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Friday 31 July 2015

upcoming august releases

Hello, all! The beginning of August is upon us, so that means it's time for another look at some upcoming releases for this month. Here's what I'm most looking forward to in August. 


Never, Always, Sometimes by Adi Alsaid 
August 4, 2015 (Harlequin Teen)

From Goodreads: 

Never date your best friend
Always be original
Sometimes rules are meant to be broken 

Best friends Dave and Julia were determined to never be cliché high school kids—the ones who sit at the same lunch table every day, dissecting the drama from homeroom and plotting their campaigns for prom king and queen. They even wrote their own Never List of everything they vowed they'd never, ever do in high school. 
Some of the rules have been easy to follow, like #5, never die your hair a color of the rainbow, or #7, never hook up with a teacher. But Dave has a secret: he's broken rule #8, never pine silently after someone for the entirety of high school. It's either that or break rule #10, never date your best friend. Dave has loved Julia for as long as he can remember. 
Julia is beautiful, wild and impetuous. So when she suggests they do every Never on the list, Dave is happy to play along. He even dyes his hair an unfortunate shade of green. It starts as a joke, but then a funny thing happens: Dave and Julia discover that by skipping the clichés, they've actually been missing out on high school. And maybe even on love.


Trouble is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly 
August 4, 2015 (Kathy Dawson Books)

From Goodreads: 

Preparing to survive a typical day of being Digbys friend wasn't that different from preparing to survive the apocalypse.
Her first day not in school (because she cut) in her new hometown that will soon be her old hometown (because she's getting out of Dodge as fast as she can) Zoe meets Digby. Or rather, Digby decides he's going to meet Zoe and get her to help him find missing teenager. Zoe isn't sure how, but Digby—the odd and brilliant and somehow…attractive?—Digby always gets what he wants, including her help on several illegal ventures. Before she knows it, Zoe has vandalized an office complex with fake snow, pretended to buy drugs alongside a handsome football player dressed like the Hulk, had a throw-down with a possible cult, and, oh yeah, saved her new hometown (which might be worth making her permanent hometown after all.)
A mystery where catching the crook isn't the only hook, a romance where the leading man is decidedly unromantic, a story about friendship where they aren't even sure they like each other—Trouble is a Friend of Mine is a YA debut you won’t soon forget.


What You Left Behind by Jessica Verdi
August 4, 2015 (Sourcebooks)

From Goodreads: 

It’s all Ryden’s fault. If he hadn’t gotten Meg pregnant, she would have never stopped her chemo treatments and would still be alive. Instead, he’s failing fatherhood one dirty diaper at a time. And it’s not like he’s had time to grieve while struggling to care for their infant daughter, start his senior year, and earn the soccer scholarship he needs to go to college.
The one person who makes Ryden feel like his old self is Joni. She’s fun and energetic—and doesn’t know he has a baby. But the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to keep his two worlds separate. Finding one of Meg’s journals only stirs up old emotions, and Ryden’s convinced Meg left other notebooks for him to find, some message to help his new life make sense. But how is he going to have a future if he can’t let go of the past?


Reawakened by Colleen Houck
August 11, 2015 (Delacorte Press) 

From Goodreads: 

When seventeen-year-old Lilliana Young enters the Metropolitan Museum of Art one morning during spring break, the last thing she expects to find is a live Egyptian prince with godlike powers, who has been reawakened after a thousand years of mummification.
And she really can't imagine being chosen to aid him in an epic quest that will lead them across the globe to find his brothers and complete a grand ceremony that will save mankind.
But fate has taken hold of Lily, and she, along with her sun prince, Amon, must travel to the Valley of the Kings, raise his brothers, and stop an evil, shape-shifting god named Seth from taking over the world.
From New York Times bestselling author Colleen Houck comes an epic adventure about two star-crossed teens who must battle mythical forces and ancient curses on a journey with more twists and turns than the Nile itself.  


