2015 Wrap up

This post is mainly for myself, because I usually feel during December like I haven't accomplished anything this year, so I'm hoping this will make me at least feel better about my reading accomplishments in 2015. I just don't want you to think I'm boasting about how much I've read nor do I want to be compared to anybody else. To make it a bit more interesting for you, I'll also share the rating I gave each book on goodreads, so hopefully I can recommend some books to you with this post as well!
I surpassed my goal of reading 50 books in 2015 by reading 62 books with a total amount of 26500 pages (and no, I'm not crazy enough to count it myself, goodreads did it).
In case you've never heard of goodreads, it's basically a social media for the book community. I'd definitely recommend you to check it out, it's really good for keeping track of your reading and is super helpful when you need new book recommendations.

The specacular now by Tim Tharp 1/5 ✹                                                             
The perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky 4/5 ✹
Anna and the French kiss by Stephanie Perkins 4/5 ✹
Lola and the boy next door by Stephanie Perkins 2/5 ✹
Just one day by Gayle Forman 3/5 ✹
Isla and the happily ever after by Stephanie Perkins 3/5 ✹
Shatter me by Tahereh Mafi 2.5/5 ✹
Unravel me by Tahereh Mafi 1/5 ✹
Ignite me by Tahereh Mafi 2/5 ✹
Throne of glass by Sarah J. Maas 5/5 ✹
Crown of midnight by Sarah J. Maas 5/5 ✹
Heir of fire by Sarah J. Maas 5/5 ✹
The assassin's blade by Sarah J. Maas 5/5 ✹
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard 5/5 ✹
All the bright places by Jennifer Niven 5/5 ✹
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell 3/5 ✹
The iron trial by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black 3.5/5 ✹
The geography of you and me by Jennifer E. Smith 3/5 ✹
Since you've been gone by Morgan Matson 5/5 ✹
The 100 by Kass Morgan 3/5 ✹
Day 21 by Kass Morgan 3.5/5 ✹
Homecoming by Kass Morgan 3.5/5 ✹
The 5th wave by Rick Yancey 3.5/5 ✹
I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai 4.5/5 ✹
The heir by Kiera Cass 3.5/5 ✹
Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley 4/5 ✹
A court of thornes and roses by Sarah J. Maas 5/5 ✹
Snow like ashes by Sara Raasch 5/5 ✹
To all the boys I've loved before by Jenny Han 5/5 ✹
We were liars by E. Lockhart 3.5/5 ✹
A game of thrones by George R.R. Martin 5/5 ✹
A clash of kings by George R.R. Martin 5/5 ✹
A storm of swords by George R.R. Martin 5/5 ✹
A feast for crows by George R.R. Martin 5/5 ✹
A dance with dragons by George R.R. Martin 5/5 ✹
Pride and prejudice by Jane Austen 4/5 ✹
The hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle 3.5/5 ✹
Erebos by Ursula Poznanski 2/5 ✹
The hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien 2.5/5 ✹
Can you keep a secret by Sophie Kinsella 3.5/5 ✹
P.S. I still love you by Jenny Han 5/5 ✹
Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli 4.5/5 ✹
Love letters to the dead by Ava Dellaira 4/5 ✹
The winner's curse by Marie Rutkoski 5/5 ✹
Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout 3/5 ✹
The kiss of deception by Mary E. Pearson 4/5 ✹
To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee 5/5 ✹
Queen of shadows by Sarah J. Maas 5/5 ✹
The winner's crime by Marie Rutkoski 5/5 ✹
The wrath and the dawn by Renèe Ahdieh 5/5 ✹
Great expectations by Charles Dickens 4/5 ✹
Ice like fire by Sara Raasch 5/5 ✹
Six of crows by Leigh Bardugo 5/5 ✹
The book thief by Markus Zusak 5/5 ✹
Happily ever after by Kiera Cass 3/5 ✹
The maze runner by James Dashner 2/5 ✹
The scorch trials by James Dashner 3/5 ✹
The death cure by James  Dashner 3/5 ✹
Quantic love by Sonia Fernàndez-Vidal 2/5 ✹ 
A tale of two cities by Charles Dickens 4/5 ✹ 
A knight of the seven kingdoms by George R.R. Martin 5/5 ✹

I hope 2015 was amazing for you and wish you an even better year in 2016!

Leah 

What I got for christmas 2015

Before I start I wanna tell you guys that I don't wanna boast with this post or be compared to anyone but I thought that you might be interested in the books I got for Christmas. So please don't feel insulted!
And now, let's get started!

