NaNoWriMo 2014

You may have noticed I've abandoned the blog again. The "3 posts per week" schedule has proven to be too taxing on me, and now that I am participating in NaNoWriMo, I have put all non-noveling hobbies on the back burner. But, I will be back in December, with an updated posting schedule.

Have a great November!

Happy reading (and writing!),

Katie

Blog Maintenance Post - Release Update

I'd just like to quickly apologize for all of the incorrect information I had in my list of Upcoming Releases. I might be able to understand my past self getting one of the release dates wrong, but not only did I have the wrong dates for both of the releases listed, I also had the wrong title for one of the upcoming releases (Danielle Paige's next novella/short story/ebook/etc. in the Dorothy Must Die series is not, in fact, Burn the Witch, but The Witch Must Burn).

I've also added a ton of new releases I'm looking forward to in the next year, so you've now got the most updated version of books I'm looking forward to reading.

That being said, I'm sad to see the pretty Blood of Olympus cover go. I haven't even received my copy of it in the mail yet!

Book Review: Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Tiger Lily is a beautiful retelling of Peter Pan, with Tiger Lily as the main character (obviously) but narrated by Tinkerbell. I loved Tinkerbell's point of view, and although I am nothing like Tiger Lily, I related to her so much.

I also really liked how quickly I turned from taking Wendy's side from the canon Peter Pan story to everyone else's side in this story. I mean, in the Disney movie, everyone in Neverland (except Peter and the Lost Boys) hates Wendy practically upon sight. Seeing the movie from her point of view, Wendy had my sympathy, but after reading this book, it seems more likely that Wendy has a bad personality as opposed to everyone else on Neverland being crazy. Like that one saying goes, if you have a problem with everyone you know, you have to consider that you are the common link.

• Addicting: 9/10
• Coming of Age: 9/10
• Romance: 8/10
• Literary: 10/10
• Social Commentary: 10/10
• Overall rating: 46/50

Pick up this book if you like

• Coming of age stories
• Retellings of classic stories in general, or Peter Pan specifically
• Multifaceted, flawed female lead you will love
• Character-driven stories

Skip this book if you hate

• Anything changing the canon Peter Pan story
• Novels where the romance the book focuses on doesn't pan* out 

I originally borrowed this from the library, but I only got 2 pages into it before realizing I had to own a copy for my personal collection. I haven't reread it yet, as I've only just read it at the beginning of this year and so I can't recount it towards my reading challenge, but I'm planning on taking a break from the annual reading challenge next year to allow myself more freedom to reread and enjoy my books.

*Pun intended

Raves: The Elite Favorites

Even though I just wrote a post about book spoilers, I really want to go more in depth of that topic. Since today's post has to fit the 'rave' category, I'm going to talk about the books series that I am most rabid about preventing being spoiled on. These are the books I preorder or buy on the release day, the ones I start reading the minute I have them, the ones I finish reading within 4 days of their release, the ones that I will specifically avoid the internet for. If anyone spoiled me on these books, I would probably makes threats of violence before walling myself up in my room to finish the book so I couldn't be spoiled anymore (and then go back and apologize for the threats once I've cooled off because violence is never ok). 

While these obviously include my favorite series, they don't include all of my favorite series, for the reasons below. 

• If I start a book series after more than one book has been released, I'm probably not going to get through all the published installments of it before the next book comes out. A long time between releases means less motivation to work through the backlog, a short time between releases or a quickly upcoming release means less time to read. I've tried using the latest book releases to motivate me to finish earlier books in the series (The Mortal Instruments, Divergent series, Heroes of Olympus), and it never works out.
• If the book series is long and complicated, or if there's more than a few years between installments, I usually want to reread the earlier books immediately before reading the latest release. This brings us back to the problem in the previous bullet, and even if I read the first few books immediately after their release, the later books in the series don't receive the same love (The Books of Abarat).

For these reasons, I've nicknamed the special books that have ever made this list the Elite Favorites just to show how fancy they are. Here they are in no particular order.

1. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: This series may be a long time finished, but this is the book series that turned me from your average bookworm to the rabid 'goes to midnight release of book and reads it the next day' book nerd. This is also the only exception to the first bullet above (I didn't start the series until after The Prisoner of Azkaban was out, and I read books 1-3 long before Goblet of Fire was released). If there were any more Harry Potter books coming out, they would immediately make this exclusive level of reads.
2. The Lynburn Legacy by Sarah Rees Brennan: I know I talk about this book a lot, but I really love this series. I found out about it just after the first book was released, so I could easily read each new installment on the release date without having to slough through a backlog. This series just ended a few weeks ago, which means I've got room for a new series to make it to the elite list.
3. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer: This is another series I found out about not too long after the release of the first book. This series also has a steady, easy-to-remember release schedule (every year, the first week in February), though the original 4 book line-up got changed to 5, which changed the release schedule slightly so the last book will be released later the same year (OMG 2015 can't get here soon enough).
4. Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige: This is the newest series to make the list, and to be honest I'm not sure if it really belongs here, as it hasn't had a chance to earn its place (Only book 1 and the prequel novella have been released so far, but I've already preordered the next novella. We'll see how soon I read it after it's released - November 11th, 2014)

Like every person who writes blog posts alone in their room, I tend to think that I'm just talking in front of an empty room, but if that is not the case and you'd like to interact, please let me know if you have your own list of Elite Favorites and what books make your list. Also, if you have recommendations for book blogs to follow, let me know! I need to read more book blogs.

Rants: Spoilers

I had a hard time trying to think of a topic for today's post (hence why I'm breaking my internet ban and writing it last minute), but once I saw PolandBananasBooks's latest video on how to avoid spoilers (warning, she spoils Allegiant several times throughout it), I knew I had to address the reason for my failed internet ban.

I've been spoiled on TV shows and on movies, but there is no spoiler I strive to avoid like I do the book spoiler. I had no problem avoiding spoilers as a kid and teenager, mostly because I spent less time on the internet and had less books to keep track of, but now that I have BookTube in my life (as a follower, not an active participant), I have almost 300 books on my TBR pile and less time to read than ever. It seems rather ironic that BookTube introduces me to books I want to avoid being spoiled on AND the opportunity to be spoiled on them, but that's the way it goes.

The most recent book I've been spoiled on was Allegiant. I still haven't read it yet, but I've been spoiled on it by Goodreads, BookTube, and real-life people over the last year that it's been out.

That being said, I don't think all book spoilers are bad. There are some books I wanted to read until I found out what happened, then realized I wouldn't like the book at all. And there are even more books I wasn't sure I'd like until I learned how it ended, when I decided I would really like it. The main difference here, though, is that all the book spoilers I benefitted from were ones I specifically sought out, where the ones I did not want to know were the ones that were thrust upon me.

The main point of today's topic is that while spoiler-filled book talk has an important place in the book talk realm, it's important as a creator to tag your spoilers and as a reader/watcher/consumer to watch out for spoilers. I make a point of hiding my spoilers beneath cuts, including the "spoilers" tag in the labels and saying there are spoilers in the title, and separating the spoiler-filled reviews from the spoiler-free reviews. I also recommend following the tips provided by PolandBananasBooks in the video I posted at the beginning of this post (but only if you have read Allegiant, as she spoils it several times).

Book Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Now that summer is officially over, I can finally pick my favorite summer read of 2014. (To be honest, I've already decided this is my favorite book of the year, but I can't make that ruling official until January 1, 2015)

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart is beautiful and poignant and poetic and so many things I didn't even know I wanted in a book. This book has had so much buzz, and I'm so happy I somehow managed to avoid it all. If you want to read this book (and believe me, you do), do not look up anything about this book before reading it. I can only speak from my experience, but going into this book with no expectations was so wonderful.

I'm not going to say anything else about the book here in case you want to read it, but if you are still on the fence, here is how I rated it on my personal book stats.

• Addicting: 10/10
• Originality: 10/10
• Thought-provoking: 10/10
• Lyrical: 10/10
• Romance: 8/10
• Overall rating: 48/50

Pick up this book if you like

• Poetic prose
• Quick reads
• Unreliable narrators

Skip this book if you hate

• Uses of amnesia in fiction

I'd like to recommend this book to a specific group of people, but it involves giving away a spoiler for something that happens 25% into the book. I'm going to list it below several rows of stars. If you don't want to be spoiled on this, this is it for the non-spoiler part of this book review, close this page and go read the book! If you want to see the slightly spoiler recommendation, keep reading beyond the stars.

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At the end of last year and beginning of this year, my two remaining grandparents passed away. There has been a lot of grief and anger to deal with, both my own and that of my immediate and extended family. To me, this book very accurately depicts how the death of a grandparent affects the relationships of the entire family. I found reading this book to be a cathartic experience in regards to my loss, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has recently lost a grandparent.

Click the link below to reveal my discussion including spoilers.

Raves: Epic Reads

For today's second rave, instead of talking about books, I'm going to talk about something book-related.  Epic Reads is the social media branch of the HarperCollins Publishing marketing team. While the team is made up of many people, Margot and Aubry provide the face of Epic Reads with their weekly liveshow, Tea Time. Nearly every Wednesday* at 3:45pm EST, Margot and Aubry host a half-hour liveshow on their YouTube channel, where they drink tea and discuss books. Their video topics range from unveiling upcoming HarperTeen releases, cover reveals, and discussions of their latest reads. As of this week, they have had 78 episodes of Tea Time, and I have watched every single one (excluding the few early ones not on the YouTube channel).

