Top 10 Tuesday – February 23rd, 2016

Posted in Top 10 Tuesday by TheQuirkyBookNerd

Happy Tuesday, everyone! It’s time for another Top 10 Tuesday list. This is an original weekly blog meme created over at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week, there is a new bookish topic for bloggers to create a list about. If you want to know more about Top 10 Tuesday, click here!

This week’s Top 10 Tuesday topic is the top ten books you enjoyed recently (in the last yearish) that weren’t your typical genre/type of book (or that were out of your comfort zone). I’ve been on a bit of a sci-fi/fantasy binge for a while now (a.k.a. my comfort zone), so we’re going to have to go more toward the “ish” side of yearish. Also, to help myself come up with ten, I’ve split the list into two parts—five that I enjoyed and five that I did not. There is a little bit of a theme here, since the majority of this list are romance and contemporary novels.

This will probably come as no surprise to anyone, but I am and always have been a complete reading addict. I am someone that will read absolutely anything I can get my hands on, and I typically do stray out of my comfort zone a fair amount. In fact, I enjoy doing so, even if I end up not enjoying the novel I choose—it’s always fun to try new things no matter what, and you might end up finding a new favorite! I don’t regret trying any of these novels, I just definitely preferred some over others…

Liked

1. Love and Other Unknown Variables by Shannon Lee Alexander

Over the past few years, I have been making a point of trying to read a larger number of debut authors, and this is one that I picked up from the library for exactly that reason. This novel was pretty far outside of my comfort zone, but it ended up really taking me by surprise. It was very well written, with a sweet romance and a lovely message about the importance of love, friendship, and literature. Plus, there were tons of references to To Kill a Mockingbird in it! 😀

2. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

I picked up a copy of this back when it first came out (to be honest, I think this was a bit of a cover buy!), but had let it sit on my shelf for ages. I finally got around to reading it last year when I was looking for something a bit different from my normal type of read—and I actually ended up really enjoying it. This story had much more depth than I was expecting, and I thought the author’s writing style was great. It ended up being a quick and unexpectedly satisfying read, and I’m so glad I gave it a try.

3. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

This was not all that far out of my comfort zone, but it is still a contemporary romance novel, so it totally counts! I read this at the end of last year and absolutely loved it—this was a perfect way to wrap up my 2015 reads. It was hilarious, adorable, and made me feel all of the warm fuzzies I was hoping to feel. ❤

4. Falling into Place by Amy Zhang

I found this one while randomly browsing at the bookstore one day, and decided to add it to my debut author TBR. I absolutely did not expect to enjoy this novel as much as I did. This story had a fantastic amount of depth and I thought that the writing was stellar. The characters and all of their storylines were developed and presented well in the context of the plot, and I loved the unique choice of narrator. This was definitely a good impulse purchase!

5. The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder

This was another one that I picked up from the library on a whim—mainly because I love reading novels in verse—and it’s another that ended up taking me completely by surprise. The plot is sort of a common contemporary novel premise, but it is still successfully unique. And when done well, like it is here, I usually really enjoy this type of story. The prose flowed beautifully, and I found the story itself to be quite captivating and thought-provoking. On top of this, I actually quite enjoyed the romance aspect—it was sweet, touching, and well-paced.

Didn’t Like

1. Dead Rules by Randy Russell

This book…just…nope. I grabbed this from the library for no particular reason. Couldn’t get into it. Didn’t actually finish it (which is insanely rare for me). In hindsight, that tagline should have told me to maybe skip over this one when I found it.

2. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Okay, so to be honest, this is probably another book that I maybe shouldn’t have attempted, but I still don’t regret it! I figured I would give it a go after all the incredible things I had heard about it—and I can definitely see why people enjoy this series. But I think I can finally confirm that supernatural romance just really isn’t my thing…

3. A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

This novel caught my attention due to the creativity when it came to points of view. I figured this would be a really unique take on a typical contemporary romance novel, so I was more than happy to give it a go. Sadly, I just could not feel any connection at all between the romantic interests, and it was difficult to fully immerse myself in the plot due to the constantly changing viewpoints (as well as the quantity). I actually have a full review for this novel that I will be posting pretty soon, so I will go into a bit more detail then!

4. The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu

This one was slightly closer to my comfort zone than some of these other novels. However, though it is a fantasy story, there is a much larger focus on romance than the typical fantasy novels I read. In fact, the romance ended up being pretty much the main focus of the story, which unfortunately did not serve it well in my opinion. It made sense, given the premise, that love would play a significant role in the plot, but the romance fell quite flat for me. Overall, the story was creative and incredibly unique, but I would have liked to see more attention paid to the fantasy aspect, and a much stronger and more well-developed setting and cast of characters.

5. Almost by Anne Eliot

I purchased this novel back when it first came out, but it sat on my kindle for a really long time. Honestly, I can’t recall why I bought it—but again, trying new things is always good. This was definitely my favorite from the “disliked” section of this list. I would mainly chalk my dislike of it up to unlikeable characters and slightly repetitive and frustrating plot progression. It was not a bad novel by any means, it was simply just not for me.

No matter what my feelings were, once again…

What are some books that you’ve read lately that were out of your comfort zone? How did you feel about them? Let me know in the comments! 🙂

-Ariana

19Feb2016

The Skyrim Book Tag (Original)

Posted in Tags by TheQuirkyBookNerd

Though I was incredibly late when it came to getting around to playing it for the first time, Skyrim is one of my absolute favorite games of all time. I’ve been playing quite a bit of it lately and of course, being the book nerd that I am, it got me started thinking about a Skyrim book tag. I was pretty certain there would already be one, but was surprised to see that one does not appear to exist yet. Obviously, I had to fix that! 😀

This is the first tag I’ve ever created, so bear with me!

Fus Ro Dah – A book that blew you away.

