July 2015 Wrap-Up

Alright, so this month I didn't manage to read quite as any books as I hoped to, but I still am happy with what I did accomplish.

This month, I managed to read four books out of the nine on my TBR list for July. Now, I know that I didn't read all nine books, but as I was just coming out of a reading slump, I'm pretty happy with that number. 

So, the four books that I was able to read in the month of July were:

Paper Towns by John Green

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander AKA JK Rowling

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

I am going to go into a little bit what I thought about the books, even though I will hopefully be doing a review for one or two of them in the next few weeks.

So, I will start off with Paper Towns by John Green. As you will know, if you read my TBR post, Paper Towns was a re-read for me. I wanted to read it again before I went and saw the movie, because I wanted to have the book fresh in my mind. 

For all of you who do not know, Paper Towns is about a boy named Q, who is completely infatuated with a girl named Margo Roth Spiegelman. They used to be really close friend when they were younger, but as time went on they spread apart, One night though, during Q's senior year of high school, Margo comes in through Q's bedroom window and tells him that she wants to go on a crazy adventure that night. So, Q agrees and they go on a revenge mission. However, the next day Margo is gone and missing. The second part of the book is pretty much about Q and his friends looking for Margo, and following the clues that she has left behind for them.

I enjoyed Paper Towns just as much the second time as I did the first time. I still loved all of the witty one liners that were thrown in, and my favourite character is still Radar with his parents' black santas. I would still have to say as well, that my favourite scene is the whole road trip, especially when they have to go into the gas station, and they have their time limit on how long they can spend in it. If any of you have seen the movie, then were you guys just as surprised when you saw Ansel Elgort's cameo in the gas station scene? When that part came up the entire theater, including me just gasped. I turned to my friends and I was like, I didn't know he was in here! That's so awesome! I just loved how they took such a big actor at the moment and gave him such a small part. Especially in another movie based on a book that was written by John Green.

Overall, I absolutely love the writing in this book and I love pretty much all of the plotlines throughout it. So, because of that, I am giving this book a 4.5 stars out of 5. It didn't earn that other .5 of a star just because I felt some of the parts dragged a little bit, but other than that, I loved this book!

Alright, so the second book that I will be talking about is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them by Newt Scamander, or actually by JK Rowling. As you all probably already know, I absolutely love Harry Potter. So, for my birthday in June I asked for the Hogwarts Library which consists of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and I did indeed receive these books. 

So, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is pretty much just a book about all of the different magical beasts that can be found throughout the wizarding world. Which, I found so cool. There is everything from a Bowtruckle to a Dragon listed throughout this book. Another hidden gem that I loved within this book was the fact that all throughout it there were comments from Ron and Harry just basically making fun of some of the stuff that is in the book. For example, on the dragon page, there is a comment from Ron saying something along the lines of 'I guess nobody told Hagrid this!' or 'Somebody should really show Hagrid this book!'. I think that my favourite creature to learn about was probably either the centaur or the dragon, because there was just so much interesting information on both of them.

This book was pretty much just another really fun insight into the world of Harry Potter, and I absolutely loved it. I most definitely, 100 percent, am giving this book a 5 out of 5 stars, because it was amazing and I just loved it so much. 

The third book that I read in the month of July was Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. Now, I'm not going to go into too much detail on what I thought about this book, as I am planning to do a review on it very very soon. However, I will give you a general idea on what I thought about the book. 

If you don't know, Shatter Me is a book about a girl named Juliette who has a bit of a problem. When she touches people, they die. Juliette has been put into a sort of 'insane asylum' where she hasn't touched anyone for exactly 264 days. However, one day a man comes into her cell and things start going weird from there. I'm not going to go anyore into the description of this book, because honestly I feel like it's good if you go into it not knowing that much about it.

So, Shatter Me is the first of three books in a trilogy. I did really enjoy this book, once I got into it. It did take me a while to get hooked, it was probably close to around the 100 page mark when I really got into it, started really enjoying it, and was anticipating what was going to happen next. One thing that I really did enjoy about Shatter Me was the fact that Tahereh Mafi, the author, had some lines throughout the book that were crossed out. So, you could see what Juliette wanted to think versus what she has been forced to think, if you know what I mean. I found this really cool and enjoyable to see, as you don't really see stuff like that in other books. 

My favourite character in this book probably had to be Adam. I just loved how strong he was and I loved the mystery behind his character, and behind who he is. This is going to be all that I divulge into within this short review, as I would like to save some stuff for my full review which should be coming out very soon! Overall, I would give Shatter Me a 3.5 out of 5 stars, because it did take me a while to get into it. However, I am really looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy very soon!

So, the last book that I will be talking about in this wrap-up was probably my favourite book that I read this month, perhaps all year. That book is Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. Once again, I don't want to say too much about this book as I am planning on doing a full review on it in the near future.

Anna and the French Kiss is about a girl named Anna, who is sent to boarding school in Paris by her parents. When she first gets to Paris she doesn't know anyone and she really is not enjoying it one bit. However she ends up meeting some friends who really show her around and are super nice to her. She also meets somebody who she finds very attractive and who she develops a huge crush on. This book pretty much follows Anna as she falls in love with Paris, her friends, and this special boy.

I really loved this book. It was one of the cutest contemporaries that I have ever read, and I am so glad that I decided to pick it up. I've been hearing really good things about it for a really long time, so I was so happy when I saw it in hardback at my local bookstore. Stephanie Perkins' writing style is so amazing and the sentences flow so well. I never wanted to put the book down. This probably could have been a one sitting book, but I had homework and school and other stuff that had to be done. 

This was one of those books where I told myself I had to stop after I was finished reading the chapter, but when I got to the end of the chapter, I had to keep reading. My favourite character within this book was definitely Ettiene St Clair. I absolutely loved him, he was charming, kind, and just plain amazing. I wish that I could have somebody like Ettiene in my life to be friends with. I feel like he would make life so much more interesting.

Overall, I would most definitely give Anna and the French Kiss 5 out of 5 stars. If I could give it more than that, I absolutely would. This book was amazing, perfect, and as soon as I finished it I wanted to pick it back up again and read it once more.

So, that's it for my July 2015 Wrap-Up. I really hope you enjoyed seeing what books I read last month. I will have my August TBR post up very soon, and it's a little bit different so I hope you will enjoy reading it. I'll talk to you guys next time! Bye!