|| October Wrap-up & November TBR

October is pretty much over, and it's time to tally up the score, and see what I've read in this month. Apparently I read a lot more than I think I do. This month I’ve crammed down 10 books, which is way more than I thought I would read. I started teaching this month, and it has been taking up so much of my time, so reading has been put on the back burner, and been bumped down to a lower priority. But apparently I managed to get some reading done anyway. This month has been one where I started the magnificent books about Percy Jackson. It has also been the month where I read a book that has flown right to the top of my favorite books.

All in all I think this has been good reading month with some great books. There weren’t any books this month that I really disliked, but there were some that I absolutely loved.

 Saga, Volume 3 | The Lightning Thief | Crane | The Sea of Monsters | Out of Time

Out of Mind | Coming Home | Inseparable | Something Like Winter | Raven

I’m teaching all through November, and writing a shit-ton of assignments, and therefore I wont make a super ambitious TBR for the month. There are a couple of book, which I’m dying to get to, so I’m hoping I’ll at least get some reading in. I’ve picked out 5 books, that I need to read in the month of November, and if I get to all of these, I always have some back up books to read.

Almost Like Being in Love by Steve Kluger

A recent buy for me, but a book I’ve wanted to read for a long time. It sounds really interesting, and I’ve been on a contemporary kick lately.

Let’s Get Lost By Adi Alsaid

This has been on my TBR ever since I heard about it earlier this year. I’ve heard mixed things about this book, but the premise sounds really interesting, so it’s definitely something I’m excited to be picking up.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

A book that I had been hoping to get to in October, but just didn’t have time for.  It’s a book that I bought earlier this year, and it’s just been sitting on my shelf ever since. It probably is more of an October/Halloween read, but hey, November can be scary too. Right?

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Holy hell, has this been on my TBR shelf for a long time. I’ve picked this book up in the book store so many times, but I’ve never ended up buying it. Then, in October, there was a sale on the site where I usually buy my eBooks, and it was there for pretty cheap. So I jumped on the chance and I finally have the book.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

This book.. This book I’ve picked up before, but only got about half way into before I put it down. Not because it was bad, I actually quite enjoyed the book. I just wasn’t in the mood for it at the time. However, I think November might be the time to pick this one back up again.

What did you guys read in October? What are you planning on reading in November?

Book Haul || September & October 2014

So, I might have a problem. That problem's name is Henry aka my eReader. Since getting that thing, I've been buying books left and right. I mean, I'm not really complaining, because, it's books, but I'm not sure my bank account is all too happy with me. Nevertheless, I've decided to share my latest purchases from September and October with you. There is a mixture of genres in this haul. In September and October I've accumulated 20 books, and all of them have been eBooks. This month I also got some books from the library, but they've all been returned, so I can't show those to you. It's also not including the free eBooks I've gotten either, because then we would never be done with this haul. However, if seeing those is something you would be interesting in, I'll do a post on those later.

Cinder | The Name of the Star | Throne of Glass | Not a Drop to Drink | Find Me

The Selection | Out of Time | Out of Mind | Howl's Moving Castle | Raven

Let's Get Lost | Wait for You | Billy and Me | You're the One That I Want | Coming Home for Christmas

Almost Like Being in Love | Something Like Winter | Inseparable | When Adam Kissed Me | Coming Home

A lot of these were bought on a sale, so in the end, I didn't actually end up paying all that much. I'm really looking forward to reading all of these, and I've already read six of these, and I'm currently reading two [The Name of the Star, and When Adam Kissed Me].

Have you guys read any of these books? 

Top Ten Tuesday || Books & movies to get into the halloween spirit

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week we are to talk about our top ten books & movies that will get you into the Halloween spirit. I'm gonna be recommending 5 things to read, and 5 things to watch.

Five things to read

Crane by Stacey Rourke, and Raven by Stacey Rourke.
The first book is just amazing. I'm currently reading the second book, and I'm loving it just as much as the first one.

Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King.
A Childhood favorite of mine. It was a book that I re-read once a year, at least.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake.
Not one of my favorite books ever, but definitely something that will get you in the mood for Halloween.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.
I read this one back in High School, and I really liked it. A great read for these dark nights.

