Waiting on Wednesday (5)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted over at Breaking the Spine. And it's where people share their most anticipated reads that are to be released.

I've only got one book this week and it comes out July 8th of this year - Midnight Thief (Midnight Thief #1) by Livia Blackburne

This book sounds amazing and something I'll love. It's high/epic fantasy with, from what I can catch from the Goodread's page, a paranormal twist in the shape of shapeshifters and just read this synopsis from Goodreads:

Growing up on Forge’s streets has taught Kyra how to stretch a coin. And when that’s not enough, her uncanny ability to scale walls and bypass guards helps her take what she needs.

But when the leader of the Assassins Guild offers Kyra a lucrative job, she hesitates. She knows how to get by on her own, and she’s not sure she wants to play by his rules. But he’s persistent—and darkly attractive—and Kyra can’t quite resist his pull.

Tristam of Brancel is a young Palace knight on a mission. After his best friend is brutally murdered by Demon Riders, a clan of vicious warriors who ride bloodthirsty wildcats, Tristam vows to take them down. But as his investigation deepens, he finds his efforts thwarted by a talented thief, one who sneaks past Palace defenses with uncanny ease.

When a fateful raid throws Kyra and Tristam together, the two enemies realize that their best chance at survival—and vengeance—might be to join forces. And as their loyalties are tested to the breaking point, they learn a startling secret about Kyra’s past that threatens to reshape both their lives.

Assassins, thieves, vengeance - it sounds so good. So what are you excited for this week? And had you heard of this book before? Are you looking forward to it?

Traveling to VidCon Hiatus (June 24th - 30th)

So I'll be flying to LA tomorrow and I meant to make it so the blog would run in my absence and you wouldn't even know it. But, even scheduling posts, I still need to be able to check on things (normally), and I didn't have time when I thought I would to write up the posts I was going to have.

This next week is going to be a little light on posts, as in there's only one scheduled and it's a Waiting on Wednesday for the 25th. I'll be at VidCon - seeing friends, pretty much, I don't have any YouTubers I'm set on seeing this year. Friends, concerts, ignoring any insane fangirls, maybe finally buying myself a phone case.

If anyone wants a recap post of the week, I'll be happy to put one up a few days after I get back (just leave a comment, @ me on twitter to let me know), because I probably won't be doing one anyway. I might try and vlog, ha I say this at every convention and I've yet to do it which is ridiculous because this is my fifth vidcon. Fifth.

Anyway - I hope you have a fun week, I'll see you at the beginning of July, may not the first few days, but I'll be back as soon as I sleep for about 16 hours after the convention.

Book Review: A Wizard of Earthsea

Title: A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle #1)
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Genre: Fantasy (High/Epic Fantasy), Adventure
Rating: ?
Page Count: 266 (paperback)
Publication Date: January 1st, 1968

Plot: (from Goodreads)
Ged, the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, was called Sparrowhawk in his reckless youth.

Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.



Review:
You might notice this book doesn't have a star rating, and it's because I have very mix feelings about it. At the end - I liked it. I liked what could be learned from the book and the message of it, but - I'm also not sure I liked the actual book, actually at all. Maybe that I appreciated it, or something like that.

Mostly because I really didn't like this book at the beginning, I couldn't stand the main character and I almost wanted to just give up, even at page 30 and 40 and 100. I kept going, though, because some people I trust or respect had rated it high or talked about it highly or - something like that, and it's a classic for a reason. So I kept going.

Even, at the end, having liked how it ended and appreciated it over all, I still had a lot of problems with it. The writing wasn't bad, I liked it at times, but at other times I felt like I was reading notes for the scene, so the writer could go back and flesh it out more, it felt very like a screenplay almost, or just an outline. At other times I felt the short nature really fitted the story, and I think that it really did overall.

Basically I had very, very complicated feelings about this book. And it's been a very long time since I just didn't really know how I felt about a book, even writing this review quite a bit after I finished it, I'm still not really sure how I felt about it or if I want to continue with the series.

