Book Haul|| June.

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

Hi! 🙂

June flew by and I bought a lot of books. I am tired of feeling guilty for buying books. I love books and I don’t think I should feel bad for buying something I love. I think it’s more because of the fact that I own so many books that I haven’t read yet. I think that’s why I feel so guilty about it. I think I am going to finally go through all my books and sell/donate the ones that I probably won’t be reading. Maybe I won’t feel as bad when I buy so many. With that being said, here is my June book haul.

Amazon/Target:

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum
The Loose Ends List by Carrie Firestone

I already shared this picture below before, but I’ll share it again because the covers under the dust jacket of The Loose Ends List is amazing! 😀 I’ve always wanted to read this book, but the cover definitely made me want to buy it right away, lol. I’ve also been really wanted to read Tell Me Three Things, so I picked up a copy when I seen it at Target.

Book Outlet:

More Book Outlet hauls, because I can never say no about going to their website. LOL. All books that I really want to read, so that’s a good thing at least.

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
Firefight by Brandon Sanderson

I LOVED Mistborn, so I got the other two books in the series. I also already have Steelheart, so I decided to get Firefight.

Half Wild by Sally Green
Madly by Amy Alward
The Wrong Side of Right by Jenn Marie Thorne

I’ve been pretty much dying to read The Wrong Side of Right for forever now. I have Half Bad, so I picked up Half Wild. I’ve wanted to read Madly, but the cover is amazing and I needed it now.

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson
The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson

I’ve heard awesome things about this series, so I was excited that Book Outlet had hardcovers of book one and two.

These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly
Gathering Darkness by Morgan Rhodes

These Shallow Graves sounds awesome and I’ve had it on my TBR for awhile now. I LOVELOVELOVE the Falling Kingdoms series and I’ve been trying to buy them as Book Outlet gets them. So far they’ve only had Gathering Darkness 😦 If they don’t have the others by December (when the 5th book releases) then I am just going to order the rest from Amazon.

The Merciless by Danielle Vega
Still Waters by Ash Parsons
The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell

I keep meaning to buy The Merciless, but then end up not doing it. I finally did it and I’m excited to read it. I’ve had Still Waters on my TBR for awhile now, so I was excited to find it out Book Outlet. The Wolf Wilder was a total cover buy and I’ve been eyeing it for awhile and finally got it.

Misc Books:

Goodies from my friend Kristen (author of Blonde Eskimo):

Down with the Shine by Kate Karyus Quinn
Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here by Anna Breslaw
Also included was Doctor Who Monopoly board game and some HP bookmarks.

When Kristen and I were in California, the lady that works at Kepler’s let us pick out an ARC to take home with us. She chose Down with the Shine and I chose Everland. Once she finished Down with the Shine she sent it to me because I really wanted to read it and I sent her Everland. She also included some other random goodies!

Fantasy & Sci-Fi Box:

The Crowns Game by Evelyn Skye
Shattered Blue by Lauren Bird Horowitz
Mockingjay pin
Shattered Blue swag (sticker, bookmark)
Page markers
Crown necklace.

Lauren was working with Fantasy & Sci-Fi books and she got a copy of her book in the box, so I had to support her since we are good friends and I got myself the June box. I was excited that The Crown’s Game was in the box, because I really wanted it. I will say that I was not too impressed with this subscription box. I am happy with the books though, but everything else just seemed kind of “meh” to me.

OwlCrate:

I had previously cancelled my OwlCrate subscription, because I wasn’t a fan of the boxes anymore. The books weren’t books I wanted and the items were things I never really used. Then when I cancelled my box, of course they start having amazing boxes LOL. So I started my subscription again, because I really wanted the June box. I love the box this month!

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
Paper crown
King, Queen, Carriage bookmarks from Craftedvan
Cinder (Lunar Chronicles) themed bracelet
Red Queen print
Mystery Funko figurine; I got Elsa

I didn’t know much about My Lady Jane and I honestly still don’t, lol. Everyone seems to really love it and want to read it. Maybe it’ll be good. I LOVE Red Queen (still need to read Glass Sword…), so I was stoked about the quote print. I love the Cinder bracelet and I am glad it’s from Cinder because that’s probably the only book I really liked from the series. The little magnet bookmarks are so cute! I would have hoped for a better Disney Funko, but I guess Elsa is okay…

Did you get any new books in June? Have you read any of these books that I got? Link me to your book haul posts!

Misc Bookish Purchases:

I got some really cute bookmarks this month as well. I am obsessed with bookmarks like I am with books.

These bookmarks are from Boookmarky on Etsy. SHOP HERE.
They have cute little books and charms that go with the theme of the book/bookmark.
I’ve been kind of addicted to this shop this month, lol.

The Unexpected Everything (dog charm)
Alice in Wonderland (key charm)
A Court of Mist & Fury (rose charm)
The Lightning Thief (Pegasus charm)
*I think the charm is actually a horse, but it should be Pegasus 😛

These bookmarks are from Craftedvan on Esty. SHOP HERE.
Alice in Wonderland. I love Alice and these were so cute.

