A Book Review: Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Hey Everyone!

I realised today that my blog is nearly a year old, yet I've never actually written a book review! This came as quite a shock to me seeing as reading books is how I spend most of my spare time. I decided to pick an interesting book which I read over Christmas. This book is Allegiant, the third book of the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth.

As I mentioned previously, Allegiant is the third and final book of the Divergent trilogy. The book (Allegiant) follows the protagonist Tris Prior after the faction system has been very much destroyed. Tris is offered the chance to leave and go explore ''past the fence'' into the unknown along with Tobias (Four) 

Tris believes she's ready and that she will find a new life outside the fence with Tobias. They explore outside the fence and are extremely alarmed by what they find and are told. 

I don't want to spoil too much of the book for anyone who hasn't read it, but, this may sound negative, I didn't find the book as enjoyable as Divergent and Insurgent! I felt that Allegiant was slightly rushed and the author Veronica Roth, was dead set on the particular ending she chose. I feel that she only wanted that particular ending and nothing, not even flaws in the story, was going to change that. 

I was quite addicted to the book, I literally could not put it down, but I felt the ending could have been different. I did enjoy the dual perspective (Divergent & Insurgent had been written from Tris' point of view) whilst Allegiant was from both Tris' and Tobias' perspectives. 

For anyone who's read it, you may be asking ''Did Aveen cry reading the book?'' The answer is yes, that ending nearly destroyed my emotions! I was reading the book on Christmas Day and finished it at 11pm, subsequently by throwing the book against the wall (that's why it looks a little battered above) and crying my eyes out for a few hours afterwards. 

I wouldn't deter anyone from reading the trilogy, they're truly excellent books which are good for escapism whenever your own world is slightly tedious. I'd definitely recommend the trilogy to anyone who loves dystopian fantasy books such as The Hunger Games and Noughts & Crosses to name a few. 

On another note, I just uploaded a new YouTube video called ''How To Deal With Negative People'' This video is something different on my channel as I usually post somewhat comedic videos, so I would love to know your reaction and how you thought the video was. 

Stay Strong, Happy & Fearless!
Aveen xx

“This moment will just be another story someday.”

Hey Everyone!

So it's nearly the end of the first full week of 2014! *Accidentally types 2013* I had a very relaxing week as I'm not back in school yet (that's tomorrow, sadly) The week is a bit of a blur in reality, but has been quite enjoyable. 

The title of this blog post is from the book ''The perks of being a wallflower'' by Stephen Chbosky which I got for Christmas. I read the book all this week, I'd definitely recommend it, I cried reading the end of the book. Overall it was brilliant and I'm looking forward to watching the film soon. I didn't want to be too cheesy and use the quote ''And in that moment, I swear we were infinite'' as I feel it's extremely overused sadly.

I watched Sherlock on Sunday evening and I even made a YouTube video about my reaction to Season 3 episode one (link is here, if you're brave) as I'm a huge Sherlockian! I thoroughly enjoyed the episode, it was perfection! 

On another note, I received a DM on Twitter from a lovely girl (who I won't name) who heard me speaking at the public speaking competition I was in about mental health and related to some of the things I said, as soon as I read the DM, I started crying! She also has read my blog (HELLO!) and said that my blog was inspiring. I'm not posting this to brag I promise, I was just so shocked that a person listened & related to what I said/have written on my blog, it really took me by surprise. Thank you. I always find other people inspiring and always wanted to inspire people, I never thought anyone in the world actually took me seriously, ever. 

On Saturday, I went to badminton for the first time this year and afterwards had a Sherlock marathon with my friend Vivien! We eventually took out FredOrGeorge (my tripod) and posed with Harry Styles! We had a great afternoon watching Sherlock and posing with Harry Styles. 

During the Christmas sales I also bought some things online which finally arrived on Thursday & Friday! (Photos are below) I haven't worn/used all the clothes and bag yet but I'm looking forward to! 

Sorry for the brevity of this blog post, I can't seem to write a lot at the moment no matter how hard I try. Hopefully when I'm back in school I'll be in the frame of mind to be able to write more! It could also be the fact that I'm watching the Dan and Phil show online *drools over Dan* and that Sherlock is on in 45 minutes... 

Myself and Vivien posing with Harry!

FOOOD! 

