The Books So Far

As you know, I do a lot of reading. I am part of the Goodreads Challenge and have already updated my total 3 times to keep up with all of the titles that I have come across. I have been devouring children’s books over the last couple of months since working more in the children’s wing at my library and am highly enjoying many of them including:

Z is for Moose by Kelly Bingham

Carnivores by Aaron Reynolds

Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri

Tea Rex by Molly Idle

Frog Trouble…And Eleven Other Pretty Serious Songs by Sandra Boynton (with musical CD!)

Sparky by Jenny Offill

The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians by Carla Morris

I think my total books read to date is around 60, with 82 being my Challenge total and it looks likely that I will have to push that higher. I have been trying to expand my boundaries this year: read more adult fiction, contemporary fiction, murder and government mysteries, graphic novels, and taking recommendations from coworkers and friends. Highlights include:

Burning Midnight by Will McIntosh (already mentioned a few times and worth the read)

The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas (a compilation of the short stories from the Throne of Glass series)

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Fallout by Gwenda Bond

Morning Star by Pierce Brown (final book in the Red Rising Trilogy)

Star Wars: Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown (graphic novel!)

Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs (finally a new Mercy Thompson!)

Invision by Sherrilyn Kenyon (the next Chronicles of Nick!)

The Obsession by Nora Roberts

A Tyranny of Petticoats edited by Jessica Spotswood (a set of short stories by authors like Y.S. Lee, Marie Lu, Marissa Meyer, and Andrea Cremer about badass young women)

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas (sequel to A Court of Thorns and Roses)

The Forgotten Room by Karen White, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig

Overall, it’s been a good year for books so far. Not too many disappointing titles were picked up in the couple of months or since the beginning of January. I am excited to see what this next batch will bring. And of course, there are always new titles at the library. I am waiting on The Hidden Oracle and The Crown’s Game as well as The Scorpion Game and Paper Magician. With summer coming, I might not read as much if the weather is nice but it’s always good to keep a book or two handy for a rainy day or chilly night!

For more on what I have read this year or want to read in the coming months, check out my Goodreads page.

What I’m Reading

I was so ecstatic to begin the new Chima that I started the day I got it, which happened to be my birthday. Unfortunately, I haven’t picked it up since because a character I loved met an untimely demise and I couldn’t bear to continue. I understand it is necessary for the continuation of the story but the Seven Realms was just so perfect and this sort of shattered that world for me…no pun intended.

Grave Peril is amazing but it’s taking me awhile to get through as it is in audiobook format. I listed to some of it on CD in the car, some via Audible on the way to and from graduation but I have a hard time concentrating on listening without visual for long periods of time so it’s taken longer than I would like. That being said, I am immensely enjoying the Dresden Files and there could not be a better narrator for the character than James Marsters. Absolutely amazing. And the plot, while a bit convoluted or unexplained in places, such as the intro of a new character with no explanation or backstory, are quite entertaining.

Sleeping Giants is a new acquisition that I am already two-thirds completed. The style is like a McCreight, made up not of simple prose and story-telling but journal entries and interviews. There aren’t any dates but file numbers. And the “narrator” is an unknown person of dubious means and indeterminate interests. It’s a heart-pounding alien sci-fi without a lot of aliens or sci-fi. Bit hard to explain but worth my time so far.

I have yet to begin the new McCreight or Bond books but they are next up on my queue as I have just finished The Girl from Summer Hill by Jude Deveraux, a surprising 4-star book. I am excited to see what both of these novels bring as The Outliers is part of a new YA series and Double Down is second in a Lois Lane series which is highly entertaining, well thought out, and enjoyable.

Top Ten Tuesday Update

Nearly six months later and it’s time to give an update for a Top Ten Tuesday I did back in December.

