May||2016 read my books challenge.

Posted on May 31, 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 May: 0
# Books read year to date: 6/30

I sadly did not read any books toward my challenge this month. I was hoping to at least read one, which would have been The Darkest Minds, but that did not happen. OOPS! Hopefully in June I can get a few older books read. My goal is thirty older books, but I’ve only read six and it’s already the middle of the year YIKES!

I’ll have my May recap/wrap up post up tomorrow. I still have one book to hopefully finish today, so I can add it to my post. I only have about 70 pages left, so it’s doable. I did post my May book haul yesterday and you can check that out over here.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleypurple

Book Haul|| May.

Posted on May 30, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hello! 🙂

I am so disappointed in myself with my May book haul. I’ve been so good about not buying books and in May I couldn’t stop buying them. I became addicted to Book Outlet again. It always happens when they have a sale. I can go weeks without ever going on their website and then they will have a sale and of course I love a good sale, especially on books. Then I become addicted to their website again and religiously check for new books every single day. It’s a vicious cycle. It doesn’t help that the sale this time lasted for like four days. I think that I have it out of my system again though. With that being said, here is my pretty large book haul for the month of May.

PREORDER/RANDOM BOOKS.

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

I preordered A Court of Mist and Fury and Bloomsbury was doing a preorder deal where if you sent in your proof of purchase they would send you a ACOMAF tote bag. One side of the bag has part of the book cover and this side pictured is a quote from the book.

The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan
Hearts, Fingers, and Other Things to Cross by Katie Finn
The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson
The Last Star by Rick Yancey

I also preordered The Hidden Oracle, because well…RICK RIORDAN. Enough said about that. I love his writing, I love his books, he’s totally a God in disguise. 😛 I also got all the Kane Chronicles e-books, because all of his books were on sale the other day for $1.99 each. Hearts, Fingers, and Other Things to Cross is the final book in the Broken Hearts & Revenge trilogy and I had to have it, because that series seriously has my heart. I want to read and own all of Morgan Matson’s books, so I couldn’t pass up The Unexpected Everything when I seen it at Target. Dying to see how The 5th Wave series ends. I had to snatch up the final book on release day.

Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
Doctor Who: Time Lord Fairy Tales by Justin Richards

I won Queen of Hearts in a giveaway on Goodreads. I won it last month, but I didn’t have the book at the time of my April book haul. I’m doing a buddy read of Mistborn with Maren, Tricia, and Lauren. I’ve been wanting to read Mistborn, so I figured this was a good time to get it and read it. It’ll be fun reading it with some friends. I’ve also been wanting to get the Doctor Who Time Lord Fairy Tales book forever now and finally got it.

BOOK OUTLET.

Here is my RIDICULOUS Book Outlet haul. This is multiple orders. I’m going to say that this is about FIVE orders. Yes, I placed five freaking orders with them this month, sigh. Two were before the sale, because there was limited copies and I knew there wouldn’t be any by time the sale started. The other three orders were from when the sale was going on.

The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski
Pretending to Be Erica by Michelle Painchaud
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey

The Rose Society by Marie Lu
The Distance From Me to You by Marina Gessner
I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios
The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon

Things I Can’t Explain by Mitchell Kriegman
Blood and Salt by Kim Liggett
The Masked Truth by Kelley Armstrong
Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas

Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Told you it was kind of ridiculous, lol. The only thing that is making me feel KIND of okay about it is that they are all books that I have really been wanting to read. I’ve already read The 5th Wave and The Infinite Sea, but I didn’t own them and I wanted them; and because The Last Star was just released, I figured this was a good time to finally get the full series in hardcover. Things I Can’t Explain I have been dying to get, but I refused to pay $20 on Amazon. I was stoked when I seen it on Book Outlet for just a little over $3! If you guys remember the TV show Clarissa Explains It All, it’s about her as an adult.

GOODWILL.

The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer
The Last Colony by Eoin Colfer
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

I have been slowly collecting the Artemis Fowl and Harry Potter books as I find them in Goodwill or other thrift stores. I was happy to find a few to add to my collection. I read the first two Artemis Fowl books, so I am excited that I have the third book! I’m still missing 1, 2, 7, and 8. For HP I am still missing the Goblet of Fire and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

That’s all for my pretty crazy book haul. Have you read any of these books? Link me to your book haul posts if you have one. I would love to check out all the new books that you got this month.

I hope you have an amazing day!

ashleypurplesig

Friday Finds #49.