I think someone has their eye on Harry *coughs awkwardly*

My reactions to Allegiant...

*end of the book* 

Some of the things I ordered on the Roxy site, I bought the hoody in one of the clothes shops in town (Half price sale wahey) and the top online

I also bought a Hollister top and hoodie (don't judge me, it was free shipping!)

The lovely bag I bought on the Roxy site, I literally can't wait to use it! 

Ps. I bought these items with my own money.Hollister and Roxy did not pay me or anything, this is just me fangirling over Christmas sales!) :) 

So that's it from me!

Tomorrow I'll be braving the school corridors again for the first time in like 3 weeks :( 

I call it peasant fighting but oh well

too late to take that back 

oh well

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!

Aveen xx

#ChristmasBloggers: What I Got For Christmas 2013!

Hey Everyone!

So it's been three days since Christmas! Well I guess time flies when you're having fun. I had a really good Christmas and got to spend lots of quality time with all my family.I won't bore you all too much with presents I received or anything but I did take some photos and I even did an OOTD! 

I had a Christmas Eve OOTD, however my laptops battery died (I've ordered another battery so I'm just waiting for it to arrive) so in the meantime I'm using my brother's laptop as he's home for Christmas from university. He's just playing Xbox games and watching some box sets so I can use the laptop pretty much whenever I want, THANK YOU SIBLING. My Christmas Eve OOTD photo's were saved to my own laptop so I won't be able to post them for a while, oops. 

Do not fear however, I have practically all my photos from Christmas Day onwards! Here is a selection of photos I feel represent some aspects of Christmas, which I spent either reading Allegiant (if you have read it you will understand why I was crying for hours) I watched both seasons of Sherlock in preparation for New Year's Day and I also watched the Doctor Who Christmas Special (at which I cried at too) Don't worry, I didn't spend my entire Christmas crying at fandoms, I visited my family, aunts, uncles and cousins on Christmas morning. We have a tradition that all my Mam's side of the family goes to one of my aunts & uncle's house and we all chat and socialise for an hour or so until we all go home to our own houses. You might think that sounds strange but it's what we've always done, my Mam comes from a large family so it wouldn't be possible for all of us to be together for all of Christmas, same with my Dad's family. 

But I visit my Nana (on Dad's side, yeah my family is kind of confusing cos there's so many people!)on Christmas Eve before we go to Christmas Eve mass. My Nana is nearly 92 so we always have interesting conversations with her but I do feel guilty when I don't get to visit her often. 

On Christmas morning I was woken up by my Mam's alarm at 6 am (she set one to put the turkey into the oven, I wish I was joking) and I couldn't get back asleep so I went to look at what presents I'd been given (Disclaimer, I am in no way trying to 'brag' about the presents I received, I'm so completely grateful and thankful that my family and friends gave me such lovely thoughtful presents) I was delighted with the presents I got, I must be so predictable, every gift was perfect! 

I got a new pair of Vans, the Sherlock season one and season two box set, Allegiant, Perks of Being A Wallflower, the two final The Mortal Instruments books, cute dainty tins of Nivea and Vaseline with actual tins of Vaseline or Nivea lip balm inside (I have an obsession with cute tins) and all sorts of lovely quirky gifts (including a lovely Christmas themed onesie) 

A photo of my new Vans! 

My Mam found this socks and bought them ''ironically'' for me, she knows me too well!

A random photo of my outfit from Christmas Day

Why hello there! I didn't have enough time to take out my tripod so here's my random selfies!

Clips: Penneys/Primark

Necklace given to me by my brilliant godmother for Christmas (thank you Rebecca!) 

Necklace: Forever 21

Jumper: Penneys/Primark

Top with collar: Penneys

Necklace: Forever 21

Vans: Vans store

Vans :)

I love the collar on this top :) 

A blurry photo with... IS THAT HARRY STYLES! (more deets below!)

Bought this gorgeous Roxy hoodie on a sale in town. I also bought some things from the Roxy website and the Hollister website, when they arrive they'll be featured in a future blog post!

My new phone cover, I love it!

The third book of the Divergent series *cries as I read it on Christmas Day*

The Sherlock series 1 & 2 box set, I watched all 6 episodes in a day and a half, it was beautiful, bring on New Years Day for season 3! 

