Recap||March.

Posted on March 31, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

marchrecap

Hi! 🙂

March was pretty crazy and busy for me. I had lots of things going on. My birthday was in March, which was so great. I also went on a trip to California, which was my first time going. That was so amazing and I even got engaged in California too! Crazy busy (but totally awesome) month for me. As far as blogging and reading, March wasn’t the best month for me. I’ve been in a reading/blogging slump and that hasn’t been fun. Since I was so busy this month, I couldn’t read as much even when I did get those moments that I wanted to read.

Now for my recap. You can find a full list of these books and the other books I read this year over here. All will be linked to Goodreads below and I will also link to individual blog posts for them if I did a review.

Physically Read Books:
These are the books that I read by myself (aka not audio) throughout the month of March.

blonde eskimo by kristen hunt – REVIEW. – 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Blonde Eskimo was a good. It’s the first in a series. It has magical elements and it has a lot about Eskimos and their heritage, legends, and beliefs. Some things could have been better, but it was good and I think this book really sets up the second book to be really awesome. Feel free to check out my review for more!

girl in the blue coat by monica hesse –REVIEW. – 4 out of 5 stars.
I enjoyed Girl in the Blue Coat so much. It has a lot to do with Nazis and the war. I enjoyed the story and the characters. It was sad most of the time, but it was a really good story. The main character was sent to search for a missing Jewish girl and uncovers lots of secrets along the way. I highly recommend this book. The release date is April 5th, so mark your calendars! Feel free to check out my review for more!

the crown and the arrow by renee ahdieh – 3 out of 5 stars.
This was a Wrath and the Dawn novella about Khalid. I like Khalid and this was a quick 9 page short story. It was good for being 9 pages. I would have liked to see more though.

Audiobooks:
These are the books that I listened to the audio versions of throughout the month of March.

steel scars by victoria aveyard – 3 out of 5 stars.
A Red Queen novella. It was a pretty good story. I liked reading more about Farley. Now that I have this novella read, I can jump into Glass Sword in April…hopefully!

a corner of the universe by ann m. martin – 4 out of 5 stars.
I really enjoyed A Corner of the Universe. I liked most of the characters and some made me angry. It was a little sad at times though and it deal a little bit with mental illness.

Currently Reading:
These are books that I have started, but haven’t finished yet throughout the month of March.

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
The New Guy and Other Senior Year Distractions by Amy Spalding

Since I’ve been in this reading slump, I decided to try out different books to see if any will get me out of the slump. I have about 100 pages left of The Ask and the Answer. I really like it, but it’s not as great as The Knife of Never Letting Go was. I should have it finished today and can add it to my books I read in March. Seveneves is really good, but I’m not too far into it yet. I’m about 70 pages in and it’s about 870 pages long! I’ll probably be reading this book after The Ask and the Answer, because I borrowed it form the library and it’ll have to go back in a couple weeks. I’m not very far into The New Guy, but I hope to read more of it ASAP. I was sent the ARC to review, so I really need to read it and get a review up as soon as I possible.

Have you read any of these books in my recap post? If so, what did you think of them? If not, do you think you will? Let me know and link me to your wrap up posts. I would love to check them out!

Here are a couple fun posts that I posted in the month of March. Feel free to check them out.

Book Haul||March. – the books I bought in the month of March.
Shattered California. – a recap and tons of pictures of my California trip.
Book Haul||Birthday. – books and gifts I received for my birthday earlier this month.

I really hope April is a better month! I hope you have a great day!

ashleygreen

Top Ten Tuesday||5 Star Ratings.

Posted on March 29, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

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

10 Of My Most Recent 5 Star Reads (Or Ten Of The Best Books I’ve Read Recently if you don’t 5 star stuff…)

Hi 🙂

I’ve been pretty selective with my rating, so I haven’t really been throwing five stars out too often. I don’t have a whole lot of five star stuff so far this year, so it’ll be a mix of this year and last year’s five stars. These are in order by newest five stars to oldest five stars.

Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover
Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
Every Day by David Levithan
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

Shattered Blue by Lauren Bird Horowitz
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
*I five starred the entire IHK series, but linking only the first book*
Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall
My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher

What are some 5 star books you read or some of the best books you read recently? Let me know and link me to your posts!

I posted my March book haul post yesterday. Feel free to check it out over here. I hope you have a great day!

ashleyorange

Book Haul||March.

Posted on March 28, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

HEY! 😀

I’ve been trying not to spend so much on books, because I have so many other things I have to save my money for now and a big one being a wedding! I am also crazy overwhelmed with the amount of books I own that I haven’t read yet. It’s in the hundreds; I’ll have an updated list on my blog soon. I haven’t updated my books I own pages since November and I have gotten quite a bit of books since then. Anyway, I decided I wouldn’t be buying any books unless I know I will be reading them within a month of purchasing said books. Here are the books that I got in the month of March.

ARCs:

I went to California as you all know and I was able to help out Lauren (Shattered Blue) on her book tour. The first stop for her book tour was speaking and signing at a local bookstore called Kepler’s. Check out my California post over here. One of the employees let me pick an ARC off their ARC bookshelf to take home with me! She also gave me another to review from a local author.

