Jen's May 2016 Book Haul

This haul is going up rather late, but there was work and I got sick and just life in general kept getting in the way. Anyway, here are all the books!

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
I have wanted to read this series since I first heard about it back in 2014 but I kept making myself wait until the series was complete. Now that I have all the books, I have no more excuses for not starting this series!

The Winner's Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski
This is a YA fantasy series that I have heard great things about. The covers look great together and I can't wait to get to this trilogy!

The Jewel & The White Rose by Amy Ewing
These are the first two books in The Lone City trilogy. I actually haven't heard as much hype about this series but I wanted to read it. I saw these in my local bookshop while I was having a moment of weakness and so I bought them.

Red Queen & Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard
The first book and a novella bind up of the Red Queen series. Red Queen was probably one of the most hyped up books when it was released and I have heard a few people say that it did not live up to the hype. Despite that, I still want to read this series and I acquired these from my local bookshop during that same moment of weakness.

Asunder & Infinite by Jodi Meadows
The second and third book in the Newsoul trilogy. I hauled the first book in this series, Incarnate, in my last book haul so I needed to get these two to complete the trilogy.

The Wrath & The Dawn and The Rose & The Dagger by Renee Ahdieh
This duology is the retelling of A Thousand and One Nights and I definitely love a good retelling so I am excited to get to these books!

The Crown by Kiera Cass
This should be the final book in The Selection series, which I have wanted to start for a long time now. I now own all the books so again, I have no more excuses not to read this series.

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
This is the second book in the A Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy and everything I've heard about this book tells me that it's even better than the first one, which makes me excited!

The Demigod Diaries by Rick Riordan
This is the companion book to the Heroes of Olympus series which I hauled in April. I have read the first book in that series, The Lost Hero, but have yet to continue with the second book because I have too many other books to read!
Demigods and Magicians: Percy and Annabeth Meet the Kanes by Rick Riordan
This is a companion book featuring crossovers between the Percy Jackson series and the Kane Chronicles (which I also hauled in April). Since I have yet to finish the Heroes of Olympus and actually start the Kane Chronicles, I won't be getting to this one for a very long time.
The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan
This is the first book in Riordan's latest series, The Trials of Apollo. This continues on from where Heroes of Olympus finished, so again, it will be a long time before I read this one.

The Start of Me and You, Open Road Summer & When We Collided by Emery Lord
These are three standalone YA contemporary novels, the synopses of which sounded really interesting to me. I have heard some fantastic things about this author so I decided to take a chance and pick these up.

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson
I preordered the hardcover edition (on the left) because I have read and loved all of Morgan Matson's previous books and she is an auto buy author for me. However, a paperback edition (on the right) was included in the May YA Chronicles. But I didn't mind that at all because I love both covers. I have already read and reviewed this one.

The Problem With Forever by Jennifer L. Armentrout
This is another YA contemporary novel. I have read a few of the new adult books written by this author and absolutely loved them so hopefully I'll love this one as well!

Summer Days & Summer Nights edited by Stephanie Perkins
This is a collection of short stories by twelve different authors, some of whom I love, some that I have yet to read anything by, and some that I have never heard of. This is the second one of these collections (the first of which was My True Love Gave to Me), and while the first one was just average in my opinion, I am hoping to like this one a lot more.

The Messenger by Markus Zusak
I actually haven't heard much about this book at all, but I do know that it is a mystery. I do love a good mystery and the plot sounded interesting so I went ahead and bought it. Bonus, this cover matches the copy of The Book Thief that I hauled in my last book haul!

TBRTakedown 4.0 Wrap Up

This readathon was so much fun! I did end up changing two of the books that I had initially put on my TBR, but I finished by reading 4 books and completing all 5 challenges!

The books that I read:
 

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
This book completed the challenges to read a first book in a series and to read a book that I've had on my shelf for over a year. I was surprised by how much I actually liked it and gave it a 4/5 rating.





 
 
The Special Ones by Em Bailey
This was the book I read from my most recent haul. A very creepy mystery but I really enjoyed it and also gave this one a 4/5 rating.







