December TBR

I know I've been kind of absent for a very long time but I have a good reason: the exams. They've been taking a lot of time and when I had some spare time after studying, I tried to catch up with some reading. This brings me to my To Be Read-list of the last month of 2015! 

Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire

As you might or might not know, I read Beautiful Disaster some months ago. I also did a review on it which you can find here. Back then I said how much I loved the book and I couldn't wait to read it in Travis POV. 
I've got my hands on the book! So basically it's the same story but then in Travis's point of view. There are new scenes obviously because Abby and Travis weren't always together so I'm very interested in those. Mainly because I want to know what Travis did in his spare time other than going out and fight. So I'm really excited to read this book! I'm sure it will be as good as Beautiful Disaster since I adored that book and really was a big fan of Travis!

"Every story has two sides."

Flight by Alyssa Rose Ivy

My next book that I want to read this December is Flight. I find it in the recommendations when I was on a online shop for books and I also want to mention that it isn't really known. I loved the cover immediately, though now I have it in my hands I did wish the cover wasn't that dark. If there isn't a lot of light surrounding you, you can't stare at it as much as I'd like to... Now the story! It's basically about a girl that goes to live with her dad in New Orleans. It's what she needs, just a break from it all. Her parents have been divorced since she was born and their relationship after that wasn't as great. 
She meet someone. Of course! As in all the books I'm drawn to the girl always meet someone. She had sworn she wouldn't be hanging out with any guy for the summer after her breakup. But things don't always go the way you plan it. The boy is just mysterious, he grabs her attention, he's handsome, has an ego (which guy in a book doesn't?). Let's just stick with the fact that he's definitely something. 
I couldn't buy the books in Belgium or the Netherlands so I had to let them come from Book Depository, not that I minded! 

"Sometimes you just have to take flight."

Focus by Alyssa Rose Ivy

But if I decide to check in with Book Depository, I make sure to buy a few books. This due to that it just takes so long for them to arrive. And since I only can get the series from there, I decided to (why not?) just let the second book in the series come with it. It's also a book I'll be reading in the month of December! I think the cover isn't as appealing to me as the cover of the first book but that won't stop me. The story obviously builds further on Allie and her summer in New Orleans but I don't think I should tell any details now. It would only ruin the story, wouldn't it? 

"It’s just a game we’re playing.”

My True Love Gave Me by Stephanie Perkins (Editor)

It's December which means the holidays aren't that far away. That's basically why I decided to grab a book that brings me in the mood of Christmas. This books doesn't handle 1 story, it handles 12 stories. Short stories basically but I don't mind that! I'd love to try and read one story a day and start the 12th... That way I really read towards Christmas! 
As I said this story is divided in 12 stories which means 12 different authors... These writers are the ones that came up with the brilliant idea of combining their passion for writing: Holly Black, Ally Carter, Matt de la Pena, Gayle Forman, Jenny Han, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Myra McEntire, Rainbow Rowell, Laini Taylor and Kiersten White. 

My titel says Stephanie Perkins because she's the editor of the book so she kinds of needs the credit of being mentioned to in my opinion! She puts in as much work as the others. I haven't read books by all of the writers mentioned, but I am really curious. I haven't found any information about what the stories are about since I haven't even read a review. I just looked at the score it was giving and the rather short description on Goodreads.
The book should've been arrived today but unfortunately it got delayed... Damn Christmas shoppers! Ah well, they promised it would arrived the 11th so it'll be in time. 

"So curl up by the fireplace and get cozy. You have twelve reasons this season to stay indoors and fall in love."

World After by Susan EE

Last month I read the first one in this (beautiful) series: Angelfall. My friend Fien from mybookishrambles.wordpress.com , recommended the series to me. If you might not know it or you forgot, I'm a huge fan of books with anything that flies. ANYTHING. Angels, Fallen Angels, even books with ravens in it (and then I'm talking about a very good book series by Pt Michelle!) and this book just had my craving in it. And I was very fond of it! The book went by so fast and I was so sad that it was over because I didn't have the second book! Well... I kind of do now... Oh and I might also have bought the third and last one in the series. Whoops! 
As every second book it builds onto the first one. There's an Apocalypse and Penryn loses someone she really loves during it. Determinate to find her bereaved loved one back, she'd do anything. Even work with the enemy. Things went down in the first book, I'm telling you it's GOOD. 
I'm very curious on what the second book has for me. A quick look at the back tells me that Penryn and the enemy might get eye to eye again. If it'll be like the first book and therefore for a good cause is unknown to me. Who knows maybe the world will be fine? Maybe it's worse? Maybe, just maybe, I fall in love with the enemy... Who knows?

