Top Five Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2015

It is the last day of 2014, and looking back at the year I accomplished...pretty much nothing. My biggest hope for 2015 is that I actually manage to graduate - fingers crossed for that! I'm also looking forward to a lot of books in 2015, so I thought I'd make a list of the five I most want to read.

Top Five Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2015 (in no particular order):

1) The Sin Eater's Daughter by Mel Salisbury - erm. I can't even tell you how excited I am for this book. Have you read the blurb? Because it sounds freaking AWESOME. Girl who kills anyone she touches, a prince who is immune, a guard who likes her for who she is, a kingdom that needs to be protected - I mean, how can you not love the sound of this? I need it. I need this book now. Plus, the cover is amazing. And all the early reviews I've read so far have been very positive so...excitement!

2) Half Wild by Sally Green - I absolutely loved Half Bad and cannot wait to read this sequel. First of all, because I just have to know what is going to happen, and second, because I love the characters and I miss them! Nathan and Gabriel are definitely my favourites, and ugh I want to read this book so much! March seems so far away. I have't read the short story, Half Lies, yet so maybe I'll give that a go and see if it can tide me over until Half Wild is released (though I have a feeling it will just leave me wanting this book even more).

3) Royal Wedding by Meg Cabot - the eleventh Princess Diaries book! For adults! Omg! Guys I grew up with the Princess Diaries series. Book one was one of the first YA books I ever read. I am so incredibly excited to read this book. Mia and Michael are getting married, there's a scandal to deal with (of course) and nothing is going to plan - ah! It's been ages since the last PD book (2009!) and I'm so happy we get to revisit these characters (it'll be weird to see everyone older and grown-up, but I am definitely curious to see what's changed).

4) Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman - I have talked about this book before and I will continue to talk about it, because I have been waiting for it for so long. Sooo long. Seraphina was one of my favourite books of the year...back in 2012. 2012! I don't even know how I've managed this long without the sequel. I am desperate to find out what happens, especially between Kiggs and Phina because the way Seraphina ended...ugh! Finally I will have the answers and I don't have the words to explain how much I want this book.

5) A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas - I love Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass series, so I am very interested to see what I think of this book. To be honest, I'm already convinced I'll love it. Sarah's writing style is addictive, her characters are awesome, and the synopsis already has me intrigued. Plus, it seems that pretty much every (incredibly lucky) person who's already read this book has said that it's fantastic. I have heard some very good things about the character Tamlin already, so obviously I'm dying to read this book and I can't believe it's not out until MAY. How will I live?

Notable mentions that didn't quite make the list: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan, Untitled Throne of Glass #4 by Sarah J. Maas and The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan.

Books that would be on this list/in the notable mentions had I not already read them: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon and The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski.

And there you have it! Which books are you looking forward to in 2015? Any from my list? And, last of all, have a very happy New Year, everyone!

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2014 in Review: Movies and TV

Even though I don't usually blog about movies or tv, I do like my year end list summaries.

2014 Movies I saw this year (top 3 marked with an *)

300: Rise of an Empire (3D Imax)
Divergent
The Lego Movie
*X-Men: Days of Future Past (3D)
Maleficent
The Fault in Our Stars
*Gone Girl
Lucy
*Boyhood
The Maze Runner

Total of 10 ( 4 less than last year)


Notable movies I saw in 2014 that were released before 2014 

Nebraska
12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
We're The Millers
About Time
Man of Steel
Thor 2
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Blue Jasmine
Her
Anna Karenina
Rebecca
The Book Thief
Pillow Talk

2014 movies I still want to see

Mockingjay Part 1
If I Stay
Birdman
Wild

TV series I watched in 2014 

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Seasons 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Top of the Lake
The Bates Motel Season 2
Homeland Season 3
True Detective
Game of Thrones Season 4
Walking Dead Season 5
Orange is the New Black Seasons 1, 2
Orphan Black Season 2
The Mindy Project Season 3 (so far)


How was your year in movies and TV?