Five things to watch

Sleepy Hollow.
This movie kind of goes hand in hand with reading Crane. Both are about the headless horseman, and both are absolutely amazing.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
One of my all time favorite movies. If you haven't watched this movie, I would really recommend you do.

Interview with the Vampire.
My favorite vampire movie. It just gets better and better for every time I watch it.

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.
You can not have Halloween without this. You just can't.

The Nightmare Before Christmas.
It's been a while since I've watched this one, but I do remember really liking it.

Chills And Thrills Read-A-Thon || Update Day 4

The #ReadingCram Chills and Thrills Read-a-Thon is on full swing. The first three days I didn't read all that much. The reason for that, is that I was sleeping. I started teaching last week, and since then I've just been completely exhausted. It's clear to me that I'm not used to teaching, and therefore my reading has suffered a bit from that. Really, I'm pretty sure I slept the weekend away.

I am currently still on my first book [Raven by Stacey Rourke], but I'm about 3/4 of the way through, so hopefully I will finish it soon, so that I can start a new book tomorrow.

Another thing is, that I haven't really participated in the daily challenges, even though I actually planned on it when I signed up for this. I'm not sure I'll participate in the others that are left, but I will try the best that I can. If I don't participate in the daily challenges, I'll at least try to participate in the reading sprints.

Granted, this might not be that big of an update, but I felt like I needed to get something to show that I'm still here, and still doing this Read-A-Thon.

Review || Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Title: Isla and the Happily Ever After

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Publisher: Dutton

Format: Ebook

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Rating: ★★

Summary:
"Love ignites in the City That Never Sleeps, but can it last? "

Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart. 

Thoughts:

I was so excited to get my hands on this book. Ever since I read the two firs tones, Anna last year, and Lola earlier this year, I have been eager for this book to get out. However, this book was not what I expected. I wanted to love the book, I really did. However, with all the problems I had with this, I really could't justify giving more than two stars.

The insta-love was way too sickening to me, and I didn’t think it felt real at all. Yes, there were parts in the book I liked that were teeth rotting cute, but they didn’t extent further than that. I felt like Isla just loved the idea of Josh – she has been crushing on him for forever, and when she finally has him, she still sees him as this perfect thing. He was put on a way too high pedestal. It seemed that Josh just needed someone to be with. Like he didn’t know how to function as his own person/without a girlfriend – and Isla was there to fill that void.

I never felt like I really connected with the characters. They just felt kind of flat to me. I found that I didn’t care all that much for either Isla or Josh, which is a bummer. Isla seemed incredibly week to me. She didn’t actually know how to stand up for herself and she just took everything Josh threw at her. She didn’t even question it, at least not in the beginning. I think she relied way too much on him.

At places where she needed to defend herself, and stand up for herself, she couldn’t, and I felt like she blamed herself way too much. I get that characters have to have flaws and bad habits. However, they don’t work on them, or even acknowledge them, it becomes an issue (at least for me). Which is why I have a problem with the characters. That being said, I did like Isla, as a character, a whole lot more than Josh.

Every time I thought josh might do something nice and redeem himself, he just went and fucked his chances up. He constantly pissed me off, and I must say, that I found him to be a bit of an asshole. He didn’t seem very likable at all.

I was missing some more conflict – in the first many chapters everything just felt too easy, and I more or less just waiting for the other shoe to drop. And when it finally did, I wasn’t really surprised. A lot of the couple’s problems, I feel, could probably have been solved by just talking to each other, instead of just making assumptions. They made everything a lot bigger problems than they probably could have been. However, even with the couple’s “problems” I was still missing a main conflict in the book.

One thing I really loved about the book was that we got to see the other characters again. Seeing Anna & Étienne, and Lola & Cricket was like a fresh breath of air. I loved the interaction between them, and it was nice to get another little glimpse into their lives.

Another thing is, that I still very much adore Perkins’ writing. I still love her writing style, even though this book didn’t really did anything for me.

In the end I felt that they might be better off without each other. I’m honestly not sure that they will have a happily ever after. Maybe this is just a 'happily for now'.

