December 2019 Wrap-Up

Hello everyone!

I can't believe that December is already over and it's already the new year! I will be posting my favorite and least favorite books of 2019 in the very near future as well as a post about my reading stats and goals I have for the new year. Anyways, I was able to read 7 books which is pretty impressive compared to my reading the past few months. I think I'm finally coming out of my reading slump.

The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielsen

⭐⭐⭐

(reread)

Crystal Blade by Kathryn Purdie

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen

⭐⭐⭐⭐

(reread)

Just For You by Helen Steiner Rice

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

(reread)

Frozen Reign by Kathryn Purdie

⭐⭐⭐⭐

A Gift From Tiffany's by Melissa Hill

⭐⭐

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

⭐⭐

If you'd like me to do a review on any of these books please comment which ones. 

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day and new year!

~Abby

Black Friday Book Haul

Hello everyone!
This book haul is a bit late, but I didn't get my BookOutlet box until last week. I took advantage of BookOutlet's big sale and got myself some books. Surprisingly, most of the box was full of books I'd already read, so I was pretty good at not buying books I haven't read yet. I also made one purchase on Amazon because they had a box set for a super sweet deal and I couldn't resist the urge to buy it. I'll start with BookOutlet and the books I haven't read previous to buying them.

 

A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer - The Vampire Diaries: The Fury and Dark Reunion by L.J. Smith

 

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi - Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

 

The Novice by Taran Matharu - The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

Onto the books I have read that I ordered from BookOutlet....

 

Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han - The Jewel by Amy Ewing

 

The White Rose by Amy Ewing - The Black Key Amy Ewing

 

Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White - Love, Lucy by April Lindner

The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell

And the final books I hauled are all from a box set and it is....

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling!!! I now own the entire series and can stop stealing my mom's to read them.

Did you haul any books for Black Friday?

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day.

~Abby

Christmas Songs Book Tag

Hello everyone!

I found this tag from The Artsy Reader Girl and it looked so fun for the Christmas season. 

1. All I Want for Christmas is You - Favorite bookish couple.

This one wasn't hard for me to pick at all. Michael and Taylor will forever be my favorite bookish couple (unless I happen to read a better one which I doubt will happen). Their relationship has all the feels and I just love it.

2. I'll Be Home for Christmas - Name a book where a character is away from home (school, vacation, etc.).

Throughout this series, America is away from home because she's busy at the castle.

3. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Name your favorite "little" book (children's book, short story, novella, etc.).

This is my favorite poetry collection as of now. It's a very short, but heavy read. I finished it in a day, but I didn't escape the tears that come from reading these poems.

4. Santa Claus is Coming to Town - What book(s) do you hope Santa brings you this year?

I really want to own The Cruel Prince by Holly Black since I have loved this series so far. (I have not yet read The Queen of Nothing so please don't spoil it.) I would be so happy if I got the whole trilogy, but I'd be just as happy with the first book.

5. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Which book turned your nose red (made you cry)?

I've never mentioned this book as making me cry before, but I swear I cried a river reading this book. I was just so attached to the characters and I didn't want anything bad to happen to them. I'm being very vague because this is the third book in a trilogy so I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

6. The Most Wonderful Time of Year - Your favorite book/kind of book to read during the holidays.

I really enjoy reading Christmas novels, especially if they have an element of romance. Romantic Christmas reads are my favorite.

7. We Three Kings - Your favorite trilogy.

I feel like this is such an underrated series and more people should read it. It's about angels and I really enjoyed it when I read it. I still need to reread it to see if it's still my favorite trilogy, but as of now, it is.

8. Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow - A character you'd love to be snowed in with.

I would love to be snowed in with Anton. He wouldn't be able to do his work because of the snow so we'd be able to run around the palace and cause trouble. That's considering Valko is out of the palace.

9. Last Christmas - A book that seriously let you down.

I was expecting this book to be as good as the movie/tv series, but it fell short for me. I still want to continue reading the rest of the series now that they're all out. I think what bothered me the most is it doesn't follow the timeline from the tv series.

10. White Christmas - An upcoming release you're dreaming about. 

The fourth of the An Ember in the Ashes series is set to release in 2020 and I'm so excited for it. There's no title for the book yet, so I'm betting it wouldn't be until late 2020.

What's your favorite Christmas song? Mine would have to Last Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day.

~Abby

My Favorite Booktubers

Hello everyone!

