Audio Book Review: The City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

******* There will be no spoilers in this review! *******

Synopsis: When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder — much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Clary knows she should call the police, but it's hard to explain a murder when the body disappears into thin air and the murderers are invisible to everyone but Clary. Equally startled by her ability to see them, the murderers explain themselves as Shadowhunters: a secret tribe of warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. Within twenty-four hours, Clary's mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a grotesque demon.

But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know.... 

My review: I was warned before buying the audio version of this book that it wasn't that good and that I should read it, but instead I purchased the audio book anyways and to be honest, I had to listen to the story twice. The first time I ended up not finishing the audio book because I wasn't into it, but recently, I came across a lot of good reviews about the series so I thought why not give it another try. The second time I enjoyed it more but it wasn't one of my favorite book. I felt like Clary was just a follower, she never really fought and  seemed like a damsel in distress that needed to be saved all the time. The thing that pushed me to finish the story was the love triangle between Clary, Jace and Simon because I'm a big sucker for romance and there is a huge twist in the end that left me eager to see what was going to happen next. If it wasn't for those two things, I probably wouldn't have continued  the series. Also, at times the girl who was telling the story seemed off for example, Clary should have been angry or surprised but the voice she used was calm.
These were just my thoughts on the book and I know a lot of people adored The Mortal Instruments  but I think you have to get to the third book to truly enjoy the series because apparently you get explanations to all the questions unanswered in the two first books.

Nina xx

I'm currently:

Reading: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

                          

             

Listening: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

                                 

Playing: Bioshock

Nina xx

Book Review: Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

****Spoiler alert for the first book of the Hunger Games series! ****

Let's start with the sequel in the series, Catching fire. Honestly, I sometimes think I liked the sequel better than the first one but then again can a sequel can really beat the original?? With the first you really didn't know what to expect because you learn all about this twisted futuristic world and you get to know the characters and fall in love with them but the sequel was just as surprising to me than the first one I think. As I was turning the pages, a few '' oh my god!'' and ''are you kidding me?!?'' escaped from my mouth. I read that book so fast it was ridiculous, I literally could not put it down. And of course, it leaves you with this huge cliff hanger that pushes you to pick up the final book in the series. In my opinion, Mockingjay was really different than the other two. I feel it was more violent and more realistic in some ways. I don't want to tell any spoilers but I could write so much on what happens in the third book, but mostly halfway through the book though because in the first half, yes there are a lot of things that happens, but I actually stopped reading the book after the first fifty pages or so. Maybe it was because I didn't want to finish the series, maybe it was way too much emotions for me (with reading the first two books like a maniac and all) or maybe it was the different directions the book took, I don't know.. But when I finally got back into it, I literally read the rest of the book in one sitting. The things that the characters go through, the deaths, the fighting for their lives and oh my god it never stops. I know some people didn't like the ending but I say don't let it stop you. This series has made the top of my bookshelf and I can't wait to see the movies. I think this series is simply brilliant so if you haven't read already, please do!

Nina xx

Audio book Review: The Perfect Chemistry Trilogy by Simone Elkeles

** THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES IN THIS REVIEW **

A few months ago, I was browsing on Itunes for an audio book to listen to in my car and came across The Perfect Chemistry. The synopsis intrigued me and the reviews where good so I thought, why not! And boy was I not disappointed! I ended up buying the other two in the series and I loved them probably as much as I did the first one. Basically, the series is about the Fuentes brothers, their complicated love lives, their family and the fact that they  have problems with a gang  (the Latino Blood) due to their father who was  a member of the LB. In each book, you follow a different brother and their love interest so you have the point of view of the guy and the girl witch I loved. This series is definitely for the romance lovers out there because there is so much passion and love and ''oh my god I want a boyfriend just like that!!'' moments. In the third book though, there were moments when the female character made me literally slap myself on the forehead, but still, it  was a good story and wrapped up the series beautifully. In audio books, the voice can be a deal breaker for me because it must fit  the character I imagined or else I barely pay attention to the story because I'm so frustrated with the voice. Fortunately, the three books are read by the same women and men  in the audio versions and I loved their voices . They make you believe even more in the characters and the male voice was extremely sexy witch is definitely a plus for us girls! Overall, if you like romance and are looking for a good series, I recommend The Perfect Chemistry trilogy but highly recommend the audio book versions.


