Currently reading and exam week

To begin with the not book-related stuff. I'm having an exam week at high school right now and I'm so stressed about it. Okay it's just one exam per day and some days not at all, but still. I don't have time to read so much, mainly because I haven't returned my philosophy essays and they're due to Friday, but... Maybe I'll do them tomorrow (like I said yesterday and day before that).

Aaaaand I'm going to see Take That at Berlin Velodrom arena October 8th!! Super excited!!!

What I'm currently reading:

Review: The Last Light Falling: The Covenant

The Last Light Falling: The Covenant by J.E. Plemons was the first religious book I've ever read because I don't belong in any religion. Still I thought to give it a chance. I have to say that I actually liked the book aside from its faults.

First irritating fault it had was the narrating. I didn't like it at most parts and some parts it made me despise the whole book. The usage of the word 'we' and the repeatance in sentences really annoyed me. Also the descrptive parts were too muted for my liking, but I don't say it as a definite bad quality.
Also the muting in battle scenes was really frustrating! The scenes were so good, so why were muted? A bit more feeling and actual describing of  what happens because now the author has them cut short and suddenly you're reading the aftermath of the situation.

 The thing I relly liked in the book, was its speed. It was really fast spaced and you didn't have to wait for long for something to happen!

The characters were really good suited for the subject but they weren't properly introduced to the reader. The info given at the beginning was scarce and kind of useless. The reader has to make up a lot to even get proper looks for the characters. But still they were likable.

I would recommend this book, if you are even a bit religious person and like Young Adult Dystopian novels.

Summary:
★★★☆☆
Positive: Plot, speed
Negative: Narrating

Review: The Grave of Lainey Grace

★★★★★
Had to put these stars up here, so you know how amazing The Grave of Lainey Grace is, before even reading my review.

Briar Ann, ten years, waits for the roses to appear to the grave of Lainey Grace. No one knows who delivers the roses, who they are, and most importantly: Who is the mysterious Lainey Grace?
The cemetery workers have tried to prevent the rose-givers from coming, but each year after the last fall leaf has fallen from the trees, the roses appear on the grave.

I really loved the story of Lainey Grace. Though you only get bits and pieces of it and you have to fill the blanks yourself, the story is beautiful. And I have to admit that it made me cry, just because of the amount of love and belief in the end.

The start of The Grave of Lainey Grace was maybe a bit slow, but in the end, it didn't matter at all. Maybe slowness of the beginning maybe more meaningful in the end, like sometimes the most uneventful times might just be the most important.

The things I learnt during the book were so basic, that many people choose to ignore them. It taught me what it is to be sad and disappointed. What it is to forgive and apologise. What it is to wonder and believe in things, even when everyone else don't believe in it. What it is to be happy and what is love. And most importantly: what is the beauty of living.

Aaron Galvin has done such an amazing work with this book, and I am so thankful of getting to read it. It really deserves its stars.

Review: Poison

You know that hysterical laugh that escapes you after finishing an amazing book? I have to plead guilty with this book.

I found Poison by Lan Chan by accident whilst browsing Netgalley.com, I decided to request it and the next morning I had an e-mail waiting for me saying that I had gotten it. So started it that morning, read it at any given moment I could and finished it just few hours ago. I have read many books, but the thing with this one is that it has some magnetising powers or something. I was immobilised every time I read, and had to tear my self away every time I had to do something else. And that alone speaks for the greatness of the book!

I started reading Poison without any knowledge of the book or its author, beyond the short description given at netgalley, and I have to say, it is the best way ever to start a book.

The story is based in Australia, in the time where there is no seeds left for the farmers. All the seeds are controlled by the government called the Seeders. The Seeders have modified the seeds given for the farmers so that the plants can't reproduce, also every single seed is boosted up to produce more and better food than it would've originally. Sounds nice, right. Well here's the fun part: If you're not nice to the Seeders you get less seeds than others, who are already given too little. So basically everybody is hungry.
The land has been separated to Landings, which are named after the leader of the landing. For example, our main-character lives in landing called Gideon's Landing, after their leader Gideon, who later we find out is the enemy of the nation.
The Seeders try to find a seed bank, which is hidden by the rebels, who call themselves Wanderers. Also the Seeders hunt and kill the Wanderers, but still the rebels have accomplished to stay alive and continue their work.
The Seeders have also modified every living thing in Australia, starting from a cross-breed between a wolf and something like sabre-toothed tiger to the nature, which they poisoned so no one can use it for anything.

In Citadel, there is an Earth and Sky circus. The circus has many performers, but Poison focuses on the Wind Dancers, who are aerialists. They are made to train and perform in the circus against their wills, but there is one who defies them. Our main-character, but I won't tell you how!

