Hello,
I hope y’all are having a great week so far. I’ve been off for the last few days so I’ve mostly been catching up on Goodreads stuff and planning for the new year. I have quite a few post ideas coming up over the next couple of weeks along with some new ideas that I am thinking about trying out too. Toward the beginning of the summer I pretty much dropped off the planet and I think I only posted a couple of posts between August and December. During that time, school had started back up so I wasn’t really reading as much as I had in May, June, and July, though I did pick up a few short books that had been on my radar. My biggest accomplishment last year was finally graduating from school in December. I’ve mostly been working and trying to save up some money while I look for a better job and figure out what I want to do after college.

I’ve also been watching more shows on HBO Max which is my current addiction as they just added a whole bunch of DC movies and I have been in a HUGE batman kick lately. Recently, I finally finished titans season 2 and just started episode 1. I’m loving it since my favorite character, Jason Todd, is in it, but I never realized at how dark and intense it was going to get. It’s slightly predictable but I can’t wait to see what happens with season 2 (even though I kind of already do know some of it), and I am super excited for season 3 whenever it airs. I don’t know why I was ever skeptical about the show when it first came out. Its far from perfect, but its keeping my attention at the moment. I also watched the first Wonder Woman movie and loved it but WW1984 was kind of a mess for me so I was a bit disappointed since they really hyped it up. I also really want to watch Constantine, one of the rare Keanu Reeves movies I haven’t seen yet and I want to go back and watch some of the animated movies that I haven’t seen. I thought about posting some of the movies that I watched last year and what is on my list to watch for the first half of the year (mostly backlist movies), so if that is something that sounds interesting let me know. Now that I don’t have school to worry about anymore, January seems like it’s going to be a quiet month so I’m mostly playing catch up on reading, blogging, and movies along with working.

December Wrap-up:

Back in November, right around Thanksgiving actually, I discovered this readathon and thought it was the most hilarious thing that I’d seen and knew I had to sign up. The readathon itself is called Clear Your Shit Readathon and ran from November-December 26. The creators came up with a whole story background and a narrator that had a sense of humor that I appreciated. Basically the premise of the story is that there are these books that are falling on a fictional town and a wizard has hired us to get to the witch who is supposedly the one who caused all of the ruckus. It’s basically a readathon to help you clear some books off your shelves before the end of the year and I loved it so much that I definitely plan to participate in next year’s readathon. I’ll have the name linked up to it’s twitter page since it described the readathon much better than I did.

Anyways, there were 24 prompts, along with a side quest that I wasn’t able to do, but I read a grand total of 21 books in December which made December my best reading month of the entire year both with pages and the amount of books that I enjoyed.

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1. Your Journey Begins – Read your shortest book: An elderly Lady is up to no Good by Helene Tursten – I had a couple of other books above this one that seemed smaller but they didn’t have page numbers on my Goodreads list so I chose this one. It was definitely an interesting one (3.5-4 stars).
2. You need supplies, duh – on shelf the longest – Salvage (#1) by Alexandra Duncan – This one was a reread and took me about as long as the first time to finish (4 stars).
3. You can’t go alone – Book about found family/heist/group of people – Relative Strangers by Paula Garner – Picked this one up on a whim when I saw it at the library…Wasn’t a big fan unfortunately (2 stars).
4. You’re probably late – Read a book with an animal in – Nocturne (#2) by Christine Johnson – I read Claire de Lune waay back in high school, a decade ago, and remember really enjoying it. I could not for the life of me remember if I had read this one and since it worked for a spell-it-out challenge I picked up on Goodreads I decided to get it. This one portrays werewolves so I figured it would work for the prompt. It was also meh (2 stars).
5. There’s an Ogre blocking your path – Intimidating book – Tess of the Road (#1) by Rachel Hartman – I received an arc of this on Netgalley two years ago and it has been staring at me ever since. I was pretty proud of myself for being able to finish it (3 stars).
6. First night Camping, Fun – Scary book – Asylum (#1) by Madeleine Roux – I’m not quite sure what made me want to pick this one up but I do know that I want to finish up this trilogy and it is also a reread for me since it’s been ages from the first time I read it. It was as intense as I remember it and I thoroughly enjoyed it (4 stars).
7. Aww Shit, its a mini Boss battle – If You’re Oh…You didn’t like my options? – Least anticipated book – Uglies (#1) by Scott Westerfeld – This one was a little better than I thought it would be, but it was kind of meh. It was another one of those that had been on my TBR shelf for ages so I was glad to have finally read it (3 stars).
8. You lived? – Free space – The love interest by Cale Dietrich – Another book that has been on my shelf for a long time and a surprising one as I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy it. Would recommend it (4 stars).
9. Local Pubs are cool, I guess – Read a fantasy book – Ash princess (#1) by Laura Sebastian – I moved a couple of books around the list so this one did not get added to my collage of pictures, but I thought I would choose this one which is also another reread. It was a bit slow and kind of repetitive a few times, but I still thought it was interesting and would highly recommend it (4 stars).
10. Supplies are expensive? Read your most expensive book – The time of contempt (#2) by Andrzej Sapkowksi – I really didn’t want to read this one at the time but I am glad I did since I decided later in the month to read my current favorite in the series, baptism of fire. I bought this one as a boxed set with the first 3 but was still pretty cheap from what I remember (4 stars).
11. We’re off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of…I mean witch – Pretty book cover – Truly Devious (#1) by Maureen Johnson – This was a fun read and a nice break from all of the fantasy and science fiction that I had been reading for the moment (4.5-5 stars).
12. A witch approaches – Read a magical book – The kingdom of back by Marie Lu – This one was also a bit different than what I normally read and while its gotten a lot of praise lately, I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I wanted to. Still a good read though (4 stars).
13. Hope you know how to swim – A water-themed book/blue cover – Everything that I thought I knew by Shannon Takaoka – Also another short book that took me longer to read than normal (2.5-3 stars).
14. The wizard approaches – Read a book with a character you’d want to fight – Contagion (#1) by Erin Bowman – This one was a surprising read and I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I thought, but it actually got pretty intense there for the most part (4 stars).
15. Friends suck sometimes – Read a book someone gifted/recommended to you – House of dragons (#1) by Jessica Cluess – I cheated just a little bit with this one since I don’t really have people at home recommend books often, but it would have probably taken me longer to pick this one up or I might not have if I hadn’t seen Elliot from Elliot Brooks raving about it and it definitely lived up to the hype.
16. Elves? Read a book you forgot about (what’s it about or the book entirely) – Dreamfall (#1) by Amy Plum – It’s been so long that I’d read this that I had forgotten certain scenes throughout the story. It was okay, a bit predictable, but still interesting (3.5-4 stars).
17. Another mini boss battle? Read a book you keep putting off – Batman: Nightwalker (#2) by Marie Lu – I’ve been enjoying the DC icon’s series so far though the first one was okay. It helps that I have been in a big Batman phase (I might as well say I have an addiction at this point thanks to Under the Red Hood) and found it more enjoyable than I might have otherwise. It was really funny to me because I could hear Alfred’s voice from the animated movies in my head as I was reading it. I’m also officially almost caught up with Marie Lu’s backlist so that is nice as well (4 stars).
18. Free space – An ember in the ashes (#1) by Sabaa Tahir – I still need to read the fourth book in the series so I decided to do a reread of this one since its been so long since the first time I picked it up. It was just as good as the first time and would highly recommend (4.5 stars).
19. The wizard…again? Read a book with a map in it – Children of Blood and Bone (#1) by Tomi Adeyemi – Sidenote, Its’ weird how only a couple of books in my December TBR had a map in them but now in my January TBR I have multiple books with maps in them. I was skeptical about this one at first, but enjoyed it a bit more than I thought I would (4 stars).
20. Tavern rest – Oldest book by publication date – The Haunting of hill House by Shirley Jackson – The only DNF of this month and one that I actually thought I would enjoy. I thought the story itself was interesting but about halfway through it still hadn’t really started for a 178 page book, and the main characters irritated me to no end. Not one I would recommend, sadly (1.5 stars).
21. The witches castle – Read a pre-order or library reservation – A Good Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (#1) by Holly Jackson – I read two mystery novels back-to-back that were kind of similar to each other but still ended up enjoying this one over the other one for some reason (4.5-5 stars).
22. Mirror, Mirror – Read a book with a shiny cover/ magical item in it – Neverwake (#2) by Amy Plum – While Dreamfall took me much longer to read, this one took me an afternoon or two to complete though I enjoyed it about the same as the first one. It was ok. I also really hate that cover, but it worked for the shiny cover prompt at least (3 stars).
23. No one takes my payment – Free book space – Baptism of Fire (#3) by Andrzej Sapkowski – I have no idea what compelled me to pick this one up but I completed it in two days so that’s a plus. Spoiler alert…It also made my Top Favorite books of the year and is my favorite witcher book to date. Now I just need to go find four and five (5 stars).
24. Final boss battle – Sword guild – Read a fantasy – Lady Smoke (#2) by Laura Sebastian – I enjoyed this one a lot more than book one though there were still some times where it dragged a bit in the middle. That ending though…it’s why I’m currently reading the third one and am excited to see how it ends (4.5-5 stars).
25. Your Journey Ends – ” Oh dear. Oh no. You…all died? How am I supposed to get paid now? What am I supposed to do? The wizard escaped and now you’re all dead?? Well…Thank you for participating in the first #clearyourshitreadathon…I gotta go search how to revive dead witness for my claims court situation…XOXO. Narrator.”

