January Wrap-Up and February TBR + Epic Recs

Hey! I apologize in advance for not posting those Burn for Burn posts with Brianna... the plans kinda fell through, but we still had a great time reading the book and writing the one post we did do (check it out here). On with the wrap-up!

January Wrap-Up
 My vision for January was very ambitious, but I guess I never realized how busy I would end up being throughout this month. I didn't get through nearly as many of my top-priority books as I would've liked, but oh well. I did however have a chance to re-read four Harry Potter books, and every book I read/re-read this month was five stars but one. I am going to list each of the book along with a description of my thoughts in just three words and my rating.

1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling*: ***** (five stars) - Just so spectacular.
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K.Rowling*: ***** (five stars) - Snape, not okay.
3. Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian: ***** (five stars) - Entertainment + revenge.
4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K.Rowling*: ***** (five stars) - I hate Umbridge.
5. Winterling by Sarah Prineas: ** */* (two and a half stars) - Good idea, disappointing.
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling*: ***** (five stars) - Thrilling and hilarious. 

*Re-read

February TBR
My top-priority shelf idea is really working out for me, so I'm going to continue to use that. Now that's it's February though, it's time for me to redesign that shelf. Also, throughout the month I have the freedom to take books off that shelf that I have now read or that I don't intend to read soon anymore. However, I can't add any books to that shelf until the next month, so that I can see how much I condensed it. I love the look of this shelf for February - all these books sound fantastic!

Now onto Epic Recs! So I have some explaining to do. My epic rec for last month was Taken by Erin Bowman, however, halfway or so through the month I realized Taken would not be available to me this month. My back-up was The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken. Now, the problem was that I really didn't want to read anything sad and apparently the ending is pretty heart-breaking, which was not what I needed, so I didn't read it right away. Once I was in an okay frame of mind again however, I chose to finish Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Winterling so that I wouldn't have three books on the go. Anyways, I am reading it right away so it pretty much counts as January. 

I actually have two books for Epic Recs this month. One of them is super short, and the other is a graphic novel, so Brianna and I figured together it would be one epic rec. These books are Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, and Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge. My epic rec for Brianna is Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo. I'm super excited!

What are you reading this month? Let me know in the comments below, or link to your TBR so I can check it out. Have a lovely day!

December Wrap-Up and January TBR + Epic Recs

Hello! Now that December has come to a close, it's time to do my December wrap-up and January TBR in my new format (check out this post for more information). Where did December go??? My favourite month of the year... gone... anyway, on with the post.

December Wrap-Up
December was a great month for me! The beginning of the month didn't look to good, as I was really busy and tired, but over the Christmas break I was able to relax and catch up on my reading! Not only was this month great because I read over my usual read count, but also because I read some fantastic books and had the chance to re-read three of my favourite books! I am going to list each of the books I read along with a description of my thoughts in only three words, a rating, and a link to my review if I wrote one.

1. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins*: ***** (five stars) - I can't even.
2. The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson: *** (three stars) - A bit disappointing.
3. Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan: **** (four stars) - Adorable and fun.
4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling*: ***** (five stars) - Ahh these books.
5. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens: *** (three stars) - Heartwarming but underwhelming.
6. Partials by Dan Wells: **** (four stars) - Slow, then awesome!
7. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling*: ***** (five stars) - So much love.
8. The Giver by Lois Lowry: **** (four stars) - Powerful and provocative.

*Re-read

January TBR + Epic Recs

Yay! My first time trying out my new method of TBR's! My goal this month is to read at least 7 books. These books are arranged slightly by priority, but will most likely not be read in this exact order. I already know that I'll be reading some of these far more ahead than they appear on here. My Epic Rec for this month is Taken by Erin Bowman, and Brianna's is Unravelling by Elizabeth Norris. I will definitely be reading Winterling and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (because I'm currently reading them), Taken (my epic rec), and Burn for Burn because I'm doing a read-along with Brianna. 

I'm gonna try this out... Out of these 18 books, vote for your top 5 I should read in January in the comments down below. And let me know what you think of my new system! 

Thanks for reading, have a lovely day! 

2013 Wrap-Up and 2014 Looking Forward

Now that 2013 has drawn to a close and 2014 is upon us, I wanted to take a minute to reflect on the books I read last year and what I'm planning for in 2014. The formatting of this post was inspired by this post at For the Love of Books.