George by Alex Gino
This was the book that I decided to go with for the "out of my comfort zone" challenge. I had initially chosen an historical fiction book but I just wasn't in the mood for it. While George isn't really that far out of my comfort zone, it is a middle grade contemporary and I don't even recall the last time that I read a book from that genre. I ended up loving this book and gave it a 4.5/5 rating.






The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
This completed the challenge to read an unread sequel. I initially had a different book picked out but I wasn't in the mood for that one and I just wanted something short and quick to read. This book turned out to be my least favourite in the Chronicles of Narnia series so far and I only gave it a 3/5 rating.




I loved being a part of this readathon and I'm happy with the books that I read. I can't wait until it comes around again! 

Tome Topple Readathon Wrap Up

This ended up being a really great readathon for me. I got a lot more read than I initially thought I was going to be able to. I didn't get through all the books on my TBR but I hadn't expected to anyway so that was fine. I also didn't complete all of the challenges but I didn't set out to do that anyway so that also didn't bother me. 

The challenges: 
1. Read more than one tome (500+ pages) - completed
I did actually manage to accomplish this! I read two and a half of the three books that I had chosen and ended up reading a total of 1,233 pages. 

2. Take a graphic novel break - did not complete
This was the one challenge that I had decided to skip when making my TBR. 

3. Read a tome that is part of a series - completed 

4. Read over 500 pages in one week - completed 

5. Read an adult novel - did not complete 
I started the book for this challenge, but I didn't get to finish it. 


The books that I read: 
The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson 
This was the first book that I completed and it didn't count towards any of the challenges other than to read more than one tome. I loved it and gave it a 5/5 rating. I have already written a review for it just in case you are interested in my thoughts about the book. 







Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling 
I had actually already started this book as part of my re-read of the entire Harry Potter series for this year but I put it down for some unknown reason and just didn't get back to it. So this readathon was the perfect opportunity to pick it back up. I finished it and of course I loved it and gave it a 5/5 rating. 





The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
I started this book and was really liking it but I was really wanting to read something more fast paced so I was reading a few chapters of this at a time while reading other books. Unfortunately that meant I didn't get to finish this book but that didn't matter too much to me. I would rather take my time with it and enjoy it than to force myself to keep reading it when I'm not in the mood for it. I am super happy that this readathon gave me the incentive to at least start this book and I did manage to make it half way through! I do intend on slowly making my way through the rest of the book with the aim of finishing it by the end of the month. 


This readathon was super fun and I loved being a part of it. I hope it happens again because I would definitely participate again! 

Readorama Readathon Wrap Up

This readathon started out on quite a roll! I was flying through the first few books, but sadly I didn't read as much as I wanted to. On the third and fourth day I didn't feel like reading because I had headaches which only sleep seemed to be helping. Then after that I tried to get back into the swing of it and catch up on the time I had lost, but when I did, I just didn't feel in the mood for the books I'd chosen. Great time for a slump :/

Anyway, here's the books I did manage to read.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes - I loved this book! The good and the bad. There were funny moments, and there were sad moments, but for all the talk that I'd heard saying that this book will make people cry, it just didn't. That was my only let down really, so I still gave it a 4/5 star rating.

Challenge: A book adapted to film.

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton - This was such a quick and easy read and I flew through it in no time! I loved all of the characters, especially Jin (swoon!) and Amani. I love that the story takes place in a pseudo setting, meaning a fantasy location influenced by real locations, eg, the Middle East, Asia and Europe. The names sound real, but don't exist outside of this book. It offers a wide racial diversity, which more books these days need.

This book was action packed and had plenty of twists. I love that so far in the series, there's no love triangle, but then again, it is only the first book. Fingers crossed that it doesn't happen! I rated this book 5/5 stars.

Challenge: A book with a protagonist of colour.

