July & August Wrap Up:

I'm sorry guys! I have been absent from my blog for about a month because of computer problems (mostly). I'm back and ready to dive in. Even though I was away from my blog, I was still reading. I read 8 books between the two months. Let's get started with the wrap up.

Wrap Up:
# of books in July/August: 8
Read in 2014: 27

Challenges:
Books over 400 pages in July/August: 1
Books over 400 pages in 2014: 7
Classics: 0
Diverse Authors in July/August: 0
Diverse Authors in 2014: 2

July

 

Saga Volume 1 By Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples 

Saga is the first book in a series of graphic novels. I loved this novel. I was blown away at the artwork.The art is pretty graphic at some parts, so I wouldn't recommend the series to a younger audience.  It was such a fast paced read that I read it in one day. The story follows a guy and a girl who are from different planets who fall in love. Alana ends up breaking Marco out of prison and

the craziness begins.

 

Saga Volume 2 By Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
 Volume 2 was epic! I LOVE this series so much. If a kick ass science fiction fantasy graphic novel sounds like something you might like, then I suggest you pick these up.

 

Point of Retreat By Colleen Hoover (Slammed, Book #2) 

I read Slammed in June, and I fell in love with the story. The characters are awesome, and they are extremely realistic. I love everything about these books. They made me feel all the feels. They are classified as New Adult, but don't let that deter you. They are amazing. 

If I Stay By Gayle Forman

I already posted a review on this book. CLICK HERE to check it out : )

The Beginning of Everything By Robyn Schneider

The Beginning of Everything is about a boy named Ezra who was a high school tennis player. Ezra got into an accident and shattered his knee, so he will never be able to play sports again. The story describes how Ezra handles his "new" life outside of tennis. One thing that I really enjoyed about is that the story is told from a male POV. With that being said, I had quite a few problems with this book. Ezra and the main girl character, Cassidy, really annoyed me. I think this book was trying too hard to be hipster and that took away from the story. 

Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas & Jennifer Graham 

I LOVE VERONICA MARS!! I watched the TV show religiously, so when I heard about this book I freaked out. I listened to the audiobook because Kristen Bell narrates it. I loved it. It made the experience sooooo much better. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook version of this. The story itself was great. Veronica got into trouble while trying to solve a mystery, imagine that. Overall, I really enjoyed the book and can't wait to get my hands on book 2. 

Throne of Glass By Sarah J. Maas

  I enjoyed this book, but I do feel like the hype made my expectations too high. Don't get me wrong I love all the characters and the plot, I wish there was more action. Celaena Sardothein is a kick ass female protagonist. I wish we could see her in action more frequently. WARNING: there is a love triangle. As of right now, I don't have a definite team. I really enjoyed reading Dorian's parts. Chaol is pretty awesome, but a little too dry for me. I do have a new "favorite to hate" character, Kaltain. Ugh she is extremely annoying. I can't wait to see what book 2 has in store.

How to Love By Katie Cotugno 

Reena falls in love with Sawyer. It is a messy complicated relationship because Sawyer is battling some of his own demons. Sawyer ends up packing up and leaving town, and Reena has no idea where he is going. When Sawyer left, Reena found out she was pregnant. The story is told from two different timelines. It flashes back and forth between before Reena got pregnant and two years after the baby is born. At first the rotating between before and after was a little hard to follow, but you pick up on it fast. Honestly, the alternating timelines made the book for me. I loved it, and I highly recommend it.

I don't have any planned books for the month of September except for Burn for Burn by Jenny Han. I am reading that for my book club. Other than that I will just read whatever I feel like reading. What did you read this month? Have you read any of the books I read? 

Until next time,

Bre

#Friday Reads + Library Haul

#Friday Reads is a book hashtag that was created on Twitter. The hashtag will bring up what people are reading for the weekend all over the world. I decided it would be cool to feature it on my blog.

So this weekend I am reading Panic by Lauren Oliver. I'm currently 130 pages in, but I'm just not super into it. I might start a book I got from the library.

The books from the library and their summaries from Goodreads:

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Golden boy Ezra Faulkner believes everyone has a tragedy waiting for them—a single encounter after which everything that really matters will happen. His particular tragedy waited until he was primed to lose it all: in one spectacular night, a reckless driver shatters Ezra’s knee, his athletic career, and his social life.No longer a front-runner for Homecoming King, Ezra finds himself at the table of misfits, where he encounters new girl Cassidy Thorpe. Cassidy is unlike anyone Ezra’s ever met, achingly effortless, fiercely intelligent, and determined to bring Ezra along on her endless adventures.But as Ezra dives into his new studies, new friendships, and new love, he learns that some people, like books, are easy to misread. And now he must consider: if one’s singular tragedy has already hit and everything after it has mattered quite a bit, what happens when more misfortune strikes? Robyn Schneider’s The Beginning of Everything is a lyrical, witty, and heart-wrenching novel about how difficult it is to play the part that people expect, and how new beginnings can stem from abrupt and tragic endings.

In 1923, fifteen-year-old Hattie Shepherd flees Georgia and settles in Philadelphia, hoping for a chance at a better life. Instead, she marries a man who will bring her nothing but disappointment and watches helplessly as her firstborn twins succumb to an illness a few pennies could have prevented.  Hattie gives birth to nine more children whom she raises with grit and mettle and not an ounce of the tenderness they crave.  She vows to prepare them for the calamitous difficulty they are sure to face in their later lives, to meet a world that will not love them, a world that will not be kind. Captured here in twelve luminous narrative threads, their lives tell the story of a mother’s monumental courage and the journey of a nation. Beautiful and devastating, Ayana Mathis’s The Twelve Tribes of Hattie is wondrous from first to last—glorious, harrowing, unexpectedly uplifting, and blazing with life. An emotionally transfixing page-turner, a searing portrait of striving in the face of insurmountable adversity, an indelible encounter with the resilience of the human spirit and the driving force of the American dream, Mathis’s first novel heralds the arrival of a major new voice in contemporary fiction.

 

She calls herself Calexa Rose Dunhill—names taken from the grim surroundings where she awoke, bruised and bloody, with no memory of who she is, how she got there, or who left her for dead.She has made the cemetery her home, living in a crypt and avoiding human contact. But Calexa can’t hide from the dead—and because she can see spirits, they can’t hide from her.Then one night, Calexa spies a group of teenagers vandalizing a grave—and watches in horror as they commit murder. As the victim’s spirit rises from her body, it flows into Calexa, overwhelming her mind with visions and memories not her own.Now Calexa must make a decision: continue to hide to protect herself—or come forward to bring justice to the sad spirit who has reached out to her for help...