Top 5 Wednesday - Oh, this looks nice!

Once again, here I am... 

Blah blah blah behind these hazel eyes I don't have!

  

...and we make tops, because we're cool like that.

Okay, so Top 5 Wednesday was initially a booktube thing, created by Lainey, over to Gingerreadslainey, and was converted into this blog format we are all enjoying by Pzikke over to Pete de Violet. Basically, every Wednesday, we post a top five composed by books that fit into a certain category. This week's theme is Accidental Books.

Now, I don't know about you, but the best books I've read were, at the time, poor accidental picks. That being said, prepare yourself for this:

5. The Mysterey of the Blue Train

At 12 I had no idea who this woman Agatha Christie was. 

Now, almost 7 years and 37 books later, I am all like: "Did someone say Agatha Christie? Oh, have you read...?"

 Seriously speaking, her mysteries are the best. It's not even the way she writes, but what she writes. Yeah, if you can guess who the murderer is you're officially smarter than me and I'm not even ashamed to admit it. Or maybe you just pay more attention.

4. Jamrach's Menagerie

Poor impulse buy, but man, this book practically smashed me to pieces. I want more people to love this, I feel like it's way underdog. 

So, pretty please, mister or miss, let it break your heart and crush your soul.

3. The Eyre Affair

So we have a world where literature is a mondial obsession, where you can work as a literary detective, where your name can be Thursday and where you get to change the ending of Jane Eyre?

What the hell, I'm moving there as soon as the Crimean War ends. Bye bye.

2. Oryx and Crake

I have never read anything that is even close to this in the twisted factor.

Freaky animals? Checked. 

Strange, fascinating characters? Checked.

Genius deciding to play God? Checked.

I will never look at a piece of chicken the same way again? Checked.

Seriously, why haven't you read this already?

1.The Blind Assassin

I avoid doing this kind of statements. I honestly feel like avoiding them is a lot like dodging a bullet. 

But this might just be the best book I have ever read. And I don't even like this genre usually. Even so, this book is amazing and heart-wrenching, and I love it. And I can't find my words to describe it.

The Blind Assassin is just on another level and everything in it it's perfection.

That was it. So, what were your best accidental picks?

Top 5 wednesday! - Oldies, not sure if goldies

And it's here!

 

Okay, so Top 5 Wednesday was initially a booktube thing, created by Lainey, over to Gingerreadslainey, and was converted into this blog format we are all enjoying by Pzikke over to Pete de Violet. Basically, every Wednesday, we post a top five composed by books that fit into a certain category. This week's theme is Old on Shelf. 

So, with the hope that someday I will think of them as "oldies, but goldies", here are mine

   

I'm stacking these together because, in all honesty, I have nothing to say about them. I've heard only the best, but I had them for 4 to 2 years and I still haven't read them. But they are all in this year's big list, so I hope to get to them soon...ish.

And now, while I bow my head in shame, the first two positions go to

 

Yeah. I have a perfectly logical explanation for that. I think. In my head, at least. But, long story short, this is how I roll.

Hope you guys enjoyed and bye!

Review "Knowing Jack"

Title: Knowing Jack
Author: Rachel Curtis
First Published: January 7th 2014
Pages: 165 (the Arc)

I am not a slut, although I’ve been called one often enough. Yeah, I spent three months screwing one of my college professors, but I was crazy about the guy. Then he broke up with me.

I am not a bitch, although people like to say I am. I kept our relationship secret. I’m not responsible for telling the university administrators about it, but a lot of students still blame me for getting their favorite professor fired. 

This is what I am. I’m Chloe. I’m a twenty-year-old art history major. Kind of shy, although I pretend not to be. Stubborn enough to stay here for my senior year, even though everyone hates me.

And I’m stuck with Jack. He calls me “Princess,” but I’m not a princess either.

I have a feeling that, after this, I won't ever get another review book. That being said, enjoy.

ARC provided through NetGalley in exchange of an honest review

 Plot: Ever since everyone found out about her affair with Carter, Chloe’s world seriously shifted off its axes. After all, while people might particulary not care that you’re sleeping with their favorite professor, there may be a little problem when the same professor is getting fired because of this. Even before the entire ordeal, Chloe wasn’t the most popular girl in college, but now she can safely say that she isn’t in anyone’s graces. Moreover, someone is sending her death threats and her fellow students put up a horrible tumblr page, whose entire purpose seems to be ridiculing her. Her parents want their daughter to finish college elsewhere, while Chloe doesn’t want to give anyone the satisfaction of chasing her away. But nothing she says can convince her mom and dad that the threats she receives are just bad jokes, so now she’s stuck with Jack. Annoying, enigmatic, sinfully good-looking, her bodyguard turns out to have his own personal issues, that might just complicate the hot and cold relationship they built on the uncertain ground of professionalism.
  
