In My Mailbox September and October 2014

I haven't bought many books in the last two months as I was waiting to be paid
Books

1. The Dinosaur that Pooped the Past - Tom Fletcher and Dougie Pointer

Kindle

1. Taken - Emma Knight
2. The Ruth Valley Missing - Amber West
3. Vampire World - Rich Douglas
4. Dress up Day - Tina Marie Kaht + Hatice Bayramoglu
5. Beautiful Demons #1-3 - Sarra Cannon
6. Romeo and Juliet: A Vampire and Werewolf Love Story - H. T. Night

Review Book

1. A Timeless Romance Anthology: Silver Bells Collection - Lucinda Brant, Sarah M. Eden et. el
2. Saving Grace - Michele Paige Holmes
3. Twist of Fate - Rachael Anderson
4. My Own Mr. Darcy - Karey White
5. Discern - Andrea Pearson
6. Cinder and Ella - Kelly Oram
7. Owlet - Emma Michaels
8. Blurring the Lines - Mia Josephs

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Title: Catching Fire
Author: Suzanne Collins
Series: The Hunger Games
Pages: 448
Release Date: 3rd October 2013
Publisher: Scholastic
Source: Christmas Present
Format: Paperback Foil Luxe Edition
Buy it: Amazon
Add it: Goodreads

Synopsis:
The second book in the ground-breaking HUNGER GAMES trilogy. 

Sparks are igniting.
Flames are spreading.
And the Capitol wants revenge.

Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol - a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

In Catching Fire, the second novel in the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before...and surprising readers at every turn.

I read Catching Fire because I liked the films and Mockingjay Part 1 is out in the cinemas in November so I want to have read all the books before I watch the final films because I don't like reading a book after seeing the film because it ruins the book for me.

Through out the book I found myself thinking but why hasn't such and such happened yet it didn't seem to take this long to happen in the film but then a chapter or two later it happens.

In Catching Fire Katniss and Peeta are touring after winning the Hunger Games and are forced to get engaged by President Snow because districts in Panam are starting to cause riots and just when Katniss thinks everything is over - other than the wedding - the guy I believe she is really in love with even if she hasn't admitted it to herself Gale gets whipped for hunting in the woods which is against the law. Before the Games, Gale and Katniss used to go into the woods and hunt all the time but since the uprisings started the laws are now being followed and this is why Gale gets punished.

Not long after Gale's punishment Katniss has to do a wedding dress photo shoot and the next day it is shown on the TV as well as the 3rd Quarter Quell announcement (a Games that happens every 25 years to make everyone remember what happened 75 years before), after the wedding dresses are revealed there's an announcement telling you that this years Quarter Quell theme is putting 24 previous winners into the games to compete again to see who is the best of all which means that for district 12 either Peeta or Haymitch and Katniss must go back into the games.

The book is written really well, the characters are lovable and the plot is gripping, the pace of the book is constant throughout it doesn't drop at anytime and it is a great read and I am looking forward to reading Mockingjay and I think everyone who hasn't started the series yet they really should.

Currently Reading: Until I Die by Amy Plum
Read in 2014: 12/30

Echo by Alyson Noel

Title: Echo
Author: Alyson Noel
Series: Soul Seekers Series
Pages: 396
Release Date: 13th November 2012
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Source: Amazon
Format: Paperback
Buy it: Amazon
Add it: Goodreads

Synopsis:
She inherited a magical destiny—and a mission to stop a powerful family of dark sorcerers. She never expected to fall in love with one of them.

There’s still so much Daire Santos has to learn about being the last Soul Seeker….and about herself.  As her magical training becomes more intense, so does her relationship with Dace.  But when she learns that his connection to the evil Richter family goes far deeper than she ever imagined, she begins to question if love really can conquer all.

Dace is painfully aware that he wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the Richters’ dark magic—and now his brother Cade is determined to use his love for Daire against him.  Dace is willing to sacrifice anything to protect the girl he loves —including his own life.  But will Daire allow it?  And what if defeating Cade costs not only his life, but his soul too?

Enchanting, haunting, romantic, Echo is the second book in the Soul Seekers series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Alyson Noël!

When reading Fated I wasn't really impressed by it because I kept comparing it to The Immortal Series so when I started reading Echo I said to myself "don't keep comparing it to The Immortal Series, because it's not The Immortal Series", once I did that I actually realised that the series was good.

The only thing about the series that I really DO NOT like is switching the character point of views with each chapter, I feel that more could be told if it was in just one persons point of view - because half of each chapter is telling you what happened in the chapter before but with a different character - or if it was just told as a story and I gave it 3 stars because of this.

The story was a bit slow to start off with but once it got going I found myself gripped and wanting to cheat and skip to the end to see what happened but I managed to stop myself and it gain the extra star to make 4 because it gripped me after 3/4 chapters.

Even though my connection to the two main characters Daire and Dace aren't as strong as it is for Ever and Damen I kept hoping that they would find a way to stop Cade from destroying the Lower, Middle and Upper worlds but I guess we won't find out if they can stop him until the final book in the series.

My favourite character has to be Xoilich because even though she is blind she know's how people are feeling and that there is something wrong, and I loved the way that she predicted that it was going to snow and everyone except her boyfriend bet against her saying it wasn't going to snow because it never snows in Enchantment.

As always the book is written beautifully, and there is a lot that happens and I felt that I was in the book and could see everything that was happening through out most of the book but especially the final fight scene.