Posted on May 27, 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 Babs at Babs Book Bistro. *All linked to Goodreads*

Hi 🙂

I’m so glad it’s Friday and I’m so stoked that it is a three day weekend! An extra day off to read is always nice. I am really hoping to finish my current read before the end of the month, so this is perfect. 😀

Here are some of the books that I added to my Goodreads TBR shelves this week. You can see more of my TBR list over on my Goodreads account over here and feel free to add me as a friend!

Alice Takes Back Wonderland by David D. Hammons
Replica by Lauren Oliver
This Is Our Story by Ashley Elston
Goldfish by Nat Luurtsema
Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown

I am pretty excited about every single one of these. They all look and sound like they are going to be amazing reads. I LOVE the book cover for Replica and This Is Our Story.

Have you added any new books to your TBR? Feel free to link me to your posts if you have one.

Check out my e-book haul over here. I’ll have my other book haul post up over the weekend or Monday.

I hope you have a great Friday and weekend!

ashleypurplesig

E-Book Haul & Other Things.

Posted on May 26, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hey! 😀

I’ve been working on my book haul post throughout the month and you guys are in for one pretty big haul soon! The post was pretty massive, so I decided to cut all of this out of that post and make it into a separate blog post. My May book haul post will be up either this weekend or on Monday. I still need to take pictures of my books! 😛

I’ll start with the Kindle e-books that I got this month. I ended up getting eight e-books, which isn’t too bad. I’m not sure if they are all still on sale or not, but at the time that I got most of these they were $1.99, minus one that was $8.99 and another I received for free.

E-BOOKS.

Front Lines by Michael Grant
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace
Emancipated by M.G. Reyes

Teacher Misery by Jane Morris
Beastly Bones by William Ritter
No Parking at the End Times by Bryan Bliss
Just a Few Inches by Tara St. Pierre

I have even more respect for teachers after reading Teacher Misery. It’s so crazy and a real eye opener. Check out my review over over here. I’m excited to finally see what all the fuss is about The Raven Cycle series. If I love The Raven Boys, then I’ll probably end up buying all the hardcovers. Awhile back I got the Jackaby e-book when it was on sale for $1.99, so I was excited to see that Beastly Bones was now on sale for $1.99. The author of Just a Few Sentences gifted me an e-book copy of her book, so I could review it. You can check out my review over here. The others are books that I’ve been really wanting to read and couldn’t pass them up when I seen they were on sale for $1.99.

Have you read any of these books?

MISC BOOKISH/NON-BOOKISH THINGS.

I also had a problem with buying so many other things as well as books this month. It was just a bad month for me overall with spending money. I spent so much money and I really need to STOP! I just love things so much, lol. It’s also the reason why I am currently drowning in clutter in my house.

I got a Supernatural box from The Bookish Box. *I paid for this in March though, so this doesn’t count toward my crazy spending* haha! The shirt on the bottom right, which I believe I already shared with you guys. It says “the road so far“. Also included in the box was a pillow cover and it says “saving people hunting things the family business” and it has different quotes from the show incorporated into it. A candle; different ones were sent out and I got “the family business” one. License plate earrings and a magnet that says “I heart Sam & Dean Winchester”.

These little bookmarks that are so cute! They are little octopuses and each one says something different. “my heart!” “omg!” “I ship it!” “so many feels” “what? no! what?” I got them from Happy Hello Art on Etsy over here.

I also got this really cute Hunger Games based Kindle case from Klevercase. The front says “The Tribute Handbook” and the back of the case says “real or not real” with an arrow (back not pictured below). It’s shaped like a book, so it looks like it’s an actual book which is so cool!

The picture on the right is a better picture of the true colors of the case. The left picture with Katniss had different lighting, so the colors are off.

By the way, I read Frozen Tides and it was amazing. This series has been one crazy ride so far and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book. December needs to get here RIGHT NOW!

It is now back to no more spending for me. I have a ton of wedding things that I need to get. Once the fiance is back from Colorado, we need to really get cracking on this wedding stuff. There is so much to do and we both have been kind of just pretending like none of it was a big deal, lol. On the plus side, I got my wedding dress! So that’s a really big check off the list.

I think I’ll do a picture post soon as well with random pictures I’ve taken this month and a life update to go along with. I think it’s been a few weeks since I’ve done one of those.

Add me on Instagram!
heyyitsashley – personal account
foreverbookish_ – bookstagram

I hope you have a great day! 🙂

ashleypurple

Thoughts|| Just a Few Inches.

