Bout of Books 11!

And another read-a-thon is on it's way! I know I just put up that hiatus post, but I wanted to get this one out before LeakyCon as soon as I saw that the sign-up post was up, so I could get it out of the way. As you may know, Bout of Books is my favorite read-a-thon (how long it is, the twitter chats, seeing everyone reading and reading blog updates), so it shouldn't be a surprise that I'm planning on participating in this one. Hopefully I'm out of my blogging slump when it comes around and I have high reading goals for August!

And, of course, they ask that you put the official blurb, so that is right down below. If you've never heard of Bout of Books before - their official site is here.

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog.
- From the Bout of Books team

I'll be posting my TBR closer the event and I'll be doing daily updates, they'll be the same as always - day one wrap-up / update will be posted early on day two and so on. The first day I'll post a kick off post with all the information together and we'll be off!

Blogging Hiatus (LeakyCon incoming)

LeakyCon is a Harry Potter convention that is taking place in Orlando this year, but there's more then that for the reason I won't be posting here. Well, I'll be gone for about a week, but conventions seem to screw with my blogging mojo (that's what I'm going to call it, because I have nothing else to call it). I'm just in the mood to do it and I can't get any of the words right, and words are important in blogging, and I didn't really have time to get with it after VidCon. (It feels like it's been a week to me, I need a new internal clock, please).

And after conventions, I need to wind down and not talk to people to try and recharge. Hopefully it'll only be a few days after I get back (after I sleep for 24 hours and eat something that possibly has nutritional value). Conventions wear me out, in a way that it does take me a while to kind of recover. I'm very, very introverted, but I do kind of give conventions my all - throwing myself into them. And I always see my friends at conventions, different people normally at different ones but I love that, and make new ones - but that's exhausting. I don't know how to explain it,  it's just like everything is drained and, on top of that, I feel like I'm behind on reading and writing because I've been trying to stick to that reading 100 pages a day, writing 1k to 2k, and then I don't leave the house for a while.

Anyway - the point of this post is that I probably won't be posting my July Wrap-Up or my August TBR until I'm back and feeling less like just hiding under the covers and ignoring civilization. I'm sorry for it, but I want the posts I put up here to be things I like and am maybe even a little proud of, and feeling worn down, drained, and exhausted isn't conductive in that.

That being said, I know I will back to blogging (or this will get me back) there's Bout of Books 11 from August 18th to the 24th, and if you've seen my blog at all you might know I have a thing for read-a-thons (especially Bout of Books, favorite read-a-thon, just don't tell the others).

(Note: I do home to put up a final update of the treesofreverie read-a-thon and then maybe a full wrap-up when I get back, maybe for when I'm not here, we'll see how it happens. I like to do those kinds of post on time).

Update Two: treesofreverie read-a-thon

My BookTubeAThon updates were also treesofreverie updates, but now that BookTubeAThon is over and I have read things to update you on. First off, I'm not going to list all the books I read during the week of BookTubeAThon, because I've already done that (at the bottom of this post there will be links to the BookTubeAThon updates, the wrap up has a list of all the books I read during that week).

Monday, July 21st - day twelve

Books:
Legends of Zita the Spacegirl (Zita #2) by Ben Hatke (started and finished - 224 pages)
The Return of Zita the Spacegirl (Zita #3) by Ben Hatke (started and finished - 240 pages)
Playing with Fire (Skulduggery Pleasant #2) by Derek Landy (started - 183 pages)

It was a much better reading day then I expected because I didn't actually start reading until 8pm, I took most of the day to relax after the insanity that was the last week. However - I got way more read then I expected. I really loved the Zita the Spacegirl series, and the ending left me very happy, I'd definitely recommend this series.

I feel like I accidentally was taking part in the UnderHyped read-a-thon, the whole Zita series don't have as many reviews as I expected. I'm not taking part in it officially, though, even though I'm going to be keeping up with the people that are - I'm thinking of continuing my reread of Cassie Clare's books and then moving onto the ones I haven't read (Never read Clockwork Princess, I just knew it was going to hurt, and now I only vaguely remember the first two books).

Total pages for the day: 647
read-a-thon total: 5,472

Tuesday, July 22nd - day thirteen
I did not get as much reading done today as I wanted to, or expected to. It ended up being a surprisngly stressful day, actually stressful enough I couldn't focus on reading (normally I read to ignore stress). Anyway - hopefully tomorrow will be better, though I did read some.

Books:
Playing with Fire (Skulduggery Pleasant #2) by Derek Landy (continued - 117 pages)

Day total: 117
read-a-thon total: 5,589

Wednesday, July 23rd - day fourteen
Another day! I got a surprising amount read, considering how much time I spent on my laptop.

Books:
Playing with Fire (SP #2) by Derek Landy (finished - 103 pages)
Clockwork Angel (Infernal Devices #1) by Cassandra Clare (started and finished - 479 pages)

Day total: 582
read-a-thon total: 6,171
books finished: 20


Thursday, July 24th - day fifteen
And another day, another book finished, I'm weirdly proud of it considering how long it was! Though, Clockwork Angel was almost as long.