For this one, I’m going to have to go with a recent read—Vicious by V.E. Schwab. I feel like I can’t even begin to describe how much I adored this novel. Given my love of superheroes and supervillains, I was fairly certain I was going to enjoy it, but I still wasn’t at all prepared for how amazing it ended up being; it was everything I was hoping for and so much more. Victoria Schwab is a master at storytelling and character creation, bringing to life a unique plotline with a vivid and extremely complex cast of characters. It was exciting, fast-paced, and suspenseful, making it hard to put down and to get off my mind.

Dovahkiin – Favorite “chosen one” story.

Harry Potter. Hands down. Okay, so I admit that’s an obvious choice, but it’s the truth! 😀 To be honest, I don’t have a lot of “chosen one” stories that I really love. I do enjoy them from time to time, but I’m a bit picky because they can easily be too repetitive or over-the-top. It can be frustrating when they get too far into “special snowflake” or “deus ex machina” territory. The Hunger Games would be an extremely close second.

Thu’um – A book that got a verbal reaction out of you (good or bad).

Since I’m good at being indecisive, I’ll pick one for each!

Good – I would say anything by Gillian Flynn, but I have only read two of her stories, so Gone Girl and The Grownup. Never before have I read stories so brilliantly plotted and with such insane and surprising twists. I don’t think it will ever be possible for me to get through one of her novels without some sort of verbal outburst!

Bad – A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall. I know I shouldn’t have been surprised given the fact that contemporary romance novels and I don’t usually get along so well. The prospect of fourteen different points of view really caught my attention—I mean, two of them were a squirrel and a park bench! However, while it was a creative concept, this was one of the most frustrating stories I have ever read, and it had me shouting at the characters on many occasions. It was impossible to connect to any of the main characters with so many perspectives, and the progression of the romance faced so many near misses and setbacks that it became completely implausible.

Arrow to the Knee – A book or series that started out well but ended up being disappointing.

Again, since indecisiveness is my forte, I’ll pick one of each (kind of…)! 😛

Book – This was one that I was a bit conflicted on, but I would have to say Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. I loved the concept for this novel, and though I never really connected with the main character at any point, the story started out strong. Between the concept of the superpowers and Aveyard’s beautiful, vivid writing, I was completely hooked. But as the story went on, the focus turned away from the interesting and important aspects of the plot and more toward trivial things. On top of that, the ending was fairly predictable and a bit too sudden to be believable. I did not hate Red Queen by any means, and I will definitely be continuing on with this series at some point, but I found this first novel to be on the disappointing side.

Series – I have not yet finished the final book, but the Divergent trilogy was a series that I felt did not retain the same quality as it started out with. Divergent is fantastic, one of my favorite books, and it got my hopes up pretty high about the rest of the series. However, I just could not get into Insurgent, and found that it was missing a good amount of what I loved about the first novel. Unfortunately, the series as a whole ended up being rather disappointing.

Shadowmere – Favorite literary/fictional animal or pet.

My favorite literary/fictional animals in general—conveniently staying with the theme of Skyrim—are dragons. And though I would totally not mind having a dragon as a pet, I might have to choose a direwolves from Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire series for that favorite. I absolutely love wolves, and these intelligent and beautiful animals would make incredibly loyal companions.

Alduin – Most frightening literary/fictional animal.

Having just said how much I love wolves, I have to briefly contradict myself and choose the wolves of the White Witch’s secret police in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe—specifically Maugrim, the captain. I still generally adore wolves, but these ones completely freaked me out when I was younger (and still a bit today, if I’m honest)! I chalk part of my fear up to how insanely creepy they were in the old BBC film that I watched as a kid; I remember actually having to close my eyes through some of their scenes the first few times I watched it! However, they are also (understandably) presented as very frightening and vicious in the novel as well.

Companions Guild – Best literary friendship.

Though there are tons of amazing literary friendships that I love, I have to go with my all-time favorite one—Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. In my opinion, this is the most brilliant character pairing in literary history. They have a unique relationship that works so well in the context of the stories—they complement each other perfectly. This is truly a dynamic duo!

Dark Brotherhood – The darkest story you’ve ever read.

This would be a toss up between Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and Alice by Christina Henry. My favorite types of stories—both to read and to write—are dark ones, and these two are by far the most intense and twisted novels I have ever read. They were both absolutely spectacular as well!

Thieves Guild – Favorite morally ambiguous character.

Okay, so I really want to choose Loki for this one, because he is my favorite of all-time. However, I did want to go with a book character, so I’ll choose one of my newest favorites—Victor Vale from Vicious by V.E. Schwab (goodness, there were a lot of “v’s” in that statement…). He is one of the best examples of an antihero that I have ever come across. I feel like I’ve said this a million times before, but he is totally that type of character that you hate to love and maybe even love to hate. He is so well-imagined and I absolutely adored reading about him.

Wuld Nah Kest (whirlwind sprint) – Your fastest read.

One of the fastest reads I’ve ever had was A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. This is not a long story, but the beautiful writing and skillful storytelling makes it fly by so much faster. It took me about two hours to read—and that’s even counting the extra time it took due to inability to see anything through my tears!

Tiid Klo Ul (slow time) – Your slowest read.

The slowest read I can remember ever having was Insurgent, which took me about three months to get through. I’m not the fastest reader in the world, but I usually get through most books in a reasonable amount of time. So taking three months to finish a book is quite a rare occurrence for me. Insurgent, unfortunately, really paled in comparison to Divergent, and I found it relatively difficult to get into. That, coupled with the fact that I was in a bit of a reading slump at the time, definitely took away from my motivation to read it.

Tamriel – Favorite fictional world.

It will come as absolutely no surprise to any of you who know me pretty well by know when I say Narnia. It is such a beautifully created world, full of magic, awesome mythical creatures and, the best part, talking animals! No matter what, there will always be a small part of me that keeps hoping I’ll find a doorway in the back of a wardrobe. 🙂

Bonus Question:

“Sworn to Carry Your Burdens” – The heaviest book you own.

