2017 Reading Goals and the setting of Goals

52 BOOKS

I want to attempt to try and read 52 books again this year. I failed last year and the year before but this year I am determined to complete it! I feel this for me is a good number and manageable, plus it's only day 6 of 2016 and I have read 4 books and finished one for last year, so at the moment I am on way... But really even though I am doing so well now, I am binge reading because I have more free time so that when I am busy it doesn't affect my goal as much!

There is a trend on Goodreads where people are setting their goodreads goal to 1 at the moment and I must be an odd one because I don't really understand it.  I know for some it's to get back the enjoyment of reading instead of worrying about the quantity or the pressure to add numbers. For others it seems to be more of a political point against goodreads which to me doesn't make sense as you don't have to make a goal if you don't want to. For me, if i put one book as my goal I don't feel like I would be being true to myself, I would be lying just to make myself feel good that I have reached my goal. When you consider some people don't even a read a book a year that's an achievement, but when you are a book lover who reads tens or hundreds of books a year, you're not really doing yourself any favours. If you find yourself too focussed on reading a certain amount of books a year, reduce your goal or don't make a goal. The challenge is supposed to fun and it's personal as well. If you want to make a reading goal, make it something realistic, think about what you want out of it! Do you want to read more books this year? Do you want to push yourself? What's your life going to be like? (If you have a busy year ahead, take it easier on yourself). You can always challenge yourself to read the same or less. But one, unless that is a realistic goal for you as you don't tend to read, when you are just going to complete it within the first week or two of the year, what's the point in making a goal in the first place? If you don't want to focus on the numbers, you don't have to create a goal.  Some people feel like you are just reading for goodreads, but if goodreads wasn't around would you still like to create a reading goal for the year? I know I would. I love reading but I also love being able to track my reading, I love being able to see what I have read each year, how many books I have read and compare myself against my own goals and feel motivated to read more!

So when choosing your goal this year think about what is attainable for you? What's your focus? Do you want to focus on reading a certain amount of books, to make more time for reading? Or do you want to experiment with your reading? Try new authors, new genres, try non-fiction, poetry, get into audio books? What do you want out of 2017? 

Remember:

• the goodreads challenge is supposed to be fun and if you're putting yours to 1 book for the year because you don't want the pressure, why set a goal anyway. 
• You can lower your goal throughout the year, so if you feel you were over ambitious you can change it. Nothing is set in stone.
• Your goal does not have to be quantifiable.
• You don't have to have any goals at all.
• It is okay to fail! Life happens and it's just about having fun!

I think if people want to set their goal to 1 that's fine, but for me it would feel like I am cheating myself and that I should have just not made a goal in the first place.  But the whole goal setting is about having fun! If you are stressing too much about your goal, you are missing the point! Obviously it is all personal. But let me know what you think?

Other reading goals this year: To have fun! Read what I enjoy and don't feel like I have to read a book because everyone else is, and feel free to read books when I want, not when they are popular. Keep less books. Spend less money on books. Read more. 

What are your reading goals for the year?

2016 in Books

Okay, so we have in 2017 for almost a week now and have only now decided to do a post about my reading in 2016. 2016 was a 'meh' year for my reading this year, I found I was busy doing other things in my life, entering a new profession and training for that, moving house... and oh yeah Netflix! Netflix has become one big reason why I seem to not be reading as much... but also not doing a lot... marathoning TV series continually is fun but takes up a lot of time.

So my goal of 2016 was to read 52 books again, that's one book a week... I failed miserably. I read 44 books, 8 books of my goal... saying it like that it's not too bad. I had times of the year where I would pick up book after book, other times I would read nothing for months, or be reading a book so slowly over months when I had some free time. Although its better than 2015 goal by two books.

My book ratings ranged from 3 to 5 stars, so most of the books I read I enjoyed. I re-read Harry potter for the third time from Azkaban onwards as I re-read the first two books in 2015? And then everything else was new reads.

Favourites... and not all necessarily 5 star reads! ( The beginning of 2016 feels so long ago I didn't realise I read some of these this year!)


