Month: June 2016

June 2016 in Review

Posted June 29, 2016 in Life, Reading / 8 Comments

Month in Review

Things that Happened in June

  • I spent a weekend at Glacier National Park. I kind of sort of love it there. It is beautiful. If you haven’t gone, you definitely should!
  • I attended my friend’s wedding in California. My sister came with me and we had a blast.
  • I’ve been doing quite a bit of prep for the upcoming school year. I can’t believe June is over already! Only a month and a half until I am back in the classroom.
  • I did not reread any books this month. Wow! I am pretty sure that is a first this year.
  • I messed with my blog fonts last weekend (and updated my About Me page). I ended up changing up the fonts (both headers and body text) and simplifying my header. My design itself hadn’t changed since last October. Please let me know what you think about the changes! Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Below is the screenshot I took last October after my last design update:

Blog Design Change 06

My Favorite Book of June

Ruined

Ruined by Amy Tintera

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Historical Retelling of Vlad Dracula as a Girl – And I Darken {Review}

Posted June 27, 2016 in Reading, Review / 4 Comments

Historical Retelling of Vlad Dracula as a Girl – And I Darken {Review}And I Darken by Kiersten White
Series: The Conquerors Saga #1
Publisher: Delacorte Press (2016 - June 28)
eARC (496 pages)
Via: NetGalley
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2016 Retelling Challenge, 2016 Royal Challenge, Read 2016

Synopsis

NO ONE EXPECTS A PRINCESS TO BE BRUTAL.
And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.
Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, who’s expected to rule a nation, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.
But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.
From
New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White comes the first book in a dark, sweeping new series in which heads will roll, bodies will be impaled . . . and hearts will be broken.

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Find the author: Website, Twitter, Goodreads, Tumblr

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How Bad Could Splintering Across the Multiverse Be? – Ten Thousand Skies Above You {Review}

Posted June 25, 2016 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments

How Bad Could Splintering Across the Multiverse Be? – Ten Thousand Skies Above You {Review}Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray
Series: Firebird #2
Publisher: Harper Audio (2015)
Audiobook
{10 hours and 52 minutes} (426 pages)
Rating:
Also by this author: A Thousand Pieces of You
Also in this series: A Thousand Pieces of You
Reading Challenges: Read 2016

Synopsis

Ten thousand worlds. Ten thousand enemies. One love.
Marguerite Caine has done the impossible, traveling to alternate dimensions with the Firebird—the brilliant invention of her parents, her boyfriend, Paul, and their friend Theo. But she has also caught the attention of enemies willing to kidnap, blackmail, and even kill to use the Firebird for themselves.
When Paul’s soul is splintered into four pieces—pieces that are trapped within Pauls in other dimensions—Marguerite will do anything, and travel anywhere, to save him. But the price of his safe return is steep. If she doesn’t sabotage her parents in multiple universes, Paul will be lost forever.
Unwilling to sacrifice her family, Marguerite enlists the brilliant Theo to help. The two forge a plan to save Paul and the Firebird, but succeeding means outsmarting a genius and risking not only their lives but also the lives of their counterparts in every other dimension.
Their mission takes them to the most dangerous universes yet: a war-torn San Francisco, the criminal underworld of New York City, and a glittering Paris where another Marguerite hides a shocking secret. Each leap brings Marguerite closer to saving Paul—but her journey reveals dark truths that lead her to doubt the one constant she’s found between worlds: their love for each other.

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Two Weeks to Save the World – Map of Fates {Review}

Posted June 23, 2016 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments

Two Weeks to Save the World – Map of Fates {Review}Map of Fates by Maggie Hall
Series: The Conspiracy of Us #2
Publisher: G P Putnam's Sons (2016)
Hardcover (311 pages)
Rating:
Also by this author: The Conspiracy of Us
Also in this series: The Conspiracy of Us
Reading Challenges: Read 2016

Synopsis

Two weeks.
That’s how long it took for Avery West’s ordinary life to change forever: In two weeks, she discovered she was heiress to a powerful secret society known as the Circle, learned her mother was taken hostage by the Circle’s enemies, and fell for a boy she’s not allowed to love, just as she found out another was her unwelcome destiny.
Now, Avery crosses oceans in private jets to hunt for clues that will uncover the truth about the Circle, setting her mom and herself free before it’s too late. By her side are both the boys: Jack—steady, loyal, and determined to help her even at the expense of his own duty—and Stellan, whose connection to Avery grows stronger by the day despite her best intentions, making her question what she believes at every turn.
But at the end of a desperate hunt from the islands of Greece to the red carpet at Cannes comes a discovery that not only changes everything, but could bring the whole world to its knees. And now Avery is forced to face the truth: in the world of the Circle, no one is what they seem.

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{TTT} Favorite 2016 Releases So Far

Posted June 21, 2016 in Reading / 6 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

It has been a long time since I have written a Top Ten Tuesday post. I haven’t meant to leave it this long, but apparently life gets in the way. Anyway, I am back for now. This week’s list is the Top Ten Favorite 2016 Releases So Far. Since I have only read 11 2016 releases I would rate 5 stars so far, I’m going to give you all eleven. They are listed in the order in which I read them.

MiriamRaeliaThe Catholic CatalogueThe Star-Touched Queen
The Name of God is MercyRisukoThe Winner's Kiss
DivinedThe Raven KingThe Rose and the DaggerRuined

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