I gave a short list of debuts I was excited to read and have since realized that one of them is in fact not a new series, just a new publication, and that one of them is not a new author but an established one. The series Alcatraz by Brandon Sanderson has been around for nearly a decade and I still have yet to read it this year. The stand-alone, Eligible by Curtis Sittenfield I have in fact read and loved! The only thing I took issue with was the ending and I will be publishing a full review on it soon. The author has several other contemporary fiction pieces and I neglected to do my proper research.

I have only read one other book from the list so far, Burning Midnight by Will McIntosh and I loved it! It was a great work, definitely more sci-fi than I anticipated and well done. I loved the writing style though some characters were flatter than I would have liked, the plot was well paced and enjoyable. Definitely a book work reading.

Two others on the list, The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan and The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye (which has a Kirkus star) are both slated to be read in the coming weeks. I believe Riordan’s work is currently waiting to be picked up at the library. Please Don’t Tell by Laura Tims is also coming due, although I am going to read The Outliers, the first book in a new series by Kimberly McCreight first.

I think I also need to publish a new debuts list for this year because I am rapidly adding more to my TBR every day. I even added a list in my phone, by month, so I would know when highly anticipated books are due out. I am a huge nerd.

Top Ten Tuesdays are brought to us by the lovely ladies at The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Tuesday

I’m going to do a throwback since I missed this one. Here we go – February 23:  Ten Book I Enjoyed Recently (last yearish) That Weren’t My Typical Genre/Type of Book (or that was out of your comfort zone)

1. The Forgotten Seamstress by Liz Trenow (5 stars)
2. Fat Chance by Nick Spaulding (5 stars)
3. Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer (4 stars)
4. Part-Time Princesses by Monica Gallagher (4 stars)
5. Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight (5 stars)
6. The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt (5 stars)
7. The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (4 stars)
8. Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen (5 stars)
9. The Incarnations by Susan Barker (4 stars)
10. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (4 stars)

Most of these are either reality based fiction, nonfiction, or styles of fiction I don’t read that often. All are definitely worth a read, some are even laugh out loud funny!

March Update

Greetings faithful readers!

How lovely to see you all again 🙂 I have been remiss in my duties of writing but grad school is taking its toll…and pound of flesh for that matter. Since my last post, I have been working 6 days a week, interning and at my regular job, plus doing homework and writing papers, not to mention fitting in family events and you know, hanging out with my significant other. I have a lot on my plate and hopefully that load will be lightened in a few weeks! I am also applying for jobs, which I’m sure many of you know, can be very stressful. Applying a degree in the real world can be trying. Keeping my fingers crossed that the right opportunity and I cross paths soon.

In other more bookish news, there have been several publications recently which have caught my eye and I feel obliged to update you on, whether I have read them yet or not.

1. Burning Midnight by Will McIntosh (much anticipated and currently am tearing through it)
2. The Immortals by Jordanna Max Brodsky
3. Morning Star by Pierce Brown (waiting for my copy to arrive!)
4. Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs

Also, the soon to be released!

1. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (screen play) by J.K. Rowling
2. Demigods & Magicians by Rick Riordan
3. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
4. FROST LIKE NIGHT by Sara Raasch (which just had a major cover release and I’m so excited I can’t stand it!)
5. FLAMECASTER by Cinda Williams Chima (first new book in 4 years and she is giving away signed copies!!! I need this on pre-order, especially since it comes out just before my birthday!!)

Phew…that was a lot of excitement at the end there, I almost didn’t make it. As always, check out my Goodreads for more updates on what I’ve been reading. Post to follow with what I am currently reading next.

 

Happy New Year!

Well I managed to make it through finals and the holidays without exploding into nothingness but I have severely neglected you, my readers. I know I keep promising to do better but adulting has become particularly difficult as of late. I am trying to get my internship for the upcoming semester situated. Plus preparations for the final wedding of three are under way as it is less than a week from now, so busy, busy, busy.

In light of this, I have several things to share with you over the next couple of posts, here, I will give my Top Ten Tuesdays that I wanted to do before the New Year, but didn’t get to, and then the newest Top Ten Tuesdays followed by what I am reading now (or have just finished).

