Month: May 2015

Top Ten Tuesdays #40: Owned, Not Read (Freebie)

Posted May 19, 2015 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 23 Comments

FREEBIE: Books I Needed to Buy ASAP and Haven’t Read Yet 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. Links go to Goodreads or my review. I’m sure there are plenty of people who have this issue on a regular basis. SO MANY NEW RELEASES, SO LITTLE TIME. With some books, I just absolutely need to buy them immediately… but don’t read them for months or years. I rush to the store to buy it on release day and waited foreeeever for it to be in my grubby little hands, but then it gathers dust on the shelf. Today’s freebie TTT explores some of the books I had to buy right away OR ELSE that I still need to read. (Book title links bring you to Goodreads) THE BOOK: Even in Paradise by Chelsey Philpot WHY I NEEDED IT: First of all, that cover is gorgeous and intriguing. Second, the blurb sounds so interesting and I saw a lot of positive reviews for it. I was determined to read this right away because it just seemed like a book that would become a new favorite. WHY I HAVEN’T READ YET: Because I’m a dummy? I don’t know. That seems like the only reasonable answer. To be completely honest, […]

Review: Split Second

Posted May 18, 2015 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

I read Pivot Point back in January and absolutely loved it. Kasie West is probably my #1 auto-buy author. There are two reasons it took me so long to read this book: (1) I preordered the paperback version so my set would match, which meant it wouldn’t arrive until two months after reading the first book, and (2) This is the last published Kasie West book I could read! I didn’t want to run out 🙁 I didn’t realize this book was going to feature dual POV’s between Addie and Laila; the first book had two POVs but it was the two different timelines of Addie’s search. I was happy to see some more time with Laila, even though things were kind of awkward after what happened in the previous book. In dual-POV books you can sometimes expect that you’ll prefer one person’s storyline to the others; I found myself enjoying both perspectives equally for the most part! Laila did frustrate me at times because I felt like she wasn’t making the right decisions. Her relationship in this one was a hate-to-love situation that took her SO LONG to figure out. I was okay with their banter but didn’t ship them as hard as I usually would in that kind of relationship trope. Even though the book was split between Addie and Laila, Addie is still the “main character.” I felt like her personality wasn’t as developed in this book for some reason. I missed that. The same thing goes for […]

Summer of Series Challenge

Posted May 15, 2015 / Book Challenges, Features / 6 Comments

Hosted by Love at First Page and Lili’s Reflections ANOTHER CHALLENGE? Lauren, have you gone insane?! The short answer is yes and no. Really, this is just an extension of the challenge I’m already doing (also hosted by Danielle!) called the Series a Month Challenge. I set out, with her, to read one full series each month in order to whittle down my TBR a bit. I have been a big failure so far and have only finished three series in seven months. I’m hoping that this mini challenge-within-a-challenge will motivate me! “So what will Summer of Series entail? Simple… read as many books as you can that belong to a series! Specifically, we are challenging you to read one series, front to back, each month for June, July, and August. Knock some lovelies off your TBR with it! We are counting a series as a trilogy or group of companion novels with at least three books in it. We ask that you do not include re-reads for this portion of the event, unless it’s the first book of the series only.” There are also some giveaways and linkups throughout the summer. As we all know, I’m so terrible at sticking to a TBR… but I’m going to follow one anyways for this challenge. I’m giving myself a few options in case I end up changing my mind. My Potential Series TBR All five of these series are ones that I’ve really been interested in binge-reading, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. […]

Reread Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Posted May 15, 2015 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

This is the first book I had to anxiously await reading! Since I finished the first three books before this one’s release, I had to wait and wait for it to come out. My parents were pretty good about letting me preorder the books (especially because they were addicted to them at this point, too!) and I remember being so damn excited for it to arrive. This book is huuuuge in size and I remember walking around everywhere with it in my hands, barely able to fit. I also loved the Triwizard Tournament aspect of this book. It was such a cool idea and kept the action dispersed throughout the book. I knew that this was kind of the “turning point” in the series, where Voldemort is officially back; the books get much darker from here on out. Duh, Harry Potter! I always wanted to reread this series. Beyond that, though, I was almost the most anxious to reread this one out of all of them. I knew that #3 and #4 were close favorites of mine, but I always said Prisoner of Azkaban was my favorite. I wanted to reread this one to see if my reigning favorite would remain, or if this one would take its place! Well, I’m pretty sure this one has officially become my favorite! It feels weird to say that, but I guess my tastes have changed. I just LOVED the whole tournament, the new characters, and the fact that this book is THE book […]

Review: All the Bright Places

Posted May 14, 2015 / Book Reviews / 14 Comments

Oh lord. How am I ever going to get through this review without crying? That’s the only thing I can think of right now. Usually I write my reviews less than 24 hours after finishing the book, but I just couldn’t do it that quickly for this one. I’m still barely ready to talk about it without tearing up. Not too much happened in the vast majority of the book, to be honest. I felt like it was slow but engrossing at the same time somehow. I couldn’t stop reading because I was desperate to see where the story went and what was going to happen with my little babies Violet and Finch. They were extremely interesting characters. Violet lost her sister in an accident and was trying to move on and leave for college, while Finch was always consumed by thoughts of death and how he might kill himself. It was really heavy most of the time, but they were pretty adorable as their relationship grew and time went on. Finch was kind of an enigma throughout the book. He had some mental health issues and it wasn’t totally clear what he was going through. I also felt SO BAD for Violet because she went through SO MUCH and she didn’t deserve it. I don’t know how to say it except that this book completely broke me. I was literally Tobias (below) for the last fifty pages straight. I couldn’t read through my tears and my boyfriend kept bringing me […]

