Cath dreams of opening her own bakery. It’s the only thing she wants in life until she meets the mysterious Jest. Soon Cath begins to imagine the possibility of a life with him. However Cath is a lady while Jest is only a fool. There is no way that Cath’s strict and controlling parents would accept him. In fact, Cath’s parents have already found her a husband- the King of Hearts- and they won’t accept no for an answer. While we all know how this book ends, the path to the end was so surprising and heartbreaking. I was in shock once I finished this book and all I could think of was “HOW???”
What I really enjoyed was how nonsensical this book was, much like the original Lewis Caroll work. I strongly suggest that readers brush up on “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Alice Through The Looking Glass” to get the full effect of the book. There are several characters and quotes from the original that appear in “Heartless” and it’s fun to see them again. This book fits in so perfectly with the world of Wonderland that it is almost as if this is a companion novel to “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”.
This book was incredibly well-written and I really enjoyed seeing all of the characters from Wonderland. I also liked how things that made no sense in our world, appeared to be totally normal in this book.
This was an excellent book and I strongly recommend it to anyone who enjoys fairytale retellings.
I love love LOVE retellings. I don’t know why because how often can you read one story rewritten? (If you’re me then the answer is “very often”) Here are a few of my favourite retellings.
1) The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer: The Lunar Chronicles is a series of futuristic retellings of several fairytales. While I had my doubts about this series, I instantly fell in love once I started reading it.
2) A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas: This is a fae retelling of Beauty and The Beast and it’s impossible to put down.
3) The Wrath and The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh: This is a retelling of One Thousand and One Nights. Honestly I’ve never read One Thousand and One Nights but this synopsis was too compelling to resist.
4) And I Darken by Kiersten White: This is a story based on Vlad Dracul…except in this version Vlad is a kickass female named Lada.
5) Alice Takes Back Wonderland by David D. Hammons: This book gave me all the feels. This is mainly about Alice going back to Wonderland but there are several other fairytale characters in this book.
This book was so thrilling! Unfortunately life got in my way so I didn’t start this book as soon as I wanted to. Not being able to instantly dive into this book upset me so I ended up reading the ending first (and then spoiled the entire book for myself). Aside from that very stupid mistake on my behalf, I absolutely loved this book. I was so thrilled to see Jinx and Quinn again. There is so much of character development in this book. I started off hating characters and wishing them dead (I can’t help it. Some of the characters were really hateful) but by the end of the book I really liked them. This was a super-fast read that was difficult to put down. Fans of dystopian fiction will love this book! The characters are incredible and so very clever! The writing is great and the plot is unique. This book blew my mind.
I had really high hopes for this book since I absolutely loved “Everything Everything”. Nicola Yoon has incredible writing and I love that she writes in such a unique manner. In order to allow me to properly fangirl over this book, I’m going to state everything I disliked now and discuss the positives later. Firstly reading on the Kindle app was incredibly difficult as the characters’ viewpoints were all mixed up. Something was wrong with the formatting which made for several very confusing moments. I also don’t understand why the book is called “The Sun is Also a Star” since that’s a line only used once in the novel. Lastly I wished the ending was more complete. Like “Everything Everything”, the ending feels more like a beginning and I WANT TO KNOW MORE!
Now for the positives: I love love love LOVE this cover. It’s so pretty and colourful and honestly it’s the first thing that drew me to this book (the author was second).
“The Sun is Also a Star” tells the story of Natasha and Daniel who meet and fall in love on Natasha’s last day in America. Natasha and her family are being deported, a fact she doesn’t share with Daniel. Daniel is supposed to be on his way to an interview for Yale when he decides that Natasha is his future. Daniel and Natasha are complete opposites. He’s a dreamer while she’s practical and certainly doesn’t believe in love. And if their totally different personalities and Natasha leaving weren’t enough obstacles for their budding relationship, Natasha is Jamaican while Daniel is Korean. While this isn’t a problem for them, this might be a problem for their families.
What I really enjoyed about this book was the many different viewpoints. Usually I struggle to keep track of more than four characters but it was easy to follow everyone in this book. While this is a story primarily about Natasha and Daniel, there are scenes that show the lives that Natasha and Daniel impact on without even trying.
This book had a ending that I felt was really natural and I was like “aww this is beautiful”. The epilogue was what kicked me in the gut and left me speechless. This book was beautiful and really made an impact on me (so much so that when I went to sleep, it was all I could I think of even while asleep). I love Natasha’s character and I really enjoyed seeing everyone’s backstory. I wish the ending was a bit more complete though as I wasn’t ready to let go of these characters.
I got fewer books from the SPCA booksale than I usually do:
So I decided to just check out what Bargain Books had since they had really great books when I visited last month. They didn’t have any of their “3 for R99” books but I did find great bestsellers for R69. It took some time for me to choose (their selection was amazing!) but I finally picked six. I chose “Winter” and “Scarlet” by Marissa Meyer, “Last Sacrifice” by Richelle Mead, “The Duff” by Kody Keplinger, “The Originals: The Resurrection” (this was actually a mistake. I thought I was choosing “The Originals: Rise” but I ended up picking “Resurrection” instead which really hurt my heart) and finally “Let It Snow” which is an anthology I’ve been eyeing for a while. While these books were alot, they were books I really wanted so I was thrilled. I did however have some regret about the books I left behind. Thankfully my mother lent me some money and I was able to buy a few more. This is where things get interesting.
My mother lent me R140, enough for two books. I decided to put some of my own money so I could buy two more. So I chose “Soundless” and “Bloodlines” by Richelle Mead as well as the second and third books in the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. During my previous trip to the bookstore I saw that my card wasn’t working but I hoped that this time would be different. I knew for a fact I had money so I had no idea what could possibly cause my card to fail. Anyway, I made my way to the till where the manager greeted me with “Back again for more books?”and I responded with a bright and bubbly “yes.” The lady paying next to me declared “You can never have too many books”. This is a sentiment I usually agree with but as an unemployed person, my book-buying was getting to be a bit problematic. So I told the woman with a laugh, “There is such a thing as too many books when you’re unemployed.”
I paid for my books and hoped for the best as I handed my card over. It failed. Sighing, I asked the cashier to please take out two of the books. “How much are they?” asked the woman who was paying next to me.
Still cheerful on a book-high, I answered “R69 each.” In the back of my mind, I could picture her buying the books for her kids and how happy they would be to get such great books at such low prices. But then she did something I never would have expected anyone to do- she took out a R100 note and placed it on the counter. “No, you don’t have to” came my automatic response to anyone giving me money. My mind still hadn’t processed what was happening.
“Take it,” she insisted firmly. “From one book-lover to another.” She sounded so certain of herself that all I could do was mentally calculate how much more I needed to pay. I handed the remaining amount to the cashier, my mind still reeling. I tried to find the woman to thank her. Did I thank her? I didn’t know. I didn’t remember. It all happened so fast that it seemed like a blur. I looked around me in confusion, trying to find the woman or a camera crew. Who pays for other people’s books? I’ve heard about “paying it forward” but that’s not a book-thing or a South African thing. Was I on TV? Was someone filming me? But no matter how hard I looked I couldn’t find the kind lady or the camera crew. Eventually I decided I must have been having some really odd dream. I dreamt of buying books all the time. Why shouldn’t this be any different? But once I got my change back and got ready to leave the store, the manager remarked “lucky you”. So maybe it wasn’t a dream. “I can’t believe that just happened,” I replied. I spent the rest of the morning trying to figure out exactly how everything happened because it was so mind-blowing. I’ve heard of stories about “paying it forward” but I never ever thought something like this would happen to me.

My Complete Haul
Have you read any of these books yet? What did you think of them?
I reviewed an advance review copy of this book in return for my honest review.
I was so thrilled to finally read this book. I’ve been waiting for this book to release since last December and it certainly didn’t disappoint.
Sophie has sworn off love after her last relationship went bad. She has feelings for her online friend, Lex but it doesn’t matter since she and him will never meet. Or will they? As Sophie and Lex grow closer, Sophie meets Caleb. Caleb is the best man for her sister’s wedding and he is annoyingly happy all the time. Caleb’s bright friendly personality is the exact opposite of Sophie’s sarcastic, not-always-polite nature. As they’re forced to spend time together Sophie starts to develop feelings for Caleb while Lex suggests that he and Sophie meet.
My favourite part of this book was that I knew how it would end. Rachel Morgan’s books always have a twist and it delighted me to no end that I managed to figure it out. The actual ending was a bit predictable to me but I loved it nonetheless. I found the character of Sophie easy to relate to. Unfortunately since I saw so much of myself in Sophie I ended up hating Caleb’s happy nature. (Seriously dude, why are you always happy? Are you eating Happy Pills for breakfast?) I thought Caleb made a great love interest for Sophie especially since they were so different. I loved how Lex’s character was pretty well-developed even when he was a million miles away and all the you could see of him was his messages to Sophie.
This book captures perfectly the delights and chaos that occurs when family come together especially during the magical time of a wedding (am I the only one who finds weddings magical? Coz I really liked the way the wedding festivities were done in this book). This book was well-written and I loved seeing characters from previous books. However I wish I had seen more of Adam from The Trouble With Flirting. I don’t know if this is the last book in the series or not but I really want to see more of these characters. This book was sweet but left a hole in my heart when it ended. I think all fans of contemporary romance fiction should try reading this series.
