My True Love Gave to Me - Book Review

My True Love Gave to Me is a collection of twelve short romance stories set in the winter season and around Christmas time. The collection was put together and edited by Stephanie Perkins, the amazing author of the Anna and the French Kiss series, and featured writing from eleven other incredible authors, including Rainbow Rowell, Gayle Forman, Jenny Han, Laini Taylor, David Levithan and a whole bunch of other amazing people!!

I actually really enjoyed this collection. Although I started this book after Christmas, each of the stories gave me that warm, fuzzy feeling you get at this time of year! They were all really fun and quirky and gave me a great excuse to stay snuggled in bed in my pyjamas, reading for half the day!!

I gave this book 4 stars altogether but some of the stories individually were rated differently. There were some I absolutely loved and then others that I thought a little differently of...
But as a story collection, this has been one of my favourites and I loved pretty much every page!
Right, let's discuss some of the stories!


Midnights - Rainbow Rowell
5 Stars!

Midnights was the very first story we were given in this collection and I thought it opened the book up perfectly.
This story was told in separate parts, each of them told from a different year, a few minutes before midnight, and gave us the cute and heart-warming details of what happened at the beginning of each New Year. Like all of Rainbow Rowell's writing, this was just a really cute story with such beautiful writing! Before reading this book I didn't think it would be possible to tell a complete story in under 30 pages, but Rainbow somehow managed it! In just 24 pages, I had fallen in love with all of the characters - even though we'd only known them for a few pages, they gave me the familiar feeling that I'd known them all of my life. It was just lovely. This was also one of the only books for which I felt happy with how it ended, and didn't feel cheated out of a proper ending due to the short length of the story. Loved this one so much!! Definitely a must read!


The Lady and the Fox - Kelly Link
2 Stars

I wasn't actually a huge fan of this one. Throughout the whole of it, I never really understood what was going on, who anybody was or what the significance of it all was. The writing was alright but not fantastic and I found the plot to be quite misleading and confusing. It's not the worst story I've ever read but it certainly wasn't the best! I hadn't actually read anything by the author, Kelly Link, before this, but to be honest, from this, I'm not in a hurry to do so! 


Angels in the Snow - Matt de la Peña
4.5 Stars!

This one surprised me. I wasn't expecting a lot from it, after the disappointment of the previous story, but I actually really enjoyed it. It was certainly a different kind of story, but I found it to be really well written and a pleasure to read. The story was just warm and cute and fuzzy and was just everything I wanted! I haven't read anything else by this author but this story has definitely made me want to read more from him. I will be looking out for his other books in the future! Highly recommend reading this one!


Polaris is Where You'll Find Me - Jenny Han
4 Stars!

I found this story really quirky and brilliant, however I just couldn't justify giving it a full 5 stars because it was just too short! I mean, I know that these are supposed to be short stories, but this one was about 10 pages shorter than the others, and I thought at least another 10 pages should have been used!
As always, Jenny Han's writing was just fab and every line of it was beautiful. I loved the plot, too! It was a bit of a strange plot, but I did think it was the most Christmassy story of them all (probably because it included Santa and his elves!). So overall, I thought the story was fantastic but I could have done with a lot more of it, and I thought it cut off in a strange place. I would highly recommend this one, still, though!


It's a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown - Stephanie Perkins
5 Stars!

Awwhhh! Now wasn't this one just charming? *swoons*
Stephanie Perkins could write the most gruesome horror story and it would still be cute and fluffy. She's just a wonderful writer! And this story was fantabulous! It wasn't what I was expecting but I loved it all the while. It gave me the fuzzy, warm, wintery feelings that I was hoping for from this book. The characters were great, the writing was super, so overall it was an amazing story! I'd recommend it to anyone!


Your Temporary Santa - David Levithan
3.5 Stars

This story was another one that I found to be quite short, however I don't think it really needed to be much longer. While I loved the concept and the story in this piece of writing, I don't actually think it was pulled off very well. I mean, the writing was great and the whole thing seemed to be well thought out, but I still thought that more detail needed to be put into some areas. There were parts that felt brushed over and rushed, and I don't know, maybe I was just reading this way too late and was falling asleep while reading it, but I felt that there seemed to be a further hidden message in this story that wasn't properly revealed. A lot of it was left for the reader to interpret for themselves, which is alright to a point, but I found it to be a little frustrating in this story. However, despite this, I still thought it was a cosy and heart-warming story and I liked it a lot!


