6 month blogoversary

Hey Guys 


If you have read the title, you already know what this message is about; I have been blogging for 6 months :D The past six months have been awesome, I have made new friends and I discovered a whole network of awesome bookish people I didn't know about before I started this blog. People who understand it when I say that the Harry Potter books were better than the movies, and that Peeta and Katniss are a cute couple. People who understand it that you can fall in love with fictional characters. Also, I met so many new authors, and they have been so kind to me. I regained faith in humanity :)


Blogging is my way of expressing myself. I am not an artist, nor a musician. I'm not a -published- writer, nor am I a photographer. I am a reader. And I love to show that to people. Most of my real life friends don't like reading, or at read they don't like to hear me talking about reading 24/7, 365. Sometimes when I am rambling about a book their eyes almost pop out of their sockets, because they think YA dystopian/paranormal is a crazy genre, for crazy people. And actually it is. But the best people are crazy, it keeps you sane!


In the past six months I have started up 2 memes, Fresh on my Shelves Friday, an equivalent of IMM, and Manga Tuesday, a personal meme in which Lua, a friend of mine who is crazy about manga, reviews manga's. You should really take a look at it :) I myself also love manga, but I love 'normal' written books more. 


There are a lot of things that I love about blogging, but it isn't all sunshine and rainbows and pink fluffy unicorns, blogging can be very hard. First of all, it takes a lot of time to blog, promote your blog, comment, read books you accepted for review and still love your own, already busy life. I always thought blogging would be easy, and that blogs get zillions of followers in no time, without you doing anything for it. After a few days I already had figured out that this wasn't the thruth. Not at all... Secondly, it is so difficult to keep your blog unique. There are so many YA blogs out there, and it can be (is) almost impossible to make your blog stand out from all those other ones. Also, my ideas have been influenced -a lot- by y 'blogging idols'. Before I started blogging, I always wanted to be like them. Soon, I figured out that that wasn't the right way to build up my blog. I had to make it 100% me. And that was the hardest thing for me. Keeping it 100% myself, and always be honest. 


Still, there are so many great, amazing things about blogging! I just can't imagine my life without my blog anymore. It has boosted my confidence, every single time that I got a new follower, or an author sent me a review request for their novel, or I got a comment. Someone really reads the stuff I say! There are people just like me out there on this planet, people whose biggest love is the written word. I don't know lots of those in real life, but here, on the internet, I have met tons of them. Being a fan of the Hunger Games isn't strange anymore -and by that I mean the books, not the movie-, being a potterhead is common, being a nerd is normal. So many great books have been recommended to me. I have a new favorite author, a new favorite book, I fell in love with genres I had never even imagined reading before. It has been awesome!


The past 6 months have been the best of my entire life - and it's all because of you guys! Thank you, you are awesome, we should hang out some time :D


xo Mar

Tour stop - Pretty Amy by Lisa Burstein Review + Q&A

Today I am a host for the Pretty Amy book tour. First of all, I have a review for you. Below that I have posted a Q&A. Enjoy!


title: Pretty Amy
written by: Lisa Burstein
genre: ya, contemporary
pages: 304
published by  Entangled Publishing
published may 8th, 2012

Amy is fine living in the shadows of beautiful Lila and uber-cool Cassie, because at least she’s somewhat beautiful and uber-cool by association. But when their dates stand them up for prom, and the girls take matters into their own hands—earning them a night in jail outfitted in satin, stilettos, and Spanx—Amy discovers even a prom spent in handcuffs might be better than the humiliating “rehabilitation techniques” now filling up her summer. Worse, with Lila and Cassie parentally banned, Amy feels like she has nothing—like she is nothing.


Navigating unlikely alliances with her new coworker, two very different boys, and possibly even her parents, Amy struggles to decide if it’s worth being a best friend when it makes you a public enemy. Bringing readers along on an often hilarious and heartwarming journey, Amy finds that maybe getting a life only happens once you think your life is over.

Burstein created a simple, unique and amazing book every teenager, expecially girls, will like. It has something for everyone, characters you can easily relate to, and lots of humor. And the cover is beautiful!

Most books about teenage girls and prom don't exite me at all. In fact, I hate them. But already after reading the blurb of Pretty Amy I knew this book wouldn't be like those books. Being arrested on prom night? Amazing plot! Prom really changed Amy's life, in many ways, but most of all, it has shown her what is really important in life. And that was one of my favorite things about this book, it was not just a story, but it was very well thought out!

"I used to be nice, but nice was boring. Nice hadn’t gotten me anywhere." This line really describes the way Amy, the main character, acts. The world didn't care enough about her, so now she pretends as if she doesnt care about anything. Amy was a very fun character. She had to overcome a lot, after being arrested on prom night. But she handled the situation perfectly, and came out great. Other important characters were her two completely different best friends; Lila, the barbie girl and Cassie, the rock chick everyone is scared of. I love it when the main characteris in a book differ a lot, but still live together in harmony.

You read this book from Amy's point of view, the first person. I always like to read from this perspective, because you get way more insight in the story and the life of the character this way.