Gemini by Sonya Mukherjee
Everland by Wendy Spinale

The ARC I chose was Everland and the ARC she gave to me to review for my blog was Gemini. Gemini was written by a local author there and she wanted me to read it and put a review up on my blog. It sounds interesting, so I am looking forward to reading it. Everland was on my TBR and it sounds so good. I’m so stoked to read that one as well.

Online/Book Stores:

Yellow Brick War by Danielle Paige
Dorothy Must Die: Stories Vol. 2 by Danielle Paige
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Rebel Mechanics by Shanna Swendson
Tease by Amanda Maciel

I needed Yellow Brick War, because I need to see what happens next in the series! I’ve really enjoyed the Dorothy Must Die series. I got Stories Vol. 2, because I own the first set of novellas in paperback, so I needed to have this one too. I seen Salt to the Sea on sale at Kepler’s in California for only $10, so I could not pass it up. Rebel Mechanics and Tease had very limited stock (about 4 and 8 copies), so I got them. They’ve been on my TBR. I’ve been trying to stay off Book Outlet though, so the damage could have been way worse earlier in the month when they had so many books I was dying for, lol.

Goodwill:

I don’t really count Goodwill books toward any book buying bans/restrictions since they are used and also so cheap. The most expensive was $3! The prices ranged from $0.99 to $1.99 for the others. These are all books that I really wanted and some I already read, but wanted to own the physical copies.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
The First Phone Call from Heaven by Mitch Albom
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer
Red Rising by Pierce Brown

I’ve mentioned before how I’ve been slowly collecting the hardcover Harry Potter books as I find them in Goodwill (or other thrift stores). I was able to find Deathly Hallows and Chamber of Secrets. I’m only missing three now. Mitch Albom is one of my favorite authors and I’ve slowly been collecting his books as I find them in thrift stores too. I own all his books as e-books, so I grabbed First Phone Call from Heaven when I seen it. Shine Shine Shine just sounded good and it was only 99 cents. Red Rising and The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry are books that I’ve been dying to read, so I was so excited when I seen them and I got them for 99 cents each too.

Misc Books:

*these four below are linked to Amazon*

Doctor Who Coloring Book

The fiancé surprised me with the Doctor Who coloring book. It’s so pretty and I don’t even know if I can get myself to actually color it LOL!

The Bride-to-Be Book
The Wedding Planner & Organizer
The Broke-Ass Bride’s Wedding Guide (kindle)

And then tons of wedding books, because I’m pretty sure I may go crazy trying to plan this wedding. I already feel crazy sometimes when I think about it or try to do things. My cousin bought me a bride to-be journal, which is really cool. It has lots of fun pages to fill out, places to stick pictures, and envelopes to put keepsakes. I also ordered myself a wedding planner, because I am going to need it. I have a neat little app on my phone, but I want something I can actually write in too. I am also obsessed with this planner & organizer. It’s pretty amazing and it’s in binder form, so I can put my own pages in if I want. The Broke-Ass Bride’s Wedding Guide is great too, because it gives you so many awesome tips and money saving tips! I need to get around to reading it more though.

E-BOOKS:

The Moth and the Flame by Renee Ahdieh
The Crown and the Arrow by Renee Ahdieh
Ruler of Beasts by Danielle Paige

These three are novellas. The first two are short stories from The Wrath and the Dawn. I wasn’t a huge fan of The Wrath, but it did leave me curious to check out the next book in the series and to read these novellas. As I mentioned, I really enjoy the Dorothy Must Die series and most of the novellas have been pretty good, so I plan to read this one before I start Yellow Brick War (hopefully in April). I do have the novellas in paperback too (mentioned above), but I had already gotten this one earlier in the month.

Happyslapped by a Jellyfish by Karl Pilkington
Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
Never Never by Brianna Shrum
The Revolution of Ivy by Amy Engel
Justice Buried by Hilary Thompson
Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins
The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco
The Suffering by Rin Chupeco

Happyslapped by a Jellyfish is another book by Karl Pilkington, who I love so much. He’s from the TV show An Idiot Abroad. He’s so hilarious and I love his books. Wolf by Wolf was on sale for $2.99, so I snatched it up! I have an ARC copy, but I didn’t want to pass up on the Kindle deal. The Revolution of Ivy is the second book in the The Book of Ivy series. My sister and I share my Kindle account, so she wanted me to get the second book for her. Justice Buried was free. I seen it on Ben’s booktube, so decided to get it since it was free and sounded interesting. Never Never, Rebel Belle, The Girl from the Well, and The Suffering were also on sale and they are books I’ve been wanting to read, so I got those as well.

That’s my book haul for March. I think I actually did pretty good, because I got deals on pretty much every single one of these. It could have been crazier, because there are so many books that have been releasing this year and I’ve been holding back. I am trying so hard to stick with the books that I already own. I own way too many unread books. I plan to get new bookshelves in the couple of months. I want to get white ones, because I am tired of having mismatched shelves, lol. As you can see, I’m pretty much out of bookshelf space too. I have no place for the books that I bought in March. I might have to go through and unhaul some books.

SO MANY BOOKS.

Did you get any new books this month? Have you read any of the books that I got? Let me know and feel free to link me to your book haul posts, so I can check them out!