Krampuslauf - Holly Black
2 Stars

Hmmm... I wasn't too sure what to make of this story. I hadn't read anything by Holly Black before but I had heard that she was a great writer so I got my hopes up a little. I mean, the writing itself wasn't bad, I will say that! However, this story was just weird! I don't have much else to say! I don't know how that was thought up and to be honest, I'm not sure that I want to know. I just didn't really see the point in this story at all. I wasn't a huge fan of the characters; they seemed quite weak and stupid, and the story just took a mental turn! This one definitely wasn't my favourite!


What the Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth? - Gayle Forman
5 Stars!

CUTE! CUTE! CUTE! CUTE! CUTE!
Ahh, I just love Gayle Forman's writing and stories! I loved her characters and her writing and her story here as a whole. Actually, this one kind of reminded me of Just One Day, when Allyson is in college.
This story was just really funny, as all of Gayle's books are at times, and it made me feel warm and cosy. There's not really a lot more to say! I just really loved it and would highly recommend it!!


Beer Buckets and Baby Jesus - Mara McEntire
3 Stars

This was another story that I can't say I was too impressed with. I just didn't really see the point in it, which sounds really horrible, but I kind of don't feel like it belonged in this collection. I actually liked the whole thing though. The writing was alright and the characters were interesting. My main problem was that it just felt far too short. I mean, it didn't feel rushed and I don't feel that parts were just brushed over. The story just felt like the beginning. As if the middle and the end just didn't exist yet, but I felt that they needed to be written. The story felt like it needed to end up somewhere, and it didn't, really. I did like this one, but I think it would have benefited being a story of its own as opposed to a story in this collection.


Welcome to Christmas, CA - Kiersten White
4 Stars

I actually enjoyed this story far more than I expected to. It was just so cute and fluffy! It was one of those stories that you just want to hug and squeeze by the end. I was really pleased and satisfied with it. It did take a little while for me to be able to get into it, but when I did, I absolutely loved it! I will admit that some of the parts were a little strange, the psychic cooking powers, for example! But I loved the characters and found this story to be really quite enjoyable! It has definitely made me want to read more of Kiersten White's books!


Star of Bethlehem - Ally Carter
3 Stars

Well, this was a bit of a weird story! I'm not sure I was a huge fan of this novella simply down to its story. It just didn't feel very believable or realistic to me. And I know what you're thinking - this is a fiction book! Get over yourself! - But it was supposed to be a realistic fiction book. I mean, in stories like this, you're supposed to write about things that haven't happened, but could realistically occur. This one just seemed quite silly! The writing was decent and the characters were okay, but I just didn't really understand where it was going and it just seemed to end up in an unrealistic place. It probably only seemed unrealistic due to it being so short. It might have been okay if it were longer. I don't know. I just wasn't a huge fan.


The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer - Laini Taylor
4 Stars

I think this book felt like it took the longest to read, but I'm not complaining about that! It took me a while to get into it, but it was definitely worth it when I did! I actually really enjoyed this story. It was so magical in a really unique way, and was different to everything else in this collection. The writing was entrancing in a magical way and I just really loved it! It would have been nice to find out a little more about the characters, but I suppose Laini Taylor got a lot into the small number of pages she wrote! A really lovely and wondrous story!



So, that's all of the stories!
Overall, I'm so glad I got around to finally reading this book as I really enjoyed it as a whole. I would recommend it to any fan of romance novels, but suggest that you go into it with an open mind and expecting the unexpected, since I think that's the way you'd get the most out of this book!
I gave My True Love Gave to Me four stars in total, simply because that was the closed to what the individual ratings averaged out to, however I enjoyed this more than a lot of 4 star books!
It's definitely worth reading!!


Well, that's all for now but I'll be back soon for more reviews and other fun things!
Hope to see you then!

Charlotte xxx

WINTER - Book Review

Can we just take a moment to marvel at this gorgeous book?
Here is the majestic Winter, the fourth and final book in The Lunar Chronicles.

Winter, by Marissa Meyer
Published: November 2015 by Puffin
Length: 823 pages (Yep! That's right!!)
Genre: YA, Retellings, Sci-Fi, Fantasy

Rating: 5 STARS!!!

Where do I even begin? This book was just incredible. Honestly, I don't even know how to talk about it without jumping up and down in excited circles and squeaking and crying. The feels are real.

So, this is the last book to this series and it was such a bittersweet ending. I had been looking forward to this book ever since I finished Cress, and, no joke, I very nearly hugged the postman when he handed me the parcel containing this book. However, now that it has come to an end I've had to face the fact that I'm not going to get another one of these books which is devastating!! But I think we can definitely say that The Lunar Chronicles went out with a bang!!

