Novel Nerds *

Books of the Month: February ‘12

My favourite book this month has to be Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket). This book got me out of my reading funk so it deserves to be on this post today.

Why We Broke Up is about Min Green and Ed Slaterton’s relationship and why it ended. Min is returning a box of Ed’s things along with a letter to explain the box’s contents and of course the reasons for why they broke up.

It’s a brilliant read and as a fan of A Series of Unfortunate Events I was excited to read something new by Daniel Handler.

I also did a review for this so check it out.

I started a ton of books for February but quite frankly, none of them were amazing and the only one I finished made me angry. So I have no favourite book this month!

Let’s hope March is full of better books!

Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson is actually the best book I have read so far this year! I actually could not put it down: it’s been forever since I’ve read such a good crime thriller novel. Even though the plot was kind of easy to guess since the author sort of gives it away, the way it is written is captivating!

Fourty-something Christine forgets the days events as soon as she sleeps and has been like this for twenty years. She lives with her husband Ben who dotes on her and has stuck by her, regardless of the fact she can barely remember her time together. Trying to figure out how she lost her memory with the hopes it could bring it back is a daily challenge for Christine, one that really had me gripped. Even though it was kind of easy to guess what would happen, I really wanted to know how it had happened and why. I honestly did not want to put this down and felt quite sad when it was over. A review will be arriving soon! READ IT! READ IT! REEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAD IT!

Books of the Month: January ‘12

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. Points to the review I wrote about The Fault In Our Stars (contains spoilers)

This book is beyond brilliant. I can’t begin to express how much I adore it. This is the best book I have read so far this year.

My book of the month is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I read the first book in January and it was pretty damn awesome. I can’t say the same for the rest of the series, but I loved the first book a lot.

Whilst I didn’t particularly love Katniss (the protagonist) I loved the story as a whole. Dystopian fiction is one of my favourite genres, but also a genre that I’ve studied many a times, suffice to say I’m not easily impressed *cough* XVI *cough* But I was pleasantly surprised with the world Collins created! (Although that’s not entirely true of this book since I am a Battle Royale fan which was written earlier and has an extremely similar story line).

To conclude: I recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks is a great love story to read! It’s not too mushy or robotic; the female lead is actually incredibly inspiring as a woman and a mother of a five year old child with speech difficulties. The male lead in this novel is a fireman who is a sweetheart but also a man so he gets a bit irritating. I kind of wanted to slap him at one point. But he redeems himself towards the end, after revealing a dark secret that actually tugs at your heart strings a little. I found The Rescue to be quite a captivating read because you really feel like the characters have gone through a journey when you close the book. 

Read if you’re a sucker for romances but one that has more to do with growing up- even if you are by age an adult- and learning to accept that not everyone can be saved but it’s okay to need saving.

Books of the Month: November ‘11

This is something new to Novel Nerds, but we hope you guys will enjoy reading our favourite books read during the previous month! :)

My favourite book for November is Lola and The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins. This book is the companion book of Anna and the French Kiss. I adore these two books, they’re simple and easy to read. It’s a nice change from the usual young adult fantasy and dystopian books I read. This could easily be put in the young adult romance genre. It’s very cute and the protagonist Lola is a very likeable character, she’s completely different from your average teenager and is very mature for her age. Cricket (the boy next door) is adorable. If you know me at all, you’ll know that I love dorks and Cricket Bell is a dork! Also Anna and St Clair from Anna and the French Kiss are in the book! I was so happy when Anna and St Clair appeared.

This book follows seventeen year old Lola Nolan, a girl who has vowed not to wear the same outfit twice this year, who aspires to be a costume designer and strives to be different. She lives in San Francisco with her two very protective dads and her dog. Her old neighbours The Bells move back into the house next door and that’s where the real story begins.

My favourite book for November is Wicca: Book of Shadows by Cate Tiernan. Without giving too much away, the series is about Morgan and her journey through her teenage years, studying Wicca. Of course there’s romance, magic and all that fun stuff but I loved reading about Morgan’s real life teenage problems. They reminded me of myself as a (younger) teenager.

I’ve owned the last book of the series (which I bought and read first like the teenage genius I was) and recently decided to buy the previous books. Book of Shadows is the the first of the series and I loved every bit of it.

It was like reading the prologue of Night’s Child (the last book I already own). Of course I couldn’t put it down and finished it in a day and moved on to the next book! The Wicca Series was written and published between the ’90s - early ’00s so there are a lot of references to old things that aren’t really used/talked about anymore - which I love! On the flip side, the books are harder to find because of this. If you’re interested in buying, I’ve been buying mine off of Amazon and eBay :)

My favourite book I read in November is The Last Song. I cried so much reading it. Maybe due to heightened hormones or whatever but it was so sad and beautiful. There were complicated family problems and betrayals that made the story moving and insanely painful. It taught me that second chances are rare and that grudges shouldn’t be held because who knows what you’re missing out on by being angry with someone for years.

I didn’t like Ronnie - the female lead - at times because her anger irritated me a lot of the time. She has a bad relationship with her father which is what brought me to tears at the end of the novel. The love story in this also upset me at the end but I was pacified when things worked itself out but not entirely the way I expected. The Last Song is a movting story about all the kinds of love in the world: familial, friendship and romance. It’s also freaking evil for making me cry so much T_T