Posted on May 24, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

justafewinches

Just a Few Inches by Tara St. Pierre
4 out of 5 stars.

“No one should be considered average; it’s a purely mathematical concept, and though math may have its useful purposes, describing who a person is shouldn’t be one of them.”

Goodreads Description: All Carrie Roberts wants is to be a little bit smaller. To fit into the perfect dress for the Valentine’s Day Dance. To look beautiful for her boyfriend, the school’s star basketball player. To keep his jealous ex-girlfriend, a rival cheerleader, away from him. And to be noticed by her classmates. Exercising and dieting don’t work, but an advertisement for weight loss pills promises a quicker solution to her problem. As time runs out, she takes more than the recommended dose until she’s just a few inches slimmer. Heads turn when she arrives at the dance, and the wonderful night with her boyfriend is beyond what she dreamed it would be. Days later, Carrie discovers that her body is changing in ways that should be impossible. While her doctor searches for a cure, she desperately turns to her friends and family for support. Everyone is noticing her now whether she likes it or not, and even the media is intrigued by her incredible story. Getting everything she once wanted has created new problems—problems that are growing more terrifying every day. Because Carrie Roberts is shrinking.

Thank you to Tara for sending a copy of her book Just a Few Inches. I am so glad that I was given to opportunity to read this book. As soon as I read the description, I knew I wanted to read it. It sounded like such an interesting idea and story and I was excited to see how it all unfolded.

Carrie wants to lose a little weight to fit into a dress that she wants to wear to a school dance. She comes across some diet pills and decides to take them, so that she can fit into her new dress. She ends up taking more than she is supposed to and she starts shrinking in height instead. At first the book was a little too weird and I wasn’t sure what to think as I continued to read. It did keep my interest though and I was invested in Carrie and her story.

She tried to be as positive as should could be and she had an amazing support system with her family and friends. I think they played a big part in keeping her moving forward and always looking up. I loved her friends Lauren, Trish, and Evan. They accepted her no matter what was happening to her. Family and friends are everything and especially when you’re going through something so difficult and life changing.

I found myself Googling and looking for comparisons to every time she shrank, so that I could get a better idea of her size. I think at some point in our lives we have all struggled with our appearances and this book deals a lot with body image and I think that’s why it’s so easy to connect with Carrie. She’s a relatable character, she’s a strong character, and she dealt so well with everything she was going through.

Overall, I really enjoyed Just a Few Inches. I thought it was such a cool and interesting story. I laughed a lot, I smiled a lot, I even shed a few tears along the way as well. I would definitely recommend reading this book.

“We all have the capacity for incredible achievements and incredible change, but those come from the inside, and none of it will happen while you’re obsessing about what’s on the outside.”

I hope you have an amazing day! 🙂

ashleygreen

Thoughts||Teacher Misery.

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

teachermisery

Teacher Misery by Jane Morris
4 out of 5 stars.

Goodreads Description: Teacher Misery perfectly encapsulates the comical misery that has become the teaching profession. Morris’ strange, funny, and sometimes unbelievable teaching experiences are told through a collection of short stories, essays and artifacts including real emails from parents, students and administrators. From the parents who blame their son’s act of arson on the teacher for causing him low self-esteem, to the student who offers to teach the teacher how to sell drugs so she can pay her bills, to the administrator whose best advice is to “treat kids like sacks of shit,” one story is more shocking than the next. An important read for teachers and non-teachers alike– Teacher Misery paints an amusing and thoroughly entertaining picture of what has become of our education system, without detracting from the overall point that what teachers have to put up with today is complete, utter, unacceptable insanity.

Teacher Misery is about a teacher that recounts her first five years as a teacher. She includes stories, actual conversations (and emails) with students, parents, administration, and even some actual homework assignment responses from the students.

“Teacher Misery paints an amusing and thoroughly entertaining picture of what has become of our education system, without detracting from the overall point that what teachers have to put up with today is complete, utter, unacceptable insanity.”

This pretty much sums up exactly what this book is about. It’s pure insanity. There is no other way to put it. I have always had lots of respect for teachers and feel that they are underpaid and not at all appreciated enough, but after reading Teacher Misery I have even more respect for them. It’s crazy what kids can get away with and what kids ( and parents and administration) actually think are okay.

