Month: February 2016

Top Ten Tuesdays #77: Music

Posted February 16, 2016 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 22 Comments

Ten Tropes & Plot Devices as Songs 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 am LOVING these open-ended topics! This week is about music and books. Some suggested topics included books you’d give theme songs to and love songs you wish were books. I am generally terrible about making book playlists, so here’s my own spin on the topic. I wrote about my least favorite and favorite book tropes a while back and that helped me with reference for this, so thanks past Lauren! I also had some ideas because of songs I was listening to. Just so you know, I tried to write this post two other times with different idea before this one came to me. I thought about the different romance-related tropes and plot points and related them to songs that I happen to love. Enjoy the Spotify widgets and some lyrics too, in case you aren’t familiar with the songs.

Mini Reviews: See How They Run and The Fixer

Posted February 15, 2016 / Book Reviews / 9 Comments

I read two mystery/thriller stories in a row, and neither of them disappointed! They both had interesting political elements and little to no romance. (I had grown sick of reading back to back to back (etc.) romancey books in December and needed a new vibe to kick off the year.) I’m bringing some mini reviews your way for both of these highly recommended stories. After the major cliffhanger in ALL FALL DOWN, I was so anxiously waiting to see how things picked up in SEE HOW THEY RUN. I definitely should have reread the ending of the previous book before starting it, because I was a little lost for a while, but I started to remember things as time passed. It did generally take me a while to fully feel invested in the story. I think the action didn’t take off right away and for some reason I wasn’t pageturning like crazy. Don’t get me wrong – some crazy twists and turns happened in the beginning of the book too! It just didn’t click with me right away. In my review for ALL FALL DOWN, I said how I wanted more of her friends and to finally meet her brother. One of these hopes did come true, as her brother Jamie comes to Embassy Row with his friend from West Point. He was definitely a big presence in the book, but her friends weren’t. The pace quickened around the 200 page mark and I didn’t stop reading until I was finished. I […]

Valentine’s Day

Posted February 14, 2016 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 8 Comments

I knew I wanted to share something lovey for Valentine’s Day this year. I haven’t in the past for whatever reason, but better late than never! I’ve put together some lists of my favorite romantic books, moments, songs, movies, etc. to celebrate the holiday! I used to watch a lot of romantic comedies but I haven’t in quite some time! Netflix is better for binging TV shows, plus Chris doesn’t like them too much. We’ve been so Marvel-addicted lately. But, for the sake of reminding me what movies I’ve loved in the past (and to watch them again!) here are some of my favorite rom-coms or romantic movies. I don’t even care if some of them are flawed or cliche. They make me laugh, cry, and feel all the things. Stacy: So every day you help her to realize what happened and you wait patiently for her to be okay with it… then you get her to fall in love with you again? Henry: Yes, ma’am. Kat: I hate the way you talk to me, and the way you cut your hair. I hate the way you drive my car. I hate it when you stare. I hate your big dumb combat boots, and the way you read my mind. I hate you so much it makes me sick; it even makes me rhyme. I hate it, I hate the way you’re always right. I hate it when you lie. I hate it when you make me laugh, even worse […]

ARC Review: It’s a Wonderful Death

Posted February 12, 2016 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

This book definitely ended up being different than I expected! I can’t tell if I’m glad about that or not. I was picturing a similar story set-up to BEFORE I FALL, which is one of my favorite books of all-time. It was definitely reminiscent, but not the same. More on that later. The premise of the story is that soul of mean girl RJ is accidentally collected before she’s supposed to die. She gets brought up into the afterlife and has to deal with trying to get back to earth to finish living her life. She’s not ready to die yet, so she has to prove to a jury of angels and other related mythical beings that she deserves a second chance at life. By doing this, she will be sent back to her past to re-do some key moments in her life. If she makes the changes and improves her life (and those around her), she may get a second chance on earth. I thought it would be a book that focused solely on RJ going back and reliving / re-doing some of her life events. There was actually very little time spent on that part, and the rest was spent dealing with the “afterlife,” a trial, and repercussions. The changes that RJ made within herself were somewhat believable, but because the re-do aspect of the book was so short, it was hard to REALLY feel the change. It was too quick for me. In BEFORE I FALL, you […]

Consequences of Reading Too Much

Posted February 11, 2016 / Discussions, Features / 25 Comments

I’ve complained plenty lately about how romance in books has been bugging me. I’ve been more nitpicky about what I like, what annoys me, and what feels too cliché. Even though I’ve enjoyed a lot of the romance-oriented books I’ve read in the past few months, there are elements that make me roll my eyes that never bugged me before. I haven’t read a lot of OTP-level stuff since last year. I had another post drafted about genre burnout and how if I read too many books in the same genre in a row, they blend together and/or burn me out. I need to switch to something else. While listening to my audiobook on the way to work, I started thinking about how this was yet another book where I didn’t feel like I really KNEW the characters that well. What kind of personality did they have? What got them up in the morning? Then I realized… this has been happening a LOT lately. I feel like I’m not connecting with characters. It finally kind of hit me that maybe I’m reading too much and the stories aren’t fully clicking or resonating with me. I’m missing something, getting nitpicky, and maybe even getting a bit bored. Does this happen when you read too much?For me, I’ve noticed about three distinct issues recently when I read a lot of books very quickly. For about a week out of the month of January, I read almost a book per day. I just kept getting addicted […]

