Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Heroines!

Evening folks, hope you are all enjoying your week so far, whether it happens to be mid summer or the deep of winter in your town/city! This weeks TTT is about my favourite heroines, yet another post which I've been wanting to do for ages!

> HERMIONE GRAINGER (ultimate favourite heroine hands down, I could have hour long debates about the wonder that is Hermione Grainger)

> Violet Baudelaire (I always thought I was a little bit like her as a kid, however I couldn't have my hair tied up in a ribbon like hers so that swiftly burst that bubble!)

> Bridget Jones (I am inherently terrified of ending up like her, ESPECIALLY after the latest book, but hey, Colin Firth and Hugh Laurie, yes please!)

> Clary Fray (loyal to her family, total modern heroine, actual bamf)

> Lena Holloway (Rebelled against society for a hot boy? My kind of girl.)

> Viola Eade (she's from a different planet and her parents have died, and she's coping better than the boy she's with, clearly the kind of girl you want in a crisis)

> Matilda (survived abusive parents and Miss freaking Truchabull. Case and point)

> Tris Prior (Fought her way into the Dauntless camp and proceeding to save the world a couple of times, not too shabby)

> Jane Eyre (in terms of classics, amongst all of the Bronte, Austen etc heroines, Jane takes my personal number one spot)

> Rose Hathaway (kicks ass for a living. She is brilliant, and I definitely wouldn't mess with her!)

I'd love to hear which of these you guys would have on your list, or any that you feel I should definitely have included! Links to your own blogs in the comments are great too as I love reading new blogs! Until next time, have a great evening- and don't forget to +1 or tweet about this post if you liked it!

Mad About the Boy (Bridget Jones #3) Review!

Hey guys! It is once again time for this weeks' book review. As many of you will know, Helen Fielding has recently released the long awaited latest edition to the Bridget Jones series. In this new book, Bridget is 49/50 and an awful lot has happened since the end of the last book. This review contains spoilers simply because there is too much important content that needs discussed that I can't generalize.

As I mentioned, Bridget is now in her late 40's and has had 2 children, Billy and Mabel, with Mark Darcy. However, tragically, Mark was killed 4 years prior to the start of the book by an IED abroad while fighting a case for rights campaigners (or something.) Now, this is a pretty contentious plot twist and I know that Helen Fielding has got a lot of stick for killing off Darcy, but- as much as it pains me that Mark died, it does instantly bring in a very personal level of sorrow as you see just how awful 'bumbling Bridget's' life has become. The book begins in April of 2013 but shortly rewinds back to April 2012 in a sort of 'here's how I got to this stage of my life' flashback. Obviously it's all done through diary form and despite the obviously traumatic themes of the book, it still captures the original humour and I was laughing out loud regularly.

I quite liked the way the time jump worked as once Bridget had caught you up to April 2013 again, the book continues to December 2013. The main theme running through is showing how Bridget moves on from the trauma of losing Mark and shows her various disastrous dating attempts. She is still aided by Jude, Tom, and Talitha from Sit Up Britain and Daniel makes several appearances which I'm so glad of because he is a wonderful character and his attempts of taking care of Mabel and Billy on several babysitting ventures were very, very amusing.

I'm not actually going to spoil the ending, but I do want to say that I totally 'called' who she ends up with from about page 50, but it doesn't detract from the novel at all. I genuinely think Fielding deals extremely well with the book, considering there are obviously themes of death, as well as depression, addiction and adultery and none of the themes are used for comic affect, they simply make the humour more of a rest from the sadness that Bridget is understandably feeling.

As a side note, Mabel and Billy are genuinely hilarious, and the portrayal of Bridget's mothering skills and their family life is general is so so relatable. The book is laugh out loud funny but I also found myself tearing up on more than one occasion, and I might actually prefer this version to the original! There is a danger of this book being categorised as a 'holiday read' but it is so so much more than that, and I cannot recommend it enough!

Plot: 9/10

Characters: 10/10

Overall: 10/10

I was incredibly lucky with the books I picked to read on holiday, so a lot of the reviews coming up will be incredibly complimentary, and rightly so! I once again appear to be on track to have all the promised blogposts up this week, so I should be back on Tuesday with another Top Ten Tuesday!

Film Friday: Top Ten Actresses

Hey guys! This weeks Film Friday is a list of some of my favourite actresses! I've included their best works (in my opinion!) too so you can check them out if you haven't heard of them!

> Emma Watson

Best role: Hermione Grainger obviously. Although she was great in Perks and the Bling Ring too!

> Felicia Day

Best role: loads of her YouTube and video game stuff is amazing but I fell in love with her as Charlie in Supernatural

> Emma Stone

Best role: Olive Pendergast in Easy A

> Jennifer Lawrence

Best role: Katniss in The Hunger Games, there's a reason it catapulted her to fame

> Crystal Reed

Best role: Allison Argent in Teen Wolf

> Karen Gillan

Best role: Amy Pond in Doctor Who

> Lily Collins

Best role: Clary Fray in The Mortal Instruments, also her eyebrows get a special place on this list for greatness

> Jennifer Aniston

Best role: she's done some really really funny rom-coms but let's not forget Rachel Green, even if we accept the no-bra era.

> Sarah Hyland

Best role: Haley in Modern Family, but I can't wait to see her in the Vampire Academy movie!

> Rebel Wilson

Best role: she was really funny in Bridesmaids even though it was a tiny role, but she stands out a mile as the best part of Pitch Perfect, and I love that film.

Feel free to comment down below if you agree or disagree with any of my choices, or link back to your own list of favourites as I love discovering new actors/actresses!

October Music of the Month!

