2018 book round up

Hey guys! Hope you are doing well. It's honestly been so long since I wrote a blog post and it feels slightly strange being back and writing one! Like I've said in my previous posts, I am really busy with my masters at the moment and I am finding it hard to blog much to be honest so I am not making any blog promises for 2019 only that I try and blog when I feel I can!
Anyway, I always love doing my yearly book round ups they're my favourite posts to write every year so I wanted to write this! I have linked all the books I have reviewed over last year too.
in 2018 I managed to read 22 books, which is a bit low for me personally so I am going to try my best to beat that in 2019!

My 2018 books:

1) The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
2) Hold Back The Stars by Katie Khan
3) Ready Player one by Earnest Cline
4) The life-changing magic of not giving a fuck by Sarah Knight
5) One of us is lying by Karen M. Mcmanus
6) The Million Dollar Blog by Natasha Courtenay-Smith
7) The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
8) Get Your Shit Together by Sarah Knight
9) The Girl Before by JP Delaney
10) Release by Patrick Ness
11) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
12) How to be Parisian wherever you are by Anne Berest et al
13) Turtles all the way down by John Green
14) Awake under the night sky by Vanya Sharma
15) The Trouble with goats and sheep by Joanna Cannon
16) Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell
17) Origin by Dan Brown
18) When God was a rabbit by Sarah Winman
19) Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
20) Little beach street bakery by Jenny Colgan
21) Summer at little beach street bakery by Jenny Colgan
22) Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman

I found it really hard to come up with my favourite three books for this year so I just thought I'd talk about the books I liked the most! Firstly, I loved Ready Player One, it was one of those books I read and thought "Why haven't I read this before?" I really enjoyed it and would really recommend it if you're late to the party too. I also really enjoyed the Night Circus I thought that was a really good book and would really recommend it if you like gorgeous descriptions and a new world to fall into (I did a full review of this book.)
Another book I really liked was One of Us Is Lying I found it really intriguing and really enjoyed reading it. I also really loved Curious Incident which again I am really late in reading for the first time! Finally, I also loved Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine which I thought was a really important book!

To be fair, I really enjoyed nearly all the books I read this year! One book I want to mention is Sharp Objects, which was a really interesting book and probably the most stand out book that I've read this year and it really stuck with me! It was creepy and made me feel a bit ill reading it!

Another book I wanted to talk about is the Million Dollar blog. If you are a blogger I would really recommend reading this I found it so interesting and really helpful!

As usual a couple of books I wasn't the biggest fan of. Firstly, Hold back the stars I have some reservations for. Again I have a full review of that but the ending really irked me!
Secondly, The Girl Before wasn't really my cup of tea if I am being honest. It had a pretty good story line but also a few fifty shades of grey esque bits which I'm not a big fan of!

And that is my round up! I would recommend nearly all of the books I read last year!
Did you read any of those books? Do you have any suggestions for me for 2019?
Lots of love,
Eleanor

Origin- Dan Brown book review

Hey! I hope you are all doing well! I am back with another book review (i know I've been overloading you with book reviews but once I get back to uni I probably won't be reading much!). Today I wanted to tell you some of my thoughts on Dan Brown's latest instalment of the Robert Langon novels, Origin. Not going to lie, I actually haven't read any of Dan Brown's books before! Not even the infamous Da Vinci code but I wasn't sure what to read next so I thought I would give this one a go.

In this 5th instalment in this series, Langdon faces a predicament when his old student and friend Edmond Kirsch invites him to an evening in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao where he is told Edmond has discovered the extremely controversial answer the two main questions in our lives; where did we come from? Where are we going? Facing threat after the chaotic end to the presentation, Langdon is forced to run with the museum curator to try and unlock Edmond's secret.

This book really delves into the controversial subject of science and religion, and the battle between the two and indeed how they can exist together. I liked the different opinions in this book, and how Langon is in favour of both of them existing together and it provided some very interesting ideas. I think it is pretty relevant in today's society too. I know that Dan Brown gets a lot of hate for his books and he's not considered a literary genius or anything but I found reading a little bit about Spain's history and the Catholic church really interesting too!

This book takes you through Barcelona in Spain, a city I love and it was pretty nice to be taken here and into some of the buildings that I love and have visited so I really enjoyed that aspect too. This book might be considered "drivel" to some, but it really does whip you into an exciting story that kept me gripping on to the very and I thoroughly enjoyed the book! I think this is the kind of novel that you just need to read and enjoy it on face value and not go into plot holes or things like that!

For what the book is, I honestly really enjoyed it. It was really tense and exciting and kept me guessing until the very end! I wasn't sure how it was going to end and I honestly didn't even guess the ending at all! I would definitely read some more of Dan Brown's books now and I want to try Angels and Demons and the Da Vinci code.

What did you think of this book?
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Fools and Mortals- Bernard Cornwell book review

Hey guys! Today's blog post is yet another book review! 3 reviews in two weeks aren't you guys lucky ey! It's a review of Bernard Cornwell's recent book Fools and Mortals. I haven't actually read anything by Cornwell before although I shamelessly have nearly all of the Last Kingdom book series in a bag in my room that I am yet to read. But my mum read Fools and Mortals and enjoyed it and suggested I read it!

This book is set in Elizabethan London and is about Richard Shakespeare, Williams younger brother who is a "player" in his brothers acting company. Richard is desperate to be given a bigger male role in the plays as he is struggling for money and when Williams plays go missing he is put under suspicion.

I don't really go for historical type books very often but I do really enjoy them so I was excited to get transported back to Elizabethan England and this book was very descriptive and gave a good view of the dangerous, patriarchal times as well as following the story of Richard. I enjoyed the overall story arc and found it exciting and pretty tense at some points too. It's not extremely fast paced all the way through, and my mum kept describing it to me as "gentle" which I wouldn't say either because of the violence in parts, but I know what she means, it doesn't exactly keep you on tenterhooks particularly all the way through it's quite a slow arc. But don't get me wrong, it's definitely not boring!

