Holly's blog

Hey guys! It's almost September so it's almost time to go back to school/college/university. As I'm starting university this September, I thought I'd make a school related tag!

Here is my video version on my Booktube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o1D_0PtpbY

Questions

1) The alarm clock goes off but all you want to do is dream of summer - Pick a book that reminds you of summer.

For this I have picked We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. This is a mystery book set in the middle of summer on a holiday island.



2) When you finally get out of bed, you rush to get ready as you can't wait to see your friends - Pick a book/series that you love that is set in a place of education.

I have two choices for this one, an American book and an English book! My English pick is Am I Normal Yet by Holly Bourne. This is set in an English Sixth Form College that sounds quite similar to the college that I attended!
My American pick is The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chebosky. This is a coming of age story about high schoolers so is set in an American High School.



3) When you get given your timetable you discover your lessons are all in different places throughout  the school and you will have to run to get to them on time - Pick a book that took you a long time to read.

For this I have chosen The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater.



4) When you get to class you aren't with any of your friends - Pick a book you read in class that you hated.

I pick A River Sutra

5) At lunch you and your friends discuss the class you're taking and you wish you had taken one of theirs instead - Pick a book you wish you had read in school that you didn't.
To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye.

6) The last class of the day is your favourite subject - pick a book you read in school that you loved.
Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Stormbreaker.

7) After school, you hang out with friends to discuss the first day back - Who do you tag?
I tagged TwoPaperGirls, Julia Sapphire, CarysOnReading, Neverlandbooks, TargaryenPrincess and LaLaLauren1001.

If you want to do this tag then feel free to do so!

I've been loving a lot of things recently so I thought I'd put them in a July Favourites.

My first favourite is my makeup favourite. I don't normally but new makeup or change up my makeup but this month I did. I've been loving wearing orange lipstick this month, in particular the L'Oreal Paris Color Riche liquid lipstick in the shade Tangerine Sonate. It's so pretty and summery! I don't wear lipstick very much but I love this one! It stays on for quite a while and doesn't dry out my lips. Plus the packaging is beautiful!



My clothing favourite of this month is this burnt orange top that I got form New Look. I got it in the sale so it probably won't be available now but its so comfy and breezy, which is perfect for the summer weather we're having right now!



My third favourite is my book favourite. This month my favourite book I've read is Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne. I've talked about this book way too much recently so I'll link my review of it here.

My movie favourite is Now You See Me 2. I saw this at the cinema with my boyfriend because we both loved the first one and although this one wasn't as good as the first, I still enjoyed it. I loved both the plot and the cast, as well as all the cinematography and the editing. I love magic and magician's so any movie that features magic and magicians is sure to be a hit with me!

I loved the video games Life Is Strange and Portal 2 this month which is strange for me as I normally don't play video games (other than the Sims!). I've been playing Portal 2 at night with my boyfriend as it gives us something to do together without having to actually been near each other. Although I wasn't very good at it and had to just follow my boyfriends instructions, it was still really fun! I also played Episode One of Life Is Strange and really enjoyed it. It has elements of time travel and the storyline changes with different actions you choose which I find fascinating! I also loved the characters and the scenes.

For my music favourites I've been living the album In Our Bones by Against the Current, and the songs Circles by Pierce the Veil and Something's Gotta Give by All Time Low live at Wembley. I love almost every single song on the new Against the Current album but my favourites are Forget Me Now, Outsiders, Roses, Wasteland and Running Withe The Wild Things.

The first book I read in July was The Princess Saves Herself In This One by Amanda Lovelace. This is a poetry collection that which is divided into four parts. The first three parts tell the story of the author, the struggles she faced, and how she came to be who she is now. The last part is called You and addresses the reader and gives insightful advice in the form of wonderful poems. Every single poem in the collection is beautiful and insightful. I think it is a must read for any teenager and young adult! It was the first poetry book I've read and I absolutely adore it!



I also finished reading The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater which is fourth and final book in The Raven Cycle Quartet. As it is the last book in the series I can't tell you much about it because it would spoil the previous books. However, I loved it and in my opinion every book in the series just gets better as the series progresses. It was full of friendship, loyalty, family and magic!



