Top 10 Books That Deserve More Hype

I’m talking books I loved that I never hear people talk about. Books I think more people should read because they are truly fantastic books. I made another list similar to this a while back and I don’t really know how to explain to you the difference other than with this one a lot of people may have read them, but I think that these books deserve to get some recognition as I never hear people talk about them. Excluding myself.

1. Wilder

I don’t know what it is, but I just love the way this author writes people. I can’t get enough! This series is centered around a group of friends who are all strong young women who are magical in their own ways.

2. Scion of the Fox

The author sent me a copy of this book and not only does it have a cool AF cover, it also has a cool AF story inside. This is one of the books on the list that just doesn’t have many ratings or reviews, but I think it should be more hyped up. It’s really amazing! Full fo mythology and action. The next book is coming soon and I’m very excited to see what happens next.

3. Rose Petal Graves

This book reminds me of a mix between the Vampire Diaries and A Court of Thorns and Roses. The second book is actually much better than the first, but I couldn’t exactly put the second book of the series on here and not the first. That would be a bit pointless and maybe a bit confusing. 

4. The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts

I’m a sucker for a time travel story. Also, it has a really well written slow-burning romance. Time travel, adventure, action, romance, magic, what more could you possibly want?

5. Under Different Stars

This one actually has quite a few ratings, but the thing is, I never actually see anyone talking about this book so I’m led to wonder where all the people who read it are.

6. A Penny Lost

More time travel!!! This gave me so many feelings and it ended on such a crazy cliffhanger, but it wasn’t bad. I’m not even angry about the cliffhanger.

7. Ensnared

Ensnared is an NA sci-fi retelling of Beauty and the Beast and it was my first and favorite of Rita Stradling’s works. It’s sexy, it’s full of sci-fi and it’s an amazing retelling in general. I think it deserves as much recognition as other overhyped retellings.

8. Doctor Sleep

This was the sequel to the Shining we never knew we needed. Personally, this was my favorite Stephen King book, but it’s sad because no one ever seems to talk about it. I mean it was raved about when it came out because it is by Stephen King, but no one seems to care about it anymore and it really is an amazing book.

9. Pulse

This book was just the perfect mix of creepy scientific stuff and a tad bit of romance. It isn’t overly romance filled, it’s just the perfect amount. In a way, it kind of actually reminds me of the Shape of Water, except the love interest is a vampire and not the creature from the black lagoon. 

10. Daughter of Deep Silence

I know that this has been read by a lot of people, but I never really hear great things about it. I, however, loved it. I picked it up on a whim because it was six dollars and I kept thinking that maybe I wanted to read it. I went in with low expectations because I had seen the reviews, but I ended up so enraptured by it and I just need someone to talk about it in a good way with me.

Which novels do you guys wish people would talk about more?

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Top 5 Teachers/Mentors

This was kind of a hard list to make considering how awful or unmemorable most teachers are in books. This is kind of sad because teachers have really important jobs, they are literally educating the future adults of this society and that says a lot about the characters in those books. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this post.

1. Dimitri Belikov

Dimitri ends up as a love interest but starts out as our protagonist's mentor, so he makes the top of this list. I love him.

2. Professor Mcgonagall

Probably one of the most badass characters out there. She is a hardass with a heart of gold. She protects the students while still being strict and earning their respect. I can't think of a single thing I dislike about her.

3. Joe Solomon 

He was the best teacher at the Gallagher Academy which is saying a lot considering it's a school for spies. He is such a mystery for the majority of the series and the little information you do find out is always incredibly riveting. 

4. Warden

I've only just finished reading the Bone Season, but I already love the Warden. He is considered our protagonist's mentor throughout the book. He's also incredibly mysterious and maybe not as evil as we think he is.

5. Haymitch

I can't beleive I almost forgot Haymitch. He would be so offended if he knew I almost forgot him. I can almost hear the sassy comments. Haymitch is snarky, cynical, and just plain unlikeable and those are the reasons I love him. He has that hard exterior but is really just a softy in desguise. 

Which teachers do you guys love?

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Top 10 Favorite Movies of All Time

I like to mix it up once in a while so today, I'm going to got through my top 10 favorite movies of all time. Now I am 10 times as critical of movies than I am of books, so when I say these movies are my favorite I'm saying they are the best of the best and I can't actually rank them because I love them all so much. I even had honorable mentions because I couldn't even fathom not having some of these movies on the list.

1. Deadpool

Let's start off with a basic. Deadpool is crude and badass, I couldn't think of a better movie to suit my personality. I love action/superhero movies because I have the attention span of a walnut, so this movie kept my attention the whole time.