Me Before You

Jojo Moyes

• Lou Clark loses her job at the local tea shop and lands one looking after the infamous Will Traynor who is quadriplegic due to a motorcycle accident and is bitter and angry at the world.
• This story was around a lot because of the movie and there has been some criticism of the way less able bodied people have been portrayed.
• Why I liked this book: It was a beautiful tale of love and making the most of your life. The characters were unique and beautifully written. It's heartbreaking and at time frustrating but a wonderful book. 

Fangirl

Rainbow Rowell

• Cath and Wren are twins just starting university/college and the book follows Cath's journey as the two characters draw apart. Cat is a quiet character who loves books and writing a very popular fanfiction.
• This story is about friendship, family, love and fanfiction.
• What I liked: I loved how I could relate to the character of Cath, I loved looking at fanfiction within the realms of fiction and loved how cute and adorable the love story was. Great book!

One
Sarah Crossan

• From twins, to conjoined twins, One is the story of Grace and Tippi who are conjoined twins. the books is written in verse and beautifully done so!
• The Story follows the two girls as they struggle with who they were and growing up. It looks at the different sides to be conjoined twins, from emotionally, physically and the health side.
• What I liked: So unique, it's something you don't hear a lot about, or haven't experienced. It's great to see a different perspective. I loved the writing in verse, it made the tale even more beautiful!

How Not To Disappear and Unbecoming
Clare Furniss and Jenny Downham

• I have placed these two books together because they are both very similar in terms of plot, they both follow the rough plot of a main character who is going through some problems and meets an elderly relative who is suffering from dementia and memory loss. 
• Both books follow the journey between the two characters and how they help each other in different ways. 
• There are differences of course in the two books and they are written in different ways but they both follow the same basic plot.
• What I like about these books: As I read these two books really close together it was difficult to choose which one I liked more, it is unfortunate that two very similar books came out at the same time! Anyway both books are really emotional, about family and self-discovery. the characters go on a journey and you go with them.

Holding up the Universe
Jennifer Niven

• This books focuses on a unique relationship that grows between two very different characters who both have their own problems, Libby was once known as America's Fattest Teen and Jack can't recognise faces.
• The story follows the two characters as they struggle with their individual issues but come together and help each other.
• What I liked: beautiful story with great messages, relatable and emotional.

Chasing the Stars

Malorie Blackman

• A retelling of Othello - now Olivia, in the future, in space! Need I say more!
• What I liked: First of it's Malorie Blackman, what's not to like?! Beautifully written, loved the way she creatively retold a 400 year Shakespearean classic. I couldn't put this book down!!! I don't read a lot of sci-fi but loved this! The story was emotional and frustrating and beautiful all at the same time!
• Was that enough exclamation marks?!!

World Walker Trilogy (Trial by Fire, Firewalker and Witches Pyre)
Josephine Angelini 

• Alternative Universes. Witches, Salem. Inter-dimensional travel. Friendship, Family, Romance. Secrets and lies, adventure, weird totalitarian societies. 
• What I liked: The unique way of looking at the topic of witches, the adventure, the way the book had me gripped and wanting to continue reading.

So these were my top books of the year and I would highly recommend them :) Goodbye to 2016, hello 2017 and  more great books!

Review: WHAT LIGHT by JAY ASHER

Recently I received a beautiful package from Macmillan Children's books called Stories With Heart,  which is a range of their upcoming releases from Christmas 2016 to Spring 2017. All these books sound amazing and I am really excited to check them out. Below is just a sneak peek of some the amazing books coming out in the next year, see if you can see anything your dying to get your hands on or are intrigued by! By the way,how beautiful do these proof copies! Normally a proof copy will be white, maybe have the title on... but these are beautiful on a whole other level! I will quickly go take a picture of their covers so you can see what they look like as well as the spines.



BACK!!! Here are these beauties! I am not going to talk about them much now as hopefully you will get to see reviews of these over the coming months, mostly likely closer to their release dates which you can see on the spines.




So... as soon as I got these books, I was dying to read them... I just didn't know which! In the end I chose the book with the release date that is soonest, which was What Light by Jay Asher. And I am really glad I did :)

So Jay Asher, as many of you may already know, is the author of the infamous Thirteen Reasons Why, which I read a very long time ago now but enjoyed nonetheless and gave the book 4 out of 5 stars.

What Light is a very different style of book to that of Thirteen Reasons Why as even though What Light does look at some difficult topics, the book is not as focused on that and is a lot more light hearted.