Books:
Clockwork Prince (ID #2) by Cassandra Clare (started and finished - 500 pages)

Day total: 500
read-a-thon total: 6,671
books finished: 21

I'm going to link my join BookTubeAThon / treesofreverie updates here, because I don't want to make this post longer by listing books I already have.
BookTubeAThon wrap up.
Day Six
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One
First treesofreverieupdate

Challenges/Prompts I've completed:
Read a popular or well-known book
Read a book you’ve heard a lot of good things about
Read a book you’ve never heard of before
Read a book from your Goodreads to-read shelf
Read one of your best friend’s favourite books
Pick up a book that looks like a fun/light read
Pick a colour and choose a book with that colour on it’s cover
Read a book you’ve been meaning to read
Finish an entire book in ONE day
Read a book by an author you haven’t read before
Read outside (this one didn't last long, because sunlight, bugs)
Read out loud (read a minimum of one full page!)
Finish a book in a series you’ve not yet completed
Read a graphic novel or manga
Read a book in the Fantasy genre
Read a book in the Contemporary genre
Read a book written by or focusing on POC
Take pictures of your reading progress
Show off your books by taking more pictures
Read a book you’ve been avoiding
Read a book with an LGBTQ+ character

BookTubeAThon - Day Seven and Final Wrap-Up

The last day of the BookTubeAThon was definitely not a good day for me, i didn't get much done and I didn't expect to with everything that was going on during the day.

Okay - I didn't read a single page the last day of this read-a-thon (in a read-a-thon - speaking of, I'm going to make a separate treesofreverie readathon post), it was very hectic and then I had a headache by the time I got home and I just didn't feel good over all.

I'm really, really happy about what I got read this week. I can't believe how much I read. The best I've ever done in a read-a-thon was May of 2013 (wrap-up), I'm going by page count because I feel like that's most important to me.

To continue to wrap up this read-a-thon, I finished all of the challenges, some of them might be in slight cheating ways but sometimes that's happens. I'm a very mood reader, but I read a surprising amount from my TBR post this week.

Total Number of Books Read: 12

Total Number of Pages Read: 4,100

All Books Started and Finished During the BookTubeAThon:
Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh (371 pages)
In the Shadows by Kiersten White, Jim Di Bartolo (384 pages)
I Think I Am In Friend-Love With You by Yumi Sakugawa (128 pages)
Boxers (Boxers and Saints #1) by Gene Luen Yang (325 pages)
Saints (Boxers and Saints #2) by Gene Luen Yang (170 pages)
Severed Heads, Broken Hearts (aka: The Beginning of Everything) by Robyn Schneider (335 pages)
(Skullduggery Pleasant #1) - Scepter of the Ancients  by Derek Landy (416 pages)
Shadow and Bone (The Grisha Trilogy #1) Leigh Bardugo (358)
Siege and Storm (Grisha Trilogy #2) by Leigh Bardugo (432 pages)
Ruin and Rising (Grisha Trilogy #3) by Leigh Bardugo (191 pages)
Zita the Spacegirl (Zita #1) by Ben Hatke (192 pages)
City of Glass (TMI #3) by Cassandra Clare (541 pages)

Started (didn't finish): 
The Half-Made World (The Half-Made World #1) by Felix Gilman (started - 31 pages)

Notes:
I was in such a non-reading mood when this read-a-thon started, I hadn't read anything this month, but I really wanted to. And I was already planning on trying to use the treesofreverie read-a-thon to push me into gear, so I wasn't going to do BookTubeAThon, also I'm not a booktuber, I'm a book blogger - but they cross over to our world for read-a-thons, and we all love books so I figured I might as well.

And I'm really glad I did. The challenges were good to get me reading and following everyone's progress, I love reading peoples tweets or seeing instragram posts about what they're reading and everything.

Did you participate in BookTubeAThon? Are you participating in treesofreverie? Are you going to participate in the Under-Hyped books read-a-thon that starts today? So many read-a-thons!

All the books I read this week!

Look at the pretty - so many books, so many good books.

BookTubeAThon - Day Six | treesofreverie - Day Ten

So today started with me waking up with a headache, which was great, and a book hangover from starting and fishing the Grisha trilogy in three days. So I kind of took half of the day off to relax, get rid of my headache. I had been planning to treat it as my last day of the read-a-thon, because I have a family thing tomorrow (today, when this is posted).

Okay, so I wrote that, and then I got off the computer and started to read. And realized I could beat my own personal best for a read-a-thon (in page count, never in book count) and some things occurred.

Number of Books Completed Today: 3

Book(s) Completed:
Ruin and Rising (Grisha Trilogy #3) by Leigh Bardugo (finished - 191 pages)
Zita the Spacegirl (Zita #1) by Ben Hatke (started and finished - 192 pages)
City of Glass (TMI #3) by Cassandra Clare (started and finished - 541 pages)

Book(s) Currently-Reading:
Haven't started anything new yet - we shall see what happens tomorrow as it's going to be hectic and little reading time. I felt like today was my last day of the read-a-thon

Pages Read Today: 924

Total Number of Books Read(BookTubeAThon): 12

Total Number of Pages Read(BookTubeAThon): 4,100

Total books read for treesofreverie: 15

Total pages read for treesofreverie: 4,825

Notes:
I really liked the Grisha Trilogy, loved it even, I had problems with it and such, but it was so past paced and also really good, a ton of fun - I'm really glad I read it, especially during a read-a-thon, because I tend to read a first book in a series and stop, and I could feel that having happened with this series if I hadn't been pushed on. So I guess this is technically the second series and started and finished this week - do I get some kind of bonus points?

