JULY & AUGUST WRAP-UP!

Well after almost two months of not posting I’m back and ready to buckle down, which is ironic since school starts next week and I will have little time to blog. In July I finished my summer school class so I had a ton of last minute readings, papers, and my final exam to focus on. I thought I wouldn’t have a lot of time for pleasure reading but I still managed to finish 7 books in the month of July, which honestly I’m pretty surprised with.

1. Allegiant by Veronica Roth 

I was spoiled for this book so I was really dreading reading it… I picked it up as an audiobook instead to provide some incentive to listen to it, but it still took forever… I enjoyed the story and I really cared for the characters, but the end still pissed the hell out of me. I still rated it 4 out of 5 stars though, because honestly, I don’t think it could have ended any other way.

2. House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones 

For some reason I can’t find Castle in the Air anywhere in the edition that matches mine… So I skipped it and read House of Many Ways, but seeing as they are only companion novels it didn’t really matter. This book was really cute and quirky and I really enjoyed reading it. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars as well.

3. Confess by Colleen Hoover 

Holy moly. I literally am blown away by Colleen Hoover. I think this book replaced Ugly Love as my favourite CoHo book. I had to put the book down to accommodate my sobs. Such a beautiful story. 5 out of 5 stars for the Queen of New Adult.

4. P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han 

I’m sitting here drawing blanks when trying to recall what this book was even about… This is why I shouldn’t do wrap-ups two months late… All I remember was that I loved it and Jenny Han is so adorable and her writing is fantastic. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars though so something must have annoyed me??? Don’t remember??

5. The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead 

My goal was to read the rest of the Bloodlines series…
I love this series and I really loved this book! There was enough action, romance, humour, and everything else I love! 5 out of 5 stars!

6. The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead 

As you can see I did not complete my goal…
After I finished this book I kind of needed a break, I didn’t enjoy the third book as much as the second. I feel like too many things were going on that I couldn’t really enjoy it because my head was in too many places. But of course the Sydrian romance still made me give it a 4 out of 5. The suspense and plot twists were also on point.

7. Every Day by David Levithan

I had this book on my shelf for ages and for some reason I could not get myself interested enough to read it. So, as I did with Allegiant, I got the audiobook. I actually really enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook, I think she did a really fantastic job. The story was really interesting to listen to and at some points I felt myself so entranced that I forgot what else I was doing, but I feel like had I have read it I wouldn’t have liked it as much. Still can’t decide if I will pick up the sequel. 4 out of 5 stars.

Honestly, I wish I had a legitimate excuse for why I didn’t blog in August, but I really don’t. Between working full time and trying to enjoy what bit of summer I had left, I really just didn’t want to sit down and blog. Then I went to NYC and the next thing you know August is almost over! I somehow managed to read another 7 books (well 6 books and a graphic novel). Apparently 7 is my lucky reading number! I also read a ton of single issue comics, but I couldn’t even begin to list them.

1. Slammed by Colleen Hoover

I got my really good friend at work hooked on Colleen Hoover so we binge read all of her books this summer. The only one I have left is Losing Hope. However, I let my friend borrow all of these books before I even read them. So I had her hounding me to read them every day after she finished them… As soon as I started reading this book I was obsessed. It was so cheesy and adorable, how could you not love it? Will was annoying as hell sometimes, but overall I loved it! 5 out of 5 stars, obvi.

2. Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover

I didn’t think it was possible to love these characters anymore… Kiersten was probably my favourite character and she’s 11… I loved this book! It was so funny and so touching, but also so freaking sad near the end. You can see the conflict coming from a mile away and Will got even more annoying, but I still loved him and the story. 5 out of 5 again.

3. Thor, Vol. 1: Goddess of Thunder by Jason Aaron

This comic is fantastic! I started to buy the single issues a while ago, but then decided just to wait for the first volume and I’m glad I did, I wouldn’t have been able to read only one issue at a time! Amazing art and I love the lady version of Thor! It was also really funny! 5 stars here!

4. Smoke by Ellen Hopkins

For some reason I really felt like reading something sad and a bit dark and Ellen Hopkins is good at writing about tragic things so I gave this one a whirl. I read Burned years ago, so I had to look up a plot summary, but nevertheless I really enjoyed this book. Once I started reading it all started coming back to me and I’m really glad she wrote a second book so you could get some closure with the characters. It was a bit slow, but definitely worth the read! 4 out of 5 stars.

5. This Girl by Colleen Hoover

Okay this book really annoyed me. I thought it would be like a real third book in the series, not just Will and Layken replaying their whole relationship thus far. To be quite honest, I didn’t really care to know his perspective on things since it just seemed to annoy me even more. Boys are so stupid sometimes! But I’m glad I read it and I, of course, loved the end of the book when all the other characters come back into it! 4 out of 5 stars.

6. Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins

I was pretty disappointed with this book. I felt like considering it was a lot shorter than the first book it should have packed a punch, but it really didn’t. It started out slow and I felt like nothing really happened. Even at the end when most people said they were like “WOAH, the ending!” or “Give me the next book!”, I was pretty much like “oh, okay, well that’s bizarre and kind of makes the whole book pointless”. I hope the next one is better! 3 out of 5 stars… Can we also briefly mention that the covers are getting uglier and uglier as we go along? The third one is kind of hideous.

7. Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Wow! Way to go Morgan Matson! I liked Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour, but I loved this! I could relate to Emily so much and I just loved her character. I loved the friends she made and the development of all of them throughout the novel. To be quite honest I spent the whole book hating Sloane because of how sketchy she was and the things she put Emily through, but of course I cried at the end. The ending was adorable and I just loved everything about this book!!! 5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to everyone who reads this! I didn’t have many followers to begin with, but hopefully some of you stuck around even after my absence. I have a couple blog posts planned for this week and I’m hoping to start making use of this scheduling post feature. I have a feeling blogging will become my way to procrastinate when school starts.

