Maze Runner by James Dashner.

Hey Guys,

Product Details:
Publisher: Chicken House 2010.
Paperback. 371 Pages.
Source: Bought Myself.
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Synopsis/Blurb: "If you ain't scared, you ain't human."
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He's surrounded by strangers--boys whose memories are also gone. Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It's the only way out--and no one's ever made it through alive. Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying...

I had heard so may great things said about James Dashner's writing and the amount of reviews I had read about this series was so high, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and so I purchase the series for myself.
From page one you are thrown in just like Thomas(the main character) not knowing what is going on, and just like Thomas you slowly learn through the book what is really going on. I really enjoyed that style of writing as you get to "experience" the storyline as much as the characters. You learn about the Glade, this place where boys live and they have to work to live and each person has their own little job to help run the glade. Throughout the beginning of the book Thomas feels as though is has to be a Maze Runner he doesn't know why, all he knows is he will become a Maze runner and he does. The maze runners job is everyday to run around the maze to find a way out, but the walls close in at night and that is also when the horrible "creators" come out to play. The Glade has it's own slang/accent and just like Thomas you have to learn what certain words mean and slowly through the book you understand what they are saying. The relationship between Thomas and Chuck is so heart warming, it's like they were best friends before and they picking up where they left off. All the way through the book you get this sense that Thomas has been here before and some of the boys "remember" him.
When the girl is entered in to the Glade everyone looks at Thomas as he was the last "newbie" on the block so he must know something. This is where the story gets very exciting and the twist within the story starts to take shape. What I loved about this book is every chapter is left on a cliff hanger so you can't put it down, as you want to know what's going to happen. This book certainly keeps you on your toes, but at the same time is not fast paced.
This book is a great read and I can't wait to read the rest of the series. Without spoiling it for anyone who hasn't read this book my favourite part in this book is the very last chapter... as I sat there and said out loud "Oh my god!!!!!!!" My fiancé thought I was weird talking to a book, but he talks to the telly haha.
I wouldn't say these were young adult books, as my nephew who is 11 has this book on his kindle and loves it that much he has read it twice.
See you soon.
Laura xx

A Place Called Here by Cecelia Ahern.

Hey Guys,

Product Details:
Publisher: Harper 2007.
Paperback. 484 Pages.
Source: Bought for me.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Synopsis/Blurb: Ever wonder where the lost things go? Ever since the day her classmate Jenny-May Butler vanished, Sandy Shortt has been haunted by what happens when something – or someone – disappears. Finding has become her goal. Jack Ruttle is desperate to find his younger brother Donal who vanished into thin air a year ago. So when he spots an ad for Sandy’s missing persons agency, he’s certain that she will answer his prayers and find his missing brother.But then Sandy disappears too, stumbling upon a place that is a world away from the only one she has ever known. Now all she wants, more than anything, is to find her way home.

I read Book of tomorrow a few years ago and really enjoyed it, so when my mother-in-law to be bought me this book from a car boot I was excited to read it.
Sandy Shortt is obsessed with finding lost things, she checks her bag over and over to make sure nothing is lost and if she does happen to loose something she does everything she can to find it again. Sandy has her on agency that helps find missing people and when she is on a case to find Jack's brother she herself becomes lost/missing. I really liked how this book starts off with a bit of Sandy's background and then how she is now missing. The book doesn't tell you how she became lost, but it's a heart warming story as she finally meets people she has been searching for, for years.
I liked how "here" and the real world are so similar yet they seem on two different planets. "Here" has all the missing things people have lost over the years, odd socks, books, diaries, you name it, if it's lost it's at "here"
Sandy starts to fit in at "here", she gets on with everyone, but when she looses her watch you get a glimmer of hope that there is a way back, as if it's lost it must be "here".
This book is a real tear filled story, which makes this book so loveable and is an easy read. This was written in 1st person for Sandy and the parts when Jack is searching for Sandy it is written in 3rd person. Now I really did like this book the way it was written and so on, but at the same time, to me it was too much of a chick flick. If you like those kinds of stories you will love this book, but for me I don't tend to enjoy books like this all that much. I have gave my copy to a new owner who does enjoy this types of books and she loved it. I guess as I have grown up my taste in "good" re-readable books has changed. This won't be the last chick flick book I will read though.
See you soon.
Laura xx

Dust by Patricia Cornwell.

Hey guys,
So finally i have Dust. I have been waiting to get my hands on this little beauty for a year! Yes i know i could of got the e-book or hardback but the own all the Kay Scarpetta series in paperback and i want them all to match and i wanted to wait to read this book for when i have my own copy  and now that i have it....i started reading it in the car on the way home from buying it.
Well i leave it here i just wanted to share my excitement with you all

Sorry the picture is sideways i am writing this post on my mobile as i'm too excited to load my laptop lol
see you soon
laura xx

My Bookshelf Tour.

Hey Guys,
Today I thought I would do something different and do a bookshelf tour. Even thought my love for books has been since I was a little girl my old bedroom, when I lived with my mother, wasn't big enough for all my things and a bookshelf. My mother did have bookshelves but they were for her office for work books and DVD's so until I moved out I never had a bookshelf. Infact, I used to store my books in a plastic storage container underneath my bed and have small TBR pile on my bedside table. When I had space to have a bookshelf it was the first thing I bought for my new house.

Sorry the lighting isn't great in this picture but I wanted you to see an over view on my bookshelf. It's a standard white Billy bookshelf from Ikea With 7 shelves. I have sorted my books out to my liking. I would like to say these aren't all my books, this are all my favourites or TBR's.

Unless my books are in series I have my books in page number order. As they are already in genre order, but if I feel like a quick read I got to the start of shelf and if I want a bigger read I go to the end. I wouldn't normally do this, but I am currently doing the Big book challenge on Goodreads and I find it easier to find/choose a "big" book.

