Taylor Swift Book Tag

I've seen this tag all over booktube and decided to give it a try, since it looks like a lot of fun and I hope you'll enjoy reading my answers as well! (And I'm really sorry for being so inactive, but I'll try to post at least once a week from now on.)

Question 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 have to go with Insurgent and Allegiant by Veronica Roth. I absolutely loved (and I still do) Divergent, so the first time I read those two books, I adored them as well. But when I re-read them last summer, I didn't liked it at all. I realized the story isn't good, it really annoyed me to read it.

Question 2: Red (pick a book with a red cover)

A court of thornes and roses by Sarah J. Maas! It looks simply stunning, and the story is even better than the cover (which is hardly possible).
  
Question 3: The best day (pick a book that makes you feel nostalgic)

I know it's quite a mainstream anwser, but I have to pick the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling for that one. It was such a big part of my childhood, and I still make sure to reread at least one book every year. (And yes, just like you I'm still waiting for my letter...)

Question 4: Love Story (pick a book with a forbidden love)

I'm gonna go with Kestrel and Arin from the Winner's curse series by Marie Rutkoski. I really like both of these characters and think they make a pretty amazing couple. I'm really excited where the story will head to with those two!

Question 5: I knew you were trouble (pick a book with a bad charakter you couldn't help but love)

Petyr Baelish from the A song of ice and fire series by George R.R. Martin. He just adds so much to this fantastic story and you can't help but be intrigued by this character. I kind of hate him for all the stuff he's done, but at the same time I love him for the way he did them. (I hope I make sense?)
  
Question 6: Innocent (pick a book that someone ruined the ending of)

The ending of Allegiant was spoiled by countless instagram and tumblr posts for me. But I honestly didn't even care that much, because I saw that ending coming anyway. 

Question 7: Everything has changed (pick a book that has a character who goes through extensive character development)

I really don't want to, but I have to choose Juliette from the Shatter me series by Tahereh Mafi. I hated that book so much (and feel like I'm the only person in the whole universe who did, since everybody else seems to love those books). Anyway, Juliette managed to become from the scared, slightly insane girl a really badass warrior, who basically rules her world now. I don't like her as character, but I have to give credit for that.

Question 8: Forever and always (pick your favourite book couple)

Lara Jean and Peter from the To all the boys I've loved before series by Jenny Han or Mia and Adam from the If I stay series by Gayle Forman. I just love both of these couples, they're incredibly cute and amazing together, but the most important thing for me is they feel like a real couple.

Question 9: You belong with me (most anticipated book release)

The sixth and seventh books in the A song of ice and fire series by George R.R. Martin called The winds of winter and A dream of spring. I'm completely obsessed with this series and can barely wait any longer  for TWOW to be released. The time I'll spend waiting for ADOS is gonna be horribly long, because George R.R. Martin really takes his time for writing books (like, five years). 

Question 10: Come back, be here (pick a book you wouldn't lend out to anyone for fear of missing it to much)

 I'm in general not a big fan of lending out books (except to my best friend) because I'm just too afraid they won't be treated right. But the books I'll probably miss the most are those from the Throne of glass series from Sarah J. Maas. I honestly can't even describe how much I love this story, the characters and the world it takes place in.

Question 11: Tear drops on my guitar (a book that made you cry a lot)

Books in general just make me cry a lot, but one where I was sobbing the whole time while reading it is Where she went from the If I stay series by Gayle Forman. 

Question 12: Shake it off (a book that you love so much you just shake off the haters)

I know, I've mentiond these books a lot, but definitly ToG and AsoIaF. These are my all time favourite books and I think they shaped my character and my view on the world so much more than most of the other books I've read.

I hope you liked reading my anwsers to this book tag (and I'm sorry for using the word series all the time!). I'll try to post another time this week (probably either a book review or another book tag because I really enjoy doing them). Anyway, I hope you're having a great day!

Leah     

 

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

In honour of the Scorch Trial Movie (which is in theatres now) I’m gonna be reviewing The Maze Runner Series today. First of all: By now I didn’t watch any movie of TMR and I didn’t read The Kill Order (the first prequel of the series) either. And, of course, I’m trying to avoid spoilers (my gosh, how much do I hate spoilers...).

Called The Maze Runner, book one is telling the beginning of Thomas’ story. He wakes up having no memory except his name. He then is pulled out of the elevator he was in by Minho, Alby and Newt, the leaders of a group of boys. They tell him that they’re in a huge maze and the Glade, the place that they’re currently at, is kind of their home. Thomas also discoveres that every week a new Glader is arriving but for two years all attempts to solve the maze failed. On the next day something extraordinary occurs:  Theresa, the first girl ever, comes with the elevator and says before falling into a coma that everything is about to change. A note in her hand also tells the group that she will be the last one ever who joins them. A battle against time and the Grievers (that are giant monster machines) begins and the only way to survive is escaping the maze…

So my summary is not as short as I thought it will be but I hope nobody minds. The first thing that pops in my mind when thinking about TMR is amazing. I enjoyed reading the whole series so much. I love the transformation they all do during the series (especially Thomas, Theresa and Chuck), the mix between total confusion, desperation and hope (I guess those words describe the first book pretty good) and don’t even get me started about the boys… Newt, Minho and Thomas are some of my favourite characters of all time (You can imagine that I’m not fine with a special scene near the end… #actullycryingrightnow) and I just enjoyed reading about them.

