Weekly Wrap-Up & Book Haul

This is my first wrap up since my blog has gotten a new look!  Which, if you don't mind me asking, do you like it?  I actually bought the theme, for a very reasonable price, from Designer Blogs and if you're looking to buy one, I do recommend them for their prices and service.  I've been thinking about buying a theme for a while now, but it really depended on how much I was willing to dedicate myself to the blog.  Well, you may have been able to tell, but since I've been blogging regularly for a year now with no plans of stopping, I think it's safe to say I'll stick around for a while.

With the new design I've decided to do a few other things.  I'm going to try and include more of my own photographs rather than stick to what the internet has to offer.  Right now they're not the best, but practice makes perfect, and I hope you'll bear with me.  I've talked about doing this for a while now, but I'm finally implementing it.  (You may notice I've included one at the bottom of this post, actually...)

I've done a lot of reading this week, and I'm in a bit of a book high at the moment (which is awesome since this is a rare and elusive mood I often strive for but rarely reach).  Normally I do a "Currently Reading" and "Finished this Week" section to my wrap-ups, but I don't have my little notebook where I keep track of what I've finished, so you'll have to excuse that absence this week.

Currently Writing

Well, it's been slow, but I should hit my goal for the month tonight- YAY!

Currently Listening To

Panic! at the Disco's Death of a Bachelor.  Is this any surprise?  It should't be since not only am I a fan, but this album is fantastic and king among albums (at the moment).

Last Week

Monday-- College Journey #8: When College Isn't Right for You

Tuesday-- 5 Star Book Review: Shadow's Edge (Night Angel, #2)

Wednesday-- Waiting on Wednesday: The Star-Touched Queen

Thursday-- Graphic Novel Review: Skywalker Strikes (Star Wars, Vol. 1)

Friday-- Friday 56: Snow Like Ashes

This Week

Monday-- Tag

Tuesday-- Red Queen Review

Wednesday-- WoW

Thursday-- Interview with Paul Cude

Friday-- F56, Illuminae Review

Saturday-- Wrap-Up and Book Haul

Haul

Guys, I may have gone a little crazy this week (I was stress buying... long story that doesn't matter) but I've come to terms with it.  Plus, now I have all these pretty books!  (please don't judge my bad habits)

FOR REVIEW

You Were Here I picked this up from Netgalley because it's told in an interesting format, if I remember correctly, and coming off of Illuminae that sounds like a brilliant idea!

FROM AMAZON

Passenger Time travel guys... time travel.  And also, I've heard some really good things about this one.

Cruel Beauty and Crimson Bound Because fairy tell retellings and her new series starting later this year sounds like my cup of tea.

The Heir So I can finally catch up before the final book comes out.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue See above reason.

Library of Souls So I can catch up and finish this series.

Rebel Spring, Gathering Darkness, Frozen Tides, and A Book of Spirits and Thieves See above reasons.

Me Before You This isn't my typical genre, but after hearing so many good things, and seeing the cast for the movie.

Seraph of the End Vol. 4 I want to continue this series because I enjoyed it!

So, how was your guys' weeks?  Get anything good?  Read anything good?  Let me know in the comments!

Friday 56: Snow Like Ashes

Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice.  Click here to join in on the fun.

Rules: Grab a book, any book.

Turn to page 56, or 56% in your eReader.

Find a sentence, or a few, and post it.

This week I'm spotlighting Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch:

A heartbroken girl. A fierce warrior. A hero in the making.

Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now, the Winterians’ only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since.

Orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee, raised by the Winterians’ general, Sir. Training to be a warrior—and desperately in love with her best friend, and future king, Mather — she would do anything to help her kingdom rise to power again.

So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore Winter’s magic, Meira decides to go after it herself. Finally, she’s scaling towers, fighting enemy soldiers, and serving her kingdom just as she’s always dreamed she would. But the mission doesn’t go as planned, and Meira soon finds herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics – and ultimately comes to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.

From page 56 of Snow Like Ashes:

Once Angra kills us all, he'll probably reopen the mines.  But as long as we live, it's more valuable to dangle our useless mines in our faces, taunt us and distract us into making mistakes, getting caught, falling into open hands.

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While you're here I implore you to check out my current giveaways!  I'm giving away two signed Black Widow art prints and any book from Book Depository that $20 or under.  Best of luck!

Graphic Novel Review: Skywalker Strikes (Star Wars, Vol. 1)

Writer: Jason Aaron

Artists: John Cassaday and Laura Martin

Edition: Paperback

Buy Links: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Depository

Goodreads Link

Rating: 4 Stars

I picked this up pretty much the day after seeing The Force Awakens because I was in such a mood for Star Wars things.  And this did not disappoint.  If you even sorta considered picking it up, just do it!

