November 2017 Wrap Up aka I’m stressed out

Whoever said senior year of high school was easy has clearly never taken IB. College can’t possibly get any harder than this.

So yes I’m stressed out and have not been blogging…like at all…but I have read 12 book this month and have smashed my 100 book goal for 2017. I’m at 105 right now and will hopefully surpass last year’s final of 112? Maybe, we’ll see.

Let’s get started!

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I read some books for a book trivia competition that I do every year called Battle of the Books!

  

It’s funny, usually I’ve already read two out of the three battle books but this year I’ve never heard of any of them. I liked all three and if I had to choose one to study for the competition I would say probably ‘Tell Me Three Things’ because it’s the most contemporary and easiest to memorize, unlike ‘Starflight’ which is very intense and would be a pain to memorize facts and the little obscure things about it.

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I read some random books that are all from different genres and authors as well!

  

I know that ‘Without Merit’ and ‘There’s someone inside your house’ are controversial but I think that they were both okay books. I definitely see both sides of readers’ arguments and I agree with a lot of the negative but also the positive things about them. I really liked ‘Renegades’ as well as ‘They Both Die at the End’.

 

All of these authors except the Lizzie Borden book I’ve already read and loved so though these latest books did not match up to my already set expectations of them through their other books I still liked these books. I actually almost DNF’d the Lizzie Borden book because it was so boring but I pushed through it in the end.

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Lastly, I finished the Sinners on Tour series!

I read the first book last month so it doesn’t count, this month I read books 2-5, but I just didn’t feel like cropping the first book out of the picture so here it is.

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In others news my first college app is due tomorrow so yay, I’m slowly crawling through the year.

What did you read this month? Link me up with your November Wrap Ups!

 

October 2017 Wrap Up

Hello friends, welcome to my October Wrap Up! It has definitely been a long time since I last blogged, because senior year is kicking my behind.

Anyhoo, let’s just jump right into the wrap up!

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First up this month I read a romance novel!

It’s actually more like erotica I think. I really liked this book and am currently reading the second book which I’m enjoying  little less. The book is basically sex and more sex. Sprinkled in with some ex-husband drama and parental problems of course. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads and probably will continue with the series because I’m curious to see what happens to the other band-mates.

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I also read some YA novels that were awesome!

  

The thing with feathers came from the teenreads review list and I thought the book was good but bland. Certainly not a book I will remember. I really loved Moxie however, I have a review up actually that you can find right here. I loved the feminism and how strong the females were in this book.

Tower of Dawn was also amazing! But SJM is really killing me here by taking a break from Aelin for a WHOLE BOOK! But it’s okay I had Chaol for an entire book. I’m really getting skeptical with SJM and her whole thing with a new love interest for like every character in every book. How many times can these characters fall in love? She also seems to pair every single character with someone else…not that I entirely mind because it seems to be working haha.

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I read some more YA!

 

One of is lying was definitely gripping because I really wanted to know who committed the murder but the end was a bit lackluster and I felt that the author took the easy way out. However I did really like the book before the end so I gave it 4 stars and Genuine Fraud 4 stars as well.

The thing with Genuine Fraud was that it was very similar to a movie I watched a long time ago about a man called Mr. Ripley I think? Anyway the plot of Genuine Fraud was very similar I noticed but it was still a fantastic book.

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I read some Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie!

 

Purple Hibiscus was such a good book and I was so eager to keep reading to find out what happened next! The main character is such a sweet genuine girl and the bad things that happened to her were so not her fault and I just wanted to hug her!

We should all be feminists was also really good but it was such a short essay I wanted more! Adichie is such a fantastic speaker and her TED Talk, “The Danger of a Single Story” led me to these books along with my last years English teacher.

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In total I read 8 books this month! I find this impressive considering my work load in school.

What did you read this month? Link me up with your October Wrap Ups!

August 2017 Wrap Up!

Hello! August was a pretty decent reading month for me. I read 9 books and I had a good mix of fantasy vs. contemporary. I do have to say that I’m slightly getting tired of YA contemporary with its tropes and unrealistic expectations for teenagers but I don’t think I can give up reading contemporary still because there are those gems that are amazing.

Anyway, let’s see what I read this month!

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I read several books from my August TBR, yay, go me! You can find the link to my August tbr right here

I read The Alchemists of Loom, Eliza and Her Monsters, and The Boy Next Door

  

I’ve heard mixed things about the Alchemists of Loom but I really liked it and gave it 4 stars! I really want to read the second one, Dragons of Nova, but it’s not available on live-brary yet. I also loved Eliza and Her Monsters, I have a review of it right here and I gave it 4.5 stars!

