Srishti's pick #24

Fantastic Mr.Fox, Roald Dahl

Fantastic Mr. Fox is on the run! The three meanest farmers around are out to get him. Fat Boggis, squat Bunce, and skinny Bean have joined forces, and they have Mr. Fox and his family surrounded. What they don’t know is that they’re not dealing with just any fox–Mr. Fox would never surrender. But only the most fantastic plan ever can save him now.

If you need a guide to How to Keep a Boy From Kissing You {Yomna's Review}

Sweet sixteen and never been kissed . . .

That’s Aurora Skye’s big secret. And the way she wants it to stay. She’s not going to give away her first kiss to just anyone. Busy dodging suitors and matchmaking for her best friends, Aurora (not so) patiently awaits her prince.
But everything changes when Aurora is coerced into a lead role in the school production of Much Ado about Nothing. Which means she’ll have to lock lips with her co-star Hayden Paris—the smart and funny boy next door who also happens to be the bane of her existence, always around to see her at her worst.
Now Aurora is more determined than ever to have her first kiss with the one who’s truly worthy of it. But first she’ll have to figure out just who that person is.

My rating: 3/5

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for allowing me to read a free advanced copy of this book!

This review is spoiler free!

Why kid books might be the best | Srishti

Books are after all emotional pieces of wood (-or electronic), that's just what they are. Reading books is after all emotional actions, that's just what it is. The thing is, they mean much more than someone might think. Especially when they start reading a book themselves.  Which, dear, starts at a very young age. Starts with kid books. 

Yomna's Pick #23

The Last Star by Rick Yancey

The Last Star is the heart-stopping finale to the bestselling 5th Wave series by award-winning author, Rick Yancey. Perfect for fans of The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Maze Runner.

'Wildly entertaining . . . I couldn't turn the pages fast enough' The New York Times

We’re here, then we’re gone, and that was true before they came. That’s always been true. The Others didn’t invent death; they just perfected it. Gave death a face to put back in our face, because they knew that was the only way to crush us. It won’t end on any continent or ocean, no mountain or plain, jungle or desert. It will end where it began, where it had been from the beginning, on the battlefield of the last beating human heart.

Master storyteller Rick Yancey invokes triumph, loss, and unrelenting action as the fate of the planet is decided in the conclusion to this epic series. 

My review:

The Last Star

Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo {Yomna's Review}

4.5/5

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Canongate Books for allowing me to read a copy of this book!

This book gets released on the 2nd of March, 2017. This is a spoiler free review! It has a little bit of an overview (synopsis) of the book and my opinion on it and why you should read it!

Add it to your goodreads shelf!

Srishti's Pick #22

The Book:

  -Howl's Moving Castle (Howl's Moving Castle #1) by Diana Wynne Jones

Sophie has the great misfortune of being the eldest of three daughters, destined to fail miserably should she ever leave home to seek her fate. But when she unwittingly attracts the ire of the Witch of the Waste, Sophie finds herself under a horrid spell that transforms her into an old lady. Her only chance at breaking it lies in the ever-moving castle in the hills: the Wizard Howl's castle. To untangle the enchantment, Sophie must handle the heartless Howl, strike a bargain with a fire demon, and meet the Witch of the Waste head-on. Along the way, she discovers that there's far more to Howl—and herself—than first meets the eye. 

The Movie:

 -Howl's Moving Castle by Hayao Miyazaki

A young girl is forced to toil in her parents' hat shop and her only joy is in her occasional meetings with a handsome stranger, Howl the wizard. When a witch sees her happiness, she curses her to become old in a jealous rage. Ashamed and afraid, she flees to Howl's magic-moving castle. Will Howl see her for who she really is?

Violet is Amazing in The Black Key by Amy Ewing {Yomna's Review}

For too long, Violet and the people of the outer circles of the Lone City have lived in service to the royalty of the Jewel. But now the secret society known as the Black Key is preparing to seize power.
And while Violet knows she is at the center of this rebellion, she has a more personal stake in it—her sister, Hazel, has been taken by the Duchess of the Lake. Now, after fighting so hard to escape the Jewel, Violet must do everything in her power to return to save not only Hazel, but the future of the Lone City.

Wonderful, and refreshing, I felt that this was the best installment of this series.

My rating: 4/5

This review is spoiler free for this book! It does contain spoilers for the previous books though. If you are thinking about reading this series, my recommendation is that you go for it. 

Yomna's Pick #21

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE, was an English writer, poet, WWI veteran (a First Lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers, British Army), philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the high fantasy classic works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings .

Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford from 1925 to 1945, and Merton Professor of English language and literature from 1945 to 1959. He was a close friend of C.S. Lewis.
Christopher Tolkien published a series of works based on his father's extensive notes and unpublished manuscripts, including The Silmarillion . These, together with The Hobbitand The Lord of the Rings, form a connected body of tales, poems, fictional histories, invented languages, and literary essays about an imagined world called Arda, and Middle-earth within it. Between 1951 and 1955, Tolkien applied the word "legendarium" to the larger part of these writings. 
While many other authors had published works of fantasy before Tolkien, the great success of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings led directly to a popular resurgence of the genre. This has caused Tolkien to be popularly identified as the "father" of modern fantasy literature—or more precisely, high fantasy. Tolkien's writings have inspired many other works of fantasy and have had a lasting effect on the entire field.
In 2008, The Times ranked him sixth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". Forbes ranked him the 5th top-earning dead celebrity in 2009.

- Taken from goodreads

5 Highlights from Frost like Night by Sara Raasch {Yomna's Review}

My rating: 5/5

I loved this book! Enjoyed it far more than the first two!

Spoilers!

My other reviews:
Snow Like Ashes

Ice Like Fire

Srishti's pick #20

The Wishing Spell (The Land of Stories #1)

by Chris Colfer, Brandon Dorman (Illustrator)

Alex and Conner Bailey's world is about to change, in this fast-paced adventure that uniquely combines our modern day world with the enchanting realm of classic fairy tales. 
"The Land of Stories" tells the tale of twins Alex and Conner. Through the mysterious powers of a cherished book of stories, they leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign land full of wonder and magic where they come face-to-face with the fairy tale characters they grew up reading about. 

But after a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike, getting back home is going to be harder than they thought.