Back in January I, like everybody else, wrote about the new year's resolutions that I am hoping to keep this year. In order to try and stick to these I've written them on my fridge, written about them here, got them on the notes in my phone and promised myself I would do a monthly update on how they're doing. 

Well, as you can probably tell, I already failed at one of those by not posting this in February. Whoops. But alas, February is a short month so that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. Let's recap what the resolutions are:

Good morning lovlies! So, you may or may not know that one of my new years resolutions was to read 30 books this year and I have to admit I have been majorly slacking. It may not sound like a great amount but it works out as 2 and a half books a month which, combined with working, blogging and general living, can be hard to fit in. I had a spurt when I was reading The Hunger Games and managed to get through them in about a week and a half but since then I have just lost all reading motivation. However, I have managed to get back into it and, once again I started a book (Wildflower, review WILL come soon!) but then got distracted by a much easier read and am happy to say I finished it within about six days. The book in question is Jo Nesbo's 'Headhunters' which I am reliably informed has been made into a feature film. The general storyline of the book features a man called Roger Brown who is a headhunter and an art thief on the side. He is introduced to someone he believes will be the perfect candidate for a postition he has lined up, however, things start to take a turn for the worst when he finds out this candidate is in possesion of one of the most sought after paintings in the world. Everything gets a bit messed up (great descriptions going on here) and there are some good twists and turns to keep it interesting. It's a definite page turner and I'd recommend it for an easy, yet interesting read. As a bonus, the proceeds from the book and the film go to the Harry Hole Foundation which is a charity set up to 'reduce illiteracy among children in the third world'. So even if you don't enjoy it you're still doing some good! 

I must crack on and read some more now. I wish blog posts counted towards my goal of 30 because I can safely say that if they did I would have far surpassed this a long time ago! Ah well, I put myself in this situation and I will not fail! Are you reading any interesting books at the moment? I've been recommended the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series as an un-put-downable series that's bound to have me pushing ahead in my resolution in no time, have any of you lot read them? I really hope you're all doing fantastically well and I look forward to speaking again soon. Au revoir! (Learning French was another resolution, clearly not got that far with that one yet.)

Good day! 

Here is the final review of the sixth book in my new year's resolution. I should really be either further through my 7th book or on my 8th by now but haven't quite managed that because I had a bit of a lull after finishing The Hunger Games. My opinion hasn't really changed from what I thought a while back when I was only about a quarter of the way through. It is definitely aimed more at the teenage audience than The Hunger Games was, and I found myself struggling to get through it just out of boredom. To me it seems the story is so obviously trying to appeal to those that liked Twilight and such stories, that it comes across as try-hard and contrived. Again, I do want to point out that I am obviously not the target audience for this and so my opinion probably doesn't count for a lot, but as it was recommended for those that liked The Hunger Games, I do feel disappointed. I would say teenage girls aged between maybe 12-16 would enjoy this but apart from that, I can't really see how anyone older than that would. The story is fine, it doesn't seem to go anywhere very fast and is incredibly predictable, but I'm sure for anyone who is in to werewolves and easy-to-read stories will find it mildly enjoyable. 

There are two other books in the series called Linger and Forever, but I'm not going to being rushing out to buy them. The first book obviously ends on a bit of a cliffhanger (predictable. obvious. blah.) but to be honest I just don't really care what happens to the characters. I feel bad doing a negative review and even worse because I'm doing a negative review of a book not aimed at me, but for those of you not in their target market and who may have been thinking about reading it I would say maybe try something else. But that might just be me! If you enjoyed it then great, I just don't enjoy stories like this and am just not really into the whole Twilight-esque stories that are going round at the moment. Sorry for being so negative but I thought there wasn't much point giving it a rave review if I didn't enjoy it and this blog is a place to express what I think so there we go! Hopefully the next one will be more enjoyable for me! 

The one I've started now is a biography called 'Wildflower'. It's about a woman named Joan Root who was a wildlife filmmaker and conservationist who was mysteriously shot dead in her home in Kenya. I don't tend to go for biographies but this seemed interesting and I definitely feel like I need to read something a little more intellectual at the moment! 

Will do an update when I'm part way through to let you know how it's going but for now, farewell and hope you're having a really great day!

Image from google.com

After reading The Hunger Games I embarked on a hunt for something in a similar vein because I just enjoyed it so much and, really, wasn't quite ready to let it go. I saw a recommendation of the 'Shiver' Trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater, so thought I would give them a go for the next books in my New Year's Resolution.

Again they are in the teen fiction kind of area (something I don't like to admit. It just feels wrong!) and I think you can definitely tell with the one I'm reading at the moment. I'm about a quarter of the way through and, whilst The Hunger Games wasn't particularly high-brow or a complicated literary feat, I felt like those books had a bit more character depth and a stronger story line. 

The story in this first book basically focuses on a mysterious wolf pack and a girl called Grace who has a fascination with them (a bit Twilight-y for my liking). At the moment not a great deal has happened and, even though I might be completely wrong, I think it's pretty easy to see where the story is going. Having said that, I am enjoying reading it but I'm not completely hooked and can't really be bothered to read the next two, but that might change and I will let you know. Obviously I'm not the target audience for these books, so you might have to take the review with a pinch of salt, but I had heard good things around the internet from people older than me, so maybe it's just not my type of story!

If you've got any recommendations of good books that I could read I would love to know. I've heard some good reviews of the Uglies books (a quartet I'm led to believe) but again it's the teen fiction section and I should probably read something a bit more resepectable! I will do a short review after I actually finish the book, but just thought I'd give you my thoughts on it so far.

Have an amazing day and speak soon!