I’ve always figured that teachers go through a lot of crap, because honestly, a lot of kids these days just plain suck and some parents are not any better. I never imagined how bad it really is before reading this book. The worst part of it all is that the teachers don’t really have a big say or influence in a lot of things that go on at the school or in their own classroom. You think they would have back up with the administration, but a lot of the time they don’t even have that.

Teachers are getting bullied. No other way to put it. Bullied by the students, bullied by the parents of the students, and even bullied by administration sometimes. They are not only being bullied verbally, but physically as well by students. Bullying is wrong on all fronts whether it’s kids bullying kids, adults bullying kids, adults bullying adults, and in this case students and parents bullying teachers.

You may laugh at some of the things in this book (I’m not going to lie I did laugh at some things), but when you really get down to it and open your eyes and actually take away the humor side of it; it’s actually quite sad. It’s sad that teachers have to put up with so much crap and sad that students don’t care enough to learn. Some of the things these students wrote as their actual assignment responses was appalling! It makes me scared for the future of this country, because these are the kids that will one day be running things. I think more kids (and parents) should care more about education and their teachers.

The school experience can be pleasant and rewarding too, but there are some cases where it is not. Don’t let it discourage you from being a teacher if that’s your dream job. I don’t know this for fact since I am not a teacher, but I think you really have to have tough skin and an open mind. You also have to really love teaching to do this job. I think if you didn’t, then you would probably snap. I know I would! You will have those students that will be amazing and make every bad day worth it in the end.

We don’t always get to see the bad and I love that in this book you get to see the other side of things too. This book is both funny and sad all at the same time. Funny in the way that the author worded things, but sad in the way that this is really happening at schools all over the world. This isn’t something new, but we don’t get to see what is truly going on. This book is just a small glimpse of what is happening behind the doors and walls of every school. I highly recommend that everyone read it whether you are a teacher, a student, a parent, or even if you are not any of those things. Read this book. Teachers deserve so much more credit and respect than they are given.

Have you read Teacher Misery? If so, what did you think? If not, do you think you will?

I hope you have a great Monday!

ashleypurple

Friday Finds #48.

Posted on May 20, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

fridayfinds

Hi!

Friday once again and as always, so stoked for it! I don’t work on the weekends, so I get to catch up on sleep and reading. This weekend I am supposed to go look at wedding dresses again with my sisters and cousin. I will admit, I HATE trying on wedding dresses. My first experience back in March was probably the worst experience I ever had. I was completely over it and decided to ignore the fact that I need to find a wedding dress. I pushed wedding dress shopping to the VERY back of my mind and never thought about it again LOL! But Sunday I have to go again, sigh. This time I have some pictures printed off to show everyone what type I am looking for and maybe this time around it won’t be a complete disaster for me.

Anyway, enough of that! Onto some books! I added lots of books to my Goodreads TBR shelves. Here are some of the books that I added to my Goodreads TBR shelves this week. You can see more of my TBR list over on my Goodreads account over here and feel free to add me as a friend!

A Tragic Kind of Wonderful by Eric Lindstrom
History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera
Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs
Hearts Anonymous by Jonathan Dunne

Shooter by Caroline Pignat
Bright Smoke, Cold Fire by Rosamund Hodge
The Sway by Ruby Knight
Timekeeper by Tara Sim

I loved Eric Lindstrom’s book Not If I See You First, so I can’t wait to read A Tragic Kind of Wonderful. Although I still need to read Library of Souls, I have loved the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series so much so far and I can’t wait to dive into these fairy tale stories from the series. All of these other books sound really interesting and I of course love these book covers!

Have you added any new books to your TBR? Feel free to link me to your posts if you have one.

I hope you have a great Friday and weekend!

ashleypurplesig

Thoughts||The Siren.

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

thesiren

The Siren by Kiera Cass
4 out of 5 stars.

“Books were a safe place, a world apart from my own. No matter what had happened that day, that year, there was always a story in which someone overcame their darkest hour. I wasn’t alone.”

Goodreads Description: Love is a risk worth taking. Years ago, Kahlen was rescued from drowning by the Ocean. To repay her debt, she has served as a Siren ever since, using her voice to lure countless strangers to their deaths. Though a single word from Kahlen can kill, she can’t resist spending her days on land, watching ordinary people and longing for the day when she will be able to speak and laugh and live freely among them again. Kahlen is resigned to finishing her sentence in solitude…until she meets Akinli. Handsome, caring, and kind, Akinli is everything Kahlen ever dreamed of. And though she can’t talk to him, they soon forge a connection neither of them can deny…and Kahlen doesn’t want to. Falling in love with a human breaks all the Ocean’s rules, and if the Ocean discovers Kahlen’s feelings, she’ll be forced to leave Akinli for good. But for the first time in a lifetime of following the rules, Kahlen is determined to follow her heart.