So I mostly wished for books this year (just like the years before...) and I'm really happy about them. And of course I'm gonna review most of the books as soon as I've finished them.

(A few of them are in German but I'm gonna mention them by their english names.

I also apologize for the bad quality but the light in winter is often really bad.)

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Opposition by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Lola and the boy next door by Stephanie Perkins
Born at midnight by C.C. Hunter
Awake at dawn by C.C. Hunter
The lying game by Sara Shepard
Never have I ever by Sara Shepard
The Bane chronicles by Cassandra Clare
Let it snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
The 100 by Kass Morgan
Day 21 by Kass Morgan
Homecoming by Kass Morgan


As you can see I got many new books and I'm really looking forward to reading all of them!
 I started reading The lying game yesterday and I'm about to finish it. The review will be up next week I guess.

Have a nice day guys!

Vicky

Favorite books of 2015

So at first I wanted to choose my 10 favorites out of all the books I've read this year, but then I realized it'd be such a boring list, simply because I'd basically just pick books by George R.R. Martin and Sarah J. Maas. So I decided to change it up a bit and only choose out of the books that actually were released in 2015.
I'm also sorry for the weird lightning in some of the pictures, but I figured those are still better than none at all.


10. P.S I still love you (Jenny Han)

This book is the second in the To all the boys I've loved before series and was just like the first one amazing, and certainly also is one of my most favorite contemporary reads. I wish there'd be a third book in the series, but on the other hand I think Lara Jean's story was finished in such a beautiful way in this book, so I'm already looking forward to reading more (especially any new books that are hopefully being released during the next few years) by Jenny Han, since they'll surely be just as awesome as the To all the boys I've loved before series is.
(To know more about the first book in the series, read my review here.) 

9. Ice like fire (Sara Raasch)

Even though I have to agree with most of the other readers, who think Ice like fire was a bit slower than Snow like ashes, I definitely enjoyed it just as much, simply because it wasn't as predictable as Snow like ashes, which plot twists I basically saw coming during the first 50 pages. I love the concept of the world with the different kingdoms based of the seasons and rythms, thus diving deeper in it while learning and seeing more of the magic was an amazing experience.

8. The winner's crime (Marie Rutkoski)

I was really excited for this one because of the way the first book in the series called The winner's curse ended and it didn't disappoint at all! I enjoyed how it focuses a lot more on politics and intrigues and the ending makes me look forward to the next book so much! I especially like how the unique culture and way of living is portrayed, so I always love reading about the world The winner's trilogy takes place in.

7. Carry on (Rainbow Rowell)

I was at first quite sceptical towards Carry on, because I thought this would just be an extended version of the fanfiction Cath writes in Fangirl, but it simply blew my away. Such a fun and quick read with a great use of magical elements, both already known and new.
(You can read my full review here)




6. Red queen (Victoria Aveyard)

I already knew before starting this book that there'll be a huge plot twist at the end, but I wasn't even close to being prepared, so it still totally suprised me and that's something that didn't happen very often with most of the YA books I've read this year. I quite enjoyed the characters, the magic was pretty unique and as well as the world, even though I'm actually still not sure wether this is set in a fantasy world or a dystopian version of our world.

5. The wrath and the dawn (Renèe Ahdieh)

I've never really been into fairy tales, so I was quite suprised at how much I enjoyed this fantastic retelling of A thousand and one nights. I loved the writing, the beautiful titles for every chapter are an especially amazing detail. The only little problem I had was getting confused with all these for me very exotic and barely pronounceable names and terms, but there's a super helpful glossary in the back of the book. Not just the cover, but also the design of the pages inside are absolutely gorgeous and make imagining the world way easier.

4. All the bright places (Jennifer Niven)

I didn't really know what the book actually was about when I started reading it, so it blew me completely away with it's meaningfulness and managed to touch me in a way barely any book did before. Because the book deals with very important topics, I don't want to go into my opinion too much rather than say I absolutely loved it, since I want to keep this short. (If you want to, you can read my full opinion here)

3. A court of thornes and roses (Sarah J. Maas)

I honestly just love everything about this book - the breathtaking story, the characters, the world, magic and suprisingly also the romance, that was done especially good, since I usually like the romance part of a story the least because it's often so over the top, but I really enjoyed it in ACoTaR. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm not a big expert when it comes to fairy tales, but I did recognize some aspects from Beauty and the beast, which I definitely enjoyed and in my opinion fit in the story perfectly.

