Top 10 Recent Favorite Things #2

I did one of these in November of last year and I enjoyed it so much that I decided I wanted to do it again! This is just a list of things that I'm really enjoying right now that aren't books. We like a little variety over here on Book Ballistic.


1. Avengers: Infinity War

This is the first movie ever that I have actually gone to see I theaters twice. It's just something I don't usually do, but I had to see it again because I wanted to see everything that I might have missed the first time.

2. Deadpool 2

This movie was perfect. It was so heavy, but the humor made it more bearable. It was like a euphemism for my life. I actually cried.

3. Foo Fighters

Dave Grohl is the shit. He's in two of my favorite bands of all time and I'm so glad that he is still releasing music. The Pretender is the greatest song ever.

4. Hourglass Stick Foundation

I'm one of those weird people that prefer stick foundations and concealers over liquid. I just feel like it gives me more coverage. I might just be imagining things.

5. On My Block

This show covers a lot of real shit from gangs to growing up, to being a minority, and yet even with a lot of heavy subjects it still manages to be light. I love all these characters so much I don't want anything bad to happen to them.

6. Bob's Burgers

This is one of those shows that I always just have on in the background and I love it so much. Louise is my spirit animal.

7. Acrylic Nails

I got these done recently for my Grad and I honestly love having them on so much. This is the first time I've ever had acrylics and I can't stop using my hands to gesture at everything because I'm extra. Although they are really hard to type with so I'm glad autocorrect is a thing.

8. Going to the Gym

I recently started going to the gym regularly and it has honestly made me feel so good! I go for an hour whenever I have the time and then I don't feel as guilty whenever I eat a cookie or take a nap in the middle of the day. It's great!

9. Harry Potter App

I finally bit the bullet and downloaded the Harry Potter app because I just kept seeing everyone playing it. Man is this game addictive.

10. Sephora Glitter Eyeshadows

I usually don't like singles, but these glitter eyeshadows from Sephora Brand are to die for. They're 10 dollars each but they're so pretty! I got three of them, but my personal favorite is Hollywood Calling.

What are some things that you guys are loving right now? Books and other things.


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The Prom Book Tag

I know I’ve always been pretty tight-lipped about things in my personal life like my age and what I look like and stuff like that, but I finally feel like I’m ready to start sharing more with you guys. I’ve just graduated high school! Yay! And my school is having the prom after graduation?? I know, it’s weird to me too. Anyway, today (or at least the day I am posting this) is my Grad or as Americans would say, Prom. I just thought it would feel weird not to ever acknowledge that this was happening and how excited I am for it. So I decided to do the Prom Book Tag. The original post was not in English so there may be some miscommunications in the questions, but I’ll try my best.

1. A book with a cover like the color of your dress/ suit/tie. 

Six of Crows. My dress is very black.

Also, I know you probably want to see my dress so here it is. It’s only a stock photo because I don’t think I’m ready to post pictures of myself on here yet.

2. A book that reminds you of your dress, whether it's the cover or the book itself.

Corrupt by Penelope Douglas. When I got my dress it was just who dark and glamorous, it just reminded me of something one of the characters in that series would wear and I loved it.

3. A book that reminds you of your ball or what you think it will be. 

Twisted Palace because there is a prom scene and all the kids at their school hate each other which is the same as my school. Also, they get to play poker and we also get to play poker which I’m actually really excited about. I’m horrible at poker but I love playing it.

4. A book that you can put in a clutch or a small purse. 

Probably wouldn’t be a good idea, but I have a mass market paperback of the Green Mile, you know, in case I want to start sobbing at my Grad.

5. If you could have any character in a book at your prom, then who would you choose. 

Fred and George because they would make it entertaining and that would also mean that Fred is alive. Which I so dearly wish he was.

6. A book that you would like to read before the ball. Or a book that you think would be useful to read before the ball.

“Heels for Dummies” 

I’m kidding I’m wearing cute sandals because I can’t walk in heels and I don’t hate my feet. Also, I’m pretty sure that isn’t a real book.

7. If you could choose every character from a book to accompany you to the ball, then who would choose. 

Will Herondale. Is there really any question who I would bring with me? He knows how to live it up. He’d probably spike the inch bowl and dance with me for hours.

Have you guys had your proms yet? How were they? I'd honestly love to know all about them!

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The Similars Spoiler Free Review

The Similars
by Rebecca Hanover

Release Date: January 1st, 2019

Synopsis:

When six clones join Emmaline’s prestigious boarding school, she must confront the heartbreak of seeing her dead best friend’s face each day in class.

