Month: November 2014

Random Bookish Thoughts: Book Ratings

Posted November 13, 2014 / Discussions, Other Memes, Weekly Memes / 29 Comments

BOOK RATINGS. I saw a Twitter conversation a month or so ago about the ratings that bloggers and readers give to books. These ratings could be on Goodreads or on blogs. This person thought that if someone’s Goodreads ratings average was too high, they weren’t critical enough – and therefore their opinion was not valued in the community. They should not bother with book blogging or reviewing, because they were not actual critics of books. I didn’t even know how to formulate a logical tweet in response, so I let it be. And by let it be, I mean let it stew for months until I was able to come up with this post. But Taylor pretty much sums up my reaction: I think that’s bullshit. I should go without saying that all opinions can be valued as long as they are not particularly offensive, racist, sexist, etc. Who gets to determine if someone’s opinion is valuable or not?? Not some random guy on Twitter, that’s for sure. Let me back up a little bit and talk about ratings in general and my thoughts on them. How I rate books on my blog I use my little heart system here on the left to rate books. I DO use half-hearts (quite a bit, actually), as the bottom of the graphic shows. I don’t think it’s possible, for me at least, to give EVERY book I read a dead-set rating between 1 and 5 without any halves. The 5 heart rating is given to books that […]

WWW Wednesdays #17

Posted November 12, 2014 / Weekly Memes, WWW Wednesdays / 12 Comments

WWW Wednesdays are hosted by Should Be Reading, where we answer three questions each week: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What are you planning to read next? I started One Past Midnight the day before the Ho-Ho-Ho Holiday Readathon started, so I didn’t get much done before jumping into my holiday book. I was able to pick back up with it this morning. So far I’m really intrigued. This has been one of my highly anticipated reads this year because it involves some parallel life stuff in a unique way. I’m surprised at how quickly the plot is taking off; I expected there to me a lot more intro stuff. My current audiobook is The Scorch Trials, book two in The Maze Runner series. As usual, I’m constantly asking myself “what the fuck is going on?” about everything that happens. I have to suspend all of my beliefs when reading this book because it all just seems so crazy. Overall I’m really enjoying it though. I’m about a third of the way through and so far I like the first one better. Chris liked this one a lot, so I’m thinking it’s going to start getting wild again soon. Obviously I just finished The Maze Runner, considering I’m onto the second book now. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one because it seemed like not the kind of book I would like. The only dystopia books I’ve read so far was the Hunger Games trilogy, so it’s […]

Review: The Fourth Wish

Posted November 12, 2014 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

*Do not read this review if you haven’t read book one, The Art of Wishing! I don’t recommend that you even read the synopsis for the second book until you’ve read the first book. I was so excited to see how Margo would deal with becoming a genie. My favorite part of the second book was just that: learning how it works and seeing all of the different kinds of magic she could do now. The book jumped right into the middle of the action and confused me because it didn’t pick up right where the previous book left off. Well, it didn’t seem that way at least. Regardless, you soon learn what happened and again, you get the slow release of information about the world. I absolutely LOVED the gender stuff in this book. As you can imagine, genies can shapeshift into exactly what their current master would want to see in a friend, partner, etc. That means that they can switch genders in order to make wishes happen for each person. It was awesome to read about that flexibility and (basically) complete acceptance from both Margo and Oliver on that end. It was handled in a great way because the characters were open about it and had the attitude that it was the person beneath the gender that was important. So healthy and awesome to read! This book kind of reminded me of the Shadowlands series by Kate Brian (really just the ending of the third book). Without […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #15: Spin-Off-Worthy Characters

Posted November 11, 2014 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 8 Comments

Top Ten Characters You Wish Would Get Their Own Book This is happening very late in the day for me today! Work has gotten in the way of my blogging 😉 I’m not sorry for using Since You’ve Been Gone twice! It’s for two different reasons, I promise. Goodreads: Since You’ve Been Gone / Aspen / Shadowlands / Catching Jordan / Harry Potter / Gossip Girl / Private / Lola and the Boy Next Door / Scoring Wilder

Review: The Art of Wishing

Posted November 10, 2014 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments

I was intrigued by this book when I saw the premise. It was a really unique and compelling take on genies. I loved learning about what being a genie entails and how it can be a lot different than the mainstream interpretations of what genies do. (I’m kind of making it sound like genies are real now… maybe I’m convinced.) The writing style in this book was really fast-paced and enjoyable. It was very easy to read, which is what I was in the mood for! I’ve noticed this a lot in some of the books I’ve read lately: I like the slow release of information. It was over halfway through the book when I finally felt like I fully knew what it was like to be a genie and how Oliver’s life worked. I like jumping right into the middle of the action then learning more about the backstory as the book goes on. I loved that this felt much more like a contemporary romance with some fantasy mixed in. The main characters grow closer and develop a relationship despite the fact that Oliver is a genie. It just felt like I was reading a cute romance story and OH YA he’s a genie too I guess. The paranormal/fantasy aspects were really cool and I loved when they were mixed in, too. Oliver is so cute. I love him. That’s all. The concept behind the book overall was really interesting. As I said before, I just couldn’t stop reading […]

HOLIDAY THINGS!

