Wrapping Up January!

Not quite sure where January went but its time to wrap up another month on the blog. New Years Eve feels like it was actually yesterday so I'm trying not to think about the fact that 1 month of 12 has already been and gone. This month was a weird one, between work and school I didn't really achieve much- but that's how January tends to be. I hope you enjoy this post!

Books

-Don't Judge A Girl By Her Cover by Ally Carter

5 stars

-Only The Good Spy Young by Ally Carter

5 stars

-Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter

5 stars

-United We Spy by Ally Carter

5 stars

-Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling 

5 stars (obviously)

My reading month was basically taken over by The Gallagher Girls series which I'm okay with because it was the best. And then reading Harry Potter again was so great and just as magical as the first time I read it, so excited to carry on with my re-read of the series.

Music

A couple of days ago I went to see one of my favourite bands in the world, The Kooks. It was such a great experience to be able to see them and they put on an amazing show, definitely one of the best gigs I've ever been to. If you ever get the chance to see them then I would highly recommend it, they are just happiness in a band.

The songs I had on repeat this month:

-Simple Minds- Don't You Forget About Me (I have this song on repeat every month though so its not saying much)

-Cornershop- Brimful of Asha 

-Rap Monster- Awakening

-Troye Sivan- Youth

-M83- Reunion

-The Kooks- Westside

Film

This category is hard to write about this month because I literally saw no new films. Which is crazy because usually I seem to live at the cinema, but I have watched a lot of TV this month so I thought I'd just break the rules and count that as film. These are the main TV shows I've been watching this month.

-Shadowhunters

January gave us the TV show adaptation of The Mortal Instruments series, Shadowhunters. So far we've had 3 episodes and although I'm kind of dying from the cringe, at the moment I'm willing to get past it. I really hope they can bring this TV show up to the standard of the books.

-Pretty Little Liars

I was so excited for this show to return and it didn't disappoint. Its come back bigger and better than ever, I am pretty scared about what is to come but right now the tension is high.

-Deutschland 83

This show has just blown me away and I need the next episode so bad. I didn't expect to love this show as much as I do, but 4 episodes in and I'm literally lost for words at how good it is. If you get the chance, watch this show. Its probably the most tense show I've ever watched and I looovveee it. 

February brings quite a few things. I'm going to Germany which I'm really excited about, I'll also be beginning my driving lessons, so hopefully it will be a fun month! I hope you had a great January and have an even better February and I'll be back soon with another post!

-Darcy

February TBR

So today's post is coming a little bit early, but this is a TBR mainly for February, but also for the last week of January. These are all the books I am wanting to read as soon as possible. At the moment it just seems as if there are even more amazing books to read than usual, every book on my shelf is calling to me and thats pretty exciting. So here is the list of books that are at the top of my priority list.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Having just completed my re-read of The Philosophers Stone, I am so excited to carry on with the second book. Reading these books again is just as magical as the first time and I can't wait to re-experience The Chamber of Secrets.

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one who hasn't read this book, I've held off on it for way too long for no real reason. But now that I have the book I feel like I'm definitely in the mood for it. 

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick 

I have heard so much about this book but up until recently it wasn't released in the UK. Now I have it! I will be going on holiday in February so that's when I should be reading this one, hopefully I will love it as much as everyone else.

Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman

When I ordered this book I was so excited about it! But I got distracted by other books and I have now yet to read it... So I hope that this month I can re-kindle my excitement and finally read this!

For now I'm going to leave my TBR at that, its not a crazy amount but I don't want to commit to a huge pile of books and then get annoyed with myself for not getting around to them. Hopefully February won't be as busy as February was so I will have more time... I guess we will see in my February Wrap Up! Thank you for reading this post and I will see you with another one soon!

-Darcy 

Series Review- Gallagher Girls by Ally Carter

'Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school-that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses but it's really a school for spies. Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real "pavement artist"-but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her? 

Cammie Morgan may be an elite spy-in-training, but in her sophomore year, she's on her most dangerous mission-falling in love.'

Read this series, you will not regret it.

The Gallagher Girls Series by Ally Carter

My Rating- 5 Stars

Genre- Romance, spy

Books- I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have To Kill You, Cross My Heart and Hope To Spy, Only The Good Spy Young, Out of Sight Out of Time, United We Spy

This review is mainly going to be about books 2-6 of this series as those are the ones which I have just finished binge reading. When I read the first book about 2 years ago, I wasn't that taken by it, it didn't grab my attention and I found it a bit too middle grade for my liking. But when I saw the second book in the series at a really good price a couple of months ago, I thought I would give it another go as my best friend absolutely loves this series. That was possibly the best decision I have ever made... (I can't decide if I'm exaggerating or not)

Over the last two weeks or so, this series has been the only thing I have read. I quickly became so obsessed and engrossed in the story, the characters, the romance, everything is absolutely on point. About halfway through the second book I went straight to Amazon and ordered the next two books in the series because I knew I would need them. Now I have finished the whole series and I'm basically in mourning, they were just so good. 

I wish I was a Gallagher Girl, it is literally the coolest concept and these girls are just a family. Cammie can speak like 14 different languages and can break out of high security prisons, she is literally one the most kick ass characters I have ever come across. 

This series is not the most intelligent, incredible one you will ever read. Its light hearted and its fun, but it didn't need to be any more than that in my opinion- I was addicted and never bored. Probably the best thing about these novels is that they just have so much heart, I can't even begin to describe how lovable every character is and how upset I am that I am finished with their story. 

But the thing is, its light hearted and fun, but there is so much emotion in every page. Especially book five, it just felt so raw and real. Its safe to say that I would seriously recommend this series, every book is just such an adventure and I know that I will end up re-reading the books all the time. But right now I am going to go into some spoilers from the whole series, so if you haven't read these books yet then I would say to just do it, you will not regret reading these!

Read no further if you haven't read the books

I would like to start this spoiler section by just talking about Zach. I just love Zach way too much and its kind of problematic. Cammie and Zach have become one of my number 1 OTPs of all time and the two of them together is just perfection. Ally Carter managed to perfectly develop their romance so that it wasn't too rushed and it didn't drag, it was just right. Every single book had me swooning over the two, I'm way too sad that I won't be getting more of them. I could probably do a whole post just talking about them but I should probably talk about other things as well. 

It feels so long ago that I was reading book two, the way this story develops is absolutely amazing and so much happens in what feels like such a short time. These books aren't huge, but so much happens and I love that, there is constantly action and I was never bored.

This cast of characters made me so happy, I love that even Cammie's Mum got her happy ending with Mr Solomon, even though its a little odd because its her dead husband's best friend, but hey who's judging. Also Townsend and Abby made me way too happy, I would read a book about those two. Bex, Liz and Macey were all so unique and had such different personalities. Sometimes when the main character has more than one best friend in a book, their personalities can just blend together and there isn't really much point. But Cammie's friends were all so different that you could tell who was saying something without even looking. Ally Carter just seems to know her characters so well and I love that. 

We had our fair share of plot twists in this series, the plot was always going off in different directions yet it didn't really feel that way, it just felt like you were on the journey with Cammie. Something that is fresh in my mind because it happened towards the end of the sixth book is the fact that Townsend is Zach's father, I seriously did not see it coming, not even a little bit. I feel like it would have been nice to have a little bit of closure in that respect, we found out about that particular twist and then there wasn't really much more.

I have to talk about the blowing up of the Gallagher Academy because it was a pretty dramatic moment. I never expected it and I'm really sad, it was Cammie's home so it was pretty heart breaking. Catherine was the absolute worst, I felt so bad for Zach and that he had to be associated with her. 

Out Of Sight, Out of Time was possibly my favourite of the series, it felt like there was such a huge change of tone in that book. I loved how much deeper the story became and it felt so much richer, every page was filled with excitement. This was the longest book of the series but it felt like it went the quickest, I absolutely devoured it and I will be re-reading it soon to be honest. 

And now this series has left me with a huge book hangover. It feels like I have gone on such a journey with these characters and I just wish it could go on forever. Now that I don't have Gallagher Girls to read I don't really know what to do with my spare time. I hope you enjoyed this review even though it is basically just me gushing. I am definitely going to be picking up more from Ally Carter and I cannot wait to see what else she can do. Thank you for reading this review and I will see you again very soon with another post,

-Darcy

Shadowhunters- Premiere Review

The wait has been long and painful, but January has finally come, bringing along Shadowhunters with it. For those who do not know, Shadowhunters is the brand new TV show on ABC Family based on Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments book series. As a huge fan of these books I have been hesitant about what the show would hold for us. So we got two episodes to get the ball rolling and these are my first impressions. I will start off by saying that I don't expect any TV show to be the most incredible thing I've ever seen from the first couple of episodes. It does take some time for the cast and crew to find their groove, so these are just my thoughts on what I've seen so far.

Cast/ Characters
Every time a new cast member was announced for this show I ended up beyond excited. Most of this cast are the spitting image of how I imagined their characters in my head and I absolutely love that. I am going to start by talking about Clary as she is of course our protagonist. So Katherine Mcnamara is our new Clary, someone who I have never seen in anything before this show. My first impressions are sadly not that positive, so far I just haven't connected with her. This is something that can totally change, but as of right now I'm not really feeling her character, she just seems quite naive and un-Clary-like... I'm remaining open though.
Dominic Sherwood as Jace was such good news to me, I have seen Dom in other things and have really enjoyed his acting. In the show he has yet to completely blow me away, but he's doing great so far and I am just so happy that he is our Jace. So far I haven't felt that much chemistry between Jace and Clary, but again this is something that can take time so its definitely okay. 
Simon makes me smile like an idiot already. Book-Simon is one of my number one characters of all time, with good reason, he is just a bundle of joy. No different to Alberto Rosende playing him. Ignoring a few cheesey lines, for example 'So hot' (you may or may not know what I'm talking about.) I think he is a fantastic Simon!
Isabelle and Alec are absolutely spot on, they're so beautiful it kind of hurts. I am so excited to see more of them, I loved their interactions with each other and I just want more. Also, I just have to say that Simon and Isabelle together are just the greatest.
Magnus is literally exactly the way I imagined him in the book and I honestly could not ask for more. Although we haven't really had much from him yet, he is already so magical and quirky. 
Alan Van Sprang is basically Valentine. He is actually scary and brings forth a character who can easily be seen as a pretty dangerous guy. Excited to see more from him!
There are quite a few other characters, but I don't want to bore anyone by going into too much detail about every single character!

Plot
Already they have changed quite a bit from the book, but this was definitely to be expected and it doesn't really bother me, obviously they are two separate things so they don't have to be exactly the same.
The pacing of this show is very quick and everything is always moving quickly. In a way this is a good thing because something is always going on, but at times I felt like I couldn't keep track and wanted things to slow down a little. One of my biggest pet peeves in books, TV shows and films is when the character has just found out something completely life changing, and they act like it is completely normal or just generally move on from things too quickly. It can make the whole thing seem kind of unrealistic and I felt this more than once watching Shadowhunters. Clary easily steps into life as a Shadowhunter and just accepts the whole thing in what seems like the blink of an eye. I can see that many people wouldn't even notice this, but personally I find this trope really annoying. 

World
So this franchise relies quite a bit on the world, demons, underworld creatures, technology, weapons etc. So for me this is something just as vital as plot and characters. We have only seen a tiny fraction of this world so far and that is such an exciting thing. We have seen a couple of demons so far and they're quite gory, definitely similar to how they are described in the book. I am so glad that they didn't hold back on this because they are demons and they aren't supposed to be pretty! 
Episode 2 gave us The Silent Brothers and they are definitely scary enough, I hope we get more of them because I feel like they were a little bit skipped over in this episode.
I never visualized the Institute as being as technological as they have presented it. I'm definitely not saying that its a bad thing, but I think it is definitely different and I can't help but compare it to the Institute from the film which was the absolute opposite.
I love the Seraph blades and think they look so much cooler in the show than I ever imagined them in my head which is always something great when watching an adaptation. 

So those are my initial thoughts and feelings about what we have been given so far from this series. I am definitely excited for the next episode because I honestly found these two so entertaining to watch. Right now there are some cringey moments and its not perfect, but I wouldn't expect that straight away anyway. If you've seen the show then let me know what you thought of it! I hope that this post hasn't been too rambly (I really need to organise my reviews better!) and I will see you again soon for another post,
-Darcy

Wrapping Up December!

December has been and gone- meaning that my monthly wrap up is back. I don't really know what happened to 2015, it was gone in a flash and now, here we are in 2016. So here are all of the things in December, I hope you enjoy!


Books

-Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
4 Stars
-Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman
3 Stars
-Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
4 Stars
-Cross My Heart and Hope To Spy by Ally Carter
5 Stars

I enjoyed reading all of these books, but Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy just stole the show for me. I have reviews for all of these books except for that one, as I will be doing a series review very soon. I read Ugly Love extremely quickly and found it pretty addictive, Colleen Hoover's writing is absolutely on point- but it wasn't quite a 5 star book for me. Noughts and Crosses fell a little bit flat for me, I go into a lot of detail in my review but overall I just wasn't very impacted by this novel and found that it wasn't really my cup of tea. Twenty Boy Summer was very enjoyable but the characters lacked a bit of substance for me so it wasn't 5 stars to me. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy completely addicted me and I am absolutely obsessed with the Gallagher Girl series, my only 5 star book of the month, this series is awesome.

Music

I was supposed to be seeing The Kooks in December, but sadly their show was postponed for January (which I am definitely looking forward to). Nonetheless, as always I listened to an awful lot of music and these are some of the songs I had on repeat..
M83- We Own the Sky
Sugababes- Freak Like Me (a bit of a throwback for me)
Panic! At The Disco- Death of a Bachelor
SHINee- Married to the Music
Coldplay- Adventure of a Lifetime
Stromae- Alors On Danse


Film

So its safe to say that my number one film of the month was Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which completely blew me away (I am dying to see it again). I've been waiting for this film for so very long, afraid that it was going to be a disappointment, but seriously- if you haven't seen it yet then go to the cinema right now! The other film I saw at the cinema this month was Sisters starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, which just really wasn't for me. The humour wasn't really my style and I thought it just completely lacked substance. I have reviews for both of these films on the blog so if you're interested then definitely check them out! (Apologies for the lengthy Star Wars review, I had a lot of feelings.)

I had such a good December, especially as I was doing Blogmas which was super fun and rewarding. It was also my birthday month and I had a great day eating pizza and chocolate with friends and family! Overall I would say December and 2015 in general, was a complete success! I hope you enjoyed this post and I will be back very soon with another post..
-Darcy