Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Top Ten Books I Recently Added To My To-Be-Read List

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

Easy list to compile, but my internet had been running so spastically that it took much longer to get this done than it should have. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to reading these books and I think it gives you a really good indication as to how much fantasy I read compared to everything else.

Monday, March 30, 2015

March Wrap-Up

March was actually kind of struggle for me. I did actually manage to get most of the stuff published that I wanted to - but it still feels weak. I don't know. Instead of scrounging desperately for something to post, I started work on April's blogging schedule. To make matters worse, the weather finally warmed up. Now, I want to be outside in this gorgeous 60+ degree, sunny weather.



Surprising myself a bit, I managed to get a lot of reading done this month.




I'm also in the process of finishing:













All in all, my reading this month was certainly above average, both in amount as well as quality. In fact:

Books read this month:
3 - *****'s
3 - ****'s
2 - **'s
1 - *'s


The really awesome thing is that all except The Girl in the Gatehouse was pulled from my TBR jar. That book was one that I borrowed and needed to read so I could return it. This month was also a couple of firsts for me. Not only did I use a TBR jar (which I really like how it works for me) I also read my first book on my kindle.


A few thoughts on The Half-Blood Prince.
Halfhearted review for The Hunchback Assignments.
My thoughts on the audiobook of Julius Caesar in a paragraph. (And not even a big one.)
My review/rant about Smarty Bones will be up April 22nd.
My The Well of Ascension review.
My review on Seeds of Discovery will be up April 29th.


I had one more book that I drew from my TBR jar that I didn't get to. (After the initial seven, plus reading the book I borrowed, I drew three more, knowing I'd only get to to of them.) That book will be added to my reading list for next month.

I've got big things planned for April. In fact, I've got some days that I'm planning on posting twice (something I said I'd never do) because I'm participating in Fairy Tale Fortnight and I still have a few of my normal posts that I want to get out. It's going to be a busy month! I'm really looking forward to it though - I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that this doesn't give me burnout.


Honestly, when I first came up with the idea to do a post like this at the end of the month, I thought for sure that I'd have something non-bookish to say... But I don't.

Sigh.

Happy Spring!

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Audiobook Review: All Our Yesterdays by Cristen Terrill

All Our Yesterdays by Cristen Terrill
Series: No Series
Genre: Dystopia/Contemporary
Add on Goodreads

"You have to kill him." Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except the voice of the boy in the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain.

Only Em can complete the final instruction. She's tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present—imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called "the doctor" while war rages outside.

Marina has loved her best friend, James, since they were children. A gorgeous, introverted science prodigy from one of America's most famous families, James finally seems to be seeing Marina in a new way, too. But on one disastrous night, James's life crumbles apart, and with it, Marina's hopes for their future. Marina will protect James, no matter what. Even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it. At least not as the girl she once was. Em and Marina are in a race against time that only one of them can win. (from goodreads)

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Top 10 Books From My Childhood (Or Teen Years) That I Would Love To Revisit

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

Oh, I just knew this prompt would be right up my alley. There were so many books I read as a child that were so much fun and I'd love to re-read. I will admit, you'll probably be finding a lot of series' on here.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Review: Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller

Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller
Series: Kiki Strike Book 1
Genre: Contemporary (MG?)
Add on Goodreads

There's something wrong with the park across from Ananka Fishbein's apartment. A huge sinkhole has opened in the ground and, as she stares out her window, she see's a tiny form, looking like a monkey, climbing out of the sinkhole. By the time she arrives at the park, all that's left is a rope, leading down.

What follows is a discovery about the secret, underground, side of NYC and deposed royalty. Delinquent girl scouts, rats and teen girl super spies abound.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

There's a lot of books I want to read this spring. (For some of the series I want to finish, check out last week's post.) I'm really hoping to get through some of the books that have been lurking around - either on the shelf or on my to-read list - read this spring to make way for new ones. Of course, as expected, there are some new books that I haven't gotten to yet that I really want to read.

Friday, March 13, 2015

Series Spotlight: The Infernal Devices

There's always those books that you meant to review, the books that you read before you started reviewing, or maybe you reviewed one of the books but it wasn't even the first one. Well, here's my answer to that: Series Spotlight. I'll be reviewing an entire series, and just generally talk about it.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Take Five: Series I Want To Finish This Spring

A new feature where I take five books of a certain theme and post them. This feature has no set schedule, but I'll probably make one or two of these a month.

Call it spring cleaning. With all this warm weather that we've finally been getting, I feel like it's time to tidy things up (aka: spring fever). So, for the first real reveal of this feature (check out my birthday post last month for the unofficial 'first' post) I decided to encourage myself to finish some of those series that are languishing on my tbr list.

Series I Want To Finish This Spring

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Review: The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
Series: The Paper Magician book 1
Genre: Fantasy/AU Historical
Add on Goodreads

Ceony Twill arrives at the cottage of Magician Emery Thane with a broken heart. Having graduated at the top of her class from the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined, Ceony is assigned an apprenticeship in paper magic despite her dreams of bespelling metal. And once she’s bonded to paper, that will be her only magic… forever.

Yet the spells Ceony learns under the strange yet kind Thane turn out to be more marvelous than she could have ever imagined — animating paper creatures, bringing stories to life via ghostly images, even reading fortunes. But as she discovers these wonders, Ceony also learns of the extraordinary dangers of forbidden magic.

An Excisioner — a practitioner of dark, flesh magic — invades the cottage and rips Thane’s heart from his chest. To save her teacher’s life, Ceony must face the evil magician and embark on an unbelievable adventure that will take her into the chambers of Thane’s still-beating heart—and reveal the very soul of the man.

Friday, March 6, 2015

Did you guys see...

Fairy Tale Fortnight is back for another year?


If you want the full details, just checkout The Book Rat's post about it here.

I'm thinking I might participate this year. I actually wanted to last year because it sounds so fun but I was new to blogging and didn't have enough ideas or books or (if I'm being completely honest) courage to do something like this. This time I've been thinking about it for a couple of weeks and I really am looking forward to this.

How about you? Are you going to participate? Have you before? I'd love to know what you think about it if you have!

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

March TBR Jar


Last month was a disappointment - and that's quite the understatement. I read one book. One! Not because it was bad - though a little because I wasn't reading much anyway. Mainly because I didn't want to have to decide what to read next. Just typing that out makes me feel silly. But it's the truth. So I started a TBR Jar (more information here) and am putting it into effect this month.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Top Ten All Time Favorite Books That I Read In the Last Three Years

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

Go look at my favorite books of last year. Okay, okay, I'm just joking. Well... Sort of. I never know quite what to do with lists like this. I mean, they're fun to do, but they are so subjective - and just because this book makes my list this week, doesn't mean it would next week. (Anyone else have this problem?) Roughly in reverse order.

Monday, March 2, 2015

Monthly Releases - March

There are so many new books coming out this year that sound so good - so, I have decided to have a little post at the beginning of each month where I can talk about the books that release soon that interest me.

The month of March has some really awesome sounding books coming out. I can hardly wait.