May Reads Recap.

Posted on May 31, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hi 🙂

I am so happy with how my month of May with reading went. I managed to get through 13 books. I am actually pretty happy with all of the books that I read and loved them all! I did have one book that I didn’t finish and I don’t think I ever will. I’m not including it in the 13 books, but if you’re curious it was The Perfectionists by Sara Shepard. I couldn’t get into it and I didn’t want to keep trying and forcing it.

These are books I physically read myself or the audiobooks that I listened to at work. These aren’t really in the order that I read them (at least not completely in the order), but you can find them also listed over here along with all the other books that I have read so far this year. All will be linked to Goodreads below. Shall we get started?

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
5 OUT OF 5 STARS.
Blog post about this book over here.

Pretty much read my blog post about this book, because it was SO GOOD! I also explained my feelings throughout the book with gifs! Gifs are cool! This book was really good though and it was good from the start. I instantly fell in love and I loved the whole concept of the book and it was just a great read.

House of Secrets by Chris Columbus
4 OUT OF 5 STARS.

This was a fun read and I really liked the adventure throughout. I definitely plan on continuing the series. It was fun to get away and jump into some crazy adventures.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
4 OUT OF 5 STARS.
The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey
4 OUT OF 5 STARS.

I really enjoyed these books a lot and I don’t know why it took me so long to get to them! I know I was so iffy about whether I wanted to read The 5th Wave, but so glad I gave it a chance! Definitely a good series so far.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
5 OUT OF 5 STARS.
Blog post about this book over here.

I think my blog post says it all! I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH, OMG! Ari and Dante are such great characters and the story itself was so good. I highly recommend reading this book!

End of Days by Susan Ee
5 OUT OF 5 STARS.
Blog post about this book over here.

End of Days! End of Days! Ahhhhhh! I loved this book so much and this entire series is perfect and I want to give Susan Ee a million hugs and a million high fives! Her twist on angels was totally awesome and cool. Read this series if you haven’t already! Like…GO NOW! Starting with Angelfall of course!

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
5 OUT OF 5 STARS.

I really loved this book in the Harry Potter series the best so far. I’ve obviously only read the first three books, but right now it’s my favorite. I definitely plan on reading the next book once the library gets it back! It was a fun book and it made me more excited about the series.

Broke Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn
5 OUT OF 5 STARS.
Hallie Hath No Fury… by Katie Finn
4 OUT OF 5 STARS.
Revenge, Ice Cream, and Other Things Best Served Cold by Katie Finn
5 OUT OF 5 STARS.
Blog post about the first two books over here.

The Broken Hearts & Revenge series is SO good so far! I am really loving it and even though you’ll get angry a million times and want to throw the book at the wall…it’s GOOD! I’m so excited about the next book. Because this is VERY important I will say it again: Do NOT read the book descriptions of any of these books (besides obviously Broken Hearts) until after you read Broken Hearts. You WILL spoil the book and I promise you that you do NOT want to spoil it! Twists, shockers, fun…love this series!

Rogue by Julie Kagawa
4 OUT OF 5 STARS.

I am so excited about the Talon series, but I will say this…I couldn’t give Talon or Rogue five stars, because I really don’t like the main character Ember. She’s so annoying and I really can’t stand her. Everything else in the book is pretty much awesome. Dragons are awesome…dragons that can be human are awesome. This series so far is awesome…except Ember, she’s not awesome. I can’t wait for the next book.

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
4 OUT OF 5 STARS.
Blog post about this book over here.

When I first got this audiobook, I wasn’t sure about it. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to continue to listen to it. OMG am I glad that I continued. It was such a good book. It was also such a fun read! There was some pretty crazy things going on in this book, but it was HILARIOUS! I was cracking up (and sometimes out loud at work). Great book!

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
4 OUT OF 5 STARS.
Blog post about this book over here.

An Ember in the Ashes was so great! There were tons of characters in the book, but so many awesome ones! There were also some that you will hate and want to strangle to death…but you know…it happens. There is also action right away…no time is wasted. You get right into it and that’s awesome! Tons of craziness and surprises.

There you have it! Those are the books that I was able to get through in May. So many good books and I am very excited about June. I’m not entirely sure what all books I am going to read in June, but here are the ones that I know for sure that I will be reading (or listening to):

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas – I will be doing this as part of a read along with Josie from Josies Book Corner and Taylor & Stephanie from Bibliophile Gathering. You can check out more about the read along over here if you want to join in.
The Shock of the Fall – This is for the June read for the book club I’m in. Bloggers’ Book Club.
’89 Walls – I really have to get this one finished ASAP! Like…before tomorrow ends! I didn’t get it finished for this month like I hoped I would.
Belzhar – audiobook.
The Looking Glass Wars – audiobook.
I Hunt Killers – audiobook.

I know there are some others that I recently bought (and some from previous months) that I really want to get to, so depending if I decide to stick with my book jar or just automatically grab for those is still undetermined! I guess we’ll see how the month goes!

I will leave you with a picture of the last two books I bought in May. I am really excited about both of these books. In May I bought 26 books physical books and I got 10 e-books. I wasn’t as bad as I was last month, that’s for sure!

The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer – already linked above
Anything Could Happen by Will Walton

What were some the books that you read in the month of May? What books are you excited about for June? If you have a recap/wrap up post link me to it! 🙂

Goodnight! ❤

Friday Finds #16.

Posted on May 29, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

FRIDAY FINDS showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list… whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library — wherever! (they aren’t necessarily books you purchased). Hosted by A Daily Rhythm.

Hi 🙂

This post has to kind of be a rush post, because I’m doing it late and I have to leave for work in like 20 minutes! I actually surprisingly didn’t add that many books to my TBR this week. Below are the ones I added:

The Legacy Human by Susan Kay Quinn
More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
Break or Survive? by Alina Cirstea

The Revenge Playbook by Rachael Allen
The Big Summer by Jamie B. Laurie
Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

I was actually tagged to do that More Happy Than Not Tag that was inspired by the book. I’ll have that posted over the weekend. Even though I didn’t add lots of books to my TBR (probably a good idea lol), I’m still happy with the ones that I did find! They all sound like potentially great reads!

What are some of the books that you added to your TBR this week? Comment below or link me to your posts!

Last day of work and then it’s the weekend! I really want to finish my current read, so it can make it to my May Recap post. I’ll have that posted Sunday or Monday. Yesterday at work I tried to listen to some audiobooks, but ended up not being able to get into them. 😦 I think I am burned out on audiobooks for the rest of this month. We’ll see what happens today.

Here are some of the other posts that I did this week:

Random Update – I did this post yesterday and just posted random things going on with me and pictures to go with some things.
An Ember in the Ashes – A post about how I felt about this book. Such a great read!

That’s all for this post! I am going to read a few of your posts before I have to leave for work and then catch up on the rest later or throughout the day! BYE! ❤

random update with pictures.

Posted on May 27, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

I am kind of wide awake, so here is a blog post about random stuff and some pictures to go with.

I ordered a couple books today. One for the book club and then another that I’ve been waiting for and was just released. They will be the last books I buy in May. I’ll share once I receive them Friday. 🙂

Add me on Goodreads OVER HERE if you like.

I’ve been looking at cute packaging and letter stuff on Pinterest. I think it’ll be fun to find a pen pal. I love finding cute things, so it’ll be cool to share them!

Add me on Pinterest OVER HERE if you like.

I am currently reading Revenge, Ice Cream, and Other Things Best Served Cold by Katie Finn. So far I am really liking it. It’s the second book in the Broken Hearts & Revenge series. I am so excited about this book. FYI: do NOT read the description to this book before reading the first book Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things To Mend or you’ll spoil the first book and I promise you that you do NOT want to spoil the first book!!

The boyfriend and I started Orphan Black today and so far we really like it. We also got froyo and it was so good as always. I actually did not get too many toppings this time and it came out really colorful and cute, lol. I get cheesecake bites every single time.

I finally got around to getting some new music for my iPod. I’ve been so focused on my blog and reading so many books that I kind of neglected getting new music. I finally got The Maine’s new album (which I LOVE), the new The Story So Far and Mumford & Sons.

I’ve kind of been slacking with my Popsugar reading challenge, which is kind of depressing! I really thought I could do this, but I feel like I am slowly (well maybe quickly) running out of time! Ahhhhhh! See! Not that many checked off!