2013 Wrap-Up
I read 71 books, which was one book above my goal of 70 books. I was a little surprised, because at the beginning and middle of the year I was certain would be reading quite above my goal. Near the end I knew I was struggling to meet my goal, but I did it, with one extra book!

Ratings
17 of these books were 5 stars
     4 of these 17 books were re-reads
28 of these books were 4 stars
22 of these were 3 stars
3 of these books were 2 stars
1 of these books was 1 star

My average star rating with re-reads was 3.80.
My average star rating without re-reads was 3.25.

Pages
The longest book I read was Gone by Michael Grant at 558 pages.
The shortest book I read was Glitches by Marissa Meyer at 32 pages.
In total, I read 24 128 pages total in 2013.

Shelves
4 of these books were re-reads
3 of these books were graphic novels
10 of these books that were not re-reads made it onto my favourites shelf
2 books were short stories or novellas
2 books were anthologies

This is the TBR I made last January, a year ago, for the books I wanted to read in 2014. Let's see how I did...

1. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. Divergent #3 by Veronica Roth
3. Study series by Maria V. Snyder (I read the first two, Poison Study and Magic Study, so close enough)
4. Gone by Michael Grant
5. Legend and Prodigy by Marie Lu
6. Angelfall by Susan Ee
7. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
8. Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness
9. Eon duology by Alison Goodman
10. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
11. The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima
12. Under the Never Sky series by Veronica Rossi
13. Demonglass and Spellbound by Rachel Hawkins
14. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
15. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
16. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
17. The Giver by Lois Lowry
18. The Archived by Victoria Schwab
19. The Program by Suzanne Young
20. Mind Games by Kiersten White
21. Any John Green book
22. Any Sarah Dessen book

Fourteen out of twenty-two! That's not too bad! I still want to read all these books on this list, though some are less of a priority now than they were a year ago. Still though. I did fairly good!

2014 Looking Forward
I've pretty much given up making lists of what books I want to read in a year. However, I do have a few goals for 2014. I am going to include those goals in my resolutions post in a few days. For now, I'm going to be mentioning some must-reads and also introducing you to my new way of operating my blog! (:

If you regularly check my blog, you'll know that I never stick my TBR's (except, miraculously, I'm on an eight-book, sticking-to-the-tbr streak - who knew?). Anyways, it just wasn't working. I kept promising to read things and I either never received the book from the library in time or I just didn't get around to reading it. Well guess what? Problem solved! In replace of a TBR, I'm going to be taking a screenshot at the beginning of each month showing what my top-priority shelf on goodreads looks like. Each month there will be 18 books on that shelf. This is a great way of solving my problem, because it shows a large variety of books that are all possibilities that I may read, but leaves room for my reading "moods" or book-acquiring complications.

Here's an example of what my TBR will look like. This one is from December 24, 2013.

I will share one of my goals with you right now: Finishing series! Here is a list of series I want to finish this year.

1. The Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo
2. Legend trilogy by Marie Lu
3. Dustlands trilogy by Moira Young
4. Partials Sequence series by Dan Wells
5. Fairytale Retellings series by Jackson Pearce
6. Delirium trilogy by Lauren Oliver
7. Unwind Dystology series by Neil Shusterman

Here is also a very short list of books and series I am definitely going to start this year.

1. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
2. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
3. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
4. Breathe by Sarah Crossan
5. Across the Universe by Beth Revis 
6. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
7. This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

Thanks for reading! Stay updated for more posts. Happy New Year!!

November Wrap Up + December TBR/Epic Recs

Today is the final day of November which means time to take a look at the books I've read. I had a not-so-great month to be honest. I read five books, which sounds okay, but one was a children's book that was super short and easy to read (took me about an hour) and another was a very quick read that was also mandatory for a novel study.

1. War Brothers by Sharon E. McKay: *** (three stars) - GINS novel study book
2. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll: *** (three stars) - Strangest book ever I swear
3. Unwind by Neil Shusterman: ***** (five stars) - a;lskdjf;lksdjfjasdkjfd 
4. Allegiant by Veronica Roth: **** (four stars) - *cries*
5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: ***** (five stars) - Re-read... ahh love these books! <3

I also haven't been keeping up to date with anything really. I didn't do an October Wrap-Up OR a November TBR, I didn't participate in any Top Ten Tuesday's, I didn't complete a book spotlight or November book reviews. I haven't even published or fully written my Liesl and Po review from October. In case you didn't get the message: I've been slacking. All I have posted this month have been mandatory novel posts. I will try to improve that for December! I have quite the extensive list, so take a look (in order of priority).

