Holiday AdventureAThon: What I’m Reading

 

Hey guys! I didn’t join the readathon until a bit after I was supposed to, but I still picked out a 7 book TBR and I’m gonna give it my best shot to get through them all! If you don’t know about the Holiday AdventureAThon, here is the post: Holiday AdventureAThon

I’ll be reading for Team Holiday Snowman, incase anybody was wondering! So here is my TBR based on the prompts.

Presents: A book you got as a gift: The Magician’s Nephew by C.S Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia)

My mom bought me the set years ago and I have yet to read them. Oops. This is my chance!!

Santa: A book with red on the cover: Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

I actually finished this book and this challenge yesterday, and the book was soooooo good!! I loved it. Can’t wait to read the next one. Although I fear that they are going to add a love triangle, which always, always gets me worked up.

Wonder: A book based on a holiday: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Okay, so I have a serious lack of holiday books on my shelves!! I have been told that this one does happen around Christmas so I’ve decided it counts…. If I decide I can justify going to the bookstore to get myself in the holiday spirit, I’m going to buy A Christmas Carol and swap these out. Not sure if that is going to happen though, so for now, this counts in my eyes!

Candles: Read a book by candlelight:  The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell

I feel like candlelight will give me the perfect atmosphere to read this book. I know, I know, it looks more like a Halloween book than a Christmas book, but I’ll be reading it next to a Christmas candle!

Nice: Read a book that a friend or family member recommended to you: The Merciless by Danielle Vega

I am kind of unsure about this one, but my brother loves it and really thought I should read it, so I got it off of Book Outlet for like 3 dollars, and it will work perfectly for this prompt.

Jack Frost: Read a book with the word “snow” on the cover: Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle

Ta da! The one and only holiday book I could find on my shelf. Which I own only because… John Green.

Snowman: Read a Historical Fiction Book: Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

Started this one last night.. So far so good. 🙂

Let me know if you are doing any readathons for the holidays and what you’re reading!

 

 

 

The Christmas Song Book Tag

Hey guys! Haileyinbookland made this tag on Youtube, and I decided it would be fun to do the tag here!

You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch : A villainous character that you couldn’t help but love:

For this one, I chose Catherine from Heartless! I knew going into the book that she was the Queen of Hearts, but I couldn’t not love her!

All I Want For Christmas is You: A book that you would like to see under the Christmas tree:

I really, really want to read A Darker Shade of Magic, but I don’t have a copy and it’s kind of expensive! Also, my bookstore was sold out except for one 30 dollar copy which I couldn’t justify that day. I would also really like to start collecting the illustrated versions of Harry Potter. 🙂

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: A character who overcomes some obstacles and comes to believe in themselves.

At the beginning of ACOTAR, Feyre really doesn’t believe in herself at all, but by the last of the 3 books out, she definitely starts to.

Santa Clause is Coming to Town: A character that would be on the naughty list and a character that would be on the nice list:

Have I ever done a tag without including Looking for Alaska in one way or another? Probably not, so why start here? Alaska goes on the naughty list.

I’d say Lara Jean was pretty well behaved… Her only mishap being kissing in a hot tub, I think she deserves to be on the nice list.

Frosty the Snowman: A book that melts your heart:

All the relationships in this book melted my heart. I loved this book so much.

Feliz Navidad: A book that is set in a country other than yours:

Outlander, set in Scotland. I love it, it makes me want to go to Scotland.

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Which book do you use to spread the Christmas cheer?

I haven’t read a lot of Christmas books, but when I think Christmas book, this is what I think of.

Sleigh Ride: A fictional character that you would like to spend the holidays with:

I will always want to be friends with Hermione Granger

Baby It’s Cold Outside: Which book would you sacrifice to fire to keep yourself warm?

I thought this book looked so good from the snippet I read in the bookstore, but I got more than half through and DNF’d it, which I very rarely do.

Do You Hear What I Hear? A book you want everyone to read:

I love this book and it is so relatable for me.

Where Are You Christmas? A book that you want immediately but it isn’t out yet:

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas, out in May 2018! The cover isn’t released yet, but I cannot wait for the book!! It will immediately go to the top of my TBR.

Last Christmas: A book that you started off loving but ended up not liking very much:

I loved it and then I didn’t.

Blue Christmas: A book that made you cry:

I bawled the whole book, almost.

