Fahrenheit 451 Review

Hello there internet!

Today i thought i'd do a little review :)

So here is my review of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

I gave the book a solid 5/5 because my gosh did i love it.

I am so glad that i decided to pick this book up after debating whether or not i would like it.

No worries there, i bloody loved it!

If you don't know what Fahrenheit 451 is about, i'll try to give a spoiler free little bio: 

It is a classic dystopian set in a world where books are banned. Not just banned, if you are found with a book then the book, your home, and possibly you, will be burned by the firemen.

In this world firemen are not the great fire-fighting people we have now, instead they are the ones that set the fires. And the book follows one of these book burning firemen called Guy Montag.

Books have been banned because they are the source of all the unhappiness and discord in the world. However, Montag is starting to doubt that idea, because even without reading

a single book in his life, Montag is unhappy. 

I think the plot of this book is unbelievably clever and it is so wonderfully executed.

I was really skeptical about Montag at the start of the book, but as the story went on i actually started to really like him. 

This is where the review might get all spoiler-y. Read on if you wish :)

I bloody loved Clarisse, and that is one of the big issues i had with the book. I wish we had more of her, and got more of a backstory about her life, or maybe just

a little bit more time with her.

Although saying that, i think that a lot of the parts of the story that i loved, wouldn't have happened, or just wouldn't have been as good, if Clarisse hadn't vanished/died...WHAT HAPPENED TO HER???

My favourite moment of the entire book is when Montag and the rest of the firemen all climbed into their van and drove to a new house to burn, and they ended up in front of Montag's house.

It was like my heart stopped for a beat.

It was so incredibly well written, and they were outside of the house for so long before

he mentioned/realised that it was his house, that everything just stopped for a second.

Amazing.

I think that this is easily one of the best books i have read, probably ever, and

it has quickly made its way onto my favoutites shelf.

I cannot wait to read more of Ray Bradbury's books!!

Meghan-Alice xx

Review: Death Note Vol. 4

Hey there internet, and welcome to 2015 here on Not Quite Alice! :D

I thought i'd kick this year off with a review of the first book i read this year: Death Note Vol. 4 Black Edition.

I absolutely love the Death Note series and i was so so so so excited to finally pick up volume 4 at Christmas time, so naturally i had to start the year reading it!

As this is the fourth volume of a series, expect spoilers ahead! If you haven't read it, maybe best not to read it?!

One of my favourite parts about this volume is when they find the Death Note and as each person touches the notebook they see Ryuk. Every reaction is absolutely perfect for the characters, it's one of my favourite parts of the series so far! 

In the same way as that, i absolutely LOVED when Light touched the notebook and all of his memories came flooding back. I adored the way that we were shown all of the back story of Light coming up with his plan, and how well thought out and intricate he had planned everything. Light's scheme throughout this volume was beyond amazing. Going into it i was hoping for lots of Light time, and it definitely happened!!

Can we talk for a little bit about L's death? I never thought that i would care all that much about L dying, but as soon as it happened i had to stop reading for a little bit. It was so wonderful, and perfect, and heartbreaking, but oh so great. So well done on that section team!

Near and Mello. How great are they?! I absolutely how much like L Near is. It's amazing. I love how different they are, and how they were both introduced was beyond wonderful. They have fast become some of my favourite characters in the series, especially Near!

One of my favourite aspects of this volume was when Light started taking over the role as L while he was still acting as Kira. I think all of this power is starting to really get to him, but watching it happen is amazing. 

I think one of the best parts of this volume was the dynamic of Light taking over from L with the task force in Japan, and then Near taking over from L with the original side of the whole investigation. It was such a great thing to read, with both of them being overly sarcastic with each other. Got to love a bunch of sarcasm in a police investigation. 