Skywalker Strikes takes place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, following Luke, Leia, and Han on a mission for the Rebellion.  Things don't turn out quite the way everyone would have liked, which leads Luke to reevaluate his status as a Jedi, and Han to confront what he's actually doing helping the Rebels.

Immediately it was like I could hear the voices coming off the page.  The art is fantastic at making the characters appear as they did in the movies, and the writing is so lively and exact that it's not hard to imagine everyone saying what they say.  It was a pleasure to fall back into this story without a hesitation, and it fleshes out the characters in such a nice way that even hard core movie fans can appreciate it.

Nothing was particularly surprising about the story, since the major spoiler at the end was spoiled for me months ago, when it originally happened.  In fact, you've probably heard of the spoiler, too, but I won't mention it here.  It actually helped me appreciate the character and heightened the tension knowing the truth.

Besides our heroes, Vader and Boba Fett play important roles in this volume.  I loved how ruthless Vader was portrayed, and it makes me eager to pick up his own series soon.  He's a bad guy, and while I've always kinda appreciated him, I didn't actually love to hate him until reading this.

So, yes, this is a must read if you're a fan of Star Wars.  And, with volume two coming out in a few weeks, you won't have to wait long to see where the story goes.

I CHANGED MY BLOG DESIGN!!

Okay this was a big decision, and I really, really, really like it!  I'm super happy with it, and it's a decision I've been thinking about for a while, and I'm glad I finally made it!

I hope you like it, too!  Let me know what you think in the comments :)

Waiting on Wednesday: The Star-Touched Queen

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.  Click here to join in on the fun.

This week I'm waiting on The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

Here's the description taken from Goodreads:

Cursed with a horoscope that promises a marriage of Death and Destruction, sixteen-year-old Maya has only earned the scorn and fear of her father's kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her world is upheaved when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. But when her wedding takes a fatal turn, Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Yet neither roles are what she expected. As Akaran's queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar's wife, she finds friendship and warmth.
But Akaran has its own secrets - thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Beneath Akaran's magic, Maya begins to suspect her life is in danger. When she ignores Amar's plea for patience, her discoveries put more than new love at risk - it threatens the balance of all realms, human and Otherworldly.
Now, Maya must confront a secret that spans reincarnated lives and fight her way through the dangerous underbelly of the Otherworld if she wants to protect the people she loves.
THE STAR-TOUCHED QUEEN is a lush, beautifully written and vividly imagined fantasy inspired by Indian mythology.

Why I'm Waiting

The cover is gorgeous and it sounds really good!  I'm eager to see where this one goes.  Plus, "Inspired by Indian mythology" pretty much had me sold.

This book comes out on May 3rd, 2016

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While you're here I implore you to check out my current giveaways!  I'm giving away two signed Black Widow art prints and any book from Book Depository that $20 or under.  Best of luck!

5 Star Book Review: Shadow's Edge (Night Angel, #2)

Author: Brent Weeks

Website, Facebook, Twitter

Edition: Paperback

Buy Links: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Depository

Goodreads Link

Related Reviews: Way of Shadows

Rating: 5 Stars

This review will be spoiler free (for this novel at least; there are SPOILERS for book one, so read at your own risk).  If you're interested in a more in-depth review where I talk about spoiler stuff, let me know in the comments!

Shadow's Edge picks up nearly exactly where Way of Shadows left off.  Kylar, Elene, and Uly are leaving their country to try and carve a new life for themselves.  Kylar has sworn to give up killing.  Of course, peace can't last in this war-torn world.

Here are the three most important things you need to know going into this book:

1) Kick-ass ladies.  I think, almost subconsciously, the fact that there were very few women in the first book was killing me.  There wasn't very much room for me to connect with anyone, and the male dominance was boring.  This one throws several old characters into a new light and also introduces new ones that I love.  I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed some of these characters, and several that I started off disliking had such incredible character growth that by the end I adored them.

2) Magic takes center-stage.  In the first book magic is a bit confusing and not really super prevalent.  There are a lot of different orders and the rules of magic don't make sense.  That's quickly rectified by this novel.  All the different orders aren't too different, and now that Kylar can use magic it's easier for the reader to see how it all works.  I actually really enjoyed the way the magic works in this series, now that I can understand it.  It's not as defined as something Brandon Sanderson might create, but it's also structured to be a bit undefinable.  Looking forward to seeing how magic progresses in the final book in this series.

3) War.  I've read several books about wars, whether real or fantasy.  Of the the fantasy ones, this one takes the cake.  Never before have I felt so transported into a war, a real war with real consequences and political maneuverings and good generals and bad generals and spies and everything else, that didn't actually exist.  The plot was constantly moving, carrying the characters down their (unexpected) paths.  There were several moments when reading that I had to remind myself this wasn't actually real.

In a nutshell, this is a fantastic read.  If you picked up the first book and weren't completely thrilled with it, neither was I.  But this changes everything and is worth a go.