Evening guys! I hope you've had a good week so far, I have a very, very, very inexcusably late 'music of the month' post. Still, better late than never, so without further ado, here we go!

> For Baltimore Acoustic by All Time Low

> Beautiful War by Kings of Leon

> Plain Sailing Weather by Frank Turner

> Let Your Heart Hold Fast by Fort Atlantic

> Disloyal Order of the Water Buffaloes by Fall Out Boy

> Boston Square by Deaf Havana

> Haunted by Taylor Swift

> Tell Me I'm a Wreck by Every Avenue

> Better Together by Jack Johnson

> Arabella by Arctic Monkeys

> Old Pine by Ben Howard

> The Phoenix by Fall Out Boy

> Goodnight Moon by Go Radio

> Bleeding Out by Imagine Dragons

> Somewhere Only We Know by Keane

I already have most of November's music of the month so that can be expected in a couple of weeks. I will be back on Friday with a film review! Until then, have a good week!

 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Series

Hello everyone! Hope you are having a wonderful week, my TTT post of this week is my updated Top Ten Book series. This actually took a lot of debating but I think I'm sure about all my choices!

> Mercy Falls
An old favourite but the only book series where the main couple genuinely seem relatively normal (except ones a wolf and all that but y'know..) and the plot lines are top notch. But yes, mainly for Sam and Grace being a normal teenage couple!

> Divergent

You guys already know how much I love this series, I'm not even discussing Allegiant right now due to emotional trauma but I will do a review once I've stopped sobbing inside. 

> Chaos Walking

I finished the final book in this series over the holidays and it has completely cemented these books being in my top 5 favourite series, a really incredibly clever plot line. Unlike anything else I've ever read.

> Delirium

This is kind of cheating because I've only read the first two books but another great YA series overall. Really like Lauren Oliver's take on the dystopian future as well.

> Hunger Games

An obvious choice, the HG has shot straight to the top of the YA market and is fast becomming the new Harry Potter in terms of public popularity. Cannot wait for Catching Fire!

> Twilight

I find it hard to admit this, I loved the books at the time but the films, and more importantly the fans, have kind of ruined this franchise for me. The plotline themselves isn't bad though and I cannot deny being obsessed with the books as a younger child. 

> Harry Potter

The be all and end all of books in my humble opinion. No more needs to be said.

> Vampire Academy

A new favourite, recommended by my best friend, need to read more to be sure but so far they've been great. Rose is pretty damn kickass, and I can't wait for the film to be released!

> The Mortal Instruments

My (not including Potter) favourite book series. The film was a bit of a let down despite the wonderful casting, but the books remain amazing. Cassandra Clare is yet to disappoint me!

> The Maximum Ride Series
Maximum Ride, the heroine of the series, is possibly my favourite female character of all time, tied with Hermione Grainger, James Patterson has written a really clever series that actually have morals about animal testing, human nature and the way we treat the environment along with a completely wonderful group of teenage mutant birds. It's honestly not as crazy at it sounds..

Please do comment below with your opinions or suggestions as well as any blog post ideas for me! I have to admit that the Stormbreaker/Alex Rider series, as well as the Artemis Fowl books, were very very close to making the revised list but I am happy with my eventual choices.  Don't forget to +1 and tweet this post if you enjoyed it too! Until next time, have a good week!

City Of Lost Souls Review!

Evening everybody! I'm a little embarrassed at how long it has taken me to put this review up as I promised you normal service over the past couple of weeks and still didn't manage it, but over October I finally had a chance to properly read 'City of Lost Souls,' the fifth book in Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments' series. As you will know if you've read more than 2 blog posts on here, I am a massive fan of the MI series, it is second only to the Potter books in my favourites list.

I'll leave links to my reviews of the first book in the series, City of Bones, so you can see how this book compares to the first book, I actually thought I had reviewed the other 3 but apparently not.

Unsurprisingly, I adored it, Cassandra Clare is becoming more and more well known for being the 'queen of YA fantasy' and it's not hard to see why. I don't think I've ever read a book series where the real world and the 'fantasy' world are so well connected. Normally you can read YA books about 'hidden fantasy worlds' and easily pick loopholes in the plot but I find it really hard to see major loopholes in this series. I do also think that's where the movie fell a little flat for me, other than missing out some of the best scenes (Simon becoming a rat.)

The book picks up two weeks after 'City of Heavenly Fire' concludes, and we see the aftermath of Sebastian/Jonathan being reborn and linked to Jace. It becomes apparent that they have disappeared off the radar and with the Clave being distracted by other demonic events that are occurring more and more frequently around the world, Jace's disappearance has lost priority. However Clary, along with Alec, Isabelle, Simon and Magnus, as well as help from the werewolves Maia and Jordan, has of course decided that they must continue to hunt for the two missing boys and find a way to sever the link between them that means Jace now agrees with everything Sebastian says.

As is becoming a theme in these books, Clary soon comes up with a plan which risks her life and breaks the law in order to find Jace. The underlying theme of the book creates the plot line for the next book, throughout their hunt for Jace, the small group of friends are earned time and time again of an 'oncoming storm' and of a giant war which will leave the streets running red with blood etc etc etc.

I'm not revealing anything because this is very far on in the series and that means that the vast vast majority of those reading this blog post won't have read the book. However if you haven't started this series or have read the first few books/first book, then I cannot recommend this enough. I know that a lot of series are said to go in a U shape for quality, with the first and last books being brilliant but with the middle of the series being poorer but in this case book number 5 is solidly up there with book number 1. I cannot wait for the sixth book to come out but I'm also upset that the series will be ending.

Plot: 10/10

Characters: 10/10

Overall: 10/10

I'll be back with the usual posts this week, until next time- have a great week!