Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag

I’ve been seeing this tag floating around a lot right now (because ya know…it’s mid year) and really wanted to give it a try! I got the questions from Rayna @ Reader Rayna so be sure to head over and check out her answers as well!

Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2017

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

This is actually a tough one since I have enjoyed a lot of the books I’ve read this year so far but I’m just going to have to go with this one. “Red Rising” was absolutely fantastic and completely blew my mind! It has pretty much every factor I look for in a perfect book there’s action, twists, and fantastic main and secondary characters!

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Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far in 2017

I actually haven’t read any sequels yet this year! I start series more than I continue or finish them, I’m terrible! I will say though that I’m definitely planning on reading “Now I Rise” by Kiersten White so that will be the first sequel I will read.

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Most Anticipated Release for the Second Half of the Year

Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff

I’ve got quite a few books I’m excited for but MOST excited for has to go for the sequel to “Nevernight”! It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Jay Kristoff’s and absolutely loved “Nevernight” and with that cliffhanger at the end and just all the crazy shit that went down I’m definitely looking forward to what’s next in “Godsgrave”!

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Biggest Disappointment

The Dragon’s Price by Bethany Wiggins

As many books as I’ve loved this year there have been almost as many disappointments. So far this is the only book that’s gotten one star even though a few have gotten close. “The Dragon’s Price” was poorly written, boring, and incredibly cliched which earns it this spot on the biggest disappointment for me this year so far.

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Biggest Surprise

The Hundredth Queen by Emily R. King

I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did, I figured it’d be full of YA tropes or just not be as exciting as a fantasy should be in my opinion. However, I really loved Kalinda, the MC, there was lots of action and twists, and some really interesting world building and mythology!

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Favorite New Author

Pierce Brown

I’m not sure if I can really say this yet but just from reading “Red Rising” I know I will finish the series and crave more from this author! I’m excited to see what he will write next if it’s even half as good as “Red Rising”! Also he’s nice to look at……

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Newest Fictional Crush

Lucifer from The Wicked + The Divine Vol. 1: The Faust Act

I don’t really find too many swoon-worthy characters in books anymore but I absolutely loved the reincarnation of Lucifer we see in Volume 1 of TW+TD! Now just to clear the air a bit I don’t think of myself as bisexual but I do admire the way some women look, we are a beautiful gender! And Lucifer was not only very beautiful but also a complete badass, I just loved her so much and she’s really the only character I’ve read about so far this year that could be considered a fictional crush.

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Newest Favorite Character

Sevro au Barca Red Rising

Can’t say I really have any characters that I absolutely worship yet this year but a very close one would have to be Sevro from “Red Rising”. He’s hilarious and also pretty badass in his own way, he’s also a bit of an underdog and I couldn’t help but love and cheer him on throughout the book.

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Book That Made You Cry

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

I know, I know. I’m using this book for almost every question but I’m just SO freaking impressed with it! I actually teared up and cried a little in a lot of books I’ve read so far this year but I cried the hardest and the most frequent while reading “Red Rising”. Right at the start of the book I had to quit reading because I was crying so hard!

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Book That Made You Happy

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I can’t say too many of the books I’ve actually read this year have made me really happy but the magical, wonderful story that is “The Night Circus” did.

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Favorite Book to Film Adaptation

I haven’t watched any yet this year! The only one I can honestly think of so far this year is “Everything, Everything” which I don’t have a big interest in.

If you have any other recommendations let me know!

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Favorite Post You’ve Done This Year

I’d probably have to go with “My Recipe For The Perfect YA Fantasy Book” just because it’s my favorite genre and also I love the gifs I used! Yeah, I’m that person that laughs at their own jokes.

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Most Beautiful Book You’ve Bought This Year

Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor

I’m actually disappointed with the fact I didn’t get the copy with the blue-edge pages but this cover is still the prettiest one I’ve gotten so far this year!

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New Release You Haven’t Read Yet But Want To

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

I finally ordered a copy of this today! Hopefully I can read it this upcoming month too!

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What Book Do You NEED to Read By the End of the Year?

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

I do own a copy of this and I definitely NEED to read it before the end of the year! I love Laini Taylor’s writing and world building so I’m dying to see what she’s created with this book.

