April Wrap-Up

Here it comes, my April Wrap-Up:

1. The Book Thief my Markus Zusak. This book  was on my TBR pile for forever. After so many people raved about it I felt very guilty for not reading it. So I decided to pick it up and give it a try. I actually really liked it and gave it a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

2. The Elite by Kiera Cass. I really loved the first one. And I really loved the second one. I just couldn't put this book down and read it within 4 hours. I gave it 5 out of 5 stars.

3. The One by Kiera Cass. I just enjoyed it as much as the two other ones. I read it just as fast as the second one. I gave it 5 out of 5 stars.

4. Selection Stories - The Prince and the Guard. I enjoyed it, just not as much as the other books from this series. I do not think that it is bad, but I just felt like something, which was in the other books, was missing here. I ended up giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

5. Guardian of the gate my Michelle Zink. I really enjoyed it. It took me one evening to finish it because it was that good. I gave it 5 out of 5 stars.

6. Circle of Fire by Michelle Zink. Just liked it as much as the other two books in this trilogy so I gave it 5 out of 5 stars.

7. Matched by Ally Condie. I heard a lot of mixed things about this trilogy but still I did want to pick it up. And it as a really good coice as I really enjoyed it. I ended up giving it 4.75 stars out of 5.

8. Crossed by Ally Condie. As I really enjoyed the first one I wanted to continue on with the story. I ended up giving it 4.5 stars out of 5.

9. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. I loved the movie and just had to pick up the book. I did really enjoy it and gave it 5 out of 5 stars.

10. The New Hunger by Isaac Marion. I enjoyed this one. I am still on the fence about wheater I liked it just as much as Warm Bodies or slightly less. For now I gave it 4.75 out of 5 stars.

11. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. The book is not on the picture because I lend it to a friend. I gave it 5 out of 5 stars, because it is perfect and it is a Cassandra Clare book, so how could you do something diffrent?


I read a total of 11 books this month and really enjoyed all of them.


Lots of Love,
Maddie

April Book Haul

Hi there,
I am back with another monthly Book Haul.
April is already mostly over and as I do not plan to purchase another book I just thought about putting up the post already.
So here it is, my April Book Haul:

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by J.K. Rowling. Read this book already a while ago, but I did not have my own copy of it so I purchased it.

2. Guardian of the Gate and Circle of Fire by Michelle Zink, books two and three in the Prophecy of the Sisters Trilogy. I loved the first one and had to get these. I read both of them in one day and really liked them.

3. Love, Rosie by Cecilia Ahern. I read this book when my mom got it as a present and loved it so I had to get my own copy.

4. One Hundred Names by Cecilia Ahern. Haven't read this one yet but I really enjoyed Cecilia Aherns other work so I will get to this one soon.

5. Matched, Crossed and Reached by Ally Condie. I have already read the first two books and really enjoyed them. I will start reading the third one as soon as possible.

6. Goddess of Rose, Warrior Rising, Goddess of Light and Goddess of Spring by P.C. Cast. I haven't read any of those yet, but as I am really interested in Greek Mythology I hopefully will enjoy them when I finally get around to reading them.

7. The Elite, The One and Selection Stories - The Prince and the Guardian by Kiera Cass. I read them all in one day. Do I have to say more about how much I love this series? I don't think so.

8. House of Night 6: Tempted and House of Night 8: Awaken by P.C. and Kristin Cast. I finally have all the books up to the 10th one. Which means I can finally continue on with the series. Haven't actually done that yet. I am still re-reading the third book.

9. Hallowed by Cynthia Hand. I have heard a lot of positive things about this trilogy. I really want to read it. But I accidentally picked up the second and not the first book. So haven't read this one yet.

10. Warm Bodies and The New Hunger - Warm Bodies Prequel by Isaac Marion. I have watched the movie over and over again and just had to get the book. Read both of them and really enjoyed them.

So, this month I bought a total of 20 books and already read 11 of them. So only 9 unread books this month.

