Top Books of 2016

Hello everyone!  I know it's been radio silence on this blog, but I HAVE been reading, I promise!  I have read some AMAZING books this year!  Not all of them were published in 2016, but I discovered them in 2016.  

As a fun little round up for the end of the year, I thought I'd list some of my top picks of the books I've read in 2016!

I got to start the list off with the latest book from my favorite author ever!

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

This book leaves you on a razor's edge keeping you teetering though moments of joy and moments of pain; an uncomfortable journey to be had, but one worth traveling. 

Next up

Half Bad by Sally Green

Like nothing I've read before, this is not the typical "boy discovers he has magic" book.  Harsh and desperate, this world keeps you on your toes as you hope the main character survives.

Next up

George by Alex Gino

Necessary, heartbreaking, inspiring. I hope that this finds its way into the hands of everyone. The struggle that George is going through can open everyone's eyes & see that love is love is love. And that loving yourself is the most difficult step of all, especially when loving yourself might alienate the others you love.

Next up

Wax by Gina Damico

Hilarious and quirky, delivered in a quick-pace, this "waxy" adventure will keep you in stitches the entire time!

Next up is another amazing book by a favorite author

Local Girl Swept Away by Ellen Wittlinger 

An examination of the power people can wield over others and how one event can thoroughly rock the reality of a friendship. Set in the beautiful wilds of Provincetown, the sea and art are just as much characters in this story as the humans.

Next up is the very first audiobook I've ever listened to

Seth Baumgartner's Love Manifesto by Eric Luper

Hilarious and rough, just like being in love is like. Really fun and a quick read. Enjoyable for all those who've experiences the trials and tribulations aid love and so relatable to those just going through it. A perfect main protagonist, you can't help but fall a little in love with Seth Baumgartner!

Next up

Learning to Swear in America by Katie Kennedy

An amazing debut by Katie Kennedy.  Super funny, surprisingly deep--examining the big questions in life: girls, math, and the end of the world!

Next up

Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown

Powerful story about faith, love, truth, and trust. A robust examination of the walk with faith that LGBTQIA+ individuals deal with every day, and how to be true to yourself and stand up for the love you believe in.

Finally, the last book up

Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes

this book was beautiful and heartbreaking and inspiring and tremendous. A journey that gives weight to the tragedy of 9/11, and creates a way for everyone, but especially kids who didn't experience it first hand, to connect

Obviously, I read MANY more books than these, and they were all excellent in their own way.  But what each of these particular books had in common was that they all impacted me either through humor, heartache, or insightfulness.  

Let me know what were some of your top books in 2016, and if you've read any of my picks, what you thought, in the comments!

Happy New Year everyone!  Hopefully 2017 will be a fresh start for my blog and reading!

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The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (Review)

Title: The Raven Boys
Author(s): Maggie Stiefvater
Edition: Audiobook, 11 hours/10 cds
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: September 18, 2012
Source: Library
Buy: Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Book Depository

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them--until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her.

His name is Gansey, a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can't entirely explain. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She doesn't believe in true love, and never thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

(Goodreads)

My Opinion

I want to preface this with the fact that I "read" The Raven Boys on audio.  My first foray into audiobooks in fact, which may have not been completely the best idea as Maggie Stiefvater's books tend to be very detailed and complicated.  I would suggest reading a hard-copy of the book because those details and complexity was sometimes overwhelming at times when listening.  And while I realize there are probably a million reviews out there for this book, I think another one won't hurt.

Blue Sargent comes from a family of female physics, but she is the only one without the gift.  Within the town she live in, Marietta, her family witness the crossing of the dead, and each year Blue goes with, never seeing the souls as her family does.  Except for this year, when one soul walks towards her and whispers his name. And Blue is told by her Aunt Neeve: “There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said.  “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”  (pg. 16 of the hardcover).  This one sentence pretty much sets the tone of the book, and the action takes off.