Do you have any favorite bookmark shops on Etsy?

That’s all for my June book haul. I’ll have my June e-book haul posted tomorrow and my wrap up post over the weekend. I was going to actually post my e-book haul today, but since I already posted a picture of my haul on my Instagram yesterday, I decided to just do it today.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyteal

WWW Wednesday #28.

Posted on June 29, 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.

Currently Reading:

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
My Kind of Crazy by Robin Reul

I am a little half way through Illuminae and I find it really boring. I don’t love it. I don’t even think I like it. I mean, some of it is interesting; but the majority of it is boring. I recently just started My Kind of Crazy, so I am not that far into it. So far it’s pretty funny and I like it. I was approved for this ARC awhile ago on Netgalley and never had the chance to read it. I am finally reading it now and I’m really looking forward to it.

Recently Finished:

We Awaken by Calista Lynne – REVIEW.
The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle – REVIEW.

These books were both two star reads for me. They weren’t the greatest, which was a bit of a disappointment, because they both sounded like they would be good. We Awaken deals with asexuality, which is different from most books I have read and have come across. I didn’t know about asexuality before reading it, so it was cool that I was able to get a better understanding of it. The Great American Whatever was a bit boring and it was hard to connect with the characters, especially because I found them to be annoying. Check out my reviews for more about them (linked above).

Reading Next:

I have no clue what I will be reading next. I am actually kind of feeling a bit slumpish, so I may just take a break from reading for a little bit. My DVR is also jammed packed with TV shows that I need to catch up on, lol. It’s also Shark Week, so I have a bunch of shark shows recorded as well. 😛 So…how about what I’m watching next?

Orphan Black – I have five episodes that I am behind on. AHHHHHH.
Wayward Pines – I believe I am behind by 2-3 episodes, oops.
Vanishing Women – Two episodes behind. Really 1 and a half though, because I watched half of one.

And then we have Shark Week like I mentioned above. I currently have about four shark shows recorded right now. Also, one of my favorite shows (Big Brother) started back last week, so there’s that as well. I have a ton of TV shows like I have a ton of books. I am drowning in books and I am drowning in TV shows, lol.

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

I’ve been working on my book haul posts and my monthly recap posts, so those should be coming soon. I’ll probably have my e-book haul tomorrow. I got a lot of books this month, so I split them into two posts, lol. 😛

I hope you have a great day!

ashleypink

Thoughts|| We Awaken.

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

weawaken

We Awaken by Calista Lynne
2 out of 5 stars.

Goodreads Description: Victoria Dinham doesn’t have much left to look forward to. Since her father died in a car accident, she lives only to fulfill her dream of being accepted into the Manhattan Dance Conservatory. But soon she finds another reason to look forward to dreams when she encounters an otherworldly girl named Ashlinn, who bears a message from Victoria’s comatose brother. Ashlinn is tasked with conjuring pleasant dreams for humans, and through the course of their nightly meetings in Victoria’s mind, the two become close. Ashlinn also helps Victoria understand asexuality and realize that she, too, is asexual. But then Victoria needs Ashlinn’s aid outside the realm of dreams, and Ashlinn assumes human form to help Victoria make it to her dance audition. They take the opportunity to explore New York City, their feelings for each other, and the nature of their shared asexuality. But like any dream, it’s too good to last. Ashlinn must shrug off her human guise and resume her duties creating pleasant nighttime visions—or all of humanity will pay the price.

I can’t get over how beautiful the book cover is for We Awaken! I was sent an ARC of We Awaken from the author Calista in exchange for an honest review.

I have never read any books that dealt with asexuality or had asexual characters. I honestly had no idea what asexual was before reading this book. It is actually a really interesting subject and I was glad that I was able to learn more about it. The two main characters in this book, Victoria and Ashlinn are asexual.

I thought that the writing about asexuality was really well done and better helped me to understand what it is. I think this is a very important book, because you don’t see a lot out there on this subject. The story itself though, I can’t say I enjoyed it too much. It was very insta-love and I actually thought the romance was a little too much and too weird at times. Victoria would always refer to Ashlinn as “my girlfriend” instead of saying her name and I thought that was a little annoying and repetitive. I also felt that Victoria was extremely clingy and it made it hard for me to want to like her.

Victoria’s father died in a car accident and her brother is in a coma from that accident and I felt like that was completely pushed to the side most of the book. Victoria was way too worried about Ashlinn and their relationship. I know she was confused about her own life and sexuality though, so I guess I can understand a little bit. I got the vibe that she wasn’t really dealing with what happened to her father and brother very well.

Overall, I felt the story itself was really lacking. I didn’t love it and it was only an okay read for me. I would have loved to see more about the dream world. I did really like how the story ended. The things about asexuality were well written from what I could tell (like I said, I didn’t know anything about it until reading this book) and it can definitely help you to understand the subject a little better. I know I have a better understanding about it after reading. I would recommend it reading it even if it’s just to get a better understanding about asexuality. This book wasn’t for me, but you may love it; so I wouldn’t count it out.

