July 2015 Wrap Up

The books I read in July (in order read):

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Rating: 3/5

The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden by Jessica Sorensen

Rating: 2/5

Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill

Rating: 2.5/5

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (re-read)

Rating: 5/5

Life With A Sprinkle Of Glitter by Louise Pentland [my review here]

Rating: 4/5

So, I only managed two of the book from my holiday TBR list... Oops.

Before I went on holiday I read The Raven Boys and The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden. There was so much hype about The Raven Boys that I thought I was sure to love it but unfortunately it was not to be. I didn't find myself really connecting with the characters or the storyline. However, it was still an interesting read so I gave it 3 stars. As with most first books from the beginning of a series that I'm not entirely sure about, the next book in this series will probably make or break the series for me. I had even less luck with The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden. I know a lot of people love this book but it just wasn't my kind of thing at all.

Then, when I was on holiday I read Meant to Be, City of Ashes and Life With A Sprinkle Of Glitter. Meant to Be had so much potential at the start. There were so many quoteable, bookish lines and it had me laughing out loud a lot but unfortunately the book fell prey to a lot of typical YA downfalls later on. I did really enjoy Lauren Morrill's writing though so I've not been put off reading another of her books. Then, after finishing City of Ashes for the #tmireadathon, I read Life With A Sprinkle Of Glitter. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It's all about positivity, happiness and kindness which I am 100% for! I believe Louise has another book coming out soon which I will definitely be buying as soon as it's available.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them?

Currently reading: Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Currently listening to: Champagne by TVXQ!

BookTube-A-Thon 2015 TBR List

BookTube-A-Thon. It's that time again! If you've not heard of BookTube-A-Thon before it's basically a yearly reading marathon which takes place over the course of one week where there are seven bookish challenges to be completed. You can complete as many or as little of the challenges as you like - it's basically just a fun week of reading! If you've not seen this year's challenge video you can watch it here where all of the challenges and rules are explained.

Last year was the first year I attempted BookTube-A-Thon and I managed to complete three books. This year however, I've been a bit more savvy with my book choices (thin books FTW) as I'm hoping to complete all seven challenges and read all seven books despite not having that much free time next week! I have to admit I did do a last minute Amazon haul for most of these books as I didn't have many small books left on my TBR shelf... Sorry bank account.

Here are the books I'm hoping to read for each challenge:

Challenge 1: Read a book with blue on the cover

Book: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess 

Challenge 2: Read a book by an author who shares the same first letter of your last name

Book: Woman Much Missed by Thomas Hardy

Challenge 3: Read someone else's favourite book

Book: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Challenge 4: Read the last book you acquired

Book: Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them by J.K. Rowling

Challenge 5: Finish a book without letting go of it

Book: Very Good Lives by J.K. Rowling

Challenge 6: Read a book you really want to read

Book: Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Challenge 7: Read seven books

Book: The Beautifull Cassandra by Jane Austen

It starts tomorrow - Monday - so if you haven't chosen your books yet you still have time. And if you are taking part - good luck!

Currently reading: Jane Austen Cover To Cover by Margaret C. Sullivan

Currently drinking: Pineapple and Vanilla Tea by Charbrew

Currently listening to: I'm A Hotshot by Hotshot

Review: Life With A Sprinkle Of Glitter by Louise Pentland

Title: Life With A Sprinkle Of  Glitter

Author: Louise Pentland

Series: n/a

Format: Hardback (paid for myself)

Rating: 4/5

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Goodreads description: Imagine you are in one of those glorious vintage shops where every surface is laden with treasure. Cut glass, pill boxes, old cameras, pendants, chests of drawers and stacks and stacks of books. This book is like that. Each chapter is one of those gem encrusted tins that you can open, peep inside and enjoy. You can either methodically wander the entire shop, looking at each individual item in order, or, you can dance around with wild abandon, opening and closing whatever you like, whenever you like. You can take in tiny bits of it at a time or you can devour it all in one go. I don't mind. I don't mind how you go about it; all that matters to me is that you take something from it. Divided into four sections: Glitz, Create, Need to Knows and All About Love, you'll find all my little tips and tricks, stories and insights and nuggets of advice. I want you to walk away from this book feeling uplifted. I want you to feel as though you are equipped to deal with something in your life and deal with it in the best possible, positive way. I want to show you how I find so much joy and enrichment in my life and how you can do it too, with just a Sprinkle of Glitter

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My review: Life With A Sprinkle Of Glitter is like an all-round guide to life by YouTuber Louise Pentland, a.k.a. Sprinkleofglitter. I don't think I've actually seen more than three of Louise's YouTube videos in the past as I only really use YouTube to watch music videos, but I've heard of her from around Twitter and when I came across her book the other day, the blurb sounded so positive and lovely so I thought I'd give it a try.

