January Wrap Up (2017)

Hey guys, this is Abi here,
And this month went by so fast!
I posted a review here and there, a book haul and a tag-
And BAM! It's the end of the month!
So today I am doing my January Wrap Up (2017)!
Enjoy!

January Wrap Up (2017)

So this month I read a total of 7 books. This is a lot more than I thought I would (I thought I'd read 4/5, to be honest), so this was an amazing reading month for me!

Here are the books I read this month!

1. Desolation (Demon Road #2), by Derek Landy

2. American Monsters (Demon Road #3), by Derek Landy

3. Frostblood (Frostblood #1), by Elly Blake

4. Everything Everything, by Nicola Yoon

5. Baby Doll, by Hollie Overton

6. Passenger (Passenger #1), by Alexandra Bracken

7. Wayfarer (Passenger #2), by Alexandra Bracken

So those are the books that I read in the month of January (2017)! If I keep going like this, I'll be finished by August!- No really, I worked it out! (Let's hope I finish by them, because the I'll get to read a lot more books!)

So that was my January Wrap Up (2017)! I'm sorry it was short, but it literally was just a list of the books I read this month....

If you want to find out more about any of the books I have on this list (with the exception of Wayfarer, because I haven't posted a review for that yet), then look for the reviews on my page: Post Pandemonium (2017)!

So, I will see you all on Wednesday, when I will be posting my February TBR (2017)! A sum up of this post: I will be reading all the books that I really am not too excited to read, but I want to read them too much to chuck them!

But they still look interesting, so go check it out!

I hope you all have a wonderful day, and if you have any thoughts, let me know in the comments!

Byeeee!

-Abi xxxxx

Passenger (Passenger #1), by Alexandra Bracken

Hey guys, this is Abi here,
And I wasn't going to do a review today, I was going to do a writing update, because NaNoWriMo was almost two months ago, so I wanted to update you all with all my writing stuff! (I am still working on my book, by the way).
But since I finished the sequel to this book mere moments ago, I thought it would be appropriate to do a review for Passenger, by Alexandra Bracken!

Passenger (Passenger #1), by Alexandra Bracken

Title: Passenger

Author: Alexandra Bracken

Genre: Fantasy

Release date: 5th January, 2016

Pages: 486

Blurb: " 'You cannot fathom the distance

I would travel for you...'

NEW YORK CITY, PRESENT DAY

In one night, Etta Spencer is wrenched from everything she knows

and loves. Thrown into an unfamiliar world, she can be certain of

only one thing: she has travelled not just miles, but years from home.

THE ATLANTIC, 1776

Captain Nicholas Carter is tasked with delivering Etta to the

dangerous Ironwood family. They are searching for something- a

stolen object they believe only she can reclaim. But Nicholas is

drawn to his mysterious passenger, and the closer he gets to her,

the further he is from freedom.

THE EDGES OF THE WORLD

Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey

across centuries and continents, piercing together clues left behind

by a desperate thief. But as Etta plays deeper into the Ironwoods'

game, treacherous faces threaten to separate her not only from

Nicholas, but from her path home- for ever."

My Thoughts

I'm not quite sure what to make of this book. I wasn't completely in love with the idea of time-travelling pirates from the start, but the hype was so big for this book on Booktube, that I couldn't help but pick it up.

This was actually my second attempt at reading this book. Last time I got about 70 odd pages into it, and I just couldn't get back into it, no matter how much I tried.

I don't really know what it is about deadlines. I just get it into my head that if I don't finish this book by that deadline, then the world will either 1) descend into chaos, or 2) be destroyed in a massive explosion.

Because I finished it in less than one week.  

This book was alright. I'm not going to say it was WOW, OMG AMAZING, because it wasn't. But for the most part, it was a pretty decent book.

This story follows Etta, a classical violin player that is a few weeks away from her biggest performance to date- cant remember what so I'll just tell you that.

But anyway, she is constantly pushed by her mother, who has been cautiously distant from her only daughter for as long as she can remember. Our story starts the night of a slightly smaller performance, but nevertheless an important one.

Then something happens and she is swept back in time, to where she meets TIME TRAVELLING PIRATES.

And a whole bunch of craziness that is this story happens.

To be honest, this book is decent, up to about the half-way point. And then, the whole thing just got a lot... denser. The relationships either got stronger, characters fell in love, or started to despise each-other with an intensity that near enough scared me, and the plot got a lot more interesting and deadly.

Basically, Nicholas and Etta have a number of days to search for an device that could potentially change all their lives for the better (it's too complicated to explain without giving away massive spoilers, so I'm not going to do that)- in the hope that she can help her mother (who is currently kidnapped somewhere). But you follow Nicholas and Etta as they journey through time and space, as they encounter so many different places and times in history. And those places that they visited, it really sparked an interest in me about the places they were visiting, and left me eager to see where they were going next, the places they went were so well described.

One thing Alexandra Bracken definitely got right was the feeling that you were actually in the time period that Nicholas and Etta were in. One specific time when I remember thinking this is when they visited London during WWII. That part definitely felt real to me.

What she also did well was the feeling of classes on the ship where Nicholas and Etta meet. I liked that aspect, that they weren't allowed to talk, because of different classes, but they talked anyway. It was downplayed after a while, but I still liked that aspect one the ship too.