The Giorgio Armani perfume my godmother got me, it smells delicious! 

A cute little tin with a lamb on it (I love lambs) 

I finally admitted to my parents that 1D  are my guilty pleasure and I got a calendar(calendars are my life)

Some of the books I got, excluding Allegiant and '''Switched'' by Amanda Hocking, which is SIGNED! :D Also seen here is my 1D album. 

I also got a HARRY Styles cardboard cut-out,so far he's been my favourite present as I place him in random places around the house and everyone (in particular my Mam) gets scared and terrified by him! Priceless!

Sadly I didn't get the chocolate fountain for Christmas, this was at my Aunt & Uncle's house with marshmallows you could dip, needless to say, my cousins and I all hung out here most of the time!

I did get other things for Christmas as well, (An awful lot of chocolate, which I decided not to post as I didn't want the entire world to see what will have gone through my digestive system in the next few days :D)

I also got a cute pencil case and stationery from Paperchase and a CHOCOLATE RECIPE BOOK aah, from which I've already made some recipes (hot chocolate which I posted on Instagram) 

I'd like to repeat that I'm not bragging about what I got, this was requested and is also part of the Christmas Bloggers Series. This blog post marks the end of the Christmas Bloggers series, I had a brilliant time participating and a huge thank you to Jane for organising the series! 

That's it from me, I hope you enjoyed reading this post and my other Christmas themed posts! A HUGE thank you to my parents, brother, friends and family for their simply AMAZING gifts, you are all far too kind and generous!

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless! 

Majestical summer adventures.....!!!

Hey Everyone! 

Long time no update! (6 days, the HORROR!) I definitely think ''The Quickening'' is upon us. Seems like only yesterday I was typing about sitting in the garden getting a tan and sobbing over Allegiant! So, now it's time to tell all you lovely people about the past week! 

So I was up to my usual activities this week, being the typical procrastinating perfectionist I am. On Monday I went to my friends house to sing songs and rehearse for a competition we had coming up. We were meant to be singing ''Some Nights'' by Fun, which i really enjoyed. To rehearse I had to leave work on time at 5 instead of doing overtime as usual. On Thursday I received a text saying ''Practice cancelled, call me when you can'' I discovered that the competition we were entering was CANCELLED. All our hard work was for nothing. Being honest, i was actually kind of relieved. I was terrified about singing on stage, I even had some solo lines, which I was terrified about. The girls found it strange that I could speak aloud with confidence but would only sing loudly if coaxed to. To be honest, I use my voice to speak, to make a point, debate and for knowledge. Never for singing! So it was something different and slightly terrifying for me.

 I was working for the majority of the week which was fine. On Wednesday, I had the day off so I went to get my hair cut, seeing as I haven't had it cut since I went to London in March! The hairdresser was great, as always and cut nearly 2 inches off my hair! The most I've ever had cut off, like ever! (Before and after photos posted below!) but I was happy she cut off so much, the ends were becoming a little raggy. I actually have quite thick hair so she had to thin my hair out a little too. I was happy with the result, she even french plaited the fringe section for me. 

I had Saturday off from work so I went shopping in a shopping centre in Dublin with my parents, it was really good, especially because I was using my own money which I felt extremely proud of! (Sorry bank account) I'll be posting another update about what I bought and did that day for all you fashionista's! 

So today is Sunday, I got up late and went down the town with my Mam. I bought myself a new book too, it's written by an author I quite like, Sophie Kinsella. The book is called ''I've got your number'' I've read her Shopaholic series which I simply devoured! So I'm excited to be reading her latest book, she always make me laugh! I visited my Nana today too, she's 91 and absolutely adorable. To be honest, she was asleep the majority of the time I was there so I went on Facebook and chatted to my aunt too. (Grace and I had a very interesting conversation on FB while I was there!) I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 92! ;) 

As I'm constantly on the internet, I was on YouTube and saw a youtuber I like called Alex Day had uploaded a video called ''Big girls in costumes'' I watched the entire video and to be honest, I know he was using satire, I was kind of offended. I'm not the skinniest girl or the fattest girl ever but I felt a little upset that in this day and age people still say comments and judge people based on their weight. This video has caused such outrage on YouTube, Alex had to make it unlisted and wrote a full explanation on Tumblr about it. Still, I'm offended from it. I take jokes quite easily and love a laugh (in work I'm called the posh kid and I find it hilarious and speak in a posh accent for the craic too) but weight is a sensitive topic in this day and age, with rising numbers of teenage girls (and boys) being diagnosed with anorexia and other illnesses along with all the body bashing our generation does to each other, it was a bad topic to be satirical about. I was a little disappointed and I thought of the video constantly on Saturday when I was buying a dress to wear to my cousins wedding, seeing as I might be ''too big'' for certain styles according to others. 
 * I felt that that kind of needed to be addressed as it's something I've been thinking of constantly since I first watched it.

