BookSelf

★★★★★Time for monthly reading recaps! There were a lot of great reads this month that I'm excited to share with you!★★★★★ (I've decided not to include DNFs on these recaps anymore) (Descending from pure awesomeness to horrible awfulness) 1. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock  ~ Matthew Quick ★★★★★ 2. This Savage Song  ~Victoria Schwab ★★★★★ 3. Our Dark Duet ~ Victoria Schwab ★★★★★ 4. Peter Pan ~ J.M. Barrie ★★★★★ 5. Blind the Eyes ~ K.A. Wiggins ★★★★★ 6. The Last Council ~ Kazu Kibuishi ★★★★★ 7. Prince of the Elves ~ Kazu Kibuishi ★★★★★ 8. Escape from Lucien ~ Kazu Kibuishi ★★★★★ 9. The Cloud Searchers ~ Kazu Kibuishi ★★★★ 10. Firelight ~ Kazu Kibuishi ★★★★ 11. Peril in the Old Country ~ Sam Hooker ★★★★ 12. Ruin and Rising ~ Leigh Bardugo ★★★ 13. Three Dark Crowns ~ Kendare Blake ★★★ 14. The Freeze-Frame Revolution ~ Peter Watts ★★★ 15. Uglies: Shay's Story ~ Scott Westerfeld ★★★ 16. Personal Demons ~ Rachel A Collett ★★ See you in July!

★★★★★ There was a strange place, between knowing and not knowing. A place where things could live in the back of your head without weighing down on your heart. Why do you do this to me, Victoria Schwab? The Writing and Worldbuilding I loved that we got to see outside of Verity, and I hope that if we ever get more in this world—P L E A S E—that we'll get to see even more. The plot was awesome, almost better than This Savage Song , and I was totally invested throughout. Unfortunately, the emotional parts just didn't hit me nearly as hard as they did in the first book, though not for lack of trying. I absolutely loved the addition of the Chaos Eater. It really upped the stakes and expanded the world. I also loved the little poetic interludes in the perspective of the Chaos Eater. Those were super cool and unique. The Characters August: It's no surprise that I love August and will always love August. I really appreciated how his

★★★★★ Trigger warning for rape, sexual assault, suicide, depression, and gun violence. "You're different. And I'm different too. Different is good. But different is hard. Believe me, I know." I am stunned by how good this is. I don't often read contemporary, but when I do, I try to read books with an important message, not something short and fluffy. While short, there's definitely nothing fluffy about this. I was basically sobbing the entire time. I've seriously never cried so much reading a book in my entire life, except for maybe They Cage The Animals At Night , which I read in the 7th grade and still cry about whenever I think of it. Honestly, I think this book should replace The Catcher in the Rye as a school required read, because it is so much deeper, more succinct, and far more emotional with a more profound message . Also, since I'm comparing, it reminded me a lot of The Perks of Being a Wallflower , though I have to

★★☆☆☆ I received a digital review copy from Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. My opinion is in no way influenced by the author, publisher, or distributor. When I was 13, I wrote a book. It was basically just a copy of the Vampire Diaries, but I thought it was excellent at the time, with brooding attractive bad boys, and a boring, quick to overreaction brunette protagonist. I didn't try to get it published though. I didn't write a trilogy. I realized that my crappy, cliché story was just that: crappy and cliché. Rachel A Collett on the other hand... I don't think anyone told her... Personal Demons is a book in which Sarah Mathis , a knockoff Elena Gilbert, meets a lot of very attractive brooding bad boys who all either want to get into her pants or protect her, or both as the case may be. Her story begins right after her best friend (her only friend really) dies in a car accident. Literally at her best friend's funeral, she's sp

★★★☆☆ I received this eARC from Tachyon Publications on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book in any way. It wasn't a cage if it kept moving. It wasn't a prison if we could go anywhere. The Writing and Worldbuilding The writing style was very unique, so interwoven with Sunday's own voice that it felt like someone speaking to you a lot of the time (besides the science rants that really put the "science" in "science fiction"). Because of the science-y parts, I found the book actually quite difficult to get through, though the story did intrigue me. The climax was really great, especially because of all the build-up toward it. The ending, however, was very unresolved and just a little too open-ended for me. In other words, there was no clear conclusion and I was just left confused. I feel like some aspects of this would have been better told as a film, namely characters. There

★★★★★ Fear is a powerful ally, but feed it too often, make it too strong, and it will turn on you. I personally have always loved the Darkling, literally since the moment he appeared in Shadow and Bone , so reading this short story about his life before was so great. It added a lot of depth to his character and backstory, and to Baghra's as well. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Can I just get a book about just him? A series? Is that too much to ask for? Buy the book here: Amazon Barnes & Noble

★★★★★ Actual rating: 4.5 I received a digital review copy from Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. My opinion is in no way influenced by the author, publisher, or distributor. For fans of Divergent and This Savage Song , Blind the Eyes is a fantasy dystopian post-apocalyptic adventure of dreams, choice, and desire, and the nightmares that feed on us. It had been a dream, and dreams lie. Dreams cannot be trusted. Dreams lure you in with promises of your heart's desire, of everything you hope for, of fantasy and fiction made flesh. And then as soon as you reach for paradise, they turn and crush you. The Writing and Worldbuilding Our protagonist is a shy, hardworking girl just trying to get through probation, so she can become a real worker and earn the golden band that will protect her dreams from the Mara, sinister shadowy creatures who lurk in the darkness of your desires and pose a very real physical threat, but before she can g