Author’s social media:
calista-lynne.tumblr.com
calista-lynne.blogspot.com
@calistawrites
You can pre-order We Awaken over here and it will be released on July 14th.

In case you missed it;
Tag|| Book Buying Habits
Thoughts|| The Great American Whatever.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblue

Tag|| Book Buying Habits.

Posted on June 27, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

bookbuyinghabits

Hello!

I was tagged by Jesse from @ Books at Dawn to do the book buying habits tag. This looks like such a fun tag and it’ll be cool sharing my book buying habits with you guys!

Questions:

Where do you buy your books from?

I buy my books from Target, Amazon, and BookOutlet.com. They all have fairly decent pricing on books, especially Amazon and BookOutlet.com. Other book stores are just way too pricey for me.

Do you ever pre-order books and if so do you do this in store or online?

Sometimes I do pre-order books if I really want it right away or if it’s a favorite author. Sometimes if an author or publisher is giving away bookish goodies for pre-ordering, then I do that as well. I usually always pre-order from Amazon.

On average, how many books do you buy a month?

OMG this question, TOOOO MANY! 😛 Lately it has been 20+ books; physical and e-books.

Do you use your local library?

I do use my library’s online database for audiobooks and e-books. I don’t actually go into my library and check books out. I have my own library of books (e-book and physical) that I should probably be reading though. I have a bad habit of buying tons of books and then getting e-books from the library.

What is your opinion on library books?

I think libraries are important and pretty amazing as well. I know there are tons of people that love reading, but can’t always afford to buy every single book. So it’s nice that there are places for people to read for free. I think everyone should utilize their library!

How do you feel about second hand books?

Love them. I actually became addicted to getting second hand books from Goodwill or other thrift stores. You would actually be surprised by the amazing quality of the books you can find too! I can get almost perfect condition books from $0.75-$2!

Do you keep your TBR pile on your main bookshelves or no?

I don’t really have a TBR pile. All of my books are on my shelves in random places. I actually don’t really have them set up in any particular way. I’m waiting until I get my new shelves to organize them. So they are all mixed together whether I have read them yet or not.

Do you plan to read all of the books you own?

I HOPE SO! Realistically though, probably not. I’ve gotten so many books and some don’t sound as appealing as they did when I first got them.

What do you do with books you feel you will never read/did not enjoy?

They just sit on my bookshelves with the others or I might give them to my sister. I don’t really do anything with them.

Have you ever donated books?

I have never donated books, but I have been really thinking about it a lot. The previous question I mentioned that I don’t do anything with the books that I will never read/did not enjoy, so I am thinking of donating them.

Have you ever been on a book buying ban?

I’ve tried book buying bans, but they never seem to work. I love buying books and I don’t really want to stop doing something I love to do.

Do you feel that you buy too many books?

I probably do buy too many books, but I love them. I’m working on not feeling guilty about buying so many, because I don’t think I should feel guilty for something I love.

I hope you have a great Monday!

ashleyyellow

Thoughts|| The Great American Whatever.

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

25663382

The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle
2.5 out of 5 stars.

“That’s actually the most confusing part about being alive without knowing the end of your own hero’s journey. You never know if it’s time to go home or head into battle. You never know if you’ve already faced your biggest monster.”

Goodreads Description: Quinn Roberts is a sixteen-year-old smart aleck and Hollywood hopeful whose only worry used to be writing convincing dialogue for the movies he made with his sister Annabeth. Of course, that was all before—before Quinn stopped going to school, before his mom started sleeping on the sofa…and before Annabeth was killed in a car accident. Enter Geoff, Quinn’s best friend who insists it’s time that Quinn came out—at least from hibernation. One haircut later, Geoff drags Quinn to his first college party, where instead of nursing his pain, he meets a guy—a hot one—and falls hard. What follows is an upside-down week in which Quinn begins imagining his future as a screenplay that might actually have a happily-ever-after ending—if, that is, he can finally step back into the starring role of his own life story.

This may be a short post, because I’m not really sure what to say about this book and I even struggled with how to rate it. I didn’t hate it, but I also didn’t love it. I went back and forth throughout the book on whether I wanted to finish it or not. I wasn’t a huge fan of any of the characters in the book. I honestly did not like Quinn all that much. He seemed whiny to me and really annoying. Geoff gave off the vibe that he was even over his best friend Quinn at times too.

I felt like the story was lacking A LOT. There really wasn’t too much there. It was good at times, it had it’s moments. I just wasn’t blown away by it. I felt like it could have been so much better than it actually was. I can’t even pinpoint what was missing, but there was just not enough of a good story. There actually wasn’t a lot of a story, to be honest. I expected a lot was going to happen, because the description makes it seem like there is going to be a lot going on. An “upside-down week”…I’m thinking there will be lots of crazy things going on. That really wasn’t the case, at least not to me.

