Summer Romance Mini Book Reviews

Summer is coming.

With the season of ~~unrelenting heat and inevitable death by radiation~~ sun, beaches, and travel fast approaching, I find it odd that I’m no longer reaching for fluffy contemporary romances. After all, they usually make the perfect read for those indulgent summer days spent lounging around the house. They also tend to be easier to comprehend and therefore mindlessly read while I’m dying of dehydration fun.

While I’ve found ~~solace~~ enjoyment in other genres for now, I know that some of you may be hopelessly searching for a distraction from your ~~pain~~ FUN. Luckily for you, I’m due for a few reviews of books that I’d constitute as summer romances—and some are definitely more mindless than the others. Continue reading “Summer Romance Mini Book Reviews” →

Book Review: Warcross by Marie Lu // a solid YA, sci-fi book

Title: Warcross

Author: Marie Lu

Published: September 12, 2017

Pages: 353

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

Amazon / Barnes and Nobles / Goodreads

I am so mad right now. I’ve ruined myself.

For some reason, I went into Warcross thinking that it’s a standalone, BUT IT’S NOT‼️ And now it has ended in a cliffhanger and I can’t binge-read the series because the second book doesn’t come out until September 😤.

🍃 Deep breaths, Belle.

Honestly, I brought this upon myself because I kept thinking to myself that the book seemed so predictable and would need a good plot twist to spice it up. Little did I know that I DID NOT WANT THIS PLOT TWIST.

Breathe in, breathe out. 🍃

Anyways, let’s see what I thought about the book until the last twenty pages.

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My 24 Hour Read-a-thon

aaAAAAHhhhH!

For the first time this year, I’ve fallen behind on my Goodreads Reading Challenge—and not just by one book, but by two whole books *faints*.

All drama aside though, I need to get back to where I was two months ago when I was three books ahead of my goal. I don’t like playing catch up, especially because I’m already such a slow reader. It’s been a while since I posted, so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone by //live// blogging my attempt to make some type of progress in my ~~life~~ reading goal. I’m aiming to finally finish The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey and knock out some other book I’ll choose later ~~(spoiler alert: it’s Warcross by Marie Lu)~~ in 24 hours.

(//it technically won’t be live by the time I publish this post, but who’s paying attention?)

THE TBR

The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey – This book is a prequel to The Girl With All the Gifts. It follows a team of scientists and soldiers who travel across a post-apocalyptic Britain in the search for any breakthroughs that can save the crumbling human civilization from the hungry (aka zombie) pandemic.
Warcross by Marie Lu –This book is about teenage hacker, Emika Chen, who is hired by famed video game creator and businessman, Hideo Tanaka, to track down a criminal who poses a threat to his world-renowned virtual reality game, Warcross.

And with that, Let’s begin! Continue reading “My 24 Hour Read-a-thon” →

My Bookish Quirks

Everyone has their quirks.

I personally have a number silly habits when it comes to reading and blog-hopping that I thought would be fun to share:

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My March 2018

March was quite the eventful month for me.

Now, I’m not using that as an excuse as to why I’ve been absent for over a month because I’ve definitely had plenty of spare time to create posts. I actually tried, on multiple occasions, to write book reviews (because at least I’ve still been reading!), but I just wasn’t feeling it.

It’s been over a year since my last monthly recap, so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone by (1) bringing back the monthly recaps to (2) end my hiatus. So, March: Continue reading “My March 2018” →

Contemporary-A-Thon Mini Book Reviews

Last week (February 12-18), I participated in the Contemporary-A-Thon hosted by chelseadolling reads, Pages and Pens, and myreadingisodd.

I’ve attempted my own self-imposed read-a-thon before, but this was my first time trying to read as many books as I could in a set period of time with a community of people. This particular read-a-thon was unlike mine in that it had a theme—contemporary books—and optional challenges to complete within the week. The challenges were to:

Read the most recent contemporary that you purchased/acquired

Read a contemporary book with pink on the cover

Read a hyped contemporary book

Read a diverse contemporary book

Read a dark/taboo contemporary

Read a contemporary(ish) graphic novel

Read a contemporary book that has been recommended to you

I knocked out three books during the contemporary-a-thon ~~(one of them went one day over but shhh let me have this)~~ and accomplished four of the seven challenges. Even though it might not seem like much, I would call this read-a-thon a success; it dragged me out of my reading slump and allowed me to complete three, solid 4-star books. The books showed me how wide and diverse the contemporary genre is, and I have a new-found appreciation for it because of them. I’ll definitely be participating in more read-a-thons in the future ~~(maybe I’ll try hosting my own?)~~, and you all should join too!

Blah blah blah…

on to the mini reviews!

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Book Review: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo // better than Six of Crows

Title: Crooked Kingdom

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Published: September 27, 2016

Pages: 536

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Amazon / Barnes & Nobles / Goodreads

Goodreads Description:
Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets―a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.

Crooked Kingdom retained all of the elements that I loved in Six of Crows—strategic scheming, morally ambiguous characters, strained romances—and expanded on them.

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Remembering the Ravensbrück Rabbits in Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly

The Holocaust is one of the most notorious and tragic human rights violations recorded in history. Approximately 6 million Jews were murdered and another 17 million people were victimized including Soviets, Non-Jewish Polish civilians, Serbs, people with disabilities, Romas, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and homosexuals (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). Many pieces of literature recounting the horrors of the Holocaust exist, but many stories will remain unheard and many more untold due to the massive impact of the incident on Europe during WWII. There is a need to remember these stories more than ever as we live in a world where the disappointing reality is that Neo-Nazis actually exist and are even permitted to protest.

Seeing as January 27 marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I thought I’d share a little bit about a story I recently finished that was set during that time: Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly. Continue reading “Remembering the Ravensbrück Rabbits in Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly” →

My 2018 New Year’s Resolutions

I’m late! I’m late!

I bet you’re excited to see yet another post about new years resolutions. *Cough*

Hey, I actually enjoy reading these posts because they ✨inspire✨ me to actually 🌠aspire 🌠. I also feel a sense of accountability whenever I make these posts. When I inevitably begin to regress later in the year, I’ll be reminded of this post and everyone who saw it. I’ll be forced to pull myself together because I told you all about my goals and want to have something to show for 💪.

Just like last year, my 2018 resolutions will be kept very general. It’s less stressful and works better for me than making specific goals. In 2018, I want to:

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My Favorite Books of 2017 (Part Two)

Happy New Year!

This post is a year late, but when have I ever been good at keeping to my schedules?

Never. The answer is never.

It’s too bad though because I had plenty of holiday-slash-end-of-the-year-themed posts that I never got the chance to make. I had to at least crank out this post though since My Favorite Books of 2017 (Part One) post is floating in the cybernet already ~~(so lonely, so cold)~~.

I completed my Goodreads Reading Challenge by reading fifty-two books, two more than the fifty I pledged ~~(wowow. what an over-achiever.)~~. Here are the books from the second half of 2017 that stuck out to me:

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