The Similars are all anyone can talk about at the elite Darkwood Academy. Who are these six clones? What are the odds that all of them would be Darkwood students? Who is the madman who broke the law to create them? Emma couldn't care less. Her best friend, Oliver, died over the summer and all she can think about is how to get through her junior year without him. Then she comes face-to-heartbreaking-face with Levi—Oliver's exact DNA replica and one of the Similars.

Emma wants nothing to do with the Similars, but she keeps getting pulled deeper and deeper into their clique, uncovering dark truths about the clones and her prestigious school along the way. But no one can be trusted…not even the boy she is falling for who has Oliver's face.

My Thoughts:

I received an ARC for an honest review

I gave this book 4.25 stars. I really enjoyed this book but decided not to give it 4.5 stars because I figured the rest of the series would be even better so I’m leaving room for higher ratings.

This book cut off so suddenly it surprised me. I mean, usually when there is a cliffhanger there is a lead up to that, but for this book, I felt like we were in between huge action scenes and this one just sort of ended.

There is kind of a big plot twist that happens in this book, but it isn’t completely a surprise. If you’re paying attention to what is happening in the novel then you could probably guess what it is pretty easily.

This book isn’t anything partially new to me, but it did bring me back to everything I love about Young Adult. This reminded me of the feelings I had about 5 years ago when I couldn’t stop reading anything and everything YA. There was excitement, plot twists, coming of age problems, even love life drama. It was everything I love in a YA novel.

This story follows Emma, who has just lost her best friend and is returning to her boarding school for the first time since his death during the summer. Emma is raw and understandably shaken after what has happened. We follow her as she tries to make sense of everything that has happened and the incoming of her best friend’s clone.

Overall, I’m generally not a big fan of dystopian, but I feel like this one was in the near enough future that the problems were very parallel to what is happening in today's society.  The prejudices shown against the clones are similar to what is happening to people of color and those in the LGBTQ+ communities. I think this novel is really suitable for the times.

Only a Breath Apart Cover Reveal

 

Would you dare to defy destiny? Are our destinies written in stone? Do we become nothing more than the self-fulfilling prophesies of other people's opinions? Or can we dare to become who we believe we were born to be?

“A gorgeous, heartfelt journey of redemption and love” (Wendy Higgins), ONLY A BREATH APART is a young adult contemporary novel from critically acclaimed Katie McGarry. “Haunting, authentic, and ultimately hopeful” (Tammara Webber), ONLY A BREATH APART will be available on all retailers on January 22, 2019!

   

About ONLY A BREATH APART:

Jesse dreams of working the land that’s been in his family forever. But he’s cursed to lose everything he loves most.

Scarlett is desperate to escape her “charmed” life. But leaving a small town is easier said than done.

Despite their history of heartbreak, when Jesse sees a way they can work together to each get what they want, Scarlett can’t say no.Each midnight meeting between Jesse and Scarlett will push them to confront their secrets and their feelings for each other.

 

Amazon | Kobo | Google Play | B-A-M | Barnes & Noble | iBooks

   

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“Gritty and real, Only a Breath Apart is a story of hope conjured from pain, strength drawn from innocence, and love earned from self-respect. Beautiful, poignant, and fierce.” ―Kristen Simmons, critically acclaimed author of the Article 5 series

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Add it to your Goodreads today!

    Katie McGarry Bio: Katie McGarry was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan. Katie is the author of full-length YA novels, PUSHING THE LIMITS, DARE YOU TO, CRASH INTO YOU, TAKE ME ON,  BREAKING THE RULES, and NOWHERE BUT HERE and the e-novellas, CROSSING THE LINE and RED AT NIGHT. Her debut YA novel, PUSHING THE LIMITS was a 2012 Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction, an RT Magazine's 2012 Reviewer's Choice Awards Nominee for Young Adult Contemporary Novel, a double Rita Finalist, and a 2013 YALSA Top Ten Teen Pick. DARE YOU TO was also a Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction and won RT Magazine’s Reviewer’s Choice Best Book Award for Young Adult Contemporary fiction in 2013.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Tumbler | Instagram

   

Bring Me Their Hearts Blog Tour

Bring  Me Their  Hearts  

by Sara  Wolf

Genre:  YA  Fantasy  

Release  Date:  June  5th, 2018  

Entangled  Teen  

Synopsis:

Zera is a Heartless – the immortal, unageing soldier of a witch. Bound to the witch Nightsinger ever since she saved her from the bandits who murdered her family, Zera longs for freedom from the woods they hide in. With her heart in a jar under Nightsinger’s control, she serves the witch unquestioningly.