A Marshmallow World: A fluffy book:

I had a hard time thinking of a fluffy book, so even though some parts of this were kinda deep and then very end was a little messed up, the romance was fluffy in my opinion.

If anybody wants to do this tag, let me know and I’d love to read it!!

I’m going to tag confessionsofayareader, cupofbooksblog, bionicbookworm and dragonwaffles

What I Lost by Alexandra Ballard: Review

Title: What I Lost

Author: Alexandra Ballard

Pages: 400 (Hardcover)

Rating: 5/5 Stars

What I Lost was by far one of my favorite reads this year. It follows a 16-year-old girl named Elizabeth who suffers from Anorexia and as a result, is admitted to an inpatient care center for eating disorders. The story shows her struggle to cope with her disorder, bonding with the other girls in the center, and eventually on her way to recovery. There is a lot of accurate information about the medical problems that can come about from eating disorders such as Osteoporosis and other bone problems, loss of periods, unusual growth of hair called Lanugo, etc. I have never personally suffered from any sort of eating disorder, so I can’t speak for the accuracy of the representation, but I have heard from people who have gone through it that the book was relatable to their own experiences. If you suffer from any eating disorders, just know that there is a lot of content that may be triggering including anxiety about eating, calorie counting, and talk of weights and sizes.
I really liked that this book was focused on recovery. So many mental health books end as soon as the characters are getting help, but this book begins as soon as Elizabeth goes for help. I feel like I learned a lot of things that I did not know in regards to eating disorders, which I am glad about.
I do wish that the ending would have given information about what happened to the other girls at Wallingfield. An epilogue would have been nice to end the book and show the reader how everybody is doing a few years later.
Overall, I loved this book and I highly recommend it.

My Name in TBR Books Tag

Hello everyone!
In this tag, I have to take the letters of my name and find books that I want to read that start with those letters. So without further ado, let’s get started! Also, if a book starts with “the” I’m going to ignore that the and use the next word. Because this is actually a lot harder than I thought it would be!

K-  The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

I have actually never read a Patrick Ness book before, but Peruse Project likes this book, so I think I will too! To be honest, it’s not at the top of my TBR and there are books of his I would rather get to first, unless I stumble across this one cheap on book outlet or something!

Y-  You Are Here by Jenny Lawson

I actually am really excited to read this one! I absolutely loved her book Furiously Happy. Jenny Lawson is hilarious in a sad and relatable way and her writing is so unique.

L- Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

When I first heard people talking about this book I thought it was probably just a silly YA with no real depth. Don’t get me wrong, I do sometimes like reading books like that to get me out of a slump. After reading the description of this one, it actually sounds a lot more powerful than the pretty cover would have me believe.

I- It by Stephen King

I have read a good amount of this book already, but I was reading it when I was trying to move to a different apartment a few years ago and I just set it down and never picked it back up. I do know I want to read it all over again before I ever see the movie though!

E-  An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

There I go again cheating with the books that actually start with an article (an). But it was the only E book on my TBR! Everyone swears that this book is nothing like ACOTAR, and I’m hoping that is true. I loved ACOTAR and I don’t take kindly to books that are too similar to my favorites! (COUGH COUGH, Eliza and Her Monsters vs TFIOS)

Let me know if you have read any of these books or if you’ve done this tag. I would love to check it out and know what you think about any of the books I mentioned!

 

The Young Elites Review

Title: The Young Elites

Author: Marie Lu

Pages: 355

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

The Young Elites is about a girl named Adelina Amouteru who was affected by a fever that plagued the nation. A lot of the people who got sick died, but the ones who didn’t die were left with markings and some of them were also left with powers. The society hates these powerful survivors and aims to destroy them. Adelina was one of the many who was given powers after the fever. When Adelina accidentally uses and reveals her powers, she is hunted by a leader of the “Inquisition Axis” (Which is basically the government in Kenettra, where the book takes place). Through this hunt, she finds a group of other people with powers from the fever and they group together to try to stop the Inquisition Axis from trying to kill people like them.

This book was awesome! I loved Adelina and I thought it was an interesting twist for Marie Lu to make her somewhat evil. Adelina borders on good and bad and it’s hard to say at some points whether she is a hero or a villain. Even at her villainous moments, I was rooting for her. Enzo was my favorite character in the book, his power was super cool and sometimes a bit disturbing. I liked the relationship between his character and Adelina. I’m a reader who never gets sick of seeing romance in my books.