Overall, this was a very fun and hilarious readathon and one I highly recommend if you’re looking for one in November-December. I’m going to definitely try and do the second one this year. It looks just as exciting as the first one. This is is for my Nov-Dec wrap-up. Next is my January-Mid February TBR for a readathon that I have planned to participate in.

Hope you have a good day!

Marybeth

Hello,

I’m playing catch up on some old posts that I have wanted to do, so this is an extremely late May wrap-up but I still wanted to get it out.

 

May:

May was a very busy month with finishing up the spring semester and then starting work on a normal schedule again rather than working only weekends. I also participated in four readathons which was a lot even though they were relatively easy. I did manage to read 11 books in May which is low for me when I am on summer break though I also started a summer class that I needed to take which was really easy but took up most of my free time in between work.

 

Since I didn’t post information about the readathons that I participated in, I’ll just mention them and post links to the booktubers who hosted them.

In May I participated in two monthly readathons and two weekly readathons. The two monthly readathons were called medievalathon and Bookemonathon. Medievalathon is hosted by Holly from Holly Hearts Books . All you had to do for this readathon was read books to get you from prisoner all the way to Empress/Emperor. There were also several other prompts for different clothing, weapons, and even companion animals.

The other monthly readathon I participated in was Bookemon. I couldn’t find the original announcement for some reason so I am linking Team Mystic (Articuno) which are hosted by Sarah from Sarah-ndipity and Stef from Noveltea Corner.  This focuses around Pokemon, which was one of my favorite shows to watch when I was younger. I stopped watching it when it got to the newer stuff and they made ash younger again, but I still play the video games on Nintendo. I also got inspired to buy some of the older ones that I didn’t have anymore and found them really cheap on Ebay whereas everywhere else they were insanely expensive. With this readathon there was a list of Pokemon types such as dragon, water, fire, and grass that had coordinating prompts with them. I chose Dratini which was a dragon type. This meant that continuing a series would earn 200 cp points. There are also three teams based on the teams that are in Pokemon Go called Team Mystic, Team Valor, and Team Instinct. These are focused around the three legendary Pokemon from the original series Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos. There were also prompts along with each team that could count as extra points as well.

I didn’t do too bad with this readathon with reading 9 books that counted toward different prompts, but I do wish I had been able to read a little bit more.

I also did two weekly readathons this month which is Bout of Books and my favorite, though I don’t always get to participate because it always seems to start during my finals or the start of a new semester. This readathon was originally created by Amanda from from Amanda Shofner and now Kelly from Kelly Rubidoux Apple. I participated in it once or twice last year I believe and I hope to do it again toward the end of year if possible. This is a really low-key readathon that occurred during May 11-17. This link gives direct access to what the whole challenge is about and the things that you can do during this readathon. There are some daily challenges that go along with this but I don’t usually do these that often since I’m usually busy with work or school, but I do try to get some reading done here and there.

I ended up only reading about 2 books for this challenge which normally I read a few more than that, but I had also started Tome Topple around the same time which is hosted by Samantha from Thoughts on Tomes. This is a readathon that starts on May 9- May 22. This is where you basically read books that are 500+ pages and while I gave myself a unrealistic list of books that I thought I might get to I only read two books for this one as well.

So onward to the actual list of books that I read for the Month of May. The beginning of the month started out strong, but then kind of when downhill from there rating wise. Probably because I read all of my five stars at the beginning of the month and picked up the ones that I was less interested in later on.

1. Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott – I have very mixed feelings about this one as while the main character was grieving and angry, I think some of her actions were a bit much. This completed my first OWLs which was for Ancient Runes. (3 stars).
2. Shadow of the fox (#1) by Julie Kagawa – I don’t why, but I was very surprised by how much I really enjoyed this one. It was humorous and I really enjoyed all of the characters, though I think the character that I enjoyed the most was Okame, the wandering ronin. This also worked for my OWL in Transfiguration which was to read a book that had Shapeshifting in it. (5 stars).
3. The well of ascension (#2) by Brandon Sanderson – I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Sanderson’s works. I think if I had picked up his series when i was younger, he might have been one of my favorite fantasy authors. I have to admit though, that I never heard of him when I was in high school. I think I first heard of the Reckoners trilogy when I first started College. I’m not a big fan of the way that the book is layed out with the action starting at the beginning, then it kind of drags a bit in the middle, and then the action really picks up in the last 5-10 chapters or so. I definitely plan to read the rest of the series and other works by this author, but it will take me a while. This was read for Tome Topple. (4 stars)
4. Echoes between us by Katie McGarry – This one was an interesting read. It focuses on ghosts, but there are also other messages throughout the story. I liked the characters all right, but I love a good ghost story especially about haunted houses. (5 stars)
5. Renegades (#1) by Marissa Meyer – This was also another surprising read and while it was cheesy in some places, I still really enjoyed it. I also read this one for Tome Topple. (5 stars).
6. Evil Librarian (#1) by Michaela Knudson – It kind of goes downhill from here, but I am glad to have this one on my shelf. I’m not sure that I enjoy the school setting as much as I used to back when I was younger. This seemed to be a bit exaggerated as there was more drama that seemed a bit unnecessary, but it was all right. It helped with challenges on Goodreads which is really the only reason that I picked it up. As much as I like to complete series, I will not be continuing this one. (3 stars).
7. Murder on Edisto (#1) by Clark C. Hope – I thought I would love this since it is set in Edisto, SC which I have been to a couple of times, but unfortunately I had a hard time connecting with it. It’s also short which normally would make it easier, but I couldn’t stand the main character. This was another one of those where even though I feel like I understand what the character was going through, but some of the things she did seemed a bit overboard. I also didn’t really like the romance interest and the mystery itself didn’t really feel like much. It was just one of those books that I had a really hard time connecting with. (2 stars)
8. You slay me (#1) by Katie MacAlister – I’ve had this on my shelf right around the first time that I joined Goodreads, and it really wasn’t for me. This was another situation where I didn’t really care for the character or the romance interest again so I was glad to have it off my shelf. (2 stars)
9. Extraordinary people (#1) by Peter May – This one sounded interesting as it is set in Paris, but for some reason I don’t know if it was the main character or the other side plots, I didn’t really care for the mystery itself. This is another series that I won’t be continuing. (2.5 stars)
10. Four weeks, Five people by Jennifer Yu – This sounded like something that I would really enjoy, but it kind of fell flat to me. I couldn’t connect with the characters and while it is about mental health I felt that it didn’t really add anything new to the genre. (3 stars)
11. Close to famous by Joan Bauer – I read this one for the medievalathon readathon since I was attempting to do all of the prompts that were there, but this was another one that I didn’t like. The main character is supposed to be young, but the way that her tone was portrayed made her sound like an adult and it kind of put me off from the story a bit. While she had great goals, I feel like it was a little rushed as it seemed that she was handed opportunities in only a matter of months. I could be wrong since it has been a while since I read it, but I don’t know if I will read more from this author.
12. The starless sea by Erin Morgenstern – This one was a major disappointment and a DNF. Normally, I really don’t like to DNF books and I try to give myself at least a third of the way in before I quit. For this one, I only got about 50 pages in before the flowery language finally got to me. I don’t normally have a problem with flowery language as I have a few books that have done it well, but because there were so many metaphors it kind of jarred me from the story and I couldn’t get back into it. I may pick this up again when I am in the mood for it, but it might be a long time before I do.

