Book Haul|| November.

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

Hey!

I have a small (ish) haul for you guys this month. To be fair though, some of the books that I purchased this month haven’t arrived yet. Overall though, I think I did pretty well with not buying so many books. I’ve been trying to be a lot pickier with what I buy and trying to stick to as many deals and discounts as I can. Onto my haul!

Amazon/Target:

The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
Let It Snow by John Green

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn, David Levithan
The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily by Rachel Cohn, David Levithan

I read Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares and really loved it. I’m so stoked there is a second book. I want to try to read some holiday themed books in December, so I bought the second Dash & Lily book and also Let It Snow on Amazon. I didn’t own the first book and I found a used copy on Amazon for $4! Of course I had to buy The Sun Is Also a Star. It was my most anticipated book of the year. Sadly, I didn’t like it as much as I hoped I would. Check out my review here.

OwlCrate:

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Heartless by Marissa Meyer

I received these two books in my OwlCrate this month. The theme was Wonderland, so I got lots of Alice goodies and the Heartless cover was a special exclusive just for OwlCrate! I am in love with the white cover more than the black one. I am sucker for white covers. You can see what else was in my OwlCrate over here.

Book Outlet:

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes

I finally have all the Falling Kingdoms books! I am just missing the new one that will be released in December and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. This series has my heart.

Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

I’ve also been waiting for Book Outlet to get the paperback of Isla and the Happily Ever After and they finally did, so I got that as well this month. My Book Outlet haul looks pretty small this month. I did order some books on the Black Friday sale, but they aren’t here yet. You’ll see those next month in my December book haul post!

E-Books:

I may have went a little bit crazy with the e-book buying. I think I better stay away from e-book sales for awhile, lol. I am pretty happy with these all though. I read two of the eleven though. 😛

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova
How To Hang a Witch by Adrianna Mather
The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas
The Host by Stephanie Meyer
Gena/Finn by Hannah Moskowitz, Kat Helgeson

The Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley
A Step Toward Falling by Cammie McGovern
Ruined by Amy Tintera
Afterimage by J. Kowallis
Encender by J. Kowallis
Harold Patter and the Worst Child by John Marquane

Other Bookish Things:

2be66f5e-14d4-4331-94b9-1d6f40a5f54a

A Monster Calls bookmark from Boookmarky on Etsy.
*bookmarks are double sided*
Eleven (from Stranger Things) button/pin.

I have a slight addiction with bookmarks from Boookmarky. I also really wanted the Eleven pin. I commented on their Instagram asking if they were on sale in their shop and they said that they would send it to me for free! I was like, YESSS! They asked if I had an existing order and they would include it, I didn’t so I placed a new order for the A Monster Calls bookmark and they sent me the Eleven pin. SO STOKED!

Harry Potter Ornament from HereForeverMore on Etsy.

I don’t have any HP Christmas ornaments yet, so when I seen this one I had to get it. It’s so cute! Perfect edition to my Christmas tree. You have the option to choose your house colors for the ribbon; I chose Ravenclaw. You can really see the full ribbons with the way I was holding it up.

Bookish Shark Ornament from Target.

I saw this awesome Christmas ornament at Target and had to get it. One, it’s a shark. I LOVE sharks so much. Two, it’s made from book pages. I LOVE books so much. Hah.

That’s all for my November book haul post. What books did you get in November? Have you read any of the books that I got this month? Do you have any favorite bookish Etsy shops I should know about?

I think in a few days I will post a picture life update post. It’s been a bit since I’ve done one of those. I have a lot of pictures I would love to share and it’s nice to take a break from book related things and share other parts of my life with you guys as well! I consider you all really good friends!

In case you missed it;
#2016WrapUpChallenge.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleybluegray

#2016WrapUpChallenge.

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

2016wrapupchallenge

Hello! 🙂

I seen this December photo a day challenge on theeminha‘s bookstagram and decided to take part in it on my bookstagram (foreverbookish_ – feel free to add me!) and also turn them into blog posts as well. This year wasn’t my best year with blogging and I am hoping that maybe doing a post every day for a month will help me get back into blogging regularly again. Maybe it’ll even spark some new ideas for next year.

