A book written by someone under 30

Girl Online by Zoe Sugg (a.k.a Zoella)

I, like I think most people were, was first drawn to this book because of the author. Zoe has been someone that I look to as a role model for a while now and buying her book was one thing that I felt could really show that. Though Zoe was the first thing that made me want this book, the plot was also rather intriguing. 

If you do not already know, Girl Online is about a girl named Penny who suffers from Anxiety and severe panic attacks. She finds a way to talk about these panic attacks through her blog, Girl Online. This anonymous blog allows her to talk to people about her problems and seek advice and comfort in the people who read it. She then finds herself in New York where she meets a boy and her life seems to be going in an upwards direction until she returns home and her things get hard for her again. 

Though that is the basic plot of the book, it is really about a young 15 year old girl who is trying to find where she fits into this thing we call life. It is a sweet, heart-warming story that leaves you feeling all fuzzy inside. 

While I was reading this book I found aspects of myself in Penny. She is just an average teenage girl who has her insecurities and problems much like most but she just happens to suffer from panic attacks too. I found that with this book I could really picture all of the events in Penny's life as if she was confessing it all to me face-to-face. 

Before I started to read this book, I thought that it could be quite cliche and for a while I didn't really know if it was a book that I would read. If this book was cliched however, you would never notice. The story is so well thought out and pulls you in to the point that you feel that you know the characters that you stop thinking about the plot and you just read. 

This book was a pleasure to read and I would be happy to read it again. Zoe has done a fantastic job with her first book and I cannot wait for the next one.

A book that became a movie

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

I must say this book is incredible. It made me laugh, it made me cry and it made me think about life. I know that sounds totally cliched but it's true. I think it was that Mia was my age and I have a brother who is a lot like Teddy.

The first thing that drew me to this book was the movie. Yes, I was a terrible person and watched the movie before I read the book but I cannot say that it changed how I felt while reading it. This is one of those books that you read and you realise that the movie cannot possible portray all of the emotion that is built up in the book. Not once while reading this book did I think about the movie and put the two together. The movie was amazing, don't get me wrong, but the book was that times ten. I cried to much while reading this book that I had to physically put it down several times so that I could get to grips with my emotions. 

Like I said before, I am the same age as Mia is in the book and I honestly could not imagine what it would be like to lose my parents and brothers and have to decide whether I to live my life without them or give up. I would definitely not have been able to stay in that situation. I would leave behind all of the other people who I loved because I know that I would not be able to go on without any of my immediate family.

In the back of my book there was an preview of the first chapter of the sequel "Where She Went" and from what I read it seems like it is just as emotional as this one. I cannot wait to get my hands on it to continue the story and find out where Adam and Mia end up. 

A book that became a movie

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

I must say this book is incredible. It made me laugh, it made me cry and it made me think about life. I know that sounds totally cliched but it's true. I think it was that Mia was my age and I have a brother who is a lot like Teddy.

The first thing that drew me to this book was the movie. Yes, I was a terrible person and watched the movie before I read the book but I cannot say that it changed how I felt while reading it. This is one of those books that you read and you realise that the movie cannot possible portray all of the emotion that is built up in the book. Not once while reading this book did I think about the movie and put the two together. The movie was amazing, don't get me wrong, but the book was that times ten. I cried to much while reading this book that I had to physically put it down several times so that I could get to grips with my emotions. 

Like I said before, I am the same age as Mia is in the book and I honestly could not imagine what it would be like to lose my parents and brothers and have to decide whether I to live my life without them or give up. I would definitely not have been able to stay in that situation. I would leave behind all of the other people who I loved because I know that I would not be able to go on without any of my immediate family.

In the back of my book there was an preview of the first chapter of the sequel "Where She Went" and from what I read it seems like it is just as emotional as this one. I cannot wait to get my hands on it to continue the story and find out where Adam and Mia end up. 

A book that became a movie

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

I must say this book is incredible. It made me laugh, it made me cry and it made me think about life. I know that sounds totally cliched but it's true. I think it was that Mia was my age and I have a brother who is a lot like Teddy.

The first thing that drew me to this book was the movie. Yes, I was a terrible person and watched the movie before I read the book but I cannot say that it changed how I felt while reading it. This is one of those books that you read and you realise that the movie cannot possible portray all of the emotion that is built up in the book. Not once while reading this book did I think about the movie and put the two together. The movie was amazing, don't get me wrong, but the book was that times ten. I cried to much while reading this book that I had to physically put it down several times so that I could get to grips with my emotions. 

