Happy Birthday: J.K. Rowling!

As you may or may not know, today marks J.K. Rowling's 50th birthday! So, to celebrate, I'm doing 5 facts about the creator of Harry Potter!

Book Review: Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List

Title: Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List 
Author: David Levithan & Rachel Cohn 
Publisher: Electric Monkey 
Release Date: 03/07/2013
Pages: 256
Service: Bought 
Format: Paperback 
Buy: Book Depository 

'Any great friendship can be as confusing, treacherous, inspiring and wonderful as any great romance. 

Naomi and Ely have bee best friends forever. Naomi loves and is in love with Ely, and Ely loves Naomi but prefers to be in love with boys. So, they create their 'No Kiss List' of people neither of them is allowed to kiss. 

And this works fine - until Bruce. 

Bruce is Naomi's boyfriend, so there's no reason to put him on the List. But Ely kissed Bruce - and the resulting fallout is going to change the world.'

'Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List' was a book that I was looking forward to read. After reading two of Levithan's and Cohn's co-written books, I had enjoyed one but ended up not finishing the other. For me, this was the decider as to whether or not I would pick up another book from the both of them. The blurb sounded great and I ended up buying it.
My biggest mistake was not flicking through the book whilst I was in Waterstones which is weird because that's what I usually do. The reason why I'm a little annoyed that I didn't is because I don't think I would've picked up the book if I had. As I began to read the book there were emoticons that were replacing words. At first it wasn't too bad, I thought it would be something that would slowly be gone as the book progressed. There were a few pages were there was nothing and then it would start again. To be honest, I found it extremely annoying. Some of them I didn't understand and altogether, it just bugged me. 
I did enjoy where the story was going though. I think it was one that people were able to relate to in terms that there are people out there who like their but their friend has a different sexual orientation. I love the pieces of humour that were thrown into the chapters, it made it a more enjoyable read and it did make me smile. 
The characters, for me, were a little annoying though. Naomi was a character I just really struggled to like. She just seemed to whine a lot and wasn't a likeable character. I just feel as though she overreacted to what was going on in the book and seemed to keep using people. 
In the end I had to DNF this book. I just struggled to enjoy it. I flicked through the pages to see what happened at the end because I was interested in seeing what happened and the plot was something I didn want to follow. However, I just really didn't enjoy the writing so I had to put it down. I was struggling to get through it and it just wasn't something that I was looking forward to read. 
Rating: DNF 

On My Bucketlist... (#1)

I use the website Bucketlistly to keep track of all of the things that are on my bucketlist and when I've done them. It's also made me add a lot more things to my bucketlist because I get the chance to see what other people are adding. I'm going to start taking things from my bucketlist and sharing them with you guys along with the reasons why these things are on there. I'm really excited for this feature, so here goes nothing. 

For today's post I've picked out this one from my list: 

For me donating money to charity and raising money for charity are two different things. I've donated to charity before but I actually want to be able to raise money for it. Charity is quite a big thing in my family and we like to be able to donate as much as we can. Knowing that your money is going towards someone or a cause who needs it always makes me happy because it feels as though I'm helping make a difference. 

I'm really hoping to do the Race For Life next year which will include me having to raise money for Cancer Research. So, hopefully this will be soon crossed off the list. If I don't end up doing the Race For Life there are so many other ways to do so and I will find a way! 

Just Giving is such a good way to raise money as well and it's really easy. So, I'll probably use that to help me raise money as well 

Have you guys got a bucketlist then? And what's on yours? 

My Month on Instagram: June 2015

With school finished this month, I've had a lot more time to be active on instagram. So, here's what I posted on there. My instagram widget is also in my sidebar if anyone wants to follow me. 

I can't believe I've finally gotten here. It's done and over with! I don't think I've smiled so much in my life! #gcse #school #exams #lastexam #year11

A photo posted by Saira Ahmed (@growingxwings) on Jun 10, 2015 at 8:32am PDT

It's been a while since I put a blog post up. So, I decided to post a little one just about the end of exams. Link is in my bio! { #lbloggers #exams #relief #relax #lifestyle #blog #blogpost }

A photo posted by Saira Ahmed (@growingxwings) on Jun 10, 2015 at 2:38pm PDT

This has to be my favourite charm. { #metronome #music #charm #charmbraclet #tingle #tinglelondon }

A photo posted by Saira Ahmed (@growingxwings) on Jun 11, 2015 at 1:33am PDT

Started this ages ago but I haven't read since the Easter holidays because of revision and just a lack of energy in the evening. I'll definitely be finishing this one soon though and starting to pick up a few other books ony TBR pile. { #tkam #books #reading #tbr #summerreading }

