Chely, They Say The Darndest Things

A few of you (okay, just Diva Booknerd and Cait of Notebook Sisters) requested that the two of us do more posts together. Unfortunately, Chami is still holed in up 'preparing-for-exam land' (it's not a nice place) so I had to get a little bit creative for this post...So, I introduce to you *drum roll* CHELY, THEY SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS! *crowd cheers*

Basically, we're going to show off some of our brilliance (insane-ness) via screenshots of things we've said to each other on Skype/Facebook/Text. Sound amazing? YOU BET IT DOES.

This shouldn't surprise any of you, but the vast majority of our conversations revolve around books. This particular one is from a few weeks back when I was reading The Maze Runner... (Did anyone else do this too?)

'Hoe' is our thing (it's a term of endearment, we promise!), so sometimes things like this happen. Can you guess the real quotes?

Best friends is all about making the other person feel good about themselves, right?

And sometimes...it's about threatening the other person (with love, of course).

Usually, there's a lot of sarcasm...

And sometimes (most of the time), we get a little nerdy and weird. #besthoes

And yes, there's a lot of embarrassing photos of both of us that we've saved for future use against each other. (Mainly for birthdays)

 (The best folder on my laptop, clearly)

 

'Ely blackmail' photos...made public for my 18th.

 

And the retaliation for Chami's birthday. 

We hope you enjoyed this little embarrass-fest! It was definitely fun to put together. If you want to see some more 'Chely' posts, go check out some of these - Best Friend Tag, Chami's Blogaversary post, Ely's Blogaversary post and The Story of Chely.

You're all beautiful, we love you and thank you!

A nice little bonus picture, because who the hell knows what's going on here?

REVIEW: Green Rider by Kristen Britain

Title: Green Rider (Green Rider #1)
Author: Kristen Britain
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure.
Publication Date: April 1st 2011 (first published 1998)
Publisher: Gollancz

Format: Paperback

Pages: 560

Rating: 5/5

Karigan G'ladheon, running away from school, is traveling through a deep forest when a galloping horse pounds up to her, its rider impaled by two black-shafted arrows. With his dying breath, he tells her he is a Green Rider, one of the magical messengers of the King. Before he dies, he makes Karigan swear to deliver the message he's carrying, and gives her his green coat, with the symbolic brooch of his office. Pursued by unknown assassins, following a path only her horse seems to know, Karigan becomes a legendary Green Rider for when given to the right person, a Rider's brooch awakens the magic inside.

Green Rider is one of those books that I usually would have marked as to-read on Goodreads and then never actually read it. Luckily for me, my lovely friend Sarah bought this book for herself during one of our many bookshop adventures together and then passed it along to me, after she read it and lost her mind over it. I’m so happy that Sarah decided to pick it up and extra happy that she let me borrow it.

I should probably mention that this is the first book I took serious notes for (at least one that wasn’t school related) so this is probably going to be a really, really, insanely long review. On that note, let’s start.

My absolute favourite thing about this book are the characters- they’re seriously amazing. I wrote something about pretty much every single character, but I’m only going to mention a few today. Let’s start with our main character- Karigan G’ladheon. Firstly, can we talk about how ridiculously badass her name is? It sounds very Welsh to me which is, of course, seriously awesome. Anyway, Karigan is a great main character- she’s only a teenager but she has this massive weight placed on her shoulders due to this mission. She makes mistakes, but she’s so kickass and incredibly stubborn. She was a lot of fun to read about it and I think she’s taken a special place in my heart.

Now onto some smaller characters- I’m doing this sort of by order of appearance, but not really. Firstly, the Berry sisters- they have a very small part but they are seriously amazing. Secondly, Torne and Jendara – So I actually hate Torne but I really like the fact that they’re a duo and that Jendara is a female (and much more awesome and fierce than Torne). Karigan’s father, Stevic, is also amazing- he’s great father but also a really interesting character. Lorilie – another seriously gorgeous name and an interesting character. Captain Mapstone and Mel are, again, amazing characters and both brilliant in their own right. Alton is just awesome and I really hope there’s more of him in the future (perhaps I’m getting a new literary crush here). King Zachary is…well, I like him but I also don’t know how I feel about him. I can’t really explain why without spoiling anything, but yeah there is definitely some confusion there for me. Next Mirwell…I don’t know how to put this other than he’s a creeeeeeeeeep. Finally, The Horse. The Horse is just amazing, and brilliant, and wonderful and every other good adjective you could use. Basically, every single character is interesting and I can’t wait to see who pops up in the rest of the books.

Now onto some things that aren’t related to characters. The writing in this book is beautiful- it really, really is. There’s something really unique about it, and I don’t know quite how to describe it other to say that it sounds really old but in a way that really suits the story. It’s also full of imagery- it’s like the words actually come out of the book and you get so immersed in the world around you. I found that I was getting completely lost in the story every time I picked up the book- hours could pass and I wouldn’t even realise. The world itself, Sacoridia, is brilliant. There are so many awesome things in the world- like the Green Riders and Intrigue which is sort of like a boardgame, chess-like thing, which I’d probably be terrible at. There are so many layers to the story and it’s a really, really intense ride (see what I did there?). It’s a really marvellous beginning to what I’m sure will turn out to be mind-blowing series.