August 25, 2015 (Point) 

From Goodreads: 

Asylum meets Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, in this riveting tale of ghosts, secrets, and family, from master of suspense Katie Alender.
Delia's new house isn't just a house. It used to be an insane asylum, a place to lock up "troubled" young women long ago. And a restless, wicked spirit is still at play--and it doesn't want defiant girls like Delia to go anywhere.
So the house kills her.
Now Delia is a ghost, trapped in her creepy home forever. As she meets the other ghost girls who haunt the narrow hallways, as well as the handsome ghost boy on the grounds, she learns shocking truths about the house's history. Delia also realizes that her alive and grieving sister might be the house's next target. Can Delia unlock the mystery of the old asylum, save her sister, and free herself? 


Legacy of Kings by Eleanor Herman 
August 25, 2015 (Harlequin Teen) 

From Goodreads: 

Imagine a time when the gods turn a blind eye to the agony of men, when the last of the hellions roam the plains and evil stirs beyond the edges of the map. A time when cities burn, and in their ashes, empires rise.
Alexander, Macedonia’s sixteen-year-old heir, is on the brink of discovering his fated role in conquering the known world but finds himself drawn to newcomer Katerina, who must navigate the dark secrets of court life while hiding her own mission: kill the Queen. But Kat’s first love, Jacob, will go to unthinkable lengths to win her, even if it means competing for her heart with Hephaestion, a murderer sheltered by the prince. And far across the sea, Zofia, a Persian princess and Alexander’s unmet fiancée, wants to alter her destiny by seeking the famed and deadly Spirit Eaters.
Weaving fantasy with the salacious and fascinating details of real history, New York Times bestselling author Eleanor Herman reimagines the greatest emperor the world has ever known: Alexander the Great, in the first book of the Blood of Gods and Royals series.
Thursday 30 July 2015

unpopular opinions

So I was browsing around the world of BookTube (as one does at 2:56 in the morning) and I came across a wonderful unicorn called the Unpopular Opinions Book Tag. It stuck out to me and I immediately wanted to do my own variation on it! If you'd like to watch the original video, as created by TheBookArcher, you can do so here.



1. A popular book or series that you didn't like. 
For this one, I have to go with To Kill a Mockingbird. And I'd like to clarify - it's not that I particularly didn't like the book, I just didn't feel as deep a connection to it as I know a lot of people did. I am planning to reread it in the future, so maybe that'll change my opinion. 





2. A popular book or series that everyone seems to hate but you love.
I actually couldn't think of a book that everyone hates that I love, but to me, Audrey, Wait! is severely underrated. Granted, it does have a 3.81 rating on Goodreads, but I gave it a 5 and I feel like it's not as popular as it deserves to be. 



3. A love triangle where the main character ended up with the person you didn't want them to end up with or an OTP you don't like.
Harry and Ginny. I just didn't feel the connection and thought they were better as friends. But I honestly can't think of a substitute, I think I like Harry alone for some reason. I kind of just picture him, Ron, and Hermione all living in a house together and Harry being the cool, single uncle. 




4. A popular book genre you hardly reach for. 
Sci-fi! Especially the alien books like The 5th Wave and the Lux series. I just don't seem to gravitate toward them but I wish I could!  I do have a lot of these types of books on my shelf so I'm hopefully going to get to them eventually, and I did really enjoy the first book in the Lux series. It's just not a genre I'm usually drawn to right away.



5. A popular or beloved character that you do not like. 
Augustus Waters annoyed the shit out of me. Don't get me wrong, I loved TFiOS and I totally get that his personality is integral to the plot, but he's just not the kind of guy I would want to be stuck in a room with. I feel really shitty for saying that, to be honest. Is it bad juju to talk shit about a fictional dead guy? 






6. A popular author that you can't seem to get into. 
David Levithan. I've read a couple of his books and did really enjoy them, but he's never been one of those authors that I get excited about. Which is really strange, actually, because I love his writing style and the issues he tackles - something just hasn't clicked between us, I guess.





7. A popular book trope that you're tired of seeing. 
The whole "I'm a mysterious and angsty bad boy but this ONE SPECIAL GIRL will turn me into a respectable gentleman" thing. Like, COME ON. Stop that. What's wrong with nice, normal guys, I ask you? I'm ready for us to all move on from this fad, thanks. 