I really enjoyed the first three books in the Selection series, so I was pretty excited to check out Kiera Cass’ new book. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from The Siren. It sounded really interesting from the description and in fact, it was an interesting read. I’ve never read about Sirens before, so this was something new for me and it was really fun to read about.

I liked that the book wasn’t completely a love story with a girl and a boy. There was so much love between Kahlen and her Siren sisters as well. I loved the relationship between her and her sisters. They really loved and cared about each other and was supportive. Of course there is also the love between Kahlen and Akinli as well. It was actually not overpowering, which was nice. I was hands down in love with Prince Maxon from the Selection series, but now I am pretty much obsessed with Akinli. I think Kiera Cass definitely knows how to write awesome male characters that are swoon worthy.

Kahlen struggled with being a Siren and having to lure people to their deaths. She still had nightmares of all the ships they sunk and people her and her sisters fed to the Ocean. By the way, the Ocean…holy crap! The Ocean was was a living thing that spoke to the Sirens and would call the Sirens to sing when it was time to feed again. So crazy! I’m not sure what I was expecting with the Ocean aspect of it, but it was cool.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Siren. Kiera Cass’ books are always so easy to read. I listened to the audiobook version though and it was really good. I enjoyed the story and the characters. There’s so much more to the world of the Sirens than you think.

“There’s always room for love. Even if it’s as small as a crack in the door.”

Have you read The Siren? If so, what did you think? If not, do you think you?

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyteal

Thoughts||Everland.

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

Everland by Wendy Spinale
4.5 out of 5 stars.

“To die will be an awfully big adventure.”

Goodreads Description: Forget the story of Peter Pan you know. Because in Everland, the only way to grow up is to survive. London has been destroyed in a blitz of bombs and disease. The only ones who have survived are children, among them Gwen Darling and her siblings, Joanna and Mikey. They spend their nights scavenging and their days avoiding the ruthless Marauders — the German Army led by Captain Hanz Otto Oswald Kretschmer. Unsure if the virus has spread past England’s borders but desperate to leave, Captain Hook hunts for a cure, which he thinks can be found in one of the survivors. He and his Marauders stalk the streets snatching children for experimentation. None ever return. Until the day they grab Joanna. As Gwen sets out to save her, she meets a mysterious boy named Pete. Pete offers the assistance of his gang of Lost Boys and the fierce sharpshooter Bella, who have all been living in a city hidden underground. But in a place where help has a steep price and every promise is bound by blood, it will cost Gwen. And are she, Pete, the Lost Boys, and Bella enough to outsmart Captain Hook?

I was given an ARC of Everland when I visited Kepler’s bookstore in California back in March. It was on my TBR, so I was excited that the lady that worked there let me have it. I am a huge Peter Pan fan and I also really love retellings, so I had to get my hands on it. The story takes place in a steampunk world. I don’t believe I’ve ever read a steampunk book (or if I had I didn’t know). I actually didn’t really know what steampunk books were until I looked it up.

Everland was such a fun spin on Peter Pan. It was fun and exciting and pretty intense at times. Pete’s character was spot on from the Peter Pan I grew up with from the Disney movie. He was one of my favorite characters in the book. It was easy to connect with all of the characters though and the group of Lost Boys were quite the bunch. I laughed a lot and even got teary eyed a few times. I also really liked the Bella was just like the Tinkerbell that I remember. I think Wendy did a really good job with writing the characters for this book.

The concept of the book was awesome and I love how it all came together. I think it was really well written and at times hard to put down. One that though, since I am so used to the movie I would visualize the characters like how they look in the Disney movie lol. I had to remind myself that really they are all just young kids/young adults. Captain Hook was only 18 if I remember correctly. It was such a fun book though. I love the adventure, I love the characters, and there were pretty good amount of twists. I wanted a little more from the ending, but it was really good.

Everland was just released last Tuesday (May 10th), so you guys should definitely go grab a copy! I highly recommend it.

I hope you have a great Monday! 🙂

ashleyblue

Friday Finds #47.

