Category: Reviews

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes Review

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

I feel like I have to say this every time I’ve read a book that has a movie based on it. I’m gonna be upfront about it – yes I’ve seen the movie.

But actually, I did read a bit of this book before the movie. And what I mean by that is, one time I was at my sister’s house and I saw the book sitting and I read a few pages in bed, didn’t think much of it and forgot about it.

Then a few years later I saw the movie, cried, obviously.

Now today I have finished reading the book.

I have to say I do think it’s redundant about reading a book when you’ve seen the movie. Which everyone says. But I only mean it if the movie and the book are basically identical. And that’s the case here.

Too bad you don’t really know it until you’ve actually read the whole thing lol.

Suppose I could have asked or looked to see if anyone had asked but I guess I wanted to find out for myself.

I enjoyed the book a lot, it brought back flashes of the movie which I liked. I couldn’t imagine Will as anyone but Sam Claflin he’s gorgeous.

But yeah, it was a good book though I would skip it if you’ve seen the movie. I am interested in maybe reading the sequels. I think it is a great standalone book but there are a couple sequels. I’m not too fussed on reading them but it would be interesting to see what Louisa gets up to next.

Did I cry at the book?

I was trying very hard not to lol I was in a cafe at lunchtime and didn’t really think it was the best time to start crying. But it definitely still got me emotional.

Overall a cute read, yet heartbreaking at the same time. Don’t know what my next book will be but I’m sure I’ll find it in no time. 🙂

~ Courtney x

I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella Review

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

This book sounded super cute and kind of cliche so I decided to give it a read.

It is 100% cliche but I don’t mind a cliche. Depending on how it’s done. This one was okay.

I was surprised to find I really didn’t like any of the characters in this book. Like Fixie’s siblings are the worst, Fixie is annoying in her own way, Ryan was actually awful and Seb was okay I guess. Though why he decided to get back with that ex of his I have no idea it was stupid.

So yeah I’m amazed I stuck with it but I guess I wanted to see where this Fixie and Seb thing went.

Of course they got together in the end. That was expected.

I wasn’t expecting the little break up but it was nothing.

I’m glad Fixie got her backbone and stood up to her siblings. They really needed it.

Honestly Nicole was pissing me off because she never finished a sentence and was such an air head, and Jake just seemed like dick lol hated it.

Plus the whole Fixie and Ryan thing. Ugh. Red flags all over the show. He was actually the worst person and it sucks she didn’t see it for the longest time.

But yeah overall the book was okay I guess. I definitely think I wanted to like it more than I did.

I did like the idea of Farrs though. I love that of all things the thing I loved the most was actually the family shop haha but it was a cute idea and I just imagine it being really fun and friendly.

I think if there was a movie I would go see it just to see how they did the shop lol.

Anyway, this is actually the first Sophie Kinsella book I’ve read. I really want to read Confessions of a Shopaholic because I liked that movie but I have no such luck getting the book in the library so it’s been on hold.

It was an easy read. I feel like I tend to gravitate towards books that have this kind of writing style. I don’t know how to explain it. I guess it’s like chick lit? Haha it’s a similar style to the “I Heart” series ya know. But it’s not a bad thing. I do like a good chick flick movie so why not a good chick lit book?

And my chick lit journey doesn’t stop there I picked up a new book at the library today: Me Before You. Yes I’ve seen the movie and I totally cried so we shall see how the book treats me

~ Courtney x

Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han Review

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

I feel like I said this about the other two books, but this one is so cute. So fluffy. So everything.

I wish I could hate on how perfect everything in this book is but I honestly don’t. Like you know those stories, where everything is always good and happy and wonderful and it all works out – those kinds of stories that are hardly ever realistic? That’s this. But I don’t hate it.

In this book, it is Lara Jean’s final year of high school and she has some big decisions to make about her future. And it made me feel very nostalgic for my own final year in secondary school. Sadly mine was not as magical and perfect as Lara Jean’s – but I still felt the same way that she did about being sentimental and wondering what the future would hold for me and all my friends.

So Lara Jean has had this plan that she and Peter were going to go to the same college, he was going to play lacrosse and she was going to do whatever she was gonna do and it was all going to be cute and happily ever after but…she gets rejected from the college…

Now she has to figure out a plan B, but in the meantime, she is keeping herself busy with trying to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie and also planning her dad’s wedding.

I was kind of surprised that Lara Jean’s dad and their neighbour Ms Rothschild ended up together. I wasn’t expecting it, but with the way the whole series goes, of course, their dad should have someone. It makes sense, and I totally cried reading about the wedding, but that probably had to do more with Lara Jean and Peter.

