Favourite Things Part 2: Book Series

So here is the next installment of my Favourite Things Series. This time I am sharing some of my favourite book series, as the title says. I am a huge reader and I usually enjoy reading a series of books only. It is very rare that I find a stand alone book I really enjoy. I think that this is because I get so into the book and the characters that I don't want it to end.

I have added a brief synopsis of each of the series under the pictures to give you a hint of what it is about. You may see a trend in the series below..I am in a Fantasy/Paranormal phase that I just can't seem to shake. Like the my Favourite TV Shows in Part 1 some these are old favourites and new, but all still a very good read.

Let me know what your favourite book series is in the comments below.

Harry Potter by J.K Rowling

About the books: Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of a wizard, Harry Potter and his friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc concerns Harry's quest to overcome the Dark wizard Lord Voldemort, whose aims are to become immortal, to conquer the wizarding world, subjugate non-magical people, and destroy all those who stand in his way, especially Harry Potter.

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

About the books: The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit (1937), but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in stages between 1937 and 1949, much of it during World War II. It is the third best-selling novel ever written, with over 150 million copies sold.

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

About the books: Vampire Academy is a best-selling series of six young-adult paranormal romance novels by American author Richelle Mead. It tells the story of Rose Hathaway, a seventeen-year-old Dhampir girl, who is training to be a bodyguard for her Moroi best friend, Vasilisa "Lissa" Dragomir. In the process of learning how to defeat Strigoi (the evil undead vampires) in St. Vladimir's Academy, Rose finds herself caught in a forbidden romance with her instructor, Dimitri Belikov, while having an unbreakable bond with Lissa.

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

About the books: Pretty Little Liars is a series of 12 young adult novels by Sara Shepard. The series follows the lives of four girls — Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin, Aria Montgomery, and Emily Fields — whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their leader, Alison DiLaurentis. Three years later, when the girls are juniors in high school, Alison's body is found, and they begin receiving various messages from someone using the alias "A" who threatens to expose their secrets and get revenge.

Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer

About the books: Twilight is a series of four vampire-themed fantasy romance novels by American author Stephenie Meyer. It charts a period in the life of Isabella "Bella" Swan, a teenage girl who moves to Forks, Washington, and falls in love with a 104-year-old vampire named Edward Cullen.

 

Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris

About the books: In The Southern Vampire Mysteries series, Harris develops a detailed mythology and alternate history that approaches supernatural beings as real; at the beginning of the series, vampires have only been public knowledge for a couple of years. Other supernatural beings, such as werewolves, shape shifters, etc., exist but do not go public until later in the series. Its history has otherwise unfolded so closely to that of the real world that the series contains occasional references to popular culture.

Women of the Underworld by Kelley Armstrong

About the books: Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series is part of a recently popular contemporary fantasy subgenre of the fantasy genre that superimposes supernatural characters upon a backdrop of contemporary North American life, with strong romantic elements. Within that subgenre, she is notable for including many types of supernatural characters, including witches, sorcerers, werewolves, necromancers, ghosts, shamans, demons and vampires, rather than limiting herself primarily to a single type of supernatural creature. Most of her works have a mystery genre plot, with leading characters investigating some novel situation or unsolved question.

Lords of the Underworld by Gena Showalter

About the books: Long ago, twelve immortals warriors – each more dangerously seductive than the last -- stole and opened Pandora’s box, unleashing the evil from within. Now they carry that evil within themselves. Violence, Pain, Death, Disease, Disaster, Misery, Doubt, Promiscuity, Defeat, Lies, Secrets, and Wrath. When a powerful enemy returns, they will travel the world in search of a sacred relic of the gods – one that threatens to destroy them all.

The Dark Hunters/Dream Hunters by Sherrilyn Kenyon

About the books: Dark-Hunter is a best-selling paranormal romance book series by the American author Sherrilyn Kenyon.

