Life update-Big changes

Saying goodbye is the hardest thing in life in my opinion. And in the past couple of weeks I said goodbye a lot. Not a lot of you know, but I was a competitive figure skater for 16 years. Since I was 3 years old my life was skating. And last week I made my decision to quit. Everyone was surprised and it was very emotional. It was probably the hardest decision of my life or at least I hope so. It hurts a lot and I never thought it will be hard or painful to look at my skates. But it's okay, because no decision in my life has seemed so right before and I could say goodbye the way not a lot of people do. We celebrated this 16 years on the ice instead of being really sad about it. And I know that the people, who I got to meet through skating will always be there for me, because we became a family and me quitting cannot change that. I got so much love during these past couple of days, that I feel overwhelmed all the time.
Another thing, what happened was, I got my certificate about my final exam and I never thought this day would come. Although I haven't been going to school daily since a month, this was the week I finally felt that it's over.  I know I haven't been the most popular and social person in high school, but towards the end I finally felt like I grew up to the task and I was able to participate in almost everything.
Altogether big changes happened in my life recently and I really wanted to share this life-update with you, because I am so grateful for each and everyone of you for reading my blog, because right now it gives me so much strength and energy. And I always need a project to focus on. For now its my blog and summer. By the way I never before had a free summer before, where I could just do what I wanted, so please tell me in the comments the things you like to do and maybe I can get some ideas.
I am sure that these were very big changes, but I am so excited for what is coming.
Until next time,
Bianka

My Top 5 Favorite Series

Hello Everyone, I am here to share my top five favorite book series. It was a really hard decision, but I narrowed my list down to 5 and I am very happy with how it turned out. So keep reading if you are curious. By the way, these are all completed series, because I feel like I cannot decide about a series if it hasn't finished yet.
5. The Selection series by Kiera Cass - I knew that I want to see this series on my top five list although The Crown wasn't my favorite, I absolutely love the first three books.
4. The Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella - A series about a woman, who cannot stop shopping and gets into all kinds of funny and sometimes awkward adventures?! Yes, please! This is one of those series, where you will laugh and will be able to relate to a the characters.
3. The Precious Stone trilogy by Kerstin Gier - I just cannot stop re-reading this series, because it is so cool with all the adventures and time-traveling. Plus, I love Gideon, but who doesn't? And plus the first two books were already made into a movie and the third one is coming out in less than two weeks. The only problem with it is that it will be a while until we can see it in English....
2. The Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter- I recently did a review about this series, if interested go check it out: https://booksdreamsandlifestyle.blogspot.hu/2016/05/gallagher-girls-series-review.html No need too say how much I love this series, not just because it's about a bunch of spies, but because it has mostly strong female characters and it's very rare to see that in books.
1. Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan - I never thought I will enjoy books, written from a 12 year olds point of view at 19 years old, but I did. Plus, I learned so much about Greek-mythology from these books, so I definitely recommend it.
These were my favorite series at the moment, but it always changes, so I will update this list every once in a while. What are your favorite series, or if you have read any of the series above, did you like them?
Until next time,
B

Me before you movie review

Hey Everyone, today I have a movie review for you, because I just saw the Me before you movie. and also this week I finished all of my exams so it's officially summer for me, so I hope I can read more, because June wan't my best reading-month.
Anyway, I liked the movie, but it wasn't as heart wrenching as the book was. Don't get me wrong, I was still crying, but not as much as I cried reading the book. Sam Claflin was one of my favorite actors since the Hunger Games-movies, so I got excited, when I saw that he is going to play Will. And he was a perfect Will in my opinion. It couldn't be easy to play a character, who can barely move his body, but he managed it. I haven't seen Emilia Clarke act, I have only seen a couple of interviews with her on TV and those interviews were really funny and I thought she kind of has a similar personality like Louisa has, so I was excited to see her act. And I was not disappointed, because she was great for the role of Louisa Clark. I think that in the book the family had a bigger role, but in the movie the focus was on Lou and Will and their relationship, but I would have liked to see a bit more of the family dynamics, which I loved so much in the book.
The scene on the beach wasn't as painful in my opinion in the movie as in the book, but the Switzerland scene was just as heart-wrenching. There were also a couple of changes in the movie, but it wasn't disturbing, it just made the story go on more smoothly.
Altogether I think it was a great movie and if you love these type of movies, just go ahead and watch it, you'll love it. I have a full book review up on the blog, about Me before you by Jojo Moyes, if you're interested: https://booksdreamsandlifestyle.blogspot.hu/2016/04/hi-i-just-finished-this-amazing-book.html
Also I have to mention that the director of this movie Thea Sharrock is going to direct the Selection movie, which is based on a book by Kiera Cass. After watching this movie, I can't wait to see the Selction movie.
What did you think about the movie if you have seen it? Are you excited about the Selection movie?Please share your opinion in the comment, because I am really curious.
Until next time,
B