I rate this book 3.5 stars - You should read it! 


the Interview


1. What inspired you to write Pretty Amy? 

I was arrested during my senior year of high school, not for the same reason Amy was, but that was where the kernel came from. I also knew I wanted to write a "shocking" book from a teenage girl's point of view. I feel like you can get away with your character being a murderer, or a jerk, or just a smart ass more easily if your book isn't contemporary and I wanted to try to break that mold with PRETTY AMY. I also wanted to write a contemporary YA book that was about what real teens go through. I feel like teenage girl's lives are complex and I hoped to show that in PRETTY AMY.


2. Do you have any strange writing habits? I  myself always need to have my favorite book lying next to me, as a stimulation. 

Yes, I write with my laptop on my lap. I cannot write at a desk.

3. Does music inspire you while writing, or do you prefer to write in silence? 

Write in silence. I am way to easily distracted :).


4. In the book, Amy gets in trouble because of the Prom. Was your prom a disaster, too? 

I never went to my senior prom. I think that was why I made it such a hard night for Amy.


5. What was for you the hardest part of Pretty Amy to write? 

It wasn't so much a scene, as the end of the book. Amy goes through a pretty significant emotional and psychological change throughout the novel and it was hard to get it just right. Hard to make it as authentic as she is in the earlier parts of the novel.

Have a great day!
xo Mar

Fresh on my shelves Friday #2

I have decided to stop participating in In My Mailbox. Still, I loved the idea behind this meme. I wanted to continue posting about the books I recieved for review. So, I decided to start a new meme, which you can also use. It was inspired by In My Mailbox, by The Story Siren. In this meme I show you which books I bought/borrowed/recieved over the past week(s)

Hi there, it's friday :) What's fresh on your shelves?

I had an aweful lot of amazing books this week :D

1) City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

2) Insurgent by Veronica Roth

3) The Selection by Kiera Cass

4) Masque of the red Death by Bethany Griffin

furhtermore, I got some amazing books from the authors;

The Metaphysical Double Life of Eri Lane by Jocelyn Nora Moore

The Lure of Shapinsay by Krista Holle

A stiff Kiss by Avery Olive

That's about it. What did you get on your shelves / ereader / ... this week? link back to it below :)

xo Mar

extremely loud and incredibly close by Jonathan Safran Foer

title: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
written by: Jonathan Safran Foer
series? Nope
genre: Adult, mystery
pages: 326
publication date: April 4th, 2005
publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Meet Oskar Schell, an inventor, Francophile, tambourine player, Shakespearean actor, jeweler, pacifist, correspondent with Stephen Hawking and Ringo Starr. He is nine years old. And he is on an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. His mission is to find the lock that fits a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11.


An inspired innocent, Oskar is alternately endearing, exasperating, and hilarious as he careens from Central Park to Coney Island to Harlem on his search. Along the way he is always dreaming up inventions to keep those he loves safe from harm. What about a birdseed shirt to let you fly away? What if you could actually hear everyone's heartbeat? His goal is hopeful, but the past speaks a loud warning in stories of those who've lost loved ones before. As Oskar roams New York, he encounters a motley assortment of humanity who are all survivors in their own way. He befriends a 103-year-old war reporter, a tour guide who never leaves the Empire State Building, and lovers enraptured or scorned. Ultimately, Oskar ends his journey where it began, at his father's grave. But now he is accompanied by the silent stranger who has been renting the spare room of his grandmother's apartment. They are there to dig up his father's empty coffin.

Extremely loud and Incredibly close is one of those books that I will never forget I have read. Immediately after you open the book you are thrown right into the story about a depressed, crazy and genious child, Oskar. I immediately fell in love with him. He was just the cutest child I had ever read about, and I wished he were my younger brother. He shows interest in everything around him, which makes him different from most of the children his age.


The heart-touching story is written about something horrible that truly happened, about 9-11. This event has always interested me, but still, I have never thought a lot about how it affected the people that remained without one or more of their family members. How some of them are traumatized by the terrorists, and never will be able to go on high buildings. How they are scared of every men that looks like a terrorist. Oskar had those traumas. He was really and forever damaged by the terrorist attack on the twin towers, which makes a lot of sense to me!


Foer created a very realistic character. Sometimes I even thought it was too realistic. Oskar thought like a 40-something year old men, and behaved like one, too. Not that this is bad, just that it really impressed me, and made me think. Still, Oskar is one of the best developed and most complicated characters I have ever encountered while reading a book! 


The plot of this book is very well thought out, and I loved that about this book. Oskar's quest, looking for the keyhole that belongs to a key, is one I *and most others* would give up after a while. He continues, for almost a year, if not longer. He decides to visit everyone with the surname Black, because that was standing on a paper he found together with the key. While looking for the key he meets no 'normal' people at all. All of the Blacks have something strange and special about them. The difference between every Black kept on surprising me, but it also kind of annoyed me, because they were too different to be a little realistic. But, since it's fiction, I can't blame anyone for that. I would have found the story pretty boring if all the Black's were just 'normal' people. 


Foer's writing style is amazing. You read the story from multiple points of view, Oskar's, Thomas's and Oskar's grandma. Oskar's point of view was my favorite. The way he interprets the world astonished me. Then there were the other 2 points of view. They were written as letters. I love books that are written like letters or emails. Then there were amazing photographs that first of all didn't make any sense, but later did. When I understood them, they really added something to the book! 


A lovely, heart-touching novel for every teenager and adult, something that belongs on the list of books you should have read before you die!


rating: 
I give this book 5 stars!


xo Mar