Reading Wrap Up | June 2016

So, June has come and gone and that means that it's another month closer to me going off to Drama School!!!!!!!!! AHHH!!!! Excuse me whilst I silently die in the corner from excitement. This month I was able to get a surprising amount of reading done. No, I didn't complete my reading challenge for the year like I thought I would but that's fine by me. I'll do it next month.

This month I was able to read eight books and considering that I was revising and taking exams for the most of the month, I'm impressed with that. There was a mixture of good and bad books this month, I quite liked a few but others I was slightly put off by or they just weren't my cup of tea. So shall we get started?

The Darkest Part of the Forest, by Holly Black
Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries' seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once. 

At the centre of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking. 
Until one day, he does .... 

As the world turns upside down, Haze; tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?
This book was different, completely unlike anything I've read revolving around Fae. It was set in the modern day but still had a hint of the old through the creative writing of Holly Black. The characters were believable and I fell in love. It was beautiful hence why I gave it *****

The Walking Dead, Volume One: Days Gone Bye, by Robert Kirkman 
The world we knew is gone. 
An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept through the world causing the dead to rise and feed on the living. 
In a matter of months society has crumbled. There is no more Government, television or sense of security. 
In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to truly start living. 

For me, this was a reread. Something short that allowed me to take a quick break from the endless amount of revision. It passed the time and fully immersed me into the world of The Walking Dead. Hence why I gave it ****

The Rest of Us Just Live Here, by Patrick Ness
What if you aren't one of the chosen ones? The ones who fight the zombies, or soul eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death? 
What if you're like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and finally have enough courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again. 

Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this weeks end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your life. 

I loved the fact that Patrick Ness was able to poke fun at the idea of the "chosen one" but it still had the usual flare of his writing. It was so good. Yes, the writing was  fairly simplistic in comparison to some of his works but it was lovely. Hence why I gave it ****

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, by Holly Black
Tana lives in a world where walled cities known as coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. And once you pass through Coldtown's gates, you can never leave. 

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her ex boyfriend who has now been infected and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana faces a race against the clock to save the three of them in the only way she knows; by going straight to wicked heart of Coldtown itself. 

There was something about this that sent thrills going down my spine. Holly Black's writing created this gripping world with a twist that I did not see coming. And then ending, it was left in such an open way in which I could interpret it however I wished. Truly it was a breathtaking piece of work that deserved *****

Queen of Hearts, by Colleen Oakes
As the future Queen of Hearts, Dinah's days are filled with an endless repetition of teas, tarts and humiliation at the hands of her cruel father, the King of Hearts. The one highlight coming from the future Knave of Hearts, Wardley, her childhood friend - and love of her life. 

Yet mere weeks before her coronation, Dinah's world is turned on its head and she is forced to unravel the tangled web of madness that is held before her before she loses her own head to a clever and faceless foe. 

I have to admit, this took a while to get into. But once I was past the first thirty pages or so, I found that I couldn't put it down. Really, I didn't expect to enjoy an Alice in Wonderland retelling as much as I did and that is why I gave it ****

The Walking Dead, Volume Two: Miles Behind Us, by Robert Kirkman 
An epidemic has spread rapidly across the world, causing the dead to rise and feed from the living. And Rick Grimes is discovering how difficult it is to keep those he loves safe from people he once new. Characters live and die as they brave a treacherous landscape filled with new villains. 

Another reread to pass the time when I felt like I was about to head into a reading slump. Surprisingly I didn't love this as much as I did the first time round. I don't know why, but I just didn't click with it Sure it was the same as before and expanded up the Walking Dead universe but it just didn't feel the same. Hence why I gave it ***

Rats, by James Herbert
It was only when the first bones were discovered, flesh picked clean, that people began to fear for their lives. For millions of years, rats and man have been enemies but it seems that now the scale has finally been tipped. 

This isn't something that I would immediately pick up but I wanted a change and I was surprised at how easily I found it to finish. The chapters were short and it wasn't too scary, just the right amount of suspense that kept me on the edge of my seat. And that's why I gave it ****

Kat in Zombieland, by Gena Showalter. 
A short story in the Alice in Zombieland series based around the character Kat and her time as a witness. 

I quite liked the first three books in the Alice in Zombieland series, it was interesting. Not a retelling like it claimed to be but still, interesting. I hatted this short though. Kat just isn't the sort of character that I could like, her personality was too in your face and the writing was just poor. And it didn't really add anything to the plot line either. Maybe it would fit in with the final book in the series but it was dull really and I wouldn't recommend it. Hence why I gave it **

What was your favourite thing you read in June? 

-IAMAGEEKINGGINGER! 
Book Total of 2016 - 48 
XXX