The Girl on the Train review

When I read it: 30th January - 25th February 2016

Rating: 3/5

Overall, I'm fairly disappointed in this book. Now let me expand on this opinion... 
Imagine me with an abundance of books on my to-read list, and I choose this one because in my mind it's the most anticipated. Not only that, but hasn't everyone been rambling on and on about how amazingly just this is?
Well what did I expect? Something like In Cold Blood by Capote to turn up- well do you blame me if I did?
Anyway, getting to the point. It's terrible, honestly, if I pick it apart then maybe it has some goodness at its core, but overall, not amazing. The writing is realistic, as in, maybe a middle age drunk would speak and think in these terms but it's basic. There's no flavour, there's no trying to paint a picture, it's just well, "here is a sweater, maybe its blue, I don't know". The start is slow, but do you know what's good about that? it's a metaphor for the theme of the book, pick it apart and analysis it's pace. It begins slowly and it start to pick up by the middle and slow down as the novel wraps up, just like a train. Hawkins was lucky to have the talent to at least, know how to trail off the chapters, you want to read the next "date" no matter what.
I might be being a little rough with this review, I did give it three stars not two after all. So let's sum up my feelings for real; The book is more dull than expected but saying this it still had a trail of surprises for me, she's good at cliffhangers after every date recorded, what a clever format to write a book like a diary, as I said previously the pace of the story resembles a train, maybe she could have been less repetitive or again that resembles a life of a commuter, the end needs working on.

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The Shining review

When I read it: 27th December 2015 - 17th January 2016
Rating: 5/5

I have not got much motivation or any inspiration for that matter to write about this book. This has no relation how good this novel was (let me get to that in a second) but it just seems to be hard to wrap up and tie up all of the loose ends of all the after-thoughts I got from this book's ending and to put it into words so soon. Nevertheless I shall try my very best in doing so.

I read my Stephen King collection a little backwards, date of published-wise. I previously read Joyland last summer and it was beautiful. It had a very sticky storyline, you grab it and you can't let go, your eyes are glued to the page. I have been told though, that the newer novels are far from the same as the classics like The Shining, so I felt anxious, do I like the Stephen King books he is most famous for? 
Of course the answer would be a big fat yes. It has been a while since the last time I read and just reading his style was different to anything I have previously read before. I'm always cautious when it comes to picking up a book written in third person, it takes skills to use that objective narrative and still be flexible enough to make it seem that you're writing it in each of the main character's perspective directly as if it were first person narrative. 
I think because this is such a classic and the movie adaptation was a hit that I've seen the reworks of the original again and again in other movies, tv shows or in music videos, this gave a lot of the storyline away but the rest was easily foreseeable. Either way, that was perfectly fine with me. It's not the ending being spoiled to worry about but how it got to that.

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Joyland review

When I read it: 18th August - 24th August 2015
Rating: 5/5

This novel was certainly better than I expected. Sometimes you have to ignore some reviews and go on your own intuitive. 
This was my first Stephen King book, I have longed to read his famous novels for as long as I can remember but I am no good with horror, both movies and novels alike, therefore I was iffy on buying this one. Despite this, I bought it eagerly expecting to have half of wits running off with their tail between it's legs. In reality, I was gripped from beginning to end with small to nothing fear dwelling in my heart. It was the complete opposite to my original expectations. 
It was more mystery (and even more about romance) than horror, and maybe it said that somewhere but I didn't bother checking. I wanted a clear mind on this one. 
In hind side, Joyland has enough clichés to make you figure out who the killer is and everything that ties to him but I didn't want to find it out while reading I wanted to go with the flow I wanted to discover who it was the same time Dev did (and oh I did, unintentionally.) Nevertheless, I was thrown aback when I did officially find out in the end, I knew it was between two people but either one didn't really add up because I wasn't given the same information, history and maturity of relationships and friendships alike, as the narrator did. 
Overall, it was an amazing roller-coaster ride which is what you want from an amazing carny amusement park like Joyland.

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Dracula review

When I read it: 28th September 2014 - 16th July 2015
Rating: 4/5

This was another Gothic novel I first read in High School. Round one of reading this (now infamous?) novel was a dull and heavy duty for me. The book was thick with literature notions and Victorian lingo high school me could not, for the life of me, really, and I mean really get into it. It was a task I didn't want to deal with. So what did I do? I cheated I looked at Sparknotes and read small chunks of each chapter to get by. 
Round two: I started last summer, the warm dewy weather outside and my running streak of reading one book after another enthused my desire to re-read this masterpiece. Let me say this, it was a long tedious journey, it felt never-ending and you never want that while you're reading. But whether it was the fact that I was in a reading slump or the fact that I'm still adjusting to reading classics at a normal pace it was still worthwhile. 
I began by adoring Jonathan and his cute "picturesque" phase and his caring notions towards his wife and honestly he's a great character, this is a must in a book especially with one with multi-protagonists, the introduction of the first character needs to be a hit. I ended with being a Seward's girl (woah am I making this into a thing?)

Cutting to the chase, the story is obviously phenomenal. Despite being a classic, the feminist themes were prominent and I must say, some men of today can learn a lesson or two from this novel. They treat Mina like another man like she's part of their Gentlemen's club and the best thing is, she's a modern woman, she has new (and back then crazy) ideas for the women of that age, and they accept it with open arms! It's amazing. 
I also enjoyed that sense of unity. It may be the switching of narratives or how each character would take a bullet for one and another and it's such an intense piece of workmanship that you feel you're part of the anti-Dracula squad. 
Honestly, I thoroughly enjoyed Dracula the second time round. I had so much to annotate, the past me would be proud! It may take a long process to get through it but it's certainly worth the wait.

