Review: Game of Thrones

Title: Game of Thrones

Series: A Song of Fire and Ice #1

Author: George R. R. Martin

Genre: Fantasy, adventure

Publication Date: August 6th 1996

Pages: 805

Can you really sum up what Game of Thrones is about?

I mean, really, it has a very complicated plot about a lot of complex characters. 

Summer won't last forever. 

And winter is coming. 

That's the one thing that the Stark's have always said. And now that it is approaching, the race for the Iron Throne is upon us. With the threat of the white-walkers coming closer to the wall that protects them, the country must come to action, with the King, Robert calling people to war, including Ned Stark. 

But not everything in the court is as it seems. 

Nothing in Westeros and beyond is what it seems.

When you play a game of thrones...You win or die. 

I AM SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS BOOK. 

I bought this series about a year ago, coming from the city where the TV show, Game of Thrones is filmed, it was almost criminal that I knew nothing about this series. So many people had ranted and raved about it too me, but it always just sounded too dark for my liking. 

But one day, I decided to do it. 

And I loved every moment of it!

From the get go, I was so intrigued by the world of this book. Many fantasy writers claim to do something original, but I believe that Martin has done that! I have never in my life read something like this! I immediately loved the majority of characters, I hated who I was supposed to hate and for some characters, I was able to make up my own conclusions. 

My favourite characters are: 

• Jon Snow
• Ned Stark
• Bran Stark
• Arya Stark
• Daenerys Targaryen

My least favourite characters are: 

• Catelyn Stark
• Cersei Lannister
• Sansa Stark
• Joffery Lannister
• Jaime Lannister
• Viserys Targaryen 

And yes, that is in order. 

I really hate Catelyn Stark. 

But yes, I am completely obsessed with this world and I can't wait to read more of it! I've also started the first series of the TV show, and so far, it's pretty accurate to the books!

(*I also had to use a photo of my own edition of this book because it was so pretty. No other reason. Just aesthetic.*)

QOTD: Have you read/watched any of the Game of Thrones world?

My Links: 

• Bloglovin': see sidebar!
• Goodreads: sunstormsandthunderclouds
• Instagram: @conniedalt
• Twitter: @conniedalt
• Tumblr: suchamagicalconcept.tumblr.com

Cover Appreciation -How I Found You by Gabriella Lepore

As a lot of people know, especially book lovers on Instagram, How I Found You by Gabriella Lepore was re-released this year by OfTomes Publishing. With this release brought the beautiful new cover, and it is definitely something that deserves it's own post. 

my copy with a bookmark that came too

This book was one that I had read earlier on in the year, around May I think, and when I saw the new cover, I knew it had to be mine as I'd absolutely adored the book. 5 star worthy! The inside is formatted beautifully as well: 

taken from my instagram @conniedalt

There are some amazingly beautiful books out there, and this is just one of them, so expect to see more cover appreciation posts in the future. Go and check out How I Found You on Amazon (here: x), it's also available on Kindle too, and check out OfTomes and Gabriella Lepore's other works as well!

Let me know about any other books you think are beautifully designed! Also if you'd like to see a full review of this book! 

My Links: 

Goodreads: sunstormsandthunderclouds

Twitter: @conniedalt

Instagram: @conniedalt

Tumblr: suchamagicalconcept.tumblr.com

Bloglovin': see the widget at the side!

Reading Challenge Goal Setting!

I am a huge believer in Goal setting, I think very methodically and I think writing down my goals and putting them out into the world is a very important way to stick to them! 

Every month, I try and take part in a reading challenge in some form, usually on the YA Buddy Reader's Corner group on Goodreads. This month, and next month's, challenge is a series to finish any series you've started to go into the new year with a clean slate! 

Below is a list of series that I hope to finish and at the end of November and December, I'll share my progress!

• House of Night by PC and Kristen Cast
• The Mediator Series by Meg Cabot
• A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
• Fallen by Lauren Kate
• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
• Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
• The Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine 

These are the main series that I aim to finish in the next two months, I'm basically half way through all of them so far, so hopefully this is an achievable goal!

QOTD: Do you have many unread series? 

Links: 

Goodreads: sunstormsandthunderclouds

Twitter: @conniedalt

Instagram: @conniedalt

Tumblr: suchamagicalconcept.tumblr.com

Bloglovin': https://www.bloglovin.com/people/connie8410-15529971

Friday Favourites: Horror Books

Friday Favourites is going to be a monthly post that talks about my favourite books in certain genres; most likely they'll be catered around seasonal holidays/events. It is essentially five or more mini reviews of some books I really enjoy! 

October Friday Favourites: Horror in honour of our favourite spooky month!

1) The Lost Girl by R.L. Stine (Fear Street Relaunch #3)

The Lost Girl is definitely one of the best Stine books I've ever read and as a massive fan of his work, that's a big statement from me! Thanks to the publisher for allowing me to read this book before it's release via Netgalley. 

The book starts the same way any of Stine's work does, with a lot of suspense! A young girl named Beth witnesses her father's brutal death at the hands of Martin Dooley, and suddenly we're into the future, and Michael Dooley, his grandson, and his girlfriend; Pepper, befriend the new girl Lizzy. On a dramatic snowmobile ride, themselves, their friends and Lizzy kill a man...And one by one Martin's friend's begin to die. 