Overall, it was just okay. It did have it’s good moments and it was funny at times. I just couldn’t really connect with the characters and I didn’t really like them all that much. They weren’t really likable to me, especially the MC Quinn. The story was just lacking substance, it fell really flat at times, and it just wasn’t for me.

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think?

I hope you have a great Friday!

ashleyblue

Thoughts||Mistborn.

Posted on June 22, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
4 out of 5 stars.

“Our belief is often strongest when it should be weakest. That is the nature of hope.”

Goodreads Description: Once, a hero rose to save the world. He failed. For a thousand years since, the world has been a wasteland of ash and mist ruled by the immortal emperor known as the Lord Ruler. Every revolt has failed miserably. Yet somehow, hope survives. Hope that dares to dream of ending the empire and defeating the Lord Ruler. A new kind of uprising is being planned—one that depends on the cunning of a brilliant criminal mastermind and the determination of an unlikely heroine: a teenage street urchin named Vin. Once, a hero rose to save the world and failed. This time, can a young heroine succeed?

I did a buddy read of Mistborn with Maren, Tricia, and Lauren this month. I am so glad that we did this buddy read, because I ended up loving Mistborn so much.

I really liked all the characters, especially Kelsier. He was hilarious and witty. I loved that he was protect of Vin and really cared about her, his friends, and the cause. He is definitely one of my new favorite book characters. I liked Vin, but sometimes she could be a bit annoying. Overall though, she was a good character. I love the way Sanderson writes his characters. So much detail and depth. I felt like they all were well written and so it was easy to connect with them and fall in love with them all. I was confused a bit about the ages of some of the characters though. In my head I was thinking they were younger, but they sometimes gave off the vibe that they were a lot older. I don’t think they ever really stated ages, besides Vin.

There were tons of things happening throughout the book and that was really excting. I love when a book has a lot going on. There were some times where I did get a little bit bored though. I breezed through the book even with it being over 600 pages. It was hard to put down at times, because I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. The story, the world, it was all so interesting. I loved learning about the allomancy aspect of it. That was really interesting.

Mistborn was such an awesome book. I definitely went through all the emotions while reading this book, which I honestly didn’t expect. I laughed out loud a lot, I got angry with things happening in the story, and I even cried quite a bit (I was not at all expecting to cry as much as I did (or even at all), lol). Like I mentioned above, Sanderson is so good with writing his characters and you just get so connected with them that it’s hard not to feel the things they feel.

Overall, I really enjoyed Mistborn so much and it’s definitely going to be one of my favorites! I can’t wait to get the second book and see where it all goes. This was my first time reading a Brandon Sanderson book and I am excited to check out the rest of the series and his other books.

“The right belief is like a good cloak, I think. If it fits you well, it keeps you warm and safe. The wrong fit however, can suffocate.”

Have you read Mistborn? If so, what did you think?

I hope you have a great day! 🙂

ashleyteal

Tag||Mid-Year Freak Out.

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

freakouttag

Hello!

I seen the mid-year freak out tag floating around, so I thought I would do it too since it’s now June and 2016 is pretty much half over. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?! So far this year I have read (and listened to) 51 books, which is pretty awesome.

BEST BOOK YOU’VE READ YET IN 2016.

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner and Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover. I loved these two books so much and I will auto-buy anything Jeff and Colleen write. You can check out my review for Maybe Someday over here and my review for The Serpent King over here.

BEST SEQUEL YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2016.

Solider by Julie Kagawa and Frozen Tides by Morgan Rhodes. These two books were so amazing and I love both series so much. Solider is the third book and Frozen Tides is the fourth book in their series. Definitely two of my all-time favorite series and I am dying for the next books in both! The Talon series forever has my heart and I love Julie Kagawa.

NEW RELEASE YOU HAVEN’T READ YET BUT WANT TO.

I’ve gotten quite a few new releases this year so far that I of course haven’t read yet, lol. A couple that I really want to read soon are A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro; a twist on Sherlock Holmes, YES PLEASE! The Last Star by Rick Yancey; I love the 5th Wave series and I am dying to see how it all ends. I’ve seen quite a few people disappointed though and I’m scared.

MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASE FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR.

There are so many! Two that are at the top of my list are: Crystal Storm by Morgan Rhodes; Frozen Tides had a pretty epic ending and I am dying to see what happens next. December can’t get here soon enough! It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover; CoHo, enough said. I will forever read anything she writes. You can check out more from my Top Ten Tuesday list from last week over here.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT.

The Heir by Kiera Cass. I really enjoyed the first three books in the Selection series, but The Heir was just horrible. I didn’t like the main character, it was so boring, and it was just a repeat of the Selection only worse. I would also say that Seven Ways We Lie was pretty bad too. It was too hard to connect with the characters and there were way too many POVs and they weren’t done that well. You can check out my review over here.

BIGGEST SURPRISE.