★★★☆☆ June 17th, 2018 update: So, after a lot of angry rants to myself in my head and to my family (who don't care and just wish I'd stop complaining about a book they haven't read and aren't going to), I have dropped a star from my already somewhat low rating (3 is fairly low for me, okay). This book is just trying too hard in all the wrong places, and not trying enough where it matters. The world makes no sense, the characters suck, the themes are too vague, and the humor fell flat. Honestly, I don't see what people like about this, let alone love. If you want to see my angry spoiler rant, then click here  and click to see the spoiler. The only reason why this is 2 stars now is because I liked the journal entries and I liked Rowan. That's it. They each get a star for getting me through this piece of trash. ~ I don't even know what to begin with. There's simultaneously too little and too much to say. I don't know if I'm disappoint

★★★☆☆ 👑 Three 👑 Dark 👑 Stars Three dark queens are born in a glen, sweet little triplets will never be friends ~ Three dark sisters all fair to be seen, two to devour and one to be Queen The Writing and Worldbuilding I'd be lying if I said I liked the writing. It was very hard to get through. Does Kendare Blake know that she doesn't have to use names so often?? Basically the whole thing read like this (this isn't a direct quote, it's just an exaggeration to get my point across): Katharine turned to Pietyr. "I think you're wonderful, Pietyr," Katharine said to Pietyr. "I think the same of you, Katharine," Pietyr replied to Katharine, turning to look at her. He stepped toward Katharine and placed a hand on her shoulder. Katharine looked at Pietyr. "I'm so glad I met you, Pietyr." But you get the point. It just read so stop-start-y. It felt very amateurish. I w

★★★☆☆ I am ruination. The Writing and Worldbuilding I enjoyed the unexpected subversions of most of the expected YA tropes, but the very ending kind of pissed me off. [Mostly because literally the only death that affected me and legitimately made me cry was the Darkling's. I actually kind of wanted Mal to die, not because I didn't like his character, but because I was mostly indifferent towards him. I was literally pissed off that he didn't stay dead because it didn't come across as a miracle, it came across as plot armor. Let the dead stay dead and get over it. Playing with life and death is literally what started this whole mess in the first place. (hide spoiler) ] The plot was a little all over the place, and was, basically just them moving from place to place, getting a little demoralized, then having camp comradery, and then moving again. It became such a trend, I expected their plans to fail. They really only won because it's the la

★★★★☆ It wasn't as good as the last few installments, but the progression of the plot was good and I still really enjoyed it. Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★★★☆ I received this eARC from Black Spot Books on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book in any way. "You may be a mild-mannered bundle of nerves, Peril, but you're the most earnest and loyal bundle of nerves I've ever met." The Writing and Worldbuilding I found this book to be a riot, and I was giggling and laughing basically the entire time. Sam Hooker really got that strange niche of humor I reside in, and I was really happy with the world and most of the characters. The concept of the goblins was honestly the best running joke I've ever heard of and I seriously loved it so much. Seriously, if you want a good laugh, this is the book for you. It feels like you got a bunch of Russian people drunk and had them very inaccurately reenact 1984 by George Orwell. Unfortunately, once the main cast actually got to Carpathia, I found the humor slipped from the absurd to the annoying and

★★★★★ "It hurts," he whispered. "What does?" asked Kate. "Being. Not being. Giving in. Holding out. No matter what I do, it hurts." Kate tipped her head back against the tub. "That's life, August," she said. "You wanted to feel alive, right? It doesn't matter if you're monster or human. Living hurts." 😦👌❤ The Writing and Worldbuilding It's really no surprise I loved this, given that it's written by my Queen, Victoria Schwab. Reading the blurb, I wasn't totally sure how this book was going to play out, what kind of a world this was set it, but reading the book, I understood everything about it perfectly. It honestly reminded me of another favorite book of mine, Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion with its tough, hardcore heroine and not-really-human-but-trying male protagonist. But whereas Warm Bodies was a romance, this was a fantastic friendship, and that was awfully refreshing (though

★★★☆☆ Having already read  Uglies , I found very little of this to be unique, that was not explained in some way in the original series (which did it all in a better, more succinct way). Shay's character felt more like Tally in the beginning and that was frankly very annoying. There were basically no differences in their personalities other than Shay being a lot more annoying than Tally was. Besides that, the art for the characters made every action and movement extremely overly dramatic, and that made them seem like caricatures. Over all, this was somewhat pointless. Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble

★★★★★Time for monthly reading recaps! There were a lot of great reads this month that I'm excited to share with you!★★★★★ (Descending from pure awesomeness to awful horribleness) 1. 1984 ~ George Orwell ★★★★★ 2. All the Ever Afters: The Untold Story of Cinderella's Stepmother ~ Danielle Teller ★★★★★ 3. Terra Nova ~ Shane Arbuthnott ★★★★★ 4. The Oddling Prince ~ Nancy Springer ★★★★★ 5. Shadow and Bone ~ Leigh Bardugo ★★★★ 6. Frankenstein ~ Mary Shelley ★★★★ 7. The Stonekeeper ~ Kazu Kibuishi ★★★★ 8. The Stonekeeper's Curse ~ Kazu Kibuishi ★★★★ 9. Messenger ~ Lois Lowry ★★★★★ 10. The Egg ~ Andy Weir ★★★★ 11. The Little Prince ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ★★★★ 12. Failsafe: A Novel ~ Anela Deen ★★★ 13. Siege and Storm ~ Leigh Bardugo ★★★★ 14. Spill Zone ~ Scott Westerfeld ★★★★ 15. Pretties ~ Scott Westerfeld ★★★★ 16. Ruthless Magic ~ Megan Crewe ★★★★ 17. Specials ~ Scott Westerfeld ★★★★ 18. Son ~ Lois Lowry ★★★★ 19. Extras ~ Scott Westerfeld ★★