I'm not sure if it's a good idea to put this review up, because I'm not sure it's informative or helpful, but maybe it'll interest you enough to maybe check it out. If you have read A Wizard of Earthsea, then I'd love to hear what you thought, and if you plan to or something of that nature - when you do, I'd still love to hear (no matter how long after this is posted you do such a thing).

WWW Wednesday (18)

It's once again been more then just a week since I did this, it's been about a month, I think. So we've got a tad bit of catching up to do, it's a good thing a large chunk of the books I've read is a manga series, that'll make this easier.

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by MizB at Should be Reading. She asks that you answer three questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you'll read next?

Currently-Reading:

The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles #1) by Patrick Rothfuss

I'm about in the middle of this one, it's long and the second is even longer, and it's so good. The writing, first of all, I don't care what genre you normally read because this writing, oh my god. And the characters and the plot - I kind of love it all, a lot, I'm taking it a little slow now, have kind of taken a break from it, but just because I didn't want to force myself through it.

The Glass Sentence by S.E. Grove

I just started this one, and I'm a little eh on it, but I'm barely into it - only like 50 pages. I realized I just really wasn't in the mood for Fantasy, or anything that'd take too much thought. I'm definitely going to keep going, I loved the idea/concept of this book, I just need to get further into the story. Also I'd finished Ready Player One - and I just needed something lighter (even though I love RP1 and it's amazing).

Read:

Fruits Basket 1-23 by Natsuki Takaya (5/5)

Yeah - I reread the entirety of Fruits Basket (I also re-watched the anime), and this was really good, as good as I remembered it being. And the anime was actually better then I remember, and both are really funny at points. I definitely reccomend this series, I also think it's a good starting series - if you're trying to get into manga and don't want to get yourself into anything huge. This series has a definite end, it's fantastic and funny, and has an anime. (The anime only covers the story arc to volume 6, but it has scenes/information from further volumes, if memory serves, but not too much farther then that).

Volume One

Fire and Flood by Victoria Scott (4/5)

This was very, very good. Life or death situations, animal companions, possible corrupting - fantastic.

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour (5/5)

Whoa, a contemporary? I know, I know - but I do read them when the urge arises, and this one was really, really good. I always forget that I do like contemporaries, I just rarely get the urge to read them. Anyway - I stayed up late to finish this, and I hadn't even meant to pick it up to begin with, and I flew through it - it was fantastic and touching and it made me cry. That's the highest praise, I don't cry at a lot of books.

Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony (3/5)

I - liked it, but it didn't draw me in, I didn't feel connected at all with these characters. But it was a really cool way to tell a story.

The Inventor's Secret by Andrea Cremer (5/5)

I need to read her other series, it's werewolves and I love werewolves. Anyway - this one: steampunk, alternate history, and a shit ton of fun. It's can get cheesy, but sometimes I really like that. Which is probably a weird thing to say, but I liked the characters, the humor. It was just a lot of fun to read.

Sea of Shadows by Kelly Armstrong (5/5)

I was intrigued by this book, but I didn't expect to like it this much. I've never read anything by Kelly Armstrong, but I'm definitely going to look into her other stuff. This was really good, I liked the writing and the characters and the story was good and actually surprised me.

Burn for Burn by Siobhan Vivian, Jenny Han (3/5)

Fun, interesting, but it didn't feel like it was more then that. And I don't, honestly, think that's a bad thing. It was exactly what I expected - teenage girls trying to get revenge. I might even continue on with the series when they're also out in paperback.

To Read:

I have a large amount of books I want to read right away, and even short term TBRs just don't seem to work with me. I'm a very mood based reader, and if I'm not feeling a book - I just can't read it. However, I have a few ideas, I kind of am in a contemporary mood (what? blaspheme. I don't know if this has ever happened to me before). Anyway - I pulled a couple contemporary books out, and I just got one in the mail and such, but I also want to keep going with my #RYBSAT stack (I've been kind of reading that and other books, like I'm double reading for some, strange reason. Oh, right, I have no life). 

