Would You Rather? Book Edition

Hello! I’ve been tagged by Siobhan’s Novelties to do the Would You Rather? – Book Edition. I tracked down the book tag and I think it started as a YouTube video by Rachel Reads. It looked like a lot of fun (and this one is easier than a lot of book tags).

Read Only Trilogies or Standalones?

I probably would rather read trilogies. Most of the books I read last longer than one book anyway.

Read Only Female or Male Authors?

Female authors. All ten of my favorite books I read for the first time in 2018 were female.

Shop at Barnes & Noble or Amazon?

Amazon logo

Amazon. I almost always keep money in my Amazon account, that way if I want to order something, I don’t have to worry if there’s money in my bank account.

All Books Becomes Movies or TV Shows?

Probably movies? I don’t watch much of either though.

Read Five Pages Per Day or Five Books Per Week?

Five books a week. I don’t know how I’d manage it, but I couldn’t imagine only reading five pages a day.

Be a Professional Reviewer or Author?

Medieval Writing Desk

Author. I’ve wanted to be one since about 3rd grade.

Only Read Your Top Twenty Favourite Books Over and Over or Always Read New Ones That You Haven’t Read Before?

Wow this one’s tough. I might pick rereading my favorites. But I’d really hate to have to give up new books too.

Be a Librarian or Bookseller?

Librarian. I worked at a library when I was in college. I’d love to be able to help kids find new books.

Only Read Your Favourite Genre or Every Genre except Your Favourite?

Probably my favorite genre. But can I widen it to speculative fiction? Because that encompasses a lot.

Only Read Physical Books or E-Books?

Physical books. If I have both (which I do of some books) I’ll usually pick the physical one.

ABC Book Challenge – K

Aaah! I almost forgot to do the ABC Book Challenge today! I apologize for my lateness. You’d think that quitting my job would give me more time to do things, but not really. I have school to teach (I homeschool my boy), two doctor’s appointments to drive my daughter to every week, and then coop.

I found the ABC Book Challenge over at Me, Myself, and Books, but it was started (I think) by the Thrifty Bibliophile. Every week, I go through my books on Goodreads and find books that start with the letter of the week. There are more books that start with K than with J, but we still have a dearth of books. Anyway, let’s get to the K books!

Killing the SS cover

I usually like Bill O’Reilly’s Killing books. I’ve read five of them already (I think… I don’t think I’ve read more than five), but I haven’t read Killing the SS. I’ll probably eventually listen to it on audiobook since they’re a good way to sneak in extra books that I haven’t had time for. But first I need to listen to American Panda and Les Miserables, which I want to listen to as soon as possible. So maybe in 2020?

King of Scars cover

If king and kingdom didn’t begin with the letter K, I’d have a lot fewer books to work with today. I really want to read King of Scars. It was at the library a couple of times that I’ve been down in the teen section of the library, and I really wanted to get it, but I had other books to read. I will get to this at some point, but I’m pretty sure I’ll read Ninth House first.

Kingdom Cold cover

Kingdom Cold looked like an interesting book, so when I saw it on sale, I decided to pick it up. I think the cover is gorgeous! Anyway, I don’t hear too much about this book, but I still hope to get to reading this book someday.

Unlike the other books on today’s list, I know when I will start reading Marie Lu’s Kingdom of Back. Well, kind of. I’ll probably get a digital copy and hardback of this book, and the digital copy should arrive at 10 PM March 2nd. I’m sure I’ll read a chapter as soon as I get it, but if I have homeschool coop the next morning, I’ll have to get some sleep. But I can pretty much guarantee that I’ll read this book mostly on March 3, 2020.

Kiss Quotient cover

The Kiss Quotient had me at math. It was a sweet book, and at some point I want to read the sequel, The Bride Test. This isn’t a YA book by any stretch of the imagination, but if you’re looking for a sweet adult romance with autism representation, you might like this book. And you don’t actually have to enjoy math to enjoy this book. I identified with the main character in this way though.

So that’s the list of K books for the ABC Book Challenge. For the past few weeks, there haven’t been a lot of books for me to choose from but there are many more L books for me to choose from next week. Let’s hope that I don’t dawdle and post this on Monday morning when I should post this on Sunday.

ABC Book Challenge – J

Hello! Welcome to the ABC Book Challenge! I first heard of it over at Me, Myself, and Books, but as far as I know, it was started by The Thrifty Bibliophile. Every week from July to December, I go through “My Books” at Goodreads and point out some of the highlights.

