Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Title: Insurgent
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: 6th November 2013
Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young Adult

Summary:

Unrest is tearing the long-established faction system apart and the ideologies of those in power is corrupting Tris's family, friends and world.

Haunted by the horrors of the last simulation, Tris must carry on and fight for the right cause, whichever that is.

But will she survive and at what cost?

Review:

Okay so I was not a big fan of the first book in the Divergent series (which you can read here) but I watched the filmed and loved it.

A Dance With Dragons 1: Dreams and Dust by George R. R. Martin

With travelling to California (again) and university assignments, it has taken me a while (a month) to read this book. However, going to Disneyland, Hollywood and Huntington Beach was way more fun than reading... soz! Anyway, at long last, here is my review...

Title: A Dance With Dragons 1: Dreams and Dust
Author: George R. R. Martin

Publisher: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: 15th March 2012
Genre: Dark Fantasy

Summary:
New wars are raging in the North and East.

With a Kingslayer on the run, a dragon princess without her dragons and a bastard son about to rule, there is never any rest when playing the Game of Thrones.

Review:
A Dance With Dragons 1: Dreams and Dust is very much the same as all of the other books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. However, where I got bored and tired of the plot and characters in the other books; this installment seems to be picking up... at long last!

A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin

Title: A Feast for Crows
Author: George R. R. Martin

Publisher: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: 15th March 2012
Genre: Dark Fantasy

Summary:

The battle in the Seven Kingdoms is dying down and the Lannisters have claimed their place on the Iron Throne. However, with houses seeking revenge for their dead, and the sordid antics of the Lannister children spreading, their reign is crumbling away...

Review: 

Okay, so I have not enjoyed the A Song of Ice and Fire series that much recently, and I was not expecting much from this installment - particularly as my boyfriend forewarned me that this book was pretty boring - but I thought this book was actually okay...ish.

Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen by Serena Valentino

Title: Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen
Author: Serena Valentino
Publisher: Disney Press
Release Date: 18th August 2009

Summary:
The story behind Snow White's evil step-mother and why she poisoned Snow White. Pretty much sums it up...

Review: 
My second Disney themed read this week (you read my review of Maleficent here) was not as good as I had hoped!

Now, Snow White is not my favourite classic Disney story but I found this book unbearably boring! At times I even started to skim read just so I could finish it...
The main issue I had with the book is its' pace. It started off really slow, and got slower and slower. The plot was filled with pointless events which did not add anything to the story. Then, at the end, everything happened so fast and then it ended. I think the problem with this book was that I knew what happened at the end, and so does everyone who has ever watched Snow White...

Maleficent adapted by Elizabeth Rudnick

Title: Maleficent
Author: Adapted by Elizabeth Rudnick, original screenplay written by Linda Woolverton
Publisher: Disney Press
Release Date: 29th April 2014

Summary:
Everyone knows the story of Sleeping Beauty, but not what what really happened...

In a long running war between the Fair Folk of the Moors and humans, Aurora is the innocent victim of a betrayed fairy whose desire for revenge soon gets the better of her.

Review:
Okay, so I have never actually watched Sleeping Beauty but I knew the general gist of the story before reading this book. However, I much prefer this version of events! The story gives a background, and a name, to the villain instead of just being a pointless evil fairy who is, as ever, after the innocent princess.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Harper Perennial Modern Classics published 

23rd May 2006

Title: To Kill a Mockingbird
Author: Harper Lee
Publisher: First published by J.B. Lippincott and Company
Release Date: 11th July 1960
Genre: Classic, Fiction

Summary:
In a small American town in the Deep South, Atticus Finch, a prominent lawyer in the community, is about to defend a black man charged with the rape of a white girl.

To Kill a Mockingbird follows the case through the eyes of his children Scott and Jem, who struggle to make sense of the adult world and attitudes towards race and class.

Review:
I started this book in April 2014, got sixty pages in and gave up. It has been sitting on my bookshelf ever since. Annoyingly, I hate leaving books unfinished so with a great sigh, I picked up To Kill a Mockingbird again and trudged through.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

Penguin Classics edition,
published 27th May 2003

Title: Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Author: Thomas Hardy
Release Date: 1891
Genre: Classics, Romance

Summary:
The life of Tess Durbeyfield, a simple, family girl, is changed forever by the greed and lust of a wealthy man. Can society and the man she loves forgive Tess, or will she be judged for a crime she did not commit?

Review:
I have not had much success with "classic" books in the past, but I was pleasantly surprised about how easy to read this book was and emotionally gripping it was. However, I am not going to lie, it was extremely hard work to get in to, but once you get past the first one hundred pages; you just want to carry on reading and reading and reading...