So - possibilities for soon (since I'm sure my next WWW Wednesday won't go up until after VidCon):

• Rock On by Denisa Vega (short, rock music - sounds fun)
• The List by Siobhan Vivian (because just read Burn for Burn and have heard good things)
• Open Road Summer by Emery Lord (because someone commented I sound and I've seen really good reviews for it. Also the cover is even more gorgeous in person, I just got it in the mail).
• Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (the third book just came out, and I've been here even more good things).
• And - also finish some of the other books I'm still currently-reading.

Do you post a WWW Wednesday? Or just - what have you read recently or what are you reading currently? What are you eyeing to read next?

2014: Book Reviews (8)

And we have part eight of my mini-book reviews series of this year, I can't believe I've read this many books so far this year - and I wonder how many part I'll get to by the end of the year. And besides that mini-rant - the books.

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) by Patrick Ness (5/5)
I can't believe no one forced me to read this book - why did no one do this? This book is fantastic and incredible and - just go forth and read it. And my full review can be found here (link will be live when review is).

Zom-B by Darren Shan (1/5)
I - don't want to talk about this, I'm trying to block this book from my mind. That probably sounds cruel and it probably is a little, but I've never reacted to a book the way I did this one.

Cold War by Adam Christopher
This is a prequel novella for his new novel, The Burning Dark, and it really peaked my interest. Saying that, I started the book and just wasn't in the mood (it was during a 24-hour read-a-thon, and SciFi can be too heavy for that), but I'm looking forward to getting into it more, but this was an interesting intro to the world.

God Save the Queen (Immortal Empire #1) by Kate Locke (5/5)
If you follow me anywhere - you probably know of my flailing for this entire series. And I have full reviews for all of them. Basically this series is: steampunk, vampires, mutation in DNA, romance, there are also werewolves, Queen Victoria does also. Full review for God Save the Queen.

The Queen is Dead (Immortal Empire #2) by Kate Locke (5/5)
This book was just as good as the first, and in my review I started spewing love about the LGBT representation in this series (mostly because of my favorite non-main character). Full review here.

The Walking Dead: Book One by Robert Kirkman
A reread so I could continue on with the series - it was good, but I've read it before and seen the first series, of course.

Long Live the Queen (Immortal Empire #3) by Kate Locke (5/5)
The final book in this fantastic series. Full review here.

The New World (Chaos Walking #0.5) by Patrick Ness (5/5)
A great little peak into Viola's life before the story starts and before she meets Todd, really enjoyed it, I listened to it in audiobook form - so well done.

#RYBSAT | Another Read-A-Thon (June 16th - 23rd)

So this is a read-a-thon that is being hosted by a few booktubers,  Announcement video ,and I leave for VidCon the day after this ends, and I have a lot of books I want to try and finish by the end of the month, and I doubt I'll have time during the time we're away. And there are a lot of books I want to get done, I've already been kind of marathoning books this month anyway - so why not do this.

The whole premise behind this read-a-thon is to pick a spot on your shelves and then read along it, read the books. And - that sounds like a perfect thing for me, except I'm going to read down a stack. I have book stacks that just haven't, and aren't, going to make it onto any shelves and those are the ones I most want to read. Of course, there's also the books I'm currently-reading (which is still too many, but less then what we started with at the beginning of the month).

I'm not going to try to finish books I'm currently reading first, because I know I'm really stalled on some of them, they're just slower reads then for a read-a-thon. Anyway, I've got the physical books I'm currently-reading and then a stack of books to read. I think I'll not get very far at all through the stack, especially as we get towards the end of the week and I have to prepare and pack, but I'd like to read a handful of them.

I'd like to add that I'm not going to do a wrap-up for this read-a-thon, I'll include it in my monthly wrap-up, and that this is probably putting too much stress on myself and is a silly idea, but I do have a lot of books I still haven't gotten to this month, even if I have read a lot anyway. So I have no idea how well this is going to go for me since I also have a lot to do this week, things other then just reading sadly.

I'm a serious mood reader, so I don't know how this is going to go for me. I mean I desperately want to read all of these books, and I am kind of in the mood for all of them, but I'm also not. I know that makes no sense - but mood reader, hoping this works for me.

Anyway - are you participating in this or any read-a-thons in the near future?