I kind of accidentally picked up City of Glass at about 6, I think, maybe later/earlier. And I ended up finishing it not that long later. I remember waiting for this book to come out, which feels like so, so long ago and it was a long time ago. But I just remember the agonizing wait between book two and three. I don't love these books like I did in middle school, I have problems with them, but mostly they're nostolgia and junk food - fast paced, a bit fluff, but a ton of fun. And I am totally counting it for the book to movie adaptation thing, even though they've, so far, only made the first one into a movie. Kind of cheating, but I couldn't find any books, really, that I hadn't read or wanted to.

With a page count of 4,100 (!!) pages this week - I've beat my last standing record for a week long read-a-thon and there's still a day left! A day that I probably won't get a ton of reading done during, but still a whole day early. I am ridiculously excited and giddy about this, because I've been reading so much this year and it's been so great, it's felt so nice to get to read so many books I've been wanting to read or reread or have just found.

Anyway - I'm going to stop myself there, that's for the wrap-up post. I hope your read-a-thon, or just your week, is going well and fantastically. What are you currently-reading?

BookTubeAThon - Day Five | treesofreverie - Day Nine

Today was a really good reading day, I could of probably gotten more reading done if I'd pushed myself, but I'm really happy with the reading I did get done.

Number of Books Completed Today: 1

Book(s) Completed: 
Siege and Storm (Grisha Trilogy #2) by Leigh Bardugo (started and finished - 432 pages)

Book(s) Currently-Reading:
Ruin and Rising (Grisha Trilogy #3) by Leigh Bardugo (started - 226 pages)

Pages Read Today: 658

Total Number of Books Read(BookTubeAThon): 9

Total Number of Pages Read(BookTubeAThon): 3,176

Books Read for treesofreverie: 12

Pages Read for treesofreverie: 3,901

Notes:
Today was the day of finishing the Grisha Trilogy, but I didn't end up finishing it completely because I didn't realize that was my plan and I didn't start reading until 3pm. I stopped about 45 minutes before midnight to get on my computer and get this up so it'd post at midnight, I have a few other things I'd like to do, and then I'd really like to finish Ruin and Rising tonight.

This series is - addicting and past paced. It's good, but in the way that it's entertaining and I want to know what happens, which isn't a bad way to be good. On the other hand, I know this series is definitely not for everyone. I'm really enjoying the banter and dialogue between all the characters, it might be my favorite.

Tomorrow is kind of the last day for me, since I have a family thing for a large part of Sunday, which I'm still going to try and read during because read-a-thons are important. I hope your reading day was great, tell me how it was and/or what you're currently reading in the comments.

BookTubeAThon - Day Four | treesofreverie - Day Eight

Today was a much, much better reading day then yesterday, I'm happy to report. I only spent probably an hour, in all, mindlessly scrolling through other peoples updates on Instagram an Twitter (one of my favorite parts of a read-a-thon - and reading blog posts, well for this one watching videos.

Number of Books Completed Today: 2

Book(s) Completed:
The Septer of the Ancients (Skulduggery Pleasant #1) by Derek Landy (finished - 324 pages)
Shadow and Bones (The Grisha Trilogy #1) Leigh Bardugo (started and finished - 358)

Book(s) Currently-Reading:
I haven't made any headway on The Half-Made World and haven't really started anything else as of midnight.

Pages Read Today: 682

Total Number of Books Read(BookTube): 8

Total Number of Pages Read(BookTub): 2,518

Total Books Read(treesofreverie): 11

Total Pages Read(treesofreverie): 3,243

Notes:
I really enjoyed Skulduggery Pleasant much more then I expected to, for some reason. It was really, really good and I loved the dialogue and how all the characters spoke and interacted and that it was taking place in Dublin, Ireland. I ordered the next book in the series, it'll just miss the BookTubeAThon.

I've been meaning to read Shadow and Bone since it came out and the third, and last in the trilogy, just came out so I decided I really needed to just read it now that I could marathon the series. I really enjoyed it, too, it was very high action and it surprised me at a few points.

I feel I rate young adult, middle grade, and adult books all very differently based on some check list in my head that I could never explain. Anyway - that's not the point of this notes section, but rambling sleep deprived.

How is your reading going? What are you currently-reading? Participating in the read-a-thon or not.

Book Review: Everything Leads to You

Title: Everything Leads to You
Author: Nina LaCour
Genre: Contemporary, Romance (LGBT) - young adult
Rating: 5/5
Page Count: 307 (hardcover)
Publication Date: May 15th, 2014

Plot: (from Goodreads)

A love letter to the craft and romance of film and fate in front of—and behind—the camera from the award-winning author of Hold Still.

A wunderkind young set designer, Emi has already started to find her way in the competitive Hollywood film world.

Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamorous past, and lives an unconventional life. She’s enigmatic…. She’s beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance.