This week is the letter J. I literally have three books on Goodreads that start with J, and one of them I didn’t really care for, so today’s going to be short.

Jukebox Joyride is a cute middle grade story about a couple of kids who love music and have a time-traveling music box. I listened to this in the car with my boy, and it was a lot of fun.

Jefferson’s War: America’s First War on Terror 1801-1805 talks about America’s war against the Barbary pirates during the early years of the republic. It sounds like it might be interesting, although if this had been any other week, it might not have made the challenge.

So that’s all I have for today! K doesn’t have a ton of books, but it does have more than J, so next week’s list should be bigger.

Wonderstruck Book Tag

Happy Saturday! I hope you’re having a good weekend. I found this book tag over at Berries and Books blog and thought it sounded fun, even though I don’t know much Taylor Swift music (I do like what I’ve heard of hers though). It was originally created by Olivia at Purely Olivia.

Rules:

  • Link back to the creator (Olivia)
  • Answer as many or as few of the questions as you’d like.
  • Feel free to use any of the graphics in this post. 
  • Tag however many people you’d like at the end!

The graphics originally came from Purely Olivia (because she gave permission and I’m kinda lazy about making my own graphics).

Allegiant cover

I have a love/hate relationship with Allegiant. On the one hand, I loved this book up until chapter 50. On the other hand, I hate chapter 50 and everything that happened afterwards. Then again, it did get me into fanfiction. If it wasn’t for fanfiction, I wouldn’t be writing like I am now. I just don’t accept the ending.

City of Bones cover

There are a lot of books that I think about after I finish them, and usually they end up being rereads. The Mortal Instruments series was one of them. I’m doing the #ReadShadowhunters readalong (although I kinda finish each book before the schedule says to) and I just finished City of Ashes, but I love this whole series. I want to go ahead and read the next book, but I don’t want to get too far ahead, and I have all these other books I want to read too. So patience.

Dragons of Autumn Twilight cover

Before you complain, I actually know that Dragons of Autumn Twilight was a movie. It was a terrible animated movie. No, I want a good movie made out of Dragonlance with the Lord of the Rings treatment to it.

Queen of Air and Darkness cover

I don’t know about the most beautiful cover, but I absolutely adore the inside of the Queen of Air and Darkness dust jacket. I only showed half of it here, but it’s beautiful. And most of the time it’s hidden.

I can’t think of anything here. Maybe I’m just oblivious to hate. Or maybe I just hang around positive people.

Anne of Green Gables cover

I read the eight books of the Anne of Green Gables books when I was a kid, and ended up inheriting the set I had originally borrowed from my grandmother. Did you know there was a ninth Anne of Green Gables book? I just found that out today when I looked at Goodreads. But I loved this story.

Enchantée cover

Sometimes you can tell on the first page that you’re going to absolutely love the book. That was how I felt about Enchantée. I fell in love with the words on the first page.

Little House on the Prairie Cover

I loved the Little House on the Prairie books. I know some people have problems with them now because the people in the 1800s weren’t the most enlightened people with regards to race, but they didn’t really know any better. It’s not like the people of today are perfect either.

Alex, Approximately cover

This category could be filled with several books too, but I enjoyed the romance in Alex, Approximately. And since we’re winding down the summer ::sniff::, I figured I’d throw this one in here.

Legend cover

I love Legend (if you couldn’t tell from reading this blog). It’s the only book I’ve written four novels/novellas and two short stories about (and I’m probably going to write a sequel to one of my novellas even though I thought I was done writing in this fandom).

I can’t think of any books like this at the moment.

That’s it! I’m not going to tag anybody, but if you’d like to do this one, please do! Send me a link if you decide to do it.

ABC Book Challenge – I

It’s Sunday again, and for the second half of this year, I’m going to go through my Goodreads books and am highlighting books that begin with a certain letter each week. This week, we’re highlighting the letter I (which I have less than a page of). I first found this challenge over at Me, Myself, and Books, but I think it was started by the Thrifty Bibliophile. So here are the I books from my limited selection:

In the Garden of Beasts cover

It’s been a while since I read In the Garden of Beasts, but it was a good book. It discusses the days before Hitler really came into power.

I Wanna Be Where You Are cover

The cover to I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest is gorgeous! I haven’t had the chance to read this one yet. I haven’t heard much about this one for a little while, but it sounds like a lot of fun.

The Insanity of God

I got to see The Insanity of God movie a year or two ago. It was pretty interesting, and I thought it would be interesting to read the book that goes along with it.