By far, the heaviest book that I own is my leather bound edition of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. It is also, coincidentally, one of my favorite books that I own as well! 🙂

I Tag:

Heather @ The Sassy Book Geek

Anna @ My Bookish Dream

Kayla @ Bookedsolid1989

Emma @ The Terror of Knowing

The Orang-utan Librarian

SSJTimeLord

Ashleigh @ A Frolic Through Fiction

Zezee @ Zezee with Books

Jessica @ The Awkward Book Blogger

Catia @ The Girl Who Read Too Much

Cristina @ My Tiny Obsessions

Yasmin and Paige @ The Wild Readers

Jesse @ Books at Dawn

Michelle @ Book Adventures

Liam @ Liam’s Library

Bookception21

…and anyone else who is interested in doing this tag! Also, to everyone I’ve tagged, there is absolutely no pressure to do this—only if you want to! 😀

16Feb2016

The Book Courtship Tag

Posted in Tags by TheQuirkyBookNerd

I was tagged to do the Book Courtship Tag by my friend Heather from The Sassy Book Geek. Thank you so much for the tag! Heather is an absolutely wonderful book blogger, so please take some time to head on over and check out her posts!

Phase 1: Initial Attraction – A book you bought because of the cover?

I’ve never bought a book solely because of its cover. However, covers and editions are definitely important to me when it comes to buying books. Two books whose covers were the main reason I checked them out in the first place were All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and Jackaby by William Ritter. They kept catching my eye every time I went to the bookstore, so finally I looked into what they were about—they ended up being right up my alley. The edition of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier that I own was a total cover buy. The movie adaptation is one of my favorite films, so I had been wanting to read this novel for a long time—when I saw this beautiful copy, I absolutely had to get it!

Phase 2: First Impressions – A book you got because of its summary?

I pretty much only ever buy books based on their summaries, except in the rare case of auto-buy authors. However, I remember finding the summary of More Than This by Patrick Ness particularly captivating. It was a very vague description, incredibly cryptic, and sounded like it would be one of those intense, heart-pounding stories. I completely adore mysteries and thrillers, so I knew I would have to give this a try. Plus, Patrick Ness is perfection. ❤

Phase 3: Sweet Talk – A book with great writing?

Speaking of Patrick Ness… 😀 Okay, so I’m not going to be able to choose just one novel for this answer, but I’ll keep it to two: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Vicious by V.E. Schwab. Both of these novels had some of the most spectacular writing that I have ever come across—Schwab and Ness are extraordinarily talented authors. They are both masters at creating a captivating plot and a cast of characters that their readers can easily connect with. On top of this, their words themselves flow beautifully. If you have not yet picked up either of these novels, I highly recommend them!

Phase 4: First Date – The first book of a series that made you want to pick up the rest of the series?

I have always been more of a standalone reader than a series reader, and any of the series on the embarrassingly small list of ones that I’ve read would fit this question. However, The Hunger Games is the one that stands out the most in my mind. I was totally addicted after just a few chapters and I could not put it down. This was the first series after finishing Harry Potter that I got really excited about, so it holds a special place in my heart.

Phase 5: Late Night Phone Calls – A book that kept you up all night?

This is one I’m going to have to narrow down a bit so I don’t write an insanely long list (yeah, I basically don’t sleep…who needs sleep anyway?). A somewhat recent one that comes to mind is The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. It took me forever to pick this novel up, but as soon as I did, I was immediately hooked. I spent multiple nights reading these stories until…well…it wasn’t actually night anymore. 🙂

Phase 6: Always On My Mind – A book you could not stop thinking about?

There are so many books that I’ve read just in the last year that I still cannot get off my mind. One in particular that really stands out is Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. This is one of the most insane, twisted, and mind-bending stories that I have ever read, and I adored every second of it. It’s definitely one of those novels that requires a lot of mental processing afterward and really sticks with you. Gillian Flynn is an evil genius!

Phase 7: Getting Physical – A book that you love the way it feels?

I love the way the edition I have of The Hobbit feels. I prefer books that have a textured cover rather than a smooth one, and this one does (and it’s a gorgeous edition in general!). Just for the record, The Lunar Chronicles novels—both the hardcovers and paperbacks—feel amazing as well!

Phase 8: Meeting The Parents – A book you would recommend to your family and friends?

I definitely have to agree with Heather on this one and say Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh. Recommending books to my friends and family (and basically anyone who will listen to me!) is one of my favorite things in the world to do. However, everyone is going to have a different taste when it comes to what they are interested in reading, so I usually have to tailor my recommendations to the person. Hyperbole and a Half is one novel that I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone—it’s hilarious, clever, heartfelt, and something that I truly believe everyone will enjoy.

Phase 9: Thinking About The Future – A book or series you know you will re-read many times in the future?

I don’t tend to re-read books too often, though there are some very obvious exceptions. The Harry Potter series and The Chronicles of Narnia will be series that I will definitely read a countless amount of times throughout my life. But of course, the number one book that I know for a fact I will re-read many times in the future is…you guessed it…To Kill a Mockingbird! 😀

Phase 10: Share The Love – Who do you tag?

The Orang-utan Librarian

Papercutpetals

Chelsie @ Chelsie’s Book Addiction

Jasmine @ jazzycliffhanger

Ragan @ Read.Rinse.Repeat

Anna @ Cheeky Column

Emma @ Em Does Book Reviews

10Feb2016

Top 5 Wednesday – February 10th, 2016

Posted in Top 5 Wednesday by TheQuirkyBookNerd

Top 5 Wednesday was created by Lainey at Gingerreadslainey. Every week, book reviewers all over the world are given a bookish topic and respond with their top 5 books (or elements of books) that relate to that topic. Click here for the Goodreads group if you would like to learn more about Top 5 Wednesday and join in!

This week’s Top 5 Wednesday topic is the top five books you were spoiled for. I actually had a fair amount of trouble thinking up books for this list today, which I guess is a good thing! This got me thinking about spoilers and how they affect me and my reading experience (or viewing experience with movies and TV shows). I have come to the realization that they don’t really bother me all that much. Sure, I definitely prefer avoiding them, but I’ve never felt like they have ever completely ruined my personal experience with the content.

I would also like to thank Lainey for giving me a shoutout in her video today. It was incredibly kind of you to do that, and it completely made my day; I haven’t stopped smiling since I saw it! And to everyone who has come over from her video, welcome! Thank you so much for stopping by and checking out my posts, and for all the follows as well. You guys rock! 😀 ❤

So, without further ado, here are a few books that I was spoiled for prior to reading them. Side note, I will not be revealing any of the specific points of these novels that I was spoiled on. In fact, for a couple of these, if you have read them, you will probably know exactly what those plot points were!

5. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

As you are about to see, many of the books I’ve been spoiled on—actually maybe all of them—are due to the fact that I am insanely slow getting around to popular novels. Gone Girl falls into that category, as I only just read it last year. For this one, I was accidently spoiled on arguably the most important plot point of the entire novel by overhearing people talking about it. It was unavoidable, and though I do wish I could find out what my reaction to this story would have been without knowing anything ahead of time, it absolutely did not ruin my experience. I completely adored this novel—it was one of my favorite reads of last year. And I’m fairly certain I acquired a Gillian Flynn addiction in the process…

4. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Okay, so this one was entirely my fault. I still have not read this book yet—though I do intend to begin the series this year—so obviously, I’m quite late to the party with this one. Not only have I been massively spoil due to…well…the Internet, I have also already started watching the television series. However, the spoilers have not ruined my viewing experience with the show, and I’m sure it will be the same way with the novels. I’m going to enjoy getting to dive into these stories for myself no matter what!

3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

This is another one that was entirely my fault. This was always an option on reading lists for school and, though I kept meaning to choose it, I never actually got around to it. In fact, I just read it for the first time last month (and absolutely loved it, not surprisingly!). So, not only was I spoiled on a few bits just from the fact that I took so long to get around to reading it, but I may or may not have also gone to see the movie beforehand… I know, I know! Bad Ari! My excuse is that my best friend was home visiting and wanted us to go see it together. I blame her! 😀

2. The Legend Trilogy by Marie Lu

Specifically, I was spoiled on some important plot points in the second novel and the end of the final novel. However, this once again did not at all ruin my enjoyment of this trilogy. I accidently read this spoiler, just after finishing Legend, in a review that did not have a spoiler alert on it. This is one of the best examples I can give for this topic because I was genuinely upset and rather disappointed when I learned of this plot point. I was worried that it would end up negatively affecting my enjoyment of the novels, but thankfully that has so far not been the case at all.

1. Allegiant by Veronica Roth

I feel like this one is going to be on a lot of people’s lists today. This was another combination of me taking forever to read a popular series and being a book nerd with access to the Internet. Now, Allegiant is the only one that I’ve not yet read, and at this point I am unsure if I am going to. This actually has very little to do with the spoilers and more to do with the fact that I just really did not enjoy Insurgent when I read it last year. I do hate leaving series unfinished and I feel bad because I absolutely loved Divergent, so those things may sway me toward finishing this last book one day.

How much do spoilers tend to affect your reading experience? What books have you been spoiled for? Let me know in the comments (but remember…no spoilers! 😀 )!

-Ariana

8Feb2016

The Ben ‘n’ Jerry’s Book Tag

Posted in Tags by TheQuirkyBookNerd

I was tagged by Cristina from My Tiny Obsessions and Catia from The Girl Who Read Too Much to do the Ben ‘n’ Jerry’s book tag. Thank you both so much for the tag! This was created by Aimal from Bookshelves & Paperbacks.

Vanilla Caramel Fudge: pick a light, fluffy contemporary

We are starting things off with a tricky one since light, fluffy contemporaries are really not at all my thing. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli is probably the lightest and fluffiest of the small amount of contemporary novels that I have read in my life. It was overall adorable and hilarious, and I absolutely loved it! Two others that are not quite as light, but that I ended up really enjoying were The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith and The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder.

Mint Chocolate Cookie: a new release that you wish everybody would read

I haven’t actually read any really new releases just yet, so I’m going to fudge this a little bit and say Winter by Marissa Meyer. Basically, I wish everybody would read (and hopefully enjoy!) the entire Lunar Chronicles series in general. I cannot gush enough about these novels!

Karamel Sutra Core: a last book in a series that you were completely satisfied with

This may be an obvious choice, but I have to choose Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for this one. I don’t actually read series very often, and when it comes to those that I have read in the past, I have been disappointed by a lot of final books. However, this was one that I absolutely loved—in fact, it’s probably my second or third favorite novel in the series. It was a strong, epic, and satisfying conclusion to an overall fantastic series of books, and I was so pleased that the story was wrapped up so well.

Cherry Garcia: an ending that was bittersweet

For this one, I’m going to have to go with the ending of Love and Other Unknown Variables by Shannon Lee Alexander. This novel overall is incredibly bittersweet—both beautiful and painful. It is a very touching story with a positive underlying message, and the ending holds just as true to this format as the rest of the book. However, let’s just say this is also one book that makes the extremely small list of books that made me cry.

Strawberry Shortcake: a book containing your OTP of OTPs

I’m not usually one to have OTPs, but if any couple is my OTP, it would definitely be Marko and Alana from the graphic novel series, Saga. Their relationship, though it goes through some bumps, is absolutely lovely; they are the very definition of soul mates. Their love for each other outweighs everything, despite all the hardships they face. I adore this pairing.

Milk and Cookies: two authors that if they collaborated, they would go perfectly together

I’m definitely going to have to agree with both Cristina and Catia on this one and say Ransom Riggs and Tahereh Mafi. To be honest, if they were book characters, they would have been my answer to the last question. They are such a wonderful pair, and are each individually very talented and imaginative writers. If they wrote a novel together, chances are high that it would be one of the most epic stories ever!

Boston Cream Pie: a book that had you turning your pages late into the night

Oh man, so many books over the years have done this for me—take any of the Harry Potter or Narnia books for instance! If I were to choose a slightly more recent read, I would have to pick Gone Girl. I absolutely devoured this novel. I was completely engrossed from page one and it was nearly impossible to put down, which caused a number of very late night (or early morning, rather…) reading sessions!

Chocolate Therapy: a book that makes you feel better after a long day of life

You guys know me well enough by this point to not be at all surprised with I say To Kill a Mockingbird for this answer. I’m fairly certain I’ve managed to mention this book at least once in every single tag that I’ve done—and that probably won’t be changing anytime soon! This is one of those stories that never fails to give me the warm fuzzies when I read it, due to both the deep and heartwarming story itself and the personal nostalgia factor—the many fond memories I have of this novel from over the years and its importance to me.

Coffee, Coffee, Buzzbuzzbuzz!: a book not yet released that you can’t wait to get your hands on

This is a difficult topic to choose just one book for, since there are so many fantastic upcoming releases this year! My top most anticipated release of the year is Heartless by Marissa Meyer, but another one right up there with it would be This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab. They are both authors that I discovered last year and instantly fell in love with, so I can’t wait to get my hands on any and all of their novels.

I Tag:

Kayla @ Bookedsolid1989

Lashaan and Trang @ Bookidote

Isabella @ Gryffindor Books

Richard @ The Humpo Show

Raquel @ Rakioddbooks

2Feb2016

February 2016 TBR

Posted in Wrap Ups And TBRs by TheQuirkyBookNerd

Happy February, everyone! First off, I want to apologize for my absence these last few weeks. This past month was a bit rough for me and, because of that, I did not post nearly as much on here as I usually do. I’ve been suffering from migraines for a while now, but the amount I have been getting has dramatically increased recently to the point where I’ve been having them every other day. This made it very hard to sit in front of a computer screen for any amount of time to write posts and reply to comments.

I’m so sorry I’ve been away as much as I have. I’ve missed posting frequently and I’ve missed talking to all of you every day on here and on your posts! Thank you all for being patient with me. I’m hoping to get them under control soon, and I definitely plan to be back blogging and chatting with you guys in full force this month! 😀 ❤

February TBR

I still have some books off last month’s TBR that I want to get to this month, but here are a few more that I am adding to the pile.

1. More Than This by Patrick Ness

It has been far too long since I have read a Patrick Ness book. I read A Monster Calls over a year ago and completely fell in love with his writing to the point where I went out and bought most of his other novels. However, I have not yet had a chance to read any of them yet. I plan to start the Chaos Walking trilogy later this year, so I figured I would tide myself over with this one. It has an incredibly mysterious and intriguing premise, and I’m not at all sure what to expect from this story. I can’t wait to dive in!

2. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Cycle is one of the series that I have been wanting to start for a while now, and with the final book coming out soon, I figured this would be a great time to begin. I have heard fantastic things about this series and it has been recommended to me quite a lot, so I’m really looking forward to checking it out.

3. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

I’ve gone a month without reading a V.E. Schwab novel and I am already dying to read another one. This has been at the top of my TBR for a while, so I’m hoping I can finally get to it this month. Plus, I have A Gathering of Shadows on pre-order and I’d like to finish this before that is released so I can continue on when it gets here (though I’m then going to have to deal with waiting for the final book!).

4. The Reluctant Sacrifice by Kerr-Ann Dempster

I’ve been making really good progress catching up on reviews and this is a review copy that I have had for a while, so I need to get to it soon. I’m really excited to check it out and see what I think of it. This will be one of my top priorities for the month, and most likely one of my first reads.

5. The Singular and Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath by Ishbelle Bee

I found out about this book through Booktube and was immediately intrigued by it. It is pitched as a dark, adult fairytale and seems like it will be an extremely unique story, similar in style and atmosphere to Neil Gaiman’s novels. I believe this is a duology, and I already have the sequel, The Contrary Tale of the Butterfly Girl, so I might continue right on to that when I’ve finished if I enjoy it.

6. Doctor Who: Deep Time by Trevor Baxendale

This is another review copy that I’ve received recently and need to get to, so it will be another priority for me this month. I’m always happy to read anything Doctor Who related, which I’m sure comes as no surprise to anyone!

Read in January

Despite my failure in the blogging department, this month was actually fairly productive reading-wise. I managed to read five books and get through a good chunk of a sixth one. I also ended up really enjoying all of these reads quite a lot; they were a great way to begin a new reading year. I’m already making good progress on the reading challenges I’ve given myself and finally catching up on some review copies I’ve needed to get to as well. After feeling a bit slumpy for the past few months, this was definitely a wonderful change, and hopefully it will stay this way.

1. Doctor Who: Death Riders by Justin Richards – As I’ve already said, I love to read anything to do with Doctor Who, and this novel was a really fun read. This was one of the review copies I recently received from Netgalley. Click here to read my review!

2. Doctor Who: System Wipe by Oli Smith – This was my least favorite read of the month, but it was still a quick and entertaining story. This was another Netgalley review copy that I received. Click here to read my review!

3. The Book Thief by Markus Zuszak – I finally did it you guys! After all these years, I finally read The Book Thief—and loved it, of course! Review to come soon.

4. Alice by Christina Henry – Again, I have to thank Heather for this fantastic recommendation. Review to come soon.

5. The Grownup by Gillian Flynn – I’ve been wanting to read more of Gillian Flynn’s work recently, and this was absolutely fantastic (as always!). It’s got me even more excited than I already was to continue on to her next full novel! Review to come soon.

6. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer – I’m not quite finished with this one yet, but I got through a little over half before the end of the month. This will be my first completed read of February, and there will be a review coming very soon after.

January Book Haul

Star Wars: The Force Awakens by Alan Dean Foster

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Anticipated Releases of February

A Criminal Magic by Lee Kelly (Release Date: February 2^nd, 2016)

Stars Above by Marissa Meyer (Release Date: February 2^nd, 2016)

These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas (Release Date: February 9^th, 2016)

A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab (Release Date: February 23^rd, 2016)

What books do you guys have on your TBRs for February? Which new releases are you looking forward to this month? Let me know in the comments!

-Ariana

27Jan2016

Top 5 Wednesday – January 27th, 2016

Posted in Top 5 Wednesday by TheQuirkyBookNerd

This week’s Top 5 Wednesday topic is the top five books that were disappointing eye candy—so basically, books that were more enjoyable to look at than to read. I have this tendency to walk into the library and randomly grab books that have eye-catching covers. This can be a good thing sometimes because I have found some fantastic underhyped novels with this method. However, that also gives you a higher probability of reading a lot of not so great novels as well. Here are a few books whose covers drew me in, but whose stories ended up being rather disappointing.

5. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

This has got to be one of my favorite covers of all time, and honestly, this was the best read of this entire list. I did not completely dislike this novel, I was just disappointed with it overall. The concept was incredibly interesting and the writing was absolutely fantastic, which in itself has made me want to continue on with this series. I had more issues with this first novel than I expected to have, but I do believe there is a good chance many of them may be resolved as the series progresses.

Click here to read my full review.

4. The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu

I will admit, I picked this one up almost solely on the beautiful cover. The concept for this novel was a very interesting one, but the actual execution of it left a lot to be desired. It began solidly, but about halfway through, the story just started to feel like it was going nowhere. I was never able to become fully invested in the lives of the characters, and the events of the plot did not have the intended emotional impact on me. It was a fast read, but this novel did not end up being my cup of tea.

3. Doll Bones by Holly Black

After all the wonderful things I had heard about her work, I had been meaning to read a novel by Holly Black for a long time. This was the one that had been on my radar the longest, so I chose it as my first one. While the story had a promising and—as the cover implied—creepy start, the feel of it quickly changed. It was far less of an eerie story than I was expecting, which was incredibly disappointing. That, coupled with a cast of characters I couldn’t bring myself to like and frustratingly unrealistic circumstances caused this to be an unsatisfactory read for me.

2. A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

This was one that I had heard a little bit about prior to reading it, and the cover really sealed the deal. In hindsight, I’m not overly shocked that I disliked this book; I typically never enjoy contemporary romance novels. However, the fact that it was to be told from fourteen different points of view really had me intrigued. That aspect of it was creative, and I did like a number of the voices quite a lot, but it was a bit excessive. I felt far too disconnected from the story, and I couldn’t get myself to care enough about the main characters. On top of that, the progression of the romance became extremely repetitive and frustrating, to the point where everything about it was completely implausible. I applaud the author’s creativity, but everything was just slightly too over the top.

1. The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone by Adele Griffin

I had heard next to nothing about this, but I loved the cover, so that was definitely the main reason I picked up this novel in the first place. The synopsis sounded fantastic and my hopes were very high for this book. However, it ended up being absolutely nothing like what I had expected, and what should have been an intensely intriguing story ended up feeling like reading a pile of paperwork. They story was very dry and the characters were all fairly dislikable. The visual aspect of this novel ended up being the only really positive thing about it.

Click here to read my full review.

What are some books that ended up being disappointing eye candy for you? Let me know in the comments!

-Ariana

26Jan2016

Top 10 Tuesday – January 26th, 2016

Posted in Top 10 Tuesday by TheQuirkyBookNerd

This week’s Top 10 Tuesday topic is a freebie, so we can choose whatever topic we would like. I decided to return to a previous topic since I loved it so much: favorite book quotes. Whether they are inspiring, heart-wrenching, or hilarious, I completely adore quotes. I’ve always loved sharing ones I’ve enjoyed and hearing which ones have touched others. The last post was favorite quotes from recent reads, so this time around, I am going to choose some of my overall favorites from any point in time.

1. “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” – Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

2. “When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” – Arthur Conan Doyle, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

3. “I want to tear myself from this place, from this reality, rise up like a cloud and float away, melt into this humid summer night and dissolve somewhere far, over the hills. But I am here, my legs blocks of concrete, my lungs empty of air, my throat burning. There will be no floating away.” – Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

4. “I would always rather be happy than dignified.” – Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

5. “Death doesn’t exist. It never did, it never will. But we’ve drawn so many pictures of it, so many years, trying to pin it down, comprehend it, we’ve got to thinking of it as an entity, strangely alive and greedy. All it is, however, is a stopped watch, a loss, an end, a darkness. Nothing.” – Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes

6. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” – Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

7. “I have ceased concerning myself with how things look to others. I suggest you do the same. In my experience, others are generally wrong.” – William Ritter, Jackaby

8. “We know what we are, but not what we may be.” – William Shakespeare, Hamlet

9. “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

10. “Sometimes you look up and there just seems to be so many more stars that ever before. More. They burn brighter and they shine longer and they never vanish into your periphery when you turn your head. It’s as if they come out for us and to remind us that their light took so long to come to us, that if we never had the patience to wait, we never would have seen them here, tonight, like this. That as much as it hurts, sometimes it’s all you can do, wait, endure and keep shining, knowing that eventually, your light will reach where it is supposed to reach and shine for who it is supposed to shine for. It is never easy, but it is always worth it.” – Tyler Knott Gregson, Chasers of the Light

As I’ve said, I absolutely love hearing what other people’s favorite quotes are, so make sure to let me know what some of your favorites are down in the comments!

-Ariana

25Jan2016

New Year’s Resolutions Book Tag

Posted in Tags by TheQuirkyBookNerd

I was tagged by the lovely SSJTimeLord to do the New Year’s Resolution Book Tag. Thank you so much for the tag! 😀 She is a fantastic book blogger, so please make sure to take a moment to head over and check out her blog.

This tag was created by Emily over at Embuhlee liest and Shivii from Brown Eyed Musings.

Get in shape – name a book that doesn’t quite fit on your shelf correctly.

Surprisingly enough, I don’t actually have too many books that are oddly shaped or don’t match the size of a fair amount of other books. However, my leather bound editions of books, though they match each other, are taller and wider than all the other books I own. My editions of To Kill a Mockingbird and Grimm’s Fairy Tales in particular don’t quite fit with everything else and stick out among my book piles.

Eat healthily – name a book you feel was good for you to read.

It’s difficult to choose just one book for this question. I would have to go with either To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee or The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. These are beautiful novels—two of my favorites of all time, mainly because they are both very thought-provoking reads. Both deal with some extremely important topics in brilliant ways. I feel like they were also good reads for me because they are books that have truly inspired me in my own writing.

Quit smoking – name a book you kept going back to even though you had finished it.

I’m going to have to say To Kill a Mockingbird again for this one, since it is by far the book that I have read the most times in my life. Growing up, I actually used to read this at least twice a year for a number of years. This is my go to read when I am in a slump or just want to read something I know that I will love. I will never get tired of reading this novel!

Save more money – name a book you got for a really good price.

I am totally someone who is very picky about the editions of books that I buy since they are becoming a part of my permanent collection, so I am happy to invest more in a copy that I really want. That being said, I am also someone who loves hunting for deals on everything, especially books. I’ve found some fantastic prices on books over the years, but a great deal I got recently was a copy of Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb for only two dollars!

Be more organized – how do you organize your bookshelf?

I’ve mentioned this a few times before but, embarrassingly enough, I don’t have any bookshelves at the moment. Right now, all of my books are sitting in storage boxes, and there is absolutely no order to them whatsoever. When I finally get some shelves, however, I will organize my books alphabetically by author.

Be punctual – shortest time and longest time it took you to read a book.

Shortest time – While I am not generally the fastest reader ever, there are tons of books I’ve read in a very short amount of time over the years, so I decided to choose from my more recent reads. A fairly recent quick read was A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, which took me about an hour and a half to two hours to complete. It was fast but utterly beautiful, and has become one of my favorite books of all time. If you have not read this yet, definitely give it a go!

Longest time – One of the longest reads for me was Insurgent by Veronica Roth, which took me about three months to complete. I absolutely adored Divergent when I read it a few years ago, and I was very eager to continue on with the series. Unfortunately, while I did not by any means hate it, I ended up being fairly disappointed by Insurgent and had a lot of trouble getting into it. Because of this, I didn’t have as much motivation to finish it and only read a tiny bit at a time.

Go out more – what book made you isolate yourself from the outside world?

Oh man, so many books to choose from! Any of the Harry Potter books or The Chronicles of Narnia would fit this question for sure. Divergent and Gone Girl were two more recent ones that caused me to do this. I also have to add in the entire Hunger Games trilogy. They were the first novels since finishing Harry Potter that I genuinely could not put down once I started reading them.

Be unique – what was your favorite book of 2015?

I read a lot of great books last year, but my favorite by far was Vicious by V.E. Schwab. I read this in December in a buddy read with Heather from The Sassy Book Geek and we had such a fantastic time. Vicious is an incredibly well-crafted story, with beautiful writing and vivid characterization. This novel is utterly epic and it was particularly fun to read and discuss with a fellow superhero/supervillain nerd! I cannot say enough good things about this book—in fact, I will (hopefully) be posting my review of it tomorrow.

Be more personal – what book are you waiting for most this year?

This is a difficult one because I have a ton of upcoming releases that I am excited for. If I had to choose, I would say that Heartless by Marissa Meyer is probably my most anticipated release of the year. This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab is an extremely close second, however. I am just dying to get my hands on any novels written by these two wonderful ladies!

Really, resolutions? – what book do you promise to read this year?

There are a ton of books that I’ve promised to read this year (check here, here, and here!), but one in particular that I promise to read is The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. I’ve been wanting to read a Brandon Sanderson novel for a very long time and this is definitely going to be the year I finally do that. I am hoping that I can get through a few books in the Mistborn series before the end of the year, but I will be reading The Final Empire for sure!

I Tag:

Everyone! 😀 Since I’m running a bit late with this, I won’t tag anyone specific. However, if you do complete this or already have completed it, make sure to link me to your post down in the comments so I can check it out!

19Jan2016

Top 10 Tuesday – January 19th, 2016

Posted in Top 10 Tuesday by TheQuirkyBookNerd

This week’s Top 10 Tuesday topic is the top ten books you’ve recently added to your TBR. My pile of owned books is really starting to get quite insane, and my general Goodreads list of books I want to read is just outrageous. And yet, I keep adding new books to both! Since it’s the beginning of a new year, I have just recently added a bunch of books to my already way too large TBR, so this should be an easy topic. 🙂

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens by Alan Dean Foster

I have been a major Star Wars fan ever since I was a little kid, and yet somehow, I was completely unaware of the fact that there are novelizations of the films. My dad brought this to my attention the other day, so of course I had to pick one of them up. I figured I would go with The Force Awakens to start off since it’s the most recent film, but I definitely intend to read the others at some point as well!

2. Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney

I discovered this one thanks to Heather over at The Sassy Book Geek. She wrote up a great “if you liked that, try this” post, and recommended this one to fans of the Percy Jackson novels (which I am!). It definitely sounds like my kind of story, plus Heather and I have a very similar taste in books, so I think this will end up being an enjoyable read. I’m hoping to get to this one very soon.

3. Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi

This was a random one that I added recently. A few friends of mine have read and loved this novel, and I have also heard some fantastic reviews of it while watching Booktube. It sounded pretty intriguing, so I figured I’d give it a go at some point. I’ve been interested to dive further into sci-fi, and I think this will prove to be an interesting one.

4. Five-Seven-Five by C.E. Wilson

This novel was brought to my attention by Ashleigh over at A Frolic Through Fiction, who recently read and reviewed it. I had not heard of this one before, but her review really made me intrigued. Judging by the synopsis, it sounds like it is going to be a very unique story, and I’m extremely interested to give it a try and see what it’s all about.

5. The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

As I’ve mentioned, I am a big fan of the Percy Jackson books and Rick Riordan in general, so of course I had to add this to my TBR. I only just the other day discovered that this series was going to be a thing, and I am so excited for it! Along with this, I’ve also just added the other novels in the Magnus Chase series as well, but I figured I would just pick one of his books for this list.

6. The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

This is one of the books that I purchased with a gift card from Christmas. I am planning on starting The Raven Cycle this year and I have been collecting the novels. I will probably marathon the series after the final book is released. I’ve also added the final two books in this series to my TBR, but again, I thought I would just keep it to one for the purpose of this list. I’ve always heard nothing but good things about these books, and I’m excited to see what the story is like!

7. Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard

Even though I did not love Red Queen as much as I had hoped I would, I do intend to continue on with these novels for now. I only just recently discovered that there were novellas to go along with the trilogy, so I would like to give these a try. I’m hoping to get to these sometime before I read Glass Sword.

8. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Though I have owned all of the books in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy for a while now, I’ve not actually read a Laini Taylor novel yet. I do intend to fix that this year, and this new novel of hers is one that I would like to get to as well. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about her work and the synopsis of this novel really caught my attention; I can’t wait until this comes out!

9. Saga, Volume 6 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

I’ve talked about my love of the Saga series before, so this should come as no surprise; it’s definitely a given! I absolutely can’t wait to see where this series goes next. This is one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and it appears that it will be coming out right around my birthday, which is extra awesome!

10. Ghostly Echoes by William Ritter

This one is another given. I started reading the Jackaby series last year and have been completely adoring it so far, so of course I am planning to continue on with the novels. I’m eager to get my hands on this one and get back into this world again.

What are some books that you guys have added to your TBRs recently? Let me know in the comments!

-Ariana

Liked

1. Love and Other Unknown Variables by Shannon Lee Alexander

2. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

3. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

4. Falling into Place by Amy Zhang

5. The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder

Didn’t Like

1. Dead Rules by Randy Russell

2. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

3. A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

4. The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu

5. Almost by Anne Eliot

Fus Ro Dah – A book that blew you away.

Dovahkiin – Favorite “chosen one” story.

Thu’um – A book that got a verbal reaction out of you (good or bad).

Arrow to the Knee – A book or series that started out well but ended up being disappointing.

Shadowmere – Favorite literary/fictional animal or pet.

Alduin – Most frightening literary/fictional animal.

Companions Guild – Best literary friendship.

Dark Brotherhood – The darkest story you’ve ever read.

Thieves Guild – Favorite morally ambiguous character.

Wuld Nah Kest (whirlwind sprint) – Your fastest read.

Tiid Klo Ul (slow time) – Your slowest read.

Tamriel – Favorite fictional world.

Bonus Question:

“Sworn to Carry Your Burdens” – The heaviest book you own.

I Tag:

Phase 1: Initial Attraction – A book you bought because of the cover?

Phase 2: First Impressions – A book you got because of its summary?

Phase 3: Sweet Talk – A book with great writing?

Phase 4: First Date – The first book of a series that made you want to pick up the rest of the series?

Phase 5: Late Night Phone Calls – A book that kept you up all night?

Phase 6: Always On My Mind – A book you could not stop thinking about?

Phase 7: Getting Physical – A book that you love the way it feels?

Phase 8: Meeting The Parents – A book you would recommend to your family and friends?

Phase 9: Thinking About The Future – A book or series you know you will re-read many times in the future?

Phase 10: Share The Love – Who do you tag?

5. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

4. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

2. The Legend Trilogy by Marie Lu

1. Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Vanilla Caramel Fudge: pick a light, fluffy contemporary

Mint Chocolate Cookie: a new release that you wish everybody would read

Karamel Sutra Core: a last book in a series that you were completely satisfied with

Cherry Garcia: an ending that was bittersweet

Strawberry Shortcake: a book containing your OTP of OTPs

Milk and Cookies: two authors that if they collaborated, they would go perfectly together

Boston Cream Pie: a book that had you turning your pages late into the night

Chocolate Therapy: a book that makes you feel better after a long day of life

Coffee, Coffee, Buzzbuzzbuzz!: a book not yet released that you can’t wait to get your hands on

I Tag:

February TBR

1. More Than This by Patrick Ness

2. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

3. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

4. The Reluctant Sacrifice by Kerr-Ann Dempster

5. The Singular and Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath by Ishbelle Bee

6. Doctor Who: Deep Time by Trevor Baxendale

Read in January

January Book Haul

Anticipated Releases of February

5. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

4. The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu

3. Doll Bones by Holly Black

2. A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

1. The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone by Adele Griffin

Get in shape – name a book that doesn’t quite fit on your shelf correctly.

Eat healthily – name a book you feel was good for you to read.

Read more – name a book you keep telling yourself to read but haven’t yet.

Quit smoking – name a book you kept going back to even though you had finished it.

Save more money – name a book you got for a really good price.

Be more organized – how do you organize your bookshelf?

Be punctual – shortest time and longest time it took you to read a book.

Go out more – what book made you isolate yourself from the outside world?

Be unique – what was your favorite book of 2015?

Be more personal – what book are you waiting for most this year?

Really, resolutions? – what book do you promise to read this year?

I Tag:

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens by Alan Dean Foster