As I plod through my last semester of college (how’d we get here so soon???), it occurs to me that I’m not studying what I had originally planned on studying. In fact I had already changed my majors thrice by the time I finished my first year in college. This made me wonder how many other people question their choice of major. How do you know if you should change your major or not? Here are my tips on deciding:
DO change your major if:
1) It no longer makes you happy- People change and sometimes your may find that you no longer enjoy your major. I was totally miserable when I majored in Media. Literally every study session and class was accompanied by me crying. Dropping Media was the best thing I ever did.
2) Your major isn’t necessary for the field that you wish to go into- I was originally majoring in Media and English. When it became obvious that Media wasn’t going anywhere (there was a lack of funding that made being a Media student very difficult), I chose to simply to continue with English since usually experience instead of qualifications is required in Media. Or so claimed an article I read online.
3) You want to change your major- Sometimes the reason behind you changing your major is simply that you want to change your major. Do it. It’s your life and you’re the one who’s going to be stressing over the assignments for your major.
DON’T change your major if:
1) You’re having trouble with just one class- if you’re having trouble with a class, speak to your tutor or lecturer before making any final decisions. I went through a really difficult semester in English and considered dropping the class. What I didn’t know was that everyone else was also struggling with the module. Our tutor sat us down and had one-to-one sessions where he helped us through our workload. With his help we passed the module and it’s now just a distant memory.
2) You’re changing for someone else- I’ve had people judge me for majoring in English throughout my entire college career. It pisses me off but at the end of the day my major makes me happy. Don’t change your major if you’re simply trying to impress someone else. Like I mentioned before you’re the one who would have to struggle with the assignments and tests.
3) You don’t know what you want to do- This is just a personal preference for me but I don’t think you should change your major if you’re completely uncertain about your future. You may change majors over and over again and this may come with a fee. However you WILL change as a person and therefore your career choices will change so this is up to you.
Did you change your major or did you always know what you wanted to study? I’d love to know below.
I already saw sparks flying between Charles and his nanny in the previous Harrison book (Someone Like You) so I was really looking forward to reading this book. Charles and Lisette have an explosive (and accidental) night of passion. They both swear it would never happen again but neither of them can move past it. I really enjoying the way the relationship between Charles and Lisette developed as well as seeing the other Harrisons again. I thought Charles and Lisette’s attempt to return to normalcy after their “mistaken night” was a colossal waste of both their time and mine. Um, hello. You have seriously hot chemistry. Do something about it. I absolutely adored both these characters and this book. I really hope that there’s going to be another Harrison novel. I can’t get enough of this family. This book was incredibly well-written. The plot was a bit predictable but I enjoyed every second of it. My only issue was that I found the character of Charles’ ex-wife to be rather flat and uninteresting. I also wish there was more of a resolution with Charles Harrison Senior. The guy is a dick who desperately needs to be put in his place. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys romance. This book can be read alone but it would be great to binge-read the entire series all at once.
Every bookworm knows how difficult it is to find space for books. Here are my tips to save space on your bookshelf so that you can buy books without worrying about where you’re going to keep them:
1) Store your books horizontally- I don’t know the science or logic behind this but somehow I can store more books horizontally than vertically. If you don’t mind not having access to some books (ie, the ones at the bottom of the pile), stack your books horizontally.
2) Utilise the space near your ceiling- if you have space near your ceiling you should be able to store books there as well.
3) Mix and match genres- I would love to have a shelf dedicated solely to one author or genre. Unfortunately I cannot afford that space or cost. Instead my shelves consist of “read” and “unread” books which are then divided into sections depending on genre. This makes it easier for me to find the book I need while still using as little space as possible.
4) Get rid of books you don’t need/read- yes this option hurts me as well but think of how much joy your books could bring to someone else. I usually donate my books to a charity where they sell it. It’s a win-win. Someone buys your books and you’re supporting a good cause.
5) Play book tetris- books come in different sizes so you sometimes an unusual gap in your shelf can be used to store a book (or three).
What tips do you use to save space on your shelves? I’d love to know.
I binge-read the first three books in this series earlier on this year and really enjoyed myself. However I still struggle to identify the characters as there as so many (maybe it’s time for a brush-up of the series?) At first I had no idea who Christian Berkeley was. Eventually his title sounded familiar but I still couldn’t remember him from previous books. This annoyed me to no end but I tried not to let it spoil the book for me.
Christian Berkeley is a viscount who stutters and is uncomfortable in social situations. When he comes across Sarah Highgate, a runaway who was once the belle of the season they strike a deal- Christian will help her return to London with no harm to her reputation while Sarah needs to help Christian become the catch of the season.
I enjoyed seeing characters from previous books especially Jane Upton and Daphne Swift. This book was excellently written and such a pleasure to read. The Playful Brides series usually seems too long to me but this wasn’t a problem with this book. I couldn’t read fast enough or put the book down. This is a book that fans of historical romance will definitely enjoy.
Heartless by Marissa Meyer