I plan to start this challenge on December 1st, of course! My track recorded for challenges hasn’t been the best this year, so I am hoping that I can actually do this one! I am crossing my fingers. It seems like it’ll be fun to do. I’m actually going to attempt two photo a day challenges on my bookstagram for December. Hopefully it all goes well, haha. 😛

Below is the picture of the wrap up challenge that Cinthia created and I will type out the list as well down below. I’m going to link up each blog post to this post once I do them, so they can all be in one place. If you missed checking out one of my days, you can easily use this post to find them. 🙂

First book you read in 2016 – DAY ONE POST.
Most anticipated book of 2016 – DAY TWO POST.
Favorite author of 2016 – DAY THREE POST.
Your favorite genre this year – SKIPPED.
A book you’ve planned to read this year, but you didn’t – DAY FIVE POST.
Biggest book you’ve read this year – DAY SIX POST.
Worst book of 2016 – DAY SEVEN POST.
Favorite ship of 2016 – DAY EIGHT POST.
Favorite villain of 2016
Best plot-twist of 2016
Best contemporary of the year
Book that caught you by surprise
Best YA fantasy of 2016
Smallest book you read this year
Best romance of 2016
Best movie/tv show adaption of 2016
First book you bought this year
Character you hated the most in 2016
Best dystopian you’ve read this year
Favorite character of 2016
Most scary book of 2016
Best trilogy/series finale of 2016
Saddest book you’ve read this year
Author you read this year for the first time
It’s Christmas! Red and green books or book set during Christmas
Your favorite release of 2016
Best sci-fi of 2016
Best YA fiction of 2016
Best book of 2016
Last book haul of the year
2016 Wrap Up

I will be posting my November book haul and November recap posts soon! Probably in the next couple of days. I still need to take pictures of the books that I got in November. I am hoping to finish at least one more audiobook before my recap post goes up, so we’ll see how that works out!

In case you missed it;
Monthly Subscriptions|| November.
Thoughts|| The Sun Is Also a Star.
Thoughts|| The Ugly Teapot.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack

Monthly Subscriptions|| November.

Posted on November 21, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

HEY!

I am back to share a couple of the subscription boxes/envelopes I got this month. I’m actively subscribed to the Craftedvan Read Happy Plan and from time to time when I see a box theme that I think I’ll love from other subscription services, then I will purchase it. Here are the subscriptions I got this month.

**Sorry if the pictures look blurry. They didn’t look blurry on my phone, so I am not sure why they look that way on the computer.

Craftedvan Read Happy Plan:

Craftedvan makes and sells magnetic bookmarks on Etsy and they came up with a new subscription service called the Read Happy Plan and every month you get a set of bookmarks and an art print.

The theme and color for this month’s Read Happy Plan was Tea-Rex Partea (green). This is kind of hilarious to me, because of the Owlcrate theme this month, which you will see down below. I am not going to lie, this was not my favorite one so far. I do love dinosaurs, but for some reason I am not completely feeling this month’s package. This month they did include a refrigerator magnet, which is cool.

+ Dinosaur refrigerator magnet
+ Baby dino hatching from an egg bookmark
+ Cupcake & tea bookmarks
+ Dinosaur tea party print

Owlcrate:

Owlcrate is a bookish monthly subscription service that sends you a new release YA book and other bookish goodies every month. They do a theme every month and the book and items sent go along with that theme.

The theme for November was Wonderland and I LOVE Alice in Wonderland so much, so I had to get it. This box contained everything Alice! This month they had an exclusive book cover for their book this month. As you can see, the book was Heartless by Marissa Meyer. I LOVE the white cover so much. They said you can only get this cover through them since it was an exclusive cover to them. Here are the other goodies included:

+ Button/Pin
+ Heartless quote card / letter from the author
+ Tea • created by Riddle’s Tea Shoppe & Adagio.
***The tea smells so good! I can’t wait to try it.***
+ Magnet • designed by Evie Bookish.
+ Metal bubble bookmark • created by Authored Adornments.
***I’m not entirely sure what these are called***
+ Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland exclusive paperback edition & matching bookmark from Rock Paper Books. Cover and bookmark designed by Risa Rodil

Do you get any monthly subscriptions? I am always looking for new ones to try out.

That’s all for this post. I am going to have a picture post and life update coming soon. I need to go through all my pictures and see where I left off in my last picture update post. 🙂

In case you missed it;
Thoughts|| The Sun Is Also a Star.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleybluegray

Thoughts|| The Sun Is Also a Star.

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

The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon.
3.5 out of 5 stars.

“People spend their whole lives looking for love. Poems and songs and entire novels are written about it. But how can you trust something that can end as it suddenly begins?”

