October 2020 Wrap-Up/TBR Update

I had high hopes for this month, but I ended up feeling so slumpy. Nothing sounded good and I had no motivation to actually read. On the other hand, I did catch up on some graphic novel series and ended up doing some rereads so I read more than it felt like I did.

• The Umbrella Academy vols 1-3 by Gerard Way & Gabriel Ba (reread) – Finished volume 1
• The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (preorder) – Read and reviewed
• Boop and Eve’s Road Trip by Mary Helen Sheriff [ARC 10/6]
• Love & Olives by Jenna Evans Welch [ARC 11/10] – Currently Reading
• The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes – Read and reviewed
• Emma by Jane Austen (book club)

Also read/reading:

• Queen of Volts by Amanda Foody – Currently Reading
• The How and the Why by Cynthia Hand – Read, review coming
• Lumberjanes vol 12: Jackalope Springs Eternal by Shannon Watters et al – Read
• Lumberjanes vol 14: X Marks the Spot by Shannon Watters et al – Read
• The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen – Reread, dream cast
• The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton – Read and reviewed
• Runaways vol 4: But You Can’t Hide by Rainbow Rowell – Read
• Runaways vol 5: Canon Fodder by Rainbow Rowell – Read
• The Cruel Prince by Holly Black – Reread
• The Wicked King by Holly Black – Reread
• The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black – Currently Reading

Books finished this month: 12
Books currently reading: 3

Overall TBR:

TBR at the beginning of the year = 296
TBR at the beginning of October = 319
Books added to TBR = 14
Books read/deleted from TBR = 8
Total on TBR now = 325

How did your reading go this month?

September 2020 Wrap-Up/TBR Update

I didn’t feel super slumpy this month, but I guess I was? I didn’t read a ton from my TBR, but I feel okay about it.

• The How & the Why by Cynthia Hand – Currently Reading
• Queen of Volts by Amanda Foody [ARC 9/1]
• The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi [ARC 9/22] – DNF 12%
• Boop and Eve’s Road Trip by Mary Helen Sheriff [ARC 10/6]
• Kingdom of Sea and Stone by Mara Rutherford [ARC 10/6] – Currently Reading
• 1984 by George Orwell
• The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black – Read, review coming

Also read/reading:

• Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles [ARC 8/25] – Read, review coming
• Majesty by Katharine McGee – Read and reviewed
• Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan – Read, review coming
• Friends and Foes by Sarah M. Eden – Read, review coming
• Lumberjanes vol 12: Jackalope Springs Eternal by Shannon Watters, Noelle Stevenson, et al – Currently Reading

Books finished this month: 5, 1 DNF
Books currently reading: 3

Overall TBR:

TBR at the beginning of the year = 296
TBR at the beginning of September = 319
Books added to TBR = 5
Books read/deleted from TBR = 5
Total on TBR now = 319

How did your reading go this month?

22 Best Book Deals for 7/15/20: Sawkill Girls, The Bear and the Nightingale, Miracle Creek, and more

As of this posting, all of these deals are active, but I don’t know for how long!

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27 Best Book Deals for 7/2/20: The Bromance Book Club, And Then There Were None, select Sarah Dessen books, and more

As of this posting, all of these deals are active, but I don’t know for how long!

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Court of Fives by Kate Elliott

The Chess Queen Enigma by Colleen Gleason

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Welcome to the auto-read club| Emma Mills Mini-Reviews

I’ve been meaning to read some of Emma Mills’ books for a while now and I’ve finally taken the leap. I’m happy to report that I love them! Her characters are always so likable and her books so easy to read. Here’s my quick take on her first three books.

First & Then

This book actually was a surprise to me. I wasn’t loving it or Devon (the main character) at first, but both grew on me. I thought Devon’s progression as a character was great and not too extreme and I like how in the end, she had resolved to do better in a specific area. I ended up really loving Devon’s relationship with Foster. It felt real to me and like it progressed at a genuine pace. As Devon started to care more and more about Foster, so did I. Another thing I was surprised by was the depth that I felt the characters had. I just didn’t really expect that for some reason and I thought the secondary characters were all lovely as well. I thought the dialogue between characters was great and felt authentic–sass levels were v high. Lastly, I liked that this book was a sports book, without REALLY being a sports book. 4.5/5

Purchase: Hardcover | Paperback | eBook

This Adventure Ends

First, I’m just going to say that I’m not going to pretend that the characters were realistic because they’re just…not. They were all just a little too shiny, but I still thought they were fantastic with great chemistry and sharp dialogue. I thought Sloane was immediately likable and funny. It made me literally LOL a few times in the first 100 pages. I thought her dynamic with her dad was especially fun. Something I especially liked about Sloan was that I didn’t feel like she was timid. I thought she could hold her own with her new friends. I’ve gotten a tad tired of the “extreme introvert being absorbed into a magnetic friend group” trope (sorry Sarah Dessen). Another character I loved was Laney! She was an absolute gem and reminded me a lot of Kitty from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before in some ways. The one thing I will say is that we got hardly any scenes of Sloane at work with Gabe and it just seems like that should have played into things a bit more? But overall, a great read. 4/5

Purchase: Hardcover | Paperback | eBook

Foolish Hearts

This book was so compulsively readable! Seriously, before I knew it I had blown through 200 pages and it felt like nothing. I thought all of the characters were all likable and I liked that Claudia was a gamer, but was also normal. I think a lot of times authors rely on stereotypes for their characters because it’s easier, but I appreciate when an author can “break the mold”. I liked all of Claudia’s interactions with Iris, but I found it a tad unbelievable that Claudia wouldn’t have ANY friends at school until senior year? But perhaps it’s because everyone else at her school is so rich… I don’t know, it just didn’t really ring true to me. While I enjoyed this book and Claudia’s story, I found myself wondering more and more about her older sister, Julia. I almost would like a story about her starting with the beginning of her pregnancy. She just seemed like a really interesting character and I wanted to know more about her–I found myself hardcore relating to her. Perhaps that’s just showing my age… Another great book from Mills and I’m excited to read more from her! 4/5

Purchase: Hardcover | Paperback | eBook (currently on sale for $3!)

Diversity? Check. Great Characters? Also Check. | 180 Seconds by Jessica Park [ARC]

Allison is just trying to get through college interacting with the fewest number of people possible. She’s about to start her junior year and to the disappointment of her adoptive father, Simon, has been mostly successful at that goal. Allison grew up in the foster care system and has a hard time trusting that people are going to stick around. She knows that she needs to work through some of her issues, but it’s a lot easier to stay in her dorm room and live vicariously through her best friend, Steffi. When Allison gets roped into participating in a social experiment, her whole world changes in just 180 seconds.

I’m going to start off by saying that even though NetGalley classified this book as YA, I would say it fits a lot better in the NA category if only because our main characters are in college. But also, it just feels like an NA book. But anyway, I really appreciated the amount of diversity in this book because it was present without hitting the reader over the head with it. Characters had subtle diverse traits that actually effected who they were as a developed character. I also enjoyed that this book tackled some important topics without trying to take on EVERY important topic (I’m looking at you The Names They Gave Us).

But back to the characters…I absolutely LOVED Allison. My heart really went out to her. I can’t say that I had any of the same experiences in college that she did, but I’ve had my fair share of social anxiety. Obviously what Allison is going through is much bigger than just social anxiety, but I still felt like I could relate to her on some level. Secondary characters were fantastic and had just enough depth in my opinion. My only critique on the character front is that maybe Esben seemed a little too…perfect. There was never any real friction in his and Allison’s relationship and he was super understanding about everything. It’s nice for the story, but I don’t know that it’s necessarily realistic–especially in a boy who’s in his early 20’s. My experience with that age group is that they’re just not that mature.

The plot was great–I loved learning about some of Esben’s social experiments. I liked seeing Allison and even Simon getting involved. However, I’m not totally sure how I feel about the plot twist at the end. Was it necessary? Or not? I’m still on the fence. In the end, though, I feel like even though the plot wasn’t really the focus of the story, it did a good job helping each of the characters to grow and develop.

Overall, I thought this book was another great showing for Jessica Park. I loved Flat-Out Love and this book has definitely convinced me to read everything she writes.

A trigger warning: this book does deal with rape though it isn’t the main focus of the book.

Overall Rating: 5
Language: Mild
Violence: Moderate
Smoking/Drinking: Moderate
Sexual Content: Moderate. They’re in college, they talk about it and do some stuff but nothing is really explicitly described.

Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Love that Split the World by Emily Henry

Natalie was adopted by a nice white family when she was just days old. For years she’s been communicating with an otherworldly being who would appear in her bedroom at night called Grandmother. Grandmother tells her stories the Natalie rarely understands. But three years ago Grandmother stopped coming and Natalie has felt lost ever since. The week of graduation, Natalie starts seeing things that she shouldn’t. One minute she’s in the hallway at school, but the next she’s seeing rolling hills and grazing buffalo. What’s happening to her and who is the boy that she sometimes sees during her episodes?

This book was kind of interesting…I thought the premise was very unique and I was excited to see where the book would go. Right away I rejoiced that our main character was half Native American. Hooray for diversity in YA! I also really liked that actual Native American legends were woven into this story. In the back of the book I think there was an author’s note listing each of the stories told and what tribes they’re attributed too. I don’t know very much about Native American culture, so I was happy to get a glimpse into some of their stories and the way they might think about things.

The beginning of the book was very slow for me. I had a hard time really getting into it. And then as the story progresses, it doesn’t feel like the pace ever really picks up. We’re in Natalie’s head a lot so even though there’s a time constraint and Natalie is technically “battling against the clock”, the story still progresses at this really unhurried pace. There’s insta-love involved which I usually hate, but it wasn’t the worst in this book. Of all of the insta-love stories that I’ve read, I feel like this one was on the more realistic end of things. Beau seemed like a fairly interesting character (even if we’re not really clear on any of his motivations) but I kept imagining him as being Native American also…which, I don’t think he actually was.

Honestly, I kind of feel like a lot of this book went over my head. Like I said earlier, we’re in Natalie’s head A LOT and there’s quite a bit of internal struggle going on in there. In the end, I’m not really sure if she really did develop as a character. What did she learn about herself? I feel like she definitely learned something, but I’m not picking up on what it was. Then there was the resolution of the plot. It’s like…I kind of get it, but the last couple of chapters seemed super info-dumpy and I don’t think I got all of it. And then there was the ending…which was just okay for me. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either.

I feel like this book is really different from a lot of books that are popular right now. It definitely has a darker overall tone to it. The alternate realities/time travel element was interesting even if it wasn’t necessarily explained that well. There are some religious elements to the story as well that I thought were interestingly tied in. Overall, I don’t think most readers will necessarily hate this book, but I also don’t think you’ll regret passing on it.

Overall Rating: 3
Language: Moderate. Some brief, strong language.
Violence: Moderate. Some mention of domestic abuse.
Smoking/Drinking: Heavy. A lot of underage drinking.
Sexual Content: Moderate