THE KIDNAPPING. Okay, we need to talk about that for a minute. The director being kidnapped, and then 'committing suicide' was such an ingenious part, and then Sayu being taken. It was one of the most exciting parts of the series so far. When Light's dad had to get off the plane in a random place, then was taken underground, it was just so exciting and it made me want to keep reading and reading.

NEW SHINIGAMI. NEW. SHINIGAMI. This was possibly the most exciting moment of the book? I loved that a new shinigami came down to the human world, it was beyond great. So happy that a new guy came down, seeing as we're now a Rem down. 

I'm pretty sure out of the volumes i've read so far this was my favourite. It was so exciting and the story was just incredible, i loved every second of it. Especially after the third volume was slightly disappointing to me, but this one was great from start to finish. 

5/5 easily.

Meghan xx

Review: Shut Out

Hello there internet! I'm back today with one of many overdue reviews! This one is of a book i loved and i think it's just a super great read...Shut Out by Kody Keplinger!!

As always, i do try to keep my reviews pretty spoiler free - however spoilers happen and i am sorry, so read with caution :)

*I was sent a free copy of Shut Out to review - however all thoughts are my own and 100% honest*

Shut Out follows a girl named Lissa and how she is fed up with the constant rivalry between the Football team and the Soccer team, as are all the other girls at Hamilton High. To finally put an end to this rivalry Lissa comes up with an idea which she shares with all the other girlfriends of the boys on the teams - go on a sex strike. The girls all decide that they will have no sexual contact, including kissing, with any of the guys until they finally end the feud that none of them were around for the start of.

What i really love about this book, is that it has the cute, funny romance that i love about contemporary YA, and excellent character developments which i sometimes find missing in these kinds of books.

Lissa is such a great perspective to read from, and seeing her friendships develop, break, and rebuild is really lovely, and not to mention her romantic relationships during this no-hookup plan!

There are two guys in Lissa's love life - her boyfriend, Randy (perfect name choice) and the ever present rival on and off the field, Cash Sterling. Now Randy is the guy that i hated during this book, and we are definitely meant to. He is the epitome of crappy boyfriend and Keplinger has done an amazing job in making him easy to hate. However Cash is the opposite of Randy, he is lovely, caring, funny, and cute as hell. However, as in real life, there are moments when Randy is likeable, and there are times when you question how nice Cash really is...but it all works out perfectly.

I adored this book. It hit on really important ideas. There is a certain section where the girls are fighting about who is the biggest 'slut' and telling the virgins that they need to 'give it up' to their boyfriends. And then comes the greatest moment i think i have ever read in a YA book...They call out how stupid all of this is. Keplinger wrote such an amazing speech about how girls need to stop shaming each other on whether or not they've had sex, or how much they have sex, or (and this was the best, unexpected moment) on whether they even enjoy having sex! If i could get all girls to read that section at least, i would be so happy, because it is the most important thing that i think i have ever read in YA. 

I love this book, and i hope that everyone goes out and reads it, because my gosh is it a good one!

Meghan xx

City of Fallen Angels - Book Review

Hello again lovely people of the internet, i'm here today with another review of a Cassandra Clare book! Today is time for the wonderful fourth book in The Mortal Instruments series: City of Fallen Angels.

As always, i'm going to try and keep the spoilers down but there may be spoilers ahead!

First of all, the first time i read the mortal instruments i finished at City of Glass, so this was the first tmi book that i hadn't read before in a LONG time, so i was nervous and so excited!

There's one thing i need to say before the proper review starts...JACE :'( :'( poor little baby.

Okay, now for actual thoughts on the book.

Lilith! Oh man Lilith! I think Lilith is easily one of the best evil characters i have ever read. I thought i loved Valentine as the bad guy as the series, but Lilith is a whole new level. I absolutely loved how she was entwined with everything in the story, from Jace acting weird, Sebastian, Simon and Camille, everything about her character made me really love this book.

Well it wouldn't be a review about tmi without expressing my love of Alec and Magnus. I love them so much. Their relationship makes me so happy, and getting to see more of them just made me the happiest girl in the world. Alec is my favourite character in the whole series, and him and Alec being together makes me so happy.

