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Showing posts from August, 2015

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli: Book review

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Book title/Author: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli Publisher/Year: April 7th 2015 Penguin Genre: YA Contemporary Series: No Pages: 320 Source/Format: e-arc | NetGalley (Thanks NetGalley/Balzer + Bray!) Rating: 5 stars out of 5 I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affects my opinion. *This review may contain spoilers!* Synopsis Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn't play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised. With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue

Top Ten Books That Would Be On My Syllabus If I Taught YA Contemporary 101

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Hi everyone! Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, which is hosted over at  The Broke and The Bookish . This week's topic is Top Ten Books That Would Be On My Syllabus If I Taught YA Contemporary 101. 1.  Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli I only read this book recently, but already it has left such an impact on me. 2.  Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid This was a book that really opened my eyes up to YA Contemporary. 3.  Mosquitoland by David Arnold This book has such a relatable main character and the story itself is just great. 4.  The Manifesto on How to be Interesting by Holly Bourne This is the book that I can relate to the most over anything I have ever read. 5.  The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky I remember this book also leaving a huge impact on me. 6.  If I Stay by Gayle Forman This is such a popular YA contemporary book that I think everyone should give it a chance. 7.  To All the Boys I'v

Stacking The Shelves [8]

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Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you're adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual, buying or borrowing. This meme is hosted by  Tynga's Reviews  and I'm excited to continue partaking in it! Bought: The Wind in The Willows by Kenneth Grahame The Complete Novels by Jane Austen Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven Review copy: Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between by Jennifer E. Smith What did you guys buy this week? Izzy

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice: Book review

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Book title/Author: The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice Publisher/Year: July 1st 2015 Headline Review Genre: Historical Fiction Series: No Pages: 480 Source/Format: ARC | bookbridgr (Thanks bookbridgr/Headline Review!) Rating: 5 stars out of 5 I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affects my opinion. *This review may contain spoilers!* Synopsis Set in the 1950s, in an England still recovering from the Second World War, this is the enchanting story of Penelope Wallace and her eccentric family at the start of the rock'n'roll era. Penelope longs to be grown-up and to fall in love, but various rather inconvenient things keep getting in her way. Like her mother, a stunning but petulant beauty widowed at a tragically early age, her younger brother Inigo, currently incapable of concentrating on anything that isn't Elvis Presley, a vast but crumbling ancestral home, a severe shortage of

Top Ten Of My Auto-buy Authors

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Hi everyone! Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, which is hosted over at  The Broke and The Bookish . This week's topic is Top Ten Of My Auto-buy Authors. 1. Maggie Stiefvater I own most of Maggie's books already, but I know that I will always buy her books when they come out. 2. J.K. Rowling For this, I'm talking more specifically if she ever writes any more books in the world of Harry Potter. 3. Erin Morgenstern The Night Circus is one of my favourite books ever, so if Erin ever decides to write more I will definitely pick it up. 4. Jenny Han After reading the To All the Boys I've Loved Before duology (review coming soon), I knew that I had fallen in love with Jenny's writing style and I will keep on reading her books. 5. Cassandra Clare I've loved all of Cassandra's books that I've read so far, which is quite a lot, and I will continue to buy them. 6. Jackson Pearce It's been a while since I've read o

Denton Little's Deathdate by Lance Rubin: Book review

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Book title/Author: Denton Little's Deathdate by Lance Rubin Publisher/Year: March 26th 2015 Simon & Schuster Children's Genre: YA Sci-fi Series: Denton Little #1 Pages: 352 Source/Format: e-arc | NetGalley (Thanks NetGalley/Simon & Schuster!) Rating: 4 stars out of 5 I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affects my opinion. *This review may contain spoilers!* Synopsis Denton Little’s Deathdate  takes place in a world exactly like our own except that everyone knows the day on which they will die. For Denton, that’s in just two days—the day of his senior prom.   Despite his early deathdate, Denton has always wanted to live a normal life, but his final days are filled with dramatic firsts. First hangover. First sex. First love triangle—as the first sex seems to have happened not with his adoring girlfriend, but with his best friend’s hostile sister. (Though he’s not totally sure—see,

Top Ten Authors I've Read The Most Books From

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Hi everyone! Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, which is hosted over at  The Broke and The Bookish . This week's topic is Top Ten Authors I've Read The Most Books From. 1. Matsuri Hino - 19 books This may seem like a lot, but this is simply because I own and have read one of Matsuri's manga series completely. 2. Maggie Stiefvater - 9 books This is unsurprising seeing as Maggie is one of my all-time favourite authors, and I don't give someone that title without reading a lot of their books first. 3. J.K. Rowling - 8 books This also shouldn't come as a shock to anyone that knows me. 4. Richelle Mead - 7 books I've read all of Richelle's Vampire Academy series, and I have also read the first book in the spin-off series, Bloodlines. 5. Cassandra Clare - 6 books I am in the middle of both of Cassandra's current series, and I would like to finish both of them soon! 6. Rachel Caine - 6 books Right now, I am in the mid

Stacking The Shelves [7]

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Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you're adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual, buying or borrowing. This meme is hosted by  Tynga's Reviews  and I'm excited to continue partaking in it! Bought: The Wicked + The Divine vol. 2 by Kieron Gillen Lost At Sea by Bryan Lee O'Malley Review Copy: The Dragon of the Month Club by Iain Reading Reawakened by Colleen Houck Competition: Another Day by David Levithan What did you guys buy this week? Izzy

She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick: Book review

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Book title/Author: She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick Publisher/Year: October 3rd 2013 Orion Children's Genre: YA Mystery/Contemporary Series: No Pages: 354 Source/Format: Hardback | Bought Rating: 5 stars out of 5 *This review may contain spoilers!* Synopsis Laureth Peak's father has taught her to look for recurring events, patterns, and numbers - a skill at which she's remarkably talented. When he goes missing while researching coincidence for a new book, Laureth and her younger brother fly from London to New York and must unravel a series of cryptic messages to find him. The complication: Laureth is blind. Reliant on her other senses and on her brother to survive, Laureth finds that rescuing her father will take all her skill at spotting the extraordinary, and sometimes dangerous, connections in a world full of darkness. My review All I knew about this book going in to it was that the main character was blind. That was literally it

Top Ten Fairytale Retellings I've Read/Want To Read

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Hi everyone! Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, which is hosted over at  The Broke and The Bookish . This week's topic is Top Ten Fairytale Retellings I've Read/Want To Read. Books I've Read: 1.  Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce This was the first fairytale retelling I ever remember reading, and I loved it so much! 2.  Sweetly by Jackson Pearce This is a companion novel to Sisters Red, and it was just as good. With this one in particular, I didn't know the original story that well, but this retelling interested me in it. 3.  Briar Rose by Jana Oliver I had no idea that this book existed before I picked it up a couple of years ago, and I only read it this year, but it was really good. 4.  Beastly by Alex Flinn I really enjoyed this Beauty and the Beast retelling, and especially how it is told from the "beast's" perspective. Books I Want To Read: 5.  Cinder by Marissa Meyer This is a very popular YA book, and probably