Posted on May 13, 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 Friday again, yay! It’s been a pretty good week. I added a bunch of awesome sounding books to my Goodreads TBR this week and I am stoked about them including a new Veronica Roth book. I will forever read anything she writes and the book cover is pretty freaking amazing! And with that, here are some of the books that I added to my Goodreads TBR shelves this week. You can see more of my TBR list over on my Goodreads account over here and feel free to add me as a friend!

Ever the Hunted by Erin Summerill
Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth
Caraval by Stephanie Garber
Yellow by Megan Jacobson
The Secret of a Heart Note by Stacey Lee

All five of these book covers are pretty epic. I want to buy every single one of them RIGHT NOW! They all sound really amazing as well, so that’s a plus. The five below sound really good too and I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on them.

The Graces by Laure Eve
The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis
Cure for the Common Universe by Christian McKay Heidicker
Learning to Swear in America by Katie Kennedy
Breeder by Casey Hays

Have you added any new books to your TBR? Feel free to link me to your posts if you have one.

I’m not as active as I would like to be as of late and I am sure I have said it a million times and you may have noticed as well. I am fairly active on my Bookstagram and my personal Instagram though, so please feel free to follow me! I’ll still be around the blogosphere too, of course. I love reading your posts and even if I’m not posting as much as I would like to right now, I’m still around and hopefully that’ll change soon and I’ll post more frequently like I was before. I should have a review of Everland up on Monday though! 😀

Bookstagram: foreverbookish_
Instagram: heyyitsashley

I hope you have an amazing Friday and weekend!

ashleygreen

WWW Wednesday #27.

Posted on May 11, 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’m in a total blogging slump and I do NOT like it. I want to blog, but I have no idea what to blog about. I’m thinking of finding one of those book blogging challenges with a new prompt every day, so I can get back into the swing of things on here. Those are always fun and it’ll get me back into blogging. I love it here and all of you guys, so I don’t want to fall off the face of the blogosphere. Even though I haven’t been blogging as much, I have been reading more than I have in awhile and it’s great! Here is what I’ve been reading over the last couple of weeks.

Currently Reading:

Everland by Wendy Spinale
Firstlife by Gena Showalter

I have about 100 pages left of Everland. I had hoped to have it finished by yesterday, so I could get a review up but that ended up not happening. It was released yesterday (May 10), so if you love Peter Pan and you love retellings then you should definitely check it out! I am really enjoying it and I also love this take on Peter Pan. I started Firstlife on Friday, but I didn’t get very far into the audiobook. I haven’t gotten around to continuing it, but I should have it finished this week. I’ll probably start it again today. It sounds interesting, so I am looking forward to it.

Recently Finished:

Maybe Not by Colleen Hoover
Gathering Darkness by Morgan Rhodes
The Demigod Diaries by Rick Riordan

I recently finished Maybe Not by Colleen Hoover. I really liked Warren in Maybe Someday, so I wanted to check out the novella. I also want to read anything and everything CoHo writes, so there’s that too. I really enjoyed it and still love Warren, hah. I also finished Gathering Darkness and OMG this series just gets better and better with every book! Falling Kingdoms was only like a 3 star book for me, but I am so glad I continued with the series. It’s getting pretty intense, but holy crap there is so much death as the series goes along. Hah. Lots of action though and I love it. The Demigod Diaries was a really fun read and I loved getting to read more stories about the characters that I’ve grown to love throughout the Heroes of Olympus series.

Reading Next:

Frozen Tides by Morgan Rhodes
The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

I already read about 70 pages of Frozen Tides, but I’m putting a pause on reading it until after I finish Everland. I love this series though and I am dying to continue this book. I’m not sure what else I will be reading next. I was thinking of listening to the audiobook for The Wrath and the Dawn. I wasn’t a huge fan of it when I read it by myself, but maybe I will appreciate it more by listening to the audiobook. And because I didn’t like it all that much, I don’t remember too much of what happened. I plan to read The Rose and the Dagger soonish, so this may be my next audiobook.

What are you currently reading? Recently finished? Reading next? Let me know and link me to your posts if you have one!

I went to see The Front Bottoms last night! It is definitely one of my favorite concerts now. I’ve been wanting to see them forever now and I love their music so much. So I was stoked that I finally got to see them and it was an amazing show.

Hopefully I’ll have some reviews up on the blog in the next week or so. Off to work for me. I hope you have a great day!

ashleypurple

Bookish & Non-Bookish Things. {pictures}

Posted on May 6, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

books2

Hi!