 

So, this was what I read for May. This summer was an interesting one as I had more free time even though this was probably the lowest reading season that I’ve had so far. I did rediscover my love of video games, at least with the original Pokemon games, though so that probably played a part in it.

Marybeth

Hello,

I hope y’all are doing well so far this week. July has been another busy month and I can’t believe how fast it has gone by already. I’ve started thinking about school already, which starts a week earlier than when we normally go back. It’s going to be a completely different atmosphere this semester, but even though things are different I am really excited about it since it will be my last semester in school.

I also had a major dental surgery this past week and have been recovering but today starts my first day back to work and getting back into a normal schedule again, though I will miss just being able to hang out on the couch all day. I had originally thought I would get in a lot of reading, video games, and blogging, but I’ve only read two books and am in the middle of four at the moment. I also didn’t make much lead way in video games either. I did watch Ford vs. Ferrari this weekend though, and it was really good. I’m usually not a race car fan nor do I particular like Mark Wahlberg, but I really enjoyed this one and would highly recommend it.

Because this semester is going to be very busy especially with my thesis paper, I’ve decided that I most probably won’t have a TBR for the rest of the year at least until December after I graduate. I’ve seen a couple of people on YouTube talk about not having TBRs for the time being and I started thinking that it would be a good idea since I didn’t know how much I would be able to read during the next few months.

There are still about 6 books from my July TBR that I am reading which I am hoping to the wrap-up out in the next couple of days or so but I wanted to quickly mention them as I might use some for my NEWTs since I had just added them on the first of the month.

1. Replica (#1) by Lauren Oliver – Lauren Oliver is one of my favorite authors and I picked this one up to finish some challenges I was working on at Goodreads. This is one story with two characters but they are two different books in one. I read Gemma which is one side (you can actually read it three different ways from what I’ve heard but I found Gemma’s POV easier to start with) and it was alright. I think I was kind of hoping for a better ending than I got but then I realized that it is also a duology with Ringer being the second one so I am interested to pick that one up soon. I’ve started Lyra but I haven’t gotten very far with her story so far though it is a fast read.
2. Cross bones (#8) by Kathy Reichs – This one has been on my shelf for ages and I finally got to it after I read the first 7 books last year. They are all right though because I grew up with the TV show I enjoy it a lot more at least until up until the newer seasons came out. I haven’t gotten very far into this one yet either.
3. Light (#6) by Michael Grant – I have very mixed feelings about this one as I’ve felt that the series has gone a bit downhill since book three so I will be happy to have this series finished since I’ve been reading it over the last few years.
4. Muse of nightmares (#2) by Laini Taylor – I loved Strange the dreamer when it came out and immediately put this on my TBR when I heard it was going to be released, but it has been a while since I’ve read the first one so I am a little wary of going into it since I feel like I’ve gone out of my fantasy phase that I had been in for years.
5. Starsight (#2) by Brandon Sanderson – I have very mixed feelings about Sanderson’s novels. I’ve only read the first couple of the Mistborn series, the entire Reckoner trilogy, and this trilogy, but I actually liked Skyward better than I thought I would. It helps that It gives me Star Wars vibes and I read it around the time that I started a Star Wars watching phase. I even had a couple of fanfiction ideas situated around Star Wars right around the same time that I read the first one. I’ve only read a couple of chapters so far but I am enjoying what I am reading so it might be the first Sanderson novel that I really enjoy.
6. Wilder Girls by Rory Power – I’ve heard a lot about this one so I wanted to see if it would be something I would be interested in. It’s also the only standalone novel that I have for this month which is different. July has been a really good month of series continuations so far at least. I hope to get to this one over the next couple of days.
7. The hero of ages (#3) by Brandon Sanderson – I am currently listening to this one and am already at chapter 14. I have a couple of days left on this so I am hoping to finish it, but I will probably have to renew it. I’m actually enjoying listening to it more than I was when I was reading the physical copies of the first two.
8. One of us is next (#2) by Karen McManus – This is another audio book and one of my most anticipated books of the year that came out in January. I’m not very far into it and it is alright so far.

 

OWLs- Career and books I read in April: 

I discovered the Magical Readathon in the middle of April when I was in a small reading slump after the end of spring break. I was also getting ready for finals and the end of the Spring semester along with doing my classes from home since I moved out of my dorm right at the end of my Spring break.

For this readathon, I chose the Librarian career and needed to finish five books. Most of them were pretty easy to get to though there a couple where I had to change books around once I got to those prompts. The five classes that I needed to take for the OWLs were Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Defence against the dark arts, History of Magic, and Transfiguration.

• Ancient Runes – Heart on the cover/ or in the title – Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott (3 stars) – I really didn’t like the main character in this one and felt that even though she was mad and grieving throughout most of the book I felt that some of her actions were a bit much. I might have enjoyed it more if I’d read it when I was in high school.
• Arithmancy – From outside your favorite Genre – Historical Fiction – The duchess deal (#1) by Tessa Dare (5 stars) – This is probably going to be my most surprising book of the year because never in a million years would I have imagined picking up a historical romance genre and thoroughly enjoying it. Would highly recommend this one.
• Defence against the dark arts – Set at sea or by the coast – Plague (#4) by Michael Grant originally chose Murder at Edisto (#1) by C. Hope Clark – I originally picked up Murder on Edisto but wasn’t really connecting with the character so I put it down but then realized that I’d read Plague which is set in Perdido beach a small coastal town. Perdido beach is apparently located between Orange beach, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida.
• History of Magic – Features witches or Wizards – Blood of Elves (#1) by Andrzej Sapkowski (4 stars) – I actually really enjoyed the adaptation of this series, but I didn’t quite enjoy this one as much as I thought I would. I still liked it though and hope to continue the series.
• Transfiguration – Features Shapeshifting – Shadow of the fox (#1) by Julie Kagawa (5 stars). – This was also another surprising read for me, but then I realized that I have loved most of Kagawa’s books so I shouldn’t have been surprised by how much I enjoyed this. An even rarer occasion that I actually finished this trilogy in about two months.
• Extra class – Charms – (Aug TBR) – Lumos Maxima – White cover – Nemesis (#1) by Brandon Sanderson – I had originally planned this one for July but never got around to it, so when I needed a white cover I went ahead and added it. I’ll probably read it in August but I still need to finish my other library books before I start this one.

 

 

August – Last NEWTS TBR: 

This readathon is hosted by G at Book Roast over on YouTube. This is my first year doing this though I think I heard about it last year but never thought about doing it. I actually decided to do the OWLS right in the middle of April and managed to finish my last book in the first couple of weeks of May. I have an account on Twitter and get occasional emails but I don’t go on there actively nor am I a fan of it, but I have heard that this is the last NEWTS in light of what J.K. Rowling has said over the last few months. In my younger days during high school, I did get on twitter and I still have it automatically connected to my blog and Goodreads.

