Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1)
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publication Date: August 1, 2009
More information on Goodreads

This book has been in my possession for 4 years and I really wish I would have read it then instead of now. I feel like 16 year old me would have like this a lot more then 20 year old me, because 16 year old me loved almost anything she read.

I didn’t really enjoy this book. I found it to be very confusing at times. Sam, the wolf (not werewolf) was always vague about his human past but for some reason Grace seemed to understand everything as if she was right beside him in his past. I didn’t understand the “why” part of his past. Either the explanation was vague or somehow I completely missed it.

I didn’t like Grace either. The moment Sam showed up as a human in her life she completely dropped everything because “OMG my wolf if actually a human!” She forgot why she had an argument with her friend, which I did too because I really couldn’t empathize with Grace. She couldn’t focus on anything but Sam whether she was or wasn’t with him.

I also didn’t like how “no wolf knows when they will stop changing back to human” but both Sam and Beck, the alpha, knew it was respectively their last summer as a human. It made no sense to me how “they just knew” it was their last year.

I also didn’t like when both Sam and Grace were acting lustful towards each other because I imagined Sam as this tall, gangly, all-limbs 16 year old with a rat-stache. But he’s actually 18. Oh, and did I mention side-burns? It turned him on when Grace ran her fingers through his side burns…

I literally had to stop reading for a solid 10 minutes after that.

Unfortunately the ending was very abrupt, although very predictable, that I might just have to continue this series. May not be for a while though.

Weekend Reads {20}

I’m really not sure what to say in this post but I would feel bad if I didn’t post anything. I feel like I haven’t been reading anything good lately so that kind of makes me not want to read. But I’ve started reading two books that I enjoy so far… Hopefully I’ll at least finish one of them this weekend.

I’m not really that far into either of these but Ink and Bone I received from NetGalley and Searching for Someday is a featured free read on XOXOAfterDark so I would like to finish them very soon. My one problem is that I’d like to start crocheting some Christmas gifts and I can’t really read and crochet at the same time so I have to find some sort of balance.

What are you reading this weekend?

Month in Review: May 2015

Somehow, May flew by for me! I felt like just last week I was saying oh I got a month to read Me Before you before the movie comes out… The movie comes out in 2 days and I still haven’t read the book yet…

But I did have a good reading month! I read a total of 8 books, which I’m psyched about since I feel like I had a terrible reading month. Probably because I only finished one series this month when lately I’ve been finishing two.

Then this month I was bad a requested a few titles on NetGalley and got approved for a few of them:

I’m hoping to read the other 3 in June, since I’ve already read The Sound of Us, expect a review soon! I’m going to really try to not get behind on reviewing these, especially since they release in June.

This month also marked the start of Audiobook Sync which is a website that has two audiobooks a week that are available to download, in mostly just US and Canada, and so far they’ve had some pretty decent titles. I’ve would’ve downloaded more but they weren’t available in Canada 😦 Anyways, here are the ones I’ve downloaded.

Every Last Word and Egg & Spoon are still available to downloaded until June 1 @ midnight. They release new audiobooks every Thursday and they are only available for a week. I like to listen to audiobooks when I take my dog for a walk, when I knit/crochet, or when I’m playing the Jigsaw puzzle app on my iPad.

So although the number of books on my TBR didn’t change, I had a pretty good reading month. Have you read any of these books? How way May for you? Let me know!

Flintlock by Ashley Nixon

Title: Flintlock (The Cutlass Trilogy #2)
Author: Ashley Nixon
Publication Date: April 25, 2015
More information on Goodreads

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy in exchange for my honest review.

I wasn’t a fan of this one. The plot seemed to be disorganized and all over the place. Characters were making decisions that really didn’t make sense to me and I found myself not really caring about what happened to any of them.

The writing was alright. Nothing fantastic or outstanding about the writing. If I’m being honest here, I believe I was actually missing a few pages in my copy, a few VERY important pages that left me totally confused for the majority of the book. It didn’t all start coming together until the very end.

I knew this book would end in a cliffhanger because the plot didn’t get serious until the 85% mark. Before that everyone was just running around trying to gather information. Even though there was action it was pretty boring.

I don’t think I would recommend this book.

Weekend Reads {19}

It’s finally the weekend! Why does always seem like the week after the long weekend is really long? But it’s finally Friday and I can’t wait to leave work at the end of the day! This week at work has been really stressful and I haven’t been sleeping well and it’s just been a bad week all together. But the weekend is time for rest and that is what I’m planning on doing… And some reading!

I should have read Flintlock months ago when I received it on NetGalley but it’s one of the titles that never expires so it wasn’t high on my list. But since I’ve received more on NetGalley I figured I should finally read it.
I’ve read the first little bit of Feeling Good but I really want to delve into it (especially since I rented it from the library). It’s the first self-help book I’ve read and I’m really excited.

