Top Ten Tuesdays #46: Hyped Books

Posted July 7, 2015 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 27 Comments

Top Ten Hyped Books I’ve Never Read (Newer Releases I Plan to Read or Won’t Read) 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 feel like I’ve done some similar posts to this one before! I’ve decided to do a little twist on this one, and make it the top ten hyped new releases (within the last 6 months or so) that I haven’t read yet – and whether or not I think I’ll ever read them! I always add the hyped books to my TBR but never seem to be in the mood to read them. I have a feeling that a lot of them will slip by me and I’ll never read them, but there are some I’m definitely still interested in getting to at some point. Everyone seemed to be super excited for these two before their release! I actually even started to listen to an audiobook of The Wrath and the Dawn, but ended up quitting. I wasn’t really into the story and had a hard time keeping track of the characters. I will probably try this one again at some point, but I’m not sure! I’ll definitely need to read the print copy if I do. I preordered An Ember in the Ashes when there was a […]

Review: Racing Savannah

Posted July 6, 2015 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

Maybe I gave myself a little series burnout (since this is the third book I read in a row) and I just wasn’t as excited to read it or invested in the characters. I may not like books about religion, but I apparently (not surprisingly) also don’t like books about horses. I couldn’t get myself to care much about them or the racing aspects, which did take up a lot of time within the book. It took me a little while to get into the story because for some reason it just felt different than her other books. I don’t know how to explain it. Aside from the horses, there was quite a bit of romance here. It was a forbidden love kind of story, where Savannah works for Jack’s family in the horse barn and lives in their “staff quarters” with the rest of her family. Jack is trying to prove that he can run the business successfully and needs to impress his father, so naturally there’s some conflict surrounding their relationship and keeping it hidden. Jack seemed like a decent guy but I really didn’t feel much for him or them. I wasn’t swooning or shipping them, to be honest. Maybe cowboys just don’t do it for me or something. Thinking of him tipping his cowboy hat at her just seemed cheesy instead of cute. That’s probably just me, though. My favorite part of this book was the group of friends that Savannah joins. Vanessa and Rory, in […]

Reading Recap #4

Posted July 5, 2015 / Features, Reading Recap / 4 Comments

Because my reviews are usually posted at least a month after I finish the book, I never really talk about what I’m currently reading or just finished reading. This Reading Recap feature will let you know the the books I just finished reading and listening to, as well as the books I’m currently reading and listening to. Past recaps here! It’s been a while since I’ve posted one of these! I won’t bore you with the twenty two books I’ve read or listened to since the last recap, but will give you just a few of my recent books. Mirrored by Alex Flinn | I’ve been really excited to read more retellings lately, but this one didn’t work for me. I actually loved the retelling elements of the story and thought the plotline was cool, but the rest was very blah. The pacing was off, the characters were okay, and the writing style was NOT for me. Lying Out Loud by Kody Keplinger | Ah, yes, another Kody Keplinger to add to the list! I will definitely read her grocery list. This one wasn’t AS big of a hit with me as the others I’ve read by her, but it was overall really enjoyable still. Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti | YAY I FINISHED! For a book that I looooved and gave five stars, it sure took me a while to read. I loved getting back into women’s studies a bit and taking my time with this one. Everyone – feminist or […]

Mini Reviews: Magonia and The Good Girls

Posted July 3, 2015 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments

I don’t really even know what to say about it, except that it was incredibly unique and unlike anything I’ve ever read before. I actually HATE birds and am very afraid of them, so I’m surprised this book worked for me at all. We chose this one for my book club and pretty much all agreed with that. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I did have a few major struggles: It was hard to picture Magonia and the bird people. I feel like most fantasy books have the issue of too much description, but this one could have used a bit more. When writing about a land that’s technically an ocean with ships and different bird-creatures, people are going to have a tough time picturing it. I needed more detail overall. I know that Aza was trying to learn what the issues were in Magonia, as well as her reasons for being there, but it was hard to grasp. They didn’t really tell her anything, and thus the reader didn’t know anything. It would have been better to have a bit more information and explanation. Aza’s reaction to Magonia was not believable. Obviously most of the book is pretty unbelievable, but what struck me the most was that Aza just accepted it. She literally learned that she was basically a bird person in this crazy place above the clouds… and she just went with it! I would have been screaming “what the fuck” repeatedly. Same with Jason. How did […]

Review: Things I Can’t Forget

Posted July 2, 2015 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

This was not an easy book for me to read. You’d never guess that, considering I read it all in one night. Because of Kenneally’s writing and my love for the rest of this series, I’m really tempted to bump my rating up… but I just can’t do it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I read the book and got to see some of my favorite people again (Parker and Will, obvs). The events in this series kind of roll into each other for the rest of the books, so it’s awesome catching glimpses of people like JEREMIAH who I already know is going to be PERFECT in Breathe, Annie, Breathe. I don’t think you have to read this series in order (obviously I didn’t for the most part) but it really helps in that aspect. Anyway, again I’ll probably be divisive in my thoughts on this. It seems like most people really enjoyed this book. It was hard for me to let myself enjoy it because of the main character and her beliefs. I like to think I’m an understanding person that can respect others’ opinions, but that doesn’t mean I WANT to hear about some of them for 320 pages. I really can’t do it. I’m surprised I was able to push by some of that and eventually grow to (kind of) like Kate. Kate has always been the epitome of a good girl. She’s been kissed once, never EVER does anything bad, goes to church, and […]

Mid-Year Blogging Update & Goals

Posted July 1, 2015 / Book Challenges, Features, Personal / Information / Etc. / 16 Comments