I have added a couple of classes to my career since Flourish and Blotts require an OWL in Charms so I went ahead and chose NEWTS for both Transfiguration and Charms even though I don’t particularly need them. I have 14  books for this TBR, though I also made a list of other books for the prompts just in case I need to change them around as I read them over the next few months. I have them in order for each prompt as well.

 

1. Nemesis (#1) by Brandon Reichs – I’ve been wanting to read this one for a while now so I am hoping to get to it over the next few months since I have a copy of the first books in this trilogy. This works for the white cover for the Charms class in OWLS.
2. Edge of dark (#1) by Brenda Cooper – Apparently this book is s spin-off of another trilogy by this author but I’ve seen a lot of low reviews for it and I’d have to read the whole trilogy before I get to this one so I just decided to go ahead and keep it. I may pick up the other books later on, but since I needed a bunch of titles that started with E this one popped up first. This works for the Author that starts with the letter B for the first prompt in Ancient Runes.
3. The haunting of hill house by Shirley Jackson – I’ve had this one on my shelf for ages and since I needed to read a classic I figured this one would be good since my other two are around 1,000 pages long and I might not have the time to get to them.
4. Always Emily by Michaela MacColl – This was one of those that I started but put down when I couldn’t get to it. This works for the books that need to be between 260-299 prompt and the third prompt for Ancient Runes. This is also one I want to have checked off my list before the end of the year.
5. The twisted ones by T. Kingfisher – This got added to books that I predicted would be five stars and works perfectly for the horror prompt for Defence against the dark Arts.
6. Shadows in the silence (#3) by Courtney Allison Moulton – This is another trilogy that has been on my TBR for a long time and I will be very glad to finish it if I can get to it before the end of the year. This is one of three different series that only have one book left to complete before I finish them. If I can get to it by the end of the year, I will be pretty happy about it. This works for the demons/water theme prompt for Defence against the dark Arts. I only needed two prompts for this class but if I am able to read more I may be able to get to the last prompt as well.
7. The wallflower wager (#3) by Tessa Dare – This was my most surprising read so far this year and I am continuing on with this series. The first two books focused on Emma and Alexandra so this one focuses on Penny. The duchess deal which was the first one is my favorite out of the ones that I read so far, but I am interested in seeing where this one goes. This works for the historical fiction prompt for History of Magic which I only need two books to complete this class.

 

1. You will know me by Megan Abbott – I started this one at the beginning of June I believe, and never really got to it since it was an audio book and the only way I could get it through Overdrive. This works for the mainly black cover for History of Magic and will complete my NEWTs for that class.
2. Get a life, Chloe Brown (#1) by Talia Hibbert – It seems that everyone is reading this book right now so I decided to add it to my TBR to see if it was something I would be interested in. I also realized that I don’t really have as many humorous contemporary books so this one will be read in between the other darker books that I have on my TBR. This works for the humorous book for Charms.
3. The bear and the nightingale (#1) by Katherine Arden – This is the only reread that I have on my TBR since I needed a book set in winter for my second prompt in Charms so I chose this one sine I never got to the rest of the trilogy. I loved it when I first read it since I love most books that focus around Russian history and folklore.
4. Crepuscule Vol. by Mirchi – I haven’t read a manga this year yet so I was a little surprised when I saw that I needed to read one for Charms. I chose this one which I think focuses on Vampires and works to complete a couple of other challenges I am working on at Goodreads.
5. Muse of Nightmares (#2) by Laini Taylor – I picked this one up in July, but I’ve just started to pick it up this month and found that it was perfect for the animal prompt for Transfiguration since it has a bird on the cover. I loved strange the dreamer, but it has been a long time since I have read it, so I am a little wary of this one, but I am excited to finish it. Since it is due back at the library soon this will be my first book to complete.
6. Tess of the road (#1) by Rachel Hartman – This book has been on every TBR for the last year or so I believe and I still haven’t gotten to it yet. I even got it approved from Netgalley before 2018 and for some reason I started it but put it back down. When I needed a book for the dragons/fire prompt in Transfiguration, I knew I would want to read this one so I can knock it off my TBR before the end of the year.
7. Hero at the fall (#3) by Alwyn Hamilton – My last prompt requires me to read a hardcover or one that I thought would be hard to read for Transfiguration, which was actually perfect because I got this one cheap on bookoutlet way back in May and its a hardback. It also completes a trilogy that I have been reading for a while now.

 

So this is what I have planned for the next few months. This will cover most of my Fall TBR since I am not doing monthly TBRs because of school. What are you guys reading this month? Are you participating in the last NEWTs?

Hope you guys have a great rest of the week!

Marybeth

 

Hello,

I hope you guys are having a great Wednesday afternoon. Its been kind of a lazy day so far. I read a little bit this morning and finally cleaned out my inbox since I had so many emails that I had saved to read later. I did have an afternoon phone conference that I needed to do and just ended that a little while ago. I’m now catching up on blog posts and I have two homework assignments that I would like to get to this evening as well.

This is of course later than I intended it to be, but finals kind of put everything on the back burner and I finally had a week off this week before I get back on a normal work schedule again. I plan to catch up on blog posts over the next couple of days so there will be about four more or so coming between tomorrow and Friday.

I finally made it through the spring semester even though I do have a summer class that I have to take. Its much more low key than my spring semester thankfully, but I do have a couple of days a week where I have to turn in homework assignments.

So, about halfway through the month, I discovered Discord through the monthly O.W.L.S. readathon based on Harry Potter, and decided to go ahead and join. I’ll have a separate post up for that where I’ll keep a record of the books that I read for that challenge. After that, I found a whole bunch of readathons that were occurring in May and of course decided to join since I knew I would have a more laid back schedule in May.

 

April Wrap-up: 

April was an interesting and incredibly busy month. April is one of those months during the year where I would either be able to squeeze in some reading or I would be so busy that I would be too tired most of the time to read. This was my last April of my school career so that is a plus. Right about the end of March I got into a reading slump that ended about halfway through April which was around the time that I signed up for owls.

Overall April was a relatively good reading month as I finished some books that I’ve been trying to read for ages which was nice. I also finished another trilogy, continued another series and started two other series as well.

1. Calamity (#3) by Brandon Sanderson – I’m probably going to be in the minority here, but it seems that Sanderson is a hit or miss for me. This is technically the first trilogy by him that I’ve read so far. The first one, Steelheart, was by far my favorite one of the three but then the other two felt kind of underwhelming after that (3 stars).
2. Blood of elves (#1) by Andrzej Sapkowski – I thought this one was interesting though I definitely found the novellas to be more entertaining. Since I watched the show before reading the series I was able to understand the books a little bit more though I was still a bit confused on ciri’s actual age. Other than that, it was different and a nice break from the fantasy that I used to read. I think I would have given it five stars if not for the fact that I’ve had a sort of falling out with fantasy at the moment. I’m not sure if that’s the right way to explain it, though as I still read some fantasy novels (4 stars).
3. Plague (#4) by Michael Grant – Oh boy. I admit that I struggled to get through this one. I’m pretty sure it put me in a reading slump because I was just not enjoying it as much as I thought I would. It was better than Lies, the third one, but if not for all of the drama in the book I think it could have been better. The mystery behind the Fayze was what really kept my interest though, and I am hoping that it will be looked into more in the fifth one (3 stars).
4. The duchess Deal (#1) by Tessa Dare – Never in a million years did I think I would pick up a book like this, but thanks To Reagan over at Peruseprojects, I decided to pick this up on a whim. I could definitely understand the hype on this trilogy and think it is well deserved as it became one of my favorite books of the year. I will eventually be reading the next two at some point (5 stars).

 

Overall, not a bad month of reading, though I did plan to read some other books that I had on my kindle which I unfortunately didn’t get to this month. I’m currently slowly working my way through The well of ascension by Brandon Sanderson, but it is slow going for me. I’m hoping to finish it by the end of the week so I can read other books that I have planned for this month.