"The survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world."

So these are the books I really want to read this month but that doesn't mean there might not be any others on their way already. And I might start reading in those too! What is your TBR for this last month full of Christmas Joy? 

Isla and the Happily Ever After

Some weeks ago I posted my reviews on the first two books in a series by Stephanie Perkins. Those books were Anna and The French Kiss (Review) and Lola and the Boy Next Door (Review) but there's a third and last part and it's the book I read first in the series: Isla and The Happily Ever After. As I said in the review of Lola's story, yes you can read them as a standalone but both Lola and Isla contain spoilers that refer to or the story of Anna or Lola or Isla so I recommend reading them in the publishing order. That aside, let's just talk about this book because out of all three Isla and Anna share a spot on 'my fav in a series'

Remember the school Anna went on? School of America in Paris? We're back there but this time with Isla who has a crush on the young artist Josh. She had her eyes on him since day one but they never really talked for hours. Maybe a quick hello but even that was sometimes hard for the shy but hopeless romantic Isla. But things change over the summer when Isla sees Josh in a coffee shop in Manhattan and they have there first long interaction. They grow closer with every page you turn but what they didn't know about their relationship was that it is forced to face uncertainty about their futures, and the very real possibility of being apart. Next to that they get into fights over their past and that doesn't make anything easy for them. But every relationship has their ups and downs and many ups might follow outweighing the downs. It's a story set against the stunning backdrops of New York, Paris and even Barcelona. Don't forget it's the conclusion to Stephanie Perkins's beloved series.

I can't really place my finger on what exactly it was that I enjoyed the most in this book... But the romance was definitely there. Actually all the feels where there! Because as I said every relationship has it ups and it downs and I, as a reader, felt all those feelings when everything was up and when everything was down. 

I could identify with Isla because she is shy and a hopeless romantic but also with the actions she does. As for Josh I just loved him. I guess it was because he's an artist and we get to see more about what he does because it's something special he's doing, believe me! And we also get to see the environment of an artist in the book. Whereas, if I have to compare Josh to Cricket, we can see all the things that make Josh Josh. In Lola's review I said that I wished we saw more of Cricket's inventions and the author made sure we now saw more of Josh's art, which is a bonus point . It's not only his art that we get to 'see' but also museums, this because he's really interested in the whole art thing. I can't spill too much, I don't want to ruin the fun so I can't say how or why we see museums but it's pretty much worth the read!  

What I loved most were all the different places we saw. Well only three and through the story of Anna we also saw a lot of Paris so nothing's really 'new' there but we also saw Manhattan. I've been dreaming to go to Manhattan for a really long time so it's cool to see some of it, even though it's through the eyes of someone else. It does give the same effect as in the story of Anna, where you just want to go visit that city because it's explained so well in the book that you can visualize it. It really wants to make you go there and I had that feeling even more when the story went to Barcelona. Just the way they go there, how they do it all and what they do, it's absolutely adorable! Again, I can't spill anything but let's keep it at: I enjoyed this book so so much! Another reason that I loved this book is that it's more realistic than the others, I guess. The feelings in the book seemed more real to me, probably because I could relate a lot during the book. Might also be because it gave a realistic picture of what a relationship is.

So conclusion: if you haven't read the book, go read it! But beware as I said in the beginning of this review this book will contain spoilers about the other previous books. So if you plan on reading them all, please read them in order. I'm begging you, I just want you to have the full experience without being spoiled.

"Love ignites in the City That Never Sleeps, but can it last?"

Lola and the Boy Next Door

I think every girl dreams about a boy next door. A best friend, maybe even more than just a friend and that’s why I was so curious about: Lola and the boy next door by Stephanie Perkins. I wanted to know if it was just as pleasant as in my dreams. And I also read the book because it was the second book in the series of Stephanie Perkins. The first one is Anna and the French Kiss which I also wrote a review on. You kind find that one here: Anna and the French Kiss Review

So what it is about: Lola and a boy next door. It’s kind of obvious right? But there’s more to the story. Lola Nolan is the daughter of a gay couple and her life is pretty perfect. She loves designing but not in just a normal shirt or a normal dress. Lola likes it a little more... different. The more expressive the outfit, which basically means more sparkles, more wild, the better the outfit will be. This causes a lot of attention and comments from bystanders and not always the positive kind of comments. But Lola doesn’t care, her parents love her, she loves herself and her rocker boyfriend loves her just the way she is. Right? 

