Die for me

“In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity.”

When Kate Mercier’s parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life—and memories—behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.

Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate’s guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he’s a revenant—an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.

This story was refreshing. Different yet just as utterly addicting as any other supernatural romance. This story follows a young girl after the devastating time of losing her parents and moving far away from home- and although it is a beautiful place she is still lost. We as readers find ourselves sympathizing her, for all that she has gone through.  It is another one of those amazingly special pieces of writing which make you grateful for all you have such as Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver or If I Stay by Gayle Forman. I love stories like these, because they have the power to change you, leave some sort of imprint on you.
I think that Amy managed to display Kate's grief in a way anyone who has lost someone can relate to; it is so real that it reaches out to the readers! Keep a box of tissues at the ready!
Kate decides to lose herself in books and art to find happiness and forget the pain of her reality, this is exactly what I love to do and can relate to, I'm sure everyone else who reads can also relate to this.
The book is heartbreaking and touching as we follow Kate's discovery to begin to trust and let herself love again, her struggle to decide to keep her heart safe or to take the risk. Because love is worth the risk.
But they are far to different, Vincent has a fate which puts his life in danger- but he does it for the safety of others. He is a good guy, who helps heal Kate's shattered heart.
The book will keep you on edge. Although I could guess some of the things that were going to happen- like I usually can with books and movies- there were still surprises.
It is different, but if you love any sort of book that involves romance or supernatural characters I am sure you will love this book.
Also the cover is just so beautiful and authentic and I love that it was set in Paris, because Paris is so beautiful, the city of love. 
I can not wait until the next book is out! Kate and Vincents story is truly moving. 
Well done Amy Plum for bringing an original idea to the world of YA books!

Amy's reply to my review on twitter -
@MazzNixon Thank you, Mazz, for such a positive review. I'm so glad you enjoyed DIE FOR ME! ♥

Where she went

If you had a second chance at first love ...would you take it? It's been three years since Adam's love saved Mia after the accident that annihilated life as she knew it ...and three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever. Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Julliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future and each other. Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, powerful prose that defined If I Stay, "Where She Went" explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.

The other night at around nine or ten o'clock I started to read Where She Went, after reading If I Stay last week, and much like when I read If I Stay I could not put it down until I was finished. I finished it at around three in the morning, Gayle Forman's books are just so addictive.
Much like the first book, Where She Went is a heart breaking story that will leave you almost in tears. Though it is not about the death and the grief of being about to lose the one you love. But it is about the greif after that person is gone and the struggle to let them go. However Mia tries hard to do exactly the opposite; too keep their memory alive.
This book is told from Adams point of view rather than Mia's and we discover what he is truly like as a person. After Mia's leaving for Julliard he is left broken. Again we explore the depths of losing someone but in an entirely different way that the first book. In some ways losing someone to death is the hardest thing someone can go through, especially what Mia went through; but in other ways Adams story is one of the most saddest things that a person can go through.
We realise just how much he loves her, even if she hadn't realised, and we discover his side of the story we knew from Mia's perspective. Although he is living the dream, has somehow achieved everything he used to be aiming for Adam is far from happy. In fact he is distort, miserable to a point he has to take pills and has taken up smoking. Even music has become a chore to Adam; music once the only thing that drove him forward. Everything is dull, everyday is a struggle to get through, without her.
If I Stay explored a horrible act of fate, but in Where She Went fate is displayed as a wonderful gift, another chance. Adam and Mia cross paths once again, but they are both living very busy lifestyles now, both well known and being together in public is a struggle.
Adam realises what it is he has to move on to be happy again, he has to let her go.
This is an amazing book that will like the first book both break your heart and soften it. It shows you that love never dies, that your first love will always mean that little bit more to you and nothing can ever beat that. Everything happens for a reason, and Mia and Adam met again, three years on for a reason.


For a second chance at love, at first love.
Adam and Mia's story is truly beautiful. If you have not read If I Stay yet I recommend you go out and buy them both; it's a story that will remind you of how the only thing really worth living for is love and love will always find a way. Once again Gayle Forman bravo on such a beautiful story that can touch the hearts of every reader.

There is obviously no limit to love.

If I Stay

'Just listen,' Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel. I open my eyes wide now. I sit up as much as I can. And I listen. 'Stay,' he says. Everybody has to make choices. Some might break you. For seventeen-year-old Mia, surrounded by a wonderful family, friends and a gorgeous boyfriend decisions might seem tough, but they're all about a future full of music and love, a future that's brimming with hope. But life can change in an instant. A cold February morning ...a snowy road ...and suddenly all of Mia's choices are gone. Except one. As alone as she'll ever be, Mia must make the most difficult choice of all. Gripping, heartrending and ultimately life-affirming, "If I Stay" will make you appreciate all that you have, all that you've lost - and all that might be.