The third book I read was Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton. This is the first book in a new fantasy trilogy and takes place in a desert nation. It follows Amani, an orphaned girl who lives in poverty with her aunt and uncle and wants to escape. One day she decides to enter a shooting contest in order to win money and escape as she is a talented shooter, whilst at the contest she meets an unnamed stranger who saves her life and who she later escapes with as they both go on the run from the army. I loved this and found the whole idea to be brilliant. I also loved the magical creatures and
magical elements!



For the Booktube-a-thon the first book I read was Am I Normal Yet by Holly Bourne. I have a full review on this in my previous blog post.



During the Booktube-a-thon I also read Love Letters to the Dead. I enjoyed this but did have some issues with the characters actions. This follows the story of Laurel whose sister has died, in a way to cope with this Laurel writes letters to famous dead people who have influenced her in some way. Through the letters you discover what has happened in Laurel's life and how and why her sister died. My one and only problem with this book is that the characters smoke, drink and do drugs just to seem cool when in reality it just makes them seem a bit stupid or as if they are trying too hard.

After the Booktube-a-thon I read The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovet. This centres on a girl called Hawthorn who is a loner and doesn't really fit in. One day her brother, Rush, discovers that a girl he went to school with, Lizzie, has gone missing. Although Hawthorn didn't get on with Lizzie, she decides it is up to her to discover what happened to her, and in a bid to do this becomes obsessed with Lizzie's life, including her boyfriend Enzo. I feel like this book could have had so much potential but I felt a bit let down by it. The pace was incredibly slow and at times the book just felt boring. I also couldn't really stand Hawthorn and Enzo, which isn't great considering they're the main characters. However I did love all of the side characters, especially Rush and Connor.

Next I read The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E Smith. This follows Lucy and Owen who get stuck in an elevator together during a power cut. When they get out of the elevator they spend the night together exploring New York City and fall in love. A few weeks later they bother discover they have to move away and the story follows their long distance relationship. I did enjoy this book as it was really cute, fun and fluffy but it was very much a case of unrealistic instalove.

Finally I read The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan. This follows a romantic relationship that the protagonist has from beginning to end and is set out in the style of a dictionary. I love the concept of story and Levithan's choice of words, but the story was pretty much your basic boy and girl meet, there is a problem, they break up story. However I did really enjoy it!

In August I read Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne as part of my TBR for the Booktube-a-thon and I really enjoyed it. I'd even go as far as to say that it is my favourite book I've read so far this year and I thought that I'd do a book review on it!



This was my second Holly Bourne book, the first book I read by her was The Manifesto On How To Be Interesting which I had quite neutral feelings towards but I thought I should give her writing another go as Carys from Carys On Reading loves The Spinster Club trilogy, of which Am I Normal Yet is the first instalment.

Am I Normal Yet centres on Evie, a sixteen year old girl who suffers from OCD and anxiety and as a result has been in and out of hospital and takes medication. Evie has just started sixform college and wants to have as much of a normal life as possible whilst slowly coming off of her medication. She wants to make friends, get a boyfriend, go to parties, go on dates, get good grades and just live the life of a normal teenager. Whilst at college she meets Lottie and Amber who quickly become her best friends and they all realise how important feminism is and start their own feminist club!

I loved the friendship between the characters of Evie, Amber and Lottie and they were all so well developed. I also loved how the settings and the characters were all realistic, which sometimes doesn't happen in YA contemporaries. The book also dealt with mental health in a respectable and educational way.

My one and only problem with the book is a conversation the girls have near the beginning of the book. The girls have a discussion about feminism but during this discussion Amber and Lottie discuss how "all boys are the same" and "all boys are bad". This to me is the opposite of feminism as feminism is equality for all and how can you expect people to respect you if you don't respect them. One way this is redeemed however, is by Evie who says that talking like that isn't feminist and gives feminism a bad name, the girls also learn from this mistake and redeem themselves later on in the book.

Overall, I love the book and it is a great fast and entertaining read that is full of friendship and feminism!