The Book Haul I Should Have Done Three Months Ago

I've been having bloggers block or something because I haven't been getting anything done for around two weeks, or barely anything at least. I finally started doing things again so I'm back on track and I'm gonna start out with this.

These are in no particular order.

So many...

1. The Scorpio Races

It was only seven dollars and the cover was so pretty I could not resist.

2. Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor

Saw it for twelve dollars so I couldn't resist...

3. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Got this on August first...

4. The Dream Thieves

Cause I needed this in my life.

5. Blue Lily Lily Blue

So good...

6. The Raven King

Just finished my review for this and will be posting it today or tomorrow.

7. Furthermore

But before I post the Raven King Review I have to post this one.

8. Empire of Storms

What a beautiful beautiful book this was.

9. Six of Crows

I've obviously read this one before but I didn't have it, so today when I was in Seattle my dad and I stopped at a Costco and I saw it there for 11 dollars and thought why not.

10. Crooked Kingdom

In the middle of reading this one...

11. A World Without You

I bought and read this in Mississauga, holy shit it's good. And mindfucky.

12. The Bronze Key

The cover though.

13. The Bell Jar

I've been reading this book for like, 2 or 3 years and I figured getting a physical copy would get me to read it. It's kind of working...

14. Rebel Spring

Had to have the sequel.

15. Samhain Island: Episode 1

I don't think I posted the review for this on here... if your really interested on my review just go to my blog, link is in my bio.

16. Three Dark Crowns

I'm reading this book next. So pumped.

17. A Torch Against the Night

I should probably read this one soon...

Okay that's it! Except maybe my copy of the Power by Jennifer L. Armentrout, but I lent that to a friend and it doesn't really have to be in my haul. Just sort of an honourable mentions of a sort...

Have a good day/night!

Furthermore Book Talk

Furthermore
by Tahereh Mafi

Release Date: August 30th, 2016

Spoilers

Synopsis:

There are only three things that matter to twelve-year-old Alice Alexis Queensmeadow: Mother, who wouldn't miss her; magic and color, which seem to elude her; and Father, who always loved her. The day Father disappears from Ferenwood he takes nothing but a ruler with him. But it's been almost three years since then, and Alice is determined to find him. She loves her father even more than she loves adventure, and she's about to embark on one to find the other.

But bringing Father home is no small matter. In order to find him she'll have to travel through the mythical, dangerous land of Furthermore, where down can be up, paper is alive, and left can be both right and very, very wrong. Her only companion is a boy named Oliver whose own magical ability is based in lies and deceit--and with a liar by her side in a land where nothing is as it seems, it will take all of Alice's wits (and every limb she's got) to find Father and return home to Ferenwood in one piece. On her quest to find Father, Alice must first find herself--and hold fast to the magic of love in the face of loss.

My Thoughts:

I gave this book 4 star. Tahereh's writing has remained as beautiful and poetic as it was in her previous novels, and I was incredibly happy about this. Overall, it was a solid read. I really enjoyed it. It was so wonderfully strange, it reminded me of the preteen "random" stage. It was fun and unpredictable. I would suggest reading this.

To start off, the main character was so very irrational. She was very quick to jump to conclusions, but she was also very chipper and afraid to be different. Tahereh did an amazing job at accurately portraying a 12 year old girl. I was convinced that she was still a kid, she never seemed older than she was. 

The very idea of the story was very strange, but creative. It was written very well in typical Tahereh Mafi fashion. Meaning, the writing style was on point and almost poetic. It was glaring off the pages at me, I could picture all of the scenarios and all the colours and landscapes. They were right there in my mind, I could see Furthermore. 

I'm a very emotional person. I cried during a commercial the other day. When we got to the end of the book and Alice is reunited with her mother after the journey and Alice is terrified that her mother will be mad at her and is going to hate her. I really felt for her and I had tears in my eyes when Alice's mother started crying because she had been so worried about her when she had left. All of her past treatment of Alice had just been forgotten because you could tell that her mother really did love her very much. 

The end seemed a bit abrupt. There were only about 20-30 pages left in the book when they "stumble" across Alice's father and they just got out of everything unscathed. I thought Alice's father had been arrested for wasting too much time. And even if what he had been doing was his sentence, then why was he just allowed to wander out of Furthermore, no questions asked. 

I also have to wonder, Alice broke her ruler thing because it was there to help her in a dire situation and Oliver later commented that she was probably going to get arrested because she was never actually supposed to use it. That was never resolved. There better be a second book because I feel like there is a lot of stuff that just hasn't happened yet.

Also, we need to go along with Alice during her task after her surrendering. She has this unique gift and I'm curious to see how she can use this to benefit the people of Ferenwood. 

I'm also incredibly glad that this wasn't somehow made into a romance. I feel like a lot of the time the end all be all of books is the love story. Now while I love a good romance, I don't think it should be in every book. It takes away from the plot. I'm glad that Alice and Oliver remained friends. I could totally see them getting together in the future, but I think they're way too young for that. I sound so old when I say that.

I was really on the fence about the paper fox, at times it seemed cool. It seemed like it generally cared about the children's well being and wanted them to get out of there before bad stuff happened, but at the same time, it ripped off Alice's arm and went on a huge rampage later on, so... Up in the air about that.

Quotes:

“The morning arrived the way Alice imagined a whisper would: in tendrils of gray and threads of gold, quietly, quietly. The sky was illuminated with great care and deliberation, and she leaned back to watch it bloom.”  

“Red was ruby, green was fluorescent, yellow was simply incandescent. Color was life. Color was everything.Color, you see, was the universal sign of magic.” 

