Divergent by Veronica Roth|Review

Title: Divergent
Genre: Dystopia
My Star Rating: ★★★★★

Blurb:

Sixteen year old Tris is forced to make a choice. In a divided society where everyone must conform, Tris does not fit.

So she ventures out alone, determined to discover where she truly belongs. Shocked by her brutal new life, Tris can trust no one. And yet she is drawn to a boy who seems to both threaten and protect her.

The hardest choice lies ahead.

I really loved that from the very first page you had a fairly clear idea of the world and what all the factions were about. It even explained what life was like in the abnegation faction. It also explains the choosing ceremony.

Every sixteen year old has to take an aptitude test which will tell them which faction they suit best but Tris's test is inconclusive and she is a cross between three factions, they call it divergent.

She has to make the difficult decision of choosing which faction to join, whether to stay with her family or leave them forever.

Divergent was very fast paced and it is the kind of book you have to convince yourself to put down and go to sleep. I read it in two days! 

It is one of those stories where you feel like you are still in the world when you've put it down for a bit and you feel dauntless!

It was cleverly written as you could see hints of all the factions she was a cross between as well as the one she'd chosen to join.

My favourite characters were Will, Christina and Uriah (who they've cut out of the film) I also really loved Caleb, Tris's brother.

I thought the character development was amazing and you really noticed Tris get more and more grown up and much braver. Favourite book of the year!!

Love Always,

Freya

P.S have you already read Divergent and want to know about my favourite parts? Then watch this video!

Looking For Alaska by John Green|Book Review

Title: Looking For Alaska
Genre: Contemporary
My Star Rating: ★★★★★

Blurb: "If people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane."

Miles Halter's whole life has been one big non-event, until he meets Alaska Young.

Gorgeous, clever and undoubtedly screwed up, Alaska draws Miles into her reckless world and irrevocably steals his heart. For Miles. nothing can ever be the same again.




Looking For Alaska is split into two parts; before and after. The title of each chapter is a number eg. one hundred and nineteen days before, so the entire first section is leading up to one big event. At first when there are still a hundred days left you're cool but when it gets to about eight days before, that's when you really go into panic mode.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that was a boarding school story, however it wasn't quite Malory Towers. This group of friends didn't sneak out to have midnight feasts, they sat in the showers smoking and getting pissed.
One thing that I sometimes find a slight issue with John Green's novels (okay this one and Paper Towns) is that to me the main protagonist (in this case Miles, otherwise known as Pudge) was just okay and I much preferred his friends.
The Colonel was funny and unexpected, Takumi was hilarious in the prank scene and of course Alaska was just all round brilliant.
In some ways Alaska very much reminded me of my self: book obsessed; mysterious and very defensive of the female gender but in some ways we're completely different as I am neither addicted to smoking or sex.
I loved the scene when Pudge walked into Alaska's room for the first time and saw all her books. When he asked her if she'd read them all she replied with
"Oh god no!" I think we can all relate to that. Whilst we're on the subject of Alaska's love for books I noticed she had very similar taste to my dad. Gabriel García Márquez and Kurt Vonnegut are both authors he enjoys.
I liked the way they kept going back on the subject of the labyrinth and how they'll get out of it and I think it's good for a story to have a kind of question that it keeps going back to.
I thought it was really cool how they all had their weird little talents: memorizing countries, knowing last words, rapping and it got me thinking about what my weird little talent was. 
This book does have rather a lot of swearing and a sexualISH scene or two so not really a book for particularly young readers and it is terribly sad. Don't say I didn't warn you! Anyway it was great (hard to believe it was his debut) and you should definitely give it a go.
Love Always,
Freya

A Year A Thon February- Days 2 & 3

During days two and three I read up to page 240 which means I read another 185 pages. I have less than 100 pages to go so I hope to finish the book (Prisoner of Azkaban) today!

A Year A Thon February-Day 1

The theme for this month's Readathon was Harry Potter. I decided I was in the mood for some prisoner of Azkaban. I have managed to read 55 pages (4 chapters) and tomorrow I hope to read another 100 pages.
Love Always,
Freya.