The Lunar Chronicles, with Cinder as its first book, is a series of fairy-tale retellings set in a futuristic world where Earth, and its Earthens, are at war with the planet Luna and its Lunar citizens. Queen Levana has released a deadly plague called letumosis onto Earth that is killing Earthens at an incredible rate. There is no cure. The only way to stop the plague from spreading is to form an alliance between the two planets, by means of a royal marriage between Queen Levana and Emperor Kai, the new ruler of Earth. Soon, Cinder, a cyborg mechanic, and her trusty robotic friend, Iko, are roped in and are forced to take part in a battle between the planets. But they're not the only people dragged into the war. Soon they're joined by Scarlet, a tomato farmer, Wolf, a cage-fighter, Thorne, a pilot, Cress, a hacker locked away in a satellite, and finally Winter, a mad Princess and her guard, Jacin.
This series is an epic retelling of our favourite stories. It's incredible and completely unforgettable. Nobody will ever regret reading these books!!

If you are unfamiliar with this series, you might want to have a look at my review for the first three books in the series, Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, which you can have a look at by clicking here.

So, when we left our characters at the end of Cress, they were in a fair amount of trouble. Scarlet had been captured and was in Luna with Winter as her only company. Wolf was a wreck, Thorne was blind, Kai had kind-of-been kidnapped by the rebels and everyone was in a bit of a sticky situation.

I have almost always re-read the rest of the series before reading a sequel to it, but I didn't have time to do that with these books, so there were certain parts that I had forgotten about and I wasn't quite sure where the story was going to take us. However, I thought the first few chapters recapped it perfectly and by this point I was well aware with what had happened and what was going on, which is always useful!!

So much happened in this book. I never knew it was possible for so much to go on in one book, but Marissa Meyer managed to exceed my expectations by so much. I mean, it was over 800 pages long, so I had expected quite a lot to crack off, but even then there was still so much story and each page of it was as captivating and mesmerising as the others. The funny thing is though, is that Winter didn't feel like a long book. I mean, I was reading it for quite a while (although this could be primarily down to the fact that I read most of it in my post Mockingjay Part 2 week of sobbing!!) and my hand was fairly sore afterwards from having to support all the weight of this massive book. But, it never dragged on or got boring, as many long books do, and I seemed to get through it fairly quickly.

This could have been down to Marissa Meyer's fantastic writing. Honestly, that woman just spews pure magic from her brain. I wouldn't be surprised if her brain was actually made up of sparkles and glitter because that is how amazing she is. I've said before that her writing style reminds me of J.K. Rowling and Cassandra Clare, and I still stand by that. She's definitely up with the greats in my mind!

I actually thought a lot of this series felt very cinematic in the way it was written. By reading the words, you could almost see the whole story happen in front of you on a screen. It was quite a strange experience really, particularly because it seems that no plans have been made to adapt this novel to the screen. And on that note, I think The Lunar Chronicles would make an amazing film series or TV show! It needs to be done!!

Okay, if you haven't already read Winter and do not wish to find out what happens, I would suggest you leave now since I will be discussing spoilers. If you haven't already read The Lunar Chronicles, I seriously suggest you consider doing so. I was a bit dubious of the series before I read them but they have grown to be one of my favourite series of all times. I cannot recommend them higher! Please go and read them!!

Spoilers from now on!

Okay, let's talk about our new characters. So, we didn't really find all that much out about Winter in the other books. I think we had one chapter with her in Cress in total, and she really freaked me out. You could tell she was slightly mad and she definitely acted younger than her age, due to not using her Lunar powers. But in this book, she was revealed to be so much more. She wasn't actually as crazy as I had thought she was going to be. She was just a lovely character who happened to be in her own dreamworld at times. Sort of like Luna Lovegood, but with a scarier land of dreams. I wasn't too sure about her at first, but as we got to know her, she just seemed like a really friendly character. I loved her!!
However, I would like to point out that I was so frustrated at Winter when she took the apple sweet! Does she not know you shouldn't take sweets off strangers?! Silly girl!!
But apart from that minor detail, I thought she was great.

So, we met Jacin back in Cress and I never really warmed to him then. At all. In fact, it did take me quite a long time to actually warm to him in this last book, and I don't think he'll ever have the same effect on me as Kai and Thorne (and Wolf - kind of) had on me, but I did warm to him a lot more by the end and I really do think he and Winter were a great match.

