Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Would Reread!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.

This week's top ten list is 10 books I'd like to reread. I also wrote some mini (kind of) reviews!

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

This book was such a cutesy read with a bit of teenage angst thrown in. Throw in a British boy from America in Paris and you've got the perfect guy, right? Right.

Reading this story also heightened my want to go to Paris and, as I type this, I am waiting for my passport to arrive so I can be on my merry way to au pair for a year or so in FRANCE. Dream come true? Maybe. YES.

So this book is one of my all-time favourites. I'm currently reading Isla and the Happily Ever After  and I'm sad that the series is coming to an end but I'm excited to see how this all rounds off.

Compulsion by Martina Boone

This is a new found favourite of mine having finished barely two days ago. I still have the warm and fuzzies over this one and I cannot recommend it enough. I'm sure all of my Twitter followers are sick to death of me fangirling on and on about Compulsion.  Sorry guys.

Eight and Barrie have a lovely romance going and it just gets sweeter the further you get to the end. He's pretty much perfect. Good looking, intelligent, knows what people want and incredibly kind. That just does not  happen in the real world. You don't get all of those things in one guy unfortunately. That's why I think I'll stick to fictional guys.

Obsession by Jennifer L. Armentrout

This is a spin-off novel from JLA's Lux series. It's meant for a more mature audience where the Lux books are fairly mild in terms of violence and sexual situations.

I really enjoyed this one though. I was entirely intrigued by the Arum and seeing things from their point of view was eye opening! There was one or two crossover scenes between Obsession  and Origin  which was awesome and very well done.

P.S. It can't only be me who thinks the male model looks a helluva lot like Scott from Teen Wolf... Right? 

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Ah this book! This was the one that started my JLA obsession and now I pretty much consume anything that she writes. This will always be my favourite book of hers though.

Daemon is utterly infuriating and oh-my-goodness hot. LOOK AT HIM. (The cover model is Pepe Toth in case you were wondering). The banter between him and Katy is hilarious. I am pretty much Katy. Everything that she says is what I would say if I were put in a similar situation. We'd be great friends, I'm sure of it.

I know some people are put off this book because it's about aliens but please give it a try! I was the same and ended up truly loving this series. The characters (even the creepy ones *you Lux fans know who I'm talking about*) make the story that much more wonderful!

Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

"Oh god, it's about mermaids."
This was my first thought when reading the synopsis. I originally bought this book because of the pretty cover. I have no shame. It is no secret now that I love love love  underwater covers. I'm pretty sure I mention this in every post. Yeah so I bought it for it's cover but I stayed for the content and the characters.

The female protagonist is strong willed and does not want to let boys do all of the ass kicking. I think everyone should aspire to be a little more like Emma.

It's been a while since I read this book and I am in dire need of a reread so I can buy the next books. Great first book if I remember correctly!

Perfected by Kate Jarvik Birch

This is another new found favourite of mine. I recently read this one and am dying to get my hands on the sequel. It's not out yet unfortunately and I'm not sure it even has a set release date. *Boooooo*

Anyways, this is a brilliant novel about some pretty weird stuff. It's about a world where keeping humans as pets is okay. Like it's natural for wealthy families to get 'pets'. Creepy, I know, but give it a chance! It's a very well written book with characters that leap off the page and into your heart with the things they do for other each other. Ella and Penn especially.

Oh and isn't the cover lovely? It's elegant whilst still holding some sort of underlying meaning with the cage surrounding such a pretty object.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

I don't think I'm over this book yet and it's been a while. I am still trying to get my grabby little hands on Unravel Me and Ignite Me - I really want to see why everyone is suddenly Team Warner. He seemed a little unstable in Shatter Me... I did feel sorry for him though.

This book is really well written. I remember thinking 'what took me so long?!' when I read the first few chapters. The writing is so beautiful and it's kind of hard to describe. The author explains everything that's happening but we also get an insight into the deepest parts of Juliette's mind. It's written sort of like a journal I guess, with all of the crossing outs and repeated words.

PLUS THIS SERIES HAS THE PRETTIEST COVERS EVER.

Slammed by Colleen Hoover

Yet another  new found favourite. I read this one maybe two weeks ago and the story really is beautiful and tragic. Tragically beautiful is the perfect term. Wherever there's darkness in the lives of Will and Lake there's also light weaving it's way through in the form of each other's growing affection.

I hope book 2 is just as good - this first book will stick with me I'm sure of it. It also gave me something new to love; slam poetry! I youtubed it whilst halfway through this book and ended up sitting in the same spot for maybe 2 hours just clicking on people reciting poetry that was so gripping and emotionally charged that I just could not look away, could not listen. So thank you Colleen for helping me find this and for writing such lovely books!