College Journey #8: When College Isn't Right for You

This was originally going to be a very different post.  I was going to talk about Winter Break and how it went on how adjusting back afterwards wasn't nearly as hard as I thought.  But, well, I decided to talk about something else.  And this something else is going to have a lot of personal feelings in it and it's taken a bit of a toll on my mental health.  Basically, I'm not doing great with it, but I wanted to share somewhere and I also think it's important for people who are considering college to take into consideration.  Anyway, here we go:

So, I talked a little about this in my wrap up, but two days ago, Saturday, my roommate left.  She was having a hard time being away from home (she's from California and the school is in Illinois- so quite the distance) and classes were more stressful than she had thought.  So, she decided to transfer out a week into the term.  I'm glad for her because it's what she needs to be healthy and happy, and we plan to stay in contact.  But I'm also incredibly sad because our friend group will never be in the same spot at the same time again, and I won't have that friend here all the time.  It's really strange when you live with someone for several months, get used to each others patterns, and then suddenly, your halfway across the country from them.  So that's my head space.

And it has me thinking.  College isn't for everyone.  I mean, I've known this for a while, but I've never gotten a front row seat to see how it really is a bad decision for some people.  If you're so worried about the idea of it that you're making yourself sick, here are some things to consider:

You can take a gap year.

I have a neighbor who did this.  He got a job, worked for a year, and then went to school.  And he's pretty happy with that decision.  My roommate agrees this was probably the path she should have taken.  In college, age doesn't matter so much as it does in high school.  A lot of things don't matter so much in college as they did in high school.  Taking a gap year really won't hurt your reputation (if that's what you're worried about) and will actually probably prepare you a bit better in some cases.  I know schools don't really encourage this, which is a shame.  My school was adamant against it, and I'm not sure why.  I get that I went to a college prep high school, but still.  The downfall: I considered taking a gap year, but I'm glad I didn't go through with it because I'm one of those people who has to work hard to try new things.  If I hadn't gone to college when all my friends went off I probably wouldn't go to college at all and stayed home.  So, if this is a fear, definitely don't take a gap year.  In the end, you know yourself better than anyone else, so make the decision for yourself.

Community College

Community college is something I think is looked down on and I'm not sure why.  My mom went to community college, several of my friends go to community college, and I have cousins who go as well.  Some are really, really good, too!  Like, they're practically universities in some cases!  You don't even have to go for all four years, either.  Go for the first year, or the first two, and get your feet wet with the idea of college.  Take classes you're interested in and classes that will get your Gen Eds out of the way.  See how stressful college is and get used to the idea of higher education.  Plus, community college is a much cheaper option.

Tour the potential schools.

If you think you're going to go live at a school for more than half a year you have to remember that this place will be your home and that even in the "adult world" you never buy a house before touring it (I mean, at least, I've never heard of anyone not doing that...).  You need to see if you'll be comfortable here.  And go during the school season, so you can see how busy it gets and how friendly other students are.  And going during a warmer month so that you can walk around the town, on foot. On foot!  Don't just drive through, because then you won't get a real sense of the size of a town.  This is super important, and if you're not happy with the town, take this into account when picking a school.  You want to make sure you're happy where you are, because you will be living there!

So that's all I've got to say on this topic.  I really miss my roommate already, and falling asleep and waking up alone is strange to say the least.  But I'm glad she's made the decision that will be best for her.

I hope this post is helpful to people thinking about college!  If you have any questions or comments, let me know down below.

Weekly Wrap-Up and Book Haul

So, my first week of classes has successfully wrapped up.  The classes themselves weren't too stressful (Latin was cancelled except for Monday when we're meant to meet every day of the week, which was nice), but just getting back into the swing of things was hard enough.  And, on top of all this, my roommate decided to transfer out before the term ended, and she left this morning.  That was actually really hard to deal with since we've become really close friends, but it's the best decision she could have made.  That was really what prevented me from being super active online this week.  But, now that things have settled down, I'm ready to get back into this like I was during this winter break.  Enough about me.

Finished this Week

Well, I finished reading Red Queen, which was amazing!  I haven't been able to sit down and write a review, yet, because of how much love I have for this book.  But I will write a review and that will be out somewhat shortly because it was a perfect book.

Currently Reading

The Night Parade, an ARC that I'm happy to be digging into (even though I'm not far).

Currently Writing

Not any new news, really.  I've hit the 29k word mark this week, which is nice.

Currently Listening

Taylor Swift's old stuff.  For some reason I've just been in the mood for it and it's been a pleasure.