I slightly disliked The Boy Next Door and gave it 2 stars. The plot was there but the characters and subplots just were not. This is one of those contemporaries that give the YA contemp genre a bad rep. It just highlighted every bad trope available to YA writers, seriously.

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I also read Made You Up, Geekerella, and Daughter of the Burning City

  

Okay here’s the thing with Made You Up, I have not given it a rating. This is for a reason of course, I would give it a 4 star rating but while reading I felt something was off about the mental illness in the book. When I looked at several reviews they supported the author portrayed the mental illness (schizophrenia) completely wrong. Now, I don’t know if this is true or not since I know nothing about schizophrenia, so I’ve decided not to give it a rating because if the author truly messed up everything about schizophrenia I don’t want to praise the book in any way, ya know?

Anyway, moving on Geekerella was a super easy one day read that was quite cliche and a cinderella retelling, but I liked it for some reason, so 4 stars it is.

I’ve also heard many things about Daughter of the Burning City, it has been super hyped recently and I thought that it was pretty good! I did think the beginning was a bit slow but then it picked up in the middle. I’m curious actually to read the sequel, though the plot twist was quite predictable with some aspects of it. I also am IN LOVE with the cover!

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I finally read Stars Above, the novel wrap up of all of the Lunar Chronicle novellas, I re-read Glass Sword to remind me about what happened so I can finally read King’s Cage in September, and I read Lucky in Love

  

I really liked Stars Above and all of its novellas. The Lunar Chronicles is one of my favorite series so it was great having more time with the characters. I liked Glass Sword as much as I did the first time reading with a 4 star rating.

I have a review up for Lucky in Love explaining why this one didn’t quite do it for me, you can click right here to read it!

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What did you read this month? Link me up with your wrap ups, I’d love to read them!

P.S. I applied for the teenreads.com board and made it! I’m officially on their board until next August!

Summer Shenanigans!

So summer is drawing to a close and school is starting up again in two or so weeks. I’m going to be a senior in high school and it will be my last first day of school!

My summer was pretty boring to be honest, I didn’t go anywhere or do anything exciting but I did some small things. I thought I’d make a post in the form of a list, enjoy!

(Also shenanigans means mischief technically and I didn’t really get into any of that so irony right?)

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1. I went to adventureland with my brothers and mom and to NYC for the day with my family. I also went to BookCon but that was in June before school let out, so it doesn’t really count.

2. I pretty much worked all summer. I’m a lifeguard at a pool and I got so many hours this summer, much more than last summer when I worked at a different pool. (Am I throwing shade, low key yes). I ogled over cute boys at work obviously also. There’s this one coworker who I am majorly crushing on but he’s like 20 going on 21 and I am 16 going on 17 so like there’s no way that’s happening.

3. I watched some movies and tv shows! Finally I watched Wonder Woman and Beauty and the Beast! I also have Doctor Strange and Deadpool that I’m going to watch soon! I watched some tv shows also like Shadowhunters, the Bold Type, and I finished Season 3 of Greys Anatomy but I won’t be continuing. I also had a free Netflix trial where I watched Haters Back Off, New Girl and the Gilmore Girls revival!

4. I read a lot of great books, and a few not so great ones. I did the summer reading program at my library and got chosen to be on the Teenreads.com board which is very exciting!

5. I did my summer assignments and wrote a 3000 word essay. Also did some SAT studying because I’m retaking it in October.

6. I went to my local performing arts theatre and saw Oklahoma and Grease. We have season tickets so I’m also going to be seeing Annie, Once, Singing (Singin’)? in the Rain and Gypsy.

7. I had taekwondo training basically every Saturday and a dance showcase. Today I’m going to my grandma’s birthday party at a Russian restaurant which I’m excited for! I also did a lot of running since I’m training for cross country which starts next week and my half marathon in November.

8. I also listened to some new music, Dodie’s new EP YOU is amazing, In the Middle and Would You be so Kind are my two favorites. Also Kesha’s new stuff is amazing. And Dua Lipa’s New Rules is stuck in my head!!

9. I didn’t date any boys but that’s okay because college is around the corner and cute boys will be there…unlike in high school.

10. I blogged! I revamped my blog with a new theme and published more posts than I had during the school year and commented and liked other people’s posts more!

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How was your summer? Did you do anything fun?! Let’s chat!