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My Awesome Reads of 2014

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2014 in Review: Music

I bought 136 new songs this year (a bit less than last year) including two albums, Unrepentant Geraldines/Tori Amos and The Brink/The Jezebels. 

2014 songs on heavy rotation (indicates top 5)

Every Other Freckle - Alt-J

Palace - The Antlers

Beggin for Thread - Banks

*Rollercoaster - Bleachers

Ashes & Embers - The Casket Girls

My Favourite Faded Fantasy - Damien Rice
Meowy Kitty - David Fey

*Beneath the Brine - The Family Crest

Tonight - Glass Towers

Yours to Shake - Greylag

Hymnals - Grizfolk

Afterlife - Ingrid Michaelson

*The Brink - The Jezebels

Past Life - Lost in the Trees

Night Like This - LP

No Rest for the Wicked - Lykke Li

The Writing's on the Wall - OK Go

Nothing But Trouble - Phantogram

Let it Go - Saint Savior

Blank Space - Taylor Swift

Forest of Glass - Tori Amos

*Weatherman - Tori Amos

Love Stained - TV on the Radio

Love is to Die - Warpaint
*Heavenly Creatures - Wolf Alice


Favorite finds from previous years (indicates top 5)

Loud Like Love - Placebo (2013)

Blush - Wolf Alice (2013)

*Something Good - Alt-J (2012)

Landfill - Daughter (2012)

How to Be a Heartbreaker - Marina and the Diamonds (2012)

Angels - The xx (2012)

Wonderland - Natalia Kills (2011)

Close Watch - Agnes Obel (2010)

Dancing Under Influence - Bedroom Eyes (2010)

*Pick Up The Phone - Dragonette (2009)

Hotblack - Oceanship (2009)

Sweet and Low - Augustana (2008)

Lost Coastlines - Okkervil River (2008)
*Oboes Bleat and Triangles Tink - Say Hi (2008)
Back and Forth - Maps (2007)

*Slow Show - The National (2007)

*Set Fire to the Third Bar - Snow Patrol (2006)

Life Less Ordinary - Carbon Leaf (2004)

Consequence - The Notwist (2002)

Don't Go Away - Toad the Wet Sprocket (1989)

Thanks to my main sources for new music this year: iTunes, NPR, Spotify, Justin Chanda, David Fey, & Christina Franke.

Live Music in 2014

+ Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Frankfurt, Germany - January (My BIL bought us tickets to see the former lead singer of Pavement with his new band. Fun!)

+ The Jezebels - Frankfurt, Germany - March (Highlight: A Little Piece!! They are awesome live and I loved the whole concert)

+ Tori Amos - Frankfurt, Germany - May (Highlight: This was my first time hearing Weatherman. Mellow show, but had a blast with my SIL)

+ Tori Amos - Berlin, Germany - May (Highlight: Sugar and Northern Lad and Purple People all in the same set? Yes, Please!)

+ Tori Amos - Vienna, Austria - June (Highlight: Nice to get Josephine again. Also! Got to chat with Tori before the show and had a seat in the second row)

+ Tori Amos - Linz, Austria - June (Highlight: Tori's cover of Rise Like A Phoenix by Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst who won for Austria. What a great surprise! Also, chatted with Tori again and got a front row upgrade.)

+ Tori Amos - Stuttgart, Germany - June (Highlight: I've been requesting Beulah Land since 2007 and she finally played it for me! This show's setlist was pretty dark and my favorite of the 5. Also gave Tori a copy of Chasing Before/Chick and got a front row upgrade!)

+ We had tickets to see Ingrid Michaelson and Warpaint, and both acts had to cancel for family reasons. Shame!

Tori Amos with my books!!

Looking forward to 2015 -- we already have tickets to Alt-J with Wolf Alice (Feb 7th) and Rachael Yamagata (Feb 20th). Super excited!

