Uni

So in a matter of hours I leave to embark on one of the hardest journeys I've ever faced. I'm off to uni! 

I'm probably finding the prospect so daunting because I have very little confidence and I'm worried about making friends... I know that people say there is a friendship group for everyone at every uni but I'm still petrified! 

Also, the thought of leaving my family has me bawling, I'll miss my mum so much she is literally my best friend ever. Leaving my dog will actually be heartbreakingly and waking up without him there will feel so lonely. 

Now the reason I'm telling you this is partly because it's the reason I may not be posting as much but mostly because I hope I'll read this back in a few months or weeks even and laugh at how silly I was to be worried, I'm hoping I'll be sat there with a whole new load of people who maybe shared the same worries. Regardless as to whether or not this happens, I'll upload another post in a few months and let you know how it's going...

I can truly say I'll miss London so much but I am looking forward to seeing what life is like in the country! I hope to become a more confident person and live life as a teenager where I can stroll home whenever I want and eat junk food all day! Saying this, I really want to do well at uni, I've worked so hard to get here and I don't want to throw all that away so I'll learn to balance a social life (let's hope I have one) and work aswel as my part time job! 

If anyone reading this is younger than me and still considering uni, don't let this post put you off. Yeah I'm scared but who isn't? Everyone is in the same boat which is the only thing reassuring me about this whole experience! 

But anyway back to the important stuff, I'll still be reading and I'll still be posting but it may not be regularly. It's likely I'll give myself some time to settle in and then throw myself into a book without a load of anxiety clouding my mind. I'm looking to read The Infernal Devices series next because I loved Cassie's Mortal Instruments series so much but I'll probably read some new releases aswel. I'm definitely going to read The One and Champion which are both third instalments in much loved trilogies and of course ALLEGIANT COMES OUT VERY VERY SOON SO BRACE YOURSELVES GUYS FOR ONE EMOTION PACKED BLOG POST WHICH PROBABLY WON'T MAKE MUCH SENSE AND WILL JUST CONTAIN A LOAD OF RANDOM LETTERS! 

Oh and also I had such an amazing time attending the Hunger Games premiere last year that I will 100% be coming back to London for the Catching Fire premiere in November so let me know if any of you guys will be there and I'll maybe bump into you and I'll definitely upload a blog post about that night/day/night! Also, let me know if you want me to post about last years HG premiere because I would love to write about it and show you all my amazing pictures and autographs from the WHOLE CAST! It just shows that waking up at 2:00am is sooooo worth it:) 

Thanks for listening to my rambling if you're still reading! 

Switched by Amanda Hocking - Booktalk

Synopsis: The story is told from the perspective of a 17 year old girl called Wendy who suffered a brutal childhood after her mother tried to kill her as she believed her daughter had been switched at birth. After the mysterious Finn turns up at her window and tells her she belongs to a Troll community called Forening, she discovers stolen truths about her childhood as well as duties she couldn't possibly be ready for. All this is sprinkled with a little bit of mind control and a serious case of mixed signals.

SPOILERS

Okay so I'd probably give this book like 3 and a half stars. 

It started out pretty abruptly with the details of Wendy's mothers murder attempt and to be honest I did think to myself 'what have I got myself in for starting this' but I'd paid for the book so I WAS going to finish it.

I didn't actually think the book was all that well written, it was a pretty basic narrative and I just didn't relate to the protagonist, Wendy all that much BUT I did really like the storyline. I thought it was really clever how this small 'Tyrlle' community existed within modern day America undetected from humans, maybe there's a little troll community down by the River Thames which a hot brunette will take me to one day;)

The story was very very similar to The Selection series in my opinion in how Wendy has to learn to be like a Princess and stuff but she doesn't actually want royalty and she thinks she's not cut out for it and blah blah it just rang a few bells in my head! 

Finn wasn't the most desirable love interest I have ever read about to be honest, I still don't really understand why he had to be so mean to Wendy at the school dance, if he wanted to push her away there are other ways to do it! Also he didn't really have very interesting dialogue, his whole 'it's my job' refrain got kinda boring and he just seemed really overly professional all the time never really showing a fun or interesting side... obviously Wendy was only interested because of those eyes she kept going on about.

TEAM RHYS even though that's slightly though not biologically incestuous. He was one of the few characters who seemed to have a personality and actually showed his feelings towards Wendy openly.