Review:

I don't know if I can be articulate and intelligent about this book, I've been rolling in my head around how to review this book since I finished it. And I just keep coming back to these same words to describe it:

gorgeous, beautiful, breathtaking, awe inspiring, fantastic

And I think that says a lot, if not everything, but I want to try and be more specific then just a few words. Though they are very good words, I feel like they might not be considered a full review.

We're going to start with the characters, because characters are most important to me. The characters felt very real to me, and I think my favorite part about this was Emi's job. I mean they were more mature then most teenagers are, but that doesn't make it unrealistic, and they weren't perfect and were very much still teenagers, they didn't make perfect decisions and while it's a little infuriating, as the one reading it, it makes them more real.

That another point - the writing. I don't know what I can say about the writing, besides that it was lyrical and beautiful and made everything seem brighter somehow, more important and more beautiful. I'm just going to get to the end of this review, it's going to be short and sweet because I start to fangirl about words.

Basically: read it.

This book made me cry at a few points, and then made me laugh while I was crying. The writing, the characters, the plot - the last paragraph or two of this book is my favorite and I wish I could share it with you without spoiling the whole story. 

BookTubeAThon - Day Three | treesofreverie - Day Seven

Today was even a worst day for reading for me - but there was one point where I just decided not to force myself to read and try again tomorrow. I'm a little annoyed at myself, but since I'm such a mood reader, I can't change that.

Number of Books Completed Today: 0

Book(s) Currently-Reading:
(Skullduggery Pleasant #1) - Scepter of the Ancients  by Derek Landy (started - 92 pages)
The Half-Made World (The Half-Made World #1) by Felix Gilman (started - 31 pages)

Pages Read Today: 123 pages (that's a sad number to see)

Total Number of Books Read: 6

Total Number of Pages Read: 1,836

treesofreverie total page count and books finished: 2, 561 | 9 books

Notes:
The reason Skullduggery is listed like that up there is because it was originally just called that, but apparently the first book is now called Scepter of the Ancients - at least that's what I think I'v figured out, maybe it's just a US thing, I don't know, but that's what my book says in large letters.

Anyway - I hope tomorrow is going to be better, I think it will, and I hope I finish a book tomorrow. I'm not sure if I'll keep going with The Half-Made World for this read-a-thon, just because I don't want to rush through it, and I kind of want to read it for the Underrated Books read-a-thon, but I don't think I'm going to participate in that because too much pressure and LeakyCon.

And now I'm rambling and I'm so, so exhausted I think I'm delirious. I could of finished all the challenges today if I'd just finished one book, but oh well.

I hope your day was good and you got some pages read. Leave me a comment telling me what you read, even if you're not participating in BookTubeAThon or treesofreverie.

BookTubeAThon - Day Two | treesofreverie - Day Six

Today was, obviously, not as good of a reading day as yesterday - I don't think it could of been. Anyway, to explain.

Number of Books Completed Today: 1

Book(s) Completed:
Severed Heads, Broken Hearts (aka: The Beginning of Everything) by Robyn Schneider (started and finished - 335 pages)

Book(s) Currently-Reading:
Also haven't started anything, might before I go to sleep, but will be tomorrow by then.

Pages Read Today: 335

Total Number of Books Read(BookTubeAThon): 6

Total Number of Pages Read(BookTubeAThon): 1,713

Total Books Finished for treesofreverie: 9

Total Pages read for treesofreverie: 2,438

Notes:
Today was a little rough. I went through the normal struggles of what do I read next ahhh and that was fine, and I ended up reading and finished The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider (I have the UK edition and, in my head, it'll always be the severed heads book). Which was amazing and I'm really glad I finally got to it, I am actually honestly embarrassed how long it took me to get to.

And then the day went a little down hill in general, hopefully tomorrow will be better and I can get some more reading done, especially then today.

Anyway - that book knocked out the challege of reading a book that someone picks out for you. So I've so far completed 4 challenges, I believe (read a book with pictures in it, red on the cover. start and finish a series, and a book someone picked out - I think that's all the ones I've completed)

Day One / Day Five wrap - up

BookTubeAThon - Day One | treesofreverie read-a-thon - Day Five

Day one of the BookTubeAThon read-a-thon and day five of the treesofreverie read-a-thon! I was hesitant to do a read-a-thon inside a read-a-thon, but it also sounded fun and I caved under the avalanche of TBR videos that I saw this week - and I had a ton of fun last year and such. So - here I am, still not vlogging, but still participating.

I hope to be able to knock out all of the challenges by the end of the week and read as much as I can today, put as much time as I can into reading, maybe tomorrow, too, we'll see how it goes.

Number of Books Completed Today: 5

Book(s) Completed:
Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh (started and completed - 371 pages)
In the Shadows by Kiersten White, Jim Di Bartolo (started and completed - 384 pages)
I Think I Am In Friend-Love With You by Yumi Sakugawa (started and completed - 128 pages)
Boxers (Boxers and Saints #1) by Gene Luen Yang (started and completed - 325 pages)
Saints (Boxers and Saints #2) by Gene Luen Yang (started and completed - 170 pages)

Book(s) Currently-Reading:
I haven't started anything new that I haven't finished this read-a-thon. Unsure what I'll be diving into tomorrow, but we shall see.

