Library Haul: Halloween edition

With Halloween just around the corner  headed to my local library set on getting at least on creeptastic book. This year’s Halloween TBR include: The Turn of the Screw, and The Long Walk. Sadly, my library had neither, but it did
have three other books that came in a solid second.

White Space, Ilsa J. Bick

 Seventeen-year-old Emma Lindsay has problems: a head full of metal, no parents, a crazy artist for a guardian whom a stroke has turned into a vegetable, and all those times when she blinks away, dropping into other lives so ghostly and surreal it’s as if the story of her life bleeds into theirs. But one thing Emma has never doubted is that she’s real.

Then she writes “White Space,” a story about these kids stranded in a spooky house during a blizzard.

Unfortunately, “White Space” turns out to be a dead ringer for part of an unfinished novel by a long-dead writer. The manuscript, which she’s never seen, is a loopy Matrix meetsInkheart story in which characters fall out of different books and jump off the page. Thing is, when Emma blinks, she might be doing the same and, before long, she’s dropped into the very story she thought she’d written. Trapped in a weird, snow-choked valley, Emma meets other kids with dark secrets and strange abilities: Eric, Casey, Bode, Rima, and a very special little girl, Lizzie. What they discover is that they–and Emma–may be nothing more than characters written into being from an alternative universe for a very specific purpose.

Now what they must uncover is why they’ve been brought to this place–a world between the lines where parallel realities are created and destroyed and nightmares are written–before someone pens their end.

I can’t say I’ve ever heard of this series before, but after reading the synopsis, I was so excited to dig in. I’m three pages in so far, (yep totally had to pull myself away to write this Haul) and Loving it! I was expecting it to be paranormal , but in no way this dark. This definitely counts as a Halloween book.

Currently Reading, TBR, and Recap

With everything picking up, and schedules finally becoming routine, I’ve been brought back to the reality that finding time to read is not an easy task. While school work is still minimal- beyond manageable really in comparison to the end of last year, I still can’t help but feel as if I’m falling behind on my reading list.

So what have I been up to? Hellooo Emilie, you haven’t a review in weeks!

I know, I know . So, until I catch up, here’s a summary of what’s all been happening with my reading lists…

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Books I’ve recently finished:

And by recently, I mean in the last month… take this as a belated August wrap up.

• A Court of Thorns and Roses
• A Court of Mist and Fury
• P.S. I Like You
• A Torch Against the Night
• The Winners Curse
• The Siren

You wanna talk about being behind on reviews? I’m ready for a monologue here.

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Books I’m currently reading:

Book[s] Emilie? WHY, OH WHY, IS THIS STILL PLURAL!?

Well dear, sweet readers, I just keep picking up more and more before finishing anything… Please, don’t remind me I’ve been a few chapters into the Story of Psychology for numerous months, and please don’t bring up Methods of Devotion, a book that I’ve pathetically sat down and briefly looked at twice, destined to forget about it once again; Trust me, I’m cursing myself too…

• White Hot Kiss (Why yes, this is the third time it’s made this list)
• The Scorpio Races (only got through the prologue before sleep called me… it has serious potential though)
• Cruel Crown (Can’t get me enough Victoria Aveyard 😉 )

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Books I’m trying to convince myself to read

the battle is futile, but I’ve yet to give up and return them to the library, no matter that this is my second time checking them out

• Changeling (Such a different concept from what I’m used to, this read seriously fascinates me as to whether I need to open up to a new genre)
• Dangerous (I was just ready to DNF it when the action started, so I’m considering giving it a second go)

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TBR

Now this is the fun part! Here are the books I’m still waiting to get to:

• The Winners Crime
• A Beautiful Mind

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I hope you enjoyed the recap, and I truly do hope to post a review in the next week. The Sirens is especially calling my name 😉

See any books you’ve read? I’d love to hear your opinions!

See you at the bookstore,

Cold Weather Reading ~ Top Five Books

With fall on the horizon, I’m so excited to introduce a new series on the channel: Cold Weather Reading. While I don’t expect this series to have more than a few posts, I’m darn excited for each and every one of them 😉 .

I’m a crazy fall fanatic. September first I was asking my local coffee shop if they had pumpkin tea, and I’ve already taken it upon myself to pull out my pumpkin melts along with cookies, muffins and more.

This week, I’m sharing my top five cold weather reading books. While I’m thrilled to be able to share these reads, I had a bit of trouble coming up with this list. I just couldn’t grasp what genre best suits this chilly air. Finally I decided on five books that I felt happy with for several different reasons…

Let’s get started shall we?

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Abandon, By Meg Cabot

Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can’t help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she’s never alone . . . because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.