The Siren by Kiera Cass. I wasn’t really sure that I would like it, but it ended up being pretty awesome. You can check out my review over here.

FAVORITE NEW AUTHOR.

Morgan Rhodes and Colleen Hoover. I’ve never read their books before this year and I’ve been binge reading all their books this year. They are all so good! I need more!

NEWEST FICTIONAL CRUSH.

Magnus from the Falling Kingdoms series. It’s kind of funny, because I actually first started off not liking him at all. He grew on me throughout the series though and now I have the biggest fictional crush on him right now.

NEWEST FAVORITE CHARACTER.

Kelsier from Mistborn. He was hilarious and had me cracking up so much throughout the book. He was such a well written character.

BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY.

The Serpent King had me crying so much and throughout the entire book. Also, pretty much every single Colleen Hoover book that I read this year so far, which is five LOL. I think Ugly Love had me crying the most though. UGLY CRYING! You can check out my review of Ugly Love over here. Winger also made me cry and I am still shocked by the way that it ended. You can check out my review of Winger over here.

BOOK THAT MADE YOU HAPPY.

Everland by Wendy Spinale. This book was so much fun to read. It’s a steampunk retelling of Peter Pan. Such fun characters and story. You can check out my review over here.

FAVORITE BOOK TO FILM ADAPTATION.

I’m going to go with The 5th Wave. That’s the only book to film adaptation that I believe I’ve seen this year. I really liked it.

FAVORITE POST YOU HAVE DONE THIS YEAR.

I haven’t been the best at blogging this year. I’ve been so busy with other things, but here are a few of my favorite posts.

Shattered California. – this is a post about my trip to California that I went on in March. Tons of pictures!
Random|| Update with Pictures. – just a random life updated with a bunch of pictures to go with it.
Top Ten Tuesday||Resolutions. – top ten resolutions that I have for 2016. A little update on those, I have failed so far this year. LOL. 😛

MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK YOU’VE BOUGHT THIS YEAR.

I take it you mean book cover? If so, I love the covers for The Loose Ends List by Carrie Firestone. Under the dust jacket it’s so cute. See…

WHAT BOOKS DO YOU NEED TO READ BY THE END OF THE YEAR.

ALL OF MY BOOKS! LOL. I want to try to catch up with series that I started but haven’t finished or read sequels that I haven’t read yet. I have so many unfinished series that I need to finish or catch up with. Here are a few of them:

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs
And so many more!

I’m not going to tag anyone, but I want everyone to do it! It’ll be fun looking at everyone’s progress through the first half of this year. If you do this tag (or did it already), please feel free to link me, so I can check them out! 😀

I hope you have a great day!

ashleygreen

Friday Finds #52.

Posted on June 17, 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!

It was a pretty good week. I started Illuminae, which has been on my bookshelf since around release day last year and now I am finally reading it. I did an audiobook reread of An Ember in the Ashes. I still love it and cannot wait to get my hands on A Torch Against the Night! I also finished a couple of other books as well. I didn’t add a whole lot to my Goodreads TBR shelves this week, but I think that is a good thing. I’m already drowning in books that I own that I need to read and books that I don’t own that I want to read and buy, lol.

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!

The Row by J.R. Johansson
The Smell of Other People’s Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
Paper Planes and Other Things We Lost by Mindy Hayes, Michele G. Miller
Enter Title Here by Rahul Kanakia
Never Ever by Sara Saedi
P.S. I Like You by Kasie West

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

In case you missed it;

Thoughts||A Book of Spirits and Thieves
Top Ten Tuesday||Anticipated Releases.
Friday Finds #51.

I hope you have a great Friday!

ashleypurplesig

Thoughts||A Book of Spirits and Thieves.

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

abookofspiritsandthieves

A Book of Spirits and Thieves by Morgan Rhodes
3.5 out of 5 stars.

“My name is Becca Hatcher. I don’t know what’s happened to me, where I am, or how I got here, but I know one thing. You’re going to help me get back home.”

Goodreads Description: Crystal Hatcher, Modern-day Toronto: It’s a normal afternoon in her mother’s antique bookshop when Crys witnesses the unthinkable: her little sister Becca collapses into a coma after becoming mesmerized by a mysterious book written in an unrecognizable language. Maddox Corso, Ancient Mytica: Maddox Corso doesn’t think much of it when he spots an unfamiliar girl in his small village. Until, that is, he realizes that she is a spirit, and he is the only one who can see or hear her. Her name is Becca Hatcher, and she needs Maddox to help get her home. Farrell Grayson, Modern-day Toronto: Rich and aimless Farrell Grayson is thrilled when the mysterious leader of the ultra-secret Hawkspear Society invites him into the fold. But when he learns exactly what he has to do to prove himself, Farrell starts to question everything he thought he knew about family, loyalty, and himself….Fate has brought these young people together, but ancient magic threatens to rip them apart.