Tea Time is responsible for a lot of my reading backlog. I have a TeaTime shelf on my GoodReads, just to show how many books I've gotten recommended from them. That being said, they also keep track of sweet deals on their Epic Reads Epic Deals page, so while they've added to my book-buying addiction, they've also given me the means to utilize my Kindle, and of course, read more.

Another thing I really love about them is their energy. They are never negative, and I think it must be really difficult to have a deep passion for books and only share the positive feelings. I have often been tempted to say terrible things about the books I disliked, and even succumbed to those temptations, but watching Tea Time inspires me to be the best book blogger I can be. I didn't start blogging to become famous (good thing, because that's very unlikely), or to trash talk books, or even to write honest negative reviews of books. I started this blog because I love books and I love talking about them. Watching Epic Reads reminds me of that, and it motivates me to work harder.

*Since it's for work, they don't post on holidays, and they only host shows every other week during the summer.

**This post has been updated to reflect the correct spelling of Aubry's name**

Book Buzz: The Blood of Olympus

It's been a busy few weeks here on the blog. I've barely had time to recover from the end of the Lynburn Legacy, and it's already nearly time for the last book in the Heroes of Olympus series.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, the Heroes of Olympus (HoO) series is a best-selling YA fantasy series by Rick Riordan. It is a spin-off from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians middle grade series. Both of these series are such addicting reads. I really believe they are the 'Harry Potter' of this generation. The last book in the Heroes of Olympus series, Blood of Olympus, comes out on October 7, next Tuesday. I won't put a blurb of it here, as it will spoil people (myself included), but I will put the dust jacket blurb for the first book in the original series, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.

Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school... again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus' master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus' stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

I'm still two books behind in the series, and the HoO books are all over 500 pages, so I've got a lot of catching up to do. I also want to binge read this series, rereading books 1 and 2 before reading the 3-5, which means I won't be getting to Blood of Olympus for at least two weeks. Since I'll be avoiding the internet like the plague until I'm caught up (MUST AVOID SPOILERS!), I will have my posts written this weekend and scheduled to post on the current Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule.

Book Rants: Girls Who Hate Girls (The Mortal Instruments 1-3 spoilers)

Today's second book-related rant has to do with the all-too-common trend of fictional girls who hate all the other fictional girls around them. To be honest, I haven't actually seen this frequently enough in books to warrant all the times I've read about this trend, but I'm just taking that as a sign where I'm reading the right books. I have seen it in a few books, though, and I'd like to talk about why I don't like this trend, and how City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass are the only books which have made this work.

There is a big difference between a female protagonist fighting with another girl, and a protagonist merely disliking another girl. Contrary to popular belief, I have a problem with the second case. When two characters are fighting, it is usually relevant to the plot. The protagonist needs at least one antagonist to provide opposition to drive the story. When a female protagonist puts down the girls she considers her friends and/or allies, that's just annoying, useless girl-hating. The protagonist may be trying to tell me that so-and-so is a useless flirt because she wears too much makeup, but what I've actually learned is that the protagonist is insecure about herself and bolsters her shaky confidence by judging other women. Unfortunately, most of the cases I've seen use girl-hate don't even bother addressing this problem with the protagonist's outlook, which normalizes the damaging behavior. 

Which brings me to The Mortal Instruments series. 

If you have read the first three Mortal Instruments books (City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass), click for spoiler-filled discussion below. If you have not, let me just say that while the book series may at first appear to fall into this girl-hating trap, it actually addresses that issue beautifully.

Book Talk: Love Interests, Parents, and Dead Bodies (Women and Men in Media)

While writing my review of The Watersong Quartet by Amanda Hocking and gushing about my love of all the female characters*, I started thinking of all the male characters and how they compared. I realized that the biggest male characters were the two love interests and the dad, and the minor male characters were dads, love interests and/or dead bodies (with the exception of the professor in Elegy, as I'd just remembered him now).

This reminded me of something I'd read a while ago saying that media often portrays women as fitting into one of three categories: girlfriend, mother, or dead body. I thought it was interesting that this book series seemed to do (almost) exactly this, but with boys instead of girls, and I made an offhand comment on how I loved that inverted trope.

I'd like to expand on that point a bit, as I am often careless with words and may have come across in a manner I did not intend. I do not think that men should only be portrayed as one of these three categories. I believe in gender equality, not in an oppressive matriarchy to replace the existing patriarchy. Men, women, and all other genders, all deserve to see themselves represented in entertainment as multi-faceted characters.

