Mittwoch, 31. Dezember 2014

My Top 10 books of 2014

2014 was a great reading year for me. I read 35 books in total and below I will present you my most favorite books of 2014. (Reviews are up as well for most of the books)



  1. Forbidden (Tabitha Suzuma)
    My most favorite book of all time. A great and touching story and relatable characters. Just perfect.

  2. The Infernal Devices {all books} (Cassandra Clare)
    I loved the whole series, but especially Clockwork Princess. A wonderful series with amazing characters and a very sad but wonderful ending.

  3. The Spook’s Mistake (Joseph Delaney)
    The 5th book of my favorite series of all time. It was scary and action-packed. Definitely a highlight for me this year.

  4. City of Lost Souls (Cassandra Clare)
    I read most of the book in the TMI series in 2014, but I loved CoLS the most. We get to see so much more of Sebastian in this books, and he is (as you know) my favorite character of all time.
  5. Obsidian & Onyx (Jennifer L. Armentrout)
    I couldn’t decide between these two. I loved both equally. The series is perfect and the author is just brilliant. Definitely worth a read.

  6. Will Grayson, Will Grayson (John Green; David Levithan)
    I read this book during a very difficult time in my life, and this book cheered me up again. I just love the humor in it and also the characters.

  7. The 5th Wave (Rick Yancey)
    It was my first alien book, and it was amazing. It was action-packed, fast-paced and just in general a really great book. I can’t wait for the next books in the series!

  8. Anna and the French Kiss (Stephenie Perkins)
    Although I’m usually not a huge fan of romance-books, this book was amazing. A little bit cheesy at some points, but also very romantic and funny.

  9. The Iron Trial (Cassandra Clare, Holly Black)
    The plot-twist at the end of this book is just amazing. Although the book starts off a little slow, it still is a really great book. I loved the ending!

  10. Half Bad (Sally Green)
    This book definitely surprised me. I wasn’t expecting much of it, but it was so unique and also the characters were so great. I’m glad that I picked this book up!



    These were my Top 10 books of 2014. Feel free to comment your highlights of this year!


Sonntag, 28. Dezember 2014

Movie Review: The Hobbit – The battle of the five armies

“One day I'll remember. Remember everything that happened: the good, the bad, those who survived... and those that did not.” 

Content:

After the Dragon leaves the castle, the people of lake town see a threat coming, the orcs, dwarves, elves and people prepare for war. Bilbo sees Thorin going mad and tries helping everyone. Meanwhile, Gandalf still needs to break out of the orc prison.

Bilbo and Company are forced to engage in a war against an array of combatants and keep the Lonely Mountain from falling into the hands of a rising darkness. (taken from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2310332/plotsummary?ref_=tt_stry_pl)


My opinion:

First of all: A lot of people seem to hate this movie for various reasons. I really don’t understand what all the arguing is about.
I absolutely loved the movie! It was emotional and very action packed. I love how the characters were portrayed in this movie, too. Due to the fact that the book has been split into three parts, the character were able to get more screen-time than they actually did in the book. Thus, we see more people than just the protagonists all the time.
One thing that also has been criticized a lot was the battle itself, because it apparently was “too long”. But let me ask you this: What do you expect from a movie that is called “The BATTLE of the five armies”? The title actually already says that the focus of the movie is going to be on the battle itself and not other things. I really loved it how they filmed the fights, because in the book you don’t really see much of it. In the movie though, you are in the middle of the whole action, which is amazing and exciting.
However, the argument that they put too much into the movie, which wasn’t in the book, is actually invalid. They did that in the first two movies too, and nobody ever complained about it that time. Furthermore, two other books from J.R.R. Tolkien were included too, and thus the audience gets too see a little bit more of the back story of everything.
Looking at the movie now, even if you have read the book, it was amazing what they did with it. In my opinion, it really isn’t disturbing at all that they put some content from other books and also LOTR into the film. For me, as an old fan, it was an amazing and very emotional ending to the series, and I am thankful that Peter Jackson made such amazing movies, which do justice the amazing masterpieces written by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Conclusion:

An action-packed and emotional finale of the trilogy. I absolutely loved every single bit of it.

Rating:

5 | 5 stars
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Samstag, 27. Dezember 2014

Most anticipated books & movies in 2015

In 2015 a lot of great books and movies will be released. On the list down below you can see, which books & book to movie adaptations I look forward to the most! :)
Feel free to leave a comment on which books or movies you look forward to.