Today, very much like yesterday when I sat down and read straight through You Against Me- because I didn't feel like revising and couldn't put it down once I started, I picked up the book If I Stay by Gayle Forman from my shelf of books waiting to be read once my exams are done. But today escape was what I needed. I didn't feel good from the moment I got up, You Against Me story was still buzzing in my head, I had a headache and couldn't revise even when I tried. Strange how books seem even more enticing during my exam period! So when I had watched all the shows I watch on television, at around four or five I started reading If I Stay. Apart from when I put it down to eat my dinner, I read it cover to cover within five hours. Which is the fastest I've ever read a book. I was so absorbed in the story, so on edge to find out what would happen next that the pages seemed to fly away. It has to be by far the most emotional, heartbreaking and life changing books I have read. Similar to Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver- If I Stay has the power to change your perspective on life.
This book is about a young girl who loses everything one snowy morning, loses her parents and younger brother in a car crash. But she is left, hanging on the edge of life and it is her choice. Does she stay? Even though she would be an orphan with out her mother, father her little seven year old brother? What has she left to stay for? Or does she go and join her family so they can be together again, leave so that she doesn't have to put up with the horrid life she is now left with.
This story will leave you in tears, you will not be able to put it down because there is this need to know what happens next, what she decides. Mia's emotions are not there on the page describing how hurt and torn this has left her as you would expect, although that's exactly how she would be feeling, but Gayle Forman has written it in a way so that you the reader fill in those gaps and without the words there the emotion still overwhelms you.
It is such a beautifully written book, it makes me want to cry in both because it is so sad and because I am jealous as a writer someone could write a book that has such an impact on the readers. Because that is exactly what this book will do to you, it will leave an imprint that wont go away. It will remind you of everything you have in your life that you may take for granted is actually everything you need to live. It makes you wonder if you would be strong enough to carry on living even after losing everything you live for.
Throughout the book I wavered along with Mia about her decision. When she was set on letting go to be with her family, I thought that was right because she'd be ok, she wouldn't be hurting any more. 'I'm not sure this is a world I belong in anymore. I'm not sure that I want to wake up,' But when she wavered over to stay, to fight because she still has her love Adam, her best friend Kim and her grandparents and other relatives. 'There are like twenty people in that waiting room right now. Some are them are related to you. Some of them are not. But were all your family... You still have a family,'
Subtly Gayle Forman teaches us life lessons through Mia's story. She teaches us to appreciate what we have because it can be taken away in a heartbeat. She teaches us to fight even when there is nothing left to fight for. 'Dying is easy, living is hard,' She explores the possibility that people can decide their own fate, that life or death is no about the physical state but the mental state to whether a person wants to fight or not and with this she discovers the depths within that decision. She strips down 'love' and all the consequences that come along side it, 'Either way you win. Either way you lose. What can I tell you? Loves a Bitch.' and how people would do anything for the person they love, even if it hurt them so 'I can lose you like that if I don't lose you today. I'll let you go. If you stay,'
It is such a beautiful and moving book, that will have you appreciating life and everything you have. I recommend this to anyone, as long as you have the tissues at the ready.
The saddest part is that at the back it says it is based on a true story. So well done to Gayle Forman who wrote such a beautiful, heartbreaking book that touches hearts of anyone who read her words and even more praise to have being able to write such a heartfelt book biased on a part of her life.
If you don't buy this book then you are missing out.
This book will change you, remind you of how strong love can be.

I know that this book has left an impact on me.

You against me

If someone hurts your sister and you're any kind of man, you seek revenge, right? If your brother's accused of a terrible crime but says he didn't do it, you defend him, don't you? When Mikey's sister claims a boy assaulted her, his world begins to fall apart. When Ellie's brother is charged with the offense, her world begins to unravel. When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide. This is a brave and unflinching novel from the bestselling author of "Before I Die". It's a book about loyalty and the choices that come with it. But above all it's a book about love.

Although I say this about almost every book I have just finished, You Against Me by Jenny Downham is one of the best books I have ever read. What I love about this book is, that unlike the majority of the books I read, it is not supernatural with magic ways to create a fairytale ending or a world changed unlike the one we actually live in. This book is about the real world, real people, real families and real situations people find themselves in everyday.
I read this book within a day, the fastest I've ever read a book and although I usually get through books within two or three days when I get through them faster it means I basically can not bare to put it down. I became very attached to Mickey in this book because he is the hidden hero that no one sees.
You Against Me is a heartbreaking story about two families who are suffering because of their kids. A young girl, Karyn, Mikey's younger sister claims that she was raped by Ellie's older brother Tom. Both families are torn apart by this. Ellie's family torn by the police, the lock and police tape on Tom's bedroom door, Tom being in jail until he's released for bail. But her family are wealthy, they are rich and her dad hires the best barristers to defend Tom. Mikey's family however is being torn apart because Karyn wont leave the flat anymore, she hides in blankets; duvets; big jumpers. His mum isn't handling it very well either, not that she was the best mother in the world to start with, but now all she did was drink and sleep. But his family is not wealthy, they are struggling to get by, living in a flat on a estate. Mikey never realised how much Karyn did around the house until he is left with no choice but to wash up, cook, take their nine year old sister Holly to school in the mornings. But Mikey has to work to and juggling his family and work becomes increasingly hard. Karyn's police support woman reports them to social workers and Mikey has to try harder to get Holly to school everyday and on time which puts a strain on his job.
They are two completely different people, from two worlds, who manage to fall in love despite the hate they should have for each other. This book shows how tough the real world can get, how real hero's like Mikey can be unseen and girls like Ellie can be forced to lie by their tough parents, like her horrid dad. How people we think we know are actually strangers, like how Ellie believes Tom's a great brother and turns out to be something completely different.
After reading this book it is hard to place trust in anyone; it seems everyone is a stranger and to be honest in life they are, but the book also makes you see that you have to trust in some people because there are hidden heroes out there who are unseen. But if you see them for them, you will be there world and if you don't trust anyone you will miss them, but if you trust everyone you are setting yourself up for heartbreak- and that is why I love books more that people, haha! It is hard to find the balance, but like Ellie has in the end of this book, if you do things will work out. 
This is an amazing book, I highly recommend it. Though it is not recommended for younger readers. If you want to go on and read this book don't read on and spoil it for yourself as I read this book yesterday and the stories still fresh in my mind and I wrote a brief over view of the story. The only one fault to this book is the ending, I wasn't satisfied with it, but I am not sure if there is going to be a next one or not, if there is the ending is fine but if there is not then it's a little weak. Either way the book is still so real, so true and outlines all the sharp angles there is in life. You should go out and buy it! It is truly a book which you may be able to relate to in some way, it will touch your heart.

Seriously only read on if you've read it before or are defiantly not going to buy it! Don't ruin the story, it's even more amazing in Jenny's words! Buy the book, the covers amazing too- why I bought it in the first place!

