I really enjoyed the first book Nemesis last year.
 Review here.
Rating: 4 Stars

 

 

 

The next book I read was another eARC from NetGalley:
The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green.
Review here
Rating: 4 Stars

 

 

The next book I finished was Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. This was a reread for me, I am actually surprised at how much of the plot I had forgotten. I had such a great time rereading this, I loved every moment.
Review here.
Rating: 5 Stars!

 

Then I finished was Geekerella by Ashley Poston.
The weather is getting warmer, therefore it is time to bring out the contemporary books!
Rating: 3 Stars
Review coming soon!

 

 

 

 

And finally, the last book I finished in the month of April was Charmcaster by Sebastien De Castell
Rating: 4 Stars
Review coming soon!

 

 

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