A photo posted by Saira Ahmed (@growingxwings) on Jun 11, 2015 at 1:37am PDT

Slightly shattered which I think is exams catching up on me but looking forward to spending the day with my dad. { #selfie #nofilter #summer #tired #dad #relax #happy }

A photo posted by Saira Ahmed (@growingxwings) on Jun 11, 2015 at 2:03am PDT

So, when I was in NY I bought this little metal kit where I have to assemble the Empire State Building. I've been waiting for finish exams to start building this and a few other things that I have in my room. { #metalworld #empirestate #empirestatebuilding #metal #build }

A photo posted by Saira Ahmed (@growingxwings) on Jun 11, 2015 at 11:03am PDT

In @wahaca for food today.

A photo posted by Saira Ahmed (@growingxwings) on Jun 15, 2015 at 4:21am PDT

The food here was absolutely lush! @wahaca

A photo posted by Saira Ahmed (@growingxwings) on Jun 15, 2015 at 4:51am PDT

New post just went live on my blog. I review 'Me, Earl and the Dying Girl'. { #bookblogger #books #bookreview #blogger #ya #teenfiction #meearlandthedyinggirl #newpost }

A photo posted by Saira Ahmed (@growingxwings) on Jun 17, 2015 at 5:23am PDT

Prom was absolutely amazing yesterday. Can't wait to upload all the photos! { #prom #selfie #nofilter #secondaryschool #leavers #year11 #benefit #benefitcosmeticsuk #saree #sari #makeup #traditional }

A photo posted by Saira Ahmed (@growingxwings) on Jun 20, 2015 at 4:55am PDT

Food is all prepped for tonight. { #ramadan #ramadan2015 #iftar #foodporn #chicken #vegetables #healthy }

A photo posted by Saira Ahmed (@growingxwings) on Jun 22, 2015 at 10:43am PDT

It's here! { #eclp #eclifeplanner #erincondren #planner #delivery #eclp2015 #organise #excited }

A photo posted by Saira Ahmed (@growingxwings) on Jun 26, 2015 at 9:14am PDT

Just finished reading 'Say Her Name' by James Dawson and it was an amazing book! Slightly creepy but in a really good way and I'll definitely be picking up some more books of his. @hotkeybooks { #yalit #yabooks #yalovin #ukya #books #reading #sayhername #jamesdawson #booklove }

A photo posted by Saira Ahmed (@growingxwings) on Jun 30, 2015 at 2:57am PDT

Hoping to get through a few more stories from 'Love Hurts' today. It's given me quite a few books that I really want to pick up now. Looks like there's going to be a lot of reading done today. { #books #malorieblackman #yalovib #ya #ukya #love #lovehurts #romance #currentlyreading }

A photo posted by Saira Ahmed (@growingxwings) on Jun 30, 2015 at 3:42am PDT

Cwtched Up With A Classic: Pride and Prejudice.

Jane Austen's books are ones that I've never been 100% sure on whether or not I want to read but when I downloaded I had a tablet for my fifteenth birthday, it ended up being a free book on the 'Kobo' app. So, I finally decided that I may as well see what it was all about and pick my tablet up to read it. 
There was a bit of the slow start in the beginning which did make me a little sceptical about carrying on with the book but since I was with little else to read at the time since I wasn't home I thought that i may as well give it a proper chance and carry on to read it and I'm glad that I did. 
I'm not the type person that is in love with romance novels. It just isn't may favourite genre to read but I don't mind reading the odd one or two if it catches my eye but they never are some of the favourite books that I've read. Pride and Prejudice however was a romance book that I did really enjoy reading. I'm a fan of the while historical fiction genre and the fact that this book was mixed with some of this because of the time period that it was written it made it more enjoyable for me. 
For me, I felt like there could have been a little bit more that could've gone on within the plot since there wasn't a lot there. However, I wasn't particularly expecting a lot of action because it was a romance novel. I didn't feel as though there was any sub-plot to go along with the main plot of the book and what was going on. As much as I did enjoy the book, I think I would have enjoyed it that little but more had there just been another part to the story that would give the whole novel a little more oomph!
I knew what was going to happen at the end of the but even with tat in mind, I still was eager to read on and see how Austen played out the plot. For me, I found her writing quite captivating and it was a classic that I was glad to have picked up. I may not reread this one any time soon. However, it's made me want to read the books and watch the films that have been based on this book to see different ways people have taken it on board. 
Rating: ★★★