Tag: carry on

‘Me Before You’, ‘Confess’, And Other Books I Read This Month (Feb. Wrap-Up)

Posted on by Zakiya N. Jamal in Blog

I read a lot of great books this month and I got a bunch of books too! Check out my first monthly wrap-up. I plan to do this at the end of every month as a recap of what I’ve read and what books I’ve either bought or was given to me during the month.

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Number Of Books I Read This Month: 11

Top Three Books I Read This Month

1. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

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I absolutely loved this book. A retelling of Beauty and the Beast, this novel follows 19-year-old Feyre who’s forced to go to Prythian, the land of faeries, with a beast that shows up at her door. Although at first she doesn’t trust him and is fearful for her life she begins to realize this beast may not be as beastly as she originally thought.

2. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

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This book made me cry just as much as I expected it to, which was a lot. When Louisa Clark accepts a job as a caregiver to Will Traynor, a wheelchair bound man, she doesn’t know what to expect. Although they have almost nothing common Louisa finds herself trying her best to make Will happy and show him life is worth living.

3. Confess by Colleen Hoover

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I’d never heard of Colleen Hoover until I joined bookstagram and saw her books everywhere but man I’m glad I finally dived in. Confess follows Auburn and Owen as they’re paths continue to cross and intersect, having positive and sometimes negative affects on both of their lives. Filled with twists and surprises this book kept me on my toes.

Other Books I Read This Month

Books To Buy

  1. You Were Here by Cori McCarthy
  2. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
  3. How Willa Got Her Groove Back by Emily McKay
  4. Pushing the Limits by Brooke Cumberland
  5. November 9 by Colleen Hoover
  6. Making Her His by Lucy Leroux
  7. The Steep and Thorny Way by Cat Winters

Books To Borrow

  1. How to be Bad by E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, and Lauren Myracle

Books I Received This Month

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I didn’t buy any books this month because I’m currently on a book buying ban but hopefully that will change next month. Still, I did receive a box load of books from a friend of mine that works at HarperCollins Publishers. Here’s all the books I got and plan to read soon.

  1. Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard
  2. Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
  3. Happily Ever After by Kiera Cass
  4. Shatter Me Trilogy by Tahereh Mafi
  5. Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

What were your favorite reads of this month? Let me know in the comments below!

Book Review: Carry On

Posted on by Zakiya N. Jamal in Book Reviews, Books to Buy

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Synopsis from Amazon:

Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen.

That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.

Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here–it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.

*This book is part of my POPSUGAR 2016 Reading Challenge.*

It took me way too long to finally read this book but I’m so glad I did. I absolutely loved it and even though I know Rainbow Rowell wrote the book it felt like Cath from Fangirl wrote it, which was great.

Told in multiple point of views, Carry On tells the story of Simon Snow, a less heroic Harry Potter in my opinion. He’s supposedly the greatest mage (wizard) there ever was and he’s meant to stop the Insidious Humdrum (kind of like Voldemort but way more ridiculous and way less evil).

Carry On was truly ridiculous in the best way. As long as you don’t expect a really deep story with life lessons in it and see it as the entertaining, laughable book it is you’ll love. Even the spells were a bit ridiculous. In the world of Simon Snow, words are the key to spells, therefore song lyrics and popular sayings were used as spells. Oddly, this became very funny to me. Also, I loved almost all the characters, especially Simon’s friend, Penelope, who reminded me of Hermione.

Side note: If you’re wondering why I’m comparing all these characters to Harry Potter you need to read Fangirl. If you don’t want to read Fangirl all you need to know is in the world of Fangirl, the Simon Snow books are on the level of Harry Potter. They’re a series of books about a British boy who’s an orphan and discovers he has magical powers. Sound familiar yet?

But like I said Carry On airs on the side of the ridiculous. It’s not as serious as HP and it’s a bit way more gay. And although there are some deaths it’s definitely not on the level of heartbreak that J.K. Rowling put fans through, mostly because you only have one book to get invested in these characters instead of seven.

Overall, Carry On made me laugh and swoon and even shed a tear, which is all I could ask for from this book. Fangirl is still my favorite book by Rowell but this is a close second.

Borrow or Buy: Buy!

Stars:

5 stars

Favorite Line:

“I am going to die kissing Simon Snow. Aleister Crowley, I’m living a charmed life.”

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