Books:

  •          Half Wild (Sally Green) – The second book of the Half Bad trilogy
  •          Silber 3 (Kerstin Gier) – The third book of the “Silber” trilogy
  •          Opal (Jennifer L. Armentrout) – German Version; the third book of the Obsidian series
  •          The Infinite Sea (Rick Yancey) – German Version; the second book of the The 5th Wave trilogy
  •          Lady Midnight (Cassandra Clare) – First book in The Dark Artifices series
  •          Chain of Thorns (Cassandra Clare) – First book in The last Hours series
  •          Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Laini Taylor) – German Version, third book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy
  •          City of Heavenly Fire (Cassandra Clare) – German Version; book six in the The Mortal Instruments series {although I still need to finish the English version, but I can’t because I can’t see HIM die!}
  •         The Copper Gauntlet-Magisterium #2 (Cassandra Clare; Holly Black) – The second book of the Magisterium series

Movies:

  •          Mockingjay Part 2 – The finale of the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins
  •          Insurgent – The second part of the Divergent series by Veronica Roth
  •          Paper Towns – The movie adaptation for the book of the same title by John Green
  •     Seventh Son – The movie adaptation for the book “The Spook’s Apprentice” by Joseph Delaney

Mittwoch, 24. Dezember 2014

'Tis The Season Book Tag

Since today it’s Christmas Eve I thought I would do another Book Tag, which will be the last one for this year! Today I chose to do the “’Tis The Season Book Tag”.

It was created by Richard, here is the Original Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bQ7nmhU9SQ

Let’s start with the questions! :)

1. Do you have a favorite Winter read?

Usually I read romaces in this season, but this year things were a little different due to school (yeah…). But any good love story will do during winter!

2. Find a book with blue on the cover!

For this I’m going with Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. I love this book so much, if you haven’t read it yet you should definitely check this series out!

3. Find a book you’d use as the star on a Christmas tree? 

I think I might pick The 5th Wave for this one. It gold  and shiny and in general a really nice book over!

4. Pick one fictional place that would be perfect for a Winter vacation!

Although there is no “Winter” in Middle Earth, I would ALWAYS want to go there. It’s my most favorite fantasy-world destination of all time.

5. Pick one fictional character you’d take with you on your Winter vacation! 

Picking only one is really hard. I would probably choose Augustus Waters for that (because Sebastian would be too obvious, right?). He is a really kind and funny character and I would enjoy to spend some time with him!

6. Name one book on your Wishlist this year!

I definitely want to get the Rush of Love series by Abbi Glines! (please Santa?)

7. Favorite Holiday drink, treat, & movie?

I don’t like a lot of “holidays drinks”, but I do really enjoy tea, so I guess I will go with this one.
For treat I will choose holiday cookies, but I love ALL the sweets out there.
I don’t have a specific winter or Christmas-movie that I really like, but I guess Home Alone?



I hope you enjoyed this Tag guys. 
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas & also a Happy New Year! Happy Holidays! :)

Montag, 22. Dezember 2014

Classic Christmas Cinema Book Tag

Since Christmas is just around the corner, I decided to do another Christmas-themed Book Tag! :)

The idea to this Tag came from Kassidy Voinche on YouTube; in case you want to check out her video I will link it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4v1pw118Yc

Anyway, without any further ado, let's get to the questions!


1. Elf- choose a book that puts you in the Christmas mood.

For some reason this is Krabat by Ottfried Preußler for me. I read it every year at Christmas and it’s just so great every single time.

2. It's a Wonderful Life- choose a book with a character who goes through some serious character development.

For this one I’m going with Simon Lewis (The Mortal Instruments). I know that he isn’t the obvious choice here, but I think he fits really well. Whereas in the first book he kind of struggles with this new world that has opened for him, he gets really strong and independent in the further books of the series. I just love him!

3. Christmas Carol- choose a book/series with a character you didn't like at first, but grew to love

Actually I really didn’t like Étienne (Anna and the French Kiss) at first. He was so weird and sometimes he acted really selfish, and stupid. But about halfway through the book he just gets so sweet and kind and loving that you just HAVE TO adore him.

4. Home Alone- choose a book where the parents aren't present and if they are, they aren't such a good influence

I guess I will go with the Obsidian series by Jennifer L. Armentrout for this one. The parents of the Black-siblings aren’t present at all, and also Katys mom kind of is always at work.

5. Frosty the Snowman- Find a book with a snowy cover.

For this question I chose “Let it Snow” by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle. It really looks amazing.

6. Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer- Choose a protagonist you couldn't help but root for.

I definitely have to choose (the kind of depressed) Will Grayson (Will Grayson, Will Grayson) for that. He was just so adorable at some points, and I really felt so sorry for him. He didn’t deserve anything which had happened to him, and I couldn’t help but root for him.

7. Polar Express- Find a book where characters travel somewhere cold.

The Book Thief I guess? Well, they don’t “travel” somewhere cold in particular, but it’s cold there because of winter so I guess this counts!

8. How the Grinch Stole Christmas- Choose a villain you couldn't help but love.

I think everyone who knows me well exactly knows what I’m going to say now. SEBASTIAN MORGENSTERN. He is my most favorite character of all time, and he will probably be forever.

9. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation- Choose a character with a goofy sense of humor.

Does Will Herondale count? He is kind of the sarcastic type of guy I guess, but I think he suits anyway.

10. Lifetime/Hallmark movie- Choose a book with the cheesiest romance.

I usually don’t read romance books, but I guess I have to go with “Anna and the French Kiss”. It’s a very cute love story with great characters.


I hope you guys enjoyed this Tag! Happy Holidays to everyone! :)

Dienstag, 16. Dezember 2014

Review: Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Review: Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout


"I love you.""That's all I ever need to hear."
"Those three words?"
"Always those three words.”