I’m going to dive into Ms Marvel Vol. 2: Generation Why and hopefully finish it before I fall asleep!

Until next time,

xx

Jacqueline

RANT!

So yesterday, as almost everyone knows, was the release date of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. I don’t really believe in pre-orders, mostly because there really is no guarantee it will come on time anyways, but also because I’m just lazy and don’t care to do them. So, this book is no exception. I didn’t preorder it. Instead, I went to the bookstore intending to buy it and they didn’t have it… Okay, not a big deal. I thought maybe it was just because the bookstore I went to was a small one inside of the mall near my house. I thought about going to Chapters later on. Then, I came home and looked on the Chapters/Indigo website. Boy, was I surprised at what I saw…

WHAT?! APPARENTLY, this book is not available to buy IN THE STORE?! And, it’s also SOLD OUT ONLINE?! My first reaction was something like…

Then once it sunk in all the way it was a little bit more like…

Needless to say, I’m more than a bit annoyed. ALL I WANTED WAS THIS DAMN BOOK. IT SOUNDS SOO GOOOD. It’s not like I really NEED the book, I have like 50 books on my TBR pile, but that’s besides the point! I’m more annoyed because I’m seeing so many Instagram pictures of everyone with the book, or people buying it at the bookstore, or going to a signing and the shelves being full of them… I’m more annoyed at the fact that I live in Canada and it seems like Canada is the only place in the entire world that DOES NOT SELL THIS BOOK IN THE STORE. Not to mention the book is also sold out on Amazon.ca. Which, again, is typical for Canada. Thank god for the book depository. I’m going to order it right now.

Has this ever happened to any of you, whether it be for this book or another book? Is this a sign that I should start to take pre-orders more seriously?! Ugh. 

xx

Jacqueline

APRIL WRAP-UP & MAY TBR!

April Wrap-Up!

I’m seriously so confused as to how it is already May. I finished all 5 of my final exams and by the end I was seriously ready to just lay down and give up. I finished my last exam on April 24th and since then I have been working and sleeping. Yesterday and today I marathoned all of the episodes of season 10 of Criminal Minds that I had recorded on my TV and unfortunately on Monday I have to start an online class that I’m taking in the summer. On the bright side, I’m planning a trip to Cuba with two of my girlfriends and I can’t wait to just lay on the beach and read! So without further ado… here are the measly 5 books I read this month!

1. Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

I finished this one about two days into the month. After reading Maybe Someday I needed to devour more Colleen Hoover as soon as humanly possible. I had Hopeless and Losing Hope from the last time I did a bookoutlet order, so I immediately started it. I honestly was so emotionally invested in this book. I still had class that week, and let me tell you, I cherished those moments on the subway when I could read. However, I’m extremely thankful I was at home reading when I got near the end because I cried like an absolute baby. I did not see such a tragic story coming… but I enjoyed it nevertheless. I’m giving myself a cooling off period before I pick up Losing Hope. 4 out of 5 stars for this one.

2. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

I bought these book last year and after reading a ton of mixed reviews on goodreads I honestly did not know if I was even going to try to read it. However, the good seemed to outweigh the bad and I was really intrigued with the idea of a female, teenaged assassin. I’m so glad I decided to start… this book is fantastic. A lot of the reviews seemed to have a problem with how childish and annoying Celaena is, but I hardly noticed. I mean yeah she’s cocky, but if I was a teenage girl known as Adarlan’s gratest assassin, I would probably be a little cocky too. Such a wild ride, 5 out of 5 stars!

3. The 5th Horseman by James Patterson 

I’ve been reading the Women’s Murder Club for years and I’m only on the fifth book… I tend to read like one a year because I can’t really take too much murder mystery at once. This one was kind of disappointing because it started off slow, got really good, and then ended kind of bizarrely. It was still really interesting though so it was a 3 out of 5 stars for me.

4. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

I wanted to start this series in the spring because I figured it would be the perfect way to get ready for summer. I really wish I had of read these books when I was a bit younger so I could identify with Belly more. Regardless, I really enjoyed this book and I loved the family aspect as well as the romance. 4 out of 5 for this one!

5. It’s Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

As soon as I finished the first book, I immediately had to pick up the second. I became so invested in the characters and I couldn’t sit around without knowing what happened next! I actually stayed up until 2am last night starting/finishing this one… But I’m counting it in my April wrap-up because I read it before I went to sleep! I enjoyed this one so much and it was such an emotional ride. I cried for a good chunk of the book. 5 out of 5 stars!

6. Cress by Marissa Meyer (37% finished)

I’ve been listening to this on audiobook for the last few days and I’m loving it so far! I can’t wait to find out what happens! This is my first audiobook and I’m really loving listening to it whenever I’m doing stuff around the house or on the go!

May TBR!

This month I’m planning on finishing up/continuing on with some series I have started. First, I want to finish up listening to Cress. Then I’m going to move into finishing We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han. Followed by as many of the following as I can:

1. Allegiant by Veronica Roth

2. Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor

3. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

4. Four by Veronica Roth

5. The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare

6. Fairest by Marissa Meyer

Hopefully I can read more than that in the month of May, but we’ll have to see! Well, that’s it for now!

What did you guys read this month? Link your wrap-ups below! Have any of you read any of the books on my TBR? Which ones should I prioritize? 

xx

Jacqueline