A Book of Spirits and Thieves is a Falling Kingdoms spin-off series. I love the Falling Kingdoms series, so I wanted to check out this spin-off book. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but it sounded interesting from the description.

The concept of the book was really interesting, but I found it to be a bit boring at times. I was also trying to recognize some things from Mytica in this book that I remembered from Falling Kingdoms, so that didn’t help…lol. It’s kind of funny though, because with Falling Kingdoms I kept thinking about the BBC show Merlin and then reading this spin-off book I just kept thinking about Falling Kingdoms. So that definitely made me not appreciate and love this book as much as I probably would have had I not constantly think of Falling Kingdoms.

Aside from that though, it was still a good book. I still enjoyed it for the most part and I loved the tie in of Ancient Mytica and Modern-day. Becca slips into a comma and her spirit is sent to Mytica. In this book it switches between both worlds. It was nice to learn more about the world and the elemental magic that you see in the Falling Kingdoms series. I didn’t connect too much with the characters in this book, but I am hoping that changes in book two.

Overall, I did enjoy A Book of Spirits and Thieves, but at times it was a little boring for me. I would have hoped to connect with the characters more, but the story was still interesting and enjoyable. I love the way that Morgan Rhodes writes and she’s definitely on the top of the list of favorite authors. I think that me thinking about Falling Kingdoms did play a big part into why I didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have. My mind just seemed to wander so much back to that series. I did like this one enough to want to read the next book though and I believe it gets released this month!

“I want to be respected. I want to be powerful. And yes, I want to be special. I want to leave a mark on this world so no one forgets who I was.”

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think?

I hope you have a great day!

ashleybrown

Top Ten Tuesday||Anticipated Releases.

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

toptentuesday2

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

Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases For The Second Half Of The Year

Hi 🙂

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a Top Ten Tuesday post. The topics this year haven’t been too appealing to me, but the topic this week is a good one. There has been so many interesting sounding books that have released this year and so many that will be releasing later this year. So many that I still need to get! So many that I still need to read. Including so many from last year, lol. Here are ten books that I am really looking forward to getting throughout the second half of this year.

The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon (11/1)
It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover (8/2)
Crystal Storm by Morgan Rhodes (12/13)
Replica by Lauren Oliver (10/4)
The Fever Code by James Dashner (9/27)

I loved Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon so much, so I definitely can’t wait to get my hands on her new book. I am obsessed with CoHo, so her new book is a must buy for me. I also am in love with the Falling Kingdoms series and I can’t wait to get my hands on Crystal Storm. I NEED IT NOOOOW! Replica sounds like it’s going to be pretty amazing and the books is told in two different perspectives/stories and the book flips around. You can read each story separately or simultaneously. I love The Maze Runner series and I can’t wait for The Fever Code.

Ever the Hunted by Erin Summerill (12/27)
Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige (9/20)
The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid (11/1)
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (9/27)
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling (7/31)

I really enjoyed the Dorothy Must Die series so far and I can’t wait to check out Danielle Paige’s new series Stealing Snow. I love retellings and I can’t wait to see how this new series turns out. Ever the Hunted, The Diabolic, and Strange the Dreamer all just sound like they will be amazing and I need to get my hands on them ASAP! And of course thew new Harry Potter book, that’s a must. I read the series (and watched the movies) for the first time last year and overall loved the series (and movies) so much!

What are some of your most anticipated releases throughout the rest of this year? Feel free to link me to your posts, so I can check them out!

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblue

Friday Finds #51.

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

fridayfinds

Hi 🙂

I’ve been adding so many books to my Goodreads TBR over the last year and a half and I decided to go through them and delete a ton of books that I probably wouldn’t read or that I didn’t really remember what they were about. I also deleted some older books that I still haven’t read and didn’t feel like I would ever get around to them. So although my Goodreads TBR lists are still quite large, they are not as large as they were before lol. By the way, I really need to do this with the books (and e-books) that I own too. I know I have gotten so many that at one time I knew I wanted to read, but now my opinions have changed on some.

Anyway, this is a Friday Finds post. So even though I did get rid of some books off my Goodreads TBR lists, I did add some new ones to the lists. 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!

Iris by Toni Owen-Blue
Kingdom of Ash and Briars by Hannah West
Unnatural Deeds by Cyn Balog
The Lost & Found by Katrina Leno
Our Song by Ashley Bodette
Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow

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

I recently mentioned that I was moving to a new place with more space. In the move I gained a little reading room (well area since it’s opened) just for myself and all my books! I’m still working on it, especially clearing the clutter off of my bookshelves, but here it is. In a few months or so I plan to also get some new bookshelves. I want shelves that match and I want white shelves. For now this is fine though.

In case you missed it;
Random||Update with pictures.
Friday Finds #50.

I hope you have a great weekend!

ashleypurple

Random|| Update with pictures

Posted on June 7, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

Hey!

I am so tired today. I’ve been sick and not sleeping very well. 😦 Hopefully I don’t have this cold for very long. It’s been a few days now and I am so ready for it to be gone, sigh. This post will be an update about random things going on in my life and pictures I’ve taken throughout the last month or so.