Goodreads Description: Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story. Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us. The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?

The Sun Is Also a Star was one of my highly anticipated book releases of the year and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. The hype…so much hype for this one. It didn’t live up to the hype for me. I am actually really sad that I didn’t love it as much as everyone else has been. I wanted so badly to love this book. I tried so badly to love this book. It just wasn’t all there for me. I didn’t hate it though, I liked it. Even though I didn’t absolutely love it like everyone else, it was still a good read.

I found it a little hard to connect with Daniel and Natasha. I liked Daniel so much more than I liked Natasha though. I liked his attitude about life and the world. Natasha was okay, but she was a bit annoying. There were times where I liked things she said though and times where I agreed with her thinking. Their relationship was a little weird for me at times. I was still rooting for them though.

I found it hard to invest my entire heart into the story. The concept of the book was really cool though and I liked that there were side stories and that they all connected in some way or another. Can we please talk about Jeremy Fitzgerald? I want to punch him in the face. Yoon’s writing was so well done and even though I didn’t love this book so much, I found myself putting tabs on almost every page. It had so many quote worthy lines. That’s part of why I was sad I didn’t love the book. I was like “how am I saving all of these pages, but I am not in love with this book.” It made no sense to me.

I read Everything, Everything (Yoon’s first book) in a day and I absolutely without a doubt loved that book so much. I also read it as an ARC and before the hype got really crazy. Maybe I fell victim to the hype. Maybe I tried way too hard to love it. I don’t know. Overall, The Sun Is Also a Star wasn’t everything I hoped it would be, but it was still enjoyable at times. It’s easy to read and the writing and style is really good. I may have had my expectations set way too high, especially after Yoon’s first book being so amazing. It didn’t quite live up to that. I think it’s an important read and it will open your eyes to the world around you. I wanted more from the ending. The ending didn’t leave me satisfied. I am still really glad that I read this book though and I would recommend it.

“You should never take long shots. Better to study the odds and take the probable shot. However, if the long shot is your only shot, then you have to take it.”

Have you read The Sun Is Also a Star? If so, what did you think? If not, do you think you will?

Sorry I have been kind of MIA this month. I have so much going on and it’s starting to get really down to crunch time for wedding stuff. My wedding is in four months and I honestly don’t at all feel like I am even close to having my stuff together, sigh. My head is all over the place and maybe that is a factor into why I didn’t enjoy The Sun Is Also a Star or some of the other books I’ve been reading this month. I probably picked it up at the wrong time. Hopefully I can get my head on straight again and things can start to fall into place and I can be back on here more frequently like I was before!

I hope you have a great day! 😀

ashleypurple

Top Ten Tuesday|| Recent TBR adds.

Posted on November 8, 2016 by ashley @ socially awkward bookworm

toptentuesday2

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

Ten Books I’ve Added To My To-Be-Read List Lately

Hey!

It’s been awhile since I have done a Top Ten Tuesday post, so I figured why not. I usually do a similar post like this on Fridays of books I add to my TBR throughout the week. Finidng new books is a good thing and a bad thing, lol. There are SO many books that I want to read and my bank account hates me for it, haha. These are books I added to my Goodreads TBR shelf and not my actual owned books TBR. You can see more of my TBR over on my Goodreads account over here and feel free to add me as a friend!

The Suffering Tree by Elle Cosimano
Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
Frost by M.P. Kozlowsky
The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You by Lily Anderson
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Stranger Game by Cylin Busby
All in Pieces by Suzanne Young
It’s Not Me, It’s You by Stephanie Katie Strohm
We Are Still Tornadoes by Michael Kun
Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell

What books did you recently add to your TBR? Feel free to link me to your post, so I can check them out!

In case you missed it;
Thoughts|| The Ugly Teapot.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleypurplesig

Thoughts|| The Ugly Teapot.

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

The Ugly Teapot by Fred Holmes
Book One: Hannah
4.5 out of 5 stars.

“Every choice we make comes with a price. Just as every journey we go on must come to an end.”

Goodreads Description: Fourteen-year-old Hannah Bradbury loved her father so much that she worried about him constantly. After all, he was a photographer who traveled to the most dangerous places in the world. To allay her fears, each time he came home he brought her silly gifts, each one with supposed magical powers: the Seal of Solomon, the Ring of Gyges, even Aladdin’s Lamp. It was that lamp Hannah found the most unbelievable, for it looked like an ugly teapot. Nevertheless, her father assured her it was real, and made her promise to save her three wishes for something very special. Then . . . six months later . . . the unthinkable happened. Her father was killed while on assignment to Baghdad. And so on the day of his funeral Hannah did something she never thought she would ever do. She took out that teapot and gave it a rub . . .