Sorry if you’ve done this tag already, feel free to ignore being tagged here if that’s the case! This is a really fun tag to do and a great way to check in on how everyone’s reading year is going!

Tag! Your’re It:

Ariana @ The Quirky Book Nerd
Anna @ My Bookish Dream
Louise @ Foxes & Fairy Tales
Stephanie @ Teacher of YA
Kourtni @ Kourtni Reads
Meghan @ Meghan’s Whimsical Explorations & Reviews
Danielle @ Books, Vertigo and Tea
Birdie Book Worm
Jess @ Beaucoupbooks
Debby @ Always Booking
Emily @ Rose Read
Hannah @ Mortal Reader
Nicole @ BooksInked

Top Ten Tuesday: Series I’ve Been Meaning To Start

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jamie @ The Broke and the Bookish.

This week’s theme is series we have been meaning to start and haven’t yet! I am notorious for starting series and usually never finishing them so there really weren’t that many series on my TBR that I haven’t started at all, but here are the few!

These aren’t in any specific order either!

10.) The Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson

I actually own the box set of the trilogy but just haven’t gotten to it yet. As a huge fantasy fan reading this seems to be an absolute must and I’m definitely excited to get to it, or really any Brandon Sanderson book!

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9.) The Diviners Series by Libba Bray

I’ve owned the first book for a while and just haven’t gotten to it yet, I am definitely a huge fan of creepy and spooky books so I’m hoping to get to it this October!

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8.) The Falling Kingdoms Series by Morgan Rhodes

Why haven’t I read this?! I bought the first book when it came out and still haven’t read it! I know I’m a terrible person, I will read it eventually especially since it’s such a popular series and was being marketed as a sort of YA Game of Thrones.

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7.) The A Court of Thorns and Roses Series by Sarah J. Maas

Sarah J. Maas and her books are HUGELY hyped and while I did give the first book in her other series “Throne of Glass” a go , I also want to see what the big deal is with this series as well. I may turn out to be that person who just doesn’t click with her writing.

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6.) The Heroes of Olympus Series by Rick Riordan

I read and adored the Percy Jackson series but just haven’t gotten around to this one yet. I know, I know shame on me! I have a lot of catching up to do as far as Riordan’s series go though, but I definitely need to binge this series soon!

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5.) The Firebird Trilogy by Claudia Gray

I actually wasn’t too interested in this series right away since I thought, for some dumb reason, this was a contemporary series. It’s actually sci-fi and once I found that out and actually read the premise I was sold!

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4.) The Magicians Trilogy by Lev Grossman

I actually wasn’t SUPER interested in this trilogy right away but then I started watching the SyFy show on Netflix and could not get enough! No I haven’t finished season one yet but I’m in love and would definitely love to read this series now!

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3.) The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix

Not really sure why I want to read this series so much but the premise sounds like it promises a badass heroine and it seems to be another staple series in fantasy so I need to read it!

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2.) The School For Good and Evil Trilogy by Soman Chainani

I know this is a middle grade series but honestly it sounds so good! There are schools for training “good” princes and princesses and also to train the “evil” villains, what about this doesn’t sound interesting? I’m definitely excited to give it a try!

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1.) The Insignia Trilogy by S.J. Kincaid

I could always use more YA sci-fi on my TBR and after loving S.J. Kincaid’s other novel “The Diabolic” I really wanted to give her other books a try so I bought the first book in this series!

What are some series you’ve been meaning to start?

Have you read any of these series/trilogies? What did you think?

Do you have any of these on your TBR as well?

Let me know in the comments!

Book Review: One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Pay close attention and you might solve this.

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.

Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.

Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.

Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.

Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.

And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon’s dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose?

Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

As excited as I was for this book I was hoping to enjoy it more than I did, this was a pretty big disappointment. It wasn’t a terrible book but it was just very unimpressive to me, I expected a lot more from it.

First of all this is supposed to be a mystery/thriller where you were suspicious of every character, I mean they’re potential murder suspects! However, I didn’t feel really at all throughout my reading that these characters were murderers, nobody seemed sneaky enough or vengeful enough to have actually done it. In a murder mystery/whodunnit you need to sell me on all of these suspects and I just wasn’t sold. I wasn’t second-guessing anyone, I wasn’t thrilled, and I wasn’t stumped about the mystery.