Inside & Out #6: Rachel from Confessions of a Book Geek

Posted May 13, 2015 / Features, Inside and Out / 11 Comments

Admiring book covers and bookmarks, shared by you! Welcome to INSIDE AND OUT. This feature includes two of my absolute favorite book-related things: bookmarks (inside) and book covers (out)! I’ve invited guest posters to share their favorite book covers and bookmarks here on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Sign-ups are always open (see bottom of post)! Check out past posts here. Rachel from Confessions of a Book Geek Twitter: @bookgeek90|| Facebook Tell me a little about yourself: I’m 25, a “business professional” (I think, I still feel like I’m 16 and an amateur half the time), and someone who loves to read and learn. I’m always studying something, or looking for the next course to do. I’m a cynical romantic (who knew they existed), and an introverted extrovert. Yea, I’m basically a walking contradiction. Talk about your blog (what you blog about/kinds of books, features, etc.): I started my blog to geek-out over the things I love, because no-one in my “real life” got it. I post reviews, giveaways, author interviews, book-shopping discount codes, everything and anything really. I have some regular (and some not-so-regular) features, including Top Ten Tuesday and Stacking the Shelves, and then there’s original features like: Babes and Books (three luscious ladies have rambling book related word-vomit) He Said She Said (myself and a male blogger, Joey (thoughtsandafterthoughts), throw a male and female perspective into the mix) The Book Geek Rants (a collection of my ranty discussion posts) Favorite genre: Ohhh… This is tough, because I read everything. My most read genre is probably YA Contemporary. But that doesn’t mean it’s […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #39: Authors to Meet

Posted May 12, 2015 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 20 Comments

Top 10 Authors I NEED to Meet + What I’d Say to Them 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. Links go to Goodreads or my review. There are A LOT of authors I’d love to meet! This is mostly because, as of right now, I haven’t met any at all. Zeroooo. It sucks. Instead of making this list exactly the same as my TTT on all-time favorite authors, I decided to include what I think I would say to them if we ever met!

Bout of Books 13 Challenge – Survey

Posted May 11, 2015 / Book Challenges, Features / 12 Comments

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 11th and runs through Sunday, May 17th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 13 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team To see my sign-up post with goals and proposed TBR, check HERE! Bookish Survey Challenge Today’s challenge is a survey, located at Writing my Own Fairytale. 1. How do you organize your shelves? I just got new bookshelves a couple of weeks ago and completely reorganized all of them. I started the reorganization at 11:30 at night, which wasn’t smart, but it got done pretty quickly. The way I organized them may not make sense to most people, but it somehow works for me. Here’s how I decided to organize my shelves (for now): Tall black bookshelf – nonfiction and women’s studies, books I’ve read, adult fiction Skinny white bookshelf #1 – hardcover TBR (fantasy and any non-contemporary), John Green books, holiday-themed, small paperbacks, older books Skinny white bookshelf #2 – more TBR (mostly contemporary, some non-contemporary), series to read, women’s fiction, ARCs Black bookshelf/entertainment center (these books are mostly stacked in a decorative way) – Harry Potter collector’s edition boxed set, favorite books, […]

The Jessica Darling Series Binge-Read

Posted May 8, 2015 / Book Reviews / 1 Comment

I somehow missed the memo when I was younger to read the Jessica Darling series. I’m not sure why, because the synopsis sounds like something my young self would have been very excited to read. When I saw the whole series at my library, I randomly decided to get to it. I’ve been seriously lagging behind in my Series-A-Month challenge, so I thought these quick reads would be an awesome long one to get to. Instead of individually reviewing all five of these really old books, I figured I’d share my thoughts here on the series as a whole! THE GIST | Jessica essentially has an existential crisis when her best friend, Hope, moves away. She spends most of the book complaining and missing her. She’s left with “The Clueless Crew,” or three girls that she barely likes but continues to be friends with for some reason. She mostly just sits with them at lunch and doesn’t do much of anything else. I couldn’t stop reading this book and was pretty curious about where it was going to go, especially because not much happened plot-wise for a while. It took me a little too long to realize this was literally a diary. THE GOOD | MARCUS FLUTIE. I love him. I shipped it so hard for some reason. The end of the book made me incredibly anxious for the next one and I was pretty pissed that the library I finished the book in didn’t have the series. I had to […]

Cover Colors: Since You’ve Been Gone

Posted May 7, 2015 / Cover Colors, Features / 12 Comments

It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with book covers. I love the colors, the typography, the different designs that cover artists can create. I even have a guest post feature where people share their favorite book covers and bookmarks! I decided to start up this random feature where I draw color inspiration from my favorite book covers. I may create an outfit, pick out some nail polish, or design a quote graphic. Today’s cover is… Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson This cover doesn’t have a lot of colors, but it has some good earthy tones – plus those red heart sunglasses! Of course I had to feature those in my outfit. I chose a really simple, summery outfit with a tank top, jean shorts, and flip flops. I had to add in the little ice cream necklace too! Since You’ve Been Gone by bookmarklit featuring denim shorts