So after these two, I attempted to read Ruined by Amy Tintera, but it just wasn't grabbing me. I didn't feel in the mood for any of the other books I'd chosen, so to prevent my slump from getting to me too much, I just hung the challenge and read what I was in the mood for (I've been into The Lord of the Rings lately, since I've been replaying the Lego game on PS3), so I continued reading The Ring Goes South, book 2 of The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. This has prevented my slump from worsening, but unfortunately, this means that I didn't complete the readathon.

However, I am looking forward to participating again next time it comes around! I probably woudn't have read Rebel of the Sands by now if I hadn't participated, so there's some good come of it at least!

I hope to participate in more readathons this year, but after Jen and my buddy read, I think I'll put them off until after September. I have a lot of books to read before then and I know I'm going to want to dive right into Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas when it's released in September!

TBRTakedown 4.0!

I just found out that TBRTakedown 4.0 is going to be happening very soon! It was created by Shannon from leaninglights and takes place from 20 June to 26 June.

I’m super excited because this will be my first time participating! The readathons that I’ve been doing this month have been going really well so far so I thought why not keep the ball rolling and jump in on this one as well?

The challenges listed below are not compulsory but they sounded great and they fit in well with the books that I had already planned on reading anyway.  

1. A book that’s been on your TBR shelf for over a year.

2. An unread sequel sitting on your TBR shelf.

3. A first book in a series on your TBR shelf.

4. An “out of your comfort zone” book on your TBR shelf.

5. A book from your most recent book haul.

Now for the books that I have chosen: 

 

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick - this book fulfills challenges 1 and 3. It is the first book in the Hush, Hush series and I bought the entire series way back at the end of 2014! I have already started this book because it was on my June TBR list anyway, but this readathon will just be some extra motivation to get it read. It is well beyond time to get this series off my TBR shelf!

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi - this book is for challenge 2. I only just finished reading Shatter Me and really enjoyed it so this is the perfect opportunity to continue on with the second book in the series.

 

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys - I have chosen this book for challenge 4. Historical fiction is a genre that I had never read before 2016. In fact, I made it a personal goal for myself to read at least one historical fiction book in 2016 because I’d never read one before. I have actually accomplished that already, but this is a great opportunity to read another one because I have since acquired a few more! 

 

The Special Ones by Em Bailey - this book is for challenge 5. It is one of my most recent purchases that I have yet to haul but it sounded so interesting to me and I really want to read it soon so the timing of this readathon worked out really nicely for me!

Happy reading and good luck to everyone else who is participating! 

Review: The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

Publication: May 3rd 2016 by Simon & Schuster

Source: Purchased

Goodreads description:

Andie had it all planned out.

When you are a politician’s daughter who’s pretty much raised yourself, you learn everything can be planned or spun, or both. Especially your future.

Important internship? Check.

Amazing friends? Check.

Guys? Check (as long as we’re talking no more than three weeks).

But that was before the scandal. Before having to be in the same house with her dad. Before walking an insane number of dogs. That was before Clark and those few months that might change her whole life.

Because here’s the thing—if everything’s planned out, you can never find the unexpected.

And where’s the fun in that? 

---

Morgan Matson is one of my favourite YA contemporary authors and after reading all three of her novels in 2015, I had such high expectations for The Unexpected Everything and I was hoping that I wouldn’t be disappointed. Especially after such a long wait for it to be published! I needn’t have worried though because it was exactly what I had been wanting and hoping for from a Morgan Matson book.

I will say that this book focused a lot more on the characters and their relationships and felt like it was much less plot driven than her previous books. That may have been the reason why it took a little bit for me to really get pulled into the book right at the start. I was expecting to just love it immediately and that didn’t happen, but it certainly turned out to be an amazing read.

However, that allowed for a lot more character development and growth throughout the book, which was something that I loved. The main character Andie definitely had some emotional issues that she needed to work through rather than always shutting down and running because she was scared. Andie could be such a frustrating character at times, but by the end of the book she had definitely matured and learned a lot about who she is in the process. I really enjoyed seeing Andie’s personal growth and the change in her at the end.