*the picture for the header of this post is my new header on my blog 🙂 *

So I haven’t updated since Monday. 😦 I’ve been completely failing at this blogging thing this year. I don’t want to completely fall off the face of the blogosphere though, so I’m going to do a random update about whatever comes to mind and share some pictures that I took and posted on my bookstagram (foreverbookish_) and my personal instagram (heyyitsashley).

I am currently reading Everland. I was given the ARC from this lady that worked at Kepler’s in California and decided to read it, so I could get a review up on my blog for it. It’s releasing next week! It’s a retelling of Peter Pan and I am excited! I’m a little over 70 pages in and so far I like it. I am also currently reading (well listening) The Demigod Diaries by Rick Riordan. Isn’t my Shakespeare bookmark so cute? I got it from Craftedvan.

maybenot gatheringdarkness

Maybe Not by Colleen Hoover
Gathering Darkness by Morgan Rhodes

This is what my May TBR is looking like. The likelihood of it actually being accomplished is like a 50/50 chance as of right now, because I never stick to TBRs. The Darkest Minds was on my TBR for April and that didn’t happen, so I moved it to May. I’m buddy reading Passenger with Shelbie and her book club. I already mentioned that I am currently reading Everland right now. I really enjoy the Dorothy Must Die series, so I want to get to Yellow Brick War to see what happens next! Third book in the Broken Hearts & Revenge series gets released next week, so it’s highly likely that all of these books will be thrown to the side while I devour that book.

Back in March I ordered a Supernatural box from The Bookish Box and I finally got it. There were some fun Supernatural stuff inside. Like earrings, a magnet, a pillow cover, a candle, and this shirt that says “the road so far”. I sadly have not taken any pictures of the stuff inside yet, but I will for my book haul post later this month. I really liked the box and the things I got, but I kind of expected a little bit more than what I got. I seen people with the first Supernatural box they did and I felt like that one was so much better and I hate that I missed out on it. 😦

Brothers for life. You know I had to thrown in some pictures of my furbabies. I can’t stand how cute they are together. They totally love each other more than they love me and the fiance. It’s funny when they look around for each other. It’s also cute when one of us walks Dax and ColbyJack sits at the door waiting for Dax to come back.

Random flowery pictures. I posted these on Earth day. We have this bush of flowers that grow on the other side of the fence and the branches and flowers reach over to our side and I’m obsessed with them and the color of them. I probably take way too many pictures of them at all different angles, because I’m weird and I love taking pictures of flowers and nature type things…although I’m not the biggest fan of being outside LOL! It’s Florida though and one foot out the door and I’m already melting like the wicked witch.

Look what I got! I won an ARC of Queen of Hearts on Goodreads. I was so stoked, because I really want to read it and I love Alice in Wonderland and retellings. Look what else I got! The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan. I like to think Riordan is a God himself. 😛 I love his books, so I am STOKED to have this book in my possession now. Just a little glimpse of my May book haul. You know, it’s only six days into May and my May book haul is already the same amount of books (maybe more after Book Outlet sale next week) than my haul last month, sigh. Just so many amazing books are releasing this month that I plan to read ASAP!

My sister and I went to see a Dirty Dancing play. I actually have never seen the actual movie, but she had free tickets to the play. It was actually pretty good and made me a little curious about the actual movie. There were lots of older people at this play. There was an old couple sitting next to us and the lady actually yelled at my sister, because she was messing around on her phone and the bright light of her screen was bothering the lady, haha.

These are just some random pictures that I don’t really have a whole lot to say about them, lol. Things that I love though.

Furbabies and Kindle reading.

Sunset & flowers.

Alright, I believe that’s all for this post. Hopefully I can finish Everland this week and get a review up Monday or Tuesday. The book release is Tuesday, I believe. Also on Tuesday is the release of the last book in the Broken Hearts & Revenge series that I mentioned earlier and I am also going to the Front Bottoms concert, which I am so stoked about. I’ve been trying to see them forever now and finally am!

I hope you have an amazing day!

ashleyblue

Recap||April.

Posted on May 2, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

APRILRECAP

April gone already? It was a busy month for me and I went into April with a reading slump that had been ongoing over the last few months. It slowly started to go away though and I was able to read and listen to a ton of books. Toward the last couple of weeks I was flying through books and audiobooks.