2015 has been the first “fresh” year of blogging for me. I started my blog in the middle of July 2014 – eeek, one year anniversary is coming up! – so 2015 was MY YEAR for making up goals, joining year-long challenges, and trying to see if I could survive. I signed up for way too many challenges, but I’ve been actually doing a decent job so far. Here’s a rundown on my challenge progress (in more detail than I usually put in my monthly wrap-ups and what I hope to accomplish with the rest of the year on my blog! (Also, sorry if Livin on a Prayer is stuck in your head now.) (AND, this may be slightly outdated because I’ve finished a couple of books since writing this.) Reading Stats Books read: 90 books completed by July 1st Pages read: 30,945 (not entirely accurate, because this includes audiobooks) Genre most read: Contemporary, which surprises no one Goal/Resolution Updates Back at the end of December 2014, Top Ten Tuesday asked us for our bookish and blogging resolutions for the following year. My post had five of each, and I thought I’d check in on my progress so far for 2015! Write more original discussion posts: I wrote 7 discussion posts between January and the end of June, so I think that’s pretty good! About one per month. I would definitely like to increase that number, but a part of me kind of likes spacing them out. I feel like I would run out […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #46: Best of 2015 So Far

Posted June 30, 2015 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 22 Comments

Top Ten Twenty Books I’ve Read So Far in 2015 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. So we’re halfway through the year, and I’ve read 88 books. To put that in perspective, I read 91 books total in 2014. It’s hard to keep track of what I had for breakfast, let alone all the books I read this year. Most of these books I totally thought I read last year, so there are a bit more than expected… I tried to keep this list as SMALL as possible but its not easy. Here are the top 20 books I’ve read so far in 2015! (Yikes.) Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway | I think this may be my favorite book so far of the year. It’s hard to say (and I’ll probably say this again a few more times on this list…), but I just got so many feels from this book. It’s so well-rounded, with romance, friendship, and family. I can’t sing its praises enough. The One Thing by Marci Lyn Curtis | This book definitely caught me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting to love it so much, but it was pretty amazing. It doesn’t come out until September but I would mark your calendars. I have a feeling this […]

Review: Stealing Parker

Posted June 29, 2015 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I adored the first two books I read by Miranda Kenneally: Catching Jordan and Breathe, Annie, Breathe. I read BAB first because I didn’t think it was included in the series. (At that time, it didn’t have the Hundred Oaks name next to the title on Goodreads!) I absolutely, unexpectedly LOVED it. I decided to go back and read her other books in the series, especially because CJ was about FOOTBALL which, as you know, is my entire life. Also loved it. So why the major hesitation to embark on the rest of the series? Religion. Gah. I don’t want to be divisive on here, but I will say that I was raised an atheist and continue to strongly hold those beliefs. As a result of that, it’s extremely hard for me to enjoy books that feature religion, praying, church, etc. in any way, shape, or form. This book wasn’t completely about church, but it was pretty strongly included. Definitely enough to make me roll my eyes a lot. I feel kind of bad saying this, because people are certainly free to believe whatever they believe, but it just doesn’t work for me. Did it dampen my enjoyment of this book? Yeah, definitely. Did I still really enjoy the book overall? Yes. I thought that Parker was kind of annoying at first and I was very excited for the impending character development that MK is famous for. Although I will say, I don’t understand what she meant by the fact […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin – June 2015

Posted June 28, 2015 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 6 Comments

The Bookmark Lit Bulletin was created to wrap up each month and prepare for the next. I share my life happenings, book haul, books I read and reviewed, posts I shared, challenge updates, and more from the previous month. I also let you know what may be coming up on the blog in the coming month. You can read past bulletins here and learn more about the feature here. The Bookmark Lit Bulletin is a bit early this month! Why? Because I have so much shit already planned this week! AND, I have a special wrap-up post coming on July 1st because that’ll be the official halfway-through-the-year point. I have a Mid-Year Blogging Update planned, so the BL Bulletin will be missing some info this time around 😉June was just as crazy as May, folks. We had friends come visit one weekend, went to the drive-in movies, and went swimming at Chris’s parents house. This past weekend was more relaxing because we finally didn’t have ANY plans… BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY this month, we went to Chicago! (We actually went to Schaumberg, to be precise.) We went to Brickworld, which is one of the biggest Lego conventions in the world. We attended some panel discussions, presentations, set drafts, and a charity auction. We also displayed one of Chris’s creations amongst a huuuuge room of exhibitors. We spent a lot of time walking around and viewing all of the pieces, as well as a lot of money on Lego merch! We didn’t actually […]

Review: All Played Out

Posted June 26, 2015 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

I really love this series. All three books so far have been incredibly fast, low-drama new adult reads. This was my BEA train read and I managed to get over halfway done during the two 1.5 hour trips to and from the city. Definitely the perfect read for that occasion! At first glance, the premise for this one seemed a little to similar to All Broke Down: the smart, good girl meets the bad boy player. This was true for most of the book, but they did diverge a bit after some time. Nell is Dylan’s incredibly smart and driven roommate, who has never experienced really anything college had to offer. Torres is the team’s overly confident wide receiver, who is known for getting what he wants from a lot of girls. When he discovers Nell’s end-of-college bucket list, he decides to help her check off the items. I really liked the two of them! No one compares to Dylan and Silas in my mind, but these two are a close second favorite. Torres managed to get Nell to open up and try new things, while she tried to…keep him interested in only one girl, I guess! Again, a lot of it was similar to book #2, where opposites are attracting and the main question is: can these two stick together even though they’re so different? As I said, it diverged away from that towards the halfway point. One trope that has been bugging me lately is the whole “I […]