Down the TBR Hole #3

Created by Lia @Lost in a Story

It works like this:

Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
Order on ascending date added.
Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books.
Read the synopses of the books
Decide: keep it or should it go?

My Goodreads TBR currently has 833 books on it, and this post is all books I added in 2012, so I'm really looking forward to cleansing my list!

Angelfall (Penryn & The End of Days #1)

Set in Northern California, about a warrior angel apocalypse, this book description seems mediocre. I recognized the cover of this book, but couldn't remember why I had added it to my tar list. However, all of my friends have given this book stellar reviews on Goodreads. There must be a reason for all of these 5-star ratings!

Decision: Keep

Bad Girls Don't Die

A high schooler fears here twelve year old sister may be possessed in this novel. There's the typical dysfunctional family, spooky things moving in the house, and the changing of eye colors.  I think I'm going to need a little more from a book than just possession to get me hooked though.

Decision: Go

The Bar Code Tattoo

The story of a girl who breaks societies norms by not getting her identifying bar code tattoo. Become an outcast, and then going on the run, the concept of this book is something at still interests me. Plus, I found it at a yard sale recently to maybe this is a sign that I'll be reading it eventually!

Decision: Keep

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1)

This series is so flipping popular there's no way I can *not* read it. It has a 4.4/5 rating on Goodreads with half a million people rating it! Plus, I love fairytale retellings so I'm really looking forward to this series!

Decision: Keep

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(Don't mind me, I just deleted like 20 books in the middle that all had the same plot. Paranormal girl gets a dream where she finds out she might not be normal *gasps*. I guess I had a type?)

Evermore (The Immortals #1)

After the death of her family, Ever can see the aura's of those around her. She then falls for an "exotic and wealthy" boy. Seriously? He's being described as exotic? People aren't exotic. It seems like almost every friend of mine has read this book in 2013 (after I added it to my TBR) and they all hated it...

Decision: Go 

Summer 2018 Wipeout Wrapup

Hosted by The Candid Cover

This summer went by so quickly! I'm glad I joined the Summer TBR Wipeout. It really motivated me to get through some books I've really been looking forward to!

Going into this, I wanted to read these 12 books:

Since my last update, I've read Final Draft, Brightly Burning, and most of 806. I got pretty darn close to my goal with 9/12 books read!

August 16th 2018:

City of Lost Souls: Did Not Start

Nobody's Princess: 3/5 stars

The Hate U Give: 5/5 stars

Geekerella: Did Not Start

Stalking Jack the Ripper: 4/5 stars

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue: 5/5 stars

Dear Rachel Maddow: Did Not Start

Final Draft: 3/5 stars

Brightly Burning: 3/5 stars

Runebinder: 3/5 stars

806: Almost Done

Merrett's Chase: 5/5 stars

I'm planning on finishing up 806 today, and diving into Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco, City of Lost Souls, and a John Green book next since my summer doesn't end until September 6th! (I have never ever read a John Green book, so if you have a suggestion for the cream of the crop, let me know! If I were to read one book that would convert me into a John Green fan, which would it be?). I hope you all had a great summer of reading like I did, and thanks to The Candid Cover for hosting this awesome challenge!

September 6th Update:

I finished 806, City of Lost Souls, and Geekerella all before the summer ended!

806: 4/5 stars

City of Lost Souls: 3/5 stars

Geekerella: 3/5 stars

I'm thinking about dropping Dear Rachel Maddow from my TBR soon list and demoting it to my regular old TBR. Yay or Nay??

Summer TBR Wipeout Challenge- Update #2!

Hosted by The Candid Corner

It feels like just yesterday I was writing Update #1- this summer is going by so quickly!! In a great twist of events, I was able to register for a non-resident library card for the town I'm currently in, so I've gotten through some of my TBR Challenge! (Bookstores around here don't have a very extensive YA section, so a library card is crucial.)

As of now, I've read 6/12 of my summer TBR wipeout challenge. In my last update, I had read Nobody's Princess, Runebinder, and Merrett's Chase. This round I read some really popular, and current, YA books. It was great to finally understand (or not understand) the hype around these books I've been hearing and seeing all about.

Stalking Jack the Ripper: 3/5 stars

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue: 4/5 stars

The Hate U Give: 5/5 stars

Final Draft: currently reading

I really enjoyed this library haul! All for books were thanks to my new library card and I enjoyed all of them! Stalking Jack the Ripper was a bit slow for me but I loved the reveal of Jack's identity and I feel that a lot of the things I disliked will be fixed with character growth between books 1 and 2. I'll definitely be giving Dracula a try. 

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue contains 3 amazing central characters which I would totally read more of. It sounds like book 2 will focus on Felicity's separate adventures and will not include Monty or Percy, but I hope they're happy where they ended up because I love them so much. This was great bisexual representation, and death with the heavy topic of child abuse. Stalking Jack the Ripper actually gave me great context as they are on similar timelines and a lot of the locations briefly mentioned in Gentleman's were described in detail in Jack- it really prepared me for maximum Monty enjoyment!