Mikey is set out to hurt the guy who did this to her sister, who has her balled up on the sofa unwilling to ever leave their flat. He storms around to their house, a young girl answers, Ellie, he wasn't expecting it. He discovers they are having a party to celebrate Tom's bail release. The thought of this angered Mikey, how could they be celebrating when his sister was at home, hiding under layers not doing anything but watch television all day. He decides to crash the party, Jacko his best friend who he also works with goes with him. They plan to find information about him so that they can win when they attack him in a quiet area. But Mikey ends up alone with Ellie, but Ellie is not an ordinary girl, she won't give up anything about her brother keeps changing the subject.
Jacko is sussed for asking too many questions about Tom, suspected for being a journalist but gets away before he is caught leaving Mikey alone. Mikey leaves, after giving Ellie his number, hoping to get some information out of her some way or another.
Ellie is just a sixteen year old girl, studying for her exams. Yet when she returns to school she is blamed for something she did not do, something her brother says he did not do. She gets into a fight with Karyn's friends, but of course her horrid father who cares only about appearances tells her how selfish this was, to fight in public like she was defending a guilty brother.
After the fight she had ran away from school, she needed to see someone and so she had texted Mikey. Mikey was intent on only getting information out of her, but she was so smart, so different to all the other girls and Mikey had been with a lot of girls. They kissed in the river.
After a couple of days of missing school, her father forces her back, but her brother helps her bunk. But soon his temper rises and he kicks her out the car, she is left stranded. She remembered something Mikey had said about where he worked and searched every pub along the harbor to find him, she just had to see him. When she finds him, his boss lets it slip his last name. This sent shocks through her she had to leave, but she had to sit down. By the time he got there she had decided, he using her for information, she could play at that game.
She set him up, got him drunk, stoned and took her top off, threatening her parents would be back soon, the gate had CCTV to prove he was there. But her plan went wrong, Tom turned up. Mikey got his chance, he laid into him. Tom fought back. He smashed the end of a wine bottle and stalked over to Mikey. Mikey had no weapon so cowered at the closed gate, he was trapped. Ellie had never seen her brother like that, her brother who saved her when the dog attacked her, the one who left the scar at her mouth. She drenched them with the hose pipe in desperate attempt to stop him. 
That was it, Mikey had used her, she felt cut up inside. But she didn't know Mikey couldn't use her the way he intended because he had fallen for her. He was hurting because he liked her, she didn't believe him, why should she? He was exactly what she said. But she had set her up, yet still he could not be mad at her.
Ellie tried to focus on studying for exams, Mikey tried not to think of her. Countless texts in his outbox he never sent to her.
I miss you. Meet me. Forgive me.
But as time passes Ellie remembers more, she remembers everything she had been trying to push out of her head. The boys lifting Karyn's skirt with the blind stick while she lay hammered on the bed, taking pictures with their phones.
Tom's guilty.
But everyone she tries to tell, pretends they don't here. Hen own mother does nothing about it, when she tells Tom's barrister he says that maybe she shouldn't be his witness- because everyone would find out he's guilty that's why! She runs, runs through the rain until she reaches Mikey. Texts him demanding he come down, else she'll go up.
He comes down frustrated, but she tells him she wont defend her brother in court. He doesn't think it will make much difference. But he blows off work and they go somewhere together, to her grandmothers cottage. When they get there they are soaked from the rain, the house has been cleared out, no heating or electricity. But Mikey builds a fire in the fireplace and finds potatoes to cook. Mikey and Ellie become intimate. And even though Mikey has been with many girls, he is nervous, Ellie was different she made him feel special. Ellie had never been with anyone before, she was just as nervous as him. They were caught up in love.
Until her mother called and she had to rush home, back to a life where she was just a child. Her dad shouted at her for hours, took her phone away, they were going to fire the barrister and hire the best one and she would be a witness and defend her brother, she was demanded too. She had to keep her family together right?
Ellie was stuck between saving her own family or Mikey's. However still it wasn't as simple as that, it was saving her family or saving herself. Be true or to lie to protect her brother from his mistake. She studies harder, but all she can think of is Mikey, that night on the carpet of her grandmothers living room.
Meanwhile Jacko had stitched him up to his family, they knew about Ellie and they hated him for it. Thought she was just another girl to him, they didn't know how special he was. Mikey got angry, let it slip about Ellie not defending her brother in court. Karyn insisted on telling her police woman. Mikey had to warn Ellie left her loads of texts, urgent voice mails asking her to ring back, but she never did. He could not warn her, it was late and he had work in the morning after dropping off Holly. Sue his boss would be mad at him for skipping work last night. Say how he wasn't as reliable as 'Jacko' just like his family had said. Did Jacko look after Holly, take her to school every morning, look after his drunken mother, his broken sister. No Jacko just showed up when everything was cheery and he was the hero.
Mikey can't stand it, at work he constantly calls Ellie, but her phone is off. He calls Karyn the police woman is there, he panics, gets his mother to call him. She informs him the police are involved are going to ask Ellie questions. She has to warn her.
He makes up with Jacko and takes his car, even though this would mean losing his job for good. He turns up outside her school, asks her to talk to him. She bunks off and they go to the river to talk, where no one can see them. He warns her, she breaks down but knows it wasn't his fault. When the police come for her at her house she tells them everything, her mother is shocked. Her brother is now having to move out, away from a witness he could influence to change her statement yet again, her dad is furious with her. A harsh, harsh man.  Her world is crashing down around her, but she realised she doesn't even know her family, her mum, her brother, her dad. They are all in it for themselves, so why shouldn't she defend herself? Everything is horrid.

Mikey turns up and suddenly he's all that matters.

Deliruim

There was a time when love was the most important thing in the world. People would go to the end of the earth to find it. They would tell lies for it. Even kill for it. Then, at last they, found the cure.
Now, everything is different. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Haloway has always looked forward to the day when she'll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy. But then, with only ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable...

Just like Lauren Oliver's other novel Before I Fall this book left me breathless and caused me to look at life in a different perspective. It's the kind of book that can do that, make you doubt the world, humanity. It is a book which expands the stretches of love; forbidden love. Because in Lena's world love is a disease, to even think the word is wrong. 

