EL'S BOOK REVIEWS HAS MOVED TO WORDPRESS

Hello everyone! I truly hope you are having a fabulous day!

El's Book Reviews has decided to move over to Wordpress! We will still be the same book reviews blog, just on a different platform. I will be keeping this blogger blog up as I would love to come back here to see where I started my blogging journey.

I would love for you all to follow me on Wordpress if you would like! I honestly love communicating with you guys and hearing your feedback / what you thought about my review, it makes me so happy.

Please head over to El's Book Reviews on Wordpress and give it a follow and a comment! I will most definitely follow back. Thank you all so very much.

Stacking it up & Sunday Post (4)

 Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews where bloggers discuss the books that they have borrowed from the library or bought to add to their shelves. I personally think it's a fabulous idea, so shoutout to them!

I am currently reading the following books! In a Dark, Dark Wood is my first Ruth Ware novel, so let's see how it goes! I got Reported Missing from NetGalley and I just borrowed One of Us is Lying from my local library. Hope to get these three read by next week, and read a few more before school begins! Wishful thinking? I hope not!

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer in which bloggers are able to share news and happenings in their lives on their blog. This idea is fantastic and I look forward to participating in this in the future as well.

It's been quite a relaxing week for me! I've had time to read some amazing books, spend time with my family and friends, and also just relax before university starts back up! I finished watching Friends today, and the ending was SO sad! I seriously teared up, what a fabulous show! I'll most likely re-watch it, as I do with many other TV shows! 

I also found out that I have been accepted for another volunteer position at my university, meaning I have two solid positions at my university next year! Training will begin in the next few days, and I am ready to gain some valuable skills, meet new people and contribute to my university community. I also got the job that I applied for a week or so ago, so I'm ecstatic! These next few weeks are going to be incredibly busy with training, but it's all worthwhile!

Later in the week, I went to an Italian restaurant with my best friend! We ordered a thin-crust pizza, vegetable pasta and fries! We got some complimentary garlic bread too. Very delicious and quite affordable! I had a great time catching up with my friend and enjoying some great food! 

I also went out for dessert with my family the other day, check out the pictures from our little night out! This place has some seriously good food!

I went to a wedding a few days ago, and although I don't enjoy these type of functions much, I've got to say that the food is the best part! I guess I had a good time with my family there, if anything!

Other than that, I have been busy reading as much as I can before I'm back to uni, as I won't have as much time to read then as I do now! How has your week been? Any exciting news?

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Local Girl Missing by Claire Douglas

                                                            Local Girl Missing by Claire Douglas

★★★☆☆

This was quite an interesting read. What drew me to read this novel was its cover. I thought it looked quite eerie, yet very intriguing. I have also heard many good things about this novel, along with Claire Douglas' first novel, namely The Sisters, which I have yet to read. I saw Local Girl Missing on the 'fast-lane' shelf at my local library, so I thought that I might as well give it a go. I read it in less than two days, mostly because I didn't really have anything else to do during that time. I enjoyed it, but found myself getting REALLY annoyed at some parts. I'll get more into that in a bit.

Sophie Collier vanished many years ago, yet no one truly knows what happened to her. Her family and friends have never had any closure. Until remains are found near an old pier of her small town. Her brother, Daniel, informs Sophie's best friend, Frankie, of these remains that have been found. He tells Frankie that he believes that someone killed Sophie all these years ago, and he wants Frankie's help in getting to the bottom of his sister's disappearance. Although reluctant to go back to her hometown, since it holds so many bad memories, Frankie decides to head back to the town in which she grew up to finally put her mind at ease and figure out what happened to her best friend.

Once she's there, she has many out of the ordinary experiences. First off, she feels incredibly isolated yet she also feels as though she's being watched. Who could it be? Why would someone be watching her? Frankie, with a propensity to compartmentalize, realizes that her comfy, luxurious lifestyle might be at risk now that she has step foot back into her hometown. 

Secrets. Secrets. Trust. Secrets. Jealousy. Oh, and even more secrets. That's basically what this book is FULL of. The chapters alternate between Frankie's perspective and Sophie's diary entries. I liked that this book showed both perspectives because I feel as though the reader gets to see that there are always two sides to a story. I found myself getting VERY annoyed by Frankie. She just seems SO pretentious at times, and needy. The reason as to why I gave this book 3/5 stars is solely because of how annoying Frankie was. Now, I realize that her character was made to seem this way for a reason, but I couldn't help but cringe at Frankie's constant whining and I honestly felt like putting the book down on more than one occasion. 

