Always Me

Happy weekend everyone!  I don't know about you guys, but my week has been absolutely insane. In bookish news, I was a lucky winner of an ARC of It's Not Like It's a Secret  by Misa Sugiura via Epic Reads - thanks again!  This YA LGBT Contemporary will officially be released on May 9th - and it sounds very promising.  This week I also managed to finish two books - Given to the Sea  by Mindy McGinnis and Saga, Vol. 7 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples  - my reviews are linked, by the way.  I wish I could have read more and have participated in Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon , but unfortunately, I was far too busy yesterday to take on that challenge, or read anything really. Anyway, though, I did manage to take a shred of my spare time on Friday evening and go to the movie theater to see The Circle starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks.  Even, though, I wasn't the biggest fan of Dave Egger's original novel , I liked the concept enough a...

❋  ❋  ❋   ❋ Khosa has been born to be given to the sea, as was her mother and her mother's mother and beyond, as a sacrifice to appease the brutal sea and prevent another wave like the one that once destroyed the Kingdom of Stille hundreds of years ago. However, before she fulfills her purpose she must give birth to a female heir to follow in her footsteps in order to secure the kingdom's safety for generations to come. Unfortunately, Khosa can't withstand the touch of anyone except an Indiri. Siblings Dara and Donil are the last surviving Indiri, a magical people of the earth with special abilities, including the ability to see and relive the memories of their ancestors. The Pietra, led by Witt, slaughtered the rest of the Indiri several years ago and now they're coming to claim Stille for the survival of their own people. Vincent will one day inherit the Kingdom of Stille. His father, the prince, will do anything to ensure that Khosa does her duty to the Stillea...

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 next read, The Ship Beyond Time  ( The Girl From Everywhere   #1) by Heidi Heilig .  I absolutely can't wait to jump into this novel as the first book in this series was one of my favorites from 2016 and an absolutely marvelous debut! Beginning: On a warm December day in 1884, the Temptation  ...

Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish !  This week's topic is Things That Will Make Me NOT Want To Read A Book.  Here are some things that I'm not a fan of: Too Much Romance - I've never been a fan of when romance over takes the plot.  Basically, the less romance the better in my opinion. Forbidden love - Sometimes this can work if done well, but often times the forbidden love takes over the plot. Instalove - Please, get to know each other for at least more than 10 pages before you're willing to die for one another. New Adult - Although, I'm closer in age to New Adult characters than Young Adult characters, I still prefer YA.  Too much of the NA books I've read feature a little too much of the first three elements on this list. "The Next Twilight " - It could just be the next super hyped up book, but being compared to the Twilight Saga  dings it in my opinion...

Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately!  If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules: Every Monday share a few songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post's url. This week I'm sharing two songs from  Starset , a rock band from Columbus, Ohio.  There music has sci-fi elements and you might like listening to them if you also like Linkin Park, 30 Seconds to Mars, and Skillet.  Plus, a couple of their influences are Sigur Ros and Hans Zimmer.  Anyway, "Monster" (2017)  is the first single from thei...

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 one of my current reads, The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann .  This is my eighth read for Book Riot's 2017 Read Harder Challenge  and it fulfills the task of reading a travel memoir .  It follows the quest to discover what happened to Percy Fawcett's 1925 lost expedi...

❋  ❋  ❋ I received a free ecopy of this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review. Max has always felt like an outsider and when the apocalyptic visions begin. After he attempts suicide, he winds up under the guidance of a therapist who believes him to be an exceptional seventeen year old. After Max begins to give up the ideas of the visions, he realizes that the visions weren't just in his head. Three others have also been having these visions and they're looking for Max. The Enemy Within by Scott Burn is an action-packed YA sci-fi novel that doesn't waste any time jumping right into the thick of things. Max is an intriguing character to follow and I liked following his story. However, I had a difficult time connecting to anyone else throughout the story. Everyone else fell flat for me and consistently felt quite static in comparison and lacking dimension to really flesh them out. I also think I would have preferred less jumping around when it comes ...

❋  ❋  ❋ Mae Holland, a young and disgruntled utility company employee, snags the job at a lifetime at The Circle, a huge internet company that is one of the most influential companies in the country. Annie, one of her old college friend's and currently high-up at The Circle, put in a good word for her. Working for The Circle is something along the lines of working for Google or Facebook. She's absolutely thrilled by the work and all of the opportunities that the company offers to its employees. Although her work keeps her life outside of The Circle distant, a strange meeting with a coworker leaves her shaken, and her role at the company becomes more and more Transparent and visible to the public, she finds herself falling in line with everything The Circle stands for and is really anticipating the inevitable day The Circle completes regardless of what it means for the world at large. Since I'd like to see the upcoming movie adaptation starring Emma Watson and Tom Han...

Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish !  This week's topic is Things That Will Make Me Instantly Want To Read A Book.  Here are things that I find hard to resist: Authors or characters with the same first name as me - This doesn't happen that often, so I feel a little thrill of excitement when someone has the same first name as I do! Fairy tale retellings - I like to see new remixes on known (or more obscure) tales. Magic - I've got to pass the time unti I get my Hogwarts (or should I say Ilvermorny) acceptance letter! Noir - I'm with this genre (books and movies, for that matter) "straight down the line", baby.  10 points to Hufflepuff if you know what I'm quoting! Pirates - Who can resist? Sassy, snarky, sarcastic characters - The more the better. Time Travel - One of my favorite elements of sci-fi!  (Does anyone else hope Timeless gets renewed for ...

Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately!  If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules: Every Monday share a few songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post's url. This week I'm sharing "Play That Song" by Train (2016) and " Heart and Soul"   by Larry Clinton and His Orchestra, featuring Bea Wain (1938) .  I've been hearing a lot of Train's newest song and honestly my favorite part is that it draws so heavily on "Heart and Soul".  That's what really makes it stand o...

This month I'm taking part in the April 2017 New Release Giveaway Hop, which is hosted by Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight . Khosa is Given to the Sea, a girl born to be fed to the water, her flesh preventing a wave like the one that destroyed the Kingdom of Stille in days of old. But before she’s allowed to dance – an uncontrollable twitching of the limbs that will carry her to the shore in a frenzy – she must produce an heir. Yet the thought of human touch sends shudders down her spine that not even the sound of the tide can match. Vincent is third in line to inherit his throne, royalty in a kingdom where the old linger and the young inherit only boredom. When Khosa arrives without an heir he knows his father will ensure she fulfills her duty, at whatever cost. Torn between protecting the throne he will someday fill, and the girl whose fate is tied to its very existence, Vincent’s loyalty is at odds with his heart. Dara and Donil are the last of the Indiri, a native ra...