This was pretty fast-paced and did keep me interested enough in the story as it was told in four different POVs, however, I felt that the POVs really blended together. I would be deep into a chapter told from Cooper’s perspective and still think I was reading Bronwyn’s. That shouldn’t be happening, kind of hard to get into everyone’s inner monologues when I forget whose I’m reading.

I thought many of the twists were predictable or when they weren’t they didn’t pack much of a punch. Which is probably why this book was so disappointing for me, because mystery/thriller’s should be a lot more…..thrilling.

I really liked that this set up was a nod to The Breakfast Club but really the only similarity was that there was detention for a few pages and each character fits into a stereotype. That’s as far as the similarities go though which was a little disappointing. But I still really enjoyed the reference overall.

Also that ending and the reveal at the end was a little ridiculous and actually made the entire book sort of pointless. I was just….”Really? That was it? Why?” It did make sense but it was all really odd and not at all what I thought I was signing up for when I started the book.

Overall, it was a great and very interesting IDEA but just really failed on execution.

The characters were the only point in the story that kept me reading. They each developed a lot throughout the story and had a decent amount of complexity. However, as I already mentioned it was a little hard to tell at times whose POV I was reading. Yes, it does start each POV switch with the name and date but I STILL got lost and had a hard time trying to remember whose POV I was reading. The characters were all a little too similar at times.

Each character fits directly into a stereotype or cliche which in any other case would have been annoying but with this book it worked. This is supposed to be a nod towards The Breakfast Club since each character is a Brain, Beauty, Criminal, Athlete, and an Outcast. I loved how each character owned up to their labels and “rebelled” against them in their own ways by the end of the story.

There is a tiny bit of diversity with a Latino character and a LGBT character, although it is kind of skated over which was disappointing.

However, I didn’t really click with any of the characters and none of them were all that memorable for me.

There’s a couple of different romances scattered throughout the book but the main romance is between Bronwyn and Nate. It was just sort of okay and I was kind of bored with it. The only nice thing about their romance is that it was slow-burn, no insta-love or other YA romance tropes here!

Overall this was an okay read and it seems to be a case of “It’s not you, it’s me” for me with this book. It could definitely be a good read for others especially for those of you who may not necessarily read a ton of YA mystery/thrillers, it will make this one less predictable for you!

What I Loved:

• It was pretty fast-paced
• The characters were alright
• The romance wasn’t filled with tropes
• A bit of diversity
• The Breakfast Club reference (because it’s awesome)

What I Didn’t Love:

• Fairly predictable
• The ending/reveal was a bit ridiculous
• I didn’t FEEL anything during the story or for the characters
• POVs blended together

Meh. I can’t say I personally would go around recommending this to anyone because I found it to be really boring and predictable for the most part, However, like I said this could still be enjoyable for you if you haven’t read a ton of  otherYA mystery/thrillers.

Links: Goodreads / Amazon / Book Depository

Books I Forget To Recommend!

These are just a few books that I feel like I don’t talk about enough on my blog but still enjoyed! They could use a little more love!

I will link up reviews if I have them!

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

This is the book I read the most recently on this list and I STILL feel like I don’t mention it enough! I absolutely loved Chupeco’s other book “The Girl From The Well” and so I was ecstatic when I got an ARC of “The Bone Witch” which is YA Fantasy, my favorite genre! This is a very dark fantasy story and I absolutely loved the writing style and world building, although the pacing could be slow at times.

You can read my full review of “The Bone Witch” here.

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Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova

A diverse and magical read that I feel doesn’t get enough love! The cover is absolutely gorgeous and I loved the magic system as well as the family dynamic!

You can read my full review of “Labyrinth Lost” here.

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Paper Princess by Erin Watt

I loved this book so much I couldn’t express my love in a review quite yet, I’m probably going to do a mini review here sometime. This was extremely addictive and kept me turning pages, it’s a very “trashy” novel in the same way that soap operas are “trashy”. They definitely hold your attention with their drama!

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Welcome To The Dark House by Laurie Faria Stolarz

A YA horror book that has some great characters and is pretty fast paced, it reads exactly like your traditional slasher horror movie but with some unique twists. Definitely a great book for any YA horror lovers out there!

You can read my full review of “Welcome To The Dark House” here.

