Stacking the Shelves #1

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Before I post the books I've gotten, I'd like to tell y'all that I just finished City of Heavenly Fire last night and let me tell ya.  That was absolutely emotionally draining.  I will post a  review, but I wouldn't expect one until maybe Monday or Tuesday.  I think I need some time to process all of my thoughts.  Also Expect a TFIOS movie review which I should have posted hopefully by tomorrow :)

Library Books:

Ebooks:

Bought:

So I happened to come across this AMAZING copy
of Wuthering Heights at my local thrift store yesterday.
 Heck yes.

Won:

 

Book Review: The Taking {+ Swag!}

Title/ Author:  The Taking by Kimberly Derting

Publisher/ Year:  HarperTeen, 2014.

How I Read It:  Hardcover

Why I Read It:  I went to the Dark Days Tour when they visited Anderson's Bookshop & the author of the book was featured as well as this book.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

This is the first book in a new series by Kimberly Derting & I'm really happy that I decided to pick this book up  I got it from the library and made sure that I was the very first hold.

Summary from Goodreads:  A flash of white light . . . and then . . . nothing. 

When sixteen-year-old Kyra Agnew wakes up behind a Dumpster at the Gas ’n’ Sip, she has no memory of how she got there. With a terrible headache and a major case of déjà vu, she heads home only to discover that five years have passed . . . yet she hasn’t aged a day. 

Everything else about Kyra’s old life is different. Her parents are divorced, her boyfriend, Austin, is in college and dating her best friend, and her dad has changed from an uptight neat-freak to a drunken conspiracy theorist who blames her five-year disappearance on little green men. 

Confused and lost, Kyra isn’t sure how to move forward unless she uncovers the truth. With Austin gone, she turns to Tyler, Austin’s annoying kid brother, who is now seventeen and who she has a sudden undeniable attraction to. As Tyler and Kyra retrace her steps from the fateful night of her disappearance, they discover strange phenomena that no one can explain, and they begin to wonder if Kyra’s father is not as crazy as he seems. There are others like her who have been taken . . . and returned. Kyra races to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had, but what if the life she wants back is not her own?

Quick Summary for those who have not read it yet:
I have to admit, I'm not the biggest sci-fi novel fan, but for some reason this intrigued me a lot.  Maybe it was because I read and loved the Across the Universe series and wanted to explore this YA genre some more! The Taking is a really amazing story filled with action, romance, and a mystery, which we kind of don't see a lot in books now.  While I was intrigued with the plot & completely interested in Kyra's life as she discovers what happened after 5 years of being nonexistent due to the flash of a white light, my mind kept wondering and wondering in the back of my head...if she really was "taken" how exactly did she get "taken"?  This book will truly leave you on the edge of your seat.  I promise you.

The Review: 
If it wasn't for the Dark Days Tour, I probably would not have given this book a shot at all.  Kimberly convinced me that the book seemed pretty worth it, so I said to myself, "well why not?  My TBR list is already 5 miles long so might as well."  This book completely took me by surprise.  It definitely was a lot more than I had previously expected.

First, let's talk about the cover.  Now, I also heard about this book from Epic Reads & they talked briefly about the cover.  When you first look at it, it looks like the the word is spelled out in little stars.  That is a false statement.  So what are they really?  They're fireflies.  FIREFLIES.  I noticed/ remembered that only after I got into Part 2 territory.  After finishing the book, I really believe it highlights the the full feel and meaning to the story:  the mystery, the serene and eerie feelings.

