Month: July 2015

Top Ten Tuesdays #48: Diversity

Posted July 21, 2015 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 17 Comments

Ten Books That Celebrate Diversity/Diverse Characters (Examples: minority/religious minority, socioeconomic diversity, disabled MC, neurotypical character, LGBTQ etc.) Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. Like a lot of people, I want to read more diverse books! I can’t lie, though – I’m not always successful and I don’t always make it a priority. I honestly don’t think about it too much and I’d like for that to change. I have read a decent number of books recently that fall under the general “diverse” category, but there are still quite a bit on my TBR! I’ll be sharing both here. The One Thing by Marci Lyn Curtis | blind main character Ah, I loved this book. If someone were to ask me to recommend #QuietYA, this book would be one. It comes out in September but it’s definitely worth mentioning now. I’ve seen some great reviews, so I don’t think I’m the only one who loved it! What a touching story, centered around a main character who goes blind from meningitis complications. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell | two diverse main characters | review Woo, lots of diversity in this one I feel like! The book takes place in the 80’s and follows around – obviously – Eleanor and Park. Eleanor comes […]

Find Me Tag

Posted July 20, 2015 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 6 Comments

“Find Me” Tag Created by Novel Ink! I saw this tag making its way around the blogosphere a while ago and always wanted to use it as an excuse to take some bookish pictures. I finally got off of my lazy butt and took some! Here are my findings for the Find Me tag! 1. A book with “gone” in the title 2. A book with a weapon 3. A book with a moon 4. A book with a girl in a white dress 5. A book with a couple kissing 6. A book with a sunset 7. A book with headphones 8. A book with water 9. A book with flowers 10. A book with a heart

Read-a-Thon TBR: Make Me Read It

Posted July 19, 2015 / Book Challenges, Features, TBR Lists / 14 Comments

Starts at 8:00am on July 20th and ends at 12:00am on July 27th #MakeMeRead tag on Twitter/Instagram Check out the intro pages (Val’s or Ely’s) and the rules below: Look at the books you own, either physical, e-book or ones you’ve borrowed from the library and pick out a few you really want to read, or feel like you should read. It’s up to you how many you pick, personally I’d pick a few more than you expect to be able to read in a week. Example: if you think you’ll only read two, pick out five books or if you think you can read seven, pick out ten. Make a list of these books on your blog, or make a video, or a Goodreads shelf or post a picture on Instagram—whatever is easiest for you. Then get friends, other bloggers/booktubers etc. to vote on which books you HAVE to read. When the read-a-thon comes along, you read the books in the order of most votes. For example, if one book gets 10 votes—you read that first, then the one that got 7 and so on. If there’s a tie, then it’s your preference. The goal is to read as many as possible. Votes have been tallied – here are the results! The read-a-thon is starting TOMORROW and I cut off voting a few days ago, so I could prepare myself (and this post, lol). Here are the books I’ll be reading in rank order. As the rules suggest, you […]

Review: Lying Out Loud

Posted July 18, 2015 / Book Reviews / 8 Comments

I am definitely a Kody Keplinger fangirl. I’ve now read three of her books, with just one more YA one to go, and they’re all superb. She uses the formula of flawed character + hate-to-love romance like a goddamn pro. I love the way she takes these extremely REAL teenagers and gives them some opportunities to grow and learn. They’re not perfect by the end, but they’ve been changed in some way and learn to be better people. Lying Out Loud is definitely no exception. Compared to the other two I’ve read, the main character is probably the most flawed of all. Sonny is a liar. She has a terrible “home” life and uses lying as a defense mechanism for just about everything in her life. Her best friend Amy, the younger sister of Wesley from The DUFF, is pretty much a saint. These two are definitely in a codependent relationship, but in the best possible way. (I shipped them even more than the romance, which is saying a lot!) When her and Amy get mixed up in this lie with the new boy in school, Ryder, Sonny risks destroying her relationship with both of them because of her lies. What I Loved The chemistry and banter: As Debby calls it, the banterfluff in this book was perfection. Ryder and Sonny hate each other at the beginning, but then feelings start to grow. (At least, they do for Sonny!) I loved it. Keplinger’s hate-to-love romance is always the best because it’s […]

Review: Where the Stars Still Shine

Posted July 17, 2015 / Book Reviews / 8 Comments

This was definitely the kind of story that grabs you and doesn’t let go while you’re reading. I finished it within a few hours. I really loved so many elements of the book, but I didn’t get to the same level of “oh my god I love this book” like MANY other readers. I’m not sure why, to be honest, because it’s hard to even think of flaws. Callie was kidnapped by her mother when her parents got divorced, and they were on the run ever since. When her mom gets pulled over because of a broken taillight and finds out who they are, Callie is immediately brought to live with the father she doesn’t remember. She’s suddenly a part of a huge Greek family that has been missing her for years. She meets a cute boy and makes friends right away, which I thought was a little crazy… but I still loved it. Kat, Alex, and Greg (her father) were such great characters. I wanted them to be my friends. The romance was a bit quick, in my opinion, but that doesn’t mean I don’t ship the shit out of it. Callie’s struggles between her loyalty to her mom and the love she feels from her new family were so heartbreaking. I feel like most characters would have acted out much more or made much worse decisions, but Callie felt REAL and believable. I’m so glad for that. She was willing to try new things, make friends, join her family, etc. […]

Bookmark Lit is ONE! (Giveaway)

Posted July 16, 2015 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 28 Comments

