Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Eight Books I Could Re-read Forever

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Check out her site for future topics.

This week I didn't get ten titles. I probably could've found two more, but they wouldn't have been on the same level as these eight books. These are the ones on my shelves I've read time and time again. I will probably reread them even more in the future.

Currently:


Persuasion by Jane Austen - I have been rereading this book every year since 2012 so it feels like I am rereading this forever. I adore it and I find something new in it every time I read it. Depending on the time of year and my moon I see the characters differently

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater - The audiobooks of this series are amazing. I love listening to them and I love relistening to them as well. This series is one of my favorites and I catch something new whenever I reread them as well.

Sabriel by Garth Nix - I just adore this series of audiobooks as well. The first three area just amazing audiobooks and I could listen to them forever.

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas - This book is just so feels filled. I love the character development and how character focused this book is. The other two in this series are not quite the same, but I love this one.

Eragon by Christopher Paolini - I have reread this book so many times the book has started to fall apart! I love this first book. It is fun and easy to read and I have a lot of good memories attached to it. I've purchased a second copy so I can reread it again soon without losing any pages.

Opposition by Jennifer L. Armentrout - One more book I cannot reread enough. I love the introduction to this series. Kat and Daemon fight nonstop and I love their dynamic in this first book. Even though it gets even better as we go along, the two of them are great in the beginning. I love rereading this and I can usually do it in just one day.

In the Past: 

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer - No joke. In the first year of high school, before there was any other books in this series, I reread this book more than I can count. I recently found my copy and it was a disaster. The whole book has fallen apart. I probably wouldn't enjoy it if I read it now, but I loved it then. 

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - There was one summer where I read this book several times in a row. I couldn't get enough of analyzing the characters and picking apart everyone. I still enjoy this Austen work, but I can only read it once every few years now.

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Unhaul #1 - February 2018

For the first time I've decided to film the unhaul of some books. I've donated and given away books before but this group of books were more mainstream. They were books I'd talked about recently or books that are popular so I decided to let you all know they are headed out the door. Most of these books are ones I've just decided I don't want to read. Some of them I've read and disliked.

I hope to comb through my shelves a few times a year and clear out things I've grown out of or lost interest in. So this could be the first of many!



Friday, February 23, 2018

Friday Reads - February 23rd

This week a few library loans I've been really excited for arrived at the end of the week. First I received the email about Peter Darling by Austin Chant which is a trans-retelling of Peter Pan that I've heard a lot of good things about since it came out. I've read the first few chapters and really enjoyed it so far.

The Doctor's Discretion was available later that same day and I've torn through this short novel. It is just under 200 pages and I'm nearly done. This will done by the end of the morning I think. This is a historical m/m romance that is rather similar to An Unnatural Vice that I read last month. This story is working better in my opinion though. There is a good balance between romance and plot and I like both of the characters.


Peter Darling The Doctor's Discretion

The last thing I'm reading the another C.S. Lewis novel for book club. I hope I can finish this by Saturday night since that's when we are meeting! 

The Magician's Nephew


The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee


29283884
Series: Gentleman's Guide #1 (Companion Series)
Genre: Historical Romance
Age Group: Young Adult
Hardcover
Katherine Tegen Books (June 2017) 

TW: Child abuse, alcoholism, racism.

Rating: 5/5

Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.


But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.

Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.


Really where do I start with this book? There was so much hype surrounding this book when it was released. Though I read it in the thick of that hype, I've been ruminating on it since then. Most of what I can say has been said. The story is lovely. The story heavily features diversity, Monty is bisexual and Percy is a POC, which is what drew me to this book in the first place. We also deal with child abuse, alcoholism, racism, mental health, disability and ableism. 

To start, the writing is lovely. The beginning is a bit slow and Monty has a terrible attitude that nearly made me hate him at first. However, Monty is quickly confronted by his companions about his attitude and about his privilege which when added to his own wit and charm won me over. He is forced to do some self examination and came out better on the other side of that though he had to be reminded about it several times too. I liked the adventure and touring part of the story and enjoyed how everything went off the rails.

The other main characters Percy and Felicity are fantastic. They are both complex characters that demand the story be as much about them as Monty. The three of them are a balanced trio with strengths and weaknesses (though Felicity is the true level headed leader here) that made me love all of them. I was grinning like a fool over the romance and really enjoyed that the angst took a back seat to the life threatening danger. Lee manages to make historical fiction fun, diverse, and clever all at the same time. She fits it all together beautifully and I adored this story.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’ve Decided I’m No Longer Interested In Reading

There are a million books in the world that I want to read, but I'm never going to read them all. In my life I'll have a limited number of books I can read. Therefore there are books that will sound amazing, but I will never end up reading them. Of course, there are series that I will choose not to make a priority based on book one as well.

As far as the Patricia Cornwell and James Patterson, I've finally decided I'm not going to read everything the world loves. I have just given up on the murder mystery drama genre for the most part. They don't appeal as much as they did to me.

Check out That Artsy Reader Girl for topics for future weeks!

Beautiful Chaos (Caster Chronicles, #3) The Selection (The Selection, #1) Prodigy (Legend, #2) The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave, #2) Death Sworn (Death Sworn, #1)

Fire with Fire (Burn for Burn, #2) Rebel Spring (Falling Kingdoms, #2) Black Notice (Kay Scarpetta, #10) Along Came a Spider (Alex Cross, #1) Drink, Slay, Love

Monday, February 19, 2018

8th Annual End of Year Book Survey (Created by Jamie @ Perpetual Page Turner)

Welcome to Jamie's amazing end of the year survey which I am finally posting in mid-February. Whoopie! Check out her original questions here and please forgive me for taking so long to do this. 
This is late. I know its late! Wahhhh I was lazy and took a long time to fill everything out. 


Reading Stats!

Number Of Books You Read: 144
Number of Re-Reads: 4 (that’s it?)
Genre You Read The Most From: Fantasy

Best in Books!

1. Best Book You Read In 2017? (If you have to cheat — you can break it down by genre if you want or 2017 release vs. backlist)

Middle Grade: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
Young Adult: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Adult: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?
The Captive Prince Trilogy by C.S. Pacat. – Surprised me with its graphic content at first then it surprised me with the amazing character development. Both good and bad!

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?
Most likely The Girl Who Drank the Moon. I talked about this book constantly. I don’t know if anyone picked it up because of me though.

5. Best series you started in 2017? Best Sequel of 2017? Best Series Ender of 2017?
Best Series Started:Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs
Best Sequel: Virals by Kathy Reichs and Brendan Reichs
Best Series Finished:The Finishing School Series by Gail Carriger

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2017?
Patricia Briggs
KJ Charles

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone? 
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (Poetry) 

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year? 
The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce (I could NOT stop listening to this audiobook. I found every opportunity to listen to it even when I was at work!)

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Top Ten Tuesday - My Favorite Couples That Dance Around Each Other Like Fools

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday. This week was a love related freebie week! Yay! So this week I wanted to talk about couples that take forever to get together. Obviously this post could contain some spoilers for if couples actually become couples. So I included the covers so you could take a quick glance to see if you want to actually read my list. (See below)

These are all couples that spend a large chunk of the book or series apart either because they are fools that don't understand each other or they are figuring out their feelings or the author is just torturing the reader. They apart even though I want them to be together. Let me know what you think and if there are more couples that do that.

1) Anne Elliot and Captain Frederick Wentworth  (Persuasion by Jane Austen)

2) Adam Parrish and Ronan Lynch (The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater)

3) Mercy Thompson and Adam Hauptman (Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs)

4) Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall (Outlander by Diana Gabaldon)

5) Alanna of Trebond and George Cooper (Song of the Lioness Series by Tamora Pierce)

6) Jesper Fahey and Wylan Van Eck (Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo)

7) Feyre and Rhysand (A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas) -

8) Emi and Ava (Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour)

9) Daemen and Laurent (The Captive Prince Trilogy by C.S. Pacat)

10) David Cyprian and Lord Richard Vane (A Gentleman's Position by KJ Charles)

Persuasion The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1) Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, #1) Outlander (Outlander, #1) Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness, #1)

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Book Chat - Book Buying Bans vs. Selective Book Buying

This week I want to discuss a few things. I've been thinking about book buying bans recently and how they rarely work for me. I wanted to chat with all of you about why I try to be selective and careful about the books I buy rather than putting myself on a book buying ban.




Friday, February 9, 2018

Friday Reads (February 9th, 2018)

This has been a long week. Things at work are slowing down, but I've had trouble concentrating on my reading. A lot of people are sick on campus and I'm trying to get enough rest even though I haven't been feeling 100% lately. Hopefully none of the flu germs make their way into my office. Here's hoping at least!

This week I am working on my RYBSAT reading and, while isn't going well, I am still interested in all the books I have lined up. Right now I'm reading Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube by Blair Braverman. It is taking me a long time to read even though I've become super invested in Blair's sled dog team and musher twitter over the past few weeks. Seriously, if you aren't following her you are missing out. I came for the puppy pictures. I stayed for the social commentary, kind community, and adult dog pictures. She and her partner Q are fantastic and are even competing against one another in a race this weekend.
Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North

It has been an interesting week too because I've brought a different back up book every day this week. I took City of Glass by Cassandra Clare. I've packed The Hate You Give as well as Rebel Mechanics. It has been very mixed and I haven't actually read very much of any of them. I also haven't finished Uprooted or A Natural History of Dragons. Hopefully I'll be able to focus on reading more today. We shall see!

What are you up to this weekend? I have four days off and am planning to film a few videos. I also have plans three of the four days as well as some errands to run. Here's hoping I make some time for reading after all that! Let me know if you have any thoughts on all these things I've started. Also let me know if you remember how to finish a book because apparently I don't!


Thursday, February 8, 2018

Book Outlet Haul (First of 2018!)

In the final days of 2017 I placed an order for a few titles from Book Outlet. It has been quite a while since I purchased from Book Outlet and I could not resist their Boxing Day Sale. There were a lot of titles I was interested in and, though I didn't buy all of them, I did buy more than was probably wise.


Tuesday, February 6, 2018

TTT - Books That Have Been On My TBR the Longest and I Still Haven’t Read

This week on Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by the lovely That Artsy Reader Girl now) we are talking about the books on our TBRs the longest. I've listed out the books I've had in my own personal library the longest and haven't read. One of them Through Wolf's Eyes is the first book I remember purchasing at Borders (or maybe from Amazon) with my own money. Weird that I never read it! Hopefully this year I finish off a few of these. What have you had sitting on your shelves the longest.

Everything Is Illuminated Flash and Bones (Temperance Brennan, #14) Secretariat Hope Against History: The Course Of Conflict In Northern Ireland

Through Wolf's Eyes (Firekeeper Saga, #1) The Sword in the Stone (The Once and Future King, #1) The Throne of Fire (Kane Chronicles, #2) The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal 1966-1996 and the Search for Peace

A Weekend with Mr. Darcy (Austen Addicts, #1) The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two (Fairyland, #3)