Last Week

Sunday-- Book Goals and Resolutions for the New Year

Monday-- Blogging Tips #4: Blogging Safety

Tuesday-- Book Review: Bentwhistle the Dragon in a Threat from the Past

Wednesday-- Waiting on Wednesday: Heir to the Sky

Thursday-- January Pre-Orders

Friday-- Friday 56: Soundless, Book Review: Snow Like Ashes

This Week

Monday-- College Journey 8

Tuesday-- Book Review: Shadow's Edge

Wednesday-- Waiting on Wednesday

Thursday-- Graphic Novel Review: Skywalker Strikes

Friday-- Friday 56

Saturday--Wrap Up and Book Haul

Haul

I have a big haul this week, but most of them were bought with Christmas money, so I don't feel so bad.

FOR REVIEW

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge is a book I requested and received from Netgalley.  I'm really excited for this one, it sounds right up my alley and I'm eager to dive in.  I'll be reading this one, hopefully, early next month, though you probably won't see a review until much closer to its release in June.

MANGA

QQ Sweeper Vol. 1 is one that I bought nearly on a whim.  It sounded good and I needed to fill my cart on the Barnes and Noble website.  It's only a three volume series, so I'm curious to see how that works since I've never read a manga series that short.

HARDCOVERS

The Mortal Instruments First Four Books.  I now own three copies each of these books and I don't have pictures to show you these, so I just have to explain them.  Basically, I was at Walmart and looking in the book section (as one does) and saw that there were hardcovers of the first four TMI books in their new covers.  And not just any hardcovers, but library edition (I'm pretty sure).  In fact, they really shouldn't exist for the casual buyer.  But, they were on clearance for five dollars each (which surprised me further) so I picked them up!

A Thousand Pieces of You and Illuminae are two books I bought to buddy read this month.  I'm super excited to read these, you have no idea!

Truthwitch was a preorder that finally came in and it's so much prettier in person!  I can't wait to read this one, most likely in the next month or so.

NOT BOOKS

I won Oblivion in a giveaway over at the wonderful Lauren Stoolfire's blog!  This was one of my favorite movies when I saw it and I can't wait to finally sit down and see it again.  It's really a fantastic movie if you've never seen it.

So how was your week?  Let me know in the comments!

Book Review: Snow Like Ashes (Snow Like Ashes, #1)

Author: Sara Raasch

Website, Facebook, Twitter

Edition: Hardcover

Buy Links: Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Book Depository

Goodreads Link

Rating: 3 Stars

Snow Like Ashes is one of the most popular books on tumblr, so I've had my eye on it for a while.  I picked it up because it sounded like the recipe for a perfect book and the cover was gorgeous.  Well, as much as I liked it, I don't think it lived up to all the hype, which ended up hurting the book.

Snow Like Ashes follows Meira, one of the few remaining survivors of Winter that is still free.  The rest are either dead, or enslaved by Spring.  Among the other free Winterians is Mather, the king.  He, and the rest of their group, is searching for the pieces of the locket that gave their queen, Mather's mother, power.  The catch: even if he does get the remaining pieces of the locket, he won't be able to use it.

First off, this immediately reminded me of Finnikin of the Rock, which is a fantastic book, and the Throne of Glass series, which is also very fantastic.  If you like either of those books, you'll probably be drawn to this one.  The concept of the book was very cool, I loved the idea of eight kingdoms, four of them governed by the seasons, and the residents of the four season kingdoms looking like their season.  It was very cool and that aspect was well done, finding beauty and horror in all the seasons (at least, thematically).  I also liked the story that was being told.

My biggest two problems are world-building and character-wise.  The world just felt strange I guess. Nothing felt like it was a realistic distance from each other, and looking at the map in the front of the book confused things even more.  I didn't get why four of the kingdoms would touch, then three others would touch, and there would be one random one way off, all surrounding a giant mass of land.  The length with which they traveled this giant mass was way too fast, too, meaning that the kingdoms would be super tiny, according to the map, which was not the idea I got from the book, though I suppose it's never stated otherwise at any point.  Also, the magic system, while it made sense, wasn't as fleshed out as I would have liked it.  I do think my world-building problems could come from the fact that I've been reading a lot of epic fantasy lately, and am a little bit of a snob in that regard- I love worlds where every single piece seems realistic and you know everything from flora and fauna to family trees (you get the idea).

Character-wise, I didn't dislike any of the characters, per say, I just didn't connect with any of them.  There were moments where I totally got Meira and liked her a lot, and then moments where I was rather distant from her.  The side characters weren't as fleshed out as I would have liked, but the amount of screen time dedicated to them didn't really advocate for them to need such in-depth characters.  I wouldn't call it a weakness of the book, but, like with the world building, it was slightly annoying.

The most problematic part, by far, was the forced love triangle.  Normally I don't mind a love triangle, in fact, I tend to like them.  However, I can't stand any sort of relationship that just has no chemistry, and none of the romantic relationships in this book had any chemistry.  Meira and Mather made some sense, though they never seemed, outside Meira's inner thoughts, to have a connection.  Same with Meira and Theron, though there was one spot where I thought it was somewhat romantic.  The whole time it was killing me that this was part of the plot at all.