I've been watching booktube for years, but recently it seems to be the only thing I'm watching. (I think it's because I'm finally out of my slump and I want ALL the book recommendations and videos.) I wanted to share all of my favorite booktubers.

Brittany the Bibliophile

Brittany always has such a high energy in her videos and I love how excited she gets when talking about books. Her annotation video is also very helpful if you're looking to start annotating your books. My reading tastes are also very similar to hers which makes her recommendations so helpful.

Chelsea Palmer

I love Chelsea's personality and her videos are always so fun to watch. She also has some of the coolest shelves I've ever seen (she built them herself). She also has goats who sometimes pick her TBR for her which I think is such a unique idea. 

Merphy Napier

Merphy's videos are so well done. You can tell she puts so much thought into each video and how she talks about books is so beautiful. She's really good at giving descriptions of books and is so thorough in her reviews. I just love her videos so much.

Thoughts on Tomes

If you're looking for fantasy recommendations, Sam has all of them for you. Her reviews are so honest and I always love admiring her nails in all her videos. I love her shelf set up as well.

Books With Emily Fox

I think Emily's videos are so unique in the fact that she also shares French books since she is French Canadian. She also reads so many sci-fi fantasy books as well as thrillers, so if those are the kinds of books you love reading, I'm sure she has a recommendation for you. I've honestly gotten so many recs from her and have liked them all so far. She also has such a cute personality.

A Dash of Ash

Ashley is honestly the cutest person I have ever seen. Her aesthetic is everything! Her energy just makes you so excited to read books. I LOVE watching her videos when I'm slumpy to try and get me back into a good reading mood.

abookutopia

I believe Sasha was the very first booktuber I ever watched so she had to be included in this list. She has such a funny personality and I love how she describes books. She has grown and matured so much through the years. And she is obsessed with Scotland, so if you're in need of any books set in Scotland, Sasha has some books for you.

Books With Chloe

I have no idea where Chloe's from, but her accent is so relaxing. She also annotates her books, so she's another good one to watch if you're interested in that. Chloe also has really good manga recommendations that I want to check out eventually. Her makeup always looks so flawless as well.

BooksandLala

If you haven't heard of BooksandLala, have you been living under a rock? Just kidding. I think she's one of the most popular booktubers and I think it's because she's brutally honest about her book tastes. She doesn't pretend to like a book, if she dislikes it, she'll let you know right away. I've also never seen anyone with as specific of a reading taste as she has. I don't really share her reading tastes, but I still really enjoy her videos. I think I've watched almost all of them at this point.

Girlygirlbookworm

If you're in the mood for a romance, Nicole has the recommendations for you. Her videos may not be of the highest quality, but I love them. She reads so many romance, thrillers, and historical fiction novels. A lot of the books she reads I've also never heard of. She reads so many books under the radar, so if you're looking for something that's not overhyped, she has a book for you I'm sure.

Let me know who your favorite booktubers are if you have any. 

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day.

~Abby

Review: Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin

Hello everyone!

Today I wanted to share my review of Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin. I was kindly sent this ARC by Celadon books so a huge thank you to them. I read this book last month and figured I'd share my thoughts about it with you guys.

Synopsis: Claire is only seven years old when her college-age sister, Alison, disappears on the last night of their family vacation at a resort on the Caribbean island of Saint X. Several days later, Alison’s body is found in a remote spot on a nearby cay, and two local men–employees at the resort–are arrested. But the evidence is slim, the timeline against it, and the men are soon released. The story turns into national tabloid news, a lurid mystery that will go unsolved. For Claire and her parents, there is only the return home to broken lives.

Years later, Claire is living and working in New York City when a brief but fateful encounter brings her together with Clive Richardson, one of the men originally suspected of murdering her sister. It is a moment that sets Claire on an obsessive pursuit of the truth–not only to find out what happened the night of Alison’s death but also to answer the elusive question: Who exactly was her sister? At seven, Claire had been barely old enough to know her: a beautiful, changeable, provocative girl of eighteen at a turbulent moment of identity formation.

As Claire doggedly shadows Clive, hoping to gain his trust, waiting for the slip that will reveal the truth, an unlikely attachment develops between them, two people whose lives were forever marked by the same tragedy. (Goodreads)

The first thing I want to say is the first quarter of this book I loved. About 150 pages in was where I started to find myself distancing myself from the plot and characters. I slowly lost interest, and to be quite honest, I think I skimmed the last half of the book. The mystery started to become quite predictable and I ended up hating the characters.

