Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, April 1st 2014
Pages: 336
Source: E-book, purchased
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: 2.5/5

How I Felt: This was not my kind of book. It wasn't really good and it wasn't really bad, it just wasn't for me which is why I gave it a low rating. The majority of the book was hard to get through because I didn't like the main character, Laurel, at all. I didn't like her mentality or the way she treated people. I understood that she was grieving but that didn't give her an excuse to treat her family and friends horribly.

The only part of the book I enjoyed was the ending. When Laurel was able to face and write down what happened to her and her sister was the bright light at the end of the tunnel. I liked how Sky was able to help her realize this, she needed someone like him in her life.

My favourite character in the whole book would have to be Laurel's dad. There is literally no one else I could like. I felt so bad for him. His wife left him and then his first daughter died. He didn't always handle the situation well but you could tell he was trying. I liked that about him.

Another character I liked was Laurel's aunt Amy. I felt bad for her because she's had a tough time living and being alone for a long time and the way Laurel treated her for most of the book didn't help. I'm glad that as Laurel grew up over the course of the novel, she was able to grow closer to her aunt and get to know her better.

I liked the concept of the book, the assignment Laurel had to do that led to her finding out who she was and realizing that she needs to grow up and move on. I thought the way the story was told through letters at times didn't really work. The switching of tenses, and the time frame in which these letters were written got a little jumbled at times but for the most part it worked.

Even though I haven't read the Perks of Being a Wallflower, I have watched the movie and I did notice a lot of similarities between that and this book. But I'm not too bothered by that considering that Dellaira said in the acknowledgments that he played a big role in her writing this book.

Overall, I'm not too fussed about this book. It just wasn't for me. I have just too many mixed feelings about it to be able to say I enjoyed it. If you're a fan of dark contemporaries you'll probably like this one. I'm not sure this will be a book I'd reread ever but I'm glad I read it now.

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

*Info on book taken from Goodreads.com*
*Images taken from Google.ca

Tis the Season Book Tag

We've come to the end of Daily Posts Week, day 6 is here! I hope everyone enjoyed these posts as much as I did. I thought I'd end of the week with a Christmas themed post so today I'll be bringing you the 'Tis the Season book tag! I have no idea who created this so I apologise for that. I also want to mention that no one tagged me to do this, I just thought it'd be a fun way to end off the week. Let's get this show on the road!

Question 1: Do you have a favourite winter read?
I don't really have a book I read every winter, but I do have a favourite genre. I love reading fantasy books in the winter because they make me want to curl up on the couch with a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate and slip into another world. Fantasy books make me want to stay indoors and read all day which I think is perfect for winter.

Question 2: Find a book with blue on the cover.
I immediately thought of Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. This is a book that always makes me think of winter. While I didn't like this book, I always think about it during the winter time because it's set around that time and my mind always falls on this one first for these types of questions.

Question 3: Find a book you'd use as the star on a Christmas tree.
I'm going with Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff because it was one of my favourite books of the year and I want it's awesome writing and story to shine bright from the top of the tree this Christmas.

Question 4: Pick one fictional place that would be perfect for a winter holiday.
I'm going to be basic and go with Hogwarts. I think spending time here during any holiday would be the best thing ever.

Question 5: Pick one fictional character you'd take with you on your winter holiday.
This is a tough one because there are so many but I think I'd take Aelyx from the Alienated series by Melissa Landers because he'd have no clue what anything was so it would be fun to just go places with him and watch him try to figure out the use of all these human gadgets.

Question 6: Name one book on your wish list this year.
There are so many! But at the top I'd say is Winter by Marissa Meyer. I can't wait to read this book and finish off the Lunar Chronicles series and find out what happens to all my favourite characters. And there's bound to be a lot of kick-butt action scenes so I'm excited for that too!

Question 7: Favourite holiday drink, treat, and movie.
My favourite holiday drink is hot chocolate, my favourite treat is gingerbread cookies and my favourite holiday movie is Home Alone (I swear this year I've already seen it at least 15 times!)

That's it for the tag! I hope it was entertaining. Thanks for sticking around for the week of daily posts, I hope it was worthwhile!

Merry Christmas!
~Birdie

Favourite Covers of 2015

Huzzah! Day 5 is here! Today's post is going to be all about my favourite book covers of the year. I saw a few bloggers and BookTubers doing this and I thought it'd be a fun way to wrap up some of the stunning covers I've seen throughout the year. I'm not good at describing covers so these explanations aren't the best but I just wanted to give a reason for why I chose each cover. Let's get to it!

1. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
While this book didn't quite live up to the hype for me, the cover was gorgeous. The moment I saw this cover I was immediately interested. I just stare at it sometimes because it's so simple, yet so beautiful and represents the story well. I can't wait to see how it'll look next to the sequel, Glass Sword!







2. The Heir by Kiera Cass
These books have the ultimate cover-dresses. And what makes these covers even better is that they fit the series. Finally, a YA book where the girl in a dress makes sense. I love the colours and styles of the dresses on these covers, I can't wait to complete the collection with the Crown next year!







3. Wandering Star by Romina Russell
These covers are so beautiful. I love the galaxy design they have, and the colours are always gorgeous.









4. Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley
I was drawn to this book by its cover. While I have yet to read this book, I have a constant urge to just based on the cover. I'll hopefully get my hands on a copy in the future so I can admire it's beauty in the flesh!








5. Ensnared by A.G. Howard
I first became interested in this series because of their covers. So it's no surprise that this one made the list. I think they're definitely on the list of my favourite covers of all time now.








6. The Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz
I don't know what it is about this cover but I love it so much. I love how bright the green is; and the apple in the middle just brings the story to life.









7. Firewalker by Josephine Angelini
This is actually the redesigned cover, but it's not too different from the original for it to upset me. I love the bright colours and the different purples on this.








Those are some of the covers I've loved in 2015! What covers did you find to be gorgeous this year?

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

Most Anticipated Releases of 2016!

Welcome to day 4 of Daily Posts Week! Today I'll be sharing some of my most anticipated releases of 2016! So many great books from some of my favourite authors are coming out next year and I can't wait to get my hands on them. Here they are!

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
Release date: January, 5th, 2016
I heard there are pirates in this book. Me likey some pirates. I'm a little nervous about this because of all the hype but I'll have faith.








Starflight by Melissa Landers
Release date: February 2nd, 2016
I loved the Alienated series so I'm so excited to see a new sci-fi from her. Her writing is so easy to read and funny, I can't wait for all the laughs this is sure to bring.







Stars Above by Marissa Meyer
Release date: February 2nd, 2016
Two books from Marissa in one year again? My prayers have been answered. This is a bind-up of the novellas from the Lunar Chronicles series and I can't wait to devour it.







Riders by Veronica Rossi
Release date: February 16th, 2016
This just sounds so cool to me. It's a fantasy about horses and that makes me happy. I wanted to read this the minute she announced she was writing it. Can't wait.







The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury
Release date: February 23rd, 2016
This is an Aladdin retelling and I was immediately intrigued. So many Aladdin retellings are coming out in 2016 and I couldn't be more ecstatic. I haven't read any of her other books yet but I've heard good things about her writing.






Lady Midnights by Cassandra Clare
Release date: March 8th, 2016
A new Cassie Clare Shadowhunter book. What better reason could there be for wanting this?








The Crown by Kiera Cass
Release date: May 3rd, 2016
I will read anything she writes, because her books are so easy to read. I love this series and I'm so happy it got an extra two books. I can't wait to see how it all ends! Tears will be shed.







Ruined by Amy Tintera
Release date: May 3rd, 2016
I loved the Reboot duology so I can't wait to pick up something else from her. I can't wait to enter another one of her worlds. She's become one of my auto-buy authors. I also believe this is a fantasy so that just makes me even more excited.






P.S. I Like You by Kasie West
Release date: July 26h, 2016
Another Kasie West contemporary? Where do I sign? I need this like I need oxygen to breathe. Her contemporaries are so beautiful and I live for them.








Heartless by Marissa Meyer
Release date: November 8th, 2016
Another retelling from the queen? Sign me up. I've heard this is a retelling of the Queen of Hearts and I've been looking for a book like this for so long.








Those are just some of the releases I'm looking forward to in the new year. The list could go on forever! What books are you looking forward to?

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

E-books: My Likes and Dislikes

The third day of daily posts is here! Today's post is going to be all about e-books! I have so many thoughts on e-books so I thought I'd share them in a blog post.

When reading I prefer the medium of physical books. (Whether I prefer hardbacks or paperbacks is a whole different story!) I just like being able to hold the book in my hands and turn the pages myself. There's something about the feel of a book in your hands that makes the reading experience so much better.

I don't like reading from e-books because if I'm reading and I notice something that ties into an event earlier on in the story, I can't flip back to the beginning to reread what happened. And this happens a lot so I find that frustrating.