Any recommendations for me?

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Year End Mini Reviews - Diverse Books

I've been a supporter of the We Need Diverse Books campaign since its inception and as such, I seek out diverse MG/YA novels during the year to read and review. Here are a few of them (that I haven't already reviewed) from this year. See also my We Need Diverse Books review archive.

Pointe by Brandy Colbert

Theo, an aspiring professional ballerina with a latent eating disorder, has her fragile psyche rocked when her kidnapped best friend, Donavon, returns after four years and she recognizes the accused kidnapper as her first boyfriend, Chris. Though this relationship is obvious to the reader as statutory rape, Theo denies this to herself and decides to keep quiet, even if her testimony could be the key to getting justice for Donavon. Colbert handles Theo’s emotional landscape with sensitivity and makes the stakes clear – if Theo talks she’ll become “tainted” and no ballet company will want to work with her. Colbert adds an effective subplot involving a secret affair with a classmate that serves to finally wake Theo up to certain truths and make her realize she needs to step up and speak the truth despite the consequences.

FTC disclosure: Borrowed

 
Complicit by Stephanie Kuehn

In this ambitious modern day reimagining of Antigone, Jamie Henry is an upstanding student trying to come to terms with both his adoption as a child by wealthy parents and his sister Cate’s recent release from jail after admitting to burning down a horse barn. To say much more would be spoiler-territory, but definitely keep reading for the explosive twist ending.

FTC disclosure: Bought

Lies My Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Ann Peters

When Alix's girlfriend Swan dies, Alix finds out that Swan was cheating on her with a girl from another town named Lianna. Alix and Lianna bond over their shared grief and feelings of betrayal. A fairly predictable yet sweet romance.

FTC disclosure: Netgalley

Latitude Zero by Diana Renn

A mystery set in the international cycling world that features intrepid teen reporter Tessa who inadvertently gets involved in dangerous intrigue when a famous Ecuadorian cyclist hands her his gold chain directly before the race that kills him. There are many cycling terms and an exhausting list of suspects to keep the reader busy. Lots of nice description of Ecuador.    

FTC disclosure: Review copy from author

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Review: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Released: November 6th 2014 (this edition)
My Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Find it on Goodreads

Fifteen-year-old Frankie Landau-Banks has grown up a lot over the summer. She's no longer daddy's little girl - and almost immediately after starting the new semester at her highly prestigious school, she bags goofy-but-gorgeous Matthew Livingston as her boyfriend. They get along great but then Frankie discovers that Matthew is a member of a boys-only secret society that specialise in 'hilarious' pranks. Which hardly seems fair... especially when Frankie knows she's smarter than any of its members. And to prove this, she's going to teach them a lesson.

Impersonating lead member Alpha by using a fake email account is surprisingly easy, and soon Frankie is setting the boys up with all sorts of ridiculous schemes and sending them on wild goose chase after wild goose chase. Alpha's not prepared to lose face and admit it's not him sending the emails - but the fun can't last forever, and soon Frankie will have to choose between what she think she wants, and the reputation she deserves. (from Goodreads)

I had only a very vague idea of what this book was about when I started it, and had no clue what to expect. The synopsis had me very intrigued though, so I was looking forward to reading it. I never read We Were Liars (I know, I know, but it just didn't appeal to me!) but I have read some of E. Lockhart's other books and pretty much loved them all, so I was hoping I'd enjoy this one just as much. I am happy to say that I did and while I had a few problems, it was a really good book overall.

