January 2017 Wrap Up

Jen

I read so much more than I thought I would be able to this month so it was a great way to start the year off! Looking through my list, I read from a wide variety of genres so that makes me happy. I also discovered some seriously amazing books which quickly ended up on my favourites list!

Bakuman Volume 1 by Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata → 4/5

Bakuman Volume 2 by Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata → 4/5

Where Am I Now? By Mara Wilson → 4.5/5

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett → 4/5

Bad Girls Throughout History: 100 Remarkable Women Who Changed the World by Ann Shen → 4.5/5

The Darkest Minds (#1) by Alexandra Bracken → 4/5

Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between by Lauren Graham → 5/5

The Fly-Away Cottage: The Magical Collection by Enid Blyton → 5/5

Half-Blood (Covenant series #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout → 4.5/5

Daemon (#0.5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout → 4/5

Pure (#2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout → 1/5

Deltora Quest by Emily Rodda → 5/5

Deltora Quest 2: Shadowlands by Emily Rodda → 5/5

Girl Online: Going Solo (#3) by Zoe Sugg → 3.75/5

Shift by Em Bailey → 3.5/5

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (#6) by J.K. Rowling → 5/5

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn → 4/5

Burying Water (#1) by K.A. Tucker → 4.75/5

Becoming Rain (#2) by K.A. Tucker → 5/5

Chasing River (#3) by K.A. Tucker → 4.75/5 

Mel
I quite enjoyed my sci-fi month! It took me longer than I care to admit to get through The Martian, but I enjoyed every bit of it!

The Martian by Andy Weir - 5/5
Gravity by Melissa West - 4/5
The Loneliness of Distant Beings by Kate Ling - 4/5
Sword Art Online Progressive Volume 1 by Reki Kawahara - 4/5

I actually meant to fit in one more book for the month, but I went to sleep a lot earlier than I meant to!

 

Jen's Long Overdue June Book Haul

Wow. I can't believe how late this one is going up, but life happens. Better late than never.

Falling Kingdoms & Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes
I already have these two in paperback but I own the rest of this series in hardcover so I bought the first two books in hardcover to match. I loved these books so much when I read them that I don't mind having two copies at all.

Morning Star by Pierce Brown
I hauled the first two books in the Red Rising trilogy recently so I needed the third book to complete the series.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
This book has been on my radar for such a long time but I never bought it because it was too pricey. So when I saw it cheap one day I couldn't pass it up!

The Leaving by Tata Altebrando
This is a YA mystery that I first heard about from Mel. It sounded so intriguing to me that I immediately wanted to grab a copy for myself. I have already read and reviewed this on Goodreads.

The Special Ones by Em Bailey
This is another YA mystery that I picked up on a whim one day because the synopsis intrigued me. I have also already read this one and reviewed it on Goodreads.

Black by Fleur Ferris
After reading Risk by this author last year, Black was one of my highly anticipated releases for 2016. I have already read this and it definitely did not disappoint!

The Loneliness of Distant Beings by Kate Ling
I was initially drawn in by the beautiful cover of this book but the synopsis sounded interesting as well so I decided to pick this one up.

Broken Sky by L.A. Weatherly
This was another random find and is the first book in a trilogy and the premise was enough to convince me to buy it.

Akarnae by Lynette Noni
This is the first book in the Medoran Chronicles series which I've heard some good things about lately. I love fantasy and magic so when I saw this at a cheap price I snatched it up.

Maresi by Maria Turtschaninoff
This is another first book in a new series where the premise sounded great and I've heard some good things about it so I decided to pick it up.

Dream A Little Dream & Dream On by Kerstin Gier
I absolutely loved the Ruby Red trilogy by this author and I've been waiting for her new Silver trilogy to be completed. The third book won't be out in English for some time but when I saw the first two at a cheap price I had to get them.

Graceling, Fire & Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
I have heard a lot of great things about the Graceling Realm trilogy and I've wanted it for a while but I could never decide on which covers I wanted until now!

Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull
I have been wanting to get more into middle grade fantasy lately and everything I've heard about Brandon Mull has been fantastic so I decided to start by picking up his Fablehaven series.

The Luxe, Rumours, Envy & Splendour by Anna Godbersen
This an older historical fiction series that I have heard a lot of people talk about and I have been wanting to try out some more historical fiction so I went ahead and bought these.

Obsession by Jennifer L. Armentrout
I absolutely love the contemporary and mystery novels that I've read by this author but I've never read any of her paranormal books. There are just so many of those books and series that I thought a good place to start would be with this one. It is an adult spin off from her Lux series, but it is a stand alone and I'm told that I don't need to have read the Lux series to read this one.

Can You Keep a Secret, The Undomestic Goddess, Remember Me?, I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

I was in a contemporary mood one day and decided that I really wanted to read a Sophie Kinsella book. I do own most of her Confessions series, but I really wanted to read a standalone so I went ahead and grabbed these four as the descriptions sounded appealing to me.

Jessica Darling's It List & Jessica Darling's It List 2 by Megan McCafferty
The Jessica Darling series is one that I've heard quite a lot about recently and it's on my 'Want to Read' list. However I found out that there was a middle grade prequel series that takes place before the YA series. I decided that rather than reading in publication order, I wanted to read in chronological order instead, so I went ahead and picked up the first two books in the prequel series.

June 2016 Wrap Up

Jen

My reading in June was definitely an improvement on how I went in May. I did have some unexpected days off work which allowed me more time to read, but I also participated in several readathons which gave me a little bit of extra motivation to get those books read! The TomeTopple readathon and the TBR Takedown 4.0 readathon were both so much fun and you can go and check out the wrap ups for those if you want the full breakdown of how I did. Mel and I also did a buddy read of our own and I managed to read all the books that I wanted to for that, so overall I'm super happy with what I read in June.

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas → 5/5

Harry Potter - The Artifact Vault by Jody Revenson → 5/5

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp → 4/5

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson → 5/5

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling → 5/5

Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick → 4/5

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi → 4/5

The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum → 4/5

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick → 4/5

The Special Ones by Em Bailey → 4/5

George by Alex Gino → 4.5/5

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern → 3/5 

Mel 

Uhhh... Where the heck did June go? I feel like I just missed the entire month! I have no idea what happened! Oh well, can't go back now.
This month started off really well, I think. I read a few good books and was right into doing the readathons and the buddy read, but somewhere along the way, I derailed. Anyway...

Tomorrow, When The War Began by John Marsden → 5/5
The Leaving by Tara Altebrando → 4/5
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes → 4/5
Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton → 5/5
Zenith by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings → 3/5
Black by Fleur Ferris → 5/5

Okay, so I did manage to read two books from the Readorama readathon, as mentioned in my wrap up, and I might have mentioned being not well and then slumping a bit; well, that slump didn't want to budge, so I had to stick with reading whatever I was in the mood for. Thus, Black. It's exactly what I needed to get me out of the slump, since I've been so excited to read it! Fleur Ferris is officially on my auto-purchase list! I also have been making a little bit of progress through The Lord of the Rings, since I seem to be obsessing over it lately (blame Lego. I bought the game for Playstation 3. Or blame me for buying it to begin with). So, the buddy read for me just didn't happen. I hope next time is a lot better!

 

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! 

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!