Starcrossed - Josephine Angelini

How do you defy destiny?

Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.

As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.



Since i read the Percy Jackson series i have been searching for another demigod series and starcrossed was perfect. It was more grown-up and a lot more frustrating. As the name implies, the two main characters are starcrossed. It took me a little while to figure out why but when i did it make me love the book even more, because it was so interesting but also hate it more because i couldn’t figure out how they would get out of their problem. The book is a very original take on an ancient Greek myth.


Helen is very special but she doesn’t know why and since she’s the narrator it keeps the reader guessing. A lot of books that I’ve read lately have built up to an ending that never manages to live up to the rest of the book but starcrossed is different. The book just kept getting better and left me thinking that there might be a sequel. I hope it comes out soon because Starcrossed left some important unanswered questions.


Starcrossed has a cleverly woven plot, some funny, irritating and violent moments. I kept thinking that i had understood the whole story and that the book was coming to an end when the book would change completely and keep going on.


I haven’t loved a book like this in a long time and wish i hadn’t finished it so quickly!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Tim Collins

Nigel Mullet is just your average, everyday vampire. Transformed at the awkward age of fifteen, he will remain this age forever, being forced to spend eternity coping with acne, a breaking voice and ineptitude with girls.
In this, brilliantly funny diary, Nigel chronicles his increasingly desperate attempts to be noticed by the love of his life, Chloe, the constant mortification caused by his vampire parents  (It’s so embarrassing when they try and bite your friends), and how unfair everything feels when you've been undead for over 80 years and you've never had a girlfriend.
Forced to hang out with the goths and the emo kids in an effort to blend in, and constantly battling his confusing desire to sink his fangs into Chloe's neck, will Nigel ever het his girl?

I stared out this book with low expectations because my brother (aged 9) had just read the wimpy kid series and even he thought that they were an easy read.
But since it was a present i decided to give it a shot.
I was pleasantly surprised because although it was an easy read it was very funny and i haven’t read a book with illustrations for years. It started out as just a diary of day to day life but turned into a very exiting story. It began as a kid's book and got more and more sophisticated as the book went on.
Simon is a very funny character who speaks like your average teenager but then ends paragraphs with phrases like "the time of our dark union approaches, my beloved" or "timing is everything in the eternal dance of seduction." I got a few strange looks because i couldn’t stop cracking up as i read this.
Starting out with bad expectations, this book just got better and better. I was so gripped that i read it in a single sitting.

Signing OUT!! :(

SORRY BUT GOING ON HOLS FOR A MONTH, CAMPING, which means... no internet!! = no bloggging. Be back in 1 month and promise to blog loads when i get back.

Beastly - Alex Flinn

I am a beast. 
A beast! 
Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright. I am a monster. 
You think I'm talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It's no deformity, no disease. And I'll, stay this way forever ruined unless I can break the spell. 
Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I'll tell you. I'll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly...beastly.

This book was quite surprising for me. I didn't get how such a predictable book could be so enjoyable.

We all know the story of Beauty and the Beast, innocent girl falls for a once cruel and selfish man turned to beast and saves his life through true love.

Alex Flinn adds details than made the book a lot more interesting, a modern retelling of the classic story.

It's interesting to watch Kyle's character change as the story progresses. He becomes more aware and empathetic of the people in his life, a change of heart completely.

It's a very sweet love between him and Lindy that starts of as hate. They realise they love each other and are quite alike even though he is holding her captive.

The relationships change between the characters during the book; the tutor and maid becoming a big part of Kyle's life.  People whom, in his previous, glamorous life, he would ignore and treat rudely.

Kyle spends hours reading and studying, thinking about Lindy, and also building a greenhouse. His life is completely turned around because of the curse turning him to a beast.

The book is  based on a very traditional story but apart from the obvious ending it ended a different part of the book  unexpectedly, a happy ending created as a result of Kyle’s kind heart.

The film was a bit different to the book, mainly because Kyle just has some strange tattoos and scars. Nothing too gruesome, in the book he is supposed to have claws, fur, a hunched over back. He is meant to be a real beast and not just a little out of the norm.

Overall this book was well written but I do not see why an author would choose to live in the shadow of a well known story and not imagine their own story instead.