Hello, I hope you guys are having a great Tuesday Morning. Its been chillier here than normal, but its supposed to get back up into the upper 80s again by the end of the week. I have this week off before I start work during the week again next week, so I’d thought I would get some long overdue posts out before things got busy again. I plan to have my May Wrap-up posted by tomorrow or Wednesday and I have 3 other readathons that I need to post as well over the next day or so.

For this post, I’m linking up to the Bout of Books readathon that runs from the 11th of May to May 17th. Its been over a year since I’ve last done one of these, but thought I would jump in since this is one of the quietest weeks I’ve had in a while. It’s definitely a nice break from the last few weeks of school and finals.

“The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It’s a weeklong readathon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 11th and runs through Sunday, May 17th in YOUR time zone. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are daily challenges, Twitter chats, and exclusive Instagram challenges, but they’re all completely optional. For Bout of Books 28 information and updates, visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team”

 

I don’t really have a set list of books to read for this challenge, as I am mostly just trying  to get back into reading after finals finished last week. I’m off this week, though I do have a couple of homework assignments for my summer class that started on Monday. It’s pretty low key from the spring semester, I will have a good amount of homework to do during the week.

Books I want to focus on this week:

1. The well of ascension (#2) by Brandon Sanderson – Reading this one for a buddy read for a monthly readathon that I am in this month. I’ve started it, but haven’t gotten very far yet.
2. Pretty girls by Karen Slaughter – I’ve heard a lot about this book and wanted to give it a try since I am getting back into mystery and horror novels.
3. Soul of the sword (#2) by Julie Kagawa – I just finished Shadow of the fox for my O.W.L.S. readathon from last month as it was the only book I couldn’t get to in April. I loved it so much I decided to pick up this one as well.
4. Tess of the road (#1) by Rachel Hartman – I’m not sure if I will get to this one yet, but I at least want to start it.
5. A feast for crows (#4) by George R.R. Martin – Another that I want to at least start this week. I”m currently reading it for Tome Topple since I’ve been trying to read it for the last year or so. Hopefully, this might give me more motivation to pick it up.
6. Con academy by Joe Schreiber – I thought I would throw in a short book just in case I feel that I don’t want to pick up any of the others after the well of ascension.

 

So, this is my list of books for this week. Most of them I probably won’t finish in a week, but I’m hoping to make a lot of progress with them. I’ll try to update at least every other day.

Hello,

I hope y’all are having a good week. This past week was my five anniversary of being on WordPress and I have some fun ideas coming up over the next week or so. April has been a bit hectic as we are in the last week of classes, hw and finals, so I haven’t had any time to do anything. I’ve also been in a reading slump toward the beginning of the month and of course got out of it right when things picked back up. Because I have so many books for May I thought I would do a separate post before adding my Wrap-up since I’m hoping that I will get one more book read before Friday. I highly doubt it though, the wrap-up will still be up around the first or so.

Not much has been going on lately as my schedule mostly consists of staying at home during the weeks for my classes and working on the weekend. I’m hoping to go back to a regular work schedule next week though since tomorrow is my last day of classes. I did take a day trip last week with my grandparents which was really nice and then I wanted to do a drive myself so I went to my library that is near my school yesterday. They are doing curbside pickups and are the only ones that are still semi-open so it was worth the drive. The library that I am closest to is still closed so I am limited to ebooks and books I own along with the few library books I had before.

We’ve had some crazy weather patterns lately so that has been an interesting change. We don’t normally get Tornadoes, but not only have we had some touch down but we’ve had two in the last two weeks. A couple of weekends ago my home county which is 45 min from where I currently live, had a EF-3 tornado come through. We also had an EF-0 tornado come about 4 miles from our house and we lost power for about 12 hrs. This past weekend we had three cells in the span of an hr and a half, but we only had an EF-2 come down in a city farther away from us. Surprisingly, and luckily, we didn’t have any wind damage from any of these storms even though we could have had some. That’s been about the only major thing going on here other than trying not to go stir crazy with the crazy amount of homework that I have to do. I’ve gotten a little behind so I am scrambling to get things done, but I am slowly getting there.

 

That is all of the updates that I have right now so onward to the TBR. I think this is the biggest TBR I’ve had in a long time and I partially blame Discord for this one as I found out about so many readathons through the O.W.l.S. discord for April. I signed up last minute and will have a post about that coming up. I have five books to read but I have only finished 2 out of the five so far. They are all relatively short so I am hoping to catch up over the next week or so even though it will be out of the time frame. I’m also thinking about signing up for N.E.W.T.S. even though it is also during my busiest time of the school year.

 

May TBR: 

So, I was putting May’s TBR together, I realized exactly how many books and readathons I had going on this month. So I figured out that there are 22 books, with two manga novels I have added.

I don’t normally do readathons, except for Bout-Books, which I will be doing even though it starts during my first week of summer classes. I am also participating in Medievalathon and Bookemon as well and will have a post up for those over the next couple of days or so. My last readathon is Tome Topple as I decided on a whim to join that one since I do have quite a few thick books to read for May.

A lot of these are books that I couldn’t get to this month so I won’t talk about those that much, though I will add a link to them.

1. The starless sea by Erin Morgenstern – This was on my list of 2019 books to read and never got around to it. I’m a bit excited but also nervous about t because I am not sure how I will enjoy it, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
2. Pretty girls by Karin Slaughter – I’ve just now started looking at more thrillers and horror novels and I’ve heard a lot about this one so I thought I would give it a try.
3. Con academyby Joe Schreiber – This is a book  I am using for a readathon for this month.
4. Echoes between us by Katie McGarry – I am actually reading this one now, but I probably won’t get to it again until the first week of may. Its one of my library books that I picked up back in March before everything shut down due to the virus.
5. Armada by Ernest Cline – I’ve been really excited for this one, but haven’t really gotten into it yet.
6. American Street by Ibi Zoboi – I’ve started this one but haven’t really been able to get into it. It’s interesting and tense, but for some reason I haven’t clicked with it yet. I’ll keep on reading it though.
7. Always Emily by Michaela MacColl – Another one I’ve started but haven’t finished
8. Four weeks, five people by Jennifer Yu – Another book I got before everything shut down. I haven’t been able to get to this one either so I’m hoping May will be the moth for it.
9. A feast for crows (#4) by George R.R. Martin – I’ve been trying to get into this one, but for some reason I’ve only been able to read the first couple of chapters.
10. The perfectionists (#1) by Sara Shepard – I read this one a few years ago, but want to reread it to finish the second one.
11. The good girls (#2) by Sara Shepard – Another book that I’ve had on my Goodreads TBR for ages and really want to finish.
12. The mime order (#2) by Samantha Shannon – This one was supposed to be on my April TBR, but thanks to my reading slump I just haven’t gotten around to it. Now that I am back into reading again, I’m hoping to get to it in May.

1. The well of ascension (#2) by Brandon Sanderson – Unpopular opinion time. Sanderson is a hit or miss for me and while I thought Mistborn was alright, it wasn’t a new favorite but I still plan to read the second one.
2. The time of contempt (#2) by Andrzej Sapkowski – Blood of elves took me forever to get through, but at the way it ended I am excited for the second one.
3. Out of the silent planet (#1) by C.S. Lewis – I never knew that Lewis wrote a sci-fi novel so I am intrigued by it. It seems to have mixed reviews but its short so I am willing to try it.
4. You slay me (#1) by Katie MacAlister – This was one of the first books that I have ever added to my Goodreads TBR and am finally getting to it. I’ve started it but am hoping to finish it in May.
5. Scythe (#1)by Neal Shusterman – Another one I’ve heard a lot about, but never had any interest until now. We’ll see how it goes though.
6. Renegades (#1) by Marissa Meyer – I’m a bit skeptical about this one, but I loved Meyer’s Lunar chronicles and I love superheroes so I am excited about it.
7. Tess of the road (#1) by Rachel Hartman – I’ve had this on my shelf for ages and even got it as an arc before it came out. I have a lot of trouble reading books I own for some reason so I am hoping to read it for a couple of readathons.
8. Evil Librarian (#1) by Michelle Knudson – I’ve started this one and it is alright. It’s kind of slow going but interesting.
9. Extraordinary people (#1) by Peter May – This was a book that I picked up for a few challenges and haven’t gotten to it yet.
10. Edge of dark (#1) by Brenda Cooper – This one is interesting so far. Its a bit confusing, but enjoyable enough.

