Hey my lovelies, today's review is the Hate List by Jennifer Brown. I originally got the Hate List, early on last year, but the fact that its about such a serious issue (the shooting), I admit it put me off reading the book. But now reading it I don't know why I waited so long, because this book was good. So good.

Title: Hate List
Author: Jennifer Brown
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Pub. Date: September 1st 2009
Date Read: Wednesday 27th April 2016
Pages:  405
Rating:4.75/5 stars
Goodreads Summary: Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.

Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

Overview 

The Hate List was such a thought provoking book, as it makes you look back on things that you have said recently that maybe was slightly harsh, or if you have ever lead someone on to believe that you do want someone dead, when in reality you don't. As most of us are guilty of doing it. Jokingly wishing a teacher or another student dead. Or bitching about other students at least. As it is very rare that we actually truly mean it. Even if we wouldn't necessarily be upset if something did happen to them. Which sounds very bad when I read what I've typed. We would still feel guilty that we ever thought about hurting them and if we were actually the cause I'm not sure how I would be able to cope in this situation.

Characters

Another thing I enjoyed was that there was no one dimensional characters, every character had their own reasons behind all of their decisions which was made clear with other people wondering if Valerie is a victim or if she was one of the murderers. And how the people that you would expect to have stood by Valerie didn't and the people never expected to did. It was also interesting to see how people blame others in order to cope with their own guilt. Valerie is made to be such a sympathetic character and not in a annoying way, which was such a nice change. Nick, Valerie's boyfriend and the shooter was also shown not as just a mindless evil killer villain, but also as a still insane but a almost understandable character. As I understand why he did it, just not why he actually went through with it. My personal favourite character was -- as I liked that she had the guts to stand with exactly what she believed in and strive to get exactly what she wanted, no matter what happened to her in the past, as she ignored her schools social norms to be herself.

Writing

The Hate List is predominately split into 4 sections, part 1 deals with Valerie going back to school and flashbacks to the morning before and during the shooting. Part 2 is Valerie dealing with the immediate aftermath of the shooting, this is both physically and mentally, as not only mentally dealing with the fact that her boyfriend went and shot the popular crowd of her school but also her own injuries from the shooting. Part 3 shows Valerie getting accepted more, but still feeling guilty herself. And part 4 is Valerie slowly learning how to accept herself again, even through the guilt. 

Would I recommend it?

I recommend this to everyone. Yes everyone, the story was so well written and even though I have never been in that situation, the characters were incredibly relatable. And it was everything I wanted it to be. 

Thank you for reading my lovelies, this is it for this week, if you would like to see more of what I am currently reading you can check me out on Goodreads, Instagram and Twitter. 

Previous Book Review: Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell

Next Book Review: Memories of a Mad Man by Don Spector

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Hey my lovelies, and welcome to another monthly wrap up and tbr. Sadly, I only actually completed one of the seven books of my April tbr, as my plan was to read the Harry Potter series, however I only actually read the first book, but none the less I still read a grand total of 4 books and 3 novella's. So this month I have picked a relatively small tbr this time.

The first book I read this month was the one book I completed of my tbr and that was ... Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone by J K Rowling, to be honest I'm not really sure what I thought about this as I found myself comparing it to the movie the entire time and I really do wish that I had read the books when I was younger before watching the films.

The first novella I read was The Proposal by Meg Cabot, now this was a book I enjoyed. It was so nice to meet back up with Suze and Jesse, although I did find myself forgetting who certain characters were, so I definitely see a reread in my future. Click here for the full review.

The second novella I read was Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell, after not necessarily going through a reading slump, but not feeling any inclination to read, I decided to pick this up, which if you didn't already know was one of 2016's World book day books. So how could I not read it? You can find the full review of it here.

The second novel I read this month was Memories of a Mad Man by Don Spector, I received this as part of a book tour, in exchange for a honest review. I definitely enjoyed this one and the review will be posted on the 9th May.

The third novella I read was Queen Song by Victoria Aveyard, I pre-ordered Cruel Crown months a go and was so excited to receive it in the post this morning, as I was waiting to read Glass Sword until I had received this. However I did find I couldn't remember most of the characters names and will probably have to read Red Queen again before Glass Sword. My tbr pile is just getting bigger and bigger.

The third book I read was Sugar Baby Beautiful by J. J Mcavoy, I read this as I had read some of her other books in the past and figured I would give this one ago, and although I did appreciate one of the endings plot twist, the fact that they took away the plot twist kind off ruined it for me. Sugar Baby Beautiful is about a young girl called Felicity who gets pushed into the world of sugar babys by her friends, where she meets billionaire Theodore Darcy. Yep, I bet you can guess exactly where this is going.

The fourth book I read this month was Hate List by Jennifer Brown, I have owned this book for around a year now so when I was doing a bit of reorganizing I thought that I would give it ago. Hate List is about a teenager called who one morning her boyfriend went into school and shot all of their bullies and some other people. This book deals with both her guilt, how other people view her and it also shows flashbacks to what actually happened that morning. This book was so good and it was everything I wanted it to be for such a hard hitting book. My full review for this is scheduled to be posted on 7th May.