So you can tell now that I’m crazy in love with those books and that I can totally just recommend them!!

~Vicky

An ocean apart, a world away (Lensey Namioka)

The book follows a 16-year-old Chinese girl called Yanyan in 1921, who always wanted to become a doctor. To achieve her dream she leaves not only her family, country and the surroundings she's comfortable in, but also her first love Liang, a Manchurian rebel, behind to study medical science in Ithaca, New York. That's a quite unusual decision to make for a young woman in that time, so she has to deal with different problems during her stay in America such as racism and sexism.

I can't even tell you how much I love this book. I got it about four or five yearsago, read it several times since then and enjoyed it so much every time I picked it up. The writing isn't even that good (don't get me wrong, it's not bad, just nothing special), but the story is fantastic. First of all, I really liked reading about characters with Asian background in a historical fiction novel since I know nearly nothing about historical Asia (thanks to the german history classes which only focus on Germany, Europe and sometimes America). The main character Yanyan is simply amazing. She's such a strong and independent young woman, she's able to defend herself (she knows some kung fu moves, so she's badass as well) and fight for her dreams. She encouraged me so much to take the classes I'm really interested in, even though it meant to be seperated from most of my friends. Sadly its still rather unusual for girls to work in technical jobs and it's sometimes really hard to be only surrounded by boys, but I'm really glad I made the decision to take chemistry and physic and I'm not sure I'd been confident enough to make it if I hadn't read this book.

Rating: 4.5/5 ✹

So you should definitely pick this book up if you're into historical fiction because it's a really short book with a so beautiful, touching and inspiring story. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do!

Leah

Reading Habits Tag

So you get to know us a little bit better we're gonna be doing a book tag.

Question 1: Do you have a certain place at home for reading?

 

Vicky: I always read in one corner of my bed with a pillow next to me because it's so comfortable there and when it's starting to rain I like sitting in front of the open window.

Leah: When it's warm enough I love to read outside in my garden or I just read in my bed, which is right next to the window (and cozy af).

 

Question 2: Bookmark or a random piece of paper?

 

Vicky: My bookmarks are pretty cute so I guess bookmarks.

Leah: I was using just random pieces of paper for some time (because I don't really own any bookmarks), but recently I realized how cool post-its look in my books.

 

Question 3: Can you stop reading anytime you want or do you have to stop at a certain page, chapter, part, etc.?

 

Vicky: I usually stop after ending a chapter, but sometimes when I'm in a hurry I just read a few pages and stop in the middle of a random page.

Leah: I have to end every chapter I've started, which is really horrible when I'm running late for  something.

 

Question 4: Do you eat or drink while reading?

 

Vicky: I'm never eating while reading a book because I would just destroy its beautiful pages.

Leah: I usually don't because I'm just too scared of ruining my precious books.  

 

Question 5: Can you read while listening to music/ watching tv?

 

 Vicky: I can't read without music! I'm used to listening to movie soundtracks or just random music in the backround.

Leah: I love listening to music while reading, but I really can't watch tv while reading because I wanna focus on one activity.

 

Question 6: One book at a time, or several at once?

 

Vicky: Normally I read only one book at a time because otherwise I would mix up the stories, but sometimes I'm forced to read several books for school.

Leah: I only read one book at a time so I can dive into the story without any interruptions and confussions. 

 

Question 7: Reading at home or everywhere?

 

Vicky: I enjoy reading at home because I need some privacy while reading (It's a bit awkward to cry in public because of a book...).

Leah: Definitely everywhere! I love carrying a book around with me and I start reading at every opportunity.

 

Question 8: Reading out loud or silently in your head?

 

Vicky: Silent in my head?! I think my family would be pretty confused if I start talking in my room randomly.

Leah: Is there anybody who doesn't read silently?

 

Question 9: Do you read ahead or skip pages?

 

Vicky: Actually I read the whole book! But there are a few books/series I didn't really like so I just skipped to the last chapter to know what happened at the end.

Leah: I never skip because it'd just ruin the beautiful story for me.

 

Question 10: Breaking the spine or keeping it new?

 

Vicky: I love it when my books look new but when I read a good novel all over again it is possible that the spine gets hurt.

Leah: I'm trying to not damage it, but I also love it when you can see that the book was read often.

 

Question 11: Do you write in books?

 

Vicky: No, I don't! 

 Leah: Never! If there's something really important to note, I write it on my post-its I use as bookmarks.          

 

We hope you liked our book tag,

Vicky and Leah 

Introduction ♥

Hey,
my name's Leah and I'm a fifteen-year-old girl from Germany who's in love with books. My favourite genres are fantasy and contemporary, so basically everything by Sarah J. Maas and Cassandra Clare. Apart from that, my life's pretty boring. So I spend my time watching tv shows, painting my nails and listening to indie music (and yes, I like being antisocial). And I love baking because food is awesome.

Hey,
I'm Vicky (or actually Viktoria), fifteen years old and I'm from Germany as well. I really like reading contemporary and fantasy books, especially John Green and Cassandra Clare. Except from that, I mostly play soccer, watch tv series and hang around with my friends.

So what we're planning to post is everything related to books and fandoms such as book recommendations, any kind of tags and reviews of our favourite tv shows. We hope you'll enjoy our little blog.

That's all for now,
Leah and Vicky