Top Ten Books We've Read This Summer

Top Ten Books We've Read This Summer is this week's addition of Top Ten Tuesday hosted by the The Broke and the Bookish.

Eleanor:

I have read pretty much nothing for about the last two months as I've been in extreme revision and have only left the house for exams... (I want to say 'hahaha kidding' but I'm sadly not) However, today my exams finished, which means I can start reading again. Woop woop. So as I haven't been reading this summer yet, here are three books I will be reading...

1. The Rosie Project by, Don Tillman -I've heard some good things about this book and it looks so feel-good and funny.

2. City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare -because the wait is finally over!

3. The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon -I'm not sure how I haven't read this book because it's been out for quite a while. But soon I will have.

  

Bronte:

4. After the End by Amy Plum. I really enjoyed this new book from Plum - it was just as amazing as the Die for Me series!

5. Bright Before Sunrise by Tiffany Schmidt. My review for this is coming on Thursday but this book was great - I liked it even better than Send Me a Sign which I also loved.

6. Thats actually all the books I've read this summer (because of exams etc) so I am going to pick my favourite book of last summer which was: Wonder by R.J Palacio. This book was something special and different but still completely enjoyable, although emotional.

  

Izzy:

7. Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles- I heard so many good things about this book- and to be frank, I was a bit disappointed. We'll have a full review up for you guys soon where I'll go into more detail but it was a shame.

8. A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore- I liked this book, and was a good start for me to try and read more adult books, though to warn you this is not a lighthearted summer read! It was interesting, and definitely made me think as well as having me choked up at moments. Although I won't be re-reading I can see myself thinking about this book for a long time.

9. Sort of cheating as I'm only halway through but- Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This book is not fun and games either but the characters are all incredible so far, flawed but relatable. Also I feel so dumb for never realising Nigeria even had a civil war in the 1960s. To hear history of other countries in novel format is always so interesting for me.

  

Hope you enjoyed this week's Top Ten (Nine) Tuesday, have a great week!

Top Ten Characters That Stole My Heart

A Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by BrokeandBookish. This week we choose the characters that would stole our heart - this one will be hard because there are just so many to choose from!

Ageees ago we made a Book Boyfriends post - Click here to find it

Eleanor:

1. Jace Wayland from The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare

2. Rafa from The Rephaim Series by Paula Weston

3. Four from Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant by Veronica Roth (I recently saw Divergent at the cinema and it was INCREDIBLE and has therefore reignited my huge obsession with the whole series!)

Bronte:

4. William Herondale - The Clockwork Series by Cassandra Clare

5. Augustus Waters - The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

6. Oliver - The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith

Izzy:

7. Etienne St Clair- Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

8. Quentin Jacobsen- Paper Towns by John Green

9. Levi Stewart- Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Top Ten Bookish Thinks (that aren't books) We'd Like to Own

A Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by BrokeandBookish. This week is the bookish related thinks that we would love to have!

Eleanor:

1. Some wonderful amazon publish-y people to notice how amazing our book blog is, resulting in us receiving many many advanced copies of all kinds of books (*hint hint*)

2. A never ending supply of hot chocolate to drink when I'm reading because I'm not a great supporter of tea. Sorry.

3. Time. And lots of it. Because I never have time to read and it SUCKS.

Bronte:
4. A book chair. My Nanna has one of these and I think that they are preetyyy awesome.

5. A cute green kindle case

6. I'm not sure if I can do this but...I'm going to anyway. Will from the Clockwork Angel. And I wouldn't want to own him, just see him...all the time, preferably.

Izzy:
7. A library- seriously, I need one. My room is overfilling with books. It drives my Mum insane.

8. Some Rainbow Rowell fan art. I have some on the back copy of my edition of Fangirl and I am so tempted to rip it off and put it on my wall but I can't because that would be destruction of a book. Which is illegal in the book community I know.

9. The complete collection of Winnie the Pooh books. They're hilarious and I want to have it around to pass onto the next generation.

All agreed on:
10. An endless supply of books, all the time, whenever we want.

Top Ten Most Unique Books We've Read

A Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by BrokeandBookish. This week, the most unique books we've read.

Bronte:

1.Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, definitely. Its just so different to any other love story that I have ever read, but its so unique in the best way possible! Loved it.

2. Wonder by R.J. Palacio. This is because I think that it is based on something real that is not often written about. I mean, most people don't have an odd face but many have something else that makes them different or 'not perfect' which is really relatable, but not often available to read about - therefore I loved its unique and utterly brilliant story line.

3. Matched by Ally Condie. Its a very different dystopian style book that makes it stand out from others of its kind.

4. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I love this book, and the film for that matter just because it is so unusual. Charlie is such a wonderful character that I loved reading about.

5. Before I Die by Jenny Downham. I think it was such a unique way or portraying what a girl would be feeling if she was dying from cancer and only had a few months to live. Perhaps a little more realistic than others.

6. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I have never read anything like it since really. Its just so perfect.

7. Angel by L.A.Weatherly. It is different to most paranormal books i.e. its not all about vampires and werewolves.

8. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Such a wonderful story that has the 'you will never forget it' aspect.

9. The White Giraffe by Lauren Oliver. This was a childhood favourite of mine and I just loved it - it was actually the book where I discovered my love for reading.

10. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I loved this story and thought that it was so fascinating that it was actually based on a true story, and that it actually happened. Its interesting to see that period through the eyes of a child.

 

Top Ten All Time Favourite Books in Romance Genre

A Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by BrokeandBookish. So this isn't one of our best blog posts and it's really late (from March 11th) but it was already written, we just never got round to publishing, which seemed a shame. So here you goooo...