Lots of Love,
Maddie

My TBR Pile(s)

I actually do have two TBR piles because one of them is at my parents house while the other one is at my dorm room.
I will show you some pictures of my TBR piles and the name of the books but won't go into to much detail about it because there are simply to many books and this post would go one forever.

TBR Pile at my parents house:

This is the TBR Pile at my parents house.

1. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.
2. Lady Chatterley by D.H. Lawrence
3. Les Vampires Argenau ny Lynsay Sands -  a French book.
4. hush, hush by Becca Fitzpatrick.
5. The first four books in the Artemis Fowl Series by Eoin Colfer.
6. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux.

On this picture you can still see The Book Thief by Macus Zusak. Since this picture was taken I read the book, but as I wasn't at my parents house any longer but back at my dorm room I wasn't able to take a new picture.

The TBR pile at my parents house includes a total of 9 books.


TBR Pile at my dorm room:

 This one is way bigger than the one at my parents house.

1. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.
2. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
3. Sense and Sensebility by Jane Austen.
4. Die wirkliche Mittelerde by Arnulf Krause (I did not found the same book in English, so it seems to be only available in German)
5. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien.
6. The Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth by J.R.R. Tolkien,
7. Book 6 to 10 in the House of Night Series by Krisitn and P.C. Cast.
8. Goddess of Love, Goddess of Light, Goddess of Spring (which I bought k´just after I took this picture), Goddess of the Rose and Warrior Rising by P.C. Cast.
9. Forsaken by Jana Oliver.
10. A Chalice of Wind by Cate Tiernan.
11. Schattenblüte by Nora Melling (which is only avaiable in German)
12. The Host by Stephanie Meyer.
13. Awaken at Dawn by C.C. Hunter
14. Hallowed by Cynthia Hand.
15. pretty by Scott Westerfield.
16. The White Princess by Phillipa Gregory
17. Sense and Sensebility by Joanna Trollope.
18. Torment, Passion, Rapture and Fallen in Love by Lauren Kate.
19. Appollo's Angels by Jennifer Homans.
20. Bunheads by Sophie Flack.
21. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.
22. Pretty Little Things by Jillian Hoffman.
23. Perfum. The Story of a murderer by Patrick Süskind.
24. Hamlet by William Shakespeare.
25. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - which I actually started but have not finished yet.
26. One hundred Names by Cecilia Ahern.

If I haven't counted wrong this TBR pile holds 39 books.

My total amount of unread books therefore is 47 books.
It is actually less than I expected but still I think I should cut it down as fast as possible.

So, how big is your TBR pile?

Lots of Love,
Maddie

Book Haul Janurary/Feburary/March

There will be a lots of books in this book haul as there are three months to be covered. I think I will switch to on book haul every month as I then will have the possibility to get into a little more detail about the books.

But for this time I will just tell yout the title, the author and wheater I already read it or not as otherwise this post would be way to long.

So lets geht started :)

Janurary:

1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling. I read this book already a while ago and just purchased it now.

2. A modern Witch by Debora Geary. I read this book and really enjoyed it.

3. The 7th, 9th and 10th book in the House of Night Series by P.C. and Kristin Cast. I did not read them as I still need to get and read the 6th one before I can go on. The 7th one is called Burned, the 9th Destined and the 10th Hidden.

4. Goddess of Love by P.C. Cast. Over here in Germany it is sold as the first book in a series, but in the origianal published series it is the fifth one. Still a little confused wheater I should start with it or not, so I haven't read it.

5. Awake at Dawn by C.C. Hunter. I really wanted to start this series and did get this one quite cheap. Then I found out, that it is the second and not the first one in the series. Haven't rea it as I still ned to get my hands on the first one.

6. The Host by Stephanie Meyer. I heard that this one should be way better than the twilight series and as I did not completly hated the twilight series I thought I could pick up this one. Still haven't started it as I will wait until I have a little more time because it is simply huge.

7. Forsaken by Jana Oliver. Haven't read it yet. Picked it up in a wim. Sounds interesting so I will hopefully start to read it soon.

8. The White Princess by Philippa Gregory. Watched the series "The White Queen" on TV and loved it, so I really wanted to start reading the series. Still confused with which book to start, so I haven't read it so far.