We (the fiancé and I) are currently in the process of moving next door to my mom’s apartment. We are actually switching apartments with her. We need more space and hers is a lot bigger than the one that we are currently living in. I’m really not looking forward to taking down all my books from my bookshelves and having to put them all back, lol. My younger sister is going to be living with us too since she is currently living with our mom, so we are gaining more space and my sister HAHA. 😛 We are definitely in need of more space because we just got a new KITTEN!

This is October.

The fiancé decided to give her a middle name, so it’s October Sky, LOL. I named her October, because she looks Halloweenie. I also love October and Halloween. So the name is perfect for her. She was actually a stray kitten that was roaming around our house, so I decided to claim her as mine, haha! We took her to the vet and now she’s healthy and mine. They estimated her to be 7-8 weeks old. I’m pretty obsessed with how cute she is. I just hope that ColbyJack (my other cat) gets along with her. They haven’t met yet. CJ isn’t very fond of other animals besides Dax. Dax will love October, because he loves any baby animals (or kids), lol.

Honestly, this post was really just to show off my new kitten because she’s so cute. BUT I will share with you some other pictures too. 😛

I remember mentioning a couple times that I seen The Front Bottoms and they were perfect live! I don’t think I ever posted any pictures, so here are a few from the concert. It was so much fun and definitely in my top five favorite bands I’ve seen live.

The fiancé and I discovered this pretty amazing dog park that had this lake for dogs to swim in. Our dog of course is scared of water, so he wasn’t a fan of the lake part. There were tons of other dogs swimming in it. It was really neat and the water was such a pretty color.

I’ll move onto a few bookish pictures. Here are the two books that I am currently reading. Mistborn and Hearts, Fingers, and Other Things to Cross. I am really enjoying Mistborn and I’m a little over 200 pages into it. I just started Hearts, Fingers today so I am not that far into it. I know I’ll love it though, because the first two books in the series I absolutely loved so much.

I’ve been doing a photo a day book challenge on my bookstagram and here are two pictures from that. The first one was “yellow books” and the second was “book & sunset”.

It was really overcast yesterday and cloudy, so I wasn’t able to get a picture of an actual sunset but I did try to choose sunset type book covers and colors.

The fiancé went to Colorado and brought me back this really cute shirt. We are still searching for pizza for our wedding. This one was pretty amazing, minus the canned mushrooms they used. That was a little disappointing, but everything else was awesome! Other pizza places have always used fresh mushrooms.

Here are my other furbabies, because I have to include them and I don’t want the new kitten to take away from them, lol. 😛 Book pictured was Yellow Brick War. I recently finished that at the end of May. It was really good, but it didn’t always blow me away. It was still enjoyable though.

Last but not least, two random rainy day pictures. Rainy day rainbow and rainy day sunset.

That’s all for this post! 😀 Feel free to add me on Instagram if you want to see more of my pictures. I’ll link them down below. One is my personal account and one is my bookstagram, which is pretty much only books/book related.

Instagram: heyyitsashley – personal account
Bookstagram: foreverbookish_ – book account

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblue

Friday Finds #50.

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

fridayfinds

Hi 🙂

It’s been a pretty good week for me and it was a short work week for me as well. As always, I’m excited for the weekend. I plan to try to get a lot of reading in. I didn’t read as much as I hoped this week. My sisters and I started to go to the gym after work, so by time I get home I only read a few pages of a book and watch TV. Zzz. Too tired for anything, lol.

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!

The Walled City by Ryan Graudin
The Secret Sea by Barry Lyga
Everyone We’ve Been by Sarah Everett
The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
What Light by Jay Asher

Wanderlust by Jen Malone
Bring Me Back by Micalea Smeltzer
A World Without You by Beth Revis
A Time to Die by Nadine Brandes
The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

A new Barry Lyga book, YES! I actually won a signed copy of his new book. It’s supposed to be released in August and that is when I will receive the finished signed copy from him. He was having a giveaway and I won, so I am STOKED! I am really looking forward to checking out all of these other books as well. Cover epicness once again! They all sound like they’ll be really good too. Give me ALL THE BOOKS now! 😛

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

June TBR.

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

Hi 🙂

TBR lists are so hard for me to stick to, so I made a pretty short list for this month. That way it’s not too intimidating to the point that it’ll make me not want to read them. It also leaves it pretty open so that I can read other books as well that I may be in the mood for. Last month I read six books (not counting audiobooks), so I should be able to hopefully read some other books as well as these three books that I chose for my June TBR.

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
I am buddy reading Mistborn with some friends. So far I am about 70 pages into it and I am enjoying it. I’m pretty excited to really get into it though. I wasn’t able to read as much as I hoped yesterday. So far it seems like something I will love though. I am crossing my fingers it continues to go well.

