Queen of Books

Wednesday, 12 October 2016

SEPTEMBER WRAP UP '16

So, it's the end of the month and that means another wrap-up! I read thirteen books this month which was really good. I'm impressed considering this month has been very stressful what with starting school again and having to have tons of homework piling up throughout the week, so that the weekend is you drowning in homework, rather than making time to study and do something fun.

I didn't watch that much TV this month. I watched a little of Pretty Little Liars which is pretty good so far. And I have been catching up on season 2 of The Flash though I am not done yet. Why must TV show seasons be so long... Once Upon a Time also started up and I am so pumped for this season though it has been dragging a little, compared to the last season.

Anyways...

Time to talk about the books I read this month.

PHYSICAL BOOKS

The first physical book I read was Firstlife by Gena Showalter. This was honestly so much better than I thought it would be. I've had to recheck it out three times. This is about a girl who is locked inside an asylum/mental facility. The reason is because she hasn't chosen where she will live after she dies. That's right. You have to choose a place to live after you die. The two places are Troika and Myriad. They are rivals and enemies. Both will do anything to recruit her, so they each send someone after her. One, the handsome, brooding, bad boy: Killian. And the other the badass, good: Archer. This isn't just a romance. This is a fight for survival. It was so so good and I rated it 5 Crowns.

The second book I read was A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston. I had no expectations for this one because I didn't really know what it was about but I love retellings so I picked it up. It confused me a lot and was kind of slow but at the end, I realized that there were many things that I enjoyed about it. This one is a sort of reimagining of A Thousand and One Nights. Stay tuned for my future review. I rated it 3 1/2 Crowns.

The third book I read was The Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas. This is the second book in the Throne of Glass series which has quickly became one of my favorite Fantasy series. Caelena is such a badass female character who fights for what she thinks is right, no matter what others think. I rated this one 5 Crowns. I will have a review out soon.

The fourth book I read was False Gods by Yolanda Ramos. I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. I ended up enjoying this one a lot despite not reading the first book. This one also surprised me, and had some twists and turns that I never could have seen coming. I ended up rating this one 4 Crowns and I have a full review which I will link later.

The fifth book I read was The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury. This was an Aladdin retelling. The main character is a jinni who is released from her prison by Aladdin who happens to be my latest book boyfriend. She does a lot of the fighting and isn't a dumpy girl who can't do anything for herself. I really enjoyed this one and it is a fantastic retelling which I rated 5 Crowns.

The sixth book I read was This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab. This was such a good new fantasy/horror. I didn't expect to like it as I really hated it at the beginning but I quickly began to enjoy it as I ended up loving the characters. And there is no romance in this one which made me really happy as I'm glad to have a good platonic friendship once in a while. I rated this one 4 Crowns.

The seventh book I read was Maximum Ride The Angel Experiment by James Patterson. I feel like this was more geared towards younger kids/teens but I really enjoyed it. It reminded me a bit of the type of writing of Rick Riordan's books. This is about a girl named Max who escaped with her friends from a nightmarish place. She has wings as well as her friends so they are technically 'freaks' and then one of her friends gets kidnapped and they have to rescue her. I rated this 4 Crowns and will be continuing with this series.

The eighth book I read was Hollow City by Ransom Riggs. I really enjoyed this sequel to the popular Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children book. It was really good and a tad bit better than the first one if I do say so myself. I enjoyed going more in depth to the world and in to the characters. I rated this book 5 Crowns.

ARC'S READ

The first ARC I read was The Summer Before Forever by Melissa Chambers. I didn't enjoy this as much as I had hoped. There were some things in this book that I really didn't approve of and that really threw me off. But I did like the characters as individuals so I rated this 3 Crowns.

The second ARC I read was The Wrong Prince by C.K. Brooke. This was a really good book that was a Fantasy. I have read another book by this author and I've loved both of them. I gave this one 4 Crowns.

The third ARC I read was Shadow of a Girl by Shannon Greenland. This book really surprised me. It has a lot of themes that I don't like and it was kind of hard to pull through some scenes at first but it was amazing and I rated it 5 Crowns. Highly, highly recommended.

The last ARC I read for a blog tour which was Fear the Drowning Deep by Sarah Glenn Marsh. This was such a good and creepy book. I was really upset by the ending though. I rated this one 4 Crowns.

REVIEWS IN SEPTEMBER:

The Flip Side by Shawn Johnson: 5 Crown Rating

False Gods by Yolanda Ramos: 4 Crown Rating

Fear the Drowning Deep: 4 Crown Rating

OTHER POSTS:

MUSIC MONDAY:

All the Same to Me by Anya Marina

Black Sea by Natasha Blume

Monster by Lady Gaga

A Shot in the Dark by Within Temptation

WEEKLY WRAP-UP:

DISCUSSIONS/OTHER:

September Books on my Shelf

FAVORITE COVER OF THE MONTH:

NEW FICTIONAL BAE'S:

Killian from Firstlife

TV SHOWS I WATCHED THIS MONTH:

WHAT BOOKS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:

Tuesday, 11 October 2016

Weekly Update: 10/3 - 10/9

I have decided to start doing a weekly post called weekly recap where I update you on my life, reading and watching. Plus any posts I have done or will do.

I had another pretty bad week. October has just been a bad month for me. I've literally read two books so far and have a huge TBR. I'm going to aim for seven books this month but that may be overshot. Blogging is not going well either. I feel like by December, I'll be able to update more. I just have so much work and I am also doing pit orchestra for my school's musical so that takes up the afternoons of some days and then I have to go do homework. I am even not caught up with my tv shows.

I'm sorry for the lack of posts this week as well!

New Books

Purchased:

Library:

Received for Review:

Music Monday #33

I got this idea from the blog Trust in the Words.

Kill of the Night by Gin Wigmore

I saw this one on someone's playlist and I became obsessed. It's such an amazing song! Give it a listen.

What's in your headphones?

Happy reading everybody! <3

Monday, 3 October 2016

Music Monday #32

I got this idea from the blog Trust in the Words.

Kill for You by Skylar Grey ft. Eminem

I have never really been into her songs before but she has come out with some really good ones. And this is one of the songs that I have been listening to on repeat for the last week or so. It has such a good beat and such good lyrics. I know half of the song by heart now.

What's in your headphones?

Happy reading everybody! <3

Sunday, 2 October 2016

Weekly Update: 9/26 - 10/2

I have decided to start doing a weekly post called weekly recap where I update you on my life, reading and watching. Plus any posts I have done or will do.

This week has been horrible for me. I've only read one book this week [it was a re-read] and only posted twice. Yes, I am drowning in homework. I am trying so hard to do things ahead of time but it isn't working so well. I will get back into the swing of things by November. But for now, updating will be spotty.

New Books

Purchased:

Library:

Received for Review:

Fall Book Bingo '16

Hello everyone! I just came across this two weeks ago and I thought that it was a really cool thing to do so I came up with a TBR and I am going to share it with all of you. I am usually really bad at read-a-thons but since this is a different kind of read-a-thon, I think I may be able to get it all done. Plus, I've already done some of these :)

This seasonly challenge is hosted by Bekka from Pretty Deadly Reviews. You can find the original post and the rules here. The reading categories give us plenty of wiggle-room though I did change a couple categories to suit me better. I will mention the categories that I edited when I do my TBR. This runs from September - December so there is plenty of time.

Now, here is the card and then the TBR: