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P.S. I Like You by Kasie West REVIEW *Spoiler Free*

                        P.S. I Like You by Kasie West REVIEW                                              *Spoiler Free*

                                                          ★★★

While spacing out in chemistry class, Lily scribbles some of her favorite song lyrics onto her desk. The next day, she finds that someone has continued the lyrics on the desk and added a message to her. Intrigue!

Soon, Lily and her anonymous pen pal are exchanging full-on letters—sharing secrets, recommending bands, and opening up to each other. Lily realizes she’s kind of falling for this letter writer. Only, who is he? As Lily attempts to unravel the mystery and juggle school, friends, crushes, and her crazy family, she discovers that matters of the heart can’t always be spelled out…

                              ------------------------------------------

So this was my first time reading a book by Kasie West. I’m a heathen, I know. This book follows Lily as she begins to fall in love with her anonymous pen pal. They begin with their shared love of indie music and from there they go on to write long letters to each other where they learn about each other’s troubling personal lives.  I’m a sucker for letter writing in 

a book so this was the perfect book for me!

This book was quite trope-heavy, which wasn’t a bad thing and I actually found it kind of refreshing. We have Lily who is a shy musician who has a crush on the older indie boy. She has a high school nemesis, Cade, and a loud, busy family who I absolutely adored.

The reason why I gave this book 3 stars rather than 4 or 5 is that this book was good but not gush-about-it-to-everyone-you’ve-ever-met good. I liked the book, the romance was adorable but it just wasn’t anything super special. Would I read it again? Probably, I don’t know.

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Book bloggers please like or reblog this post!!! I would love to follow more blogs about books especially YA contemporary romance which I’m reading a lot of at the moment.

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I’ve been reading a lot of YA contemporary romance recently and I’m thinking of making a big series of posts with recommendations for books.

What is your favourite YA contemporary romance?

I would love to find some new titles to read!

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Day ?? of Productivity

Haven’t posted in a week, whoops!

Today I finally figured out a section of a piano piece I’ve literally been trying to learn for about two years which feels f a b. Since finishing lessons last year I’ve really improved with my aural skills and I enjoy playing so much more but on the other hand my technique isn’t as good as it used to be and I rarely sight read so I have disimproved in that sense.

I also got a new dress for a job interview I have on Thursday because I didn’t really have anything suitable for it.

Tomorrow I’ll just be doing interview prep because this will be my first formal interview and it may also be a group interview so I really need to be prepared bc ya girl is broke and needs a job.

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Favourite Classic Book of All Time

Being the data enthusiast that I am, I decided to have some fun with the answers from my recent post about people’s favourite classic books. I’ve taken the 41 top answers from my last post and sorted them randomly into 10 groups to determine Tumblr’s favourite classic. The top 2 books from each group will go onto round 2 and so on and so forth until we have 4 books remaining. You can vote in as many as you want. The polls are linked below and will be up for 48 hours (until Thursday at 8pm GMT)! Please reblog if you’re interested so we can get as many responses as possible!

May your favourite book win!!

Round 1 includes:

Group A: Dracula by Bram Stoker, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Othello by Shakespeare and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

(Link A is being contrary and isn’t working for some whoops)

Group B: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Group C: 1984 by George Orwell, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Group D: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, The  Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkein and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Group E: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Animal Farm by George Orwell, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Hamlet by Shakespeare

Group F: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo and The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Group G: Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy and the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Group H: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and the Cantebury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

Group I: The Illiad by Homer, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, The Master and the Margarita by Mickhail Bulgakov and Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Group J: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe and the Sherlock Holmes Series by Arthur Conan Doyle

[thatyaromanceblog]

Favourite Classic Book of All Time

Being the data enthusiast that I am, I decided to have some fun with the answers from my recent post about people’s favourite classic books. I’ve taken the 41 top answers from my last post and sorted them randomly into 10 groups to determine Tumblr’s favourite classic. The top 2 books from each group will go onto round 2 and so on and so forth until we have 4 books remaining. You can vote in as many as you want. The polls are linked below and will be up for 48 hours (until Thursday at 8pm GMT)! Please reblog if you’re interested so we can get as many responses as possible!