My social media for updates: Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram

Pictures of books: 

Friday Finds (3)

I really like this idea as a meme, which is a meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. It's, basically, books you've discovered during the week, whether you've just added them to the never ending "to-read" list (or shelf on Goodreads, as I do) or if you've actually bought them. These are the books I've discovered since the last time I was able to get one of these up.

I feel like I'm always discovering new books through so many different ways, and this is a good idea to remind myself of books I was really excited about, but also to share the books I've discovered. If you've heard of any of these or read them, please let me know in the comments.

But first off - these are from the last few weeks, I keep forgetting about this and then it's Friday again (how is it almost the middle of June already?). Anyway - books, let's talk about some books.

Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman

This sounds super interesting, its historical and she's related to Hitler in someway and apparently something changes everything she's learned. And that's all I know, and I'm not really sure what this is about because I haven't looked at the full description anywhere. Still sounds amazing.

First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones
I know nothing about this book - except that the first three books on BookOutlet were super cheap and they had a good overall rating on Goodreads, sounding interesting, and have okay reviews by people I'm friends with. So for like two dollars a book, I'll give it a shot. I think reapers? I honestly can't remember, but I do really love the titles, not so much the covers.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
So I don't know much about this book besides it's adult fiction, historical, and I think has already started winning awards? I've been hearing nothing but fantastic things and it does sound really good, it just came out in May, I think. So I might wait to get it in paperback, just because those adult hardcovers are expensive and I have so many books I need to be reading right now anyway.

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie
Haven't heard much so far, it's not out until mid-July, but I've heard amazing things about his adult books. And it's fantasy, high/epic fantasy, and people seem to be liking it. Added, don't know when I'll buy it / get around to it, though. But people whose opinions I trust have liked it so far.

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld
I didn't know he was coming out with a new book until BEA and now everyone has copies of it. I will just have to wait - but it is huge and it sounds amazing and everything I've read by Westerfeld I've loved so far.

My Faire Lady by Laura Wettersten
This is kind of the odd book out of all of these, really, if you put all the covers side by side - you'd probably be like why is that one there? Well, because Laura is the LeakyCon RockStar liaison and I have been a RockStar all the years I've gone - and Laura is a fantastic person. I might have given it a try, anyway, just because I kind of really love the Renaissance Faire, and that is the setting for this. 

Adam by Ariel Schrag
I don't know much about this, I just saw a review from Judith on her blog PaperRiot (said review here). And it sounded really interesting - it's about a transgender character and apparently sex. And I've never read, or stumbled across, any books with a transgender main character, which is so awesome. But there might be one reason I don't get around to this book - and it isn't the talk about the sex scenes or anything - it's because his older sisters name is Casey, which is my name, and I just get so confused and tripped up reading books with characters with my name. It feels like such a silly reason to not read this book, but it's there. 

Book and Audio Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1)

Title: The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1)
Author: Patrick Ness
Genre: Young Adult (SciFi, Adventure, Dystopian)
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 479 (Hardcover)
Publication Date: May 5th, 2008

Plot: (from Goodreads)
Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden -- a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?

Review:
I skipped between the audio and physical at first with this one.

Audio:
I was doing something and this was the random audiobook I chose, and it is a fantastic choice. The narrator is really good at doing the slight differences in voice and saying the words so you just know he's not quite thinking them right. And Manchee - my favorite was when he was reading that part. Or just other's peoples thoughts in general, it was so fun to read.

Physical/story part:
And then I switched over to just reading it when Dewey's read-a-thon hit, and I was dying to know what was going on, anyway, I couldn't wait. I finished this book in a few hours and just loved every minute of it, I don't know why I waited so long to read it, I think I've probably owned it since 2009.

There's a lot of things that made this book so good to me. The characters, first off, and how they grew throughout the story. They grew up a lot during the course of just this book, but not an unbelievable amount. And just the characters in general, even the 'bad' ones were interesting to learn more about and I can't wait to learn more.

Also, a big thing I wasn't expecting going into this book, was the suspense. It was so edge of your seat at points, which is probably why I would of gone to the physical even if there hadn't been a read-a-thon, because I had to know what was going to happen next.