I’ll have my March wrap up post up in the next day or so. I didn’t read too many books this month, because it was a pretty busy month and I’ve been in a reading slump. I started my bookstagram back up, so please feel free to follow me on my bookstagram and personal Instagram too!

Personal Instagram: heyyitsashley
Bookstagram: foreverbookish_

I hope you have a great day! 😀

ashleygreen

March Update||2016 Read My Books Challenge.

Posted on March 28, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

2016readmybooks

Hi!

I’ve been taking part in Maren’s (The Worn Bookmark) read my books challenge over on her blog, where I read the books that I already own versus only new books. I made a TBR jar of all the books I own (NOT including books I bought and will buy in 2016). My goal is to read 30 of my already owned books from that TBR jar.

# Books read in March: 1
# Books read year to date: 4/30

I completely failed with my read my books challenge this month. I wasn’t able to complete any of my older books. I’ve been in a terrible reading slump and it has also been one busy month for me. I am really hoping that next month will be better. I did manage to read half of The Ask and the Answer and had I finished that book, then it would have been been counted toward this challenge. 😦

I was able to finish The Ask and the Answer in March! So it wasn’t a complete fail, haha. ALMOST though! 😛

I’ll have my March book haul post up in an hour or two, so be on the look out for that!

ashleybrown

Friday Finds #44 & a little update.

Posted on March 25, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

fridayfinds

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 Jenn at Books And A Beat. *All linked to Goodreads*

Hi!

It’s been about a month since I’ve done a Friday Finds post. I’m partly in a book buying ban (maybe I should say “book buying restriction”) and haven’t been buying a whole lot of books unless I plan to read them ASAP. Along with that restriction I haven’t been adding very many books to my TBR. It’s easier to not buy books when you’re not adding more books you want to read to the list. Here are some of the books that I’ve added to my TBR over the last month or so.

The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige
Even If the Sky Falls by Mia Garcia
Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes
Althea & Oliver by Cristina Moracho
Working Stiff by Judy Melinek, T.J. Mitchell

These are the books that I added to my TBR recently. I actually spotted Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner (full title LOL) while I was at the book signing for Lauren in California and kind of regret not buying it when I seen it. It sounds so good and I need it ASAP! All of these other books sound like they could be good as well, so I am excited about those. Once I read more of the books I already own, then I plan to pick some of these up. Stealing Snow is by Danielle Paige who wrote the Dorothy Must Die series, so I am stoked for that one!

Have you added any new books to your TBR this week? Let me know and feel free to link me to your posts!

I’ve actually found myself in this hard place as far as reading and blogging goes. I’m in a reading slump and blogging slump (I guess you can call it that). Don’t get me wrong, I love reading and blogging, but lately they haven’t been at the top of my list of things I want to do. Hopefully this doesn’t last for too long though. I’m trying to do posts here and there, so I don’t completely get out of the habit of it and fall off the face of the Earth. That’s been known to happen from time to time. I’ve also been trying to stay caught up with your blogs as well, so I am reading even if it doesn’t always seem like it. Bear with me, all will be normal again.

GOOD NEWS THOUGH!…
I am active on the following, so please feel free to follow me.

Twitter: whoa_itsashley
Pinterest: lalalaitsashley
Goodreads: heyyitsashley_
Personal Instagram: heyyitsashley
Bookstagram: foreverbookish_

*I started my bookstagram back up, but definitely add my personal IG account too because it may get used more. I’m still trying to decide about it. I’ve been double posting on both accounts, because I’m finding myself really liking the pictures and wanting them on my personal account too. So I’m not entirely sure how much my bookstagram will be used, LOL.*

Today I am staying overnight at my cousin’s house, because the family Easter party is tomorrow. I am pretty stoked about that. I hope that you all have an amazing weekend and Easter if you celebrate! It’s the perfect excuse to eat a ton of chocolate. I guarantee I will be. I need my Reese’s peanut butter eggs!

Here is a throwback picture of my Easter pup Dax from three years ago.

ashleypurplesig

Top 5 Wednesday||DNF Books.

Posted on March 23, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

top5wednesday

Top 5 Wednesday was created by gingerreadslainey. You can join by checking out the Top 5 Wednesday Goodreads group!

Books You DNF.

HI!

I don’t always DNF books, because I sometimes feel guilty when I do. I try to force my way through them, but I’ve been slowly allowing myself to do so. There are just too many books I want to read to force myself to push through something I don’t like. Here are some of the books that I did not finish.

Paper Towns by John Green
Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
Partials by Dan Wells
Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Never Always Sometimes by Adi Aslaid

Paper Towns, Partials, and Across the Universe were all really boring to me. I found my mind wandering way too much and wanting to just throw them out the window. I also didn’t like the characters. Grasshopper Jungle was too weird for me and I hated the main character. He was so annoying and I just didn’t get it. Never Always Sometimes was one of my most anticipated reads last year. Every time I tried to pick it up, I felt like I wasn’t in the mood for it. It also made me think of Paper Towns a little bit and I honestly didn’t get past the second chapter. I still want to eventually give it another chance, but I’m not in any rush to pick it up again.

Have you read any of these books? What are some of your DNF books? Let me know and feel free to link me to your posts!