The prologue, all it really tells you is what happened on the day that Kyra disappeared.  The main things I paid attention to were the fact that there was a bright flash of light and then absolutely nothing.  The entire Part 1 was Kyra adjusting to coming back after 5 years, when she felt like it's only been a day.  My heart broke for her in so many ways.  I don't know how I would handle myself if I came back the same and 5 years of my life have passed by completely and everything I thought I knew was just...gone.  Her parents divorce.  She has a new stepfather and brother.  Her father drinks a lot because he went crazy on different theories (alien related) on how she disappeared and where she went.  And on top of all that, her boyfriend, Austin, and her best friend Cat have moved on with their lives, gone off to the same college and are now together.  Ouch.  So she has to learn to adjust to all that with the help of Tyler.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that I give Tyler the award for "Most Swoonworthy". Thank you for your time.  Hold the applause.  Tyler was just one of those characters where you couldn't help but smile no matter what.  I loved the fact that 5 years ago when he was 12 and Kyra was 16, he had the biggest crush on her.  Now he's 17 and he still has those feelings for Kyra.  Out of all the people that could have made Kyra feel welcome, it was the one person she didn't expect.  She also didn't expect to fall for him either.  I didn't expect to fall for him.  Tyler could be any girl's dream guy.  Who wouldn't want a guy who would make multiple chalk drawings on a STREET for you, or climb up to your window just to say "hi", or drop off a book.  Throughout all the crap that Kyra gets put through since she got back, Tyler was the only one who saw her as a real person rather than a ghost of the past or a headline.  I do think that the relationship was too quick (since the book takes place within the course of a week) and the fact that when she came back she was still in love with Austin..., but I really do love their relationship.  You knew he would do anything for her, and no matter what Kyra tried to come across, we knew she loved him.

Part 2 was so fast to get through probably because it put me on the edge of my seat.  I was so afraid that Kyra and Simon, a guy who had been "taken" before, were going to get caught.  You find out so much more about what happens to those who are "taken" and the process of the white light and the fireflies.  That was when my "AHA" moment came and I remembered the cover and such.  It was so so intense and I didn't know what was gonna happen.  The government agent creeped me out & the whole plot twist of her blood being like a disease or infection???  I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING. In fact it terrified me.  Those aliens did some weird doodly-doo.  Like what even?  And she can heal??  But then Kimberly pulls the ultimate plot twist and Tyler gets freaking exposed to her infectious blood and he starts dying and I'm like ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW LIKE SHE JUST CONFESSED HER LOVE DANG IT KIMBERLY.  But it was just a rollercoaster ride seeing what the ending would be and if anything with Tyler would be resolved.  At the end, we know he was taken and we also know that her father is off the radar.  So what does Kimberly pull?  A CLIFFHANGER.  Are you kidding me?

So yeah this book was kinda brilliant.  I need my hands on the next one.  Now preferably.

As for my "swag", I didn't have a book for her to sign, but she did have an awesome poster and book mark that she signed for me!

 

Yes I know the pictures aren't the best quality, but hey, these items are still tangible and that is all that matters.

Feature & Follow Friday #5 - Non-book Guilty Pleasures

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

If you wish to follow me, I'm on Bloglovin and GFC!  

This Week's Question:

What are your non-book guilty pleasures? Like TV shows, food, websites, hobbies, etc.

There's so many!  It's hard to pinpoint just one!  But for one, I really have a thing for BBC shows like Merlin, Doctor Who, or Sherlock.  Whenever they're on, I just have to watch them!  

Another thing I just cannot resist is anything Studio Ghibli.  You name it.  There has not been a Ghibli movie that I have not liked or seen.  Besides 4 of them.  But if you want to know my ALL time favorite Ghibli movies they are as following (AND I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM):  Whisper of the Heart, Kiki's Delivery Service (aka the first one I ever saw), Spirited Away, The Wind Rises, and Howl's Moving Castle(which I just recently read the book for!).

As for food, you will always see me eating popcorn, cotton candy, Smarties,  or Gobstoppers.  There's pretty much no in between.  I ask for a snack?  I get one or some or all of these.