The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith 

About the books: The series follows the life of Elena Gilbert a 17-year-old girl, who falls for a 162-year-old vampire named Stefan Salvatore. Their relationship becomes increasingly complicated as Stefan's vicious and malevolent older brother Damon returns with a plan to wreak havoc on the town and also to plan a revenge against his younger brother.

The League by Sherrilyn Kenyon

About the books: The League series is an on-going romance book series by the American author Sherrilyn Kenyon. It consists of three books that take place in a future time in a place known as the Ichidian Universe. In this universe, The League is in charge. The brutal, expertly trained League Assassins are essentially the power of the government. But like all governments, even the League is corrupt.The tag line for the series is "In Morte Veritas". In Death, There is Truth.

Pictures for this blog were found on www.weheartit.com

Book Summary Information taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/

Disclaimer: I give all credit to those who wrote the summaries on Wikipedia, and for those who took the pictures on WeHeartIt.



13 Reasons Why Book Review

Ebook Price - $10.99

Audio Book - $29.04 online, $44.00 in-store

Hardcover - $14.06 online, $18.50 in-store

Trade Paperback - $11.83 online, $13.00 in-store

*All prices are for Chapters, Indigo, or Coles stores in Canada.

Author – Jay Asher

320 pages

Published October 23^rd, 2007

Recommended for Teens 13-17 years old.

ISBN – 9781595141880

From the Publisher

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - his classmate and crush -who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah's voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why. Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah's pain, and learns the truth about himself-a truth he never wanted to face.

Main Character #1

Clay Jensen is a high school student who is trying to get over the death of the girl he likes/loves. He receives a box of cassette tapes that guide him and the reader through the story that is happening now but also what has happened in the past that has shaped the story now. I believe that Clay changes from a blind sheltered life into one of clarity, truth and regret by the end of the story

Clay does the right thing in the story by listening to the tapes. But I think that he also realizes during the course of the story that there was more he could have done in the past but his only way of knowing that was through how the story happened. Hindsight is 20/20 but because of that Clay realizes what needs to be done in the present day, thus the how the story ended. I can identify with Clay as he discovers that his reality was nothing that he thought because everyone’s reality is different in somebody else's perspective. Nothing is ever as it seems.

Main Character #2

Hannah Baker is the main female character in this story. Her voice is on the tapes and she leads the reader and Clay through her past and the story. Hannah changes from a young spirit to a tortured soul by the end of the story. I can identify with Hannah during this story as some of the feelings and situations she went through during the story I went through in my high school life.

Setting

This story is set during present day in a small American town. It also follows the events of the past 4 years in the town as well. I like that it is set in a small town where everyone is rocked by the death of 1 student. It gives the story more personality when I can relate to places described in the story to places like that in my town. I think that because the town was small and everyone there especially in the high school is so involved in everyone’s business played a big part in Hannah's downfall and death.

Theme

I think that the author is trying to say in this story that you really don’t know everything that is happening around you until it is pointed out to you. That one smile or nice comment can change someones life for the better. That one rumor or negative comment could change their life for the worse. And lastly to never think that you cannot change someone life. I believe that this story is about the life of everyday teens across the world, bullying, and that the truth will set you free. This book showed me that everything I say means something to somebody

I really enjoyed this book. I think that it was definitely written for a younger age group them mine, but it was good nonetheless. I did not like how it jumped around so much. From Hannah one sentence to Clay the next without warning. I read a PDF copy of the book, thus I did not have the change in font to warn me that it was changing back in forth between people's POVs. By the time I realized it had changed I had to go back and re-read parts because they didn’t make sense the first time I read it.

This was a good book, however there is talk that it is going to be made into a movie, and I do not think it will make a good movie. The actors will be too young to attract the older generations to see this movie, however the subject content of this movie is too sensitive and adult for the younger generations. There is speculation that Selena Gomez will be cast in this movie, I however, could only find a movie poster with Emma Watson, seen below.

I give this book 4 stars and definitely recommend it if you are looking for a quick, but good read.