November 2015 Recap

I posted a lot more than I thought I would in November – thanks to not being invested in NaNoWriMo like I thought I would be, but it still wasn’t really a quality blog month. I did read a couple of really great books, though! AND I met my Good Reads Reading Challenge goal of 115 books!

Books Read: 7

Genres Read:
Adult: 1
Young Adult: 6

Books Read in 2015 Overall:

Books Reviewed: 4

 Kissing her Crush (Sugar City #2) by Ophelia London – 3/5 Stars
Zeroes (Zeroes #1) by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, and Deborah Biancotti – 3.5/5 Stars
First & Then by Emma Mills – 4/5 Stars
Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo – 4.5/5 Stars

Top Ten Tuesdays:

Debut Authors I Want Sophomore Novels From

Bookish Thanks

Funny Fridays:

November 6th

November 13th

November 27th

Other Posts:

Prepare for the Daemon Invasion
NaNoWriMo 2015 Update #1
Adobe Digital Editions + Nook Help Needed!
NaNoWriMo 2015 Update #2
Award Tags
NaNoWriMo 2015 Update: Final (Probably)
Happy Thanksgiving!
Reviewing the Unreviewed: November 2015

Looking forward to December:

I have a couple ARCs I need to get read in December and there are a few releases I’m looking forward to. And I’m hoping to FINALLY start Winter.

Reviewing the Unreviewed: November 2015

I read a lot of books that I don’t end up reviewing for whatever reason. Some because I wasn’t impressed. Some because I didn’t have the time. Some I just wasn’t feeling it on whatever particular day I finished. I thought I’d start doing a post once a month  with just the couple thoughts I shared on Good Reads

Blackmail Boyfriend by Chris Cannon. Read November 6-7. 1 Star.

I am always on the look out for fake relationship books and when I saw this I thought it would be another cute story. It was not.

Hayley was one of the most unlikable characters I’ve ever read. She was super immature, bratty, delusional, and kind of a psycho. The way she treated Bryce, her blackmailed fake boyfriend, was crazy. And I think if roles would have been reversed and he treated her that way everyone would consider him a creepy, possessive, abusive stalker.

There’s a lot more ranting I could do about this book, but I really don’t want to waste any more time on it.

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter. Read November 8-11. 4 Stars.

I admit I have been severely disappointed when I first found out that Karin Slaughter’s most recent two books have not been a continuation of the Will Trent series. However, just like with Cop Town before it, Pretty Girls definitely makes up for any disappointment I had. It’s a smart, suspenseful mystery with very well-developed characters. Twists are given away subtly so they sneak up on you and pack a punch. Even when I suspected something, Slaughter still wrote it in a way that surprised me when it happened and there were several other moments where I honestly did not see things coming. Even though the subject matter was often dark and heartbreaking, I really enjoyed this book.

Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy. Read November 16-19. 2 Stars.

I did not care for this book anywhere near as much as I thought I would. I feel like 2 stars is being generous. The main character is extremely unlikable. She was selfish, not very nice, hypocritical, and I hated how she treated Mitch and even how she treated Bo much of the time (though I liked Mitch much, much more, even though it’s supposed to be Bo we fall in love with). I felt that Willowdean’s path to self-acceptance was disconnected and a little unrelatable, especially when I really thought her story would resonate with me. It did not. I also thought the end was very poorly done.

Thicker than Water by Brigid Kemmerer. Read November 24-27. 3.5 Stars

The review for this will post closer to it’s release date next month. Like all of Kemmerer’s books, I hate the cover, but love the majority of the characters.

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RE-READS

To get ready for Oblivion coming out, I re-read Obsidian by JLA. I believe it’s still free through the end of the month, btw, so go get it if you haven’t yet!

Funny Friday

Enjoy the end of the work week with a little book humor!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Review: Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo

Synopsis from Good Reads:

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone…

A convict with a thirst for revenge.

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.

A runaway with a privileged past.

