powisamy

So it is officially the last day of 2019 and where has the year gone. Seriously. Anyway with this comes my favourite books of the year and I have read 135 but here are just my top 11 so let's get started... Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry I think this one was so hyped up that it definitely grew on me. I really loved the characters and loved reading about the exploration into religion something that really isn't explored a lot in YA. It made me think so much so I just loved it and can't wait to read more from her! The Paper & Hearts Society by Lucy Powrie As someone who has taken part in #UKYAChat for the longest time, I was so excited when Lucy announced this book and was so happy that I loved it. This book, whilst dealing with some heavy subjects which it does well, is so fun and I loved every moment I spend reading it. The characters were so lovable and I can't wait to read the second book in the series. I mean who doesn't love a bookish book. A

So for the last couple of years, I have been doing the Popsugar Reading Challenge and 2019 is no different. I think that this year is more challenging as the prompts are a little weird but I am always up for a challenge. So let's see the prompts and see how many I completed. Book Becoming a Movie in 2019: The Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman (OK so this is a TV Show but...) Book That Makes You Nostalgic: Book Written by a Musician (Fiction or Nonfiction):  Book You Think Should be Turned Into a Movie: Jack of Hearts by L. C. Rosen  Book With at Least One Million Ratings on Goodreads: Animal Farm by George Orwell Book With a Plant in the Title or on the Cover: One Shot by Tanya Landman (There is a tree on the cover) Reread of a Favorite Book: Book About a Hobby: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert Book With "Pop," "Sugar," or "Challenge" in the Title: Book With an Item of Clothing or Accessory on the Cover: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black Inspi

*I am reviewing this book which I was gifted for free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. *   Title: A Very Large Expanse Of Sea Author: Tahereh Mafi Publisher: Electric Monkey Source: Netgalley Rating: 3/5 stars ( Amazon | Goodreads ) Book Summary: It’s 2002, a year after 9/11. It’s an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who’s tired of being stereotyped. Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She’s tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments—even the physical violence—she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. So she’s built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother. But then she meets Ocean James. He’s the first person in forever who re

*I am reviewing this book which I was gifted for free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. * Title: The Poet X  Author: Elizabeth Acevedo  Publisher: Electric Monkey Source: Netgalley Rating: 4/5 stars ( Amazon | Goodreads ) Book Summary: A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo. Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking. But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force h

*I am reviewing this book which I was gifted for free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. * Title: The Cruel Prince  Author: Holly Black Publisher: Hot Key Books Source: Netgalley Rating: 4/5 stars ( Amazon | Goodreads ) Book Summary: Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever. And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe. Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences

So this seems like the right way to start this series as I have been putting it off for so long. I started to think about the idea in July but as you can see I didn't really write it. I guess this really explains my whole blog post but it is a little bit complex than that. So all of it started when I got my job about a year and a half ago. Before that, I would spend hours and hours on social media just browsing and browsing and partaking in the odd twitter chat and talking to people sometimes but then it changed. I was and still am working 3 or 4 days a week, 8 hour days with a half an hour break and spending a lot less time on social media. I was treating my time on there looking at memes and looking at Instagram rather than continuously refreshing my twitter feed. I was still blogging but less than I was before. It felt like while I wasn't there everything had changed and I was trying to find a way back in but I couldn't. I think it was this that made it so hard to keep u

So after a random thought to me yesterday while I was working a 10-hour shift on Christmas Eve I had a random thought to do 12 blog posts that occur in the 12 days of Christmas! That's right, 12 days and 12 blog posts. OK so maybe a little bit more around 15. This is something that I did before so I wanted to do it again So why?  Well that's a good question? It turns out that I am very behind on book reviews and there is a lot of posts that I would like to do before the end of the year so this gives me the opportunity to do so.  I have also not been posting that regularly in the past year. This is partly because of university and work as I am so busy to do blog posts and it is Christmas so although I should be doing university work, I need some time off so I am doing some posts. My mental health has also taken a beating this year and it is with this that I have taken some time off the internet to focus on me. I have been trying to pick up the pieces seen in my mental health and