I found a cute yellow flower when I went on a walk. I also found some wheat pennies when I was counting my money in my piggy bank. The boyfriend started to fill my piggy bank with all his change (which is now up to like $45!!), so I can buy books! I love that he supports my craziness.

And here is my boyfriend and I doing what we do best. He plays likes to play xbox and I obviously love to read. Right now he is pretty addicted to Halo. He took a break from Call of Duty.

Last but not least…here are some furbaby pictures! Dax, I don’t think he’s ever sad! And ColbyJack, just hugging the Tide while he sleeps; it must be so comfy! Strange guy.

OH! I almost have 200 followers (10 or 11 short from 200!) on my blog and it’s so exciting! I’ve only been really doing this blog for a little close to five months, so that’s pretty awesome! So thank you all for following me and liking my posts! I definitely would not be where I am without you guys! HIGH FIVE FOR YOU ALL! ❤

You can check out my last post about An Ember in the Ashes OVER HERE! The book was so good and I am so glad that I decided not to wait to draw it from my book jar before reading it! I have some other things I want to update on, but I will save it for another post. I will be back Friday with Friday Finds and then my May recap of all the books I read sometime on Sunday or Monday. I should probably go to sleep now though. Goodnight!

An Ember in the Ashes.

Posted on May 26, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

20560137

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
4 OUT OF 5 STARS.

“Life is made of so many moments that mean nothing. Then one day, a single moment comes along to define every second that comes after.”

I decided not to wait until I drew it from my book jar and grabbed this book to read. I’m so glad that I did, because it was such a great book. I actually prolonged finishing this book all day yesterday, because I didn’t want it to end! Since I did that, I ended up finishing it at 12:30AM. I was dead tired, oops!

Right away there was action and I loved that. Sabaa Tahir wasted no time with getting into the action! I was instantly loving it and excited about what was to come. Lots of craziness and surprises throughout the book and it definitely kept my attention throughout.

So many awesome characters that it was hard to decide who I loved most! Laia was instantly one of my favorites; the last book I finished I hated the main character, so I was glad when I didn’t hate Laia. She really grew throughout the book. I loved how Elias was so different than the other Masks and I really loved his character. Marcus…I wanted to punch Marcus throughout the entire book. Anytime he opened his mouth. There were times where Helene annoyed me so much and I didn’t like her, but then times she actually surprised me. There will be lots of characters you love and then lots you will hate. There were tons of characters in this book.

I love Sabaa’s writing style and I loved that the way the story was written, it made you want to read more. I definitely recommend reading this book. Lots of actions and some cute romantic type stuff too. Not too much, which I really liked. It was an awesome read! I can’t wait until the next book in the series. I HAVE to know what happens next!

YES, YES I DID! 🙂

Goodreads Description: Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear. It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.

But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

Have you read An Ember in the Ashes? What did you think about it? What are you currently reading now?

Here are a couple posts I did over the weekend:

Photo Dump – A bunch of pictures I took over the last few days.
A Funny Book – Dead End in Norvelt – book for the Popsugar reading challenge.

Super busy day at work today, so I should go! I hope everyone had a great weekend! Bye! ❤

photo dump, because pictures are cool.

Posted on May 24, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hi 🙂

I hope everyone has been having a good weekend and getting lots of reading done! Yesterday I wrote how I planned on reading all weekend, but I’ve kind of failed at that so far this weekend. Ooops! I got busy with other stuff, so I probably only got maybe 50 pages read in my current read all weekend. Blehhh…lame, I know. Anyway…I decided to just do a random photo dump post with random pictures I’ve taken over the last few days. You may have seen some of these already if you follow me on Instagram (heyyitsashley – If you follow me…let me know and I’ll follow you back.)

So yesterday (Saturday) my mom, older sister, and aunt took the niece and nephew fishing. My nephew really loves fishing, so that was extra fun for him. They both caught a lot of fish. My older sister and I laid on a blanket and read our books. Below are some pictures from that day.

Grace & Jackson fishing.

Me reading by the water and then a picture of the water.

So my sister and I were laying on this blanket reading and I decided to look over my shoulder and saw this, which put an end to our reading. We spent the entire time keeping an eye on it, lol.

IGUANA! – He eventually climbed the tree, but then came back down. Ughhh.

Here are some other random pictures from the park we were fishing at.

Niece, Nephew, and my mom fishing.

And these are just other random pictures from throughout the week that I’ve taken.
The pup Dax and random selfie.

ColbyJack using my book to clean himself. He wouldn’t let me have it either. He basically switched to attack mode when I tried to take it away. He’s been kind of mean today. Here is a random pretty flower.

Ice cream and ice cream shaped lollipops.

I think I’ll go read some now. An Ember in the Ashes has been so good so far and it’s getting even better. I’m about halfway through it, so I definitely want to read more! I have some laundry and stuff to eventually get to. The plus side, I don’t work tomorrow! 🙂

Recent posts from the week:
A Funny Book.
Friday Finds #15.
Small Book Haul.

I’ll leave you with Coals by Modern Baseball, because I love this song so much and that’s the song I am currently listening to as I finish this post. 😛

“I’m alright and I’m always getting better.”

BYE! ❤

Dead End in Norvelt.

Posted on May 23, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
4 OUT OF 5 STARS

“Don’t ever forget your history,” she sang, “or any wicked soul can lie to you and get away with it.”

I wasn’t really sure how I was going to feel about this book and at first I almost stopped listening to it. I decided to continue and I am so glad that I did. This book was really great and it was so hilarious. Jack was such a funny kid and all the things he got into ended up being funny and sometimes pretty crazy. So many crazy things happened to Jack in the summer. Miss Volker was hilarious too! She was also kind of crazy, but it was cool. I really enjoyed reading this book and the characters were fantastic.

It was a fun book and will definitely have you cracking up! I was laughing so much throughout work. I loved that lots of the things in the story were true. Jack Gantos took part of his life and turned it into a fictional book, but lots of things that happened in the book really happened to Jack in real life. I also loved that there was a lot of history in the book and it was fun hearing about things that happened long ago. Jack Gantos actually read his own book for the audiobook and that was cool. I definitely recommend this book.

“You don’t have to do what your parents want, or what your boyfriend wants, for you to be happy. You just have to be yourself, for there is no love greater than self love.”

Goodreads Description: Melding the entirely true and the wildly fictional, Dead End in Norvelt is a novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is “grounded for life” by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets. But plenty of excitement (and shocks) are coming Jack’s way once his mom loans him out to help a feisty old neighbor with a most unusual chore—typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his Utopian town. As one obituary leads to another, Jack is launched on a strange adventure involving molten wax, Eleanor Roosevelt, twisted promises, a homemade airplane, Girl Scout cookies, a man on a trike, a dancing plague, voices from the past, Hells Angels . . . and possibly murder.

Recent Posts from the Week:

Friday Finds #15. – Books I added to my TBR this week.
Small Book Haul & Other Things. – A few books I bought this week and some other random bookish talk.
Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend. – My thoughts on the Broken Hearts & Revenge Series so far.
Top Ten Tuesday || Series I Haven’t Read Yet. – Ten series that I haven’t read yet, but really want to.

I plan to read as much as possible this weekend, because I really want to get An Ember in the Ashes read. I also need to finally really read ’89 Walls for review. Anyway, that’s all for this post! I hope everyone is having a great weekend! Bye! ❤

Friday Finds #15.

Posted on May 22, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hi!

So apparently this is my 100th post! That’s pretty exciting and I am actually pretty proud of it, because last time I tried to use this blog I gave up. I tried it again and failed again. This time I have not failed! 🙂

post-milestone-100-2x

Anyway, on to the books! Below are the books that I added to my TBR this week:

Antigoddess by Kendare Blake
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp
Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy

The Secret of the Emerald Sea by Heather Matthews
Once Every Never by Lesley Livingston
Signs Point to Yes by Sandy Hall
Nocte by Courtney Cole

I didn’t really add many books this week. I usually add a ton more than this! I’m sure that’s not a bad thing though, because my TBR is already out of control as it is! I didn’t get any e-books, but I bought some other books this week. I’ll link you to my book haul post below in case you missed it.

Recent Posts from the Week:

Small Book Haul & Other Things. – A few books I bought this week and some other random bookish talk.
Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend. – My thoughts on the Broken Hearts & Revenge Series so far.
Top Ten Tuesday || Series I Haven’t Read Yet. – Ten series that I haven’t read yet, but really want to.
Friday Finds #14. – Books I added to my TBR last week.

