Fashion Meows:

I'm starting a new section to my blog called "meow goodreads" where I'll share my love of books and reading. I've always been a bookworm since I was a little girl. Do you love the smell of new books as well as old ones? Does your idea of a perfect afternoon consist of grabbing some Starbucks and strolling the book aisles at your local bookstore? Do you squeal and get excited when you receive book packages in your mailbox? Well, join the club.
My love of reading and fashion/beauty has lead me to pursue a career in publishing. Once I'm done my publishing program, I hope to be working with a fashion magazine. Eventually, I'd love to dabble into book publishing as well. Like all true book lovers, I have a goodreads account where I'm always reading up reviews for the latest books, and enjoy watching book tubers on Youtube talk about their book hauls, reviews, and "to be read" lists. It's sort of like fashion and beauty, really, where you read fashion/beauty blogs, watch hauls, and read reviews about the latest product.
So do fashion and literature relate? Can you be into fashion and still be a bookworm? Totally. Fashion and literature are both works of art through different mediums; they both exist from imagination and inspire their audience.
I'm open when it comes to book genres but I normally read more fiction than nonfiction. I really enjoy fantasy, horror, historical fiction, children's lit., and of course, YA novels. Contemporary fiction is always interesting and chick lit's are a guilty pleasure, all cute and fluffy...like cream puffs. When it comes to books, I don't discriminate. I do have a weakness for pretty covers. I'll be posting book reviews on some of my favourite reads, rating them out of 5 stars. Along with book hauls, I'll also keep you updated with what I'm currently reading and my "to be read" list for the month.
I hope there's fellow bookworms out there who'll appreciate this and share their love of books with me and for those who don't normally read much, I hope these are interesting and maybe inspire you to read.

XOXO
Mary

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, Siobhan Dowd, Jim Kay (illustrator)
The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.
But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming...
This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.
It wants the truth.
description from goodreads.com

How to even describe this book.. it made me cry. Conor is a ordinary boy in a bad situation; his mother is diagnosed with cancer and is at the hospital receiving treatment. He's not on good terms with his sole friend Lilly and he's fallen victim to bullying by school bully Harry and his posse. His dad is living a new life with his new wife and baby, and he has a very awkward relationship with his grandmother to top it all off. He keeps having this recurring nightmare filled with darkness and danger. One night a monster appears outside his bedroom window, an ancient monster who begins to tell Conor four tales.
Why has it come? What does it want from Conor? Perhaps the most hardest and dangerous of all things. It wants the truth. A Monster Calls is a touching story about loss and of grief, but also the glimmer of hope that always lies within darkness. It's a quick read (not very long) and is a YA novel, but I think everyone would enjoy it.
It's very fluid and well written, and the protagonist is a very real and relatable character. Can I just comment on the beautiful illustrations for a moment? Jim Kay did a wonderful job; they're beautiful in a eerie, haunting way, and they fit perfectly with the mood and emotions of the story. I love when books have illustrations that add to the overall experience of the story rather than distract from it.
Siobhan Dowd, the original author of the story, was unable to finish the manuscript but Patrick Ness does justice to his story. Highly recommended, I'll be surprised if it doesn't make you cry. Or maybe I'm just a soft goop of mush.

****` 4.5/5 stars

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