What are you reading?

Right Where You Are by L. E. Bross

Title: Right Where You Are (Second Chances #1)
Author: L. E. Bross
Publication Date: November 16, 2015
More information on Goodreads

Right Where You Are was an on-the-whim read for me. I never even heard of it until I was browsing XOXO After Dark for the free reads one boring day at work and the synopsis intrigued me. Two strangers almost hook up only too find out they are on the same Community Services (picking up trash) team the next morning.

While the actual plot was really good, I just found it was slow moving. Nothing major happened until near the end. Until then it was them almost having sex but then hating each other so they take their frustration out on the garbage until they finally realize that they are both equally infatuated with each other so they decided to maybe not be a bitch and an ass and give it a shot. And they find they actually enjoy each other. That sums up about 30% of this book.

If you can get past the slowness of this book is was kind of a fun read. It is part of a series, but the next book is a different couple so I don’t think I’m going to read it. Not right away at least.

I don’t think I would recommend this one. It is unique, but the writing and the pace just weren’t up to par for me.

Falling For You by Lisa Schroeder

Title: Falling For You
Author: Lisa Schroeder
Publication Date: January 1, 2013
More information on Goodreads

I’m kind of kicking myself in the butt for not reading this one sooner. I actually won a copy in a giveaway from another blogger, which I can not remember since it was about 3+ years ago.

I loved this book. I found I could relate to Rae, the main character, even though our lives aren’t very similar I did understand how she felt and I understood a lot of what she was going through. Even though I love this book, I wish I would have read it when I was a little younger and when my experiences were more fresh.

I don’t want to go too much into the story but I laughed, I cried, it moved me. I totally predicted the sappy parts of the ending and even though it was a happily ever after, I wouldn’t want it to be anything different.

There are so many quotes in this book that I would love to share with you guys but then I would practically share this whole book in one post. The writing was just something else. It’s hard to explain, since I’m not so eloquent with words, but Lisa Schroeder had a way of making every word meaningful.

I would recommend this book to everyone. If I were younger and still in high school I would probably have finished this book in 3 days or less. But I sort of value sleep now that I’m working 40 hours a week.

If you’re like me and haven’t picked this up yet, what are you waiting for?!?!

The Winner’s Kiss by Marie Rutkoski

 

Title: The Winner’s Kiss (The Winner’s Trilogy #3)
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Publication Date: March 29, 2016
More information on Goodreads

I’m really not sure what to say about this book but I’ll try my best.

I wasn’t really a fan of this book. It was actually my least favourite of the series. I guess I just thought it would be a little more fast-paced with how book 2 ended.

I found it quite slow moving because of what happens in the very beginning of the book. I won’t say what happened because spoilers, but it just wasn’t very fun to read.

This book wasn’t bad, once I got past the halfway mark it really picked up. I loved the action scenes, expect when the horses got hurt… The ending was very predictable though. Nothing really shocked me. I saw it all from a mile away.

I would still recommend this series those. It’s not the worst I’ve read.

Let the Storm Break by Shannon Messenger

Title: Let the Storm Break (Sky Fall #2)
Author: Shannon Messenger
Publication Date: March 4, 2014
More information on Goodreads

This one was a reread for me and I really enjoyed it both times. It’s kind of your typical YA, where there is only one person who can save the world but he wasn’t aware of that until a few days ago. He falls in love but he also rises to the challenges. It’s very typical, but I loved it!

I really enjoy Messenger’s writing skills. Nothing seemed forced or awkward. Everything was really smooth and fluid and easy. I didn’t find myself rereading sentences or paragraphs trying to understand what she is trying to say.

One thing I wasn’t a fan of was how sarcastic Vane, the main character, got. He said it’s his coping mechanism, and that’s fine, but it just got very annoying. I also didn’t like how the book ended in a cliffhanger. The third book didn’t come out until 2 years after this one. But not they are all out so I guess if you start reading the series now you won’t have a long wait.

I would definitely recommend this series up to this point. (I haven’t read the next one yet)

 

Weekend Reads {18}

I know almost every post starts with me being excited about the weekend but I truly am! These past two weeks at work have been stressful and I’m not really enjoying my work right now, so it’s hard when I know what doing something that I truly enjoy feels like.

Anyways, if you’ve taken a look at my Currently Reading shelf on Goodreads, you’ll see that it is quite large (6 books!) But that is because I am being real about what I am reading. I’ve found lately that I’m a mood reader, so if I’m not feeling a book I just move on to the next. That stops this weekend. I am only going to read what is on my Currently Reading Shelf until it is at zero. Here is what I plan to make progress on this weekend.

I know, I know. I shouldn’t be starting more series, but I feel like I’ve finished enough series, that starting one more wouldn’t hurt. I’m only about a quarter of the way through with both of these so if I can finish at least one of them this weekend that would be super awesome!

What are you reading this weekend?