Rich in detail and mythology, Stiefvater's Marietta is a character in of itself, and seems like a beacon gathering the 5 main characters together.  As with all Stievater books, the mythos within The Raven Boys is rich, pulling from legends existing within the real world.  Each boy, Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah, is multi-layered and complex.  Sometimes you hate them, but more often you love them, much like Blue herself.  With each new turn of the story, you sink deeper and deeper, becoming a part of this quest that Gansey and his fellow Raven Boys are on.  And while this is one quest, you find yourself on a simultaneous journey with Blue, navigating the possible result of her predicted future.

Lyrical, complex, and compelling, The Raven Boys delivers a story steeped in magic, both of the fantastical and the ordinary.  This is sure to pull you in and not let you go!

Final Rating

Book Cover: 5/5 
Book Title: 5/5
Plot: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Writing: 9/10
Ending: 8/10

Overall: 45/50: A

Extras

Book Trailer

Other Books in Series

Photo credit: Maggie Stiefvater

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Waiting on Wednesday (96)

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming/recent releases that we seriously can’t wait to read

Here's my pick for the week, THAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ BECAUSE IT IS AMAZING:

Labyrinth Lost

by Zoraida Córdova

Publication Date: September 6, 2016

Nothing says Happy Birthday like summoning the spirits of your dead relatives.

I fall to my knees. Shattered glass, melted candles and the outline of scorched feathers are all that surround me. Every single person who was in my house – my entire family — is gone.

Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation…and she hates magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo boy she can’t trust. A boy whose intentions are as dark as the strange markings on his skin.

The only way to get her family back is to travel with Nova to Los Lagos, a land in-between, as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland…

Beautiful Creatures meets Daughter of Smoke and Bone with an infusion of Latin American tradition in this highly original fantasy adventure.

(Summary from Goodreads)

Love this BOOK, love this COVER, love this AUTHOR!  Zoraida's first series, The Vicious Deep, was great, and I think Labyrinth Lost is better!  Such a rich world and a super empowering family story containing so many strong women!  It is definitely a part of the kick-ass girls club of books!  10 out of 10 would recommend!!!

I am also a part of the Resting Witch Face Squad (RWFSquad); we're the Street Team, bringing you Labyrinth Lost realness!  so make sure to check my social media for any tweets/posts about fun happenings about the book!  

What book are you waiting for?

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ARC AUGUST - TO BE READ PILE!

So after ALA, I have a lot of ARCs to get through!  I've made a plan for them, but I figured a kick in the butt wouldn't go amiss.  So when I learned about the ladies over at Read.Sleep.Repeat's ARC August event I thought, this is perfect!

So I went through the ARCs I have and picked some choice ones that I was/am really excited to read!

My goal is to finish 10 ARCs this month!  Hopefully, that'll happen, but I'm not going to stress out about it too much!

THE BOOKS

     

        

I know some of these are already published, but I still haven't read them so might as well add them on!  Illuminae must be read in time for Gemina in October so there is a method behind this madness!

 If you have an ARC shelf just staring you down, today is the LAST day to sign-up to participate!  Of course, if you miss the sign up, still go read those ARCs!  I know how overwhelming a ton of books can be, and you always want to get the newest one, but take the time to give love to all those older ARCs too!

I'm feeling excited and trepidatious about my goal, but I think I can do it!  I'll be posting reviews for the books as well, so look for those!  Perhaps there may even be some giveaways for the books I really enjoy!  WHO KNOWS?!

HAPPY READING!

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BLOG TOUR -- WAX BY GINA DAMICO [Review + Giveaway]

Title: Wax
Author(s): Gina Damico
Edition: Hardcover, eBook, 368 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: August 2, 2016
Source: Rockstar Book Tours
Buy: Amazon - Barnes & Noble - iBooks - Book Depository

Tour Schedule

Week One:

7/25/2016- Two Chicks on Books- Interview

7/26/2016- Eli to the nth- Review (ME!)

