Book Quiz!

Heya! Today I felt like creating a quiz. Of course it is all about books! I’m not sure if the quiz will be too easy but it’s just a bit of fun! All the answers can be found in my previous blog posts.

1. What are the names of the two main characters in ‘Forever’ by Judy Blume?

1. Katherine and Ralph
2. Julia and Patrick
3. Katherine and Michael

1. Fill in the missing word of the title of this Cathy Hopkin’s book: _______ For a Broken Heart

1. Playlist
2. Songs
3. Music

1. Where is the fourth Million Dollar Mates book mainly set?b) Florida
2. c) London
3. a) India

4)   Who does America choose in ‘The Selection’?

1. a) Aspen
2. b) Maxon
3. c) Carter

5)    Where does Bea tell Toph to meet her a year later in ‘Nobody’s Girl’?

1. a) Pont Neuf
2. b) London Bridge
3. c) The Eiffel Tower

6)     Which Novella was written by Rebecca Serle?

1. a) Star drops
2. b) Ella
3. c) Locked

7)     What game did Noah and Jude play in ‘I’ll Give You the Sun’?

1. a) They divided up the world between them
2. b) They took turns adding entries to their Grandma’s bible
3. c) They tried to make pictures out of the stars

8)       How does ‘New Moon’ end?

1. a) Bella punches Jacob
2. b) Bella and Edward tell Charlie they are engaged
3. c) Edward proposes to Bella

9)     What is Beth Reekles (author of The Kissing Booth) nationality?

1. a) English
2. b) Welsh
3. c) American

10)   Who wrote ‘Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging’?

1. a) Samantha Mackintosh
2.          b) Chris Higgins
3. c) Louise Renninson

 

 

So I hope that quiz was ok! I might do some more in the future! Sorry I don’t know what happened to the formatting!

Love, Sydney

Hereafter Review

Hello! Today I am reviewing Hereafter by Tara Hudson. This is the first in a trilogy but I have only read the first one. I look forward to reading Afterrise and Elegy because I loved reading Hereafter

Can there truly be love after death?

Drifting in the dark waters of a mysterious river, the only thing Amelia knows for sure is that she’s dead. With no recollection of her past life—or her actual death—she’s trapped alone in a nightmarish existence. All of this changes when she tries to rescue a boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but will him to live. Yet in an unforgettable moment of connection, she helps him survive.

Amelia and Joshua grow ever closer as they begin to uncover the strange circumstances of her death and the secrets of the dark river that held her captive for so long. But even while they struggle to keep their bond hidden from the living world, a frightening spirit named Eli is doing everything in his power to destroy their newfound happiness and drag Amelia back into the ghost world . . . forever.

Let me start by saying- this wasn’t a stand out book for me, there are many other paranormal romance books out there that I love, but it was still an amazing book. As I’ve said in previous posts, I feel like most paranormal romance books these days are vampires Vs werewolves. I actually haven’t read any other books about ghosts or heard about any except for Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. Anna Dressed in Blood sounds really good so I’m excited to read it in probably about two years to be honest. I have so many books to read but I always find myself doing something else! It was different and less predictable to read a ghost story. I don’t tend to have a problem with books being unoriginal because I like reading similar books but it’s nice to read something different every once in a while.

I like Amelia because she went on a journey and we only found out pieces of information about her past in different stages of the book. Strangely, for a person that doesn’t like reading the unknown, I enjoyed the mystery and suspense Hudson created in this novel. For me, the main point of the book was to unravel the mystery of Amelia’s past so I’m glad it was written in this way. Josh definitely added to the story. It wouldn’t have been anywhere near as good without romance in. Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think there was anything from Josh’s point of view so that would be something nice to have in the rest of the trilogy. I don’t mind if it doesn’t happen- it’s just a thought. My rating for Hereafter is 4/5 stars because I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It isn’t five stars because I rarely give out five stars to books. Five star books don’t exactly have anything in particular about them except I love romance so they need to have romance in them. Otherwise they’re just books that strongly resonate with me and have a wow factor.

Next week’s review is of one of these ‘wow factor’ books- I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. I’ve already written this review and I’m SO excited to share it with you.

Love, Sydney

Jack and Jack Concert Review- Part 2

Hi!