Let me know what books you added to your TBR this week in the comments or link me to your post! Bye! ❤

Small Book Haul & Other Things.

Posted on May 21, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hi 🙂

I bought some books this week and thought I would share them with you! I was getting packages back to back and it was pretty crazy, but fun! 🙂 I don’t think I’ll be able to do that again though, lol. I decided to get a free trial of Amazon Prime (to see if I will use it much and whether to keep it) and I wanted to take advantage of the two day shipping, but that also meant I took advantage of my bank account too! OOOOPS!

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
Made You Up by Francesca Zappia
The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
Revenge, Ice Cream, and Other Things Best Served Cold by Katie Finn

I decided to get Crown of Midnight, because I really wanted to see what happened next after Throne of Glass. I’m sure you all seen that I wasn’t that huge of a fan of Throne of Glass, but I still wanted to give the series a chance. I did start really liking it at the end and enough to make me want to continue with the series.

Revenge, Ice Cream, I had to order right after I finished reading Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend. I am totally loving the Broken Hearts & Revenge series so far! I am also excited that there will be a third book! I do need to eventually repurchase Broken Hearts though, because it has a new cover and it matches the Revenge, Ice Cream book and not the original cover that I have. I want the book covers to match, lol! I am so excited to read this book though. I plan to read it after the book I am currently reading.

The Wrath and the Dawn sounds like such a great book and it has a cool book cover, that’s exciting! Made You Up also has such an awesome book cover and I really can’t wait to read it, because it sounds so good! I am definitely excited about these two books and they were books on the top of my TBR that I really want to read. I really hope I love them!

Random Bookish Stuff:

I won some ARCs in a giveaway on Twitter, which is exciting! I can’t wait to get them. This is the third time I’ve won a giveaway on Twitter. 🙂
I pre-ordered Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari and I can’t wait to get it. It’s releasing in the middle of June. He’s one of my favorite comedians and I loved his character on Parks & Rec. It’s probably the most expensive book I bought so far this year (a little over $20 including shipping, etc.), but I decided to…

14686873

I finished the book Rogue by Julie Kagawa and it was SO GOOD! It’s the second book in the Talon series. I’m not sure if I’ll do a review on it since it’s a sequel and I’m always scared I’ll give something away. It was definitely an awesome read though. Now the wait for Soldier...ahhhh. 😦
I am currently reading An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir and so far it’s really good. I decided to skip drawing from my book jar and pick this one up. I’m glad I did! Also found out this week that it will be a series.

Recent Posts from the Week:

To end this post, here is a picture of ColbyJack and Dax. 🙂

BYE! ❤

Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend.

Posted on May 19, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn
5 out of 5 stars.
Hallie Hath No Fury… by Katie Finn
4 out of 5 stars.

“I don’t think you have to let yourself be defined by your past.”

Honestly, I bought Broken Hearts because the cover was really cute. I had no idea I would even really like it as much as I did. I actually loved the book! This book had my heart racing and probably caused me to have almost a million heart attacks, lol. So many times I was nervous for Gemma and felt all the things she was feeling, hence the mini-heart attacks. It was SO hilarious a lot of the time and I was cracking up so much. I thought it was well written and it was a really fast read. The way that it was written made you want to keep reading more of it. I flew through the book and as soon as I finished it, I went and ordered the second book in the series! I really liked the characters in the book, especially Gemma and Josh. The ending was a COMPLETE SHOCKER….OMG!!! I never would have seen that coming and I was pissed off….which brings me to…

Hallie Hath No Fury… When I seen that there was a little novella e-book for this series, I bought it right away and finished it in an hour. It was definitely interesting to see another side of the story. It was actually awesome that I found this, because I needed to know WHY and HOW! I really liked the series so far having just read Broken Hearts and Hallie Hath. I am actually expecting the second book in the series today in the mail, so yay! I plan to read that as soon as I finish the current book I am reading; if I can hold out that long!

“Sometimes people have reasons for not telling the truth about who they are.”

I really love the Broken Hearts & Revenge series so far. I do recommend it if you want a fun read! It was definitely fun, hilarious, and lots of surprises! It could also be a good summer read too. The book titles are so great too! Can’t wait to jump into the next book: Revenge, Ice Cream, and Other Things Best Served Cold. <— PS: DO NOT READ THE DESCRIPTION FOR THIS SECOND BOOK OR YOU’ll RUIN THE CRAZY ENDING OF BROKEN HEARTS. 😛

Goodreads Description for Broken Hearts: Hot sun. Blue waves. New romances. Old secrets. Gemma had her summer all planned out, but it takes a sharp turn when she gets dumped and finds herself back in the Hamptons after a five-year absence. Being there puts her at risk of bumping into Hallie, her former best friends (that is, before Gemma ruined her life). But people don’t hold grudges forever. Do they? Gemma intends on making amends, but a small case of mistaken identity causes the people she knew years ago—including Hallie and her dreamy brother, Josh—to believe she’s someone else. As though the summer wasn’t complicated enough already.

Have you read Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend? If so, what did you think about it?

In case you missed it; I did a Top Ten Tuesday post earlier this morning about series that I want to read, but haven’t started yet. You can check that out OVER HERE. Bye! ❤

Top Ten Tuesday Freebie||Series I Haven’t Read Yet.

Posted on May 19, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Tuesday Freebie – YOUR CHOICE OF TOPIC.

This week’s TTT is a freebie, so I decided to go with the series that I want to start, but haven’t yet. There are SO many series that I would like to read, but just haven’t started them yet. I’ve been wanting to read these for awhile now. Since I add so many books to my TBR, they all just seem to get lost and forgotten about. I will share some of the book covers in the series (I know some may have more books than what I actually put in this post) and link the first book in the series to Goodreads. Below are some of the series that I want to eventually read and these aren’t in any order.

The Darkest Minds.

The Lunar Chronicles.

The Mortality Doctrine.

The Grisha.

Shatter Me.

Legend.

The Selection.

Mara Dyer.

Outlander.

The Taking.

So these are the series that I really want to read, but haven’t read them yet! Now that I finished this post and look at all these books, it’s kind of disappointing that I haven’t started them yet! Hopefully I can get around to some of them soon! I have a love/hate toward series. There are SO MANY series that it can get overwhelming. I know I have tons of series that I started, but haven’t finished yet. I’m thinking of making a list of them, so I can finally get them done or at least progress more into them if books in the series aren’t published yet. I should probably make a list of when next books in them get released. I’ll save that for another day though!

Have you read any of these series? If so, were they any good? Also, link me to your TTT posts! 🙂

Until next time! It is off to work for me. Bye! ❤

would you rather book tag.

Posted on May 16, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hi 🙂

I seen this tag over at Marie’s (drizzle and hurricane books) blog and I thought it looked like a lot of fun! I’m also killing time before the party we are having starts! What better way than a fun book tag? 🙂

>>Would you rather only read trilogies or only read standalones?

+ I think I would probably go with standalones! I love a good trilogy, but I have started so many trilogies and series that I am kind of overwhelmed with it! I know there also so many unfinished ones that I started that I really need to finish! It can get kind of chaotic!

>>Would you rather only read male or female authors?

+ This is kind of hard to answer! I love books by all, but I guess if I really had to choose than I guess I would choose female. There have been amazing books that I read by females that you would probably think a male would have written.

>>Would you rather shop at Barnes and Noble or Amazon?

+ Although Barnes & Noble is more convenient, because you can have the books right away…I would choose Amazon. It’s so much cheaper to order books on Amazon and it always helps that you can get books even cheaper when you get e-books too.

>>Would you rather books were made into TV shows or movies?

+ I was just talking to my boyfriend about this the other day! Well, me talk and he being “tortured” to listen to my book talk, haha. I was telling him how I rather books be made into TV shows, because I feel like you can get more of the book if it was a TV show and it wouldn’t be as rushed and as many things taken out. With a movie, I feel like it’s always rushed and sometimes so many things are different….*cough* Percy Jackson *cough*

>>Would you rather read only 5 pages per day or 5 books per week?

+ Five books per week, DUUUUUHHHH! There are just too many books that need to be read to only read five pages a day! That’s insane! GIVE ME ALL THE BOOKS!

>>Would you rather be a professional author or reviewer?

+ I would rather be a professional reviewer. I suck at writing anything, so I rather just enjoy the books instead of writing them.

>>Would you rather be a librarian or a bookseller?

