Title: Lord of the Flies
Author: William Golding
Rating: 4.5/5

Goodreads Review:
I think this might be my favourite classic so far! It reminded me a lot about LOST and how they were when they first got to the island. The characters were amazing and I often wondered which character I would be if I were to get into a situation where I was stranded. 
Golding’s writing invites people to place themselves in the shoes of others and in unthinkable situations. Would you be the leader like Ralph? The voice of reason like Piggy? The dictator like Jack? The psychopath like Roger? The victim like Simon? Or will you be a follower? So many characters are rolled up in one small book to summarize the one thing that humanity has yet to defeat.

Themselves.

Additional Thoughts:
The reasoning behind my 4.5 instead of a 5 is simply because I thought the ending was brought on too quickly and personally, I just didn’t like the ending. I felt as though Golding just wanted to end the story or that he couldn’t think of anything more to write. I loved that Ralph lived, but there could have been more hype surrounding the rescue. Not to mention that surely when he heard that two boys had been killed, the officer would have had more of a reaction than what he had. Perhaps I’m just picking on small things, but it just really bothered me.

Today was yet another amazing day in an amazing week. In honor of Independent Bookstore Day (AKA Indie Bookstore Day), I went to a Indie Bookstore that’s 3+ hours from my house in order to see Trisha Leaver, Shannon Alexander, and Lisa Aldin! I had such a great time talking with these three wonderful authors. I was the only one in the store at the time, so I had them all to myself to talk to and ask questions. They gave me some tips on writing my book and even gave me some book recommendations. Not to mention, I got my ARC of The Secrets We Keep by Trisha Leaver (I have a review posted below) and I bought a hardback copy of Love and Other Unknown Variables by Shannon Lee Alexander and got them both signed, so overall it was a pretty good day. I can’t wait to see what they all plan to write in the future!

Yesterday, I went to see the beautiful Jennifer Niven for a book talk/discussion and for a signing! I might have been really far in the back and a little late, but the 3.5 hour drive there was certainly worth the wait! I learned so many amazing things about All the Bright Places, including some info on her inspiration for Finch, information on the upcoming moving (which they plan to begin filming next year), and how the title came to be! I got my book signed after waiting in line for 2 hours and got my picture taken as well, which was a first. My first book signing was certainly not as awesome as this one was, since I got to actually talk and get a picture with the author. I hope to do many more book signings soon! In fact, in the same bookstore, this Friday they will be having 4 authors, including Trisha Leaver who wrote the wonderful book The Secrets We Keep which I wrote a review for somewhere in a post below and actually came out in hardback today! Thank you, Jennifer Niven, for such an amazing time!

Book title: The Wrath and the Dawn
Author: Renee Ahdieh
Rating: 5/5
Release Date: 5/12/2015

Goodreads Review:
This might be in my top 5 favourite books of 2015. No, scratch that. This IS in the the top THREE of my favourite books of 2015. This book is full of pain, suffering, love, passion, and plot twists all around. This book is one of those books that characters you hated in the beginning, you will love by the end and characters you loved in the beginning, you will hate by the end. The Wrath and the Dawn is a whirlpool of amazing characters and wonderous places that make you want to start reading and then not stop until you are finished. I have only two problems with this book. 1) I despise names that I know I’ve pronounced incorrectly (either that or it just comes out as asfghjk) 2) The next book isn’t in my hands right now. 

Additional Thoughts:
I absolutely loved this book, the main character Shahrzad is quick-tongued and amusing, which making her likable instantly. Khalid…I felt sorry for him, actually. I think I knew that somehow or another I knew that he was a victim and he’s just so young with so much responsibility and blood on his hands that I just couldn’t help but pity him. Not to mention that once they get used to each other, he is so cute with Shahrzad. I recommend this book to literally everyone, I love it so much and I can’t wait to get a hold of the next one!

