WWW Wednesday 2/24/16

Good Morning everyone!

And Happy Wednesday!

These past few weeks have been a little rough for me, due to moving and all the issues that came up with that meant that I fell a bit behind in my college classes. Not good. I spent an entire week trying to catch up on the assignments and the reading that I needed to do while also doing that current week’s assignments. Let me just tell you it was a headache! But I am caught up, I took an exam on Sunday and I am now dedicating more effort into trying to balance everything.

Because of that I (sadly) didnt get much reading done, like at all.

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WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World Of Words. Simply answer the following questions:

What have you recently finished reading?

What are you currently reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

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What have you recently finished reading?

I just finished the Siren. It was really good, I loved it to bits. You can check out more of my thoughts (I basically just gushed over how much I enjoyed it) here.

I also reread A Darker Shade of Magic. It was just as magical the second time around. Still love it!

 

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What are you currently reading?

My love!

A Gathering of Shadows

Loving it!

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What do you think you’ll read next?

So I have this plan. After I’m done with this week’s school work I will have a week off (Finally!) And on March 4th through the 8th I am going to California to visit my mother, During my trip/flight to California, I want to start reading Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon. I also want to read Glass Sword and Vicious. I really hope I can do it, it would make me so incredibly happy!

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So thats my ambition, we’ll see how it goes.

What are you reading this week?

 

 

The Siren review

The Siren
by Kiera Cass
published Jan 26th 2016
hardcover
327 pages
my rating: 5 out of 5 stars

 

Synopsis:

From Kiera Cass, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Selection series, comes a captivating stand-alone fantasy romance.

Kahlen is a Siren, bound to serve the Ocean by luring humans to watery graves with her voice, which is deadly to any human who hears it. Akinli is human—a kind, handsome boy who’s everything Kahlen ever dreamed of. Falling in love puts them both in danger . . . but Kahlen can’t bear to stay away. Will she risk everything to follow her heart?

The Siren was previously self-published; this brand-new edition has been completely rewritten and redesigned.

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My thoughts:

I straight up loved this. I don’t really know what else to say. 🙂

This book made me so happy, I loved Kahlen (btw I also really love that name now) and Akinli so much. I loved all the settings in this book. I will always love a quaint small town setting. Forever and always that is one of my favorite details in any story. I also loved at the Ocean was a character, and I also loved her.

Kiera Cass has an interesting writing technique, its simplistic but not in a bad way, her books are very quick and easy to read, I read this book in two days, I only put it down to go see the Deadpool movie and go to dinner with my family.

If you read the Selection or the Heir and you ended up not being fond of it, don’t let that discourage you from picking up this book. While I enjoyed the Selection and I liked the Heir well enough, I enjoyed this far more. This is something that I can see myself reading over and over again and still loving it.

But at the same time, this is not the best thing ever, you will want to nitpick at tiny details, decisions that the characters make, and other little threads that you’d like to pull on. I never focused on any of them, though, I just let myself get swept up within this story.

Waiting on Wednesday 2/17

Welcome back to Waiting on Wednesday, Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and you talk about books coming out soon that you’re excited about

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Okay, so today I need to talk about an upcoming book that I know a lot of us are very excited about.

and that is

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

synopsis via Goodreads:

The Shadowhunters of Los Angeles star in the first novel in Cassandra Clare’s newest series, The Dark Artifices, a sequel to the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series. Lady Midnight is a Shadowhunters novel.

It’s been five years since the events of City of Heavenly Fire that brought the Shadowhunters to the brink of oblivion. Emma Carstairs is no longer a child in mourning, but a young woman bent on discovering what killed her parents and avenging her losses.

Together with her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches across Los Angeles, from the Sunset Strip to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica. If only her heart didn’t lead her in treacherous directions…

Making things even more complicated, Julian’s brother Mark—who was captured by the faeries five years ago—has been returned as a bargaining chip. The faeries are desperate to find out who is murdering their kind—and they need the Shadowhunters’ help to do it. But time works differently in faerie, so Mark has barely aged and doesn’t recognize his family. Can he ever truly return to them? Will the faeries really allow it?

Glitz, glamours, and Shadowhunters abound in this heartrending opening to Cassandra Clare’s Dark Artifices series.