Frankie Landau-Banks was a great character, because even though half the things she was doing were kind of reckless (though very well planned), you could understand why she was doing it all. She was very perceptive, and she could tell what other people thought of her, and how they tried to manipulate her. She hated being underestimated just because she was a girl. She didn't like that she was expected to always be smiling and sweet and sensitive. She wanted to a force to be reckoned with, and she also wanted to be acknowledged as such. Yet even though she wanted that, even though she knew her relationship with Matthew was just a series of power plays, with Matthew always thinking he was winning, she still wanted to be with him. She loved him - or thought she did - and I suppose she figured that maybe if she kept doing what she was doing, he could change, and see her for who she really was. She definitely had the mind of a strategist; she could always work out the best move to take when she was trying to manipulate someone herself. You had to respect her for that. She achieved a lot in a short period of time, and regardless of what motivated her and whether it was a good idea or not, not many people could have done what she did.

I never liked Matthew or Alpha, but I don't think I was supposed to. Alpha especially, he was too concerned with being top dog, with having the most power, and he treated everyone but a few select people like they were below him and hardly worth his time. Matthew was not as obvious with his power plays - he was a little more subtle - but it was still there. He had to have the last word. He had to be right about certain things. He twisted conversations so that it always came back to him letting Frankie do something instead of her asserting her right to whatever she wanted. He expected her to be something she didn't want to be. Frankie recognised this behaviour was not right. She tried to do something about it. But a lot of people wouldn't realise that Matthew was behaving in a controlling manner. And being part of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds meant he was exclusionary. Alpha too. It was another part of their hypocrisy. Constantly being dishonest to Frankie about being a member and going to meetings, in Matthew's eyes, was him being loyal to the group. But Frankie keeping something from him in much the same manner - that was just downright lying. When Alpha did something sneaky and against the rules, he was brilliant. But when Frankie did it, she was psychotic. Like she said in the book, it was a double standard. I could understand what drove Frankie (though I also understood why her family were worried about her in the end).

Plot-wise, I loved all the pranks and the way Frankie was masterminding everything. I especially liked the emails between her and Alpha. I didn't plan to read this book in one sitting, but, well...I did. The narration style was kind of addictive and I needed to know how things were going to end. There were only a few things thing I didn't like. One was the essay extracts. I found them kind of boring and a bit unnecessary. Maybe they also reminded me of all the essays I need to write over the holidays...but still. I also thought Frankie herself was a bit contradictory. She was so obsessed with what other people thought that she was rarely every actually being herself. She would sometimes do things she didn't actually like just to impress others, or prove them wrong. It didn't really match her whole "see me for me" thing. I also think she was sometimes a little bit judgemental about other girls, and that she was too concerned with the boys. She had to do what they did and prove that she could do it too, but why? To earn their respect? Why did she want it so badly? Was it really just about being acknowledged? It seemed like only these boys' approval would do and that she felt she needed it to be worth something - and that just didn't sit well with me. But I don't know, I could be wrong. Anyway, apart from that, I really enjoyed the book, and the general message it sent out.

Overall, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Bank was an engaging and thought-provoking read, and I recommend it if you're looking for a contemporary that's a bit different. 

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Year End Mini-Reviews - E-Galleys

Well, hello again! Since there are only 11 days left in the year, I'd better say a few words about some of the 2014 review books I've read this year in e-Galley that I haven't gotten to yet. Shall we?

edit

The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters

In 1900, Olivia befriends a hypnotist hired by her father to cure her of her of having her own opinion so she can accept a woman's "true calling". Winters once again provides great historical detail and a touch of the paranormal to support her inspiring story of suffragettes. Loved it!

The Jewel by Amy Ewing

197 is the fourth most valuable surrogate in the latest royal auction. She is bought by the conniving Duchess to bear a daughter worthy of marrying the king’s son – but in one-third the time of a normal gestation. Ewing seamlessly integrates world building and magical rules into the action. For example, in an early scene, 197 is permitted an evening visit to her family after years apart. To show both 197’s love for her family and her magical power, Ewing has 197 touch a barren lemon tree in the backyard and make it produce a perfect lemon in a matter of seconds. An interesting read!