Content:

Being connected to Daemon Black sucks...
Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon's determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I've sworn him off, even though he's running more hot than cold these days. But we've got bigger problems.
Something worse than the Arum has come to town...
The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I'm a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who's got a secret of his own. He knows what's happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.
But then everything changes... 

Cover:

The girl on the cover really doesn’t look like Katy to me and that’s why I don’t like this cover. Daemon looks alright, but honestly I imagined him to look rather different.

My opinion:

I already loved Obsidian, but this book was just so much better than the first one. The plot was much more interesting and action-packed, but also romantic. A lot of exciting stuff happened, but what kind of annoyed me was, that everything which happened was really predictable. In the middle of the book you can already guess how it is going to end. But nevertheless, I really had fun reading it.
The writing style was, again, amazing. I love the sarcastic and clever voice of the characters. The author really did that well, which brings me to the most important aspect of the book: the characters. They are the main reason why I love these books so much. Especially Daemon was a perfect character in this book. In the book you kind of get an inside-view of Daemon, and this makes him even more adorable. The only one, who annoyed me, was Katy. The things she did were just so stupid and naive sometimes, and the reader knew exactly that this isn’t going to end well. But the last 100 pages the “old” Katy returned, and I really enjoyed the ending.

Conclusion:

A great second book in the series with a beautiful ending. I can’t wait to start the next book.

Rating:

4|5 stars
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Freitag, 12. Dezember 2014

All I want for Christmas Book Tag

Hey everyone & welcome to my very first Book Tag!

Today I will be doing the “All I want for Christmas Book Tag”. 
I got this idea from Sasha Alsberg on YouTube & in case you want to watch her video, it’s right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=417NVOke4HA

Without any further ado, let’s get started with the questions!

1) What fictional character do you want Santa to leave under your christmas tree?

Why only one? Well ... then I have to go with Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern (The Mortal Instruments). He is like my all time favourite character & I really want to meet him and just be best friends with him!

2) You write your christmas list for Santa, what are the top 5 books on it?

  • Throne of Glass
  • Legend
  • Rush of Love
  • Opal 
  • The Infinite Sea

3) It's secret Santa at Hogwarts, what do you most want to recieve?

I don’t really know. How about an owl? :D

4) You get to the spend the day with the characters and movie adaptation actors from one fandom, what do you pick?

Probably the cast of the The Hunger Games movie. It would be so great to just meet them all and hang out with them. I’d love to meet them someday!

5) What fictional animal would you like to replace Rudolph and be able to meet on your roof?

Chairman Meow of course! (The Mortal Instruments)

6) You invite 10 fictional characters to your new years eve party, who do you pick?

  • Magnus Bane (he sure knows how to party; The Mortal Instruments)
  • Will Herondale (a Herondale HAS to be here; The Infernal Devices)
  • Daemon Black (Lux series)
  • Four (for the cake; Divergent)
  • Étienne St. Clair (Anna and the French Kiss)
  • Augustus Waters (The Fault in Our Stars)
  • Percy (for the sass, Percy Jackson series)
  • Edward (Twilight
  • Tessa Gray (The Infernal Devices
  • Lucas Delos (Starcrossed series)

7) What character would make a good Santa? (Doesn't have to be appearance, personality counts too)

I kind of always imagined Gandalf (Lord of the Rings) as Santa, so I have to go with him for this one!



So, that was it! I really hope you guys enjoyed the Tag as much as I did! Feel free to do this Tag as well!

Happy Holidays everyone! :)



Samstag, 6. Dezember 2014

Review: Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Review: Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini


 “I don’t care how hard being together is,
nothing is worse than being apart.” 

Content:

When shy, awkward Helen Hamilton sees Lucas Delos for the first time she thinks two things: the first, that he is the most ridiculously beautiful boy she has seen in her life; the second, that she wants to kill him with her bare hands. With an ancient curse making them loathe one another, Lucas and Helen have to keep their distance. But sometimes love is stronger than hate, and not even the gods themselves can prevent what will happen ...

Cover:

The cover is really beautiful. The both people portray the protagonists perfectly and the colors are beautiful too. Furthermore, the flashes on the cover have a special meaning in the book, so it's great that they included that in the cover.

My opinion:

At the beginning I had a few problems with the book. I couldn’t cope with the writing style and the story itself and also the characters seemed kind of strange to me, at first. After reading a few more chapters though, I could really get into the story. Chapter for chapter it got more exciting and interesting. After the first 100 pages I also liked the writing-style a bit better and it was easier to read for me. The most interesting and exciting part of the book were the last 100 pages, though. Then the action really started and I read through it in less than an hour. I am very interested in Greek-mythology in general, and thus I read the Percy Jackson books already. The whole concept with the “houses” seemed a lot like Percy Jackson to me at first. But I have never been more wrong. It’s something completely new and unique (not to give away too much). Also the characters were great. I fell in love with the whole Delos family and their character traits.

Conclusion:

It was entertaining, funny and romantic. All in all it was a good first part of the trilogy.

Rating:

4.6 | 5 stars
★-★-★-★-