I’ve been kind of MIA with posting, but that’s because I haven’t been reading too much this month. I only finished five books and two of those were novellas. Hopefully next month will be better for me with reading and blogging. It’s been a crazy month though, because so much has been happening this month outside of the blogosphere. I’ll have my book haul post up next week and probably my March wrap up.

Over the weekend I posted my recap of my California trip with tons of pictures I took. Feel free to check out my post over here.

I hope you have a great day! 🙂

ashleygreen

Shattered California.

Posted on March 19, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

shatteredcalifornia

HI! 🙂

WARNING: I’m not entirely sure where to even begin this post, so it may possibly be all over the place and it will be picture heavy and kind of massive, because it was so hard choosing just a few pictures out of hundreds. It’ll be fun though! Lots to look at! 😀 Lauren (author of Shattered Blue) was having some book signins out in California and she invited me, Maren, Kristen (author of Blonde Eskimo), and Zoe (she makes amazing jewelry and did some pieces inspired by Shattered Blue) to come out! I was totally down, because I never been to California and I love Lauren, her book, and we’ve become such great friends and I wanted to be there to support her and help her out.

I left to California on March 4th and I was so stoked about it! The flights there were good. They actually seemed to go by pretty quickly most of the time. I actually enjoyed flying. I think the only scary parts were when the plane turned, because I had window seats every flight and you see the plane tipping to the side and that was scary LOL! Other than that I actually loved it and I love window seats. I was obsessed with taking pictures.

Goodbye Florida

My first flight landed in Phoenix and then from there we left to the San Jose airport! Lauren and Ninja (her pup) picked us up at baggage claim and she was holding the best sign ever LOL. This below picture was taken when we were flying over Phoenix and about to land at the airport to catch our next flight to San Jose.

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The sign. 😛 It says “Shattered Blue Book Rides. The Comedian & The Pizza Criminal” and then the other sign is one that was on our bedroom door when we got to the house. Funny & cute. Lauren scored a bunch of Supernatural swag for Maren and I from the CW since she works with the CW. Kristen also gave me some Supernatural stuff for my birthday!

Can we please just appreciate the awesome-ness of my Dean Winchester pillow? It’s actually even bigger, because you get all of his legs too. LMAO 😛

Oh just cuddling with my boy. 😛

I thought it was going to be kind of awkward meeting her, but it turned out fine. I’m sure talking every day since November helped with that. We also waited for Kristen too since she landed shortly after I did. They were both so nice. We got there a couple hours earlier than everyone else. Maren and Zoe showed up later and that was fun! We ordered pizza and they all got me birthday cakes! Two ice cream cakes, which was so nice of them and a nice surprise. My birthday was the day before the trip. We also played Cards Against Humanity, which was fun. That was basically our first day there. Andy (the fiance – I need to get used to saying this now since I’m so used to “the boyfriend” LOL) was sick the first night, so he went to sleep early.

cake

The next day (a Saturday) we went around San Francisco. The weather was kind of crappy the entire weekend (rainy and cold). It was still really fun though. We walked around San Francisco and we did the Alcatraz tour, which was cool. It was awesome seeing the prison and taking the tour of it. We got to listen to a tour and things all about the prison on little old school headsets, lol! We also went out to eat at this really cool cafe called Buena Vista Cafe. They are known for their Irish coffee and they have this cool thing where they sit you with strangers, lol. We talked to some cool dudes at our table. Well it was their table until we all took it over, but they were really nice.

Alcatraz

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Sunday we visited the Stanford college campus and walked around there. It was actually pretty awesome and the buildings were amazing. They even had little totems all over the campus, which I loved.

Stanford

After that we walked around Menlo Park for a bit before Lauren’s book signing. We ate lunch and went to little older book store to look around. Sadly I did not find any books that I wanted, but there were so many books that I think I got overwhelmed, lol. Lauren’s book signing a the book store Kepler’s. The turn out was awesome and it was fun seeing her talk about her book and sign some books for everyone. We all helped out with that and were there to support her. Zoe showed her jewelry that she made inspired by the book. After the signing we all went home to get ready to go to dinner. We all went to this really nice Chinese place and the food was so amazing. That was everyone’s last night, so that was sad. It was so amazing being able to hangout with everyone and meet everyone.

Top right: Maren, Lauren, and I.
Ashley & Maren selfie thrown in there too.

Maren, Lauren, Me

Me & Maren

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Group picture from dinner on everyone’s last night.
Left to right: Ethan (Maren’s husband), Zoe, Lauren, Kristen, Andy, Me, Maren.

Andy and I stayed a bit longer in California. We helped Lauren and Zoe a lot on the rest of Lauren’s book tour. She talked to kids at a bunch of local schools. Andy and I helped set things up, pass out swag, and took videos and pictures for her. We went out to eat at this one place that gave me a HUGE chicken pot pie, lol. It was so good! Zoe, Lauren, Andy, and I also played Scatagories and that was fun.

Book signing fun!

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The day before we left (March 9th) we spent the day in Monterey Bay for Lauren’s birthday. We walked around sight seeing, taking pictures, and we reenacted some of the things from Lauren’s book since it takes place in Monterey. We also go to go to the aquarium, which was so fun. I love aquariums. We seen lots of otters, fish, and penguins. I was a huge fan of the jellyfish. I also got to touch a stingray!