I actually grew to like Scarlet more in this book than in all of the previous books. I had never liked her as much as Cinder or Cress, but I've never been too sure why. She really seemed to win me over in Winter, though. It was almost as if she wanted to prove herself to her readers, or if Marissa Meyer wanted to prove how amazing she was to us all, because she really stood out and stood up for herself and really had a huge impact on the revolution.

Wolf seemed to do the same. I've never been too much of a Wolf fan. I mean, he's cool and everything, but doesn't seem too sensitive or human (though I guess he does have a reason for this!). But in Winter, we saw the softer, gentler and more caring side to him. One of my favourite parts of this book was when Scarlet and Wolf were finally reunited, and I think Wolf had almost matured in that scene, after moping around for so long! I just loved it!! He also touched my heart in the scenes with his mother, after returning to his childhood home. It was amazing to see.

I really, really, hate to say this but I actually wasn't too much of a fan of Cress or Thorne in this book. Wait... Let me rephrase that... I wasn't as much of a fan of them as I had previously been in the other books. That's better!
Cress and Thorne have been my tied favourites (with Cinder and Kai) ever since we were introduced to them, but they kind of annoyed me slightly here. I still loved them. Loved them loads! But I found myself getting rather frustrated with them a lot of the time, particularly at the start. Why could they not just accept that they were perfect for each other?? Why did they both have to go on thinking that the other one deserved better? Could they not see how amazing they would be as a couple?? Clearly not! I just got quite annoyed at them for taking so long to get together. They would have just saved a lot of time, worry and struggles if they had just got together as soon as Thorne could see again. The struggles were real.
But apart  from them taking too long to get together, I absolutely loved both of these characters. I loved how shy yet badass Cress was, and how cocky and arrogant yet still caring and loyal Thorne was. They're just a match made in heaven. *swoons*

And now, our couple of the series... Let's talk about Cinder and Kai.
Ahh. I can't even get into words how much I love these characters. They're just perfect. While I've said that Cress and Thorne are on par with my love for Cinder and Kai, it's probably true that I love these two just a little bit more. Simply for the reason that they've been with us for the longest. We have been through so much with these two characters and I have loved them since their very first pages. And I'm so glad that they're finally together and happy. They really deserve to be! Kai has been so brave all the way through the series, even though he's had to lead the whole world AND then take over Luna, while trying to be diplomatic and stay undercover the whole time! He hasn't had an easy ride!
And Cinder... She's been through the mill a bit, too. She's had to face the death of her only human friend, be targeted by everything she knew, go on the run as a fugitive and fight battles while doing so! She has been such a great character, protagonist, and I'm going to miss reading about her, but I am so glad she got her happily ever after. She definitely deserved it.

And what about my favourite character of the whole entire series?! Iko has just been the best. We didn't really get a lot of Iko-time in Winter, which would be my only complaint about the book. Then again, I don't think I could ever have enough Iko time!! I just love her so much. She's just so funny and adds a sparkling light to the darkest of pages and times. These books really needed something like her and I'm so glad she was there. I would actually like to know more about her though, like how she came to be and then what happened to her after Winter. I'm really hoping Marissa Meyer writes a new book focused purely on Iko. It would be amazing!

And lastly, let's talk about the villain of this story. The amazing Queen Levana.
Now, I have read about a lot of villains in all the books I have ever read, but not many have captured my attention the way Levana did. I loved her as a baddie. She was just perfect. She was ruthless, she was cunning, she was slightly mad, but I loved her! And yes, I'm one of those people who have a soft spot for the bad guys. While I was obviously rooting for Cinder and all of her allies to win the revolution and to kill Levana, there was always a part of me that wanted to know more about her. And more we discovered! It was actually quite a sad and touching time when she was killed, just after revealing everything about her sister, Cinder's mother, and why she did everything she did. I loved getting to know her more and would love to find more out about her (why haven't I read Fairest?!). Of course, I am glad that she died in the end (sorry Levana!) because there was no way everyone else would have survived if she too had been kept alive, but I was almost sorry to see her go. She was a great villain!


I guess that's it for the characters then! I cannot explain how much I loved this book in actual words. It was soooooo good! I absolutely loved the escape scenes with Scarlet and Winter (and sometimes Jacin) and I loved when they were trying to rally the wolf-people troops. I loved all of the battle scenes with Cinder and Wolf and Thorne and Cress. I loved the reuniting scene between Scarlet and Wolf. I loved all the crazy antics and banter between Cinder and Thorne. I loved the romances between all of our couples (although we all know that Cress and Thorne, and Cinder and Kai are the best!). I just loved the whole thing, really! There was  not a dull page in the whole of that 823 page long book - and that's saying something!! Every single sentence was edge-of-the-seat (or in my case, bed!) drama and I just loved every bit of it.

