Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

Goodreads Description: In a land where three suns almost never set, a fledgling killer joins a school of assassins, seeking vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family. Daughter of an executed traitor, Mia Corvere is barely able to escape her father’s failed rebellion with her life. Alone and friendless, she hides in a city built from the bones of a dead god, hunted by the Senate and her father’s former comrades. But her gift for speaking with the shadows leads her to the door of a retired killer, and a future she never imagined. Now, Mia is apprenticed to the deadliest flock of assassins in the entire Republic—the Red Church. If she bests her fellow students in contests of steel, poison and the subtle arts, she’ll be inducted among the Blades of the Lady of Blessed Murder, and one step closer to the vengeance she desires. But a killer is loose within the Church’s halls, the bloody secrets of Mia’s past return to haunt her, and a plot to bring down the entire congregation is unfolding in the shadows she so loves. Will she even survive to initiation, let alone have her revenge?

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I am going to throw this out there and say that this might not be my final review of this book. Right now I am marking it as DNF, because I don’t want to read it anymore and I’m not sure when I will pick it up again. Right now though, I am done with it.

I got through 14% of the book and it was kind of hard for me to read it and the first 14% was boring to me. Nevernight has footnotes, but the footnotes are at the end of the chapters. Trying to read footnotes in this eARC was annoying, because you had to skip to the end of the chapter and then go find where you stopped. Some footnotes are pointless and others give a lot of information that could possibly be useful to the story.

Reading it on an e-reader was difficult and annoying! I think it will be a lot easier with a finished copy to flip through back and forth. I hope that they put them at the bottom of the pages that they correspond with in the finished copy (especially for the e-book). I had to use TWO different devices just to read this book. I had to read from one and then have the other opened to the footnotes just so I didn’t have to keep going back and forth and having to find my place. The annoyance and frustration of that made it hard for me to really focus and enjoy the story.

I honestly don’t even know what was going on half of the time or if I ever really knew. At one point I tried not to read the footnotes, but then I started to feel guilty that I was skipping them. I also felt like I was missing something. The writing itself was just too much at times. There was metaphor after metaphor and some descriptions were unnecessary and a lot of it just didn’t make sense. It gave me a headache trying to figure out what Kristoff was trying to say. I am not having the best of luck with Kristoff books, because I really didn’t enjoy Illuminae and I don’t know how I feel about this one right now.

It seems like it could be interesting, but right now it’s more of an annoyance to read and reading shouldn’t be this difficult! I still want to give it a chance and I will once it gets released and my library has a copy available. I only read 14% of the book, but right now I don’t plan to read anymore of it. It might be easier to read as a finished book and not as an eARC. For now, it’s a DNF for me.

Have you read Nevernight? Do you plan to?

I hope you have a great day!

Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen by Jazz Jennings
4 out of 5 stars.

“Emotions are what make us able to connect on a very real level. I always tell people to live an authentic life, and being truly authentic means admitting that you can falter.”

Goodreads Description: Jazz Jennings is one of the youngest and most prominent voices in the national discussion about gender identity. At the age of five, Jazz transitioned to life as a girl, with the support of her parents. A year later, her parents allowed her to share her incredible journey in her first Barbara Walters interview, aired at a time when the public was much less knowledgeable or accepting of the transgender community. In her remarkable memoir, Jazz reflects on these very public experiences and how they have helped shape the mainstream attitude toward the transgender community. But it hasn’t all been easy. Jazz has faced many challenges, bullying, discrimination, and rejection, yet she perseveres as she educates others about her life as a transgender teen. Through it all, her family has been beside her on this journey, standing together against those who don’t understand the true meaning of tolerance and unconditional love. Now Jazz must learn to navigate the physical, social, and emotional upheavals of adolescence particularly high school complicated by the unique challenges of being a transgender teen. Making the journey from girl to woman is never easy especially when you began your life in a boy s body.

I actually watched the first half of season one of Jazz’s tv show on TLC and I thought it was really interesting getting a look into the life of Jazz and her family. I am actually a sucker for these kind of reality TV shows that TLC airs (Sister Wives, Leah Remini, etc.). Jazz was born a boy, but always knew since she was very little that she wanted to be a girl. I love that her family was (and still is) so supportive of her when even at a really young age she knew she was supposed to be a girl. They let her be who she wanted to be despite all the negative backlash they would get.

I don’t know what it’s like to be transgender, but I am sure that it is not easy at all. You are being judged, made fun of, and sometimes physically in danger. I’m sure it’s one of the scariest thing in the world and even more so if you don’t have the support system that Jazz has. I felt like Jazz’s book was very well written and it was nice to get a bigger glimpse into her life; her struggles with being transgender, adjusting to life as a girl, and having to deal with all the negativity. She’s only 15 and she’s in public high school and sometimes kids these days can be so cruel.

