Review: The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes

Plot

In 1916, French artist Edouard Lefevre leaves his wife Sophie to fight at the Front. When her town falls into German hands, his portrait of Sophie stirs the heart of the local Kommandant and causes her to risk everything - her family, reputation and life—in the hope of seeing her true love one last time.

Nearly a century later and Sophie's portrait is given to Liv by her young husband shortly before his sudden death. Its beauty speaks of their short life together, but when the painting's dark and passion-torn history is revealed, Liv discovers that the first spark of love she has felt since she lost him is threatened...

My thoughts

This book was recommended to me by my sister, because she is a huge fan of Jojo Moyes. She said I would enjoy the book because it has a historical aspect to it, so I gave it a go, although this isn't my genre at all. But oh boy, am I glad that I read this!
The list of things I liked and disliked worked so well last time, so I'm going to do the same now:

Things I loved: 
The characters in the past. It took me exactly 10 pages to get attached to these characters and live in their world. We had ups and downs together, and I just felt like I was a part of it. It felt like I was in the story, because I liked the characters so much. One specific character seemed very interesting to me, and that was the Commander. I would have loved to read about his feelings and private life too! But still, I care for these characters so much, and I am not ready yet to let Sophie and Edouard go.

The writing. This kind of goes hand in hand with the characters, because they were just described perfectly, but also the world building was fantastic! The writing flowed so nicely with the rest of the story, so that you just kept reading and reading, not even realising that the book was almost finished. I am defnitely looking forward to reading more by this author!

The ending. I thought I already know how it is going to end, but oh man was I wrong. In a good way. I was prepared for pain and tears, and these things did occur, but in a different way than I expected, which was fantastic! When I closed the book I was overall just so satisfied with this book, the story, the ending, everything.

Things I didn't like so much: 
The plot (at some points). Although the whole book went by very fast, the middle part was kind of slow for me. The change of perspective was very sudden, so that I needed a few chapters to get adjusted to what's happening now. After that however, the changes were not as aprupt anymore, so I had more time to get used to the other people, which was great.

The characters in the present. Whilst I really just adored every character in the past section, the characters in the present weren't so great for me. I didn't like anyone in particular, and the romance between the two characters here was kind of ... I don't know how to describe it ... not really working for me? One of my biggest pet peeves is when characters miscommunicate or something, and I felt like this happened here sometimes. Other than that though, I was pretty satisfied with how everything turned out in the present too.

Conclusion:
Also if this book isn't your genre, please check it out! It is definitely worth a read!

Rating:

4.5 / 5  ★

Top 5 most disappointing books of 2015

I actually didn’t want to make this post, because I do not like spreading negativity on my blog. However, every time someone posts a video about this topic, or writes a blogpost, I am excited and I really enjoy watching/reading it. Thus, and because we cannot like all books we read, I wanted to make this post in order to share my honest opinions with you guys.

As always, please remember that I do not want to offend anyone. This is just my opinion, and if you enjoyed any of the books I didn’t like, that’s completely fine!

#1: Red Queen

Let’s get the most controversial one out of the way. I mainly picked up the book because it was really hyped up on BookTube, and I usually trust my favourite bloggers. This one, however, didn’t work for me. If you are familiar with my blog you might know that I am not a huge fan of this book. I felt like it was just a mix of all YA books ever. I did not find the story appealing, it was very predictable, and the characters somehow didn’t stick with me, except one of them. I will read the second book in the series, only to know what happens to that one character I love. 

#2: Dreamless

This is the second book in the Starcrossed series; I started the series two years ago, and I didn’t particularly like the first book, so I hoped the second book would be better. However, my expectations were too high. I really don’t like the author’s writing style, and, same with Red Queen actually, I didn’t connect to the characters. I got spoiled for the last part in the series, and it was a spoiler involving my only favourite character in this series, so now I really don’t even want to force myself through the last book in the series. 

#3: The infinite sea

This is the second book in the 5^th Wave series. First you need to know that I really loved the first book. I like the writing, most of the characters, everything was just fine. Then the second book came along. Whilst some of the parts in the books were great and really interesting, half of the book was written in THAT character’s point of view. You know, THAT character? The character you are just so annoyed with and whose chapters you just want to skip? Exactly that character. And thus, I didn’t like the book as much as I hoped to. I really hope that the third book will have POV’s I actually care for. 

#4: I’ll give you the sun

This book was probably the most disappointing out of all of them. I only heard good things about it before, so I was going into it with very high expectations. Sadly, this book wasn’t for me. The story wasn’t going anywhere interesting in my opinion, and the characters were a bit overdramatic at some points. Most problems could have been solved if they just talked to each other, but miscommunication is one of my biggest book pet-peeves and so, I didn’t like it. 

#5: Stolen

This book was recommended to me by a lot of people, and the plot sounded interesting and like something I’ve never read before. But again, I didn’t like how the story developed. I was expecting something like a love story, but all I got was pretty Australian scenery and a few nice scenes. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t completely hate it, but still it didn’t stick with me. Actually, I already forgot half of what happened, so the story wasn’t very remarkable for me.

