December Reading Challenge: Update + Reviews!

Hello Everyone!

 I hope you all had a lovely December, I still can't believe how fast it went. I still somehow managed to find time to work on this months Reading Challenge. It was a bit of a mixed batch of books this month in terms of genre and what I thought of each of them. Doing these challenges has been so great for making me read more, so expect to see a lot more book posts in 2016!

Let's see how I did: 

I started the month with Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater and absolutely loved it. This has been my favorite series to read this year. The characters have completely drawn me into the story, especially Blue. She's definitely a lot like myself and I love that she stands her own so well in a group of boys. I still love how much these books change perspective and a lot of the romance came from Gansey's point of view instead of Blue's, which is what you would expect.

One my favorite parts of the book is when the character Malory is talking about his anxiety to Blue. He explains how he is able to see people's auras and how it makes him feel people, rather than see them. He tells her, "Because when people are too close to me, their auras touch me, and if too many auras touch me, it confuses me and makes me what doctors have foolishly called anxious." (page 238.) Now, I'm not saying I have magical powers (that I know of) but that seriously helped me understand why I might get anxious in crowded places. Thanks Malory, you old chap!

Then I got to re-reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, by J.K. Rowling. It seriously feels like going back to a childhood home, or something. The magic is never lost in reading these books, is it? However, you will be disappointed in me when I tell you that I never finished reading this in December...I don't know what it was, but I just lost a bit of motivation to pick it up everyday. I never punish myself for not finishing a book if I'm not feeling it, so I'm OK with putting it back on my shelf.

I had good expectations for The Here and Now by Ann Brashares, and I've walked away with a bit of a mixed opinion. The first half was good and I loved both the plot and the characters. It was great when we got a glimpse into the world that Prenna left behind and why we should appreciate how beautiful our world is now. The second half felt a little rushed, I guess. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed this book for what it was and I know where the author was trying to go. It just didn't go how I expected, but that's OK.

Last up was Fangirl and I am so disappointed in myself for not reading this sooner! It was one of those books that I couldn't put down once I started it. I can relate to the main character Cath in so many ways: I hate parties, I'm socially awkward/never know what to do, and I love fandom life. If Cath wrote a blog, we would almost be the same person.

I found it really refreshing that she wasn't just the "shy girl" and you could understand where her anxiety came from, and you could relate to it. Of course I loved Levi, who doesn't? He brought so much wittiness to the book and ever time he made Cath smile, I smiled too. The dialogue in this book was fantastic and it was just so enjoyable to read. I'm definitely going to pick up more books by Rainbow Rowell.

I will be doing another book challenge in January, so keep an eye out for that! 

Let me know if you have any book recommendations, I would love to hear them.

Steph x.