Pages Read Today: 1,378

Total Number of Books Completed for treesofreverie: 8

Total Pages for treesofreverie: 2,103

Notes/Thoughts:
I didn't start at midnight like I have for other read-a-thons. I really didn't start reading until probably noon and then after I was finished with In the Shadows I ended up on my laptop to try and complete my 2k for the day (It's a goal to write 1-2k every day, travel/con days are free days, maybe a read-a-thon day).

And - I ended up reading much more then I thought I would be able to today, since I've been in a bit of a reading slump since the end of June. It's about 9:30 as I'm writing this and I'm completely exhausted - reading is tiring work.

Now onto the challenges I was able to knock out today, as I was writing that, I just realized all of the books I read today counted towards the book with pictures in it challenge - all of them. Also red on the cover  is in there twice. And then I actually did start and finish a series with the Boxers and Saints duology, which was actually a complete accident. I was trying to figure out, with a little over two hours left, if there was a way I could do all of the challenges in one day (I should of thought of this easier) but it seems like that might be a tad impossible, but just a tad.

Anyway, it was a great first day for me. An unprecedentedly good day - do not expect this to possibly every happen again. Ever.

How was your first day of the read-a-thon? If you're taking part. If you are or not: what are you currently reading? How is it? Also - have you read any of the books I read today? Opinions?

The books

#BookTubeAThon | TBR and more

I cannot say no to a read-a-thon, apparently, which is just a tad ridiculous, in all honesty. Mostly because I am also participating in the treesofreverie read-a-thon (which is hosted on Tumblr, but it's everywhere). And if you've been following me at all, on anywhere, you know I don't stick to TBRs, normally a book or two, but never more then that, and I feel like read-a-thons are even worse for this.

I don't have really many goals or plans for this read-a-thon inside a read-a-thon (read-a-thonception) but I'd like to finish a book everyday. I'm going to list the challenges below and my plans on how to finish those, because I do loves the prompts/challenges for reading.

A book with pictures
I have kind of two options, though I do have quite a few still unread graphic novels, but I think it'll either be In the Shadows by Kiersten White and Jim Di Bartolo or Hyberbole and a Half by Allie Brosh.

Start and finish a series
I have a surprising amount of series that I just - have and haven't started or finished yet, but an even higher number of series that I've read the first or second book in. I have a few choices for this one, and I have made no decsion at all yet.
Shadow and Bones trilogy
The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy
Under the Never Sky Trilogy
Eon/Eona duology

Book With Red on the Cover
Well some of the books I've listed as possibly reading have read on the cover, so we're assuming I'll finish this somehow.

A book someone else picks out for you
I also have options for this, because variety is the point of this TBR. I asked my mom and my best friend. My mom picked Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi (weirdly good taste in books there, mom) and Haley picked The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider (don't throw anything, I know I know, but I always end up putting off books by people I know).

A book from a genre you haven't read much of this year
There are two genres I'm going to mention that I haven't read much of this year: horror and crime/mystery. If I got horror, I'll most likely read or reread something of Stephen King's and if I go crime/mystery probably the next In Death book.

A book to movie adaptation
I started a reread of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and never ended up finishing it and I kind of would (just the first book, of course, well for this week). And I do ridiculously enjoy that movie, as well, so that's kind of my only plan at the moment.

Read seven books
I'll definitely be getting there, I think, it is a goal of mine to read a book a day.

So that is my kind of plan for the BookTubeAThon, I've been holding off on reread The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson even though I'm also kind of dying to read it. I'm hoping to post daily updates, I don't know honestly how much I'll be getting read. Here's how the updates will go, the update for day one of the BookTubeAThon will go up on the second day and so on - this is how I do Bout of Books so if you've been on my blog before this shouldn't be weird. They're going to be a day delayed, probably posted early in the morning of the next day.

If you're doing the BookTubeAThon or the treesofreverie read-a-thon (or the underrated read-a-thon that starts on the 21st, that I am ridiculously considering), then make sure to leave a comment with your link below so I can check out your blog or YouTube channel

First update: treesofreverie read-a-thon

I decided against doing daily updates, because I knew I wasn't going to be splurging to read all the books, all the time, because this is a long read-a-thon and I didn't want to make my slump worse. I wanted to kind of nudge back into reading so I could finally get some done, and these seems like a very casual and fun read-a-thon, and so far it is.

So I'm going to update the last few days in the style of how I'd do my Bout-of-Book updates but a tad tweaked.

Day One
I started and finished Take a Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg (278 pages), which was fun and a fast read (3/5 stars) to get me started with a book finished, and I've had this on my shelf for probably over two years now, I'm glad I was finally able to read it.

I didn't get much else read before day one ended because I've been trying to write at least 1k everywhere, 2k is better, and I didn't want to give that up right away, maybe for some days.

Total pages read as of day one: 278

Day Two
I had a bout of insomnia so from about 1am to 4am, I was awake with nothing to do, mostly just browsing through social media aimlessly, before deciding to read a book. I started and finished Girl with Guitar by Caisey Quinn (210 pages), which I also gave 3/5 starts. It was fun and quick, and was apparently my first New Adult book.