I purchased a total of 10 books for myself in Janurary. Most of them where quite cheap, so I could actually afford all of them.
8 of those books are actually still unread.


Feburary:

In Feburary I visited London with my mum, so I bought some books there.

1. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. I loved the Mortal Instruments Series as far as I had read it then (which was up to the fifth book at this time) and really wanted to pick this trilogy up. Haven't read it yet, but started it. Unfortunally I'm in a reading slump and just can't get myself to go on with it,

2. City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare. Read it and loved it.Just after finishing it I heard that it would be better o read the Infernal Devices beforehand.

3. The Ruby Red Trilogy by Kiersten Gier. I read this one about two years ago. In Janurary I started re-reading it. I just had finished the second book when I walked past this little beauty and I just had to have it on my shelfs.

4. The Prophecy of the Sisters. I read it and really enjoyed it. I want to continue wth the story as soon as possible.

5. Allegiant by Veronica Roth. It just then came out as paperback in Germany. Read it like two days after buying it. I liked it, but enjoyed the first one way more.

6. Schattenblüte by Nora Melling. This is actually just available in German. Bought it on a wim but it sounds quite interesting. So haven't read it yet.

7. Sense and Sensebility by Joanna Tollope. I really enjoy Jane Austens Story so I thought I would pick up this one and maybe enjoy it as well. I haven't read it yet.

8. A Chalice of Wind by Cate Tiernan. I heard a lots of great things about it and really wanted to pick the series up. Found this one at my local bookstore for quite cheap and bought it. Haven'T read it yet.

9. Pride and Prejudice. I don'T know why but I didn't had ac copy of this one, even though I wanted to read it for a really long time. I did start reading it, but haven't finished yet.

In Feburary I bought a total of 11 books, of which just 5 are unread.


March:

1. The Selection by Kiera Cass. As I already said in my review: I read this book within 4 houres and loved it.

2. Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince and Quidditch trough the Ages by J.K. Rowling. Rad both of them a while ago, just did not have them on my shelf.

3. Ther Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. I have read the Hobbit but not The Lord of the Rings. Found them on a fleemarket and bought them so I could read them as soon as somehow possible.

4. Pretty by Scoot Westerfield. I really wanted to pick up the series, but I still miss the first one, so this book has to wait until I get the first one to read.

In March I bought a total of 8 books of which 4 are still unread.


All in all I bought 29 books, read 12 of them and still have to read 17 of them. Some of them I just can't start as I do miss the book I have to read beforehand.

I will do another book haul post at the end of April.

And sorry for being inactive for so long, I had a lots of things going on and just did not find the time to f.e. take the pictures needed or just to sit down and write a post.

Lots of Love,
Maddie

March Wrap-Up

So, here are the books I read in March:

1. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. The first book in the Inkworld Trilogy. I allready read this book a few years ago and just wanted to re-read it as I found it on my shelf shortly after returning to my parents home. I have the German Hardcover Edition.

2. City if Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare. This is the sixth and final book in The Mortal Instruments Series. When I was in London in Feburary I bought this book because I just did not want to wait any longer until it would come out in Germany. As I do have the other books (exept for the fourth one) as the German Paperback Edition I would have probably to wait way longer to get my hands on it, just because I do not want to buy a Hardcover Edition if I have all the other ones in Paperback. I will do an Review of the whole Mortal Instruments Series soon.

3. Life as I know it by Melanie Rose. I found thos book on my mother's bookshelf and I was so tempted to read it, that I left all of my other books on my "Currently Reading Shelf" out and just started this one. It actually just took me two days to finsih it and I really enjoy it.

4. The Selction by Kiera Cass. Yes, I re-read it just a month after I first read it. I love this book so much and while writing my review on it and just couldn't help but reading it again. It is defently not only one of my favourite books of this year, but one of my all time favourites.

I wished I had read more, but I had quite a lot to do with Spring Cleaning and getting prepared to go back to University in April.