Off point: Whenever I say What Light I think of the Shakespeare quote: 'What light through yonder window breaks?'

So you can probably see what the cover looks like for What Light above in the picture, its the green one with the fairy lights. Below I have attached the cover of the book that will be published on the 20th of October 2016. I think from looking at the second cover you get a lot more of an idea of the book, but what I do love, is the text that features on the published cover is used throughout the books for the chapter numbers.

So what is this book about?

The main character of this books Sierra, is a teenager whose family runs a Christmas Tree Farm in Oregon, and every winter they travel to California where they sell their trees. However, Sierra has always struggled living with her two different lives, at home and in California. At home, her best friends Elizabeth and Rachel want to be able to spend the winter holidays with Sierra and go to the Winter Formal and do Christmas, holiday type things together. But in California she loves helping out selling the Christmas trees with her family, and gets to see her other best friend Heather, who she only sees as winter. This year, however, may be Sierra and her families last year in California as the business is becoming harder to make a profit with stores selling their own trees etc. Sierra wants to make this winter be one to remember as it could be her last.

And then along comes Caleb, a good looking boy with cute dimples and an affinity with Christmas trees and not combing his hair. He has a and reputation for something that happened years ago but is a lovable character.

The story explores the relationship between these two characters, and how their relationship develops. Can Sierra understand Caleb's past and how will they cope with so little time left together when they are falling head fast in love.


My Review:

A solid 4 stars.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a perfect cutesy romance where the characters were interesting and the relationships between family and friends is paramount. The love story is a fluffy and adorable, at sometimes the characters could be a bit frustrating and I think it doesn't hint at their age, but it is difficult to work that out. Sometimes it was a little too cute, but the story is meant to be that and fluffy stories like these are perfect for this time of year. This is very much a book you will want to read at Christmas, snuggled up with blankets, hot chocolate, with the Christmas tree lights going and a warm fire (if only).

This book is set for age 12+ , it is a very cutesy romance and I can see young mature readers being able to read this with not problem in terms of content.

The book centres on messages and topics such as family and friends, forgiveness, trust, redemption, misconceptions, love and CHRISTMAS :D

I thoroughly enjoyed this and if you like Stephanie Perkins books or Dash and Lilly's Book of Dares, I think you will love this.
I would recommend this book if you are wanting something fluffy, light-hearted and something to get you in the mood for Christmas.



I hope you enjoyed my review, let me know what you have been reading lately, or if you have read this book and want to comment on it. Hopefully, I will be back again with a review of another book soon. And thank you to Macmillan Children's Books for being so generous and sending me these books :) Bye Bye for now

The Night That Changed Everything By Laura Tait and Jimmy Rice

Book Review: The Night That Changed Everything 

by Laura Tait and Jimmy Rice

4.5 Stars out of 5

I received this book from Penguin recently when I was asked if I wanted to read and review Laura Tait and Jimmy Rice's new book! When I realised this was the author's that wrote The Best Thing That Never Happened to me, I thought I would pick it up. I really enjoyed the first book Laura and Jimmy wrote together and was excited to try something new from them. This book comes out of the 24th of March, so this week!

So what is this book about?

The Night That Changed Everything is a contemporary chick-lit with a dual perspective that reverts the normal love story.

Rebecca and Ben have been together almost a year when the book opens up and are perfect for each other. Until, a throwaway comment at Ben's birthday causes the couple's past to be changed. The book follows the couple as their relationship struggles with this new information and how it impacts all the people around them.

The book is about relationships, but more importantly friendships. The book is sad and happy and everything in between.

My Opinion 

This book didn't take me long to read at all, I flew through it. It was an easy and enjoyable read. I really enjoyed the dual perspective as I feel it brings another dimension to the books. Being able to write from both genders is a interesting and creative way of showing how a relationship affects both the people in it. I loved the way the book is not a normal love story, the opposite of what most film and books do - 'the getting together'. Although, that made the story sad in parts. I loved the friendship dynamic and the support network that the authors create for these characters. There are so many great characters and I love the message that, it's the people who are there every step of the way that matter. I found the characters frustrating at some points, with miscommunication and how they could have solved things by just talking. But at the same point the authors create a modern and realistic relationship. You are rooting for the relationship which makes it even harder to read. The story has a lot of laughs and happy points but it also has moments that break your heart.