Honestly, I think most people have read this series all ready - but if you haven't then I highly recommend giving this book a try. It's science fiction and it's amazing.

Waiting On Wednesday (4)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted over at Breaking the Spine. And it's where people share their most anticipated reads that are to be released.

Cibola Burn (The Expanse #4) by James. S.A. Corey - June 17th
I'm really freaking excited for this book, I just started this series earlier this year, but I'm completely in love with it. It's space opera with horror elements and just so freaking good. Seriously, check out the first book, Leviathan Wakes, here is conveniently my review of it.












Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis - June 17th
All I know about this is that I like the cover, it's fantasy, and it's LGBT - and that's all I need to know to be totally into it. Also it's a standalone apparently there's a main character whose a person of color, both gender POV, queer ladies, and a/more physically disabled lead? This book just hits a bunch of things that might immediately make me pick up a book. (I don't know how right any of this information is, I just saw it in the top goodreads review, but I'm excited either way).

Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books I've Read So Far This Year (June 10th)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Brooke and The Bookish. 

I'm not going to include rereads on this list, because in most cases I reread because I loved it the first time around, and they're in no real order, at least I don't think (maybe a little).




The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archives #1) by Brandon Sanderson (5/5)
So have you all heard enough about how amazing Sanderson's worlds are? Have you at least bought one of his books? Decided to give him a go? You should. I was sold on Sanderson because I started this book, but - this has been my favorite of his so far. Also my favorite of the year, and will probably stay that through to the end. This book is incredible and I wanted to reread it as soon as I finished it - which is impressive considering how long it is (though, I did read it in two part).
The main line - this book is so good I don't have a review up of it, I can't form any kind of coherent words, it would just be keysmashing with some of the characters name.

This Start Won't Go Out by Esther Earl (and others) (5/5)
This - book was hard to read. If you don't know what it's about then you might not fully understand why. Esther Earl was a nerdfighter, who died a few years ago, very young - and this is full of her own writings - and others, an introduction from John Green, writings from her friends (Catitude), and others who met her. It's painful to read, but it's also completely incredible. I have a full review up of it.

The Search for WondLa (WondLa#1) by Tony DiTerlizzi (5/5)
This book was a surprise - it was one of those Kindle deals and I opened it randomly on my kindle, knowing nothing about it. At first, I was confused as hell, but then I just started really enjoying myself. I've got a full review up of this, as well, basically: middle-grade adventure with twists and fantastic illustrations.

Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1) by James S.A. Corey (5/5)
Have I talked about this series, and this book, enough yet? Are you all sick of hearing about it? I'm sorry - I'll keep this short, but epic, SciFi, space opera goodness. Full review here.

Redshirts by John Scalzi (5/5)
This book was also a surprise. I think I had it because they read it for Sword and Laser one month that I didn't get to it, same goes for Leviathan Wakes by the way, and I randomly picked it up when I was searching for SciFi. And I had an idea about what it'd be, the name gives it away, but it was hilarious and so, so much better then I expected since I thought I might not enjoy it as much, not being a Star Trek fan. But - perfection. Full review here.

The Martian by Andy Weir (5/5)
This book came out this year, very recently, and was just getting so many good reviews and with that SciFi binge I went on - it was also really funny. Full review here.

Maus Volumes I and II by Art Spiegelman (5/5)
These have been critically acclaimed and have won awards - and they're incredible. I also don't have a review up of these, because I'm not really sure what to say about them. So just - read them.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (5/5)
I know a lot of people don't like this - and I could see why people might not - but for some reason I really enjoyed it, loved it. I couldn't put my finger on why, I just did. I'd never read the full story of Frankenstein's monster, or seen a movie, and I really enjoyed this piece of horror.

Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics by Jim Al-Khalili (5/5)
I'm not going to go into detail here - this is non fiction, it's about physics.

The Immortal Empire series by Kate Locke
Alright the first book was a reread - but I didn't actually remember any of it. These books are a ton of fun - seriously, a ton of fun. And I have reviews up for all three of them: God Save the Queen, The Queen is Dead, Long Live the Queen 

I've read a lot of good books this early, especially if you count the rereads (I reread the whole Harry Potter series and the whole Fruits Basket series, Fruits Basket was just this month). What are the best books you've read so far this year? Or if you do TTT, link it in the comments!