What dragged me in initially was the authors writing style. She paints such vivid pictures with her words, but that can only carry a story so far. You have to also move your plot along. Maybe I didn't like it as much because I don't read as many mysteries. Maybe someone who loves mysteries would really like this book.

I gave this book 2 stars. ⭐⭐ The reason it got two instead of one is because I really did like the beginning. I think if it had followed Claire as a young girl, I would have liked it a lot more. I also didn't really like the added perspectives from other characters, I didn't think they were necessary.

This book will be released February 2020 if you are interested in checking it out. Just because I didn't like it doesn't mean you won't. 

Thanks for stopping by. Have a fantastic day.

~Abby

Bookish Gift Guide

Hello everyone!

It's officially the Christmas season! I thought I'd make this blog post to help anyone out who needs to buy a gift for a bookworm. These are all gifts I would love to receive as a reader so I hope you all agree.

Bookmarks

You can never have too many bookmarks in my opinion. I always end up losing mine and have to improvise by using random objects. My favorite bookmarks at the moment are the magnetic ones. They clip to your page and don't slide out which is super nice. Some great places to buy bookmarks are Barnes and Noble, Amazon, The Book Charm Shop, Knightmares Daydreams, and Book Art Bookmarks. Honestly, you can buy bookmarks pretty much anywhere. You can also make origami bookmarks. Link to a tutorial here.

Book Sleeves

I personally don't own any book sleeves yet, but I'd love to get a couple. They're great to carry your books around when you're on the go so no damage can be done to your books. Some great places to buy book sleeves are DriSewing (they sell more than just book sleeves, but their fabrics are so adorable!), Amazon, Sew Happy Stitch Happy, and Power In Pages.

Book and Fandom Swag

Who wouldn't love to some awesome swag that represents their favorite fandom? A really good place I've found with bookish swag is Bookish Adventures. Some other great places to look are Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

Books!!!

You can't go wrong with getting your bookworm a book they've been wanting for a while. Book Outlet and Amazon have some great prices on books. Barnes and Noble is always a nice place to buy books as well and sometimes they have some killer deals around the holidays. 

I hope this post helped you get a few ideas for bookish gifts. What do you want this year for Christmas? I'd love to know.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a fantastic day.

~Abby

Books I Want to Reread in 2020

Hello everyone!
I recently did a post about the 20 books I wanted to read next year so I thought I'd also share a post about all the books/series I'd like to reread next year.

The Selection by Kiera Cass

This is one of my favorite series of all time so I really want to reread it next year.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard 

I really only have the first three books to reread and then I can read the final book and the newest novella collection. (I wasn't a huge fan of Cruel Crown.)

Michael Vey by Richard Paul Evans

I always talk about how much I love this series and next year will be the first time I reread the series as a whole instead of only part of it while I'm waiting for the next installment.

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

I don't think I need to explain my reasons for rereading Harry Potter. It's just an amazing series.

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

I haven't read this series since I was preteen so I want to see if I like it as much now as I did back then.

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

I read this series a few years back and am just in the mood to reread it.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

My reason for rereading this book is to determine whether or not I'm going to unhaul it.

Are there any books or series you plan to reread soon?

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day.

~Abby

November 2019 Wrap-Up

Hello everyone!

I was only able to get around to reading 3 books in the month of November, but I liked all but one of them which is good. I'm hoping my reading in December will increase because these past few months have been very slumpy for me. (And I'm pretty sure I'm not going to make my Goodreads goal which is sad ☹)

Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin

⭐⭐

Legacy by Shannon Messenger

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

(reread)

What did you read in November? What are your reading plans for December?

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day.

~Abby

20 Books I Want to Read in 2020

Hello everyone! 

It's been a while since I've posted and for that I am really sorry. At this point I'm not going to promise to try and post consistently because I don't think that's going to happen. But I can promise to post when inspiration hits and I will still do monthly wrap-ups. Anyways, I wanted to share 20 books that I want to get to in the year 2020. These will all be books that I've been highly anticipating reading for a while with a couple new releases mixed in.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I feel like I'm the last person to get around to reading this book, but I'm determined to make it happen next year. I've heard nothing but good things about this book, like seriously no bad reviews. I'm trying not to have high expectations, but it's almost inevitable with how much this book is talked about.