I also loved the strong emphasis on relationships in this book. Not just romantic relationships between a boyfriend and girlfriend, but also the bond between a parent and child and family relationships. I really liked seeing the change in the family dynamic between Andie and her father throughout the novel. Also, this book featured one of the best female friendship groups I have come across. That’s not to say there wasn’t drama and conflict within the group though, because there definitely was.

And how can I not mention Clark? He’s probably too good to be true in real life, but he was just about the perfect fictional boyfriend. He has a successful career as a fantasy novelist, he’s sweet, respectful and can also charm the parents. What more could you want? 

Also, the dogs! They were such a big part of the storyline and I loved that the author took the time to develop their personalities just as she did with the human characters. 

The one small issue that I had was that the book had such long chapters accompanied with small font. This is purely just my own personal preference but I don’t like the combination of long chapters with tiny font. It didn’t change how I felt about the story itself, but the formatting just seemed to make the book drag out a little, even though I still read it pretty quickly.

Overall I ended up loving this book and Morgan Matson proves once again why she is the queen of summery YA contemporary romances and why she is one of my auto buy authors. I give it a 5/5 rating and would definitely recommend to read it if you’re a fan of this genre. However I do suggest to read her books in publication order because characters from the previous books appear again in the later ones.  

May 2016 YA Chronicles Unboxing

The theme for May was Summer Daze, Driftin' Away. 

Here is the monthly bookmark. 

A green tea bath bomb from ALLBODY SOAPS on Etsy. The other three possible scents were seamoss, jasmine and grapefruit & lime. I'm sure that some people would love this item, however I have absolutely no use for it. 

A Fairy Bread candle from Nook & Burrow. I love the look of this and it definitely brings back memories of the ever popular Fairy Bread snack at children's parties here in Australia. Unfortunately I don't burn candles myself so I have no use for it. Luckily Mel does, so I will be gifting it to her. 

An ice cream magnetic bookmark from TheWoodsAvenue on Etsy. A sun bookmark was the other possibility but I just love this one so much! It is so adorable and I could always use another bookmark! 

Onto the book! The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson. I had guessed that this might be the book that was included in the box and I was so happy when I found out that I was right! I have read and loved each of Morgan Matson's previous novels and she is an auto buy author for me. It didn't even matter to me that I had already preordered the hardcover edition when I received this paperback copy. I love both covers and I love having both editions. 

Overall this box was such an improvement over the boxes I previously reviewed and I rate it 4/5. The candle and the bath bomb looked pretty and I know that other people would love them, but I personally have no use for them. However I loved the bookmark that was included!
The book choice was spot on this month. I say that even though it is a summery YA contemporary and it is currently a cold, cold winter here in Australia. It is definitely my favourite book that has been included in these boxes so far, despite the fact that I had already ordered myself a copy. 

June 2016 TBR

Jen 

If my reading in June goes anything like how my reading did in May, then this is a very ambitious TBR. Especially when you add in the books that I will be reading as part of the Tome Topple readathon and also the buddy reading challenge that Mel and I are doing this month. I most likely won’t get to all these books, but they’re all ones that I really want to read, so I’m including them all anyway. I like choices.

Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) by Sarah J. Maas

I started reading this in May and I’m really loving it but I just didn’t get to finish it. It’s definitely going to happen in June though! 

Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush #1) by Becca Fitzpatrick

Another one that I started in May. This book has been sitting on my shelf for about two years now and I’ve always kept pushing it back on my TBR because I haven’t heard the greatest things about it. But I felt the sudden urge to pick it up one day so I just went with it, otherwise it might have sat on my shelf for another two years!

The Artifact Vault by Jody Revenson

I have loved all of Jody Revenson’s Harry Potter companion books so far and I expect that this one will be no different. I’m super excited for this!

The Problem With Forever by Jennifer L. Armentrout

This is another highly anticipated book for me. I have only read a few of Jennifer’s books but I absolutely loved them and I can’t wait to dive into this one. 

The World of Ice and Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

I started this one in April, intended to finish it in May and didn’t even open the book once. It probably won’t end up happening, but I’d love to finish this in June. Or least make some kind of progress with it.

