Book Review | Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II by Robert Matzen

*This book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own*

Title: Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II

Author: Robert Matzen

Pages: 320

Format: Paperback (Uncorrected Proof)

Rating (out of 5): 📘📘📘📘

Review

I've been a fan of Audrey Hepburn's work since I was very young. I remember growing up with her movies and loving her style. This book isn't the first I've read about her life, not even the first that's touched on her childhood. However, this book provides such a unique perspective.

Before reading this book, I was unaware of the experiences that she'd had during the war. Which made this book incredibly appealing to me.

The depth that this book goes into was incredible. It provides an interesting and honest look into the early life of one of the worlds most loved stars, and the inclusion of photographs adds a whole extra layer.

I found myself falling into this book, wanting to know more and more. 

I've always had an interest in wartime experiences, which made this book even more compelling to me, and I was interested in the parallels between Audrey and Anne Frank.

This book gave a lot of information and was written in an interesting way, that kept me turning the pages.

I'd say, even if you've read other books about Audrey's life. This one is definitely worth a read as it goes into areas that a lot of other books hadn't touched.

January TBR & 2018 Reading Goal

Hi all,

For the longest time, I haven't created a TBR for the month, so with the new year starting, I wanted to try it out again. So, for January I created a TBR with the help of my little sister, so half of these were my picks and half were hers. I have five different category's and we both picked one book each for that category.

Classic

My pick: 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup.

My sister's pick: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

Young Adult

My pick: Wayfarer by Alexander Bracken.

My sister's pick: It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini.

Adult Fiction / Non-Fiction

My pick: A Mighty Long Way: Carlotta Walls LaNier.

My sister's pick: Victoria by Daisy Goodwin.

E-Book

My pick: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer.

My sister's pick: After Anna by Alex Lake.

Netgalley

My pick: 147 Things by Jim Chapman.

Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart.

100 Books

           

Let me know in the comments what your reading goal is for the year, and please share and subscribe if you liked this post.

Until next time,

H.

Beautiful Covers

Hi all,

I know they say 'don't judge a book by its cover' but that doesn't mean that we can't admire a beautiful cover, right?

Here's a little look at ten covers that I think are stunning. All of these are books that I've read, except the last two, which are on my 2018 Most Anticipated YA Books List.

Let me know in the comments what covers you love and please share and subscribe if you liked this post.

Until next time,

H.

My Most Read Authors

Hi all,

I've got some more stats for you today and this time it's a list of my most read authors, according to Goodreads.

                    Author                          Books Read

   

1		Eiichirō Oda	25
2		Jacqueline Wilson	24
3		Karen McCombie	15
4		Lyn Andrews	14
5		Sarah Dessen	13
6		Meg Cabot	9
6		Ann M. Martin	9
8		Ann Brashares	8
9		Lauren Oliver	7
9		Jennifer E. Smith	7
9		Jane Austen	7
12		John Green	6
12		Gayle Forman	6
12		Veronica Roth	6
12		Jenny Han	6
12		Sarah Crossan	6
12		Kiera Cass	6

Most Anticipated YA Books of 2018

Hi all,

With the new year approaching it was time for me to start looking into what books I may be interested in, little did I know that I'd end up with over seventy books on my list so far and that's just going through the Young Adult and a few Historical fiction books.

I can't list all of them here, because that would be insane. So, I've broken it down to just the YA books and just the ones I'm most anticipating. There are a lot of releases from authors I already love and some from new authors for me.

If you want to check out all the books I've added to my 2018 releases list, you can see that here.

Series Continuations

   

Obsidio (The Illuminae Files #3) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Legendary (Caraval #2) by Stephanie Garber

9 Days & 9 Nights by Katie Cotugno

Authors I’ve Read Before

     

Listen to Your Heart by Kasie West

Save the Date by Morgan Matson

Untitled by Jennifer Niven

The Opposite of Here by Tara Altebrando

Goodbye, Perfect by Sara Barnard

Hidden Pieces by Paula Stokes

Authors New to Me

      

     

American Panda by Gloria Chao

Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston

Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmeo

The Continent by Keira Drake

More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer

The Last to Let Go by Amber Smith

Little Do We Know by Tamara Ireland Stone

The Disturbed Girl’s Dictionary by NoNieqa Ramos

The Summer of Broken Things by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Multiple Authors

  

Our Stories, Our Voices

Meet Cute

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens

There you have it. A few of the many YA books I'm interested about in the upcoming year. Thank you for reading. Comment below with what books you're excited about in 2018 and please share and subscribe if you liked this post.

Until next time,

Hannah.

Let's Read Indie

As an indie author myself, when I saw this challenge it really excited me. So, even though the official link up is closed, I just had to join.
I'm going to aim to read 1-10 indie books in 2018 and as of the moment, I don't have an official TBR for this.
Where I'll be tracking down my books?
I'm going to scour Goodreads, as well as using books given for review by authors and as part of blog tours that I participate in.
I'm planning to aim to post a review of each indie book that I read, which will be posted here and on Goodreads.
Lastly, I'd like to thank As Told by Tina for hosting.