That being said, women are not being equally represented in entertainment**. There are tons of movies, TV shows, and books that

• use female characters lives and deaths solely for a male character's development and growth
• include a token woman as a love interest, while the rest of the background cast is male
• sexualize female murder victims (specifically crime shows and murder mysteries)

Entertainment that relegates guys to the background in order to let girls get the spotlight may not be reflecting a gender equality utopia, but it would definitely bring some balance to the current entertainment choices, which I think is a necessary step in leading to such a utopia in real life.

Either way, can anyone really deny us girls something meant specifically for us when there is already more than enough stuff catering specifically to the boys?

*In that I love many of the characters that are female, and I love that there are so many female characters (the main characters, the villains, the friends/allies)

**Non-gender binary people are practically invisible in entertainment, but that's a topic I'm not well-versed in, so I won't comment further.

Book Series Review: Watersong Quartet by Amanda Hocking

I finally finished The Watersong Quartet by Amanda Hocking recently. While the series didn't make it into my favorites, I did find the series satisfying. I loved the two romances blossoming over the course of the series, I loved the minor characters Marcy and Lydia, and I loved how the character list was a reverse of the standard stereotypical cast, with default characters being female and the guys only existing as love interests, dads, or dead bodies.

• Originality: 9/10
• Fast-paced: 8/10
• Mythology: 7/10
• Funny: 6/10
• Romance: 8/10
• Overall rating: 38/50

Pick up this series if you like

• Paranormal romance
• Hot love interests
• Killer ladies
• Siblings relationships

Skip this series if you hate

• Revisions to mythology

While I love just about any take on mythology, I can understand that not everyone is going to like every re-imagining. Furthermore, there was one part of the series that was not fully explained, and while I was able to come up with the reasoning that held with both the rules of the mythology and make sense in the world, a lot of other people did not come to that same conclusion. (read more under the cut)

Well, that's all for my non-spoiler review. You can check under the cut for some discussion on a very specific spoiler-filled part of Elegy, book four of the Watersong Quartet.

Book Series Review: The Lynburn Legacy (Unspoken, Untold, and Unmade) by Sarah Rees Brennan

Due to the stomach bug making its way through my family, I didn't make any posts last week. But I'm going to try to make it up to you by doubling up on posts this week. So here's the first of today's two reviews. I hope you enjoy!

Last Tuesday, one of my most anticipated books of the year was released. The Lynburn Legacy was one of the few book series I found out about right after book one was released, and I really enjoyed waiting for sequel releases, and then immediately buying and reading the sequels. While I agree that some series require binge reading (Vampire Academy, I'm looking at you), I love the opportunity that the breaks between books give me and other fans to anticipate the sequels and express that excitement through fan art or fan fiction or fan mixes. While The Lynburn Legacy doesn't have as large of the fan base as a lot of other book fandoms, the fans are so dedicated to the series, and it makes me so happy to find new people who have also heard of and love this series.

The Lynburn Legacy trilogy is a gothic mystery series with fantasy elements. It is my favorite series by Sarah Rees Brennan, and I have already reread the first two books in the series, and plan on rereading all three books again in the future.

• Addicting: 10/10
• Originality: 10/10
• Suspense: 10/10
• Funny: 10/10
• Romance: 10/10
• Overall rating: 50/50

Pick up this trilogy if you like

• YA mysteries
• Spunky protagonists
• Awesome female friends
• Jokes
• Siblings relationships

Skip this book if you hate

• Plots hinged on miscommunications

I realize that I am biased, but I really think everyone who likes YA books would love this book series. Unfortunately, since it is a lesser known series, it might not be available at your local bookstore, but you can always order online, or request that your local bookstore order a copy.

Book Raves: The Turn of the Story

So somewhere in between trying to finish The Lux series and City of Glass and considering whether or not I have time to reread Unspoken and Untold before the release of Unmade next Tuesday, I decided it would be a good idea to abandon all my other reads and go back to reading The Turn of the Story.

Sorry, everything else I've been excited for lately! Y'all are taking a backseat to this.

The Turn of the Story is a serialized story written by Sarah Rees Brennan (same author as Unmade, so I feel slightly less guilty about overshadowing its upcoming release), that was written as a present to her readers and is posted on her livejournal. While she has the brevity of George R.R. Martin (this 13 part series started as a short story), she also has the wit, imagination, and humor of Terry Pratchett at his best. Her words make me laugh out loud, fall into despair, shriek in frustration, and make me consider the politics of war and the dehumanization of our opposition in order to justify our own means while neglecting to see our shortcomings in reaching those ideals we insist make us better, sometimes all in the span of a few sentences. 