Top Ten Books I Wish Santa Will Bring

Cress by Marissa Meyer

Winter by Marissa Meyer

Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan (graphic novel version)

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (yes, I know, I should really own this by now)

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (my copy was lost to an errant loan)

The new illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by Jim Kay

As a side note: Santa did actually bring the new Illustrated Harry Potter and Cress for me! I also received a beautiful 1870 edition of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. Whew. I am a lucky, lucky bookworm.

Top Ten Books I Read in 2015

Wake of Vultures* by Lila Bowen

The Little Paris Bookshop* by Nina George

Queen of Shadows* by Sarah J. Maas (Book 4 in Throne of Glass)

Winter* by Marissa Meyer

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich

Fat Chance by Nick Spaulding

Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis

The Forgotten Seamstress by Liz Trenow

The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Blameless by Gail Carriger (Book 3 in Parasol Protectorate)

The Lightning Thief (graphic novel) by Rick Riordan

The books with the asterisk were also published in 2015 in addition to having been read then. If I had to choose an all time top pick for 2015, it would be a tie between The Little Paris Bookshop and Queen of Shadows, one adult fiction, the other YA fantasy. Both incredibly written and moving in different ways. George’s novel was an emotionally compelling tale without much action but plenty of drama and history. Maas’ typical writing style had me clinging to my seat to know what would happen next to one of my favorite heroines. Both were brilliantly done.

Honorable mentions include:

A Thousand Nights* by E.K. Johnston

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms* by George R.R. Martin

Six of Crows* by Leigh Bardugo

Luckiest Girl Alive* by Jessica Knoll

The Girl on the Train* by Paula Hawkins

Ice like Fire* by Sara Raasch

Silver in the Blood* by Jessica Day George

Part-Time Princesses by Monica Gallagher

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Dead Heat* by Patricia Briggs

Instinct* by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Geek Girl by Holly Smale

Red Queen* by Victoria Aveyard

Fairest* by Marissa Meyer

And if you would like to look at the entire list of 94 books I read last year, here is a link to everything I read in 2015 via Goodreads.

Top Ten Tuesday

December 8: Top Ten New-To-Me Favorite Authors I Read For The First Time In 2015

As 2015 is not yet over and I do have a couple of other new authors to try, some may be bumped from this list. In no particular order:

Kimberly McCreight

Nick Spaulding

Victoria Aveyard

Holly Smale

Jessica Spotswood

Brandon Mull

Eoin Colfer

Janet Evanovich

John Flanagan

Jessica Day George

November Update

I can’t believe it’s been nearly 2 months since I have posted! Even last semester when I was taking 4 classes didn’t feel this hectic. You may know by now, I am a bridesmaid in 3 weddings in 6 months and I am in grad school and working, so life has been crazy. There has been lots of planning and parties, dinners and long text battles to hammer out the details of things. I have barely been able to keep up with friends and my reading, let alone find time for sleeping and blogging. I unfortunately have been unable to participate in NaNoWriMo this month (shout out to all of you impressive people who have been able to do it!) which fills me with great sadness, though I have been writing some poems and jotting down story ideas on the side. I have also met a new special someone so making time for him in between the madness has been trying for both of us.  However, I am now 2 successful weddings and most of the fall semester down and in a short lulling moment before the holiday rush so it’s a good time for an update I think.

Let’s start with what I’m currently reading:

I am completely spazzing out over Winter, of course. I am about halfway done and losing my mine. This finale is shaping up to be a great ending to the series. There is emotion and action, failures and triumphs, bloodshed and relationship ties; basically everything a girl could want. I have just started Carry On and already have high hopes for it. I am just about to start A Thousand Nights and hope that it is as impressive as it sounds. The Christmas Wedding is just for fun, something I am reading in my down time at the library, lighter and fluffier but with emotional substance. The Rest of Us Just Live Here so far has been weird, which I’m told is par for the course with Ness, and might be because I have no idea which YA book he is referencing in the first few chapters so I’m a little confused. Hopefully, that shapes up soon.