Marie Lu’s writing style always grabs me so I can’t stop reading and I love it! I don’t feel like there is a lot more I can say without giving away some of the twists and turns, but I would definitely recommend reading this! I think if you liked her Legend series, you will like this one as well. They’re completely different but they are both action-packed with similar writing style and easy to get through quickly.

 

 

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!! I’ll try to keep the details minimal incase someone accidentally happens across this.

 

What do you guys think of the ending with Enzo? I think he’ll be back in the next books, especially after reading the epilogue. I don’t have the second book yet, but I’m definitely going to go pick it up ASAP.

Let me know if you’ve read The Young Elites and what you thought of it. If you haven’t read it, does it sound like something you would be interested in or not really?

November Book Haul

I was struggling to think of 10 book settings that I would like to visit for Top Ten Tuesday. (Most book settings are pretty dangerous, and I’d rather just read it from the safety of my own couch!!)  So instead of that, I decided to do my November book haul before we get too far into December.

1 The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Mass

This is a prequel of novellas to the Throne of Glass series. I haven’t read the series yet, so I thought I would pick this up and get going with Throne of Glass.

2 Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Following suit of the last book, I got Throne of Glass! I loved ACOTAR so much and I’m hoping I’m not disappointed by this series! I don’t know much about it other than that it follows a female assassin which sounds awesome to me.

3 Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

I read Fangirl a few years back and I only realized this year that Carry On is basically the story that Cath writes fanfiction of! So I’m pretty excited to give this one a shot.

4. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

This is the second book in the Shadow and Bone trilogy. I read the first book last month and I LOVED it.

5. Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Of course if I read the 2nd book I’m going to need the 3rd and final book!

6. Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

This book is about 3 sisters who are in line to the throne, but in order to get the throne, one must kill the other 2. I’ve heard this has a slow start but I’m super excited to read it.

7. The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell

I don’t normally love Middle Grade novels as much as I hope to, but I have big expectations for this one! The illustrations are really cool and a bit dark. This book is all about magic and fantasy and adventure and it sounds like a good time.

 

Let me know if you’ve read any of the books that I picked up this past month and which ones I should put at the top of my TBR!

 

Down the TBR Hole #3

If you didn’t see my last Down the TBR Hole post, this post was created by Lost In A Story. I’m sure everybody can relate to the TBR getting a little out of control. In this post, I will go through the last 5-10 books on my Goodreads TBR and decide if I still have any interest in these books or if they can go.

Here we gooooo!

1 Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

I really, really want to finish some classics this year, so I’m going to keep this one! I have a hard time getting into classics so I really hope I can learn to love them.

Verdict: Keep

2 The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

I’ve had this book on my shelf for years and it keeps getting buried under all of the other books I buy. Since the author is just coming out with a spinoff sort of book, I think it’s time I get to this one.

Verdict: Keep

3 Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

I still think this book looks good, but I can’t see myself getting to it any time soon.

Verdict: Go

4 Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

I’ve been wanting to get to this one since I finished The Girl on the Train in February!! I’m so behind on my TBR, but I still want to read this one.

Verdict: Keep

5 The Day We Met by Rowan Coleman

This sounds like it is about a woman who gets dementia, I believe. Although I loved, loved Still Alice, I don’t really think this sounds like something I want to read right now.

Verdict: Go

 

If I have removed any books that anyone thinks I should give a shot, please let me know and I’ll add them back!! 🙂 Let me know what is on your TBR and what you think you may want to pass on that you once thought you wanted to read.

Eliza and Her Monsters (Unpopular Opinion)

Title: Eliza and Her Monsters

Author: Francesca Zappia

Rating: 2/5

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Let me start by saying I am so bummed that I didn’t love this book. Normally I really enjoy super hyped up books, and this one started out great for me, but let me tell you what changed my mind.