7/27/2016- BookHounds YA- Guest Post

7/28/2016- Lisa Loves Literature- Review

7/29/2016- The Cover Contessa- Interview

Week Two:

8/1/2016- Here's to Happy Endings- Review

8/2/2016- Ohana Reads- Guest Post

8/3/2016- A Dream Within A Dream- Review

8/4/2016- YA Book Madness- Interview

8/5/2016- A Gingerly Review- Review

The Summary

Paraffin, Vermont, is known the world over as home to the Grosholtz Candle Factory. But behind the sunny retail space bursting with overwhelming scents and homemade fudge, seventeen-year-old Poppy Palladino discovers something dark and unsettling: a back room filled with dozens of startlingly life-like wax sculptures, crafted by one very strange old lady. Poppy hightails it home, only to be shocked when one of the figures—a teenage boy who doesn’t seem to know what he is—jumps naked and screaming out of the trunk of her car. She tries to return him to the candle factory, but before she can, a fire destroys the mysterious workshop—and the old woman is nowhere to be seen.

With the help of the wax boy, who answers to the name Dud, Poppy resolves to find out who was behind the fire. But in the course of her investigation, she discovers that things in Paraffin aren’t always as they seem, that the Grosholtz Candle Factory isn’t as pure as its reputation—and that some of the townspeople she’s known her entire life may not be as human as they once were. In fact, they’re starting to look a little . . . waxy. Can Poppy and Dud extinguish the evil that's taking hold of their town before it’s too late?

(Goodreads)

My Opinion

If you're looking for a laugh-out-loud, twisty, crazy, murdery romp, well by golly, look no further!  Wax by Gina Damico delivers all of the above and more.  A weird contemporary/supernatural story, Wax is sure to have you guessing until the last wick burns out!

The thing that Damico does the best, and I mean the absolute best, is take a really strange premise and make it actually plausible.  The characters are so dynamic, the setting is so detailed, and the series of events happen in such a natural way, you find yourself thinking, "This could've really happened!".  This is the trend through all of her books, but I think that Wax really exemplifies this.

Poppy is an excellent protagonist.  She's funny, smart, a little bossy, and really cares about her town.  A good candidate for a hero.  Plus her cast of weirdos, also known as the Giddy Committee (her school's Drama club), lend a helping hand by being their true weirdo selves.  There's a whole thing with a flamethrower that had me crying I was laughing so hard.  Poppy, even in the midst of her seemingly unending crap storm of a year, has a sense of optimism--which may just be a coping mechanism, but hey we all gotta get through life somehow.  Of course to off-set this beaming optimism, is Poppy's partner-in-crime, Jill, who is just over the line of too snarky and I absolutely adore her.

There are so many shenanigans during this book, and plot twists I didn't see coming.  Super fun, going a mile a minute at all times, I was very sad when it was all over.  I don't dare give away plot points because half the fun of Damico's books is going "Holy sh*t!  Did that just happen?".  And trust me, there are a ton of those.  But I will say, if you hear the insult gutbag, you'll be instantly on guard!  

Uproariously fun, Wax by Gina Damico is one of those books you don't want to miss!  If you want a chance to win your own copy, check out the giveaway below!  And be sure to pick up Wax when it comes out, August 2, 2016!  You want to miss this one!

Final Rating

About the Author

Gina Damico is the author of Croak, Scorch, and Rogue, the grim-reapers-gone-wild books of the Croak trilogy. She has also dabbled as a tour guide, transcriptionist, theater house manager, scenic artist, movie extra, office troll, retail monkey, yarn hawker and breadmonger. A native of Syracuse, New York, she now lives outside Boston with her husband, two cats, and one dog, and while she has never visited hell in person, she has spent countless waking hours at the Albany Regional Bus Terminal, which is pretty darn close. Visit her website at www.ginadami.co.

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BOOKTUBE-A-THON 2016 WRAP UP

BookTube-A-thon 2016 is officially over!  July 24th was the last full day of the event, and boy was this a looooong 7 days.  I have never read that many books in such a short amount of time.  Especially as it doesn't really work out to 1 book a day in practice; so books take longer than others do (I'm looking at you Wax, I'm looking at you).

Just to refresh your memory from last time (check out my update post) here are the challenges:
1. Read a book with yellow on the cover
2. Read a book only after sunset
3. Read a book you discovered through BookTube
4. Read a book by one of your favorite authors
5. Read a book that is older than you
6. Read and watch a book-to-movie adaptation
7. Read seven books

(books correspond to the challenges from left to right)

I officially finished ALL the challenges!  Wooh!  I read every single book listed above!  Smashed it for sure.  Of course I'm sure some people read waaaaay more books, but with the fact that I have a full-time, 40 hour a week job, I am very pleased with my accomplishment!  