Link me below & be sure to let me know if you followed on either Bloglovin or GFC!  :)

How to Prepare for the TFIOS Movie

If you haven't heard of this book, where have you been?  Haha as pretty much all of you know, The New York Times Bestseller, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is a movie, & I'm seeing it tomorrow night!  There's been so much buzz about the movie everywhere & honestly, in comparison with other book to movie adaptions, this is hitting a wider audience than The Hunger Games or Divergent.  What I mean by wider audience is that there are a different variety of people who would want to see this.  I've known a lot of people who aren't necessarily crazy about The Hunger Games or Divergent.  It's a hit or miss, but most of the time it's a hit.  Not only is TFIOS a book to movie adaption that will break the hearts of the readers, but also the non-readers.  I obsess over THG a lot, but I haven't seen a lot of people as excited for the movie as I was when it first came out.  I mean, fans of the book were excited, but no one else really cared.  With TFIOS it's a whole other ball game.  I see tweets from friends at school who are more than excited to see the movie regardless if they've read the book or not. Of course, it's very very smart to read the book before seeing the movie for REASONS & for the fact that the book is pretty much always better than the movie.

Now, since I'm seeing it tomorrow, there's a few things I've been doing or will do or have in preparation for it.  

1. I'm going to reread the book tomorrow so that it will be fresh in my mind for the movie.  This will be my second reread & it will be a privilege to have my heart broken...AGAIN.

2.  Listen to the soundtrack over and over and over and over until my ears hurt.  Especially "Boom Clap" which has been going on and on and on and on on in my house on repeat.  If you haven't seen the video, watch it below!  Don't watch it too many times though, because you will get emotional.

3.  Prepare the tissues.  Let's be honest.  There are going to be too many feels.  The box will be done for by the time this movie is over.  I mean I already cried during the book.  Just imagine how hard hitting it will be on the big screen. (THANKS EPICREADS FOR THE PICTURE).

4. Painting the nails.  I gotta be all decked out in support of my fandom.  But of course I have to get the supplies first.  Something close to this. 

5. Preparing my outfit for the premiere!  My wonderful friend Myca made a bunch of shirts inspired by TFIOS and I bought one from her!  If you want one, email her at myca13xo@gmail.com.  Be sure to tell her the size and color you want.  Also it's a vneck!  I can't wait to use this to cushion my tears after all the tissues are gone.

6.  Tweet ALL of the people involved with the book the movie and just give them a big thank you and congrats.  They have all worked so hard to put this together.  And John Green, he made a fantastic book that deserves such amazing praise.  I don't think he realizes how much the book has meant to a lot of us.

7.  Say a prayer to all those people, young and old, living with cancer.  It breaks my heart every day.  Cancer is a real thing.  It's not something fictional like we want it to be.  It still exists today in different forms.  All I know is that all those people are fighting & they won't give up until they defeat cancer.  They're some of the strongest people I know.  My friend is one of the strongest people I know.

Anyways, I'm so excited to see the movie tomorrow, and probably see it over and over.  How are you preparing for it?  What are you most excited about?

May Wrap-Up & June TBR!

Now that May is over, I'm happy to announce that I have officially graduated high school!  Which also means a summer of getting closer with my relationship with God, reading books, catching up on tv shows, watching movies, and going on an adventure here and there.

Things That Happened in May

Books I finished:

Flipped - Wendelin Van Draanen

The Guard - Kiera Cass

*The One - Kiera Cass

Dorothy Must Die - Danielle Paige
Where She Went - Gayle Forman
*Better Off Friends - Elizabeth Eulberg

Maximum Ride, Vol. 5  - James Patterson
Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
Ignite Me - Tahereh Mafi
Until Tomorrow - Robin Jones Gunn

*As You Wish - Robin Jones Gunn
The Taking - Kimberly Derting

Maximum Ride, Vol. 6 - James Patterson

*FAVORITE

Wow did I actually read all those books? 13 books?  Dang, Sarah.