But now she’s moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid.

Only she can’t. Because even here, he finds her. That’s how desperately he wants her back. She knows he’s no guardian angel, and his dark world isn’t exactly heaven, yet she can’t stay away . . . especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.

But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.

This was the first book that came to mind when I initially brainstormed this list. Abandon is an incredible twist on the story of Persephone. It’s a suspenseful and thrilling novel centered upon on the dark topic of death. With the setting taking place in Fall, I guarantee this is a must read this Autumn

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A Torch Against the Night, By Sabaa Tahir

Elias and Laia are running for their lives. After the events of the Fourth Trial, Martial soldiers hunt the two fugitives as they flee the city of Serra and undertake a perilous journey through the heart of the Empire.

Laia is determined to break into Kauf—the Empire’s most secure and dangerous prison—to save her brother, who is the key to the Scholars’ survival. And Elias is determined to help Laia succeed, even if it means giving up his last chance at freedom.

But dark forces, human and otherworldly, work against Laia and Elias. The pair must fight every step of the way to outsmart their enemies: the bloodthirsty Emperor Marcus, the merciless Commandant, the sadistic Warden of Kauf, and, most heartbreaking of all, Helene—Elias’s former friend and the Empire’s newest Blood Shrike.

Bound to Marcus’s will, Helene faces a torturous mission of her own—one that might destroy her: find the traitor Elias Veturius and the Scholar slave who helped him escape…and kill them both.

Library Haul

I’m seriously excited about this weeks library haul, it may be small, but is it ever good 😉

We’re going to keep this intro brief, and dive right in!

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White Hot Kiss, By Jennifer L. Armentrout

One kiss could be the last.

Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she’s anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses.

Raised among the Wardens—a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe—Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most. Especially Zayne, the swoon-worthy, incredibly gorgeous and completely off-limits Warden she’s crushed on since forever.

Then she meets Roth—a tattooed, sinfully hot demon who claims to know all her secrets. Layla knows she should stay away, but she’s not sure she wants to—especially when that whole no-kissing thing isn’t an issue, considering Roth has no soul.

But when Layla discovers she’s the reason for the violent demon uprising, trusting Roth could not only ruin her chances with Zayne… it could brand her a traitor to her family. Worse yet, it could become a one-way ticket to the end of the world.

JLA has always been my favorite author due to her incredible work in the Lux series, but to be honest, that’s the only series I’ve read from her… UNTIL NOW. While I’ve only just started, White Hot Kiss is once again living up to the Armentrout standards; I can’t put this read down!

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A Court of Thorns and Roses, By Sarah J. Mass

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow over the faerie lands is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Library Haul

Library; noun. A place designated for fangirling of all ages, meeting and remeeting the most loyal of friends, staring at copy upon copy of boyfriend material, and reading; huh. Guess we can’t forget reading…

Today I had the pleasure of visiting this wonderful place, and picking up a few books to share with y’all. Let’s get into this shall we?

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Dangerous Lies, By Becca Fitzpatrick

A teen is forced to make a fresh start after witnessing a violent crime—but love and danger find her anyway in this novel from Becca Fitzpatrick, the New York Times bestselling author of the Hush, Hush saga.

Stella Gordon is not her real name. Thunder Basin, Nebraska, is not her real home. This is not her real life.

After witnessing a lethal crime, Stella Gordon is sent to the middle of nowhere for her own safety before she testifies against the man she saw kill her mother’s drug dealer.

But Stella was about to start her senior year with the boyfriend she loves. How can she be pulled away from the only life she knows and expected to start a new one in Nebraska? Stella chafes at her protection and is rude to everyone she meets. She’s not planning on staying long, so why be friendly? Then she meets Chet Falconer and it becomes harder to keep her guard up, even as her guilt about having to lie to him grows.

As Stella starts to feel safer, the real threat to her life increases—because her enemies are actually closer than she thinks…

Honestly? I didn’t even read the synopsis after reaching for this book. The fact that it’s written by Becca Fitzpatrick is all I need to know. Hush Hush was an incredible debut, and Black Ice did not disappoint either. If it’s BF material, it’s got to be gold!

Bookish Quotes and a One Shot Review

Even though summer has finally arrived, my reading list is moving as slowly as ever.

Scratch that; it’s definitely moving slower than ever.

You see, I’m currently acting upon the nerdiest of guilty pleasures in which I just keep starting new books without ever finishing the old ones. I’ve currently got four books with bookmarks 1/3 of the way in, and if you were wondering? Yes, this chaos is driving me insane too.

This time around, I picked up The Story of Psychology by Morton Hunt.

Currently Reading and TBR

I may or may not be typing this post for the sole reason that I need a method of sharing this photo.

