Bloggin 'Bout Books Blog

Another year wrapping up! I know some people like to do this survey early, but I like to leave it until the very last minute of the year (or the very first minutes of the new year) in case I managed to squeak in another read. And boy am I glad I waited this year! 2014 Reading Statistics Books Read: 141 Number of Re-Reads: 8 Genre You Read the Most From: with 39 books, YA Fantasy wins.  Best in Books 1. Best Book You Read in 2014? This is such a hard question for me! I think I'm going to cheat a smidge and do categories.  YA Fantasy: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness YA Contemporary: I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson Adult Fantasy: Written in Red by Anne Bishop Adult Contemporary: Landline by Rainbow Rowell New Adult: Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker Nonfiction: The Port Chicago 50 by Steve Sheinkin Short Story Collection: My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins Graphic Novel: Hawkeye My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fr...

Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop is the second in the Others series, and a delightful read.  I'll be honest, It definitely wasn't as good as Written in Red, but it was very exciting to read. Maybe I was just too hyped up from waiting for it to come in at the library: I couldn't just buy it because I bought Written in Red in the trade paperback, and Murder of Crows is only out in hardcover, sigh. So I waited for probably four days for it to come in at the library--which is super fast! But my eagerness for the book and anticipation grew to a level that would have been super hard to measure up to.  This book sees the return of all the main characters from Written in Red, and the relationships between all of them really develop in this one. I loved the growth between Simon and Meg. It was so genuine and delightful. I want to see more of Monty and Lizzy in the next book. And I could never get too much of Henry, Vlad, Tess and Sam.  I just love the premise of th...

Hello Lovelies! This Top Ten Tuesday (as always by The Broke and the Bookish ) is all about next year. So without further ado, my Top Ten Goals for Blogging in 2015. 1. Comment on 5 blogs a week.  Last year, my goal was to just get commenting! And I did comment occasionally, but nearly as much as I'd like to. So for a set goal. Comment on 5 blogs a week. That is 100% doable. 2. Get better at design. I'm keeping this one. I've been learning a bit as I go, but I think it's definitely something that I want to keep learning about. Always useful skills to have anyway! 3. Write one review post and one discussion post a week.  I made a goal last year to blog 3x a week, and that did not happen. Plus once, I started my graduate program, I skipped blogging even once a week a lot. So I'm hoping if I restrict it to one review post and one discussion post, I'll stick to it. 4. Finish any Dangling Series left from this year.  Woo! This is goi...

Hello Lovelies! Today I wanted to talk about something that I've recently spend a lot of time thinking about. In my classes, we often discuss the "future" of young adult books and, less frequently, of children's books. Of course as someone interested in going into publishing this is a hugely important topic. What's going to be the next big trend? What kind of books will sell really well? The last decade or so has been ruled by Fantasy and Sci-Fi (except for a few exceptions, thanks John Green). There were the magical boarding schools (what's up HP?), the vampire romances (lookin' at you Twilight), the dystopian futures (Hunger Games and more recently Divergent); so what is going to be next? Well, publishers are predicting an uprise in Contemporary Romances, thanks again to John Green, but with a side effect of Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor and Park. They expect books about loss (the TFIOS effect, as I like to call it) to sell well. And ...

Written in Red by Anne Bishop is a fantastic start to her newest series (Novels of the Others (or possibly just The Others)).  Bishop is one of the few adult writers whose works I just flat out adore. Thankfully, this book was just as amazing as her others.  Meg Corbyn applies for a job at the Courtyard (a place where all the creatures that are not human are forced to live). Simon Wolfgard is the leader of the Courtyard and a Wolf. He doesn't exactly trust Meg, but he doesn't have a lot of other options.  I don't want to spoil anything but it's amazing. It is an adult book, so I'll put a few trigger warnings at the end of this review under a spoilers tag.  I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy novels. ~ * ~ * SPOILERS * ~ * ~ Trigger Warnings for: Rape Mentions, Cutting, Death

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater is a stunning addition to the Young Adult genre. Stiefvater writes the tale in two viewpoints, but she does a stellar job of making the two voices unique.  The novel follows the dual narratives of Sean Kendrick and Puck (Katie) Connolly. Sean works at a stables on the island, and Katie finds herself trying to take care of her brothers in the aftermath of her parents deaths. The book follows that years Scorpio Races, a time when water horses emerge from the sea and the brave wrangle one and train it to race with it. It's a month of blood and death and nerves.  I honestly didn't think I would like it. I don't particularly like horses--I kind of just feel ambivalent about them--and I didn't really enjoy Shiver--the other Stiefvater novel I've read. This one blew my expectations out of the water. I was hesitant at first because there was a lot of horse related description and terminology that I didn't really care ...

