50 Book Challenge (part 3)

I am way behind on my 50 Book Challenge for the year. This happens nearly every year, where I hit a bit of a road bump with one particular book and lost my mojo for reading altogether. I’m making a conscious effort to read more as of this week, and can hopefully get my total back up to speed ASAP! I have a week off at the end of July, and my long service leave at the end of the year coming up and I’m planning on getting a lot of reading done then! In the meantime, here’s what I’ve read lately –

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray 6/10 – I was after a bit of lightheated fun when I picked this book up, which is exactly what I got. I saw the cover of this book pop up on goodreads a couple of years ago and found it quite intriguing. I know you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, but we all do it. Let’s admit it. This was a bit of a silly book, but had a good heart at the base of it all. If you’re a fan of reality tv (like me), then you’ll probably get a kick out of this.

The Visitors by Simon Sylvester 7/10 – This was one of those books that I get stuck halfway through and it took me ages to finally pick it up and finish it off. The story had a paranormal twist to it, and I had no idea it was going to go in that direction. To be honest, if I’d known this was a paranormal book I probably wouldn’t have picked it up in the first place. One thing I did really like about it was the setting. A cold and blustery Scottish island is exactly where I wanted to be transported to when I was curled up in bed reading this on a winter’s night. I’m glad I made the effort to pick it up and finish it off, because I ended up enjoying it in the end.

This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers 4/10 – I added this book to my to-read list back at the height of my zombie obsession, which has apparently fizzled out. This book was alright I guess, nothing too exciting and nothing good enough to push me to read the follow up books in the series. I didn’t feel anything for any of the characters, which makes it difficult to care in a life or death situation. I think this book was written very much knowing it would be the first in a series, because there is a lot of build up and very little pay off.

Seed by Lisa Heathfield 8/10 – I was really excited to read this, because it seemed so different from all other YA books I’d read in the past. The story revolves around a group of people living together in a “community” (read: cult), run by Papa S. When outsiders infiltrate the group, things fall to pieces. This was a quick and easy read, and one that I was happy to pick up and not quick to put down.

Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver 6/10 – This was one of the books I featured in my ‘5 YA Books I Want To Read’ post, and I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. I picked the ‘twist’ about halfway through but I won’t say too much about it, as this is a book that’s better off reading without knowing too much about the story.