Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard

This book is the story of an eighteen year old girl who  is attempting to find herself after leaving School by travelling through South America with a tour group. This trip is particularly significant to her as she is also leaving behind memories of a negative relationship and two kinda bitchy best friends. The only problem is the tour group is  filled with people who are twice her age and is the complete opposite of what she expected, but then she meets two backpackers Rowan and Starling. She leaves her tour group and goes on a real adventure through South America.  I liked this book, but I did not love it. I liked the main character and she was someone I could relate to in many ways and I also enjoyed the way the author described the setting. However, both of these things were not strong enough to avoid the fact that the plot was simple. Don’t get me wrong, the plot does not always have to be incredibly complex or anything, but if the plot is simplistic than the writing has to be strong enough to carry the entire book and this was not the case for Wanderlove.  I would give this book 3 stars and I would recommend it for people who are interested in travel or someone who is searching for a good beach read.

The Cuckoo's Calling

I think everyone knows by now that this book is written by JK Rowling. I am a massive Harry Potter fan and prior to this novel, I had serious reservations about reading any of her work post the series because I did not want to have an abrupt end to what in my mind had been a fantastic author reader relationship. It is due to this I have never read the Casual Vacancy, but I was going through a murder mystery phase so decided to purchase this book. This was a fantastic decision.  The novel follows the tale of a private detective who is asked to reinvestigate the death of the famous LuLa Landry who supposedly committed suicide three months before the novel commences. Both Rowling’s style of writing and description is fantastic. She created characters in this story which were realistic, flawed and loveable. The dynamic between the two main characters was really strong and entertaining to read.  In general the pace of the novel was leisurely but the climax of the novel was something else and left my heart pounding. I would recommend this to anyone who likes mystery or character development. I would particularly recommend this to readers who are considering crime fiction as a genre but don’t know where to start, as the focus on character means at certain points you forget this is a crime novel as you become so attached to the personal entanglements of Cormoran Strike. 

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

This book is the tale of a man who leaves his mundane life when he begins to be influenced by an enigmatic young figure called Tyler Durden who holds secret boxing matches in the basement of bars. It is fast paced with only 208 pages and I found myself flying through this story. It was also well written and the fast pace did not distract from the more thought provoking elements that the tale introduced. I think that it can be rare to find a book where the plot and character development are equally as strong. This book proves that character development does not have to be sacrificed for plot or vice versa. Chuck Palahniuk made me care about a character who easily could have been alienating, whilst also making my heart race, particularly near the end.  I have never seen the film,  so I can’t compare between the two, but I can’t imagine anything could be better than the book because it was fantastic. I would recommend this book to anyone and I would give it five out of five stars.  

Books, books and more books

Hi,

My name is Lydia and I love books. I want a place to share my love for them and so I have decided to start a blog which is completely dedicated to them. In this blog, I will review what I am reading and recommend the books I love. It will also be a place for me to discuss what is new in the world of reading and discuss books in general. So, its all about books, books, and more books.

If you are a fellow book lover feel free to follow my blog as my first review should be up by the beginning of next week!

Love Lydia Loves Reading