Happy Read-a-Thon!

Today I’m participating in Dewey’s Read-a-Thon. While I’ll need to take a break for family birthday purposes (happy 23rd birthday to me!), I’m hoping to spend the majority of my time reading. Here’s my list:

• Crown of Embers by Rae Carson 
• Sweet Shadows by Tera Lynn Childs
• Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
• Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol 3 by Naoko Takeuchi
• Starling by Lesley Livingston
• Lexapros and Cons by Aaron Karo
• Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol 4 by Naoko Takeuchi
• Gods Misbehaving by Marie Phillips (audiobook)

Good luck to everyone participating! May the books be ever in your favour!

UPDATES!

Hour 1: Introductory Questionnaire

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

Ontario, Canada

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

Starling by Lesley Livingston (though Scarlet by Marissa Meyer is a close second and only a second  because I’ve read it before.)

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

No snacks planned because I fail like that.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I am a professional fangirl, or would be if such a job existed.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

I’ve participated in previous readathons, but this is the first time I’m going to try to do some of the challenges. I’m hoping it will help me feel more connected to the book blogging fandom

This hour… I finished Crown of Embers by Rae Carson (5/5 stars), and I began reading Sweet Shadows by Tera Lynn Childs (91/328 pages).

Hour 2: still reading Sweet Shadows by Tera Lynn Childs (205/328 pages).

Hour 3: C25K workout & began Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips on audiobook (pt1 of 8)

Hour 4: snack of chocolate covered peanuts; Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips (pt 2 of 8) & Sweet Shadows by Tera Lynn Childs (258/328 pages)

Hour 5: lunch (pizza); finished Sweet Shadows by Tera Lynn Childs (2/5 stars) and started Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (50/454 pages).

Hour 6: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (161/454 pages)

Hour 7: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (287/454 pages)

Hour 8: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (420/454 pages)

Final Update: I had a lot of fun this read-a-thon! I managed to finish four books and start two others. Next time I hope to be able to read the full time without any other commitments!

Doctor Who Watch-a-Thon 5×13

This is a weekly feature (Wednesdays) where Christa of More Than Just Magic and myself will be watching and discussing all of the reboot of Doctor Who. Posts will contain spoilers for that episode and ones before it, so you may want to watch the episode before reading. I hope you’ll join us in enjoying this fantastic show, and don’t forget to check out Christa’s post (with past posts over here) as well! Allons-y!

The Big Bang by Steven Moffat

“The Doctor’s stuck in the Pandorica. Amy might be dead and Rory’s a Roman with a gun inside his hand. Seems like things aren’t going as planned.” – Chameleon Circuit

Doctor Who Watch-a-Thon 5×12

This is a weekly feature (Wednesdays) where Christa of More Than Just Magic and myself will be watching and discussing all of the reboot of Doctor Who. Posts will contain spoilers for that episode and ones before it, so you may want to watch the episode before reading. I hope you’ll join us in enjoying this fantastic show, and don’t forget to check out Christa’s post (with past posts over here) as well! Allons-y!

The Pandorica Opens by Steven Moffat

When a warning for the Doctor comes to River Song via Vincent Van Gogh, she must find a way to reach him before it’s too late. The Pandorica contains the most terrifying creature in all of the universe, and it’s opening.

[review] Promised by Caragh M. O’Brien

Warning: Contains spoilers of the first two books: Birthmarked and Prized.

Gaia leads her people back to Sylum. Not yet comfortable as a leader, she knows when they arrive she’ll have to deal with the Protectorat, but while she’s been gone Sylum has undergone many changes. New sciences are being developed, and if Gaia wants to save her people, she may have to trade her life.

Well, I finished this series.

It wasn’t easy but I did it.

What I liked about this book was the fact that actions (sometimes) had consequences.

What I didn’t like about this book was the weak resolution of a love triangle and the drawn out nature of the plot.

I began this book because I thought it would be an interesting commentary on woman’s experience, but that didn’t happen so much in this book. And if it did, it obviously went over my head.

Honestly, I’m just happy to be done. For those who haven’t began the series yet, I would say don’t bother. The ending really isn’t worth it, and there are far better female-centered dystopians out there.

Don’t just take my word for it!

“Ah. I’m just so upset about this book.” – Carina’s Books

“Definitely a fun and interesting series. I would recommend it to those who enjoy young adult and dystopian novels.” – Amy Reads

Did I miss your review? Link me and I’ll add yours! Add me on goodreads (be sure to let me know in the comments that you’ve added me) to have your reviews linked automatically.

[review] Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys

Daughter of a prostitute in the New Orleans’ French Quarter in the 1950s, Josie Moraine has always dreamed of getting out of Louisiana. When a murder happens a little too close to home, Josie’s future is threatened in a story about family, love, and inner strength.

