FAVORITE MUSIC | January 2016

Hello lovelies

How are you guys? So here is my favorite music of January. I cannot stop listening to these, literally on repeat. 

1. Hallucinations - DVSN

2. Pillow Talk - Zayn

3. Big Jet Plane - Angus and Julia Stone

4. Did I - Kehlani

5. I Know - Big Sean ft. Jhene Aiko 

6. Me, Myself & I - G-Easy x Bebe Rexha

If you know any of these or gave any a listen, I would love to know down below♥

Book Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Goodreads summary:

Can Anna find love in the City of Light?

Anna is happy in Atlanta. She has a loyal best friend and a crush on her coworker at the movie theater, who is just starting to return her affection. So she's not too pleased when her father decides to send her to a boarding school in Paris for her senior year. But despite not speaking a word of French, Anna meets some cool new friends, including the handsome Étienne St. Clair, who quickly becomes her best friend. Unfortunately, he's taken--and Anna might be too. Will a year of romantic near misses end with the French kiss she's been waiting for.

I wasn't in love with this book as many others did. It wasn't the best I've ever read, but I totally related to some of the characters and issues addressed in this -not your average-contemporary book. First of all, I love Paris! It has always been my dream honeymoon destination and it will be. (hopefully). I laughed out loud at some of the situtations that occurred and I loved all the characters. Except for Amanda and Rashmi's sister. Ugh.

Secondly, Stephanie Perkins shed some light on some serious topics, like peer pressure, bullying, betrayal and even family issues. The fact that these problems still followed Anna in France.. it lets you know that you're not alone if you're facing any of these things and someone somewhere out there in the world relates to you. Also, these problems followed Anna in a different country, in a different continent. No one's life is perfect, even the handsome Etienne St Clair. I must say that the portrayal of friendships, relationships and "familyships" made me love the book more than I would have if it was just your typical romance. 

All in all, Stephanie shows you that happy endings are not always a cliche and you should wait for your happy ending. THIS BOOK MADE ME HAPPY, read it if you're in a pick me up mood, it'll definitely do the job perfectly. 

One thing that I want though is a story in Etienne's POV and his background. I'm more interested in his story and his relationship with his parents more than Anna's. It would've been better if he was the narrator instead of Anna and if they were together earlier in the book! I was waiting for it to happen the whole time and that's why I lowered my rating for this one.

It was very fast paced, the writing is extremely easy and beautiful. I cannot wait to read more of Stephanie's books. I literally was smiling and happy because their relationship is adorable that when I flipped the page and was met with the stupid acknowledgments I was like.. what NOOOOOOO

Now onto the spoilers!

Spoilers 

(Highlight to view)

Dear Etienne, where can I find a guy like you? Although I hated that you couldn't get your shit straight with the Ellie situation. Like come on St Clair, it was freaking obvious that Anna liked you back! I get that it would've been a mess if they were together though.. Mer is in between them and this to me, was the biggest obstacle standing in their way. I love how she was cool with it in the end, because it's good for her as well. 

My favorite part was when Etienne called Anna beautiful and she tripped. The scene went pretty much as follows.. 

Etienne: "You're beautiful." 

*Anna trips and falls down on the sidewalk* .. OMG I'M A FREAK. 

Hahahaha I died.. 

I loved the "you don't get to choose who you fall in love with" aspect. I totally agree with that statement.. 

I hope you have a great day guys, and if you read Anna and the French Kiss (which I'm sure you did), make sure to comment down below what you thought of it! Did it live up to the hype surrounding it? :) 

WRAP UP | February 2015

Hey bookworms!


Today, I'm bringing you my February wrap up and I honestly didn't stick to my TBR, AT ALL. If you want to know what I'll be reading in March, tune in for my next post! :)

  


Books mentioned: 

1. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins -- Review coming soon
2. Falling into Place by Amy Zhang -- Click to check out my review
3. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins -- Review coming soon

I had a terrible reading month, but hey! I read good books right? Quality not quantity.. right? *Good luck on that #0by16 challenge, Jumana..*

What books have you guys read this month? Comment down below, I'm interested to know! 
or tweet me @BooksbyJayy


Have a great day everybody x

Book Review: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Goodreads:

A debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people's lives.

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

A compulsively readable, emotionally immersive, Hitchcockian thriller that draws comparisons to Gone Girl, The Silent Wife, or Before I Go to Sleep, this is an electrifying debut embraced by readers across markets and categories.

4.5 stars out of 5

 I received this eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 


I was super excited to get into this book, a lot of people resembled it to Gone Girl and don't get me wrong, I LOVED this book.. but Gone Girl cannot be topped. 

This follows Rachel, a woman with too many troubles of her own and discovers an escape everyday on the train. She watches a couple on the terrace of their house and fantasizes about their relationship - their names, their jobs and their personalities. One day, crisis strikes and disrupts her already messed up life. Rachel finds herself involved in stuff that she cannot get out of. She was an unreliable narrator, one of many characters that I strongly disliked. All of the characters in this one were faulty characters and they were just terrible. 