2. Six of crows (Leigh Bardugo)

This book suprised me so much! I basically just bought it because of its incredibly gorgeous cover, but the story inside was even better. It hooked me on the very first page and I couldn't stop reading until I finished it a few hours later, so I'm really looking forward to reading Leigh Bardugo's Grisha trilogy and of course, the sequel to Six of crows as well, which comes out in september 2016. (You can get to the review here)
  
1. Queen of Shadows (Sarah J. Maas)

I honestly don't even know where to start. Sarah J. Maas just manages to outdo herself with every new book in the Throne of glass series, since they just get better and better! And I guess the only way I can describe it without spoiling anything of the complex and absoultely awesome story is by telling you how EPIC it is. I couldn't stop reading at any point, and I seriously experienced all the emotions, from being completely happy to feeling so empowered to sobbing my eyes out. I can barely wait until September next year when the 5th book is coming out.

In case you decide to buy any of these books, hopefully you'll enjoy them as much as I do!

Leah

The unpopular opinion book tag

1. A popular book or series that you didn't like

Vicky: Allegiant by Veronica Roth! I just didn't enjoy this book bc it was soo boring and I disapprove Tris' character development. I started reading Alleigant even though I didn't like Insurgent at all and I have to admit that I regret it. So this is a popular series/book I simply couldn't get along with.
Leah: I feel like I'm the only person who doesn't like the Shatter me series by Tahereh Mafi. I bought the books because of their absolutely stunning covers and I regret it so much! I seriously had to force myself to finish them, they bored me so much, were predictable and I just didn't care about the characters at all.

2. A popular book that everyone hates but you love

Vicky: I think Twilight isn't as bad as everybody says. I mean, of course there are many stereotyped teenager romance scenes in there and the whole story isn't very unique or excellent written but in my opinion the book is good as a way of passing time.
Leah: A lot of people apparently don't like the The hundred series by Kass Morgan, but I genuinely enjoyed it quite a lot. Although these aren't my all-time favorite books and the writing as well as the story weren't extraordinary, they are still very enjoyable.

3. A love triangle where you're ship did not sail

Vicky: That's a hard question... Of course I have a  favourite ship in every love triangle but usually I can live with the other couple being together as well. So I guess I go with Jessa bc I love Jem and I think he would have been the better man for Tessa?! (Thanks Cassie for destroying my fangirl feels btw)
Leah: That's actually something that doesn't happen very often for me. Mostly my favorite couple ends up being together, or I just can't stand both options. The only one that comes to my mind right now is Can you keep a secret? by Sophie Kinsella, where I liked Connor a bit more than Jack as Emma's boyfriend.

4. A popular genre that you hardly reach for

Vicky: I don't have a genre I don't like to read after some time but a genre I almost always regret reading are thriller... There are a few very good thriller books but I feel like I'm mostly choosing the wrong ones.
Leah: There are actually quite a few genres I rarely or don't read like thriller, horror, erotica and most of the non-fiction books. I feel like the good thriller and horror books are too intense for me, while non-fiction books like biographies just bore me.

5. A beloved character you didn't like

Vicky: Actually there is only one person I'd like to name: Gale Hawthorne from the Hunger Games series. Do I have to say more than he's just not my favourite character?! (Obviously understated...) And I know that many people love him and I can see that he's a good companion for Katniss and all that stuff and I don't even know why I don't like him... It's just a feeling!
Leah: I just can't stand Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. I don't think he adds anything interesting to the story, probably because he's just acting like an asshole most of the time. He always treated Hermione so badly and honestly wasn't that great of a friend to Harry most of the time.

6. A popular author you can't get into

Vicky: I couldn't get into Rick Yancey or rather in The fifth wave. I don't know if he counts as a famous author but I usually like reading popular authors (Like, they are popular for a reason...)
Leah: I wish I could get into Rick Riordan, because basically everybody loves his books and I want to as well. I read the whole Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and didn't really enjoy it, mainly due to the writing style, so I didn't care much for both the characters and the story.

7. A popular book series you have no interest in reading

Vicky: I'm not really interested in reading The Lord of the rings bc I've seen the first two movies and I feel like I wouldn't like the whole world. But who knows... maybe someday soon I'll read it and fall in love with those books...
Leah: I have to go with The lord of the rings as well since I read The hobbit earlier this year and it was so disappointing! The story was boring and predictable and even though the book is actually quite short, I had trouble motivating myself to read on, so it took me way too long to finish it.

