March Wrap-Up

So, here are the books I read in March:

1. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. The first book in the Inkworld Trilogy. I allready read this book a few years ago and just wanted to re-read it as I found it on my shelf shortly after returning to my parents home. I have the German Hardcover Edition.

2. City if Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare. This is the sixth and final book in The Mortal Instruments Series. When I was in London in Feburary I bought this book because I just did not want to wait any longer until it would come out in Germany. As I do have the other books (exept for the fourth one) as the German Paperback Edition I would have probably to wait way longer to get my hands on it, just because I do not want to buy a Hardcover Edition if I have all the other ones in Paperback. I will do an Review of the whole Mortal Instruments Series soon.

3. Life as I know it by Melanie Rose. I found thos book on my mother's bookshelf and I was so tempted to read it, that I left all of my other books on my "Currently Reading Shelf" out and just started this one. It actually just took me two days to finsih it and I really enjoy it.

4. The Selction by Kiera Cass. Yes, I re-read it just a month after I first read it. I love this book so much and while writing my review on it and just couldn't help but reading it again. It is defently not only one of my favourite books of this year, but one of my all time favourites.

I wished I had read more, but I had quite a lot to do with Spring Cleaning and getting prepared to go back to University in April.

Have a beautiful and good new reading month in April. :)
Lots of Love,
Maddie

Review: The Selection

Titel: The Selection

Author: Kiera Cass

Genre:  YA, Dystopian

Original Language: English

First Published: April 24, 2012

Pages: 336

Series: Selection

 Other Books in the Series: The Elite, The One, The Heir as well as the novellas The Prince, The Guard, The Queen and The Favourite



What the book is about:
For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The Selection means one thing: Having the opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since their birth and be choosen by the Prince to become his wife and therfor the future Queen of Illeá. The girls get swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. They live in the palace toghter witch the Royal Family and compete for the heart of    Prince Maxon, the heir to the Throne of Illeá.
America Singer is maybe the only girl in the whole kingdom who is not intrested at all to sign up for the competition. Even her Mother and her little sister May begging her to sign up do not change her opinion. Only Aspen, her secret boyfriend, changes her mind. He is begging her to not let the opportunity of her life pass by because of him. So America agrees to sign up, being sure that she wont be selected at all.
But then America is being Selected. Despite her unwillingness to be part of the competition she leaves her family, Aspen and her old life behind and travels to the palace where she competes for the hand of Prince Maxon, alongside 34 other girls. 
Then America meets Prince Maxon. And for the first time in her life she starts to question the plans she made for herself and starts thinking about a future she never imagined and never wanted before.  


What I think about....

.... the Story and World:
I really liked the world Kiera Cass builded. It's still partly a world we can relate to, as Illeá is the "old" United States, but also a new one with the diffrent castes and the life the people life within these castes.
The idea of an event like the Selection is totally new to me and I really enjoyed how it is made up and described. You can dive in from the very first page and nothing seems unlogical at all.

... the Characters:
I really like America. I do have issues with female characters in distopyan books from time to time but I really liked America from the very start. She is a strong, independant character who is willing to take risks but also would do mostly anything the help the ones she loves. And even when she is thrown in a situtaion she never wanted to be in, she first thinks of her family instead of what she really wants.
I'm not quite sure wheater to like or hate Aspen. One the one hand he loves America with all of his heart and only want the best for her but on the other hand he also can't really let her go the way she wants to go and hurts her over and over again.
Maxon is maybe one of my all-time favourite male character. He is shy and inexprienced at first but grows with all the problems he has to face. He is also willing to take place in the politics of the land he will someday rule as the king and tries to help the people in need.

What I liked the most:
It is hard to tell what I liked the most. I really liked the characters and I enjoyed the story as well.

What I did not like:
About the book? Nothing! The only thing I do not like is that I have to wait until July for the German paperback edition of "The Elite" to come out.

Overall result:

I defently would recommend this book. The story is well written and really interesting. The characters are easy to relate to.
You can easyly dive into the story and it won't let you go. I read the whole book in 4 hours because I just couldn't stop reading.

Book Unhaul

In October 2014 I moved away into a dorm room. I couldn't take many books with me so there most of my books are still at my parents home. As I am currently staying at my parents home I decided it would be time to look through my books and unhaul some of them as well as deciding which books I would like to take with me when I'm going back in April.

So, this was the pile of books I took off of my shelf:
(I'm sorry, but somehow the picture got quite blurry...)

And that's how my shelf looked empty:

I do have more places where I put my books than this shelf, but most of them are on this shelf.


It took me quite a while to decide which books I would keep and which ones I would unhaul.

So here is the result:

These are the books I will keep:

And these are the books I will unhaul:

And there are some books I am not quite sure, wheater I want to keep them or unhaul them, so for now they will stay on my bookshelf but I will surely think about maybe letting them go.

Yep, these are my twilight books.



After some more time I had seperated the books I wanted to take with me from the books I would for noe leave at my parents house and put those who would stay at my parents home back into the shelf.
Here is the final result:

I'm not quite sure what to do with the books I unhauled. They are mostly not damaged, but they are quite old so selling would bring close to nothing. I think I will donate them but I still have to figure out where I can donate them.

I think that unahuling is a great way to recall which books you own, which you want to keep and which are not interessting for you anymore.


So, maybe have a little unhaul to start of your spring cleaning :)
Lots of Love
Maddie

Feburary Wrap-Up

So, here are the books I read in Feburary.

1. Kerstin Gier - Emerald Green. I read the German Edition, as it is a original German book and I am German, too. This was a re-read.

2. Joanne K. Rowling - The Tales of Beedle the Bard. I read this one as a quick read after I finished the Ruby Red Trilogy.

3. Debora Geary - A modern Witch. I bought this book as a random pick when i was shopping with a friend and could not let it be in my shelf unread.

4. Michelle Zink - The Prophecy of the Sisters.The first book in the trology. It was actually a re-read for me, as I read this book a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

5. Veronica Roth - Allicant. The third and final book in the divergent series. It just recently came out as the german paperback edition and as soon as possible I picked it up.

6. Kiera Cass - Selection. The first book in the Selection Series. I heard a lot of good things about the series but never picked it up. When I saw this on in the bookstore for not that expensive I thought I could pick this series up and see wheater I liked it. I will post a review of this book soon. (Edit: It is now on this Blog)


So I read a total of six books in Feburary, which is just the half of the amount of books I read in Janurary.

I wish you all a beautiful reading month of March.
Los of love,
Maddie