February and March Wrap Up

February and March were two months where I read books that I would consider important reads for people of all ages. Only one of the books would not be categorized as Young Adult, but could be read by anyone. These were books that I wasn't forcing myself to read. I picked them up, because those were the books that I wanted to read in that moment. That helped a lot in helping me read the books quickly and take them in as much as possible. Towards the end of March, those last three books I read were pretty close together.

February 2017

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
It took me a long time to get through this book, but it wasn't the actual book that slowed me down, it was me. I just wasn't motivated to pick up the physical book, but once I was able to borrow an e-book version from the library I got through it a lot quicker. I also saw the movie and I can't really say that I loved it. So far my favorite book has been Prisoner of Azkaban.

Monster by Walter Dean Myers
I finally picked this book up after seeing it at Barnes and Noble almost every time I went in there. This is not a traditionally formatted book. It's written in the form of a screenplay. These different book formats are interesting, but can sometimes take away from the story. That was not the case for this book. It's not the type of book where the ending is going to make complete sense and makes you think about why certain things happen and how they got to that point.

March 2017

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
I love Trevor Noah's comedy and his stand-up, and that's how I've gotten to know about him. He took over The Daily Show in 2015, so most people probably know him from that. Born a Crime is a collection of stories about his life growing up in South Africa during apartheid. It's a perfect blend of his comedy, story telling, and information about living in South Africa during that time.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
I went out to get it as soon as I could and read it right after that. I wanted to read it before people really started sharing their opinions on it. Without giving too much away, this book was initially inspired by Oscar Grant and the Black Lives Matter movement. Other books have touched on the subject, but the hype that The Hate U Give got months before it even debuted brought an attention to it that was well needed. This gives you another perspective to something that is discussed on the news, but we never get to see the personal side of it.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Initially I wasn't going to read this book. Then my thirteen year old brother picked it up. Soon after that I started seeing the trailer for the Netflix show pop up everywhere. I borrowed it from my brother and started reading it really knowing nothing about it. I had a hard time deciding what to rate this, so I didn't. It's an important read, especially for someone around my brother's age where they're about to begin high school and these sort of experiences start happening more. Maybe not even to them personally, but just so that they're aware that bullying, sexual assault, rape, and so many other things that most are unaware of are things that kids deal with.


I'm currently reading something completely different. After reading books that dealt with heavy topics, I wanted to take a bit of break and then maybe I'll pick something else up related to those books.


Currently Reading
Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

Currently Reading, but sort of on the back burner
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
Paper Princess by Erin Watt

The One Where I Stopped Rating Everything | January 2017

This was the point where I stopped rating every single thing I read because I found it difficult to put my feelings into words and give a star rating after reading some books. Also this is where I set my Goodreads challenge to 12 books. One book a month is my goal for 2017 not including comics or graphic novels. New year, new me?

January 2017

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

This had been sitting on my shelf for the longest time and I'm glad I finally picked it up. It's the story of Sutter Keely in his senior year of high school. Academically he's an underachiever with no plans for college. What I learned about Sutter Keely by reading this book is that he likes to drink. A lot. He likes to party. A lot. He meets Aimee, a quiet girl from school that he had never noticed before  meeting her when he wakes up on some random person's lawn one morning.

I don't know. I liked that it dealt with some serious issues and wasn't sugarcoated, but there were moments where I wasn't sure if I was just uncomfortable or if I really hated Sutter. I didn't end up rating this book, because I didn't hate the story, but I wasn't in love with the characters. If you don't want to waste your time reading it they made a movie that's a good adaptation.

Girls Like Me by Lola StVil

This book is written in verse and text messages which I would have had no problem with if there had been a reason why. I thought I was the only who thought this, but after reading some of the reviews I realized I wasn't the only one. It just doesn't make sense. Because of this the story suffers. The characters aren't developed enough. The main character is the most forgettable one. I felt like I never really got to know her and I don't think there was any growth. I liked the concept behind this one, but unfortunately the execution fell flat. 2/5

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova

I had been meaning to pick this book up ever since it came out. There aren't enough books out there that feature Latina main characters especially in original and unique stories. This is an amazing diverse book set in Los Lagos, a beautiful fantastical world. Alex is a bruja (a witch), on her Death Day she wishes that she didn't have her powers anymore and instead of getting rid of them she gets rid of her family. 