Chills And Thrills Read-A-Thon || TBR List

I've been doing a bit of thinking about my TBR since deciding to sign up for the Chills And Thrills Read-A-Thon yesterday. The thing is, I don't actually own that many creepy or paranormal books at all, so picking this TBR list proved to be a bit of a challenge for me. However, I did manage to put a small TBR pile together consisting of 3 books. I do have a few back up books in case I finish all three of these books, so I don't think I'm going to run out of reading material. However, I'll only go into a little bit of detail on why I chose them, on my "actual" TBR list.

Raven - Stacey Rourke

This is the second book in the Legends saga. I read the first book earlier this month, and I fell absolutely in love with both the writing and the characters. I've been dying to read 'Raven' and this Read-a-thon is the perfect opportunity for it. 

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs 

This is a book I've heard a lot of great things about. It does sound incredibly creepy, and I can't wait to get to this book.

The Name of the Star - Maureen Johnson

This is another book that I've been dying to read ever since I read the synopsis. As soon as I read that it had something to do with Jack the Ripper, this book flew straight to my TBR pile, and there it's been forever. So I think this is a perfect time to start it.

There are two different ways this can go. I'll either finish the three books with time to spare, therefore leaving me to my backup books. Or I'll barely be able to finish the first book, and more or less fail miserably. Hopefully, it'll come down to the first option.

#Readingcram || Chills And Thrills Read-A-Thon

Chills and Thrills Readathon - Friday the 24th of October to the 31st of October

Hosted by: Juliababyjen's Readin Room || DanaSquare || A Perfection Called Books || Little Read Reads

I've decided to participate in the #ReadingCram Chills and Thrills Readathon. It's a readathon that runs from Friday the 24th of October until the 31st of October. This readathon is Halloween themed, which means it's all about reading those scary, creepy, spooky, and thrilling books. There will be daily challenges, and I hope to participate in at least some of them. I'll also be updating my progress on twitter, so you can follow me there (there's a link to my twitter in the sidebar of my blog)

I haven't decided on a TBR just yet (I know, I need to soon). I will either update this post with a TBR list, or make an entire new post tomorrow or Friday which will probably also include my goals for the readathon.

I don't know how much I'll actually read, because I just started teaching, and it's taking up a lot of my time, but I'll try to get as much reading in as I can.

Top Ten Tuesday || New Series I Want To Start

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week is all about the top series I want to start. This is also the first time I've participated in this meme/feature, so I'm a little excited to get this started. A lot of these series I have the first book of already, but just haven't started reading it yet.

1. Throne of Glass. I've heard people all over booktube and the blog world talk about this series. It sounds freaking awesome, I mean, assassins. It's bound to be awesome. Also, I recently bought the first book, so I have no reason not to start this one, really.

2. The Selection. Another series where I've just bought the first book. I've heard mixed things about this series. However, it still sounds like a fun read, and I really want to give it a try.

3. The Mortal Instruments. Another series I've heard mixed things about, although most things I've heard have been good. I've got the first 5 books in the series, so I just have to get going.

4. Pushing the Limits. Another series I've heard so much about. It does sound like something I might really like, so I just have to have the time for it. Hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later.

5. The Lunar Chronicles. This is a series I've wanted to pick up for quite a while, but never gotten around to it. It sounds like it's just up my alley, so I'm not actually sure why I haven't picked it up yet.

6. The Grisha. Another one of those series where I own the first book, and have owned it for some time now. It does sound really interesting, though. So I'll have to get on that soon.

7. Shades of London. Three words: Jack the Ripper. That's pretty much all I need to know about this series.

8. The Partials Sequence. "For fans of The Hunger Games, Battlestar Galactica, and Blade Runner". I mean, count me in. Also, the covers are quite pretty.

9. Rock Bay. I've had my eyes on this series for some time now. It sounds really good, and like something I'll really enjoy.

10. Gryphon. I've read one book by Stacey Rourke before, and it was amazing. So I looked up other books that she's written, and this series came to my attention. It sounds pretty darn interesting, and I've already got the first book on my eReader. So I might pick it up really soon (hopefully)