Nina xx

French Version!!

Hello, Hello! For those who are interested, I've decided to make a french version of this blog because it's much easier for me to write in french and there are some things that I would like to talk about that wouldn't be relevant in this blog, for instance, shows or books that are only in french. It will have pretty much the same posts, but in french.  You can visit my other blog by clicking here!

Until next time!

Nina xx

Gaming: Alice Madness Returns

I've been playing Alice Madness Returns lately and so far, it's an nice game but this is defenitly not for kids.  It starts in an orphanage sometime after Alice has been released from an Asylum. She starts to hallucinate again and eventually goes back to a not so wonderful wonderland. In this game, you basically jump on things,  kill ugly creatures and collect items. Alice is equipped with a knife, a big pepper grinder witch you will use to kill enemies but also to pepper pig snouts to get more clues and directions and eventually you get the hobby horse to smash things with and the teapot canon that throws hot tea . The original graphics are probably what I like the most in this game (besides the fact that  Alice is the main character) and the unusual soundtrack really gets you into the game.  I don't regret buying it but I give it 3.5/5 because like I said, the game itself is quite simple. If you are interested, here is a video I came accross on Youtube of the executive pruducer from EA talking about Alice Madness Returns  with scenes from the game (click here for the video! ).

Nina xx

Dating: It's Not Easy!!

I wasn't sure if I should post this or not because my dating life is a big mess and it's kind of hard to tell those personal and embarrassing stories but  I firmly believe that or past experiences make us who we are and I thought it was important that if I talk about dating and relationships, you should know some of my past experiences to understand me better and why I think a certain way or believe in certain things. Usually, my relationships are very similar... I date men with big issues and difficult pasts. It's like I'm a magnet for that kind of men! So here are some examples of my past relationships, one of my boyfriend cheated on me with strippers (his uncle owned the bar and the girls was his present), I got dumped by a guy who got another girl pregnant before I was with him (it was a one night stand) and she told him it was his child when she was three months pregnant and he wanted to do the right thing for the baby by trying to be in a real relationship with the mother. Eventually he came back to me because he didn't love her but didn't have the guts to leave. Then, a terrible thing happened, the baby died at birth. At that time, the other women lived with him and he didn't want to leave her so soon after the death of their son and I understood that. But after a few months, he confessed she was pregnant again... So I left him. Afterwords, I met someone else and after four months  he told me that his heart was so broken because of his past girlfriends that he couldn't bare to be in an other relationship. One week later he was in a relationship, two months later she was living in his house and 9 months later they were engaged... Then there was this guy I was seeing  for a year and a half,  it was a long distance relationship and let me tell you, it was hard. I really loved him and we were  happy when we were together and everything felt so easy when he was with me, but he was afraid of commitment due to his difficult childhood. We tried to stop seeing each other four times but we kept coming back. I broke it off a month ago because I was  tired of running in circles. Recently, I met a guy at work and at first he seemed nice, but the more I learned about him the more he freaked me out. He used to be a drug addict, two girls at work complained about him because he was touching them inappropriately, it seems he likes to pick fights for no reason and the list of wrong things with him keeps getting longer. I'm only twenty five and had my share of disastrous relationships and I do believe that people can find true love but I also know that some don't and honestly, it doesn't matter because either way, the important thing is to  be happy. You don't have to be in a relationship to achieve that, you just have to do what you love to do! I'm not saying being in a relationship is a bad thing, but it's definitely not a good thing if it makes you unhappy all the time. I'm not closing the door on the whole dating thing, but for now, being single has never sounded better!

Nina xx