So to continue from last week’s post…

Jack and Jack:

Okay, so rant over and now onto Jack and Jack’s actual performance! Oh my god- the start was so so good! I don’t want to ruin the start of the show for anyone that hasn’t seen it but they did something awesome at the beginning. I’m not going to lie, I did get very emotional during the show and especially at the start. The Jacks came on to ‘Flights’ (my second favourite song), which was utterly magical. It was a really touching start for me because that’s the song they came on to for their first international show and the first show of theirs that I attended. It is amazing to think that now they are flying all over the world to perform.

I felt so proud of them because they had structured the show really well. To start with they did ‘How we livin’, ‘Shallow love’ and ‘RWYA’. I’m not sure if they did ‘RWYA’ last time but damn Gilinsky was back at it again with the body rolls. I loved the high energy start and then I loved how they did ‘Tides’ after. ‘Tides’ is my favourite song and it is always my favourite part of the concert because it feels like all of the fans connect in the room and of course with the boys on the stage; it is the song for the fans. Jack and Jack are always so appreciative of their fans; they are just such incredible people.

Afterwards they slowed it down and did a cover of ‘Again/One love’ as well as ‘Paradise’ and ‘Wrong One’. It was so chill I loved it! Especially when Gilinsky whipped out the guitar- my heart literally melted. Johnson on the keys was awesome as well- I can’t believe how talented they are. They then went into ‘Groove’ and I was hard-core dancing and rapping along. It is just such a good song and I think that was one of the best moments because it was so hype. I also loved ‘California’ and ‘Wild life’ because they carried on the ‘hypness’ if that’s a thing. I was so insanely happy the whole time! Apart from them performing ‘Tides’ the best part was their cover of ‘How Deep Is Your Love’. It was absolutely wild when they brought the drums out- I could listen to their cover all day.

For the encore, they performed ‘Like that’, which was electric! I wish they’d done more songs in the encore because the show finished at half nine and I wanted to hear their cover of ‘Let’s do it again/Santeria’! Overall, another unforgettable experience- thank you Jack and Jack and their team!

Love, Sydney

Strings Poem

Hello! Today I am going to be sharing a short poem with you- I hope you enjoy it!

Strings

When night came,

A heavy blackness

Hid the sun,

Smothering wisps of white,

Obscuring rays of light.

 

Children were afraid

of the rigid dark

The dark. The dark that would not leave

 

So God plucked out

handfuls of light

Hanging them along the sky

Strings of stars began

to illuminate the night

 

Thank you!

Love, Sydney

Jack and Jack Concert Review- Part 1

Hello! I am so excited to be writing about my latest concert experience! I went to see Jack and Jack at Indigo2 in London (a smaller venue inside the O2) last week. Jack and Jack are my absolute favourites; the only things I love as much are my friends and family. Previously, I have met Jack and Jack and been to their concert twice but this time I couldn’t get meet and greet tickets. I divided my review into sections because there are probably parts people don’t want to read, so just check the subtitles! I am going to carry on this post next week.

Merch:

This is probably quite weird but I think one of my favourite things about going to the concert was being able to buy merch! Before they haven’t had much merch and the shipping online is so expensive so it was actually really cool for them to finally have loads of merch. For anyone going to any of the shows in the rest of the European tour, this is the merch and prices: Wristband £5, poster £5, beanie £15, snapback £15, Calibraska Cd £5, lipbalm £5, black tour tshirt with tour dates £20, white longsleeved top £25, hoodie £35, black lyrics tshirt £20.

Support act:

Unfortunately, because I was in the merchandise queue I missed some of the support act but what I saw was quite good. The support act for the UK shows was an Irish band called ‘Taken’. I liked the part of their set that I saw and I think that they chose really energetic and well known songs to perform. My favourite song of theirs was their cover of ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ because they got the crowd to do all of the ‘oh’ bits, which was such a fun! I thought they were a lovely band and I think it was thoughtful of them to say we could go and meet them at the back of the room.

Venue:

Before I go on, there is one thing that annoyed me about the event- this is nothing to do with the acts but with the venue themselves. I purchased standing tickets and it may have been a week before the concert that I received an email informing me that it had changed so we now had to have seats, which were allocated on a first come, first served basis; I was told that this was because of the production. My friend and I didn’t get to the venue until 15 minutes after doors opened because we had to go to school beforehand and it then took us a while to get up there. This meant that our seats were quite close to the back, which I don’t blame on anyone. In the support act, we went and stood in this section where there weren’t any seats behind the main seating section. When we stood there, we could actually sort of see but we found it quite difficult and exclusive in our seats.