Life With A Sprinkle Of Glitter is divided up into sections on different areas of life such as body confidence and travelling tips. Louise's writing is so down-to-earth, friendly and at times, hilarious. I found myself giggling over her dating disasters and relating to embarrassments. Although the book covers a wide-range of areas from bullying to baby care tips, I think this book would be more suitable for a teenage audience - I personally found a lot of the advice to be a bit self-explanatory (I'm 23) but I'm sure as a teenager I would have found these tips very useful. So if you're looking for a gift for a teenager in your life, this could be a very good choice!

The book also gets an extra star for it's b-e-a-utiful presentation (I'm pretty much a magpie). From it's glossy pages, gorgeous endpapers and bright pink ribbon marker - this book is dazzling from cover to cover. A lot of thought has clearly gone into the presentation of this book which makes it that much more enjoyable to read.

I also wanted to address some criticism I've seen online about Louise's position as a YouTuber in her ability to be giving advice. I think that misses the point of this book. The author isn't claiming to be an expert on life, but just someone who has already been through a lot and wants to pass on her advice to help younger people make better and more informed decisions.  To me personally it very much reads as an older sister giving her younger sisters advice.

Again, like Zoella's Girl Online, I think I'm outside the target market for this book but I still very much enjoyed reading it. I'm all for any book that promotes positivity, happiness and self-confidence.

Currently reading: Jane Austen Cover To Cover by Margaret C. Sullivan

Currently drinking: Strawberry and Kiwi Tea by Charbrew

Currently listening to: Devil by Super Junior

Behind The Username Book Tag

The lovely Nazy over at Snazzy Reads tagged me to do the Behind The Username Book Tag, created by Daniel from The Blogger's Bookshop. You can see Nazy's post here and Daniel's original post on the tag here. The rules are explained on Daniel's post but basically this tag is all about your bookish username. I'm not going to tag anyone because I'm not sure who to tag but if you'd like to take part feel free to use me as your tagger!

Username:

Tea avec Books

Reason behind the username:
My username is a combination of three of my favourite things: tea, books and all things Parisian - hence why I used the French word 'avec' in place of 'with'!

Number of letters in username:

12

Book number 12 on my shelf:
As my physical bookshelves are organised into read and unread books, I've used my 'all' shelf from Goodreads for this which is: A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall.

Have I read it?
Yes! I read it last month. It was a very cute, quick and fluffy read.

Username acrostics:

I tried to only use books that I've read for this list which was possible for all letters except K! The Kiss of Deception is still waiting patiently on my TBR list for me to get to it.

______________________T - Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini
______________________E - Eragon by Christopher Paolini
______________________A - Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
______________________A - Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
______________________V - Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
______________________E - Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
______________________C - Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
______________________B - Blind Beauty by K.M. Peyton
______________________O - On The Fence by Kasie West
___________________+__O - Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
______________________K - (The) Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson
______________________S - Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Currently reading: Life With A Sprinkle Of Glitter by Louise Pentland

Currently drinking: Strawberry and Lime Tea by Charbrew

Currently listening to: Bad by Infinite

The Books On My Holiday TBR List

Meant To Be by Lauren Morrill

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

I'm going away for two weeks tomorrow to visit my boyfriend, then stay with my sister and finally spend a week with my family in the countryside,* so I've gathered together a collection of books to read whilst I'm away. I don't expect to get through all of these but I'm not sure what I'll fancy reading so I've packed a range of choices!

Of these books, I'd definitely like to finish City of Ashes. I started it a couple of weeks ago for the second month of the #tmireadathon on twitter but I haven't got round to finishing it yet. I also jumped right on the Go Set A Watchman bandwagon this month even though I've never read To Kill A Mockingbird so I picked up this beautiful clothbound edition of To Kill A Mockingbird so I can read them both together.