I know that a lot of people were puzzled at the fact that we didn't lose any of our main characters, but I was so happy and glad when I realised that everyone had made it through alive. These poor characters had really been through a lot. I think they'd all been kidnapped or trapped at one stage or another (some on multiple occasions) and had seen and experiences awful things, so it was lovely to see that they all made it through and had their well deserved happily ever after. Especially Iko! I had a feeling that Iko might have ended up dying or crashing or whatever robots do, but I was so, so, SO glad that she made it out okay because I honestly think I would have died if Iko had been killed off!!

And I think that's all I have to say! Winter was just an amazingly incredible book and I simply cannot wait to go back to the beginning of the series and read them all over again! I am also really excited for the release of Stars Above, in 2016, which is a collection of short stories set before, during, and after the lunar chronicles! Cannot wait to find out more about what happened after the happily ever after! And I also really need to read Fairest!!

Right, I think that's all I have for this post but I hope to be back for more reviews very soon!

See you then,


Charlotte xxx

October / November Reading Wrap Up

I feel like I need to start with an apology. I've been MIA for a while now and haven't managed to get much posted to you guys in the last month or so. Sorry about that! I'm going to try to make it up to you now by giving you my two missing wrap-ups for the last couple of months, all tied together in this huge wrap-up post for October AND November!!!

 Here goes...

Let's start with October. So, I managed to get through a total of 7 books in October, which, while isn't amazing, is still pretty decent.
Here are the October books!!

• Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1), by Cassandra Clare
• Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices #2), by Cassandra Clare
• Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3), by Cassandra Clare
• The Bane Chronicles (The Bane Chronicles #1-11), by Cassandra Clare
• The Game of Love and Death, by Martha Brockenbrough
• Love Letters to the Dead, by Ava Dellaira
• Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell

I didn't manage to get through quite as many books as I had initially hoped in October, but  it still wasn't too bad! In total, I read 3206, which averages out to 103 pages per day, so it's not terrible and is still over my daily target.
I only actually read three new books this month; I have already read the whole of The Infernal Devices trilogy and I have also already read Fangirl before, but I still really enjoyed rereading them all, and, to be honest, I seemed to enjoy them even more than when I read them before!

Right, before I get into some mini-reviews, let's go to November.

As many of you will be aware, November is Mockingjay month. For the past three Novembers, I've always marathoned The Hunger Games trilogy, so this November was no different!! It was tough-and-go to whether I would actually make it all the way through Mockingjay before watching Part 2 on its opening night, however I somehow managed to read the whole of the book in under 3 and a half hours, which I think is definitely some kind of an achievement!!

Anyway, here are my November books...

• Landline, by Rainbow Rowell
• Eleanor & Park, by Rainbow Rowell
• Red Queen (Red Queen #1), by Victoria Aveyard
• The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1), by Suzanne Collins
• Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2), by Suzanne Collins
• Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3), by Suzanne Collins
• Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4), by Marissa Meyer

So, that's still only a total of 7 books - not my best, I must say - but it's still an alright number, and the HUGE number of pages in Winter has made it so that my page number count-up for November is 3291, averaging out at 110 pages per day, which is a good number!
Again, I only actually read three new books this month, having read Eleanor & Park before, and having read The Hunger Games trilogy more times than I'd care to admit! So, my new books were Landline, Red Queen and Winter. I will be writing about Winter in a post of its own since it was so incredible, so stick around for that!!


Anyway, let's go talk about some books!!!



The Game of Love and Death really blew me away as a book. To tell the truth, I didn't actually read the blurb of this book before I bought it; the cover alone sold it for me - isn't it gorgeous? But even after reading the blurb, I went into it having no idea what it would be about, and I don't think I came out of it much-the-wiser! But, it was a completely original story and the writing was just spectacular.

The basic premise for this story is that Love and Death are people and play their game with humans. They each pick a player, destined to fall in love with each other. The rules are set like this; if love wins the game, they can live. However, if their love is not strong enough, death will win and both players will join her.
There have been many famous players; Antony and Cleopatra, Helen of Troy and Paris, Romeo and Juliette. Clearly, Love has never won the game.
Henry, a wealthy adoptive with a fancy scholarship, and Flora, an African-American who sings for money in jazz clubs, are the new players. Set in the Great Depression in America, they're not the most likely couple, but that doesn't mean that Love won't fight for them.