Exploring Monterey

Zoe, Me, Lauren

Zoe & Lauren

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Zoe, Lauren, Me

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Monterey Bay Aquarium

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ANDDDDD….as you guys know, Andy asked me to marry him at the aquarium! 🙂 I was pretty surprised and didn’t see it coming. I had thoughts about it a couple weeks leading up to the trip because he was being weird before the trip, but then I just pushed them aside, so I wasn’t really expecting it at all. Later I found out that I almost ruined it a couple times LOL! The first being there was this whale watching tour and I really wanted to go on it. I guess his plan was to ask me at the aquarium and taking a whale watching tour would have ruined it. And then Lauren was telling us that she had to go Skype one of the lady’s at a school she was doing a signing for, so I told Andy that we could go look at the gift shop. Turns out the outside Skype call was code for us to go outside too, so he could ask me. LMAO! So yeah, I almost ruined it. Andy talked me out of the whales and the gift shop. HAHA.

Lauren and Maren designed these shirts for Andy and I. So nice of them!

That was our last day in California. At 4am the next day we got into a car and went straight to the airport. Our flight was at 7am, but we wanted to get there early.

Goodbye California

I already miss California so much and I miss everyone! We definitely need to make it a yearly thing, haha. Here are some miscellaneous pictures that I took.

Me & Ninja

Ninja

Ninja & Andy

Lauren, Maren, Me

Andy, Me, Lauren, Maren, Ethan

Lauren, Maren, Me

Me, Maren, Lauren

River down below!

The Comedian – Me
The Eskimo – Maren
The Author – Lauren

Flowers & Things.

Close to arriving in Florida again.

airport (8)

That pretty much sums up my trip to California. It was one amazing and epic trip. Made so many new memories and got to meet some awesome people that I know I will be friends with for a very long time. I have to thank the blogosphere for this too. If I never created a blog, I would have never met some amazing people and gotten this chance! Taking this trip also made me realize how much I love traveling and I need to make an effort to do more of it! There are so many places I want to go and see. 🙂 I know this is a pretty long post, so big high five to those of you that actually got through it all! 😛

I have a busy weekend of cleaning and wedding stuff, so I better get to it! I also hope to go see Allegiant today. I am so stoked for it even though I wasn’t too thrilled with the trailer and what it looks like. I still hope it’s a good movie.

I hope you all have an amazing weekend!

ashleypurplesig

Thoughts||Girl in the Blue Coat.

Posted on March 17, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse
4 out of 5 stars.
Release Date: April 5th 2016

“When things come to an end in a way you don’t expect, in a way you never could have imagined, do they really come to an end? Does it mean you should keep searching, for better answers, for ones that don’t keep you up at night? Or does it mean it’s time to make peace?“

Goodreads Description: Amsterdam, 1943. Hanneke spends her days procuring and delivering sought-after black market goods to paying customers, her nights hiding the true nature of her work from her concerned parents, and every waking moment mourning her boyfriend, who was killed on the Dutch front lines when the Germans invaded. She likes to think of her illegal work as a small act of rebellion. On a routine delivery, a client asks Hanneke for help. Expecting to hear that Mrs. Janssen wants meat or kerosene, Hanneke is shocked by the older woman’s frantic plea to find a person–a Jewish teenager Mrs. Janssen had been hiding, who has vanished without a trace from a secret room. Hanneke initially wants nothing to do with such dangerous work, but is ultimately drawn into a web of mysteries and stunning revelations that lead her into the heart of the resistance, open her eyes to the horrors of the Nazi war machine, and compel her to take desperate action.

I won an ARC of Girl in the Blue Coat from The Novl from their monthly newsletter! If you go to their website and sign up for the newsletter, then you can have a chance to win books and ARCs like this! 🙂

I’ve always been interested in reading about the Holocaust, Nazis, and the war. I love how Monica took real events and turned them into a fiction book. The characters are a work of fiction, but based off stories that Monica researched and heard from others. Names of places in the book were real places from that time, but the timeline for certain things are slightly different. For example: a nursery that closed in the book actually closed in real life months later than mentioned in the book.

I actually really enjoyed every single character in this book. I love that they were based off real people from the war in real life. All of these young kids in a resistance against the Nazis is scary, but these kids were so brave to do the things they did. Hanneke was asked to find a missing Jewish girl and bring her back into hiding. When trying to discover where this Jewish girl vanished to, she uncovers so many other secrets and things get so dangerous for her and later her friends.

Hanneke is also going through a lot in her own life still struggling two years later after her boyfriend was killed. She’s also the sole provider for her family. She works to bring them money and food. Part of her job also isn’t kind of illegal. Not to mention having to live every single day with curfews and German soldiers roaming the streets. It was a tough time to live and at times I was so scared for her and all her friends.

I love how well written this book was and I loved the story so much. It kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time and it even had me teary eyed at times. So many mysteries and things to uncover. So much danger, but still wanting so badly to help locate this missing girl. I think Hanneke really grew throughout the book and in the end helping to locate this missing Jewish girl ended up helping Hanneke herself. This story had lots of secrets and truths. I liked that Monica researched everything so well to make this as real as it could be. I highly recommend this book.

