Month: October 2014

ARC Review: Trial By Fire

Posted October 3, 2014 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

Oh god oh god this book!! Wow. Within the first chapter, I already knew I was going to love it. I was a bit nervous heading into it because I had just finished about two or three months of reading pretty much only contemporary romance. (A lot of lighter reads for the summer, ya know?) I was itching to get my hands on something a little heavier and paranormal, so this surprise book mail was delivered at exactly the right time. Lily, a girl who (in our world) is extremely sick and allergic to everything, has a seizure at a party one Friday night. She ends up being transported to a very different world that is also located in Salem, Mass. The alternate universe piece was REALLY freaking cool. Lily’s other self, Lillian, is an evil witch who has been killing her own people for some unknown reason that is supposed to help their world. The world-building in this book was just amazing. Realistically, this book was definitely an introduction to the rest of the series in terms of setting up this alternate universe. The reader slowly learned about witches, crucibles, the Woven, the Outlanders… it was so detailed and complex! Because of all of this world-building and setting the stage for the next books in the series, there was a little less action than I expected. They spent a lot of time laying low and figuring out what to do next while Lily uncovered her abilities. It was interesting, […]

Review: Pretty Little Liars series

Posted October 2, 2014 / Book Reviews / 11 Comments

Like I recently did for the Private series, I’m posting another brief review for an entire series. The FINAL book in the Pretty Little Liars series is coming out in December. In honor of the end of an important era in my reading life, I’ll debrief everyone on the series if they SOMEHOW haven’t heard of it. And no, the books are nothing like the TV show. The first few episodes were similar, but that’s where it ended. The characters’ names are the same and some of their personalities; the show’s general plotline is not the same as the books. I’m going to review all 15 books in one brief post. Well clearly something’s working for me if I’ve been religiously reading the series since I was 15 years old. This is the one series I will read the book for IMMEDIATELY when it was released…even during my “reading dark ages” in college. Luckily they always came out in June and December, so I was able to read them over school breaks. BUT I digress. This series is great. Lots of people complain that they wish it would just end already, but I’ve been eagerly awaiting each new book just as much as the previous. It’s full of twists and turns. Just when the girls think they’ve figured something out, they are surprised by something else. It’s funny reading the description for the first book with all of the knowledge I have now, because things have changed so much since that […]

Uppercase Box #1

Posted October 2, 2014 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 12 Comments

I am very excited that I just got my first UPPERCASE box in the mail yesterday!! In case you don’t know what it is or what you get, Uppercase box is a subscription service with two levels of membership. For the first level, you get an Expert Pick – this is a hand-selected book that the YA experts love and recommend. The Personalized Recommendation box, which is what I have, comes with a book selected just for YOU based on your preference quiz. The boxes are filled with: A book, either chosen specifically for your preferences OR one that is generally recommended by an expert A gift, like bookmarks, jewelry, totes, etc. (that obviously relate to books!) A personal explanation of the book choice and other similar titles Some discount codes for popular book-buying websites Without further ado, here’s my Personalized Recommendation Box! I’ve gotta say, she definitely hit the nail on the head. Pivot Point by Kasie West has been on my TBR list for a while and I just hadn’t gotten around to buying it yet. The bookmarks are so cute – it’s a pad of 25 bookmarks that say “Yes I’m Actually Reading This” with areas to fill in the book, author, questions, words, etc. I loved the handwritten note that came with it! She chose Pivot Point because I like writers similar to Jenny Han and paranormal books. “It’s got it all – fantasy and romance and suspense.” Woohoo! 🙂

October TBR List

Posted October 1, 2014 / Other Memes, TBR Lists / 7 Comments

I’m pretty bad at sticking to my TBR list – even when I specifically put the books in order on my “To Read First” shelf. I tried my best to organize by what I want to read, since I don’t have a lot of books right now with deadlines that need to be read. (Although that could change, of course.) Here’s my somewhat flexible TBR list for October. These are the top 30 books I plan on reading or will be reading in October! * Those of you who have read the Throne of Glass series — would you recommend reading the Assasin’s Blade book of novellas first?? I’ve heard mixed thoughts on this!

WWW Wednesdays #11

Posted October 1, 2014 / Weekly Memes, WWW Wednesdays / 0 Comments

Okay so not much has changed since last week and that makes me sad. Again I had to pause my reading of Trial by Fire to finish up two book commitments. I’m finally making some progress, although I’m realizing now that it wasn’t the best book to be stop-and-go with. It’s not that I’m confused, it’s just that I somewhat forgot some of the things that happened. I plan to definitely finish it by the end of the week so hopefully my review will up soon! I’m still listening to my audiobook of Big Little Lies and things are starting to get really good. I love Liane Moriarty’s style. I read Just Like Fate for Andi’s Parallel Time Loop, starting this month! My guest post for her will be showing up on October 13th. I really enjoyed that one and posted my review last week. It was nice to get into the parallel universe books I’ve been talking about for so long but haven’t even read. I got Famous in Love through On the Same Page ARC tours and my review will be posted on the release date (the 21st). I had mixed feelings on this one. It was enjoyable for the most part as I read it, but looking back I was irritated by a lot of the elements of the book. Yeah, yet again, Dissonance is up next. It’s still sitting on my desk, waiting to be read from the library. I’m going to have to renew it within […]