And speaking of crossing my fingers…

Hearts, Fingers, and Other Things to Cross by Katie Finn
I’ve mentioned it a million times, but I LOVE the Broken Hearts and Revenge series by Katie Finn. All you Morgan Matson fans may love Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend because well…Katie Finn is Morgan Matson. 😛 I definitely recommend checking it out, but if you do, do NOT for any reason at all read the description to any of the books besides the first book. You will spoil it and trust me, you do NOT want to be spoiled. I love the series so much and it’s so fun to read. Hearts, Fingers, and Other Things to Cross is the final book in the trilogy and I am so stoked to see how it all ends!

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
I did an audiobook reread of Red Queen in May, because I really wanted to finally get to Glass Sword. I’ve been putting it off for way too long. I loved Red Queen so much and I am hoping that Glass Sword does not disappoint.

What is on your June TBR? Have you read any of these books?

Recap||May.

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

mayrecap

Hi!

This year is going by ridiculously fast and I am honestly not ready for that. I still have so many things I have to do this year and I feel like I am not where I need to be with a lot of things, ahhh! It was a good month for me though. One of my favorite things that happened in May was that I was able to see the Front Bottoms in concert. That was a lot of fun, because I’ve been wanting to see them for so long now. I also got my wedding dress, which takes a lot of stress off of me with that. I didn’t blog as much as I wanted to, but I was able to get some reviews up on my blog, which I am happy about. This year is going to be pretty busy for me though, but I am still trying to at least make a couple posts a week if I can and I stay caught up with all of your lovely blogs as well.:)

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 May.

maybe not by colleen hoover – 4 out of 5 stars.
I really enjoyed Maybe Not. I really loved Warren’s character in Maybe Someday, so I was excited that there was a novella about him. It was so good and a fun read.

everland by wendy spinale – REVIEW – 4.5 out of 5 stars.
This is a steampunk retelling of Peter Pan. It was so much fun to read. I loved the characters and I really enjoyed the story. I loved how Spinale wrote the characters (especially Pete) just how I remember them from Peter Pan. Feel free to check out my review for more!

frozen tides by morgan rhodes – 5 out of 5 stars.
The Falling Kingdoms series is starting to become one of my favorite series. I think the books get better and better. Frozen Tides was really amazing and lots of twists and turns. These entire series is full of them. The cliffhanger at the end of Frozen Tides is slowly killing me. I know I mentioned that I didn’t want this year to fly by anymore, but I can’t wait for December so I can get my hands on the next book!

teacher misery by jane morris – REIVEW – 4 out of 5 stars.
Teacher Misery is about a teacher that recounts her first five years teaching. It’s both funny and sad at the same time. It’s sad and down right crazy what some teachers have to go through. I have SO much respect for teachers and I wish more students and parents showed more respect for them as well. This book is a real eye opener and I think that everyone should read it. EVERYONE! Feel free to check out my review for more!

just a few inches by tara st. pierre – REVIEW – 4 out of 5 stars.
I was sent this book to review and it was actually a really good book. It was so interesting and different. I really loved the characters and the story. At first it was a bit weird, but I ended up loving it. I was really invested in Carrie and her story. I couldn’t put it down. I wanted to find out what was going on and I was curious just how much she would actually shrink. Feel free to check out my review for more!

yellow brick war by danielle paige – 4 out of 5 stars.
Yellow Brick War is the third book in the Dorothy Must Die series. I’ve been really enjoying the series. Yellow Brick War was really good, but it didn’t always blow me away. I love the world though and it’s a lot of fun to read.

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

gathering darkness by morgan rhodes – 5 out of 5 stars.
LOVE LOVE LOVE. I already mentioned above how much I love the Falling Kingdoms series. Gathering Darkness is the third book and it was amazing!

the demigod diaries by rick riordan – 4 out of 5 stars.
I love Rick Riordan’s books and it was fun to read these novellas and dive back into stories of some of my favorite characters. They were all fun to read (and listen to in my case).

the siren by kiera cass – REVIEW – 4 out of 5 stars.
The Siren was SO good! I really enjoyed the story. I never read any books about sirens before, but this one was really fun. I love the ocean twist of it. That was pretty cool. Kiera Cass’ books are pretty addicting even if you don’t want to admit it, lol. Feel free to check out my review for more!

red queen by victoria aveyard – REVIEW – 5 out of 5 stars.
This was a reread for me. I read it last year and this year I decided to listen to the audiobook, because I will hopefully be reading Glass Sword in June. I thought this audiobook was really well done and I liked the narrator. I still love the book just as much as the first time I read it. Feel free to check out my review for more!

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

My goal for this month (and probably the coming months) is to stay away from library books. I’ve had this habit of checking out library books (e-books) instead of reading my own books. I have my own library at home, LOL! I have hundreds of unread books both physical and e-books that I own. Or I will buy new e-books and read them right away instead of reading older e-books or older physical books I have had for awhile.

May Book Haul.
May E-Book Haul.

I hope that you have a great day!

ashleyyellow