Into the Hollow cover

I was able to read Lynn Vroman’s Into the Hollow last year, and it was really good. It’s one of those books that didn’t get much of a marketing budget so I don’t hear much about it, and that’s a shame, because more people should read this.

Isle of Blood and Stone cover

Makiia Lucier’s Isle of Blood and Stone was a good book. Sound of the Abyss, a companion novel, just came out recently.

That’s all the I books I want to highlight today. Next week is the letter J, which I only have three books listed… and one of them I didn’t care too much for. So there won’t be much next week. See you then!

Books I’ve Read That I’d Like in My Personal Library

Top Ten Tuesday

Hello! It’s Tuesday again, and you know what that means! Another episode of Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl)! Today we’re talking about “Books I’ve Read That I’d Like in My Personal Library”.

I’m in a fortunate position in that I currently get an allowance every month, and since I’m not really interested in much else, most of that money goes towards books. That wasn’t always the case, and since I have a limited amount of space to store books, I have to be careful about that too. Plus there’s collectible editions of some books that I’d kill to get my hands on.

The Raven Boys cover

After nearly a year of saying “I have to read something by Maggie Stiefvater someday” I finally read The Raven Boys. I ended up borrowing the first three books from the library. I loved these books, but don’t own them. The fourth book, The Raven King, was unavailable from the library, so it’s coming from Amazon on Thursday. But I don’t own the first three, and I can’t really justify buying the books when I might not read them again for a while.

Life After Legend cover

The reason I don’t own the original edition of Life After Legend (the one that was given away as a free gift for pre-ordering Warcross) is because I can’t find it for sale. Anywhere. I periodically check eBay to see if anybody has it up for sale, but I can’t find it. I don’t blame people for not wanting to sell it though. I’ve read it (I bought the paperback edition of Warcross specifically for this) but I don’t own this collectible edition. I’ll keep looking. If you have one you’d like to get rid of, I’d happily buy it from you.

Shadow and Bone cover

Another author I talked about reading for months was Leigh Bardugo. I actually own Shadow and Bone (I found it on sale on the Kindle for $1.99) but I don’t own the other two. This would be a nice series to own in hardback.

Summer Days and Summer Nights Cover

I read Summer Days and Summer Nights last July. There are so many sweet stories in here. I thought about purchasing a copy this summer, but then I realized that I probably wouldn’t end up reading it this summer, and I’ll be getting Veronica Roth’s story “Inertia” with her book The End and Other Beginnings in five weeks, so I decided to postpone the purchase. Maybe I’ll get a copy next year. Sure, I could just get it from the library again if I wanted to read it, but some books you just want to have on hand whenever you feel like reading it.

Fangirl cover

I listened to Fangirl on via audiobook (that I borrowed from the library) and I really loved it. I’d probably enjoy having a hardback copy of this book. It’s such a sweet story.

Enchantée cover

Enchantée was such a lovely book, but I don’t own a finished copy. A lot of times when I receive an ARC, I don’t buy the finished copy, but I occasionally do when it’s a book I really loved. Plus, the digital Enchantée ARC is pretty rough. Maybe I’ll get a gorgeous hardback to go with its sequel, Liberté (which comes out on July 14, 2020). I’d rather reread the first book in a pretty hardback than the rough ARC.

The Evertree cover

The Evertree is the only Marie Lu book or book containing a short story of hers that I don’t own in at least some form. I’ll probably buy this book at some point, but since it’s the seventh book in a middle grade series, I’m not really in a hurry. The reason I never reviewed this book on my blog is that I never read the six books that came before this one. Perhaps someday I’ll check the six books that came before this one out of the library (my boy is currently on this book of the series) and I’ll buy this one so I can complete my collection.

In the Garden of Beasts cover

So the first seven books on my list are all sweet, maybe the world is in jeopardy but there’s still some levity to it, and then you get to this book: In the Garden of Beasts. This is a story about the early days of Hitler’s reign. One of these things is not like the other. Even the cover is pretty dark. I loved this book though, and wouldn’t mind reading it again.

Ever the Hunted Cover

Although I still haven’t read the third book in the Clash of Kingdoms series by Erin Summerill, I really loved Ever the Hunted and Ever the Brave. I read both of these books as library books.

Echoes cover

Echoes is another book I own as an ARC, but I don’t have a finished copy. The sequel, Fissures, is supposed to come out in winter 2020. Maybe I’ll buy a finished copy around then. I’ll probably want to read it again, and I’d rather read a nice hardback then a rough ARC.