May your favourite book win!!

Round 1 includes:

Group A: Dracula by Bram Stoker, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Othello by Shakespeare and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

(Link A is being contrary and isn’t working for some whoops)

Group B: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Group C: 1984 by George Orwell, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Group D: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, The  Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkein and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Group E: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Animal Farm by George Orwell, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Hamlet by Shakespeare

Group F: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo and The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Group G: Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy and the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Group H: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and the Cantebury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

Group I: The Illiad by Homer, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, The Master and the Margarita by Mickhail Bulgakov and Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Group J: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe and the Sherlock Holmes Series by Arthur Conan Doyle

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This post got a lot more attention than I thought it would so.....

I’ve decided to use all these recommendations and to make a poll with the most popular responses to find out what Tumblr’s Best Loved Classic is.

For the next hour or so I’ll still be including responses I receive. I’ll be using the 40 most popular answers for round 1 and the rounds will keep going until we only have four left.

As a data nerd, I’m very very excited and I hope there are fellow data or book enthusiasts who are too!!

Round one will be posted tonight (I’m not great with technology, I need time)

People who read classics

I have an important question for you all!

What is your favourite classic / most memorable that you’ve ever read (or top 3)??

As someone who doesn’t read nearly enough classics I would love hear other people’s input. Mine would personally be The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

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Days 1 and 2 of Productivity

(Combining these together because I wasn’t hugely productive).

Yesterday I finally finished transcribing minutes for a meeting I was at 2 weeks ago and emailed them to the chairperson of the organization.

Today, I finished my book (The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie) and started Of Mice and Men because so many people recommended it on my last post. I also made a completely new reading log because none of the spreadsheets that I found online in January suited what I was looking for. Then, I went for a walk along the harbor for a bit of fresh air.

Later on I’m hoping to finish Of Mice and Men as well as applying for a few jobs online.

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People who read classics

I have an important question for you all!

What is your favourite classic / most memorable that you’ve ever read (or top 3)??

As someone who doesn’t read nearly enough classics I would love hear other people’s input. Mine would personally be The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

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Lol it me I’m back

Ya girl is still alive and still chaotic af. I’ll start posting again soon but tbh I haven’t read many new books this year so this blog will probably become a mishmash of books / travel / languages / studying / mental health / self care posts because that’s kind of where my heads at right now. Also, I’m going to attempt 100 days of productivity but that will probably go down the drain after Day 2. As always, messages are open if you need someone to talk to (at least I think they are because I’m still terrible with technology). Planning on writing a life updates post later because I kind of dropped out of university which is pretty fun :)))

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It Only Happens in the Movies Book Review

*Spoiler free*

This is my third time reading a Holly Bourne book, after reading Am I Normal Yet? and Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes? This is hands down my favourite book of hers so far (and AWALAS was my number 6 of 2018). 

I came across this book after the girl who ran the book club I used to go to made an offhand comment about how I’d really enjoy the book after I made a cynical remark about romance in a book we were discussing. And, damn, she was right! 

This book follows Audrey who hates romance and, especially, romantic movies after seeing what heartbreak has done to her mum and now, to her. However, when she starts a job at the local cinema she finds herself working alongside Harry who is every single cliché she hates rolled into one. 

I adored the central message of it that real love isn’t like what you see in the movies. Love isn’t always glamourous, love can be flawed and love can be unrequited. 

A few things I loved:

- All the feminism and female empowerment everywhere

- Aubrey actually gets her period unlike 99% of YA where characters are so magical that they don’t get periods

- ZOMBIES

- MOVIE REFERENCES EVERWHERE

- The best ending to a book I have read in quite a long time

- Audrey develops so much as the book goes on and I love how far she comes by the end

My rating: 5/5 (I’m super happy to be starting the year off with a 5 star rating, it will really motivate me to keep reading!)