Next I’ll be Reading:
Compendium by Alia Luria
The New Agenda by Simone Pond
Lord of the Flies by William Golding 

Book title: The City Center
Author: Simone Pond
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads Review:
I received this book as an ecopy via the YA Spring Fling along with a few others, however I decided to pick this one first because it seemed short and interesting. I was hooked from the beginning. The main character, Ava, lives in a world where everything is controlled by a Royal Court, where she is training for. Every 18 years, a new group of people take the place of the old Royal Court and those at the age of 36 go to a secluded paradise for their retirement. Ava always knew she was different, but everything changes when an Outsider breaks into the City Center. The Ousider, Joseph, gives Ava a book before he is captured that reveals that the City Center isn’t what she thought it was. After Ava cleverly breaks Joseph out of the City Center, she journeys with him to the last known survivors of what humanity used to be like. You’ll just have to read it to know what happens next, because I don’t want to spoil anything! I really liked this book, except for a few things that I wasn’t 100% on, such as Joseph and Ava’s relationship moving as fast as it did, but they’re cute together, so I’ll make an exception. The ending left me curious to see what happens to Morray, so I’m really glad I’ll be reading the second book soon!

In addition, I want to point out that beautiful cover. Anyway, I’m actually really sad that this book was so short. I got so into it that I just didn’t want it to end, however, since there’s a second book (and third and fourth…) I think I’ll let that go. So excited to get to reading the next one!

Series – Harry Potter
Author – J.K. Rowling
Number of books – 7
Overall rating – 6/5

Seriously, if you haven’t read this series or if you don’t know what it is, you probably live under a rock. Read it, it’s amazing. Enough said. *drops the microphone*

Series – The Beyonders Trilogy
Author – Brandon Mull
Number of books – 3
Overall rating – 3.5/5

I loved the Beyonders when the first book came out, but I’ll be honest, I had to restart the second book about four times before I could finally get through it. However, once I finished, I instantly went onto the third book and it was much better. After finishing the last book, I was so sad, because it seems like it could be continued, so I really hope there will be more about the Beyonders coming soon! I recommend this trilogy for people that are willing to read a lot of slow boring parts. I know that this review might make it seem like this series is really boring and not worth it, but once you get past the boring parts, it’s really great!

Series – The Darkest Minds Trilogy
Author – Alexandra Bracken
Number of books – 3
Overall rating – 4.5/5

This series is and amazing series that revolves around a group of special kids. In a new world, kids within a certain age group have gotten powers, some allow specialties in mechanics and some are dangerous and virtually uncontrollable. These special kids were placed into camps where they work and are regulated to keep them from the outside world. I don’t even remember exactly where I heard about the first book, The Darkest Minds, but I do know that I loved this series from page one.

Series – The Hemlock Trilogy
Author – Kathleen Peacock
Number of books – 3
Overall rating – 4/5 as of book 2 (I haven’t read the last)

NOTE: The books above are in the wrong order, the correct order is: Hemlock, Thornhill, Willowgrove

First off, I have not read the final book, therefore I don’t think I can properly put the series into words. Also, it’s been a long while since I read the first two, so I’m not how well I’ll be able to talk about the characters. However, I can say that this is a very fast paced and suspenseful series that, I think, isn’t easy to guess what happens next. The reason for the 4/5 rating is because it can be uninteresting at some points and the first book was a little confusing.

Book title: The Distance Between Us
Author: Kasie West
Rating: 5/5

This story was so cute! The main character, Cayman is poor, she lives with her mother over a doll store called “Dolls and More” (minus the more). Cayman has her life figured out for the most part. Help with the doll store for a year and then study science in college. But Cayman life completely changes when she meets Xander, a rich pretty boy that makes a not so great first impression. Before she knows it, she is seeing Xander every morning and even taking job shadows from him, but all this changes when an article in a paper suggests that Xander has a rich, beautiful, movie-star girlfriend.
The relationship between these two characters is so amazing! For starters, there wasn’t instalove, which is something that usually bothers me. When a book literally makes you cringe (in a good way), it’s usually an indication that I’m emotionally invested in said book. You know, that time in contemporary books when the main character makes such a bad decision that you just know it’ll make a big problem. Yeah, well I was wrong about where that was going to be…which made this book even better, because it wasn’t predictable! I recommend this book to anyone that loves cute contemporaries or Rainbow Rowell.

Next, I’ll be reading The Wrath and the Dawn!