8. An adaptation you like better than the book

Vicky: I like the movie version of Love, Rosie better than the original book. Although the book was cute written with all those letters and emails, it got a bit boring reading the whole story without dialogues. Besides there are so many wonderful actors starring the movie such as Lily Collins and Sam Claflin!
Leah: I honestly can't think of one right now, so I'll just go with Great Gatsby. I wouldn't say the adaptation is better than the book, but it's probably the best book to movie adaptation I've seen so far. They stuck really close to the book, the casting with Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby was fantastic and I loved seeing how the fabulous story and time period came to life.

We hope you enjoyed this little tag! Have a great day,

Vicky and Leah 

Game of thrones tag

I just wanted to take a quick break from studying for school, so I only have time for this short tag. I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.
And I'm kepping this tag spoiler-free, so even if you haven't read the A song of ice and fire series (yet) or watched HBO's Game of thrones you can still continue reading without any worries. Also, I'll answer the questions for the books, so I might mention characters or places we've never seen in the tv show.

1. How did you discover the books?

My brother started reading them (in German) about two years ago and absolutely loved them, but told me I should wait at least another year and a half before I read them (which was honestly such a great advice, because I probably wouldn't have liked them very much if I was any younger when I started reading them). When he got the books in English for his birthady in April this year, I finally started reading them and they're some of my most favorite books now.

2. Who is your favorite house apart from the Starks and Lannisters?

"Unbowed. Unbent. Unbroken." 

 Definitely the Martells! They're my by far most favorite house because of their attitude towards women and bastard children. And I absolutely adore every character from house Martell we've met so far: Oberyn is such an awesome and badass fighter, Doran is really smart and a great schemer and I enjoy Arianne's and Quentyn's POV chapters so much! Of course, the sand snakes are incredibly amazing as well (and I'm still sooo mad at the writers of Game of thrones for making the sand snakes so awful and crappy in the show!). And let's be honest, they have the by far most awesome and badass house words.

3. Who is your favorite character from the House of Stark?

This question is actually quite difficult. I totally love Arya, but I also have such a huge crush on Robb! So I guess I'll just go with both of them.

4. Who is your favorite character from the House of Lannister?

First of all, the Lannisters are one of my least favorite house, the only one I hate more is probably house Greyjoy, and except for Tyrion I dislike every Lannister in some way (of course, Tommen and Myrcella are pretty cute, but we haven't seen that much of both of them). Even though I learned to love hating Cersei and got some weird affection for her through that and probably enjoyed her chapters in A feast for crows, simply because they are satisfying af, so much more than Tyrion's in A dance with dragons, I'll still pick Tyrion as my anwser.

5. Who is your favorite character?

There are so many! But just some randomly chosen characters I absolutely adore are Missandei, Strong Belwas, Dacey Mormont, Shireen Baratheon, Tormund Giantsbane, Wylla Manderly, Alayne Stone, Willas, Garlan and Loras Tyrell, Renly Baratheon and a lot more.

6. Who is your least favorite character?

Ugh, I don't even know where to start! I could give you a list with more than 20 characters I absolutely hate, because there are so many horrible people in this story. Some I loathed from the very first time they appeared are Viserys Targaryen, Joffrey Baratheon, Ramsay Snow, Craster, Theon Greyjoy (basically all Greyjoys, maybe except from Asha) and Shae.

7. What are your thoughts about the show?

In my opinion, season one to three were absoultely amazing, I still liked season four, but season five was just horrible. Apparently the writers of the show tried to create their own story and changed so much from the books and just failed miserably. They changed storylines so nothing would make any sense and killed off random characters without any kind of purpose.

8. If you could be one of the characters who would you be and why?

I probably would have said Danaerys Targaryen because DRAGONS and she also has the coolest squad ever (well, except Jorah and Daario), but now that I think about it a bit longer, I guess I'd be Bran Stark. Of course, he's been through so much shit, but I think having the powers he has is so cool and I love the relationship between Bran and his wolf Summer, and having such a special connection to your pet (or animals in general) must be awesome, right?!

9. What is your favorite book?

I LOVE all of them so much, but right now I probably like A dance with dragons best, because it focuses a bit more on politics and scheming than the others do.

10. Who is your Game of thrones crush?

"Love's not always wise, I've learned. It can lead us to great folly, but we follow our hearts...wherever they take us."

Like I mentioned before, I have such a big crush on Robb Stark. He's compared to most of the other characters truly nice and honorable, but still (mostly) smart enough to know what to do in precarious situations. And his age is also really close to mine, which makes having a crush on him a bit less weird (at least I hope so...).
(The quote above is one of my favorites, said by Robb Stark in CATELYN II, ASOS)

11. What are you most looking forward to in the upcoming book?

Everything! But what I'm currently probably most excited about is the storyline in Oldtown and the opportunity to learn more about the maesters and the citadel in general. I'm also really interested to see what's going to happen with the current situation in Meereen. And of course, I'm dying to see what's gonna happen especially in Dorne and King's Landing, and I'll be seriously so happy if we get to see the Manderlys again!