“Maybe we can’t barter our feelings away, trading good deeds for bad ones and expecting to become whole.”

Have you read Girl in the Blue Coat? If not, do you think you’ll be adding it to your TBR?

I hope you have an amazing day!

ashleyteal

WWW Wednesday #24.

Posted on March 16, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

wwwwednesdayflower

WWW Wednesday 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 linked below.

Hi!

I’ve been reading pretty slowly this month, but that’s because at the beginning of the month I was in California for six days; as you guys already know. Pretty good excuse 😛 I have been doing some reading though and some is better than none!

Currently Reading:

Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

I was sent an ARC of Girl with the Blue Coat from The Novl and so far I really like it. I like reading about Nazis and the war. I finally started The Ask and the Answer. I really like it, but so far I still love The Knife of Never Letting Go more. I’m only about 30% into it though, so I have lots left to read.

Recently Finished:

Steel Scars by Victoria Aveyard
Blonde Eskimo by Kristen Hunt
A Corner of the Universe by Ann M. Martin

I liked the Steel Scars novella and hopefully I will finally get to Glass Sword at some point in April. I’ve been putting it off. Blonde Eskimo was a good; it had magical elements and also talked a lot about the Eskimo heritage and legends. I just posted my review on it, so feel free to check it out over here. A Corner of the Universe was really good. I liked the characters and it dealt a little bit with mental illness.

Reading Next:

The New Guy (and Other Senior Year Distractions) by Amy Spalding
My Kind of Crazy by Robin Reul

I have three more ARCs to read before I can start reading other books. Two of those are these above. My next read is The New Guy, which I need to read this month since it’ll be releasing the first week of April. After that one I’ll be reading My Kind of Crazy, which will also be released the first week of April. So I really need to get these read ASAP. The one I am currently reading (Girl in the Blue Coat) will be released the first week of April as well. I need to read read read!

What are you currently reading? Recently finished? Reading next? Let me know and feel free to link me to your posts!

On another note; Erin from Breathing in the Pages asked me to do a Q&A for their blog. I was so excited to do it and Erin posted it up last night! You can check out my Q&A over on Breathing in the Pages over here.

I am off to work. I hope you have a good day! 🙂

ashleybrown

Top Ten Tuesday||Spring TBR.

Posted on March 15, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

toptentuesday2

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

March 15: Ten Books On My Spring TBR.

Hi! 🙂

I normally try to stay away from TBRs, because I tend to never stick with them. Instead I am going to list ten books that I own that I really want to read soon (or at some point this year). I feel too much pressure to stick to TBRs and it takes the fun out of reading for me, so I’ve been trying to stay away from making them. Anyway, onto the books!

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
Ruin & Rising by Leigh Bardugo
The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan
More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker
Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman
Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff

I actually own so many books and choosing ten that I really want to read soon was so hard. I’ve been pretty much just hoarding books for a year, lol. I have a ton of really great ones (hopefully) that I meant to read and never got around to doing so. They probably have layers and layers of dust on them. I also have those that I just really want to read and lots of series I need to finish. I actually want to try to make it a point this year to finish series I started and catch up on the recent books in those series if they aren’t complete yet.

What are some of the books on your Spring TBR? Have you read any of the ones on my list? Let me know and please feel free to link me to your posts, so I can check them out!

I’ll have my California trip post up sometime this week. I still need to go through all my pictures and decide which ones to post. I took tons, so I don’t want to post every single one lol. Off to work for me!

I hope you have a good day!

ashleypurplesig

Thoughts||Blonde Eskimo.

Posted on March 14, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Blonde Eskimo by Kristen Hunt
3.5 out of 5 stars.

Goodreads Description: Part Viking, part Eskimo, Neiva Ellis knew her family’s ancestral home, the island of Spirit, Alaska, held a secret. A mystery so sensitive everyone, including her beloved grandmother, was keeping it from her. When Neiva is sent to stay on the island while her parents tour Europe she sets out on a mission to uncover the truth, but she was not prepared for what laid ahead. On the night of her seventeenth birthday, the Eskimo rite of passage, Neiva is mysteriously catapulted into another world full of mystical creatures, ancient traditions, and a masked stranger who awakens feelings deep within her heart. Along with her best friends Nate, Viv and Breezy, she uncovers the truth behind the town of Spirit and about her own heritage. When an evil force threatens those closest to her, Neiva will stop at nothing to defend her family and friends. Eskimo traditions and legends become real as two worlds merge together to fight a force so ancient and evil it could destroy not only Spirit but the rest of humanity.

I was able to meet and hangout with Kristen Hunt last weekend and it was so much fun. Kristen is so nice and so fun! I really had a lot of fun talking to her and hanging out over that weekend. I wanted to read her book before California, so I picked up a copy of Blonde Eskimo and read it the week before I left for California.

Blonde Eskimo was a pretty good book and I enjoyed the story. I thought it was so cool learning about Eskimos, their heritage, legends, and traditions. I liked Neiva, but at times she was hard to connect to. She had some amazing friends in the book and I wish I could have connected better with them too. There is also a guy named Darius that I pretty much fell in love with. It was more about Neiva though, so you don’t get a whole lot of the other characters. Neiva and her friends go on this adventure to discover the secrets of Spirit.