You should go read it right now, though you should know that the story does not end with part 13 on her blog, but with a separate short story all on its own. Wings in the Morning picks up right where part 13 leaves off, but from a different character's point of view, and is included in the anthology Monstrous Affections edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant, which I bought on my Kindle immediately after finishing part 13. I must say I prefer Elliot's POV to than that of the character in Wings in the Morning, but they both are fantastic. 

I have far too many things to talk about this series to fit into one post, but I will figure out a way to share everything with you sometime soon!

Happy reading,

Katie

Book Talk: Hating on Twilight

In the last few years, it has become very popular to make fun of Twilight. These criticisms usually come with the rationalization that the Twilight books and movies deserve the hate because they have problematic issues (romanticizing an emotionally abusive relationship, depicting the nonwhite characters as animalistic alongside depictions of white people acting civilized, etc.). However, I've heard of many cases where people use these reasons to rationalize making personal attacks against the author and fans.

Whether or not you liked Twilight, you have to admit that it is a household name in young adult literature. Though I never finished the series, I did read and love Twilight, and I have watched the movie twice in theaters and several times on DVD*. Though I never considered myself being a diehard Twilight fan, I am a diehard fan of young adult literature. My paperback copies of the Hunger Games and City of Bones, two YA books series that became giants of their own, have recommendations from Stephanie Meyer printed on the covers. Stephanie Meyer is hugely responsible for the current popularity and breadth of YA literature, and yet the treatment towards her basically forced her out of her career as a book author. I can't help but find that incredibly unjust and sad.

I won't deny that the Twilight series has its problems, but there is a huge difference between finding fault with something you personally didn't enjoy, and bashing everyone who has ever dared to like that thing.  Furthermore, this is a book series that resonates with a lot of people, and I think it would be far more useful to examine the society which perpetuates the idea that controlling boyfriends are not only normal, but desirable, rather than to tell the fans they are stupid for liking the things society has trained them to want**.

Part of becoming an adult, for me at least, has been discovering that there are problematic issues with a lot of things I love, and I've found that it is much healthier for me to acknowledge the problems that exist while also pointing out the things that were done right, rather than disowning everything I've ever liked. If you are interested in checking out a way I think this is done successfully, I recommend checking out Ana Mardoll's Deconstruction of Twilight posts on her blog.

Well, that's enough preaching from me for one night. Thanks for listening to me rant!

Happy reading,

Katie 

*That movie is comedy gold and no one will convince me otherwise.
**For those of you that don't believe me that this is an issue larger than Twilight, watch Brenna Twohy's slam poem entitled "Fantastic Breasts and Where to Find Them. If you scared off by the title, all you need to know is the quote hidden under the cut.

Book Review: Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I've recently started reading the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout, and I cannot recommend it enough. I literally could not put it down, to the point where I was pulling out my phone and reading a few paragraphs on my Kindle app while at the store with my sister or hanging out with my friends.

• Addicting: 10/10
• Originality: 7/10
• Fast Paced: 7/10
• Funny: 8/10
• Romance: 10/10
• Overall rating: 42/50

Do not pick up this book unless you have the time to read all of Obsidian and the sequel, Onyx, in a row.  While it would be optimal to marathon the entire series in one go, most people, myself included, have things like work and sleep and laundry that prevent us from making the commitment to reading 5 books nonstop. I personally found the end of Onyx to be the best stopping point to resume my normal life, and once I read the rest of the series, I will let you know about the other stopping points that worked best for me.

Pick up this book if you like

• Paranormal romance
• High school dramas
• Funny pop culture references
• Romances where the couple has a love/hate relationship

Skip this book if you hate

• Cliffhangers

If you are not sure if you will like it and you have a Kindle or the Kindle app, I recommend you download Obsidian from the Kindle bookstore because it is currently available for free. It's a no-risk trial of the series! You literally have nothing to lose by getting this book (other than hours of your life due to reading it nonstop).

That's it for the non-spoiler part of this book review, click the link below to reveal my discussion including spoilers.

What I'm Reading: The Lux Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I'm behind the times on just about everything, so it should be a surprise to no one that I've waited until a month after the release of Opposition, the fifth and final book of the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout, to start the first book, Obsidian. Although I'd love to be a book hipster and know about all the awesome books before they become popular, in this case I am glad I didn't start the series until after all five books have been released, because oh boy, is this an addicting read. You can click on the links in the book titles to see the descriptions on Goodreads, but I've also written my own spoiler-free blurb of Obsidian below.

The Lux series follows Katy, a teenage book blogger who has just moved with her mother from Florida to West Virginia, and her attempts to befriend her new next door neighbors, twins Dee and Daemon Black. Though the twins are both tall, athletic, and attractive, the similarities end there. Dee is as friendly and bubbly as Daemon is rude and sarcastic. While Dee quickly becomes Katy's best friend, Daemon wants nothing to do with her, and he openly discourages her friendship with Dee. But there is more to this sleepy West Virginia town, and the Blacks, than meets the eye, and if Katy wants to stay alive, she's going to need the help of the one boy who is determined to have nothing to do with her. 

I started Obsidian last Friday, and I finished it Saturday morning. I then immediately bought the sequel, Onyx, and finished that on Sunday. Luckily for me, Onyx has a slightly more satisfying ending than Obsidian, so I was able to sleep and go back to work on Monday instead of immediately buying Opal and staying up all Sunday night reading it. That being said, I can't wait for this weekend so I can continue on with Opal, and I'm using it as a reward for completing some chores I have been procrastinating on.

I've still got more than half of the series to go, but I can't help but see tons of Twilight parallels. I'm starting to wonder how many of these are common YA paranormal romance tropes that were just made popular by the Twilight series. Either way, this book series is loads of fun, and I recommend it to fans of YA paranormal romance, whether or not you liked Twilight.

A word to the wise: don't pick up this series unless you have lots of time to devote to reading AND either own all 5 books or can easily access the sequels. This is not a series of satisfying endings with resolutions packaged nicely in bows. This is a series of plot twists and cliff hangers that you can't help but marathon. I plan to finish it by next weekend so I can be free to read Unmade as soon as it is released on September 23rd, but we'll see what happens.

I'm got some plans in the works for this blog, hopefully to be implemented this weekend, so you can look forward to seeing those soon. I won't make any promises about specific content or deadlines until after those changes are set in stone, but you can expect another post from me in the not-too-distant future.

Happy reading,

Katie

Book Buzz: Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan

I'm sorry for my extended absence, but I am thrilled to say that I am back and ready to give this book blogging thing another go.

My return gives me just enough time to pump myself up for the release of the final book in one of my favorite in-progress series so far, Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan (which happens to be the inspiration for the recent change in color scheme). The Lynburn Legacy is a Gothic series and consists of Unspoken, Untold, and Unmade. I won't talk about the plot of Unmade, since that'll spoil books 1+2, but here's the blurb for book 1:

Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in.She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.

But all that changes when the Lynburns return.

The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him?

If you like YA mysteries and you haven't heard of this series, you need to check it out. It has romance, jokes, awesome female friendships, and hot boys in every flavor: brooding, princely, and flirtatious. What else could you ask for? Seriously, just check them out right now.

That's all for now, I'll be back with an update soon!

Happy reading,

Katie

(Belated) February Recap

I read a lot in February. Like a LOT.

Like 7 whole books, almost-4-times-as-much-as-last month a lot.

Onto the recaps!

In case you don't already know, Cress is the third book in The Lunar Chronicles series. This series will have four books, with one released every year in February. The series is a futuristic science-fiction retelling of fairy tales, with a new fairy tale character POV added with each book. Cinder, the first in the series, is a retelling of Cinderella, Scarlet, book 2, is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, Cress is a retelling of Rapunzel, and Winter, the final book in the series, will be a retelling of Snow White. Cress was just as addicting and fast paced as its predecessors. However, I'd say its my least favorite of the series so far, mostly because of a certain character in this book (spoilers after the cut).

January TBR

Here's a quick book haul of all the books I bought in January. 

Physical books

-The Looking Glass Wars, Seeing Redd, and Archenemy by Frank Beldor

-City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

-The Serpent's Throne by Rick Riordan

Ebooks

-Chris Powell's Choose More, Lose More

-The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke 

-The Madman's Daughter by Margaret Sheperd

I also found these awesome things called samplers, which are free ebooks put out by publishers containing a sneak peek of several new and upcoming releases. I can't' decide if it's a great idea or a terrible one. Either I'll knock a few books off of my TBR shelf after reading the first chapter and deciding it isn't my jam, or I'll add a bazillion books to my TBR because I decide they all are amazing and I need to read them ALL. 

There are a lot of them on Amazon, for all different genres, but these are the ones I got.

