Monthly recap | July '14. How to train your dragon.

I always enjoy watching recaps from other bloggers, so that’s why I’ll be posting my own recaps. This wrap up is also my new ‘Showcase Sunday’ since I don’t have the time to do weekly hauls. Instead, I hope to capture it in vlogs every now and then.

-I helped my sister decorating two birthday cakes. After that I went to my nephew’s birthday.
-I went to the Primark and I found 3 awesome Harry Potter shirts. Finally! It was my reason to go twice, haha. Two have the Hogwarts crest and one Slytherin (although I’m in Ravenclaw)
-I went to the beach two times and to an outdoor swimming pool. We had some nice warm days.
-My parents gave me and my boyfriend a hotel voucher and we had a great time, especially because there was a swimming pool and free bowling.
-I went to the cinema with my boyfriend and one of his friends. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2.
-My boyfriend and me practiced setting up our tent, because we are planning to camp for 5 days. I’ve never camped before and I’m a little nervous, but excited as well.
-Book club meeting! We had some delicious food, especially the dessert.
-I was interviewed by Siiri from Little pieces of Imagination.
-I brightened my hair with Sunkiss jelly from L'oreal and I really like the natural effect! Picture taken from my Instagram.

I did some other things too, but I'm lazy and I'm not sure if anyone finds this interesting in the first place.

Review 276. Maggie Stiefvater – The dream thieves.

Title: The dream thieves.
Author: Maggie Stiefvater.
Pages: 450.
Published: September 5th 2013.
Sort: The raven cycle #2.
The raven boys #1. The raven boys.
Source: Birthday present from boyfriend.

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after…

Rating:

The most interesting thing about this book was the ending. Some people warned me about it, but when I finally read the conclusion it was a lot more satisfying then expected. If you loved the tale from The Raven boys, you’re going to devour this book too.

There are small spoilers for the first book.

Review 275. Leigh Bardugo – Ruin and Rising.

Title: Ruin and rising.
Author: Leigh Bardugo.
Pages: 417.
Published: June 17th 2014 by Henry Holt and Co.
Sort: The Grisha, Part #3.
Part #1. Shadow and bone.
Part #2. Siege and storm.

The capital has fallen. The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army. Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives. Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.

Rating:

How am I supposed to write a review about this book? This story gave me so many emotions, but most of all it left me confused. I still have mixed feelings and right after finishing I felt the need to cry. I think it’s because it wasn’t everything I wanted it to be. Instead of the great ending I expected, I got something clichéd and it lost the creativity Bardugo showed me several times throughout the series. 

But at the same time, I got a lot of sassiness from one of my favorite characters, Sturmhond, background story from two fascinating characters, adorable romantic moments and a kick-ass Alina. The one thing that didn’t surprise me was my growing hate for Mal.

From here on, there are spoilers for the entire series. Don't continue if you haven't read all 3 books.

Fairytale News | Spoilers (2).

'Mel on reading' is a little feature I created as part of my Fairytale news. It's my way to show my thoughts on topics that go from pet peeves in reading to my favorite things in books.

A while back I talked about spoilers and if there is such a thing as ‘a spoiler that stops being a spoiler’ after a certain time. You can find my post about it right here: Spoiler talk.

Basically, my question was when it’s okay to talk about details. Is there a time limit for a spoiler? I hate spoilers with a passion, so one of the negative things (for me) of being a blogger is stumbling on (accidental) spoilers. I wanted to know what you thought about handling information we might not consider as a spoiler anymore, because of the age of the book (like with Harry Potter/LOTR/GOT) I also wondered how we should deal with them on social platforms, like Twitter.

Most of you guys had the same idea as me, which means that as long as things are popular and on going (like with Game of thrones and the TV show) you should be careful about it. Otherwise, there is no ‘rule’ you should follow, but it’s always kind to take other people in consideration. Placing a spoiler tag in your review isn’t that hard, but at the same time it’s always a good thing to be careful yourself. If you know you are going to read a book soon, it might be best to stay away from reviews.

Almost everyone was also on the same page when it comes to Twitter. Spoilers are inevitable, unfortunately. It is preferred if you take those conversations personal (like with DM’s or other platforms like Whatsapp), but it’s up to you. Therefor it’s best to stay away from Twitter when it comes to new releases and new aired episodes. Again, if you are a tweeter it might be nice of you to warn people for upcoming spoiler tweets.

Today I want to tackle something I haven’t talked about in the previous discussion and that is spoilers in comments. It has happened to me that I came across people who openly talked about spoilers in their comments. It is of course free for you to talk about that, but do you ever think about this? Are you aware that you might accidentally spoiler someone else if you go into detail, while the review used spoiler tags?

I always try to stay vague when I comment, because I would feel terrible knowing I ruined a book for someone else. So my next question is, how do you feel about this? Have you ever consider this possibility or do you never read comments?

Let it go | Forget about me + The vanishing season.

Two short DNF reviews today. This book had a very interesting promise, but it just didn't work for me. I think it's very personal if you like the writing-style or not - in my case, I didn't. I do love the original promise and I wish I was able to connect with the style. The other is a book where the ending surprised me so much, it added around 0.5 stars to the rating. I wasn't surprised by the crushing effect from this book, because the author destroyed me before.

Review 274. Elizabeth May – The falconer.

Title: The falconer.
Author: Elizabeth May.
Pages: 312.
Published: September 26th 2013 by Gollancz
Sort: The falconer #1.

One girl's nightmare is this girl's faery tale.
She's a stunner. Edinburgh, 1844. Eighteen-year-old Lady Aileana Kameron, the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, has everything a girl could dream of: brains, charm, wealth, a title — and drop-dead beauty. She's a liar. But Aileana only looks the part of an aristocratic young lady. She's leading a double life: She has the rare ability to sense the sìthichean — the faery race obsessed with slaughtering humans — and, with the aid of a mysterious mentor, has spent the year since her mother died learning how to kill them. She's a murderer. Now Aileana is dedicated to slaying the fae before they take innocent lives. With her abilities and her knack for inventing ingenious tools and weapons — from flying machines to detonators to lightning pistols — ruthless Aileana has one goal: Destroy the faery who destroyed her mother. She's a Falconer. The last in a line of female warriors born with the gift for hunting and killing the fae, Aileana is the sole hope of preventing a powerful faery population from massacring all of humanity. Suddenly, her quest is a lot more complicated. She still longs to avenge her mother's murder — but she'll have to save the world first.

Rating:

The first time I heard about this book, I was extremely excited to read it. But when the hype started, it became one of those feared books. I am happy to announce that this book is worth the hype. I absolutely fell in love with the characters and the plot.