February Wrap-Up

Now, I'm just going to say it now and get it over with: I will rarely read all the books on my TBR list. This month I read three books and only one was on the TBR list. I haven't had as much time for reading recently because of my packed schedule but after March I will be back track. Anyway I will give you what you came for now. Here are the books I read this month:

Last month I read Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell and I absolutely loved it so I decided to try her most popular young adult novel, Eleanor and Park. This is probably going to be one of my favorite books of 2014. I adored this story. If you don't know, this book is about two high school misfits in 1986 who fall in love. Actually, it's a whole lot more than that. Eleanor is an overweight girl who just moved to this town in Nebraska. Park is an Asian American who loves music. When they meet for the first time on the school bus it isn't love at first sight. It takes weeks and months for their relationship to form but when it does it is absolutely magnificent.

This was the book that was on my TBR list. If you don't already know what this book is about check out my February TBR post. I definitely enjoyed this novel. The first 150 pages or so was mostly world building and set up so that part was quite slow. Once I got past it, however, the plot suddenly became action-packed and exciting. I am excited to pick up the next books in this dystopian trilogy soon because this one was very enjoyable.

About a week ago I made a separate review of this book along with the recent movie adaption of this story. There I give a synopsis and my opinions on this book so please check that out if you are interested.

That's it for my February Wrap-Up. If you want to know more about what I'm reading check out my Goodreads page or if you want to see my complete book wishlist, to-read list and other things check out my Pinterest page. Of course, if you are interested in seeing more reviews from me subscribe to this blog in the sidebar.

Vampire Academy (book and movie review)

During winter break this week I have read the first book in the Vampire Academy series(Vampire Academy, obviously) by Richelle Mead and seen the Vampire Academy movie in theaters. Having both experiences fresh in my mind I will review both separately and compare.

From first glance this book seems like another cheesy Twilight knock-off about angsty teenage vampires. Well, it is partially but it really is so much more. This is the first in a six book series about these fantastical creatures. Three kinds of vampires are introduced in this universe. Strigoi are your typical vampires, allergic to sunlight, living on blood and quite vicious. Moroi are peaceful vampires with magical elemental powers(water, fire, earth, air). Sunlight merely annoys them and they don't viciously kill for blood. Dhampirs are half Moroi, half human. They are meant to protect the Moroi with their lives and kill Strigoi if they get in the way. This story centers around Rose Hathaway, a Dhampir who has escaped from St. Vladimir's Academy, a school in Montana designed for Moroi and Dhampirs to train. She and her best friend, a Moroi princess Lissa Dragomir live on their own in the human world until they are sent back to the academy at the beginning of the novel. From there these two deal with mean girls, evil forces and mysterious occurrences. I enjoyed this novel. While there was a lot of world building taking place, to lay the foundation for the series, the mythology of these characters was very interesting and original. Unfortunately this did lead to some moments that were less than exciting. Each character was well set up, however, though the line between good and evil definitely had its twists and turns. I thought this book was an exciting introduction to the series and great for any fans of vampires, paranormal romance and mysteries.

This movie also can be suspect to prejudice. After all it was made by the people who brought you "Mean Girls" and "Heathers". By the advertising it looks to be a typical high school movie filled with clichés about love, teenagers and vampires. You would be entirely correct. While this movie was enjoyable, it was also riddled with pop culture references, stereotypical characters and cheesy romances. While perhaps the novels had some of these problems as well the movie made them much more evident. The references to such things as Pinkberry and iPhone 5 truly dates it. The mean girl characters seemed like watered down versions of the posse from the original "Mean Girls". One small detail that especially annoyed me was that some random characters had British or Australian accents even though the movie is set in the U.S. and there is no mention that any of these characters are from the aforementioned countries. The actors did give good performances though so I can overlook that detail somewhat. I am a bit of a sucker for cheesy high school movies though and I did enjoy it. Anyone who likes silly teen movies or liked "Mean Girls" or "Heathers" would probably enjoy this flick though if you read the book, there will most likely be nitpicking involved.

February TBR (to be read)

As you might have read, yesterday I posted a wrap-up of books I read in the month of January (here is a link if you are interested: http://cmoslifeinwords.blogspot.com/2014/01/january-wrap-up.html). Now, since it is the beginning of February, I will tell you about a few books that I plan on reading this month:

I am currently reading this book and I plan to finish it tomorrow since it is a very quick read. This is an adorable story about two teenage misfits in 1986. Eleanor is overweight, has bright red curly hair and lives with her very poor family who don't even have toothbrushes. Park is an Asian boy who loves listening to music on his Walkman and reading comic books. These two meet and gradually fall in love in this contemporary novel. 

Yes, I know. I have not yet read the groundbreaking dystopian trilogy Divergent (along with its sequels Insurgent and Allegiant shown to the right). As I stated in my wrap-up post I plan on moving away from the young adult contemporary romance genre I have been reading for the past couple of weeks and read more dystopian or science fiction books. This series, for the informed, is about a teenager named Beatrice Prior who lives in a futuristic society where when you turn 16 you take a test and are separated into a community, or Faction, based on your dominant virtue, Abnegation(selflessness), Amity(peacefulness), Candor(honesty), Dauntless(bravery) and Erudite(intelligence). Unfortunately, when Beatrice takes the test that decides your Faction she results in being Divergent, able to fit into more than one faction. This novel deals with her finding her true self and where she really belongs.

The Legend trilogy is another very popular dystopian trilogy about June, whose brother was murdered, and Day, the prime suspect in that case. They both live in a future where the United States is split into two countries after a second Civil War. These stories are told from alternating points of view from June and Day as they find each other and learn the truth.

I might not be able to read all of these books by the end of the month but I will try my best. I will also review them as I read so keep an eye out for further updates and subscribe if you are interested.