When you found out that Dace and Cade are as one so that if you kill one the other dies, I kind of predicted during Dace's magical training.

I will definatly be reading Mystic after reading this because I want to know if they find a way to save Dace and rid Cade.

Well done Alyson for not making me give up on The Soul Seekers and finally gripping me to a new series.

Currently Reading: Until I Die by Amy Plum
Read in 2014: 12/30

The Dinosaur That Pooped The Past by Tom Fletcher and Dougie Poynter

Title: The Dinosaur That Pooped The Past
Author: Tom Fletcher and Dougie Pointer
Series: The Dinosaur That Pooped
Pages: 32
Release Date: 14th August 2014
Publisher: Red Fox
Source: Asda
Format: Paperback
Buy it: Amazon
Add it: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Danny and Dinosaur are back in their third adventure and they are about to make HISTORY!

When they accidentally go back through history on a time-travelling swing, Danny and Dinosaur meet some new dino friends. But soon there's a rumbling noise; it's a volcano about to erupt! Can Dinosaur save the day by pooping them back to the future?

Find out in this hysterical historical adventure from the creators of The Dinosaur That Pooped Christmas and The Dinosaur That Pooped a Planet.

The Dinosaur That Pooped The Past is the latest book in The Dinosaur That Pooped series.

This time it is Granny's 1008th birthday and she makes Danny and Dinosaur a big feast of eggs, broccoli and sprouts and she won't let them leave until they have eaten everything on their plates, Danny doesn't want his so the Dinosaur eats both of their party food.

After clearing their plates Danny and Dinosaur go into the garden to play on the swing hanging from the tree but they don't know that the swing is magic and it can turn back time if the swing loops round which is just what Danny and the Dinosaur do, they make the swing loop around.

While swinging around they pass the Romans, Egyptians and Greeks before the swing breaks and they end up in the Jurassic Period where they meet 3 little dino babies.

Soon though disaster strikes and a volcano erupts and because the swing broke when they landed they have no way of getting back to their own time, but the dino babies are really cleaver and they build a new swing to take them back home.

Danny, Dinosaur and the three dino babies climb on the swing but it is to heavy and they cannot make it swing around to get them back home, then dinosaur gets an idea, a very smelly idea. Dinosaur had to poop all of granny's party food to help them spin round to get them home.

Danny, Dinosaur and the three dino babies all make it back hom ein time for granny's broccoli birthday cake YUM!!.

The book had a fantastic story and brilliant illustrations and it had a great poetic rhythm just like the previous two books and I enjoyed it just like I did with the other two books.

These books are great and I am 26 and loving them I really hope that there are more to come.

Currently Reading: Until I Die by Amy Plum
Read in 2014: 12/30

How long would it take you?

I was sat bored in one of my lectures yesterday so I was scrolling threw Facebook and found this quiz to see how long it would take me to read Game of Thrones series.
According to the quiz it takes the average person 424 days to read the whole series.

You have to read a small paragraph, answer three questions about the paragraph and then choose how long each day you read and then it gives you your answer, your reading speed (words per minute) and then it tells you how many books you could get through in a year.

You also get a list of books telling you how many days it will take to read them at your reading speed and number of hours each day you read

Here are my results from the quiz:

I could read the entire Game of Thrones collection in 138 days (286 days faster than the average person).

My reading speed is 108 words per minute.

If I read for 2 hours per day I could get through 48 books in a year.

How quickly can I get through some of the classics and current best sellers?

I could read this entire list of 47 classics and best sellers in 2 years by reading for 2 hours a day.

Game of Thrones Series (138 days)
Harry Potter Series (83 days)
Atlas Shrugged (50 days)
War and Piece (45 days)
Twilight Saga (45 days)
Lord of the Rings trilogy (43 days)
Les Miserable (41 days)
50 Shades of Gray trilogy (37 days)
IQ84 (32 days)
Middlemarch (24 days)
The Hunger Games Trilogy (23 days) - Currently Reading
The Goldfinch (23 days)
Ulysses (20 days)
East of Eden (17 days)
Moby-Dick (16 days)
Unbroken (13 days)
Mansfield Park (12 days)
The Storyteller (12 days)
Inferno (11 days)
The Silkworm (11 days)
Gone Girl (11 days) - Only heard about this from the film
Summer at the Lake (11 days)
Wild (10 days)
Dark Places (9 days)
Pride and Prejudice (9 days)
And the Mountain Echoed (9 days)
Madame Bovary (9 days)
Lolita (9 days)
Serena (8 days)
Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography (8 days)
The Maze Runner (8 days) - Only heard about this from the film
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (7 days)
Stay Alive (7 days)
The Hobbit (7 days)
This is Where I Leave You (7 days)
The Hundred Food Journey (6 days)
Portnoy's Complaint (6 days)
The Adventure of Tom Sawyer (5 days)
The Fault in Our Stars (5 days)
Brave New World (5 days)
Lord of the Flies (5 days)
We have Always Lived in the Castle (4 days)
Slaughter House-Five (4 days)
The Crying of Lot 49 (4 days)
The Giver (4 days)
Ethan Frome (2 days)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck (2 days)

The books that are in bold I will probably actually read the other I either might or will never read and the underlined ones I have never heard of.

This test has proven to me that taking 2 hours a day I can reach my challenge even though I am currently behind