So, even though I was totally team John because of the second book, the third book totally sold me on Lara Jean and Peter forever. They had so many cute moments in this book and I couldn’t handle it. When they went to New York and Peter went to get that cookie for Lara Jean, at prom and then when Peter recreated that scene from Sixteen Candles for Lara Jean’s birthday. Ugh, I couldn’t handle the cuteness. And I definitely feel like if this was any other book series I wouldn’t have been a fan of all the lovey-dovey stuff but it works here.

I’m glad everything works out with them in the end, they were too pure not to end up together, let’s be real.

Aside from all that I thought it was interesting to see Margot not taking to Trina like everyone else. I mean it made sense but I kind of liked that there was some drama going on at home. I love a good bit of drama. Of course, it got resolved in the end but it was still something new to the series.

If anything, I do have to say I’m kind of sad that we will never know what happens when the Song girls go to Korea. Although currently, the actress that plays Lara Jean in the movie is in Korea. And so maybe the movies will give us a look into what that was like. I just think it would be fun to have the girls hanging out and spending time together without boys.

But yeah, overall a cute and fluffy book series. I really enjoyed them and I would definitely recommend reading them if you liked the movie. I am beyond excited to see the movies now that I know what happens in the books 😛 I know things aren’t going to be exactly the same but I still like having an idea of what to expect.

Just counting down the days till the next movie now…

~ Courtney x

P.S I Still Love You By Jenny Han Review

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

The sequel to ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’. I read the first book because I liked the movie, and obviously, I wanted to know what happened next.

This book was so cute – like cuter than the first one.

And I’m just gonna put it out there right now – I totally would have chosen John over Peter. I suppose if Lara Jean had gotten with John then she would have discovered that it was nothing like the idea of being with him…but they did have so many cute moments in this book and I was totally hooked on it.

I am so excited to see the second movie and see how they do the scenes with John like I can’t wait to see Lara Jean and him in their 40’s get up looking cute as ever. It will be great.

Anyway yeah okay onto the rest of the book haha.

So the first half of the book actually talks about the fall-out of the video posted about Lara Jean and Peter in the hot tub – this is covered at the end of the first movie so I wasn’t surprised this happened. Though the movie kind of glossed over it whereas it was a big thing in the book – I don’t know if they will bring it back up in the sequel but I guess we see.

The book also deals with Lara Jean being insecure because Peter is still spending a lot of time with Genevieve and Lara Jean is jealous. Which I would be too if my boyfriend was still spending a lot of time with his ex. Though nothing happens between Peter and Gen it definitely seems like something is going on…especially when Peter doesn’t really talk about it.

I think it’s interesting how fast Peter and Lara Jean’s relationship seemed to fall apart and get put back together again – with the way things were going I actually didn’t expect Lara Jean to choose Peter…like not until John literally said: “I didn’t even have a chance did I?”

Not that I’m mad about it I guess – I just think it will be interesting to see what happens next.

Also, I really enjoyed this idea of Assassin – it sounds like a fun game. Again, something I can’t wait to see how they do it in the movie 😛

Overall, a really enjoyable read. Super excited to see where the series goes, and can’t wait for the movies either – the actors that play Lara Jean and Peter are so cute and have great chemistry so it will be great to see them together again!

In the meantime, I will settle on picturing them in my head as I move onto the third and final book in the series – I hope the ending is satisfying, I couldn’t bear for the series to end badly it’s been so good so far. Fingers crossed!

~ Courtney x

You By Caroline Kepnes Review

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

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I watched the Netflix adaptation of this book at the start of the year and it definitely made me want to read the book.

You is about a guy called Joe and Joe falls in love with Guinevere Beck but his love is just a little bit too much to handle. Basically, he’s an obsessed stalker who would do anything to get with Beck.

Now I gotta say the TV show definitely changed some of the storylines and I think it was to make it even more dramatic which is fine it makes sense. Also in the book they didn’t have a neighbour for Joe like Paco on the TV show. He was a good egg. Miss him.

I really enjoyed reading the book, it was really addictive and I think I liked it more than the TV show just a little bit. I think sometimes the TV show dragged a little. But the book did not.

It’s so interesting to see things from Joe’s point of view. He never has a doubt in his mind about what he is doing, he does everything for her and to protect her. And it’s wild.