I enjoyed the characters, I thought they were all written well and came alive for me and I enjoyed the love story unfolding between Richard and Sylvia too. I enjoyed the relationship between Richard and William Shakespeare actually I thought that it could be quite realistic, they obviously don't get on well, William finds him annoying and whiny, and Richard thinks his brother is mean and rude and this starts to develop and change throughout the book which is nice to see a progressing relationship. I found some of the characters humorous and I enjoyed the speech in this book!

I felt like this book genuinely gave an insight of what it was like in London in the Tudor times and with the rising of the theatre and actors and I found it to be a really interesting book too.

I liked the ending of this book too actually but I did have a bit of a problem with how one character, in particular, ended up...

Overall I would really recommend this book I enjoyed reading it and it's definitely motivated me to give Cornwell's Last Kingdom series a read finally!
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Turtles all the way down book review

Hey guys! I am back with another book review today! I read this book before I even went on holiday but because I have been the worst blogger in the world recently I have only just got round to doing a review of it!

The main reason I actually bought this book was because I own and have read all of John Green's previous books and I didn't want to leave this one out of my collection! Before reading it I was a bit nervous about reading it which sounds a bit stupid but I was kind of nervous that I would feel I had outgrown John Green? So I put off getting this book for quite a while. However, I actually did really enjoy this book and enjoy reading this book and I thought I would share some of my thoughts!

This book is about Aza, a girl who suffers from anxiety disorders who searches with her "best and most fearless friend" Daisy for a missing fugitive who also happens to be the dad of an old friend of Aza's. When reading this sort of basic blurb for this book I was pretty excited! I was excited for a bit of a mystery book and I was a little disappointed on this front when I got into it and realised it wasn't really a clue finding scooby doo sort of book. I just wish there had been some more actual mystery/detective work I'm sorry!!

Having said that, most importantly this book is an excellent retelling of what living with anxiety is like. Aza has these thought spirals that she struggles to get out of and as someone who really struggles with this too I was literally shouting out loud "yes" sometimes because I wholeheartedly agreed. It feels so true to home and accurate and I hope that people will read this and understand what living with anxiety is actually like. The other thing I really liked about this book was that it did include what life was like for the best friend of someone with anxiety too. Although I thought at some points Daisy was extremely harsh, I'm glad that Green included that side too, and how it can be difficult for them too. Which is of course not Aza's fault, but I am glad it included this as I'm sure this resonates with people too.

I really liked the characters in this book, but like with all of John Green's books, I often find bits of it really unrealistic. Like Aza is a deep thinker, this is obvious, but at times I felt like it was almost too deep? I don't really know how to explain it but at times it felt a bit unrealistic and extreme, but perhaps that was the point!

Now the ending I found a bit unexpected! The ending opened up more questions than it bloody answered! But I did quite like it I just wished more things had been explained...

Overall I really enjoyed this book, I am a sucker for John Green's writing which I know a lot of people don't like but I can't help it. I think it's actually one of my favourite John Green novels and I would recommend it!
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Awake under the night sky book review

Hey! I hope you guys are doing well! I think it's been so long since I have uploaded a book review which sucks I feel like the worlds worst book blogger! Honestly, I haven't been reading as many books as I would have liked I'm not too sure why but I need to get back to reading books although I think at this point I am never going to beat the number of books I read last year! But I did read this book that was kindly sent to me while I was on holiday and I wanted to talk about it a bit!

So this book is about two people, Vivian and Andre, who have very different and sure ideas about what they want to do, and who meet at uni and fall immediately in love. They actually meet pretty quickly in the book and I would have maybe preferred to meet and get to know the characters individually before we meet them together if that makes sense! I just felt I didn't get to know the characters enough individually! Since both characters have such strong clear goals about their lives I wish this had been explored more. Vivian spends some time in Africa which stimulates her to want to work there and I just wish this had maybe been discussed some more so we could really understand her if that makes sense!

I think this book has a really good premise and if you're a sucker for a love story with a good sort of “will they won't they” story line I think you'll enjoy this! It is 100% a love story and I think if you're an old romantic I can see you enjoying this book a lot. It does immerse you into the lives of these two individuals and it's quite nice to be swept into this book.

There were one or two little things that struck me when reading this book, for example even though Vivian is Spanish, Andre is Italian and they meet in India with Vivian visiting Ghana and speaking to the children, it is pretty confusing as to why languages aren't addressed? Are they all fluent in many languages? What language do they use to communicate to each other and to others? I mean it's not like a big deal or anything I was just a bit confused. Another thing I found slightly difficult to read at times was the dialogue, which at times was a bit unrealistic!

Overall, I think this is definitely a book for the romantics and for people who enjoy books with a tragic love story!
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

What i've been reading and watching recently

Hey guys! I hope you are doing well! Today I wanted to do a post talking about the things I have been reading and watching recently! If you have any recommendations of TV shows or books then please let me know I am always on the lookout for new ones!

Reading:

The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern): I actually did a full review of this book which I'll link here so I won't talk about it too much! But I really enjoyed this book and if you do like fantasy and magic I think you will also really enjoy it, definitely up there with my favourite books I've read this year.

Get your shit together (Sarah Knight): I read the life-changing magic of not giving a fuck earlier in the year and while I liked it I didn't love it but I have to say get your shit together is way more up my street! I felt like it resonated a bit more with me,  I thought the life-changing magic was aimed at people a bit older than me but I felt a bit more of a connection with this one! If you are looking for an unusual self-help book I would recommend this book and I am really excited to pick up her third book you do you at some point.

The Girl Before (JP Delany): I decided not to do a full review of this book but I will give you a quick summary of what I thought! It is a psychological thriller book compared to the likes of Girl on the train. I wasn't too sure what to expect when I read this book but to be honest it wasn't my favourite book, it definitely wasn't as gripping as Girl on the train! But I enjoyed it on a superficial level and there were a few twists and turns and I think it would be a good beach read. Bit of a warning, it has quite a lot of fifty shades of grey esque sex scenes in which I wasn't the biggest fan of which put me off the book a bit and there were some other things I didn't agree with.

Release (Patrick Ness): I just finished this book today and I really enjoyed it. It was really different (I've read a lot of different books recently!) and again I wasn't sure what to expect but I have wanted to read it for ages! I am going to put up a full review of this I think next week so I won't write too much here, but I did enjoy it!