However, when the support act finished, security was making everybody go and sit in their seats without any explanation as to why. At the beginning of the Jack’s set we stood on our seats so we could see and we were then told to sit back down by the staff, so we decided to go back to where we were standing before, except there were now a few rows of people in front of us. This meant that it was more difficult to see but at least we could stay there for the whole concert. I did not have a problem with having to change from standing to seats, but I don’t think the situation was handled very well. What I would like to know is what about the production meant we had to have seats because most people stood up the whole time anyway and this also meant that we couldn’t get as close to the stage. I also don’t understand why we weren’t allowed to stand up in the interval because that meant that we lost our spot. I have no problem with the venue trying to ensure everyone’s safety but I would have liked more explanation and clarity.

I will carry on next post!

Love, Sydney

Susane Colasanti

Hi! So I have come up with a new idea for my Tuesday posts (finally). I’ve decided every few weeks (commencing now) I shall be putting the spotlight on a different author. This will normally consist of a list of their books and what I think of them. If I’ve met the author before I will talk about my experience of meeting them. This should be pretty cool! This week the spotlight is on one of my favourite authors: Susane Colasanti.

Fact File

Name: Susane Colasanti

Born: May 1, 1973 (age 42) New Jersey

Lives: New York City

Previous Jobs: High school science teacher

Amount of books published: 9 (as of May 2015)

So what books has she written? She writes books targeted at teenage girls/ young adults about love, friendship, karma, warm fuzzies and typically New York City. Her first eight books are singular books but the characters sometimes link in with other books. These books are: When it Happens, So Much Closer, Something Like Fate, Now and Forever, Take Me There, Waiting For You, Keep Holding On and All I Need. Last month the first book in a trilogy, City Love, was published and I am SO excited for the other two books to come out!

What is my favourite book of hers? Obviously, I love all her books but my favourite so far is All I Need. I am obsessed with it and it is in my top ten books. The whole concept is sooo cute! After reading Something Like Fate (in my top fifteen books!) I thought none of her other books could top it but it is truly sensational. Just the perfect book to curl up in bed with, especially after a crappy day. Parts of All I Need reminded me of The Beach House by Beth Reekles, which is a super cute novella set after The Kissing Booth. What else can I say? I LOVE IT.

Do I have any experience of meeting her? Unfortunately, not yet- I’m hopeful that I will get to meet her one day! The closest I’ve come is having an email from her. She was ultra-amazing and lovely. I was so excited when she replied! Before I went to New York City I had asked her if she had any recommendations of things to do and of course she had plenty of awesome suggestions. I had a great time in New York visiting all the places in her books!

What got me into her writing and what was the first book of hers I read? We had a book fair at school a couple of years ago and I saw When it Happens on display. It was love at first sight. The cover was soo good I just had to buy it. After that I read all of her books.

Are there any books coming out soon? Yes, as previously mentioned, there are two more books coming out following on from City Love. I know I’m going to love them! In the mean time I suggest that you read So Much Closer if you have never read a Susane Colasanti book. So Much Closer is one of her better books (in my opinion), even though they are all amazing but I don’t think it’s the ultimate best book so it’s a nice introduction to her writing. At some point you HAVE to read All I Need.

I think the rest of my author posts will follow this structure. Hopefully, one of you readers out there will go and buy one of her books now (seriously you need to)!

Love, Sydney

Wonderland Poem

Hiya!

I hope you enjoy today’s poem- ‘Wonderland’.
Wonderland

Cartwheeling fairies prance over the river,

Scattering fairy dust like golden glitter,

Swimming and racing along with the fish,

Whilst using their magic to grant me a wish.

 

Willow trees on the bank begin to shiver

as wind blows through the month of September.

Dandelions swaying along with the breeze,

Butterflies soaring together with bees.

 

Glowing eyes perched on top of a tree-

a white toothy grin emerges with glee.

Blue caterpillar eating a red mushroom,

puffing a pipe, emitting smoke rings of doom.