As I haven't had much look with predicting which series I will read, I have decided to pick only standalone's or a single books in a series which I haven't read yet.

The first novel I plan to read is Verge by Rebecca Bradford, I received this in April on a read for review basis thanks to its publishing company, Austin Macauley. So I shall be reading this and hopefully posting a review for it soon. Verge is about a teenager who is thrust into a world she thought only belonged in fantasy books. That sounds really good to me, so I shall be getting onto that.

The second book I plan to read is Soundless by Richelle Mead, I received this as a Christmas present and have heard quite a range of reviews on it, however due to me enjoying the Vampire Academy series so much I shall definitely be giving it ago.

The third book and final book I plan to read is Half Lost by Sally Green, this is the final book in the Half Bad trilogy with the final book coming out in March, I practically ran to Waterstones and was lucky enough to find a signed hardcover there, and have yet to pick it up, so I shall definitely will at some point this month.

Due to me going to Disneyland Paris at the end of the month, I hope to get quite a bit of reading done whilst traveling. So I hope to read about 7 possibly 8 books this month. Thank you for reading, To keep more up to date with what I am reading, you can check out my Twitter, Goodreads and Instagram. 

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Hey my lovelies, todays review is Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell. Now if you didn't already know then this was a special edition novella that can be bought for only £1 due to World Book Day, in March earlier this year. So if you haven't already got your copy then I suggest you get it now, because it was so good.

Title: Kindred Spirits
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: Macmillans Kids UK
Pub. Date: February 25th 2016
Date Read: Wednesday 13th April 2016
Pages:  96
Rating:4.75/5 stars
Goodreads Summary: 'Everybody likes everything these days. The whole world is a nerd.'
'Are you mad because other people like Star Wars? Are you mad because people like me like Star Wars?'
'Maybe.'
If you broke Elena's heart, Star Wars would spill out. So when she decides to queue outside her local cinema to see the new movie, she's expecting a celebration with crowds of people who love Han, Luke and Leia just as much as she does. What she's not expecting is to be last in a line of only three people; to have to pee into a collectible Star Wars soda cup behind a dumpster or to meet that unlikely someone who just might truly understand the way she feels. Kindred Spirits is an engaging short story by Rainbow Rowell, author of the bestselling Eleanor & Park, Fangirl and Carry On, and is part of a handful of selected short reads specially produced for World Book Day. 

Overview

I enjoyed this so much, and after having a mini reading slump it is really what I needed in order to have a little pick me up. Kindred spirits is a good feel book, it has no angst, good characters and lots of star wars. Also there was no fan shaming! Even though Gabe mentioned fangirls\boys, being into the token "geeky" stuff, that made him feel like an outcast, it in no way detrimental to the people who are not traditionally viewed as geeky. And even though I have never properly watched a star wars film (I know shocking right?) The characters were well enough known that I knew most of the references and that was not detrimental to the novella at all.

I loved the whole geeky feel to the novel, of people who come from different places just bonding over the love of Star Wars.

Overall, this is a very good book for world book day with a lighthearted and happy feel and this could actually be my favourite Rainbow Rowell book,as of yet. If you have not already picked up your copy I suggest that you do now before they run put of stock, as it was a one off for world book day. Purchase on amazon here.

Would I recommend it?

I would the commend to fans of contemporary novels who only want a short read (it's only 96 pages), star wars fans, Rainbow Rowell fans and of cause anyone looking for a lighthearted read.

Thank you for reading my lovelies, this is it for this week, if you would like to see more of what I am currently reading you can check me out on Goodreads, Instagram and Twitter. 

Previous Book Review: Proposal by Meg Cabot

Next Book Review: Hate List by Jennifer Brown

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Hey my lovelies, welcome to this months Wrap Up! This month I read a grand total of twelve books, which wasn't bad, but not as many as last month.

The first book I read was Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick, considering how many bad reviews there are of this, I really enjoyed this. Even if I did see the plot twist coming from a mile off. You can check out my review for it here.

The second book I finished was of cause Half Wild by Sally Green, which you can check out my review for here. if you haven't read the first book in the series Half Bad, then you can also check out that review here.

The next book I (finally) read was Girl Online by Zoe Sugg & Siobhan Curham. I know there was a lot of critiscm has been made about this book, but i enjoyed it you can check out my review for that here.

The fourth book  I read this month was Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green, you can check out my review for that here.

I completed an entire series this month and that was the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead, this series includes Vampire Academy, Frostbite, Shadow Kiss, Blood Promise, Spirit Bound and Last Sacrifice. The review for this series will be coming out soon.

After completing the Vampire Academy series, I discovered the world of free kindle books, I then read Darkness of Light by Marie Stacey Brown.

The eleventh book I read this month was of cause From the Wreckage by Michele G. Miller, I really liked this and you can find out more about this in my review of it here.

The final book I read this month was Last to Know by Micalea Smeltzer. To find out more about this you can check out my review here.

I didn't read as many books this month as I wanted too and I definately didn't read as many as I did last month. Check out last months wrap up here.

To keep more up to date with the books I am reading you can follow me on goodreads, twitter and instagram.

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