I also read slightly more, after getting some sleep, The Queen of the Tearling. I'd had an eARC and was reading it, but I got stalled in it for some reason, just shy of halfway through, but it's a book I want to take slow and savor because it's fantastic so far. I'm not even done, but I'd highly recommend it. I read  pages of it today, so that means...

Pages read on day two: 243
Total pages read as of day two: 521

Day Three
Well now - day three! Normally I start out the day by reading during a read-a-thon, but today was a tad different because I'm going to LeakyCon at the end of the month and a certain thing went on sale for the conference today - and so I spent the morning freaking out about it, it happened and I got 2/3 people in our group them, and then spent a lot of the day calming down. Because apparently that's how I am, just thinking about it now is causing more stress (I'm writing this the same day and it's about 5pm and I feel so bad about not getting all three but it did sell out n like 7 minutes).

And now we're going to stop talking about this because I'm sure none of you care, I'm sorry, onto the book/reading I got done, which wasn't a lot.

The only thing I read was I started and finished Losing It by Cora Carmack, which I gave 2.5or3/5 stars.

Pages read on day three: 204
Total pages read: 725

Day Four
I decided, at the very beginning of the day, to focus more on preparing for the week / rest of the month. I'd decided to participating in the BookTubeAThon on top of this one, because it seemed like a lot of the bookish people I followed were doing that one, and that really pushes me to read more when everyone else is posting updates and talking about it and such, I love that.

And I might, hope but I'm not sure, to be posting daily updates. I'm going to just assume not in video form, since I still haven't started doing that, but there will be updates here in blog form. And tell me if you're participating and make sure to link me to your blog/YT channel/where you're updating.

Challenges/Prompts completed:
Book you've never heard of before
Fun/light read
a contemporary book

Musing Mondays (4): Genre Reading Binges

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!

This past year I feel like I've ended up binge reading a lot of genres. I've never done it before, at least consciously or in a way I've noticed. I've read a few books in a genre in a row or whatever, but this is different. 

So let me just list my recent binge reading, that has happened:

• My first really big genre binge, I believe, would be reading the first ten volumes of the Attack on Titan manga in January. 

• In April - I ended up on a Science Fiction binge because of The War of the Worlds and a non-fiction book called Paradox, which kind of turned into a space opera binge, even though I'd never really read much before. 

• Beginning of June, about the first two weeks almost - I read two graphic novels, before binge reading the entire Fruits Basket series in a reread I've been wanting to do for a while. 23 volumes.

• Most recently, also in June, I fell into a contemporary rabbit hole. This is particularly weird because normally I don't read contemporary, it's a certain mood for me and it's very rare, but I read fourteen books in ten days (a few of which weren't contemporary, but most of them were). It started on June 14th with Everything Leads to You by Nina Lacour, and ended on the 21st, mostly because of packing to go to VidCon.

I've noticed a kind of theme - it ends up being genres that I don't read a lot of. Well, I've read a bit of manga in my time, but considering how much of it there is, it feels like almost nothing. But with the Space Opera and the Contemporary - the genered fiction, it was rare I read it, but I owned some and knew the ones that'd peaked my interest or had gotten great reviews over the years.

It was like since I hadn't read much - there was all of this that I knew I was going to read and could read through easily. Of course, there's a ton of books in fantasy or another genre that I own and know I'm going to love, but it feels different for some reason. It's like the genre tropes are new to me and so everything feels new and shiny and fun.

This is a new thing for me, a just this year thing for me. But I'm curious if any of you have done this. On purpose or not on purpose. I did mean to marathon Fruits Basket, as I'd finally collected all the volumes, but the others just kind of - happened by accident.

Questions for you to answer in the comments, if you wish: does this sound familiar to you? Do you like binge reading - whether it be genres in general or just series? And then - what genre have you read the least in / gotten the least into? Am I just crazy? (Mmh, I might end up doing a separate post on binge reading, I know there's been talk about it).

Book Review: Fire and Flood (Fire and Flood #1)

Title: Fire and Flood (Fire and Flood #1)
Author: Victoria Scott
Genre: Science Fiction (dystopian, survival, adventure) - young adult
Rating: 4/5
Page Count: 366 (paperback)
Publication Date: March 6th, 2014

Plot: (from Goodreads)

A modern day thrill ride, where a teen girl and her animal companion must participate in a breathtaking race to save her brother's life—and her own. 

Tella's brother is dying. He's got cancer, and Tella is helpless to save him. Or so she thought. When an invitation arrives for Tella to compete in the Brimstone Bleed, a deadly competition that will lead her through treacherous jungle and scorching desert, she doesn't think twice. Because the prize is a cure to any illness. But Tella will be facing more than just the elements.

Review:
I know there's been so many comparisons between this and The Hunger Games and while they do have some basic similarities (doing some for a young sibling, a screwed up society, a game), they're also very different, different enough I had trouble seeing where people who'd read the book compared it to that, because those themes are in a lot of books.

First off let's talk - pandoras, which are the animal companions in this book. They continue to make me think of Pokemon, and they might of been one of my favorite parts of this world. It's so interesting and I want to learn more about them and you do learn a bit, but not a lot.