So Much To Learn by Jessie L. Star

I read this one a while back and I would love to reread it. I don't remember too  much but what I do remember was the romance aspect of this book.

It's about a girl who asks her brother's best friend (?) to help her with guys and how to be with them as she has little to no experience but would like to gain some with someone she is comfortable with. From this blooms a wonderful romance that captivated me from Lesson 1.

Highly recommend! Actually... If anyone would like to buddy read this with me I'd be down for that! :)

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

A long-time favourite of mine! This was the first NA book I ever read and I adored it. I'd love to reread this when I finally get a physical copy.

Some say that Travis's behavior is abusive and this bothers me a little. Whilst he does have violent tendencies he never hurts Abby.  The only way he 'hurts' her is when he does something stupid and backtracks his progress to being a better person. He WANTS to be better for her and he does try and in the end it really shows and makes the whole story that much sweeter. I'm not saying it's a fairytale romance because it's not at all but overall it's a very well written one. There's also enough drama to keep you going for a couple of months ;)

Travis is a fighter to pay for his house that he rents (owns?) with his best friend (Abby's best friend's boyfriend). He does do some absolutely idiotic things in the book but the amount of character development he goes through just to be better for Abby is incredible! The supporting characters are great too.

Highly recommend this one if you're looking to read more NA :)

So... What book would you reread if you could?

The TBR Tag

This is a tag created by The Book Belles and Dana Square. I was tagged by a couple of people on here and Instagram so I thought I'd do it now!

How do you keep track of your TBR pile?

I use Goodreads to add books I'd like to read to my to-read shelf but it's a bit of a mess. I don't own a lot of the books on there yet. As for the books I own on my TBR; they're all on their own shelf.

Is your TBR mostly print or ebooks?

Most of my TBR books are print. As most of you know by now, I'm not fond of ebooks.

How do you determine which book from your TBR to read next?

I don't have a system or any kind of organisation when it comes to what I read next. It's basically whatever I'm in the mood for.

A book that's been on your TBR list the longest:

Apparently it's To All The Boys I've Loved Before !

A book you recently added to your TBR:

Okay so I got a little excited about Christmas and all the xmas themed novellas that appear during the season... So I went to Goodreads and shelved a 'couple' of wintery books. This was the last one I TBR'd.

A book in your TBR strictly because of its beautiful cover:
I literally have no idea what this book is about...

A book on your TBR that you never plan on reading:

An unpublished book on your TBR that you're looking forward to:

The Stars Never Rise by Rachel Vincent. The cover is so so pretty! The whole story line sounds really interesting too.

A book on your TBR that basically everyone has read but you:

There are so many but this one was the first one I found on my Goodreads TBR!

A book on your TBR that everyone recommends to you:

The Infernal Devices series. Like all the time. I actually really  want to read them but other books keep taking priority.

A book on your TBR that you're dying to read:

I want to read this book SO BAD!!!

How many books are on your Goodreads TBR shelf?

Just.. ya know.. 562.  It just keeps on growing and new books are always coming out and I have no self control.

I am tagging you. Yes YOU, the reader! Leave your post links in the comments section of this post so I can check them out:)

Stacking The Shelves #9

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews where we can share what books we've accumulated in the past week.

I um... picked up a few  books this week. I got one review copy but the rest were bought by me. (Oh god) It's pretty easy to see why I am now broke for the next few days. I am super excited to read all of these though! I'm very late with these books but I know I've been putting them off because they're so hyped up. Hopefully I'll enjoy them!

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Dispatches From the Dating Zone by K.T Valentine (review copy)

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Divergent by Veronica Roth

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Untamed by P.C and Kristen Cast (not pictured)

I think I have a problem... 

What about you guys? What did you get this week?:) 

P.S. I have two questions: 1) For people who have read any of these books, how are they?   2) Would anyone be interested in doing a buddy read for any of these books? (Minus Anna b/c I just  finished it (once again))

Book Review: #Forfeit by Caroline Batten (Spoiler free!)

Getting divorced at twenty-five sucks. Teaching over-confident rich kids instead of designing handbags for Mulberry sucks. In fact, every single aspect of Daisy Fitzgerald’s life is one big fail.
Enter Xander, a veritable Knight-in-Shining-Cricket-Pads, who knocks her off her wedge heels and into his world of It-girls, players and Michelin stars.
Buoyed up on cocktails & escapism, Daisy agrees to play Forfeit, the ultimate game of dares, where a simple kiss sparks her relationship with Xander. But £25,000 is up for grabs and the game's called Forfeit for good reason.
Blackmail, betrayal, revenge... Move over Gatsby, there's a new bunch of bored young things in town. 