I hope I did fangirl enough to keep my mouth shut about A song of ice and fire for the next few weeks here and obviously hope you enjoyed this little tag. Have a nice day,

Leah

Carry on (Rainbow Rowell)

I just finished this book and literally couldn't wait to write this review until after I'm done with studying for my Latin test next week (can somebody kill me right now, please?), so I'm sorry for having to try to keep this pretty short to get back to studying (rather translating texts some dude wrote over 2000 years ago) as soon as possible.

Carry on follows Simon Snow, the supposedly greatest mage of all time, during his final year at the Watford School for Magicks. The year starts horrible for him: His long-term girlfriend Agatha broke up with him, the tension between the different magical families are running higher than ever, Simon's roommate and enemy Baz is missing and an evil creature, which can according to prophecies only be killed by Simon, wants to destroy magic once for all and is stronger than ever. But Simon's probably the worst you could choose for such an important job, since he doesn't have any kind of control over his magic, and mostly just sets stuff on fire on accident. He's trying his best anyway to unravel the mysteries concerning himself and those closest to him while fighting a war nobody's prepared for.

"You have to pretend you get an endgame. You have to carry on like you will; otherwise, you can't carry on at all."

I was basically flying through this book, it was such a fast read and really varied and never boring due to the different POV chapters. Of course, just like any other book by Rainbow Rowell I've read so far, it's funny and makes me feel light-hearted and so happy (and the writing is obviously fantastic).
The romance is done really well, Baz and Simon are just way too adorable not to ship and I love in general how refreshing and awesome LGBT+ pairings usually are.
The several characters are all likeable and seeing their different views and attitudes towards magic, but also each other, is quite interesting and certainly entertaining. Even though many readers apparently didn't like Agatha at all, I think it's amazing to have a character who doesn't like her powers and the society in which she is because of them at all. 
In my opinion Rainbow Rowell did an amazing job at using elements from other fantasy books with similiar structures such as the Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling, as well as combining them with her own. Sadly, in my opinion the story was pretty predictable and none of the events really managed to shock me, but I still totally love it nonetheless.
  
Rating: 4.5/5 ✹

That's what the cover looks like and though I definitely like it, I think other books by Rainbow Rowell have way more beautiful covers, such as Fangirl and Eleanor and Park. But Carry on has an incredibly gorgeous spine! That's why I've chosen the other picture for the top of my post, but I simply wanted to show you the cover as well.

I hope you enjoyed this review and you're having a great day,

Leah

Baking inspired by books - Snickerdoodles

During the winter I love eating snickerdoodles because they just taste like Christmas and happiness, and they are certainly my favorite cookies in the cold months, so I'm eating way more of them than I'm supposed to. (Also, I'm really sorry for the terrible lightning of the picture beneath.)

"We are in the kitchen. Margot is at the table on her computer; I am sitting next to her, rolling cookie dough into balls and dropping them in cinnamon and sugar. Snickerdoodles to get back in Kitty's good graces. Earlier, when I went in to say good night, Kitty rolled over and wouldn't speak to me because she's still convinced I'm going to try to cut her out of the Paris trip. My plan is to put the snickerdoodles on a plate right next to her pillow so she wakes up to the smell of fresh-baked cookies." (To all the boys I've loved before, chapter 1)

Before reading To all the boys I've loved before by Jenny Han (you can read a review here) I've never heard about snickerdoodles because they are pretty unknown here in Germany. So when I read this amazing book I had no idea what kind of cookies these are (I even thought they had something to do with snickers), but since Kitty is so obsessed with them, I searched for a recipe and made them. I'm honestly so glad I did because I just love them so much!

Ingredients:

-230g flour
-1/2 TS ground cinnamon
-2 TS baking powder
-1 pinch of salt
-115g butter
-150g sugar
-1 egg
-1 TS vanilla extract/8g of vanilla sugar
-sugar and cinnamon for cinnamon sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 190°C.
2. Stir your butter, then mix in your sugar and vanilla sugar/extract, add your egg and stir everything together.
3. Mix your flour with the salt, cinnamon and baking powder in a seperate bowl.
4. Stir your flour mixture in the butter mixture until you have a nice dough.
5. Form small balls of the dough and roll them in cinnamon sugar.
6. Bake them for about 10 min until they start to turn golden-brown.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe. Happy baking!

Leah