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! 

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. (:

October TBR

I can't believe it's October already! If you saw my September Wrap-Up, you will know that I have declared that I won't be continuing themed TBRs (I will figure out later how I will do it instead). However, I have been planning this theme for ages and it seems only obvious I would choose it for this month. This is really the only time of year that I feel like reading this, and I love it when my books match the time of year! So here are my choices...

1. Unwind by Neal Shusterman
2. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
3. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

As you can see, the genre is dark or creepy books. Not necessarily horror-- Just something creepy and related to Halloween. Many of them have other elements in them as well, such as romance or dystopia. 

Usually I have four books in my TBR. I can't guarantee I'll definitely read it, but I would absolutely love creepy/dark book suggestions. If you don't have any, or even if you do, please let me know if any of the following sound like something I should check out. 

1. The Devouring by Simon Holt
2. The Diviners by Libba Bray
3. The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
4. Burn Bright by Marianne de Pierres
5. The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting 
6. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (this one doesn't completely fit the theme but it reminds me of Halloween, okay?)

More suggestions?

Thanks so much-- Please comment on this post if you have ideas. 

September TBR

Hello! I think I have now solidified my September books to read. Thanks for those who contributed! I have come up with a narrowed down list of the books on my TBR. I am not certain I will get to all of the YA books, but I will read one per category for sure.

Young Adult Choices... Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger, The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, and I'd Tell You I Love You, And Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter!

Middle Grade Choice... Princess Academy by Shannon Hale!

Classic Choice... Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte!

So these are six books I am really set on reading, but I also would like to read the Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen (just started this one), and possibly Delirium by Lauren Oliver, Heist Society by Ally Carter, and A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks.

Thanks for reading! (:

September TBR- Help!

Hi! September is starting tomorrow and I've had a great idea for a TBR recently. Because most schools start in September, I decided to encourage myself, I'd read books set in boarding schools for the month of September. However, I will still be reading some random choices as well. This month, I will be choosing a boarding-school book for the following categories: middle grade, young adult, and classics. But I'm not sure which books to choose for each category. I would love it if my blog readers could comment on this post and let me know which books you think I should choose. I'd love your opinion! (: Here are the options...

Middle Grade

• Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
• The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (re-read)
• Point Blank by Anthony Horowitz (re-read)

Young Adult

• I'd Tell You I Love You, and Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter
• Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
• Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund
• Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger
• Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins
• The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
• Heist Society by Ally Carter

Classics

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

As you can see, I have many YA options, especially compared to the others. If I'm missing an amazing book, please comment! But please don't recommend House of Night or Fallen. Please! Thanks for reading. (:

Summer TBR

I've decided to combine June, July, and August into a giant TBR for summer. I don't have a theme for summer, but will be reading plenty of "beach reads" (check out next week's top ten tuesday in a week to see my beach reads). I definitely won't get through all these books, but these are just options and books I am really interested in reading and hoping to read during the summer. I'll split it into two lists: one giant list of books I want to read, and one smaller list of more summer-themed books, which are more of a priority. Many of the books on my giant list are ones I haven't thought about in a while, like Brianna at the Book Nook (link in sidebar).

Summer-Themed 

1. The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen 
2. That Summer by Sarah Dessen
3. Fathomless by Jackson Pearce
4. Ingo series (re-read) by Helen Dunmore
5. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
6. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han 
7. Paper Towns by John Green 

Big List 

1. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
2. Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan
3. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
5. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
6. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
7. Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver
8. A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
9. The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde
10. The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima
11. Pivot Point by Kasie West
12. That Time I Joined the Circus by J.J. Howard
13. Revel by Maurissa Guibord
14. Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
15. Taken by Erin Bowman
16. Eon by Alison Goodman
17. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
18. Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers
19. The Thief by Megan Whelan Turner
20. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
21. Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
22. Ruby Red by Kristen Gier
23. The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
24. Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff
25. Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson
26. Shine by Lauren Myracle
27. 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
28. Wake by Amanda Hocking
29. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
30. Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepherd
31. Ultraviolet by RJ Anderson
32. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall 
33. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
34. The Host by Stephanie Meyer
35. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

I could've found many, many more books for this list (and may read some not on here), but this is all for now. I probably will only get through some on both lists, but hey, it's good to have options, right? Writing this list helped me to remember many books I'd forgotten about! Thanks for reading. What books are you reading this summer? 