+ Hmmm…I think I would choose bookseller. I would love to meet people that buy books and collect books. I would be able to share my love for collecting and buying. It would also be fun recommending books that they HAVE to own. High five to all the librarians though. I would probably talk people into buying the books if I was a librarian too. Any job surrounded by books would be amazing to me.

>>Would you rather read only your favorite genre, or every other genre but your favorite?

+ OMG! This is a horrible question! I love so many different genres. I don’t even know what my favorite is anymore!I One of my favorites is dystopia, but I think I will just go with every other genre, because well….maybe I’ll learn to love them even more.

>>Would you rather only read ebooks or physical books?

+ TOUGH question! I love them both, but lately I really love physical books. So I guess I would go with physical books.

I want everyone that is following me to do this tag and then link me to your posts! This is such a fun tag and you should not skip over it! 😛

Other bookish stuff;

I won this ARC in a giveaway on Twitter and I received it yesterday! I am really excited about it and can’t wait to read it! 🙂 *picture is linked to Goodreads*

I am currently reading Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend and I found this in the book and thought it was hilarious. **by the way, this book is SO good**

Basically, Sergeant Which is a Doctor Who spinoff in this book. HAHAHAHA. I thought it was pretty hilarious, but I guess that’s because I am a hardcore Doctor Who fan. I’m sure you’ve seen how much I’ve mentioned it and I also own so much Doctor Who stuff, SO MUCH. Here’s my mini Sonic Screwdriver. & remember that time my kitten was the fourth Doctor? 😛

Anyway! I have tons more pictures to share with you, but I’ll save those for another time or you can check out my instagram (heyyitsashley) and you can see them over there! 🙂

Here are a couple of my recent posts if you missed them and want to check them out!

I am off to go to this party! I hope everyone is having a great weekend! BYE! ❤

Friday Finds #14.

Posted on May 15, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hi 🙂 Happy Friday!

Below are the books that I added to my TBR this week:

Anyone? by Angela Scott
The Night We Said Yes by Lauren Gibaldi
Balloon Animals by Jonathan Dunne
The Wrath & the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

The Potion Diaries by Amy Alward
The Perfectionists by Sara Shepard
Orphan Number Eight by Kim van Alkemade
Ghost Story by Peter Straub
A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan

I am VERY excited about The Wrath & the Dawn and I need to get a copy ASAP! These others sound like they will be very good too. I think that Orphan Number Eight and Balloon Animals especially sound like they will be really great reads. I am in love with the covers for all of these books! I really need to win the lottery like NOW! I want all of these books and all the other 365 books on my TBR! Blehhh….there are just so many books! I need more time and more money. Sigh.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

I bought these two books on Kindle for $1.99 each and I am really excited about them. They both sound like they will be good reads, so I can’t wait to read them. They are still $1.99 on Kindle right now. 🙂

Let me know what books you added to your TBR list this week in the comments or link me to your post!

You can check out some of my other posts from this week all linked below! 🙂

Penryn & the End of Days – My thoughts about this series a.k.a. fangirling about this series.
WWW Wednesdays #8 – Books I am currently reading, recently finished, and reading next.
Top Ten Tuesday – Ten authors I really want to meet.
First May Book Haul & Other Stuff – Books that I bought last week and pictures I took.
Friday Finds #13 – Books I added to my TBR last week and a mini book haul.

It’s about time for me to leave for work, so I hope you have a great Friday! Bye! ❤

Penryn & the End of Days.

Posted on May 14, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Angelfall by Susan Ee
World After by Susan Ee
End of Days by Susan Ee
5 out of 5 stars for all.

Hi 🙂

I was going to save this for the weekend, but I am so excited about this series. I am basically just going to completely fangirl about the series in this blog post. Sorry in advanced… 😛

I was looking for a new series that I could absolutely fall in love with and this one was it. I don’t think I’ve ever loved a series so much since Divergent. I lovelovelove this series! I want to give Susan Ee a million high fives!

751559

I read Angelfall and World After back in March and I instantly fell in love. It was definitely different than most books that I read and a lot darker too. I loved that there were angels and that they were totally cool badass angels! I loved the world and the entire concept of the book. I read each book in a day!

I love Penryn. I thought she was a really cool character and she was fighting for so much. Her crazy mom, OMG! I actually really liked her mom. She was totally a nutcase, but she knew what she was doing the entire time. Raffe, oh Raffe. Can I please have Raffe? PLEASE! I instantly fell in love with him and my heart broke for him a few times throughout the series. He frustrated me the most though! I still love him though. 🙂 I would have to also say that some of my other favorite characters aside from the main characters would have to be Tweedledee and Tweedledum, they were hilarious throughout the series. I will not talk about Paige, because well…I don’t want to give away anything in the books.

I finished End of Days in two days. It was everything I could ever hope for. It was everything you could ever want in a book. It was fantastic and I am so sad that it ended. I want more! GIVE ME SOME MORE! I really like how the entire series came together and how it ended. It was perfect, in my opinion. This series was a fast read, especially because you’ll never want to put it down. It’s hard to be a functioning adult when you have a series like this waiting to be read! 😛 I highly recommend you read this series if you haven’t already. I mean, you should go read it right after you read this post! GO GO GO!

Pretty much if I ever see Susan Ee in person….
tumblr_mgl46n7diA1rba157o5_r1_250

Goodreads Description for Angelfall: “It’s been six weeks since the angels of the apocalypse destroyed the world as we know it. Only pockets of humanity remain. Savage street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When angels fly away with a helpless girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back…”

Now I need to go order the physical copies of these books, because no bookshelf is complete without them!

In other bookish news, Wayward Pines starts tonight on Fox and I am so excited about it! I read the books back in January and I really can’t wait to see how it all plays out on TV. Here is a link to my post that I did about these books OVER HERE. I read these books a day each too and they were so good. That ending though….UGHHHHHH!

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

I bought this book the other day and I am happy that I got it! I’ve been really wanting to read it and I couldn’t pass it up when I seen it at Target. I also got A Game of Thrones and I plan to probably use it for my 2015 Reading Challenge.

I guess that’s all for this post! I hope everyone is having a great day! BYE! ❤

WWW Wednesdays #8.

Posted on May 13, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly MEME hosted by Taking on a World of Words. Simply answer the following questions. 🙂)

The three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

*Goodreads links in the covers

Currently Reading:

End of Days by Susan Ee
Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn
’89 Walls by Katie Pierson
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

OMG, I don’t normally do this AT ALL with having so many books that I am reading! This month has just been so crazy with books, so I am currently reading all of these books. I usually only keep it to one audiobook and one physical book (or e-book). I was originally reading ’89 Walls, but then wanted a physical book to carry around too, so I started to read Broken Hearts. So far I am really liking Broken Hearts and been neglecting ’89 Walls – oops. I also had to drop EVERYTHING I was reading once End of Days was released, because I’ve been waiting for it and OMG the wait has totally been worth it so far! Harry Potter is my audiobook. 🙂

Recently Finished:

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

I loved Aristotle and Dante SO MUCH! You can check out my post about this book over here. The 5th Wave was a really great read and I am definitely looking forward to reading the next book.

Reading Next:

Rogue by Julie Kagawa

I really have no idea what I am reading next, because I am currently reading so many books right now. So basically just finishing those books. My next audiobook will be Rogue though and I am really excited about it! 🙂

What are you currently reading? Finished reading? Reading next? Or link me to your post! 🙂

You can check out some other posts that I’ve done recently linked below:

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten authors I really want to meet.
First May Book Haul & Other Stuff: Books that I bought recently and some pictures I took.

Off to work I go! Bye! ❤

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I REALLY Want To Meet.

Posted on May 12, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Ten Authors I REALLY Want To Meet.

Hi 🙂 I haven’t done TTT since the end of March, so I figured I would do it this week! This week’s topic ten authors that I really want to meet. There are so many authors that I would love to meet, but the following authors are ones that I really loved their books so much.These won’t be in any specific order, so let’s get started!

Rick Riordan & Becky Albertalli

rick riordan View More: http://thedecisivemoment.pass.us/becky-headshots

Mitch Albom & Suzanne Collins

Mitch Albom - Speaker 2014 suzanne-collins-331883

Veronica Roth & Susan Ee

veronica roth susan ee

Ransom Riggs & James Dashner

ransom riggs james dashner

John Green & Rainbow Rowell

john green rainbow rowell

I love these authors so much and I really love their books. It would totally be exciting to meet all of them! What authors would you like to meet? Leave a comment or link me to your post! 🙂

You can check out some other recent posts I’ve done over the last few days linked below!