The Spirit world was really interesting and there were tons of secrets. This book was good, but it was lacking a lot of action. It was mostly explaining the world and what was going on with Neiva. Neiva is clueless about Spirit and has no idea what anything is and what is going on around her and happening to her. So Blonde Eskimo was mostly just Neiva learning about the world. That was fun to read, because the world itself is really interesting.

I rated it 3.5 stars because I would have liked a lot more action and adventure. When there were action scenes, I felt like the characters got rescued too quickly and like they weren’t in any real danger to begin with. I do honestly believe though that the next book in the series will be pretty awesome, because this book really sets up the second book. There are still a lot of pieces to the puzzle missing, but I think the next book will fill in a lot of those pieces and do it in a really awesome way. I think now that Neiva knows the majority of what she needs to know about the world (and the reader as well), the next book will have tons more adventure and action and hopefully some real danger.

Overall, this one was a lot more information dropping (mostly a good way) and world building, but it was still good. I love the Eskimo heritage and legends. I loved learning about them, because I knew nothing about it. I just thought Eskimos were people in Alaska that wore fuzzy hoodies and lived in igloos (that’s what I got out of it when I was a kid and I never knew anything else about them). There is so much more to it and them! I enjoyed this book and I do recommend it, especially because I have a feeling the sequel is going to be so awesome.

Have you read Blonde Eskimo? Do you think you’ll be adding it to your TBR?

I hope you have a great day! 🙂

ashleyteal

Hi!

Posted on March 10, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hey!

I’m still alive in case you’re wondering 😛 I am currently waiting to board my plane back home. So sad to leave California, but happy to see my furbabies!

Thank you so much for all your birthday wishes and comments on my last post! I promise to reply to them all soon. Probably over the weekend after I get settled back into normal life again, sigh. I had so much fun in California and it’s pretty amazing here! I’ll have a post on that ASAP and tons of pictures!

Something super exciting that happened my last full day (yesterday) was the boyfriend asking me to marry him! So unexpected, but totally awesome! It happened at the Monterey Bay aquarium! 😀 so fun! We have been together eight years.

Anyway, I’m about to board the plane, so I should go! A real update soon. I have tons to talk about (and bookish things). I also hope to get back into blogging regularly again soon. I also have tons of catching up to do with your blogs!

Bye!

ashleypurplesig

Book Haul|| Birthday.

Posted on March 3, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

HI! Today is my birthday!

Since it is my birthday today why not do a birthday haul post!? I received some amazing birthday gifts from friends and family. Some of those gifts included some books that I really wanted!

I decided to break up my book haul post into two posts, because it was becoming one huge epic post when I had first added all of this into it. You can check out my part one book haul post over here and also my February wrap up post over here. Onto the BIRTHDAY GIFTSSSSSSS!

From Maren:
The Worn Bookmark.

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
Paperweight by Meg Haston
Crowley Funko
LOTS OF SOCKS!
Cat page markers
A bunch of Neko Atsume pins & sticker

I am so in love with everything that Maren sent me! AHHHH! Some items aren’t pictured, because she also sent Lauren those and it needs to be a surprise, duh! 😛 It was Harry Potter themed things though. I’ll share a picture at a later time. Thank you again, Maren! So glad we have gotten so close!

From Shelbie:
Lu-Lu’s Rants & Reads.

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine
Katniss Everdeen Funko
Ninth Doctor Funko
Doctor Who shirt
SOCKS!
Emoji stickers & food stickers!
Doctor Who pins

Shelbie knows me so well! We are pretty much the same person when it comes to things we like. I am so stoked about all the things she sent me. They are pretty perfect and ALL THE PIZZA STUFF! 😀 Thank you again, Shelbie! PS: move closer to meeee! 😛

From Lauren:

Hagrid Funko
Dumbledore Funko
Two hoodies (pictured below)
*she also got me those elephant socks pictured, but not for my birthday*

It’s been so awesome becoming friends with Lauren. I was so excited to get the HP Funkos! The hoodie says “the comedian” on the back (because I’m the funny one in the group 😛 ) and the front says “NINJAOTTERSOX”, because that’s our group name. It’s an awesome and comfy hoodie. Our group consists of Lauren, Shelbie, Maren, and I. It’s been so fun getting to know them. PS: check out Lauren’s book, Shattered Blue! I personally loved it.

Group hoodie picture shot!

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The Comedian – ME!
The Eskimo – Maren
The Author – Lauren
The Bride – Shelbie

From Tammy:

John Watson Funko
Doctor Who earrings

I have a funny story about my birthday gift from Tammy. It was her birthday Feb. 22, so I sent her a gift as well. I sent her a Sherlock Funko and a Sherlock coloring book. I read her card, which the end says “thanks for being the Watson to my Sherlock” and when I opened the bag it was the Watson Funko. I thought that was so hilarious that we got them for each other. We both had no idea what we were sending each other for our birthdays, so it was totally random and a surprise. I thought it was so cool though! 🙂 I told her that we were meant to be best friends.

From my sisters:

My older sister also got me a cute book themed shirt for my birthday and it says: “I’m a book reader; that means I live in a crazy fantasy world with unrealistic expectations; thank you for understanding.”