That sounded bad. I mean I have other reasons for giving you all a glimpse into my reading life, the photo just happens to be 90% of my incentive to write this.

Yeah, that second go was just as rough *sigh.* Lets just get on with this post shall we 😉

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Clearly, from the photo, I’ve been exploring outside of my usual niche; experimenting with new angles. This all leading us to this weeks story:

Most Anticipated Read: Six of Crows

Now that Sweet Evil is off my list, I’ve been going a little (Ok, a lot) crazy over Six of Crows.

And honestly, so is the rest of the book world. It’s all I can do not to have read the book yet. Bookstagram continually fills my feed with mugs, t-shirts, and quotes of all kinds all dedicated to this single novel. I can’t wait to read this, yet for now I’ve received so many teasers that I feel as if I’m already apart of this fandom, and, after this post, hopefully you will be too 😉

Six of Crows by Leigh B. Ardugo

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone…

A convict with a thirst for revenge.

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.

A runaway with a privileged past.

A spy known as the Wraith.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Kaz’s crew are the only ones who might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

During my first reading of the synopsis, I wasn’t all that interested in the concept of the book. Yeah, I knew everyone loved it, but everyone had also loved twilight, sooOOooo… Thanks, but no thanks.

But then it came up again, and again, smaller waves to bigger waves, all rising over my head. The final one was huge. Yeah, I looked up. Yes, I saw it make its way towards me. And, indeed I felt the drowning sensation as it crashed over me, tugging me farther and farther away from reality.

So here they are, just some of the teasers that engulfed me and are now preparing the same for you.

And of course, as you know, “[us] bookish people love teasers.”

Top Six TBR

Recently I’ve been on a bit of a reading lag, I absolutely hate it, but I’ve just been so busy!!! School has been driving me insane, and ever weekend seems to be booked with camps, volunteering, and everything else under the sun. My reading time has been shrunk to zilch, yet somehow, through it all, I seem to have no problem finding more and more books to read. Yeah, I sound absolutely bonkers *cue Alice in wonderland quote here*

You’re entirely bonkers, but I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.

Yep, these quotes are the reason I’ll be single forever.

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6.

Plus one by Elizabeth Fama

A dying wish. A family divided. A love that defies the law.

Sol Le Coeur is a Smudge–a night dweller in an America rigidly divided between people who wake, live, and work during the hours of darkness and those known as Rays, who live and work during daylight. Impulsive, passionate, and brave, Sol concocts a plan to kidnap her newborn niece–a Ray–in order to bring the baby to visit her dying grandfather. Sol’s violation of the day/night curfew is already a serious crime, but when her kidnap attempt goes awry, she stumbles on a government conspiracy to manipulate the Smudge population. Sol escapes the authorities with an unexpected ally: a Ray who gets in her way, a boy she might have hated if fate hadn’t forced them on the run together–a boy the world now tells her she can’t love.

Set in a vivid alternate reality and peopled with complex, deeply human characters on both sides of the day/night divide, Elizabeth Fama’s Plus One is a brilliantly imagined drama of individual liberty and civil rights, and a fast-paced romantic adventure story.

I’ve been meaning to read this for the past year, yet I haven’t gotten to it!

I’m expecting this book is going to go one of two ways. It’s either gonna be so incredibly amazing with it’s mix of forbidden love and a society based on yin and yang where the characters find a way to rebel against the government by putting there differences together and kicking butt *Gigantic intake of air,* or it’s gonna suck….

I’m gonna continue to stay optimistic here.

Friday Favourites: Anna and the French Kiss

The universe is is expanding at a speed of 74 Km per megaparsec. That’s a whole lot of space. Similarly, my favourites shelf seems to be expanding just as fast.

Nerdy enough for you 😉 ?

Friday favourites is a series where I try and entice you into joining a fandom which has no return. Or, on the opposite spectrum, it’s a series where you and I get to fangirl to no end about our favourite books. Sound like fun? I think so!

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This week I’m going to share one of my favourite chick flicks. Now typically I’m a hardcore action romance kind of girl, but there are some books that I will spend all day swooning over, and Anna and the French Kiss is for sure one of those books.

Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris–until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all…including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

 

Where to start?

Anna and the french kiss contains everything a good romance needs:

• Quirky protagonists
• Funny BFFs
• Hot boys
• and ANGST, OH THE ANGST

Firstly, Anna fulfills her roll as the protagonist of the story effortlessly with her bubbly nature. Perkins writes her as a bright, unique character, yet she also makes her relatable, my favourite example being the times that Anna occasionally gets distracted by certain “priorities,” or so we’ll call him…