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10 Underrated Books That You Definitely Should Read (P2)

Continuation from Part 1, linked which I will link whenever I figure out how to work links

6) I Stop Somewhere by T.E. Carter

(*Trigger warnings throughout the book for rape, sexual assault and rape culture as a whole*) Very dark and very, very difficult to read at times due to the nature of the book but, nonetheless, an important read. This book is about a girl who is raped and murdered by the sons of a rich property developer and, as a ghost, witnesses the boys rape countless other girls. This book very powerfully highlights the impact of rape culture on society and is very relevant to society today. Obviously the subject matter is extremely heavy and upsetting so it’s not something I would recommend unless you are truly comfortable with reading quite a graphic book.

7) Replica by Lauren Oliver

This story blends a modern, contemporary setting with a dystopian plot. The Haven Institute is an island off Florida which conducts experiments that nobody on the outside is quite sure of. Some say that scientists have found a way to create clones but nobody is certain. This book follows Lyra (or 24 which is her official name) who escapes the institute with 72 and meets Gemma, a girl whose father has strong connections with the Haven Institution. I have yet to meet someone who has read this book which is quite shocking because it’s such an incredible book. There is a sequel to this book, however, I didn’t like it as much as I liked this one.

8) Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley

This book is actually magical. The writing is absolutely breathtaking. When Rachel returns to the city, after three years of living by the sea, she is a completely different person. Her brother Cal is now dead and she failed her last year of secondary school and can’t go to college. Now, she’s working at Howling Books with Henry - the last person she wanted to see when she returned to the city. If you like bookshops, letter writing, beaches or nature then this book is perfect for you!

9) Louder Than Words by Laura Jarratt

Another book that nobody I know of has heard of, yet alone read. It’s about a girl called Rafi who has been mute for eight years who wants to find a way back into ‘normal life’ and to learn how to speak again. The book is so beautiful and its lack of popularity is so disappointing (John Keats’ poem La Belle Dame Sans Merci is really cleverly entwined in the novel).

10) It Only Happens in the Movies by Holly Bourne

I adore Holly Bourne and her writing so much. Her books are quite popular in the UK and Ireland but are completely underrated elsewhere. This book is about a girl called Audrey who, having seen relationship after relationship fall apart, is quite cynical towards romance. However, when she gets a job at the local cinema to escape from all the drama she is surrounded by, she meets Harry who is every single movie cliché rolled into one. I love how honestly love is portrayed in this book and how romance and dating is so completely different than movie expectations and, wow, this was a fantastic book.

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Ask Box

I finally opened my ask box so if anyone wants to ask me something then go right ahead :)))

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2019 Reading Challenges

I’m planning on participating in three different reading challenges for 2019, as of right now: The Birth Year Reading Challenge, The Austen Challenge and Brit Trip Adventure. This is my first year participating in any reading challenge and I am really looking forward to reaching my goals.

The Birth Year Reading Challenge is a challenge where you read as many books as you can which are published in the year you were born (for me, I’m heading back to the year 2000). I chose this challenge because when I was looking at my 2018 reading statistics, I hadn’t read any books published between 2000 and 2010 so I want to change that for 2019. I still haven’t researched any books published in 2000 so at the moment I have no idea what I’ll be reading.

 My goal for this challenge: 10 books

The Austen Challenge is quite self explanatory - read as many Jane Austen books as you can. I chose this because I have never read any of Jane Austen’s books and I feel like a heathen because of it. Also, my mam gave me her copy of Pride and Prejudice after we watched the movie over the holidays.

My goal for this challenge: the main six but maybe Lady Susan too if I get around to it

I’m really excited for the Brit Trip Adventure this year. In this challenge, you read one book from every English county (either short stories or novels, it’s up to you). You can participate in either the Detective Bus (for mystery books only) or the Rebel Bus (for mixed genres). I will be on the Detective Bus mainly but I plan on also doing some mixed genre reading also. I’ve been doing a good bit of research for this challenge because some counties are a lot harder to find books for than others so if anyone is interested, I can post my reading list for the Detective Bus if you are looking for some inspiration. There are also some fun challenges along the way for you to do!