I also don't prefer e-books because I love looking at all the books lined up on my shelf. As weird as it may sound, it makes me so happy to just look at my shelves and see all my beautiful books. With my e-reader, I just keep it in a drawer and only get to see the books when I turn it on and open the library.

Another thing about e-books I don't like is that when my battery is running low on my e-reader, I have to stop reading so I can charge it. When my e-reader charges, it doesn't let me read at the same time. It also takes a really long time to finish charging so I have to wait forever before I can continue reading. This gets annoying when you just reached a huge plot twist and need to find out if your favourite character gets to live.

Something I do like about e-books is that they are generally a lot cheaper than physical books. I can buy more e-books than I can physical books so it's usually a better bang for my buck there.

I also like e-books because e-readers are small and easy to travel with. I can just slip it in my purse and take it with me anywhere and have a whole bunch of books to chose from. And I can connect to the internet on it as well so I can purchase a new book anytime I want as long as I have access to Wi-Fi.

Those are some of my thoughts on e-books. Do you love or hate them? Share your thoughts, I'd love to know your opinion!

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

Books I NEED to get to!

Day 2 of the daily posts is upon us! Today I'll be sharing some of the books on my shelf that I need to get to. These books have been sitting there staring at me so long it's embarrassing. Most of these I've heard rave reviews about so I don't know why I keep putting them off. Without further ado, here they are!

1. Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken
I pre-ordered this book because I was so excited to see what happens after The Darkest Minds. I tried picking it up a few times but could never get into it. Now the series over and she just released a bind-up of novellas and I just feel so behind. I think I'll give this series another shot soon because this book is just taunting me to read it.






2. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
I bought this book because it was really cheap in the bargain section (the reason for most of my book purchases). I heard great things about it from Katytastic on YouTube so I just bought it on a whim one day and I have yet to get to it. Another one in which the series is now complete and I can marathon the whole thing.






3. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
I read Delirium a long time ago and really liked it. I found it a bit slow but I loved the story so I wanted to continue on and see what happened. I've been 70 pages into this book for four years and I haven't been able to get any further. It's so ridiculous and I'm so embarrassed because Delirium was so good, I don't know why I put it down for so long.






4. Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
Another book I bought because it was cheap. Whoops. I read Shiver and I hated it. So naturally, I went out and bought the next two books in the series. I finally finished Linger this year so it's about time I get to Forever and finish off the series.







5. Starters by Lissa Price
When I bought this book I was so excited because it sounded so cool. It's a sci-fi about robots and cyborgs and I was so interested in the synopsis. But then it got left on my shelf for years and I haven't touched it since. I think this will be one of the first ones I get to because it's been a ridiculously long time since I bought it.






6. The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenburg
I originally picked this book up at the library and never got a chance to finish it because I had to return it. I went out and bought my own really cheap copy and still haven't read it. I want to know what happens because this one interested me as well.







7. Partials by Dan Wells
This one has the same story as #6. I borrowed it from the library but had to return it before I finished it. I bought my own copy and it's been waiting on my shelf for a while now. I've actually heard a lot of really great things about this one so I don't know why it's taking me so long to finally get back to it.







8. Pivot Point by Kasie West
This was one of my most anticipated books of 2014 so it's really surprising to me that I haven't picked it up yet. Now the duology's complete and I've read some of Kasie's other books so I know I like her writing so it's just a matter of me getting around to it. Another one I'll probably read in the near future.







That's it for today's post. These are just some of the books I need to get to. There are so many books, ones I own and ones I don't, that I really want to get to. Let me know some of the books you need to get around to reading!

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

My Top 5 Underrated Books

Welcome do Day 1 of Daily Post Week! (Such a creative name-I know). Today I wanted to discuss some of my favourite underrated books! These are great books that I think can be loved by everyone! I hope this post gives you some more books to add to your Christmas wish list because they're all fantastic!


5. Alienated by Melissa Landers
This is the first book in a sci-fi trilogy. It's basically about an alien exchange program. I loved the first two books because they are so fast paced and funny! These are definitely books that anyone can read because it isn't heavy on world building and the dialogue between the main characters Cara and Aelyx is so comical at times I had no choice but to laugh out loud. While these books are pretty popular, they don't get nearly enough buzz as some other equally as good books. I highly recommend these books especially, for fans of the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout.