I also recently started reading Meant To Be and A Court of Thorns and Roses so I've bought them along to finish. I have to admit I didn't really have any expectations of Meant To Be but it's made me laugh so much so far! The main character is also a huge book nerd and there are lots of relatable bookish quotes in it so I'm looking forward to finishing it!

Finally, I'm also bringing along The Lord of the Rings. One of my bookish resolutions for 2015 is to finish LOTR and for some reason I tend to have an urge to read fantasy books when we're on holiday in the countryside (perhaps I feel like I'm having my own Hobbit-y adventure?!). Hopefully it'll satisfy that craving!

Have you read any of these books? Which ones would you recommend?

Currently reading: Meant To Be by Lauren Morrill

Currently listening to: Video Game by Boys Republic

*Although holidaying in the countryside sounds very posh, we essentially camp out in an old army cabin in the middle of a field for a few weeks over the year! Oh so glamorous dahhhling ;)

June 2015 Book Haul

Physical books:

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout
I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
The 100: Homecoming by Kass Morgan

Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine *

The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen

The Secret of Ella and Micha by Jessica Sorensen

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
Pride and Prejudice (Jack Wills x Penguin edition) by Jane Austen
St Pancras Station by Simon Bradkey
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Meant To Be by Lauren Morrill

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Kindle books:

On The Fence by Kasie West

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Oh. My. Gosh. Where to begin this month's haul?! As you can see, my bookshelves gained a lot of books in June. I wanted some YA standalones to read so I went on a bit of a spree for those but I don't know what happened after that!

I'm really looking forward to reading Red Queen, A Court of Thorns and Roses and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell in particular. I've only read the first book in Sarah J. Maas's other series, Throne of Glass but I really enjoyed her writing so I'm looking forward to trying this new series. I also really want to get to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell soon as I've been loving the television show. The only thing is this book is absolutely massive - so huge that you could probably knock someone out with it - so I don't think I'll be able to take it with me on holiday when I go in a few weeks!

I also came across these awesome early UK editions of City of Bones and City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare so naturally, I had to buy them (you can see the front covers here)! I've now got three different editions of City of Bones but with the beautiful new UK editions that came out recently, plus the new TV show launching next year... I think I'll be adding to my Shadowhunter collection again shortly!

Have you read any of these books? Which books would you most recommend?

Currently reading: City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (re-read)

Currently drinking: Nutty Chocolate Flavour Assam by Twinings

Currently listening to: What U by Speed

* I received Fire Colour One from Maximum Pop! Books to review

June 2015 Wrap Up

Books I read in June (in order read):

Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

Rating: 5/5

On The Fence by Kasie West

Rating: 3.5/5

A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

Rating: 3/5

Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine [my review here]

Rating: 4/5

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (re-read)

Rating: 5/5

June was the first full month of my summer break from University so it was lovely to get back into reading properly again. The first book I read this month was Far From The Madding Crowd. I went to see the film adaptation with Carey Mulligan and Matthias Schoenaerts at the end of May and I fell in love with the story immediately so I went out and bought a copy of the book to read before I went to see the film again (I really do love that film!). I really enjoyed the book. I love the characters, Hardy's Wessex... I just love everything. I can definitely see this becoming one of those books that I will re-read over and over.

I also read On The Fence by Kasie West and A Little Something Different by Jenny Valentine. These were both great summer reads as they were cute, fluffy, quick reads. I don't think I'd re-read either of these but they were enjoyable stories so if you're looking for some cute, quick reads to add to your summer reading list then I'd definitely recommend these two.

I was also kindly sent Fire Colour One to review by Maximum Pop! Books. I didn't really know what to expect from this book as I've not read any of Jenny Valentine's books before but I was very pleasantly surprised by Fire Colour One. It's very different to anything I've read before which was nice to encounter!

Finally I re-read City of Bones for the #tmireadathon on twitter. It was so lovely to be in the Shadowhunter world again; I forgot how much I loved these books. I'm really looking forward to carrying on the series with City of Ashes in July now.

What did you read in June? Have you read any of these books?

Currently reading: Nothing at the moment!