Despite this being quite a complicated plotline, I felt that it really was a gorgeous story and wasn't your everyday romance novel. I would recommend this to so many people. Fans of romance and historical fiction would love this book, I think, but I feel that everyone should give it a try! I gave it 4 stars overall and would love to read it again sometime.




Here's another book that drew me in by its beautiful cover. I'm not really too sure how to describe Love Letters to the Dead without giving too much away, but I did think it was very similar to another of my favourite books, The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Laurel is our main character in Love Letters. Introverted and still mourning over the death of her sister, she writes a letter for a school assignment. The letter is to Kurt Cobain. Like her sister, he died young, so Laurel thinks he'll understand her. Soon, the letter becomes bigger than just a school assignment and Laurel is writing letters to Heath Ledger, Amelia Earhart, Judy Garland and Janis Joplin. She tells them everything she can't talk about - about her school, her friends, falling in love... and her sister, May. However, as she explores her past with her sister, she begins to remember.
Things are, and never were, all they seem.

I did actually really enjoy this book. I ended up giving it 4 stars overall, and while it really did strongly remind me of Perks, there were still a lot of differences and I think this book will be able to stand on its own without just being a complete copy of Perks. It was quite an emotional and touching book, with beautiful writing at times. I would recommend this to people with an open mind, who would be willing to read to the end despite a few dull sections near the beginning. I wouldn't recommend this book to younger people or anyone who doesn't like to read about sensitive topics. This was a great and touching book but may be deemed as inappropriate for some people depending on maturity levels.




Landline was another book with a slightly strange concept. I wasn't too sure whether it would be my kind of book, but I absolutely love Rainbow Rowell's writing and stories so I thought I'd better give it a go.

Georgie McCool knows that her marriage is in trouble. Things with Neal haven't been good for some time. She's been really busy at work and rarely has time for her husband or her children. Yes, of course she loves her husband still, and he loves her just as much, but maybe there's more to a marriage than love.
When Georgie's TV Show has some big and exciting news, it means more work and tighter deadlines, and also means that she'll have to stay in LA for Christmas instead of visiting her in-laws with Neal and the kids. And they're not happy about it.
As she watches the rest of her family drive away to the airport without her, Georgie thinks it's over. But that same night, Georgie finds a way to contact Neal in a way she never thought she could. Over her landline phone, she can talk to Neal, but it's not the Neal she knows. It's the Neal from the past; from her past.
Soon, an opportunity arises for Georgie to fix her marriage before it has even begun. But she faces the question of would Neal have been better off without her in his life. Only she can decide.

I really did enjoy this book. It took a while for me to get into as it was a little slow to begin with, but overall I found it to be a great read and gave it 4 stars. The writing, as always from Rainbow Rowell, was beautiful and entrancing and the plot, while a little confusing to begin with, was actually a lot of fun and really put me in a Christmassy mood! I would recommend it to fans of Rainbow's other books or anyone who enjoys a light-hearted contemporary read!




Red Queen really appealed to me as a book I would really enjoy reading. I don't read fantasy books often as they tend to take me double the time I would spend on books in other genres. Nevertheless, I was really taken in by the plot line and amazing reviews and talk about this book.

The world is divided by blood.
Red - the cheap, common and poverty-stricken 
Silver - the powerful, elitist warriors with incredible powers
Our leading lady, Mare, is a red, but finds her world is turned upside down when she becomes a servant to the people she despises the most. However, Mare soon realises that even though her blood is not Silver, she has her own power. A power so deadly it threatens to destroy the Silver control...

I enjoyed the concept of this book, I really did. It was a sort of cross between fantasy and dystopian. However, after reading this book, I came to realise that maybe I don't like the fantasy-writing-style as much as I had initially though. I really enjoyed this book at the start, but it did have the feel of loads of other book incorporated into one. I ended up giving Red Queen 3 stars in total, however I'm still including it in this wrap up because I don't believe it to be a bad book. The writing was great and the story line had parts that really captivated me. I just think that maybe fantasy in general isn't really my thing. I would, however, still recommend it to lovers of this genre because, as books go, this was a decent one.



Well, that's it for now! Hope you guys have had a good couple of months of reading too!!

I hope to be posting reviews a little more regularly now so I will be back for more as soon as I can!!

Much love

Charlotte  xxx