terrifyinglyficional: bibliophile blog

I Did Horrible! - My First 24-Hour Read-A-Thon Experience

So if you're not sure what a 24-Hour Read-A-Thon is; its when an individual(s) binge read for a full 24 hours - unless you chose to sleep like I did. And might I add, I did horrible.

I was inspired by readbyzoe on Youtube to do a Read-A-Thon after I watched her first Read-A-Thon video and thought the whole idea would be fun to do!

On August 20th at exactly midnight, I began my own 24-Hour Read-A-Thon and updated my instagram story frequently. My goal was to finish reading Cinder by Marissa Meyer, which I had already started and was two chapters in as well as When Dimple Met Rishi by Sadhya Menon which I was about half way through on audible. I also wanted to start and complete Whisky Words and A Shovel I by R.h Sin, 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher and Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne.

To most, that may seem like a lot of reading; but me being myself, I typically finish about four books each month, more if its a great month. So I wasn't feeling incredibly worried at all. I tried to pick my books strategically; majority of the books I had chosen to read and finish were short books. I also picked 13 Reasons Why because not only did I want to do a review for it and compare it to the television show, but its a contemporary novel and I tend to fly through contemporaries. I also picked Whiskey Words and A Shovel I since there is about 20 words on each page and I thought it would be great to read in between novels to rest my mind.

I won't bore my readers with a hour to hour plan; therefore if you haven't seen my Instagram story updates, I apologize for not giving you details on my failure but I can tell you that I didn't do as well as I planned.

I had successfully finished When Dimple Met Rishi and Whiskey Words and A Shovel I and had also read a little more than 100 pages in Cinder which resulted in reading a whopping 608 pages in 24-Hours, but it wasn't as much as I really hoped for as I was striving for at least 2000+ pages.

I'm not sure if it was just because I picked the wrong books, or the wrong time to read; but I definitely won't throw out excuses on why I barely hit my goal. I won't lie, at one point I planned to take a 30 minute nap which resulted in a three hour long nap, wasting most of my reading time.

Something I'd do differently next time is probably pick a better day. The day before the Read-A-Thon, I was at a party and the day of, I went shopping with my family which I think both tired me out. I don't think my book choices were a problem though and I was very content with that!

Regardless, I did have a lot of fun with my Read-A-Thon, and would definitely do it again in the future.

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, by jessreadsalatte

My First Movie Review! - Everything, Everything Book and Movie Review

Everything, Everything By Nicola Yoon

Everything, Everything follows our main character Madeline or "Maddy" who is allergic to everything - kinda. Maddy has Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) meaning that she is prone to getting infections from everything which causes her to not leave her sterile home and everyone who does enter has to be thoroughly sanitized. Until her new cute neighbour Olly moves next door and Maddy doesn't let anything get in between them - even if that means risking her life and losing everything.

Book Review

The book was definitely one of my favourite summer reads. There was so much about this book that I truly loved, but there were also some aspects of the novel that made me feel like it wasn't perfect.

For example, the writing style in this book is both particularly strange, but also great and original. I loved that it wasn't written in typical novel-style. There were obviously parts written like chapters; but there were also short blurbs from Maddy's one-liner book reviews that I really enjoyed, sections that looked like it could be screenshot from Maddy's computer, text message conversations etc. And to me, that writing style made it more enjoyable. It was original and a nice break from 15-20 page long chapters. What I found weird about the writing style though, was that specifically at the beginning of the book, the chapter sections of the novel constantly switched between past and present tense. I found myself constantly switching tenses in order for the beginning to make sense.

Another thing that I disliked was that the book stretched so long at the beginning but was rushed at the end. The novel was quite steady for most of the book; until it hit the end. By then, everything felt so rushed and I wished they kept the steady feeling throughout the novel.

Otherwise, I loved the characters in the book. I loved the relationship between Olly and Maddy. It felt so realistic and almost cheesy - but the cute cheesy that everyone needs once in a while. I also loved the character development from Maddy. You can tell at the beginning of the book, how vulnerable she is and how her character grows to be more stronger and independent.

Movie Review

Unfortunately, I didn't like the movie at all which was definitely a bummer to me since I really enjoyed the book. There was a lot of things in the movie that was taken out and because of that, there
were parts that wouldn't make sense if you didn't read the books - I watched the movie with my boyfriend who did not read the books and there were parts I had to explain to him what should be happening because the main concepts were taken out - especially Olly and Maddy's relationship growth.

I also found Maddy's mom to be a lot nicer that I thought she was from reading the book. That idea might just be me, although there were so many parts where I thought the reactions were a lot harsher than what was portrayed in the movies.

In comparison to the books, I discussed earlier how the book was so stretched out and the ending was rushed; well for the movie, everything felt rushed. To me, because of that, the movie wasn't that enjoyable.

Besides all the negative aspects of the movie, I loved the use of drawings and text messages and book reviews etc. (my favourite parts of the novel) were portrayed just as beautifully in the movies.

But overall, if someone were to ask me: "Jessica, if I could only pick one; Read the book or Watch the movie, which should I choose?" I would hands down say read the book. The book is much more enjoyable than the movie.

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, by jessreadsalatte

In bibliophile blog, book blog

New Favourite Read Of 2017!! - Six Of Crows Review (No Spoilers)

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows follows a group of Misfit teenagers called The Dregs. The leader of the group is given the opportunity to receive a large - and when I say large, I mean large amount of money for himself as well as the rest of the group. But theres a catch; the only way the Misfit teenagers can receive the millions of dollars is if they pull off the most impossible heist and break into a guarded area thats never been broken into before to save an intelligent scientist worth millions.

This book BLEW ME AWAY! I had never read a book about a heist before so I wasn't sure what to expect. But the plot was so interesting and the book was full of suspense. Personally, when I really love a book and is really interested in the plot, I'll take days to read it because I don't want the book to end. That's exactly how I was with this book. Had I wanted to read it all without taking my time, I would definitely say I would've finished this book in a day.

One of my favourite aspects of this book/the duology is the use of diverse characters and their bonds within each other. I loved that there were characters of different race, sexuality, genders (might I add the female characters were just as fierce and hardcore as the male which I loved) etc. It was truly hard not to fall in love and connect with each of the characters. Each misfit teen also has a very interesting background which honestly wanted me to just sit with each of them and interview them on their lives.

Something that a lot of people question is whether or not they have to read the Grisha trilogy in order to read the Six of Crows duology; or even Six of Crows in general. And personally, my answer is no. I read Six of Crows with no prior knowledge of the Grisha world and I loved it! Leigh Bardugo gives you a very specific introduction to the world so in my opinion, you will do just fine without it!

If I were to recommend a book I've read in 2017 to my readers, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo would definitely be one of them! I thought it was so good and worth the read!