As for the characters, they were okay, I mean I didn't hate any of them, I just didn't connect to any of them the way I thought I would. I loved the romance between Nicholas and Etta, but I didn't particularly relate to them individually.

I did get invested in the bad guys to be honest, though. They were the characters that you just love to hate, so my favourite parts were when there was a confrontation between them both, you didn't know what way was up, when all the mains got put against each-other.

Which leads me to the plot. It was deadly. It had me reading the pages as fast as I could, wanting more, and yet still hoping I could read it faster so I could know what the heck was happening. If I had to say one thing about this book, it would be that the plot saved this story. If that's harsh, sorry, but that's what I think.

Next, the writing. The writing style was just so detailed, it felt like I was actually there with them, it was that descriptive and amazing.

Now, the ending. The ending, oh my god! It made me actually glad that I waited until the second book was released before I read this, because it meant I could continue the duology straightaway! It was all like BAM, BAM BAM! Craziness was happening all over the place. And the best thing about the ending was that it didn't seem rushed at all.

The ending was the best part, in my opinion.

So overall, this book was actually decent, as hesitant as I'd been to read it at first, I'm glad I did eventually take the time to read it (because these books are 400-500 pages long). But I do recommend them to people who like time-travelling, or pirates. Or both!

Because this book is worth the time- trust me!

One last thing- if you're currently reading this book, or just about to start it, and are considering putting this book down, just bear in mind, that from approximately half-way, it gets a lot better. Trust me!

So that was my review of Passenger, by Alexandra Bracken! I hope you enjoyed it, and my review for Wayfarer, the second and last book in the duology will be up soon!

I hope you all have a wonderful day, and I will see you soon!

And if you have any thoughts, let me know in the comments below!

Byeeee!

-Abi xxxxxx

Baby Doll, by Hollie Overton

Hey guys, this is Abi here,
And I have to admit, doing a book haul (for the first time in 3 months, might I add) was a nice break from the mountain of reviews I need to do.
But today I'm back to reviews, because I have still got 2 to do (including this one). But I love reviews, so it's not that bad!
Enough talk, now for the review!

Baby Doll, by Hollie Overton

Title: Baby Doll

Author: Hollie Overton

Genre: Thriller

Release date: 29th December, 2016

Pages: 384

Blurb: "You've been held captive in one room.

You've been mentally and physically abused

every day since you were sixteen years old.

Then, one night, you realise your captor has left the

door to your cell unlocked.

For the first time in eight years you're free.

This is what happens next..."

My Thoughts

This book was a spur on the moment buy. I was in Asda, and it was a buy two for said price (it was a deal). I'd heard about this book on Booktube, and I'd never thought about picking it up. But it had got fantastic reviews, and so I bought it.

And before I knew it, I'd finished it by the following morning.

Just 12 hours later.

That's how good it was.

This book was electric from start to finish. The story starts when Lily escapes after being held hostage for eight years, and as the book progresses, we learn just how much Lily's disappearance has affected every member of the family (the story jumps from her twin sister Abby, and her mother) as well as her captor Rick's perspective. And I'm glad that this was a multiple perspective book, because it wouldn't have had as nearly impact otherwise, especially in Rick's case.

Because that's something else I wanted to talk about. In some aspects, you actually feel sorry for him. NOT BECAUSE OF WHAT HE'S DONE, let me explain. Rick actually has no idea that he's done anything wrong. What makes it worse is that capturing Lily was a calculated act. He actually planned this. He thinks he's given Lily a happy home, and was genuinely shocked when she escaped and called the police, which made his perspective that much more interesting to read about.

Abby was a really interesting character too. She was the most affected by Lily's disappearance, as you would imagine she would be, as her twin sister. They had a really close bond when they were younger, and so she had nothing left after her disappearance. So after eight years, she's kind of hardened. She's got this deep anger that she doesn't seem to be able to control, which made her unpredictable at times. She is also still searching for her sister, because even after eight years, she doesn't believe that she is dead, as everyone else does at this point. There's also the layer that she is pregnant with her sister's old boyfriend's baby. (But I'll let you read about that, because I don't want to give away too much).

There was Lily's perspective as well. She's just trying to make sense of everything: how her family has changed, how they were affected, what happened between her sister and her old boyfriend, what has happened in the last eight years while she was captured, trying to get Rick charged, and also trying to tell Sky what happened to her, because she thinks of Rick as her dad.

But overall what I liked about the characters was that Lily's disappearance affected them all in different ways. Her sister became harder and more outwardly angry- it seemed to be a constant part of her; her mum, who we also got to see the perspective of, become more withdrawn and cautious, and Lily was just confused and trying to make senses of all the changes. The fact that they were also different makes the story really well rounded, and that's more or less what it was.

One thing I did really like about this book was that everything was consistent. The characters didn't change much throughout the book, and although that isn't normally a good thing, this time it was. Because that meant their actions made the book that much more shocking. What I mean is, since the characters didn't change much, you didn't expect them to do what they did. That was what kept the book exciting- if you read it, you'll know what I mean when I say that.

But overall, this book was amazing. It packs such a punch in just 380 odd pages, it will blow you away. This book has love, loss, shock, horror and a whole lot of twists: especially at the end. Totally recommend. I rated this a solid four stars.

Okay! So that was my review for Baby Doll, by Hollie Overton! I hope you enjoyed it, and I will see you all on Friday!

Byeeee!

-Abi xxxxxx