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The Death Cure (Book 3, The Maze Runner series) review

When I read it: 31st March 2015 - 21st April 2015
Rating: 4/5

Once I saw there was only a few chapters left, I was reeling in more and more until the bitter end. That was when the book was getting really good. 
Reading this series has been a roller-coaster ride for sure. At the beginning I fell in love, I loved the story and idea of the universe James Dashner created but I felt there was something missing. To me a good book needs a good balance of action and the build up to that climatic action. The TMR series lacks this, slightly. I feel like when something was happening and my heart starts racing the pace of the tone picks up a little and then this "big" thing happens and I think to myself, "Was that it?". First hearing about this series, I was pretty damn excited, it was going to be the next big Dystopian novel I was looking for, after reading THG and Divergent, both very similar to one of another if I may add, I felt quite refreshed knowing I'm going to read a Dystopian with a male lead. I loved the series, don't get me wrong, I especially loved this particular one, Death Cure. But, but... It wasn't as good as it was hyped up to be, and I duly understand why people find it slow. 

Now let's get to specifics, let's focus on The Death Cure. Previously, I found Scorch Trials dull and a filler until I read the finale, I was worried that TDC would be the same, it would attempt to be this amazing, grand sort of thing to only expose it's true self and be a boring, rushed novel just to be written for the sake of being written. 
The start was premature and only until near the end I felt it was getting good, finally turning into the type of novel that's impossible to put down. I felt maybe the ending could of been better to do it justice but it could of been worse.

My whole review has been 90% negative but don't get me wrong it got a 4/5 for a good reason. It's just hard to explain the experience I went through, easier to explain the bad pointers than the good. You just have to go and read it to find out yourself.

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Gone Girl review

When I read it: 17th March - 25th March 2015

Rating: 5/5

“It’s a very difficult era in which to be a person, just a real, actual person, instead of a collection of personality traits selected from an endless Automat of characters.” 
Wow. What a ride.
As you can see I basically wrote essay after essay in my statuses reading throughout this book. I originally want to wait to pour all contents of my mind and thoughts of this novel until the review, but really? It's just too good to wait to boastfully shout and implore how damn fucking amazing (-Amy, *snickers) Gone Girl really is. 
Let me set the scene, (firstly, I got to stop referencing the book like this, sorry, inside jokes and all that.) I hoisted up my Kindle from my ever-growing "current reading" pile, with feisty hands! I was oh so excited to read this anticipated novel. The movie had been out and there were wondrous amounts of positive feedback, I knew this was going to be the one book that grabs me single-handedly and takes me back to their world. I haven't had a book such as that in a while; where you read these magnificently written words that creates a dream-like scene and you think "Oh, I feel like I'm in this book, feeling the same way Amy/Nick (dependent on whose side you're reading at the time) are feeling, I feel so associated and connected with them, it's unreal! What is reality?" And then you proceed to read and not put the book down- or Kindle in my case, until the bitter end with the final words, making it seem this new world exploded and all is gone and you're back at home feeling dull but crucially powerful with meaning because you were that character for no matter for how short or long and it felt damn good. 
I should cut to the chase, to the actual plot and story. 
I had a few presumptions, and a few careless people I knew online let slip a few spoilers so the big twist, bump, climax what have you within the story arc wasn't that big for me but that didn't matter, I didn't know every little necessary piece in the book just the big large chunks. But even so, I found the story can't be told so well without the smaller discoveries in the book. That how well Gone Girl is written. You feel like you finally got grasp of the plot, you think smitten, that you got the whole story under control and know the ending before it ends, and therefore your emotions on a leash, but oh no, no no, Nick lies without you really knowing until later, you're in his goddamn brain how can you not know? That's just ingenious writing there for you. Amy winds you around and around until you, a metaphorical coil tense so much that once she reveals herself, the secrets, the truth, your emotions fly out everywhere. To be honest with you, I felt physically sick and frustrated by the end of the novel but that's it, you want those physical emotions (particularly not those) to realise how attach you gotten into it, how you delved in so much that you felt like you were actually Nick. 

I mean, this is the book I have been looking for all my life! Bit dramatic, right? Sorry, so was Amy.

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5, Harry Potter series) review

When I read it: 14th February 2015 - 16th March 2015
Rating: 5/5

(So, I just discovered I forgot to write my review for Goblet of Fire, atlas, there is no point now as the story is no longer fresh in my mind. Nevertheless, on with OoTP!)

Rereading this particular Potter book was very refreshing, much unlike when I first read it a few years back, it was a lot more harder to get into and read.

There is not much to say apart from the obvious, really. But I'll be saying this, one you hit this fifth book in the series it opens a lot up from the overall storyline and plot, you understand a lot more on the "why?"s and "how?"s. The character development unravels - especially, Harry's, from it's tight safe ball it was in, in the preceding novels. 

Order of the Phoenix is so beautifully written that it is no wonder you feel you were in the shoes of Harry Potter himself. Feeling his teenage angst, grief and frustration from the boundaries of himself and the truth. 

I was weeping terribly during the chapter where Dumbledore explained himself and in doing so explaining the whole story of Harry Potter. It was such a strong sense of realisation that I'm sure what was Harry going through amongst the fresh gaping hole that Sirius' death left behind. 

Not many books can do this to you, to make you laugh when the character's laugh or to cry when they're in doing so. It is the best of the best that could make you, the reader, to feel as the author wanted you to feel. J.K. Rowling is exceptional in this way, and my god, if you still have yet to read this series, go and try it now!

                     See my other reviews and what I'm reading on my Goodreads account by clicking here.