With the BookTube-A-Thon, there were three other places to do "challenges or activities: Twitter, Instagram, and, of course, YouTube.  I, unfortunately, rarely participated in the YouTube or Instagram challenges--I need to re-vamp my YoueTube Channel and I'm just not a good Bookstagamer yet.  BUT, I totally participated in the Twitter Sprints!  These are blocks of time when hosts for the BookTube-A-Thon issue reading "sprints", designated reading times, and offer challenges/activities to do during the blocks as well.  They were super fun, and while I only really got to do the 10:00PM to 1:00AM ones, I did participate!  

I LOVE this event, and really applaud Ariel Bisset for all the hard work she puts in to, first, create the BookTube-A-Thon, and then second, run it every year!  I also enjoyed the myriad of guest hosts, popular BookTubers from all over the interwebz; super fun to see everyone's different style in Tweet form!

Since I'm so pumped, and I finished all my challenges, I figured I'd do a little wrap-up going over the books I read as a celebratory "I DID IT!"!

FAVORITE BOOK READ!

My favorite book read was Wax by Gina Damico!  I can't say enough good things about this book; it was hilarious and horrifying, and hilariously horrifying all at the same time.  Definitely a book you want to check out (also look for my review and a giveaway coming Tuesday, July 26th)!

LEAST FAVORITE BOOK READ!

My least favorite books read was definitely The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway!  This book was picked for the "read a book that is older than you" challenge, and I regret that decision.  I know that as far as a literary achievement, this is touted as one of Hemingway's best novels, but it has a lot, and I mean a lot, of fishing in it.  Too much fishing.  All the fishing.  I couldn't handle it.  Good for a literary analysis, stinky for reading for fun!

FAVORITE CHALLENGE!

I really enjoyed the "read and watch a book-to-movie adaptation".  For this one I chose How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell, which when the movie came out, I did not know it was a book.  So I saw the movie first, which in this case was fine because I didn't find them to be all that similar.  The very base of the plot is there in the movie, but the book and movie have a TON of differences.  Both enjoyable for sure, but I think I like the movie adaptation better, sorry to say!

LEAST FAVORITE CHALLENGE!

This is a toss up between "read a book that is older than you" and "read a book only after sunset".  The former because being 28 makes the genre that I typically like to read, Young Adult, pretty slim pickings to find a book, and one I hadn't read yet.  Hence, looking for those classics, and hence, winding up with "The Old Man Who Fished A Lot".  The later was problematic because right now it doesn't get dark until 8:30PM!!!  And remember that 40 hour a week job?  I'm tired by like 9:00PM!  I had to do some major caffeination in order to read my pick for that challenge, but it was still fun!

FASTEST BOOK TO READ!

That honor would have to go to How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell. This is the last book I read, as I wanted to be able to watch the movie right after, so I read it all in one go on Sunday, July 24th.  Super short book too, so that obviously helped! The actual shortest book I read was really, George by Alex Gino, at 195 pages, but I read that over two days due to work.

LONGEST BOOK TO READ!

This honor has to go to Wax by Gina Damico.  This book took 5 days...well nights...to read!  That's only because sleep kept defeating me!  My body was so weak in the face of all this after sunset only reading!  This books was also the longest in page length at 368 pages.  So worth it though!!

MOST GENRES READ!

I read, out of the 7 books, 4 "contemporary" books: You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan, George by Alex Gino, Local Girl Swept Away, and Flying Lessons & Other Stories edited by Ellen Oh.  Each of them were very different books, but all fell within the contemporary genre.  And it just reinforces the fact that contemporary has a lot of different books within it!

Overall, I had sooooo much fun!  And I'm proof, along with many other participants, that you don't have to have a (active)BookTube channel in order to take part in the BookTube-A-Thon.  So definitely consider participating next year, and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel in order to get all the updates.

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