1. Partials by Dan Wells - My Epic Rec from this month which I didn't get around to reading. It will happen this month! 
2. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (re-read) - I just want to, kay.
3. Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan - Yay light winter contemporary
4. The Giver by Lois Lowry - My epic rec for December! See more below. 
5. Winterling by Sarah Prineas - Light winter adventures and fantasy! 
6. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - I haven't read this but this is the traditional Christmas classic!
7. Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu - Snow Queen winter fairytale, enough said. 

Other options: How to Save a Life by Sarah Zarr, Fathomless and Cold Spell by Jackson Pearce, Witchlanders by Lena Coakley and The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson.

Okay, so there are 13 mandatory books. Plus Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins which I'm not even halfway through. Yeah... that's realistic.... I'll try. And fail. Whatever. 

I know this post is super long, but I just want to say a quick note about Epic Recs. My book for the month is The Giver by Lois Lowry, and Brianna's is Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers. We both have not read last month's books yet (we're trying!), but we definitely we complete both Epic Recs for December. Check back for another post on that later. 

Anyways, have a lovely day. Thanks. (:

September Wrap-Up

I'm going to go ahead and face it-- I suck at TBRs. Like, horribly, irrationally, ridiculously incapable of sticking to my TBRs. I guess it's because my moods and reading 'feelings' change so amazingly quick that I never squeeze in the books I was previously in the mood for, or books I keep forcing myself to pick up. So after October, I am done with TBR's (except for my winter TBR... that's different, okay?).

There was no change this month. I read one book from my TBR. One book (and I finished it today, on the last day of September). I suck. I promised I would read one from each genre. I committed myself to reading Jane Eyre. But I just couldn't do it. I wasn't in the mood, and I hate reading books I would otherwise enjoy when I'm forcing myself through them. So, the status for Tackling the TBR this reading month? Not great.

However, I was very busy for a large majority of the month, and gone away for another week, but I tackled my way through five books. And they are...

1. My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody: *** (three stars)
2. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen: ***** (five stars)
3. Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale, Illustrated by Nathan Hale: **** (four stars)
4. Dark Triumph by R.L. LaFevers: ***** (five stars)
5. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead: ***** (five stars)

So even though I didn't stick to my TBR, and I also didn't have much chance to read, I read three five-stars books. That's over half. That's 3/5. That's awesome! I value the quality over the quantity of books I read, so all in all, a good reading month as far as that's concerned. 

Thanks for reading! Tomorrow I will post my October TBR. (:

Summer Wrap-Up

How was your summer? I know I had a great summer, and read some great books. This list is the books I've read since June 28th until now. I will be listing them and providing a very short mini-review of how I felt about them, as well as the rating.

A gorgeous picture of the lake we visited, before sunrise,
taken by my dad. (: 

1) Fairest by Gail Carson Levine (re-read)

*** (three stars)

I first read this book many years ago when I was younger, and loved it. It was sitting on my shelf and I just felt like reading it again, so I did. This time around, I still enjoyed it and am glad I took the time to re-read it, but it's definitely geared for younger people. 

2) City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

*** (three stars)

I thought I would love this book, but it was okay. Some parts were very good, but I disliked the main character and many parts were drawn out. I was also extremely disappointed and lost all respect for Clare when I saw how much resemblance it bore to Harry Potter (and the fact the book was originally a Harry Potter fan-fiction doesn't help), and I've heard she's plagiarized other sources. 

3) Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

**** (four stars)

There aren't many YA mysteries out there (other than mean-girl types, like Pretty Little Liars or Gossip Girl), so I was really excited when I was reading this and it had awesome mystery elements. However, the way the romance played out wasn't my favourite, and I may've been the only one who liked it better without the sci-fi twist. That being said, it was still an amazingly exciting, suspenseful thriller. 

4) Pivot Point by Kasie West

*** */* (three and a half stars)

I enjoyed this book, though not quite as much as I thought I might. It was really interesting to see how Addie's two different lives would play out, and the supernatural element was wrapped into the story in a really great way. That said, it didn't completely enrapture me with the story.

