How To Stop Time by Matt Haig // Book Review

21/02/2018

How To Stop Time by Matt Haig

5/5 Stars

Overview

How to Stop Time is about how Tom, the main character, is caught up in a society which makes him scared. It makes him believe that he is at risk if he doesn’t follow the rules, because bad things happen.

He has a condition which means he ages at a slower rate to the average human being, but only physically. His mental state is still intact, and seems to be younger than what he really is, only due to his appearance. He is of course, a very wise man, who knows a hell of a lot, he even met Shakespeare!

Not aging as fast as everyone else causes a lot of talk and trouble.Suspicions are dangerous for himself, people like him, and those he loves.
That is one of his main rules. ~~Not to fall in love.~~
It would be too hard, and only causes tragedy to the people he does love. So he is told by the man who runs the organisation that looks after those with the same condition.

Tom has to change where he lives every eight years, meaning he never feels normal, he is just living.
But he is living for one reason.
To find his daughter, who seems to have the same aging condition, and she is also in hiding.

He struggles with headaches, knowing too much about the past, and trying to adapt to the present. He becomes a history teacher in a school in London, he has to make sure he doesnt give away who he is or arouse any suspicions.

I really don’t want to give away any spoilers here because this is honestly the best book i have read this year… I really want you to read it too! It’s basically just a great book about a super old man who relives history throughout the novel, tries to find his daughter, and so badly wants to feel normal and fall in love, again!

What I liked

I loved reading about the history in this book. So much research must have gone into this novel, and its just so interesting.
It is really well structured, going back and forth from past to present so we get a greater understanding of the main character. This book has made me want to read more about history, and delve into reading more science fiction novels.

Overall, the thing I enjoyed the most was all the little stories about the main characters past life.
He has lived in so many different places from the 1500’s to now.

It’s just so interesting to read and I actually think I have learnt a lot whilst reading it (even if it is fiction).

What I Didn’t Like

I didn’t like that this book ended???

Honestly, I dont actually have anything bad to say about it.

I enjoyed it so much, some people have commented on the structure of this novel, but I personally liked going back and forth throughout Tom’s life.

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Thank you for reading this book review of How To Stop Time.

Sorry if it doesn’t go into too much detail, I just dont want this one to contain too many spoilers!

Please comment below if you would like to talk about this book, I would be so so happy to see other peoples views! I want to know what you liked the best, and what you didn’t like!

Other posts you should read are;

Turtles All The Way Down Review

The Books That Made Me A Reader

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To buy the book click here;

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas // Book Review

12/02/2018

The Hate U Give book review by writtenbycharlotte.com.

The Hate U Give By Angie Thomas

Rating 4.5 / 5 stars

** Contains spoilers **

Overview

The Hate U Give is about a girl called Starr, who has seen two of her friends die. Murdered. By the police.
Once when she was ten years old and now, after meeting with an old friend and ‘crush’.
He is killed by a police officer for no reason. Khalil is innocent, and Starr watched him die.
She kept it to herself, she didn’t want people to know she was there, her family were not sure if they should tell either. Until the police officer is not sentenced. Nothing happens to him, and it isn’t fair. Starr finally realises that her voice is her biggest weapon and she needs to use it to get justice for not only Khalil but for everyone who has been wrongfully killed.

Throughout the whole of this novel, Starr also struggles with her sense of identity. She acts like two different people depending on where she is. In Garden Heights, her home, Starr is normal, comfortable. At Williamson, her predominantly white school, she uses different words, she doesn’t act in any particular way, she keeps her head down. Until they find out that it was her with ‘the drug dealer’ who was shot by the police.

Starr has to stand up for herself and drop the friendships that aren’t supporting her.

In the end, the family move to a different area, after the mother finally convinces the father it’s for the best. They will always be a part of Garden Heights, but now at least they will be safer. After all, most of the shops have been burnt down and the neighbourhood has been trashed during the riots.

What I Loved

I loved this whole entire book. I couldn’t put it down once I had started. The author has portrayed the life of Starr and her family so well.

I have learnt a lot from this book.
How the black lives matter movement really needs to start changing how people are treated, especially in America where police brutality is high. Also how awful it is that innocent human is killed due to their skin colour, how hard Starrs life is, and everyone who is in the same position as her, and no one is listening.

This book is hard, it’s raw but it’s real. I think everyone should read this book. The most upsetting thing is, even though this is a fiction novel, there probably is a real-life Starr out there somewhere.