Have a beautiful and good new reading month in April. :)
Lots of Love,
Maddie

Review: The Selection

Titel: The Selection

Author: Kiera Cass

Genre:  YA, Dystopian

Original Language: English

First Published: April 24, 2012

Pages: 336

Series: Selection

 Other Books in the Series: The Elite, The One, The Heir as well as the novellas The Prince, The Guard, The Queen and The Favourite



What the book is about:
For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The Selection means one thing: Having the opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since their birth and be choosen by the Prince to become his wife and therfor the future Queen of Illeá. The girls get swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. They live in the palace toghter witch the Royal Family and compete for the heart of    Prince Maxon, the heir to the Throne of Illeá.
America Singer is maybe the only girl in the whole kingdom who is not intrested at all to sign up for the competition. Even her Mother and her little sister May begging her to sign up do not change her opinion. Only Aspen, her secret boyfriend, changes her mind. He is begging her to not let the opportunity of her life pass by because of him. So America agrees to sign up, being sure that she wont be selected at all.
But then America is being Selected. Despite her unwillingness to be part of the competition she leaves her family, Aspen and her old life behind and travels to the palace where she competes for the hand of Prince Maxon, alongside 34 other girls. 
Then America meets Prince Maxon. And for the first time in her life she starts to question the plans she made for herself and starts thinking about a future she never imagined and never wanted before.  


What I think about....

.... the Story and World:
I really liked the world Kiera Cass builded. It's still partly a world we can relate to, as Illeá is the "old" United States, but also a new one with the diffrent castes and the life the people life within these castes.
The idea of an event like the Selection is totally new to me and I really enjoyed how it is made up and described. You can dive in from the very first page and nothing seems unlogical at all.

... the Characters:
I really like America. I do have issues with female characters in distopyan books from time to time but I really liked America from the very start. She is a strong, independant character who is willing to take risks but also would do mostly anything the help the ones she loves. And even when she is thrown in a situtaion she never wanted to be in, she first thinks of her family instead of what she really wants.
I'm not quite sure wheater to like or hate Aspen. One the one hand he loves America with all of his heart and only want the best for her but on the other hand he also can't really let her go the way she wants to go and hurts her over and over again.
Maxon is maybe one of my all-time favourite male character. He is shy and inexprienced at first but grows with all the problems he has to face. He is also willing to take place in the politics of the land he will someday rule as the king and tries to help the people in need.

What I liked the most:
It is hard to tell what I liked the most. I really liked the characters and I enjoyed the story as well.

What I did not like:
About the book? Nothing! The only thing I do not like is that I have to wait until July for the German paperback edition of "The Elite" to come out.

Overall result:

I defently would recommend this book. The story is well written and really interesting. The characters are easy to relate to.
You can easyly dive into the story and it won't let you go. I read the whole book in 4 hours because I just couldn't stop reading.

Book Unhaul

In October 2014 I moved away into a dorm room. I couldn't take many books with me so there most of my books are still at my parents home. As I am currently staying at my parents home I decided it would be time to look through my books and unhaul some of them as well as deciding which books I would like to take with me when I'm going back in April.

So, this was the pile of books I took off of my shelf:
(I'm sorry, but somehow the picture got quite blurry...)

And that's how my shelf looked empty:

I do have more places where I put my books than this shelf, but most of them are on this shelf.


It took me quite a while to decide which books I would keep and which ones I would unhaul.

So here is the result:

These are the books I will keep:

And these are the books I will unhaul:

And there are some books I am not quite sure, wheater I want to keep them or unhaul them, so for now they will stay on my bookshelf but I will surely think about maybe letting them go.

Yep, these are my twilight books.



After some more time I had seperated the books I wanted to take with me from the books I would for noe leave at my parents house and put those who would stay at my parents home back into the shelf.
Here is the final result:

I'm not quite sure what to do with the books I unhauled. They are mostly not damaged, but they are quite old so selling would bring close to nothing. I think I will donate them but I still have to figure out where I can donate them.

I think that unahuling is a great way to recall which books you own, which you want to keep and which are not interessting for you anymore.


So, maybe have a little unhaul to start of your spring cleaning :)
Lots of Love
Maddie