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 (not audiobooks) throughout the month of April.

kindred spirits by rainbow rowell – 3 OUT OF 5 STARS.
This was a cute story, but I think that I would have liked it even more if I was a Star Wars fan. Still a cute and short read though.

too late by colleen hoover – REVIEW. – 4.5 OUT OF 5 STARS.
CoHo is amazing and so was this book! You can read it for free over on Wattpad. I love that she added a prologue and two epilogues, because I needed MORE! Feel free to check out my review for more!

the moth and the flame by renee ahdieh – 3 OUT OF 5 STARS.
I enjoyed this novella. It was a nice addition. I don’t really know what else to say about it, but it was good. I haven’t really been sold on The Wrath and the Dawn, but we’ll see what happens when I read The Rose and the Dagger.

the serpent king by jeff zentner – REVIEW. – 5 OUT OF 5 STARS.
The Serpent King is one of my favorite reads so far this year. So many feels. This book tore me to pieces, but it was so good. I laughed, I cried, I got angry. I highly recommend this book. You’ll want to read something fun afterward though, because it’s emotionally draining. Feel free to check out my review for more!

top 8 by katie finn – 3.5 OUT OF 5 STARS.
what’s your status? – katie finn – 4 OUT OF 5 STARS.
I was looking for a fun/easy read (The Serpent King almost killed me) and since I love Katie Finn’s other series (Broken Hearts & Revenge series), I decided to check out these. They were definitely fun and easy to read, just what I needed to get me out of the reading slump I was in. I really enjoyed these two books and now I need to see about getting my hands on the third one!

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

falling kingdoms by morgan rhodes – REVIEW. – 3 OUT OF 5 STARS.
I liked Falling Kingdoms, but it had so many similarities to the BBC show Merlin that I kept mostly thinking about Merlin and trying to point out all the similiarities, lol. So I didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have had I not ever watched Merlin. I still liked it enough to continue the series. Feel free to check out my review for more!

rebel spring by morgan rhodes – 4 OUT OF 5 STARS.
Rebel Spring was defintely a lot better than Falling Kingdoms was, so I was thrilled about that. There is so much death though, lol! I honestly thought by the end of the book that there would be no characters left. HAHA! 😛 I really loved this one though and can’t wait to start the third one!

winter by marissa meyer -4 OUT OF 5 STARS.
I have a love/hate for The Lunar Chronicles. I have not loved this series like everyone else. I don’t think it’s the greatest series ever like everyone else. It was an okay series. I was bored a lot of the time with this series. I will say though that Winter was definitely better than all of the other books in the series. The others (Scarlet and Cress) were just “okay”, but Winter was a good finish to the series.

seveneves by neal stephenson – 4 OUT OF 5 STARS.
I really enjoyed Seveneves a lot. It was a pretty crazy book and kind of scary at times. It also gives you a lot to think about, which is what makes it scary. The world ends and now what? Some of the humans from Earth try to live in space, so that they can repopulate Earth again when the time comes and Earth is habitable again. Crazy stuff! There are two parts of the book and I did enjoy the first part a bit more than the second. It was still pretty amazing overall.

alienated by melissa landers – 3 OUT OF 5 STARS.
invaded by melissa landers – 3 OUT OF 5 STARS.
I was hoping that I would love Alienated and Invaded, but sadly I did not. It was an okay series so far. I believe there is a third book coming out this year. I didn’t really connect with the characters too much and there was MAJOR insta-love and the relationship was way too weird for me. The books were funny at times, but mostly just boring and annoying. Kind of disappointing, because Alienated was on my TBR forever and I really wanted to read it and love it.

soldier by julie kagawa – 5 OUT OF 5 STARS.
The Talon series will forever have my heart. I love this series more than words. Soldier was nothing short of amazing. I’m pretty obsessed with Julie Kagawa. Soldier is the third book in the Talon series. It just came out last week and now I have to wait another year for the next book and it’s going to kill me. I highly recommend the Talon series to you guys! I’m still not in love with the main character Ember, but everything else about this series is so awesome.

Currently Reading:
These are books that I have started, but didn’t get to finish before the end of April.

Everland by Wendy Spinale

I actually just started this book, so I can’t say too much about it. It’ll be released May 10th and I was given the ARC, so I really want to read it and get a review posted. I also have it on my TBR, so I am excited. I love Peter Pan and this is a retelling of that. So stoked for it! “Forget the story of Peter Pan you know. Because in Everland, the only way to grow up is to survive.”

That’s all for my April recap. Have you read any of these books? Link me to all of your recap posts! 🙂

Book Haul || April. – books (and other bookish things) I got in the month of April.

I hope you have an amazing day!

ashleyblue