My goal for this challenge: 20 books for the Detective Bus and 5 books for the Rebel Bus

If you are interested in participating in a reading challenge this year, check this link out which is a master list to A LOT of book challenges for 2019.

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December Book Wrap Up

December was a very bad reading month for me because I was hit hard with a lot of things (both good and very bad) happening in my personal life so although I was reading, I was just forcing myself to read short books and listen to audiobooks just to try and reach my goal. I really didn’t have much of an interest in reading whatsoever, to tell the truth, so I am quite proud to even have read a single book.

1) Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

I’d been so excited to read this book for about six months and this month I finally got to it! And wow, it was completely worth the wait. My mam read it before me and she loved it too which is incredible in itself because our tastes in books are quite different. In short, the book is about a woman who has had the same routine in her life since graduating university and is completely isolated from everyday life. However, one act of kindness brings two new people into her life and completely changes her routined days.

2) The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie.

This is the first book in the Hercule Poirot series and, while I enjoyed it, I much preferred ‘Murder on the Orient Express’. The book follows Poirot’s hunt for the murderer of Emily Inglethorp who was found dead in her locked bedroom. (I’m going to be perfectly honest, I completely forgot that I had read this until I checked the notebook where I keep the list of books I read, that being said, I do really enjoy Agatha Christie’s books.)

3) Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie

Another Agatha Christie book, this time one of the last books in the Poirot series. I hadn’t read any of the later Poirot books so I have to admit that it took time to adjust to reading about Poirot in the 1970s, rather than the 20s and 30s. In this book, Poirot is asked to investigate an accident which had occurred about fifteen years earlier which had been ruled as a suicide pact between a husband and wife, however, now it is unclear whether it had been suicide or murder. I loved the premise of the book whereby it is being investigated years after the couple were found dead and I found it to be somewhat refreshing from usual murder mystery books.

4) Five Go on a Strategy Away Day by Bruno Vincent

A short, humorous book about the Famous Five as adults. The title is quite self explanatory because the books in the series are always around the 100 page mark (including illustrations) and are quite an easy read. Personally, I prefer the other books in the series that I have read but if you’re looking for an easygoing, lighthearted book, I would definitely recommend it.

5) Five Go Parenting by Bruno Vincent

Another easy read that anyone who grew up reading Enid Blyton would enjoy. In this book, the five have to look after their cousin Rupert’s baby after the group caused him and his wife to be arrested and sent to prison. Bruno Vincent’s books are very funny to read and would be perfect if you want a break from deep and heavy going books. This book is my personal favourite in his Famous Five series.

6) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

I have never seen Sherlock ever (shocker) so this was my first experience of Baker Street! The book is divided into 12 short stories which you can listen to in any order you like as they are not continuations of each other. I used an audiobook which I found on youtube which I really enjoyed and I will definitely be reading more of Arthur Conan Doyle’s books in 2019.

7) One by Sarah Crossan

This was a reread which I originally read in 2017 and LOVED. The story is about conjoined twins Tippi and Grace who are viewed as a medical miracle to have lived for almost seventeen years. However, Grace is becoming sicker and it is not something she wants to tell Tippi because if Grace dies, so does Tippi. This book is written in free verse so it is quite an quick read and Sarah Crossan is an incredible author so I would highly recommend reading it.

8) The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe

100% expecting someone to tell me that this doesn’t count so I’ll just explain quickly. For me, I include any story / book, etc. that is published on its own and not part of a collection as a book and this meets the criteria. This is quite a dark story that is only eight pages long and, as a massive cat lover with my cat right beside me as I write this, I wasn’t a fan. I have read some of his poetry though and I have enjoyed it.

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Wow

I spent about a month offline for personal reasons and when I stopped I had 3 followers but now I have 110? I’m beyond grateful for this and I’m so motivated to start posting again (even though I had very little to start with!) THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR FOLLOWING ME, I PROMISE THERE WILL BE MORE CONTENT COMING SOON!

Also Happy New Year, I hope you all have a fantastic 2019!

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Reblog if I can send you little prompts, be it a few words or sentences, to your inbox and you have to write a little scene or something.