 

This way and that way, hop over the spring,

Hear the melodic bluebirds and sparrows sing.

Amber sun starting to set, time flew away,

leaving me breathless at the end of the day.

 

Thank you!

Love, Sydney

 

Gingersnaps Review

Hello! Today I shall be reviewing Gingersnaps by Cathy Cassidy. I’ve never written a review for a Cathy Cassidy book but I love all of her books. She’s an awesome person and it was really nice to see her win Queen of Teen when I was there. She is actually the person that got me into reading, I suppose you could call them, romantic, teenage books. Thank you Cathy! Seriously, Cathy rocks.

Is Ginger’s best friend really her biggest rival?

‘You can make a wish come true, if you’re determined . . .’

Gone are the days when Ginger was an outsider, always on the fringes of friendship. She’s swapped puppy fat and pigtails for make-up and hair straighteners and never looked back – until now. Ginger and Shannon are best mates, but when they befriend lonely Emily, everything changes. Even the saxophone-playing boy in the trilby hat can’t help – he’s part of the problem. Are Ginger and Shannon drifting apart or can they stay best friends forever?

The first Cathy Cassidy book I read was Sundae Girl and I thought it was the best thing ever. It still is pretty good, I have to say. After that, I read all of her books, which I loved but they weren’t quite as good as Sundae Girl. When I read Gingersnaps I was so excited because I haven’t decided if I love it more than Sundae Girl, but it was more in the style of Sundae Girl and I instantly loved it. Only a few months ago I re-read Gingersnaps, so I still think it is a really good book. Mostly it’s a nice book to read because it’s not over complicated at all. It’s strange to think I first read this seven years ago. God I’m getting old.

I love Gingersnaps because of Sam the saxophone player. Personally, I think saxophones are really vibey and I wish I could play one. The saxophone in Careless Whisper is the best. Sam is a really nice person, and I like how he tries to bring out the best in Ginger. They make a cute couple, it has to be said. He is pretty smart for, what- a twelve year old? Sam and Ginger seem older but in a good way because when I was younger I liked how it showed that some of us younger people are mature even though there are a lot of immature idiots at that age.

Was there blue lemonade somewhere in this novel? I vaguely remember something about it, so if there was blue lemonade in there then that’s fab. It’s all the little quirky things I love about this book. I love the title ‘Gingersnaps’ because I thought it would be a book about starting a baking thing or something BUT it isn’t. Ginger is a swaggy name as well. Thank god Sam wasn’t called Spice otherwise that would be the end of that relationship. The house boat thing is awesome- not that I want to live on a boat. Oh, and let’s hear it one last time for Sam’s saxophone!

Even if you aren’t eleven anymore, I was actually eight the first time I read it, I think you would still adore this book because the cuteness factor is off the scale.

Love, Sydney

Sounds Live Feels Live Review

Hello!

I would like to share with you my review of yet another concert that I recently attended in London! Wow I feel as though I have been so busy going to shows recently- look out for my final concert review for a while next Sunday. After that I am going to see a musical and then I am done with shows until a festival in the summer.

So, the act that I went to see was ‘5 seconds of summer’, who are not only one of my sister’s favourite bands but they are also my favourite band (do duos count as a band?). I cannot begin to describe how excited I was for the show! Unfortunately, I had to sell my ticket last year so I couldn’t believe that I was finally going to see my favourite band. We arrived after the doors had opened as we weren’t bothered about missing the support act and surprisingly we didn’t have to wait at all to get into the actual arena. They were performing at The O2 so I thought that it would take a while but we went straight in and sat down for the second half of the support act. Our seats were right at the front of our tier and we felt that we were not too far from the stage.

The support act was ‘Jessarae’ (did I spell that right?!), who I had once again never heard of before. I didn’t personally think they were extraordinary or memorable but I thought they were pretty standard support act. Can I just quickly mention that the singer looked like a mini Robert Pattinson (I think it was the eyebrows). The songs were lively and of the pop genre, which I think was a good match for the event. I liked the fact that they seemed to be amazed that they were playing at The O2, it looked as if they were in awe of all of the fans there and I just found that rather touching. They were a lovely band; I really liked their song ‘No Warning’.