Films:

Deadpool 2: I went to the cinema to see the latest Deadpool and I really enjoyed it! I found it pretty funny and silly and a good watch!

The Intern: I watched this film the other day on Netflix and I loved it! I honestly fell in love with this film I thought it was the cutest thing! If you're looking for a cute heartwarming film to watch when it's raining outside I would really recommend this!

Edge of 17: I finally got round to watching this film now that it's been put on Netflix! I did enjoy this film actually, it wasn't quite up to the hype I don't think, but I still thought it was pretty funny and really sad at the same time and super relatable!

Alice Through the Looking-glass: I really enjoyed Alice in Wonderland so I wanted to give this a watch and I really liked it! It was pretty amusing and really pretty to watch! I think this is a good film for all ages to watch!

TV Shows: 

Safe: Me and my friend at uni watched this over two days! There are only 10 episodes and it's pretty tense so it's really easy to get through! I did like this show but I guessed the ending and I didn't think it was absolutely amazing like some of the reviews I was reading! But I did like it and I would still recommend, I just didn't think it was absolutely insane.

The Alienist: I loved this T.V series! I found it was really gripping and it was pretty intense! You have to stay pretty focused though and I often had to go back because I had missed things! I thought the ending was a bit anti-climatic but I really hope they make a season 2 because I really got into the characters and I think there is a potential for the characters and I want to learn more about them.

13 reasons why season 2: This has been talked about so much recently and I don't think there's anything I particularly want to add that hasn't been said already to be honest! I think that it wasn't as gripping as the first season and I kind of wish they would have given it a happy ending and then just ended it if I am being honest I don't really want a third season!

I Hope you enjoyed this post! Like it said if you have any recommendations for me please let me know!
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

The Night Circus book review

Hey guys! I hope you are doing well! Now that I have finished my exams I have really wanted to get back into reading this summer and try and get back to the library and read some more! I bought The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern a while ago but I have saved it until I finished my exams to read it and I thought I would do a review on it!

I actually went into this book blind, I had heard a lot of good reviews for it but I had no idea about the plot line or what the book was about at all and the blurb of the book gives very little away too. But the basic story line is about these two great magicians, who have very different ways of teaching, pick a child and teach them magic. Then over the years there is this mysterious test that the children are being taught for. This time the stage of the test is a mysterious travailing circus and things are made more complicated when the two contestants, Celia and Marco, meet and fall in love.

The thing with this book is that it has a large focus on this magical circus, made up of the amazing tents as well as the main story line which I personally loved. I really liked this book for its gorgeous descriptions and it's imagery. It really feels like you're stepping into this magical world and that personally kept me reading. For me, the characters and the plot line were almost secondary to the circus if that makes sense, which I was fine with since I wasn't the biggest fan of many of the characters if I am being honest.

Having said that, I don't think this book is for everyone. While I personally loved reading about the circus so much I could totally understand how people would find this book "boring". It's not exactly action packed, there are no big twists or turns and it sort of feels like in terms of the actual so called test Celia and Marco have to do, nothing really happens until the end and even then it's a bit of a strange ending. This book had a serious "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" feel to it, a book I read last year and personally loved so this kind of book is definitely on my wavelength and if you read that book and loved it then I think you will really like this book too. But when reading this be prepared for a large focus on the circus itself and the circus characters and the meetings about the circus rather than the plot line I discussed above.

For me the main reason I loved this book was really the description of the circus and all of the tents which are in the circus Morgenstern's writing style and description made it so easy to visual the circus and it made me just want to crawl inside the pages and never leave! It is a gorgeous book to read but like I said above, it's not a book I would recommend to everyone and if you love action packed "exciting" books then I don't really think this is the book for you! But if you love magic and lovely imagery with an air of mystery then I think you will!

Lots of love,
Eleanor x

The Million Dollar Blog- Book review

Hey guys! Hope you are doing well! I am super stressed myself as I am coming closer to the end of third year with a lot of deadlines and an exam! So just to warn you that over the next month my blogging might be a bit disarrayed!

Today I wanted to do a book review of the Million Dollar blog by Natasha Courtenay-Smith who is a British entrepreneur. She wrote this book to help bloggers start a blog, get money from their blog, and improve their existing one. Needless to say, as someone who has had a blog for over four years, I was really interested in this book.

Some of this book wasn't entirely useful obviously, as I already have a blog but a lot of it really was! I think there are a lot of really good tips in here for any blogger at any stage in their blogging journey, or if you are thinking about starting. As I was reading, I noticed that this book is really catered towards people who are wanting to start a business, so if you're wanting to use a blog to sell things if I would really recommend this book! But since I don't blog for that purpose some of this wasn't as useful but I still got a lot from this.

One of my favourite things about this book are the interviews with other bloggers. It is absolutely jam-packed with snippets from bloggers and YouTubers and CEO's and authors who have first-hand experience of getting a really successful blog from nothing and I found this so useful and interesting to read! I would honestly recommend this book just for the interviews honestly I really loved that Natasha chose to include so many.

It also had some really useful tips on how to get money from blogging. I personally don't really earn money from blogging but it is something that I am starting to think about for the future and it had some really useful ideas that I'd never considered before. I think I'll definitely come back to these pages particularly and use them to help me in the future!

First and foremost as well, I think if you're going through a serious blogging rut this book is really useful as all of the interviews and tips make you feel so motivated! Especially if you are struggling to stay motivated because of the views you've got and things like that then this book can really help you focus on the end goal. As well, I think it would really improve motivation to keep going and to improve your blog too and maybe take it a bit more seriously. It definitely widened my eyes to how to take my blog further and to keep improving and what to do in order to help me reach my blogging goals.

I think this book will be one I come back to and use as a reference point too because it really had some great ideas!
Overall I would really recommend this book if you are a blogger or thinking about getting into blogging or need some more motivation!
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

One of us is lying- Karen Mcmanus book review

Hey! I hope you guys are doing well! So today I wanted to review One of us is lying which is written by Karen Mcmanus. I have seen this book around a lot on social media and I was really excited to read it! It has been on my TBR list for ages (by the way you can check out the rest of the rest of my TBR list here) and I finally got round to reading it!