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A Drop of Night by Stefan Bachmann

This book was a very unique blend of horror and thriller where a group of kids become trapped in an ancient underground palace in France. I don’t want to give too much away but this book will definitely get your adrenaline pumping!

You can read my full review of “A Drop of Night” here.

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The Impostor Queen by Sarah Fine

The magic system and world building in this book are FANTASTIC and so, so unique! Those two reasons alone are enough for me to recommend this book!

You can read my full review of “The Impostor Queen” here.

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The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

A historical fiction with monsters! Woohoo! Plus the Doctor is pretty swoon-worthy and the monsters are actually pretty terrifying and gory. Definitely not a book for the squeamish or faint of heart!

You can read my full review of “The Monstrumologist” here.

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Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

I did enjoy this book but still had a couple problems with it but Kate, the MC, is pretty badass! Plus there really aren’t enough YA western books and that cover is so gorgeous!

You can read my full review of “Vengeance Road” here.

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The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow

This book definitely won’t be up everyone’s alley but I enjoyed it a lot, it’s about an insane(ly, funny) AI that took over the world and uses the world leader’s children as hostages to keep world peace. It’s awesome.

You can read my full review of “The Scorpion Rules” here.

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Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor

Do I need reasons to recommend any of Laini Taylor’s books? Her world building and mythology is flawless and her writing is so, so beautiful!

You can read my full review of “Lips Touch: Three Times” here.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them?

Do you have any of these books on your TBR?

Do you have any books that you don’t recommend enough?

Let me know in the comments!

Discussion Post: Physical ARCs versus E-Galleys

I have been meaning to discuss in some way, shape, or form ARCs on my blog for some time, however, I just feel that I don’t have that much experience with them to properly do a post about them. That being said I’d just like to take the time to discuss with all of you, no matter your experience, physical ARCs and digital galleys.

This isn’t going to be a super in-depth discussion on my part about the pros and cons of each of these but to just kind of discuss everything about them in general depending on your experiences with ARCs as well!

I will be doing a full length post discussing ARCs and tips on how to receive them  at some point!

Of course everything I’ve written in this post is just my own opinion, I’m not trying to offend anyone by any means. Please keep that in mind while reading or commenting back! Thank you!

What’s the big deal with physical ARCs?

Let’s face it: everyone wants physical ARCs. Don’t lie! Getting an advanced reader copy of any book in any form is awesome but as book lovers I feel a lot of us still covet those physical copies a bit more. Because they’re right there in your hands with their beautiful covers and their pure awesomeness!

Physical ARCs are a bit harder to obtain than e-galleys so getting one kind of makes you feel good about yourself and your blog, like you’re doing something right in order to have received one! It’s almost like getting a huge compliment!

However, like I said they are much harder to obtain and can therefore lead to a lot of disappointment as well and some publishers don’t offer e-galleys at all! Some publishers are easier to work with than others, some will send you ARCs and some won’t, some will email you back stating whether you’ve been approved or not and some won’t. This can get frustrating at times since most of us don’t know what we are doing wrong!

Personally, I have yet to receive any ARCs or even feedback from publishers or imprints of Penguin, Harper Collins, or Simon & Schuster. There’s also no real way of knowing what kind of stats they like to see in order to be considered either, at least not to my knowledge. If ANY OF YOU KNOW THE ANSWERS PLEASE TELL ME YOUR SECRETS!

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What’s wrong with just requesting e-galleys off of Netgalley or Edelweiss?

Nothing, absolutely nothing!

Netgalley is very easy to navigate and getting approved is fairly easy there, Edelweiss on the other hand is a little less user-friendly in my opinion and also a little harder to get approved on. But I digress…….

E-galleys are great for many reasons such as: they’re much easier to request and obtain, you get access to them a lot quicker, and there’s no adding to the clutter on your shelves!

However, one of the biggest drawbacks to e-galleys (at least in my opinion) is that if you request them on Netgalley you have a feedback ratio. Which I understand helps publishers to see if you actually read and review they galleys they give you but also it can hurt bloggers as well. Let’s say you’ve read and reviewed maybe 30 books on Netgalley and you’re always good about reading and reviewing the ARCs you request, well if you receive let’s say 4 or 5 ARCs your feedback ratio will immediately drop below the wanted 80% before you send feedback in. (PLEASE DON’T JUDGE MY MATH TOO BADLY, I’M TERRIBLE AT IT)

It’s kind of a bummer! Some bloggers are more than capable of handling multiple ARCs but maybe won’t be approved for them because their feedback ratio is slightly below 80%. It’s just sort of annoying sometimes.

