Top Three Books of 2013!

   These are my top three books I have read this year. These are purely my opinions and I'd also love to hear your own in the comments below :) Enjoy!

 

1. Private Peaceful

   This is my all time favourite book and I know it's quite a few others' favourites too. Michael Morpurgo has been one of my favourite authors since I was a kid and the first story I read by him was The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips. Since then, I've always wanted to read Private Peaceful from the reviews and opinions I've heard from others who have already read it. However, because I had heard it's a tear jerker too, I'm not too big a fan of a story that makes you cry just because I don't like crying! This story did make me cry but it was a good cry because it was such a good book as to make me feel so much for the characters. It's amazingly written, accurate and though-provoking so that is why this was my top book read in 2013.

2. More Than This

   Patrick Ness became one of my favourite authors last year when I read A Monster Calls by him when it was up for, and consequently won, the Carnegie Medal for my English group. Ever since then I can't get enough of him. I was given More Than This to review by Movellas and loved every moment of it. The website also ran a competition based around this book's new release, which my short story was shortlisted for and I won a signed copy of it. The Knife of Never Letting Go, the first in his Chaos Walking Trilogy is next on my list to be read. More Than This was fast paced but, like Private Peaceful despite being on the complete opposite end of the genre spectrum, very thought-provoking. I loved the characters and the plotline and almost everything about this book was perfect and made me want to read on. It's a close second next to Private Peaceful.

3. Divergent

   This book got me hooked. I brought it with my book vouchers from last Christmas at the beginning of the year and began reading it around Easter time I think. It was fast-paced, original, full of action and suspense and twists and turns and, gosh, it was just amazing! Although I wasn't as impressed with the sequel, Divergent is a must-read to me for every teenage fan of dystopian and science fiction. The film comes out next year and the final instalment of the trilogy, Allegiant, is available to buy now. With its intriguing plotline, world and characters, Veronica Roth is an author to look out for and Divergent just had to nab the last place on my top three.

   And that's my top three books of 2013 in a nutshell :) What were your favourites read this year? Do you share any of my own opinions? Please let me know in the comments below and I look forward to more awesome reads in 2014 too!


   All reviews can be read on blog and you can be directed to them by clicking the links below:

Private Peaceful Review

More Than This Review

Divergent Review


~White Ravens~
http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/10321725/white-ravens-writing

Plans...

 

    Hello again! Long time no see unfortunately but I have had a lot going off this past couple of months. First, NaNoWriMo took over my November (I did get 50,000 words though so it was a good sacrifice!), then it was end of unit tests (Sixth Form is soooooo difficult at the moment.) and then suddenly it was Christmas! But, I have been busy writing so I haven't been completely lazy on the creative front ;)

  My current project is a revamp. I've decided to develop my novella 'In Need of an Adventure' (which can be read on Movellas here) into a novel, so that's currently in the editing stage to change any mistakes and expand on the storyline. Hopefully this time round it'll become a more action-packed fantasy adventure plus it'll be fun meeting the characters and the world all over again :)

   My next blog post will be up shortly and it's all about the books I've read in 2013. The years almost over so it'll be nice to round it all off with all my reading list :)

  I hope you all enjoyed your year and looking forward to what 2014 brings :)


~White Ravens~
http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/10321725/white-ravens-writing

Useful Websites for Young Writers...

I've used many websites when writing my stories, either for research, character or place names, adding little Easter eggs, sharing my work and many other things as well! Google is our friend so here is six probably very well-known websites I find handy and use regularly when writing. Hopefully they'll help you too!

http://nanowrimo.org/

I mentioned this website in my last post and they have tons of helpful tips on writing and the publishing industry as well as push you to write a novel in a month. You can meet loads of new writers in your area as well as across the world so I find this website helpful every November :)

http://babynames.merschat.com/

This is the name meaning website I use but there are so many out there. This one is useful because you can find the meaning of a name you already want to use, find names of a particular meaning, pick gender and origins and find out lots of information on names you can use throughout your stories.

http://translate.google.co.uk/

Any online translator will do but I use this one usually because of the range of languages it has. This is useful for the hidden Easter eggs I was talking about, weaving meaning into place names, surnames, magic spells or anything really!

http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/

 Looking for writing prompts? Then this site is perfect! It has loads of writing prompts that can get your mind racing for the next best-seller!

http://www.movellas.com/

This is a website aimed at young writers aged 13+ to gain feedback as well as spread constructive criticism. It's a great way to gain feedback on your work, with a helpful community that are your age to tell you tips on how to improve. It really improves your confidence and your skills when you get your first comment and with competitions to keep you motivated it's a really great place to get started. There are other websites out there as well, such as Wattpad, but I always come back to this site because of the amount of feedback you get quite quickly.

http://www.goodreads.com/

What better way to increase your writing skill then by reading? By reading as many books as possible through many genres, you can learn all the tricks of what works and what doesn't within those genres and work towards originality in your own stories. Here, you can post reviews and find recommendations on many books and they have giveaways and quizzes. It's a great reading community.