This is my Misc shelf. On my first shelf are a few Tess Gerritsen books that are stand alone books. Up to The Invisible ones are a few books that I have that are in a series but I haven't got the whole series yet. Then I have obsession series, Divergent series and Game series. As you can see there are other books they are the ones my fiancé bought for me recently. I also have two "ornaments" My butter beer cup from Harry Potter world and a small keep sake "For Daughter with love" which my mum got me for my 13th birthday.

This is my favourite shelf. This is my Patricia Cornwell series collection. I have read all of Patricia Cornwell's books and just waiting for Dust to come out in paperback. I also have a few others, on this shelf, I haven't read yet to fill the gap. As you can see I have a small Ornament on the edge of myself. SAW is my favourite film collection I have watched them countless amounts of times and still never got bored. In the film, there is a puppet called Billy and when I saw this as a earphone jack for you mobile I had to buy it, but from putting the phone in my pocket and bag Billy fell off so I kept him to sit on my "thriller" shelf. I think he goes well with the theme of the books.

This is to me is my "chick flick" shelf. These are all happy, love stories and I do have one thriller on this shelf as I ran out of space for it on other shelves but is the next book I am going to read. I didn't put an ornament on my bookshelf as I think the colours of the spines of these books are really pretty and should be shown off.

This shelf is also a "thriller/crime" shelf. By now I think you can guess my favourite genre. The Scott Mariani books are a series I just haven't got them all yet but as I have most of them I thought I but them on a shelf together. The slasher movies books isn't a novel it's a book with all the scary films in, and this books tells you all about the film, who wrote it, producer it and who's in it. As you can see I have a little Smurf reading a book on this shelf. I have had him for years and I always stick him with bluetack to make him stand up on things.

This is my kids/series book shelf. I have two books from when I was growing up. They are the two books my mum used to read to me the most when I was little and I have kept them for sentimental value. I then have the Meerkat Manor collection. I love Meerkats and my mum bought these me as a joke, but I like them anyway. They are ment for kids but one I will get the chance to read them to my own kids. Then I have the Harry potter library books and Harry Potter series. I also have Heidi, my nan(my mums mum) was Austrian which makes my quarter Austrian and she told me a story in Viennese once and even thought I didn't understand what she was saying, I asked what it was she told me it was Heidi and then bought the book for me. We would watch the film and read the book together I loved it and still do if I am honest. I also have the Twilight series, The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner Series.

These are my two childhood books that my mum used to read to me. Laura's Star was always my favourite as I am also called Laura it had a special place in my heart.

This is my "True Life" shelf. This are mostly real stories from celebrities and others about people/children that have bad lives to start with. As you can see I do have a couple crime/thrillers in there too, but i have no where else to put them.

This is my "Kathy Reichs and other series" shelf. I have most of the Kathy Reichs books and have recently started reading this series. On this shelf I put a small TBR pile and I also have my other series collections. They aren't all complete but, I wanted to keep these books altogether.

Well I hope you enjoyed this post, it was something different compared to book reviewing all the time.
See you soon.
Laura xx

The Abduction by Mark Gimenez.

Hey Again,

Product Details:
Publisher: Sphere First Published 2007, My Copy 2013.
Paperback. 503 Pages.
Source: Bought by myself.
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Synopsis/Blurb: Ben Brice lives alone in the New Mexico wilderness where he battles memories of Vietnam with oceans of Jim Beam. Miles away in Texas, his estranged son, John, an Internet geek-turned-billionaire, half watches his daughter Gracie's soccer game while conducting business on his cell phone. When her mother Elizabeth arrives, the coach reports that her uncle has already collected Gracie. But Gracie has no uncle -- she was kidnapped. From international best-selling author Mark Gimenez comes a terrifying thriller in which dark family secrets make the finding of ten-year-old Gracie Brice more uncertain with every passing minute. And so begins a furious race against time to save Gracie from unknown kidnappers. With the FBI camped out in the Brice mansion, the family offers a reward of $25 million. Somehow, Ben and John Brice must find Gracie before it is too late. As the story unfolds with riveting twists and turns, the reader discovers that behind the kidnapping is an extraordinary government plot that could change the course of American history. And time is running out . . .

With this book the blurb did it for me, I was so excited to read this book. I will say from the off I wasn't 100% as it did take me a few chapters to get into, but once I did start to enjoy it turned into a great page turner.
Each main character has their own background, problems and loss; Elizabeth, Gracie's Mother, when Gracie goes missing she pushes everyone away and gets mad at anyone and everyone, John, Gracie's Father, his world is turned upside down and collapses before him, Ben, Gracie's grandfather, stops drinking everyday and jumps at the chance of proving himself and helps to find Gracie and Paul Ryan, Detective, feels the same as Ben that the police have the wrong guy. Ben and Paul start to work together and put their heads together to find Gracie and I thought even though Ben had never been a brilliant Grand father he was the only one really trying to get her back.
Halfway through the book I started to not like it so much, it was too much about war and Ben and less and less about Gracie. I thought the "connection" between Gracie and Ben, was a bit far fetched for me, how he could sense she was cold or tired or alive and the way she could sense he was coming for her was to me a bit strange. You hear about twins having this pull but not between granddaughter and grandfather you don't.
*SPOILER* Towards the end I got so bored as it just turned into some war book from Ben's past and  the people who had taken Gracie was just for Revenge, which was a bit crap to me. As it had been 30 years and now they decide to kidnap his granddaughter.. I mean come on. If I am totally honest if the revenge wasn't because of some war years ago I probably would have enjoyed it, but as I don't like books about history and war all that much it ruined it for me. If you did enjoy this book far enough, but just because of the war thing it was ruined for me.

See you soon,
Laura xx