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.