There were a few bumps in the story where the pacing slowed down for me. It felt like the characters or the story were just going in a circle. I loved the family members and their relationships with Alex. I loved Nova, and the piece of backstory we get for him. I didn't like Rishi. I found her annoying at times and felt like she almost dropped in out of nowhere. (Bad pun. I know.) I'm interested in seeing where the other books go as they follow the other sisters.

Currently Reading

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

February TBR

Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi (TBR Jar Pick)

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

The Wrap Up I Almost Forgot To Post

Basically what the title says. As you may notice by taking a glance below, I read one short e-book in the month of October, and then read nothing at all in November because of a little thing called NaNoWriMo also known as National Novel Writing Month where writers think it's completely normal to attempt to write 50,000 words in a single month. In December I began to freak out because of the beautiful Goodreads challenge. To say the least I completely and utterly failed that and have since then changed my outlook on what it means to me. But seriously...I read almost nothing in three months, but here's my wrap up anyways.

October 2016

Zenith: The Androma Saga Part 1 by Sasha Alsberg & Lindsay Cummings
This is sort of a weird book to review, because what I read wasn't the actual complete story. This was initially set up to be the first part of a six (I might be wrong on the total amount) part series of e-books that would make up the story The Androma Saga. It was going to be self published, but after hitting the #1 New York Times Bestseller list for Young Adult E-Books it was picked up by Harlequin Teen where the entire story will be published. 

This first part sets up the characters and where they are on their journey, but never really takes off. (Bad pun not intended.) I can see how they had planned to continue the story, but had they continued releasing it in parts I don't know if I would have picked up the next one. I did find the characters interesting. The group and their friendships reminded me of Rat Queens. Now that it's going to be released in its entirety I'll most likely be picking it up in August. 3/5

December 2016

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
It took me a while to get through this mostly because I found it hard to get through Elias' chapters. I just didn't care about his storyline and what ultimately happened to him. Laia was the one character that I found myself more attached to. The world and world building,inspired by ancient Rome, was interesting and my favorite part of this story. 4/5

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
This is a collection of short essays related to Christmas and the holidays (like the title suggests). I'm pretty sure this book is out of print, at least that's what the sticker on the book said when I bought it. My biggest problem with this book was that the stories were not all equally as good. David Sedaris is quirky and funny, but there were a couple of pieces that didn't seem to go with the others. 4/5

Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
I got this book on BookOutlet because of Liana's Reviews, an Australian booktuber. I loved this book. I had never heard about it before, and didn't know there was even a movie. It's a coming of age story featuring Josephine Alibrandi in her last year at her Catholic high school. I'm glad I hadn't heard about it before, because I went in with no expectations and was definitely surprised by how much I enjoyed. It's a bit like an older, more serious version of the Georgia Nicolson books. 5/5

Jonesy, Vol. One by Sam Humphries, Caitlin Rose Boyle
I have a review of this which you can read here. This is a cute and colorful comic about a girl named Jonesy who has somehow received the ability to make people fall in love except with herself. It's a fun and diverse read that you should definitely pick up. 5/5

I'm Back and I Read Harry Potter for the First Time!

Hello! I know, it's been a while since I've posted. I hit sort of a wall when it came to post ideas, and ended up taking a sort of break. Just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean I haven't been reading. I'll list the books and what I rated them. At this point I don't remember my detailed thoughts, just my overall feelings on the book, so I'll just include the rating I gave them on Goodreads.