Personal Opinion:

• ·         Writing style: It was fairly simple, typical for New Adult literature. There tend to be repetitions and, at times, the scenes drag on, without influencing much the main course of the story. Overall, while there’s definitely place for improving, it is not disturbing, and, for the most part, suits the pace of the story.
• ·         Characters: Ok, I’m just going to say it (write it, whatever): Chloe and Jack perfectly embody the New Adult cliché. I’m sorry, since I was hoping this would be one of the NA stories that pleasantly surprise me, like Wait for You or Easy, but while this characters started as OK people ( maybe not my favorites, but I could roll with them), my opinion went downhill pretty fast. Let’s start with Chloe. Oh God, Chloe. Somewhere around page fifty, I was feeling the constant need to slap some sense into her. She basically is a little girl haunted by the destroying of the perfect image she always felt compelled to have. The thing is, while she has this compulsion of appearing perfect, there’s nothing in Chloe’s past that justifies it. Her parents are nice, her friends are mentioned during the story, she has never been bullied, there’s no explanation altogether. I feel like she doesn’t have a strong and convincing background. Even her relationship with Carter isn’t detailed enough. There are hints at it, some memories, but I wanted to know what happened, how they were discovered. And mostly, I wanted to know if there was more to their thing than sex. She sounds like she had some feelings, but she pretty much is over it by the time the book starts, so it’s uncertain. Also, her thoughts often contradict her actions. She constantly changes her mind. At the beginning of the book, she’s on a man-fast for the year and doesn’t really care about Jack. Forty pages or so later, she’s half-crazy with desire for him. I also found really annoying the strong-girl act she has going on in her head. If she had acted half like that all the time, not just with Jack, things might have been different. Now, Jack? Jack’s no better. He’s the tortured male character who thinks he’s no good, but can’t stay away. He hurts her by trying to protect her of himself, he can’t let go of his past before she assures him it wasn’t his fault, he is a drama queen in the making, honestly. They both constantly drove me up the wall and not in the good way. Needless to say, there’s not much going on in regard to character development.
• ·         Plot development: Kind of shabby. Unless you count the sex. Now there was a lot of that going on. I had some hope because of the premise, but it worked out differently than I had expected.

Favorite quote: “First tell me this.” “What?” “Why do you have naked babies on your underwear?”

Recommend: I’m sorry, but not really. If you are into New Adult, you should give it a chance. The high rating on Goodreads is proof that people enjoyed it. But it wasn’t the book for me and it certainly didn’t live up to the expectations.

Best Series of 2013

This time I kind of made a top (hooray me for finally deciding), so, without much further ado...

5. Elemental by Brigid Kemmerer

 

This made the top mostly because of Spirit, which is kind of ironic if you take into consideration I thought I would hate that one. I also liked Spark, but that's just me and my Gabriel crush. Anyway, the series gets better as it grows and I'm kind of counting the days until Nick's book. Just thought I would throw that out there.

4. The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan

I really liked this series, despite some people saying that it's just the Egyptian Percy Jackson. But there's this part in the third book I still don't know how I feel about. If you guessed what I'm talking about (ahem *Sadie* ahem), please let me know what you think. I might do a spoilerish discussion about that. I kind of feel the need to rave.

3. Revenants by Amy Plum

 

A slow, but sweet series. People tend to ignore it from what I've seen, but I enjoyed myself while reading this. The cliffhanger of "Until I die" is maddening and it drove me a little crazy until I finally got around reading the last book. Also, I need a fourth book or at least a novella about what happened with Louis. That disappointed me, she built this whole story around him and then just left it hanging. But for the most part, well done, Amy Plum.

2.Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

 

Yeah. I like this. I'm obsessed with this. I love it as much as I love the first place. But I had to choose and it was hard and let's just say that the first two places are interchangeable, ok? Also, I need to start Heroes of Olympus. Now.

1. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead  

 

You all know how the covers look anyway. The thing is, I avoided this series for so long because of the hype, but it was really, truly, undeniably amazing and I love it. Yes, I love it.

So this was it. I wanted to include the Lux Series, too, but I've only read Origin in 2013, so I didn't think it would be fair. It kind of  goes without saying that I love that series, anyway. Also, Bloodlines almost made an appearance, but I still have two more books to go, so hopefully it will be on my 2014 list. So, what were your 2013 favorite series? What would you recommend me? What series do you plan to read in the future?

Best Books of 2013..

..because making a top is overated!

(also, because I can't make up my damn mind)

 

   

 

So here they are! My favorite books of 2013. There would've been more of them, but they are part of series I'd read entirely last year and I couldn't decide which volume I liked best. Alas, expect a Best series post, too. Tell me what you think of them, if you read them or if you want to read them, what were your favorites. Just tell me, I'm always looking for new reads. 

Also, if you click on the book cover, you'll be taken to the book's Goodreads page. In case you want more information.

And happy 2014, people!