8. A popular series that you have no interest in reading. 
Pretty much anything with vampires. My Twilight obsession gave me wayyyyy too much exposure to the whole vampire fad and now I've had enough of it to last me a lifetime. Series like the Vampire Academy just don't appeal to me. Over it. 



9. The saying goes, "The book is always better than the movie," but what movie or TV show adaptation did you like more than the book? 
Obviously I can't speak to Part 2 yet, but Mockingjay: Part 1 was fantastic! I don't even know if this counts as an unpopular opinion because it seems like this is pretty widely agreed upon. But still!

Wednesday 29 July 2015

waiting on wednesday - why not me?

Happy Wednesday, friends! Today is another Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by Breaking the Spine. Today, we're talking about a super exciting NON-FICTION release! What?!?! Ryley's reading non-fiction? Call the cops! 
Tuesday 28 July 2015

top ten characters who are fellow book nerds

Happy almost August! Today, Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, you know the drill) is all about characters who LOVE books. Like us! This one's really exciting for me because literally whenever I find out that a character is a book nerd, I immediately love them. It's just science. Today, we're switching things up a bit: instead of just looking at bookish characters from books, I'm including TV and movies as well. Because why not? (also because I couldn't think of 10 characters from books but shhh) 

1. Hermione Granger (Harry Potter) 
2. Cather Avery (Fangirl)
3. Belle (Beauty and the Beast)
4. Jane Eyre (...Jane Eyre)
5. Celaena Sardothien (Throne of Glass)
6. Alaska Young (Looking for Alaska)
7. Charlie (Perks of Being a Wallflower) 
8. Matilda Wormwood (Matilda)
9. Rupert Giles (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
10. Tyrion Lannister (A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones) 

Someone write a fanfic with all of these characters in a book club, okay? 
Sunday 26 July 2015

book club babble #2: me and earl and the dying girl


Isn't my little icon cute? It feels kinda Harry Potter-ish to me. I'm into it. 

Anyway, it's been a while since I posted my first Book Club Babble (it's here, if you want to check it out!) and I figured it was time to do another. Now I have to be honest - since that last update, the book club hasn't been going too strongly. The three of us haven't even met up yet for discussion, if you can believe it. But I'm determined. As long as we're still reading, it counts! Right? 
Friday 24 July 2015

how majoring in english has changed the way i read

Every time I mention to someone new that I'm an English major, I get the same reaction. Their faces contort into something like this: 


And then, of course, the dreaded question that literally everyone asks. 

So, are you going to be a teacher? 

Don't get me wrong. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with being a teacher. I wouldn't know how to read or write without teachers. Without teachers, this whole blog wouldn't exist. I'm just saying, I'm not a teacher-y person. Simple as that. And it's honestly quite comical how people seem to think that the only thing you can do with an English degree is teach English. 

I'm getting away from the point. 

Since I started this wondrous journey of literary endeavours (read: my degree), I've noticed a big change in the way I approach books and react to them. Here are some of the big ones. 

I sticky-note everything. 
Even books I'm just reading for fun end up with flags and post-its all over them. When I'm feeling really intense, I'll colour-code my notes depending on theme, character, setting, plot...you get the picture. What if I need to remember that tiny detail for my dissertation one day?! 

It's physically impossible to read without analyzing. 
They weren't kidding when they said that Intro to Lit Theory & Criticism would ruin my life. I should have believed them. I can't pick up a book and not notice how it perfectly follows the theory of Panopticism. It just doesn't happen. 

I have a favourite literary theorist, and I thoroughly enjoy talking about his theories. 
For reference, it's Michel Foucault.

I have editor brain. 
If I'm reading a book and I see a typo or some incorrect use of grammar, I get cringe-y. Sometimes it's enough to make me put down the book, or even worse, email the publisher. Even random little things like food labels and visitor guides are subject to my relentless proofreading.