5) The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

**** (four stars)

This was a very entertaining, fun twist on the classic piece by Shakespeare, A Midsummer's Night Dream. The 'iron king' idea was brilliant. I didn't love the main character (or the romance between her and Ash, which I've heard just increases as the series goes on), and though I loved Grimalkin, he was exactly like the Cheshire Cat. Still though, I really enjoyed this read. 

6) The Help by Kathryn Stockett

***** (seven-hundred-thirteen stars)

This is by far the best book I read this summer. It was absolutely phenomenal, and there was nothing I would change at all. Not only was it a very important story to be told, it was entertaining, funny, heartfelt, and made me feel every emotion at once. I couldn't have asked for anything else in a book. 

7) The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

**** (four stars)

Though this was a very enjoyable book, considering the hype, I didn't love it as much as I had completely expected I would. I really liked the characters, and middle and end part of the book was very emotional, and also love John Green's writing style and amazing quotes. But it just didn't completely move me and amaze me like say, the Help did.

8) Once Upon a Time: A Collection of Classic Fairytales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Kevin Tong
**** (four stars)
I originally saw this on The Readables channel, and had been wanting to read The Grimm Brothers original fairytales for a while, but the deciding factor for me buying this and taking it on vacation was because I became obsessed with the TV show Once Upon a Time. I had to return the first season to the library, and I needed more fairytales. So when I saw this

9) Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
**** */* (four and a half stars)
I absolutely loved the first book is this trilogy, Shadow and Bone, so I really wanted to read the sequel. This one was almost as good as the first, it was very exciting and I loved the new character. However, this third person also turned the love triangle into a love square, which was annoying. And one word why my rating was bumped from an averaged five to four: Mal.

10) Ink by Amanda Sun
**** (four stars)
I loved the Japanese culture throughout this book, it was really interesting to read about another place and the unique mythology. The idea for this book was brilliant, but often got bogged down by Twilight-esque romance. I think this novel could've gone a lot further if the mythology was more developed and took more of a main role in the story.

11) Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt
**** (four stars)
It took me less than two days to read this super-short contemporary. It was super fun and entertaining to read! I loved the idea of the list from her grandmother's time, and it was overall just really fun to read. I didn't like how it felt she always had to be reliant on a boyfriend, but still a super cute read.

12) Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
***** (five stars)
I can't get over how amazing this book was! I am not a huge contemporary person as far as genre goes, but this just completely surpassed my expectations. I wasn't a big fan of my first Dessen book (What Happened to Goodbye), so I was happily surprised at the emotion I felt at reading this book. It had everything in it: humour, sadness, lonliness, family, romance... just everything. And I loved the characters, particularly Annabel, Clarke and, of course, Owen.

Wow. That does look like a lot of books. Anyway, I am currently reading Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, and so far it's super entertaining, exciting, and funny. I'll tell you about it once I'm finished. Next I'm planning on reading another Sarah Dessen book or My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody.

Thanks for reading!

May Wrap-Up + Mini-Reviews

So May was prettyyyy crazy, and unfortunately I had little time to read. This was disappointing because I really felt like reading all of this month-- I just didn't have the time, and if I did squeeze in some time, I'd feel guilty about all the stuff I still need to finish. So it was kind of a lose-lose situation.  I am hoping next month will be better and less busy, but at the way my schedule is looking now, this seems very unlikely. :/ Anyhow, I did get a chance to read some great books in May. I have wrote a couple sentences on my general feelings for each one and provided a link for the books I reviewed.

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (*** */*)
I finally finished this last month as part of a novel study I've been taking part in. The beginning was slow and dull to me, but it picked up speed and some parts I found very interesting. The dystopia world was interesting since it was set in the Southern USA and Mexico, and the entire book was very unique. However, the last section (La Vida Nueva) was very separate from the rest of the book and the ending was extremely abrupt.

Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans (***)
Level 2 was not what I was expecting at all, as I was thinking it would be more a otherworldly, action sort of book, where it was actually more contemporary. I also had problems with pacing in this book, as the middle was very slow and seemed as if nothing happened, yet at the end things happened too fast. I found that many of the flashbacks and middle section of the novel were unnecessary or repetitive. The setting, Level 2, was interesting but I would've liked to see more development.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (*****)
Though there were a few slow moments and painfully obvious "twists", I absolutely loved this book! Because they didn't focus too much on the "twist", it wasn't too bad that it was predictable. I loved the writing style and perfect mesh between two of my favourite genres-- Dystopia and fairytale retellings. This book had a little something for everything, and tons of awesome elements that all come together at the end. I can't wait to read Scarlet!