First May Book Haul & Other Stuff. – Books I recently bought and some pictures I’ve taken.
The Burrito Bowl Book Tag. – A cool book tag. Book tags are cool.
Bloggers’ Book Club: May. – My thoughts on Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe.

Off to work for me! I can’t wait for the day to be over, so I can get home and read End of Days! AHHH! 🙂 Bye! ❤

First May Book Haul & Other Stuff.

Posted on May 11, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hi 🙂

I have a book haul to share and I also decided that I would do a photo dump too! Everyone loves books and random pictures, right? 😉 On Saturday I went to Goodwill with the boyfriend after he got off work and found a bunch of books. I was really excited about it and here are the books that I found.

Wings by Aprilynne Pike
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt
The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold
Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox
Death on the D-List by Nancy Grace
Matched by Ally Condie
Crossed by Ally Condie
Reached by Ally Condie
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson

Inside the Cage by Matt Whyman
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

I think this was a pretty awesome and successful book haul! I found a ton of books and it was cool that I found the entire Matched series! I’ve been off and on about whether I wanted to read it or not, but since I seen it at Goodwill for cheap, I decided not to pass it up. The boyfriend chose Inside the Cage and Number the Stars. He said Number the Stars was one of his favorite books and this one was in better condition than the one we have now, so he wanted to get it. I am happy with all of the books that I got and can’t wait to eventually read them. Now I need to try not to buy as many more books this month, because I’ve already gotten all of these plus Magonia. I need to chill out with spending lots of money. Luckily these were from Goodwill, so it wasn’t as much money if I had gotten them brand new! 🙂

Onto the random photo dump, because pictures are FUN! If you’re following me on Instagram (heyyitsashley) then you probably have seen these already.

The younger sister and I made cupcakes for our mom, older sister, and aunt for Mother’s Day. I thought they came out really good. SO MUCH PINK!

I got some new bookmarks from Craftedvan that I am so in love with! I drew Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn from the book jar. I also started to read ’89 Walls by Katie Pierson that I got from Netgalley for review. I’ve only read one chapter so far in this one. I don’t normally read two books at a time (unless it’s an audiobook), but since ’89 Walls is an e-book, I also wanted to have a physical book to read too. I also just noticed they are both written by someone named Katie, lol. 😛

My furbabies: ColbyJack & Dax. My boyfriend also texted me on Mother’s Day since he was at work and told me Happy Mother’s Day because we have furbabies, lol.

Here are just a few random pictures I took. I saw a butterfly in my mom’s little butterfly garden she made and then the sky looked pretty the other day.

I hope you enjoyed this post and all of the pictures! In case you missed them, below are links to a couple recent posts that I have done.

The Burrito Bowl Book Tag. – A really fun book tag that includes burritos and books. Two great things!
Bloggers’ Book Club: May. – My thoughts on Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe.

Bye! ❤

The Burrito Bowl Book Tag.

Posted on May 10, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

burrito-bowl-book-tag-image-750x450

Hi 🙂 Two posts in one day! Link to earlier post will be at the end of this one. I was tagged by Maren @ The Worn Bookmark to do the Burrito Bowl Book Tag. It sounds like so much fun! You all should go check out Maren’s blog, because she has such a great blog! Her blog is definitely one of my favorites!

Rules:

Thank the blogger who nominated you to make your own burrito bowl, linking back to their site.
Answer the tag questions.
Tag 5 others to create their own bowl!
Food coma.

Rice: The Foundation – “The book that got you into reading (or book blogging)” – The Hunger Games series definitely got me REALLY into reading. Ever since reading that series 3-4 years ago, I have been reading all the time.

Beans: The Filler – “The book with a whole lot of nothing going on” – I haven’t read too many that completely bored me to dead (the first 250 pages of Throne of Glass), but I will officially go with The Curse Keepers, that book just plain sucked and wasn’t doing it for me.

Protein: The Building Block – “A book quote to live by” – I definitely have to go with this quote from Jasper Jones – “Life might be easier if you give in a little, but it’s better if you hold onto something so hard you can’t give it up.” – I love this quote so much and I love this book so much.

Fajitas: The Crunch of Texture – “A book with immaculate world-building” – As much as this book bored me in the beginning, it did have really good world-building. Throne of Glass.

Salsa: The Dance of Flavour – “A book that kept you on your toes” – So far this series has been on point and definitely has been keeping me on my toes! I really can’t wait until the third book! Ahhhhh! Angelfall by Susan Ee.

Corn: The Explosion of Sweetness – “A memorable scene with friendship/romance” – I just finished Aristotle and Dante on Saturday, but this book has so many memorable scenes involving Ari and Dante and their friendship. One of my favorite scenes is when they went out in the desert to look at the stars and ended up dancing in the rain.

Cheese: The Bond of Calcium – “Two characters from different books you wish could be friends” – This is kind of a tough one! Umm…I think I’ll go with Lily from Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares and Cath from Fangirl. I think they would really get along and make good friends.

Sour Cream: The Tangy Topper – “The quirkiest character you’ve ever read (protagonist or supporting)” – Leo Valdez from the Heroes of Olympus series, hands down! He was such a great character and definitely fun and quirky to me.

Guacamole: The Cost of Creaminess – “A book you paid too much for” – I’ll have to say Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom for this one. I bought this book when it was first released and it was $25. It was definitely worth the money though. It was a really great read.

Lettuce: The Handful of Crispness – “A refreshing concept/theme in a book” – I would have to go with Red Queen for this one. It was definitely different than a lot of books I read and I loved it so much.

Chips: Le Pièce de Résistance – “A must-read recommendation [if you like this book/genre—you decide!]” – This was one of my favorite books that I read last year and I definitely recommend it. It was a really good read; We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. Love this book! It’s a short read, but so good!

Tabasco: The Kick to the Face – “Your favorite fight/action sequence” – I definitely have to go with The Last Olympian with this one. It was definitely one of my favorites and it had so much action in it. It was great.

I am going to tag:

If I didn’t tag you and you want to do it, then you totally should! I would love to see everyone’s answers! This was such a fun tag to do. 🙂 In case you missed it, I did a post about Aristotle and Dante earlier today and you can find that post OVER HERE. It was such an amazing book! Bye! ❤

Bloggers’ Book Club: May – Ari & Dante.

Posted on May 10, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hi 🙂 I hope every has been enjoying their weekend and any of the books that you are currently reading! I’ve mentioned this quite a few times, but I am in a book club over at Goodreads called Bloggers’ Book Club with some awesome bloggers. I decided to do small little posts that basically just show you guys the book that we’re reading and how I felt about the book. The book chosen for May was…

12000020

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
5 out of 5 stars.

“Sometimes, you do things and you do them not because you’re thinking but because you’re feeling. Because you’re feeling too much. And you can’t always control the things you do when you’re feeling too much.”

Let me first start this off by saying that I am so in love with this book. SO IN LOVE. It was absolutely beautiful and amazing and every good thing you could possibly say about a book. It was so well written and in a way that made you want to keep reading. I never wanted to stop and I dreaded when I had to be an adult and do adult things. I wanted to read it forever. The chapters are really short, so it was so easy to just keep reading. I felt everything Ari and Dante felt. I cried with them, I laughed with them, I got angry with them. The way Ari talked about Dante was so amazing and the way Dante absolutely loved everything and everyone was so great. One of my favorite things was when Dante said he would never runaway from home because he was crazy about his parents.

I loved Ari and Dante’s friendship. It was perfect and it was everything you could ever want in a best friend. They were perfect. It was great the way they both grew throughout the book. I love them both so much. I also love their parents and how much their parents loved them. The story was perfect. I could reread this a million times and fall more in love with it every time. There was never a time where I didn’t love this book, not ever. I always had teary eyes throughout the book, because it was so beautiful and amazing! I highly recommend this book!

tumblr_m8tjuaRhO41r6ai4qo1_400

Goodreads Description: “Dante can swim. Ari can’t. Dante is articulate and self-assured. Ari has a hard time with words and suffers from self-doubt. Dante gets lost in poetry and art. Ari gets lost in thoughts of his older brother who is in prison. Dante is fair skinned. Ari’s features are much darker. It seems that a boy like Dante, with his open and unique perspective on life, would be the last person to break down the walls that Ari has built around himself. But against all odds, when Ari and Dante meet, they develop a special bond that will teach them the most important truths of their lives, and help define the people they want to be. But there are big hurdles in their way, and only by believing in each other―and the power of their friendship―can Ari and Dante emerge stronger on the other side.”