I love picking out references and allusions and researching them. 
We're not just talking the obviously marketed retellings here. There's basically no such thing as a fully original work at this point, so I'm a huge fan of trying to pick out references to old stories and myths, and seeing how far the author takes them.

If possible, I love books even more now. 
Overall, my appreciation for the written word has increased substantially throughout my three years of studying English. Even the simplest stories have so much work put into them. Just think: when you go into a bookstore, you're immediately surrounded by thousands of people's life work; the products of their blood, sweat, and tears.

Majoring in English has made me a better reader in every possible way. I'm more active in my reading style, more attentive, and more willing to put the work in to figuring out exactly what a writer is trying to tell me. Maybe it's not the most practical of majors, but I don't regret a thing. 
Thursday 23 July 2015

review: everything, everything

Release date: September 1, 2015 (Delacorte)

 From Goodreads

This innovative, heartfelt debut novel tells the story of a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world. When a new family moves in next door, she begins a complicated romance that challenges everything she’s ever known. The narrative unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, texts, charts, lists, illustrations, and more.



My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.


Wednesday 22 July 2015

waiting on wednesday - the boy most likely to

Welcome back to another Waiting on Wednesday! As we all know by now, this is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine, where we all get to gush about upcoming releases. What's not to love? This week, my pick is.... 
Tuesday 21 July 2015

top ten books that celebrate diversity


Hello, all! Top Ten Tuesday is hosted every week by The Broke and the Bookish, and this week, we're talking diversity. It's no secret that this particular topic has been huge in the bookish community recently, and for good reason. The #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign has been making waves lately, and it's great so see how many authors and publishers are embracing differences in colour, ability, religion, race, sexuality... The list goes on. Here are the ten books I picked that celebrate diversity in all forms. 


1. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling 
I feel like this series, especially for children who are reading it the first time, doesn't come across as particularly diverse right away. But it's not hard to see the commentary regarding race relations and cultural genocide in the issues between pure bloods, Muggle-borns, and Muggles. 


Here, we've got two separate strands of diversity - the two boys are Mexican American, making them racially diverse, as well as part of the gay community. What more could you ask for? 


3. April Raintree by Beatrice Culleton 
This is a book that I read for my YA Lit class last year (it's actually a revised edition of In Search of April Raintree). I think it's particularly important for Canadians, or anyone living in an area with a large Aboriginal population. It really captures the struggle of being othered in your own land in a beautiful and heartbreaking way. 


4. Eleanor & Park  by Rainbow Rowell
Both of the protagonists in this book are different in their own ways. Park comes from a Korean family and fills the role of a racially diverse character, while Eleanor reads as diverse to me because she's simply not the typical love interest in a YA novel. She's overweight and plain and doesn't really fit the teen girl stereotype, but we still see her as beautiful through Park's eyes, which is so important. 


5. What Night Brings by Carla Trujillo 
This book broke me, plain and simple. I read it for my Latina/o Lit class and I don't think any of the books I've read for school have ever hit me as hard as this one did. Marci is an eleven-year-old Latin American girl who wants God to turn her into a boy. Pretty much, we have a trifecta of diversity in here with the racial, religious, and gender-related contexts in this book. 


6. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan 
Tiny Cooper. End of story. 


7. The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins
I mean, just think about all the diversity between districts! We've got race, class... Even Katniss and Peeta become physically disabled by the end of the series. 


8. I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
This is just a beautiful example of what it means to love someone who is othered. The dual perspective really works to give us a look at both sides, so we're not just learning what it's like for Noah (a gay character), we also see how it affects his twin, Jude, and how she deals. 


9. The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler
I'll admit right now - I'm not done this book yet, but already I'm loving it! The narrator is Elyse, a girl from Trinidad and Tobago, who lost her voice in a boating accident. She's one of the only POC's in the small town where the story takes place, and with her disability on top of that, she's definitely very different from those around her. 


10.  Everything, Everything  by Nicola Yoon
I don't want to give too much away because this book isn't out yet (thanks, Netgalley!) but I will tell you what you can find out from the synopsis: the narrator is an Afro-Asian teenager living with SCID, a disease that pretty much means she's allergic to the entire world. 

