Always Me

Happy Tuesday and welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish .  The theme this week is Books I've Read So Far In 2015.  I've read quite a few good ones so this will be a little challenging!  Here they are in order from most recent with my reviews linked: Blue Lily, Lily Blue  (The Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Stiefvater The Alex Crow by Andrew Smith Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel Ms. Marvel ( Volume 1 and Volume 2 ) by G. Willow Wilson A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins City of Savages by Lee Kelly The Martian by Andy Weir Shutter by Courtney Alameda The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters Bonus: The Girl from Felony Bay by J.E. Thompson What do you think of my favorites from this year?  Do we share any titles?  Have any recommendations for me?  By the way, I love comments and I always try to resp...

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ For the first time, Blue has found her place and a group of friends she can trust. She's one of The Raven Boys now - their problems are hers and her problems are theirs. However, things that have been found can easily be lost. Friends can betray, mothers can disappear, visions can mislead, and certainties can unravel. Maggie Stiefvater is one of my favorite authors. She is so fantastic - I should give everything she writes five stars on principle. Regardless, she always earns each and every star and Blue Lily, Lily Blue is no exception. While this story is based in mythology, the characters do most of the heavy lifting. The first book in the series was Adam's, the second was Ronan's, and this one is definitely Blue's story. All of the characters in this series are well-written and defined. The characters have matured in their own way over the course of the series, which we can see most in Adam. Gansey and Ronan are my two favorite c...

I have been nominated by Escape Inside the Pages for the Blogger Recognition Award!  Thanks so much - this is such an honor! This Award was originally created by Eve @  Edge of Night  - thanks to you as well for coming up with such a great idea for an award! Here are the rules: Select 15 other blogs you want to give the award to.  Do some digging if you must! Find those blogs. You cannot nominate yourself or the person who has nominated you. Write a post to show off your award!  Give a brief story of how your blog got started, and give a piece or two of advice to new bloggers. Thank whoever nominated you, and provide a link to their blog. List who you’ve nominated in the post. Make sure to also attach the award itself! (You can do this by right-clicking, saving, and uploading the image above). Comment on each blog  and let them know you’ve nominated them. Provide a link to the award post you created. Provide a link to the origin...

Welcome to The Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by  Freda's Voice . These are the rules: 1. Grab a book, any book. 2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader. 3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. 4. Post it. 5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. I'm also taking part in Book Beginnings, a weekly meme hosted by  Rose City Reader .  The rules are pretty simple - you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires.  Don't forget to link up your post's url with Rose City Reader. This week I'm spotlighting my upcoming read, The Quantum Thief  ( Jean Le Flambeur  #1) by Hannu Rajaniemi.  It sounds like it's going to be an awesome, mind-bending cyberunk novel.   And, I found this at my local bookstore when they had a huge sale and I was able to snag my copy for half off!   Book Beginning: A...

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ Surrounded by evil and weakened by starvation, Jakub finds himself playing his beloved violin in the prisoner-led orchestra of Mauthausen death camp. Evie, the daughter of an Austrian diplomat, realizes she can't just stand and joins the resistance while Nick, her American fiance, risks everything to be by her side. I really lucked out when I stumbled upon Night Song at a thrift shop. A friend of mine read it just before I started in and she was hooked on it right from the beginning and gave it a glowing review. I agree with her - this is one of the best inspirational WWII-set books I've read in a long time. It's a compelling character-driven novel of bravery and sacrifice amidst the horrors of the Nazi regime. This haunting and beautifully written work of historical-fiction comes highly recommended! I sped through this novel from June 23 - 24, 2015 and my review is also on Goodreads .

This week in honor of The Broke and the Bookish 's five year Top Ten Tuesday anniversary, the theme this week is Favorite Top Ten Topics.  I'll be drawing from the 43 that I have taken part in since last year. If you'd like to comment on any of these previous lists, feel free - I love comments and I always try to respond!  What do you think of my favorites?  What were some of yours? Book Characters That Would Be Sitting At My Lunch Table - September 2, 2014 Underrated Books - September 9, 2014 Movies I Want To Watch To Get In The Halloween Spirit - October 28, 2014 Characters You Wish Would Get Their Own Book - November 11, 2014 Favorite Music Groups and Solo Acts - January 20, 2015 Dislikes When It Comes To Romance In Books - February 10, 2015 Favorite Heroines From Books, Movies, and TV - February 23, 2015 Books For Readers Who Like Supernatural - March 10, 2015 Inspiring Quotes From Books - April 13, 2015 Books Which Feature Characters ...