“Another secret of the universe: Sometimes pain was like a storm that came out of nowhere. The clearest summer could end in a downpour. Could end in lightning and thunder.”

I have a book haul post coming up soon and I also have a tag post to do too, which I am excited about! I also won another giveaway on Twitter, so yay! I can’t wait until I get the books from the giveaways and share them with you! 🙂 That’s all for this post! You can check out some other posts of mine below:

Bloggers’ Book Club: April – Throne of Glass.
Friday Finds & Mini Book Haul – books I added to my TBR this week and some new books I got.

Bye ❤

Friday Finds #13 & Mini Book Haul.

Posted on May 8, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hey! 🙂 I am so glad that it is Friday, because I am beyond exhausted this week! I’ve been staying up late and then having to get up early for work. It hasn’t been very fun. Below are some of the books that I added to my TBR this week and I will also be sharing some other books I got this week too (physical & e-books). All linked to Goodreads down below. Shall we get started?

The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes by Anna McPartlin
The Secrets We Keep by Trisha Leaver
Flawed by Kate Avelynn
Starters by Lissa Price

Departure by A.G. Riddle
Lock In by John Scalzi
In Her Shadow by Louise Douglas
Absent by Katie Williams

So those are the ones that I added to my TBR this week and they all sound like they’ll be good reads. Below are the two that I got for Kindle and they were free and still free as of right now. Free is always awesome!

Blood Faerie by India Drummond
The Purgatorium by Eva Pohler

On Wednesday night, the boyfriend and I decided to take a random walk to the Goodwill that is right down the street from our house. I found these books and got them all for $6, which was pretty good. I didn’t find as many books as I thought I would, but I am happy these that I did find.

Dreamcatcher by Stephen King
How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

I read Miss Peregrine, but I only have the e-book version, so when I seen it I had to get it. I also read Alice, but I had to have it! What are some of the books that you found this week? Or link me to your post! 🙂

Lately, I’ve been doing tons of tags, memes, and book hauls (which I love doing) but hopefully soonish I can start doing more reviews. I’ve been kind of slow at reading the last couple months. Also, the majority of the books that I do finish, I haven’t been doing reviews on. I’ve read (and listened) to tons of awesome books so far this year and I should have shared my thoughts more on those besides the few sentences I usually do for end of the month recap posts. I’ve read (and listened) to 49 books so far this year and I’ve only done maybe 12-15 reviews. I think I’ll be changing that up a bit and do more reviews on more books that I finish. Expect more reviews coming soon!

Anyway, that’s all I have for this post! I hope everyone has a great weekend and if you want you can check out some of my other posts from this week linked below.

WWW Wednesdays # 7.
The Beautiful Blogger Award.
Sisterhood of the World Blogger Award.
A book with a color in the title. – Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Bye! ❤

WWW Wednesdays #7.

Posted on May 6, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly MEME hosted by Taking on a World of Words. Simply answer the following questions. 🙂)

The three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

*Goodreads links in the covers

Currently Reading:

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

I am really loving Aristotle and Dante so far. The chapters are really short, so it also makes to easier to read. I’m not at all far into The 5th Wave yet, so I can’t really make a judgement. It’s the audiobook I’m listening to at work this week and I’m looking forward to it.

Recently finished:

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
House of Secrets by Chris Columbus

Red Queen was such a great book! I loved it so much and you can check out my post on that over here. I included some gifs that showed how I felt throughout the book. House of Secrets was a pretty good book and I definitely will be continuing the series.

Reading next:

End of Days by Susan Ee
’89 Walls by Katie Pierson
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

I am so freaking excited about End of Days and I probably said that a million times! Chances are I am probably reading this next. I’ll probably be reading ’89 Walls while I wait for End of Days to release or right after End of Days. Depends on if I finish Aristotle and Dante before it gets released. The 3rd Harry Potter will be my next audiobook to listen to at work.

What are you currently reading? Finished reading? Reading next? Or link me to your post! 🙂

I would love to write more in this post about some other things, but today is going to be insanely busy at work for me since I didn’t go to work yesterday. AHHHHH! I hope everyone has a great day! Bye! ❤

The Beautiful Blogger Award.

Posted on May 5, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

beautiful-blogger-award-2

HI 🙂 I was nominated by Analee @ Book Snacks for the Beautiful Blogger Award and I am so excited about that! You should all definitely check out her blog, because she posts great stuff and I love her blog!

The Rules:
Link to the blogger who took the time to nominate you.
List seven random things about yourself.
Nominate seven creative, beautiful bloggers.
Notify the amazing people that you nominated for the award.

So I’ve done lots of blogger award where I’ve had to list random things about myself and coming up with new ones is always difficult. Sorry for any repeats!

I’ve moved around a lot throughout my life between Illinois and Florida, but I’ve been the longest in Florida and I love it here.
I am obsessed with office supplies. I rarely use office supplies, but I love having all kinds of them around. I love buying paperclips, pens, notebooks, etc.
I am completely unorganized, but when it comes to certain things, I am totally OCD. I will rearrange my Bath & Body Works collection and books constantly.
I love TV shows. I have so many TV shows that I watch that sometimes I have to rearrange my DVR just to fit them all in. I also have a bad habit of letting my DVR fill up completely and then rush to watch everything. I am currently dying for Hannibal to return and Wayward Pines to start! I loved the Wayward Pines trilogy and so excited that it’s going to be a 10 episode event on FOX!
I love tattoos and I love the feel of getting tattoos. I probably mentioned this one already, but oh well! I’ve had some new followers since then! I have six tattoos. “Remember to Breathe” on my left wrist. A music note on my right wrist. A puzzle piece on my right leg a little above my ankle. A girl robot on my left leg a little above my ankle. A star on my right hand between my index finger and thumb. And flowers on my right foot, which I got done in the Bahamas. I still want so many more including a half sleeve, I just don’t know where I want my other tattoos. Location is kind of hard to figure out, but I do know what I want done.
I am addicted to frozen yogurt. There is a froyo shop walking distance from my house. My boyfriend and I go almost every single Saturday and it’s kind of our new obsession for the last month or two. It’s sooooo damn good! I always get cheesecake bites on it, plus random other toppings. I have to have the cheesecake bites though!
I always have to sleep with a fan on by my bed. No matter the weather. I just feel this comfort from it, I guess. I also rather be cold than hot when I’m sleeping. I love the feeling of being under blankets when I’m freezing.

Well those are my facts! Sorry if there was any repeats! It’s hard coming up with facts. As for nominating, I am currently doing this post from my phone, so I’m officially nominating all of you guys for this blogger award! 🙂 I love getting to know you all!

As for something random: I went to the doctor today for a check up (totally was nervous), but it ended up not being so bad. My mom is a nurse and worked for the doctor, so she was able to draw my blood and do all my vitals. So that was cool and I didn’t have to completely freak out. Hah. Afterward, I went to Target (bad idea bad idea) to get Mother’s Day stuff and ended up getting myself a book. I seen it, been wanting to read it, had to have it NOW!

I am so in love with the cover of this book and I can’t wait to read it! 🙂 it’s so pretty and I am so excited! First book bought in May…ahh! This will be a tight month for me though when it comes to money, so I have to be careful!

Anyway! That’s all for this post! I am going to go back to reading Aristotle and Dante before I go get froyo with the boyfriend. By the way, I am loving the book so far and will have my thoughts on it as soon as I finish it! My kitty is currently trying to steal the bookmark out of my book; he loves ribbons. Bye! ❤

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award.

Posted on May 4, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hi 🙂

I was nominated for the Sisterhood of the World Blogger Award by Emily @ The Diary of a Bibliophile, Hadjar @ Manyreads, and Nicole @ awayinneverland! You should totally check out their blogs! All their posts are fantastic and I love their blogs!

sisterhood-of-the-world-bloggers-award11

There are five rules that every nominee must follow:

♦ Thank the blogger that nominated you and link their website.
♦ Insert the award logo in your blog post.
♦ Answer the ten questions that were provided by the nominator.
♦ Nominate ten bloggers.
♦ Create ten new questions for your nominees.

Questions from Emily:

1. What is your opinion of e-reading?

+ I love e-reading! I was actually obsessed with it. It’s nice being able to have all my books with me and sometimes I feel like I read faster when I am reading an e-book.

