Bout of Books Readathon 9.0 Wrap Up.

I convinced myself that I would power through my TBR for this Readathon and I ended up failing miserably. I just didn't have enough time in the day for everything and unfortunately reading fell to the last spot on my to-do list. I spent my week meeting up with friends before they returned to university after our Christmas break but I still got some reading done so it wasn't a complete fail.

What I Read:

1. The 100 by Kass Morgan

- I completed this in the first two days of the Readathon and I also wrote a blog post about it, for that click here: http://fascination-station.blogspot.ie/2014/01/the-100-by-kass-morgan.html

2. Breathe by Abbi Glines

- I picked this up because after the tense emotions I had from The 100 I needed something that would cheer me up and didn't have world ending cliffhangers etc, this book was perfect for that. It was cute, romantic but not without its own hardships. The couple in my opinion fell in love a little too fast but I suppose who am I to judge how quickly people fall in love? On Goodreads.

3. Making Faces by Amy Harmon.

- This BOOK. It made me feel so many emotions all at once but although it was dark and troubling the author wrote it in a way that it almost doesn't put you in a dark mood while reading it. This is about a girl named Fern and a guy named Ambrose. Ambrose is the all American hottie in Fern's life but he goes to Iraq and comes home a different man, including his appearance. I feel like this book could have gone either way, really great or really terrible, because of the topic. But in my opinion it steered to the first option. It was written beautifully and it teaches you some simple lessons about living life to the fullest. On Goodreads.

4. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.

- I absolutely adored this book. All the hype surrounding it was 100% correct and I really could relate to Cath. It was almost as if someone wrote my life in book form. Although I don't write fanfiction online, I can relate to every other aspect of her life, especially the struggling with your first year of college kind. I really really enjoyed this and although it had some tense moments overall it was a cute and fun read. On Goodreads.

The 100 by Kass Morgan

The 100 by Kass Morgan is in a nutshell, a book about humans living on spaceships about the Earth's radioactive surface ever since a devastating nuclear war. The book is told from four different perspectives, Clarke, Wells, Bellamy and Glass. One hundred juvenile delinquents are being sent down to Earth to test out whether or not it is habitable for the rest of man kind.

Clarke was arrested for treason.

Wells, the chancellor's son made sure he was part of this mission so he can win back the girl he loves.

Bellamy fights his way onto the ship in order to protect his sister.

Glass managed to escape back onto the main ship and is our main link to what is happening in the spaceships while the other hundred are on the ground.

I was completely intrigued and very excited to read this once I watched the trailer for the the TV show that is airing on The CW in the States in March. I asked for the book for Christmas and thankfully have since then forgotten which actors are playing which role, as I prefer to conjure up how characters look in my mind myself.

I'll be completely honest I didn't thoroughly enjoy the first half of this book as much as I hoped I would. It did in fact keep me somewhat intrigued, enough to continue reading but I really believe the book picked up and saved itself in the second half/ last bit of the book. It isn't a large book and once it began to pick up I found myself flying through chapter after chapter.

The cliffhangers I believe were well thought out and have left me wanting the next book without being too drastic. It is often that if a cliffhanger in the first book of a trilogy upsets me I won't continue to read the rest of the series, purely because of that but the cliffhangers at the end of this left me wanting more and satisfied with the way they were executed.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be picking up the second in the trilogy (I'm assuming it's a trilogy, not entirely positive on that) when it is released in 2014 and I'm also very excited to see how this has been adapted into the TV series.

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The 100: ☆☆☆☆ (The 100 on Goodreads)

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Romance, Apocalyptic, Post Apocalyptic, Adventure, Space, Fantasy.

This book was also my #1 book completed for the Bout of Books Readathon 9.0. One book down, seven to go with six days remaining.

Bout of Books Readathon 9.0

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organised by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 6th and runs through Sunday, January 12th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 9.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

My goals are simple, read as much a humanly possible. I've set myself a reading goal on Goodreads of 100 books in 2014 and once I return for my second semester of college my time to read recreationally will be limited. As an English student I will need to focus on reading the works from the reading list, meaning a lot less time to read what is on my TBR.

What I hope to read/finish.

1. The 100 by Kass Morgan

2. The Maze Runner by James Dashner

3. Teardrop by Lauren Kate

4. Fragments by Dan Wells

5. Elixir by Hilary Duff

6. Wake by Amanda Hocking

7. Paper Towns by John Green

8. Breathe by Sarah Crossan

I have no doubt in my mind I will most likely end up not reading all of these books but they are the books I hope to read or at least start.

Happy Reading :) 

Too Far Trilogy by Abbi Glines.

Fallen Too Far, Never Too Far and Forever Too Far are books one, two and three of the Too Far trilogy. They are also books one, two and four of the Rosemary Beach series by Abbi Glines. Fallen Too Far follows Rush Finlay and Blaire Wynn, step siblings. Blaire's father just married Rush's mother. Blaire has just buried her own mother who suffered a long battle with cancer and now Blaire is left with no money and must turn to her father, no matter how much she wishes she wouldn't have to.

Rush takes an immediate disliking to Blaire that she cannot comprehend but all she is concerned with is finding a job and getting a place of her own, she doesn't want to have to depend on her father.

This book switched point of views almost every chapter and although I usually dislike novels written in a dual point of view this was a great move for this one. With their relationship already extremely complicated, it helped that we were shown the two sides to their story at all times, it cleared up further confusion.

While I should dislike Rush as he is the typical bad boy with childhood demons who takes it out on the girl, I simply can't. He is growing and learning as they continue on their journey and I believe he honestly tries his best to please everyone at all times.

I have never hated a character with no compassion so quickly as I did in this book. Nan, Rush's sister is everything I hate in a character. An adult that takes no responsibility for her actions, treats everyone around her like dirt and whines about it while she does it. She acts like a two year old, not anything like how a twenty-one year old should act. She is the cliché rich girl that hates the world. It's hard to not feel for a character at all especially when they've had a tough childhood but Nan's character and personality make it simple to hate her and feel no sympathy what so ever. She was the one downside to this otherwise great trilogy. All she did throughout the entire trilogy was complain about her own problems without ever thinking about the consequences her actions could have on the people she loves.

I thoroughly enjoyed this trilogy and although it did have its heartbreaking moments from time to time, it was exactly what I needed to get me out of my reading slump. I read all three books in two days as they are quite short.

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Fallen Too Far: ☆☆☆☆ (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16070903-fallen-too-far)

Never Too Far: ☆☆☆☆ (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17029526-never-too-far)

Forever Too Far: ☆☆☆ (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17337562-forever-too-far)

Genres: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult.

I'd give the trilogy a 4/5 ☆ overall and my least favourite book was the last and this was simply because I hate Nan so much. It's a great fun, quick and heartwarming read so I'd definitely recommend it