2014: Book Reviews (7)

And here we go, another part of this series I'm doing. I really like this idea, even though a lot of these books I did post full reviews of. I haven't done one of these in way too long, and with the recent read-a-thons that have happened, I'm starting to fall behind. Anyway - onto the books.

Paradox: The Nine Great Enigmas in Physics by Jim Al-Khalili (5/5)
I really enjoyed this book, it's a non-fiction science book full of interesting physics things. Which probably sounds very boring to you, but if it sounds interesting I'd check this one out. He can articulate what he's trying to say very well, which is important for non-fiction and especially with something like this that goes this deep into quantum physics and other stuff. I'd like to write a full review of this one, but I don't think it'll happen, just because that's kind of all I have to say about it.

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (4/5)
Good, even very good, but it just felt like it was a little odd at points to me. I did really enjoy it, though, and it's what I'm blaming on my recent SciFi binge and then love, which I kind of hope never goes away (the love for it, that is).

Redshirts by John Scalzi (5/5)
So. Fucking. Good. And hilarious as hell. I put up a full review here, but basically I highly recommend this book (even for people who aren't Star Trek fans).

Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1) by James S.A. Corey (5/5)
This book. I've got a full review here, but - man I cannot stop just spewing how much I love this book and flailing so I'll just stop now.

The Martian by Andy Weir (5/5)
This was also a really funny SciFi book, but it's about a guy that just gets trapped on Mars. And he's a really great narrator, and it's probably why I loved this book so much, because he's hilarious. Full review here.

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (5/5)
Psychological horror book that is great. It took me a while to read it, but I didn't really mind that, it was just one of those books that I felt would be better slow. And it was creepy and how the text is arranged at certain parts added a lot to the atmosphere and it was really cool.

The Preacher: Book One by Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon (5/5)
Gore, violence, what would probably offend anyone whose at all religious. Everything I love! (Okay, that was a joke, kind of a joke because looking on my taste it's also a tad true). I've got a full review up here. (Basically, though - really good, can't wait to continue the series).

Caliban's War (The Expanse #2) by James S.A. Corey (5/5)
This series is fantastic. And instead of fangirling about it again, I'm just going to stop - check out this series (my full review of Leviathan Wakes it just a little up there). Space Opera, guys - it's so good.

The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson (5/5)
A reread and this time I listened to the audiobook and loved it as much as I did the first time. Sanderson writes such rich worlds with such interesting magic systems and they're always so different, it's incredible.

Waiting on Wednesday (3)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted over at Breaking the Spine. And it's where people share their most anticipated reads that are to be released.

I haven't done one of these in a really long time, it just always seems to slip my mind and before I know it the book I wanted to highlight - is already out. So let's talk about a few books that aren't out yet, bt will be very soon!

The Murder Complex by Lindsey Cummings - June 10th

I've been following this author on Twitter for a long time and I'm really looking forward to her book, which comes out June 10th. There's also a novella that should be out as of now, it came out yesterday for when this is scheduled, it's called The Fear Complex and it's, according to Amazon, 100 pages in length. A first in a series where the death rate is higher then the birth rate - and doesn't that line just immediately grab your interest?

The Merciless by Danielle Vega - June 12th

This sounds really interesting and the design on this book looks ridiculous but also amazing. It's bright pink, as you can see from the picture right there, but it's a horror story, from what I've heard, about a girl in a cult - and the first page says For Mature Audiences Only. And I do love horror. And this is a standalone, and I love standalones, I mean I love series, too, but - standalones.

The Glass Sentence by S.E. Grove  - June 12th

I think this is the one I'm most excited for. It seems to be that the different continents are in different time periods and that sounds amazing. Apparently this is the first book in what is being called The Mapmakers Series, anyway it sounds freaking amazing.

I haven't looked much into any of these books, I haven't read the full synopsis on Goodreads or anywhere else. I'm just going on what people have told me or how people have articulated it in their own words.

What books are you most looking forward that come out soon? Or just this year. And are you highly anticipating any of these? 