I liked the characters a lot! In some books you have great characters, but then they might not match with the plot. But with this one... Whoa.
Starting from our main character, Aurora (Rory) Gray, the Wind Dancer. She had a fair amount of stubbornness and some spirit in her, so following her through the book never got boring. She has a way to see some things, and when she has to do something that will affect many people, she does it, even if the decision is painful. She is a very strong, but not afraid to show her feelings. But what I liked the most, was the description given every time she was doing any acrobatics. It made me feel that I, too, was flying.
Then Aiden. I don't know what to think of Aiden. I know that he was amazingly written and he is perfect for the book's plot, but still all the way during the book my thoughts went somehow like this: ''Bad Aiden, don't do that! Awws, Aiden that is so sweet. Bad Aiden, stop that nonsense immediately! Aiden, you are the perfect man alive! Aiden, just stop, you're the worse man in this universe!'' You can make your own conclusions of that.... or you can just read the book! :p
Also there were some minor characters, like the people on the journey to Citadel, but I can't mention any character who was written even a bit lazily. None. Every single character was so well written that almost mistook them for real life people!

And I really loved the book. It has deserved every star I gave to it! (I hope I could have given more)

Summary:
★★★★★
Positive: The whole book! (And just look at the cover, I love it!)

Everybody go buy yourselves a copy, and just read it!

New books!

I got two new e-Books today from two different publishers.

The first one is Poison by Lan Chan. I started it the minute I got it (which is few hours ago, but school made me to take a break) and now I'm 28% through it! Can't wait to see what happens next, it is just so amazingly written and I almost forgot to go to school this morning, because I was enchanted by the book. :)

And the second one I got is The Grave of Lainey Grace by Aaron Galvin, which was sent to me from Aames & Abernathy publishing company. It's going to be published day over tomorrow, which is September 20th, and I plan on to read it before the publishing of it! So excited to start it tomorrow!

And they both have such beautiful covers! I'm definetly going to buy physical copies of both of them just because of the covers! :p

Today is a massive strike here in Finland, so no public transportation, food at school or anything else really useful things doesn't work. I have to walk to work since I can't take the bus... And also the fall wind-storms just began today and I think that the tree just outside my kitchen window is going to fall down any minute now.
But luckily these bad weathers gives us readers a wonderful excuse to curl on the sofa with tea and a good book!

Currently reading! (and new apartment!)

I've been a bit busy lately, because I got my very own apartment and I have been packing and moving my stuff for a few days now. It's really stressing and hard to move, especially when you have a van full of books in boxes, and you know you can't place them on a shelf, because the shelf hasn't been bought yet. But in the end, all is well. I got my books on my self and the apartment is still a huge mess, but who cares! :) (Also I love my kitchen table, it's high with two bar stools. I've been sitting here all day after school, first Skyping with my sister and now reading and writing.) Unfortunately I don't have pictures, because it's so dark outside so I don't have good lightning with just lamps... It makes the pictures too yellowy.

The headline says ''currently reading'' so lets get to that!

I'm currently reading Melissa Walker's Ashes to Ashes and Ally Carter's I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You.

 I bought Ashes to Ashes last spring spontaneously. I had never heard of it before, but I just picked it from the shelf, added to my pile and bought it. Without reading the back cover first. It's about a girl who dies in a car crash and enters to Prism, which is place where you get used to being dead. Also you learn to haunt. (And meet an awesomely cute guy). So far I've been enjoying the book very much! And that boy, Thatcher, I'm looking forward to read some more about him... :p
The Ally Carter's book I am reading out of curiosity. I kept popping on my Goodreads account for a while, and I've read great and really bad reviews about it, so I wanted to really know what made people to think so differently, either loving or hating it. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You is about a school of exceptional young women, who basically study to be spies, and also other subjects, including fourteen different languages. I've liked it this far and a lot has happened already, the story goes on a bit slowly, but not too slow fortunately! Next is chapter 13, and I'll probably finish it tomorrow, if I have time from all my homework.


I'd love to know what you guys are reading (and thinking about the book)!

Review: Love Letters to the Dead

 Many of you who have also read Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower, find that Ava Dellaira's Love Letters to the Dead quite similiar. It's true that both of them are in the form of letters. In Chbosky's they are to an unknown person and in Dellaira's they are for famous dead people. Yeah, it sounds that they are copies of each other, but that's not true.

★★★★★

In Dellaira's book we follow the main character Laurel, at her first year in college. At her English class, they are given an assingment to write a letter for a dead person. Laurel starts it, but inevidently they turn to something more personal, something she doesn't want to share with her English teacher, but still feels that she needs to write more. So from one assingment grows a notebook full of letters to dead person like Kurt Cobain, Amelia Earhart, Amy Winhouse and many others. Laurel feels a great need to share what's going on in her life to somebody though the recievers are not even alive.

Laurel had a elder sister, May, who died few years earlier. Laurel feels responsible about May's death and through the book she blames herself, though no one is sure wether May's death was a suicide or an accident. Laurel goes through strong emotions and sometimes dissappears in her head, where she lives her memories again revealing the ghosts of the past.

