B3THANY READS

Title: The Night Circus Author: Erin Morgenstern My overall rating: 5/5 Get it here from Amazon I have never fallen as in love with a book as I have  The Night Circus . For that reason, I have chosen to gush about it in this blog post rather than writing my usual type of review. I invite all reveurs to join me. 1. THE WRITING Erin Morgenstern has said that her novels are 'fairy tales in one way or another' and she is absolutely right . From the moment I started reading The Night Circus  I was mesmerised by the writing.  'The rain increases and umbrellas sprout like mushrooms amongst the graves' There's something about the writing that is so poetic and beautiful . Although there has been a fair amount of criticism of The Night Circus  saying that it's very slow-moving, I personally never noticed as the writing is interesting enough on its own to grab and maintain my attention. 'October slips into November, a change that goes larg...

Title: The Martian Author: Andy Weir My overall rating: 3/5 Get it here from Amazon First thoughts I'm not entirely sure what drew me to this book. Maybe it was my cousin's unhealthy obsession with Matt Damon that introduced me to the film and then I found out it was a novel first. Or maybe it was the cool cover. Who knows. I think its important to mention that I read the majority of this book whilst sitting on an aeroplane. Probably not the best place to read a story about a man trapped in space with no escape - a bit like watching Life of Pi whilst on a cruise ship, which I've also done. Good bits The Martian  is super entertaining. After much consideration I have decided that Mark Watney is the funniest character I have ever had to pleasure to meet, which is a massive credit to Weir's writing. Watney reminds me of the 'fun Uncle' type who doesn't take himself too seriously and is always there to lighten the mood; the perfect antidote to...

Title: HEX Author: Thomas Olde Heuvelt My overall rating: 5/5 Get it here from Amazon First thoughts When HEX  appeared in my Goodreads' recommendations, I was intrigued. I suddenly realised that even though I am obsessed  with The Walking Dead  and other horror-related TV shows and films, I have never read a horror novel. I decided there and then that HEX  was going to be the first one I read. And I'm so glad I did. Good bits I whizzed through HEX. Olde Heuvelt has such an interesting writing style that even shines through being translated from Dutch to English, showing how talented he is. I could not put this book down. I have seen a few other reviews talk about how some of the idioms Olde Heuvelt uses don't translate well into English but I didn't notice it, I must have been too immersed in the story to realise. I absolutely love the concept of the story. A town being haunted by a 300-year-old witch who has her eyes and mouth sewn shut to prevent utt...

Title: We Were Liars Author: E. Lockhart My overall rating: 2/5 Get it here from Amazon First thoughts This book was kindly given to me by my best friend for my birthday, which kinda makes me feel bad for disliking it so much. But that's what reading is all about, right? Forming an opinion? 'My mum and my sister raved about this book and said I should read it,' my friend said, 'but I don't read books, so I thought I'd get it for you'. At least she wasn't emotionally attached to the book. That way my negative review won't completely destroy her feelings. Good bits We Were Liars is a semi-enjoyable holiday read. It is super easy to read, not requiring too much effort to understand the plot (probably because the plot is stupidly boring but we'll get to that later). I could have finished it in a day if life didn't get in the way, so if you're planning on bringing this with you on holiday I'd recommend bringing a back up......

Title:  Room Author:  Emma Donoghue My overall rating:  3/5 Get it  here  from Amazon First thoughts At first, I was really excited to get stuck into this book. For Christmas I was lucky enough to get a gift card for a bookshop and  Room  was one of the first books I bought in 2017, thus starting my Goodreads Reading Challenge. There was a  huge  hype surrounding it when I bought it and I knew it had been turned into a film so I was expecting big things from Donoghue, especially as it addresses such a sensitive topic.  I must admit, the size of the book concerned me a little as I knew the majority of it was set in one room, so how was Donoghue going to retain my attention for 400-odd pages with a story set in one place?! I hadn't heard of Donoghue before picking up this book so it wasn't as if I had trust in her writing to keep me interested, but I decided to take the plunge anyway. Good bits Right, s...

I started reading Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children towards the beginning of June and expected it to be a nice, easy read for summer. I knew it was aimed at readers a bit younger than me but in my experience if the plot line is interesting then the style of writing shouldn't get in the way. I must say, I did really like the concept of the plot. The whole idea of children with unique abilities, hollowgasts, Ymbrynes (I hope I never have to say that word out loud for fear of embarrassment) and wights is something I haven't come across before. Yes, there are many stories of humans with supernatural powers but Riggs develops this idea in such a way that feels brand new. (Here is where I admit I have not read any Harry Potter books, which is probably why I feel this way). I was also really intrigued by the network of time loops that operated throughout the world and were dotted around in different points in time. I found it really interesting when it was expl...

The first story I have for you is one I wrote a few months ago for a Creative Writing module I took in First year. Let me tell you, pouring your heart and soul into a story only to have it ripped apart by your peer group and seminar leader is not the most enjoyable thing to do. But I survived. I took most of their comments into account and edited it before handing it in, finding myself leaving in aspects that they hated because I loved them too much to delete. I may be a bit stubborn.  This story is a bit longer than I plan on making future pieces, but I thought it was a good place to start.  Enjoy! The Mirror Maze ‘Isn’t this great?’ asked Scott, raising his voice above the buzzing atmosphere of the annual county fair. Heather knew he had said something to her but couldn’t decipher it, she was too busy watching the neon lights on the rollercoasters fill the sky. She laughed, glanced at him, and smiled sweetly. ‘Wanna get some cotton candy?’ suggested Heather,...