Now Jace...Jace, Jace, Jace...my poor, poor little baby. I just wanted to reach into the story and hug him constantly. I feel like Jace is the person in this series that has the most to deal with, i mean i know everyone in it goes through stuff, but Jace is on a whole new level. The poor, poor baby.

Okay new character time!! Jordan was such a nice little addition to the series. I really like him. From the moment he turned up at band practice i thought he was going to be great and he really was. I have a whole lot of love for Jordan man.

Sebastian...ugh. I spent pretty much the whole book waiting for him to come back, and when we find out that him and Jace have been linked up by Lilith it hurt, it hurt bad. I really like that there is a character in the series that i can hate this much, i feel like it really adds to the story and makes me care about everyone that much more.

THE ENDING. OH MY GOD THE ENDING HURT SO BAD. Jace :'( I thought i hated Sebastian back in City of Glass, but that doesn't compare to the hatred i felt for him at the end of Fallen Angels. Screw you Sebastian. Screw you.

Meghan x

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Between the Lives - Book Review

Hello there internet! I am oh so excited about today's post, partly because i feel like i haven't written a book review in so long, but also because i just loved this book so much! But i'm getting ahead of myself, first we need to talk about the book before i get into all the feelings.

So the lovely people at Books With Bite sent me a proof copy of Between the Lives by Jessica Shirvington to review, and i am so happy about it.

Release Date: August 2014

The Plot: For as long as she can remember, Sabine has lived two lives. Every 24 hours she shifts to her 'other' life - a life where she is exactly the same, but absolutely everything else is different: different family, different friends, different social expectations. In one life she's a straight-A student with the perfect boyfriend; in the other she's considered a reckless delinquent.

Nothing about her situation has ever changed, until the day when she discovers a glitch: the arm she breaks in one life is fine in the other.

With this new knowledge, Sabine begins a series of increasingly risky experiments that bring her dangerously close to the life she's always wanted. But if she can only have one life, which is the one she'll choose?

Well, what can i say? Between the Lives was funny, heartbreaking, wonderful, dramatic, most of all - it was beautiful. 

The development of Sabine and Ethan's relationship was realistic, and oh so beautiful and lovely to read. I loved the way that they interacted with each other and the challenges that Ethan brought into Sabine's life were so important to both the story and to their relationship. The moments that they shared when he was looking after her were some of my favourite parts of the book, and they are now definitely one of my favourite fictional couples by far.

I loved the development of Sabine's character and the way that one life began to impact the way she acted in her other life, and the continuity was great, which can sometimes be missing in books with parallel world-type stories. I think that although Sabine went through a lot, both in Roxbury and Wellesley, and i think that's what has made her one of my new favourite characters. Her wit, the mix of her personalities, her relationships, all of it made me want to keep reading about her life and never stop.

As for Ethan...well what can i say, he was one of the best male characters i've come across who wasn't the main character. The way he acted with Sabine made me completely fall in love with both him and the story. He is ultimately the reason that i broke down into tears nearing the end of the book. And i won't give anything away, but i may need some time to recover from that.

The letter!! Oh man the letter! I was already in tears because of everything else in the book, and then that letter came along and that was it - i was gone. I just broke down into tears, and had to finish the book through very teary eyes. And i wouldn't want it any other way!

The ending of Between the Lives is one of the most wonderful, surprising, heart-breaking, heart-warming, beautiful endings to a book i have read in such a long time. And i want more! I need to know what happens after the book ends, but if i can't have that, i'm glad i get to go back and read this book over and over again!

I have completely fallen in love with this book, and these worlds, and i hope you do too, because believe me,  it's oh so worth the tears!

"You were right. I was lost. But you found me, between the lives."

Meghan x

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Like And Subscribe - Book Review

Two posts in one day?! Well aren't i the productive one today!

