Rules

1. Thank the blogger that nominated you and link back to their site.

2. Post the award's logo on your blog.

3. Answer the ten questions you've been asked.

4. Nominate 10 bloggers (I went for 4 instead)

5. Set 10 new questions for your nominees.

I was tagged by Anne at Anne Books, and Rachel at Rachel's Reading Corner, so thank you two for that!

Book Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Cress
Marissa Meyer
Genre(s): Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young adult
Published: February 6th 2014
Pages: 550
Rating: 5 stars

“In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. 

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. 

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.”

These books just get better and better. If Winter is anything like this then I might need a six star rating.

Meyer again wastes little time in introducing more aspects an areas of the neat little world that she's created. I really love how yet another continent has been included, and that we even get a bit of a glimpse of space and Luna - I think that set things up really nicely for the next book. The development in this book - in fact, in the whole series - is truly A*; I'm really looking forward to book four because of it because who knows what else will be introduced? I'm also really excited to meet all the new characters, as Meyer has yet to write a main character who I dislike. And if the scenes with Scarlet and Winter are anything to go by, I'm going to adore Winter. Cress was so sweet and innocent in this book, yet she was also so smart and determined. I liked the balance and found that I didn't even mind her crush on Thorne because it fit the two characters so nicely.

I didn't really find things to be explained in any greater detail, although things are changing rapidly (and the plot twists! I can't even begin to talk about them!!), but at this point in the series that's okay. Bits and pieces from the previous books came back to me as I read and that was enough for me. Things were still complex and intriguing, but now that I'm immersed in the world, I found them to be gentle and more comfortable to read and understand. Kudos to Meyer for achieving that in her writing.

Cress is a fantastic addition to the series. If you haven't started these books yet then you really, really need to. You won't be disappointed.

Book Talk: Setting Goals

I am a goal motivated person. If there's a total I need to hit, I'll try my best to hit it. If there's a prize or reward at the end of something, then you can bet I'll be trying my hardest to in it. I can't stand missing deadlines and I feel like I've let myself down when I don't meet targets.

I am constantly setting goals for myself within my reading.

Read 50 books in a year. Read 4 books in a week. Read 150 pages in a day. Read all the books you own. Read a long book.

Usually, I meet these goals. I read quickly, I read every day, I read when I could be spending my time doing other things. I push and push to meet the goals I set for myself, unable to accept failure or defeat. And I've started to notice something.

I'm not enjoying reading as much.

That's right, I said it: I'm not enjoying reading. Of course, I do still love all my books and the habit of losing myself in another world. Of course I do. But I'm turning it into a chore for myself. I already only review books when I feel like it, or if I have particularly strong feelings one way or another. Reviewing is not something I enjoy - I'll be honest - so I don't make myself do it very often. Why, in that case, do I set myself all these goals if all it's doing is taking the enjoyment out of something I love?

This blog is supposed to be a fun place for me to chat about the thing I enjoy most, but I feel like I'm ruining it for myself. I had a brief list of resolutions for myself - post more than once a week, read all your owned books before buying more, start reading longer books - but I don't think I'm able to face them. I don't want reading to become something I don't enjoy. I don't want my books to become things I look at with dread. I don't want to feel like this is a competition I can never be good enough for.

Which is why I've decided to cut back on my goals. If only read 30 books as opposed to 130, that's okay. If it takes me a week to read a book rather than two days, it's not the end of the world. I need to become a relaxed reader. 

I need to stop setting goals.

Meet the Blogger

In all the time I've been blogging I have never made an introductory post. Sure, I have my about page and I posted some facts about me when I answered the Liebster award, but I feel like that's all quite formal. I've never just gone out of my way to say 'hi, I'm Charlotte, and I run this blog' so that's what this post is all about.

Hi, I'm Charlotte, and I run this blog. 

2014 End of Year Book Survey

Just like last year, The Perpetual Page Turner is hosting an end of year survey. And just like last year I've decided to fill it out. All the book mentioned can be found here. Enjoy.

Stats

Number Of Books You Read: 179
Number of Re-Reads: 0
Genre You Read The Most From: young adult

End of 2014 Read-a-Thon: Wrap Up

Wrap Up

So, after 12 days, the read-a-thon is over. I feel like I did well during it. Okay, I didn't take part in all the daily challenges (daily blogging is hard!), I didn't stick to my TBR, and I didn't complete all the main challenges, but that's okay! I took part in my first ever read-a-thon and I got a lot of reading done and I'm happy with that. Below is a list of all the books and pages I read.

The Young Elites - Marie Lu

275 pages

Linger - Maggie Stiefvater

416 pages

Psycho - Robert Bloch

185 pages

Every You, Every Me - David Levithan

245 pages

A Pop-Up Guide to Westeros - Matthew Christian Reinhart

10 pages

This Song Will Save Your Life - Leila Sales

271 pages

Asylum - Madeleine Roux

310 pages

In the Shadow of Blackbirds - Cat Winters

387 pages

City of Lost Souls - Cassandra Clare

237 pages

8 completed books

1 started book

2336 pages