All I Want for Christmas Book Tag

Happy Holidays!



Here's a new tag for you! This is called the All I Want for Christmas Tag. I first saw this on YouTube at Abookutopia.
 
1) What fictional character do you want Santa to leave under your Christmas tree?
I'd LOVE for Santa to leave Jace from The City of Bones under my tree.

2) What character do you want to kiss under the mistletoe?
See the answer to number one.

3) You write your Christmas list for Santa, what are the top 5 books on it?
1. The One by: Kiera Cass.
2. Allegiant by: Veronica Roth.
3. The House of Hades by: Rick Riordan.
4. The City of Fallen Angels by: Cassandra Clare
5. Going Rogue by: Robin Benway  

4) It's secret santa at Hogwarts, what do you most want to receive?
An owl. Or a pygmy puff. Or a Ron Weasley.  

5) You get to the spend the day with the characters and movie adaptation actors from one fandom, what do you pick?
Harry Potter!

6) What fictional animal would you like to replace Rudolph and be able to meet on your roof?
A unicorn.

7) You invite 10 fictional characters to your new years eve party, who do you pick?
1. Maggie from Also Known As
2. Bex from The Gallagher Girls
3. Meg from A Wrinkle in Time
4. Hester Prynne from A Scarlet Letter
5. Fred Weasley from Harry Potter
6. George Weasley from Harry Potter
7. Clarisse from Percy Jackson
8. Caymen from The Distance Between Us
9. Tanya from 13 Treasures
10. Daisy from The Candymakers

-That would be an interesting party...

8) What character would make a good Santa? (Doesn't have to be appearance, personality counts too)
I think that Hagrid from Harry Potter  would make an excellent Santa for both appearance and personality.


I hope you all have a lovely and safe holiday season!

 

Read More

Coco Chanel

Author: Ann Gaines

Publisher: Chelsea House Publications 

Release Date: 1 January 2004

Rating: 

Amazon Synopsis: 

As the world struggled to recover from World War I, it was Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel who decided what the woman of the twentieth century would look like. Her designs, showing the motley influences of soldiers, cabaret singers, and nuns, liberated women from the ruffles and flounces of the Gilded Age. They popularized arms, ankles, low waists, clean lines, and costume jewelry; through Chanel's innovations, every woman, regardless of her income, could create a personal style. Although her own origins were humble, Chanel's name has become synonymous with elegance and good taste.

Goodreads Synopsis: 

- Explores the contributions of women in the science and arts, whose paths allowed them to break gender barriers. - Lavishly illustrated with photographs and memorabilia. - Presents inspiring portraits of achievement.

My Thoughts:

      Coco Chanel was a very interesting book. Gaines was extremely talented at providing all of the information in a thorough yet engaging manner. The layout of the information was fantastic! Instead of beginning with Chanel's birth and carrying through to her death as one might expect, the author began with an event that happened later in Chanel's life and then transitioned into her childhood and continued from that point. This was an attention-grabber and I completely  loved that the author did this. Once I was finished reading the book, I had no questions about Coco Chanel, because Gaines covered it all. 

      One thing that bugged me about the book were the boxes of quick information below the pictures. The pictures themselves were lovely. Correct me if I am wrong but the point of the boxes beneath pictures are to provide new information, or facts that may fit with the picture and not necessarily into the paragraphs themselves. In this book, however, the author did occasionally give new information, but she mainly either restated something that I had previously read or took the exact sentence out of the paragraph. This irked me because I wanted to learn more about Chanel, not have old information reinforced to me the same way. Something else that slightly irritated me was that Gaines brought in other people as sources, but did not necessarily explain who they were. This left me questioning who they were and why the author would quote them.

     Generally, I would recommend this to ages 12 and up. Be aware that the author does mention a sensitive topic in one sentence of the book. I just realized that the length of the negative criticism I have is a lot longer than the positive things I have to say about the book. This is a children's book, so I can tell you that if I did read this when I was 12 I would not have recognized most of the things I mentioned in paragraph two. So bear that in mind if you take a peek through this book that it is geared towards a younger crowd. Overall, I found the book to be a pleasant read and I do not regret reading it, so definitely check it out if it appeals to you!  

Read More

The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars: John Green

Release date: 2012

Rating: 5 stars

The Fault in Our Stars (commonly known as TFIOS) is told from the perspective of the young seventeen-year-old Hazel Grace Lancaster. Hazel is different from other seventeen-year-old girls. She doesn't drink, go to clubs, crash parties, and her parents are her two best friends. There is one thing that does make Hazel different, however.

Hazel Grace Lancaster has cancer, and she is going to die. 

Hazel has come to terms with her cancer and is just trying to get by for the sake of her parents. That's why Hazel takes so many medications and attends the boring Support Group. Support Group is supposed to help survivors join together and help each other, but it only succeeds in having Hazel hate to go to every meeting. However, in the most unlikely place, Hazel Grace Lancaster meets the handsome cancer survivor, Augustus Waters. Together, the couple will bond together to live in their own little infinity.

Words cannot express how amazing this book was. I laughed, cried, and had my feels generally destroyed. TFIOS completely turned my world upside-down. I gave this book to all of my reader friends and they absolutely adored this book. John Green captivated readers hearts from page one. You definitely DON'T want to miss this book.  

Read More