My slight irritation with this came from my experience last week emailing and requesting a few physical ARCs. I was told by the publisher that they would send me these if they could but that I should request them off of Netgalley which is problematic for two reasons: one being that if I request them off of Netgalley will I end up getting an e-galley and a physical ARC of one of them? You said you’d send them if you could but to also re-request them? Makes no sense to me.

And reason number two being that if I requested the 4 ARCs I wanted off of Netgalley and somehow got approved for them my feedback ratio will drop, potentially stopping me from getting approved for any other ARCs until I finish these. Which as we all know ARCs have different release dates, we are more than capable of reading and reviewing ARCs with differing release dates.

Join The Discussion!

What are some of your experiences with physical ARCs or e-galleys?

Do you prefer one over the other? Why?

Do you find it easier to obtain physical copies or e-copies?

What do you think of Netgalley’s feedback ratio?

Are there any pros or cons to either that I didn’t list?

Do you have trouble requesting or being approved for physical ARCs?

Are there any publishers you find easier to work with?

Do you know the answers to the SECRETS I mentioned above? (If so I’d appreciate it!)

Let me know in the comments!

The Goodreads Book Tag

Big thank you to Jess @ Beaucoup Books for tagging me to do this one! Be sure to head over and not only check out Jess’s answers but her amazing blog as well!

1. What was the last book you marked as “read?”

The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 1: The Faust Act by Kieron Gillen

This is a graphic novel so it may be cheating a little bit (if it is the last BOOK I read was “One of Us is Lying”). I haven’t reviewed this one yet as I finished it yesterday but it will be a glowing review, it was absolutely amazing! The art style was awesome and the story was even awesome-er, highly recommend it by the way!

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2. What was the last book you marked as TBR?

The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke

(No Cover Yet)

The last two books I’ve read by this author were really “meh” so you might be wondering why I’d add another one of her books. Well, it’s really hard to pass up a book that’s described as being a “genderbent Beowulf re-imagining” because that sounds PERFECT and also BADASS! I’m definitely more than willing to give Tucholke another go just for this premise!

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3. What book do you plan to read next?

Well I had a TBR set up for June but I also went to my library and they had a bunch of new releases so this is really a toss up. I’m terrible about sticking to reading plans, I’m sorry! However, I really want to make sure I finish up the books I borrowed first so I don’t really know. Either:

Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry

or

Dreamfall by Amy Plum

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4. Do you use the star rating system?

Of course! Although I try to be a bit pickier with my ratings because I don’t really like when other people rate EVERYTHING 4 or 5 stars.

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5. Are you doing the 2017 Reading Challenge?

Yes I am! My goal is 80 books this year and currently I’m at 31 books read. So I’m 5 books behind schedule, yikes! However, I did factor in that I’d be reading shorter books as well as graphic novels so I’ll catch up eventually.

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6. Do you have a wishlist?

Does any book lover NOT have a wishlist? I have a list of books I “need to buy” and wait until they have a decent prices so I can get a copy!

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7. Which book do you plan on buying next?

Currently I’m torn between When Dimple Met Rishi and Bad Romance! If you’ve had a chance to read either of these let me know what you thought in the comments down below and help me make up my mind!

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8. Do you have any favorite quotes? Share a few.

“The books we love, they love us back, And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us. I can see it in you, sure as I see it in me. You’re a daughter of words. A girl with a story to tell.” – Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

“Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.” – Vicious by V.E. Schwab

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9. Who are your favorite authors?

Jay Kristoff, V.E. Schwab, Laini Taylor, Christina Henry, Amy Lukavics, Rick Riordan, J.K. Rowling (obviously!), & Gillian Flynn.

These are all authors I’ve read multiple books by and loved all of them!

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10. Have you joined any groups?

Top 5 Wednesday & Hype or Like Friday! I don’t join the topics as much but these are both fantastic and fun groups to join!

Just going to tag a couple people here! Sorry if you’ve already done this tag, feel free to just ignore this if that’s the case!