Outside of that, though, it was worth the read and I'm glad I read it.  Check it out if you're a fan of YA fantasy, since you'll probably enjoy it.

Friday 56: Soundless

Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice.  Click here to join in on the fun.

Rules: Grab a book, any book.

Turn to page 56, or 56% in your eReader.

Find a sentence, or a few, and post it.

This week I'm spotlighting Richelle Mead's most recent YA novel, Soundless.  Here's the description taken from Goodreads:

For as long as Fei can remember, there has been no sound in her village, where rocky terrain and frequent avalanches prevent residents from self-sustaining. Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom.

When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries from the zipline shrink and many go hungry. Fei’s home, the people she loves, and her entire existence is plunged into crisis, under threat of darkness and starvation.

But soon Fei is awoken in the night by a searing noise, and sound becomes her weapon.

Richelle Mead takes readers on a triumphant journey from the peak of Fei’s jagged mountain village to the valley of Beiugo, where a startling truth and an unlikely romance will change her life forever...

From page 56 of Soundless:

Li Wei is very still now, regarding me with new interest. What did you do? 

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While you're here I implore you to check out my current giveaways!  I'm giving away two signed Black Widow art prints and any book from Book Depository that $20 or under.  Best of luck! 

January Pre-Orders

So, I have the habit to preorder books, more so lately, it seems, and I wanted a chance to spotlight the books I'm most excited for releasing this month.  I'm thinking this might even become a monthly post where I talk about the books I've preordered.  So, without further ado, here we go:

Truthwitch

by Susan Dennard

releases January 6th

I've actually never read anything by Susan Dennard, even though I've had a book of hers sitting on my shelf for quite some time.  I'm looking forward to this one, since it sounds awesome, and since I've heard some really amazing early reviews.

Sword and Verse

by Kathy MacMillan 

releases January 19th

I'm excited for this one because it sounds really good.  And, I'll be buddy reading this one, so that's an extra exciting bit.

Noragami Vol. 10

releases January 26th

I think this goes without saying, but this is part of my favorite series, and this volume is going to break my heart, I know it.  So, yeah, I'll need to prepare for this one a bit before I get to it.

The Siren

by Kiera Cass

releases January 26th

I love the Selection series (even though I'm way behind) and can't wait for this one.  It's not just the author, though, that makes me excited.  I mean, have you seen this cover?  And the description?  Sounds like a dream and I'm dying as I wait.

Showdown on Smuggler's Moon

releases January 26th

I recently read volume one, and it was surprisingly amazing, so of course I had to preorder this one.  Hope it's as good as the first was (though how can it not be, right?).

Night Study

by Maria V Snyder

releases January 26th

I haven't read a single book in this series, but I own all of them on my kindle because I expect to read and love them.  I'm strange like that, and I actually used to do this a lot more two years ago.  I don't do this super-buying anymore except in the rare occasion, such as this.  I'm really looking forward to bingeing them all since it sounds right up my alley.

Horimiya Vol. 2

releases January 26th

The first volume was one of my favorite reads of last year and I'm bouncing up and down just thinking about this one.  It's one of the cutest stories I've ever read and thats exactly what I need in my life right now.

Dark Days Club

by Alison Goodman

releases January 26th

This reminded me of Infernal Devices and while I've never read Eon or Eona, my friend says they're very good.  So, I'm looking forward to this one.

What books have you preordered or are looking forward to this month?  Let me know in the comments!

Waiting on Wednesday: Heir to the Sky

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.  Click here to join in on the fun.

Book Review: Bentwhistle the Dragon in a Threat from the Past (Bentwhistle the Dragon, #1)

Author: Paul Cude

Website, Facebook, Twitter

Edition: Received from the author

Buy Links: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Goodreads Link

Rating: 3.75 Stars

I received a copy of Bentwhistle the Dragon in a Threat from the Past from the author in exchange for an honest review.

This was an incredibly hard book to rate, and I'm not sure exactly why.  I struggled over picking a star rating, which is why it ended up with a fraction of a fraction.  It wasn't quite a four star read, but it also wasn't a three star.  I decided on 3.75 over 3.5 because I enjoyed it more than I did with several 3.5's I've read.  But, yeah, it's somewhere in that area.

A Threat from the Past is about Peter Bentwhistle, a regular dragon who happily works in the human world everyday, has good friends, and loves his sport- Hockey.  Then, everything changes when his boss starts acting strange, and a villainous character named Manson seems to be behind it.  The problem?  No one believes Peter when he says something's wrong, not even his best friends.  So Peter must, with the help of an old, and somewhat strange, dragon named Gee Tee, help his boss and discover what Manson really wants.