Glitches by Marissa Meyer (****)
After finishing Cinder, I wanted more of this awesome story, so I read Glitches, a 30 page short story. And though this story doesn't really contain anything we don't already know, it was very interesting to see it all from Cinder's eyes at the time and understand the effect the events had on Cinder's step-family.

Shards & Ashes (****) 
It's kind of hard to do a review as this one is an anthology. In my full review, I wrote a mini-review for each story. The general comments I had were not being able to connect to the piece and also development of the world created, which is hard in a short story. Though some I didn't care for, I also really enjoyed a fair amount of the stories as well.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret (****) 
The pieces of the puzzle really came together in this novel with gorgeous illustrations and a unique perspective. The characters were interesting, but sometimes I wasn't a fan of Hugo and his actions because it limited the story, despite the fact I understand why he did the things he did. I loved the setting of Paris. The incorporation of old films was awesome too. However, I felt like something was missing that I couldn't place, or couldn't connect with.

Mind Games (**)
I was quite disappointed with this read. It was very bland-- I wanted assassins and action and I got repetition of the same things, the same thoughts. I didn't like the writing format (how it jumped from past to present and the way that was executed) or the writing style for Fia's chapters. Many of the characters seemed underdeveloped or superficial. I don't think I will be reading the books following Mind Games.

The amount of books looks like more than it is because one was a short story, one was a illustrated novel, one I read most of last month, one I read some of last month and is a short story anthology, and two are very short books.

Thanks for reading! My June TBR will be up shortly. What did you read in May, and what do you want to read in June?

Bout of Books Read-a-thon Wrap-Up

So a few unexpected things came up during the week that threw a wrench in my read-a-thon plans, but oh well.

My first goal was to read 3-4 books. I didn't really meet this goal, sadly. I read Cinder, Glitches, and four stories of Shards & Ashes and the first half of The Invention of Hugo Cabret. So I suppose it totals to about 3 books, I just didn't get around to finishing the final story of Shards & Ashes. So close! Hugo Cabret I finished this morning so I nearly finished all four fully. Unfortunately, many unexpected events put me off schedule, and this week will be another busy one with no reading time. That said, I am actually 4 books (5%) ahead, so that's great.

My second goal was to finish the two books I was currently reading, included in the 3-4 books above. These books were Cinder and Shards & Ashes. You can find a review for Cinder here. It was awesome, and I was glad I made it a goal to finish it during bout of books. Shards & Ashes is a dystopia anthology from great authors. Pre-bout of books, I had read 4 stories and I finished all but the last one during the bout of books span. My review will be posted later today. Yay for almost completing goals! :)

Here is my grand total and list of books I read during my first ever read-a-thon!

1. Cinder by Marissa Meyer (finished May 16)
2. Glitches by Marissa Meyer (started and finished May 16)
3. 4 more stories of Shards & Ashes by Various Authors (read May 19)
4. The Invention of Hugo Cabret Part 1 (finished May 19, the rest of the book finished May 20th morning)

I am hoping to participate in Bout of Books this August but I may be busy during the time. I am looking forward to participating in other read-a-thon's and supporting other people's reading goals! 

April Wrap-Up and May TBR

Hello! This post is my wrap-up for the books I read in April, and my TBR list for the coming month, May. This month was bad for reading because I kept stopping books in the middle of them and reading new ones so... yeah. Here are the books I read in the month of April.

1. Prodigy by Marie Lu- **** (four stars)
2. The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen- *** (three stars)
3. The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson- **** (four stars)
4. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray- **** */* (four and a half stars)
5. Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers- *** */* (three and a half stars)
6. Shards & Ashes (I've read 4 stories) by Various Authors- TBA

With all the book-to-movie adaptations coming out soon, I thought I'd dedicate a reading month to books with movies recently released or to be released this year. 

1. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
2. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
3. The Host by Stephanie Meyer

All three of these books are big. Especially the Host. That book looks massive. So, I have a back-up book just in case I don't have enough time or energy to read a 600+ paged book. This back-up book is Delirium by Lauren Oliver. This doesn't completely fit into my theme because it is being made into a TV series rather than a movie and is airing in 2014, but close enough. 

That's it for this post! Remember I will be posting a book review for each of these and maybe a movie review later (don't count on it, though). Thanks for reading! What books are on your TBR for May?

March Wrap-Up and April TBR

It's the last day of March and therefore time to reflect on the books I read this month. It was a fairly good month for me, I read some really good books, but I was also disappointed with a few. :-/ I have included links to either my Goodreads review or a review I posted on my blog.

1. The Archived by Victoria Schwab- **** (four stars)
2. Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder- **** (four stars)
3. The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd- ** */* (two and a half stars)
4. Splintered by A.G. Howard- **** (four stars)
5. Prophecy by Ellen Oh- ** */* (two and a half stars)
6. Altered by Jennifer Rush- **** */* (four and a half stars)

I have also made some changes to my monthly TBR's. This is my first year planning out and blogging about books and I want to find what's right for me. I have decided to choose three books (rather than four) for review each month. From now on, I will be posting a real book review on my blog for my TBR (or review books). The other books I read during the month will probably have some short notes on Goodreads or maybe a Goodreads review if I feel like it. So you can expect three book reviews per month on this blog from now on. Here are the books I've chosen.

1. Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
2. The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
3. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo 

I am really excited to read these books! They're really different from each other although they're all part of the same genre- fantasy, in case you weren't sure. :) I do have a back-up for Shadow and Bone in case I cannot get it from my public library in time. Please let me know your thoughts on these books in the comments below! 

February Wrap-Up & March TBR

In the month of February, I read some really good books. Here they are.

1. Legend by Marie Lu- ***** (five stars)
2. The Maze Runner- **** */* (four and a half stars)
3. The Stepsister Scheme- **** (four stars)
4. Gone- **** (four stars)
5. Sweetly- **** (four stars)
6. Princess of the Midnight Ball (approx. 200 pages in)- TBA

 Favourite Dystopia of the Month goes to... LEGEND BY MARIE LU!

Favourite Fairytale Retelling of the Month (this one was hard) goes to... THE STEPSISTER SCHEME BY JIM C. HINES! 

I am kinda surprised that it wasn't Sweetly that won out, as I did have some issues with the winner, but I thought it was so original. Finally...

Book of the Month: LEGEND BY MARIE LU! It was amazingly amazing, even though all my choices this month were really great. 

Moving on to my TBR for March. I have decided to be reading 2013 released books! So here are the books with release dates from 2013:

1. The Archived by Victoria Schwab 
2. The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd
3. Prodigy by Marie Lu
4. Splintered by A.G. Howard

I also have a few more in mind (Prophecy, Revolution 19, and others that may come to the library). 

Also, my friend and I entered a contest with the library and won! We won 9 novels and some other stuff as well. I am really excited because Shine by Lauren Myracle and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky are among them!

Thanks for reading!

January 2013 Wrap-Up

As promised, I am doing my first monthly wrap-up. In January, I read quite a lot of books! Here they are (in chronological order). :) I have also included links to my Goodreads reviews, so just click on the title of the book to see that.

1. Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce: **** */* (four and a half stars)
2. Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle **** (four stars)
3. Angelfall by Susan Ee **** */* (four and a half stars)
4. Bogus to Bubbly: An Insider's Guide to the World of Uglies **** (four stars)
5. Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer *** (three stars)
6. What Happened to the Goodbye by Sarah Dessen *** */* (three and a half stars)
7. Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder ***** (five stars!!!)
8. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson **** */* (four and a half stars) 

I also read 20 pages of Cinder. But it brought me into a reading slump and it just couldn't beat the awesomeness of Poison Study, so I then read Wintergirls. I have read two chapters of Legend and I am really enjoying it, however I haven't had much time to read it. Hopefully tomorrow I can get some reading done!

Time to get to the big question... Which book was my favourite? If you've been following my blog, I think you all know what's coming. Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder! Ohmyfreakinggosh amazing amazing amazing!!!!!! I recommend this book to anyone and everyone (over the age of 13). Wintergirls, Sisters Red, and Angelfall were other highlights of the month.

This month I read a ton of great books! What did you read in January? Comment below. Hopefully tomorrow I will be posting my February TBR.