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I am very excited for this to come out, I’m really looking forward to seeing a different part of the Shadowhunters World and I am secretly hoping that Jace and Clary show up at least once, hell I will by happy if any of TMI characters make an appearance!

The number one thing I want to talk about though is that this book is 720 pages! Holy Herondale!

No one told me that it was going to be 720 pages!

In case you need an itsy bit of clarification let me explain. City of Heavenly Fire was 720 pages and that hardcover was about the size of a baby. Lady Midnight is only book 1 of a trilogy (I think it’ll be a trilogy) so that means that the rest of the books are only going to get bigger from there.

I mean that typically happens right? Very rarely do books get shorter as the series goes on. The only exception I can think of is the Bloodlines series and it didn’t necessarily get shorter but stayed around the same length, but knowing Cassandra Clares books, I think it’s safe to assume that the rest of the books will get longer. That’s a little intimidating to think about. At least, it is for me, but I’m easily intimidated by big books.

I’m really not to sure how I feel about the cover, it’s pretty, I love the sword and how she’s sinking into the water, it has an overall grim yet ethereal feeling to it that I really do love, but when I first heard about the book this is the cover I saw.

Even though I know this is a fan art (at least I think it is?) I still really liked it. It matched the Mortal Instruments books, it has a nice warm glow to it and if you look carefully int he background there are faint wings behind her. I just really fell in love with it.

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So are you ready for 720 more pages into the Shadowhunter world? I’m excited that it’s going to be set in Los Angeles and that we’ll get to explore a new part of the Shadowhunter world.

WWW Wednesday 2/17

Happy Wednesday!

Lately, I feel like time is just flying by! I am constantly feeling like I don’t have enough time to sit down and really enjoy anything lately, it just work, school, and unpacking. I’m starting to feel a little burnt out while trying to balance everything.

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World Of Words. Simply answer the following questions:

What have you recently finished reading?

What are you currently reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

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What have you recently finished reading?

I just finished reading Stars Above and Me before You

I loved Stars Above, it was a great collection of novellas, you can read my review of it here.
I enjoyed Me Before You a lot, you can check out my review here for further thoughts on it.

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What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading Glass Sword, I havent made much progress on it lately, Been really busy lately and I’m starting to feel a little burnt out. Every time I go to sit down and open it I start feeling insta-sleepy.

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What do you think you’ll read next?

I am currently on a mission to read all of Victoria Schwab’s books, I want to read Vicious and A Gathering of Shadows before I go to her upcoming book signing in Seattle.

Top Ten Tuesday 2/16

Good morning!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish.

This week I went with 10 songs I wish that were books. I thought this was going to be a lot harder than it was and there’s also the fact that I basically listen to pretty much 4 or 5 bands (I have a playlist on Spotify that’s just Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, A Day to Remember and Peirce the Veil. All of their albums and I mostly just play it for background noise.) I also have a playlist of all time favorite songs so I went through that one too and this is what I came up with.

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Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance

This is one of my favorite songs ever and I think it would make a kickass fantasy novel.

If It Means A Lot To You by  A Day to Remember

I think this would make an amazing yet heartbreaking contemporary read

Bulletproof Love by Pierce the Veil

This song is all about loving someone to the point where you’re hurting yourself. It’s a happy song with morbid lyrics and I think it would make a great and twisted novel.

Caraphernelia by Pierce the Veil

I love the music video for this song, it shows how hard maintaining a long distance relationship is and also finding a balance between friendships and relationships. I think it would translate nicely into a book.

Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys by My Chemical Romance

Just take this whole album and make it a novel, while it’s already its own story, while there is a graphic novel of the Killjoys it didn’t really leave me satisfied, I think it would have made a better novel than a comic series.

American Beauty/American Psycho by Fall Out Boy

This would make a great angsty-opposites attract love story

Ship to Wreck by Florence + the Machine

I think this would make a great novel about ending a relationship and feeling heartbroken and depressed.

Broken Generation by Of Mice and Men

The music video for this song was a cool sci-fi dystopian about the oppression of a younger generation and I would like to read that lol

You’re Gonna Go Far Kid by the Offspring

When I think of this song turning into a story I think about this kid being brought up as a spy/soldier working for this organization that manipulates the events the world throughout time, and him rebelling against them. I would totally read that.

And finally anything by Evanescence

Seriously any book that was inspired by one of their songs would make this beautiful and haunting gothic romance and I can really get behind that.

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So I’ve kinda realized now that my taste in music runs a little dark. Yeah, I didnt realize that until I had written this out.

What was your Top Ten Tuesday about? Leave a link so I can go check it out!

Me Before You review

Me Before You
Jojo Moyes
369 pages
my rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis via Goodreads

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn’t know is she’s about to lose her job or that knowing what’s coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he’s going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn’t know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they’re going to change the other for all time.

My thoughts:
I really enjoyed this book, in fact, I read it in two sittings, I didn’t really want it to end and by that I mean I didn’t want it to stop being happy. These two were so cute together and I loved how their relationship was so gradual, it went from not liking each other, to tolerating each other, friends, more than friends, and I love how Moyes accomplished that. But during my second sitting, I felt like I lost a connection to the characters. I wasn’t as emotionally devastated as I was lead to believe that I was going to be and I think not being as connected to the characters as I was affected that a lot. And I really thought that I was going to cry a lot during this (come on you should see me with the Felicity scenes in Arrow…total

(come on you should see me with the Felicity scenes in Arrow…total bawlfest…I do the same thing during the Flash as well but usually, it’s when something happy happens to Barry, I always start crying.)
I did start feeling my throat start tightening up at a few points which is always a giveaway that I am about to start crying but it never came. I was a bit sad at that, I still get choked up if I talk about Clockwork Princess or the Fault in Our Stars.
I really want to continue on with reading Moyes books but I don’t know where to start, if anyone else has read any other books let me know which ones you really liked.

Oops another Book Outlet Haul

I hate the shipping on Book Outlet. It takes so long to get here! Even better it’s through UPSMI so UPS doesn’t even deliver it, they just drop it off at a post office where it sits there for a couple days, then (this is if it wasn’t even delivered to my post office) that post office brings it to my post office where it sits there for a few MORE days then it is delivered to me.

GRR! it frustrates me and it’s a huge pain in my ass, I just want my books!

Does anyone else ever have this problem? I think I may be too spoiled with Amazons two-day shipping.

Anyways onto books. A couple of days after I placed my first order on book outlet I looked through it again just to see what was there. And there were a couple of books added on that I really wanted so I snatched them up before they could go out of stock.

Stars Above Review

Stars Above
by Marissa Meyer
369 pages
my rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Synopsis via Goodreads  

The enchantment continues….

The universe of the Lunar Chronicles holds stories—and secrets—that are wondrous, vicious, and romantic. How did Cinder first arrive in New Beijing? How did the brooding soldier Wolf transform from young man to killer? When did Princess Winter and the palace guard Jacin realize their destinies?

With nine stories—five of which have never before been published—and an exclusive never-before-seen excerpt from Marissa Meyer’s upcoming novel, Heartless, about the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Stars Above is essential for fans of the bestselling and beloved Lunar Chronicles.

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The Little Android: A retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” set in the world of The Lunar Chronicles.
Glitches: In this prequel to Cinder, we see the results of the plague play out, and the emotional toll it takes on Cinder. Something that may, or may not, be a glitch….
The Queen’s Army: In this prequel to Scarlet, we’re introduced to the army Queen Levana is building, and one soldier in particular who will do anything to keep from becoming the monster they want him to be.
Carswell’s Guide to Being Lucky: Thirteen-year-old Carswell Thorne has big plans involving a Rampion spaceship and a no-return trip out of Los Angeles.
The Keeper: A prequel to the Lunar Chronicles, showing a young Scarlet and how Princess Selene came into the care of Michelle Benoit.
After Sunshine Passes By: In this prequel to Cress, we see how a nine-year-old Cress ended up alone on a satellite, spying on Earth for Luna.
The Princess and the Guard: In this prequel to Winter, we see a game called The Princess
The Mechanic: In this prequel to Cinder, we see Kai and Cinder’s first meeting from Kai’s perspective.
Something Old, Something New: In this epilogue to Winter, friends gather for the wedding of the century…

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My Thoughts

I love when novellas fill the blanks left behind in the novels, they give us those answers to questions we still had. This novella collection did a great job doing that. The only other novella collection that I liked as much as this was the Assassins Blade and I think that says a lot since I loved the Assassins Blade and the entire Throne of Glass series.

The Keeper
4 out of 5 stars

I loved Scarlet’s backstory it was heartbreaking but it really showed how Scarlet had developed her tough skin and attitude. it was also really nice to get this brief intro of Michelle Benoit and learn about this strong and amazing woman who influenced Scarlet so deeply.

Glitches
5 out of 5 stars

I didn’t know my heart could break anymore for Cinder, throughout the Lunar Chronicles my heart broke for Cinder so many times and while I had known that Adri resented Cinder and never wanted her around, it was heart-wrenching to read about a 12-year-old girl feeling lost, unloved, and unwanted.

The Queens Army
4 out of 5 stars

What is Marissa doing to my heart?! The feels! The love and protection Z wanted to give his brother only to have thrown back in his face just made my heart ache for him.

Carswell’s Guide to being Lucky
3 out of 5 stars

This novella didn’t really do anything for me. I love this title, though, I feel like it’s what Carswell would choose to title his autobiography. For me, this story just showed that he was a charming con artist and we already knew that about him. But I think it did show the progress of his personal growth that he went through with Cress.

After Sunshines Passes Through
4 out of 5 stars

OMG Poor Cress, that’s all I can think to say is poor Cress, this was so sad, it shows Cress’s desire to be a citizen of Luna and to serve the crown that despises her. I still want to know how she learned her computer programming and hacking skills. I was also really impressed by how smart she was at 9 years old.

The Princess and the Guard
5 out of 5 stars

This novella started out so nicely, it was a warming and endearing opening of Winter and Jacin playing pretend, and then it went dark as it walked through Winters decision to stop using her gift, Levana’s cruel mutilation to Winter, and the start of Winter’s hallucinations. My heart broke to see how quickly and easily Jacin gave up his dream to become a physician.

The Little Andriod
5 out of 5 stars

What is Marissa doing to my heart!? That story hurt me right in the emotions, it made me feel all of the feels! It was so good. Quite possibly my favorite so far. I actually wasn’t sure if I was going to like it, I thought meh it’ll be okay. No! That was not the case at all! I grew to love Mech.06/Star so quickly and loved the whole story. It was great!

The Mechanic
3 out of 5 stars

That was a nice little glimpse into Kai’s head, I really enjoyed reading how he and Cinder met through his persepective. However it didnt really add anything to the story, We already knew about the importance of what Nainsi held. So yes it was alright but it didnt add to anything.

Something Old, Something New
5 out of 5 stars

I love seeing everyone interact with each other, seeing how Cress and Thorne tease each other, the wedding was amazing and that ending was so satisfying.

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This left me feeling so satisfied, Winter didn’t quite leave off with an ending that I loved but these novellas filled in the blanks with the series, and the ending to this left me feeling so happy! Honestly, it was everything I wanted and more.

Book Outlet Haul!

So I recently placed an order on Book Outlet.
If you follow me on Instagram then you probably saw this photo of a mini book haul from Barnes and Noble where I purchased a paperback copy of the Bone Season. I was so excited to finally be reading this, I’ve heard great things about it. Then out of curiosity, I log onto book outlet.
Where I found hardcovers of The Bone Season and also the Mime Order for $2.99 and $4.99. So I had to have them. I ended up taking my paperback copy back to Barnes and Noble and ordered the beautiful hardcovers. I also ended up ordering quite a few more, so there is my Book Outlet haul.

I’ll start off with the Bone Season and the Mime Order. I can’t wait to read these! Actually… I’m just going to take these along with Glass Sword and go barricade myself in my room…See you when I finish them.

I also ordered

Waiting on Wednesday 2/10/16

Welcome back to Waiting on Wednesday, Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and you talk about books coming out soon that you’re excited about

I really really really really really REALLY can’t wait for

A Gathering of Shadows
by V.E. Schwab

This is one of my most anticipated books of 2016 and I cannot wait until this book is in my hands.

I’m also really excited because VE Schwab is going to be doing a book signing in Seattle on March 1st and while I don’t live in Seattle, you can bet on the fact that I will be there. I am so beyond excited, I even tweeted her to ask if she will sign Vicious and A Darker Shade of Magic if I bring them up, and she said she will! I really can’t wait for this!

here a link to the schedule for her book tour

Are you excited for A Gathering of Shadows? What’s another upcoming book that you’re excited for?