Until Nightsinger asks Zera for a Prince’s heart in exchange for her own, with one addendum; if she’s discovered infiltrating the court, Nightsinger will destroy her heart rather than see her tortured by the witch-hating nobles.

Crown Prince Lucien d’Malvane hates the royal court as much as it loves him – every tutor too afraid to correct him and every girl jockeying for a place at his darkly handsome side. No one can challenge him – until the arrival of Lady Zera. She’s inelegant, smart-mouthed, carefree, and out for his blood. The Prince’s honor has him quickly aiming for her throat.

So begins a game of cat and mouse between a girl with nothing to lose and a boy who has it all.

Winner takes the loser’s heart.

Literally. 

My Thoughts:

I received an ARC through Netgalley for an honest review

I gave this book 4.5 stars. I am a known lover of Sara Wolf's writing. I read Lovely Vicious back when it was still called Lovely Vicious and then started a love affair with everything Sara Wolf has written before and since then. Bring Me Their Hearts is the latest in a long line of books that I have loved, Sara Wolf just knows how to do it right.

We start off getting introduced to our protagonist, Zera. Zera is a lot like the many protagonists Sara has written before, and maybe she isn't for everyone, but I, however, really enjoy the sense of humor that is instilled in these characters. Zera has a pretty horrible backstory, but she somehow manages to keep her sense of humor and I love that in a character. she may be sad and miserable, but she's there to make you smile through it.

Then we met Lucien. Lucien is a prince who lost his beloved sibling and now has a major chip on his shoulder. He's in the middle of a brewing war and isn't a fan of how his king father is handling affairs of their country. Lucien is sarcastic, sneaky, and at times a total douchebag, however, he has a big heart. Lucien wants what is best for his people and maybe his personality is a bit rough around the edges, he is a huge teddy bear on the inside. 

I just have to quickly mention that there is a specific scene at the very end that I knew was coming, not because it was majorly obvious because I had that idea for another character in another series and I just thought their circumstances were very similar. I plan to refer back to this in another full spoiler post, but I'm just mentioning it here first so that I might possibly remember to do so.

The entire time I was reading this novel I was hoping it would be a standalone. I don't like having to wait and I hadn't seen anything on the author's page about this being a series. I was about 60 percent of the way through the book when I realized that would not be happening. The climax had yet to hit, things were still building and I just could not see the author just chopping the plot off right at the end. Alas, when we finally made it to the end it was announced in, I think either the author's notes or the acknowledgments that this will, in fact, be a trilogy. I'm excited and disappointed. I hate waiting, but this just means that we're going to bet two more amazing books in this world! 

The world building in this novel was phenomenal. It's basically set in a world were humans and witches are at odds. And the Heartless are basically the enslaved of the witches, as the witches have taken their hearts. Its raw, gritty, and full of dark magic. This book was just what I needed after the great May reading slump. 

About  the  Author

Sara Wolf is a twenty-something author who adores baking, screaming at her cats, and screaming at herself while she types hilarious things.  When she was a kid, she was too busy eating dirt to write her first terrible book.  Twenty years later, she picked up a keyboard and started smashing her fists on it and created the monster known as  Lovely Vicious.  She lives in  San Diego with two cats, a crippling-yet-refreshing sense of self-doubt, and not enough fruit tarts ever.

Author  Links:

Website:  

http://sarawolfbooks.com/

Twitter:  

https://twitter.com/Sara_Wolf1

Pinterest:  

https://www.pinterest.ca/authorsaraw/

Instagram:  

https://www.instagram.com/authorsarawolf/

Facebook:  

https://www.facebook.com/Sara-Wolf-476490705731978/

Goodreads:  

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6862831.Sara_Wolf

Amazon:  

https://www.amazon.com/Sara-Wolf/e/B00BVOVP08/

Blog Tour Organized by:  

YA Bound Book Tours

The Cruel Prince Spoiler Free Review

The Cruel Prince
by Holly Black

Release Date: January 2nd, 2018

Synopsis:

Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself. 

My Thoughts:

I gave this book 4.5 stars. I’ve only just finished it so my judgment may be clouded as of right now so I might change it in the future. But for now, 4.5 is a good place for it.

I’ve read a lot of books that remind me of Paper Princess, but I have never liked any as much as Paper Princess, until now. So this book isn’t overwhelmingly similar to Paper Princess and that may be why I enjoyed it so much. It didn’t feel like a copy of the same story. It was fresh and exciting, and most importantly, fantasy.