Jazz is pretty tough for her age and what she has to deal with day to day. I think she is such a strong person. She’s really confident in who she is and she’s happy with the way she is. I can see how the world has fallen in love with her, because she’s definitely someone that all transgender kids (and adults) can look up to. She’s in high school, making straight As, plays on the soccer team, and also makes time in her life to fight for transgender rights and equality. She’s done so much for being so young and I think she (and her family) will continue to do amazing for the LGBTQ community.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and I highly recommend it. It’s thought provoking, insightful, happy, sad, and funny at times as well. Everyone deserves the right to be who they want to be without judgment.

In case you missed it;
Friday Finds #54.
Random|| Update & Pictures.
Thoughts|| Gemini.

I hope you have a great day!

Gemini by Sonya Mukherjee
4 out of 5 stars.

Goodreads Description: In a powerful and daring debut novel, Sonya Mukherjee shares the story of sisters Clara and Hailey, conjoined twins who are learning what it means to be truly extraordinary. Seventeen-year-old conjoined twins Clara and Hailey have lived in the same small town their entire lives—no one stares at them anymore. But there are cracks in their quiet existence, and they’re slowly becoming more apparent. Clara and Hailey are at a crossroads. Clara wants to stay close to home, avoid all attention, and study the night sky. Hailey wants to travel the world, learn from great artists, and dance with mysterious boys. As high school graduation approaches, each twin must untangle her dreams from her sister’s, and figure out what it means to be her own person.

I was given an ARC of Gemini when I visited Kepler’s bookstore in California back in March. I was told it was written by a local author and I was given the opportunity to review it for my blog. I was so excited, because it sounded like such an interesting read and it’s something I’ve never read about before. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up Gemini, because like I said, I never read any books that had to do with conjoined twins. I am actually having a bit of trouble writing my thoughts on this book. I’m not exactly sure what to say.

I’ll start off by saying that I did enjoy this book quite a lot. I really liked Clara and Hailey. I liked Hailey a bit more than I did Clara. Hailey was a little more outgoing than Clara was. She wanted to get out into the world and do things while Clara was scared of the world it seemed and was fine living in her little small town where everyone knew who they were. That of course is understandable, because being a conjoined twin has it’s struggles and you’ll get all the stares and whispers. I felt like she was holding Hailey back a lot and that’s a tough situation since they are conjoined. I was not at all a fan of their mother, especially toward the end of the book. I couldn’t stand her. She was way too overprotective of them and that got a bit annoying as I am sure it annoyed Hailey and Clara as well.

I’m sure it is not easy being conjoined twins and having to figure out how to live life together and out in the open for the world to judge you. Hailey and Clara definitely struggled with that a bit in the book. It mostly took place in their little town, so there wasn’t a whole lot of the outside world other than the people and things in their town. I did enjoy this book a lot though. I loved the twins and I enjoyed their story. I was disappointed in some of the characters and a little bit with the ending of the book. I was hoping for more from the ending. I actually just didn’t want the book to end, so I wanted more. I would have hoped for maybe an epilogue thrown in there or something. A look into the future with what happened with the twins after the end.

Overall, I enjoyed the book a lot and I am glad I was given the opportunity to read it. It’s something different and I haven’t come across any other books that have to do with conjoined twins. I definitely recommend picking up this book. It will be released July 26th, so be on the look out for it! 🙂

In case you missed it;
Thoughts|| Wildflower.
Friday Finds #53.
Thoughts|| Illuminae.

I hope you have a great day!

Wildflower by Drew Barrymore
5 out of 5 stars.

“Be Authentic. Be yourself. And most important of all..make it personal.” 

Goodreads Description: Wildflower is a portrait of Drew’s life in stories as she looks back on the adventures, challenges, and incredible experiences of her earlier years. It includes tales of living on her own at 14 (and how laundry may have saved her life), getting stuck in a gas station overhang on a cross country road trip, saying goodbye to her father in a way only he could have understood, and many more adventures and lessons that have led her to the successful, happy, and healthy place she is today. It is the first book Drew has written about her life since the age of 14.

I listened to the audiobook for Wildflower and I absolutely loved it! I love that Drew Barrymore read it herself. I’ve always loved her voice for some reason lol. The Wedding Singer is one of my favorite movies of all-time, lol.

I loved Drew’s little stories and insights on life. In the book she tells stories that happened to her throughout her life. Some are random and some were things that happened that taught her huge life lessons. She wrote about her kids, her husband, her friends and family. Listening to her read about her own life was awesome, because it felt more real. You can hear all the emotion in her voice when she thinks back to those times and when she talked about her family and friends.

I laughed so much and I also cried and got a lot more teary eyed than I ever thought I would. Right from the beginning I was teary eyed, lol. I loved that though, because I felt really connected to her. She didn’t always have the best life and she had some pretty shitty parents. I love that she overcame everything and is now a better person and a better mom to her kids than her mother was to her. I think when she got to writing about Adam Sandler was when I was the most teary eyed, lol. Their friendship is amazing and it continues to this day.