Her mother caught the disease and it drove her to suicide, she threw herself of a cliff. Lena had to suffer years of the word following her around wherever she went, suicide, suicide, suicide. She has to live with her aunt and uncle and children which aren't even theirs. 

The relationship between the aunt and uncle and between them and the children are cold and harsh, a world without love gave me the shivers. Showing how horrible life would be if we did not have love. It makes you grateful for the little things, like your mother kissing a bruise to make it feel better or catching someones eyes across a room and feeling butterflies in your stomach. 

Lena used to count down the days with enthusiasm, not being able to wait for the day of her procedure to come like it was Christmas or something. But near the end it's like shes terminally ill and the days run through her fingers to fast and shes slipping away unable to grasp onto life, the days tick by. All because she did the one thing that was forbidden, the whole reason the cure was invented. She fell in love with an invalid, a boy from the Wilds.
Their love is like Romeo and Juliet's tragic story, star crossed lovers, but worse. It isn't just their families against them, its the rest of the population. They can not be seen in public, they can not even look at each other the wrong way. All uncured have curfews, leaving the only way to see him via breaking the rules; rules she would have never broken before. 

Alex is supposedly safe, has a scar identical to those the procedure leaves you with. He is a guard at the labs, the labs which take away love from the world. He is an invalid pretended to be cured, there are many of them out there. This reveals just how easy it is for people to act, to pretend they are other people than who they are. Showing how you can't trust anyone. People you think you know, you don't.
This heart breaking story shows how cruel people can be, how inhumane they can act. But those are the cured, the cold, the unemotional. But Alex is not cured, he is a simple boy form the wilds who knows poetry and love and is a hidden hero. He saves Lena from herself, from believing that love is a disease. Lena's experience between the pages teaches us that although love hurts, although we complain and curse and cry and forbid to date again- a world without love is wrong, love is the only good thing in the world. If we no longer had love all we would do is work, eat, sleep day after day without the ability to dream. But yet we wouldn't get frustrated or sad, because we could not feel emotion we would be robots with beating hearts. How horrible the thought. This book made me appreciate love, even though it can hurt, because you have to put up with the worst if you want the best. 

Alex helps Lena discover her mother did not kill herself she was being kept in the crypts- a jail for the mentally ill and ones infected by disease. But when she gets there, she had escaped. The forbidden word love scrawled all over the walls. She was alive. Lena had never been more angry at the world that surrounded her, the unloving horrid cured. She had to escape, run away to the wilds like Alex had suggested.

They were so close, but they were caught.
Lena's procedure is pushed forward, but she can't even tell Alex, no way for goodbye. A love she would not remember after the procedure. She is tied down to her bed, drugged. Her head throbbing from the beating the raids gave her when they caught her. Lena is so close to becoming a robot, so close to losing love, memories.

But somehow Alex still saves her, he came for her like she knew he would. They get so close to escaping to making it to the wilds to live a free life where they can love and laugh and smile and watch the stars and read poetry, but they are being hunted, shot at from all directions. 

He makes the ultimate sacrifice. For her, for love.
He is left shot, the heartless men ripping at him at both sides from the other side of the electric fence. Eyes focusing souly on her while madness erupts around him, blood leaks from his wound staining his shirt.

Lena made it to the wilds, she was the other side of the fence. 

He mouthed the word run, and she did, she ran.
This last image, has stayed strong in my mind. This is the last scene of Delirium, it is heartbreaking and left me breathless. He was a hero, risked everything, knew he would be killed straight away, all for her. This shows how boundless love can be, how people would do anything for the one they love. 

As I said with her other book, Lauren Oliver is an amazing writer, who can move readers, touch their hearts and make them be grateful for their own life. This is one of the most moving books I have ever read, I would recommend this to anyone, it will leave you with tears in your eyes and a new view upon the world and people. However, really young readers should wait to read it, there is a little violence and wouldn't want to influence children to read it, it is not that bad just a little cringey.
This book will teach you love is worth anything, even the grief of losing them once there gone, just to appreciate every moment while they are there. 

Because love is worth the pain.
 

Whisper My Name

 

Since she was twelve, Meriel Garland has lived with her grandfather in London, exiled from her beloved India following the death of her mother. Now sixteen, Meriel chafes against the strict regime of tests and study that her grandfather imposes on her. Escaping, she discovers a world outside her narrow existence - one that promises admiration for her acting skills, social success and the excitement of seances. But what should have been a game turns serious as the young medium Sophie Casson passes on a message from Meriel's dead mother - and Meriel begins to suspect she might not be alone in the world after all. In searching for the truth about her past, Meriel uncovers a sinister scheme - and soon it's hard to know who she can really trust.

This book is about a young girl who loses her mother. She was brought up in India but is sent to to London to live with her Grandfather when her father can not longer cope. She had been living there under his strict rules, being taught by tutors in the school room and always being escorted wherever she goes. Being tested and measured and all sorts by her Grandfather all the time. He is distant with her and only speaks to her for the tests, he is a horrible man.
Meriel has always felt like someone is with her, she would think it her mother but she felt the presence before her mother was taken by death. Her only friend is the maid, who plays a major role in Meriel's story of discovery.
She meets a woman her parents knew while in town one day and is invited around to her house. The next time she goes there, there is a gathering of people. They act and talked and played games- Meriel loves to act and found it the most exciting thing to happen to her since her arrival many years ago. At her next visit to this woman house there is another gathering, some of the people she knew last time were there and she was thrilled; hoping for another night like last time. But this night was different; there was a woman and a young girl there who wasn't there last time; they are physics. They perform a little ceremony and reveal some of the peoples secret loses and how their loves ones are still with them. Meriel can't help but be interested, she missed her mother.
As much as she tries to fight it she finds herself speaking to the girl again. She gives the girl the necklace of her mothers- all she had of her- so she can get a reading of it. But she finds out something she did not expect. It's not just her lock of hair inside the locket- it's the hair of two young girls, sisters, twins.
Meriel had a twin she did not know about she wondered why she was never told, why she didn't live with them and spends days, sneaks out to discover more. She realises her grandfather has something to do with it, the tests have something to do with it. He knows, he was apart of this.
As she discovers her twin, she discovers more about the past, the terrible thing that happened that torn her twin away from her. Her father never knew, it was all her grandfathers fault, even her own mother never knew she had twins that night when she gave birth in England and Meriel's father couldn't be there.
This is a tragic story about discovery. It will leave you unable to trust the ones you are supposed to and finding hero in others; the unexpected.
This book is a classic, set in London in the olden days. It shows us what it would have been like to live back then, under rules, with maids/servants, big houses, rich and the poor; rough streets, big drama productions. It also shows what its like to lose you're mother at a young age, forced to live somewhere new, to live with a relative but in fact you don't know them at all and they don't want to know you and to discover the missing part of you, you have always felt.