I did really enjoy this book, but - I had a few small problems with it which is why it's not five stars, they weren't huge issues. That is to say, that didn't bring me out of the story or stop me from enjoying it. The characters were good, but I felt like we didn't get to know any of them really well but our narrator. It also felt like the world was, not under developed, but too... present, there didn't seem to be any other future things because the pandoras and the game.

 Overall - I would recommend this book to some people. It's fun and entertaining and packs a lot of action into a book that's less then 400 pages.

Friday Finds (4)

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.

One Man Guy  by Michael Barakiva
I'm not sure if I'll end up picking this one up or not, I just haven't decided. It sounds good - it's a young adult LGBT contemporary about a guy in high school, and, from the description. Also - love, drama, family, and it's been getting pretty good reviews - we'll see.
Goodreads

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover
I'd seen this around a few times, before my random contemporary kick, but then I ended up looking into it after yet another glowing, five star review. It sounds interesting and there's music involved, but I haven't caved and bought it. Yet.
Goodreads

Falling into Place by Amy Zhang
This has also been getting good reviews, but it doesn't come out until September. It sounds - extremely sad, but also the description peaked my interest with a talk of an 'unexpected narrator' and the physics, apparently physics is now a weakness of mine or one of my buzz words/themes.
Goodreads

The Vault of Dreamers by Caragh M. O'Brien
This sounds very interesting, also not out until September. Science Fiction, Dystopian - about a prestigious school where the lives of the students are televised.
Goodreads

Say Her Name by James Dawson
This plays off the urban legend of Bloody Mary, and I've read and watched a few things based on this and for some reason I kind of love it. And this sounds really good - horror, mystery.
Goodreads

Famous in Love by Rebecca Sterle
Okay this doesn't have the best reviews on goodreads, but I've read all of the normal person ends up dating famous person books and they're super addicting. Even though none of them are exactly what I want, This is What Happy Looks Like probably go the closest (the dealing with the paparazzi). So if you know of any, don't be shy, please, and let me know in the comments.
Goodreads

Harry's Last Stand: How the World My Generation Built is Falling Down, and What We Can Do to Save It by Harry Leslie Smith
I first heard about this from Leana at kissmyfrog (her YouTube channel, the specific video). It's an audiobiography and kind of a political essay, I think is a good way to describe it. I haven't read it, or even been able to buy it, but apparently it's very good - relevant and painfully truthful from what I've heard.
Goodreads

What have you discovered recently? And have you heard of / read / or just discovering these books?

Read-A-Thons(s)? | treesofreverie, booktubeathon

Yes - more read-a-thons. I'm not sure if I'm going to technically be taking part in the BookTubeaThon since I'm not going to be posting videos or anything (at least I don't think I am. There's a slight problem in that my computer has stopped acknowledging memory cards). First off, explaining what these two read-a-thons are.

BookTubeaThon - takes place on the YouTubes, you might of heard of it. It is taking place from the 14th to the 20th of July (the twitter says 21st, but I think it's a mistake, because the 20th makes it a full week). The other reason I might not technically take part in this, is because these two read-a-thons overlap, but I guess I might. There's some challenges that you don't have tot ake part in. And now here are links for more information:

YouTube channel, twitter

treesofreverie read-a-thon is a tumblr read-a-thon. That is very long and it looks like it's full of fun, there's a whole post for possible challenges to do and there's a bunch of people signed up. It runs from today, 10th of July, until the 1st of August. It's too later to 'official' sign up and get on the fancy list but that doesn't mean you can't participate.

the tumblr
the post of challenges
Sarah (the girl whose tumblr it is) twitter
FaceBook event

I don't really have any idea or set TBR, not that any of the TBRs I make are ever really set. However, I'm currently-reading quite a few books, nothing ever changes, and there are a lot of books I'd like to get to soon. And lists never hurt anyone, right?

• The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen (currently-reading, have been for a while. I don't know why I stalled in it because it's fantastic and amazing)
• The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (still currently-reading, would love to finish this before the end of the month)
• Others currently-reading: The Final Empire, Mortal Danger, Saint City Sinners, The Glass Sentence

Books I'd like to devour soon:

• The Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne
• My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
• The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith
• Hyberbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
• In the Shadows by Kiersten White and Jim Di Bartolo
• Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
• Hounded by Kevin Hearne

And there's more, but those are the ones just kind of off the top of my head / what's next to me waiting to be read next / what just came in the mail so I'm most excited for it.

I know I won't be doing daily updates here, but I don't know how I'm going to do updates, maybe every few days or just a week, I'll figure it out as it goes along. If you want to know real time, though, there are ways: twitter, instagram, goodreads, tumblr(which isn't strictly books)

Are you participating in either of these read-a-thons? Or in one I might not know about? Leave me a comment to let me know and let me know the first book you plan on picking up, and why that one. 

Book Review: Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery #1)

Title: Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery #1)
Author: Kim Harrison
Genre: Young Adult (Urban Fantasy, Supernatural - angels)
Rating: 4/5
Page Count: 232 (paperback)
Publication Date: May 22nd, 2009

Plot: (from Goodreads)
My name is Madison Avery, and I'm here to tell you that there's more out there than you can see, hear, or touch. Because I'm there. Seeing it. Touching it. Living it.