I did feel really sorry for Wendy when he real mother, Elora, turned out to be such a b**** I mean she can't really catch a break can she! I was hoping Elora would loosen up but she was still nagging Wendy about everything even when we find out how much the regime relies on Wendy to succeed, just being nice might have made her daughter want to try harder!

My favourite scene was probably the christening-vittra-invasion-dance bit because I was waiting in eager anticipation for Elora's painting to come true and I knew from mid way through the book that it would happen on this night.

The ending was a little disappointing... basically the story just went in a full circle and Wendy ended up exactly where she started just with an extra guest... It's obvious she'll get kidnapped by the Vittra now that she isn't protected so she's basically ensuring her own death sentence PLUS wasn't the reason she left in the first place to protect Matt from the Vittra but now that she's in even more demand she thinks it would be a good idea to put her family in the limelight? Good going Wendy. Oh and also, so Finn basically sacrificed his job, his home and his friends all for nothing then because the only reason he left is so Wendy could become Princess. It was a weird and stupid ending not going to lie but up until the last few pages it was actually really good!

Admittedly I probably won't read the other two books because I read the blurb and know that there's an emerging love triangle in the next couple of books and I hate how some authors assume that all Young Adult's want to read about is bleeding love triangles. I can pretty much predict the ending of this trilogy and so it doesn't overly appeal to me but they are cheap to buy on the Kindle so I'll wait and see!

Sorry if this booktalk has been slightly short and critical, I did actually enjoy this book as a whole so it's worth a read if you're looking for something light to read :)

Fifty Shades of Grey casting...

Okay so some of you may not know that yes, E. L. James' erotic first edition to her Fifty Shades trilogy is being turned into a movie. If you've been living under a rock for the past year then last summer mad craze over this trilogy may have slipped past you but I can assure you it was BIG. People went crazy for these books, I think mainly because people love to jump on the bandwagon of the 'next big thing' but regardless, it was no suprise when the film rights were bought for the first book 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and the hunt for the perfect people to play the protagonist Anastasia Steele and her kinky new boyfriend Christian Grey began.

Quickly to sum up the first book (spoilers), Anastasia or 'Ana' meets the rich entrepreneur Christian Grey when she is asked to interview him. After a few not-so-coincidental encounters she realises she has feelings for this man and they take their relationship one step further. Ana soon learns however of her lover's inner demons which drive his need for ultimate control, he asks her to agree to a sadomasochistic relalationship whereby he would inflict various acts of pain on her, using her body as an instrument of his pleasure. While considering this proposition and the its repurcussions on herself she digs deeper into Christian's past to discover where his need for dominance originates and finds she wants more from this man than a contract and a whip, she wants a romance.

Now admittedly I didn't just buy and read the first book but I finished all three. To be honest, I actually really enjoyed the books regardless of how kinky they are. I agree with a lot of the criticism that there is more sex than storyline and that the writing style isn't exactly brilliant but you do end up falling in love with the characters somehow. 

A few names have been in the mix for the casting of the characters, most mere fan choices such as Emma Watson or Kristen Stewart for the role of Anastasia and Matt Bomer or Ian Somerhalder for the role of Christian Grey. It's no suprise that Emma Watson corrected these rumours stating she'd be degrading herself by taking on the role, after all its a controversial genre and could be career damaging in the long term.

Eventually these two actors have been cast, Dakota Johnson as Anastasia and Charlie Hunnam for Christian Grey. 

I've heard 90% criticism, 10% praise for this casting and I must admit im with the 10%. I actually really like Dakota Johnson, in The Social Network her small role was performed with modesty and I think she'll be really good at portraying Ana's timid tendencies and her sometimes shy personality. She's brunette in the book yes but we still don't know that they won't just pop down to the supermarket and buy some brown hair dye!

Charlie Hunnam isn't who I pictured I must admit but if he shaves and neatens his look up a bit I have no doubt he'll be a great Christian! I haven't made my mind up about him completely because I haven't seen him act in anything yet but I don't think the casting directors would have chosen him unless they had faith he could do it. A lot of people are forgetting that their ideal actor choices may not have wanted to do the film so they shouldn't take it out on the producers of the film...

I'm intrigued to see how they'll portray the sex scenes because they can't take up the whole film like how they took up the majority of the books because we'd basically be watching a porno lets be honest. Hopefully we'll get more of a glimpse into the actual storyline. 

The release date is confirmed as August 1st, 2014.

P.S. Fun fact of the day, I know E.L. James distantly haha! She's a friend of a friend's mum, I don't care if I've never actually met her this is my claim to fame!