2. Thor: Ragnarok

I watched this movie and couldn't believe that it actually rivaled my love for Deadpool. I loved everything about it and even thought of doing a movie review for it back when I saw it. I never actually did, but I certainly contemplated it. The best part of the movie by far is Stan Lee's cameo. Golden.

3. The Departed

This was art. I really don't watch a lot of gangster movies, but this one had me hook line and sinker. I mean A+ acting from A-list actors and so much drama and action. There was so much double-crossing going on that you were just waiting for the whole thing to come to a head and being so excited to see it happen.

4. The Dark Knight

An old favorite. I can't say I'm happy with how DC movies are happening right now, they just aren't good. However, I haven't seen a superhero movie be as much of a cinematic masterpiece as Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. What made the movie for me was Heath Ledger's amazing performance as the Joker. He's 1000x the Joker that Jared Leto will ever be. 

5. It

I saw this in theaters with my friend and let me tell you, the two of us were curled up in our chairs screaming. I watch a lot of horror films and a lot of them are bad. What set this one apart from all of those other bad horror films was the dynamic between characters. I feel like a lot of the time in horror films no one ever really gets attached because you know they're going to die eventually. It, however, build up a friendship between all of the characters to the point where you don't want any of them to be apart, you want these kids to beat the monster and come out okay on the other side.

6. Thelma and Louise

Best empowerment movie out there. This movie itself is a feminist icon. I loved Thelma's character development throughout this movie, it was worth every hardship they went through to get there. It's a must watch.

7. Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2

I'm counting these as one because they are two parts to the same story. I'm a sucker for Tarantino, I decided to only put one Tarantino movie on this list though. I chose Kill Bill because much like Thelma and Louise it's full of female empowerment and badassery. 

8. Zodiac

If you know anything about me as a person, you know I have a major obsession with unsolved mysteries, my personal favorite being the Zodiac Killer. This movie had me hooked from the beginning, it had me so on edge and had my mind in overdrive trying to put all the pieces together. I love it, even more, knowing that almost all of what happened in this movie as fact. Just saying, I am also a firm believer that Arthur Lee Allen was the Zodiac.

9. The Silence of the Lambs

I live and die for this movie. The Silence of the Lambs was the first Thriller/Horror type movie that I genuinely loved. Hannibal Lector is enough to keep anyone engaged. If you haven't seen this movie, you definitely should as it's a classic.

10. 10 Things I Hate About You

This movie never fails to get me in a better mood. Heath Ledger is on this list twice because I love him. 

Honorable mentions:

The Incredibles

Mulan

Heathers

Stand By Me

What are some of your favorite movies of all time? Let me know in the comments!

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Unknown Spoiler Free Review

Unknown
by Wendy Higgins

Synopsis:

In this first installment of NY Times bestselling author, Wendy Higgins's debut New Adult series, a frighteningly realistic apocalyptic America is brought to life, entwined with searing romantic tension that will leave you eager for more. *** Amber Tate believes the worst thing she'll suffer in life is dealing with the unrequited love she feels for her brother's best friend, Rylen Fite. She also believes war is something unfortunate that happens places far, far away from her rural Nevada town. She's wrong on both counts. When an unknown organization meticulously bombs major cities in the United States and across the globe, a trickle-down effect spreads to remaining towns at an alarming speed-everything from food and water sources to technology and communications are compromised. Without leadership, the nation is split between paralysis and panic, but Amber isn't one to hide or watch helplessly. She's determined to put her nursing skills to use, despite the danger, even if it means working alongside the man she can never have. 

My Thoughts:

I received a copy for an honest review

I gave this book 3.5 stars. It was a good start to the series, definitely not my favorite, but it was a good place to start. As someone who’s read and loved Wendy Higgins’ books in the path, I was a bit harsh with the rating, just because it wasn’t quite up to the standard I hold her to.

I sort of jumped the gun and started the second book and almost finished the second book before writing this review. In my defense, It was only a couple hours later that I started writing this, I’m just a really fast reader, and the story was too good for me to stop.

I must address the elephant in the room. I got about 25% into this book and was just nauseated because, would you look at that, a wild love triangle appears! You know how much I detest them. It wasn’t that much about the love triangle as it was the situation it put the characters in. Our protagonist has been in love with this guy for a very long time and he seems to have feelings for her and we all know from the get-go that these two characters are going to end up together. So the fact that these two characters who obviously love each other start seeing other people it feels like their cheating. I know they aren’t actually but whenever I read s book where we know who the love interest is and then one of the characters gets into a relationship with another character, it feels wrong. It doesn’t matter if that other character is actually this person's significant other while the “Love Interest” is the one on the side, it just feels like cheating to me.

What I also didn’t like about this was that there really wasn’t any lead in to their relationships. Our protagonist sees this man for a while and they just sort of happen and we don’t get that much out of it, we just sort of meet him, get a description and how the protagonist feels about him and we are expected to feel the same even though we get no character depth. I really wasn’t feeling it and it actually made me nauseous at one point. This, however, is not the main love triangle I was referring to above.

The main love triangle of the story is a huge spoiler so I won’t get into that. I wanted to hate that other character so much as they were the one thing standing between our couple getting together. However, it is handled so well, this character is given a lot of depth and I grew to really care about them. I also really appreciated how our protagonist didn’t treat them terribly despite the situation they were in.

I really do love our protagonist, Amber, she is sweet and obviously smart. She makes really bad decisions sometimes, but it isn’t enough for me to hate her for it. It’s nice to know she isn’t a Mary Sue, she does have flaws.

As someone who has already pretty much finished the second book I can say that it is definitely worth it to continue reading the series and I’m intrigued by this world that the author has created. It has lots of potential for all sorts of cool twists and turns. I would suggest giving this book a read.

Waiting on Wednesday

Queen of Air and Darkness
by Cassandra Clare

Release Date: December 4th, 2018

Synopsis:

Dark secrets and forbidden love threaten the very survival of the Shadowhunters in Cassandra Clare’s Queen of Air and Darkness, the final novel in the #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling The Dark Artifices trilogy.

What if damnation is the price of true love?

Innocent blood has been spilled on the steps of the Council Hall, the sacred stronghold of the Shadowhunters. In the wake of the tragic death of Livia Blackthorn, the Clave teeters on the brink of civil war. One fragment of the Blackthorn family flees to Los Angeles, seeking to discover the source of the blight that is destroying the race of warlocks. Meanwhile, Julian and Emma take desperate measures to put their forbidden love aside and undertake a perilous mission to Faerie to retrieve the Black Volume of the Dead. What they find in the Courts is a secret that may tear the Shadow World asunder and open a dark path into a future they could never have imagined. Caught in a race against time, Emma and Julian must save the world of Shadowhunters before the deadly power of the parabatai curse destroys them and everyone they love.

My Thoughts:

This book is coming out a year from now and I am still the most excited I have ever been. We finally have a cover for this beautiful finale and I can't wait to actually get my hands on a copy. This series has been the best one Cassandra Clare has released yet and I have no doubts that this final installment will make the first two books look boring. 

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The Becoming of Noah Shaw Spoiler Free Review

The Becoming of Noah Shaw
by Michelle Hodkin

Release Date: November 7th, 2017

Synopsis:

In the first book of the Shaw Confessions, the companion series to the New York Times bestselling Mara Dyer novels, old skeletons are laid bare and new promises prove deadly. This is what happens after happily ever after.

Everyone thinks seventeen-year-old Noah Shaw has the world on a string.

They’re wrong.

Mara Dyer is the only one he trusts with his secrets and his future.

He shouldn’t.

And both are scared that uncovering the truth about themselves will force them apart.

They’re right.

My Thoughts:

I received this ARC through Netgalley

I gave this book 5 stars. I really loved how well this book was written, the characters weren't weird and different than they were in the original trilogy and it was well paced.

This book was a ticking time bomb. We know from the synopsis that Noah and Mara are going to have the main conflict in this book. Going into this book I was very nervous as I love Noah and Mara together. They are perfect together. It’s even harder seeing Noah grow to distrust Mara as he loves her so much. They love each other so much and that’s part of the problem, they are willing to do anything to protect each other. 

The fact that our former protagonist of the Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is now our antagonist. This is a unique position as this rarely happens. We see this character that we grew to love and fear and we’re seeing this side of her that we don’t really want to see. She is turning into something unrecognizable. 

It was interesting to see everything from Noah’s perspective, he seems like an open book, but he really is good at answering questions with questions, you can’t really know Noah. Noah is actually pretty noble. Pun intended. When we first met him in the first Mara Dyer book he seems like a sleazy playboy, now he can see that he isn’t what we thought he was. He’s a really good person who wants to do the right thing.

Noah and Mara’s banter was the same as it always was, even when they were in tough situations, they were stressed, they still had their easy banter going on. I loved this the ease between them, even though they might not have completely trusted each other, they could still talk to each other.

I hope that in the end Noah and Mara will find their way back to each other because I would love nothing more than to see them work it all out. I know this may not be the case because of the whole “You will love him to ruins” thing, but I still have hope for them.

Also, more of a sidenote, you should 100% read the Mara Dyer trilogy before reading or else it won’t make a lot of sense. There are a lot of references to things that happen in that first trilogy that is detrimental to this story.

Tower of Dawn Review

Tower of Dawn
by Sarah J. Maas

Spoilers

Synopsis:

Chaol Westfall has always defined himself by his unwavering loyalty, his strength, and his position as the Captain of the Guard. But all of that has changed since the glass castle shattered since his men were slaughtered, since the King of Adarlan spared him from a killing blow, but left his body broken.

His only shot at recovery lies with the legendary healers of the Torre Cesme in Antica—the stronghold of the southern continent's mighty empire. And with war looming over Dorian and Aelin back home, their survival might lie with Chaol and Nesryn convincing its rulers to ally with them.

But what they discover in Antica will change them both—and be more vital to saving Erilea than they could have imagined.

My Thoughts:

I gave this book 5 stars. This book exceeded my expectations, it was just so unexpected that I loved it. I didn’t expect to enjoy it, I’ve read a lot of mixed reviews, but I can say with 100% certainty I enjoyed this book.

I didn’t read this book right away as I normally do with Sarah J. Maas books because, to be honest, I wasn’t really looking forward to this book all that much. It was pretty much just an obstacle I had to get through so I could read the final Throne of Glass book next year.

You might be wondering, “Why Jessie? You used to love Chaol!” and that’s exactly why. I loved Chaol so much, I shipped him with Celaena even more and when their relationship fell through I had an impossible time getting over it. Much like Richard from Friends, getting over him was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I didn’t even notice the sparks between Celaena and Rowan in book three because I was too busy wanting Celaena to return and get back with him. Really the only way to get me past that was for me to start hating him for how he was acting in Queen of Shadows, he had to get on my bad side for me to get over Choalena. 

I am happy to say that I once again love Chaol. Sarah J. Maas has a way of molding how you feel about characters in every which way. She’ll make you hate one character for so long but then bring in all these things that make you love them and vice versa. She can make you angry at a character you once loved and then make you love them again. Sarah J. Maas is really good at what she does and I hope she never stops.

I was spoiled for the relationships in this book because some people on Instagram don’t know how to use spoiler warnings. Because of these spoilers, I wasn’t at all surprised when I started the book and Nesryn and Chaol’s relationship wasn’t doing so well. I knew exactly where it as going from the start and I have to say I wasn’t that sad to see them move on. I don’t know, I never really liked them together a whole lot. I mean, I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it as much as the other relationships in the series.

Despite being spoiled for the Yrene and Chaol development, I was still shocked by it. It seemed like something that was just out of the blue, I never actually expected to see Yrene in a book again. Although, knowing Sarah J. Maas and her love of bringing back all the other characters from Assassin’s Blade, I really should have known she would bring Yrene into this one. Also, I think it’s safe to say that because she keeps bringing in all these old characters, maybe the Silent Assassins might make an appearance in the next book. Who knows.

Back to the point, I was making about Yrene and Chaol, they surprised the hell out of me, but they work. What didn’t work about Chaol and Celaena was that they had clashing personalities. And while at first, this caused really good chemistry, eventually that clashing came down to more serious life decisions that they just could not get past. Yrene and Chaol seem to agree on most things and when one of them thinks the other is completely wrong they aren’t afraid to talk to one another, they communicate.

If you think that you don’t have to read this book to read the last Throne of Glass book I’m gonna have to smash your dreams to pieces because this book is 100% necessary. We find out so much new stuff that will come into play in the final book. We learn more about characters, plot lines converge and finally, we are seeing the whole picture and not just fragments of what we think is happening. 

Quotes:

“He’d almost told the princess that she could keep Hellas’s Horse, but there was something to be said about the prospect of charging down Morath foot soldiers atop a horse named Butterfly.” 

“Gods help him when Hasar and Aedion met.” 

“The heart he’d offered and had been left to drop on the wooden planks of the river docks. An assassin who had sailed away and a queen who had returned.” 

“Using the chair is not a punishment. It is not a prison,' he said softly. 'It never was. And I am as much of a man in that chair, or with that cane, as I am standing on my feet.' He brushed away the tear that slipped down her cheek.'I wanted to heal you,' she breathed.'You did,' he said, smiling. 'Yrene, in every way that truly matters . . . You did.'Chaol wiped away the other tears that fell, brushing a kiss to her hot cheek.” 

“Everything hurts.” Falkan grimaced, rubbing at his leg. “Remind me never to do anything heroic again.”