This review is slightly different to the other reviews i have done on this blog so far because it's of a short story, something i'm not usually a big fan of...well i've definitely changed my mind!

Like and Subscribe is an amazing short story from the ridiculously amazing Jay Bell, and let me tell you, it is just as great as his other work! The story is about a guy called Evan, and it tells the story of how he came to learn the truth about love. omg it's good.

I feel like anyone who has ever been subscribed to a YouTuber should read this story and see how much like reality it is! I think Evan perfectly captures the essence of being a YouTube fanboy/fangirl, and that Tony is the perfect example of how we can never really know what our favourite YouTubers are like no matter how much we love and adore them.

I love the evolution between Evan and Tony's boyfriend Orlando, and how Evan starts to see how the persona that Tony puts on for his YouTube audience is far from what he is like in reality. Something that a lot of YouTube lovers need to see, because not everyone on YouTube is as perfect as they seem.

Honestly, Jay Bell is fast becoming one of my favourite authors and every new thing i read by him the more in love i fall with his writing! I cannot wait to read more! In fact, i'm going to wrap up this post and go read his short story Language Lessons...I AM EXCITED!

Meghan x

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Something Like Winter - Book Review

Hello there again people of the internet! I'm back again today with another review for you all! Up this time is Something Like Winter by Jay Bell, which is the sequel to the wonderful Something Like Summer, here we go!!

Something Like Winter was everything i ever could have wanted in a sequel and oh so much more! All the aspects that i completely fell in love with during Something Like Summer were still there, but there were also these other amazing parts that i never knew i wanted. The parts that were 100% Something Like Winter were possibly the parts of this book that i loved the most, and the whole book was simply perfect.

Something Like Winter tells the story of Tim from Something Like Summer, and shows us his perspective of that first year with Ben, as well as all the other times that their characters came together in Something Like Summer, but with oh so much more. The parts of the book that told the story of Tim without Ben, something i longed for while reading Something Like Summer, were so brilliantly and beautifully written, and i even loved the characters that i hated. Tim's story was a perfect blend of familiar and original, mixing the best parts of his story with Ben with a story so uniquely his own in such a beautiful and heartbreaking way.

The new characters were all amazing, all of them being this amazing blend of good and bad characteristics that Jay Bell seems to have mastered. Getting to know the characters from Something Like Summer that i felt i knew so well in a whole new way was amazing, as was getting to know characters who i wanted to know more about the first time round. *cough*ERIC*cough* I never wanted this book to end!

Since i finished Something Like Winter i haven't prepared enough mentally yet to take on Something Like Autumn and Something Like Spring, but omg i cannot wait to get stuck into them both! As soon as i finish my current book i will be all over Something Like Autumn! I miss the characters, i miss Jay Bell's writing, and i miss being so involved in a story.

It's such a wonderfully perfect series so far, and i cannot suggest it enough! If you decide to give this series a chance, i promise you will not regret it one little bit!!

Meghan x

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City of Bones Review

At about 2am this morning I finished my re-read of City of Bones and I realised again why it's easily one of my favourite books and why I love everything about it so much.

Not only is Jace one of the best characters to ever exist, the rest of the characters in this book are so amazingly, wonderfully written that even after one read you know them so well. Alec is probably my second favourite character in this series, I love his relationships with Jace and Isabelle, and I love the development of his relationship with Clary. He's just a really great character. Clary, Isabelle, Simon, and Luke, while I'm not exactly any of their biggest fan, I do still like reading about them, and I what I love so much about this book is how diverse their individual voices are. I love the conversations that happen between the characters, and how they all talk to, and react to, the different characters. 

Valentine...what can I say about Valentine? I don't think I've ever loved an hated a 'villain' quite as much as him. I loved, loved, loved his whole story in this book (btw it's so hard writing about one book in a series when you love them all so much...) and I hate him so much for everything he does with Jace and Clary.