~White Ravens~
http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/10321725/white-ravens-writing

'More Than This' by Patrick Ness Review

     AS levels have begun and I'm now a year 12 student so my reading time has been significantly reduced due to homework and revision unfortunately :( However, here is my review of Patrick Ness' 'More Than This'. This is done in a different style to what I usually do without subtitles but is still my opinions of the book. This is now one of my complete favourites and you don't understand how much you need to go out and read this! There's a teeny spoiler in this review so I've pointed it out if you want to avoid it.

   I received a review copy from Movellas in order to review this.

"Here is the boy, drowning."

   Seth awakens from death. But, he’s alive. Naked and alone in his old home back in England, he is haunted by vivid dreams of his life. He begins searching for answers in this ‘after-life’. Is he really alone? Or is there More Than This?

   I think Patrick Ness is a great author and this book proves this further. At first, I actually expected perhaps a paranormal story, which is quite popular within the YA genre, but it already started off with a twist and ended up being a suspenseful dystopian novel. It was a pleasant surprise.

   ‘Here is the boy, drowning.’ What a way to begin! Starting with the death of the main character really hooked me as well as indicating that this story takes place in the after-life, setting the scene without chunks of boring description. He is referred to as ‘the boy’, which I loved because it’s subtle but gives us readers an indication as to who to root for when reading, suggesting importance.

   However, the first chapters were quite slow for me, which kept up the suspense but did get a little boring after a while. Nevertheless, it quickly became more fast-paced that kept me wanting to read more. So stick with this story or you’ll regret it!

   The middle was exciting, introducing more flashbacks (which are perfectly placed without getting too long that we forget the actual storyline, dripping in more information about our protagonist’s past.) and introducing more interesting characters.

   Each character stood out because, although they are very different, they felt real. They contrast nicely with appropriate reactions to their situations. They have different stories, with different backgrounds but they unite in something they all have in common; finding out if there is ‘more than this’. They experience many real issues we do today, like murder, poverty, abuse and the world seeming to try and reject who you are. It’s so realistic it’s scary, with the internet taking over too. This really could happen in our future! It is really amazing for an author to create a new world and make it appear so vivid to the reader.

   The twists kept on coming and the final turn I loved. 

(SPOILER AHEAD: When The Driver “dies” SPOILER END), 

I really wanted another obstacle to appear in the way of our protagonists because I didn’t feel that the story should end just yet, but I wasn’t expecting what did happen and was almost shouting at the book to let there be a happy ending!

   Then, the impossible happens and the final flashback is beautifully carried out, rounding our knowledge off. It was a miracle that seems impossible, but is actually probable, and everyone is left confused by the unexpected. But that is because that’s what life is; you don’t know what’s around the corner. I thought I might be over-thinking the plot after finishing this but I have come away satisfied with the cliff-hanger.

   Overall, Patrick Ness has done a brilliant job yet again. ‘More Than This’ is full of twists that keep you going until the very end. If you enjoy Sci-Fi/Dystopian YA novels then this is for you. I would not recommend it to anyone under the age of 14/15 because it contains swearing and mature issues. However, I’ll only be giving it 4.5/5 because it did take me a few chapters to really get into the story, but I loved reading this novel and I'd certainly like to read more books like this :)

~White Ravens~
 http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/10321725/white-ravens-writing

The World Book Day YA App

    I know this was a long time ago (all the way back in March! This year's going by so quickly!) but World Book Day is the biggest celebration of books around the world. Readers, writers and illustrators come together and school children can pick up a voucher for a free book or £1 off any other book. :)

    This year, World Book Day brought out a new and exclusive app; the World Book Day YA app. This was powered by the online website Movellas, which is ideal for anyone aged 13+ for reading, writing and sharing stories online. The app stars many fantastic young adult authors along with forty nominations from the Movellas Community of thousands voted to be part of the app.

    I was lucky enough to have been nominated and have the privilege of having my short story ‘In Need of an Adventure’ featured alongside these great authors. I loved writing this story and I really grew to love the characters and the adventure :) It is finished and in the editing process so if you have any spare time and fancy a read, check it out here:

In Need of an Adventure

    I also created the cover which was incredibly fun :) I'd recommend Movellas to anyone willing to read and write and share their love for imagination and the app is up and running for you to download :)


~White Ravens~

My Blog :)

Hello :) This blog will be used by me to post anything to do with writing. To put words on paper and let it transform into a new world of adventures is beautiful to me and I wanted to share my passion with anyone willing to read it :) I will occasionally post my favourite quotes, reads, characters, reviews and maybe snippets of my own writing but this blog will mostly be centred around this craft. So, once again, merry blogging! :D