Update + TBR Changes

So I haven't been reading a whole lot lately... I just don't feel like it, in between my busy months of April and May (things are starting to calm down, and should be normal by mid-May). Unfortunately that has put me in a slump. So I have made changes in my TBR to compensate for this. Also, as a result of my busy-ness, I didn't write a review for Grave Mercy or do a book spotlight or anything I promised I would do. I also didn't read Unspoken as a back-up when Shadow and Bone didn't come in, but I did read A Great and Terrible Beauty in it's place. However, I didn't review that either. I will be posting a review for Grave Mercy, but am skipping out on the other posts for April. Sorry! :(

My original TBR was composed of three (very large) books with movies coming out this year or recently released in 2013. Those books are Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, and The Host by Stephanie Meyer. I do not feel like reading these books at all right now. Instead, I will be reading (hopefully) one per month. So, one in May, one in June, one in July.

My new TBR this month is just that- to be read. This month I will be tackling my TBR pile, composed of 5 books that have been sitting there for a while and demand to be read. Check out this video where I show you those books and a few others that I might have time for... But it's already eleven days into the month so probably not.

Thanks for reading! Have you read any of these books? If so, tell me what you think! You can also comment which of the books I have on-hold (which I mentioned in the video) you would most want me to un-suspend. Bye!

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?

Unfinished Book Series

This post is in response to Brianna at the Book Nook's post about unfinished book series (click here to see it), and also to Priscilla at The Readables recent post about it as well. The formatting will be more similar to Brianna's post though, such as the categorizing. So here they are, all my unfinished book series I plan on continuing.

Series Where I Have Only Read the First Book and Will Be Finishing (the next book/series if released)

1. Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray
2. Shades of London series by Maureen Johnson
3. The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner
4. Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers (currently reading)

Series Where I Have Read More Than The First Book And Will Be Finishing

1. Fairytale Retellings by Jackson Pearce
2. Study series by Maria V. Snyder

Series I Will Be Completing When The Next Book is Released

1. Legend trilogy by Marie Lu
2. Dustlands trilogy by Moira Young
3. Altered series by Jennifer Rush
4. Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth
5. Splintered series by A.G. Howard
6. Angelfall by Susan Ee
7. The Archived by Victoria Schwab
8. Uglies (graphic novels) by Scott Westerfeld

Series I May or May Not Complete (published or not)

1. Gone series by Michael Grant
2. The Ascendance trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen 
3. The Madman's Daughter trilogy by Megan Shepherd
4. Life as We Knew It series by Susan Beth Pfeffer
5. Princess series by Jim C. Hines
6. Princess series by Jessica Day George
7. Prophecy by Ellen Oh
8. Matched by Ally Condie
9. Hex Hall trilogy by Rachel Hawkins

Thanks for reading! Do you have a lot of series on the go? 

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!

February TBR!

It is now February, which means it's time to talk about my TBR! Most people are getting into Valentine's Day with romance, but that is not what I want to read right now, plus I don't even like the romance genre a whole lot. As you might've seen, I put a poll up on the sidebar asking which genre of books I should read next month. I only got a few votes, but Fairytale Retellings won. However, though it got zero votes, I am feeling a strong need for dystopia to keep me out of a reading slump. So here's what I've done: 3 books from two categories rather than 4 from one. That will bring my concrete TBR up to six, but I think I can handle it. Here are the books I've chosen.

Fairytale Retellings:

1. Sweetly by Jackson Pearce
2. The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines
3. Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

Dystopia:

1. Legend by Marie Lu
2. Gone by Michael Grant
3. The Maze Runner by James Dashner 

I still may read more books in these genres this month, but I am not certain about them so I won't put them on here. I'll let them be a surprise. ;) Anyway, I am really, really, really looking forward to this month. I would love it if you told me some books on your February TBR in the comments.

*By the way, on a very unrelated side note, I just discovered that the Glass series by Maria V. Snyder is a spin-off of the Study series! MUST READ. O_o