That Night by Chevy Stevens

As a teen, Toni Murphy was bullied mercilessly and then sentenced to prison for killing her sister in collusion with her boyfriend, Ryan. 15 years later, Toni is out on parole and wants to find out the truth of her sister's murder. But this means facing her former bullies. Stevens puts Toni in impossible situations -- this novel made me so angry on behalf of Toni that I wanted to go into the book and help Toni get revenge. Highly emotional. 

The Haven by Carol Lynch Williams

Shiloh and Gideon live inside the Haven where everyone is monitored and drugged, basically a dystopian nightmare. This very much reminded me of a less complex version of a well-known adult dystopian book, and so I figured out what was going on as soon as they talked about "terminals" vs "wholes".  A diverting enough novel that suffers the comparison to this other book (which I won't name because spoilers).

Killer Instinct by SE Green

In this teen homage to the TV show Dexter, Lane is fascinated by serial killers. She's also highly unsympathetic (especially bc she slut-shames her sister at every opportunity). Still, I was on board with Lane's adventures in serial killing until the very bizarre twist near the end left me scratching my head in disbelief. 

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

Darcy is living the dream! Right out of high school and she's already sold a YA novel, moved to NYC, and started up a romance with a popular YA author. In alternating chapters, we get Darcy's journey as well as her "novel": Afterworlds. Since I enjoy both afterlife books and books about the writing scene, I was very entertained by this one, even though it was super, super lengthy.

The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes

When Lainey's boyfriend Jason breaks up with her, she uses techniques from the Art of War to win him back, including having co-worker Micah pose as her new boyfriend. Even though Micah is leagues different from Lainey, she finds herself really falling in love with him. A fun YA romance!

Dissonance by Erica O'Rourke

Del is a walker in parallel worlds who keeps running across the echo of her longtime crush in different worlds. O'Rourke combines science and music theory in her intricate world-building. I am excited to read the sequel to find out what happens next!

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Top Five Favourite Books and Top Five Least Favourite Books Read in 2014

So since it's almost the end of 2014 (I can't believe how quickly this year has gone), I thought I'd do a post of my favourite and least favourite books. They'll be books I read in 2014, regardless of release date - please let me know your favourite/worst books of 2014 too!

I'm also thinking of what types of posts I'll be doing in 2015 (because let's face it, once I graduate, I'm going to be unemployed for a whiiile, so I'll probably have a lot of free time on my hands - this is of course assuming I don't fail and have to retake the year). I will of course be continuing with reviews and other bookish posts, but I was thinking of maybe doing some more personal ones as well. I did a few this year and no-one seemed to hate them too much. Does anyone like this idea? I'm interested in TV/film and some aspects of beauty so that's probably the kind of stuff I'd talk about, as well as general complaining because I just do that so well.

Anyway, getting back to the books, here are my lists!

Top Five Favourite Books Read in 2014 (in no particular order):

1) Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard - I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this book from NetGalley and oh my God, guys. This book was amazing. My review isn't on the blog yet, but I've given it five stars. Which is something I rarely ever do. A book has got to be really, REALLY good for me to give it five stars. So trust me when I say that you need to pick this book up when you can, because honestly, it was brilliant. The characters, the plot...I can't even tell you. Just trust me on this. Also, don't you just love the cover?

2) The Perilous Sea by Sherry Thomas - I loooved this book. Loved it. Such a great sequel to The Burning Sky (which I also loved). The characters were my favourite part. Titus and Iolanthe are probably two of my favourite characters of all time. The chemistry between these two - ugh! Please just read this series.

3) The Princess in the Opal Mask by Jenny Lundquist - here's another book with a very pretty cover! But that's not even the best part. Who doesn't love a story where twins switch identities? It's especially interesting when one of them is a princess who has lived her life behind her mask, and the other is just a regular girl who has no idea who she really is.. This was such a fun read, and the sequel is on my Christmas wishlist. Definitely recommended if you like dual POVs and fairytale-esque stories with a little bit (but not too much) of romance thrown into the mix.