Laurel meets Sky. A very cute boy at her college. Firts Laurel and Sky's journey together is a bit awkward and it feels forced, but then it grows towards something more natural. During the book their relationship feels too rushed, which leads to certain events in the book.

Emotions are visble in every part of the book. You can feel them as if they were your very own. Sometimes they get overbearing and sometimes you just have to close the book, put it down and breathe, because the events Laurel goes through would be very traumatic to any person, real or fictional.

Most parts of the book are things that happens, then also a big part of it is the throwbacks to Laurels past. But sometimes, mostly when something big is happening, we get the most beautiful sentences to quote after. If I wouldn't be so against underlining books, or if I had a e-Book of this one, I would have these colourful pages with the most beautiful words. Now I juts have to trust the good old Post-it notes and Goodreads.

This book definetly made my all-time favourite list!

Review: Hopeless

I had high hopes for Hopeless and didn't have to be disappointed! I loved Hopeless from first letter, first word, first sentence, first paragraph, to the last.

Starting from the characters. We get to know a lot, but still get new information all the time. It feels like you know who the characters are, but in reality you only know a small part of them. And it's okay that you don't know them completely. It would be abnormal to know everything about some person you've juts met.
Six is present on the beginning but then she fades tot he background. Though she is a minor character and at first it doesn't feel like she has a significant role to the story, but after turning the last page, you just feel that without Six, the book wouldn't have had a beginning.
Karen, our vegan - no-technology - herb-mixing - mom. Karen was really confusing character from the start. I couldn't make up my mind if I liked her or not. She was written out really well, and then the revelation... But don't worry I won't spoil you! :)
Dean Holder, our other main character. From the start I actually thought that he is the stalker Sky thinks he is. But luckily he turns out to be something else, something sweet and caring. Holder is moody and has many sides to him, still in the end he is the one who keeps you together through the book.
Sky. Sky is the main character that feels. The one that let's herself drown in emotion, feel it all without any barriers. And that is the thing I love most about her. Some authors try to soften the effects of some emotional scenes, but Hoover has not muted it. She wrote it on full force. And that force will hit you, and hard.

The main reason for loving this book was the emotions. It was hard to read because of the emotions. Sometimes you just wanted to burst from happiness, sometimes the pain Sky felt, felt like my own. I might sound like a masochist, but it's the truth.

I loved the wrecked emotional roller coaster of  Hopeless.

Summary:
★★★★★
Positive: truthfulness, emotions, characters
Negative: couldn't get anything to this

Recommend to Everybody out there!

September TBR

What should I read this month? Books? Maybe.

This month I am going to finish the Mark of Athena. Maybe start the House of Hades. I'm taking fiction-writing next month in Finnish so I think I should read something in Finnish.

Also the Trylle trilogy. Many talk about that if you don't read the Trylles before reading the Crystal Kingdom, it might spoil you something, so I'll read them.

And if I can get my hands on Queen of Shadows, I'll read it immediatly, like hands down, nothing matters before I've turned the last page.

Then finishing the Vampire Academy series, which is only book and a half away!

Hopefully this month is more successful than August, or so I hope!

August Wrap-Up!

My August TBR didn't exactly turn out successful...

From my original idea to read Outlander, Mark of Athena, House of Hades, Blood of Olympus, Torn, Switched and Ascend, so seven books.

In the end I only completed Outlander from that list. But still read many books! I was deeply affected by my reading slump that happenend during August, but luckily Fangirl saved me.

I also started the Vampire Academy series and got almost through it. I found time to read the first 4 of them and started the 5th one.

Faerie Guardian and Never Never part two, which I bought for my Kindle app, I read faster than I have ever read. Okay, both are not long books, but still really good!

If you are a Finn or if you want to know a bit more about the cryptic people from the land of Santa, Xenophobe's Guide to the Finns is the book for you. It describes honestly and hilariously who the Finns are, their ways and weird manners. As a Finn, I can confirm that the book doesn't lie, it's all true.

I read the Fifty Shades -trilogy few years ago and I was really curiuos about Grey. Always when an author publishes the same book from a different POV is really interesting. And though many people have said that Grey is the same as Fifty Shades of Grey but I think it's not entirely true. Grey really gives us an insight to Christian's head. Though in some parts the books is a bit messy and confusing, I actually liked it.

While tyring to get out of my reading slump, I decided to read Passion, but it didn't work. Not. At. All. I don't know why I thought it would, I didn't even like the first two in the series, so why would the third one lift me up from the history's worst condition? Silly me...


Wrap-up:

Fangirl  ★★★★★
Outlander  ★★★★★
Grey  ★★★★
Never Never part two ★★★★★
Faerie Guardian ★★★
Xenophobe's Guide to the Finns  ★★★★★
Passion  ★
Vampire Academy  ★★★
Frostbite  ★★★
Shadow Kiss ★★★★
Blood Promise  ★★★★

Stars are from my Goodreads ratings.