But the perfect life starts to shake when the Bell twins come back. There was a time that Cricket and Calliope lived in the neighborhood but they moved some years ago. It left Lola a broken heart and she thought she was over it until Cricket comes back into her life. Lola must finally face up to a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door. 

I liked the book. I didn’t love it like I loved Anna and the French Kiss but it was okay for me. I enjoyed that there was a gay couple. I haven’t read a book where the parents are two dads or two moms and I found it very refreshing. Also it’s not that the two dads their personality was the same. They each had their own strengths and weaknesses. 

Lola, I couldn’t really identify with her. I’ve had moments in the book where I was like wow! And where I was surprised and glad I was reading the book anyway but some parts with Lola were not necessarily boring but maybe a little bit dreadful. I did like that she has this expressive personality and that she doesn’t care about what others think. Stephanie does underline this multiple times which made it seem for me that there was a life lesson in it. And also that I find very refreshing!

As for Cricket, he wasn’t the Étienne from Anna and he wouldn’t be my best book boyfriend either but he wasn’t wrong. He is smart, thoughtful and funny but I think it could’ve been a much more interesting character if there was more about his inventions. 

The story line was interesting. It’s not pure romance and I did have some frustration with some parts but overall: it wasn’t that bad. I’m not saying I didn’t like it because I did. I enjoyed it but I just didn’t love it as much as I did Anna and the French Kiss. Personal tastes is what you can call it. It was harder for me to identify with this character than with Anna. Also I started to enjoy it even more when the end was near, there are also very thoughtful and nice passages! So I do recommend the book but if I had to choose between Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door: I’d choose Anna's story. I enjoyed that one just better. Now that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read it! Or that I think that you’re wrong when you like Lola better than Anna! It’s just personal thoughts. 

If you haven’t read these books and you want to read them but you can identify more with Lola or you just like the story better: You can read Lola first or only Lola. But mind that as well in this book as in the third (because yes there is a third book), there will be references to Anna and the French kiss. These references DO CONTAIN SPOILERS! So if you’re planning on reading all 3 books, I highly recommend reading them in the order they’ve been published. Unless you’re like ‘Hey, I don’t mind that. I just want to read this one first and then that one, as I please.’ I didn’t read them in the order they’ve been published. Simply because I wanted to read Anna in Paris so I started with the latter in the series because the story sounded more exciting than Lola's. So I’ve been spoiled for Anna. That kind of sucked but also didn’t because I love it that the writer makes the other characters reappear but if you didn’t read it in the ‘right’ order: you’ve been spoiled for the other books. So beware!

"Could the boy from Lola’s past be the love of her future?" 

Anna and the French Kiss

My eye was on this book for a long while and last year I was going to Paris. It would’ve been the perfect situation: I'm in Paris with a book about Paris. It was also reality, I opened my suitcase and there it was: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. My parents bought it for my birthday and it was with me in Paris.

Anna’s moving to Paris! Her dad decides to send her 4383 miles away and left her there alone. Starting on the School of America in Paris, Anna finds herself making new friends despite of her not speaking a word of French. One of those friends is Étienne but everyone calls him St. Clair. He’s the boy from the floor above and sadly has a girlfriend. Soon Anna finds herself swooning for his charm in the city of romance. The only remaining question is will she end with a French kiss? 

This book was not what I expected! It was better than I expected. I thought that it was going to be a total romance, swooning over the main characters and wishing you’d find a guy like Étienne. Well the latter is correct but it wasn’t just romance. It were frustrations and funny moments all combined with the romance part. Which I love!

The characters were so good! Anna can’t speak any French which sometimes make it so awkward for her but so funny for us to see how she struggles to get what she wants. Speaking of her funny side, she’s also very funny when she’s frustrated or angry. That makes it more interesting for the reader, because we can laugh a lot during the book. 

Étienne? For Christ’s sake he’s just adorable! Smart and maybe a little mysterious which AGAIN make it such a good book. You can see how he likes being friends with Anna and enjoys helping her out with her lack of French. You see them bonding and I really liked that in the story.

Also since it’s about Paris, we get to see a lot of the city of lights itself. Anna goes exploring and tells about how it all looks like, what it makes her feel like. Those details make you feel like you’re really there with her. I was in Paris and I could see so many similarities which made me want to read more because it made me think about the book. Anna and the French kiss just makes you want to go to Paris. 

If you’re looking for a read during a holiday in France? I recommend this book but also if you’re seeking for an escape of your own boring city. This book will take you away on a voyage full of beautiful culture, romance, funny moments and an unexpected ending.

“I wish for the thing that is best for me.”