Booktober: week 4

So you may or may not have noticed but these haven't quite been going up on time. I've been extremely busy with lots of things but mostly working on blog posts for the future so don't think I've been slacking; just been working on things that I'm not ready for you to read yet!

Book four of my Booktober is An Abundance of Katherines which is another of John Green's novels. And you should be pleased to know that I was a lot more impressed by this one! 

I was thoroughly gripped by this novel from the word go! It shows the story of a young man's journey to find love in the most perfect form. But he just doesn't seem to be having any luck at all. What makes it even funnier is that all thirteen of his attempts at a relationship involve a girl called Katherine. In fact, maybe that's what drew me to the novel. It gets to the point at which he's naming his past girlfriends as if they're members of the royal monarchy (Katherine the Second and Katherine VII). We are taken on a romantic (but a little bit cheesy) whirlwind adventure to meet all of the Katherines and learn where they all went wrong. And I guess I felt sorry for the protagonist on more than one occasion; I was practically begging the pages to let him have some success! 

I really enjoyed the humour in the novel as it made the novel a lot moreover a  lighthearted and enjoyable read. 

In fact, the only criticism I have is about the spelling of 'Katherine'. For all 13 of them! 

Keep smiling,

Kathryn x

Booktober: week 3

So week three's book for 'Booktober' is Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green. So having read and enjoyed a lot of John Green's novels I was extremely excited to get started on this one!

The novel is written by two separate authors; odd numbers chapters written by one author and even by the other. As a way of differentiating between the two storylines, half of the chapters are written uncapitalised. And I think that is where my issues with the novel begin. I am the most extreme perfectionist that you will ever meet and this just aggravated my OCD but because I love the author so much I thought I'd persevere. 

Something about this novel was a little odd though. Usually I find it impossible to put down John Green's books but this time I found myself strangely drawn to the idea. Undoubtedly, the plot was interesting and it wasn't too confusing to follow. However, it just wasn't quite as gripping as I'm used to. 

In some ways I was gripped; I did want to know how it ended. However, I also found that it was a little predictable and written in a way that made it a little bit more monotonous that it could have been. 

In no way am I saying that the book is awful, it's just not quite as good I expected and it didn't live up to my expectations. But expectations are a bad thing. They lead you to be let down. So if anything, I'll let it be a lesson to me. A lesson that teaches me how setting high expectations leads to disappointment. 

I am so extremely apologetic about the post which is a lot more negative but these are only my opinions on the book. If you have anything you'd like to say about the book please do so in the comments below.

Keep smiling, 

Kathryn x

Booktober: week 2

This week I've been extremely busy and had so little time to relax or do anything that I really wanted to so I had every excuse not to read a full book this week. But I was not letting that stop me! You have to make time for the small things because sometimes they become the big, important things!

I was in work today on a break and decided that I'd read this week's book: Dead Time by Anne Cassidy. Cassidy is an author that I used to absolutely adore! Her stories have an enjoyable element of mystery and usually a very unpredictable ending which is what I love most. And I thought I'd read all of her books but was thrilled to find she'd relatively recently published a new series called The Murder Notebooks. Obviously I had to get hold of a copy of the first one as soon as possible! 

This book tells the story of not-quite step-siblings Rose and Josh who end up separated after their parents mysteriously go missing. The police insist that it was most likely murder but then close the case and the children are not convinced! They take matters into their own hands to try and discover the truth about what happened that night.

Dead Time was a fantastic read; definitely not a let down. I loved the way that different parts of the story were linked together and the way that mystery and suspense was created. This would definitely be a recommendation to others! 

Keep smiling,

Kathryn x

Booktober: week one

Ketchup Clouds. So this is where I started Booktober. I will admit that this book, by Annabel Pitcher, had been sat on my bedroom floor for quite some time but I've been extremely busy recently and struggled to find time to read. This was the fantastic opportunity to get me reading again!

What I didn't realise until after finishing the book is that she is the author of a book that I read a long time ago and thoroughly enjoyed! 

Ketchup Clouds tells the story of a teenage girl (who's name I'm not going to say because that's part of the mystery) who starts writing to a prisoner as a way to deal with her guilt. Her guilt as a result of an event that she blames herself for. We never hear from the convict, who is on death row, and the cliffhanger you are left on has you dreaming up all sorts of different endings.

Throughout the novel, there are several themes, both obvious and hidden, that manage to get you questioning things about your own life. It has you wondering how you would react in certain situations and teaches a very important lesson: sometimes letting go is the only thing that you can do to stop you making yourself crazy with guilt. 

If you don't mind reading something with quite serious underlying themes covered up quite well with the odd bit of humour, then this is certainly a book for you! The way family, friendships and feelings are portrayed is so unique and definitely worth trying to understand.

That's all for this weeks review because I don't want to ruin something that you might read but I look forward to hearing about what you're reading and I'll be back next week with another.

Keep smiling, 

Kathryn x

Booktober

I am a very big fan of Carrie Fletcher who, in case you didn't know, is quite a well-known Youtuber amongst other things. She created 'Booktober' a couple of years ago and basically the idea is to read a new book each week in October. This year I wanted to give it a go! 

I will be reading a new book each week (because I'm a little bookworm!) but I'm doing things a little bit differently! I'm going to write a blog post each week so coming back for a quick review about what I've been reading as well as recommendations! 

Keep smiling, 

Kathryn x