Currently drinking: Blueberry White Iced Tea by AriZona

Currently listening to: Dope by BTS

Review: Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine

Title: Fire Colour One

Author: Jenny Valentine

Series: n/a

Format: Paperback (I was kindly sent a copy by Maximum Pop! Books to review)

Rating: 4/5

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Goodreads description: A teenage girl will soon discover, there are some things which burn even brighter than fire. Iris’s father Ernest is at the end of his life. Her best friend Thurston seems like a distant memory to her. Her mother has declared war. She means to get her hands on Ernest’s priceless art collection so that she can afford to live the high life. But Ernest has other ideas. There are things he wants Iris to know. Things he can tell her and things that must wait till he’s gone. What she does after that is up to her.

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My review: Fire Colour One tells the story of Iris, a sixteen year old girl who has spent most of her life living in New York with Hannah, her selfish, money-obsessed Mother and Hannah's wannabe-actor boyfriend. Her only escapes in life are her best friend Thurston and building fires to let out her anger and frustration.

Iris has been told by her mother all her life that her father, Ernest, never wanted her so it comes as a surprise when Hannah calls up Iris's father in search of money that he requests to see Iris. When Iris finally meets Ernest the truth about her past starts to slowly unravel and Ernest's plans for the future come into play.

This was so unlike any other YA book that I have read before. Jenny Valentine's writing is beautiful and the characters were all so different and captivating; they felt so real that it was almost like reading Iris's memoir of the people in her life than a story at times. It was a really quick read, but like Iris's fires - while this book was short, it burned brightly.

My only gripe with this story was that the narrative is non-linear and it jumped back and forth between different time periods in the characters' lives. This meant that it would go from characters having met in one chapter, back to them having not yet met each other in the next which had a bit of a jarring effect on me. This was the only reason this book lost a star. Otherwise, this is definitely one of those books where the characters and story will stay with me for a long time to come.

Currently reading: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (re-read)

Currently drinking: Cranberry Green Tea by Twinings

Currently listening to: Might Just Die by History

The Top Ten Books On My Summer Reading List

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme by The Broke and the Bookish. To learn more about this meme click here and you can view their post on this week's theme here.

Summer! Freedom from exams, coursework and stupid amounts of stress for four whole months! This summer I mainly want to stick to contemporary/young adult books as they're my favourite kind of easy-reading books which will be perfect for reading curled up in the sunshine! Also as one of my bookish resolutions this year was to finish off some of the series I've started, I've included a few books to work towards this goal.

In no particular order:
1. A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall
I've just started reading this and it seems like a really cute and fluffy read - perfect for the summer!

2. The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks
The film adaptation comes of The Longest Ride comes out in the UK this week so hopefully I'll get the chance to read this before I see the film. The storyline looks so adorable/heartbreaking from the film's trailer!

3. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
I know next-to-nothing about this book (I didn't even read the description before ordering it!) I've just seen it raved about everywhere so I thought I'd give it a go. Plus as it's a fairly slim book, I'm hoping I can save it to use for BookTube-A-Thon later this summer.

4. The 100 by Kass Morgan
I absolutely devoured the first two seasons of The 100 TV show so I'm hoping I'll love the books too. So many kickass female characters! Plus Bellamy Blake *swoons*.

5. The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen & 6. Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
Another two books I don't know much about but I've seen being mentioned a lot! They both look like they'll be cute, quick reads though which I'm looking forward to breezing through.

7. The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare
There's currently a TMI readathon going on on Twitter in the lead-up to the new television adaptation where you read one book of the series per month, starting in June. I haven't read the last book in the series yet as I need to re-read the rest of the series beforehand, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to finish this series without having to attempt to re-read all the previous books in one go!

8. Where She Went by Gayle Forman
This book sounds so cute! I'm looking forward to catching up with Mia and Adam's stories again and as this book is the second of a duology, that'll be another series checked off my list.

9. All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher
I absolutely love Carrie Fletcher for her lovely, positive personality so I had to buy her book when I saw it in Waterstones! I hope this will make a lovely, feel-good summer read!

10. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
I read Insurgent about two years ago but I still haven't read Allegiant yet. However I saw Insurgent in cinemas recently so I have no excuse not to get this one finished off this summer!

What are you planning on reading this summer? Have you read any of the books I plan to read?

Currently reading: A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

Currently drinking: Chai Tea by Twinings

Currently listening to: Love Me Right by EXO

May 2015 Book Haul

The 100 by Kass Morgan
Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure & The Kill Order by James Dashner

Hey! Sorry for being absent recently (my last blog post being in March...) but my Spring term at uni ended up being pretty full-on. But I've broken up for the Summer now so I feel like I can breath again! I visited my boyfriend at his parent's house soon after my exams and straight away I went back to one of my favourite pastimes - book shopping! I found Bloodlines and The 100 in charity bookshops for around £1 each! I started Vampire Academy, one of Richelle Mead's other series a while ago and while I haven't got round to finishing it yet I really enjoyed it and I've heard so many great this about this new series. I just need to get round to actually finishing VA now...!

I binged-watched both seasons of The 100 right before I started my exam revision and... Wow. The show is so incredible and it's jam-packed with badass heroines so the book series the show is based on has been on my TBR list ever since. I've heard the books are quite different to the show but I'm looking forward to reading some Bellamy x Clarke canon!

I also watched Far From The Madding Crowd just before I went to my boyfriend's and fell head-over-heels for the story (especially Gabriel Oak. Oh. My.) so I scoured all the charity shops we went in for a copy of the novel but lots of other people must have had the same idea as I couldn't find a copy anywhere! However Waterstones saved the day with this beautiful film tie-in edition for only £4.99 (you can see the cover here).

Lastly, we also visited The Works and when we went in they were doing an offer on The Maze Runner box sets which were reduced to just £5! I've been meaning to start this series for a while as I saw the film a while ago and loved the storyline so I'm looking forward to starting these. Hopefully I can read at least the first two before the next film comes out.

Have you read any of these books? What do you think of them?

Currently reading: Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

Currently drinking: Pure Green Tea by Clipper

Currently listening to: I Wanna Know by Legend

February 2015 Book Haul

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks
Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

Psych Major Syndrome by Alicia Thompson

Girl Online by Zoe Sugg

Love, Tanya by Tanya Burr

As well as these eight I also bought seven books from Penguin's new Little Black Classics collection but I'm planning on doing a separate post on them. So yeah, I bought 15 books in February... I think it's safe to say my book buying ban has gone out the window!

I've already read Eleanor & Park and Girl Online and liked them both but I'm hoping to get to Psych Major Syndrome and We Were Liars sometime this month. I don't know much about We Were Liars other than I know a lot of people that I follow on Twitter/Instagram really liked it so I'm hoping it'll be a good, quick read. I'm also looking forward to Psych Major Syndrome as I'm a psychology major too!

I also bought three Nicholas Sparks books this month! I've read two of his other books (The Last Song and The Choice) and I loved them both so I'm going to try to read some more of his books. The film adaptation of The Longest Ride is coming out next month so I'm going to save the book for when I go on holiday over Easter.

Have you read any of these books?

Currently reading: The Brontës And Their World by Phyllis Bentley

Currently drinking: Night Time Tea by Pukka

Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell [SPOILERS]

Title: Eleanor & Park

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Series: n/a

Format: Paperback (paid for myself)

Rating: 5/5

WARNING: This review contains spoilers!

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Goodreads description: When Eleanor first meets Park, she thinks he's obnoxious. When Park first meets Eleanor, he thinks she's weird. It is hate at first sight. But as they suffer each other's company in silence on the bus rides from and to home every day, Eleanor and Park realise that first impressions can be deceiving.

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Favourite quotes: 'Jesus. Was it possible to rape somebody's hand?'

"We're going to listen to music in my room." "Fine," his dad said from under the sink. "Just don't get anybody pregnant."

"I want to be the last person who ever kisses you, too... That sounds bad, like a death threat or something. What I'm trying to say is, you're it. This is it for me."

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My review: This book reminded me why I love to read although I was honestly a little worried whether I'd even like this book before I began it. I'd previously read two of Rainbow Rowell's books (Fangirl and Attatchments), both of which I loved and ended up being two of my favourite reads of last year, however the review from John Green on the front put me off a little. I was worried that Eleanor & Park might be quite upsetting and heavy going which are the type of books I usually avoid (sorry John Green). However, while some of the issues in this book were a lot heavier than Fangirl and Attachments, this was balanced out by the humour and the adorableness of Eleanor and Park's relationship. THEY WERE JUST SO ADORABLE. Rainbow Rowell does such an amazing job of creating characters that you fall in love with from the very first page. I loved all their quirks and the initial awkwardness of their relationship. They both felt like such realistic characters.