My younger sister got me one of the greatest things EVER! See below… 😛

A PIZZA PILLOW! Everyone knows how obsessed and in love with pizza I am, so I was so excited to get this pizza pillow! The rest of my birthday gift from my family was my trip to California, so this has been one amazing birthday!

That’s all for this post! It’s got a lot longer than I thought it would, lol. Tomorrow morning I am off to California to meet up with Maren and Lauren! I will also be getting to meet Kristen (author of Blonde Eskimo) as well. I am so excited to be spending the weekend with them and a few others too! I’ll be pretty silent on the blog until the 11th since I’ll be on this trip. You can follow me on Instagram to see pictures I take throughout the trip though! (heyyitsashley – IG account).

I hope you have a great day!

ashleypurplesig

Book Haul||February.

Posted on March 1, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hi 🙂

I was actually doing so well with not buying many books in February. I actually had originally only bought two physical book and seven e-books. THEN of course Book Outlet was like HEY YOU, PRESIDENT’S DAY SALE HAPPENING…HAVE 15% OFF ON THE ENTIRE SITE AND OH HEY, HOW ABOUT A $5 OFF COUPON TO GO WITH. Every single time I fall for these Book Outlet sales. Here is my February book haul that was once non-existent, but now very much here.

**some pictures look a little blurry; sorry about that; lighting was weird**

Amazon

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

I am so excited to finally have my hands on Glass Sword! I loved Red Queen so much! I planned to read it in February, but I never got around to it. I started to read the first couple chapters, but then decided to put it on hold for now. I loved Red Queen so much that I don’t want Glass Sword to end and have to wait another year for the next book LOL! I will probably read in March though. I’ve been really wanting to get Forbidden, because it sounds pretty interesting in a weird way. I finally bought a copy this month.

Book Outlet

*hardcovers*

The Creeping by Alexandra Sirowy
Half Bad by Sally Green
P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han
Immaculate by Katelyn Detweiler

*paperbacks*

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
Bruiser by Neal Shusterman
Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

Book Outlet steals all my money. 😛 I really wanted to get my hands on all of these books, so I decided to take advantage of the President’s Day sale…although really it took advantage of me. Book Outlet always does that! I had to narrow my cart down by A LOT since I gave myself a $30 limit. This is what I ended up with and I am actually happy about them, because they are books I really wanted. Other times I am guilty of just buying a bunch of books on BO that I don’t really want or never heard of but sound good. So proud of myself with this haul.

OwlCrate

This was my last month of OwlCrate, because I decided to cancel the subscription. It was an okay subscription, but I realized that I’ve been wasting my money on it. I don’t really use the things that I have gotten in past boxes and I haven’t even touched the books that I got in past boxes yet. I haven’t been dying to read them, but this box for February was actually pretty decent and the book included was a book that I have been dying to get my hands on!

OwlCrate theme for February was Sci-Fi Love:

The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry
& signed bookplate from Emily Henry
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
& matching bookmark
TARDIS brooch from Juniper and Ivy Designs
Lunar Chronicles tote bag

I was so excited to see The Love That Split the World in my OwlCrate! It was one of the books that I really wanted! It was also cool that they included a little paperback book too. Loving the TARDIS brooch, because I am a huge Doctor Who fan. The Lunar Chronicles has been “meh” for me, but I like tote bags and this one is cute because pink is my favorite color.

E-Books

I didn’t go too e-book buying crazy this month, but I did get several since they were on sale. These are the ones that I got and I am pretty excited about them!

Kissing Ted Callahan (and Other Guys) by Amy Spalding
The Haunting of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie
Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa
Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
Truth by Christina Benjamin
The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak by Brian Katcher
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

thenewguy

I also received a physical ARC of The New Guy and Other Senior Year Distractions by Amy Spalding from The Novl, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

That’s all for my February book haul! It was actually supposed to be pretty non-existent, but obviously I failed. I blame it all on Book Outlet. I never word have gotten any other books other than Forbidden and Glass Sword had it not been for Book Outlet! LOL! I’m actually going to have a part two of my book haul, but with books that I received for my birthday and other birthday gifts I received. I got a lot of birthday gifts early. My birthday is Thursday, so I will probably be posting that haul up on Thursday.

Feel free to check out my February recap post over here of all the books that I read in the month of February.

Have you gotten any new books this month? If so, let me know and feel free to link me to your book haul posts!

I hope you have a great day! 🙂

ashleypurplesig

ARCs:

Online/Book Stores:

Goodwill:

Misc Books:

E-BOOKS:

Goodbye Florida

Alcatraz

Stanford

Book signing fun!

Exploring Monterey

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Goodbye California

Flowers & Things.

Close to arriving in Florida again.

Currently Reading:

Recently Finished:

Reading Next:

HI! Today is my birthday!

From Maren: The Worn Bookmark.

From Shelbie: Lu-Lu’s Rants & Reads.

From Lauren:

Group hoodie picture shot!

From Tammy:

From my sisters:

Amazon

Book Outlet

OwlCrate

E-Books

From Maren:
The Worn Bookmark.

From Shelbie:
Lu-Lu’s Rants & Reads.