Book Review #3: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

I started reading this book when a classmates told me about it. We were on the bus heading towards the Utrecht Centraal train station and we were discussing books and she came with this story. She hadn't finished it yet but she told me she was hooked!

So as soon as I was in my train and waiting for it to leave the station heading towards my city I downloaded the preview. Never before had I been this captured by a preview that as soon as I reached the last page I bought the entire book.

The story revolves around a girl (Hazel) battling cancer. Her mother sends her to a support group where she meets a new guy. She starts hanging out with him (He's also a cancer patient, but he's in remission). He falls for her and she for him and he's so sweet to use his 'make a wish' wish to take her to Amsterdam where her favorite author lives to meet him and to find that one answer she has regarding her number one favorite book.

I am not going to tell you any more because the book is just written too good to not read it. You have to and trust me, you'll need tissues. I lend it to a fellow intern and she had finished it in one day and she sent me a whatsapp message saying 'what did you do to me? (crying face)'.

You will fall in love with the girl AND the guy AND this story. Make sure you don't read the last part in public if you're ashamed of people seeing you cry over a book. 

You can get it online, or in any book store. You can also get the movie cover edition with shailene woodley as Hazel. Keep and eye on the movie release (which should be soon) but make sure to read the book first. Trust me, you'll love it (and maybe hate me for it for making you shed a tear).

stars: *****

GET IT

xo Chantal

Book Review #2: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Another review on a book I read recently. If you're a fan of the Hunger Games you'll like this book.

We follow the story of Tris, a 16-year old teenager who lives in a Dystopian city which is divided in 5 factions. When you're 16 you choose the faction you want to live with for the rest of your life, and you have to do a test to help you choose. However, Tris gets an inconclusive result, three factions are named as possible choices. This means she's Divergent, which is a highly dangerous position to be in considering they want all Divergent dead. 

She has to keep it a secret and decides to choose Dauntless (the ones who are supposed to be brave) instead of her home faction Abnegation (selflessness). She starts training and with time becomes a strong person and develops not only physical but also emotional. 

As graduation comes to a close the Dauntless all get injected with a serum which leads to them waking up the next day in a simulation. The Divergent however are not affected and..

No i'm not gonna tell you how it ends. I did type it though but you know what, it is more fun to read it yourself. Or of course the movie is now in theater so you can check it out there.

I love the character Tris. She's so brave surviving in a world where you're in danger just for being who you are. I was so happy when she found a good guy in Four and that she was able to help keep people safe during everything that happens. 

Right now i'm reading Insurgent and I got to the conclusion that I love Veronica's writing. She really has written a great trilogy (so far at least :D) and I can't wait to read Allegiant. Get your copy in your local store or through digital book sellers. 

stars: ****

xo Chantal

Book Review #1: Free Falling by Kirsty Moseley

I was just browsing a book blog and read a review about a book that apparently was great to read. I have been reading a lot of books lately and since I happen to have this blog, I decided to review what I'm reading and find recommendable.

Kirsty Moseley is a new find for me, though in the short time since I got to know about this writer I have managed to finish 4 of her books.
Free Falling is the fourth book by Kirsty that I have read and in all honestly finished this morning.

The story follows Maisie, who is part of a twin and the daughter of Clay and Riley who were the leads in Kirsty's book called Always You. Maisie has a boyfriend, Luke, and she truly loves him. He's a jock though and she is kinda nerdy so she doesn't really get what he sees in her.
When attending a party Luke gets really drunk and ends up having sex with a cheerleader who has been going after Luke for a long time. Maisie walks in on them and of course is distraught.
She breaks it off with him and takes off drunk. She almost kills this guy who is in the road. He turns out to be a new student and because Maisie said she'd tutor him, she and Zach (which is this guys' name) get closer.
After Maisie and Luke break up he tries everything to get back together with her. When Maisie finds her locker smeared and her notebook as well she thinks it's this cheerleader but when letters and phone calls and eventually a beheaded teddybear arrives Maisie realizes that this is a little more serious. Even her dog isn't safe for her 'stalker'. Maisie keeps thinking its the cheerleader, but then something happens and she realizes she was wrong the whole time.
You'll have to read the book to find out who is her stalker. I'll have to say at some point I realized who it had to be, but i was really surprised, even shocked.

I have loved Kirstys' books ever since I first read 'Nothing left to lose' and every time I start a new book I'm entertained and held in suspense and just really get sucked into the story. I got my copy through Ibooks, so I know for sure that is where you can get it, but there is also a kindle version available through amazon so i'm sure you can get a copy of your own somewhere.

All that is left to say is to just get your copy and start reading. You'll enjoy it. :D

stars: ****

xo Chantal

My trip to Edinburgh

So by now you probably know what school I attend. You'll also understand that for some courses I have to do research. This last period we'll be doing some research into what makes Great Britain. For this we had the option to visit the UK and do some actual investigating locally.
I decided to go to Edinburgh, but not with classmates. My mother and I hadn't been on a holiday the past year so we decided to make it into a short vacation as well.
Last Tuesday we got on a plane to Edinburgh. We stayed there until last Friday and I had an amazing time.

I fell in love with Edinburgh. I love old buildings and the stories behind them and that is exactly what you find all over the city. The best example is Edinburgh Castle.

This magnificent Castle was apparently built on an extinct volcano and they say it's been there since the twelfth century. I took the picture above on Tuesday night when the sun was setting and it really illuminated the Castle in a beautiful way. For those wondering, We were standing in Castle Street.
We decided to not enter the Castle, which had been our plan though, because of the high ticket price and the fact that the next day was extremely misty. It was raining the entire day so we didn't feel like paying the high price and then not being able to see anything. It is on my list though for when I return someday.

Something else though was the Royal Mile. This is the street that starts at the castle and goes down towards the Holyrood Palace. To get to the Royal Mile we had to climb that same rock you see. Since I'm from a completely flat country I don't walk uphill all day so I had some difficulty to get to the top but it was really worth it.

Isn't that just a magnificent look? This was almost at the top of the Royal Mile. You're looking at the University building in the middle. You can also see what I mean about the mist hanging around. You can see a hint of a tower on the right next to the university towers. We went through the gate into the square from where you could enter the university building on both sides.

Afterwards we walked half of the Royal Mile. Went back towards Princess Street and visited some shopping centers. Afterwards we went to dinner and back to our hotel.
The next day we finished the Royal Mile and then visited the Palace Of Holyroodhouse. That was after we visited the Scottish Gallery. I was so surprised to see so many paintings by our own famous Dutch painters.

The Palace of Holyroodhouse is a working residence for the British Queen. According to the audio tour she comes there every summer. It was great walking through this palace. It made me think of when we went on holiday to Vienna and visited the Sisi museum (google it, trust me) and we could see how the royals lived all those years ago. Every room we could visit had their own name and use. At the back was a ruin of the old abbey. It was definitely worth visiting, plus it was a little more affordable.

This is only some of the highlights of what you can visit in Edinburgh. I was pleasantly surprised for example that I found and American Candy Store on Princess Street. If you haven't been to Edinburgh yet than you really should. It is definelty worth it.

Oh and those wondering what I had to do for that assignment. I had to interview people about a certain topic. I'll have to be honest and admit that I managed to interview 1 person before forgetting about it entirely after that because of what we did those following days. Note to self: go with friends or classmates next time because they will help you remember to do the assignment. LOL