So there you have it: these were my top 5 most disappointing reads this year. I hope you enjoyed it. Again: if you loved any of these books that’s great! I really appreciate that people can give these books some love. Because after all, all books deserve to be loved!

I hope you guys enjoyed it! See you next time!

Top 10 books of 2015

2015 was an amazing reading year for me. All in all I read 64 books (my goal was 50), and I am really proud that I was able to read so much during school and university. I will do another post on my 2016 plans and (bookish) resolutions, so look out for that!
However, today I will show you my favourite books of 2015. The summaries of these books will, as always. be available on Goodreads. I won’t tell you the plots myself, just because I don’t want to spoil anyone! I have reviews up for most of these books, so I will link these down below and just talk briefly about them now. I hope you guys enjoy it!

Quick note before we get started: All these books are, of course, 5 star books for me. I loved every single one, and it was hard to put them into an order, but I made it somehow! Enjoy!

#10: The Grisha series by Leigh Bardugo : Review soon to come

I read this whole series in one month, so you know how much I enjoyed it. The setting and the characters were so different, and it was so interesting to read about their adventures. Especially the Darkling quickly turned into one of my favourite characters of all time, just because he is so dark, but then again he just does what he thinks is right. Like every great villain ever. I loved it! 

#9: The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa : Review

This series completely surprised me. I am not a huge fan of books about fairies or fey, but this series was stunning. It was recommended to me by a lot of book-friend, but this year I finally read it. I read all books in a month too, so again, you see how much I loved it! (Also, Team Ash. All the way!)

#8: Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz : Review

I looked for more LGBTQ+ books this year, and this one was recommended to me over and over again, so I had to pick it up. And I was not disappointed. The writing in this books was so beautiful, and the story itself even more. Ari and Dante very quickly became two of my favourite characters of all time, just because they felt so real. It was amazing!

#7: Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi : Review

The one thing I loved most about this series was the character development of the main protagonist. You don’t see such a huge growth in characters from YA series like this very often, but in this one it was absolutely amazing. The Juliette from the first and form the last book are two completely different people, and it all changed for the better. And what can I say about Warner? Ohhh … you get me. I adore this guy.

#6: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell : Review (Goodreads)

This was actually the last book I read in December, and I can’t think of a better way to end my reading year. Why didn’t I read this sooner? As a freshman in University (do they call us like that? I don’t even know) this book just helped me in so many ways. I have social anxieties just like Cath, and this book made me realize that I am not alone, and even more important: I can conquer my fears. Everything will change into a better direction. This book made me realise so many things, and it got me into fanfiction writing again (finally!!), which I am eternally grateful for!

Note for my Top 5: I loved these books all equally. I only put them into an order to organize it better, but I loved every single one of these five books so much, I can’t explain it to you guys.

#5: Legacy of Kings by Eleanor Herman : Review (Goodreads)

I am a history student at university, and when I heard that there is a YA book coming out about Alexander the Great (who is the best!) it was so exciting for me. I immediately pre-ordered it and read it in two days after I received it. The historical accuracy was amazing, and the way the author connected fantasy and historical fiction was stunning. I am so excited for the next book, but it’s still so far away!

#4: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir : Review

I love novels that have a Roman Empire type of feel to them, and this one is definitely one of them. This book had everything is takes: awesome characters, great plotline; everything was perfect, especially the way the two characters plots intertwined. I am so excited for the second part of this series to come out, I can’t wait to find out what happens next! 

#3: The Wrath and the Dawn by Rene Ahdieh : Review

1001 Nights is one of my favourite fairy tales ever, and when I found out that there is a YA retelling for this I was beyond excited. I read this book in two or three days, and it was absolutely amazing. The main protagonist in the story is my favourite YA heroine ever, but Khalid is still the best. Also: the way the author included Arabic words and culture into the book was amazing, I loved that!

#2: More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera : Review

When I started this book I immediately felt attached to the characters, which doesn’t happen very often. Usually it takes me half a book to get to know the characters and start to love them, but I felt like I knew these characters from the start. This also made me suffer with them throughout the whole book, and there was a lot of suffering from my side involved, but I loved it still. This book made me realise so many important things about memories, and how they make us who we are. It was absolutely amazing. I can’t wait for the next book by Adam!

#1: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli : Review

This book was fantastic! Again, I was looking for LGBTQ+ books, and this came up on my feed, so I bought it. I started it and immediately knew I was going to love it. The characters were amazing, funny and so lovable. By the end of the book they grew so close to me that it felt impossible to let them go; so I read it again immediately after. I read this book many times by now; in fact, I read it so many times that I even know some part by heart. I know that a companion novel will come out sometime in the future, and I am beyond excited for that. Becky Albertalli definitely (same as all the others on this list btw) immediately became one of my auto-buy authors!

Alright, so these were my favourite books of 2015! Let me know which ones you enjoyed the most! See you again on my next blogpost, hopefully!