Does Lizzy have something to do with it?

Halloween is never complete without a Stine book!


2) The Ghost Next Door by R.L. Stine (Goosebumps #10)

Everybody has that one spooky book they read as a child that stays with them, and for me, it was this. The Ghost Next Door. Reading this even now, as a legal adult, I still get shivers. For me, this is the best book in the Goosebumps series. 

Hannah has a horrible dream, fire killing her whole family but when she wakes up everything is fine again...except things have changed. There's people living in the house next door, despite it being empty the day before. Her best friend hasn't wrote from camp. And the boy next door seems to just appear...

The logical conclusion: He's a ghost.

But as people who've read the Goosebumps series know, nothing is as it seems. 



3) It by Stephen King

A horror category just wouldn't be complete without the king of horror himself. 

As this book is the reason why a lot of people are afraid of clowns and some people find it triggering to that fear, I won't go into a lot of depth, but you may be thinking, it it really worth it? The answer is YES. 

I was apprehensive going into this, it's a very long and very daunting book but the story line is just absolutely genius and although I was scared out of my wits for the most part, I really loved reading this book. I've bought 4 more King books because of it. 









4) The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco (The Girl from the Well #1)

I read this book as part of the YA Buddy Reader Corner's group Mega Month Challenge on Goodreads as it was one of their Group Buddy Reads. And I wasn't expecting to enjoy it. 

But immediately I was obsessed. It was like reading the Ring mixed with an anime, but that was solely due to it's japanese mythological background, with a touch of Dexter with the whole killing bad people thing as that's what the girl from the well does. She takes down the bad people of society, the child molesters etc, and she makes sure they'll never do it again.

It creeped me out to no extent and I was absolutely blown away by the mystery of it, it kind of was like the Ring, so if you like the whole Samara storyline, you'll enjoy this novel!




5) The Fear Street Saga Trilogy Books 1-3 by R.L. Stine 

Okay I know that I'm kind of cheating by putting into a trilogy, but hey, this is my blog!

This trilogy is again by R.L. Stine, if you hadn't have guessed by now, he's one of my favourite authors. This was the first trilogy, or first books, I think I ever read that related to the Fear Street series in anyway. Of course I knew of it, but I never really took the chance to read them, and I was so scared reading these books that I stopped reading them at night and had to limit my reading to daytime reading. 

They aren't very long, a max of 200 pages per book, and I flew through them. I definitely recommend these for the spookiest time of year!

QOTD: What's your favourite spooky reads/are you planning on reading anything this halloween? 

Links: 

Goodreads: sunstormsandthunderclouds or Connie

Bloglovin': https://www.bloglovin.com/people/connie8410-15529971

Twitter: @conniedalt

Instagram: @conniedalt

Tumblr: suchamagicalconcept.tumblr.com

Review: Panic

Title: Panic
Author: Lauren Oliver
Series: Panic #1
Genre: Young adult, contemporary, romance
Publication: March 4th 2014
Pages: 408

The promise is always in the possibility...

Panic is a game, a game that could make you rich, a game that challenges you, a game that can kill you. It began as many thinks do, boredom, and nobody knows it's true origins. For Heather, she never expected to be one of the ones stupidly risking her life for money. But when jealously sends her over the edge, quite literally in the opening jump, she has no choice.

As for Dodge, he feels he has nothing to lose, and he needs revenge. He needs payback for the pain and turmoil caused in his life. But everybody has a reason to play Panic, he isn't the only person in this to win it. 

But could both Heather and Dodge win something more than just money? 

I was so surprised by how much I liked this book!

After hearing such mixed reviews of this book, I didn't really know how to approach it. With Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver being one of my all time favourite books, I didn't want this book to ruin the good reputation Oliver had in my head. I didn't want to be let down. But I wasn't! 

After staring at this book for over a year in my local library...It was time to borrow it...

And I had to go back later that day to return it because I read it in one sitting! The writing flowed so well and I loved the alternating point of view between Dodge and Heather balanced with the sort of diary format, with every so often, the chapters opening with a date. Oliver knows how to format a book well. And Panic is no exception to that. 

My only issue with the book was that I couldn't shake the fact that this was kind of unrealistic, if the police wanted to ban it so badly, why didn't they remember it from when they were younger? Or follow the crowds of young people who left Carp to go to the events? Also, what teenagers have that scale of organisation?

Other than that issue though, I feel it may finally be time to pick up Delirium series as I've enjoyed two of this author's work so far. Seriously, pick this book up if you get the chance. 

Welcome Post!

Hello! 

Firstly, welcome! Secondly, what's up? How has your day been?

My name is Connie and I'm an 18 year old book lover and Geography student from the United Kingdom and after posting reviews on Amazon and Goodreads for over two years, I decided to finally make a proper book blog! My favourite genres are Dystopian, Fantasy, Sci-fi and Contemporary, and I tend to mainly stick with Young Adult books. It might take me a while to get to grips with using Blogger as I've only ever really used it to post guest reviews on divergentgryffindor,blogspot.com, check it out! It's a really great blog ran by the lovely Kim @ Divergent Gryffindor. 

Anyway, I'm rambling! 

I hope you join in with the journey that I hope this blog will take you on. Have a lovely day!

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/14512651/?claim=gfg9ntduxmw">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>