My True Love Gave to Me is the best short story collection I've read in a long time. It features twelve holiday stories, and I really do mean holiday. They aren't just using that word as a substitute for Christmas. Although to be fair, most of them are Christmas stories: Let's say 9.5 out of 12. One is New Year's, One is Solstice (with a splash of Christmas), One is Hanukkah (with a splash of Christmas), and then there's Krampuslauf. If you don't like Christmas, this won't be the short story collection for you, but if you enjoy Christmas and want a dash of other holidays thrown in, this is perfect. While I enjoyed all the stories, by far my favorite was "It's a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown" by Stephanie Perkins. I'm not exactly surprised because I loved all of her books so far too, but I expected Rainbow Rowell's "Midnights" to top my list because I adore her novels. Perkins beat Rowell out by a few heart-clenchin...

Watership Down by Richard Adams is widely considered a classic for young readers. I somehow managed to not read this one when I was devouring everything in my school library. My best friend, however, read this several times and considers it one of her favorite books. So after being friends for over a decade, I finally got around to reading this one. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. It follows the story of Hazel and Fiver two rabbits who decide to leave their warren on account of Fiver's prophetic misgivings. They manage to get a few other rabbits to join them, and they set off. The story of their travel is interspersed with stories about El-ahrairah, their trickster rabbit god.  I had a hard time remembering that they were supposed to be rabbits. And every time I reminded myself of that fact, I would start giggling at the picture of bunnies in my head. My other problem that I had with the book is the incredible lack of female characters and their subseque...

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken joins the many young adult dystopian trilogies. The story follows Ruby who has spent the last six years in a detention camp that closely resembles Auschwitz. The entire book reads like a thinly veiled allusion to the Holocaust except it's set in America and the people are teens and younger with different types of powers (coercion, pyrokinesis, telekinesis, to name a few).  I liked this book overall. I think Bracken drags out the mystery of what happened to Ruby out a little too far. It's also a little bit too long for what actually happens in the novel. I definitely wasn't a fan of the end, but it's the first book in a trilogy, so I'm hoping my problems with it will be solved in the next two books.  Overall, Bracken does a good job of creating likable characters. It's easy to get into the story because of the characters. The plot may have a few holes, but the relationships between the characters are a driving ...

Hello Lovelies!! It's a holiday themed Top Ten Tuesday today (brought to you by The Broke and the Bookish as always).  I've been awfully good, so Santa should consider setting these books under my Christmas tree. 1. Death, Dickinson and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia by Jenny Torres Sanchez: This has been on my to-reads for a very long time, and I desperately want a copy! 2. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz: I've wanted to read this one for so long, and now I know so many people who've read it and say it's amazing. I want a copy!! 3. Avalon by Mindee Arnett: This one got mixed reviews, but it still sounds like a super good read to me! 4. The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson: I could have gotten this book earlier this year, but I was moving and I had literally a ton of books (Which I still don't have at my new place, sigh), so I opted not to get it. But I do re...

More Than This by Patrick Ness is a roller coaster of a novel. It seems to be pretty divisive as a novel. People either love it or they hate it. I probably lean more to the love it side, but I couldn't give it the highest rating because of its weirdness.  Things I love about this book:  As a reader, you aren't sure what's happening. Is the main character dead? Is he alive?  Diverse characters! LGBTQ people, WOC (women of color for those who don't know) and non-English native speakers!!! YAY!! The writing, of course. Ness is fantastic as always. The story line (once I figured out what was going on) I would recommend this to people who have read Ness' work before, or who are really open to strange books. The Young Elites by Marie Lu is an intriguing first book in her new series by the same name. There were several things I liked about this book: Diverse cast of characters (POC, people with disabilities), an interesting plot line, solid ...