The Hate U Give is my favorite of my TBR challenge so far. I can't believe I took so long to read it! (Yeah, academics were a heavy factor in that delay but still). If you haven't read it yet, stop what you're doing and go get yourself a copy! There's a reason why it's spent 74 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list, and is STILL in the number one spot. It was such a powerful and inspiring story.

The challenge ends next week, but my summer doesn't end until early September. I hope to read Final Draft and 806 before the challenge is officially over, and I hope to completely finish my challenge 

(which you can view on this goodreads shelf) before school starts back up for me!

What have you read this summer??

All of This is True by Lygia Day Peñaflor

All of This is True

by Lygia Day Peñaflor

Publication Date:  May 15^th 2018

Publisher: HarperTeen

Find This Book: All of This is True

Rating: 5/5

*A copy of this book was given to me by the publisher to read for an honest review.

All of This is True is an exquisitely complicated story about 4 high school students who meet and befriend their favorite author. A dream come true right? Until they become the main characters of said author’s next book! 

The whole novel is told through transcripts of video interviews, news articles, released text messages, and the author’s manuscript to divulge to the reader what might have gone down between these high schoolers and the author. This makes for a bit of a mystery read, you experience the story as if you were an interested party researching the story yourself via the internet. You never *truly* get a traditional book POV, instead you see and read public information. What’s true? That’s up to you!

Switching between the character’s ‘real’ names and book within the book names as a little confusing a first but was easy enough to latch on to. I love that you get the most insight into the characters through the author’s manuscript, which is not necessarily what happened or what the characters were actually thinking. So your thoughts on all of the events going on are heavily influenced, and the ending needs to be taken with a grain of salt. 

This will keep you on your toes and questioning everything you’re told- All of This is True was such a uniquely creative read and I would recommend it to everyone!

Dua Lipa inspired YA Book Recommendations!

Today’s post is all about YA Book Recommendations, inspired by Dua Lipa’s self-titles deluxe album. I love Dua Lipa’s album because she deals with such raw and relatable emotions, and I realized they coincided ridiculously with some of my favorite books! What sparked this idea was hearing Homesick by Dua Lipa while I was reading the Library of Fates about 2 months ago. It fit so perfectly and when I started thinking about it more books fit together. 2 of these 17 songs were hard for me to match but I’ve finally done it and here are the results! Here’s a link to her album on Spotify if you would like to listen while you read: https://open.spotify.com/album/5fVY6IeKcgyGdSD3DBxNM4

1. Genesis → Champion by Marie Lu

“Without you, I’ve got no air to breathe in. How can we go back to the beginning?”

2. Lost in Your Light → They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera

“Hold me, Trust me, you know you can hide in my arms all night”

3. Hotter Than Hell → The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller 

“Does it burn when I’m not there? When you’re by yourself, am I the answer to your prayers?”

4. Be The One → Arya and Eragon in Inheritance by Christopher Paolini 

“I see the moon, oh when you’re looking at the sun... I see in blue oh but you see everything in red.”

5. IDGAF → Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde 

“You say you’re sorry, but it’s too late now. So save it, get gone, shut up”

6. Blow Your Mind → Patch from Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

“If you don’t like the way I talk, then why am I on your mind?”

Garden → Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor 

“Where do we go? Cause we don’t believe in this Garden of Eden”

No Goodbyes → The Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao

“Whisper pretty lies. Just for tonight, let’s love like there’s no goodbyes”

Thinking ‘Bout You → I Had Such Friends by Meg Gatland-Veness 

“I’ve been working longer, I’ve been drinking stronger, I’ve been smoking deeper but the memories won’t stop. I can’t stop thinking ‘bout you.”

New Rules → Anatomy of a Single Girl by Daria Snadowsky

“Don’t let him in, you’ll have to kick him out again”

Begging → The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

“Swear I’m gonna hold your head up

Swear I’m gonna break your fall

Swear we’re gonna last forever

Baby, this is all I want.”

Homesick → The Library of Fates by Aditi Khorana

“It’s a bittersweet feeling, Longing and I’m leaving. I go, I go, I go. But I wish I was there with you.”

Dreams → Top Ten by Katie Cotugno

“In my dreams, you say you need me, believe me. In my dreams you’d say you love me, say you’ll never leave my dreams. In my dreams.”

Room For 2 → The Lies They Tell by Gillian French

“Karma’s got a kiss for you”

New Love → Beyond a Darkened Shore by Jessica Leake

“I’ve been through mountains and seas, tryna to get you to come back to me”

Bad Together → The Rose Society by Marie Lu

“You’ve seen that we’ve got the same pain, same scar... Let’s be bad together, baby you and I. Let’s be bad together, if only for awhile.”

Last Dance → Dreams of God’s and Monsters by Laini Taylor

“Way too young to hurt so long, I’m hurtin’. Was it worth it?”

How's my list? Have any recommendations for me?