Stacking the Shelves - #1

  Stacking the Shelves is a feature hosted by Tynga's Reviews. This weekly meme's purpose is to showcase the books we've bought, burrowed, or received throughout the week/month.




Hi everyone! I decided to join in on the fun and start posting the Stacking the Shelves meme! This seems like a great way to bond and fangirl with all of you over books and uncontrollable book-buying! Althoough, I must say this past week my book buying was actually pretty under control. I did buy a few books, but as many as I'm used to. Maybe I am gaining some self-control!

Here are the pretties!

Bought:

• Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
• Finding Paris by Joy Preble
• Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes
• Off the Page by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer
• The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
• Asylum by Madeleine Roux
• Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen
• The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West
• The Heir by Kiera Cass
• An Ember In the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

For Review:

I feel like it was great month in terms of books acquired! I really can't wait to read all of these and share my thoughts with all of you! Let me know in the comments if you've read any of these and which ones you think I should give the most priority to. I would love to hear your thoughts!

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Feature and Follow Friday #4 {TBR List}

Feature Follow is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee at Parajunkee's View and Alison at Alison Can Read.

This will give everyone the opportunity to not only gain followers, but also meet more bookish people and share the book love!

*For those who would like to follow me (thank you!), please do so through either GFC or Bloglovin'! I will make sure to follow all of you!*

This week's question, as suggested by Obsessive Compulsive Reader is:

How many books have you got on your TBR list? 

This question... Oh my. *sweats nervously* Before I tell you, I will say that I do plan on reading all of these books eventually. And I do think that the number is a little bit too much, but hey, I love my books and I love the fact that I can call them mine. And like I said, I will read them eventually so it's all good! Right?

I currently have 148 books in my TBR list. 

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Book Review: My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

Title: My Heart and Other Black Holes

Author: Jasmine Warga

Release date: February 10th 2015
Pages: 302
Genres: YA, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
My rating: 5/ 5
Source: Bought

Synopsis:

Sixteen-year-old physics nerd Aysel is obsessed with plotting her own death. With a mother who can barely look at her without wincing, classmates who whisper behind her back, and a father whose violent crime rocked her small town, Aysel is ready to turn her potential energy into nothingness.

There’s only one problem: she’s not sure she has the courage to do it alone. But once she discovers a website with a section called Suicide Partners, Aysel’s convinced she’s found her solution: a teen boy with the username FrozenRobot (aka Roman) who’s haunted by a family tragedy is looking for a partner. 

Even though Aysel and Roman have nothing in common, they slowly start to fill in each other’s broken lives. But as their suicide pact becomes more concrete, Aysel begins to question whether she really wants to go through with it. Ultimately, she must choose between wanting to die or trying to convince Roman to live so they can discover the potential of their energy together. Except that Roman may not be so easy to convince.

(taken from goodreads)

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Book Review: Winger by Andrew Smith

Title: Winger (Winger #1)

Author: Andrew Smith

Release date: May 14th 2013
Pages: 439
Genres: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
My rating: 4/ 5
Source: Bought

Synopsis:

Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids in the Pacific Northwest. He’s living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he’s madly in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little boy.

With the help of his sense of humor, rugby buddies, and his penchant for doodling comics, Ryan Dean manages to survive life’s complications and even find some happiness along the way. But when the unthinkable happens, he has to figure out how to hold on to what’s important, even when it feels like everything has fallen apart.

Filled with hand-drawn info-graphics and illustrations and told in a pitch-perfect voice, this realistic depiction of a teen’s experience strikes an exceptional balance of hilarious and heartbreaking.

(taken from goodreads)

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Feature and Follow Friday #3 {How do you write your reviews?}

Feature Follow is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee at Parajunkee's View and Alison at Alison Can Read.

This will give everyone the opportunity to not only gain followers, but also meet more bookish people and share the book love!

*For those who would like to follow me (thank you!), please do so through either GFC or Bloglovin'! I will make sure to follow all of you!*

This week's question, as suggested by Blue Books and Butterflies is:

How do you write your reviews?

I started blogging around 6 months ago and when I wrote my first review I didnt really have a specific format in mind other than just spilling out my thoughts onto the post and just going with it. I've seen quite a number of bloggers who use some different formats and I have considered changing my own. I even tried it out on a recent review. However, while I was trying to write another one for a different book with the same format, I realized that it just wasn't going to work. I might try something else in the future, but for now I'll just stick to the spilling-out-my-thoughts format. 

 How about you guys? Let me know in the comments below!

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Book Review: Entwined by Heather Dixon

Title: Entwined

Author: Heather Dixon 

Release date: March 29th 2011 
Pages: 472
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
My rating: 3/ 5 stars
Source: Bought

Synopsis:

Just when Azalea should feel that everything is before her—beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing—it's taken away. All of it. And Azalea is trapped. The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. So he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest, but there is a cost. The Keeper likes to keep things. Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

(taken from goodreads)

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Waiting On Wednesday #9: Proof of Forever by Lexa Hillyer

Title:  Proof of Forever

Author: Lexa Hillyer

Publisher: Harper Teen

Publication date: June 2nd 2015

Synopsis:

From debut author and poet Lexa Hillyer comes the lyrical story of four seventeen-year-old friends who receive an unlikely chance to relive the perfect summer . . . and the devastating secret that could unravel it all. Elegant and evocative, Proof of Forever is one of those first novels that hooks you from the beginning and builds toward a stunning--and unexpected--end, calling to mind Gayle Forman and Ann Brashares.

Joy, Tali, Luce, and Zoe were once best friends. Now they barely speak. That is, until the fateful flash of a photo-booth camera transports them back in time, to the summer they were fifteen--the summer everything changed. Photos fade. Friendships dissolve. Summers end. But this one will change the girls forever . . . again.

Wendy Wunder calls Proof of Forever "The Sisterhood of the (Time) Traveling Pants for a new generation!"

                                                              Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

My thoughts:

Friendship and time travel? Yes, please. This book sounds like pure awesomeness to me and I seriously can't wait. Also, I keep hearing people who got to read it earlier that it's a great read!

Did anyone else notice that there are quite a few books coming out on June 2nd? My wallet is screaming. Anyway, what are you guys excited for? Let me know in the comments!

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

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Feature and Follow Friday #2 {How do you organize your shelves?}

Feature Follow is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee at Parajunkee's View and Alison at Alison Can Read.

This will give everyone the opportunity to not only gain followers, but also meet more bookish people and share the book love!

*For those who would like to follow me (thank you!), please do so through either GFC or Bloglovin'! I will make sure to follow all of you!*

This week's question, as suggested by Unconventional Book Views is:

How do you organize your books? Either at home on your bookshelves or on your reading-device, or on your bookish platform like Goodreads, Leafmarks or Booklikes.

By title, by author, by color, there are a ton of ways to organize bookshelves. However, I don't have a specific way of organizing mine. As long as I keep things neat and tidy, I don't really mind not having a precise organization code for my books. Although I've recently run out of shelf space thus I'm having to stack them on my desk. I'm counting on solving that problem quite soon, though!

 How about you guys? Let me know in the comments below!

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Book Review: Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

Title: Snow Like Ashes (Snow Like Ashes #1)

Author: Sara Raasch 

Release date: October 14th 2014 
Pages: 416
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
My rating: 4.5/ 5 stars
Source: Bought

Synopsis:

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.

(taken from goodreads)

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Feature and Follow Friday #1 {Choosing What To Read Next}

Feature Follow is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee at Parajunkee's View and Alison at Alison Can Read.

This will give everyone the opportunity to not only gain followers, but also meet more bookish people and share the book love!

*For those who would like to follow me (thank you!), please do so through either GFC or Bloglovin'! I will make sure to follow all of you!*

This week's question, as suggested by So Many Books, So Little Time, is:

How do you decide what books to read?

Now, I don't really have a specific way for choosing what I read. Heck, most of the time I don't even know what I'm in the mood to read. I just go with my gut and pick out something random. Aside from special occasions in which there might be a new release that I've been highly anticipating or in cases where I have ARCs that I need to get to. It all just depends.

 How about you guys? Let me know in the comments below!

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Waiting On Wednesday #8: Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

Title:  Made You Up

Author: Francesca Zappia

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Publication date: May 19th 2015

*This was supposed to be yesterdays post, but due my schecdule I was unable to upload it! I apologize for the delay.*

Synopsis:

Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Made You Up tells the story of Alex, a high school senior unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. This is a compelling and provoking literary debut that will appeal to fans of Wes Anderson, Silver Linings Playbook, and Liar.

Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal. 

Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up.

                                                              Goodreads  |  Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

My thoughts:

First of all, can we take a moment to look at this gorgeous cover?! It's stunning. Second of all, that synopsis sounds extremely intriguing. I love books that center around mental illness and I'm excited to see how this book goes about the topic. Only 12 days left!

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

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