Daisy Fitzgerald is just trying to get through life and make ends meet. She's going through a separation with her hot hollywood movie star husband, soon-to-be ex husband and to top it off, her job sucks. All she wanted to do was to design handbags for Mulberry, not be stuck in a classroom all day teaching snotty, entitled rich kids how to paint. It's safe to say that Daisy is not living the dream. She needs a lot more fun in her life. It seems as if her wish has been answered when Xander, the local heart throb, sweeps her off her feet (literally) and he quickly becomes her Knight-in-Shining-Cricket-Pads. To get over the HMS she plans to get under Xander, little does she know that she'll want to stay there.

During all of the Daisy/Xander shenanigans is another story entwined with the first; the game called Forfeit. Pay the stakes, roll the dice, do the dare. But soon enough, things start to slip out of her control as she slips further and further into a drugs and alcohol induced oblivion. What is she willing to do to win £25,000? Apparently, anything because now the players have no choice. The game is getting dangerous but no one can back out now, no one wants to either. What would you do for that kind of money?

The characters in this book range from pretty normal to certifiably insane. There's Daisy Fitzgerald, the school teacher who wants to be making handbags for Mulberry. To begin with she's getting over her ex-husband, Finn (or the HMS as she refers to him), she's obsessed with her designer shoes and the contents of her fridge could rival a liquor store. Being a movie star's wife has brought her down to a size zero after being bashed by tabloid after stupid tabloid about being 'curvy'. Now she's drinking, smoking and snorting her way through life thinking that she's happy. Throughout the story we get to see her discover things about herself that she was blind to before, courtesy of Xander and her best friend Clara giving her a swift kick up the arse. 

Then we get to meet the wonderful Xander. He's confident, well spoken, rich and utterly charming but even the most swoon-worthy guys have their flaws. Like Daisy, in the beginning he's happy with drinking himself silly and smoking whatever he can get his hands on. He used to be a player, one who has left a mountain of broken hearts in his wake and one that has a lot of scorned girls rooting for him to fail when Forfeit takes a turn into the world of social media. He too comes to discover that he wants more from life; Daisy being that something. To have her he must change, forget about other girls and help Daisy trust him not to revert back to his old self.

The rest of the characters we meet are consistently part of the story. There's Clara, Daisy's best friend and ex-partner in crime who has given all of that up to marry the wonderful Scott and have their first child. There's James, Xander's best mate who for some reason despises everything that Daisy is. We meet Marcus and India, both related to James (I think). They take to Daisy much quicker and seem like much nicer people, Daisy has idolised India since forever so just being in the same vicinity as her is ground breaking. We also get to meet Xander's brother, Robbie and his lovely wife Vanessa. Rob is the poster child for turning your life around, he used to be just like Xander; a different girl in his bed every night, but now he's settled down and has three beautiful children with the love of his life. It's not long before Xander decides that's what he wants with Daisy. Oh and there's Daisy and Xander's rescue dog, Birkin. How could I forget that adorable little ball of excitement?!

Out of all the characters I think Marcus became my favourite. He told Daisy exactly what he thought of her and that's how she discovers that he is spot on. He calls her out on her bs and is entirely loyal to Xander even when he's been an idiot. When everyone got their final dare, Marcus's was to do something good (I won't tell you the specifics) and he tries as hard as he can to do the right thing. He's a changed man by the end of the story and I have really liked how his character grew.

This book is set in Gosthewaite, a quaint little town in the Lakes. The world building in this story is incredible, Caroline does a great job of painting a vivid picture of whatever scene we're in whether it be the hill Daisy climbs to work off a hangover or Skank Manor, her renovation project. Also, the place she is renovating is constantly changing and we get to see it happen just from the descriptions the author gives us.

At first, I didn't understand the title of this book and by that I mean I didn't understand the hashtag. But then I got it, it happened at around the middle point of the book but I got it and without giving any spoilers, let me just say that it totally makes sense! As for the cover, I love it. Don't get me wrong, I love those covers that have lots going on with an array of different colours but I adore simplistic book cover designs. I think it's the perfect cover for this book. I did find that the cover was relevant because we come to realise that Daisy is a sucker for boots, preferably the expensive, sell-your-car-to-get-them variety. All in all, I like the cover - it matches the content of the book well.

As for the pacing of the story, I do think it could have picked up a little especially towards the middle. Everything seemed to slow down when everyone decided to leave Forfeit alone and for a while the focus was on Daisy and Xander's crumbling relationship. However, when the anonymous texts start coming in, then the pace picked right back up! I had major trouble putting the book down and getting some sleep, especially the night when I only had 100 pages left. There are patches like this in every book but you know that when you get past that one point you're gonna get to the very best bit! That's exactly what happened in #Forfeit.