What diverse books are you loving?
Sunday 19 July 2015

the book fangirling blog award


Hello, all! I recently (like, a couple days ago) learned that the lovely Fiona from A Girl Between the Pages had nominated me for the BookFangirling Blog Award! Big hugs going her way for this. 

So, if you haven't heard of this particular award, here's a summary: It was created by Hannah over at BookFangirling (who is absolutely wonderful, I might add). To complete this tag, I have to answer the questions below, then tag 5-10 other bloggers who deserve the award and come up with my own questions for them! All of that information will be below, but first, here are my answers. 

1. What is your favorite thing about blogging?
My absolute favourite thing about it is the sense of community and support that I get from everyone. I'm by no means a popular blogger or anything like that, but people are still so nice to me! I love that this is a place where everyone has similar interests and we're all  just happy to talk about books for hours on end. 

2. Which books or series your book boyfriend/s came from?
Promise you won't judge me? Pinky swear? Because this is an embarrassing one. Did you promise? Okay, here we go. My most significant book boyfriend has to be Edward Cullen from the ever-so-famous Twilight series. We've been broken up for a good few years now, but back in '09 I was absolutely OBSESSED. We're just gonna let that stay in the past, though. 

3. What was the craziest thing you ever did because of fangirling?
See, this is going back to the whole Twilight thing. It's possible that my friend and I, when we were around 12 or 13, madetwilightthemedpuppetsofabunchofthecharacters. Again, in the past. 

4. If you were to choose one book or one series to read for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Harry Potter, duh. Speaking of which, if you missed my last post, I'm going to be doing a re-read of the whole series through August and into September! 

5. When was the last time you had a major book hangover, and what was that book/series?
Ou, this is a tough one. My last book hangover was probably last summer after I read We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. As I'm sure you know, that book is a complete mindfuck and I pretty much just had to hide under a blanket to recover from it. But other than that, I think my last real book hangover was after (you guessed it) Breaking Dawn was released. Promise you still love me? 

Now, it's time for me to nominate bloggers and post my own questions! If you decide to post this for yourself, please leave me a link in the comments so I can read your answers! :) 

Georgina @ Reads and Rambles
Amanda @ Stuck in YA Books 

Here are your questions, ladies!
 
1. What is your number one, ride-or-die book/series to fangirl over? 
2. If you could pluck any character out of any book and have him or her in your life, who would it be? 
3. What book/series is a guilty pleasure that you secretly love? 
4. Do you listen to music while reading or prefer silence?
5. What was your gateway book into full-on addiction?

Now that you're nominated, here's what you do:
Create a post to accept your award 
Add the blog award button to your blog as a widget 
Answer the above questions
Nominate 5-10 bloggers you feel are deserving of this award 
Come up with 5 questions to ask your nominees (or steal them from someone else, who cares?) 
Comment on this post with a link to yours so I can see your answers! 


Saturday 18 July 2015

the great harry potter re-read 2015

Here's a little tidbit you probably already knew about me: I love Harry Potter. The series quite literally shaped my entire life from the moment I picked up the first book, and I owe my love of reading entirely to J.K. Rowling. 

With that in mind, I've been doing a lot of thinking about Harry Potter lately. This upcoming winter,  I will be taking a class at my school entitled Medieval Motifs in Harry Potter, which I'm obviously looking forward to. As it turns out, the professor who will be teaching that course recently did a podcast with  MuggleNet Academia which seems to be basically an overview of what she'll be teaching in the class. I just finished listening to the podcast (it's super interesting if you're into Harry Potter, here's a link to it) and decided that I want to embark upon an epic journey. 

So this summer, I'm going to be tackling the series once more, this time focusing on the inner workings of the plot (pretty much to give myself a head start in the class). I'm hoping to get through the series by the time school starts on September 14, and I'm planning to post updates throughout my reading that will talk about some of the cool things I notice along the way. I'm hoping that it'll be a little bit more academic and analytical in nature, so if you're interested in following along or even joining me, I'd love to have you! 

