March Wrap Up and April TBR

Hi Guys!

I had a pretty good reading month in March (even though I read mostly novellas) and I thought that I’d share what I read with you guys!!

MARCH WRAP UP

1. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Rating: 

I have a Non-Spoilery review of this entire series here and a video review here if you want to see my thoughts on it!

2. The Whitechapel Fiend

Rating: 

(I have a whole series review coming soon)

3. Nothing But Shadows

Rating: 

4. Pale Kings and Princes

Rating: 

5. The Evil We Love

Rating: 

6. Bitter of Tongue

Rating: 

7. The Fiery Trial

Rating: 

APRIL TBR

Born to Endless Night

Angels Twice Descending

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

I can’t wait to read this!!!

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

This is the bookmarked muggles book of the month!! You can join in on our goodreads group and instagram page if you’re interested!!

The Dark Elements Trilogy by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

Hopefully I can finish at least a few of these books in April!! Spring break is next week so I’ll definitely be able to get alot of reading done then!!

Happy Reading!

-Amber

 

 

The Infernal Devices Series Review

Title: The Infernal Devices

Author: Cassandra Clare (a.k.a Queen)

My Rating: 5/5 Stars

So, if you don’t know, this series takes place in the shadowhunter world in the 1800s and it follows Tessa Gray who came from New York to London where she becomes intertwined with a whole life she didn’t even know she had and she meets some other amazing characters.

The characters in this series (as well as the ones in Cassandra Clare’s other Shadowhunter novels) are AMAZING!!! They’re all so lovable for so many different reasons. The three main characters in this series are Will Herondale (SWOONING) who is a very witty book-lover, Jem Carstairs who is an adorable munchkin/musician and of course Tessa Gray who is also a book lover and the main protagonist of this series.

There were plot twists at every twist and turn and I couldn’t put these books down.

I loved the historical-fiction vibe I felt from this series and I also really loved the fact that it was set in London! The imagery in this series was so vivid that I could really visualize everything so clearly especially the London backdrop.

The love triangle in this series is also one of-if not the best love triangle I have ever read about. All of the characters within the triangle were so lovable that though I did know who I wanted Tessa to end up with I didn’t find myself getting mad when she had moments with the other person.

I loved that Tessa and Will both were huge literature fans and I thought that really brought a lot to the story for me because I could completely relate to them.

This series really brought a lot to the Shadowhunter world I previously knew from the Mortal Instruments and I cant believe I didn’t read it sooner.

The song I chose for this series is:

Happy Reading!

-Amber

(p.s. I’ll have a review of this series going up on my booktube channel tomorrow!)

EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT!

Hi Everyone!

So, this is going to be a very short post about a very exciting announcement that I have for you guys today.

So, after years of doubt and nerves I finally decided that there is no better time than now to start my BookTube channel!! This is something that I’ve been wanting to do for years and I’ve just been putting it off for a “better time” but I finally got up the courage to actually do it!

(If you’re interested you can find it here!)

I’ve been so inspired by all of the other creators out there and I love interacting with the bookish community through the other social media platforms I’m apart of and now I get to communicate with a whole other side of it!

This doesn’t mean that there will be any change on my posting schedule for this blog! Of course, I will still be posting on here regularly and that will not change at all! This channel is just another way for me to talk about what I love and it won’t negatively affect this blog at all! 🙂

I love this community so much, thank you for inspiring me every day!

I’m beyond excited to start this new chapter (see what I did there) of my life with you guys! Thank you so much!

Happy Reading!

-Amber

 

 

Let’s Talk About: How You Picture Characters

I’m starting a new series on this blog called “Let’s talk about…”where we can all discuss certain things about reading whether that be where we read, how we started reading, how we picture things etc. Let me know what you guys think of this series and if you like today’s post!

Picturing the setting, characters, world etc. is a pretty much essential thing when it comes to reading. But, I feel like it’s a topic not too many people talk about for some reason.

But, imagining the characters is an important part of diving into the story and everyone has their own way of doing it. For me a character is more of a feeling or an impression. I don’t see the details of a character and I don’t have a clear picture of them in my head just a feeling and a sense of them. I know their features like say, their hair color or their eye color but I can’t picture it all together. I know where the character would be positioned and I know what they’re doing but I have to strain to really see it clearly.

If I do picture a character, it’s because there’s been a movie or TV show adaptation and even then I have to really think about seeing that person. Occasionally, I also see more cartoon like characters while I read.

What made me wonder about this was that some people say that an actor or actress portraying a book character in an adaptation looks nothing like how they pictured the character but, it usually doesn’t bother me at all as long as they have the essence of that character and pretty much match their description.

How do you picture characters? I’d love to know if any one else sees them like I do or if you have a different way of seeing them!

Happy Reading!

-Amber

Slay that Series TBR

Hi guys!! So if you don’t know, the slay that series readathon starts tomorrow! It goes from March 13-20th! It’s a readathon that’s meant to help you read books in series that you’ve been neglecting! 