Book Review: Caliban's War (The Expanse #2)

Title: Caliban's War (The Expanse #2)
Author: James S.A. Corey
Genre: Adult SciFi (Space Opera, Horror, Adventure)
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 595 (paperback)
Publication Date: January 1st, 2012

Plot: (from Goodreads)
For someone who didn't intend to wreck the solar system's fragile balance of power, Jim Holden did a pretty good job of it. When a single super-soldier begins slaughtering soldiers of Earth and Mars, the race is on to discover whether this is the vanguard of an alien army, or if the danger lies closer to home.

Review:
I reviewed the first book Leviathan Wakes, which you can check out, but this review isn't going to have any spoilers for either.

I loved this book more then the first one. Which is kind of saying something, because I really, really enjoyed and loved the first one. I was weary of new point of view chapters, but I really enjoyed them and the new characters they introduced, and I hope to see more of those characters in the next book. I really like multiple points of view in general, I tend to like when a book does it but sometimes it isn't handled right, but that's not the case here.

Holden and his crew are fantastic characters who are easy to love, I'd really love a chapter from Naomi, Alex, or Amos' point of view. I really like Naomi, but I'm much more interested in hearing Alex's background the most, I think. Also - the dialogue in this book, and not just between these four but the other characters as well, at some points it's just so completely perfect.

Like the first book, I loved the world building, this world just feels so real and you're so immersed in it from the very beginning, just completely. And - the plot was also really good, but for me these books are about the characters and everything they're doing, the fact that there is an awesome, well done plot in an astounding SciFi universe, however, is also really, really good.

This series has so many different facets of it and I cannot wait to read the third, Abaddon's Gate, and then the fourth, Cibola Burn, out in June!

Overall, I'd recommend this series, but I know it isn't going to be for everyone. It's heavy SciFi, a space opera, and they're over 500 pages (however, if you see a book, for some reason they all look gigantic, like they're at least 1,000 pages, I promise, just 500).

Anyway - if a heavy, character driven SciFi space opera with a crew is something you think you'd like then you'll love this.

Musing Mondays (3): Active Reading

A meme hosted by MizB at Should be Reading. Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week:

• Describe one of your reading habits.

• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).

• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!

• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.

• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!

• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

Today, I really wanted to talk about active reading. And I feel like there's a lot of ways to describe or to do active reading. Personally, it tends to vary for me. And I had actually stopped doing it, what I do, for a little while and then I recently got back into it. And it makes writing reviews so, so much easier. 

Active reading could be anything from writing notes in the margins or on a seperate paper, marking your favorite lines, or anything that is really more then just reading the book. My favorite is tabs, the see through kind so they don't cause problems later, but for the life of me I can't normally force myself to write in a book. I guess it's kind of silly, and I'd kind of like to do it for my favorite books, but I can't bring myself to do it.

Also - this varies between non-fiction and fiction for me. For fiction I mark normally the important things, or things I want to go back and look up to learn more about or write down so I can remember better. With fiction it's normally quotes I really liked for one reason or another, either in an intelectual sense or maybe just because I laughed at it or found it funny. I've also marked 'important' things to know in fiction, like some specific world building or something like that.

So now I've got questions for anyone reading this, feel free to answer as many or little as you like: do you active read? What do you do as active reading or consider to be active reading? Can you write in your books and do you? And, if you don't do this, are you interested in doing this is the future or have you in the past?

May 2014 Wrap-Up

And the month of May is already over, it feels like this year is flying by so quickly - is it really already June (hey, My birthday's in June! Party, party probably meaning: staying insane, maybe sitting in the sun for a minute or two and getting a sun burn).

Anyway - besides that, May was a great month, and since this is my May Wrap-Up, I guess we should wrap it up. So, first, the books I finished during the month, and then what was posted here during the month, they'll all be listed at the bottom, there was quite a few of this this month.