Can you believe it? I definitely can’t. You’ll see down below that I’m a huge quitter. I have a tendency of taking up hobbies or sports and quickly abandoning them – sometimes even before I start. (I have a closet with blank canvases and unopened paint from about a year ago…) The fact that blogging has stuck with me for a year is a pretty big deal for me. I feel like I’ve totally found myself a home on the internet. (I’ve also had countless blogs that I abandoned after a few posts.) The community here is so amazing and it makes me so happy to speak with you guys every day! I’ve met a few people IRL thanks to my excellent time at BEA, and I hope that number only grows with time. I’m beyond thankful for so many people (all of you listed below, because apparently I can’t help myself and wrote the longest shoutout section ever). There are some other great bloggers who started up in July 2014 as well, so this celebration post will also be sharing some love with them! I started my blog after reading Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. I checked Goodreads, which I had been using since 2010, and saw a bunch of reviews with links to book blogs. I had made and abandoned plenty of blogs in the past because I didn’t really have enough information to share on them. I liked makeup and clothes, but not enough to talk about them all the […]

Read-a-Thon Sign-Up: Make Me Read It

Posted July 15, 2015 / Book Challenges, Features / 20 Comments

Starts at 8:00am on July 20th and ends at 12:00am on July 27th #MakeMeRead tag on Twitter/Instagram Check out the intro pages (Val’s or Ely’s) and the rules below: Look at the books you own, either physical, e-book or ones you’ve borrowed from the library and pick out a few you really want to read, or feel like you should read. It’s up to you how many you pick, personally I’d pick a few more than you expect to be able to read in a week. Example: if you think you’ll only read two, pick out five books or if you think you can read seven, pick out ten. Make a list of these books on your blog, or make a video, or a Goodreads shelf or post a picture on Instagram—whatever is easiest for you. Then get friends, other bloggers/booktubers etc. to vote on which books you HAVE to read. When the read-a-thon comes along, you read the books in the order of most votes. For example, if one book gets 10 votes—you read that first, then the one that got 7 and so on. If there’s a tie, then it’s your preference. The goal is to read as many as possible. Now help me choose the books! I have quite a few books I’ve been saying that I NEED to read – primarily the three library books sitting in my living room – and just never get around to it. I have soooo many of them. During this […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #47: Stacking the Shelves

Posted July 14, 2015 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 5 Comments

Last Ten Books That Came Into My Possession Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I love that this is basically the TTT version of Stacking the Shelves, a meme I love creeping on but don’t participate in… Here are the last ten books that came into my possession and how I acquired them! I love these easy topics. From Around the World ARC Tours I sent Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy back already, but I read it and it was fantastic. I also finished The Lies About Truth by Courtney C. Stevens, which was awesome. I’m currently reading The Heartbreakers by Ali Novak but am not completely sold. I can’t lie, I’ve been skimming a little bit… And up next is Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon. From the Library I requested Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli and The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things by Ann Aguire and they came in last week. I hope I get to them before they’re due back, but no promises. I also checked out This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, but haven’t gotten around to it either. I’m so bad with library books but it doesn’t stop my addiction! (Also pictured is my current audiobook series binge-read…) From Amazon I preordered […]

Inside & Out #10: Dahlia from Daily Dahlia (and YA/NA Author!)

Posted July 13, 2015 / Features, Inside and Out / 7 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. Dahlia Adler from The Daily Dahlia and Author of YA & NA Books! Twitter: @MissDahlELama| Instagram: @MissDahlELama| Facebook Tell me a little about yourself: I’m a YA (Behind the Scenes, Under the Lights, Just Visiting) and NA (Last Will and Testament) author, a blogger for the B&N Teen Blog, and a macaron aficionado. Talk about your blog (what you blog about/kinds of books, features, etc.): My personal blog is mostly about publishing–tips on querying, subbing, debut tips, agent red flags, etc. but I kinda feel like I’ve covered all I know by now, so now I mostly use it to post Top Ten Tuesdays (thanks, The Broke and the Bookish!) and host the occasional cover reveal or blog tour stop for a friend. But I also blog for the B&N Teen Blog, and that’s a lot of fun–I mostly do themed posts and the occasional author spotlight or cover reveal, and I’ve gotten to interview a lot of my favorite authors, which is so cool. Favorite genre: Contemporary! Three books you recommend most often and why: Hmm, I rec books a lot, but okay, if I must stick to three… Probably Black Iris by Leah Raeder, […]

Review: Full Frontal Feminism

Posted July 10, 2015 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

I don’t know if I can adequately express how important I think this book is. I started reading it on International Women’s Day back in March, and have sloooowly been picking away at it since. I’m not good with nonfiction usually, so I wanted to space it out. It’s the kind of book that’s simultaneously funny and informative; it’s not like I was bored or dreaded reading it. I think maybe I just wanted to savor it a little bit? Anyways, I would highly recommend this book to any woman in general. If you don’t consider yourself a feminist, this book explains exactly why that needs to change. If you’re already a feminist, this book helps summarize some great points, if you’re ever in a situation where you need to tell misogynists to fuck off. I haven’t done a lot of women’s studies reading since college, so it was great to get a “refresher” about why I fell into the feminist category a few years ago. This book will be absolutely eye-opening for some people, but for others it will just confirm a lot of things you already know. Regardless of which category you fall into, you should read this book. Valenti’s casual, humorous writing style makes the book engaging and easy to understand. It’s not an academic feminist textbook that will confuse the shit out of you.