Posted November 8, 2014 / Book Challenges, Features / 23 Comments

YES I AM EXCITED FOR THE HOLIDAYS!!! This post is to share with you some of the holiday-themed happenings at Bookmark Lit, as well as show what secret santas and gift swaps I’ve signed up for this year. I am a huge fan of Christmas music, cozying up by the fire, drinking hot chocolate, and reading holiday themed books. Giving and receiving gifts is so much fun, so I’m eager to buy some swap/secret santa gifts and see what others pick out for me! 🙂 UPDATE: Secret Santa & Book Exchange Reveal | 12 Days of Christmas Reveal I joined the Broke & Bookish Secret Santa! The sign-ups end on November 15th, so hurry there if you’re still interested in joining. You just have to send out an email with some info about your interests and bookish preferences to sign up. I created a wishlist on Goodreads to make it easier for all of these swaps. Jamie pairs everyone off and the exchange begins! You can choose what “level” of expectations you have (the amount of books/goodies you’d like to give and receive) so the price limit is really up to you. Send out your package by December 15th so hopefully the person gets it before Christmas! I’m really excited for this one; a lot of people have signed up so far. I also signed up for the 12 Days of Christmas Swap at Chaotic Goddess Swaps! This is a really fun one. You spend between $40-50 to buy 12 individually wrapped […]

Review: I’d Tell You I Love You but Then I’d Have to Kill You

Posted November 7, 2014 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

You know I don’t like to reread books. However, when I realized that the final two books in the Gallagher Girls series had somehow slipped past me, I knew I needed to revisit the other books before finishing the series. I remembered that they were fun, quick reads; I figured why not try out the audio version of all the books? So far, so good! The books are just as cute and fun as I remember. I love the characters. Cammie, our MC, is the daughter of the Gallagher Academy headmistress. She’s known as the chameleon because she can blend into any situation; she’s pretty much the epitome of an average plain jane….. except for the fact that all Gallagher Girls are spies in training. I loved listening to all of the spy stuff that the girls would learn, and how Cammie applied it to her personal covert operations mission. Cammie and her friends (Bex, the British badass, and Liz, the country girl klutz) have a great friendship. All of the Gallagher Girls have an extremely loyal sisterhood, which was so cute. When Cammie meets a cute boy in the town one day, Bex and Liz help her learn more about him using their spy tools. Macy, the spoiled rich girl that just started at Gallagher, brings her knowledge of boys and normal prep schools. Armed with this information, Cammie starts seeing her new boyfriend, Josh, as much as she can… and has to lie about her real life. The […]

Five on Fridays #7

Posted November 7, 2014 / Five on Fridays, Weekly Memes / 8 Comments

Five on Friday displays the the top five things that have been on my mind this week! It could be book-related, but it may be music, movies, TV, personal life, food, etc. BrickFair 2014 Last weekend, we went to BrickFair 2014 in Somerset, NJ. I luckily have a friend who lives about 10 minutes away from there, so we were able to hang out with her and her boyfriend and go to BrickFair! I was in awe of all the cool stuff people can make. It really inspired Chris to build his own creations instead of buying the premade Lego sets. They had different categories and types of builds around the whole place. They also had vendors that sold custom Lego apparel, jewelry, and figures/accessories. Chris ended up with a few sets and accessories. It was a cool experience and we’re so glad we ended up going! Balancing Everything I feel like I sound like a broken record when I talk about this, but it’s really hard! As a new blogger, I’m still trying to find a way to balance everything in my life. I spend a lot of time blogging at work, which I shouldn’t do, but I find it hard to do otherwise. I used to be addicted to using my computer, browsing the internet, and watching Netflix during college, but now I never do. I don’t want to blog when I get home. I want to pry my eyes away from the computer since I stare at it […]

Trusting Your Gut vs. Taking Risks

Posted November 6, 2014 / Uncategorized / 16 Comments

Like any good book reader and blogger, I LOVE to creep on what others are reading and take recommendations from people. Who better to tell me what books to read than the people who (a) equally creep on my Goodreads and (b) know what the general YA-reading population would like? This can be a beautiful thing; I love this community for that! HOWEVER, I’ve been thinking lately about the books everyone is going crazy for, giving great reviews, or explicitly recommending to you that you DON’T think you’d like. How often do you trust your gut about a book, and how often do you take a risk? It’s pretty safe to say that every review I saw for Rites of Passage by Joy N. Hensley was glowing. Everyone loved this book or at least really, really liked it… but I was totally turned off from it based on the description. The military school vibe didn’t appeal to me for whatever reason. Once I saw the reviews start rolling in and it seemed that EVERYONE loved it, I started to second guess myself. I figured, if all of these people who usually have similar tastes to mine end up liking it, maybe I will too. I also convinced myself that the military school aspect could be reminiscent of the boarding school books I loved (wrong). I learned that the main character was a badass girl who tried to change the gender norms at military school.. that’s one aspect I could get on […]

Review: Scoring Wilder

Posted November 5, 2014 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

The character development was pretty good. The main character, Kinsley, was honest and funny. I loved that the book started the summer before college when she had just moved into the Rookie soccer house on campus. The reader is able to watch her develop friendships rather than picking up in the middle of a character’s life/high school career. The humor between characters in this book was certainly my style. Like Boomerang, this was a fun and sexy New Adult book that I enjoyed. I don’t like the ones that are too angsty. Kinsley and Becca’s friendship was on point for me. I kept highlighting funny parts because they sounded exactly like my friends in all of their interactions. I loved the three main characters: Kinsley, Becca, and Liam. That dynamic really worked for me and we learned a good amount about each of their lives. There could have been a little more characterization but there was enough to work with and really enjoy the three of them. Yes, this book was sexual as hell. So much swooning over Liam Wilder, holy shit. I don’t normally read New Adult so I’m always surprised about how much sex is actually in the books, but this one wasn’t all about that. There was a good balance. The biggest thing I liked about this book was how readable and entertaining it was. I just smiled a lot and enjoyed myself. Sometimes that’s all you really need from a book! Some of the humor was kind […]