This book is about 5 teenagers who all end up in detention together when one of them dies, but who did it? This book swaps between the four other characters and tells things from their point of view and it becomes clear that all of them have something to hide. I personally loved how this book swapped between the characters so we could get into the heads of all the characters and see their murder from their pov, I thought it was cleverly written so you never really know who to trust! Literally, everyone in this book was a murder suspect to me!

One thing I really liked about this book was the character development in the characters, they all learn a lot from the experience and I think they all come out at the end better versions of themselves which I love in a book. The characters in the book are quite stereotypical fitting into certain "cliques" but I think that's the point of the book really and then as it goes on the book has aspects of breaking down school cliques and brings people together from different social groups and cliques.
This book is really addictive, it really kept me on the edge and I couldn't wait to see what was coming next. There were some twists and turns in this book that I didn't see coming and that I really liked. I have to say I sort of guessed the ending, but there was another twist towards the end that I didn't actually guess!

It's not often that I read a good YA murder mystery to be honest, especially one that really entices me and that keeps me reading to the very end. I really liked the inspiration too, from the Breakfast Club which is a film I really like and I liked the modern and different twist that it has, a different direction it could have gone in. It read like a tv program almost and now I've finished it I just want more and to find out what happens next! I think it would make a great tv show actually!

Overall if you are looking for an addicting and exciting YA novel I would really recommend this! Despite the subject matter (murder) it's actually quite a light read, and I think it would be a good holiday read!
Lots of love,
Eleanor

What's on my reading list #2

Hey guys! I hope you are doing well! So this month I am going to be running mental health awareness March, where I take this month to talk about different MH disorders and to bring awareness to them. I have run it for a few years but I didn't last year! If you want to see the posts you can see them on the mental health page at the top of my blog! So I have a few lovely people who have said that they would write a post for me about their experiences of MH which I am really excited to show you guys! If you would like to share a post or your story please email me at smitheh01@gmail.com

However, before MHAM starts officially (later this week) I wanted to get this TBR post up first! I can't believe it's been a year since I posted my last "what's on my reading list" you can see it here, and I'm happy to say I read every single book on that list! So I thought I would do a quick post showing you what my current TBR list is! I am aiming to try and read these by the end of the year!

1) Release- Patrick Ness. 
This has been on my mental tbr list for 2 years since it came out! I have finally written it down so I am definitely going to get it soon to read!

2) Turtles all the way down- John Green.
I read all of John Green's books back in my teenage years and I really want to get his new one! I don't honestly know how much I will like it but I want to give it a read almost just so I can still say I have read all of his books!

3) Get your shit together and you do you- Sarah Knight
I have just finished the life-changing magic of not giving a fuck and I really want to pick up her next two books! I enjoyed the LCMONGF but some of it was aimed I think at people a bit older than me! So I'm hoping I might be able to get a bit more from her next two!

4) One of us is lying- Karen McManus
I actually have bought this book and I am going to read it next! I have a few trains to get next week so I am saving it for then! I have heard quite a lot about this book so I am really excited to give it a go.

5) The Million Doller blog- Natasha Courtenay-Smith
This is a bit of a different book but definitely one I am planning to get soon. You will notice with this TBR list, there are a lot more non-fiction books, and I am trying to read a few more different books to my usual novels, especially since I am so busy at the moment these books are easier to dip into! I am hoping this one will be able to give me a few tips!

6) The Night Circus- Erin Morgenstern
I have heard a lot of good stuff about this book and I am excited to pick it up!

7) My blogging secrets: A guide to becoming a pro-blogger- Amber L Mcnaught 
I have not read a book by a blogger like this so I really want to give it a go!

8) Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine- Gail Honeyman
I have heard so much about this book recently so I wanted to add it to my TBR! Plus it's about someone called Eleanor...

9) How to be an overnight success- Maria Hatzistefanis 
Again I am really interested in these kind of books at the moment and to read motivational books!

10) Ice cream for breakfast- Laura Jane Williams
I heard this mentioned by Hellooctober ages ago and she said she really enjoyed it like she liked the life-changing magic of not giving a fuck so I thought I would give this one a go too!

11) How to be Parisian: wherever you are- Anne Berest, Audrey Diwan, Caroline de Maigret and Sophie Mas
I've heard this book mentioned by quite a few bloggers before and heard its a cool book so I thought I would give it a go!

I hope you enjoyed this post! What's on your tbr? Are any of these on your list too?
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Hold Back The Stars book review

Hey guys! Hope you are doing well. I wanted to write this book review of Hold Back The Stars by Katie Khan ages ago but I just never got round to it but I've seen a few people reading this book on my feeds so I thought I would write a full review! I read this book a while ago now, so I am hoping I can remember all of my feelings towards it.

Hold back the stars is a book about Max and Carys and when we meet them for the first time, they have just 90 minutes to survive. There is not much given away by the book and I had never heard of this book before I received it for Christmas so I was reading this book quite blind. There were things that I did actually like about this book. I really enjoyed the story unfurling of this book, how Katie started at the end and then filled in the gaps about how they got there as the book went on. This book is a predominantly romantic book which isn't my personal favourite "genre" of book really, but I enjoyed it for what it was. I really enjoyed the setting of this book too, it's set in a dystopian future in this new "world" called eurotopia and I really enjoyed reading about this new world. I was a very different dystopian book that what I'm used to! I was really unsure about how this book was going to end so I was really intrigued to keep reading and see how it ended.

However, I have to say that there were things in this book that I personally didn't really enjoy. I found the dialogue to be quite contrived and unrealistic if I am being honest. Unfortunately, I found this book a bit cringy? Like I get that it's a romantic book but there were places in the book where I just thought "oh god really?" and not in a good way! For me as well the characters were a little bit flat! I just didn't really get into them in a major way! I was a bit sad that I didn't find it as good as I would have liked, because on the cover this book is likened to "One day" and "The Versions Of Us" two books which I really love but this book just left me feeling a bit cold if I am being honest!