Mel
I want to finish some of the books that I've already started, so I'll be listing those here, as well as some others that I really just want to read this month. This month is going to be full on, but uni's out for winter break, so I'll have plenty of time! In addition to these books, Jen and I are participating in some challenges! Check out our Buddy Read and the Readorama Readathon!

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas - After finally finishing ACOTAR, I went straight into this one, but the story has really taken a turn and I've not really been enjoying it. I think it's because ACOTAR took so long to set up the relationship between Feyre and Tamlin, and now I can tell that it's going to be ripped apart. It's Celaena and Chaol all over again! Sarah really does have a talent for destroying relationships...

Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden - This is one of my favourite Australian YA dystopian novels! I definitely recommend the Tomorrow series if you're looking for something that doesn't follow the typical YA tropes. I have not yet had the chance to continue the series, but I hope to do so soon, especially with the new TV series being made. (Also, if you want me to do a comparison review for the first season, leave a comment at the end of this post!)

The Siren by Kiera Cass - I actually started reading The Siren in April, so I really need to finish this one. Especially since I read 3 of Kiera's other books last month!

Now for the books that I want to start this month (assuming I have the time!)

Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon - I got approval to read Forever Doon on Netgalley, so I want to catch up with the series so that I can review Forever Doon, which is set to be released in August!

The Leaving by Tara Altebrando - This is a new release book that will be in my June Haul, but it sounds so interesting and I just want to get to it really soon!

Readorama Readathon!

I heard about the Readorama readathon on Manda the Glittery Nerd's YouTube channel and I liked the sound of it, so I decided to give it a go!

The Readorama readathon takes place from 13 June - 19 June, wherever you are in the world, so don't be worried about time zones!

There are 8 challenges in total.
1. Read 7 books total.
2. Read a book with R, A, M, A anywhere in the title or author's name. I don't think they have to be together or anything, so this is actually a really easy challenge.
3. Read a book with music in it.
4. Read a book to movie/TV show adaptation. There are so many of these, since so many movies and TV shows are adapted from books these days!
5. Buddy read. Read a book with a buddy!
6. Read a book with a protagonist of colour. This means that you can read books set in other countries or are about different cultures, as long as the protagonist is anything other than white (this is the only rule for this challenge).
7. Read a book of short stories. If you are anything like me, you may have a book of novellas somewhere!
8. Read a book with a one word title. (If you're confused, check my list for an example.)

If you would like more information about the readathon or you need to find a reading buddy, you can do so by visiting Readorama on Twitter.

So, here are the books that I've chosen for this readathon:

1. The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J Maas - this is the book I've chosen for the RAMA challenge, since all of those letters appear in the author's name.

2. For the music challenge, I decided to change it up a bit and read a manga series! I have watched the anime for Angel Beats! by Jun Maeda, but I haven't read it yet, and I love the story so much that I can't not read it!

3. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes - The movie for this book is already out in some places, and I do want to watch it, so this is the perfect time to read it! Plus, this also fills one of my challenges for the buddy read that Jen and I are participating in this month.

4. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi - Since this is also the buddy read for the other readathon that Jen and I are doing this month, it makes sense to use it here!

5. Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton - This is the book I'm going to read for the protagonist of colour challenge, because it has a very Arabian vibe.

6. Doctor Who: Time Lord Fairy Tales by Justin Richards - I could have used The Assassin's Blade for the short stories challenge, but since one challenge is to read 7 books, I couldn't drop a book off the list.

7. Ruined by Amy Tintera - this is the book I've chosen for the one word title challenge, but as a bonus, it is also a book that overlaps with the buddy read we're doing!

And of course, that makes 7 books total, which fulfils the remaining challenge!

Let me know if you want to do the challenge too, and what books you want to read! I'd love to know :)

Buddy Read!

In some very exciting news (for Mel and I at least), we are going to be doing a buddy read in June! Mel came across a readathon that involved buddy reading a book and while the challenges for that readathon didn't really fit in with my reading plans for June, I wanted to do the buddy read with Mel anyway. We got so excited about it that we decided we wanted to try the challenges that were part of the BookBuddyAThon. That happened during May and we were both bummed that we missed it, but we wanted to do it ourselves anyway. We did tweak things slightly and gave ourselves the whole month in which to complete all the challenges just so that it would be more enjoyable and less pressure on us. 