ARC Review: The Word for Yes

Posted February 10, 2016 / Book Reviews / 8 Comments

Warning: I am going to probably have a few spoilers in this review. I just… can’t do it without them. Trigger warning: Book is largely focused on a date rape and its aftermath I didn’t like this book and I kind of feel uncomfortable reviewing it. I feel weird about saying that a book with SUCH an important topic… felt pointless. I actually haven’t read a lot of books that involve date rape or anything similar, but I know there are powerful ones out there. How can something like this be breezed over, when it’s meant to be the point of the book? Let me back up a little bit. The synopsis says that three sisters try to move on from the aftermath of something that happens at a party. I mean, sure, that happens? But it wasn’t what I was expecting. They all kind of hate each other and – spoiler alert – that doesn’t really change at the end. In fact, NOTHING changes at the end! Melanie is raped at a party by a guy who is one of her best friends. This impacts her family and her in different ways, but no one is changed by what happened. By the end of it, Melanie kind of moves on and forgets it happens in some ways. She has ONE conversation with a guy she likes and just feels completely better. It’s like in the books where the main character’s depression is ~cured~ by a boy that comes into […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #76: Valentine’s Day

Posted February 9, 2016 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 23 Comments

Valentine’s Day: Recently Added Ships & Favorite Love Quote 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 these somewhat open-ended TTT topics! This week’s said “Valentine’s Day is next week…let’s do a Valentine’s Day themed freebie! Top Ten Books That Would Make Great Valentine’s Day Reads (or anti-Valentine’s day reads), Top Ten OTPs, Top 10 fictional crushes, top ten great love declarations in fiction, swoony quotes from books etc. Get creative!” SO here I am with my topic: my recently added ships from books I’ve read in the last few months, and my favorite love quote from a book. This one is from This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen: I don’t ship every relationship in every book I read. I’ve been picky about romance lately for some reason, so the ships below are very excellent ships that must be read and appreciated by everyone. Don’t read the answers below unless you want to know for sure who the love interest is in the books below. I don’t think they’re spoilers because you can generally tell from all of the summaries, but it’s your call! Here are my new shiiiiips: Henry & Diego | We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson Ah man, these two were great. They also made it onto my just-kiss-already Goodreads shelf because, let […]

Mini Reviews: Of Beast and Beauty and Second Time Around

Posted February 8, 2016 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

A couple of very random mini reviews for you! Both backlist: one YA retelling and one Adult “chick lit” type. Here’s what I thought of Of Beast and Beauty and Second Time Around.I definitely expected a lot from this book, and I think that wasn’t very fair of me. The biggest fault with this was comparing it too much to Princess of Thorns. The other story I read by Stacey Jay featured non-stop twists and new information and swoooons, even after a very slow beginning. With this one, there were less twists and turns and jaw-dropping moments…and I just expected too much. It started off slow but I kind of thought that might just be Jay’s style? But, it took about 75% of the book for me to really make me eager to keep reading. The ending was solid and interesting, for sure. If I try to be a little more objective, this was REALLY good. Same slow-burn, complex story with great world-building. I totally need more Stacey Jay in my life. I’m not sure if this was a case of the right book at the right time, or if I just really loved this one, but either way- so glad I read it. I needed something with no hype and non-YA, and this delivered in spades. I loved the cozy, college campus vibe (even though they were all 10 years out of college, just living somewhat on the campus) and the theme of second chances. There were four main characters […]

Blog Tour + Giveaway | Cover Colors: Arrows

Posted February 7, 2016 / Cover Colors, Features / 8 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… Arrows by Melissa Gorzelanczyk I love how simple this cover is! I’m a huge fan of ANYTHING with hearts involved. It’s a super cute cover and very representative of the book inside. The Cupid vibe is just perfect. I tried to capture that with my collage below. The shirt and skirt with the bow reminded me of the cuteness and color of the cover. I just kept picturing this big read heart-shaped bag, and I’m so glad I found such a gorgeous one. I also have some matching beauty products and a cute Cupid-y phone case! The jewelry features hearts and arrows. Arrows by bookmarklit featuring a crop top Arrows by Melissa Gorzelanczyk Publisher: Delacorte Press Release Date: January 26th 2016 Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Fantasy, Mythology, Retellings, Romance A modern cupid story set in present-day Wisconsin combining the fantastical elements of Greek mythology with the contemporary drama of MTV’s Teen Mom. People don’t understand love. If they did, they’d get why dance prodigy Karma Clark just can’t say goodbye to her boyfriend, Danny. No matter […]

Review: Parallel

Posted February 5, 2016 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

I love parallel life books so much. Andi kept gently pushing *cough* for me to read this book, and I don’t know what took me so long. This book comes close to an all-time favorite, but I’m not sure I can give it that label. I feel like it may change if and when I reread. The book follows Abby, who finds out that a collision of parallel universes happened and she’s the only one who knows about it. It’s really hard to explain but basically she has some real memories and some that her parallel (in the past) has rewritten. The book starts with her on a movie set in LA and then she ends up waking up at Yale for college. She has to figure out how everything changed, and the book alternates between “here” and “there.” I really loved this book, but let me count the ways for you… LOVED IT Abby is basically me. Not in the personality way, but in every other way. Her birthday is the SAME DAY AS ME, down to the year. And her birthday is kind of a big deal throughout the book, so they spent a lot of time talking about it. That gave me a lot of warm and fuzzies. She was born at 9:09pm on September 9th, which is almost the same time I was born. Because she went to Yale for part of the book, she lived in Connecticut! She mentioned alllll sorts of things I know about […]