Other than that, there were many fantastic twists and turns, which are very important in a good thriller / mystery novel. I felt satisfied when I put the book down in the end as it met my expectations, but definitely did not exceed them. Until next time....Happy reading friends!

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Cannot Wait Wednesday!!!!

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely Wishful Endings! This is where bloggers discuss the books that they're excited to read, as well as those that are not yet published. This meme is a great way to inform others of books that are yet to be released, and to hype the books up! This is my first time participating in this meme, and I'm super excited!

Don't Let Go by Harlan Coben

I'm a huge Coben fan! So obviously, when I saw this novel on NetGalley I had to request it, and although I have yet to be accepted to read it, I know that even if I am not accepted I'm obviously still going to read it once it is published. For me, Coben never fails to disappoint. His books are always hooking right until the last page! I know a lot of people aren't huge fans of his books because they feel as though the novel's premise is always similar to each other, but I beg to differ.

This novel is set to be published on September 26th, 2017. The following summary has been taken directly from Goodreads.

"Suburban New Jersey Detective Napoleon “Nap” Dumas hasn't been the same since senior year of high school, when his twin brother Leo and Leo’s girlfriend Diana were found dead on the railroad tracks—and Maura, the girl Nap considered the love of his life, broke up with him and disappeared without explanation. For fifteen years, Nap has been searching, both for Maura and for the real reason behind his brother's death. And now, it looks as though he may finally find what he's been looking for. 

When Maura's fingerprints turn up in the rental car of a suspected murderer, Nap embarks on a quest for answers that only leads to more questions—about the woman he loved, about the childhood friends he thought he knew, about the abandoned military base near where he grew up, and mostly about Leo and Diana—whose deaths are darker and far more sinister than Nap ever dared imagine."

This sounds exactly like the kind of book I would read.  What do you guys think of this summary? Are you interested? What other books have you read by Harlan Coben, if any? 

Please leave a link to your Can't-Wait Wednesday post, and I'd be happy to check it out! 📚

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The Fourth Monkey by J. D. Barker

                                                                       
                                                             The Fourth Monkey by J. D. Barker

★★★★★

Woah! What. A. Book. Literally speechless, it's that good. I was only a few chapters in when I realized that this book is honestly so good. It hooks you in from the beginning. Some chapters give an intimate look into the life of the unforgiving, horrific serial killer known as the 'Four Monkey Killer', or the 4MK. I found these chapters particularly interesting because they were written from the killer's perspective and were truly frightening, as they scared me to the core. It's the kind of novel in which you honestly have no clue what the ending is going to be. Usually, when I read crime thrillers, I have a pretty good idea of what the ending will hold, but honestly I had no clue what was going to happen and I'm not complaining. If you're a fan of cliff-hangers at the end of chapters, as I am, this one is for you.

The Four Monkey Killer has been killing people for the past five years. Not one person can identify who the killer is, not even the investigators. However, there's a break in the case when a man is killed by a bus. He was carrying a black box tied with a white ribbon, which is the Four Monkey Killer's signature. Additionally, in his pocket, a diary is found and in this diary, a psychopath's life can be unravelled.

Sam Porter, the lead investigator on the 4MK case, begins to read this twisted journal and the reader also gets a glimpse into the diary entries. The chapters alternate between the investigator's perspectives, the victim's perspectives as well as the journal entries. I believe that having the journal entries as separate chapters made the book all the more interesting. These entries were chilling, sick and included many twists and turns.

In fact, the whole book was full of twists and turns, and the ending will seriously leave you speechless. I feel like I say that for a lot of books that I read, but one thing is for certain. This has been the creepiest, most intriguing page-turner I have ever read! This novel is definitely for adults and not for the faint-hearted, as it's quite brutal!

I had a strong liking for Sam Porter, the lead detective. He's an intelligent, fast-thinking individual who has a good sense of humour. Although he is battling his own demons throughout the novel, he is strong and hardworking. He is always focussed on the end goal and will do whatever it takes to get there!

Also, I really loved how there was a huge focus on the journey to finding the killer, rather than the procedural police work. This kept me hooked on the book, and I found myself not being able to part from the book until I finished the last page. I had a lot of trouble writing a review for this novel because I didn't want to spoil the book for anyone, but nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed it. Leave a comment below if you've read this book already or if you're going to add it to your TBR list. Happy reading!