The beginning of the novel sets everything up really well with a retelling of the classic St. George and the Dragon.  It cements the most important parts of the world building: that dragons have lived among humans for a long time and protect and aid them in their ventures.  Also, that some dragons hate humans, and seek to ruin them, which explains many bad things that have happened in human history.  Throughout the novel Cude does a great job at growing the dragon world and explaining interesting tidbits about their culture.

Characters, too, were well done.  I knew who each person was quickly, since they were easily defined, and I connected, at least in some way, with each of them.  I don't mean to make it sound like they were two-dimensional, though, because each was fully fleshed out.  Besides characters and world-building, I generally liked the plot, though this is where I had problems.

First of all, I thought going into this that it was an epic fantasy.  It's actually an urban fantasy- another genre I love- which didn't bother me so much as surprise me and catch me off guard.  My expectations had to change quickly.  It was a bit of a rock, though nothing that really affected my pleasure of it once I got used to the change.  However, about midway through the plot seemed to stop all together, spending a bunch of time on sports.  I don't have a problem with sports in general, but it felt more like a sub-plot when it was taking the spot of the main plot.  It dragged the story for me, though it wasn't completely uninteresting.

Overall, it was this plot slowing down that took it's toll.  The novel did wrap up nicely, and I liked the last scenes, they were very full circle, and it left room for the next book in the series.  I plan to pick that one up shortly.  On a side note, as I read I found some similarities to Harry Potter, in strange ways I've never connected similarities before.  It wasn't really a problem, but it made me laugh a little at these strange occurrences.

Blogging Tips #4: Blogging Safety

This is my first Blogging Tips post since November since it is now a monthly post and not bi-weekly. I've been blogging for over a year now (just barely) and while I'm no expert in the field, I do think I've picked up quite a few things.

Today I wanted to talk about Blogging Safety, not because I've had issues, or am directly connected to anyone who has (to my knowledge) but because I was thinking about it lately.  It's going to be a rather short post, because there's little to say on this, since I feel like a bit of it is common knowledge since safety on the internet isn't so different from safety in real life.

Don't be stupid

Okay, that sounds really harsh, but it's the only way I can think of summing up this point.  Don't just dangle your address out there for the world to see.  Sometimes I put my general location out there, like the fact that I live in Illinois, and I have actually talked about my college, but I don't get more specific than that.  You could theoretically find me, but it would take a bit of work (considering I use a pen name of sorts... I've talked about that here, if you're interested) and I trust that the regular visitor probably doesn't want to.  I'm not completely locked down on my location, but I don't like everyone to know.  Of course, you could keep where you are even quieter than I do.  It's a choice.  In fact, before I turned eighteen, I never even put the country I was in online (outside of my personal Facebook), because I was rather paranoid.  The bottom line: don't be stupid.

"But What About ARC's and Galleys and the like?"

Well, that's a different matter.  You say you want ARCs?  Well, it's good to have a review policy somewhere on the blog with a way to contact you, but DO NOT PUT YOUR ADDRESS THERE!  Seriously, because you will get spam for sure, and maybe worse.  This falls under the don't be stupid idea.  If someone contacts you with a book they want you to read, if you've never heard of them, duo a quick google.  See if they're legit, if other reviews have reviewed the book, if they have a website and a track record.  Don't feel like you have to go total private eye or anything, but don't get scammed.  If you're requesting through a traditional publisher, you're probably safer since they do have a track record.

"And how about giveaways I've won?"

Well, first of all, congrats.  Winning is awesome!  Okay, but do you give your address?  Well, it's a little late now that you've won to ask yourself this since most of the time it says that you need to be able to give your address in an email in order to receive your prize.  So, really, in this case, just think about it before you enter.  I've never had any problems with anyone, and most of the time, I don't enter giveaways unless I know the blogger.  If it's not a blog, but a different kind of website, go back to the idea of "Don't Be Stupid" and if it feels like a scam or like it's wrong, don't enter.

Moral of this story: Trust your gut and don't be stupid.  Pretty simple.

I hope this doesn't come off too negative, since I'm really writing this post to be helpful.  I really just want everyone to be safe on the internet and be careful with their information.  (I will admit I'm writing this a bit late, so it's not as streamlined as I would like.)

Book Goals and Resolutions for the New Year

So, last year I read a crazy amount of books!  I had a goodreads goal of 89 books, which I totally blew past, ending up with nearly 130 books read!  About a third of those are graphic novels and manga, but that's still a pretty incredible amount of novels I managed to get through.  Since I seem to have a great year of reading followed by a poor year of reading (two years ago I struggled to get anything read and the year before that blew all expectations out of the water), I'm only raising my goal slightly this year to be a total of 96 books read.  You're probably wondering why I don't just shoot for a hundred, but I actually came to the number 96 through real math (look school was good for something!).  I read about five books a month, so five times twelve is sixty, plus the approximate three graphic novels/manga I read a month (assuming I keep up that pace), which is thirty-six.  Add those two together and 96 is the answer.  I'm hoping I can actually get past that number, but I don't want to be too optimistic in case it's a hard year.