Also thank you book for explaining that Beck actually emails people so that’s how he can follow her, rather than the TV show saying that Joe can read her text messages even though they showed her using iMessage but she had an Android phone and those things just don’t work together…

Anyway, I am super excited to read the sequel if I can get my hands on it, plus I hear a third book is on the way. I’m kind of obsessed with seeing where things with Joe will go. It’s just so different from other things I’ve read yet still in the realm of things I enjoy haha. Gotta have a bit of thriller and mystery in there.

So basically overall loved the book – though sometimes it was a bit hard to read because I got confused at who was talking sometimes. And the whole thing about how he only talks about Beck like “you are doing this, you see me, you act like…” etc. Some of those paragraphs were long and it took a while to process but nothing too terrible. Still easy to read and very addicting.

Now excuse me while I go out of my way to find the sequel – I read this book as an ebook borrowed from the library but they don’t have the second one as an ebook which is annoying…but I’ll find a way to get it.

~ Courtney x

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier Review

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

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I read this for the first time when I was in secondary school. It was on a summer reading list and while I wasn’t a fan of being told what I had to read at the time, I actually really enjoyed this book.

So I decided to read it again.

I didn’t really remember what happened in the book, I just remember at the time I read it and I enjoyed it and I had a fanfiction idea for it. I don’t remember what that idea is now but the ending definitely made me think there was more to the story and I wanted to continue it. I never wrote that story but part of me wishes I did, just to know what I was thinking at the time.

Anyway, reading it the second time was the same as when I read it the first time.

It took me a while to get into it because the language is different from other books I’ve read. It’s more poetic in a way and more descriptive.

But I loved the story when I got into it. I fell in love with the idea of Manderly and Rebecca. It just seemed magical.

Also, I had totally forgotten about the plot twist about what actually happened to Rebecca so I was shocked all over again. Which I think is good, the past couple of books I have read have been based on movies and TV shows so I knew what happened but this time not knowing what would happen was exciting.

I would have loved to know what happened next like I said at the beginning of this post I did want to continue the story in my own way before but now I can’t even imagine what would have happened. With Manderly burning down and Mrs Danvers gone, what happened to all the staff? Did they get out? Would anyone find out the truth about what Maxim really did?

I mean I think the beginning of the book does have reference to what happens to Maxim and his wife, though I can’t remember what that is right now. It’s one of those things that is a small detail before it goes into the real story. So I didn’t pay much attention.

Still, it makes me wonder.

The book also made me curious about Rebecca – naturally, that’s what the whole book is about lol – but I wanted to know more. When something always talks about a person like they are a myth or that they are perfect I wanna know more about the real person. Her point of view and everything. But I suppose I settle for what I know – or go online and see if people have written fanfiction maybe…

But anyway, definitely a great read and I would highly recommend! I guess I can’t say anything too bad about the school reading list if it brought me to a book I actually liked and would have never found otherwise…but I still think if you are reading at all then it’s better than having to specifically read from a setlist. But I finished school long ago so I don’t need to worry about that anymore.

I’m not sure what I’m going to read next but I will probably get something in the next few days. I’m trying really hard to keep up the reading momentum so I don’t lose it. 🙂 So if you want to keep up to date on what I’m reading follow me on Goodreads, I will always post reviews here too but sometimes I don’t write them and just give the book a rating. So if you want to know everything, even the page I’m on then Goodreads is where to go 😛

~ Courtney x

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty Review

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

I picked this up after watching the TV show and also because I’m on a reading kick and wanted to read something new.

Right off the bat I will say I prefer the TV show just because I really enjoy the actresses that play the main characters, they are amazing and I also think the drama plays out really well on the show. I also like the changes they made in the TV show in terms of Renata’s character and other little things.

One thing though I was surprised about was that in the book, Madeline and Ed have a good relationship. In the TV show, the relationship is very strained. I was also super surprised that Madeline actually had three children and not two lol, but I guess that’s a minor thing.

Anyway, time to talk about the book.

I liked the book, it started off easy enough to read, kind of like To All The Boys I Loved Before the sentences were mostly kept short and chapters were tiny. Though I feel like as it went on I was taking more frequent breaks from reading. I think just because I already knew what happened so the build-up was kind of nothing to me.

The little snippets where parents are being interviewed was a bit confusing for me because I always ignored the names and just read what was being said. Which is really on me because I should have kept up with the names but there were a few and I just didn’t bother.

I did like being able to understand more about the thoughts and actions of Celeste and Jane though. I mean Celeste does talk a lot about her feelings on the TV show because she sees a therapist but for Jane, we never know fully what she is thinking so I liked knowing things from her perspective like why she moved to town and everything.

Overall I think it was a good read, personally, I think it’s the kind of thing that if you have watched the TV show you don’t really need to read the book because it’s not vastly different. I think the TV show just adds extra bits to fill out the story so they could get the second season. Other than that I mean it’s not necessary to read the book.

Sometimes when books are adapted to TV and film you do need to read the book still because the adaptation leaves things out but I’d say the TV version is pretty great. And if you have read the book but haven’t seen the TV show I recommend it, it’s really well done and like I said the actresses are amazing.

Anyway, now that this book is done, the next one on my list is Gone Girl – yes I know I’m years behind but I am finally going to get around to reading the book. I’ll try not to make a lot of comparisons to the movie but I guess we see.

~ Courtney x

Party Girls Die in Pearls by Plum Sykes Review

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

I found this in the library and the title caught my eye. I wasn’t really sure if I was going to check it out but after looking around I decided to give it a chance because honestly, nothing in the library that day was really standing out.

This book took a while to adjust to, the writing style is drastically different from the previous two books I had read which were casual and written in the first person POV. This book is more of a formal style and also written in the third person POV. Not to mention the fact that we get introduced to a lot of characters very quickly and it took me ages to figure out who these people were lol.

Anyway, the story follows Ursula Flowerbutton as she investigates the murder of India Brattenbury, set in Oxford in the 1980s.

I enjoyed the story a lot, once I got the hang of the characters and the mystery began I was fully engrossed. I wanted to know what happened and how all of these characters suddenly intertwined in India’s life and if they were connected to the murder.

When they started talking about societies and black-tie affairs, not to mention everyone sleeping with each other it definitely gave me Gossip Girl vibes. You know if Gossip Girl was British and in the 80s.

So it’s safe to say this is definitely my kind of book.

When I first started reading and looked up the author I saw that this was An Oxford Girl Mystery, which made me think it was part of a series, I thought maybe I wasn’t going to understand what was going on but luckily for me this was the first book in the series and there haven’t been any new ones released so I am on top of this series.

Of course, I want to know what things Ursula and her friend Nancy get up to next, I enjoyed this book a lot and I want to see what else they get up to, especially since Ursula is only a Fresher, there are plenty of university scandals still to be uncovered.

It will also be interesting for me to follow a book series as it’s being released because I’ve never had that before, the closest I had was when I was reading the ‘I Heart’ series just because I was reading it and caught up just as the final book was being released – not that I knew about that until it came time for me to get the last one.

I don’t know if I can take the waiting though…but luckily for me I have a lot more books to read until then. 😛

~ Courtney x

Wilde About the Girl by Louise Pentland Review

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

I read the first Robin Wilde book over a year ago and the other day in the library I saw the sequel and thought I would give it a go.

So once again we are joined with Robin as she begins to navigate her life after she was pulled from ‘The Emptiness’ in the previous book. I have to say I don’t remember a lot about the previous book but it was okay because this book caught me up on almost everything. Except for the incident with Theo – Robin mentions it a few times throughout and I still don’t really remember what happened but basically I gather things ended badly with him which is enough to get by on.

Anyway, in this book Robin is dealing with a whole new batch of problems.

I have to say though I kind of found that all the issues she dealt with seemed to be solved quite quickly?

For example, the work issue where she thought she might be fired, that was glossed over and things were resolved in no time, granted it was so not her fault what happened but things worked out great.

But even when it came to her fight with her friend Lacey, they didn’t speak for months and things magically worked out.

I don’t know to me it felt like even though the book was touching on serious issues it still managed to stay very lighthearted. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing I just think I was expecting things to get a bit heavier, especially when Robin had her miscarriage.

I suppose it’s a good thing that instead of letting ‘the Emptiness’ take over again Robin was able to keep her head up and move on. I mean that’s great but I was hoping for more serious in a way?

That being said I still enjoyed reading the book, it was a nice read, and because of the lighthearted tone, it was something I got through quite quickly.

As with the previous book, this book has a clear message of female empowerment which I enjoyed. Robin’s world is often filled with strong women doing it for themselves with barely any mention of a man. Sure, Robin was dealing with some boy issues but they didn’t take over her life which is nice.

I also enjoyed the moments between Robin and Lyla. I don’t really read books about the relationships between mother and child, especially from the mother’s perspective so it was a nice change. I think it was cute to see Robin teach Lyla that a new man in Kath’s life wasn’t the worst in the world.

So yeah, like I said overall a cute read. Don’t think I’m in any rush to see what happens next but I am sure I will pick up the third book in the series at some point down the line.

~ Courtney x

I Heart Hawaii by Lindsey Kelk Review

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

Eight books, two short stories and one month later and here we are…

It has been a wild ride with Angela, in my last blog post I actually mentioned most of the adventures that we had been through with her and it’s been quite the journey. But now we are here with the final book.

Angela is off to Hawaii! Now I was wondering how this came about considering in the previous book Angela had just given birth to a baby but she decided to abandon motherhood for one last trip with the gang. Who could blame her?

Okay, it didn’t exactly go that way but, as usual, Angela was running away from something so decided to go off on a trip. Which isn’t unusual since that’s how she ended up going to Paris…and most of her adventures.

I wasn’t exactly in Hawaii when I was reading the book but I did manage to squeeze in a beach day while I was reading and that was nice 😛

Anyway, I didn’t read this book as quickly as I’ve read some of the others in the series, I think because I knew this was the last one I wasn’t rushing to get through it. I guess I just wanted to spend some more time with the characters before saying goodbye.

I definitely think this book would also make a good movie if anything just to bring to life how beautiful Hawaii is. Angela and her friends spent the week in Hawaii where they were meant to be promoting some mascara…however the mascara was not a good one lol.

But when Angela was not getting drunk and having a blast with her friends, she was also dealing with the stress of launching a new website for Cici, dodging the Mothers of Brooklyn and worrying about why Jenny was avoiding her…You know standard Angela behaviour.

Though honestly if I was her I would be dodging the M.O.B group too. They seemed crazy and like who invites someone to join their group and immediately empties their bag on the table? So rude. But I think Angela will find her place with them, even though she isn’t as polished as them I think it’ll work out.

As for everything else…well everything managed to work out in the end. Although this time I wasn’t mad at it because it was the last book and I wanted that happy ending.

I don’t really know what else to say about the book, to be honest, I just think it was a great book. I enjoyed the story, I liked seeing Angela’s growth and her step into motherhood.

I was, however, amazed that everything with Jenny kind of resolved itself super quick. I mean I thought Jenny was super angry at Angela for the video and costing her her job and everything. I definitely thought it would have taken longer for the two of them to work things out, I knew they always would but I just didn’t think it would happen so quickly.

Also, I felt myself cringe when Angela ruined her phone again it’s kind of like she makes it a point to do those things. It was a bit annoying, kind of like her whole Marc Jacobs bag thing in the first few books, a bit of an overkill.

Speaking of which, her bag! I’m amazed she kept it all this time but I suppose it’s just one of those things, I mean we girls do get attached to things and I imagine if I bought a designer handbag I’d want to keep it by my side forever. But I gotta say I need to be seeing pictures of this bag to fully understand its greatness. Anyway, her bag didn’t quite last all this time but it was revived and all is well. I can’t imagine what it would look like with a guitar strap sewn to it but I imagine Angela rocked it.

Another thing that was a bit cringey was the whole Angela deciding to write a book and it coming out to be ‘I Heart New York’. I mean I saw it coming when I was reading about her getting a book deal but I just didn’t think they were going to go with the same title for the book and everything. It was a bit much.

That being said I totally started crying when Angela was talking about how Jenny was her soulmate. Again, totally cheesy but like I was so emotional that this was the end. I mean Jenny and Angela have the kind of friendship that everyone would want, and the way Angela was talking about it definitely had me tearing up. I am going to miss those two so much.

Overall a really good series, I know I’ve had my mixed opinions on it as we’ve gone along but it definitely was a good one. I enjoyed it and I would highly recommend it if you are looking for some good Chick-Lit. I would also recommend it if you’re like me and have never really travelled because at least you can live vicariously through Angela for a bit.

Now it’s time to move on…to what I have no idea but I’m sure I’ll find something to read. I think I might take a break before diving into another book series so if you guys have any recommendations for standalone books to read then that would be great 🙂

Oh! And with the finishing of this book, I can officially say that I have surpassed my reading goal for the year by 2 books! I am so proud of myself for this, and even more proud of myself for actually reading an entire book series in a month, I didn’t think I had it in me but there you go.

Anyway, I’m off. Don’t know what my next blog post will actually be but maybe it’ll be something not TV show, book or YouTube related because I know there’s been a lot of those posts lately but I guess you’ll have to wait and see what I feel like writing. 😛

~ Courtney x