So those are the books that I’ve read but would like in my personal library. Which books would you like to own? Next week we’re going to talk about “Books I Enjoyed Which Were Outside My Comfort Zone”. I might end up tweaking that topic, because I’ll read just about anything.

ABC Book Challenge – H

It’s Sunday again, and time for another letter in the ABC Book Challenge! Until the end of the year, I’ll be going through my Goodreads TBR and highlighting books that I really want to read or thought were really good. I first found this tag over at Me, Myself, and Books, but I believe it was started by Thrifty Bibliophile. The letter H doesn’t have a ton of books to it, but we’ll go over some of the ones that stick out to me.

Heavenly Man Cover

The Heavenly Man was such an inspirational book! I loved reading the miraculous story of his life.

Here Be Dragons cover

Here Be Dragons came out 11 years ago, but I just found out about it in the last year, and I really want to read it. The story is set in thirteenth century Wales, which seems like such an interesting time period in history. Some of her other books look pretty interesting too.

Here and Now and Then cover

Here and Now and Then is a cool time travel story set in San Francisco, both in the present and the future. And the past.

History of Modern Europe cover

The H’s I guess are for history. A History of Modern Europe from the Renaissance to the Present by John Merriman is a huge book, but it was also pretty interesting. I found it a lot easier to read than Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which is ginormous, and Kindle says I have over 90 hours of reading left (this book here didn’t take that long).

The Hobbit cover

J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Hobbit is a classic H book. Although it wasn’t set in our world, it still kinda fits into the history theme of this letter, as Middle Earth has a lot in common with our medieval era.

Hunger Games cover

The Hunger Games seems to be the odd one out in our “H is for history” theme today. This book is set in the dystopian future. If this is what our future has in store for us, I think I’d rather go hang out with the dragons. Although I can’t imagine they’d be that pleasant either.

So those are some books on my TBR that start with the letter H. The I books on my Goodreads TBR take up less than a full page, so I’m guessing that there won’t be too many on my list next week, but we’ll see what we can come up with.

ABC Book Challenge – G

It’s hard to believe that I’m already up to the letter G in the ABC Book Challenge. It was started by Thrifty Bibliophile (as far as I can tell), although I first found it over at Me, Myself, and Books. Every week between now and the end of the year, I will be going through my Goodreads books and finding books that start with the letter of the week, highlighting the books that I liked, find interesting, or am looking forward to.

The Guinevere Deception cover

One book that I hope to get the chance to read is Kiersten White’s book, The Guinevere Deception, which is coming out this November. I still haven’t read anything other than a short story by this author, but I hope to fix that sometime in the future.

Ghost Fire cover

I’m reading Ghost Fire right now, and it’s pretty good. I bought it with some of the points I’ve been getting over at Bookish First. I’m sure this book will end up on some of my Top Ten Tuesday lists at some point. I had never heard of Wilbur Smith before, but evidently he’s written a lot of books. I might want to read more of them at some point.

Ghosts of the Shado Market cover

The letter G must be the letter of ghosts, because another G book for today is Ghosts of the Shadow Market by Cassandra Clare. I really enjoyed following Jem from the past to the present in this collection of short stories. It makes me more excited for Chain of Gold, which they postponed to March 3rd of next year. There are already three books I want to read that come out on that day.

Game of Thrones cover

It’s been a couple years since I read A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. Will we ever read Winds of Winter, let alone A Dream of Spring? I suspect that if Mr. Martin doesn’t finish it in his lifetime, a ghostwriter will take whatever draft he’s on and finish it for him.

As I’m writing my own book, I can see how it can take a while to write a book… but these are really taking a long time.

Well, those are the books I wanted to highlight that start with the letter G. There aren’t that many this week, but there should be more H books next week.

What Cats Do Book Tag

Hello! Today I’m doing the “What Cats Do” book tag. I first found it over at Golden Books Girl, but it was started by Melting Pots and Other Calamities.

If you want to do this tag, here are the rules (they’re pretty standard):

PURR- AS CATS DO THIS WHEN THEY’RE HAPPY OR RELAXED, WHAT IS THE BOOK THAT MAKES YOU HAPPIEST OR RELAXED?

Start Here cover

I’m sure a lot of books could fit this description, but I’ll start with Start Here, a book I recently read that made me (mostly) feel happy and relaxed. How could you not be happy while sailing in the middle of the summer?

SLEEP- WHAT IS A BOOK THAT PUT YOU TO SLEEP OR WAS JUST BORING?