One of my major goals, beyond reading 96 books, is to read more of the books I already have and stop buying new ones when I won't get to them right away.  My shelves are all but full at this point, and maybe a quarter of them are unread.  So, my plan is to read five books I already own before buying any new ones (with some exceptions, like preorders).  This probably won't be too difficult, since the books I own are all books I want to read in the first place.  Mostly, I just need to kick bad habits to the curb.

I'm also participating in some reading challenges this year!

For the debut author challenge I plan to read about twelve debut novels.  I'm not a hundred percent sure what all of them will be, but I will for sure be getting to The Crown's Game, which is my only for sure plan at the moment.

I'm also participating in the 2016 Finishing Series Reading Challenge where the goal is to finish as many series that you've already started, or to get caught up on them in the least.  My goal is to reach level four of the challenge, which is reading 7 or more series'.  Again, I'm not 100% sure what all these series' will be, but I'm intent on finishing Kane Chronicles, The Chemical Gardens Trilogy, The Lunar Chronicles, and The Mara Dyer Series in the very least.

The final challenge I'm participating in is similar to the Finishing Series reading challenge, except this one is series' finales that are being published this year.  I plan to aim for level two of this challenge, which is 5-10 series' finales.  I have no idea what any of these books are going to be, honestly, but I'm intent on reaching the goal.

At the end of each month, when I do my wrap up, I'll include what books count for what challenge, if any.  You can also find them easily under the 2016 tab.

So, those are my goals for reading this year.  I'm excited to begin the New Year with these in mind and I think it'll help keep me motivated to finish things I've started.  Are you participating in any challenges this year?  Let me know in the comments!

Weekly Wrap-Up and Book Haul

So, this week I wasn't as active on the internet as I would have liked to be.  I was able to keep up on the blog, which was a bit of a hurdle, but I spent maybe ten minutes on twitter and maybe half an hour looking at other people's blogs.  Not only was I super busy getting ready to go back to school, spending time with friends I won't see again until the summer, and meeting up with family I don't normally meet up, but these last couple of days I've been sick.  It's a head cold, more or less, but it's absolutely drained me.  I think part of it stems from stress, since, for some reason, I've stressed myself out over the fact that school is starting again.  My mind is rebelling a little bit and telling me this semester is going to be hellish and horrible and I won't have any time to read or spend with friends.  Rationally, I know this isn't true, but it's taken a toll on my health regardless.  Last night I sat down, though, and walked myself through the reasons it won't be like this and ended up getting one of the best nights of sleep I've had in a while.  So, things are looking up, and by this time next week my stress and cold should have disappeared or at least gone down a bit.

Finished this Week

I finished Shadow's Edge, which was quite good, and volume nine of Noragami and Stray Stories.  It was a very good week, in terms of content read.

Currently Reading

I started Red Queen, and while I was excited to read it, I didn't have huge expectations for it.  While I'm not super far, I am loving it!  Within the first chapter it surpassed my expectations, honestly.  I don't know if I just needed this type of book right now, or what, but I'm really glad I picked it up.

Currently Writing

I haven't talked about it in a while, but I've been working on a novel for a bit now.  I restarted in December because I was unhappy with the direction, and since then I've written over 20k words, which is crazy incredible for me.  I'll keep you guys posted somewhat.

Last Week

Sunday-- Sunday TV

Tuesday-- Top 15 Reads of 2015

Wednesday-- WoW: The Glittering Court

Thursday-- December Wrap-Up

Friday-- F56: The Golden Braid, January TBR 

Next Week

Sunday-- Book Goals and Resolutions for 2016

Monday-- Blogging Tips #4: Blogging Safety

Tuesday-- Book Review of Bentwhistle #1

Wednesday-- WoW

Thursday-- January Pre-Orders

Friday-- F56, Book Review of Snow Like Ashes

Saturday-- Wrap Up and Haul

Haul

My goal this week was to have no book haul, since I splurged quite a bit last week.  But, I do have some books.  However: all of them were either free on the kindle store or gifts from a friend!  So I actually did save money on books this week!

KINDLE EBOOKS

Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic

I saw someone talking about this on book tube, and since it was free and sounded good, I thought I would pick it up.  I don't think I'll pick it up anytime soon, since it almost feels like a summer read, but I am looking forward to it.

Harmony Black

This is one of the kindle first books this month, and while there were a couple that sounded appealing, I decided to go with this one and see how it was.

PAPERBACK

Dune

I am so excited to read this book!  My roommate, who was my secret santa coincidentally, sent this to me for Christmas.  It's one of her top two books ever (her other favorite is Jane Eyre) and now I can finally read it!  I've actually wanted to read it for a bit, and now I plan to get to it in February.