And then, we come to the ending. I hated the ending! I'm just going to put it out there. The whole end section of the book I really disliked. It didn't fit in with the rest of the book, the book suddenly went all The versions of Us (ie changing between different realities) and I was actually really confused as to why those chapters were set out like that when the rest of the book hadn't been. Then the actual ending I found ridiculous if I am being honest! I genuinely thought that the way it ended could have been avoided completely so it didn't affect me emotionally at all! I was expecting to cry at this book (thanks to all the comments on the cover) but I honestly thought it was a bit stupid! A little harsh but true.

Overall there were points in this book that I did really like and it wasn't the worst book I've ever read or anything it just wasn't a favourite of mine.
Have you read this book? What did you think?
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

The Underground Railroad- Colson Whitehead review

Hey guys! I hope you are doing well! I am officially back to uni now and I am so tired already! Feeling ready for easter and I've only been back a few days! Today I am going to do my first book review of 2018 and it is on the Underground Railroad which is a novel by Colson Whitehead.

This book is mainly centred around a girl called Cora who is a slave in America who makes a bid for freedom along with fellow slave Ceaser. It is about her life on the cotton plantation and then her escape from the slavecatcher Ridgeway to get north where black people are treated slightly better. This book brings to life the "underground railroad" making it a physical entity in this book, a physical train running underground, rather than a route.

For obvious reasons, this book is highly emotive and moving. There is danger and heartbreak at every turn through Cora's journey to safety and it is definitely a really gripping book. I thought it was really well written, I had never heard of this author before but I would read more of his books as I think his writing is really good. There were a few twists and turns in this book, and I was never sure what was going to happen to Cora and if she'd make it out alive or if she would manage to escape. and it really kept me reading until the very end.

I think this book is a really important one, especially in this day and age and we don't often talk or read about the harsh realities of the slave trade and it really put everything into perspective and imagine yourself in Cora's shoes. I actually think that in 5 years time this book will be a classic and they will be studying it at A-level. Now that I have finished it i feel like telling everyone to go and read it!

The only thing is that nagged me a bit with this books was I felt some characters to be underdeveloped, even when Colson goes into backstories about the characters, he states facts where I want to hear emotion to really connect with the novel. Furthermore, because it is written in 3rd person, it is just a little bit less personal and connecting than if it had been in first person and there are times which I thought I felt too disconnected from Cora when I really didn't want to be. I personally really liked that he made the railroad in the book real, I thought it was clever of him and there is so much truth in this book apart from that.

I think that everyone should go and read this book I think that it is powerful and moving and an important read. I mean if it's good enough for Obama it's good enough for you!

Have you read this book? What did you think?
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

2017 book roundup

Hey guys! This is officially my first post as self-hosted! I finally bit the bullet and bought my own domain and it feels really good actually to be able to say .co.uk instead of .blogspot.co.uk! Anyway, today I am doing my favourite post of the year which is my 2017 book roundup! This is where I go through all the books I have read over 2017 and then at the end discuss which books I liked the most and least! I did quite a lot of reviews over this year of books so if I have reviewed the book I will link it. So this year I read 28 books which I am really pleased with actually and I know everyone reads different amounts and this may seem a lot to some and barely anything to others but for me that's pretty good! Especially as I have been busy at university and whatnot! So I will go through all the books I read in 2017!

1) The Girls- Emma Cline
2) A Little Something Different- Sandy Hall
3) More Than This- Patrick Ness
4) The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1)- Patrick Ness
5) The Ask and The Answer (Chaos Walking #2)- Patrick Ness
6) Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking #3)- Patrick Ness
7) The Rosie Project- Graeme Simsion
8) The Rosie Effect- Graeme Simsion
9) We Were Liars- E Lockhart
10) The Thousand Tiny Miracles of Living Twice- Katarina West
11) There's a Boy in the Girls Bathroom- Louis Sacher
12) Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children-  Ransom Riggs
13) Hallow City- Ransom Riggs
14) Library of Souls- Ransom Riggs
15) Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell- Susanna Clarke
16) Me before you- Jojo Moyes
17) The Sky is Everywhere- Jandy Nelson
18) Astonishing Splashes of Colour- Clare Morrall
19) The Taxidermists Daughter- Kate Mosse
20) Everything Everything- Nicola Yoon
21) My Not So Perfect Life- Sophie Kinsella
22) The Sun is Also a Star- Nicola Yoon
23) Under Rose Tainted Skies - Louise Gornell 
24) Big Little Lies- Liane Moriarty
25) Love, Rosie- Cecelia Ahern 
26) Capture your Style- Aimee Song
27) Nerve- Jeanne Ryan
28) My True Love Gave to Me- Many authors!

So that is a complete list of the books I read this year and the links to all the books I reviewed! So, now onto my general review! Firstly, I'll talk about some of my favourite books this year. My favourite books that I read have to be the Chaos Walking Trilogy, I honestly loved these books so much I found them really gripping and such an immersive story which made me laugh and cry throughout. If you haven't already, I would really recommend! The book which stood out most to me this year has to be Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. This book took me the longest to read too, it's quite a long book at over 1000 pages but it is so worth it and I thoroughly enjoyed this book and thought it was so imaginative and well written. Another book I really enjoyed was Me Before You. This book surprised me a bit and I already knew the storyline but I really loved it and it's a really easy read too. I also loved My Not So Perfect Life. This book is honestly hilarious and so relatable and such an enjoyable read. Another book I really loved was Big Little Lies, I found it so gripping and funny but with some really dark moments and a really satisfying ending. Finally, We Were Liars and More Than This are two books that kept me hanging on till the end and that I really enjoyed reading.

Unfortunately, there were a few books this year that I personally didn't really enjoy or that weren't really my style. Firstly, The Girl's I, unfortunately, didn't really enjoy. I know so many people who loved this book but I just don't think it's really my cup of tea so I wasn't the biggest fan of this book. Another book that disappointed me this year was The Sky Is Everywhere. I was looking forward to reading this but it wasn't really what I expected I guess and I just didn't really enjoy it actually I found it frustrating. Finally, the book Nerve I was really disappointed by. I go into a lot of detail about why in my review of it but I wasn't the biggest fan of this book!