I really enjoyed this book, and would highly recommend it for people who love contemporary books, and love stories that are a bit different and  realistic. As I said this book comes out on the 24th, so in 5 days!

Thank you Penguin for allowing me to read this book, and I can't wait to see what Laura and Jimmy come up with next :D

My Reading Year

Back a year ago, I set my 2015 goodreads challenge, in 2014 I planned to read 52 books, one book for each week of the year. And I surpassed that and read 65, thats 13 more books than I planned. So with this in mind, I set my goal at 75, I thought that if I read only 10 more books this year I could get that goal and then this year I could set my goal as 100!!! I wanted to be able to say that I read the total of a hundred books in one year so badly. You see many peoples Goodreads challenges and they are reading 100, 200, 300 + books a year and you start to wonder how that is even possible, how do they find the time, what am I not doing... But then I look back at my year and realised a lot of things have happened and although I haven't read all the books I have wanted to read, I have read some great ones...

So this year I only was able to get 50% through my Goodreads challenge and I feel really disappointed in all honesty. I read 42 out of 75, I read even less than last year! Between finishing my dissertation, my last year of university, working more hours than ever before, I have had to adjust my life and reading has taken a back step... only a little. I am still getting used to how I juggle my new hours, and with a new kitten, and even christmas... things have gotten just a little bit more jumbled up. I am hoping the more I get into a routine in 2016, the more time I can make for reading.

BUT... I am proud of and loved so many of those 42 books I read this year. I FINALLY read GAME of THRONEs... only the first one... but all the same... I am now on the road of the A Song of Ice and Fire Series!

I finally read Angelfall and loved it so much that I read the entire series and it is now amongst one of my favourite series.

Here are a few of my Upmost top favourite books of the year:

This is All by Aidan Chambers
Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight and Heir of Fire by Sarah J Mass
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
Remix by Non Pratt
The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith
Angelfall (Penryn and the end of days trilogy) by Susan E.E
Queen of Babble Trilogy by Meg Cabot
Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
The DUFF by Kody Keplinger
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson


These aren't all the books I loved but a large proportion of them. All of these I would highly recommend to!


It's been a good reading year, not my best and I think both my reading and my youtube and blogging has suffered this year too, I hope to improve on this in 2017...

So next year... well it's 2017 already... so...

I hope to read 52 books, I am keeping the goal the same and will increase it if I read more than planned and I am ahead of my reading schedule.

What do I want to read/look forward to?

I want to read a lot of my TBR pile as it is huge and I have a lot of books that I haven't touched that have been sitting around for years and I want to see what they are like. I also want to reduce the number of books I keep and I only keep my favourites as my house is quite small and I need all that room for all those new books I want to buy and read! I want to read the next book in ASOIAF series... is it a Feast for Crows? I have just heard that Meg Cabot is writing a sequel to the meditator series which i adored when I was younger. I want to read another Jane Austen novel, and at least 3 other classics. I want to try reading a few different genres. I want to re-read quite a few of my favourites as well.

I am hoping 2016 will be my best reading year yet and I can't wait to see what books are out there for me. What are your reading goals for 2016 and what are you most looking forward to?

Winter is Coming...

Most people who are reading this already can judge from the title where this post may be going... if not... where have you been the last few years! Winter is Coming. It's November the third when I am writing this and a few days I finished reading a particular popular book which I think I read at the right time of the year... because winter is coming guys! Okay I will try not and say Winter is Coming too much....

So the book I am talking about is none other than George R. R. Martin's GAME OF THRONES. Just felt I needed the capitalised emphasis there.

It is just so happened that when reading this book, I was having my lovely DIREwolf duvet on my bed... Okay they are just wolves... but I found it cool... 

So Game of Thrones... this is probably not going to be like more normal reviews... more of a ramble... I am in that sort of mood :P 

I first experienced the world of the seven kingdoms a few years back on holiday on the IOW with Andrew. Flash back to 2014, with this view: 

and fining the GOT seasons 1-3 box set in our cottage....

In the space of our week holiday, we had managed to binge watch the whole of series one and half way through series two, that and have a lovely holiday. 

I loved watching the series so much that when we got back from holiday we ordered the box set, which sat around the house for a year and a half untouched, and treated myself to the entire box set of the books from The Works, (I managed to get the books pretty cheap as the works has really good deals ;) ). The books also went untouched, until now that is. 