This readathon was created by Sara from sarawithoutanh and Chami from readlikewildfire! You can find the group social media here:

Instagram

Goodreads

Twitter 

I’m super excited to participate in this readathon and I my TBR is pretty small but I want to read:

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare: I can already tell that this books is going to murder me and I’m not ready. I love this series so much and I really don’t want it to end. 

 
Tales of the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare!  I’m on the 3rd novella right now and it’s so good!!! I’ve heard that you should read all of the novellas before reading Lady Midnight so that’s what I’m going to do!
  
If you’re doing this readathon I’d love to know what series your planning on slaying this week!! And I hope you all have a wonderful day!!

Happy Reading!

-Amber 

The Goodreads Tag and Announcement!

So, this tag was going around Booktube years ago and I decided that it would be a fun thing for me to do! School’s been really busy the last couple weeks so I’m sorry I haven’t been able to blog too much but I figured that this tag would be a fun quick thing to do!

It’s also the perfect tag to share an important and very exciting announcement with you guys!

1. What was the last book you marked as ‘read’?

The last book I marked as read was the Lost Herondale (Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy #2).

2. What are you currently reading? 

I read way too many books at once…Right now I’m reading Clockwork Price by Cassandra Clare (and I’m almost done!!) Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas and The Whitechapel Fiend (Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy book #3).
3. What was the last book you marked as ‘TBR’?

The last book I added to my TBR was The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau because one of my friends recommended it to me!
4. What book do you plan to read next?

Well I’m getting a very special book in the mail tomorrow called Lady Midnight so definitely that!!
5. Do you use the star rating system?

Yes! But I really wish they had half stars because it would make our lives so much easier!
6. Are you doing a 2016 Reading Challenge?

Yes! My goal is to read 2 books a month which is 24 books in a year! I set it kind of low this year because I got into a huge 6 month slump last year and I don’t want to overwhelm myself.
7. Do you have a wishlist?

Yes, but I don’t update my goodreads wishlist too often so its not really up to date.
8. What book do you plan to buy next?

I plan on buying The New Hunger by Isaac Marion next!
9. Do you have any favorite quotes, would you like to share a few?

I can never remember quotes from books but one that comes to mind is:

“I did not make a pie,” Alec repeated, gesturing expressively with one hand, “for three reasons. One, because I do not have any pie ingredients. Two, because I don’t actually
know how to make a pie.”
He paused, clearly waiting.
Removing his sword and leaning it against the cave wall, Jace said warily, “And three?”
“Because I am not your bitch,” Alec said, clearly pleased with himself.”
― Cassandra Clare, City of Heavenly Fire
10. Who are your favorite authors?

My all time favorite authors are: Cassandra Clare, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Sarah J. Maas and Rainbow Rowell!
11. Have you joined any groups?

Yes!! And speaking of groups I have a very exciting announcement to make! A few other bookstagrammers and I have created a readalong group called Bookmarked Muggles!! We’ll be reading one book every month and most of the time you’ll get to vote on which book we read! This months book is Passenger by Alexandra Bracken! And even if you’ve already read it we’ll be having discussions on our goodreads page! You can follow us on:

Instagram

Goodreads 

I tag anyone who hasn’t done this tag yet because it’s really fun and you should all do it!

Happy Reading!

-Amber

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes: REVIEW

Title: Falling Kingdoms

Author: Morgan Rhodes

My Rating: 4.5/5

If you don’t know what this book is about pretty much all you need to know is that it has been referred to as the YA Game of Thrones because of the multiple character POVs and the politics that is laced throughout this novel.

This is the first book in an epic young adult fantasy series and I can already tell that this is going to end up being one of my favorite series!

There were so many things I loved about this book! The world building was not too overwhelming but it was very immersive and I could really see the landscapes of the different Kingdoms and villages in this novel.

There was a very interesting added element about the belief system that the characters have and I found that part of the world very interesting and I can tell it will be a major part of the future novels!

The characters were all very likable but it did take a little while for me to really love a few of them but after that I was hooked! They’re all very funny and I enjoyed reading from all of the narrators’ perspectives.

There is a hint of magic in this first book and I loved the introduction of that part of the world because I’m a sucker for anything magic related.

This book was also very fast paced! There wasn’t a momeremnberingnt where I was bored because there was always heavy amounts of action and conflict consistently throughout the novel!

The only thing that kept me from giving this book a full 5/5 stars was that the plot was a bit predictable but, that didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book at all!

If you like fantasy or want to get into it I’d definitely recommend giving this series a try!! I know that the list of names in the beginning makes it seem very intimidating but I didn’t even refer back to the list because I had no problems remembering all of the characters.

My Song Recommendation for Falling Kingdoms is:

P.S. (Would you guys be interested in non-spoiler reviews for each book in this series or only this one?)

Happy Reading!

-Amber

T5W #2 Best Suggested Books You Loved

Hi Guys! So this weeks Top 5 Wednesday topic is books that were suggested to you that you ended up loving! You can find the goodreads group for T5W here if you want to join in! And I hope you enjoy it!

5. Maximum Ride by James Patterson

 

This book series was recommended to me by my 7th grade teacher and I was hesitant to read it but I ended up absolutely loving it! I want’t a fan of science fiction until I read this book. So it opened up an entirely new genre for me! It’s such a great series that I’d recommend to anyone!

 

 

 

 

4. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

 

I had heard about this book a lot from booktube and book blogs so I decided to give it a try and I ended up loving it! Even though this wasn’t necessarily recommended to me by a specific person, it still made it onto this this because it is one of my most loved book community recommendations.

 

 

 

 

3. The Lux Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout

This series was also recommended several times by a lot of the blogs and youtube channels I follow so I finally decided to see what all the hype was about and I’m so glad I did!! This is now one of my favorite series of all time and it will forever remain that way! I’m so thankful to have read this series!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

 

This series was recommended to me by a girl in my 6th grade class that wasn’t much of a reader and I thought that if she liked it than I had to give it a try and I remember going to the library to pick it up and I didn’t like it at first but then, once I got into it I became absolutely obsessed. I drew fan art, I made a movie trailer and I was one of those kids that wore the pin as a necklace everyday and braided my hair. Yup… But, this book started me on my fandom journey and I honestly don’t know if I would be as much of a reader as I am if that girl hadn’t recommended it to me back in 6th grade.

 

 

 

1. The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

NUMBER ONE ON MY LIST IS THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS BY CASSANDRA CLARE!! This series was actually recommended to me from school summer reading. I went through the list and this book sounded interesting to me so I picked it. Later I went back on my decision and I wanted to pick a shorter book because I wanted to be able to read for fun and not spend a lot of my time reading for school. But, the same day I decided not to read it, my moms boyfriend bought it for me and then I decided I should just go ahead and read it. And when I did, it took me three days of bringing the book with me everywhere and eating at the dinner table because I couldn’t put it down.

This by far is my most successful recommendation from someone else and ironically it came from school! If I had never read this book, -like the Hunger Games- I would never even have this book blog. This book started me back on reading and I’ve been obsessed with books ever since.

I hope you all enjoyed this Top 5 Wednesday! Let me know your top 5 books that you loved that were recommended to you below!

Happy Reading!

-Amber

 

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken: REVIEW

Title: Passenger

Author: Alexandra Bracken

Pages: 486

Rating: 4/5

So, if you don’t already know what Passenger is about, it is about a girl named Etta that learns that she is a traveler, which means that she can travel through time. With this ability comes many secrets about her family and a journey that she must take through time with a pirate named Nicholas. (yes pirate! *swoon*) 

That’s all I’m going to say for the summary because I don’t want to give too much away!

This is actually my first Alexandra Bracken book and I was not disappointed!! The writing in this novel was fantastic and the characters were very well developed and their personalities translated very well through the page.

This book did take me about 100 pages to get into but once we got to the time traveling part it really took off into a very fast paced adventure!

It also took me a little while to connect to the main characters but by the end I was completely attached to both of them! And the romance was spectacular!

I heavily enjoyed the time travel aspect of this book! It was great to see not only a bunch of different times but a lot of different places as well! I would definitely recommend this book to you even if you have never read or taken an interest in time travel. It was my first time travel book and I’d definitely like to check out more books with this aspect in the future!

Overall, this was a very gripping story and I would definitely want to pick up more of Alexandra Bracken’s books as well as more books about time travel in the future!

My song choice for Passenger is:

 

Happy Reading!

-Amber

Top 5 Wednesday #1 (Books That Were Spoiled)

Hi guys! So I’ve decided to start doing a top 5 Wednesday! It’ll be a way that I can upload a blog post every week even if I don’t have a review or a tag going up!

You can find the page for Top 5 Wednesday here if you want to join in!

This weeks topic is the top 5 books that were spoiled for me!
5. The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Okay, this is last because I sort of spoiled it for myself because I watched the movie before I read the book. But, it ended up on this list anyways!

4. Charlottes Webb by E. B. White

 I read this book when I was very young and I remember being devastated because I was almost done with it and someone spoiled it for me. I cried when they told me the ending. Ahh, the first of many spoilers to come.

3. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

 I don’t even remember how this book got spoiled for me but I only know one spoiler and it’s pretty hard not to get spoiled on it considering most people have already read it.

2. The Fault in Out Stars by John Green

 I knew what happened before I even picked up this book and I’m kind of sad about it because even though I ended up enjoying it, I feel like I would’ve enjoyed it even more it it hadn’t been spoiled.

5. Allegiant by Veronica Roth

 I have a feeling this made it onto everyone’s list. This was spoiled through me on tumblr, and it was probably my fault because I shouldn’t have been scrolling through tumblr when I was reading this!

Let me know if you guys had any of the same books spoiled for you! Or if you had something different, what was it?

Also let me know if you like these top 5 Wednesday posts!

(Also, side note, my review of Passenger by Alexandra Bracken will hopefully be up within the week so look out for that!)

Happy Reading!

-Amber