Izzy:

1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

2. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

3. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

4. The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

5. The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

Eleanor: 

6. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

7. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

8. Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon

9. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

10. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

(Wow, the number of reviews done for my list (Eleanor) is seriously depleted compared to Izzy's!) We're pretty busy at the moment with revision, as AS levels are looming, so apologies for the super irregular blogging and for the general lack of blogs that we have been publishing!

But we are still reading, even if very slowly, and we love to read your comments and recommendations of books we MUST read so keep talking to us, we are still here. Hidden under mountains of textbooks. Promise.

Lots of love,
The Tea Trio xx

Top Ten Popular Authors We've Never Read

Brought to you by Broke and Bookish!

Izzy

1:  Meg Rosoff- I've seen the film for How I Live Now and have pretty much heard consistently good things about her books. Plus she won a Printz Award and usually I think they make pretty sound judgement over at Printz. I don't know why I haven't read Rosoff from the fact I am inherently lazy.

2: Vladmir Navobak: Lolita is sitting on my shelf staring at me in anger. Every time I go read this get creeped out by the idea that Lolita is 12 years old, put it down and re-read Sarah Dessen. What you want to happen in Dessen happens. None of this creepy stuff.

3. Stephen King: Pfft I don't even feel guilty. Who reads horror books? Books are supposed to be COMFORTING you crazy lot. Not terrifying. You read to escape the scary world, not go into a world where pig's guts are tipped on Chloé Mortez's head. (Okay so I watched the trailer to Carrie.)

Eleanor

4. Sophie Kinsella- I have never read Confessions of a Shopaholic or anything else by Kinsella. I've always wanted to but just never have! I've heard loads of great things about her books and there seem to be quite a few to choose from so I'm not sure how I've managed this!

5. Anne Frank -Not sure if this counts, but I am going for it anyway. I haven't read Anne Frank's diary. She's an author, so this is okay, right? It's been something that has been on my to-read list since I was about 10 and I have never crossed it off. I need to change this.

6. JRR Tolkein -I haven't read any of the Lord of the Rings series. I read a few chapters of The Lord of the Rings and then stopped. Not sure why really because I've now had to shamefully write this here. Oops.

7. Charles Dickens - yes, I have never read Oliver, or seen it actually, and I feel it is something I should have done or should do soon.

8. Terry Pratchet - I lie, I have actually attempted to read one of his books and really didn't like it; but I feel it single minded to judge an author by one book so maybe I'll give another ago.

9. Phillip Pullman - perhaps? I have always though I would like his books but have just never got round to reading any.

Agreed on: JK Rowling....hahahaha kidding.

Top Ten Reasons I Love Being a Reader/Book Blogger

This week, on Top Ten Tuesday hosted by BrokeandBookish, we are listing our top reasons for being readers and bloggers:

Eleanor

1. I love reading because it is an escape. After a long day at school, it is great to be able to sit down and worry about someone else's problems e.g. the problems with being in love with a vampire or surviving a reality TV show in Panem.

2. I love reading because I became bestest ever friends with my best friend through our obsession with books (yes Izzy, I'm talking about you) I'm failing our friendship by not remembering the exact books we bonded over but taking a wild guess I'd go with it being Sarah Dessen's Just Listen. (Am I right?)

3. I love being a blogger because sometimes I read books that I absolutely adore but that I can't think of any people to recommend them to/don't know anyone who would enjoy them. So I love getting to review these kinds of books and know that by putting up a review on this blog someone who might actually enjoy it will find it!

   

Izzy:

Can I just say that Eleanor's number 2 was the cutest thing I have ever read. Seriously. Also I'm sure you're right. Bonding over Sarah Dessen sounds like us. 

4.  I love blogging because I do it with two of my best friends in my world. It means that we have constant communication and we all try and think of new ideas all the time. I love our Facebook chat and our little meet ups.

5. I love reading because it gives me unfair, excessive, overblown ideas of what love should be. Good luck guys. ps Sarah Dessen if you could manifest one of those dudes I would be eternally grateful. 

6. I love reading because I feel such connections to the characters and as a reader you can feel so strongly what characters are feeling and going through. You can become completely lost in a story, and it lasts so much longer than a 90 minute film and it is possible to become so much more invested. You can feel things on so many levels in books, from metaphors to themes that just isn't possible in other mediums.

Isabel:

7. I love reading because when you read a really really good book you forget that you're not living it! 

8. I love reading because I'd love to be an author when I'm older so the books give me lots of ideas and inspiration.

9. And I love the idea of blogging because I would get to share my thoughts on books that I feel EVERYONE needs to know about.

Bronte:

(Sorry I went AWOL!! haha, whoops - especially after Izzy's number '4'! Sorry guys)

10. I love reading because it is a distraction from anything stressful happening in your life. You can be transported into another world where, either you can read about other peoples problems and realise that your not the only one, or read something easy and trivial that you can only dream about, but it always calms you down because it is so relaxing.

11. I love blogging because I love writing, but I can never find inspiration of what to write about, therefore writing/reviewing books gives me the perfect opportunity to combine two of my favourite things - reading + writing.

12. I love reading because it is a fantastic excuse to have a long, hot bubble bath. Note, I have never dropped a book or Kindle in the bath - its actually quite a difficult thing to do, so try it if you ever haven't! Its the best.

Agreed on:

13. We love blogging because of the amazing community that we have entered. Thank you so much guys! <3

What do you love about reading and blogging?

Top Ten Books That Will Make You Cry

This week's Top Ten Tuesday hosted by the BrokeandtheBookish is on the top tear-jerking books that we have read...

Eleanor:

1. Before I Die by Jenny Downham

2. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

3. My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher

          

Bronte:

3. If I Stay by Gayle Forman

5. The Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

6. The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Izzy:

7. Wonder by R.J Palacio

8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K Rowling

9. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

All agreed on:

10: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. DUH.