 

So, this is my May TBR. I also got approved for an arc that comes out on the 30 that I forgot to add in which is a mystery called Asesina by Craig Keffeler . I haven’t gotten around to it yet but it seems like it would be something I would be interested in. I’m also waiting on approval for a Poe Dameron story which I am super excited about, since Poe is one of my favorite characters in the new Star Wars trilogy despite some of the other issues that I have with the series. I basically watched the Rise of Skywalker for Poe’s scenes which were entertaining.

I hope you guys have a great rest of the week!

Marybeth

Hello,

I hope y’all are having a good Wednesday evening even with all of this virus stuff going around. Things have been a little hectic lately, but I do hope that everyone is safe and healthy. This got out a lot later than I originally thought it would but every time I’ve tried to write this out something comes up usually in the form of hw.

Just a heads up that this is going to be a relatively long post since I have a lot of ground to cover.

Life updates: 

Now that I’m not on campus and with everything closing down there isn’t a whole lot to do except, homework, read, sleep and watch Netflix. Unfortunately, I haven’t really done much of anything other than homework since I still have assignments to turn in. I seem to be in a reading slump even though I still have books on my currently reading shelf that I really want to get to. It just seems like I have lost motivation for all of the stuff that I usually do. One thing that I picked up over the weekend though, are some of my fanfiction stories. I don’t openly admit that I write fanfiction, but I probably have about 20 different stories that have been started but then I’ve never gotten back into them. Most of these stories come from dreams that I have and then I get into these phases where I watch the movie or series that it is tied to. Over the last few months, I’ve realized that I am just as much as mood writer as I am a mood reader. So my current obsession right now is Star wars and while I have my issues with this last trilogy that came out I still really loved some of the side characters. If anyone is interested I might be willing to post some snippets on here. This is new territory for me as I usually don’t talk about my fanfiction stories even to family, but I am getting a bit more serious about writing, and while I definitely prefer reading over writing anytime, I might get into it a little bit more than I have in the past.

In the Netflix/movie category, I finally finished The Witcher last week and loved it. I was a bit confused at first at the three different timelines because I haven’t started the rest of the series yet, but I connected the dots at about episode 3 and I was able to get into it more than I was before. I am not a major Netflix watcher but I do watch some stuff here and there. I also watched John Wick, The force awakens and The Rise of Skywalker on Microsoft. I’ve already watched the force awakens so now I’m starting the John Wick trilogy so I can watch the third movie. i just finished the first movie and I’m moving on to Chapter 2 tonight. I’ve also been trying to watch Joker for ages since it came out and I just haven’t been able to. Its on my list though as I’m a huge Joker fan and will be interested to see how this one turns out.

I have also watched 1917 and Angel has fallen both of which were on my 2019 list of movies to watch. I didn’t get to see the very beginning of 1917, but the whole movie was intense and really well done. I’m not really one for war movies but this one is recommended. Angel has fallen, number 3 in the Olympus has fallen trilogy is now streaming on Netflix and it was really good. I think I’m going to watch the rise of skywalker again next since I think my time frame to rent it out is coming to an end this week.

We had severe storms rolls through Sunday night and we lost power about 3:45 and had it out all day yesterday up until the evening. We didn’t have any major damage where we live, but there was a tornado that came through about 10 minutes away from us.

March Wrap-up: 

March was an interesting month with all of the changes that were happening because of the virus. Ever since those last two weeks I think I’ve been in a kind of daze not really knowing what to focus on and feeling kind of overwhelmed. Things have calmed down a lot since then, but March became a really long month toward the end there. I originally had the idea that I would be able to read more than I did, but I am glad that I read the ones I did. So I only ended up reading 5 out of the 15 books that I originally had though they were all books that were on my backlist except for one so I feel pretty good about it overall. I also had one book that I originally thought I would like, but as I started reading it, the story kind of went downhill from the beginning.

1. A million worlds with you (#3) by Claudia Gray – I never really liked this series and this one was one of those that there were times that I did like it and then there were times where I really didn’t like it. I still wasn’t a fan of Marguerite and I really liked Paul at first, but I got kind of tired of him as well. I wasn’t sure if it was the alternate worlds or what but this one just kind of felt short for me (3 stars).
2. Middlegame by Seanan McGuire – I really really wanted to enjoy this one, but for some reason I was a little disappointed with it. I loved the plot and the twins but felt that there was something missing from it that I can’t exactly pinpoint what it is. I still thought it was a fun read, but I think I had higher expectations for it but it felt slightly short from those expectations (4 stars).
3. Firefight (#2) by Brandon Sanderson – I’m starting to think that Sanderson is not for me. I’ve only read Steelheart, Mistborn was okay though I am continuing the series and Skyward reminded me of star wars a lot and it got better in the latter half of the book than the first half. I actually thought that Steelheart was pretty good but this one kind of went downhill from there. I liked how David handled things in the first one but in this one it kind of felt like he got himself into situations if he actually thought it through a little bit more. I have Calamity so I can finish the trilogy, but I have lowered expectations for this one so we’ll see how it goes (3 stars)
4. The secret commonwealth (#2) by Philip Pullman – I never though I would dislike a Philip Pullman book. I kind of feel like this trilogy came a few years too late. I loved His dark materials years ago, and I loved La Belle Savage, but for some reason I just didn’t really care for this one.  Maybe its because of my fantasy slump or something. I loved being back in the world but I struggled with Lyra and Pan’s interactions and those that she interacted with. It just felt like it could have been condensed into a smaller book (3.5 stars).
5. All our broken pieces by L.D. Crichton – This one was a total surprise for me. I’ve forgotten how much I’ve enjoyed music centered books especially when it is rock music. I loved Lennon and Kyler and their relationship. It did start almost at the very beginning of the story, but it didn’t feel forced and I appreciated that it focused more on the mental health and healing of the characters. I had no clue what this was going to be about when I picked it up and had no expectations for it, but I am really glad that I did because it is now my second favorite book of the year and something that I needed at the right time. Would highly recommend (5 stars).

 

April TBR: 

Well it is now halfway through the month already and I am just now getting this TBR up. Its been a bit hectic lately and the only thing that I’ve been doing lately is homework which I am so ready to be done with classes so I can focus on work and relaxing. I still have a summer class that I need to take but right now I am not as worried about that one as I am my spring classes. I feel like I’ve been in a reading slump lately as I’ve had no interest in picking up a book except for a chapter here and there. As of right now I do not know if I will get to finish any of the books that I have for this month, but I wanted to have one in case I needed a break from everything. I think one thing that has distracted me lately from reading is that I have found my love of fanfiction writing again and am now in a Star wars phase as I posted above. I’ve made a lot of progress with it but i am nowhere near finishing it yet but if anyone is interested I might post some snippets here and there to get some suggestions possibly. Its pretty much the only thing I want to focus on right now, but unfortunately I have to force myself away from it to work on actual papers and homework. My sleeping patterns have been crazy as they usually are during this time of the year, but it just feels different now with all of the virus stuff going on.

I have decided to do something a little bit different this month since I have a couple of challenges over on Goodreads that I have been working on for a couple of years now and I am so close to finishing them. My goal is to finish them possibly during the summer, but definitely by the end of the year so I can focus on others., I’ve also signed up for the 2020 Wizarding World Tour Reading Challenge and will be posting that soon.

So for the two challenges that I am wanting to finish by the end of the year. Here is a list of them and I’ll link them up as soon as I can.

• 18 X 18 challenge (Wacky Reading challenge, Yearly) – 6 books
• 19 X 19 challenge (Wacky Reading Challenge, Yearly) – 46 books
• A Year of seasonal & holiday fun take two (Crazy Challenge connections, you choose the deadline) – 31 books.

I might also post them on here so I can update them as I go, though I haven’t decided yet. My goal for these challenges is to make a TBR Jar (which I already have for two of them) of the books that I have for each challenge, I already have everything planned out though I can still change books around if I am in the mood for another one. My goal is to choose a number of books each month and read those for those challenges. In theory, it should work, though I am already falling behind this month. I am hoping to catch up soon though.

1. AJin Demi-human Vol. 1 by Gamon Sakurai
2. Crepuscule Vol. 1 by Mirchi
3. Junketsu + Kareshi Vol. 1 by Aya Shouoto
4. Kami ka Akuma ka Vol. 1 by Moro Orie

 

1. Plague (#4) by Michael Grant
2. American Street by Ibi Zoboi
3. Excavation by James Rollins
4. Evil librarian (#1)by Michelle Knudson
5. Edge of dark (#1) by Brenda Cooper
6. Armada by Ernest Cline
7. Extraordinary people (#1) by Peter May
8. Renegades (#1) by Marissa Meyer

I’ve also started Calamity (#3) by Brandon Sanderson and have only started a few chapters so far.

April is also the anniversary of my blog and I will have a couple of different posts coming up over the next few days. I hope you guys have a good rest of the week.

Marybeth

Hello,

I hope you guys are having a good Tuesday. Its been a hectic week so far, but I am hoping that it will calm down soon. I am in the busiest time of my semester so its been one thing after the other and I was really surprised that I managed to get some reading done. I think I’ve finished about 5 books and I don’t think I’ll be able to finish another one by the end of the month unless I can squeeze in some time later in the week.

I’ve been in a bit of a rut the last couple of weeks and have been feeling a bit out of it. I get into these types of moods right around the middle of the semester especially when I am just doing the same type of schedule over and over again. We do have Spring Break in March in less than two weeks which will hopefully get me out of whatever rut I am in. This has kind of affected my reading a little bit and while I did read quite a few books they’ve all been kind of meh so far. I’ll explain more about that when my Wrap-up comes up at the end of week hopefully on Saturday. There is also a review that will go up tomorrow for an eArc that I got at the beginning of the month. I still want to do my end of the year posts and while I do have most of the things I need for those, I just have to find the time which will most likely be Spring break even though it will be three months into the new year. I also want to try some new things on my blog this year. I’ve been watching quite a bit of Booktube over the last few months and I haven’t gotten to the point where I am comfortable to start videos so I want to try some new things to see how it goes. I haven’t figured out what those are yet, but my first one will most likely be Spring break when I will have more time off to read.

Y’all might have also noticed that I have revamped my blog a good bit, though I am still tinkering with it a little bit. I recently bought the personal blog subscription on WordPress and while it is alright it really hasn’t given me much other other than taking off the ads. I’m debating about upgrading to the premium subscription and am curious to know if it is really worth it. I also moved all of my posts from the last few years to their right sections but for some reason it has caused my Wrap-up/TBR and Memes to become invalid in my customizer so I am not sure what that is all about but I might have to back in and redo some things to see if I can fix it when I have time.

I wish I could say that I will have some scheduled posts coming up but right now the only ones that will be up this week are two reviews that I need to put up. Other than that it might be sporadic until Spring Break or maybe even the summer. I will still be posting my TBR/wrap-ups though.

Hope you guys have a great rest of the week!

Marybeth

 

Hello,

It’s been an overall weird week. We’ve had unseasonably warm weather for the past couple of days, and on thursday they are calling for lower temperatures and severe weather. This week is my quiet week before next week, which is when I have my big projects starting so I am going to try and post some topics before then.

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these and the topic sounded interesting so I decided to go ahead and do my first Top Ten of the year. I really want to get back into doing these again, but it also depends on my homework schedule too.

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

 

This week’s topic is books that could be 5 star predictions. I was actually thinking about doing something like this but I hadn’t really thought about it. I love watching other Booktubers do their prediction lists and thought I would join in this year. I’ve decided that I will not be doing a beat the backlist challenge this year because I have some challenges on Goodreads that still need to be completed which I will talk about in a later post by the end of the week. So for this list I will be choosing 15 books with one that I have already read for January.

 

5-star predictions: 

1. The bone season (#1) by Samantha Shannon – This one took me by complete surprise! I remember when this one came out and I went past it for other books because I thought it wasn’t for me. Boy, was I wrong! I think I read this one in about a week. This was one of those rare books that I thought about even when I wasn’t reading it or didn’t have the time. There was so much going on that it was a little hard to keep up but I am super excited to see what happens next. I would highly recommend this one if you haven’t read it yet.
2. The invited by Jennifer McMahon – I’ve heard this story pitched many times as a haunted house that the family actually built so I am excited to see where that goes. I love haunted houses with mysteries behind them so i am excited to read this one this month. I have it only hold though so it might be a while before I pick it up.
3. Blood of elves (#1) by Andrzej Sapkowski – I’ve read the first two novellas and have watched the first episode of The Witcher series. I’ve loved all of it so far, but for some reason I just haven’t been able to pick this one up so I can start the series. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I will love it as much as I did the other two though.
4. Alight (#2) by Scott Sigler – I was completely surprised by this one as I was not expecting it to go the way it did. I’m excited to pick this one up as I think 2020 is going to be a great year for sci-fi.
5. Neverwake (#2) by Amy Plum – I loved the first book in this duology (of course I can remember the name of the title right now) so I am definitely excited to see where this one ends.
6. Nyxia uprising (#3)by Scott Reintgen – It took me a while to get into the Nyxia trilogy, but once I did, it completely blew me away (BTW – the audio book for Nyxia unleashed was amazing and I would highly recommend it). Also the second book left us with a rough cliff hanger that I haven’t gotten over yet so I definitely need to read this one this year.
7. Lock every door by Riley Sager – I’ve heard a lot of things about this one and since it is a mysterious house setting story, I am intrigued by it. I’ve never read anything by this author before so I am also excited about trying out a new author as well.
8. The last magician (#1) by Lisa Maxwell – I’ve actually started this one, and it is really good so far. I needed a book to read while I waited for a ride during one my holidays last year so I decided to pick this one up and read about 70 pages in 30 minutes. I found both this one and the second one on discount at Booksamillion, which I don’t go to as often anymore. I am hoping to get to both this year though.

 

1. Rules for vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall – I’ve heard a lot of good things about this one as well. I also love haunted forests so I am definitely excited to see how I react to this one.
2. One of us is next (#2) by Karen M. McManus – I read the first book in this duo last January and was really surprised by it. I was also surprised by this one because I thought it was going to be a standalone, but I am definitely here for it.
3. House of salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig – I’ve also heard a lot about this one. Apparently its a retelling and while I struggle with most of them I think this one will be a good one, but we’ll have to see.
4. Middlegame by Seanan McGuire – I have heard a ton of things about this one and I definitely want to jump on this bandwagon. This might be a March TBR book so I can read it over Spring break. I did start the wayward children series by this author and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it at the time.
5. The Guinevere deception (#1) by Kiersten White – So Kiersten White’s novels are a hit or miss for me, but I did love her And I darken trilogy because I am a huge fan of ancient Russian history and because this is one of my favorite time periods as well (King Arthur), I am really excited for it. Its also interesting that it is a gender bent story of Camelot so I am excited to see where the author takes this one.
6. The Twisted ones by T. Kingfisher – This is also apparently another haunted forest type story? All I know is that a girl comes to her grandmothers house to clean it out after she passes away, and she gets more than she bargained for.
7. Foundryside (#1) by Robert Bennett Jackson – I’ve seen a lot of people raving about this series so I decided that I would go ahead and add it to my TBR. I remember seeing City of stairs (#1) another series by this author and wasn’t really interested in it before. I’m trying to get into more adult fiction, especially fantasy, and these two sound like they would be right up my alley.