4) The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski - okay it might be a bit early to mention this one, but this book blew me away. I was not expecting it to be so good for some reason. No idea why, but it definitely surpassed my expectations. If you liked the first book, you will definitely love this one. I absolutely cannot wait for book three, I just have to know what happens next. Sometimes I wish I could time travel to the future so I could get my hands on all the sequels...

5) Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas - Celaena! Rowan! This book! My favourite of the series so far, hands down. Sarah J. Maas somehow managed to convert me to Team Rowan after a long run with Chaol (er sorry about that, Chaol. We had a good time, but it's over). And Celaena's character development was just fantastic. She's changed a lot since book one and I like her character a lot more. Don't know how I'm going to cope with waiting for book four.

Notable mentions that didn't quite make the list: Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride, Half a King by Joe Abercrombie, Cracked by Eliza Crewe, Half Bad by Sally Green, The Turn of the Story by Sarah Rees Brennan and Cress by Marissa Meyer.

Top Five Least Favourite Books Read in 2014 (in no particular order)

1) The Witch of Salt and Storm by Kendall Kulper - this book had so much potential, but no. The characters were ridiculous. Nothing made sense. Everyone made terrible decisions. It was just painful to read. I seem to be in the minority though so who knows. Perhaps I am just missing something that everyone else has understood.

2) After Eden by Helen Douglas - I just couldn't get past all the inaccuracies. And the poor writing. And the lack of character development. One of the characters was just a name on a page. He literally had NO personality. Maybe things get better in the sequel, but I don't think I could bring myself to read it.

3) Split Second by Sophie McKenzie - oh dear, this book was awful. The characters were so stupid I can't even tell you. It was honestly laughable. And the world building was "oh the government did this and now baaad things are happening, and eviiil people are about". There was basically no further explanation. I am surprised I even managed to finish this book, to be honest. However, I again seem to be in the minority. This book has a pretty high rating on Goodreads so maybe it's just me!

4) The Dark World by Cara Lynn Shultz - this wasn't terrible, but it was pretty cliche and I had issues with some of the characters, especially the male lead whose name escapes me. I just didn't like some of the things he said. The plot was also pretty weak and I didn't really understand how anything worked. It's a shame, because the synopsis sounded pretty good.

5) City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare - this might surprise some people, which is fair enough. This book is mainly on this list because it was a massive disappointment. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it just left me wishing that the Mortal Instruments series ended at book three. Honestly, I could have done without this second trilogy. I didn't enjoy it as much, and the way things ended...eh. It just wasn't what I expected, or wanted. Will still be reading the next trilogy though (The Dark Artifices) and the next Magisterium book, because I liked the first one.

And that is that! What were you favourite/least favourite books of the year? Do you agree with anything on my lists? I'm off to watch more of White Collar now (oh Netflix, you are my downfall), but I shall hopefully have more posts (including reviews) soon!

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Some thoughts (aka I'm procrastinating)

So I'm supposed to be writing my dissertation at the moment but I thought going online to complain about it would be less soul-destroying than, you know, actually writing it. One of the things that gets me is that my university is one of the only ones in the country that makes a dissertation in law compulsory. Most other unis (for a law degree) just have whatever optional regular modules for final year including an optional dissertation, but noooo, my stupid university not only makes us do four full modules (or you can mix and match with some half modules - I'm just doing four full modules though), but we have a compulsory dissertation on top of that! It's not fair. I'd even understand if we did the dissertation alongside three other full modules, but forcing us to do an extra one is just ridiculous. I have so much work to do right now I honestly feel like I'll never get it done. And I've heard rumours that they might be reducing the five (full) module system to a four module one next year, which just shows that even the faculty think it's too much. I don't even go to a good university, it's pretty average, especially for law, so I have no idea why they're even doing this. It's not like having a dissertation from here is going to make any difference whatsoever when I apply for jobs. And I'm not going to lie, but law is dull. Incredibly dull. The mere thought of writing 10,000 words about something law-related makes me want to bash my head against the wall.

In other news, there's been that whole thing about Zoella. To be honest, I am not surprised that her book was ghostwritten[1]. A lot of celebrity books are. I watch her videos sometimes, and she practically never mentioned her writing process in any of her vlogs. It definitely didn't seem like she was spending any time sitting down and writing a book. Plus, it was released so quickly after she announced it, and she claimed that it was still in the writing process in that announcement video so...yeah. I'm not that fussed about the issue, but I do think she and her publishers should have been more honest about it rather than trying to hush it up, especially since her whole image is about trying to be genuine and honest with her fans. I think that's where the main problem lies for most people, the lack of openess. Plus, I find it kind of amusing/weird that she's said she's so proud one of her biggest dreams has come true or something like that (on the back of the book and in one of her videos somewhere) - I mean, it hasn't really, has it. I would be hesitant to say I was proud if I were in her position. And her statement saying "of course I was going to have help...everyone needs help when they try something new"[2]- well that's not true, is it? Most debut authors don't have someone else write their first book for them and then magically develop great writing skills themselves by the time book two comes around. I'm not against ghostwriting (though I think there are definitely better ways for ghostwriters to be credited and compensated, especially when so many copies of the book are sold) but I think people should be open about it, and I don't think Zoe has reacted very well to the whole situation. Being vague and then hiding from the internet[3]is never the best way to address an issue.

I think the response to this news, though, has been way too extreme. Some people have been way too harsh and saying terrible things and harassing her which is just horrible (it's not like she's committed a crime, she's just released a book and used her brand to do it - everyone in these types of industries does that), whereas other people, mostly her diehard fans (and this is what I don't like about youtube - the fact that some fans worship these people to such an extent, it's just unhealthy), have been saying ridiculous things like (to paraphrase because I can't be bothered to find the tweets) "they're just jealous because they're not intelligent enough to come up with an idea like yours" and "don't listen to the lying haters!" and "they don't know you, Zoe". I mean, really? This level of idolisation is one of the reasons I don't attend youtube events. I really hate it. These people are just PEOPLE. They are not gods. They are not magical beings who know everything and can do anything. And no fan KNOWS a youtuber, you just see what they let you see when they edit their videos! Watching someone on a screen does not equate to knowing them as a person. This is clearly evident by all the recent abuse scandals that have happened with youtubers. So these comments really bother me. But it's not all negative, I guess. One of the good things to come out of all of it is that at least people are reading. Zoe has definitely done well for herself in amassing such a large audience, and ghostwritten or not, at least a lot of her fanbase are excited about picking up her book to read. I don't know if that will spread into excitement about other books, but it's a good start. Also, I don't dislike Zoe and I'm not trying to be harsh or anything. Her videos are often quite good and she seems like a nice enough person, who has genuinely tried to do good things/help people, especially in trying to make people more aware of issues like anxiety. I just thought it would be interesting to discuss the matter.

I also find it hilarious that I just wrote over 900 words no problem in fifteen minutes, yet I can't even write the first 100 words of my dissertation in an entire day.

So those are my thoughts. Feel free to offer yours. If you don't have other things to be doing. I have other things to be doing. I have procrastinated the day away. And I can't work on my dissertation on Thursday because I am in classes all day and won't get home until almost 10pm. So I basically have Tuesday (maybe, there's some confusion as to whether I have a practice exam or not), Wednesday and Friday to write the entire first chapter of my dissertation and hand it in. I don't foresee this going well. Especially since I'm thinking of changing my topic a bit. So I have no idea what to write. Please just take me away to Hogwarts. But you know, a Hogwarts that has wi-fi.

---

[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/11277201/zoella-girl-online-ghostwritten-zoe-sugg.html

[2] https://twitter.com/ZozeeBo/status/541635465544466432

[3] https://twitter.com/ZozeeBo/status/541958308744404992

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