I liked that we saw Starr’s two separate lives, the one at school and at home. How she began to slowly become more comfortable with her boyfriend, Chris. How she loves her community, would help anyone, even though she is going through the worst time in her life, again.
Starr is incredibly strong and I enjoyed reading how her character developed throughout the novel. From being quiet, scared, worried, to speaking, shouting, and using her voice to make a change.

What I Didn’t Like

The only thing I didn’t like, was that I was constantly on edge! This isn’t really a bad point, I just felt bad for the characters, obviously.
But this is obviously how it would feel if you were Starr living in her world.

Overall

Everybody should read this book, I loved it.
I read it super quickly because so much was happening I just had to read the next part, then the next, then the next.
I felt like I had learned something when I finished it, which is always a good feeling!

You can buy the book here –

Thank you for reading this post!
If you have read The Hate U Give, and you have written a review,
comment a link below. I would love to have a read!

See you next time!

Other posts you should check out

Turtles All The Way Down by John Green Review

Rupi Kaur Poetry Review

Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D Schmidt // Book Review

07/02/2018

Orbiting Jupiter Review

4/5 Stars
** SPOILERS **

This was going to be a mini-review on Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D Schmidt…
Until I realised I have a lot to talk about!
I have written a quick review on my Goodreads account, you should follow me on there to get my book updates (I’ve been reading a lot lately…) My Goodreads Account

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Overview

Orbiting Jupiter is about a boy called Joseph, who has been through an extremely hard time, at such a young age. He almost killed a teacher, he was sent to a school for boys, and he has a daughter called Jupiter, who he has never seen, and never will see.

Joseph is sent to live with a foster family, they live on a farm and have a son named Jack. To begin with, Joseph is very quiet and reserved, he doesn’t talk much and barely smiles. Jack counts each time he smiles, I think he gets to around 7/8? (Including the ‘sort of’ smiles).

Eventually, after a little while, Joseph starts to settle in, with the help of Daisy the cow, who accepted him straight away, and cows always can tell if a person is good or not.

Joseph spills everything out one night to Jack and his parents, after ice skating on the pond. Jack says that the coldness froze them, but must have thawed out Joseph because he keeps on talking and talking until his whole past is out there. They hug, and it’s very emotional.

Joseph wants to find his daughter, Jupiter. He looks in the sky to find the planet each night until he cannot see it anymore because of the Moon. After having a hard time at his new school, his foster parents try to get him a visit to see Jupiter, for Christmas. This takes a long time, and eventually, Joseph runs away to find her himself.

After searching almost all night, Jack finds the foster mother for Jupiter in a library. She gets a call, and they drive to her house to find Joseph standing outside. He found her. Joseph didn’t go in. He waited. She didn’t let Joseph in to see the baby, but she gave him a picture and took him back to Jack’s mum and dad.

Get ready…

Jupiter’s new mum sends him letters each week, and sometimes photos too. Throughout the book, Josephs dad has wanted to take his son back, although he couldn’t take care of him, and he abused him. Joseph’s dad also wants to sell off Jupiter for the money and send her away for good. An argument pursues, leading to Joseph’s dad coming back to the house with a gun, demanding his son to leave with him. After threatening the rest of the family, Joseph doesn’t want Jack or the man and woman who cared so much for him to get hurt. So he leaves with his dad. He drives fast. They crash their car, they both die. (CRYING)

The family held a funeral for Joseph, and he is buried next to Jacks past family. The priest talks about how Joseph protected the people he loved. (CRYING)

In the end, Jacks mum and dad adopt Jupiter. (CRYING.)
Jupiter and ‘Jackie’ have an amazing relationship straight away, and he vows to never lose her.

What I liked

I liked that Orbiting Jupiter was super easy to read. The cover is absolutely gorgeous, and there’s something about small books that I am drawn to (probably because they don’t take long to read…)

Some may say that the ending was highly predictable, I must admit that I was hoping for the family to eventually adopt Jupiter, but it was still a nice surprise. I’m not angry about it being a little bit foreseen.

I enjoyed the ending of the book more than the start. Even though it’s half happy, half sad, I thought it was very well written, and sent such a nice message across.

You should always accept people, especially children. If they have had a hard time, give them time, in the end, you will see how great it can be. Unfortunately in this end, Joseph ended up, in a way saving their lives by leaving with his Dad, which in turn, ended his.

What I Didn’t Like

The only thing I didn’t like about Orbiting Jupiter, was that the sentences were so simple and short. It needed more detail, I like more in-depth (it doesn’t need anything more, that’s just what I prefer).

Basically, I wanted more to happen, other than a few fights and a near-death experience in the river.

That’s all really, I just felt like it was a bit too plain? Does that make sense? I wanted some big words, more dialogue. Gary D Schmidt’s writing style is very different from what I usually read and I don’t majorly dislike it.