I was nearly half done with the book and loving it, when I ran into a page that reminded me almost exactly of a part from The Fault in Our Stars. I stopped reading and went to the internet to find out if maybe the book was inspired by TFIOS or something to make this resemblance make sense. No inspirational credit was given to John Green anywhere that I could find, and from here on out, I was disappointed in the book. In Eliza and Her Monsters, Eliza loves this book series called the Children of Hypnos. There are 4 books in the series and the 4th book ends abruptly, making room for a 5th, but the author became a recluse and never wrote the 5th book. Nobody knows what happened to the author for sure. Eliza has her love interest, Wallace, read these books. When he gets to the end of the 4th he gets really worked up and suggests they should write a letter to the author and find out what happens. Nearly the exact same thing happens in TFIOS. Hazel Grace in The Fault in Our Stars is obsessed with a book called an Imperial Affliction. The book ends in the middle of a sentence and the author became a recluse and never wrote another book or answered fan mail. When Hazel Grace’s love interest, Augustus Waters, reads the book he gets really upset and insists they write the author a letter. Hmmm. This may not have felt like such an issue to me if John Green were not my all-time favorite author and if TFIOS was not one of my all-time favorite books. But he is, and it is and I thought Eliza and Her Monsters was great until I came across that and wondered how much of it is original. Closer to the end of the book, there was a quote; “This is a roller coaster that only goes down.”  Obviously this reminds me an awful lot of the quote from TFIOS; “I’m on a roller coaster that only goes up.”

Another problem that I had with the book was that the characters are so selfish. Eliza is so wrapped up in herself and her computer that she doesn’t know a thing about her 2 little brothers, nor does she spend any time whatsoever with them and her parents if it can be helped. Eliza takes her parents for granted even after she meets Wallace and he later informs her that his father drove himself off a cliff, Wellhouse Turn, right in front of Wallace. She gets so pissed off at her parents for revealing her identity as the writer of the wildly popular comic “Monstrous Sea”, when they had NO IDEA how big it was and why she didn’t want everyone knowing she wrote it. Of course the would have known if she would have gotten off of her computer long enough to tell them. Lastly, she plans to commit suicide on the very cliff where Wallace’s father killed himself after she and Wallace got into a fight. I understand feeling hopeless and wishing to die, but if that is how it had to be, she shouldn’t have even thought about doing it there. I can’t imagine the guilt that Wallace would have felt for the rest of his life and how much harder it would have been for him to drive past Wellhouse Turn after not one, but two people he cared about died there. Having ranted so much about Eliza, I must say Wallace was no saint either. When Eliza couldn’t push through her anxiety and self hatred to finish Monstrous Sea so that Wallace could get a book deal transcribing it, he threw a fit and wouldn’t talk to her. I would be upset if I were him too, but he knew she was going through a rough time, and he also knew what depression and anxiety can be like, and he still left her feeling alone.

Alas, there are things that I did like about the book!! I thought the author’s writing was very good. I appreciated the portrayal of mental illness. I felt like the differences between Eliza’s and Wallace’s forms of anxiety were accurate and I think it is important to show that illnesses can be different within the same category. I thought that the pressures both Eliza’s and Wallace’s family put on them about being social, getting into college, etc. were well done. Lastly, I really liked the ending. I was happy that the author didn’t opt for a sad ending and that she showed the characters trying to better themselves and heal from the pain that they endured.

Even though I didn’t love this book, I know that a lot of people rave about it, and it would definitely be worth giving it a shot if it is something that sounds interesting to you.

Top Ten Tuesday; Winter TBR

It’s Tuesday, which means another week of Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the  Bookish ! This weeks topic is top ten TBR for winter.

I’ve only just begun to stick to a solid TBR. The reason I decided to do this is because I buy SO many books that I don’t end up reading the old books I’ve bought because I have so many new ones being added to my shelf each month. So far it’s been helping a lot and I’ve found a lot of great books that I thought I may have lost interest in.

1. Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

I’m currently reading this book, so I’m planning to finish it in December. I put off reading this book for SO long because the size of the book intimidates me. (this is where the solid TBR comes in) I’m glad I finally started it because I am loving it.

2. The Young Elites by Marie Lu

I loved the Legend series, so I hope that I love this one as much.

3. Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu

Emmmabooks convinced me that I needed to read this one in her review video of it. Plus, if Amy Poehler thinks it’s a must-read, I will definitely read it.

4. Kill the Boyband by Goldy Moldavsky

My sister sent me a picture of this awhile back and we giggled and thought it seemed like an interesting idea, and then I forgot about it until I was walking through Barnes and Noble and found it on the shelf! The title interested me and I’m excited to see if it is any good.

5. What I Lost by Alexandra Ballard

This is another book that Emmmabooks got me excited about. The cover is pretty, as well.

6. Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

I heard of this book through PeruseProject on Youtube. The description sounds really interesting and different and I cannot wait to get to this one.

7. Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

I first heard of this book on Abookutopia’s channel. Do you see a theme here? I’m easily influenced by booktube!

8. Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

Look at this cover!! I’m obsessed with the cover, I’m excited to read a YA western and PeruseProject liked it, so I think I will too!

9. Children of Eden by Joey Graceffa

I picked this one up when I saw it at the bookstore just because I saw Joey Graceffa wrote it. I was not aware that he was writing novels, but I used to watch him on Youtube years ago (back when he was making Winterspringpro parody music videos). Although I haven’t watched him for a very long time, I’m happy to be able to support him by buying his book.

10. Carve The Mark by Veronica Roth

I bought this the week it came out and still haven’t gotten to it!! This is because of all the new books I buy, and again, this is where the solid TBR helps. Divergent was one of my all-time favorite series and even though Veronica Roth absolutely shattered my heart with the end of the Divergent series, I will gladly read anything she writes.

 

Let me know what you guys are planning on reading next and if you’ve read any of the books on my TBR/ what you thought of them!

 

 

November Reading Wrap Up!

Hello everybody! I got through a ton of books this month! Between audiobooks, ebooks and hard copies, I was reading something most of my spare moments this month.

Here are the books I finished this month, starting with the ones I read at the beginning of the month, to the one I finished today!

1. Turtles All The Way Down by John Green (Hardcover)

I wrote a whole review on this book, so if you’re interested in my thoughts, go check it out! I loved it, 5/5 stars.

2. Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohen & David Levithan (Ebook)

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. It was cute and I had fun reading it, but it didn’t blow my mind. I would recommend it for a fun easy read, though. Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares follows 2 teenagers, Dash and Lily, who meet through a Moleskin notebook with “dares” that Lily leaves on a bookstore shelf for someone to find and return.

3. Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow (Audiobook)

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. The book follows a girl, Charlie, who leaves a mental institution and tries to live a better life outside. I enjoyed the book, but I do want to mention trigger warnings for self harm, depression, drugs, alcoholism, and suicide. (there very well could be more triggers that I don’t remember off the top of my head!!) Girl in Pieces was definitely a dark book, but I always appreciate reading mental health books.

4. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments #2) paperback

5/5 Stars, loved this book! So glad I stopped putting it off and just read the book.

5. Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh (hardcover)

5/5 Stars! This book reminded me of Mulan! It is definitely a lot different, but if you like Mulan, I think you’ll like this book. It’s full of action and adventure and I loved it.

6. This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab (audiobook)

4/5 Stars. It took me a little while to understand the world, but once I did, I flew through this one and really enjoyed it. I have never really read any books with “monsters”. Of course I’ve read the vampire and faerie books, but in all of the books I usually read, the creatures are romanticized and not shown as a dangerous thing. I’m definitely looking forward to reading the next book in the duology.

7. History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera (Hardcover)

4.5 out of 5. This book made me cry like a baby from the first chapter to the last! I have a full review if anyone is curious!

8. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (paperback)

5/5 Stars, loved this book. First Leigh Bardugo book I’ve read, and I’m so glad I did!! I picked up the other 2 books in the trilogy earlier this month and I can’t wait to get to them!

9.  Lemony Snicket A Bad Beginning (Audiobook)

4/5 stars. I read this when I was a kid and loved it, so I decided I’d like to read them again and finish the series to see if I still like them like I used to. It’s definitely easy reading and the books are super fast to get through, but I’m enjoying them!

10. Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding (Ebook)

3/5 Stars, fun, fast and easy read! Similar to Confessions of a Shopaholic if you like those books. I also like that it is in a diary format. Different formats are always fun for me to read.

11. Lemony Snicket The Reptile Room (Audiobook)

4/5 stars These books are so dark for kids! But they are fun to read.

12. Spiderwick Chronicles Book 1 &2 The Field Guide and The Seeing Stone by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi (Audiobook)

3/5 Stars- just going to group these 2 together because they are so, so short. This is another series that I loved when I was younger, but it isn’t quite as engaging as I remember. Granted it is written for a younger age group. It is still nice to read, but I definitely preferred it when I read it the first time.

 

I’m still reading a few books, but I don’t think I’m going to get any more finished this month, so those will be included in next month’s wrap up! I’m very proud of what i finished this month, hopefully I can out do myself next month, but I can feel a reading slump coming on! 😦  Let me know what you read this month and what you think of any of the books I read.