 

So these are my predictions for 2020. I’m also predicting based on the books that I have chosen, that this year is going to be a strong year for mystery and Sci-fi which I am really excited about. My next post will have a review in it that I plan to have up by the end of the week and then I’ll post some other stuff too.

Hope you have a good week!

Marybeth

Happy New Years!

I hope you guys had a good holiday and a great start to the new year. It’s been pretty hectic over here lately but I think things are calming down for the next few days. I’ve been with my grandparents for the entire month since I got done with finals and it has been fun. We’ve been having parties with our neighbors and family, which being an introvert can be exhausting, but catching up with family has been good too. December was an interesting month for reading as I tried to focus on books that I had tried to pick up before but never got to. There were a couple of books that I got stuck on for a while, but overall, most of the books that I read were okay. I also saw The Rise of Skywalker on thursday and it was better than I thought it would be. Next week is my last week of vacation before school starts and I am going to try and catch up on as much reading as possible between now and the 12th of January.

For December I read 15 books. I struggled with a few of the books that I had picked up for some reason and I think it was just because I was so busy during the holidays. I also think I was in a small reading slump that I finally got out of. I only had a couple of 4.5-5 stars rating this month and most of the other books were around 3-3.5 stars. Overall, I did read a lot in December, but I didn’t quite enjoy some of the books that I picked up. i have some goals for this year that I will explain in the next couple of posts that I have coming up next week.

 

December Wrap-up: 

This month was an interesting month as most of the books were okay with only a couple that were rated 4-5 stars. The books that I picked up this month were books that I had on my Goodreads shelf for a few years and I was ready to finish them before the new year. I also picked up some to work for a few challenges that I am working on through Goodreads. One of my goals this year is to finish some of the longer challenges that I have been working on for the last couple of years or so.

1. Sword of destiny (0.75) by Andrzej Sapkowski – This one was slightly different than The last wish by Andrzej Sapkowski but I still really enjoyed it. After reading the first novella in this series I did have some unanswered questions about how Geralt met a couple of the characters and Sword of destiny answered both questions and set up the plot for blood of elves all at the same time. I’ve started the book but haven’t been able to really get into it that much, so I am hoping to pick it up for January and continue the series (5 stars).
2. The child finder (#1)by Rene Denfeld – This one was a bit of a surprise. I was intrigued by it when I first heard of the story and it definitely took me a while to get to, but I am glad that I did. I loved the atmospheric writing and how it was set around winter and December was the perfect time to read it. The story did take me a little while to get into but once I started it didn’t take long for me to finish (4 stars).
3. The jewel (#1) by Amy Ewing – This was a trilogy that I have been wanting to finish for a long time and I was finally able to pick up all three books at once. I don’t normally do this but when I went to try and find a review that would catch me up on this novel I actually found the audio book on Youtube which was really nice. It wasn’t quite as good as it was when I read it way back in 2014, but I can see why I really enjoyed it back then (3.5 stars).
4. The white rose (#2) by Amy Ewing – I read this one not long after it came out and loved it the first time. The second time reading it, I found that it was just alright. It did seem to drag a bit at the beginning of the story, but I did love a few of the characters (3.5 stars)
5. The black key (#3) by Amy Ewing – This was the only one in the trilogy that I wasn’t able to pick up around the time that it came out and never thought about it for a couple of years at least. Ever since last year I’ve tried to get it, but I was finally able to pick it up this past month. It was pretty predictable and I think I liked Violet less in this one than the last two books. I was glad that I read it since it was a short read but I’m not sure if I will recommend it or not (3 stars).
6. And the trees crept in by Dawn Kurtagich – This was one of those books that I got super excited about, but it didn’t quite meet my expectations. I’ve been wanting to read the dead house by Dawn Kurtagich, but haven’t been able to get a copy yet, so when I saw this one at my library I decided to go ahead and get it. It started off really quickly but unfortunately I think that might have caused it to drag a bit toward the middle of the book. It got pretty repetitive and by the time we find out what happened to the characters I wasn’t as interested in it (3 stars).
7. Hunted by Meagan Spooner – This one also surprised me. I didn’t have high hopes for this one as I normally don’t have good luck with fairy tale retellings. I didn’t really have high hopes for this one but I found myself really enjoying it even though I did figure out who the beast was about halfway through the novel. I think having the Russian twist with the firebird tale helped me enjoy the story more. I have found that I love story that focus around ancient Russian history and was really interested in it. Overall, I would recommend this one (4 stars).
8. White hot kiss (#1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout – This was another reread for me as I had originally planned to try and finish this trilogy in December, but wasn’t able to get to the other two. This was another book that I read way back in 2014 or 2015 (not sure) and loved it when I picked it up. This was originally picked up on a whim as I remember being in a reading slump and I think thats why I enjoyed it so much. When I picked it up a second time I did find that it wasn’t as good but still enjoyable in some ways (3 stars).
9. After you (#2) by Jojo Moyes – I had a hard time with this one. I would definitely say that this was one that I DNF’d. I can understand why this one was written, but on the other hand, I’m not sure if it was really needed. Originally I wasn’t going to pick up Me Before You (#1) in 2018 because I don’t normally like Adult romance novels but I am glad that i did because I absolutely loved it. When I saw this one I was a bit skeptical but decided to go ahead and add it to my shelf anyways. I really didn’t like the main character in this one. I feel like it was a bit dramatized, but on the other hand, I can sort of see why the main character reacted the way she did. I’m probably not going to continue the series though (2.5 stars).
10. Carry on (#1) by Rainbow Rowell – When this first came out I was excited about it because Fangirl was one of my favorite books of the year when I read it. I feel like if it had been a bit shorter I would have enjoyed it a bit more. I really liked the characters but felt that the story kind of got repetitive and it almost put me in a reading slump. I am glad that I read it though and would still recommend it if you loved Fangirl (3 stars).
11. The Rosie Project (#1) by Graeme Simsion – This was another one of those that I was a bit skeptical about, but decided to go ahead and try anyways. I read this one on audio book and while it did make it easier to read I still had to DNF it. I probably wouldn’t recommend it (2.5 stars).
12. Hikaru no go: Descent of the go master vol. 1 by Yumi Hotta – One of my unofficial goals of 2019 was to read more manga that was on my goodreads shelf. I would say that I accomplished this one but I really only read enough for a challenge that I had started last year.  I really enjoyed this one and look forward to continuing the series at some point (4 stars).
13. A conspiracy of thieves (#4) by Megan Whalen Turner – I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as I did the other three books in this series but I am excited to read the last two to see where this series ends. I’ve been reading this series for the last year or two and it is really good. Gen is by far my favorite character throughout the entire series but I love most of the other characters too. This one was a bit different than the other three as it focuses on a different character, but it ties in really well to the series. I also love that it is so unpredictable as once you think you’ve figured out what is going on a different plot twist comes up. This is one that I would definitely recommend (4 stars).
14. The walls around us by Nova Ren Suma – This is one of those books that I am not quite sure what to think of. At first I thought I would like it, but then it kind of felt like it was all over the place and I wasn’t so sure of it toward the end of the book. I did think the story was interesting and different as your not entirely sure of the time frame. The story seems to be set in the present day, but also have flashbacks of what the characters went through. I think it wrapped up well, I’m just not sure of it (3 stars).
15. Biomega Vol. 1 by Tsutomu Nihei – This was another manga that I really enjoyed. It was darker than some of the others that I have read, but I think thats what made it interesting. It was definitely a weird one but one that I would also recommend (4 stars).

 

So this is my December Wrap-up. Overall it wasn’t a bad month for reading. Even though it’s a few days late my January TBR is up next. I’ve started a couple of books, but haven’t really made any progress yet though I am hoping to have a couple of reviews up once I do finish them.

Marybeth