Books I'm Currently Reading:

City of Heavenly Fire - Cassandra Clare

TV Shows/ Webseries:

Well I'm eagerly awaiting the return of Emma Approved (unless it came back and I just didn't know yet??)  And for some reason, I keep putting Iron Chef:  America on waiting for the moment when the Challenger beats the Iron Chef.  Which hasn't even happened yet so fingers crossed.  Also now The Bachelorette has started and I'm not one for spoilers so as of now, I have no clue who she ends up with.  Haha it's like The Selection but it's not.  I also saw the first episode of Girl Meets World which I am most definitely excited about.  I love seeing all the references.  I really do.  It's such a throwback and it's really refreshing.  Also, there's a Spanish show I've been watching (due to watching it all year in AP Spanish) called El Internado.  Think of Lost in a boarding school and there's your show.  Plus hot guys.  And a lot of swearing in Spanish.

Movies:

I borrowed 3 movies from the library, but only was able to watch Stuck in Love staring Lily Collins, Logan Lerman, Nat Wolff, Kristen Bell, and other people who I don't really know.  I fell in love with this movie and there's no doubt why.  I mean, it's pretty fantastic.  One day I was cleaning my room and decided to watch movies while cleaning my room.  So I saw Cloud 9 from Disney Channel and I have to admit, compared to the other stuff they have on there, this reminds me of the old DC where it was all sports movies and not singing movies.  I also put on Big Fat Liar because I hadn't seen it in a while and I thought it was really funny.  Then right before I went to bed, I put on Despicable Me 2 which happens to be one of my favorite movies.  I love the music and the story and just everything.  Of course I saw The Amazing Spiderman 2.  Needless to say it ruined my life.  I can't think of the other movies I watched now.  Oh dang it.

Life: 

I had my birthday May 3 and I got some books and saw TASM2.  It was great.  I finally met Kiera Cass and it was magical.  I officially finished high school so that's exciting!  On Thursday was my senior picnic and graduation practice.  We got to dunk teachers but I failed very miserably.  Friday was senior breakfast where I sang "Safe and Sound" with my friend, and our choir sang "Seasons of Love" from the musical, Rent.  I also had prom!  AT NAVY PIER. Like in the Navy Pier Grand Ballroom.  Talk about a once in a lifetime prom!  It was a lot of fun & right after we went on a cruise ship on Lake Michigan called The Odyssey.  It was a night I'll never forget.  Then on Sunday I graduated!

June TBR & Things I'm Excited For

My TBR right now is based off the book I got from the library.

JUNE TBR:

To All the Boys I've Loved Before - Jenny Han

Sea of Shadows - Kelley Armstrong
Tease - Amanda Maciel
Prisoner of Night and Fog - Anne Blankman
Maximum Ride, Vol, 6 - James Patterson
Rebel Belle - Rachel Hawkins
Since You've Been Gone - Morgan Matson

but of course two that I very much intend to be on this list no matter what...

Ruin and Rising - Leigh Bardugo & The Murder Complex - Lindsay Cummings

I also plan on coming to both of their book signings!  Leigh Bardugo is coming with FierceReads to Naperville, so I'm really excited for that!  And Lindsay is coming sometime in July for a book signing.

Also with that being said, Lindsay Cummings's novella to The Murder Complex is out today!!!!   It's called The Fear Trials! It's only available for ebook, so get your kindles and nooks ready to buy!  

Now there's also this one movie that I'm super excited about, and I even have my shirt and tissues for it, none other than...THE FAULT IN OUR STARS!  I've been listening to the soundtrack nonstop & I have my tickets ready for Thursday night at 7:30.  For the Night Before Our Stars event.  How cool is that?  Words can't even describe how excited I am.

Also there's How To Train Your Dragon 2 coming out so that's DEFINITELY something to look forward to!

I think this is going to be a good month.  I can feel it.

Top Ten Tuesday #5: Books in My Summer Beach Bag

Top Ten Tuesday is an weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  Each week participants list their Top Ten choices for a weekly theme. This week's theme is: Top Ten Books That Will Be in My Summer Beach Bag!

Basically, this is a summer TBR list.  But they're all books that I can imagine myself reading on the beach.  For obvious reasons.