COFFEE TABLE BOOK

Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual Chronology

This was another gift from my roommate and it's so cool!  It goes up until a few years ago (before Disney bought the franchise) and collects everything and anything Star Wars.  I've flipped through it a bit and wish I had more time to spend with it, since it, sadly, cannot come with me to college (it's just too big).

NON-BOOKS

Poe Bear

So, one of my Christmas gifts was a trip to Build-A-Bear because they have Star Wars themed bears and such.  I really wanted one that I could dress up like Poe Dameron (who, if you didn't know, is my favorite character from TFA) and he turned out so cute!  If you squeeze the paw it plays the Star Wars theme song.

Star Labs Sweater

My dad found these on Amazon and bought me one!  I love it and have already worn it around quite a bit.  In case you don't know, it's from the show The Flash, which my dad and I both watch regularly.

So that was my week.  Hopefully I start feeling better soon.  Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!

January TBR

Happy New Year!  It's 2016... wow.  Well, for the first month of the year I'm going to be a bit ambitious.  I want to try and read 8 books.  That's more than I usually get through, but I'm going to be buddy reading a couple with Maryam from Once Upon a Story (go check out her blog!) and I think this will help me read more quickly.  I'm super excited to participate in buddy reads (it's something I've always wanted to do, honestly, it just never came up at the right time before), but I don't know, yet, what time/days we'll be reading the books, so I just threw them in the list below in no particular order, really.

1. Red Queen

I'll for sure be reading this, since I started it this morning.  I'm super excited to get through this one, since I've had my eye on it when it came out a year ago.  I got it as a Christmas gift, and with book two coming out next month, I couldn't be more thrilled to dive in.

2. The Night Parade

This was an ARC I received a while ago and have put off for no good reason.  I'm super excited to read this one, the cover is gorgeous, and it sounds really good.

3. Illuminae

This is one of the books I'll be buddy reading.  I ordered it, and it should be arriving on Tuesday (assuming everything goes as planned).  I don't know when we'll actually be reading it, but I'm so very excited for it.  In fact, this is the book I'm most excited to read this month.

4. A Thousand Pieces of You

This is another of the buddy reads, and another I'm really excited to read.  This, too, should be arriving on Tuesday.  I love this cover and I've wanted to read it for a while.

5. Bentwhistle the Dragon in a Chilling Revelation

I read the first book in this series last month, and enjoyed it, so my plan is to read the second book this month.  I'm looking forward to it.  This is, honestly, my favorite cover in the trilogy.

6. Fairest

I love the Lunar Chronicles and, in order to make the series last as long as possible, I plan to only read one book from it a month until I completely catch up.  In order to keep on that, I'll read Fairest this month, Winter next month, and the month after that Stars Above.  I'm super excited for Fairest, and I'm also excited that it'll be a quick read, probably only take me a day.

7. Beyond the Shadows

Book two was crazy and heartbreaking and I'm super excited to finish off this series.  This is the longest book on this list, so I may only get halfway through it, though I hope to completely finish it.

8. Sword and Verse

This is the final book I'll be buddy reading, and it also comes out this month.  I've had this one preordered for a bit because I'm excited for it and I've heard good early reviews.

I'm not really sure what manga or graphic novels I'll be reading this month; it's kinda up in the air in that category.  But, I'm sure it'll all be good!  What are you going to be reading this month?  Let me know in the comments!

Friday 56: The Golden Braid

Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice.  Click here to join in on the fun.

Rules: Grab a book, any book.

Turn to page 56, or 56% in your eReader.

Find a sentence, or a few, and post it.

This week I'm spotlighting The Golden Braid, which I received as an ARC from the publisher, so the below quote may not be the same in the final edition.

Here's the description taken from Goodreads:

The one who needs rescuing isn’t always the one in the tower.

Rapunzel can throw a knife better than any man around. And her skills as an artist rival those of any artist she’s met. But for a woman in medieval times, the one skill she most desires is the hardest one to obtain: the ability to read.

After yet another young man asks for Rapunzel’s hand in marriage, Mother decides they need to move once again, but this time to a larger city. Rapunzel’s heart soars—surely there she can fulfill her dream. But Mother won’t let her close to a man. She claims that no man can be trusted.

After being rescued by a knight on the road to the city, and in turn rescuing him farther down the road, Rapunzel’s opportunity arrives at last. This knight, Sir Gerek, agrees to educate Rapunzel in order to pay back his debt. She just has to put up with his arrogant nature and single-minded focus on riches and prestige.

But this Rapunzel story is unlike any other and the mystery that she uncovers will change everything—except her happily ever after.

From 56% of The Golden Braid:

With a sick feeling, he realized Lord Claybrook and his men were starting to take over Hagenheim. 

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While you're here I implore you to check out my current giveaways!  I'm giving away two signed Black Widow art prints and any book from Book Depository that $20 or under.  Best of luck!