Salt to the sea by Ruta Sepetys

Okay, I had this fear of ships already, before reading this book, but now I hate them even more. I don't think I will ever be able to go to a cruise ever again in my life. Everyone knows about the Titanic in my opinion, but the story of the Wilhelm Gustloff is just a hundred- times more heart wrenching.
Salt to the sea by Ruta Sepetys made me cry a lot and making me cry over a book is not easy. I expected this book to be more about the shipwreck, but in reality it is really about the people in this book running for their lives into safety, because no one really protects them in the war anymore. It takes place at the end of WWII. Germany is falling, but no one really admits it and the Russians are coming. In the center of the story there are four people, one thinks he is hero and is helping Germany, his name is Alfred. Joana is a nurse from Latvia, but she was allowed to go to Germany, because she had Germans in her family. She is wandering with a small group of people. Emilia, the Polish girl doesn't really know where she is going. Florian is running as well and tries to stay alive. He saves Emilia from a russian soldier and from that point Emilia follows him. And soon they meet the group in which Joana is and it turns out Emilia is eight months pregnant. The group pretty much goes together through the book from that point. Alfred is the one, who is in the harbor and he is preparing the ships for the people.
At firls I was afraid that, it will be disturbing to have the story told from four perspectives, but it tied together very well. The characters in this book were strong and captivating and they all had their own stories. The mutual thing to tie them together was the war and how much they have lost, because of it. They became a family on the road and they were holding on to each other. It's really interesting, that these people wouldn't have met if there wasn't a war. This is the example of, how something good can come out of something so wrong and tragic. Besides the four main characters there were so many other interesting people in this book, the Shoe Poet, who always talks about shoes, a little boy who joins the group one day from the woods, because his grandma didn't woke up.
The part when the ship sank was for me scarier than it was the Titanic movie. And that was on a screen and we saw the water and the ship sinking. But here it is told from peoples perspectives and it is also described, but you see the picture through emotions of people . And that made it so much different and so much more realistic in my opinion.
Lately I have read a lot of YA historical fiction and compared to this one, they were a little bit holding back on the shocking side of the war. This book just made me cry and feel thousands of emotions and it never let me down, because even if I only had time to read one or two pages, something always happened on those two pages.
If you haven't read this book, what are you waiting for?! And if you have read this book, what did you think of it? Please tell me in the comment below.
Until next time,
Bianka

Winter girls by Laurie Halse Anderson book review (World Eating Disorder Action Day post)

I just re-read Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, because it just makes me think about so many things every time I read it. And June 2nd was World Eating Disorders Action Day, so I thought why not post this review. This  is a story about two girls, who are having eating disorders. One of them has anorexia and the other has bulimia. This book might be triggering at some points, but it really shows, what it's like to live with an eating disorder. At the same time it is about friendship, family, love and overcoming mental-illness as well as eating disorder. It is about the time, when you are not dead yet, but not alive either.

The story is told from Lia's point of view, she is the girl with anorexia and her best friend Cassie, the girl with bulimia just died in a motel room and Lia wasn't answering the phone, when Cassie called her. So Lia has to deal with the fact that her best friend died, but it is still not a wake-up call for her. It is perfectly clear that she is hungry, but she doesn't want to eat. Eating is something she can control and as she says in the book "empty is good, empty is pure". Everyone around her thinks that she is finally getting better, but in reality she is just really good in pretending. She is seeing Cassie's "ghost" and she wants her to join. Throughout the book we get to read about Lia's and Cassie's friendship and honestly it was a toxic friendship. Cassie started to throw up and then Lia kind of "followed" her into it, except she just started not eating. They promised each other they will be the skinniest girls in school, they kind of started to compete with each other.
I read this book a million times and I read it from two perspectives: the first couple of times I read it, when I couldn't imagine not eating for a day or two and I couldn't imagine, how could I not eat, when I am hungry. Recently I read it and now I fully understand this book and Lia's character. Some of those thing Lia feels, I feel too.  That is what makes this so realistic.
At the end I think this book is mainly about Lia, finally getting a wake-up call and finally being able to stand up. And it really shows that even though she wants to get help, she wasn't ready or wasn't strong enough to get better until this time. And that is what matters at the end.
This story is so captivating, because it shows a world which not a lot of people know, although it would be important to talk about these types of problems. Some people don't go and get help, because they feel ashamed and at the end that may lead to tragedies. If you're fighting with any kind of eating disorder stay strong and know that you're not alone and take one step at a time.
I hope you liked this post and if you have read this book, tell me in the comment if you have liked it or not and please write some book recommendations for my summer TBR, because I have no idea, what to read.
Until next time,
 Bianka