So I hoped you enjoyed this post! Have you read any of these books? What did you think?
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Nerve- Jeanne Ryan, Book Review

Hey guys! It's been absolutely ages since I have done a book review like this! I feel like I can barely even call myself a book blogger at the moment! Being at uni has meant I've barely had time to do much reading! But since I have broken up for Christmas now I am hoping to do some more reading. I just finished the book Nerve earlier today and I really had some thoughts on the book!

Okay, I am not going to lie, straight off the bat I did not like this book! I saw the film a few months a go and really liked it so I was looking forward to reading it but I have to say I was really underwhelmed and disappointed. This review contains spoilers.

Okay so firstly, I have to say the characters were really bland and unrelatable. None of the characters seemed to have any depth to them. Let's talk about Ian. He is way too nice, the fact that Vee and Ian are getting it on after knowing each other for all of 2 secs is ridiculous. I literally could not believe he was that nice it was unreal. It is hinted at that he has some home problems but they're never gone into detail about, and honestly there was just no substance there. There is no character development with Ian or Vee, again it is hinted that Vee has some problems but they're never really outrightly discussed. Also, I don't know if this was the writer's point but I found it weird that basically everything she did was for a boy, like first Matthew and then Ian? I think there was a lot of potential but unfortunately, it wasn't carried through and it seemed very unrealistic. Even the other characters in the game seemed too unrealistic and weirdly horrible and no one in the book had any common sense.

The same goes for the plot really. I thought the premise sounded so exciting and had so much potential but it just fell really flat for me. There were no twists or turns or anything, I was sort of begging for a twist or something exciting to happen. While it wasn't boring or anything like that, it was just a bit obvious. I really disliked the ending I have to say, I thought it was so anti-climatic, I mean what they did changed nothing? And honestly what was the point of the random cliff hanger ending? Also even the prologue was weird like they never really explained what happened to Abigale, the character in the prologue and she was never brought into it again which was so random really. 

Okay I really liked the film, so I want to talk about why the film was better:

- Way way more depth to Ian, really gave him a reason for wanting to be in the game

- Better reasons in general for the players in the film, like in the film Vee really wanted to help her mum but in the book she was just sorting of playing for presents like a new phone.

- I really enjoyed how in the film they actually overcame the watchers in the end and actually shut down the game, whereas in the book they did nothing to change anything.

- I actually enjoyed the plot a lot more in the film, I liked that there was more mystery to the film, I feel like the film took the premise of the book and then made it into something much better

There are some good parts in this book though, found it easy to read and engaging and I thought it was fast-paced and even hooking it just didn't go in the direction I hoped it would go in, which I assumed would be more like the film. Maybe I am biased because I had high hopes going into it after the film!

What did you think of the book?

Lots of love,

Eleanor 

Capture your style book review

Hey guys! I hope you are doing well. I didn't get a chance to get a blog post up last week, I've been so busy lately with essays and whatnot! But I am going to try hard to get two blog posts up this week to make up for it! Today's post going to be a review of Capture Your style, which is a book written by Insta guru Amiee Song all about growing your Instagram.

First of all, I love the look of this book. I love the baby pink cover and all of the gorgeous pictures inside. I personally would buy it just for the pictures! I included this in my stocking filler ideas and I do think it would make a lovely present for anyone you know who wants to grow their Instagram platform! I have to admit, I am a little bit clueless when it comes to Instagram, and this book really did give me some useful tips. Some of the tips were a little bit basic, such as how to make an account and things like that but I see why she included these tips to make the book accessible for everyone and to cover all basis, for people who are just starting and for people who want to improve.

Some things I personally loved that she included, was how she edits her photos and what apps she uses. She also gives some really good tips for taking photos and photography skills which is something I really want to improve on! Unfortunately, I guess I don't agree with all of her points which is too be expected with a book like this where we all have different opinions and that's fine! The pictures she takes and advises to take are all very clean and clear-cut and I personally prefer something that is a little bit different and personal so I definitely took her points with a pinch of salt! I also don't really work in pictures of 9 on my grid, to be honest, but that's nothing really on her part it's just that I have different opinions!

I think all the tips she gave are really useful for anyone and are little changes that we can all make to better our Instagram feeds! For business, blogging or personal use I think this book would be really useful, did I mention how gorgeous it is? I also think this book is really accessible for everyone and it she explains things in a really nice clear way.

I really like that at the end of each section, she includes a little "your turn" part where she challenges you to upload pictures using the tips she has given you which is a nice way to conceptualize the book and making it really practical and help you put her tips into practice.

This book covers a wide range of pictures too, outfit pics, selfies, food, flatlays and building pictures so there are some tips in here for whatever you like taking photos of!
Overall if you are into your Instagram and want to take it more seriously I would recommend this book.

Lots of love,
Eleanor

Under Rose Tainted Skies- Louise Gornall book review

Hey guys! This post is going up a bit later than normal but I have had a fun few days in Manchester with my friend! Since I am going back to University this weekend I will be posting today and tomorrow for this week and then I am not sure how often I will be posting! I am entering my third year now and so I imagine my posts will be going down to one post a week quite soon. Today I am doing another book review. I had never heard of this book before or the author but I spotted it in my library and fancied a read! I also really love the pink cover of the book and I thought the plot sounded interesting.

Norah suffers from OCD and agoraphobia and finds it extremely difficult to leave her house. Luke is the new boy who moves next door and Norah really starts to fall for him and he, her.
I can't help but compare this book to Everything Everything which I read recently too as it has quite a similar premise although really they are not that similar!

This book has a really good portrayal of mental health, and Norah's struggle is shown on every single page. Although Luke does help Norah to start to recover, he is not the contrived hero love interest I was worried he would be. Norah starts to get better for herself, it is not like he comes along and suddenly her illnesses are forgotten or anything so obnoxious. He is a really nice character and is supportive of her throughout and really tries to understand what she is going through. I do think this book is one of the best accounts of mental health that I have ever read in a YA novel. The way anxiety attacks are shown in this book are realistic and I think this book is actually quite informative for people who want to know what it's like to live with OCD and agoraphobia.