Books Finished in May:

• Working for the Devil (Dante Valentine #1) by Lilith Saintcrow (reread) (4/5)
• Dead Man Rising (Dante Valentine #2) by Lilith Saintcrow (4/5)
• The Devil's Right Hand (Dante Valentine #3) by Lilith Saintcrow (3/5)
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (5/5)
• The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking #2) by Patrick Ness (5/5)
• The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allen Poe (3/5)
• The Walking Dead: Book Two by Robert Kirkman (3/5)
• Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos (Theodosia #1) by R.L. LaFevers (3/5)
• America Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (5/5)
• All Our Yesterdays (All Our Yesterdays #1) by Cristin Terrill(3/5)
• Maus l: A Survivor's Tale & Maus ll: Where My Troubles Began by Art Speigelman (5/5)
• Locke and Key Vol 1 -3 by Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez (5/5)
• Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery #1) by Kim Harrison (4/5)
• Elusive Memories (The Hunted #1) by Amanda Shofner (5/5)
• What In God's Name by Simon Rich (5/5)

Overall, I read 18 books this month, which feels ridiculous to me, this is probably the most books I've ever read in a such a short period of time (meaning the whole year, not just this month, as I read 30 books in January).

And now onto the posts that appeared on the blog this much.

Book Reviews:

Princesses Behaving Badly by Linda Rodriguez McRobbie - non-fiction, history

God Save the Queen (Immoral Empire #1) by Kate Locke - steampunk goodness

The Martian by Andy Weir - SciFi, funny

The Preacher: Book One by Garth Ennis - supernatural, there are angels, gore factors are high

The Queen is Dead (The Immortal Empire #2) by Kate Locke

Long Live the Queen (The Immortal Empire #3) by Kate Locke

Memes/Miscellaneous:

Liebster Award!

Musing Mondays (1)

Friday Finds (2)

Musing Mondays (2)

WWW Wednesday (17)

April Wrap-Up

Bout of Books 10.0 read-a-thon posts:

Goals and TBR

Starts Monday!
Starts Today!

Day One Wrap-Up

Day Two Wrap-Up

Day Three Wrap-Up

Day Four Wrap-Up

Day Five Wrap-Up

Day Six Wrap-Up

Final and Day Seven Wrap-Up

June 2014 TBR

I keep making these, don't I? But I was doing pretty good until this month, this was was very weird, but I did read a bunch of books so I'm not really complaining. I'm currently reading a ton of books, so I'd like to finish quite a few of those.

So, first off, the books I'm currently reading:

• The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen - loving this, almost halfway through
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - a reread, halfway through
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - also a reread, but just not really feeling it at the moment, but would like to finish in June
• The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson - this is so good and I was trying to take it slow, but now I haven't read it in a week, but to be fair the whole last week of May was kind of no reading happening.
• Quiet by Susan Cain - non-fiction so it's slow going, but I'm really loving it and would like to finish before the month is through.
• Saint City Sinners by Lilith Saintcrow - I'm like 120 pages into this book, it started with just pure pain so I haven't been able to bring myself to pick it back up.
• The Inventor's Secret by Andrea Cremer - not that far in, about 50 pages, was listening to the audiobook but I've got a physical copy now. 

I would like to, hopefully, finish all of those in June. And then there are others I might be picking from that I got recently, or at the top of my stack. However, one of the first things that's going to probably happen in June is a complete reread of the Fruits Basket manga. I started like an accidental rewatch of the Anime and now I need to reread those books. As soon as the last two volumes that I didn't buy the first time around come in the mail - it's on, it shouldn't take me long even though it's 23 volumes.

And then - there's the rest of the month. I have a kind of few books that I'd like to get to, but I think we all know how well my TBR things tend to go. Still.

• To Hell and Back (Dante Valentine #5) by Lilith Saintcrow - to finish off this series! I'll get a review, hopefully, up of the series after I've finished it and figured out what to say.
• Abaddon's Gate (The Expanse #3) by James S.A. Corey - the fourth book comes out this month!
• Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking #3) by Patrick Ness - I'm scared, it's going to completely crush me, isn't it? But I also want to read it so badly.
• The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicles #1) by Patrick Rothfuss - I think it might be time, I've had this book since last summer. I bought it in Powells on the recommendation of some random guy because he made it sound amazing. And I've just seen more and more and more good things about this book and series. And it's high fantasy!