This book wasn’t that high on my radar even though everyone and their mother has read and loved this book. It’s just so hyped and I’ve read Holly Black books before and wasn’t that amazing. This book though was pretty fricken great. I haven’t been reading a lot of physical books lately, so it’s been a bit of a slow journey when it comes to my actual TBR pile, but I got through this one so fast. The Cruel Prince is full of so many interesting characters and a lot of them I don’t really understand, which goes to show just how good Holly Black is at writing fairies. They are so often morally ambiguous and hard to read. They are one of the harder mythical creatures to write about and I applaud Holly Black and her ability to bring so many of these characters to life.

I pretty much did not like Jude’s twin sister Taryn from the beginning. She was so fucking annoying. She was honestly such a wet blanket and spineless on top of that. She did so much fucked up shit that you should never do to your sibling. She has no sense of loyalty and that’s probably one of the things I hate most in a character. 

Now, Jude, she wasn’t exactly my favorite character. She’s ruthless. There were a lot of things she did in this book that I myself would never do and it was kind of hard to tell what her motivations were. I liked her ten times more than her twin though, so that’s definitely something. Jude is still a hard character for me to read, so I hope that in the next novel we get more character development. I don’t think I know her as well as I should.

Cardan was a difficult character to like, but much like all the other hate to love romances, we find another side to him we didn’t realize was there. He started out the novel as the pompous rich prince who had the world at his fingertips, but throughout the novel, we get exposed to more and more that shows that that isn’t exactly true. There is more to him than just a pretty face and cruel smile. 

If you’re interested in reading some dramatic shit, this book is for you.

Top 10 Rock Star Romances

This list contains both New Adult and Young Adult romances on it, even a few paranormal ones so there's a little bit of something for everyone. Also, just so you are aware, most of these novels are part of series' so in order to read some you may need to read other books first. Let me just tell you, I've read a lot of rockstar romances and not all rockstar romances are created equally. The books on this list are actually deserving of being here.

10. Rock with Me

This is one of those books I read back when I was first starting on the romance genre, figuring out what I liked and didn't like in romance. I loved this one, maybe not as much as the others on this list, but it's definitely a good place to start. Better yet if you are already familiar with the author and like her writing style.

9. Breathe

The first YA novel on this list. It's a sweet book, not as explicit as a lot of the other books on this list or the rest of the books in this series. I like it for what it is though. If you're looking for a more innocent summer read I would definitely suggest this one.

8. When It’s Real

I'm kinda obsessed with Erin Watt novels. This is one of the books I don't talk about as much but still love. You guys know I'm obsessed with the Royals series, and while this book isn't exactly as good as that series, it's absolutely something you would enjoy if you do like that series.

7. Sweet Evil

This is one of those steamier YA novels. Nothing really happens that's too scandalous, but it still accomplishes so much without being crude. This is one of my favorite trilogies and I would highly suggest giving it a read.

6. The Rocker That Needs Me

My personal favorite of the series is this one. I don't know what it is about Lana and Drake, but their story spoke to me the most.

5. Kiro’s Emily

Abbi Glines is my guilty pleasure. Two of the books on this list were written by her and I couldn't help myself. She just writes them so well that it would feel like a crime to leave either of them off this list. This is definitely a lot more explicit than Breathe, so if you aren't into that, stick with Breathe.

4. That Girl's Got Secrets

A classic retelling of Twelfth Night, we follow Remy as she disguises herself as a man to become part of a band that will only take on a male drummer. Personally, I would suggest reading the rest of the books in the series first, however, you can read this one as a standalone, I, in fact, did that. The book is sexy and filled with humor which I think you would appreciate more if you got to know the other characters in the book first.

3. Fall From Grace

I read this one, years ago. It's the second book on this list that has hints of paranormal in them. We follow Grace in her latest reincarnation, and hopefully her last. it's a very soulful book and if you love a unique book this one is for you.

2. Lovely Trigger

Tristain and Danika have a long and heart-wrenching story, this being the first in the trilogy. I can, however, promise you all the heartbreak that happens throughout this series will be worth it in the end.

1. Lead

My favorite book on this list is one I don't talk about a whole lot. This is the third book in the series and was the one that won me over the most. It follows the lead singer of the fictional band Stage Dive and his sobriety companion, Lena. This was probably most intense romance in the series which is why it just so happened to be my favorite. Mal's book came in at a close second though, so I also highly recommend that one.

What are some of your fave rockstar romances?

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