Overall, I loved this book. I was back and forth a lot on whether I wanted to read it or not. I am so glad I did. You’ll laugh and you’ll cry. It was so so good and I loved it so much and I honestly didn’t think I would as much as I did! I definitely plan to pick up a copy to add to my bookshelf!

“I love my life and it takes every step to get to where you are, and if you are happy, then God bless the hard times it took you to get there.”

I hope you all had a great weekend! I spent the entire weekend catching Pokemon on Pokemon Go. My younger sister, fiancé, and I have been obsessed with it. We went to a park and there were SO MANY PEOPLE playing. We even got invited to join some groups at the park LOL! 😛 I think we are going to the beach to check out what Pokemon we can catch over there today.

I hope you have a good Monday!

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
2.5 out of 5 stars.

“Perhaps bravery is simply the face humanity wraps around its collective madness.”

Goodreads Description: This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded. The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit. But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

Illuminae looked and sounded so awesome when I first heard about it. I kept seeing rave review after rave review. No doubt it got so much hype and still does. I finally picked it up after it sat on my shelves since release day. Much to my surprise it was not that good. What happened to all the awesome things I was hearing about it? All the amazing things? I found it to be the exact opposite of what everyone was saying. I was totally underwhelmed and so bored the majority of the time.

The layout of the book was cool at times, but it was also annoying as well. I didn’t really care for Kady that much. She was really annoying throughout the book. I did really like Ezra. He was one of the main reasons that kept me reading. I wanted to see what happened with him and his journey through trying to survive on the ship. I also kept on reading because of Aidan. Aidan was the most interesting part of the book. I didn’t care about the plague and thought that was boring. Maybe if they talked more about it and the people infected then it could have been a lot more interesting.

This will be a short review, because I’m not sure what else to say. I didn’t love it and it was just an okay read for me. The last 100 or so pages were good, but the 500 pages before that were just “meh”. I wanted to love it so much like everyone else does. I think I just had my expectations set way too high for this one. I didn’t really see any negative reviews about this book before reading it, so I was expecting something epic and it was not. The ending of the book did make me want to possibly check out the next book in the series, but I am not in any rush to get my hands on it and read it though.

Illumine even put my cat to sleep…

How did you feel about Illuminae? Did anyone not enjoy it?

In case you missed it;
Thoughts|| My Kind of Crazy.
Recap|| June.

I hope you have a great day!

My Kind of Crazy by Robin Reul
5 out of 5 stars.

“There are so many things in life that you simply can’t control. You just have to accept them, even if they don’t make sense.” 

Goodreads Description: Despite the best of intentions, seventeen-year old, wisecracking Hank Kirby can’t quite seem to catch a break. It’s not that he means to screw things up all the time, it just happens. A lot. Case in point: his attempt to ask out the girl he likes literally goes up in flames when he spells “Prom” in sparklers on her lawn…and nearly burns down her house. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Peyton Breedlove, a brooding loner and budding pyromaniac, witnesses the whole thing. Much to Hank’s dismay, Peyton takes an interest in him—and his “work.” The two are thrust into an unusual friendship, but their boundaries are tested when Hank learns that Peyton is hiding some dark secrets, secrets that may change everything he thought he knew about Peyton.

My Kind of Crazy was such a fun and sad read. I was laughing and I was crying. I was happy and I was sad. I was crying sad tears and I was crying happy tears. I went through all the feels while reading this book. I absolutely loved this book so much and it’s now one of my favorite books of the year! I liked it right from the beginning and sometimes it takes me awhile to even get into a book, so that was a big plus. It was so easy to read and breeze through it. It was hard to put down and it had me laughing so much at times. There were a few surprises I wasn’t expecting and the book took an entirely different route than I originally thought it was going to be.

I loved the characters so much, especially Hank and Peyton. Nick was a good character, but at times I didn’t like him or thought that he wasn’t always a very good friend. He had his moments though and I did enjoy him for the most part. Hank and Peyton were both struggling with a lot of things in their lives and I think they helped each other out so much throughout the story. They were always there for each other and I think they kept each other sane even through all the crazy. Hank is hands down now one of my favorite book characters. He was a really caring person and just wanted the best out of life for his family, friends, and himself. I loved the friendship aspect of this book so much.

“Family isn’t about sharing the same blood in your veins; it’s about the people who come into your life and see how completely messed up and nutter you are and then stick around anyway.”

Overall, I loved this book so much and it’s now one of my favorite books of the year. It was fun to read and you get so attached to the characters, because they are so well written and so easy to like and fall in love with. The story itself was amazing and it was so unexpected at times, which was awesome. It’ll break your heart, but it’ll also make you happy too. It’s also very quotable. I saved a million quotes from this book, because almost every line was so good. I highly recommend reading this book.

“That’s the amazing thing about life: you can be sure you know what’s going to happen next, but you never really do.”

Have you read My Kind of Crazy? If so, what did you think? Will you be adding this book to your TBR?

In case you missed it;
Recap|| June.
Book Haul|| June.

I hope you have a great day!