Since You've Been Gone

Second Chance Summer

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour

all by Morgan Matson

On The Fence

The Distance Between Us

all by Kasie West

Open Road Summer by Emery Lord

Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Book Review: THE ONE

Title/ Author:  The One by Kiera Cass
Publisher/ Year:  HarperTeen, 2014.
How I Read It:  Hardcover
Why I Read It:  IT IS THE LAST BOOK IN THE SELECTION SERIES (AKA ONE OF MY FAVORITE SERIES TO EXIST ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET
Rating: 5+++++ stars out of 5

This is the 3rd and final book in the Selection series!  My heart hurt and fluttered and all of the above.

Summary from Goodreads:  The Selection changed the lives of thirty-five girls forever. And now, the time has come for one winner to be chosen.

America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown—or to Prince Maxon's heart. But as the competition approaches its end and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose—and how hard she'll have to fight for the future she wants.

Quick Summary for those who have not read it yet:
If you haven't even read the first book yet, GO AWAY AND DON'T COME BACK UNTIL YOU HAVE READ THE SELECTION AND THE ELITE :)  So, this book was more than I expected & this is one of my favorite series to ever exist & this is probably one of my favorite books of the year. I feel so sentimental looking back on the first two books & this has been one of the first books in a while where I really didn't want the book to end.
This was so so beautiful & I felt (almost) fully satisfied.  For those of you annoyed with some characters, don't worry about a thing.  For those worried about the progression of the plot, don't worry.  For those who were frustrated throughout the course of The Elite as I was, you're in for a stunning, exciting, heart wrenching conclusion.

The Review:

Before I continued with this review, I tried to make a video for BookTube.  Unfortunately my laptop sucks and until I can fix the problem, I won't be posting there.  AND I HAD AN ENTIRE REVIEW FOR IT TOO.  

Now that I've had a few days to process my thoughts, I now can write a review that does not include an outrageous amount of fangirl language that no one would understand.  I got this book the day it came out, thanks to my friend Sylvia who drove to the bookstore to get this for me & when I got home, I binge read until I was completely finished.  It took me 5 1/2 hours, no homework done, and it was already 2 in the morning.

So obviously, I loved this book.  So so much.  It had one of the most satisfying endings I've ever read in a trilogy EVER and Kiera Cass could not have done any better on this book and its concluding factors.  It was literally so so perfect.  I ended up LOVING some of the characters I thought I hated, there was a lot of character development, and there's an endless amount of action.  There was never a dull moment.  I was fully captivated throughout the entirety of the book, which doesn't happen a lot for me.

Where do I start?  Okay, so by the time I finished this book, I loved Celeste.  And Elise.  And Kriss.  And I hated Aspen left.  And America was slightly less annoying.  And Maxon was dumb sometimes, but otherwise, he maintained his swoon worthy charm :)  Although Kierra Cass called him a "dweeb" at Dark Days Tour.  But we expect nothing less from Maxon Schreave.  Anyway, I've always seen America as an annoying character.  The first book she's just stubborn and headstrong and I do love that about her but at the same time, she has NO filter.  I mean just look at what happened in The Elite!  Everytime something didn't go her way with Maxon she goes right on to Aspen.  She was too indecisive I wanted to shoot myself.  Like are you an idiot?  And then she talks about getting rid of the Caste System (which I fist pumped but still said, "well shoot").  She was like that at the beginning of The One and I just kept shaking my head because her.  For example in The Convicting, Queen Amberly even told her (not a direct quote) "Cool your jets and do what you should do even if it isn't the right thing cause it sure isn't the smart thing."   America really does have a good heart, but she's way too impulsive.  And Maxon & her at the beginning were basically fighting for really really petty reasons when they're obviously meant to be together.  But I was SO happy when they finally stopped fighting.

One of my favorite scenes in the book was when Maxon took her on a date in the palace and America notices the rain, so he takes her to the roof and they begin to dance to no music.  It was just so sweet and I loved how right then and there you KNEW that America loves Maxon.  Regardless of the rebel attacks, they went outside, because they wanted to share that moment.  I swear my heart melted at this part.  I was so relieved that we didn't have to wait until the end to know who she loved.  This scene really showed a lot about America and Maxon's characters and how they have struggled so hard to be together.  Maxon has to fulfill his duties as future king and America has to live up to those expectations.

