I Adore You..

I wanted to do a 'Book Tropes I Don't Like' post but I'm not in a negative mood today so I'll give you all positive vibes instead. Here are some tropes I just can't get enough of.

The boarding school trope is one of my all time favourites. I especially love boarding schools in paranormal reads! There's something about not being able to go home and living in a creepy old hospital that really gets a book flowing for me. It's mysterious, dangerous, creepy and downright fascinating to read about. I always wanted to go to boarding school when I was a kid and I think that has extended into my adult life seeing as if a book is set away from home then I'm almost always going to want to read it. 

Some of my favourites are:

 - Fallen by Lauren Kate. I loved the creepy aspect of this book, made all the more creepy by the fact that it's primarily based in a boarding school for teenage delinquents. The series, for me, did go drastically downhill after the first book but I will always remember rereading Fallen whenever I got bored of the other books on my shelf.

- Gallagher Girls by Ally Carter. Holy crap do I love this series. It's a boarding school for spies in training. GIRL spies in training. There are literally badass female characters around every corner. Not to mention that there is a LOT of action in this series. Once again, I had wanted to be a spy growing up and this is definitely a series that fuelled that fire.

- Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. What a cute read. Anna is set in a boarding school in Paris and I don't think it gets any better than that. Throw in a charming french/english lad and a group of quirky friends and you have yourself a stellar contemporary my friend.

I love music. I love listening to music, I love going to music gigs, I love bands and I love being a fan of bands and I just really love music. I love it when I can connect to a lyric/song/album. I love it when I hear a song for the first time, or for the first time in a very long time and it brings me to tears to remember something that I connect with that song. Music has gotten me through some tough times and has guided me through the happiest of times. So, what I love more than anything, is when a book that I'm reading has music as a guiding theme. 

Here are some of my faves:

- This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales. I really connected with this book. I don't know what it was, but it just sort of snuck up on me and then all of a sudden I couldn't stop thinking about it. I still cant. It's one of those stories that really affected me and this book will always have a special place in my heart. It also centres around an underground club and  DJ'ing which is fascinating in itself.

- Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by David Levithan. This is another one that snuck up on me. I can't quite put my finger on why I ended up loving this book so much but in the end I think it's a culmination of everything. The music, the wit, the feminist rants, the open diversity. I just loved it all. Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist is such a beautiful, touching read and I will probably force you to read it if you asked me.

One of my favourite things to do is go on long car journeys. When you have the right playlist and you're with people you adore what could go wrong? I'm just waiting for my friends to drive so we can go to america and have a good ol' fashioned road trip like you read in the books. 

Here are a few books labelled as 'Road Trip' on Goodreads that I'm desperate to read:

- Open Road Summer by Emery Lord.

- Lets Get Lost by Adi Alsaid.

- Mosquitoland by David Arnold.

- The Museum of Intangible Things by Wendy Wunder. 

- Love, Lucy by April Lindner.

- No Parking At The End Times by Bryan Bliss.

- Golden by Jessi Kirby.

- Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard.

Since I can remember, I've been into anything that has killing in it. I love to do research on Serial Killers, I'm infatuated with crime documentaries, I wanted to be a criminal psychologist until I turned 17. Silence of the Lambs is one of my favourite films. You might thing this section is going to be about psychological thrillers, but it's not. It's all about books that contain murder. NICE.

*may contain spoilers - read with caution*

- Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. Celaena Sardothien is an assassin. Not only is she an assassin, she's THE assassin. It's a fantasy book set in a world where magic is illegal. There is a LOT of killing. A lot of gruesome killing and it is absolutely stunning. 

- The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. The Darkling is one of my favourite characters ever and he is incorrigible. He will turn you into ash and smirk while doing it. He will murder everyone you love so that he is the only one left for you to turn to. There is a lot of murder in the Grisha trilogy, a lot of blood, a lot of heartbreak, a lot of me chanting 'YES YES YES'. 

- The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. Not only is our darling Noah a ghost but there is literally murder everywhere you turn in this series. It's beautiful. I love it. 

- Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas. Now this book is something that you have to read. It's a mystery set in the days after a teenage girl is murdered. It's a beautiful, creepy, addictive read. It's absolutely wonderful.

There is nothing quite like people who are complete opposites coming together to form a beautiful, unbreakable friendship. Outspoken and Shy. Party Animal and Stay-At-Home. Violent Assassin and Sweet, Gentle Princess. Rich, Poor, Dead, Bitter, Cursed. I love all the unlikely friendships. Give me more unlikely friendships. Here are some of my favourite unlikely friends.

- Natalie and Harriet (Geek Girl). Harriet is geeky. She loves fact-finding and knowing the formula to everything. She loves documentaries and often wears nerdy clothing. Natalie is a fashionista who dreams of being a model/actress. She is always looking for new trends and would rather go to shopping that sit at home watching a film about tree frogs. These two girls have absolutely nothing in common, except that they have an unshakable bond. 

- Lara Jean and Chris (To All The Boys). Lara Jean hasn't even kissed a boy and Chris is an outgoing, party girl who has had plenty of boyfriends. They somehow have such a beautiful, quirky friendship that makes me laugh every time they're on the page together.

- OT5 (The Raven Cycle). More like 'welcome to the island of misfit toys'. Their friendship is gorgeous. It's complex, it's unbreakable, it's so disfunctional and passionate at the same time that I can hardly bear it. OT5 is not just a friendship, it's a family.