Madison's prom was killer—literally. For some reason she's been targeted by a dark reaper—yeah, that kind of reaper—intent on getting rid of her, body and soul. But before the reaper could finish the job, Madison was able to snag his strange, glowing amulet and get away.

Now she's stuck on Earth—dead but not gone. Somehow the amulet gives her the illusion of a body, allowing her to toe the line between life and death. She still doesn't know why the dark reaper is after her, but she's not about to just sit around and let fate take its course.

With a little ingenuity, some light-bending, and the help of a light reaper (one of the good guys! Maybe . . . ), her cute crush, and oh yeah, her guardian angel, Madison's ready to take control of her own destiny once and for all, before it takes control of her.

Well, if she believed in that stuff

Review:
I picked this book up for, basically, three (four) reasons: it reminded me of the show Dead Like Me, I'd heard good things about the authors other series, and I adored the covers (it also didn't hurt it was only like $2 on BookOutlet). Mainly - the part where it reminded me of Dead Like Me, which has been over for years at this point, but that was one of my favorite shows when it was airing (it still kind of is).

This book did remind me of it at parts, besides the basic plot, but this book was also much different then what I was expecting (and then that show). It had depths I didn't expect and was much more complicated, the world, then the synopsis brought me to believe. Basically, it surprised me, but in a really good way.

Overall - this book was good, even really good. It had great characters, who I was interested in, and sprinklings of humor through out. And it was a really fast read, and it's not a long book by any means, but it was a definite page turner - I wanted to know what was going on and what was going to happen next.

I've seen other reviews of saying they left like they were missing details because they hadn't read the noevella in Prom Nights From Hell (an anthology about, you guessed it, bad prom nights) which apparently has the full story of the night where Madison's life flipped upside down - and I could see where it would of been helpful to read, but they did explain what happened, it wasn't just left blank, so I didn't feel like it was necessary to read or like I missing anything.

Before I ramble on more - I'd definitely recommend this book. It's a quick, pretty light read about a girl who technically dead. And who doesn't love books about people who are technically dead?

July 2014 TBR

I haven't read anything since I finished Amy and Roger's Epic Detour on the 21st of June so hopefully I'll be getting back into reading again soon. But after that reading month, I wouldn't be too upset - or too surprised really - to not get as much reading done this month (hell, I kind of expect to never read that many books again).

I'm, of course, currently reading way too many books, as always. And LeakyCon (a Harry Potter convention) is at the end of the month so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to read. I want to finish The Name of the Wind, which I'm about halfway through, and some of those other currently-reading books (Queen of the Tearling, Mistborn, and many more).

Also I might reread The Way of Kings before moving onto Words of Radiance. There are others I'm thinking of, such as:

• Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
• My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
• Hounded by Kevin Hearne

It all depends, really, I don't want to push myself to read if I"m really not feeling like it because I know it'll just make the slump worse. So, hopefully, that doesn't happen. I'm also way behind in reviews, I have a bunch I want to review from last month and a series review of Fruits Basket, which I'm still not sure how to do.

What did you read in June and what are you planning to read in July? Have you read any of the books I'm planning on - tell me what you thought!

June 2014 Wrap-Up

Another month gone by! I read a lot of things this month, considering I reread the entire Fruits Basket mange, which is 23 volumes. And it was such a good month of reading for me. And mostly in the last two weeks. I wasn't feeling in the mood for reading after I finished my Fruits Basket reread, but then I was - and I kind of read all I could in that time. And ended up going on a contemporary binge - which isn't a genre I read a lot of just because I like fantasy aspects, but I wasn't feeling good so I wanted something easier to read, lighter, and contemporary has no intense world building.

So I'm going to list the books below:

• Watchmen by Alan Moore (4/5)
• Coffin Hill, Vol 1: Forest of the Night by Caitlin Kitteridge (4/5)
• Fruits Basket Vols 1 - 23 by Natasuki Takaya (5/5)
• Fire and Flood (Fire and Flood #1) by Victoria Scott (4/5)
• Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour (5/5)
• Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony (3/5)
• The Inventor's Secret (The Inventor's Secret #1) by Andrea Cremer (5/5)
• The Fear Trials (The Murder Complex #0.5) by Lindsay Cummings (3/5)
• Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus by P.C. Martin (4/5)
• Sea of Shadows by Kelly Armstrong (5/5)
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (reread - 5/5)
• Burn for Burn by Siobhan Vivian, Jenny Han (3/5)
• Open Road Summer by Emery Lord (5/5)
• Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (3/5)
• Rock On by Denise Vega (4/5)
• Catch a Falling Star by Kim Culbertson (4/5)
• This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith (5/5)
• Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson (5/5)

I haven't reviewed any of them yet, but I'm rolling a few around in my head to review. If you want to see a review of a certain book - let me know.

Number of books read in June 2014: 40

I found my 'fancy' camera, and had the sudden urge to photograph everything. Not all the books I read were physical this month, but a large chunk of them were.

My favorite book I read this month - an amazing contemporary, which did kick off my contemporary binge.

Volume One and Twenty Three (the last one) of Fruits Basket - love this series, so glad I reread it.