March Book Reviews

Hi loves,

Back at you this month with some more book reviews! As you know, these are my favourite posts to make and one of my 2018 goals was to do more of them so, without further ado – let’s get into it!

♡

On The Jellicoe Road – Melina Marchetta
5/5 Stars
☆☆☆☆☆

There are some books in life that will always stay with you, and I think this is one of them for me. I haven’t read a book like this in a very long time and I missed the feeling – it wasn’t until I read On The Jellicoe Road that I realised how much. This book has taken a piece of my heart and like Taylor Markham, the 5 wanderers in this book and the story they left behind, will always have a piece of me.

This book was everything I could have wanted to read, it gave me a sense of belonging and it was so full of love. I’m writing this having just finished the book and put it down and it’s 2am so this is probably going to be all deep and emotional but, who cares. Everyone needs to read this book, it’s just such….I don’t know. Like I said, I haven’t read a book like this for such a long time and I forgot what it felt like for a book to make me feel this way – it was real. It reminds me of my younger self and the feelings I used to have when reading books like this back then. It sounds strange but the second I saw this book I knew it was going to mean something to me, I knew it was going to be special, and it was. The characters and the stories in this are just incredible and I’m in love with all of them, Melina Marchetta is a wonderful, wonderful writer. The way she portrays everything and everyone is the 8th wonder of the world and I also love the fact that this was Australian, because I know that Australia is my home, so this made it all the more special.

The characters are so well developed and there was just enough in there of everything, if that makes sense. Nothing was over written or dragged out, everything had perfect timing and the themes included were just enough to make this such an incredibly interesting book. I really loved it. I feel like my review for this one is going to be short because I generally have nothing to say about it other than the fact that I loved it so much and it has now become one of my new favourite books – the characters and the storyline were incredible and I love where it was set and as someone who misses school a great amount this was so nice for me to just read and feel like I was back there again, I wanted to be a part of it all so much. None of the characters were cliche or over played, everything was just perfect. Melina Marchetta is an amazing writer.

The story is written so beautifully and there’s so much history, mystery, discovery and pure love all in one that gets tied up at the end in the most spectacular way, and you just feel content. I’ve only just put the book down and I miss it already, I want to keep reading but there’s no more left to read. I know for certain this is going to be a book I go back to and re-read over, and over again. Literature is one of the most amazing and purest gifts we have been gifted on this Earth, it really does make you fall in love with the world all over again.

♡

Big Magic – Elizabeth Gilbert
3/5 Stars
☆☆☆

Okay, so I know a lot of you guys are going to know this once since I’ve seen you all talking about it non-stop, which was the reason I decided to pick it up!

I’m sure a lot of you will have already read / heard of this book, as WordPress was where I got the inspiration to buy it from in the first place as so many people were talking about it. It was so hyped up and therefore I feel like I’ve fallen victim again to the whole high expectations thing, because even though I liked this book, I feel like it wasn’t as great as what I thought it was going to be.

This book didn’t really do that much for me in terms of life changing / inspiring reading, I thought it was a nice thing to have where I was able to read a few pages every night before I went to bed but I felt like it didn’t really tell me anything that I didn’t already know. A lot of it was just talk talk talk talk but I feel like I didn’t really gain as much from it as I would have liked to, Gilbert was just talking a lot but the things she was saying I felt like I had already realised / understood a long time ago therefore, I didn’t really gain a whole lot from the book other than just having someone reaffirm to me what I already knew. It was nice, but not life changing – I felt like it was quite repetitive as if the whole thing was almost just a recycled version of itself, each chapter worded differently so that it wasn’t as obvious it was repeating itself.

However, I did enjoy it and it will remain on my bookshelf for me to go back to whenever I need some creative inspiration / affirmations. I know this book was really helpful to a lot of people and so on that basis, I’d recommend it!

♡

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs
3/5 Stars
☆☆☆

I’d been wanting to read this book ever since the trailer for the film came out because it looked so good. Obviously, the trailer tells you it’s based off of the book and I’m one of those people that prefers to read the book before I watch the film (I also usually prefer the books over the films too) and couldn’t believe I’d never even heard of the book before considering how great it sounded. One thing I love about this book and in my opinion what separates it from a lot of others is the fact that there are a lot of images and photographs included throughout. Obviously, the book is about children who essentially, have peculiar powers / talents (or maybe not in some cases) and therefore cannot live in normal society as it were, so when Riggs is describing these exquisite children and the weird and wonderful powers they posses, to then flip over to the next page and be able to see them in old fashioned polaroid photographs in all their glory is really a magical thing in itself – you don’t need to worry about trying to imagine what everyone looks like! It really helps to tell the story and makes you feel like you’re a part of it too because you’re witnessing / experiencing the exact same thing our protagonist (Jacob) is. There’s also old handwritten letters, notes etc. featured throughout, I just really like the idea.

I also like the way Riggs writes, it’s very easy to follow and his narrative is extremely coherent and flows throughout. This is the first novel of his that I’ve read but it definitely makes me want to go and read the others now, Riggs has a great imagination and I absolutely love the creativity of the plot, characters, setting etc., the whole story was just great. Riggs has created a magical world suitable for all ages – this is something you could read to young children (maybe without showing them the freaky pictures) but something that also appeals to adults and every age in between. A really good read.

♡

And there we go loves! Let me know if you’ve read any of these and what you thought of them!

All my love,

Chloe .xx

Goodreads – ChloLuna