-Fierce Reads Fall 2012 Chapter Sampler published by Macmillan
(contains Crewel by Gennifer Albin, Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama, Necromancing the Stone by Lish McBride, The Shadow Secret Society by Diana Peterfreund, Outpost by Ann Aguirre, and Promised by Caragh M. O'Brien)

-Epic Firsts Teen Sampler published by HarperCollins Publishing 

(contains Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon, Breathe by Sarah Crossan, What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang, Through to You by Emily Hainsworth, and Defiance by C.J. Redwine)

-Breathless Reads Fall 2012 Sampler published by Penguin Group 

(contains Origin by Jessica Khoury, The Innocents by Lili Peloquin, Venom by Fiona Paul, Black City by Elizabeth Richards, and Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes)

-Doorway to Dreams (Fantasy Fiction Sampler) published by Amazon Digital Services, Inc. 

(contains Anew by Chelsea Fine, Bandits by LM Preston, Become by Ali Cross, Bound by CK Bryant, Clockwise by Elle Strauss, Dead Heat by Lisa Nowak, Ethereal by Addison Moore, Grasping at Eternity by Karen Amanda Hooper, Glimpse by Stacey Wallace Benefiel, Purgatory Reign by LM Preston, Tangled Tides by Karen Amanda Hooper, The Guardian by Katie Klein, and The Iron Butterfly by Chanda Hahn)

-Hunger for Dystopian Teen Sampler published by HarperCollins Publishing 

(contains Divergent by Veronica Roth, Gone by Michael Grant, Delirium by Lauren Oliver, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, Eve by Anne Carey, and Partials by Dan Wells)

-Pitch Dark: Dark Days of Summer Sampler published by HarperCollins Publishing 

(contains Destined by Aprilynne Pike, Insignia by S.J. Kincaid, Insurgent by Veronica Roth, Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin, Partials by Dan Wells, and Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris)

-Teen Summer Reading Sampler 2012 published by HarperCollins Publishing 

(Halflings by, Reckless Heart, The Merchant's Daughter, Interrupted, FInally and Forever, and Replication)

-Epic Reads Book Club Sampler published by HarperCollins Publishing 

(contains Fall from Grace by Charles Benoit, The Lost Code by Kevin Emerson, Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard, Thumped by Megan McCafferty, Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson, and A Want So Wicked by Suzanne Young)

I think I've done enough talking about books and reading for one night. Time to get to reading!

Bout of Books Fail/January Wrap-up/February TBR

It must come as a surprise to no one that I have fallen off the face of the world again, at least in terms of this blog. There was a death in my family a few days after my last post, and that took priority over everything else. But now I'm back, so let's get back to the books.

I didn't finish any of the books on my list during the Bout of Books, but I did finish Tiger Lily by Jodi Anderson the week after. Which brings me to a total of 2 books read in January!

-Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

-Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Kinda underwhelming, truth be told, but I've got my sights set on amping it up in February. Here's my current TBR for this month:

-The Looking Glass Wars, Seeing Redd, and Archenemy by Frank Baldor: My friend convinced me to buy this entire series in January, and reading Tiger Lily put me in the mood for more fairy tale retellings. I've only read a few short chapters of it, but I'm really liking it so far, and I hope to binge read this series in February.

-Cress by Marissa Meyer: I'll be taking a break from The Looking Glass Wars series to read this (coming out this Tuesday, 2/4/2014!). In case you don't already know, Cress is the third book in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. Cinder is book 1, and Scarlet is book 2, and they are science fiction retellings of Cinderella dan Little Red Riding Hood, respectively. Cress is a retelling of Rapunzel set in the same world as the others. I read both Cinder and Scarlet in 1-2 days and was immediately chomping at the bit of the next one, so obviously I'm really excited for this one.

I just realized my February is made up entirely of fairy tale retellings. Hopefully these reads satiate my thirst for them, because I don't think I own anymore (that I haven't already read), and I'm trying to control my book-buying addiction. 

Based on my current reading speed, I doubt I'll read more than these 4 books, but if I do, I'll check out the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Meade. I keep seeing the trailer for the movie (coming out this Valentines Day), and although I've been staying away from long vampire series for a while, this one intrigues me (also helps it's a finished series with less than 13 books in it *cough Vampire Diaries, Southern Vampire Mysteries, cough*).

Anyway, I'll blog again soon with my January Book Haul. Hope your January reading stats were better than mine!

Happy reading,

Katie

Bout of Books 9.0: Day 1

Day 1 :

Books completed: none

Currently reading: Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Pages read today: 55 pages

Pages read in total: 55 pages

Challenge #1: Book Buying Spree by Bookish Comforts

(I'm not participating in the giveaway, I just thought making the list would be fun)

Challenge #2: Mad Libs by Cheap Thrills

character name – Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone, by J.K. Rowling
adjective1 – Small Steps, by Louis Sachar 
adjective2 – Scarlet, by Marissa Meyer
item – The Golem's Eye, by Jonathan Stroud
occupation – The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare 
act of violence – Fight Club, by Chuck Palaniuk
adjective3 – Torn, by Amanda Hocking
noun1 – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson  
noun2 – The Goblin Wood, by Hilari Bell

I just read the greatest book!