The Trouble With Spells ( of Witches and Warlocks) - Lacey Weatherford

Portia Mullins had always lived the life of a normal teenager, up until her sixteenth birthday. She is then informed by her grandma that she is actually a witch who is a descendant of a long line of witches and warlocks. After overcoming her disbelief she finds that being a member of the coven comes with one great perk in the form of the school's handsome bad boy, Vance Mangum. Vance and Portia have an immediate connection as a budding romance begins, only to be threatened by turbulent skies on the horizon as Vance's checkered past rears its ugly head to haunt them. Portia is forced to use her untried powers in defence of everything she loves in a desperate attempt to hold on to the one thing that really matters in her life.

What I really liked about this book was all the magic. Lacey Weatherford was really good at portraying Portia's first initial shock at realising she's a witch and also later on when she realises that she's a lot more powerful and advanced in her magic than anyone realised.

Vance has got to be the best boyfriend anyone could have. Portia is very lucky even if Vance seems to jump into things a bit fast. 

Just when you start really loving the book and getting comfortable with the characters you find out about Vance's dreadful past. Having a demon farther that wants to drink your blood is a bit over ' bad parenting'.

 Portia is pulled into this messy past as it becomes part of their present and future along with her dad and grandma's coven.

This book was a very easy read for me. At the end I almost ended up in tears, but luckily I didn't break into tears before my whole family!

After a very unexpected ending I proceeded to buy and read the next book in the series The Demon Kiss and loved it just as much.

This book was a perfect mix of magic, high-school drama, romance and life-threatening danger. I feel very sorry for Vance as he suffers from cravings when around Portia as a consequence of his very horrible upbringing.

Although the second book was brilliant I personally think it could have focused more on the magical side of things. It was more about love and danger, than the actual witches and warlocks (even though the danger is being caused by a warlock.)

Maximum Ride - my drawing

Hey Guys, 

This is just an idea i had of what Max; the main character would look like. I'm not that good an artist and the copy didn't scan very well but it was good fun to draw, especially the wings. So here you go: tell me what you think!

Maximum Ride : The Angel Experiment - James Patterson

 Fourteen-year-old Maximum Ride, better known as Max, knows what it's like to soar above the world. She and all the members of the "flock"--Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel--are just like ordinary kids--only they have wings and can fly. It may seem like a dream come true to some, but their lives can morph into a living nightmare at any time...like when Angel, the youngest member of the flock, is kidnapped and taken back to the "School" where she and the others were experimented on by a crew of wack jobs. Her friends brave a journey to blazing hot Death Valley, CA, to save Angel, but soon enough, they find themselves in yet another nightmare--this one involving fighting off the half-human, half-wolf "Erasers" in New York City. Whether in the treetops of Central Park or in the bowels of the Manhattan subway system, Max and her adopted family take the ride of their lives. Along the way Max discovers from her old friend and father-figure Jeb--now her betrayed and greatest enemy--that her purpose is save the world--but can she?

I read Maximum Ride in one day. It is the most exciting and gripping novel I’ve read since the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman. I was hooked from page one and just could not stop reading, which isn't too good for me since I’m only half a week away from end of school exams and now have the rest of the series to read.

 At first i found the book very weird with 'the flock' and their strange, self-given names. It reminded me a lot of the TV series Dark Angel but a whole lot better. This book was non-stop action, danger and adventure. I soon loved all members of the flock especially Max, the leader and Fang. 

I've only ever dreamt of flying before and James Patterson really put my dreams into words, expect in my dreams i wasn't a genetically modified not full human girl.

 I haven’t read many books that are written like James Patterson writes before, he stepped into the 14yrold Max's character completely, writing and thinking exactly as i would expect her to, which from my point of view has got to be kinda hard coming from an adult and a guy.

All fantasy books I’ve read before are very unlike this one; the kids were taken in as babies and genetically modified as scientists tested on them in unthinkable, torturous ways, as if the flock are lab rats.

The flock really explore a lot and you find yourself traveling all around America with them. 

Although I loved this book I’ve never hated a book more, if that makes sense; there are sooooo many unanswered questions at the end a book, so after another day of reading I finished the second book and the answers let to even more unanswered questions!

This book is now my number one. I found with other books I’ve read that they seem to get worse as the series goes on but no, this book keeps getting better and better!