 I can’t wait to get my hands on the rest of the books- honestly, I’d travel the North Road to get them. (More references, see you should read the book so you get them…) Thank you again to the spectacular, epic, wonderful etc. Sarah!

DISCUSSION: Most Owned Authors

Hello and welcome back! This is part two of my author discussions. In my first post, I talked about my most read authors and today I’m talking about my most owned authors. In part three, I’ll be talking about my auto-buy/favourite authors.

As well as noting how much books I owned from each author, I’ll also mention how many of those books I’ve read. So let’s go!

Firstly, let's start with authors that I own three books of.

Nansi Kunze - Mishaps, Dangerously Placed and Kill the Music. I've read all of these and unfortunately, these are the only books Nansi has out at the moment. I NEED MORE.

Marie Lu – Legend, Prodigy and Champion. I've read both Legend and Prodigy and I'm currently halfway through Champion.

Cynthia Hand – Unearthly, Hallowed and Boundless. I've only read Unearthly so far, mainly because I LOVED it and I'm scared for the series to end.

Tahereh Mafi – Shatter Me, Unravel Me and Ignite. Same as Nansi. I would happily read anything this woman put out.

Marissa Meyer – Cinder, Scarlet and Cress. I've only read Cinder so far (I KNOW!), but I'm working on it.

Aldous Huxley – Brave New World, Crome Yellow and Antic Hay. I've only read Brave New World, but considering it's one of my favourite books I think that makes up for it...right?

Libba Bray - A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, A Sweet Far Thing. I've read the first two books and I'm about halfway through A Sweet Far Thing- it's 800 pages though, so it's a slow read.

Now to authors with four books...

Emile Zola - Germinal, The Dream, L'oeuvre and...Germinal. I seriously adore Zola, and while I haven't technically finished any of these...well, I WILL! Also, the reason I own two Germinal's is because one is in French and the other is English.

Becca Fitzpatrick - Hush, Hush, Crescendo, Silence and Finale. I've read all of these, and really enjoyed them.
Maureen Johnson - The Last Little Blue Envelope, The Name of the Star, The Madness Underneath and The Keys to the Golden Firebird. Wow, Maureen Johnson has really long titles...Anyway, I've only read The Name of the Star out of these.
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Beautiful and the Damned and Tender is the Night. I've only read Gatsby out of these, though I have read it twice!

Now onto five books!
Maggie Stiefvater - Shiver, Linger, Forever, The Scorpio Races and The Raven Boys. I've read all of these, except Forever (which I'll probably never read).
John Green - The Fault in Our Stars, Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns, An Abundance of Katherines and...The Fault in Our Stars, again. I've only read TFiOS and Looking for Alaska, plus half of Paper Towns.
Charles Dickens - Dickens at Christmas, Great Expectations, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist and The Pickwick Papers. Dickens is one of my favourite authors, though I've only read Great Expectations and the first 150 pages of Pickwick so far.
Jessica Shirvington - Embrace, Entice, Empower, Disruption and Between the Lives. I've read Embrace, Entice and Empower but I haven't quite got to the other two yet.


Now authors with six books.
Cassandra Clare - City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince, Clockwork Princess and The Shadowhunter's Codex. I am slowly getting rid of these, at least The Mortal Instuments series (I'm keeping the Infernal Devices). I've read all of them but the Codex.
Cecelia Ahern - P.S. I Love You, The Gift, The Time of My Life, One Hundred Names, How to Fall in Love and The Book of Tomorrow. I haven't actually read any of these...I blame the library.

Now with seven books.
Eva Pohler - The Gatekeeper's Sons, The Gatekeeper's Challenge, The Gatekeeper's Daughter, The Gatekeeper's House, The Gatekeeper's Secret, The Purgatorium and Gray's Domain. I've read all of these, but two.
Rick Riordan - The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, The Last Olympian and The Lost Hero. I've only read the first three Percy Jackson books so far, but I'm working on it!

Now with ten, eleven, twelve and thirteen...
Richelle Mead - Vampire Aacdemy, Frostbite, Shadow Kiss, Blood Promise, Spirit Bound, Last Sacrifice, Bloodlines, The Golden Lily, The Indigo Spell and Gameboard of the Gods. I've read the entire VA series, plus the first two books in the Bloodlines series.
Virginia Woolf - A Room of One's Own x 2, To The Lighthouse, Between the Acts, Three Guineas, Mrs Dalloway,  Jacob's Room, The Waves, The Years and Orlando. I haven't ready of these... *dies of shame*
Daphne Du Maurier - Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek, Don't Look Now and Other Stories, The Flight of the Falcon, Mary Anne, The Parasites, Julius, I'll Never Be Young Again, Castle Dor and The Rendezvous and Other Stories. I've only read Rebecca and Jamaica Inn, but they are two of my all-time favourites.
J.K Rowling - The entire Harry Potter series, Quidditch Through the Ages, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Tales of Beedle the Bard, The Casual Vacancy and The Cuckoo's Calling. I've read all of these, except for the last two.
Lemony Snicket - All thirteen books from A Series of Unfortunate Events (except book six) and The Unoffical Autobiography. I've read all of these, including book six and I love them.

Finally, my number one most owned author is....

*drum roll*

AGATHA CHRISTIE, with a total of 24 books. (This is crazy!) I think I've only read about 4 of the books I own because I always end up borrowing her books from the library.

That's it for this part! I hope to see you all next time with the third and final part of this little discussion series. See you all then!