I must say that this book was kind of boring at the start, it took me some time to get into it. Once I did, I was trying to crack the mysteries and figure out where on earth did the missing person go. I was juggling possibilities and honestly, I didn't see the ending coming AT ALL. I didn't see ANYTHING coming and that's why my rating was that high. 

The writing was phenomenal. Paula Hawkins made me visualize everything so perfectly and she had this ability of incorporating random clues throughout the book that tie in perfectly in the end. A mystery/thriller genius, I must say. 

All in all, this book was a fantastic ride, it had me thinking to this very day and I feel like it did stick with me. I remember every detail vividly and I'm writing this review a month or so after reading the book, that's an indication of how good it was! 

On the other hand, this book was a bit graphic, I would NOT recommend it to young readers. 

SPOILERS

(highlight to view)

I HATED RACHEL TOO MUCH!!! Her clinging to Tom after clearly moving on bothered me to a huge extent. Her stalking and creeping as well, like come on Rachel!! Put your shit together. Her weakness to alcohol and her drinking problem bothered me as well, her recollections were extremely unreliable and no one was taking her seriously because of that. She put herself in terrible situations, but in the end, she made up for everything by killing Tom! I was rooting for her and Megan to end that motherfucker's life haha. Way to go!

I never suspected Tom except for when he took Rachel to "talk" and didn't tell Anna about it. I thought he was cornering her somewhere private so he can end her life without anyone noticing. Ironically enough, he did that to Megan. 

Okay, now with Anna's POV incorporation. I knew that something was bound to happen with her POV being thrown into the mix. I hated her nonetheless, the only character that was likable was her daughter haha

Scott, you have some serious anger management issues and that just fucked you over as a husband of a missing person/a dead woman. (Why did they say that she was dead in the synopsis? I just noticed that and hey, THAT'S A SPOILER. Thank God I didn't pay much attention to it while reading this.) - I suspected him all along, but I figured it'd be too cliche if he really was the killer. The husband is never the killer (thanks Gone Girl). 

Have you read The Girl on the Train?! What did you think? If not, are you excited? :) 

Have a great day! 

Book Review: Love Hurts by Malorie Blackman

Goodreads:

Malorie Blackman brings together the best teen writers of today in a stunningly romantic collection about love against the odds. Featuring short stories and extracts about modern star-crossed lovers from stars such as Gayle Forman, Markus Zusak and Patrick Ness, and with a brand-new story from Malorie Blackman herself, Love Hurts looks at every kind of relationship, from first kiss to final heartbreak. 

2.75 Stars 

I received this eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

I requested this book in hopes of it being a light contemporary that is a collection of short stories tied in together to form something beautiful in the end, and to my disappointment, it wasn't like that AT ALL.

This book is a collection of excerpts of previously published books like If I Stay, We Were Liars, More Than This et cetera..  I skipped most of the stories to avoid spoilers and the stories that I have read, I also skipped. 

To be honest, this book did have its perks. It added a ton of books to my TBR (Not sure whether this is a pro or a con, because my TBR pile is overflowing.), it was also so very refreshing to read a book by so many authors. The writing style of some of these authors captivated me and it pushed me into putting their books higher on my TBR list, it was beautiful how a 30 page excerpt totally lured me into the story and I needed more of it, especially that I didn't know the characters and I didn't connect to them on any level.

In theory, I disliked the fact that I was thrown into a part of the novel and having to be oblivious to who the characters are, but I'm guessing that is was a method of pushing the reader into buying and reading the whole book.

Some of my favorite "excerpts" that I remember I liked were: 

• The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle
• Naughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman
• You Against Me by Jenny Downham
• More Than This by Patrick Ness 
• If I Stay by Gayle Forman (I MUST read this book)

One of the things that I highly recommend is NOT reading anthologies back to back, it should be read over a long period of time. I also learned that anthologies is not my thing, but that's besides the point. 

I have to mention that I ADMIRED the diversity in this one, there are LGBT, characters of color and different ethnicities. 

I usually NEVER give books 2 stars, but this one really wasn't for me. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's not a good one, it just means that this isn't for me and maybe it is for YOU. I was simply just disappointed by it.

Have you read Love Hurts? I'm curious to know your thoughts, leave them in the comments down below! :) 

Have a great day everybody!

January WRAP UP & February TBR

Hello beautiful people! 

So.. remember when I told you in my January TBR that I'll be reading 2 or 3 books? Yeah.. double the amount of that and that's the number of books I've read this month. 7 books in total. YAY

Here are the books that I've read in January:

   

 

 

1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
3. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me #1) -- Click to check out my review.
4. Destory Me by Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me #1.5)
5. Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me #2)
6. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan -- Click to check out my review
7. Love Hurts by Malorie Blackman

Review book:

This would probably be a huge mistake, but I need to review a ton of books, here are the options that I will be most probably reading. 

February TBR:

Non - review books:

Which books should I start with? Especially review books. Please tell me down below :) 

Have a great day everyone!