Playlist for this blog
Muse ~ Undisclosed Desires
The Killers ~ Mr Brightside
Macklemore ~ Can't Hold Us
Daft Punk ~ Get Lucky (stuck in my head at the moment!)
Robin Thicke ~ Blurred Lines
Fall Out Boy ~ Thanks For The Memories

Some photos from my week!

An awkward selfie I posted on Instagram and got 32 likes? 

New haircut! (After)

 

The new book I bought, review soon!

My new lock screen. I chose it because I always laugh when I see it

A quote I saw during the week and thought it was beautful

I was in Starbucks and thought this was hilarious. Oh Beliebers..

Another book I was reading earlier in the week. I've read it so many times, it's become practically torn.. :(

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless,

Aveen xx

Don't let anyone get you down about yourself, it's not worth it. If someone judges you, it doesn't define you, it defines who they are. 

Here Comes The Sun ! (Doo doo doo doo!)

Hey Everyone! Another week has come and gone! Time is flying by so far this Summer. The weather (speaking about the weather like a true Irish person) was exceptional this week, I was working for a few days but the days I wasn't, I was out basking in the sunshine. 

I'm sitting inside my room with all the windows open and as I type, I keep staring at my arms, I was outside on a sun lounger for a couple of hours and, being me, forgot to apply sun block. Good going Aveen. However, I'm not like the stereotypical Irish person, I actually tan, I rarely burn! I still felt very stupid wearing no sun block though, especially as I had a melanoma scare a couple of months ago, (it was only an infected scar but still, it caused great concern) So my arms are actually brown at the moment, and look quite dark in contrast to my turquoise duvet cover. 

I was mainly outside re-reading Insurgent by Veronica Roth and listening to the album 'Red' by Taylor Swift. Once I finished re-reading Insurgent and cried because Allegiant isn't being released until October, I came back inside to re-hydrate myself and begin this blog post, woohoo. 

Being honest, I didn't do very many interesting things at all this week. I was in work most days, I was off Wednesday so I went to a friends house and we all sang songs on the patio in the warm sunshine. I had a little bet with them too, three of them put on sun block, but I didn't, we all wanted to see if I would tan or burn sitting outside in sunlight for a couple of hours (my poor skin, I am so sorry) and I DIDN'T BURN. Such an amazing achievement (not) 

On Saturday & today I spent a lot of time outside. I've developed a love for Fall Out Boy too, their songs are amazing, Patrick Stump's vocal range is so wide, I'm so envious (says the one who can barely sing) I've also been on Tumblr a lot this week, I even changed my URL to awkward-aveen, because, well, I'm awkward. (I updated the link on the right hand side too, don't worry) (Aveen, who would worry over something like that?) No one. :)

This week will hopefully be a little more interesting, I'm getting my hair cut on Wednesday so I'll post a before and after photo for you all, along with my other adventures (should I actually have any!) 

Playlist:
Fall Out Boy ~ Young Volcanoes 
Bruno Mars ~ When I was Your Man
Fall Out Boy ~ My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark
Paramore ~ Now
Daft Punk ~ Get Lucky (Ugh, it's stuck in my head, I heard it 5 times in the one day this week when I was in work, I started singing along which was embarrassing) 

Ways to procrastinate writing an update.. (This was yesterday btw)

My afternoon, sunglasses, Insurgent and my watch (didn't want to get white lines you know!)

Gazebo :)

My random view of the sky 

My tan? I've no life sorry guys. x x

Reading Insurgent ..

I kept taking photos to see if my skin was burning, something I'm intensely fearful of..

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!
Aveen xx

Ps. I hope the weather is wonderful wherever you are! x