Like I said before, I am the same age as Mia is in the book and I honestly could not imagine what it would be like to lose my parents and brothers and have to decide whether I to live my life without them or give up. I would definitely not have been able to stay in that situation. I would leave behind all of the other people who I loved because I know that I would not be able to go on without any of my immediate family.

In the back of my book there was an preview of the first chapter of the sequel "Where She Went" and from what I read it seems like it is just as emotional as this one. I cannot wait to get my hands on it to continue the story and find out where Adam and Mia end up. 

2015 Reading Challenge

I said yesterday that I was going to post a list of books that I am planning to read for the 2015 reading challenge. Some of these books I have read before but most of them are totally new. 

• A book with more than 500 pages - The Host by Stephanie Meyer
• A classic romance - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
• A book that became a movie - If I Stay by Gayle Forman
• A book published this year - The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
• A book with a number in the title - I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
• A book written by someone under 30 - Girl Online by Zoe Sugg
• A book with nonhuman characters - The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
• A funny book - Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
• A book by a female author - Geek Girl by Holly Smale
• A mystery or thriller - The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
• A book with a one-word title - Holes by Louis Sachar
• A book of short stories - Geektastic Stories from the Nerd Herd by Holly Black
• A book set in a different country - Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
• A nonfiction book - The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
• A popular author's first book - Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
• A book from an author you love that you haven't read yet - City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare
• A book a friend recommended - After by Anna Todd
• A Pulitzer Prize-winning book - The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
• A book based on a true story - Wild: A Journey From Lost to Found by Cheryl Strayed
• A book at the bottom of your to-read list - The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
• A book your mom loves - Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
• A book that scares you - The Shakespeare Secret by J.L. Carrell
• A book more than 100 years old - Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
• A book based entirely on its cover - Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
• A book you were supposed to read in school but didn't - Buddy by Nigel Hinton
• A memoir - Him and Me by Jack and Michael Whitehall
• A book you can finish in a day - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• A book with antonyms in the title - Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
• A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit - P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern
• A book that came out the year you were born - Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
• A book with bad reviews - Matched by Ally Condie
• A trilogy - The Trylle Trilogy by Amanda Hocking
• A book from your childhood - Matilda by Roald Dahl
• A book with a love triangle - The Secret Circle by L.J. Smith
• A book set in the future- Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
• A book set in high school - Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• A book with a color in the title - Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier
• A book that made you cry - The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• A book with magic - Mystic by Alyson Noel
• A graphic novel - 
• A book by an author you've never read before - Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
• A book you own but have never read - Why The Whales Came by Michael Morpurgo
• A book that takes place in your hometown - Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (It doesn't quite take place in my home town but it is as close as I can get)
• A book that was originally written in a different language - The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
• A book set during Christmas - Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle
• A book written by an author with your same initials - Two Royal Foes by Eva Ann Madden
• A Play - The Nerd by Larry Shue
• A banned book - Lord of the Flies by William Golding
• A book based on or turned into a TV show - The 100 by Kass Morgan
• A book you started but never finished - The Guilty One by Lisa Ballantyne

Introduction

I've been trying some new things this year and one of the things that I really wanted to do was start a blog. However, I had no idea what I would write about. It is only recently that I have found something that I am passionate enough to write about. You may have guessed it already but it's books.

 I have been in love with books since before I could actually read. My nursery teacher used to say that if they ever couldn't find me the first place they would look was the reading corner. She said that I could always be sat in the big wicker chair in the corner making up my own stories to fit with the pictures in the book. My family all say that I always have my nose in a book too and to be perfectly honest, they are probably right.

I guess I have my mum to blame for my love of reading. I mean she even named me Emily because she loved Emily Bronte so much. I grew up surrounded by all of my mum's books and I was determined that one day I would have the number of books that my mum has. I've been consciously collecting my books for about 10 or 11 years now and I am still nowhere near the amount that she has (I'm a little bit jealous). 

2015 Reading Challenge

I was looking for a suitable goal to set my myself for the number of books I should read this year when I found the 2015 reading challenge. I thought that this would be a good way to widen my horizons with the books that I read. This is the challenge;

All that I have done for the challenge so far is decide what books I am going to read for each of the different challenges. I will post a copy of my list on here so that you know what books I plan on reading. I am not going to complete the challenges in order but I am going to try to do all of them and record my progress on here so that I will know when I have completed it and what I thought of all of the books.