This guy Harry Potter ends up in the middle of a small conspiracy. Turns out his ancestors were pirates, and he might be the key to finding the Scarlet Eye. It’s a mythic artifact that disappeared centuries ago, and now a shadowy group of merchants are looking for it. No one knows what uncovering it might do, but these guys are willing to fight for it.

I won’t say anything else. But believe me, if you like torn stories with dragon(s) and wood, you have to read this one.

Bout of Books 9.0

My first Bout of Books Read-a-thon! (I think, I may have unofficially participated before).

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, January 6th and runs through Sunday, January 12th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 9.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Time Devoted to Reading

I will be reading all week.

My Goals

• Read for at least 30 minutes before bed every day.
• Finish 2 books and start a third.

Books to Read

• Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson
• A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle
• A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle

2013 in review

Here's a quick recap of all the books I read, start to finish, in 2013 (mostly in the order I read them but with series placed together), with a 1 sentence review:

1. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare - Engaging read, I liked this even more than the first book in the Mortal Instruments series.
2. The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan - I loved this book and its focus on family.
3. The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan - I don't know how this had even more family focus in it than the first one but I'm loving it.
4. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer - This series is ridiculously addicting and it makes the very short list of books I must buy and read within the week it is released.
5. The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson - Not a great sequel, but an excellent introduction to the main villain and showdown to be explored in the last two books.
6. Divergent by Veronica Roth - Addicting read, but Four did not live up to all his hype.
7. Murder Past Due by D.R. Meredith - This book was not for me.
8. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett - Such a fun read for anyone who has read MacBeth.
9. Lost At Sea by Bryan Lee O'Malley - Interesting quick read, more literary and less fantasy than I thought it would be, but quite excellent.
10. House of Mystery, Vol 1. by Matthew Sturges - Too scary for my taste, not for me.
11. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl - I needed to be in a particular frame of mind for this book, I dragged myself through the first third of it and I flew threw the rest of it.
12. Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl - Not really my cup of tea, my least favorite of the series so far (I'm only 25% done with the 3rd book).
13. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan - It's like the author went into my head, took all the things I found lacking or wanted more of in the Percy Jackson series and put it into this book.
14. The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan - This series is only getting better.
15-17. The Summer Before I Met You, The Spring Before I Met You, and The Night After I Lost You by Sarah Rees Brennan - All short stories between Unspoken and Untold.
18. Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan - This is the other book series that makes the list of books I must buy and read within the week of its release.
19. The Enchantress Returns by Chris Colfer - Enjoyable take on fairy tale characters, but more suited for its middle grade audience.
20. Doll Bones by Holly Black - Not as creepy as I'd hoped, but enjoyable even for an older reader.
21. Valkyrie Rising by Ingrid Paulson - Interesting new urban fantasy, loved the tension between family loyalty and personal independence.
22. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black - New favorite take on vampires.
23. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins - It set up these cliched tropes, and I was so disappointed, until it completely disassembled those tropes and came together beautifully, so excited for the sequels.
24. No Place Like Home by Danielle Paige - This prequel put the new release in the category of books to buy and read within the week of its release.
25. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson - I love how this book series realistically depicts religious ideology leading to the justification of horrific actions.
26. The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson - This book series keeps upping the ante and I love it.

Happy reading,

Katie

New Year, Same Blog

Hello and happy new year!

I'm sorry about the long hiatus and the lack of posts, the reasons for which are long and boring, but I'm back so let's move onto the important stuff: BOOKS (of course)

I aimed to read 30 books in 2013 (and I only read 26 books on Goodreads, 3 of which were prequel stories and 1 was a comic book style and length graphic novel). This year my Goodreads goal is to read 25 books, with a personal goal of reaching that by July and upping it to 50 books.

I also had a poor completion versus started ratio this year. There are 12 books I started reading in 2013 that I still haven't finished. A few of these I only read a few pages before deciding I wasn't in the right mood for, while some of them were books I was really enjoying but had to put down because of life and then got too much space from them to immerse myself again.

In 2014, I aim to fix this by focusing on reading books I'm really excited about instead of ones I'm 'getting out of the way'. It doesn't make sense to read books I'm not enjoying, due to being in the wrong frame of mind, for entertainment.

For this reason, I reorganized my TBR bookshelf, putting the books I'm most excited about right across from where my face is when I'm laying in bed (aka the books I see most often).

That's all for now, stay tuned for a quick review of the books I read in 2013!

Happy reading,

Katie