I'm going to start this upcoming Monday (July 20), so that gives me 8 weeks until school starts to finish the series. I'm hoping to post weekly updates but can't promise anything, so we'll see where it goes. 


Tuesday 14 July 2015

last ten books that came into my possession


Hello, lovely people! Today is Tuesday, which means I'm going to make a list and you're going to read it. Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and this week it's all about our most recent book finds. Since I haven't yet reached the level of superstardom that allows me to receive free books from publishers, all of these were purchased by myself. So, starting with the most recent and going from there... 

Thursday 9 July 2015

inside out book tag


If you haven't heard of Disney/Pixar's Inside Out, I honestly don't know where you've been the last couple of months. And if you've heard of it but haven't seen it, GO SEE IT. 

Kristina Horner , one of my favourite YouTubers, started this tag today that centres all around the five main emotions in the movie. Let's get started! 


Which book brings you the most joy? 
This one has to be Isla and the Happily Ever After. I'm trying to think back to last summer when I read this book, and I can honestly say I pretty much had a perma-smile on my face the whole time I read it. It's just such a fun and heartwarming story - I loved every single word. Isla also has a very special place in my heart since it was one of the first books I featured on this blog!




Which book grossed you out the most? 
The only book that I can think of that really made my stomach turn is The Merciless,  simply because  of how gory it got at times. The violence is quite graphic at times,  and it was one of my first  novels in the horror genre so that was definitely new to me! A couple parts were pretty gross to the unseasoned reader.  




Which book scared you more than anything? 
I don't tend to get super freaked out by books too often, but one that really stuck for me in terms of fear was Life As We Knew It. Some of the scariest things I've encountered in books are natural disaster stories, simply because they seem so realistic and are so incredibly believable. This one pretty much goes into what would happen if the moon somehow got knocked off its orbit (spoiler alert: everything would suck). Don't read this if you tend to worry about the end of the world, because I guarantee you will lose sleep. 



Which book made you cry the hardest?
Hands down, my pick for this one absolutely has to be Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I don't think there was a single point in time when I was reading this book where I wasn't sad, and my copy has literal tear stains all over it.  I was pretty much on a steady flow of tears the whole time I read it to the point that it's kind of a miracle I didn't get dehydrated. 




Which book pissed you off?
I actually had a pretty hard time narrowing this one down, but ultimately my decision was Seventeenth Summer. I kind of feel like a cheater because this was a required book for school, but it just pissed me off so much. Angie is quite possibly the stupidest and most annoying protagonist I've come across in my reading career, and I read the Twilight series. So, yeah. Granted, this book was written in the 1940s and things were obviously very different at that time, but damn. I just couldn't take it. Maybe I'm just mad at the '40s. 


Big thank you to Kristina for creating this awesome tag! If any of you do it as well, let me know. :) 

review: extraordinary means

From Goodreads

At seventeen, overachieving Lane finds himself at Latham House, a sanatorium for teens suffering from an incurable strain of tuberculosis. Part hospital and part boarding school, Latham is a place of endless rules and confusing rituals, where it's easier to fail breakfast than it is to flunk French.

There, Lane encounters a girl he knew years ago. Instead of the shy loner he remembers, Sadie has transformed. At Latham, she is sarcastic, fearless, and utterly compelling. Her friends, a group of eccentric troublemakers, fascinate Lane, who has never stepped out of bounds his whole life. And as he gradually becomes one of them, Sadie shows him their secrets: how to steal internet, how to sneak into town, and how to disable the med sensors they must wear at all times.

But there are consequences to having secrets, particularly at Latham House. And as Lane and Sadie begin to fall in love and their group begins to fall sicker, their insular world threatens to come crashing down. 