The challenges were: 

1. Choose three books and get your buddy to pick one from them for you to read.

2. Buddy read a book with your buddy.

3. Read a book with your buddy's favourite colour on the cover.

4. Read a book that's title starts with the first letter of your buddy's name (or at least appears in the title if not possible).

5. Read a book that you want to... just because.

Jen's Book Picks 

1. The three books that I chose were The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan and Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery and Mel picked The Night Circus! Which worked out well because it overlaps with the Tome Topple Readathon!

2. The book that Mel and I chose was Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. This was a great choice for me because it was one of my TBR books that Mel picked for me to read in 2016!

3. Mel’s favourite colour is blue so Shatter Me works for this one as well!

4. Shatter Me has an M in the title so I’m just going to cheat a little and use it for this challenge as well.

5. I have chosen This is Where it Ends by Marieke Nijkamp for this challenge. I have been wanting to read this book since it was released in January this year and my library finally managed to have a copy available so that was perfect timing!

Mel's Book Picks 
1. I decided to get a bit of a mix of books for my three picks. I picked The Ring Goes South (Book 2 of The Fellowship of the Ring) by JRR Tolkien, because it's a book that I started ages ago and had not continued, Tandem by Anna Jarzab because it has been on my shelf forever and I haven't picked it up yet, and Ruined by Amy Tintera, which is a new book that I'm really excited to start reading. Jen chose Ruined, which I'm really happy about! Not only is it good for the buddy read, but it also fits with the other readathon I'm participating in this month!

2. Our buddy read is Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. This will be a reread for me, because I've basically forgotten everything about the book and I do want to continue the series, so a refresher will be good.

3. Jen's favourite colour is rainbow, meaning I had a real challenge finding a book with a rainbow cover, however, just in time for the challenge, Jennifer L Armentrout comes to the rescue with The Problem With Forever.

4. Finding a book on my shelves with a J in the title was definitely the hardest part of the challenge, but I've also resorted to bending the rules a little. I've chosen to read a book that has a J in the author's name. So I'll be reading Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. I chose this book because I can also use it in the other readathon that I'm doing.

5. For this challenge, I've chosen to read Demon Road by Derek Landy. I have actually already started this book, but I'm really enjoying it, so I want to finish it! I can use this in my other readathon too.

Tome Topple Readathon!

I’m super excited to be participating in the Tome Topple Readathon this month! It was created by Sam from Thoughts on Tomes. It runs for two weeks from 5th June to 19th June and it’s all about reading big books! I had wanted to try and read some shorter books this month, but then I found out about this readathon and it seemed like fun so I decided that I wanted to participate! I have posted the challenges and the books that I want to read below, although the only requirement is that books must be over 500 pages in length. The challenges themselves are not compulsory.

1. Read more than one tome (500+ pages)

I’m not sure if this one will be possible but I’d be happy just finishing one big book!

2. Take a graphic novel break (doesn't need to be over 500 pages!)

I’m think that I'll end up skipping this challenge since I don’t have any graphic novels that I want to read at the moment.

3. Read a tome that is part of a series

The book I have chosen for this one is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling! It’s the one I’m currently reading in my Harry Potter re-read and I’m really hoping this will be some extra motivation to pick it up again!

4. Read over 500 pages in one week

This one will be tough since I have almost no time to read during the week and the amount of time I have for reading on the weekends varies. It would be great to accomplish this but if it doesn’t happen then oh well.

5. Read an adult novel

The book that I have chosen for this one is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern! I've really been wanting to read this one so I'm super excited for it. 

I also want to read The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson. It doesn't really fit in with any of the challenges (except maybe the first one) but Morgan Matson is one of my auto buy authors and I have been anticipating this book for so long! 

I can't wait to get started and happy reading to all those that are participating!