November 2019 Reading Wrap-Up

November 30, 2019May 25, 2020LeeLeave a comment

Untamed by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
(House of Night, book 4)
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ – did not like it
Review: No, but I have been liveblogging the series!
Format: Print
Reading Dates: October 28 – November 1
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: Um. Um. Um. Um. I can’t think of anything. I guess I really liked that it ended.
Least Favorite Thing: I’ve read stories by first graders with more substance than this entire book.

I swear each book in this series is worse than the last. They started off bad, but tolerable, and have devolved into straight up painful. How will I survive this liveblog?

My Posts About Untamed

Holes by Louis Sachar
Rating: ★★★★☆ – really liked it
Review: No
Format: Print
Reading Dates: November 2
Read Count: 2
Favorite Thing: All the pieces just came together so beautifully…
Least Favorite Thing: X-Ray saying “right?” all the time lol

I reread this on a whim and was so relieved at how much I enjoyed it. I actually got a lot more out of it now than I did when I was just a dumb kid. Also can we talk about how well done the movie version was because I rewatched that after reading the book lol

My Posts About Holes

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
(Stalking Jack the Ripper, book 1)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ – it was ok
Review: No
Format: Print
Reading Dates: November 5 – 8
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: I liked the clues dropped and solving the mystery.
Least Favorite Thing: Thomas was boring and annoying.

I have so many little notes and tabs to remove before I return this book to the library lol It wasn’t bad, but the writing was occasionally kind of sloppy. I probably won’t continue the series because I looked up the next books and Thomas is going to be a major character throughout and I just can’t stand to read him for even one more page.

My Posts About Stalking Jack the Ripper

Pride by Ibi Zoboi
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review: No
Format: Print
Reading Dates: November 9 – 16
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: Reading a book that wasn’t just nothing but white people was such a fucking relief.
Least Favorite Thing: I just didn’t connect to it very well unfortunately…

I think all that’s happened here is I’ve developed an urge to reread the actual Pride and Prejudice once again… I’ve even gotten my mom into reading P&P so it’s really the perfect time. OK I’VE DECIDED I’M GOING TO DO IT, BUT I’M GOING TO MAKE MYSELF WAIT UNTIL JANUARY AT LEAST.

My Posts About Pride

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Rating: ★★★★☆ – really liked it
Review: No
Format: Audiobook
Reading Dates: November 23 – 24
Read Count: 3
Favorite Thing: “Whose hand was I holding?” Ooooh! Gives me chills every time!
Least Favorite Thing: The professor’s wife saying “planchette”…

So I made this mistake of listening to this all alone in my room in the night in the dark when no one could hear me scream… (Just kidding my mom would have heard me scream.)

The narrator on this one was great. I loved his voice and I felt it really lent itself well to the story.

My Posts About The Haunting of Hill House

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
(The Lunar Chronicles, book 1)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review: No
Format: Audiobook
Reading Dates: November 23 – 24
Read Count: 2
Favorite Thing: Nothing really stood out to be honest…
Least Favorite Thing: Poor Peony…

I didn’t enjoy the reader so much on this one, but it wasn’t like intolerable or anything. This is just one I enjoyed reading more than listening to.

I had forgotten just how raggedy she must have looked arriving at the ball!

My Posts About Cinder

Hunted by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
(House of Night, book 5)
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ – did not like it
Review: No, but I have been liveblogging the series!
Format: Print
Reading Dates: November 25 – 30
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: Um…god….this is so hard to answer with these books because I don’t like anything about them… I guess I’m glad her grandma is alright because she’s the only character that doesn’t annoy me.
Least Favorite Thing: Rapey McRaperson never gets his comeuppance, we are just supposed to accept him as a good guy again because Zoey has a crush.

Honestly this series just gets worse with each book. It took forever to get through this one because I kept literally dropping the book and groaning in pain and then having to rant to the nearest person about whatever stupid shit just happened.

My Posts About Hunted

In Progress

First Lines Fridays: December 21, 2018

December 21, 2018June 12, 2018LeeLeave a comment

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!

First Lines:

Her satellite made one full orbit around planet Earth every sixteen hours. It was a prison that came with an endlessly breathtaking view — vast blue oceans and swirling clouds and sunrises that set half the world on fire.

Did the quote pique your interest? View this book on Goodreads!

Top 5 Wednesday: September 27, 2017

September 27, 2017September 12, 2017LeeLeave a comment

Books You’ve Read Because of Booktube/Blogging/etc.

Discuss the books you’ve picked up because you’ve heard of them in the online book community or platform you use.
To participate in Top 5 Wednesday, head over to their Goodreads Group!

The Raven Cycle // Maggie Stiefvater
Well I had to put this series first because it’s the one I’m the most grateful to booklr for convincing me to read. I had seen The Raven Boys (book 1) on a shelf before, but had specifically not even picked it up because of the title. Then even when I did pick it up and read the blurb, I remember thinking it would be just a dumb romance about private school boys and setting it back down! (I’m ashamed to even admit that…) So it wasn’t until several posts from booklr peeps and direct cajoling from a reader friend that I finally decided to give it a chance.
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
This book comes second because I think it’s the second most important in that it taught me not to blindly trust booklr hype! I reviewed it, if you want to know more, but long story short: booklr straight lied to me about this book; it was trash.
The Lunar Chronicles // Marissa Meyer
I was pretty resistant to reading this one, but now that I have I can’t remember what my reasoning was… I should have known I would enjoy a sci-fi fairytale retelling series!
Snow Like Ashes (Snow Like Ashes, book 1) by Sara Raasch
Anyone on booklr knows how all over this series the community was for a while there. I bought into the hype of course, because I’m weak, and found this to be a pretty enjoyable book. I was reading it when I went to sign my pre-trial diversion paperwork and my lawyer and I talked about it at length. (Apparently it’s one she recommends all the time.) Unfortunately I couldn’t get into the sequel despite repeated tries and wound up abandoning the series.
Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children // Ransom Riggs
This is another series I am so grateful to the booklr community for recommending! There’s just so much to love about this series. The first time around, back in 2014, I really liked the story, but I don’t think I appreciated it as much as I did when I went back and reread it at the beginning of this year.

I’d love to know about some books the online book community you are a part of convinced you to read! Comment or make your own post and leave me a link.

Top 5 Wednesday: November 30, 2016

November 30, 2016January 24, 2017LeeLeave a comment

Favorite Villains

It’s been a little while since we’ve done the villain topic, and this one will definitely be a recurring one in the group as there are always new villains to talk about.