I also loved, loved, loved the ending. I was a bit worried when I saw how much of the book was left when Eleanor still hadn't made contact with Park but I think the ending was perfect for them. I don't usually like ambiguous endings but this seemed perfect for them. I started blubbering with happiness as soon as I'd read the last word!

Although I've currently got a TBR list as long as my arm I'm definitely going to make sure I get to Landline this year because if its anything like her other three books I know I'm going to love it.

Have you read any of Rainbow Rowell's books?

Currently reading: Trial by Fire by Josephine Angleini

Currently drinking: Mango and Passionfruit Green Tea by Tetley

Book cover image from Goodreads

February 2015 Wrap Up

Books I read in February (in order read):

Girl Online by Zoe Sugg [my review here]
Rating: 3/5

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Rating: 5/5

Persuasion by Jane Austen [my review here]
Rating: 5/5
Tsarina by J. Nelle Patrick
Rating: 4/5

I've had a really good month for reading this month! I enjoyed all four books I read which certainly helped me out of the reading slump I'd been in recently.

Girl Online was a cute, quick read. I think it was more suited to a younger audience which made it difficult for me to connect with, but it was still an enjoyable story. I'd definitely like to read Zoe's next book if she does another one. And Eleanor & Park. Oh my. I loved this book so much. Then again it is by Rainbow Rowell and she is downright magical. I can't wait to see the film now! I also finished reading Persuasion this month. It took me forever to read but I'm glad I finally did. It is one of my favourite stories by Austen and I can see myself re-reading it for years to come. And Tsarina was so beautiful. It took me a while to connect with the characters and I couldn't really get on board with a relationship between two of the characters which is why it lost a star, but otherwise I really enjoyed reading this book. The writing was so beautiful. If you're a fan of Russian history or the 1997 Anastasia film then I'd definitely recommend looking this book up.

What did you read in February? Did you have a good reading month?

Currently reading: Trial by Fire by Josephine Angleini

Currently drinking: Mango and Passionfruit Green Tea by Tetley

Book cover images from Goodreads

My Top Ten Bookish Heroines

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme by The Broke and the Bookish. To learn more about this meme click here and you can view their post on this week's theme here.

One of my favourite elements of any book from any genre is a confident, kickass female character, whether they be strong in the physical sense or badasses that won't take no for an answer! Here is my list of my top ten favourite heroines in no particular order:

Rose Hathaway from Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Rose is like the ultimate badass. She doesn't let anyone walk over her and I love her for it.

Hermione Granger from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

I've already had a peek at a few other bloggers's lists this week and Hermione is a very popular choice for obvious reasons! The sacrifices Hermione makes to keep her friends and family safe are incredibly admirable. I so loved reading about her as I grew up.

Tessa Gray from The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

Tessa certainly doesn't have a great start in this series but she seems to go from strength to strength afterwards. I also have to make a special mention for Charlotte from this series as well. Cassandra Clare sure knows how to write her heroines!

Margaret Hale from North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Margaret is so kind and caring and always stands up for what she believes is right, no matter how powerful the opposition is.

Penryn Young from Angelfall by Susan Ee

Even before the whole angel apocalypse situation, Penryn already had a lot on her plate but no matter what comes her way she just gets on and deals with what's in front of her.

Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

It's hard to find anything to dislike about Elizabeth. She's witty, confident in herself, kind and caring. And even though she makes mistakes she's not afraid to own up to them which I really respect her for.

Tessa from Blind Beauty by K.M. Peyton

Although Tessa starts out the book as a rude brat she completely transforms by the end to a strong, confident person and her character is one of the main reasons why I re-read this book at least one a year!

Nasuada from the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini

I don't know if you can get more kickass than this woman. Leading the Varden, fighting battles, winning The Trial of the Long Knives...

Anne Elliot from Persuasion by Jane Austen

Anne is one of my all-time favourite characters because she strikes the perfect between being gentle and strong, proving you don't have to be just one of them!

Catelyn Stark from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin

I have a feeling I'll be the only one that chose Catelyn, haha! Although she could be a bit of annoying at times Catelyn always knew where her priorities lay which I couldn't help admiring her for.

Who would make your list?

Currently reading: Tsarina by J. Nelle Patrick

Currently drinking: Pomegranate Green Tea by Twinings