I've tagged myself from Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense to complete the Unpopular Opinions Tag.  Since I don't know who else has done it, anyone can take part. A book or series that everyone seemed to hate but you: The book with the lowest average rating on Goodreads that I awarded five stars is  The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters  with a 3.49 average.  I read this for a class a few years ago and it was one my favorites from that semester. A love triangle that didn't end the way you wanted it to: Twilight  by Stephenie Meyer Personally, I think it should have ended something like this: Or, this: A book genre you hardly ever reach for Contemporary - I would usually prefer to reach for fantasy, sci-fi, or horror than the romance that is normally associated with contemporary.  One example of a contemporary that made my brain dribble out of my ears was  Gossip Girl  by Cecily von Ziegesar .  I just don't get the ap...

❋  ❋  ❋ Princess Marie-Victoria of the British-Franco Empire must marry and produce an heir or the empire may be vulnerable to their Prussian enemies. Her marriage to Prince Leopold VII of Prussia will create a alliance between the two empires. However, Marie has always loved her guard and childhood friend, Gill. Together with the help of Emrys's daughter Alewyn, recently returned from Avalon and a great mage in her own right, the two girls plan to get their own happy endings - Marie's life away from Court with Gill and Alewyn's chance to rule an empire. However, the intrigue and hunger for power run far deeper than either suspected as they realize they can trust no one. I enjoyed the alternate historical fantasy - if Merlin was a real person how would he have affected history. It was interesting to see familiar names and a few events skewed by magical influence. Romance, in terms of royal obligation, is a huge part of this book and, honestly, the story dragged ...

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ An ancient race of magical bird-like people called the Avicen live hidden from humans beneath the streets of New York. The only human who walks among them is a young thief called Echo and the Avicen are the only family she has ever known. When the cold war between her adopted people and the Drakharin begins to heat up, she decides it's time to act. According to legend the conflict can be stopped by the mythical Firebird and if life as a thief has taught Echo anything it's that she will have to hunt down and take what she wants. Melissa Grey's atmospheric debut novel The Girl at Midnight has, so far, been one of my favorite reads of the year. It features some great characters with unique voices in a well developed fantasy world right beneath our feet. Echo is a fantastic character - I like her sense of snark and her loyalty. I only wish Ivy and Rowan could have had more page time. There is a touch of romance in the novel which did border...

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ In this sequel to Half Bad , Nathan is on the run and the Hunters are closing in - no where is safe and no one can be trusted. The Hunters will stop at nothing to kill him and his father. Is there any way he can save Annalise from Mercury, or learn how to control his newly discovered Gift? While this installment is relatively slow-paced and builds up quite a bit for the last book in the trilogy, I loved every second of it. I particularly enjoyed Green's world-building and writing style both of which kept me absolutely hooked. Like I've mentioned before, Nathan's not the most likable character, but he is incredibly intriguing to follow his journey. I liked the dark sense of humor and the chance to meet more Black Witches, especially Van. The ending of this novel absolutely blew me away - I didn't see that coming. Sally Green's Half Wild is a brilliant follow-up to one of my favorite reads last year, Half Bad . I cannot wait to continu...

Welcome to The Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by  Freda's Voice . These are the rules: 1. Grab a book, any book. 2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader. 3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. 4. Post it. 5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. I'm also taking part in Book Beginnings, a weekly meme hosted by  Rose City Reader .   The rules are pretty simple - you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires.  Don't forget to link up your post's url with Rose City Reader. Today, I'm spotlighting the book I'm just about to start, Blue Lily, Lily Blue ( The Raven Cycle #3) by Maggie Stiefvater .  I can't express how excited I am to begin this book - and how nervous (in all the best ways, of course)!  I'm actually a little ashamed I haven't read it yet with how much I loved the previous in...

Happy Tuesday everyone!  This week's theme for Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish , is Books On My Summer TBR which, for me, is essentially the post I made for May 27th's Books I Plan To Have In My Beach Bag This Summer .  Since that is the case, I'm going to choose an older topic from their list that I haven't done.  I'm going to go with Dislikable Characters as my theme this week, which was originally posted on August 10, 2010 .  I'm including characters from books I've both disliked and liked along with my reactions to them in gif format. From books I dislike:  Brit from  Black Ice  by Becca Fitzpatrick Juliette from  Shatter Me  by Tahereh Mafi Luce from Fallen by Lauren Kate Nora from Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick Quentin Coldwater from  The Magicians  by Lev Grossman From books I like: Dolores Umbridge from  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ...