Month: December 2014

Five on Fridays #9

Posted December 5, 2014 / Five on Fridays, Weekly Memes / 3 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. It’s been a while since I’ve done of these! The past two Fridays ended up being busy and I just never got around to it. Ally Ambassador I am VERY excited that I was accepted to be an Ally Ambassador! In case you didn’t know, Ally Carter (author of the Gallagher Girls series) has a new series coming out next year: Embassy Row. I didn’t even have to read the synopsis to know I wanted to read it. Her books are about spies, criminals, and now international conspiracies – so cool. The first book in the Embassy Row series is All Fall Down, and because I was one of the first 100 people to sign up, I get an ARC! Wooo-hoo. I sent them my mailing address and am anxiously awaiting my new pretty. This also means that I should probably read Heist Society, finally… Nadine West I may have an addiction called “spending money I shouldn’t on subscription/monthly boxes.” I like the concept of monthly clothing-related boxes, but I have a body type that doesn’t fit in most sizes. HOWEVER, I came across Nadine West a while back and it’s amazing! It’s the kind of box that sends you a few items and you can send back what you don’t like; only keep and pay for what you […]

Top 10 Reactions & Thoughts I Have While Reading

Posted December 4, 2014 / Book Lists, Features / 6 Comments

Books exist to make you FEEL something or LEARN something or just to be entertained. In a perfect world, you get all three in one. A lot of the time I find myself whispering things in my head about the book/characters/author/plot while I read. Most commonly I think “goddammit I wish I could write a book like this,” but a lot of the time I think the following things: Normally this is a very excited kind of “omg what is even happening?” because I have no other ways to phrase my excitement and wonderment about how it’s possible for a book to be this good. Sometimes I just want to squeal and run around with the book. (Dissonance by Erica O’Rourke proved to be a great book for me, in this regard.) There are a lot of instances where I find myself so in awe of the book that I can’t even form a real-sounding sentence in my head about it. Of course, this can also be used negatively: like what the fuck is happening, I am very confused/stupid. I have this thought a LOT. I am always wondering how authors are able to write what they do. I’ve met the characters and explored their world a little bit – now what is actually going to happen in this book?? I love when I read fantasy or sci-fi books and genuinely don’t have the brain power to predict what the plot will be like. I hardly ever think about this […]

200 Word Review: The Scorch Trials

Posted December 3, 2014 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments

Ugh. This book didn’t grab me nearly as much as the first one. I definitely liked more parts of it than disliked, so it gets 3.5 stars from me. I have a bad feeling about the next book because most people didn’t like it (and my boyfriend HATED it). In the first book, Thomas is a perfect character. No flaws, except for occasional (very rare) stupidity. This book it was like his brain was actually being eaten by the Flare. He was still a smart person and very crafty, but he had no common sense. I don’t want to give much away, but there were MORE times in this book that I wanted to shake some sense into him. I give him props for persevering; I would have given up a LOOOONG time ago if I were them. I don’t trust anyone except for the other Gladers. (I also wish they were featured more in this book.) What’s going on??? I’m eager for the next book because as usual there was a pretty good cliffhanger. I really am hoping there is some resolution in the next one, even though most people don’t have good things to say on that end.

Top Ten Tuesdays #18: Books in 2015

Posted December 2, 2014 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 15 Comments

Top Ten Books I’m Looking Forward to Reading in 2015 Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we make LISTS of our top ten books based on that week’s prompt… and then we stalk other people’s answers to add a million books to our TBR. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Releasing in 2015 Embassy Row by Ally Carter: I was one of the first people to apply to be an Ally Ambassador, so I have a lovely ARC of this one (hopefully) being shipped to me as we speak! I can’t wait to dive in, especially because I’m about to finish my Gallagher Girls reread within the next month. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas: Yes, I STILL haven’t read Throne of Glass. Do not kill me. However, this book honestly sounds more up my alley than ToG does. I am very anxiously awaiting this one. Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen: I didn’t even have to read the summary of this one to know it was an auto-buy. Sarah Dessen is credited for getting me into the YA contemporary romance genre and I binge-read most of her books during one boring summer vacation in Maine. The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West: Yep, I’m a sucker for covers. I STILL have not managed to read all of her books yet, which is surprising… The Distance Between Us was one of my favorite books of the year. I own most […]

December TBR List and Uppercase Box #3

Posted December 1, 2014 / Other Memes, Personal / Information / Etc., TBR Lists / 1 Comment

This is my attempt to show off what bookish goodies I got in my Uppercase box from the previous month, as well as plan out what I’m going to read for the coming month. I don’t usually do too well with planning out my TBRs and sticking to them, but I hope sharing them with you guys will make me more accountable for them 😉 Have you read any of these books? Thinking about joining Uppercase? It’s so fun! 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 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 Here are my goodies from the November box! I’m so excited that I got Trust Me, I’m Lying! This one has been on my TBR but for some reason I never got around to buying it or looking into it further. It was recommended because it’s a mix of contemporary and mystery, plus I love the Pretty Little Liars series. The book will keep me guessing until the […]

Holiday Review: Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares

Posted December 1, 2014 / Book Reviews / 12 Comments

Man guys. This book. I have a lot of feelings. I instantly loved it because of the setting – New York City! And more specifically, the Strand!!! This book is a book lover’s dream. It really helped that I finally made a journey to the Strand last month, so I was able to picture it really well. The book follows Dash and Lily as they communicate through a red notebook all around NYC. They inevitably have some interesting in-person meetups towards the end that were kind of funny too. The premise of the book was so, so great. We get to see the two of them travel around the city and come up with clever little scavenger hunts for each other. This book is perfect for people who haven’t been to NYC and want to go, or people who have been plenty of times and love it. I think this book is reminiscent of John Green’s work, in that it tries to ingest a lot of meaning and insightfulness into its pages. It felt like it was trying too hard. This could have been a cute, simple read, but it was a little too heavy in places it didn’t need to be. Some parts actually confused me, which should not happen during a contemporary YA romance. Dash: I think Dash is a really interesting, complex character. I’m honestly still kind of undecided on if I even like him. He was very bitter towards the holiday season, which is fine, […]