Ooh speaking of Jace and Clary, their relationship is one of my favourites to read. I love when they first meet, and when they go to the Vampires, and Magnus Bane, and in the greenhouse, and it still makes me sad that Valentine kind of ruins all of that. One day you'll be together babies, don't worry <3 

Ugh I just love this book so much, and whole series, so much and I cannot wait for Wednesday when I finally get to see this world come to life! 

Meghan x

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My Heart's as Cold as Ike.

The Wide Window

By Lemony Snicket 

I had this plan a few weeks ago where I was going to read all thirteen books in the A Series of Unfortunate Events series(saga? idk) but that plan kind of failed once I read The Wide Window. I'm not entirely sure why, it might have something to do with me re reading The Mortal Instruments, or it might be because I just didn't fully want to commit to reading thirteen books that I've already read when there are so many books I'm currently excited about. Either way I've kind of put Lemony Snicket on the back burner while I jump back into the world of the Shadowhunters. 

I figured since I read The Wide Window (maybe not fully this time around, but I have read it!) I would carry on and do a review of this as well as the first two books in the series. 

In the wide window, the orphans are now living with their Aunt Josephine by the, slightly terrifying, Lake Lachrymose. She's obsessed with grammar and kind of recently lost her husband, Ike. She's nice and good and all that lovely stuff, but then obviously Count Olaf ruins everything. 

I'm not going to lie here, The Wide Window is probably my least favourite book in this series, maybe that's why I've lost the motivation to read it? But as always it's wonderfully written and Count Olaf continues to scare and creep the hell out of me. 

Meghan x 

The Best Beginning...

A Series of Unfortunate Events is easily one of my favourite book series, so the other day I figured I would start reading them again. 

As soon as I opened The Bad Beginning I remembered how it felt when I first read and fell in love with the series. The writing, imagery, characters are all just so brilliant that I never want to stop reading.

I can't believe I waited so long before starting to re-read such an amazing series. 

So if you have a series that you love that you haven't read in a while, please GO BACK AND READ IT. 

It's like going back to your childhood all over again. :) 

Meghan x

(I know this is long but I'm ridiculously tired and kick ass is on...better post tomorrow!) 

Geek Chic?

Geek Girl

By Holly Smale

I'll admit I bought this book almost entirely because I was, or maybe I still am, the "geek" out of my friends and I thought this book would bring to life the dream of being somebody else that I wanted all the way through school. And I wasn't that disappointed. 

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the story, the characters, the narrative of Harriet, the little love story, I even enjoyed Alexa as a bully. What I didn't enjoy all that much was how predictable everything was. It wasn't even just the ending that was predictable (even though you know what it will be even before you read the first page) it was just all the little "twists" that were in the story that you could see coming a mile off. 

I mean I did ultimately enjoy Geek Girl, I just wish that it was a little bit more exciting and a little less predictable. 

13 Reasons Why...

Thirteen Reasons Why

Jay Asher

Thirteen reasons why has earned it's place on my "favourite books ever" list after just one read. Jay Asher's debut novel deserves to be classed as one of the best written books to come out of the past decade...perhaps longer.

The characters, even those we only hear about rather than actually meet, are so impeccably written that it's hard to put the book down. With each passing page you want more and more for it to get to Clay's story, for him to finally be put out of his misery and find out why he's been included in Hannah's tale. You simultaneously hate and love each person who gets a tape recorded about them and how they fit in with everything. What did they do? Why did Hannah do what she did? How do they all connect? WHY CLAY? So many questions...

And yet by the time you turn the last page all those questions are answered, and answered in a way that makes you fall even more in love with the entire novel. This book encompasses basically everything I love about stories and reading.
I can't wait to read more from Jay Asher and I can't wait to read this book over and over again, falling more in love with it each time.
I recommend this book to everyone, it's one of the best books I have read in a very long time and I honestly think that everyone will enjoy it too.