Overall, the way Orbiting Jupiter is very nice, simple, and clever. I just wanted that little bit more! More drama, more detail on the characters maybe? I am fighting with myself because I also think it’s so beautiful that it isn’t so in-depth, yet I carried on reading… Ah, I don’t know.

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You can buy this book here!

Thank you for reading this review…
If you have read this book I would love to hear your views on it too.

The Books That Made Me A Reader // Favourite Reads

29/01/2018

written by charlotte, the perks of being a wallflower, fave reads, books that made me a reader, book bloggers

Books That Made Me Love Reading

(Contains mini spoilers, and affiliate links)

I started reading whilst I was still in school, however, I have never read as much in a year as I have in this past month. (I might have) But I’ve read 8 books already and it’s only the end of January.

The first book I ever read and enjoyed was The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, Oh and by the way, I’m not counting the books I HAD to read in school *cough* ~~Jayne Eyre~~ *cough*, which I am so upset about because I want to like it but school made me feel so much boredom towards it, booo. (Please motivate me to read the Bronte books…)

Anyway, I decided to write a little post dedicated to my first loves, because it seems fun, and I can’t bring myself to write another writing journey post just yet…

So here are the books that made me a reader.

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I read this back in, erm, I want to say 2012?

I went on holiday with a friend and decided to take a book for the journey, not anticipating that I would actually like it…
It’s only a small book, but I like that. I think I much prefer to read ‘shorter’ stories, because my attention span is not very long, and I like to keep on moving, and reading new things!
Anyway, I loved the main character, Charlie so much straight away, I just had to keep reading to find out what was going to happen to him.
Then the film came out and I still liked it, although, the book is WAY better. Obviously.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

When I got back from that holiday, I bought The Fault In Our Stars straight away, and I was so excited!

This book made me cry, and cry, and cry a little bit more. But I’ve never forgotten about it, and I definitely want to re-read it. Which is a good sign because I NEVER re-read…
Then once again, the film came out, and I cried even more!

Two Brothers By Ben Elton

Now that I had started reading, my mum (who also reads a lot) gave me this book to read. Once again, I still have never forgotten about it. It’s the first real big book I ever read, and I have to admit, I think it took me about a month to get through.

The twist was so intense and so not expected, I actually had to put it down for a while to get over it. I’m not giving away any spoilers here, but this story is about two brothers in the war, one is german one is Jewish… There was a girl they both vowed to look after, which they did, and well, I won’t say anymore! Just read it!

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

I didn’t read for a little while then, because I was transitioning between going to the sixth form and then college. And wow it was all very stressful and I’m so grateful it’s all over!

So once I was ready, I was recommended this book, I don’t usually like to read romance kind of books, but this YA novel was beautiful and lovely, and again, the ending has never erased from my memory.
I loved both characters straight away, and I really wanted them to have a happy ending… OOPS sorry.
So I am going to re-read this, and hopefully creating my own ending that I will publish somewhere on the internet!

The Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins

This was the first sort of ‘thriller’ book that I had read, and I instantly loved it. Although it’s quite intense, and some of the themes are very real.
I read this book very quickly and didn’t really want it to end. I then bought a few other thrillers after this (i read one but I’m scared the others aren’t going to be as good…)

Likewise, with most of the books I love, the ending was a massive shocker!
Hence why I haven’t forgotten about it.
Then the film then came out.
But in no way was it better than the book, so much was missing, I actually walked out of the cinema telling my boyfriend everything that they had forgotten to put in and how disappointed I was!

We Were Liars by E.Lockhart

Yay another shorter book! I read this book during the summer. I did read other books between all of these listed in this post, but they haven’t made the cut… Sorry.

Anyway, this book caught me, I couldn’t put it down, and I’m glad I didn’t.
Although I did need a break after this one too.

The ending is very, actually, the whole thing is very intense but I did NOT see the ending coming, and I love it when that happens.
This book really inspires me to write my own.

Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land

I read this book this in like 24 hours. I couldn’t put it down.
This was another thriller book that I read and actually liked/loved.

I found quite mild throughout. Until the end.
I’m so repetitive but I literally just love all these books because the endings catch me out!

The main character has to live with another family because her mother committed some awful crimes. The MC doesn’t want to turn out like her mum and tries her hardest to be normal, and live normally.
That’s all I’m going to say…

If there are any more books like this please comment below and tell me because I want to read more!

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Thank you for reading! Tell me what book/books made you love reading, in the comment section below!

Here are the books mentioned in this post if you fancy reading them too (and if I have not spoiled them for you).

These links are affiliate.