Top Ten Tuesday - Buzz Words!

Today I am going to write my first Top Ten Tuesday post where essentially you pick ten things that go along with a certain topic, and it is hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. This week the topic is the top ten words/topics that will make me pick up or buy a book, or essentially, buzz words. So this should be fun! 

1. Fairy Tales

I love fairy tales. I don't know why but whenever someone mentions them I get extremely excited and have to pick up that book no matter what. It's especially great when someone does a retelling of a fairy tale that's not so well known. One example : Blue Beard. Honestly you don't get any creepier than that, and I love creepy. I love it so much so when I heard about Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson I was SO excited. (Besides the fact that I've been putting it off for some reason unknown to me. Oops.) 

2. Science Fiction

Across the Universe, anybody? Ender's Game? These are some of my favorites and guess what, they're science fiction. (I think you can already guess how excited I was for Cinder by Marissa Meyer.) I think the fact that they're so entirely plausible is the reason I like them so much. Because, what will our world like in a hundred years? 

3. Travel/Foreign Countries 

Reading books set in other countries always makes me nostalgic for when I went overseas to Japan for the first time. Even though it was only last fall, I love reading about people's journey's across the ocean, Or even if they're just set in a different country than mine (cough, cough, The Infernal Devices). It's always so exotic and I recently read The Kite Runner for the first time which was a completely new and different experience for me but so, so worth it. 

4. Mystery 

In a word (or two), Sherlock Holmes. This is the bad boy that essentially led me to discover how good a mystery can really be if it's done right. I read and loved The Agency series by Y.S. Lee and fell in love with it. I'm sure there are a ton more that I am forgetting but my brain is failing me right now. 

5. The Ocean/Watery novels 

Okay this is sorta really vague but I recently read Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma, and a big part of it talked about this reservoir of water that was just so vast that it sorta ate everything in its path, and it was just so creepy and well written. I also read Wake by Amanda Hocking and Fathomless by Jackson Pearce which both take place near the ocean, and sort of talk about how deep and mysterious bodies of water can be. I just love the atmosphere of a mysterious lake or the wide open sea where anything can happen. I think I find it fascinating because we honestly don't know everything that lives down there and it's so interesting to see what different authors do with it. 

6. High Fantasy 

I really love it when a fantasy world is done right. One of my favorites being The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson. Sadly I have not picked up the next book but when I am done with my book buying ban I KNOW I will be getting it. Another series that I want to get into is A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin but everybody knows who that is, so I don't think it realy needs a synopsis. Nope. 

7. Urban Fantasy 

I'm a sucker for a good urban fantasy, because they're usually so witty and fun. My favorite (which is also a fan favorite) is The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare but I like her other series (The Infernal Devices) better because it's set in 1800's London and that is my favorite place and time. I'm also extremely excited for the movie in august! 

8. Dystopian

Um, I don't think I really need to explain this one. The only reason I like dystopian is because sometimes world building (there's that phrase again.) One of my favorites is The Giver series by Lois Lowry (which I guess you could argue is a Utopian but if you read the whole series you'll know what I mean). 

9. Mythology 

I think this all started with the Percy Jackson series, honestly. Now whenever I see the word mythology i get all bouncy and excited like "I hope they do this well!"

10. Chicago 

Chicago is quite possibly my favorite city in the entire U.S. and it's really rare to find a book that's set there because they're usually either in New York or Los Angeles or some other big city but I think that Chicago is so full of life and history and when an author can portray that really well it always makes me happy. 

Okay, well those are my top ten for the week! I know some of them have more of a description than others but halfway through writing this post I got really distracted and just couldn't come up with some. 

OH WAIT. I remembered one more that always makes me excited. Any book that is set during the civil rights movement is fascinating to me and some of my all time favorites are The Help and The Secret Life of Bees. 

Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill

This book. THIS BOOK. You guys I'm not going to lie, I probably would have finished this in one sitting if I hadn't had real life things to do. This book was so great, I'm serious.

At the end of last year, I was in a bit of a reading slump, and we all know that those are the worst thing that can happen to bibliophiles like me. All that changed in January though, thank god, I read 11 books last month, which is probably a record for me. I really want to get into book blogging this time though, even if I do have some pretty sporadic posts.

Anyways, this is and ACTUAL REVIEW guys. Like I said before, I could hardly put it down.
I'm going to break it down into parts and try to give a full overview of it.

Letsa go! (as mario would say)

I always love it when books are set in a foreign setting in modern times, and this book delivered. It's set in London during Julia's junior year trip. It's in first person (which I tend to be incredibly picky about), so we get to see it through her eyes. Morrill is excellent at taking us to London and giving us a tour of it without ever having to leave our own homes. A personal favorite part (warning : spoilers!) was when Jason and Julia are up in the London eye and he tells her about his childhood home, and how he's part British. Um, can I have him please? I kid, I kid. But seriously Jason was hilarious, and I actually laughed out loud when I was reading this book. I almost never have a physical reaction when I read, crying, laughing, or getting angry with it. So, kudos to you Lauren, for making me laugh.

I really loved the dynamic of Julia and Jason's relationship though, I had great fun reading their antics, and Julia's fear of geese made me really feel for her in a weirdo way. Jason (as mentioned above) was a complete clown, and it makes me wish that i knew people like him in real life. But he has a really sweet side to him that makes me just melt.

The secondary characters were great too, and even though Sarah and Evie weren't there all that much, you can tell that they cared for their friends (even if they didn't like Julia). Sarah was watching out for Jason the entire time and it made me really appreciate their friendship.

There was even a little mystery tied in! Not a scary/creepy kind, but the 'oops where is this going now kind,' that involved mysterious text messages every now and then, from Chris who she had met at a party in one of the first scenes at the novel. Morrill was good at keeping you in the dark along with Julia, which is hard to do, because some authors feel the need to just give you the info right at the beginning, and i cannot stand this. But not her, nope, she knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat.

In the end, I really loved it (i really don't know how to stop gushing, do i?). However, there was just something that was a little off-kilter, and i don't really know what it is yet, so I have to refrain from giving this a complete 5 stars. But never fear!

This is definitely 4-star material.
once more, kudos, Lauren Morrill, kudos. Thank you for writing such a lovely book.