I really enjoyed The Shack! I found it provided hope and gave answers to a lot of very dark and difficult questions. It's a book whose enjoyment will vI really enjoyed The Shack! I found it provided hope and gave answers to a lot of very dark and difficult questions. It's a book whose enjoyment will vary massively depending on your views toward faith and Christianity (if any) - I have relatives who are Christian and went to a Church of England Secondary School so it was something I was brought up around - which may be why I don't have such serious angry thoughts towards this book as I've seen other reviewers have. It follows Mack - whose young daughter Missy is abducted during a family camping trip and is later found murdered in a shack in the woods. Years later, struggling with his grief, Mack decides to return to the shack, as if it would help him at all. There he discovers God - but not as you would usually picture him! As I said it tackles some really tricky areas - and the question that I'm sure nearly everyone has asked.
Where is God when awful things happen and how are we ever supposed to come back from such unspeakable pain?
I liked it, it spoke to me and had a real impact - but I can easily understand why some may find it hard to stomach - one of the joys of the human race is that we are all different, so we can't all be affected by the same things....more
After reading The Other Boleyn Girl - I loved Philippa Gregory, and would pick up virtually anything she'd written. I watched the BBC adaption of The WAfter reading The Other Boleyn Girl - I loved Philippa Gregory, and would pick up virtually anything she'd written. I watched the BBC adaption of The White Queen which I thoroughly enjoyed, so went for the book series. All four that I've read (The Lady of the Rivers, The White Queen, The Red Queen and The Kingmaker's Daughter) so far have an incredible focus on the powerful women during the Tudor Court and the War of the Roses. I knew very little about this time period but Gregory makes it easy to grasp and to dive straight into this riveting and dangerous era - where everyone is out for themselves, and the battle for the throne rivals that of GOT! I am now on the hunt for the rest of the series!...more
“I don’t think there is a right or wrong any more...only horrible and not quite so horrible.”
I have loved rereading this series! We rejoin Thomas an “I don’t think there is a right or wrong any more...only horrible and not quite so horrible.”
I have loved rereading this series! We rejoin Thomas and the gang after the horrors of the Scorch. WICKED say the trials are almost over - but how can they believe anything they say? Thomas, Brenda and Jorge become separated from the rest of the group as they break out from WICKED. They make their way to Denver, a city managing to function as normally as possible, while scanning all new occupants for the flare in order to keep it out. All the while WICKED are hunting them - they need Thomas, claim he is their ‘final candidate’. But what do they want him for? This series is fantastic, as it really makes you question the term ‘the end justifies the means’. Does it actually? When so many are killed for this so called ‘end’. Very powerful stuff. Battling cranks, meeting old characters, and so many more secrets and shocks - this was a great final instalment. My only gripe would be (view spoiler)[ I completely forgot they killed off Teresa right before they all escape to the safe land - that was a bit convenient, as it leaves Thomas and Brenda to pursue their relationship and therefore - no more love triangle. (hide spoiler)]
“He almost wanted to laugh at the irony. They made him into a killer...to save people?” ...more
“So we’ve had to up the ante, and now it’s time for Phase Two. It’s time for things to get difficult.”
Damn I love this series! So Thomas and the Gla “So we’ve had to up the ante, and now it’s time for Phase Two. It’s time for things to get difficult.”
Damn I love this series! So Thomas and the Gladers have escaped the horrors of the maze, only to be thrown into a world even worse than the one they left behind. Full of secrets, mysteries and red herrings I was completely gripped following the Gladers journey through the Scorch, to the alleged safe haven
We get new characters introduced, Jorge and Brenda, and we get to see what the awful disease The flare that has been ravaging the planet really does to people.
Thomas, Minho, Newt and the others must fight these cranks and follow instructions given to them by the mysterious WICKED. But what is WICKED really up to? And how does it involve the Gladers? When another group turn up, who have also just escaped a maze similar to their own, the boys are even more confused.
Non-stop action with twists and turns everywhere, I’ve been loving my reread of this series and can not wait to carry on!...more
I loved The Girl on the Train! I thought it was such a clever novel. The story switches between 3 female narrators, none of whom can be trusted or beliI loved The Girl on the Train! I thought it was such a clever novel. The story switches between 3 female narrators, none of whom can be trusted or believed. The main character Rachel is a severe alcoholic and has terrible blank outs where she cannot remember any of her behaviour from the night before. She rides the train into town everyday, and when the train stops at the same point each day she watches a couple in their house and imagines their life. Until one day, she spots something she shouldn't have seen, and is catapulted into the mystery of a missing woman, and the unraveling of secrets from a number of characters. It is gripping, exhilarating, frightening I couldn't put it down....more
I LOVED me before you! Which is saying something as I don't do romance as a general rule.
Lou is a very reRealised I didn't review this at the time....
I LOVED me before you! Which is saying something as I don't do romance as a general rule.
Lou is a very relatable character - I find so much to connect with myself and the way I live my life, and could completely understand the predicament she was in, with her long standing boyfriend, still living at home with her family and her unemployment. She takes on a job as a home carer for Will - a recently made quadriplegic. Their relationship is wonderful to watch grow - from coldness, the necessity of the carer-patient relationship to friendship, fondness and then love. They truly bring out the best in each other, and their banter was hilarious to read. The end of course is 100% heartbreaking - but I loved this story and I loved the characters, it sheds light on a situation I know little about, and allowed me insight into the difficulties people in these position face everyday....more
This book breaks me every time. But it is absolutely incredible.
It’s books like these that make me so mad at authors like Suzanne Collins and J.K.RowThis book breaks me every time. But it is absolutely incredible.
It’s books like these that make me so mad at authors like Suzanne Collins and J.K.Rowling. They make me love characters and then they rip them away ...more
Whilst I've been going through the Inheritance Series I must admit I've struggled and have thought about putting them down on more than one occasion. HWhilst I've been going through the Inheritance Series I must admit I've struggled and have thought about putting them down on more than one occasion. However as I've pushed myself through i'm so glad that I did - the world that Paolini has created is absolutely incredible, I feel transported to a world of dragons, magic and ancient lore, its astounding to think that Paolini wrote Eragon when he was only 15! I have been blown away by the depth of the storylines, descriptions of the scenery and the intricate characters - I cant wait to read the final installment, though I feel i'll need to read them all again as there is probably so much information I didn't completely take in!...more
"Year by year Incarceron tightened its grip. It made a hell of what should have been Heaven."
Loved revisiting this world! I read this first when I w "Year by year Incarceron tightened its grip. It made a hell of what should have been Heaven."
Loved revisiting this world! I read this first when I was in my teens and I remember enjoying it wholeheartedly; years later and that opinion hasn't changed!
Claudia lives in a dystopian future, where there have been such advances in technology and science, but the leaders have chosen to keep the world frozen in history. They have chosen a medieval time period, and everything must be kept in 'era'.
Meanwhile, Finn lives in Incarceron. A vast and terrifying prison, where no one can escape, and the prison itself is growing, and learning, and destroying. The only person supposedly to have escaped is Sapphique; a legend with an entire belief system built around him.
I loved this world, it is unlike any I've come across before. It is clever, and believable. I found Claudia pretty damn irritating most of the time, but I loved Finn and his oathbrother Keiro, and their friend Attia.