"Mental health is usually the last place people go when they think about someone being sick"

I liked Norah as a character, she is sarcastic and funny despite her illnesses, and is a quite relatable character. I loved this closeness she has with her mum who is trying her best to stay positive about her daughter. I liked that it is talked about how Norah knows she is being irrational, but at the same time just can't get herself to fully believe it which is a good portrayal of OCD.

The ending was incredibly tense I was on the edge of my seat reading it! I didn't really expect the book to go in that direction and it was quite random. This event changes Norah and her perspective of the scary world. She proved to herself she can go through difficult situations and that when all the things she fears happens (including strangers touching her, being in a germ-filled environment ect) it actually doesn't end up being as horrendous as she thought, so I see why she choose to end the book like that.

"See, anxiety doesn’t just stop. You can have nice moments, minutes where it shrinks, but it doesn’t leave. It lurks in the background like a shadow, like that important assignment you have to do but keep putting off or the dull ache that follows a three-day migraine. The best you can hope for is to contain it, make it as small as possible so it stops being intrusive. Am I coping? Yes, but it’s taking a monumental amount of effort to keep the dynamite inside my stomach from exploding."

I am putting out a a trigger warning of self harm.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Have you ever read this book? What did you think?

Lots of love,

Eleanor x

The Ultimate Harry Potter Tag

Hey guys! I hope you are well! Today I am going to be doing the Ultimate Harry Potter tag. I sort of missed this tags hype when everyone was doing it but as an avid Harry Potter fan I really wanted to do it! Plus it feels like it's been a while since I've done an actual tag like this!

1) Favourite book?
Goblet of fire for sure! I really do love this one, I think I love the first 4 books the best.

2) Least favorite book?
I really love all of the books so this is quite hard! I guess the Order Of the Pheonix just because that is when things start to get a bit darker and Harry really pushes away his friends.

3) Favourite movie?
Philophosers Stone is probably my fave film, it's such a classic heart warming film.

4) Least favorite movie?
I'm not sure, I enjoy most of the films, to be honest. Maybe Half Blood Prince, they miss out a lot of stuff that was in the book, lots of Voldemorts life story.

5) Favourite quote?
" Of course it's happening in your head Harry, but why on earth should that mean it's not real?"

6) Favourite Weasley?
The twins! Can't pick between them

7) Favourite female character?
Has to be Hermione of course, she's clever and brilliant.

8) Favourite villain?
Probably Draco Malfoy, I like a good smarmy villain that comes round in the end!

9) Favourite male character?
Probably Harry which is a bit boring but I really like Harry as a protagonist. Or maybe Ron, his character makes me laugh quite a lot in the books.

10) Favourite professor?
McGonagall! I love her so much, one of my favorite characters in the series.

11) Would you rather wash Snapes hair or listen to Lockhart talk about himself all day?
Ugh... I would not want to wash Snape's hair, can you imagine how awkward that would be! But it would be quicker than listening to Lockhart I guess...

12) Would you rather dual an elated Bellatrix or an Angry Molly?
I mean Bellatrix died fighting an angry Molly so I think I would take my chances with Bellatrix!

13) Would you rather travel to Hogwarts via the Hogwarts express or flying car?
Definitely the Hogwarts express! I want to try some of the food! Plus I prefer trains to cars and I would rather not get expelled from Hogwarts...

14) Would you rather kiss Voldemort or give Umbridge a bath?
I hate Umbridge but I do not want to kiss a gross old man so I would probably give Umbridge a bath I guess?

15) Would you rather ride a hippogriff or a Firebolt?
The Firebolt I think! I would be too scared on a Hippogriff! Also I really want to fly a broom

16) Is there a character you felt differently about in the films than the books?
I don't think so!

17) Is there a movie you prefer to a book?
No! I love the books so much and they have a lot more detail in so!

18) Richard Harris or Micheal Gambon for Dumbledore?
I don't know! It's hard to tell as Harris only got one film so I don't know how he would have continued. I think probably Micheal Gambon though, I think Richard Harris looked a bit too frail for Dumbledore.

19) Your top think that wasn't in the movies but was in the book?
Easy! All the stuff in the Goblet of Fire about Ludo Bagman and Winky and Barty Crouch! There was a lot more there in the books!

20) If you could remake any Harry Potter films which would it be?
I probably wouldn't remake any to be honest! I loved the films although I do think there should have been a few bits of information that could have been added here and there!

21) Which house was your first gut feeling you would be part of?
Hufflepuff! I could just tell that was the house for me

22) Which house were you actually sorted into on Pottermore?
Hufflepuff of course, I am the most Hufflepuff person you will ever meet.

23) Which class would be your favorite?
I think I would really enjoy potions actually as long as Snape didn't teach it (he would definitely scare me)

24) Which spell would be most useful to learn?
Expellliarmus maybe? Seems to work pretty well for Harry! Also, Alhohamora would be useful to open doors and Accio too, so I don't have to get off my butt if I want something!

25) Which character would you be instant friends with?
I think I would get on pretty well with Harry actually.

26) If you could own one of the three Hallows what would it be?
Definitely the cloak! That would be amazing.

27) Is there any aspect of the book you'd want to change?
I talked about it earlier but I really don't like that Harry pushes away all his friends in the 5th book! Also basically all the deaths!

28) Favourite Marauder?
Sirius! I love Sirius and I would love to see what he got up to when he was younger!

29) If you could bring one character to life who would it be?
All of them!! I am so sad anyone died in these books I loved them all! I would probably say Dumbledore though or Fred.

30) Hallows or Horcruxes?
I would pick the Hallows I guess, sounds less painful that splitting your soul!

That is all 30 questions! I hope you enjoyed this post!
If you want a go please feel free.
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

The Sun Is Also A Star- Nicola Yoon book review

Hey guys! So if I stick to my blog schedule then my up coming posts could be quite "bookish". I have a few book reviews and book tags coming up this week and next so I may try and break it a little with a beauty review next week. The first of my book reviews is The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon. If you weren't aware, Nicola Yoon is the author of the revered Everything Everything which is now in the cinema. This book is not talked about as much which is why I decided to review this one instead despite reading them close to one another.