Told in alternating points of view, Extraordinary Means is a darkly funny story about doomed friendships, first love, and the rare miracle of second chances.
Wednesday 8 July 2015

waiting on wednesday - carry on

Hi, guys! It's time for another Waiting on Wednesday, and this is one that I'm extremely excited for. Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This week's can't-wait pick is... 
Tuesday 7 July 2015

top ten hyped books i've never read


Happy Tuesday, my lovely friends. I'm currently sitting in my back yard with a coffee and a book, enjoying my day off. What a perfect time to write! Today, we're talking about hyped books we haven't yet picked up (or don't plan on picking up at all!). Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Let's get started!

Monday 6 July 2015

things to tell yourself when you fail miserably

As you may know, I took part in the readathon hosted by the Bookish Beauties Book Club this past week.  If you keep track of my updates, you'll also know that as of a couple days ago I had still only finished one book and was a little bit into my second. 

I wish I could say things changed. 

Currently, I'm still only about 150 pages into Throne of Glass, which is a step in the right direction but not as big a step as I was hoping for. So, considering this particular readathon was a giant fail for me, I thought I'd have some fun. 

You know how in How I Met Your Mother, there's that one episode where Robin becomes the centre of a drinking game because of her constantly saying "But, um..."? Let's play a similar game. Take a shot every time I say "Yeah, but..." 

Girl. You sucked so hard at this readathon. 

Yeah, but I worked pretty much every day. 

We all know your job isn't exactly too hard. 

Yeah, but it gets busy and I don't have time to read. 

You only work 6 hour shifts. That's 18 hours of reading time in the day. 

Yeah, but I have to sleep for 8 hours too. 

Fine. 10 hours. 

Yeah, but I have a boyfriend and a social life too. 

You still have a ton of free time. What about in the mornings and before bed? 

Yeah, but that's when I do cleaning. 

LOL NO. 

......Yeah, but Netflix. 

There we go. 

I got nothin'. 



Have a great day, guys! 
Friday 3 July 2015

bbbreadathon update #2

So you know how I said I was doing really well with the readathon? And I was so happy on like day 3 because I felt like my progress was so great? 

Yeah. Let's just scratch that. 

Since my last update, I've probably read 10 more pages of Throne of Glass. I know. I suck. 

So... not expecting too much greatness for the rest of this readathon, I'm just not motivated to read at the moment. I blame Shonda Rhimes - I've been getting way too into Grey's Anatomy lately. 

Anyway, that's going to be it for this depressing update! I'm still going to be posting a final update on the 5th, and who knows, maybe I'll have a breakthrough and power through all five books before then.  


Wednesday 1 July 2015

upcoming july releases

Hey, everyone! I've been thinking of starting a new kind of series here on my blog, where I'll basically just start every month off with a list of some of the new releases for that month that I'm most excited about. I figured it would be a good way to keep track of all the exciting new releases, since SO MANY books have come out recently that I had no idea about. I was actually at Chapters yesterday and saw that Sarah Ockler had a new book, The Summer of Chasing Mermaids,  published in early June, and I had no idea. Which kind of sucks, because I love Sarah Ockler. 

Anyway. I felt like a really shitty book blogger/lover, and decided I need to be more on top of this kind of stuff. 

Let's see how this goes. 


Survive the Night by Danielle Vega 
July 7, 2015
Razorbill 

From Goodreads: 

We're all gonna die down here. . . . 
Julie lies dead and disemboweled in a dank, black subway tunnel, red-eyed rats nibbling at her fingers. Her friends think she’s just off with some guy—no one could hear her getting torn apart over the sound of pulsing music. 
In a tunnel nearby, Casey regrets coming to Survive the Night, the all-night underground rave in the New York City subway. Her best friend Shana talked her into it, even though Casey just got out of rehab. Alone and lost in the dark, creepy tunnels, Casey doesn’t think Survive the Night could get any worse . . .               
. . . until she comes across Julie’s body, and the party turns deadly. 
Desperate for help, Casey and her friends find themselves running through the putrid subway system, searching for a way out. But every manhole is sealed shut, and every noise echoes eerily in the dark, reminding them they’re not alone. 
They’re being hunted.
               Trapped underground with someone—or something—out to get them, Casey can’t help but listen to her friend’s terrified refrain: “We’re all gonna die down here. . . .” in this bone-chilling sophmore novel by the acclaimed author of The Merciless.