Sidenote, if anyone is doing this challenge or plan to sign up. I'm happy to send out a few review copies of my own self-published books.

Until next time,

Hannah.

2017 | Top 10 Books

Hi all,

This year has been quite the year in books. 2017 saw the release of John Green's long-awaited new book. I found myself discovering new authors who quickly wound up on my favorite author's list. I branched out, not only in genre but also listening to a lot more audiobooks and I started juggling four or more books at one time.

I read a total of 102 books (I have a full reading stats post up that you can check out). Out of those books, there were a lot that fell short, but I wound up with 21 books on my shortlist for best book of the year and I had to narrow that down to just ten. It was not an easy job, but eventually, I picked my best books of 2018. As always, this will be my top 10 favorite books that I read in the year, not just limited to 2017 releases.

If you'd like to see my favorite 2017 releases specifically, comment below.

For now, here are my top ten picks for 2017.

10

Smart by Kim Slater

9

When Paris Went Dark by Ronald C. Rosbottom

8

#Famous by Jilly Gagnon

7

The Name They Gave Us by Emery Lord

6

Lion by Saroo Brierley

5

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

4

The Good Women of China by Xinran

3

Turtles All The Way Down by John Green

2

When We Collided by Emery Lord

1

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

So there you have it, my top ten books of 2017. If you'd like to see the entire shortlist, you can check it out here and if you'd like to see everything I read in 2017, you can find that list here.

Thank you so much for reading. Please comment, subscribe and share if you liked it and check back soon for more wrap-ups and 2018 goals/reading lists.

Until next time,

Hannah.

Reading Slumps

Hi all,

I haven't posted anything in such a long time and that's mostly due to one thing. I haven't been reading. I've been in such a slump for a really long time and I'm only just starting to get out of it. There's something about summer, even though my daily routine doesn't change all that much, I just don't find myself motivated to read during the summer months.

As a result, the head start I got on my Goodreads reading challenge in the first few months of the year, has been completely undone and I'm now pretty far behind. How far? I've read 46 of the 110 books I was aiming to read this year.

I still have hope that I'll be able to catch up. Coming into autumn and winter, I'm hoping my enthusiasm to read will increase. In the past week I've finished two books, so hopefully, this means that my slump is over.

I have a stack of library and review books which I need to get through, as well as hundreds of books which I own. My aim is to get at least 15 books read in September.

What I have been doing while not reading is writing. Over the summer I took part in two sessions of Camp NaNo finishing the first draft of 4 novels. I also finished the edits on Love Me Louder which is now available on Amazon. So, I wasn't doing nothing all summer I just wasn't reading. In other non-bookish pursuits, I've been learning to knit and planning the renovations on my room which I'll be starting soon.

So, here's hoping that my slump is over and I'll be ready to read a lot more and post more frequently again!

Judging Books by Their Covers | Part One

Hi all,

It's a well known saying. Don't Judge a Book by it's Cover. So I decided to do a series on that. I hope to post a piece on here each Thursday showing one cover that I love and one that doesn't work for me, and then I'll discuss what I like about it and what doesn't seem so appealing. For this series, I'm only going to be including books that I've read, so I'll also say what I thought of the book.

I'm doing this because, for me at least, there is a element of judging a book by it's cover when I buy books. When I go into a book shop, library or even online. I don't have the time to pick up every book and read the synopsis to see if I might like it, so if I don't know the author or haven't heard of the book, I'll rely on a catchy title or the cover to make me pick it up and learn more. Sometimes I will get books with covers I don't love, which is usually when I already know about the book, it's recommended to me, or it's a review copy.

So, here goes.

Cover Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Book Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I love this cover. Not only was this an author that I'd read before and loved, but everything about the cover appeals to me. 

The bright colors and fun, explosive design draws me in. I love the way the words are cut into the pattern and the clean white back. 

When I look at this book, I instantly think of a YA Contemporary read and it appeals to me. I look at it and immediately want to pick it up and see what it's about.

On top of that, the name is just so interesting and so this book had everything going for me.

❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉

Cover Rating

⭐

Book Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This cover doesn't work so well for me. The way it's designed seems very basic and not very professional. From the placement of the photo over the striped background, to the banner that looks so flat and unnecessary, it's just not appealing.

If I were to see this in a shop, I probably wouldn't pick it up. The only reason I wound up reading this, is because I was sent the books in this series and they appealed to me, because I love anything based on Jane Austen novels, so the premise appealed to me.

I'm so glad that I did read it, because I ended up loving the books. 

The cover, just wouldn't have hooked me enough. If I'd looked close enough to see the Jane Austen Academy part, I'd be more inclined to pick it up, but aesthetically alone, I would have skimmed over it.

*I should note, even though when I read these books, they were both rated 5 stars. I do actually love The Sun is Also a Star a lot more. So although there wasn't anything I didn't really like about either book, I'd pick The Sun is Also a Star over Only With You.