Ruta Sepetys instantly become a must-read author when I read her breathtaking novel Between Shades of Gray. Like Between, Out of the Easy is a historical fiction that focuses on three-dimensional characters in a setting that is practically a character in itself. It’s a difficult book to describe because it doesn’t have a plot so much as it portrays a period of time in a character’s life. While I haven’t read must historical fiction since my pre-teen years when I went through a real princess faze, Sepetys makes me want to delve into the genre once more.

Out of the Easy has some of the most believable characters I’ve ever read. They all have their own quirks and backstories and aspirations, but that information shimmers beneath the story just enough to bring these characters to life. For example, Josie has a habit of humming when she’s nervous: this is something you discover early on in the book. It’s not until later that you discover exactly why she hums, and the information is provided so smoothly that you don’t feel like you’re being told the information at all: it’s like you knew it all along. You get to meet characters from various backgrounds and social statuses. I loved all of the secondary characters (even the ones you’re not supposed to like), and Sepetys somehow made it so I was satisfied with whatever amount of time I got to see the characters, but also left me wanting more. It should be impossible, but she managed it.

The setting of New Orleans during the 1950s is something I never thought I’d want to read about, but now it’s basically all I want to read about. You don’t witness the regular tourist attractions of the city (Josie actually sleeps through Mardi Gras), but you feel as if you get to see the city as it really is: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Willie’s brothel was one of my absolute favourite aspects, and if there was a book purely about say Sweetie (my second favourite prostitute in the story) or Willie (the brothel’s Madame) or Sadie (the woman who cleans the brothel) I would snatch it up in a second.

You may have noticed that my summary was very bare bones. This is a difficult book for me to summarize because the plot is so natural it doesn’t feel like a plot at all. Instead, I felt as if I was reading the story of someone’s life with all of its natural turns and pacing. It didn’t grab me and keep me on the edge of my seat. I never felt like I had to read what happens next or I would die of anticipation. I read it because I wanted to because the characters and prose made me want to read. I think  this proves just how amazing of a writer Sepetys is: she doesn’t have to hide between the cheap plot twists in order to keep her readers.

Between Shades of Gray was not a one-shot wonder for Rita Sepetys. Out of the Easy was equally amazing in its own right, and I will certainly be reading whatever she comes out with next.

Don’t just take my word for it!

“If you enjoy reading YA historical fictionnovels, I’d definitely recommend Ruta Sepetys’s Out of the Easy!” – MidnightBloomReads

“The depth of each character, the intricate plot, the gorgeous prose…there is nothing about this novel I didn’t like or would change.” – Molly @ Wrapped up in Books

Did I miss your review? Link me and I’ll add yours! Add me on goodreads (be sure to let me know in the comments that you’ve added me) to have your reviews linked automatically.

Doctor Who Watch-a-Thon 5×11

This is a weekly feature (Wednesdays) where Christa of More Than Just Magic and myself will be watching and discussing all of the reboot of Doctor Who. Posts will contain spoilers for that episode and ones before it, so you may want to watch the episode before reading. I hope you’ll join us in enjoying this fantastic show, and don’t forget to check out Christa’s post (with past posts over here) as well! Allons-y!

The Lodger by Gareth Roberts

When the Doctor demateterializes without the Doctor, the Doctor must discover what’s wrong before Amy’s sucked into the time vortex and he’s trapped on Earth forever. 

[Top Ten Books] Pre-Blog Favourites

Top Ten Favourite Books I Read Before I Was a Blogger

hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

10. Looking for Alaska by John Green

Before TFIOS, this was my favourite of John Green’s books. 

9. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Love love love the narrative style of this book! One of the few books I read for school that I adored. 

8. The Hollow Kingdom by Clare B. Dunkle

This book stuck with me in such an unnatural way. I always have trouble remembering the title, but there are scenes that remain crystal clear in my mind. A couple years back I discovered that it had become a trilogy and it was the best news I’d ever received. It’s a supernatural romance that predates the supernatural romance trend and avoids most of its tropes. AND IT HAS A GOBLIN KING

7. The Hunter’s Moon by O. R. Melling

This was my very first faerie book, and it completely enchanted me. 

6. Wolf Tower by Tanith Lee

This book has one of my biggest OTPs. For the longest time all I would read was Tamora Pierce and this book.

5. Shade’s Children by Garth Nix

I know I’ve spoken about this book before because it is just that good. Sci-fi/dystopian at its very best. 

4. I Want to Go Home by Gordon Korman

This book remains the most hilarious book I’ve read in my life. I lost my copy somewhere, and that’s just devastating to me like I can’t even explain. Like I will marry the first person to find me a copy of this book, honestly. 

3. Alanna: The Lioness by Tamora Pierce

Obviously I adore all of Pierce’s books, but this was the one that started it all. 

2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I have never read a book so quickly as I read this book. Thinking back, I’m still in awe of it. 

1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

I know it’s getting old, but… ALWAYS.