Paperweight by Meg Haston
July 7, 2015
HarperTeen

From Goodreads: 

Seventeen-year-old Stevie is trapped. In her life. In her body. And now in an eating-disorder treatment center on the dusty outskirts of the New Mexico desert.
Life in the center is regimented and intrusive, a nightmare come true. Nurses and therapists watch Stevie at mealtime, accompany her to the bathroom, and challenge her to eat the foods she’s worked so hard to avoid.
Her dad has signed her up for sixty days of treatment. But what no one knows is that Stevie doesn't plan to stay that long. There are only twenty-seven days until the anniversary of her brother Josh’s death—the death she caused. And if Stevie gets her way, there are only twenty-seven days until she too will end her life.

In this emotionally haunting and beautifully written young adult debut, Meg Haston delves into the devastating impact of trauma and loss, while posing the question: Why are some consumed by their illness while others embark on a path toward recovery?


The Six by Mark Alpert 
July 7, 2015 
Sourcebooks Fire

From Goodreads: 

To save humanity, they must give up their own.
Adam's muscular dystrophy has stolen his mobility, his friends, and in a few short years, it will take his life. Virtual reality games are Adam's only escape from his wheelchair. In his alternate world, he can defeat anyone. Running, jumping, scoring touchdowns: Adam is always the hero.
Then an artificial intelligence program, Sigma, hacks into Adam's game. Created by Adam's computer-genius father, Sigma has gone rogue, threatening Adam's life-and world domination. Their one chance to stop Sigma is using technology Adam's dad developed to digitally preserve the mind of his dying son.

Along with a select group of other terminally ill teens, Adam becomes one of the Six who have forfeited their bodies to inhabit weaponized robots. But with time running short, the Six must learn to manipulate their new mechanical forms and work together to train for epic combat...before Sigma destroys humanity.


The Escape by Hannah Jayne
July 7, 2015
Sourcebooks Fire

From Goodreads: 

When two boys walk into the woods, and one comes out covered in blood, what would you believe?
Fletcher and Adam venture into the woods for an afternoon hike, but when day turns into night and neither boy returns, their town is thrown into turmoil. Avery, the detective's daughter, is the one to find Fletcher—dishelved, disoriented, and covered in blood. He has no memory of what happened, but Avery can't shake the feeling that something's off. When Adam's body is finally found, Avery is determined to uncover the truth. But if she stands by her gut, and Fletcher, is she standing by a friend, or a murderer? 
The answer might cost her her life.


Damage Done by Amanda Panitch
July 21, 2015
Random House
From Goodreads: 
22 minutes separate Julia Vann’s before and after.
Before: Julia had a twin brother, a boyfriend, and a best friend.
After: She has a new identity, a new hometown, and memories of those twenty-two minutes that refuse to come into focus. At least, that’s what she tells the police.
Now that she’s Lucy Black, she's able to begin again. She's even getting used to the empty bedroom where her brother should be. And her fresh start has attracted the attention of one of the hottest guys in school, a boy who will do anything to protect her. But when someone much more dangerous also takes notice, Lucy's forced to confront the dark secrets she thought were safely left behind.
One thing is clear: The damage done can never be erased. It’s only just beginning. . . 


All We Have is Now by Lisa Schroeder 
July 28, 2015
Scholastic 

From Goodreads: 

What do you do with your last day on earth?
Just over twenty-four hours are left until an asteroid strikes North America, and for Emerson and everyone else who didn't leave, the world will end. But Emerson's world already ended when she ran away from home. Since then, she has lived on the streets, relying on her wits and on her friend Vince to help her find places to sleep and food to eat.
The city's quieter now that most people are gone, and no one seems to know what to do as the end approaches. But then Emerson and Vince meet Carl, who tells them he has been granting people's wishes -- and gives them his wallet full of money.
Suddenly, this last day seems full of possibility. Emerson and Vince can grant a lot of wishes in one last day -- maybe even their own.
 

Guys, July is going to be an awesome month for standalones. What are you most excited for?