Stacking The Shelves - October 2016

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews! It is a list of what books you have received over the previous week or in our case over the previous month. 

This was a bad month for us both for Stacking the shelves, Laura had just moved into her new house and Jen was preparing for a move too... I swear sometimes it is like we are the same person. Jen is still dealing with the move as is Laura but now Laura has a little less stress and a little more time, just a little more time to do such things... This stacking the shelves will only consist of the books that Laura has some how managed to afford this month, Jen will do a double Stacking next month... God help us all with the amount that she buys monthly!

I am surprised I have ended up with this many books this month I was expecting to buy none but you all probably understand how impossible that would be! I miss my old shelf for my photograph this one looks a little rubbish sorry but I am living in chaos right now.

A Whole New World by Liz Braswell

The one below this Once upon a time came in on the delivery a few weeks ago and I instantly needed it in my life, I am a Disney fan through and through and it just didn't make sense not to buy this when I seen it in Tesco a few weeks later, I bought this along with The Beast within as part of the buy two for £7

Once Upon A Time by Liz Braswell

As mentioned above this book came into work on the delivery, I loved the look of the cover and the feel of the book as well as it being Disney related and bought it without hesitation

The One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

I have blabbed on and on about this book since I read Me Before You  and After You that Jen so kindly bought me it as a house warming gift when I moved into my new house, what better way to war a house than to fill it with books, books and even more books... Thanks Jen!

Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige

When it comes to anything Shiny I am a magpie, if you seen me in the street you would know it was me from the amount of jewellery I have on that is so sparkly... same with books, a little bit of glitter or mirrored front covers and I will buy it no matter what it is about but this one looked pretty as well as sounding really interesting.

Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland

I don't know why all of a sudden I am buying books with fish in the title or on the cover, I don't mean to its a fluke but this month I have managed to buy two that have fish on, This book caught my attention because it was described as John Green meets Rainbow Rowell in this heartbreaking tale of bittersweet first love. John Green... Rainbow Rowell... it had to be a winner and I only have a few pages of it left and I have loved it so much!

The Beast Within By Serena Valentino

Everyone who knows me will know that I love Belle and Beauty and the Beast... I am considering a village Bella tattoo too... At first I thought this book was part of the other two Disney books I have bought this month but now looking at it I can see that it is not... Still cannot wait to read it though!

Silence Is A Goldfish by Annabel Pitcher

My other fish book from this months haul... I pointed this one out to Jen as soon as I spotted it and she had bought it and read it before I got a chance to but i've heard its good so I bought it anyway.

Me Before You - A Review By Jen

What is it about?

Boy has an accident..... Girl has boyfriend who is a jerk who is more interested in running and wearing lycra than her…. Girl meets boy who is now a quadriplegic. Both damaged.
 

Who’s it for?
For adults really, but okay for the younger adult.

Genre?
Romance

Is it any good?
Yes. I guess it could be considered as a modern day Jane Eyre but with a twist. Jane in a way saves Rochester, but Lou in a more literal sense has to save Will: his life is on the line. Will wants to die, as he feels his life is no longer worth living. Lou is hired to keep him company and give him a reason to live. Is falling in love a reason to live?

It is a heart-wrenching narrative, told through Lou’s perspective. She is feeling underwhelmed too, by her boyfriend who is forever out running and is just so annoying. So in a way, Will also saves her from a underwhelming life. A love story, but there is no madwoman in the attic!!!

Was the ending satisfactory?
Yes and no. Romantic Jen would want Will to live and them to have a loving relationship. Real Jen understands why Will had to die, even though it is a sad ending.

Rating:

4

Would I recommend the book?
Yes if you want to cry.

Read it if you like:
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Fangirl - A Review By Laura

What is it about?

In Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.
Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.
Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.
For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? Open her heart to someone? Or will she just go on living inside somebody else’s fiction?

Who is it for?
Older year teenagers onwards

Genre?
Contemporary romance fiction

Is it any good?
From the moment that Cath met Levi I found myself smiling from ear to ear no matter where it was I happened to be reading, on the bus and even in the work canteen! They are just perfect together and the way in which Cath acts around him reminds me of exactly how I was and probably the majority of young girls act around their first boyfriends/crushes. I enjoyed the way in which Rainbow Rowell made Cath very relatable in terms of the worries she had during the first few weeks of college... I remember thinking along the same lines when I was attending University. I also like the way we got to see Cath on a personal level, dealing with family issues such as her fathers condition, her twin sister ignoring her and wanting more independence and with her mother leaving her, in my opinion Rainbow Rowell was really clever with certain aspects when writing this book such as the history of her mothers departure... from the beginning you see how much her mother wasn't really interested in the girls... not even bothering to think of another name when she gave birth to twins and calling them Cath and Wren (Catherine). At certain parts of the story I found myself really feeling for Cath and even some of the other characters.

Was the ending satisfactory?
I found myself captivated in this book and then I reached the ending and I was kind of disappointed... I expected something bigger than them just waiting in the bookstore for the final book of the Simon Snow Series.

Would I recommend the book?
Overall I would highly recommend buying this book! You will not regret it and it is definitely money well spent.

Read it if you like:
Rainbow Rowell
Jojo Moyes