2. Have you ever read a book and loved the story, but hated the protagonist? If so, name the book.

+ This is such a tough question! I guess the answer would be no?…but I liked the first three books in the Mortal Instruments series, but I HATED Clary so much. I also started to hate the series during book four to the point that I just couldn’t stand it anymore.

3. Name a book that made you want to read more.

+ The Hunger Games series. I used to not read anything that wasn’t non-fiction, but I decided to give The Hunger Games a chance and I haven’t looked back. I have been reading anything and everything since.

4. Do you have a preferred place to read (i.e. outside, library, Starbucks, your bed, etc,.)? If so, where?

+ I don’t really have a preferred place to read. I can read anywhere and everywhere. I mostly just lay in bed and read though.

5. Name a classic book that you have yet to read.

+ Pride and Prejudice! I plan to read that this year though and also To Kill a Mockingbird. I also plan to read that this year.

6. Is there a book that you read that changed your perspective on something?

+ Definitely Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom. It was probably the best $25 I ever spent. I love that book so much and it definitely makes you think about life and other people.

7. Other than reading, what do you like to do in your spare time?

+ I love TV shows, so I usually catch up on all my favorite TV shows when I’m not reading. I also love taking pictures and find that really fun.

8. Are there any books that you want that cost more than $100? If so, what is it?

+ I don’t believe I have ever come across a book that was more than $100.

Questions from Hadjar and also from Nicole:

1. Did you have a book that meant a lot to you as a child?

+ I don’t remember too many books that I read as a child. I have a horrible memory, especially when it comes to things that happened when I was a kid. I did love Matilda though!

2. Is there any author or book that you collect and will always welcome multiple editions of the same title?

+ I buy every single Mitch Albom book no matter what! I love his books and his writing style, so I always buy his books. Physical and e-books!

3. Say that you find yourself judging a book by its cover (not that we ever do that!); what sort of covers do you go for? Are there any that are an absolute turn off?

+ I like colorful book covers and whimsical type covers. I like covers that really just stand out and are pretty; cute fonts, etc. As for turn off ones, I guess cheap looking ones or ones that have actual people on them; if that makes any sense.

4. If you could pick any imaginary animal to bring home to Mom with an earnest, “Can we keep him??”, what animal would it be?

+ Pegasus!! I would do chores for a whole month! 😛

5. Is there any book to movie adaptation that you simply refuse to watch? No way, no how, you’re not even giving them the opportunity to mess it up?

+ Nope! If I read the book, I will definitely be watching the movie. I always like to see how it turns out and even though it makes me angry (PERCY JACKSON), I will still watch.

6. What is the most unusual book you’ve ever read? (Plot, writing style, chapter layout, etc?)

+ I’m drawing a blank when it comes to this question!

7. Is there any book or series that you’ve read that is so totally outside of your normal genre, but you loved it and would recommend it to others as a “take a risk!” type of book?

+ I read and always recommend would have to be Eightysixed: Life Lessons Learned. I probably would have never read this or even come across it had the author not comment on one of my pictures on Instagram. I actually loved the book so much and glad she did! You will be laughing out loud throughout the entire book.

8. Do you have any bookish collections, or anything you covet and hope to someday collect? Candles, artwork, bookcases?

+ Besides books, not really. I do like buying bookmarks, so I guess I am slowly building up a bookmark collection. I actually bought some new bookmarks, so once I receive them I will definitely be sharing on my blog. 🙂

9. What book has been on your TBR pile the longest, but you just can’t convince yourself to pick it up?

+ The Infernal Devices series has been on my TBR the longest along with The Darkest Minds and Paper Towns. As far as The Infernal Devices go, I ended up not liking the Mortal Instruments series (like I mentioned in another question) and jumping into the Shadowhunter world again is something I don’t think I am ready to do and haven’t been. Maybe one day! As for The Darkest Minds and Paper Towns, I’m not sure why I haven’t read them yet! I have both books on my bookshelf. I really want to read them ASAP!

10. You get a $500 gift card for all things bookish – do you run to your nearest bookstore and spend like a fiend? Or do you create pro/con lists (a la Rory Gilmore) to make sure you get just the right & perfect & wonderful bookish things? Or are you eyeing a particularly expensive bookcase somewhere?

+ I would probably buy a ton of books right away! I may make a list of the top ones I want to get first and then just add whatever after. So…is there a $500 gift card waiting for me somewhere??! 😛

My nominations are:

Feel free to skip if you aren’t into this kind of thing or if you were already nominated. If I didn’t tag you and you want to do this, GO FOR IT! And link me to your posts, so I can check them out! 🙂

My Questions are:

If you were stuck in a book, which one would it be?
What is your go to book when you are feeling down?
If you were stranded in the middle of nowhere, which three books would you want to have with you?
What is a book that made you laugh the hardest?
What is one book that you wish was made into a movie?
What is your favorite genre and favorite book from that genre?
What book are you dying to read?
Do you own more physical copies of books or e-books?
If you could check up on anyone from one of the books you read, who would it be?
What is a favorite book you’ve ever read and a book you didn’t like?

Thank you all for the nominations! 🙂 In case you missed it, earlier today I did a post about Red Queen and you can check it out over here! 🙂 BYE! ❤

Red Queen.

Posted on May 4, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

22328546

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
5 out of 5 stars.

Red Queen was such a fantastic book! I loved it so much and I got through it pretty quickly! It was great from beginning to end and it kept my interest and attention throughout the entire book. I loved the whole concept of the book and idea between the Silvers having these special powers. There so many different powers and it was pretty crazy and cool. Mare was a really great character and I loved her so much. I was kind of off and on with my feelings about Maven and Cal. There were a lot of twists and turns, which was great. I’m still so shocked at how the book turned out! It made me so angry at times, because I had no clue what was going to happen and what happened definitely made me angry. I was pretty much saying “what?” “are you kidding me?” “noooo” throughout. Ahhhhh! I was just so shocked! I definitely recommend that you read Red Queen if you haven’t already. It’s a really awesome book and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed! I am so excited to see how this plays out in future books! I am dying for more!

Here were my feelings throughout the book…

FIRST:
surprisedten

THEN:
tumblr_inline_nee6f7RMds1qibul5

THEN:
DavidCry

THEN:
giphy

AND FINALLY:
04_zps4cb3f411

Goodreads Description: The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers. To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change. Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the center of those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control. But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?

Have you read Red Queen? If so, what did you think about it? What is a book that you read with a color in the title?

In case you missed them, here are a couple of the recent posts that I have done!

Mini Book Haul & Other Stuff. – A look at the last of the books I bought in April and some pictures from my trip to the science museum!
April Reads Recap. – All about the books I read in April and a look at some of the books I’m going to read this month.

I hope everyone has a great Monday! I may make a post later tonight with one of the blogger awards I was nominated for over the weekend. I need to get to work now, BYE! ❤

Mini Book Haul & Other Stuff.

Posted on May 3, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hi! 🙂

I hope that everyone has had a great weekend! This blog post is going to be full of a lot of awesome stuff…books and pictures, always awesome! First of all, I had a pretty great weekend! The museum was pretty cool and I really want to take my niece and nephew next time! I think that my nephew especially would enjoy it SO much! I didn’t take as many pictures as I thought I would, but I do have a few to share. I also found out that I won a giveaway on Twitter, which I am so excited about! I’ll do a post about that with the book once I receive it. The last of the books I ordered in April arrived today, which was unexpected, because I didn’t think they would arrive on a Sunday! I was also nominated for two blogger awards! It has definitely been a great weekend!

In this post I am going to share the books I got today and a few pictures I took over the weekend. I will have the blogger award posts up during the week! 🙂

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

These are the last books that I officially bought in April. I kind of went a little crazy with the book buying in April and I know I need to tone it down a bit (maybe more than a bit) this month! All of these books went straight into the book jar except Aristotle and Dante, because that is May’s book for the book club I am in. I am really excited to read all of these books though! Let’s see if I can actually hold off from reading them before they are drawn or if I HAVE to rush to read them right away. It’s so hard, because I’ve been dying to read these, lol!

The science museum was pretty cool and definitely educational. A lot of stuff I didn’t even know about and probably should have. A lot of it was interactive too, so that was cool. I would really love to take my niece and nephew. I think Jackson would love it a lot. I didn’t take as many pictures as I thought I would, but here are some pictures I took over the weekend and some from the museum.

DINOSAURS! 🙂 Well their skulls anyway, lol.

There was this HUGE shark and this HUGE elephant that were totally awesome!