Natasha is a girl of science and facts and does not believe in fate. She is spending what could be her last day in America before she gets deported to Jamaica. Daniel wears his heart on his sleeve and is looking for a sign from the universe about what to do about his future. The book is about these two characters with very different ideologies meeting and getting to know each other. This book is set over the course of a day which I think is really clever actually. The time frame makes it easy to become submerged into the book and hard to put down as every page of the books leads on directly from the last. The narrative of the book swaps between characters, predominantly Natasha and Daniel but sometimes other characters and occasionally little notes from the author. The swapping between characters annoyed me a little since they swap so frequently like we get a page of Natasha speaking before it swaps.

Natasha was born and raised in Jamaica until the age of 8 and Daniel was born and bred in America but has strict Koren parents and heritage which he keeps with him (it is hinted he has Korean friends and a Korean school ect). I really liked that the characters cultural history was a part of this book as it can be ignored sometimes and I really liked that two different cultures came together and it was refreshing and amazing not to read a book about caucasian characters, to be honest like nearly every book I read. It was interesting to see how the different characters were either happy with keeping their cultures as a part of them (like Daniel) or tried to reject it (like Daniels brother).

One theme that runs throughout this books is the idea that everything we do affects someone or something else. The importance of actions is something that resonates strongly throughout this and is quite interesting to think about. Something I also enjoyed was the clash of beliefs. Natasha is a strong believer in facts and science and does not believe in love. But Daniel who believes in the universe and destiny tries hard to try and change her mind, especially about love. This clash causes a lot of rifts but I think they both learn something from each other.

I think many will find the ending of the book disappointing or undesirable but I actually quite liked the ending it was sort of inevitable. I like a change from the usual fairy tale ending really, it's more realistic.

Overall I thought this book was quite good it was quite an easy read that took me two sittings. Have you read this? What did you think?
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Astonishing splashes of colour book review

Hey guys! I hope you are doing well! This post is going up a little later than I would have liked, every time I thought I had a free day to write, something came up! Today I am doing a book review of Astonishing Splashes of Colour by Clare Morrall. My friend actually lent me this book because she thought I would enjoy it, and I had never heard of the author or the book before. Furthermore, the book does not have a blurb (or at least the copy I had didn't) and so I was going into the book blind. I am also going to say there is a trigger warning about loss of children.

The book is about a woman Kitty, who is finding it very difficult with both the loss of her mother when she was a baby, and the loss of her own baby. Along with the knowledge she is incapable to have another child. Kitty feels she has no future and no past. This book particularly holds a theme of lost children which seems to run througout the book. I wasn't sure how I would take to this book, it's not a particularly happy book as you can probably guess and I was slightly worried for Kitty and what her need of a baby would lead her to do next.

I actually really enjoyed this book, it had a good plot and some major plot twists that I did not see coming at all that made it hard for me to put the book down! It is really interesting too. Kitty's husband James, clearly finds it very difficult to talk about their lost baby too. The two of them never communicate about it and when Kitty's councillor suggests James comes along to their meetings too, he declines, clearly not wanting to talk about the situation. For me the book really highlights the importance of talking about issues like this in a marriage. I think Kitty felt alone and isolated, and needed to talk about what had happened between them. For me, this was a major unstated message from the book. I think a lot of the situations Kitty gets into could have been avoided if the two had discussed where to go from losing a baby.

One thing I did not particularly like was the ending of the book, there is a death at the end (don't worry I won't tell you who!) which I felt was not needed at all and seemed a bit random and rushed. But apart from that I enjoyed this book and finished it in three sittings. I think I would read more from this author I really enjoyed the writing style and the book really came alive for me. It is definitely an unforgettable book that has really stayed with me and I often find myself reflecting on it!

Have you ever read this book? Let me know what you thought!
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Blogger bookmarks

Hey guys! I have a little different extra post today! The very lovely Penny asked me if I wanted to be involved in a little project where some of us book bloggers get together and make some book marks for different genres of books! I of course said yes and I am obsessed with my own bookmark and the other bloggers bookmarks too! You guys can print these bookmarks off and you have a bookmark for every type of book you want to read! Penny is so talented having made all these bookmarks. All of these bookmarks have the bloggers favourite books in each of the genres we chose. For example, I chose to do romance books, and on my bookmark, you can see my choice of books, Pride and Prejudice, Me before you, Bridget Jones Diary and The fault in our stars. Each bookmark has four books chosen by the bloggers so if you are stuck for what book to read next these bookmarks have lots of ideas for you too!

This is my bookmark and I love it! I can't wait to print it out!

Here are everyone else's bookmarks too!
I have also linked everyone who was involved in this project here and the genre they did:

Fiction – Bookish Betsy (Betsy) - http://bookishbetsy.wordpress.com  Classics – Love Serially (Christine) - http://loveserially.wordpress.com  Poetry – Fables and Tea (Hannah) - http://fablesandteawriting.wordpress.com  LGBTQIA – Magical Reader (Lori) - https://majesticreadingblog.wordpress.com/  Fantasy – Books and Belle (Paige) - https://booksandbelleblog.wordpress.com/  & Pebblepen (Penny) - https://pebblepen.blogspot.co.uk/  Magical Realism – The Introverted Book Nerd (Danielle) - https://theintrovertedbooknerd.wordpress.com/  Romance – Little thoughts from little people (Eleanor) - …http://littlethoughtsfromlittlepeople.blogspot.co.uk/  Sci-fi – Pebblepen (Penny) - https://pebblepen.blogspot.co.uk/  Thriller – Books and Belle (Paige) - https://booksandbelleblog.wordpress.com/  Historical – The Introverted Book Nerd (Danielle) https://theintrovertedbooknerd.wordpress.com/  & Pebblepen (Penny) - https://booksandbelleblog.wordpress.com/  Horror– All the Bright Places Blog (Beth) - http://allthebrightplaces.co.uk 

I hope you enjoyed these posts and that these bookmarks will help you decide on your next read! I want to say another big thanks to Penny who is so talented and lovely for inviting me to do this.
Lots of love,
Eleanor x