As you might have figured out from the title of the post, I started reading Harry Potter for the first time. Technically I've already read The Sorcerer's Stone for a children's literature class, but I waited until the last minute and only read the very first part. Even then I sort of rushed through it. So I always meant to go back to it, and I finally did in July. It's safe to say that I love the series so far, and understand why so many people love it.

July

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling 5/5

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige 4/5

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera 4/5

Archie, Vol. One: The New Riverdale 4/5

August

Batgirl, Vol. 1: The Batgirl of Burnside 4/5

Batgirl, Vol. 2: Family Business 5/5

September

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling 5/5

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling 5/5

That's all I read this summer. I haven't been reading a ton of books, but I'm reading a bit more consistently now which is good...at least I think so. Next month is NaNoWriMo and once again I'll be participating. I'm going to be doing a post on that very soon! I'm excited for it, but the downside is that I probably won't get much reading in or even at all.

Summer Reading Plans 2016

Every summer I plan on reading a bunch of contemporaries, because summer seems to be the perfect time for that. Of course I never get to all of them, but that doesn't matter because once again here is another summer TBR with too many summery contemporaries. This list isn't set particularly because (as I have come to learn) I'm a big mood reader. Also, if I buy new books and I might really want to read them first. I don't really know, but this is just a general idea of what I want to read this summer.

Contemporaries on My TBR

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson

The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta

The Morgan Matson Collection

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson (also fits into the last category)
Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

The Not Summery Contemporaries

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

An Ember In The Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey

"Summer" in the Title

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
Summer Days and Summer Nights edited by Stephanie Perkins
Open Road Summer by Emery Lord

What books are on your TBR this summer? Any summery contemporaries that I should check out?

April and May 2016 | Wrap Up

Here is what I read in April and May. 5 novels and one comic volume in two months. I probably could have done better, but I'm trying to not force myself to read and just enjoy whatever it is that I'm currently reading. I meant to have a little TBR at the end of this post like I usually do, but instead I'll be doing a What I Plan to Read this Summer post.

Soundless by Richelle Mead
I ended up reviewing this book which you can read here. Overall, it was just okay for me. There was more that could have been developed in the book and it just fell short.

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
My second Sarah Dessen book, and it didn't disappoint. Something that I'm learning as I read more of her work is that I love her male characters. They don't try too hard to be liked by the protagonist or the reader. Sarah Dessen writes about real people dealing with real life problems. In this case Just Listen deals with rape, a topic that can go wrong in a book, but and it does so really well.

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
I picked this book up last year when it came out. I was waiting for my little brother at the library, and started read the first couple of chapters. I didn't have time to check it out then, and I always meant to pick it up again some time. I'm so glad I did now just in time for the release of the second book, because I don't think I could have waited that long. 4/5

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
The Books of Wonder Fantastic Teen Reads event was the main reason I picked this book up when I did. It was on my TBR, but I had not intention of reading it any time soon. I honestly had no idea where this story was going, partially because I hadn't read the synopsis for it or really watched/read any reviews of it. It was different from anything that I had read recently. The main character isn't a kick-ass heroine in the physical sense instead she uses her tactical skills. In a way it reminded me of the Hunger Games, because of the political aspects. I will definitely be continuing this trilogy. Interested in where it will go. 4/5

Giant Days, Vol. 2 by John Allison, Whitney Cogar, Max Sarin, and Lissa Treiman
Although I ended up giving this the same rating as the first volume, but I definitely enjoyed this one more. I think it's because I knew what to expect from it. This comic is a little different than others that I usually read. It's about four British friends attending university. Whereas I usually read comics about people with superpowers  (Ms. Marvel) or where weird crazy stuff is happening (Lumberjanes or Papergirls). 4/5

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
This is another author that was at the Books of Wonder event. Bought this completely on a whim, knowing nothing at all about it. I'm so glad I did, because I loved it. This is a sort of stand-alone fantasy. I say sort of because there will be another book, but it's a companion novel about another character from this book. The Star-Touched Queen is based off of Indian folklore, and even has a flesh eating horse in it. 5/5