Wow. When 5sos came on it felt so surreal. I was surprised that they came on to ‘Carry On’ as I thought that they would come on to one of their more well-known tracks but I still think it was a powerful entrance onto the stage. After that they launched straight into ‘Hey Everybody’, which was such a high energy performance- I loved it! The set list had been planned out really well- they had a cluster of songs off of ‘Sounds good feels good’ followed by songs off of the previous album. They ended with four of their most energetic songs. I liked the songs they chose for the encore ‘She’s Kinda Hot’ and ‘She looks so perfect’ because everybody was dancing and singing along to them.

My favourite part was when they performed ‘Amnesia’ because Calum asked the fans to sing along with him. It was beautiful the way the whole arena lit up with flashlights and the sounds of all of the fans voices united. It was also very emotional when they sang ‘Beside You’ followed by ‘Vapor’, which Luke said was probably his favourite song that 5sos had ever written. There were also lots of flashlights for those performances as well as many tears for me. I also thought that it was really cool for them to create a little song for the show because that meant that we had our own personal experience compared to going to other shows. The song that they came up with was ‘Fish and Chips’. It was such an incredible night!

Love, Sydney

Liebster Award- Questions!

Hey guys! Today I thought I could just answer the questions I asked at the end of the Liebster award post. I don’t think anybody will answer them so I might as well.

 

1. What character would you like to be your boy/girl friend?                                                         I would like Simon Lewis from ‘The Mortal Instruments’ to be my boyfriend. He is so adorable and funny. If he looked like Robert Sheehan in real life then that would be great or Alberto Rosende! They both bring Simon to life so well and I love him as a character because he’s so enthusiastic and loyal.
2. Do you read any classics, and if so what is your favourite classic book?                Recently I’ve been trying to read more classic books and now I’ve been giving a reading list at school with lots of great classic books on there so I hope to read them soon. My favourite classic book so far (bearing in mind I’ve read hardly any) is ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Brontë although I still haven’t finished it!
3. What poem got you into poetry? If you don’t have one, what is your opinion on ‘Because’ by James Franco?                                                                                                      Funnily enough, ‘Because’ by James Franco is the poem that got me into poetry. It isn’t a real stand out poem, but it was the first poem I read that was honest and cut to the chase.
4. Are there any books that you are desperate to be made into movies?                            Definitely my top five books: ‘The Kissing Booth’, ‘Soulmates’, ‘Love Like the Movies’, ‘The Sky is Everywhere’ and ‘I’ll Give You the Sun’. I bet there’d be loads of gorgeous men in there (just saying!). I think the film rights have been sold for Soulmates and I’ll Give You the Sun! I have always said Famous in Love would be a totally awesome movie and I think it is being turned into a TV series. I would prefer it as a movie, but it would still be cool as a TV series.
5. What is the shortest book you’ve ever read?                                                                                 I can’t be completely sure on this, but my Auntie has these little Felicity Wishes books that are really small and cute- so probably one of those.
6. If you could only take three things to a desert island, would you bring a book with you? Why/why not?                                                                                                                             No I wouldn’t, because if I was bored I could make coconut bikinis and I would rather bring water, food and a tent there so I could survive. I don’t need a book, I could use logs to make a fire.
7. Do you have any friends that deserve to have a book written about? What would it be about? (If all your friends are really boring then what book would you write about yourself?)                                                                                                                                                     I have a lot of interesting friends. To be honest, I’d rather write about myself because obviously I know myself and it’s hard to imagine kissing scenes about your friend. If I had to, I would write about my best friend because I probably know her the best out of anybody I know. We have a lot in common too. I’ve always said one of my other friends is very writeable because she has such a complex personality as well.
8. Do you remember the first proper book you ever read i.e. Chapters, one hundred pages or so? If you can’t remember what was your favourite childhood book?            The first proper book I read was ‘Twin Tales’ by Jacqueline Wilson. I remember my Dad reading this to my sister and I when he got in from work. After that I read every single Jacqueline Wilson book as well as the Rainbow Fairies books.
9. Is there a certain genre that you will never read?                                                               Horror, crime, war… most things that aren’t romantic, dystopian or a good YA book. I’ve read books before with no romance in and actually really enjoyed them. I’m definitely not into gruesome things though.

I was struggling to answer the two questions I missed, but I’ll try to answer them in another post some time.

Love, Sydney