Some fishies and a turtle that totally looks like some kind of dinosaur, lol. At least that’s what I thought it looked like. It was cool.

Here are just some random flowers, because flowers are pretty and I like pretty things. The last picture is just thrown in because it was pretty and I believe I took it on Friday before work.The first picture, my boyfriend and I couldn’t decided whether it was a butterfly or a moth. What do you think?

That is pretty much all for this post! Be on the look out for the blogger award posts. I’ll probably post one on Monday and then the other the next day or maybe in the same post. I don’t know yet! I’m currently working on them. 🙂

In case you missed them, here are a couple of the recently posts that I have done!

April Reads Recap. – All about the books I read in April and a look at some of the books I’m going to read this month.
Friday Finds #12. – Books that I added to my TBR last week and some books I got for Kindle and from Netgalley.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend! I plan to spend the rest of today finishing Red Queen. I am so close to being done! Bye! ❤

April Reads Recap.

Posted on May 2, 2015 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hi 🙂

April has come and gone. This month went by a little slow, but it was a good month with reading/listening to books. It was also a crazy month of me buying a lot of books, OOPS! These are books I physically read myself and audiobooks that I listened to at work. These aren’t really in the order that I read them, but you can find them also listed over here along with all the other books that I have read so far this year. All will be linked to Goodreads below. Shall we get started?

linger by maggie stiefvater
forever by maggie stiefvater
5 out of 5 stars for both.

Back in January I listened to the Shiver audiobook and I really enjoyed it, so this month I decided to continue with the series. Linger was absolutely my favorite from the series. I also really loved Forever too, but definitely Linger was my all-time favorite of them. It was such a great story and I haven’t really read many books about wolves, so this was really awesome.

dorothy must die by danielle paige
4 out of 5 stars.

I was stuck in a reading slump throughout the month of March and when I originally started reading this book. I finally finished this book in April and I was so excited that I did. I really enjoyed the book and I can’t wait to continue with the series. One thing that kind of annoyed me was that on the back of the book it said: “Your Mission: Remove the Tin Woodman’s heart. Steal the Scarecrow’s brain. Take the Lion’s courage. And then – Dorothy must die. Only you can make Oz a free land again”. Nothing like this at all happened until the very end (and I mean basically the last 10 pages) and that was a pretty big disappointment. I am going to assume the next book will carry on with this. I just thought it was dumb that they put this on the cover of the book and it wasn’t really part of the book. I did enjoy the book other than that.

beautiful chaos by kami garcia & margaret stohl
3 out of 5 stars.

I started to read the series in March and I was really enjoying the books and then I got to this book and I was just so bored with it. I couldn’t take the Caster world anymore and was over the entire thing. It wasn’t horrible, but definitely didn’t deserve more than three stars in my opinion.

forgive me, leonard peacock by matthew quick
5 out of 5 stars.
Blog post about this book over here.

I absolutely loved this book so much. I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I chose this book and read the description, but it turned out to be a really great book. I got it from the library, but I definitely plan on purchasing it.

the arctic incident (artemis fowl #2) by eoin colfer
3 out of 5 stars.

I was so disappointed with this book and I hated that I was. I really liked the first book, so I was excited to get to this one. A lot of the time I lost interest in the book and found my mind wondering to other things and other books. It was okay, but I didn’t love it; especially not like I loved the first one. I think I will eventually still continue with the series though.

simon vs. the homo spapiens agenda by becky albertalli
5 out of 5 stars.
Blog post about this book over here.

I’m sure it came to no surprise that I absolutely loved this book SO MUCH! I think I posted it anywhere and everywhere all over my blog and social media. I read it in two days and it was perfect. I recommend it to everyone and I am sure I said that a million times, lol. Go read this book….NOW! Make sure you have Oreos right next to you as you read this book. YOU MUST HAVE OREOS. YOU MUST!

jasper jones by craig silvey
5 out of 5 stars.
“Life might be easier if you give in a little, but it’s better if you hold onto something so hard you can’t give it up.”

Lovelovelove this book! I actually had a book review written up for this book, but forgot to post it. So I’ll just quickly tell you how much I loved this book. I LOVED THIS BOOK! It makes you think how quickly your life can change in literally the blink of an eye. It was hard not to love this book, to be honest. I was laughing out loud at so many parts, but I was also sad and heart broken too. It was a mix of emotions as you read this book. So many great characters in this book, so many! Charlie and Jeffrey’s friendship was one of my favorite parts of the book and they had some hilarious conversations. You can really tell they were best friends for life. I really loved Jasper and he was so smart about a lot of things. My heart broke for him throughout the entire book, because I felt like someone so young shouldn’t be going through what he was. I highly recommend this book.

dash & lily’s book of dares by rachel cohn & david leviathan
5 out of 5 stars.
Blog post about this book over here.

Dash and Lily…I loved Dash and Lily. It was cute, fun, and hilarious! I loved the whole concept of the story with leaving the notebook in a bookstore for someone to find. Dash and Lily take turns writing in the notebook and leaving it around New York for each other to find and they each end up having to do silly little things and it was great. I loved the characters in the book so much and I really enjoyed reading it.

and then there were none by agatha Christie
4 out of 5 stars.
Blog post about this book over here.

This was such a fun audiobook for me to read! It felt like I was listening to it being played out as a movie. BBC had a full cast do the audiobook, so it was awesome! I felt like I was just working (which I was) and had the TV on the background. It was great! I also love “who done it” type mysteries and it was just perfect. I was constantly trying to figure it out myself. It was just so fun and I really enjoyed it.

throne of glass by sarah j. maas
3 out of 5 stars.
Blog post about this book over here.

Throne of Glass was chosen as the book club (Bloggers’ Book Club) book for the month of April. It took me a very long time (250 pages) to actually get into the book and enjoy it. I was bored throughout the first 250 pages and it took me the entire month to actually finish it. It was such a disappointment for me, because I was so excited about it and I seen that everyone loved it. I did enjoy and really like the last 150 pages enough to want to read the next book in the series.

talon by julie kagawa
4 out of 5 stars.
Blog post about this book over here.

Talon was the last book I read during the month of April and I really enjoyed it a lot. I never read many dragon books and I liked this one a lot. It was pretty neat that the dragons could have a human form too. I am really looking forward to reading Rogue and seeing how the rest of the story plays out.

These were all the books I read/listened to in April and I am excited that I got through 12 books! I’ve been staying pretty consistent month to month so far this year. I’ve read 12 books every month, except March I did 11.

Paw (or five 😛 )from ColbyJack for having a good month!

For the most part in May I will be using my book jar to determine what books I read next, but for a fact I know I will be reading/listening to:

House of Secrets – finish up this one. I am almost done with the audiobook.
Red Queen – I am a little bit over halfway done with this, so finishing maybe this weekend.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe – book chosen for May for the book club.
End of Days – I can’t wait for my pre-order to load to my Kindle. COME ON MAY 12TH!
The 5th Wave – audiobook.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – audiobook.
The Euthanist by Alex Dolan – Netgalley.
’89 Walls by Katie Pierson – Netgalley.

That’s my recap for April and some of the books I will be reading this month. I am excited about all of these and whatever books I draw from my book jar. This post is pretty long, so I am going to end it here. I am going to the science museum with the boyfriend today. I told him that we should get lab coats before we go and pretend to be real scientists, but he did not like that idea. Maybe next time, lol. I think my bestie (The Art of Failing) would totally do that with me if she were here. She needs to come back to Florida NOW! I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Link me to your recap post if you have one or leave a comment with some of the books you read in April or plan to read this month! ❤

socially awkward bookworm.

Monthly Archives: May 2015

May Reads Recap.

Friday Finds #16.

random update with pictures.

An Ember in the Ashes.

photo dump, because pictures are cool.

Dead End in Norvelt.

Friday Finds #15.

Small Book Haul & Other Things.

Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend.

Top Ten Tuesday Freebie||Series I Haven’t Read Yet.

would you rather book tag.

Friday Finds #14.

Penryn & the End of Days.

WWW Wednesdays #8.

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I REALLY Want To Meet.

First May Book Haul & Other Stuff.

The Burrito Bowl Book Tag.

Bloggers’ Book Club: May – Ari & Dante.

Friday Finds #13 & Mini Book Haul.

WWW Wednesdays #7.

The Beautiful Blogger Award.

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award.

Red Queen.

Mini Book Haul & Other Stuff.

April Reads Recap.