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Stacking it up & Sunday Post (3)

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews where bloggers discuss the books that they have borrowed from the library or bought to add to their shelves. I personally think it's a fabulous idea, so shoutout to them!

At the moment, I'm reading The Fourth Monkey by J. D. Barker, and it's going SO well! Incredible novel! Stay tuned for my review which will be coming very soon!

I added the following three books to my shelf (virtual & irl). The first two are from NetGalley and the last one is from my library! Have you read any of the following books?

I decided to post my Sunday Post a day earlier because why not? 

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer in which bloggers are able to share news and happenings in their lives on their blog. This idea is fantastic and I look forward to participating in this in the future as well.

I went to the aquarium a few weeks ago and I found these photos on my phone, so I thought I might as well post them on here! It was a good trip with my siblings and cousin! We went to the aquarium, and then walked around Toronto after.

What a week it has been! I went to downtown Toronto once again because I had an appointment, but then I decided to wander around and explore the city a little more! Of course I had to go back to that café and get another cappuccino, and would you just look at the cappuccino art in the top left picture?!?!?!? Such artwork, my oh my! It looked lovely, and it tasted delicious! This café is definitely my favourite one of all time as of right now! I'll be going back there once again soon!

The building pictures are just a few more I took when I went! Although the city is incredibly busy and noisy, I find that I'm drawn to it. It's so much fun discovering new stores and restaurants, and I'll most likely be going once again next week because I won't be able to go once school starts!

Later in the week, I had an interview which I feel as though I did quite well in! I hope I get the position! I want to be as busy as possible next year in university, so I'm trying to join some extracurriculars and get the action plan for my academics solid. So far it's going quite well! I'll be totally busy next school year, but will most definitely have time for blogging.

I just had some delicious sushi, one of my favourite foods among donuts, Freshii salad bowls and fries! Just look at that picture! It was so delicious! Do you like sushi? I actually only tried sushi for the first time last year, and what an experience! I was immediately hooked! I cannot believe I'd gone years without even trying it because the thought of raw fish seriously put me off. But not all sushi has raw fish in it, so the first piece I ever tried was a vegetarian roll with cucumber, avocado and carrot. So happy that I did try it then, it's so yummy and not to mention, super healthy.

I went stationary shopping today, and did a mini haul at Muji. Check out the things I got in the picture on the right! Muji is honestly my favourite store to get pens, pencils, notebooks, etc. I got three black gel pens, one mechanical pencil and two notepads. I am totally ready for my second year of university! I bought a few more things from Walmart but those items aren't exactly photogenic. I bought a pack of sticky notes, five folders and some lead for my new pencil. 

How was your week? Hope it was awesome!

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Featured Review: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

                                      Featured Review: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

★★☆☆☆

This review was written by my good friend Sabrina! She loves photography, reading and watching movies. Lots of movies. She's rated over 300 movies / TV shows on IMDb. Be sure to give her Twitter, Instagram and Goodreads a follow!

"I had been hearing about this book my whole childhood so I thought it was about time I gave it a go. If you've read Inkheart, then you know that Meggie's all-time favourite book is The Secret Garden and since Meggie is so passionate about books, I felt obliged to read it myself. 

The descriptive language used in the book is outstanding. The way in which the garden is described is so detailed and real. Visualizing the Garden and all the other aspects was so simple. The language is so fluid when describing settings and characters. I enjoyed reading all the descriptions and feeling like I was there with the characters. 

However, this book did not do it for me in terms of a plot or a proper storyline at all. I know it's an old book and there was a different way of writing then, but still; this book was just boring. It's just about an spoiled, unhealthy kid who comes to live with her uncle who neglects her and she heals through playing in a garden. She meets a friend and she finds her cousin and that's about it. 

The only thing that kept me from putting this book deep in my bookshelf was the word choice and language. It was amazing, like I already said. I have another complaint though. The way the Yorkshire accent dialogue is written is SO annoying. It makes it so difficult to read. A few of the characters have it and the only reason I don't like those characters is because of their irritating dialogue.

I gave this book two stars because I really enjoyed the descriptive language and the idea of escaping reality into nature but the storyline was so dead. Maybe this kind of novel just isn't for me. I like crime novels, thrillers, travel, and some fantasy books. So maybe something like this would appeal to someone else. Thanks for reading!" 

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