A spy known as the Wraith.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

Good Heavens, I loved this book! Let’s discuss why:

The Characters

As a group, I loved these characters! Not since The Raven Boys have I been so obsessed with a cast of characters. And while these characters as a whole don’t quite match up to The Raven Boys for me, they are a very close second and have so much potential. They work together as a team so well, even if they don’t always get along and there really wasn’t a weak link. And The Banter. I love it so much!

Kaz Brekker. I love him. Like, I’m in love with him. It’s a problem. He has become one of my favorite characters of all time. He’s clever, strategic, sarcastic, vengeful, vulnerable, protective, selfish…there are just so many layers to him! I adore him. I just wanted More, More, More Kaz.

I also loved the comic relief that Jesper and Wylan provided and I loved how resourceful Inej was. It took a little while for Nina and Matthias to grow on me, but they eventually did and I heart them, as well.

The Story-Telling

I’m a big fan of Bardugo’s Grisha series, but it’s been awhile since I read it and I’ve forgotten how great of a writer she is. She’s amazing. And as much as I love her first series, I think I love this series even more, even if it’s just one book in so far. There was a lot of angst in the Grisha series and while there is some angst in this book, it’s not a main plot point. I loved the overall story and I especially loved the subtle twists and turns throughout. There were times I was sure something terrible was happening, then realized it was all part of the plan. I love when a book can surprise me and Six of Crows surprised me over and over again.

The Romance

Ok, so the romance was not a major part of the book. In fact, it was a pretty small part in the grand scheme of things, but it was well done and we got a little bit of everything. There’s the beginning of a cute flirtation. There are exes who will maybe reconcile (and were the main attraction for the angst in this book). And there are the friends who are trying to deny their feelings for each other. And yet another reason why I’m obsessed with Kaz – who doesn’t love a guy who will tear someone’s eye out of it’s socket for you!?

Why I Couldn’t Give it 5 Stars

I was thisclose to giving this book 5 stars, which if you know me,  you know why that is such a big deal. But there were just a couple problems with it. For being a heist book, I thought it was just a little too slow paced. Now if all of the slower chapters were from Kaz’s point of view, I probably would have had no problem with it. But, that brings up my second point, I thought there were too many chapters from Matthias and Nina’s POVs. I could have used a little more Jesper and A LOT more Kaz. I was pretty happy with the amount of POVs we got from Inej, though I would’ve liked maybe one more small chapter from her at the end.

Overall, I just really loved Six of Crows. I loved the cast of characters, the twists and turns the story took, the romances, and KAZ BREKKER. Can I say that enough? I love Kaz! This is one book that definitely lives up to the hype and I strongly recommend it to basically everybody. Though it’s a YA book, it read adult. And while I think it would be helpful to read the Grisha series first (there are a few mentions of characters featured from that series and some of the events that took place), I think you could read it on it’s own and figure it out. So, go read this book!

Overall Rating (out of 5): 4.5 Stars

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Thanks

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, is a Thanksgiving Freebie, so I decided to list ten book or book-related things I’m thankful for.

1. I recently finished Six of Crows by Leigh Burdugo and I loved it! With The Raven Boys coming to an end in a few months, I’m very thankful to have a new cast of characters that I’m just in love with!
2. The blogging community. A few of my posts lately have been big downers and I am thankful for the support from so many of my fellow bloggers.
3. Good Reads – an easy to use site to keep track of all my reading – even if it STILL doesn’t have a 1/2 star option when rating books.  
4. When the book lives up to the hype – special shout outs to The Wrath and the Dawn, Six of Crows, and Black-Eyed Susans.
5. Library e-books – Because I’m super cheap and hate buying things – and also because I hate physically going anywhere (including the library, sacrilege, I know).
6. Book Giveaways – Because winning a free book is even better than borrowing from the library.
7. Movies/Tv Shows based on books – because sometimes they’re good
8. Book Reviews – There are so many great books I only decided to pick up based on some great reviews I’ve read.
9. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell – for being a book I can put on every list and recommend to everyone.
10. Kaz Brekker – because how many times can I mention Six of Crows in one list? Kaz has become one of my favorite characters ever and there will be much fangirling in my review tomorrow…

NaNoWriMo 2015 Update: Final (Probably)

So first I want to say thank you to all those that gave me a little pep talk after my last NaNoWriMo post. I was behind and not feeling it, but buckled down that weekend and got caught up! But then last week happened…and I wrote a grand total of around 600 words. We started a new billing process at work last week (which is about 75% of my job) and we weren’t really trained on it like we should have been and this anxiety-disordered worker spent the whole week basically in a panic.

While I can’t control what happens at work, I can control (some of) the things that stress me out outside of work and this year NaNoWriMo has been a bigger cause of anxiety for me than enjoyment. Plus, I still don’t really care about my story or my characters, so at 26,000 words, I think I’m going to call it.

So Thank You for the support and Good Luck to all those still participating – and Congratulations to those who have already finished (there’s a guy in my region who has over 150k words already)! I’m sure I’ll give it a try again next year. And since I am extremely indecisive, there’s always the possibility that I might decide next week that I want to buckle down over the holiday and finish the story. I don’t expect that to happen, but I reserve the right to change my mind on the whole thing.

Review: First & Then by Emma Mills

Synopsis from Good Reads:

Devon Tennyson wouldn’t change a thing. She’s happy watching Friday night games from the bleachers, silently crushing on best friend Cas, and blissfully ignoring the future after high school. But the universe has other plans. It delivers Devon’s cousin Foster, an unrepentant social outlier with a surprising talent for football, and the obnoxiously superior and maddeningly attractive star running back, Ezra, right where she doesn’t want them first into her P.E. class and then into every other aspect of her life.

Pride and Prejudice meets Friday Night Lights in this contemporary novel about falling in love with the unexpected boy, with a new brother, and with yourself.

I wasn’t planning on reading any books this month since I’m participating in NaNoWriMo, but then this came available at the library and I thought I’d give it a try in between writing. Because, really, I can’t just give up on reading for a whole month. Once I started First & Then I didn’t really want to put it back down.

At first, Devon is a very unlikable character. She was kind of snarky – in an obnoxious way instead of funny. I hated the way she treated her cousin Foster, who had come to live with her family. He seemed pretty obviously on the Spectrum and she was kind of mean to him. She was also kind of a jerk to a lot of people when she didn’t need to be. But her character really grew throughout the story. She started to take things more seriously and became nicer to people. Her relationship with Foster was slow building, but she really came to care for him and they formed a really tight siblingship. The one thing that I would’ve liked to see her get over, though, is that she literally ran away from conflict instead of dealing with it.

One of the things that really drew me to this novel was the Pride & Prejudice reference. Devon is a big Jane Austen fan and made a lot of comparisons between her life and what would have happened if she lived in Austen’s world. Her slow burn, dislike-to-love relationship with Ezra was very reminiscent of an Austen novel and I loved it. There weren’t a lot of Super Cute moments between them that you expect in YA Contemporary, but there were many subtle, heartwarming moments that led up to the Big moment.

The cast of supporting characters were a little uneven. Devon’s best friend, Cas, whom she’s crushed on forever, is funny and seems pretty solid, but there were a few moments where he came off jerky. While there wasn’t anything catastrophic in their relationship, I ended up not caring for him by the end. I LOVED Ezra’s best friend, Jordan. He was kind of everybody’s friend and though in some ways he was a typical teenage guy, a lot of the time he was like the voice of reason, and also the comic relief. There’s a couple of random girls thrown in that are basically just stereotypes used to create some sort of friction or drama, but I guess they served their purpose. There is one big question about Marabelle, though, that is never answered and that kind of annoyed me.

Overall, I really enjoyed First & Then. It was very character-driven and I really appreciated the overall arc of Devon’s character and her relationships with both Foster and Ezra. Even though there wasn’t a whole lot that happened, I wish the book was longer, because I didn’t want to stop reading it. I would definitely recommend it to fans of YA Contemporary and those that want to read a romance that’s reminiscent of the good old days of Jane Austen.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 4 Stars

Award Tags

                     

Recently I’ve been tagged for a few blogger award tags and I thought I would combine them together into one post. I was tagged for: One Lovely Blog Award, nominated by A Novel Glimpse, The Versatile Blogger Award, nominated by Rainy Thursdays, and The Real Neat Blog Award, nominated again by A Novel Glimpse! So first of all, thank you for the tags, it’s always nice to get shout outs from some of my favorite bloggers!

The rules for the One Lovely Blog Award and The Versatile Blogger award include sharing 7 facts about yourself, so I’m going to combine those here and give you 14 FASCINATING (haha) facts about me!:

1. I do not care at all about Halloween and I really don’t understand when people say it’s their favorite “holiday.”
2. Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays – when I was younger we would spend several days at my Aunt and Uncle’s and the whole extended family was always there.
3. I don’t think Christmas decorations should go up until December – or at least until after Thanksgiving.
4. I don’t like Christmas music, except on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
5. Winter by Marissa Meyer is probably my most anticipated book of the year, but I still haven’t started it yet.
6. I was on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication for about a year, but quit them cold turkey when I changed jobs and had insurance issues (I would not advise this).
7. My niece is almost 7 months old, but since she lives in Canada I’ve only gotten to see her on two (several day) visits. Still, she’s my favorite.
8. I get really bad motion sickness, especially on boats, even with Dramamine.
9. I could watch Say Yes to the Dress and Four Weddings all day long, but will probably never even be close to getting married myself. Vicarious living, folks!
10. I wanted my NaNoWriMo book this year to be a suspense with murder and corruption and shocking twists, but so far I’ve only written scenes involving the side plot of a fake relationship (it’s my favorite romance trope to read) and I’m considering just leaning into it and making it a full out Fake Relationship story.
11. The future reboot of Gilmore Girls on Netflix makes me so happy I can’t form words about it.
12. I graduated from college ten years ago next month,  have at least another ten years of paying off my school loans, and of the 4 jobs I’ve had since graduating, none of them have needed my Bachelor’s degree.
13. I try to hold out turning on the heat as long as I can every year and finally gave in this past Thursday. But now I’m mad at myself because the weather is supposed to be in the 60s next week.
14. I wish I would’ve taken a little bit longer to come up with a more creative blog name. Sometimes I think about changing it, but all the technical stuff that goes into doing that intimidates me and this is still too much of a hobby for me to spend money on it.

For the Real Neat Blog Award, I get to answer 7 Questions posed by Deanna:

1. Name one song that fits the book you’re reading right now (Tell us the book, too!).

I’m re-reading Obsidian by JLA right now (though I’m really supposed to be writing instead…) and I honestly can’t think of a song that goes with it. I’m really bad about this type of thing.

2. Have you ever looked up a band and/or song after reading about it in a book?

I’m sure that I have, but I can’t think of examples right now.

3. On average, how long does it take you to read a book?

2-3 days normally, but there are always exceptions

4. Who is your favorite author?

Rainbow Rowell

5. Would you ever name a pet after a fictional character? Which one?

Absolutely! I have a list of characters I’d use, mostly from Jane Austen novels or YA Dystopians – it would depend on what the pet was like

6. Are you planning on writing your own novel?

Yes, but the execution of writing it never really happens the way I want it to.

7. Do you like your books (no matter what genre) to have a romance in them?

I’m ok if there’s no romance, but I don’t mind it either. Sometimes it depends on the couple and whether I like them or not.

Thank you again to A Novel Glimpse and Rainy Thursdays for tagging me for these! If you would like to participate in any (or all) of these, please feel free to tag yourself (fact #15 about me: I’m AWFUL at tagging people for these things!).

Funny Friday

Celebrate the end of the work week with a little book humor.