Now, this book is written by a British author and you can definitely tell. The words 'shag' and 'bloody' are consistent throughout the book and the British-ness doesn't stop at those two words. The entire story is just British, so if you don't like reading about brits, this book is definitely not for you. I, being from England, adored that about it. I generally read novels by american authors so it was a nice change to read something with my own dialect.

The main thing I liked about #Forfeit was that there was always something going on. The amount of twists and turns in this book must have given me whiplash because there is a lot. This is one of those novels where you have to pay attention, don't skim the words read them or else you'll miss something and the rest may not make sense. This wasn't a problem for me, I was so enraptured in the characters that I found myself reading every word. I like it when authors entwine two stories so whilst we read about one, the other is happening off the page but still developing so that when I go back to it, I get to carry on following the other situation. Does that make sense? Maybe. Basically, there was the Forfeit game and then there was Xander and Daisy's ever changing relationship. I really liked the game as it brought a lot of drama into the story. The stakes start off low, low enough that even Daisy is willing to play and the dares are easy. As the game goes on, the stakes are raised, the prize is bigger and the dares take a turn into Crazy Town.

Very realistic scenes and characters. The only slightly unrealistic thing was how well off these people were for their age. They were all in their early-mid twenties but pretty much all of them had their heads screwed on and seemed to know what they were doing 100%. I'd say it was a perk of being wealthy, maybe I'm wrong - maybe people as young as 22 can have a good life plan!

Loved the acronyms, it's the kind of thing me and my best friend would do; come up with nicknames so inappropriate that we had to make them less conspicuous. Sometimes there were so many that I'd forget what they meant if I didn't think about it!

Did all the problems get solved? YES! Thank god. The worst thing an author can do is leave me with questions unanswered, or when I have to decide the ending for myself. Especially when there won't be a book 2 so you know you won't get answers. Luckily, all problems were solved, all questions were answered. The trust between Xander and Daisy is going strong, the karma is all washed away with a heavy dose of forgiveness and it's clear to see that the two are not like they were before. The drugs, the drinking and the childish parties are over and Daisy barely misses her old habits which is major character development. They all totally redeemed themselves, bar a couple of the crazies.

I am totally happy with the ending and the happy ever afters and the not so happy ever afters for those who deserve it! I can't wait for the next book, so Caroline you'd better tell me as soon as Distraction is available for me to buy!

In the end I liked 90% of the characters, some were there to be disliked because, well, there's no story if there isn't someone to loathe, right? James ended up being great, I love Marcus, Clara, Scott, Rob and Vanessa were consistently awesome characters and as for Xander and Daisy I'm super happy with everything they got! I got worried and began to think they'd just kind of push everything to the side and move on without sorting anything out but those last few chapters were saviors.

Now for the very small list of cons; Daisy can be incredibly dense at times and indecisive. She also forgives Xander far too quickly - I'd make him grovel for some of the stunts he pulled.

Daisy's morals - especially in the middle of the book - are scary. The things she plans to do for a dare are crazy! The thing is though, is that there has to be some problem, something to overcome, some bad feelings to work through to make a story worth reading. This con was redeemable but I wont explain why, you can read and find out yourself!

There are so many ways that the author can go with this series, if she makes it into one. I'd love for James and Marcus to have their own stories so I can see how their happy endings take place. I can't wait for the next book to be published; the focus is on the sexy vet we saw at Clara's wedding, ooooh!

The absolute best thing about this book? Absolutely no cliff hanger! That's right, novels can exist without having to be in a 26 book series, crazy right?!

As I said yesterday in my mini Goodreads review, #Forfeit is a perfect example of a book that started on Wattpad and became a fully published book. I hope you guys will go and check out Caroline Batten, the author and her wonderful book. It exceeded my expectations completely, I never read these kinds of books but the dare game sounded intriguing. I'm so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone because, even as I'm writing this, I can't think of how to praise this book enough! I genuinely miss the book and the characters. I don't usually find myself missing books that much but my heart hurts a little. I want to read more about Xander and Daisy, Rob and Vanessa, Scott and Clara and even the Dowson-Jones'. I honestly miss it all, the drama and the antics. Most of all I miss the realistic-ness of it all, books like this are hard to come by.

I also assume Daisy's name isn't a coincidence. The Great Gatsby is mentioned in the synopsis and then the main character's name is Daisy Fitzgerald... Sneaky, Caroline!

#Forfeit will make you laugh, cry, question your sanity and wish for your very own Knight-In-Shining-Cricket-Pads. I 100% recommend it to all of you over 16 - there is drug use, sex and a lot of swearing but it's not overpowering. For those reasons though, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone under the age of 16.

Finally, thank you to Caroline for being so kind to me and for sending me a copy of her book. I can't wait for whatever you bring out in the future!

*This book was sent to me for review for free. All opinions are my own and 100% honest.*