Stain by A.G. Howard

I've been anticipating reading this book ever since it was announced but still haven't read it. It's a Princess and the Pea retelling from what I've been told and I'm so excited. I love A.Gl Howard's writing style and her books are so whimsical. I can't wait to dive into this story.

War Storm by Victoria Aveyard

I've been meaning to read this book since it came out last year. I think my sister is eagerly anticipating to get her book back as well. I've been holding it hostage for months on the off chance I get the urge to pick it up and that IS going to happen next year. I think I decided to get myself into the mood to read the conclusion to one of my favorite series, I just need to reread the series. It doesn't help that I also got spoiled for the ending, but it's one of those books that I just need to buckle down and read because it's been months in the making.

Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas

So far, I've LOVED the first two books in the DC Icons series but haven't gotten around to the last two yet. I'm worried to read Catwoman because I haven't liked what I've read from Sarah J. Maas in the past (please don't hurt me) but if the story is anything like the first two books, then I have nothing to worry about. 

Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto

To be honest, I'm not quite sure what this book is about but I am so hyped to read it. First of all, the cover is STUNNING! I love the phoenix and the color scheme. It looks like an epic story and I can't wait to read it.

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

 

I've owned this book for years and I think it's about time I read it. I've heard it's an Alice in Wonderland retelling about the Queen of  Hearts which intrigues me. I wasn't a huge fan of the Lunar Chronicles but I have a feeling I'm going to love this story.

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Like Heartless, this book has been on my shelf for years. The trilogy is finally all published so what is holding me back now? This story sounds right up my alley and I'm ready to be spooked. I hope I like it as much as everyone else.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Same case as the previous two books, owned it for years and just finally want to get around to reading this book. I've mentioned reading The Raven Boys so many times now that I just need to finally do it so I don't have to talk about reading it anymore and hopefully start talking about how amazing it is.

Crystal Blade by Kathryn Purdie

I have such high expectations for this second installment of the Burning Glass trilogy since I enjoyed the first one so much. I felt so connected to the main character and I can't wait to dive back into this story. The writing style is phenomenal and the character development is amazing. Kathryn Purdie just might be one of my new favorite authors if I continue to like her books.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I grew up watching Little Women and now I really want to read the book. I feel like it's just one of those books everyone needs to read at least once in their lifetime, but I'm hoping I like it.

The Archer King by Reyna T. Lorele

I picked up this book over the summer and have been excited about it ever since. I really want to get to it in 2020 because it just sounds so good. It's a Robin Hood retelling and I feel like 2020 is going to be the year of all the retellings.

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

I've liked the two books I've read by Nicholas Sparks and I know I'm going to love this one. The movie just pulls at my heartstrings and I expect the book to be just as good if not better. I will be prepared with a box of tissues and ready to cry my heart out.

The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams

I very recently bought this book from Barnes and Noble because it caught my eye and once I read the synopsis I was hooked. Don't ask me what it's about because I don't remember, all I know is I'm very excited to read this story. I've also never heard anybody talk about it which makes me very intrigued to read it for myself.

The Will of the Wanderer by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

I found this book last year at a library sale at my library and have since collected the rest of the trilogy because I am sure that I'll love it. 

The Passage by Justin Cronin

I don't remember a whole lot about what this book is about but I do know that I really want to read it hence why it has made it onto this list. 

Resistance by Jennifer A. Nielsen

I loved The False Prince trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen and have been wanting to read more books by her ever since. This is a historical fiction novel and I think I'm going to love it. I hear it's not an easy read, but I'm so ready for it.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

 I read If I Stay years ago and just never got around to reading the sequel. Well, I think it's about time I got around to reading it. I need to know what happens.

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

This book might be a bit ambitious to be putting on this list since it is over 1,000 pages, but if I at least start it next year I think I'll be happy with myself. I've always loved the plot from the movie and am excited to read the book hopefully next year. (Fingers crossed)

Queen Immortal by Kaci Morgan

I received this book from a local author over the summer and am so pumped to read it. All I know is it has to do with a queen. But can we just stop and admire the cover for a minute? It's beautiful.

The King's Trial by M.L. Farb

This book is by another author from my area. It just sounded too interesting not to pick up. I hope to read it in the early months of next year because I'm just that excited. I love supporting self-published authors, especially if their books are amazing. I hope this book meets my expectations.

Have you heard of or read any of these books? If so, what are your thoughts on them? I'd love to know. I really hope I'm able to complete this list next year. I'm genuinely excited for each and every one of these books.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day.

~Abby