“Alice was an odd girl, even for Ferenwood, where the sun occasionally rained and the colors were brighter than usual and magic was as common as a frowning parent.”  

“Mother didn’t care for the oddness of Alice; she wasn’t a parent who was predisposed to liking her children. She didn’t find their quirks endearing.” 

Samhain Island: Episode 1 Book Talk

Samhain Island: Episode 1
by Taylor Thomas

Release Date: October 30th, 2015

Spoilers

Synopsis:

Samhain Island is riddled with conspiracy theories, urban legends, and various monsters. This is the island Tremaine Boppel moved to with her family. She’s happy to start over in a new town, with new people and a new school. But what’s in that tower by her apartment? Why will the tenant never come out of it? Why does she keep getting notes out of thin air? She’s about to learn that there’s more to the island besides shadows and silly stories.

My Thoughts:

I gave this book 4 stars. It's avery promising entrance into this new world. We were introduced to all these new characters and plots, it was well enough explained that you never forgot who each  person was. It was overall, a very satisfying read and I'm excited to continue on in this serial novel series. 

Now I don't have a lot to say about this book since it was so small, but I'll try my best to touch on the topics as best as I can right now. 

I originally thought that the characters where going to be older than they were, they ended up being only 13 years old. They felt a bit older than this, but the way they acted sometimes really conveyed that they were in fact 13 years old. 

What I questioned about the book, was why did Sky's parental guardian let him live alone in an apartment bought by an average family? Did he not think that they would eventually get curious and want to find out who lived there? Seemed like a huge risk to me, especially since there are so many hunters around.

I don't really agree with the whole wanting immortality thing, maybe if I was in my twenties, but being frozen at 13 seems like my own personal hell. 13 is when you first enter teenager years, the years that suck. You're hormonal and pimply and absolutely moody. It's awful I hated being 13, it's a bit hard for me to believe that anyone would want to be that age forever. 

But you know, maybe the whole immortality thing works differently in this world. We didn't get into it all that much in this book, but we probably will in the next. Maybe the way immortality will work is you age until you are at the prime of your physical abilities. So she will age, just at some point she will stop physically aging. I hope it's something like that because I really can't get over the whole being frozen at 13 thing.

Quotes:

"Checking in the closet? Such a cliche."

"If I were a piece of celery, trust me, I would be petrified." 

"YOU STILL DOWN FOR IMMORTALITY? BECAUSE I AM. MEET ME BEHIND THE SCHOOL AT 4. NO HUNTERS THIS TIME." 

September Wrap Up & October TBR

I have had a pretty good reading month. It turns out that, ironically, going back to school has gotten me back onto a good reading schedule. I've read a grand total of 10 books this month, almost 11, but I just couldn't finish it in time. Le sigh. Anyway, most of these I did reviews on, so I'm not really going to get too much into them, I don't want to drone on.

1. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

I gave this book 5 stars. I really loved it. It was fast-paced and exciting. Also, not all about the relationship between the leads. It was refreshing.

2. Samhain Island: Episode 1 by Taylor Thomas

I gave this book 4 stars. I have a review in the works, I'm almost done, I've just been too lazy to go back and look for quotes. I swear I will finish it soon.

3. Born to be Bound by Addison Cain

I gave this book 3 stars. I'm only going to be including the weird smutty stuff I read this one time, just because it really does have a pretty good plot.

4. Born to br Broken by Addison Cain

I gave this book 3 stars too. Not the best writing on the planet, but it wasn't terrible. Also, I felt this overwhelming need to have at least some lower scoring books on a wrap up for once.

5. Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

I gave this book 5 stars. I loved it and I can't wait for the next book. Hell, I can't wait for another Sarah J. Maas book. I need one now.

6. The Bronze Key by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

I gave this book 4 stars. It was a pretty good book, I don't think it was as good as the first two, but it held it's own pretty well and I didn't hate it. For now that's enough for me. I'm excited to see how the series goes from here.

7. Ember X by Jessica Sorensen

I gave this book 5 stars. I was advised to read this book, or at least the young adult version, and I was not disappointed. I really do need to read the YA version though.

8. The Final Empire (Mistborn) by Brandon Sanderson

I gave this book 5 stars. I for some reason started this book several months ago, but then put it on the back burner. I finally picked it back up and just fell in love with everything about it. I need to continue on in the series.

9. Blue Lily Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

I gave this book 5 stars. I was so intrigued by the plot and the subplots and all the different conflicts that presented themselves or carried over from previous novels. I just loved everything about this book.

10. Changing Everything by Molly Mcadams

I gave this book 3 stars. I had to take away stars because I couldn't really figure out where the climax of the tale was. It was over and I was a bit confused. It was a fun and adorable romance though. I did really enjoy it.

Okay time for my October TBR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi

I'm about halfway through this book, I was trying to squeeze it into my September Wrap Up, but I just couldn't get it done. So my first read of October is going to be this.

2. Rebel Springs by Morgan Rhodes

I started this one and have put it off for too long. I must continue.

3. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

I started this book about a year or two ago and have recently picked it back up. I need to get this thing done with. It's nagging at me.

4. A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir

A whole bunch of people read this book in September and that was when I meant to read it, I just never got around to it. My bad.

5. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

I can't possibly wait much longer to read this book. As you may have noticed I am slowly but surely making my way through all of Stiefvater's books. What a wonderful time to be alive!

6. Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

I am honestly so excited to be reading this book. It just sounds so great. Dark, fantastic, and action packed. I love it already and I haven't even read a page.

7. I haven't decided yer, but it will be either The Coldest Girl in Coldtown or Library of Souls. It is still yet to be determined.