Mockingjay Part II | Movie Review & Reaction (*SPOILERS*)

Who decided it would be a good idea to turn Mockingjay into movies? Who decided to create these movies and then put them out into the world for innocent human beings to watch? Why? 

Mockingjay Part II. Was. Brilliant. Absolutely. Brilliant. This movie was perfect. (If you haven't watched it already I recommend a large supply of tissues and I wish you the best of luck). 

Let me start this review by saying that I did not like reading Mockingjay at all. I didn't appreciate the plot and the deaths and the ending. Even if you tell me that it's good because it's realistic...no, I disagree. However I absolutely loved this book to movie adaptation. It picked up where Part 1 left off and told the story so beautifully and accurately. Tears. Drowning in a waterfall of tears.

Can I take a second to mention Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence's acting in this movie because they were absolutely perfect. In the whole series of movies in fact but specially this movie. This movie made me sympathize with Katniss on a different level and it made me realize how hurt Peeta was, how kind he was and how much they both actually needed each other. I felt Katniss' anger so much because of how people were just using her and neglecting how much she has been through and how hard it is for her to be around all this war.

My Top Five Favourite BookTubers

Around three years ago I realized that there was quite a large book community on the internet and I first came across this community through a BookTube video. I love reading book blogs (and now writing my own!) but watching BookTube videos is really fun and there's a lot of great people there so I thought I'd introduce you to my five favourite BookTubers (in no particular order).

Christine from PolandBananasBooks

If you've watched BookTube videos then I'm sure you'll know Christine because she's made collabs wiht lots of other vloggers specially during events like VidCon and BEA. But if you don't know her, Christine is super funny and bubbly, she makes book talks (with lots of spoilery discussions so beware), book tags, videos with actual authors and other famous people (!!!) and cute little skits. She also has a comedy channel called PolandBananas20 :)

I Want More Diversity in YA Literature

To be honest I basically only read YA books apart from a couple of children's books and (rarely) adult books. I am trying to extend on the genres that I read but the thing is I really enjoy reading YA books. But when I read books from other genres I start to notice a problem with a lot of YA books that I've read. There are so few books that represent minorities and have diverse characters as the main protagonists.

If you look at the YA books that you own or have read how many have diverse characters (different nationalities, cultures, genders, LGBTQ+ or disabilities/illnesses) as an important part of the story? I think in general you might find that there is very little diversity in YA literature. (Unless you are very careful in researching and picking out books with diverse characters in which case, go you!)

Let me explain this, I don't mean to say that there aren't any diverse characters at all in YA but when there are they are a lot of the times only defined by their differences. I feel like almost all YA books with diversity are contemporary or realistic fiction books that deal solely with how the protagonist has a hard life and deals with their struggles. And while I appreciate these books because they are very important to help educate people and help them learn about another person's situations and perspectives I also think that there should be books involving diverse characters that don't focus on their issues only.

Cover Reveal | Not Enough by Mia Hoddell

Not Enough by Mia Hoddell

Genre Upper YA/NA Contemporary Romance

Release Date: November 16th 2015

Links:

Amazon UK│Amazon US│Barnes & Noble│Kobo│iBooks│ Add to Goodreads

Summary from Goodreads:

Neve Colvin isn’t good enough. As an introvert, her life is a never-ending list of labels and criticism. Pressures to change come from everyone—including the one person she thought would love her unconditionally … her mother. All Neve wants is acceptance, but surrounded by extroverts it’s a wish that’s nearly impossible to fulfill.

Book Review | The Miseducation of Cameron Post by E. M. Danforth

Released: February 7th 2012
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Pages: 470 pages
Genre: YA, Contemporary, LGBTQ

Set in rural Montana in the early 1990s, emily m. danforth’s The Miseducation of Cameron Postis a powerful and widely acclaimed YA coming-of-age novel in the tradition of the classic Annie on My Mind.   Cameron Post feels a mix of guilt and relief when her parents die in a car accident. Their deaths mean they will never learn the truth she eventually comes to—that she's gay. Orphaned, Cameron comes to live with her old-fashioned grandmother and ultraconservative aunt Ruth. There she falls in love with her best friend, a beautiful cowgirl. When she’s eventually outed, her aunt sends her to God’s Promise, a religious conversion camp that is supposed to “cure” her homosexuality. At the camp, Cameron comes face to face with the cost of denying her true identity.  

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a standalone YA contemporary novel that follows the main character Cameron through four years in her life as she figures out who she is and who to trust. I really wanted to like this book and had high expectations for it because I know Raeleen (padfootandprongs07) and lots of other people on BookTube really loved it and while I found this book to be really interesting I also thought it was a little bit too long and detailed. E. M. Danforth's writing style is however really beautiful! This book is set in Montana in 1989 and the descriptions of it set a really nice scene of the time and place the story is taking place in.

“...and there I was sending all the wrong signals to the right people in the wrong ways. Again, again, again.”

Where To Get Discounted Books

I love going to large bookstores and going through all the shelves of my favourite genre but most of the times the books there are sold for full price which is actually quite expensive. However I have found a couple of websites where there are discounted or cheaper books with not a huge amount of shipping fees (especially if you live outside the US) and I wanted to share these with you! I have used most of these websites and had good experiences with them and one of them I haven't used but know other Bloggers and BookTubers have used them and recommended them as well.

The Book Depository is definitely one of the best places to get discounted books online, according to me anyway, because they have a lot of different genres and different books within each of the genres. Plus free shipping WORLDWIDE! I'm 100% serious! The company is based in the UK however which means that shipments to places other than Europe, UK and US might take a little longer but I do think it's worth it because they have quite big discounts, around 30%-50% on a lot of books.

AbeBooks is my next suggestion. This website has a lot more used, second hand books and lots of rare and out of print books along with some new books as well. There are tons of different booksellers who sell various types and genres of books. AbeBooks doesn't ship from any particular place, instead each bookseller ships each order themselves so shipping might take different amounts of time depending on where you are ordering from.

The Taylor Swift Book Tag ♕

If you know me you'll know that I love love love Taylor Swift so I was bound to do this tag at one point or another. I saw this tag on some blogs and on YouTube and I took these questions (with the added ones at the end) from Katytastic's video.

1. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

(pick a book or series that you were pretty sure you were in love with, but then wanted to break up
with)

I think the obvious answer for this song is the Divergent series but if I had to choose another one I think I'd go with the Secret series by Pseudonymous Bosch. The first two books in this series were really really good, the plot was really good and the fantasy parts were blended in really well but as the series continued on the story was so dragged out and just not fun to read anymore.

2. Red


(pick a book with a RED cover)

See what I did there?? Red is even in the title :D :D Moving on..Ruby Red has a very red cover and it's also a very good book! It was originally written in German but I can't read an entire book in German so I read the translation in English and it was a super fun story with cool mythology I hadn't read before.