By Midnight

April Dunne is not impressed. She's had to move from Edinburgh to Highgate, London, with her parents. She's left her friends - and her entire life - behind. She has to start at a new school and, worst of all, now she's stuck in a creepy old dump of a house which doesn't even have proper mobile phone reception. Ravenwood, her new school, is a prestigious academy for gifted (financially or academically) students - and the only place her parents could find her a place, in the middle of term, in the middle of London, on incredibly short notice. So she's stuck with the super-rich, and the super-smart . . . and trying to fit in is when the rest of the students seem to be more glamorous, smarter, or more talented than she is, is more than tough. It's intimidating and isolating, even when she finds a friend in the conspiracy-theorist Caro Jackson - and perhaps finds something more than friendship in the gorgeous, mysterious Gabriel Swift. But there's more going on at Ravenwood than meets the eye. Practical jokes on new students are normal, but when Gabriel saves her from . . . something . . . . in the Highgate Cemetery, and then she discovers that a murder took place, just yards away from where she had been standing, April has to wonder if something more sinister is going on. . . . and whether or not she's going to live through it . . . 

To be perfectly honest when I picked this book up off the shelf I did not think I would enjoy it as much as the other books I have read. I left it on my bookshelf for a while and read a couple other books first. But when I ran out; I read this book and it surprised me. It was another one of those books which I read a couple chapters and found it so hooking I could not put it down. It is a book where I can relate to because April moves far away from where she has grown up and is sent to a new school and as a child my family moved a lot and I had to start new schools a few times. I am sure a lot of people can also relate to this. Starting school somewhere new where you know nobody is daunting and never a nice experience. But for April it was scary, it was strange. 

She feels stupid, surrounded by the most intelligent people in her new school. But the truth is the majority of them are vampires. But she does not know this, all she knows is that a famous singer was murdered not long before they moved there; not far away from where they now live in London and that when she walked past the graveyard she saw blood, a mysterious boy told her to go home and then the next morning a death was reported there and that, that particular boy goes to her new school and is one of the popular kids.
She is invited to a party, she takes pictures to show her best friend from where she used to live- but they developed with missing figures- people who were in the picture when she took them. She kisses a boy at the party- but soon after the boy falls ill.
She is nearly killed by one of the vampires; but she also killed the boy she kissed at that party. She is one of the rare people, with the mark, that are designed to kill vampires. 

But she has fallen in love with one and he has fallen in love with her, she has already infected him; so unless they find a cure he will die. 

This book is refreshing from all those vampire stories out there, it is different, has a twist to it. I started out not really wanted to read it but afterwards I didn't want it to have ended; I can not wait for the next book to be released; to find out what will happen to April and Gabriel. If you like any vampire, supernatural story or just a love one this is a book for you.

They are people destined to destroy one another; yet love will destroy who they are and leave them with only each other.

Shiver series

The Wolves of Mercy Falls
When Grace falls in love with Sam, a boy who must become a wolf each winter, they must decide how much they're willing to risk in order to be together. 

Shiver
For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. 

 

Shiver is of my favourite books, the series is way up there with the Fallen series in my opinion (above Twilight). I think this is because it is more real (well not exactly with the werewolves) but it has a story line- from Graces point of view which I am sure a lot of teenage girls can relate to with their parents always busy at work and needing to look after themselves.  

Shiver is primarily told from Graces point of view- where you can relate to her life of being a teenager at secondary school that needs to revise, has over protective parents and has a thousand other things troubling her mind. But we also get to see the story from Sam's perspective. Although he is content with his life, happy about being who he is- a werewolf. Because he is completely grateful and loyal to the pack leader who had been like a father to him. After having parents like his own, who tortured him when the curse first took over him- held his down in the bath while they cut his wrists and tried to bleed the curse away- he is left a tortured young boy and loves the winter when he is a werewolf and can not remember those days. 

The popular girl at school has a brother, one day he goes missing and his father leads a team to hunt down the werewolves sure they are to blame. Her brother has been infected and is running around the woods, lying on the floor naked in his human form, unsure of what is happening to him. Sam is losing friends to the hunters, trying hard to escape their bullets. A bullet in his body leads him to Graces back door.

The story is slightly slow, but that makes it even more better as the love that grows between Grace and Sam- the young boy who works at a book shop with golden yellow eyes, who plays guitars and write songs, who has a haunted past and scars all over his wrists, who has a deep secret; a family different from most; a pack his werewolf family- you feel their love touch your own heart and you feel you're apart of the story, apart of the love. So when that love falls apart your heart will break with it.  

Grace was actually bitten when she was younger, but her father left her in the car by accident on a hot summers day and they believe this is what caused her. So a cure is suggested, it is Sam's only choice. His pack are slowly dieing of because of something they do not know and he wants to be with Grace. Himself and the popular girls brother are injected with a disease which is thought to counteract with the curse, raise a high temperature like when Grace was left in the car and kill the curse. But after weeks of suffering from the disease the brother dies. Grace hasn't seen Sam since his werewolf form ran off and thinks the worst, believes shes lost him forever.
But then he emerges from the woods behind her house and he is cured. 