Circe cover

I know this is a really unpopular opinion, but Circe didn’t seem to have the overarching plot to me. Or at least, the stakes didn’t seem that high. Sure, the writing is beautiful, but… it just didn’t do much for me. Maybe it was the audiobook.

TWITCH WHILE DREAMING- HAVE YOU EVER DREAMT OF A BOOK YOU READ?

Legend cover

I’ve dreamt of more than one book I’ve read, but the book I’m editing now started out as a dream about Day and June from Legend. I dream about characters when I’m writing fanfics about them too.

SEEMS TO PLAY NICE…UNTIL THE CLAWS ARE OUT- WHICH BOOK HAD THE BIGGEST PLOT TWIST(S)?

The Wicked King cover

I’ve read a lot of books with plot twists… but I didn’t expect THAT ENDING when I read The Wicked King! If you read it, you know what I’m talking about. Now I’m impatiently waiting for The Queen of Nothing!

CUDDLES- WHICH BOOK CHARACTER WOULD YOU GIVE A HUG TO?

Legend Graphic Novel cover

I know I already (kinda) gave this answer out already, but I really want to give little Daniel a hug at the beginning of the Legend graphic novel. And tell him it will be okay. I think. I haven’t read Rebel yet.

CATNIP- WHAT’S A BOOK THAT MADE YOU HAVE WARM AND FUZZY FEELS?

Summer Days and Summer Nights Cover

Summer Days and Summer Nights is one of those books that gives you warm and fuzzy feels. I thought about rereading it this summer, but there were just too many other books to read.

CAT BREEDS- WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE BOOKS?

Sky Without Stars cover

Well, I already mentioned Legend twice… one of my favorite books this year was Sky Without Stars though. I won’t be listing this book or the author elsewhere, so we’ll go with that.

THE VET’S OFFICE- YOUR LEAST FAVORITE  BOOK:

I can’t really think of a least favorite book. There was a book I read last year that was a chore to read, but I can’t remember the title right now.

BEING IN PLACES THEY SHOULDN’T- LEAST FAVORITE CLICHÉ:

Probably the girl with a bad-boy boyfriend that she thinks she can redeem.

FINAL QUESTION: THE GOOD OLD CARDBOARD BOX- MOST UNDERRATED BOOK SERIES.

Enchantée cover

This seemed like a difficult question at first, because the most underrated books I know of aren’t series. But Enchantée is part of a trilogy, so I’m going to list that book. The second book in the series isn’t supposed to come out until next July, but since a trilogy is planned, I’ll count it.

So that’s the What Cats Do book tag. Some of these questions were tricky! If you’d like to do the tag, please do! I’d love to see what you come up with if you decide to do it.

ABC Book Challenge – F

Hello again! It’s another week, and time for another letter of the alphabet. Today’s edition of the ABC Book Challenge is brought to you by the letter F! I originally found this challenge over at Me, Myself, and Books, but it was originally started (as far as I can tell) by the Thrifty Bibliophile! There are actually a lot of books that I love or want to read starting with the letter F. Here are some of them:

Fangirl cover

With the start of school just around the corner, now’s a good time to read Fangirl, if you haven’t already. Cath is a fanfiction writer who, at the beginning of the book, is starting her first year at the university.

Flame in the mist cover

I absolutely loved Flame in the Mist! The sequel wasn’t quite as good, but I enjoyed that one as well. This one deserves a reread at some point (although with so many books, so little time, who knows when).

Fountains of Silence cover

I’m looking forward to reading The Fountains of Silence, which is a book set in Franco’s Spain! I ended up using my points over at Bookish First in order to get a copy of the ARC. This is one of the six books I want to read that come out on October 1st, so I’m glad I’ll get to read it early!

Four Dead Queens cover

One of the wonderful things about reading a lot of books is… you read a lot of books. One of the downsides is… you start to forget that you read some of these amazing books. I read Four Dead Queens as soon as it came out, and I loved it. I don’t talk about it as much any more, but it came out earlier this year and it was really good.

Freakonomics cover

I haven’t read as many nonfiction books recently, but Freakonomics was a book I read quite a long time ago, and it was really interesting.

Frequency Cover

Frequency by Christopher Krovatin is a book that I really enjoyed, but it never got a lot of marketing dollars, so I think a lot of people haven’t heard about it. Sadly, there are a lot of books like this.

So those are some of the F books that I either really liked or are on my TBR and I really want to read. There aren’t very many G books on my list, so next week might be a little sparse.