Tag! You’re It:

Anna @ My Bookish Dream

Ariana @ The Quirky Book Nerd

Kirsty @ Kirsty Reads Blog

Destiny @ Howling Libraries

Rachel @ Bookish Rachel

Becky @ Book To The Becky

Amanda @ Literary Weaponry

Book Review: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

“Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.”

Let me just start off by saying I’m usually not a big contemporary reader so when I rate a contemporary 5 stars it’s just through the roof amazing! “The Hate U Give” is probably one of the most hyped books out there and it is 100% worthy of all of it, not only is it just an overall incredible read but it’s also a very important book. It focuses on the Black Lives Matter movement and speaking up for equality and against racism and police brutality.

I wish I could go into more depth on the subject matter of this book but I am not one to talk about important issues such as these that I don’t know anything about personally (not saying I’m completely ignorant I just don’t know enough to go giving you all the information you need). All I can do is try and give “The Hate U Give” a review that will do it at least some justice and convince you all just how much you need to get your hands on a copy.

First things first, I cannot believe this is Angie Thomas’s debut novel! Her writing is phenomenal and she writes like a pro, it was easy to follow, entertaining, and very emotional. Trust me when I say that books have to be VERY well written for me to get so immersed in the characters and story that I’ll be crying and I did more than once throughout this book!

As I mentioned above this book focuses mainly on racial inequality, our corrupt justice system, police brutality, and racism and in my opinion it really nails all of these things and sheds light on the truth of the way our society works. While this is some pretty heavy stuff that doesn’t mean “The Hate U Give” is that way the whole time, in fact there is a lot of humor in the otherwise somber plot. I loved how many light-hearted moments were included even though what Starr was going through is very tragic and scary.

The story is very character driven and that being said almost every single character has their own storyline that interconnects with everyone else’s as well. So the plot is very complex and there is never, NEVER a dull moment. You will be hooked from page one and will be 100% invested in these character’s stories.

Remember when I said the writing is very emotional? That’s probably one of the things that stuck out the most with me, just how emotional this story gets in so many different ways. There were times when my heart was absolutely broken, other times when I was over-joyed, and times where I was legitimately terrified for the characters.

This last thing I want to say involving the plot is kind of a side note but I wanted to mention it because it pissed me off so much! The white kids at Starr’s private school decide to hold a protest for Justice for Khalil which is awesome….except the only reason they did anything was to get out of class and they didn’t actually care. How about NOOOOOO? I did really appreciate the fact though that some of the other white characters refused to do it once they found out it was just a gimmick.

If I was going to be honest and tell you what my absolute favorite part of this book was I’d have to say all of the characters! There wasn’t a single character who didn’t have a personality and a story all their own.

Starr is an extremely down-to-Earth and relatable character, I was rooting for her the entire time! Not to mention she’s also sassy, smart, and brave but she also isn’t without her flaws as well. Overall she’s very complex and has earned a spot in my favorite bookish heroines!

I also absolutely adored the family dynamic in “The Hate U Give”, literally loved it to little bits and pieces! It’s definitely a nice change to see a loving, supportive family in YA with children/teens who respect their parents and elders. I mean how many times do we see YA heroes/heroines that blow their parents off? Too many is the answer and it drives me nuts to see kids be so disrespectful.

The secondary characters were amazing as well and it was almost mind-blowing to see so many complex and developed characters all at once!

So this is going to be very brief because while there is romance in the story it definitely does not take over the plot, THANK GOD! While I do love the way Starr’s interracial relationship is handled by themselves and outside parties I just didn’t like it overall, I felt that Starr and Chris just didn’t really have any chemistry. I think that Starr’s friendships and family relationships were handled a lot better with much more depth.

This is usually where I state the things I did like and didn’t like in the book and honestly there just isn’t anything I disliked that strongly, it is a 5 star book after all! I loved the story, the writing, and most of all the characters and I have zero complaints.

If I could give every single one of you a copy I would that’s how much I wish everyone would read “The Hate U Give” because as I said not only is it just a plain amazing book it’s also an extremely important one that handles some very serious and all too real issues.

GO READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!! YOU WON’T REGRET IT!!!!!!!!!!

Links: Goodreads / Amazon / Book Depository