They can be together.  

 Linger
This is the story of a boy who used to be a wolf and a girl who was becoming one. Just a few months ago, it was Sam who was the mythical creature. But now it is spring. With the heat, the remaining wolves will soon be falling out of their wolf pelts and back into their human bodies... 

 

In Linger Grace and Sam are happy, moving on with life. But Sam is finding hard to adjust to a werewolf free life. He is still worried about the rest of his pack, about what is killing them off. The sister of the brother who died is finding it hard to cope.
A new character is introduced, a new werewolf turned by the leader. The sister realises what he is, but can't help falling for him, even though she hates what he is because the curse took her brother.

But nobody realises who he is, Cole is really a celebrity, a singer from a famous band who is missing. If anyone realises who he is now, all of the werewolves are damned. But Cole doesn't care, he doesn't care about anything; he used drugs in his former life to escape and now he uses his werewolf side to forget his human life.

Grace falls seriously ill and no one knows whats wrong with her, she's on the verge of death. Cole is smart, he figures it out after hours, hours Grace does not have to spare. The werewolves are dying off because of the curse, it shortens their life. Grace had been bitten around ten years ago and the curse is still in her blood. The only way to save her is to refresh the curse. Cole lets the curse run into her blood and werewolf Grace runs off into the woods while a cured (for a few years) Sam is left as the human this time.

This story is thrilling, amazing, hooking. It shows you the length people will go for love, to protect them, to keep there memory, to save them. I can not wait for the third book of this series (Forever) to come out because I am truly in love with Grace and Sam's story. If you love the Fallen series, the Immortal series, Twilight then this book will blow you away. 

It is different, a heart aching love story that will leave you wanting more.

Before I Fall

What if you only had one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?
Samantha Kingston has it all: the world’s most crush-worthy boyfriend, three amazing best friends, and first pick of everything at Thomas Jefferson High—from the best table in the cafeteria to the choicest parking spot. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it turns out to be her last. Then she gets a second chance. Seven chances, in fact. Reliving her last day during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death—and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.

Now this is a book you can not live through life without reading. This is the most touching book I have ever read, it left me breathless, it is defiantly up there on my favourites list. 

Before I Fall is a book about a girl who dies in a car crash, that final day repeats itself seven times, she has a week full of chances to create a perfect final day. But with every mistake she tries to correct comes along another consequence. She has to decide what is best for everyone and not just herself. She learns with each mistake she makes but as she does she loses another chance. She had to take sacrifices and do things against her own will so that other people will be okay once she is gone.
This story is heartbreaking, but it is reality and it will touch your heart and leave you with tears in your eyes. It is not just a story this book is a lesson, within its pages you will learn to be grateful for the life you live, the people who love you, the people you barely notice and everything you have; things you may not even think about, tiny objects you take for granted. But after all you can not take anything with you when you go, you can not take anyone, only memories and your only exsistance in the world will be through others memories of you. So how would you want to be remembered?

I recommend this book for everyone. It will teach younger readers to appreciate what they have and it will remind older readers what life is really about- love, your family- not work and money.

Lauren Oliver is such an inspirational writer. To me she is like David Beckham to footballers; some sort of icon. I have recently read her book Delirium which is just as touching as Before I Fall, her writing has so many lessons to teach. So go out and buy her books, they are truly breathtakingly amazing.

Before I Fall will remind you why you get up in the morning.

Immortals series

Evermore

Since a horrible accident claimed the lives of her family, Ever can see auras, hear people's thoughts, and know a person's entire life story by touch. Going out of her way to avoid human contact and suppress her abilities has branded her as a freak at her new high school—but everything changes when she meets Damen.

Damen Auguste is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy. He's the only one who can silence the noise and random energy in her head—wielding a magic so intense, it's as though he can see straight into her soul. As Ever is drawn deeper into his enticing world of secrets and mystery, she's left with more questions than answers. She has no idea just who he really is—or what he is. The only thing she knows to be true is she's falling deeply and helplessly in love with him. 

Evermore is the first book to Alyson Noels immortals series. In this book we met Ever and find out about her life and the tragedy which led her to the life she is living now. Written from her point of view we discover what it is like to lose all of your family, to be the only one in a terrible accident to survive. Ever loses her parents, little sister and her dog in the car crash. She constantly wishes she had been killed with them, she misses them more than ever. She now lives with her work addicted aunt who likes stability and a normal life, but now she has a depressed teenager to put up with. 

She is in a new place at a new school, she is one of the freaks to all of the popular kids. But being a freak led her to be friends with her two best friends. She is finally living a normal life, trying to move on, apart from that she sees and talks to her dead sister Riley. But then there is a new tall, dark and hansom mysterious boy at school and everything changes.
Throughout the story Ever realises that her surviving the accident was not by chance and it has something to do with him, the new rich kid and his female friend.
That crash was meant for her, so why did everyone but her die? It was all her fault, she should have died not her family. Whoever caused the crash is still after her, and the one person who helps her is the one reason her life is at risk.

This is a tragic love story that will leave you with touched hearts. 

I have read the next two books which are just as thrilling as the first; and I have the next two books sitting on my shelf waiting to be read when my exams are done and the final one is soon to be released.
As you may have noticed I loved every single book I read and always have something good to say about them, and although I love this series, compared to a couple of the other books I have read it isn't as exciting. No doubt they are incredible books and I do recommend you buy them, because I wouldn't dare put down a book which left me hooked or insult the author because her books are incredible- I just don't know what it is about them they are just not on my favourite list. Saying that the last time I read one of them I remember thinking- I didn't think the book would be that good.
 

If you like books like 'Kissed by an angel' then I recommend this book for you.

Fallen series

 Fallen

There's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.
Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He's the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.
Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce--and goes out of his way to make that very clear--she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.
Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, Fallen is a page turning thriller and the ultimate love story.

The Fallen series is about two star-crossed lovers. Lucinda and Daniel. The first book Fallen I read simultaneously with the book New Moon by Stephanie Meyer and although the Twilight books are amazing, like I have said in my last blog, the Fallen series I found even more incredible. This book is utterly thrilling and new, it was a breath of fresh air when I read it as it is different to other books I had read- although this was nearly two years ago and I had just began reading books again.
The story within the pages emphasize on a life which is haunted and terrible, Luce's life. It walks us through what life is like for those unfortunate enough to grow up in a boarding school- not just an ordinary boarding school. A place where your parents sent you because they can not control you, maybe you have done something wrong, been a criminal and your parents and other people see you as a danger in the ordinary world. A life where you are treated like you're in jail, under strict rules, living in horrible dorms with weird and rough people. Being a new kid at school is hard, but being the new arrival at this school is a death sentence for Luce.
Luce didn't even do anything wrong, but who was to believe her? It was her past which haunted her like black clouds- literally- that had sent her there. Placed her on the path her life was meant to be on; even though that past had been hiding, running from her, praying this time she would not find him. But of course you can not run from fate, the order of the cosmos. History would repeat itself over and over again- even if it was the most tragic story with the worst ending.
When Luce's life leads her to this school, Daniel tries not to be involved in her life- but he knows she ended up here because of him. All he wants to do is stop hurting her, stop doing this to her; but to her- the point of view the story is told from- he is ignoring her, for a reason she does not know.
His strategy to keep distance between them, to make her think he hates her so that she escapes fate does not work the way he planned and she ends up getting close with the enemy- Cam. Like the majority of great love stories there is another person involved, a love triangle formed.
As the story goes on Luce realizes something dangerous is brewing, the people around her she thinks are just other students, actually know everything about her when to her knowledge she had only just met them. Luce tries to just get on with her life, with lessons, however it is obvious there is something going on. But who should she place her trust in? The guy who is friendly, flirty and charming, the one with the gleaming green eyes or the mysterious, dark guy who stays clear of her and tries to push her away.
This book stretches the limits of love, what one would do to protect that person they live for. It experiences the depths of grief, through Luce watching her friend die, realising ordinary people like the librarian have deep dark secrets and are dangerous, finding out trusting people is something you should never do. But it also shows how love can find its way through anything, no matter the consequences, if it's meant to be, love will get you there.

Torment
Hell on earth.
That’s what it’s like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel.
It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts—immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students: Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.
At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn’t told her everything. He’s hiding something—something dangerous.
What if Daniel’s version of the past isn’t actually true? What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else?
The second novel in the addictive FALLEN series . . . where love never dies.

The second book in the Fallen series is just as amazing as the first, reaching new levels of tests against Luce and Daniels love. The majority of the book, like the first, is written from Luce's prospective.
Daniel has sent her away to a school full of gifted students. He thinks she will be safe there, under the cover of there powers but it isn't just the immortals out to kill Luce who are a danger to her.
Throughout the book Luce learns more about herself, she finally discovers what the shadows are that haunt her. During her classes with the gifted students she learns how to use them; though she is specifically told it is a very dangerous thing to do and the demonstration the teachers showed her should not be done by the students. But Luce needs to know more, she wants to uncover her past.
While her time at the school, Luce is put in a room with a girl who at first is reluctant to know her and dislikes she now has to share her room. But over time they become good friends and she helps Luce in her discoveries. She also meets other people, (a boy who for the life on me I can not remember his name, read to many books since this one, but I remember him) who begins to fall for her and has Luce wavering over whether Daniel is who she is meant to be with. While Daniel is out protecting her, hunting down the people who are hunting her, she travels through the shadows, discovering things for herself.
In the end it comes down to a battle and Luce is saved by neither Cam or Daniel. But now she is gone, ran away through her shadows and is lost in the past.

Just like the first book Torment will leave you on the edge of your seat throughout, you won't be able to put it down. There are so many unexpected things that happen, you have to read for yourself, I assure you if you are a fan of Twilight you will adore this series. (I adore it more but they are completely different books so can't exactly compare)

Anyway as many others are, I am anticipating the release of the new and third installment of the series Passion. It is out on the 23rd of this month less than 4 days away, but unfortunately I am in an exam that day and will probably get it the week after. But- even though I have about fourteen new books on my shelf waiting to be read once my exams are done- I will read it straight away, because Luce's story is one of my favorites out of all the books I have read and I will write a new blog about it!
On a final note, I want to emphasize juts how amazing I think that these books are, and yes I love every book I read but really after reading Fallen almost two years ago- I was inspired to write my own book. And though I am just a teenager, who is unpublished and unknown, I have written my own book and have two others on the way (trying not to read or write until my exams are done, but as you can see I'm writing these rather than revising right now). Lauren Kate will never know, but she inspired me to become someone I had always wanted to be but never realised it, a writer! 

Let her stories inspire you.

Twilight series

Isabella Swan is just an ordinary a teenage girl who moves to a small town called Forks. She and falls in love with a 104-year-old vampire named Edward Cullen.Over the series of books their relationship is put to the test and Bella's life is put on the line. A werewolf called Jacob Black is a friend and yet another obstacle the couple have to overcome.

Of course you do not need me to tell you how amazing the twilight series is, even if you have only see the movies, I'm rather sure there is not many people out there who do not know the basic outline of this heart clenching story. Stephenie Meyer exceeds the boundaries of love when intermixing mortals with vampires and werewolves. Although the movie is what has caused this story to become so popular it was the words themselves which is where it began.
I have to admit, I myself only knew of this story because I watched the Twilight movie, who didn't? I then- being me- read the second book rather than the first because I had seen the movie, and what more could there be? Of course I was wrong to think only the movie lay within its pages, this was two years ago when my passion for books was just beginning after all.

After reading the second book New Moon, I of course had to go on to read the third. After which the second movie came out. Even though I knew the story I still found the movie amazing and am collecting the movies to go with the set of books- even though I am not one of those obsessed Twilight fans I am just a girl who loves to get lost in great book and enjoys snuggling up to watch a movie- but I am also one of those people who love to collect things so having full sets of things is more of a compulsion than a obsession. After that I bought Breaking Dawn- which in my opinion is by far the best book of them all, it is more thrilling and keeps you on edge basically all the way through as it is not predicable like the others- I specifically remember that night I stayed up until like 5am, with my little book light in the dark, to finish the last hundred or so pages because I simply could not put it down. Although like being able to judge people and books by appearances the majority of the time I can predict endings to movies and books. You wouldn't like to watch a movie with me, I always guess the ending and sometimes I'm right. But with books it's slightly different, sometimes I get it completely wrong- but that is the best thing about books, a good book keeps you guessing till the last page. Breaking Dawn is exactly that kind of book- if there is anyone crazy enough to have not stumbled across the Twilight world yet, or if you are one of those who only follow the story line through the movies I highly suggest you go out and buy the books. By the way I did read the first book- at the end of course- and it was amazing like the rest better than the movies. When you do read them, reading them in order is my tip to you! Either way you will not be able to put them down.
If you want to know what's better the books or the movies I can only say this to you, they are both as incredible as each other and I enjoy both, of course reading a book is always better than watching a movie for me but that's because I am a book nerd. 

I'm sure like many of you out there are anticipating the release of Breaking Dawn the movie and I am too! But in the waiting there are many other stories on the shelves just as amazing. It has been over a year since I read this series, I will work my way through all of the books I have read and hopefully you will find my blogs helpful to which books to buy!

Well done Stephanie Meyer- I am highly jealous as a young unpublished writer, however I congratulate you on writing the modern Romeo and Juliet love story. It will be talked about, read and watched for years to come!

Kissed by an angel

Ivy and Tristan are meant to be together. Both stunningly attractive, brilliantly talented and very much in love, they think their happiness will last forever. When a terrible car accident shatters their world, killing Tristan and injuring Ivy, she must face life alone - or so she thinks. However, Tristan is watching over her as her guardian angel - so close she can feel his touch and hear his voice. And no one needs a guardian angel more than Ivy, because someone is trying to kill her. But if Tristan saves Ivy, his mission on earth will be finished, and he'll have to leave her behind. Will saving Ivy mean losing her forever?

As you can tell just by reading the blurb of this book that it is a tragic love story that will move you. I know that they say that you should not judge a book by its cover, but I find that I am a good judge of character and judge books by their cover anyway, even though it is the story which matters. This system has never failed me and so in the summer of 2009 I walked into Waterstones- for the first time in a couple of years; since the last time I had read a book they had been children's ones- and the beautiful cover attracted me to buy this book. This book is what reminded me of my love for books two years ago. The story was inspiring and I have now dozens of books in my room and a finished book of my own typed up onto my laptop with two others on the way. This book was my starting point.

Anyway back to the story within its pages. It has been two years since I read it, but I seem to remember stories of the characters in books better than my own memories. Kissed by an Angel is both a heart breaking and heart warming book which reveals personalities of people, people like the ones you know who have hidden secrets and a different side to their personality. It represents how easily a wall can be put between two people separating them, how even people who love each other can be torn apart by life. 

Tristan is taken away from Ivy, he is killed in the car crash and is left on a different plane of life than her. Through Ivy's story we experience the tragedy of losing someone, of grief and pain and terror and lost faith. As Ivy has always believed in angels and now, after losing the only person she has ever loved how can she believe in something so good when things like that could happen. Yet Tristan is not lost he is still there, wondering the streets he used to walk on, he can see her, be near her but she can not see him, they can not touch. In Tristan's story we discover a life of someone who's invisible to the rest of the world, who has lost everything even though it is right there in front of him he can not grasp it, or comfort his grieving father or let Ivy know that he loves her so. 

As Ivy becomes more distraught by the loss of Tristan, Tristan grows stronger, realizes his death was not an accident but a set up, someone had messed with the car so that they crashed. He meets a girl whom has also died, Lacey, and she teaches him what it is like to be an angel, how to materialize so that his hand can stroke a cat or project so that he can make a sound people can hear. Meanwhile Ivy finds comfort in her new step brother Gregory and begins to hang around with him and his friends. But what she doesn't know is what Gregory is really after and his friend Eric begins to harass her. But Tristan is worried, he realizes Ivy is in danger, that the crash was not to kill him but her. He tries with all the power he has to protect her but is still unsure who he is protecting her from. He discovers he can communicate with her through other people but of course has to be subtle, she'd get scared. He uses her friends Beth and Will to reach her but didn't know that Will was falling for Ivy. 

Ivy begins to remember things, starts to notice she is the one who was suppose to die, fears for her life. Someone very close to her is trying to get her, but she doesn't know who. Then after being set up again, the incident at the train station makes her believe family she is suicidal, so whoever is after her would get away with her death if they ever succeeded. Ivy is scared, alone and with even smaller faith than ever. 

But she finds a friend in Will, she begins to fall for him. But Will has a secret, he knows Tristan possesses his body, but he doesn't tell her. Ivy discovers for herself soon enough and together they discover who is really after her.
Scraping death by merely inches Ivy survives the last stab at her death, through both Will and Tristan's help. In the end she finds faith again in Will and knowing that Tristan is still out there.

This is just a brief outline of the story, the real one will leave you breathless, with tingles running down your spine and goose bumps all over your skin. It will take away your belief in peoples humanity, teach you not to trust, but it will also show you there are hero's out there, beneath there own little flaws and disrupted lives, it will teach you who to trust and to have faith. 

I have the next installment sitting on my shelf at home waiting to be read (Evercrossed). I hope my brief blog about the story has convinced you to go out and buy the books, because it is one of the most amazing stories and even two years on I remember it. This book will inspire young readers and still manage to touch the hearts of older readers- a book for everyone.