A few weeks ago, my hands gravitated towards the Game of Thrones and I was back in the world of Starks, Lannisters, Targaryens and more.  I had a few worries about reading this books though: 

1. Its a whooper of 780 pages. I have read large books before, but this was a different type of massive book to what I am used to and I thought this book would take me a while to plough through.

2. It was outside my normal reading comfort zone. I have read some fantasy books before, but mostly in the YA category. I don't have much experience with fantasy in terms of ASOIAF. I was scared that I would struggle to follow the storyline and the characters and I would find it hard going. 

3. It has been very hyped. I was worried that it being overhyped would mean it wouldn't live up to my expectations. 

Therefore I have a sense of pride saying that I have finished it because not only was I worried I wouldn't like it but I have found something else I love. And I did love it, I would rate this book a 4.5/5 stars. My worries I had at the start I felt immediately vanished, the book may have been enormous but I flew through it and was reading it any chance I could. I loved the characters and the world building. I have to say that Martin does an excellent job with world building and you end up being drawn into this original world. 

Obviously I already had an idea of what happened in the first book, but I didn't always remember that until I read it again. Me and Andrew have actually started re-watching the first series along with me reading the book, and it was really interesting to be reflecting upon the book and TV Show as I was following the same parts at the same time. The TV show is mostly true to the first book, there are some small differences and the fact that HBO does feel the need to up the sex and gore a lot... But I think they did a good job of the first book. However, the only difficulty when reading and watching along at the same time is the section of the book devoted to Daenerys. This was because her part in the book, is only every hundred pages or so and only for a few pages. However, the TV series tended to include her a little bit in each episode. This just meant that I made sure I had read the next Daenerys part before watching the next episode ... just in case :P 

So onto the book solely. 

The book is separated into several different character perspectives: Eddard Stark, Catelyen Stark, Arya Stark, Bran Stark, Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, Sansa Stark, Daenerys Targaryen ... I think that is it... but I will need to check again :P

Each chapter is quite short before you go on to another POV, and this really helped increase the pace of the book as you were able to jump between short sections. I had a few favourite POV which mostly coincides with my favourite characters. I really love the female characters in this book, particularly Daenerys and Arya. I love how they are such strong characters and how they develop across the book. I enjoyed reading Sansa's POV, even though she frustrated me throughout the whole entire book! I Loved read Jon Snow's section and Tyrions. To be honest I enjoyed most of the POV's, sometimes I found Eddard or Catelyen's POV a little dull, but there were really important aspects to the book and were needed to keep the story going. I love the dire wolves and basically any of the animals and found the animal deaths more difficult to deal with than the human ones. 

If you haven't already given these book a go I would say try it. It may surprise you! I am looking forward to reading the next book .... A Feast for Crows? Is that the next one? Anyway... I am not going to put it off as much as I did the first one! I hope to read it by the end of the year at least... but then I did just say it was November... so we shall see. 

I am trying to not include spoilers, even though I know the internet is full of them. So to give an outline of the book for those people who don't know anything, or very a little about the first book/series:

Game of Thrones, is what it says on the tin, its about the politics and competing houses fighting over who should be on the iron throne. There are wars, deaths etc. But there is the added fantasy element, that you get a whiff off throughout the book with undead creatures, unusual animals and the other. 

I don't really feel that does the books justice though, for that you would have to find out for yourselves :)

Review: The Geography Of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

Review: The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E.Smith

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars ****

I received this book for review from BookBridgr in exchange for a honest review. 

The Geography of You and Me is a book I received ages ago and only recently managed to pick  up to read, and I am generally glad I did.

This book was my first ever Jennifer E. Smith books, I have seen her books about on BookTube but didn't pay my attention at the time it was most popular. Smith's other books that she is well known for are The Statistical probability of love at first sight and This is what happy looks like.


So what is this book about... The title and even the front cover give a lot of it away... it's a love story. The two main characters are Lucy and Owen and you follow their separate lives throughout. Lucy and Owen meet on chance in a New York hotel when they end up stuck in an elevator when there is a big power cut. Their brief encounter leaves a lasting mark and the book follows their stories as they both end up in different corners of the universe. Can a long distance relationship made up of postcards and emails, based of a chance encounter really work?