What else have I read in the last couple of months, you might be wondering? Lots of wonderful, delightful things, including a few much anticipated titles from my favorites! Here is the list:

Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George

Golden Son by Pierce Brown

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

Magnus Chase: The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods by Rick Riordan

The Hollow Boy by Jonathan Stroud

Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

The Rose Society by Marie Lu

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

And I think all of these, with the exception of Queen of Shadows which received 5, achieved 4 stars on the general Goodreads Scale. I have been trying to keep my reviews updated on there since I have not been blogging them so you may want to check those out for further info on my thoughts! https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7786191-kat

Top Ten Tuesday

August 18: Top Ten Of Your Auto-buy Authors

I actually very rarely go out and buy books right when they come out, mostly because they are expensive and I am still a poor college student. I utilize the library as often as possible and usually just buy books that I love. However, in an ideal world these would be my auto-buy authors in no particular order:

Sherrilyn Kenyon

Rick Riordan

Patricia Briggs

Cinda Williams Chima

Kimberly McCreight

Gillian Flynn

Sarah J. Maas

Marie Lu

Sara Raasch

Marissa Meyer

Gail Carriger

Anne Bishop

Bonus: C.S. Lewis, Edgar Allan Poe, and Jane Austen, if they were still alive and writing.

Top Ten Tuesday: Aug 4

I am going back a couple of weeks to play catch up with the Top Ten Tuesdays because they are one of my favorite things to do, thank you so much The Broke and the Bookish!!

From August 4: Top Ten Fairytales and Fairytale Retellings. I’m going to do this one a little bit differently than my normal list, bear with me! There are a lot of books now going off of this theme and I am excited to experience them as many as possible.

Top of the list definitely goes to the entire Lunar Chronicles series. From Cinder to the as yet unpublished Winter, I cannot get enough of Marissa Meyer’s style, writing, finesse, world building, and character crossings. The whole series is beautifully done and I am anxiously awaiting the final piece. With sci-fi elements, it never sounded like my typical read until I picked it up and could not put it down.

Stiching Snow by R.C. Lewis was also very well done. Also sci-fi and not my usual game but presented in such a way that really intrigued me and sucked me in. The plot was solid, the characters and relationships were interesting, and the overall product made me smile, laugh, and cry.

Cruel Beauty from Rosamund Hodge was definitely an interesting twist on Beauty & the Beast. I listened to the audiobook while driving home for Christmas and some of it was a little hard to follow and little far fetched for my taste but the mystery of the plot and interaction of Beauty and her Beast was worth it. Although the ending left me feeling unsatisfied.

A Court of Thorns and Roses, another book by Sarah J. Maas, put a fae spin on the classic Beauty & the Beast in a way that wasn’t obvious. There was magic and secrets, shape-shifting, torture, testing of the limits, love, beauty, fear; written in the typical and wonderful style of the author, it drew me in and captivated me. Highly recommend, can’t wait to see what happens next!

The Stepsister Scheme tells the story of what happens after the magical happily ever after. Jim C. Hines gives us new representations of Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty as he weaves a tale of jealous stepsister, fae terrors, and princesses who are more warriors than ladies. An unique read, something to distract on a lazy day.

Sisters Red is actually part of a series called Fairytale Retellings by Jackson Pearce but unfortunately didn’t interest me enough to continue reading. While I found the new take on Little Red Riding Hood to be interesting, it was a little too much horror and grit to be appealing in the long term. Not a bad read, just not really for me.

The final book that I read that is worth mentioning is for children but sometimes I can’t help but enjoy those. The Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley is about two young sisters who have been shuffled from home to home only to finally be taken in by a grandmother they didn’t think existed. Along the way, fairy tales come to life in a small town and it’s up to the girls to solve the mysteries of what is happening.