Now, throughout the Selection series, I HATED Celeste.  She was a jerk to all the other girls & she wasn't even in the competition for Maxon.  But during The One, it's was a complete 180.  She really changed during this book & I respect Celeste so much now.  She had a defining moment in this book when she finally opened up to America and rather than being mean to her, America decided to comfort her & the rest was history.  I love how ALL of the Elite pretty much came together by the end.  I remember early in the book when they were all fighting over who did what with Maxon & then by the end, they were like sisters.  My favorite scene in the book was when they were all having fun in the Ladies Room and they were taking pictures and Kriss opens the door, asks Maxon for a camera, then she takes it and slams the door and throughout all that was going on, the remaining four girls just bonded & it was my favorite moment.  It had nothing to do with the competition, or love, or Maxon.  It dealt with a bond that was forming that the reader knew couldn't have been broken regardless of what would happen.

I loved the rebel aspect to the story.  It brings the reader away from The Bachelor feel and it makes you realize that this story is truly dystopian. It brought all the action that I think was very much needed in the series & of course it got your heart racing, on the edge of your seat.  They brought reality to the story.  Not everything is gonna be a fairytale ending.  AND CAN WE JUST TALK ABOUT AMERICA'S FATHER BEING A NORTHERN REBEL?? FRICK YES.  I mean her name is America.  I should have seen that coming.  One thing I for sure did not see was her father dying.  I mean she's losing everyone around her.  She and Aspen are drifting away, her father dies, and the rebels keep fricking crap up. 

Now, Chapter 28, 29, 30 & 31.  The chapters that completely ruined my life.  Thanks Kiera.  First, Maxon, after a night of confessing his love for her and her confessing her love for him, the morning after sleeping in each other's arms, HE FINDS OUT ABOUT ASPEN.  I expected this to happen a long time ago during The Elite but it could not have come at a worse timing.  Because then Maxon kicks her out of the competition.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW.  Then she decides the read the letters that Maxon wrote for her while she was back in Carolina with her family.  Chapter 29 gave me ultimate feels.  When I went to Dark Days Tour, my friend Carolina asked if there were any scenes from the book that didn't make the cut or were almost cut.  Kiera said she almost cut Chapter 29.  No one remembered what happened in that chapter so all of us took out our books DURING this question, and flipped to the page.  We all had a heart attack.  SHE ALMOST CUT OUT MAXON'S LETTERS.  We see how much he truly loves America.  I kept telling this to my friends, "I've never seen anyone love someone so much as Maxon loves America."  Then...Chapter 30 and 31 happened.  Let's do a recap shall we?

• Celeste dies
• The King and Queen die
• Maxon almost dies
• And we hear America's speech in the closet while we wait to find out if Maxon and Aspen died

Maxon was about to make the biggest mistake of his life.  But we knew his true heart when he took the bullet for America and was willing to die for her.  He says, "Break my heart.  Break it a thousand times, if you'd like.  It was only ever yours to break anyway.  I'll love you until my very last breath.  Every beat of my heart is yours.  I don't want to die without you knowing that."................GOODBYE WORLD.  Then Maxon makes Aspen take her away and he says, "Be happy." Aspen shoves her into a closet while she waits for it all to be over.  She wants to help and can't get out and we're left with the quote, "If you live, I'll let you call me your dear.  I won't complain, I promise."

When we finally do find out that Maxon is alive and he finally proposes to America, my heart soared out of my chest.  I loved it.  I love the wedding scene.  It was such a perfect way to close the series & I felt pretty sentimental about it looking back at where they were at the beginning and where they were now.  I loved that (out of the people who were alive), everyone had a happy ending.  

Hope y'all liked my review!  What were your favorite moments?  What didn't you like?  What did you like?  Were you Team Maxon or Team Aspen?  How did you like the series overall?  Thanks for reading everyone!