First of I think the book was somewhat fluffy and cliche and the storyline was somewhat predictable... BUT that didn't stop me loving this one all the same. Maybe I should do a post on how chick-lit is seen in society as a ...lesser than fiction and why it isn't... anyway back to my review... So yes, the books was a little bit fluffy, but sometimes that is what you need, a light lovey book to put a smile back on your face :)

I loved the idea of this book, particularly how the focus in a technological world... I say typing on my laptop... is taken away almost with the use of postcards. The two characters find a way to communicate, granted sometimes by email, but mostly through postcards. I love the way they talk about postcards in the book, and the way the work. It has made me want to buy a load of postcards and send them all to my nearest and dearest... but as most of them only live five minutes from me...
The focus on snail mail is a great addition, as the two characters are constantly moving about and therefore never really know if there letters will reach each other. I guess there is some kind idea of fate and destiny about the book, which I know I don't always believe in, but it creates the idea of hope in the story and I found that a really lovely aspect. Every now and again it is nice to get something that gives you hope :)

The nice thing about reading this book was the fact I finished it on holiday! I had this lovely view of the beach from my window, the best reading spot ever! That and I felt more connected to the story through my  own travelling :)

I think one of the great aspects about this book is the fact that even though the relationship is the central point to the story, you get to see both of the main characters living their own lives, dealing with their own problems. They both come from very different backgrounds, so it feels like each section from each characters POV has a very different contrast to the other. Family is featured as another large aspect in the book as well:) 

Would I recommend this book? Yes I would in simple terms, if you enjoy a light-hearted but somewhat emotional read then this may be good for you. It's YA and has a positive uplifting feel to it,  even though some parts may end up tearing you apart or frustrating you. I have read quite a few similar books to these recently where relationships are meant to be but just can't happen or can't happen until... for numerous reasons. For example, Where Rainbows End (Love, Rosie), I did a Bad Thing and The Best Thing that Never Happened to Me. 

All of those books had some frustration with them, even though I loved them... but that was because as a reader I could see the couples were meant for each other, and reading how and when and if they get to be together I think is generally a popular but also interesting love story. This book follows the idea that there are so many things that can stop two people being together, but does that mean they should give up?

All of those books had some frustration with them, even though I loved them... but that was because as a reader I could see the couples were meant for each other, and reading how and when and if they get to be together I think is generally a popular but also interesting love story. This book follows the idea that there are so many things that can stop two people being together, but does that mean they should give up?

Quotes:

Here are some wonderful quotes I have taken from Goodreads.com to emphasise some of my feelings of the book. The book was well written and uses some beautiful language :)

“But there's no such thing as a completely fresh start. Everything new arrives on the heels of something old, and every beginning comes at the cost of an ending.” 

“If you were to draw a map of the two of them, of where they started out and where they would both end up, the lines would be shooting away from each other like magnets spun around on their poles. And it occurred to Owen that there was something deeply flawed about this, that there should be circles or angels or turns, anything that might make it possible for the two lines to meet again. Instead, they were both headed in the exact opposite directions. The map was as good as a door swinging shut. And the geography of the thing- the geography of them- was completely and hopelessly wrong.” 

“Maybe they were never meant to have more than just one night. After all, not everything can last. Not everything is supposed to mean something.” 

“Sometimes it seemed as if his whole life was an exercise in waiting; not waiting to leave, exactly, but simply waiting to go. He felt like one of those fish that had the capacity to grow in unimaginable ways if only the tank were big enough. But his tank had always been small, and as much as he loved his home- as much as he loved his family- he'd always felt himself bumping up against the edges of his own life.” 

“Something like that," he said, his eyes shining, and she realized just how much there was she didn't know about him. He was like one of her novels, still unfinished and best understood in the right place and at the right time. She couldn't wait to read the rest.” 

“... they discover that sometimes it is a person rather than a place that anchors you most in the world.” 

“That was the thing about books, she was realizing; they could take you somewhere else entirely, it was true. but it wasn't the same thing as actually going there yourself.” 

Check out some more here

I hope you enjoyed my review, I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait to try some more of Jennifer's works :) 

Examples of Jennifer E. Smith's other works: 

This is what Happy Looks Like

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight 

Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between