I was sent a copy of The Ugly Teapot from the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much for sending me a copy! As soon as I read the book description, I was so excited to read it. The Ugly Teapot was pretty fast paced, which I loved. I was immediately sucked into the story from page one and found it hard to put down.

Hannah goes on this crazy adventure with her dog Griff, her dad, and a few other characters. There were magical elements in this story, which I loved, some being the magic lamp (ugly teapot) and the Genie. There were some crazy weird creatures, like giant spiders! The adventure aspect of it was so much fun and I really felt like I was right there along with them. The writing was so good and so well put together. It was easy to read, easy to get sucked into the story and being fast paced made it even more enjoyable because there was always something going on.

I found it to be pretty unpredictable, which was a really good thing. It kept me guessing and on the edge of my seat. At times I honestly had no idea who to trust and I was questioning everything and everyone. I thought Hannah was such a well written character. She was smart, brave, and she cared so much for her family, especially her father. One thing I really loved about this book that it didn’t focus on a romance. There were cute moments with Hannah and Ahmed, but it didn’t have a real romance and it was nice for a change. I got a family vibe from it and it focused a lot on Hannah and the love she had for her family, especially her father. You can tell they really had a close bond.

Overall, I really loved this book. I enjoyed everything about it. It had so many likable characters, especially the main character Hannah. It was a fun adventure with a great cast of characters. There were times where I laughed a lot and even times where I got teary eyed. Quite a few twists and turns and the ending was a pretty big shock to me; I honestly did not see it coming. I would definitely recommend reading this book, because it was so good and it’ll leave you wanting more.

In case you missed it;
November TBR…maybe.
Recap|| October.
Book Haul|| October.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack

November TBR…maybe.

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

novembertbr

Happy November! 🙂

Time after time I fail to sticking with making a monthly TBR, but I still make one regardless. This is my fairly open TBR for the month. Some of these I’ll be checking out on audiobook and I know I’ll get through those really quickly. Others are just possible choices, but I honestly have no clue what I am even in the mood to read. Onto the books!

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander/J.K. Rowling
Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan
The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh

I really want to read Fantastic Beasts before the movie comes out later this month. I read Uglies and I plan to read the second book this month. Uglies was okay, but hopefully Pretties will be even better. I love Rick Riordan’s books and I’ve had The Sword of Summer since release day, so hopefully I’ll finally get around to reading it. The Rose and the Dagger, I have a love hate for this duology. I read the Wrath and the Dawn last year and I wasn’t a big fan of it. It was more annoying than enjoyable. I decided to do an audiobook reread and I ended up really liking it a lot more than when I read it myself. I plan to get the audiobook for the Rose and the Dagger.

The Ugly Teapot by Fred Holmes
Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

I am already a little over half way through The Ugly Teapot and it’s pretty good! I want to try to read Monsters of Men this month. I really want to finish the series. I’ve been putting a hold on this book, because as much as I LOVED The Knife of Never Letting Go, I was just not that into the Ask and the Answer. It was soooo boring. Hopefully the final book is amazing and a perfect ending to the series.

I also want to update my TBR jar (hopefully this weekend) and possibly start using that. I haven’t updated it in months, oops!

I got this beauty in the mail yesterday! I definitely plan to read this one this month. I loved Everything, Everything so much and I am so stoked to read Yoon’s second book! The cover is beyond amazing too. It’s so pretty and colorful!

What do you plan to read in November? Feel free to link me to your TBR posts.

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

I hope you have a great day!

ashleypurple

October|| 2016 read my books challenge.

Posted on November 1, 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 aside from recent purchases.

Challenge Stats:

# of older books read in October: 1
# of older books read year to date: 15/30

amonstercalls

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness – REVIEW.

I technically got the illustrated version of this book this year, but I had the e-book since last year and so I am counting it for this month lol. I am pretty sure I won’t be able to complete this challenge by the end of the year, so I am taking what I can get! LOL! I need to read 15 more of my older books to complete this challenge, sigh. Maybe I can get some on audiobook to help!

In case you missed it;
Recap|| October.
All the books I read and listened to in October.
Book Haul|| October.
All the books that I got in October.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack