Monday, August 3, 2015

Wrap Up: July 2015


July was also another fabulous reading month for me! I read more books than I did last month, which is awesome! While I didn't love all the books I read this month, I very thoroughly enjoyed all of them! Behold, my July Wrap up!

Midwinterblood
by Marcus Sedgwick 

The first book I read in the month of July was Midwinterblood. I loved it. It was an amazing and beautiful story following several different story lines that all eventually connected together and became one cohesive story. Throughout the whole novel, I was confused as to where and how all these stories would all combine, but it honestly takes until the very last page for you to understand every single part of how all the stories combine. The book is full of masterful storytelling and romance and beautiful writing. Definitely recommend it!

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★


The Dark
by Lemony Snicket (Author), Jon Klassen (Illustrator) 

When I saw Lemony Snicket's children's book on one of the shelves in the bookstore, I sat down and read it. It look me only a few minutes to read, and in such a short book, I've never seen a better message. While all children's book have some kind of meaningful message, the majority of them tend to be pretty cheesy. But not this one. I'm obviously not going to tell you the message but this story was just so interesting and wonderful and all within 40 pages! Definitely read this one!

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆


Something Strange & Deadly (Something Strange & Deadly #1)
by Susan Dennard

The third book I read this month was so fun and fast-paced. Something Strange and Deadly follows Eleanor Pitt, who is a young woman who goes against the society's standard of most young girls in this time period. She's a refreshing character to read from, even though she has her teenage girl things. Not only do we have awesome characters throughout this whole novel, but the plot is very interesting as well. Zombies in Victorian London? Sign me up.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Full Review Here


The Geography of You and Me
by Jennifer E. Smith

I really wanted something light to read for this month as well, and it happened to be the only unread contemporary sitting on my shelf. Overall, this book was a very light and fun read. I was disappointed that it didn't really expand more on our two character's stories, because I felt like there could  have been more between them then just the obvious long distance romance. While I didn't feel like it was a necessarily a memorable story, I would still recommend it if you wanted something fun and fluffy to read.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ (3.5)
Full Review Here


The Wrath and the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn #1)
by Renee Ahdieh

This is my new favorite book of the year. It was absolutely amazing. I was even going to write a full review on this but I couldn't get all of my thoughts collected together enough to write one. All the characters were fabulous. The writing flowed beautifully. The plot had an insane amount of depth and so far, we've only barely touched the surface. Even writing this now, I'm struggling to type all the things I loved about this novel because I loved EVERYTHING. READ THIS BOOK!

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★


The Summer I Turned Pretty (Summer #1)
by Jenny Han

Again, more contemporary novels to read for the summer! This was also a very fun read for the summer. I didn't love it, but I did really enjoy it. There were just a few reasons I couldn't give it 5 stars, the primary one of those being Belly's character in general. I liked her for the most part, but then she'd whine and become so childish that it was hard to read from at times. I understand she is a teenage girl in this novel, and we follow her through her younger years as well, but you'd assume some things would go away over time. But overall, a very fun summer read!

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Full Review Here


It's Not Summer Without You (Summer #2)
by Jenny Han

This was probably my least favorite book in the series, mainly because the romance/character development felt kinda rushed. Despite this, I still gave this book 4 stars because I honestly enjoy the drama of these novels so much. While it might seem unnecessary at times, I just find it very entertaining. So other than these minor problems in this book and those that carried on from the first novel, I enjoyed this book very much as well. Although they are not my favorite contemporary novels, I still recommend them.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Full Review Here


We'll Always Have Summer (Summer #3)
by Jenny Han

Not really sure which book was my favorite in this series, but I do think it might be this one. This book was just packed with drama. Although some of it was way too much, it was just so entertaining to read. I honestly couldn't put this book done because I just wanted to know what happened! While the love triangle was unrealistic, I didn't find myself irritated by it as much, mainly because I wasn't extremely attached to either of the love interests. But all in all, it was a satisfying ending to a series, even though we could have gotten more conclusion.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Full Review Here


Amy & Roger's Epic Detour
by Morgan Matson

This was my first Morgan Matson book and I was pleasantly surprised. I loved this book so much. Maybe because I had just come back from a road trip before reading this, but I insanely enjoyed it. The romance in it wasn't at all a key component, because the two characters had so many other problems they needed to come to terms with and deal with before dealing with romance. While I expected a fun contemporary, I was very surprised to see how this book dealt with some heavy topics and wasn't just all daisies and sunshine. This is definitely a new favorite!

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★


Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms #1)
by Morgan Rhodes

I needed some fantasy to finish off the month and I sure got an awesome one. Being a first book in a soon to be 6 book series, this book was definitely a set up for the later books in the series. Yet, I still really enjoyed it. I love reading about world-building and political court intrigue which this book delivered a lot of. I didn't give it 5 full starts though, because I predicted almost all of the "big" shocks, so to say, towards the end. Not saying that I didn't enjoy them, they were just a little obvious to me in the end. I'm still excited to carry on with this series and see what it has in store!

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ (4.5)

Tell me down below if you've read any of these books and if you enjoyed them! I love hearing your thoughts!

Saturday, August 1, 2015

The Geography of You and Me ; Review

The Geography of You and Me
by Jennifer E. Smith
Rating: 3.5/5

Truth be told, I was not planning on picking this book up for a while. Despite it being summer, and contemporary novels generally read more in the summer, I was in a fantasy kick. But, this novel is generally short and I wanted to finish it so I could count most of it for Cram-A-Thon!

When I initially picked it up, I really enjoyed the story. While I was not wowed, I really wanted to see what was going to happen and where the story was going to go. The premise of the novel sounded interesting, and the part of the novel that related to it was very enjoyable. But as the book progressed, I found my self having to reread some of the pages/paragraphs because it just wasn't that interesting in the middle.

As I said above, the beginning of the novel was very fun. Although I found the characters hard to relate to, they weren't irritating and were easy to read from. We get to know all about the character's backgrounds and where they came from. The interaction between the two love interests was entertaining and their relationship wasn't instalove at all, which I appreciate in a contemporary. The plot progressed nicely throughout all of the first half of the novel, and I had high hopes for the remaining parts.

Unfortunately, the middle of the novel felt very dragged out to me. If you've read the book, you understand the problem the two main characters are facing, but for me, all the confusion/angst was kinda unnecessary. I totally understand the purpose the middle was supposed to serve for the relationship between these two people, but I felt like it could have been more enjoyable had there been more than just the two main characters moping around. Although their were some parts I enjoyed (mainly the postcards and explanations of the various cities), the majority of it was just okay for me.

Thankfully, the end picked up rather quickly and more interesting events started to happen. The main characters were much more enjoyable to read from in this part, versus the middle. The ending was very cute, and I did like how Smith concluded it all. Overall, I did like this novel and I would recommend it if you are looking for something fun and adventurous.