4. Zodiac by Romina Russell
This is the first book in a sci-fi/ fantasy trilogy. The second book, Wandering Star, just came out a few weeks ago and I can't wait to get my hands on it! I loved this book because it was so interesting and unique! I've never read anything like it! From the title you can probably tell that it's about Zodiac signs; each sign is a planet in this solar system. Even though it takes place in space, it does have quite a few fantasy elements that I found so intriguing! There is definitely a lot of mystery and plot twists in this book, so I definitely recommend it if you love mystery stories. I also loved how strong the main character, Rho, is. Her story is so different from many other female leads I've read about. Definitely a must read!

3. Fire and Flood by Victoria Scott
This one has been pretty popular with a few people I follow so that's how I found out about it. It's described as The Hunger Games meets Pokémon and I can't tell you how accurate that description is. I flew through this book in a few hours and I had so much fun reading it! I can't wait to pick up the second one! This is definitely a book for fans of adventure! It's basically the perfect YA book and I think anyone will enjoy it!





2. Wake by Amanda Hocking
When I picked up this book, I did not expect to become completely obsessed with this series. I binge read the whole series in a week because I couldn't put them down. This series is about Sirens and I've never read a book about that before this one. I became completely engrossed in the story and characters and could not stop for the life of me. This is definitely a great book to pick up if you're in a reading slump, or just looking for a good series you can marathon read! Highly recommend!




1. Splintered by A.G. Howard
How can I not mention this book? It's one of my favourites of all time. I picked this book up when it first came out on a whim because I loved the cover. Then I read the story and became completely obsessed. This book has allowed me to meet so many lovely other booknerds who are just obsessed with this book as I am! This series is about the great-great-great-granddaughter of Alice Liddell. It's so dark and mysterious and if that doesn't sell you well there's also Morpheus. If you haven't picked this book up already I seriously think you should because it's so much fun and such a great story!



I hope this list was helpful in finding you a new book to read. Let me know some of your favourite underrated books!

Thanks for reading!
~Birdie

Announcement: Daily Posts Week Returns!

Hi everyone! As some of you may remember, last year I posted something on this blog everyday for a week leading up to Christmas. I had so much fun doing it last year and I haven't been posting enough recently so I decided to continue on and make this an annual tradition! From the 19th to the 24th there will be a new post on this blog everyday! Not all of them will be Christmas themed because I have a lot of other post ideas I want to share! Thanks for another great year, I hope you all have a great holiday!

Merry Christmas!

Thanks for reading!

~Birdie

Illuminae by Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Illuminae by Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Published: Knopf Books for Young Readers, October 20th, 2015
Pages: 599
Source: Hardcover, library
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 5/5

How I Felt: Reading this book was the best decision I've ever made in my entire life. This was perfection. Complete and utter perfection. This book ripped out my heart, gave it a good squeeze and then patched it back together with a bit of hope for the next book. Perfect.

I don't know what to do with myself. I have to wait a year for the sequel? No way. It's not going to be possible. There is a guarantee I will lose my mind before then.

I picked this book up at the library because I wasn't sure if I'd like it because of the way it was written and the way the story was told through files and messages and codes and video surveillance and a lot of other crazy things. But I was wrong, I had no trouble following along at all and I will now go out and buy my own copy. (Or three.) (Or four.)

The ending had me going back and rereading the very first page and watching all the puzzle pieces fall into place. Pure genius. So well done. My gosh, this book had me enthralled. I spent six hours straight just reading this book. I couldn't stop, it consumed my every thought. I don't think I've ever read a book like this.

Kady and Ezra. Great job at ripping my heart to shreds and causing a million tears to fall from my eyes. More more more more. Where's book two??

The chapters from AIDAN's P.O.V were so weird yet intoxicating. I have to know more about this machine with feelings. More everything in this world. Also, I need more knowledge on BeiTech and Phobos. I have so many questions!

Overall, I think it's safe to say I loved this book. If you can only read one more book for the rest of your life, it needs to be this one. Now, please excuse me while I cry for a whole year in anticipation of the second installment in this brilliant gem of a series. All the stars.

 



Favourite Quotes:

• “You have me. Until ever last star in the galaxy dies.
  You have me.”
• “She runs. Not away, but toward.”  
• “Part of being alive is having life change us. The people around us, the events we live through, all of them shape us. And that's what I think you're afraid of. Maybe not of dying. But of this you, the you you've become, ceasing to exist.”

Thanks for reading!

~Birdie

 

***Quotes taken from Goodreads.com and Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff***
*Info on book taken from Goodreads.com*
*Images taken from Google.ca