TEA TIME REWIND #70 (1): Opening Lines, Graphic Novels, Book Boyfriends & Amusement Parks?

If you have never heard of Epic Reads, I actually kind of feel a bit sorry for you.  But no worries, you'll be introduced to them and all their glory after this post :) Anyway, Epic Reads is the YA community of HarperCollins publishers and they're just really cool and awesome and if you love YA, you'll love Epic Reads.  

So every Wednesday at 3:45 EST, They have this awesome thing called Tea Time where the wonderful hosts, Margot and Aubry, just talk YA books and ask & answer a bunch of questions and it's just a really great way of connecting with other readers and learning about books you probably should read.

Now, this post is based off of the newest Tea Time which you can watch the full thing here:

Anyhoo for this Tea Time Rewind, we are going to talk about our main topics from Wednesday's Tea Time!

The first topic was based off of a video on the Epic Reads youtube page (which you should subscribe to!) where it talks about Ominous Opening Lines to books!  There's a few that stick out in my mind from ones I've read:

"They took me in my nightgown."
- Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys


"My mother thinks I'm dead."
- Legend by Marie Lu


"'The most dangerous sicknesses are those that make us believe we are well.'" - Delirium by Lauren Oliver

"I've been locked up for 264 days."

 -Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

 Then we transitioned into Graphic novels:  our favorite ones, and books that you wish could be a graphic novel.  PLEASE RECOMMEND ME SOME THAT I SHOULD READ PLEASE.

I have two favorite graphic novels (considering they're the only ones I have read sadly):

 

I love the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson, and after living through the terror and frustration of the last book Nevermore I was happy to find this little thing (plus 6 others) pretty much sitting on my library's bookshelf.  I reminisce A LOT, so naturally, I said "Why not?" and went for it.  I loved seeing the characters in the graphic novel and reliving my feels through there.

Then there's Avatar the Last Airbender which I literally grew up with and I even remember the first time I watched the show and got heavily invested in it in 2005.  Years later, we have a continuation of the series through graphic novels, and I couldn't be happier.  It's great seeing what happens after the final episode and knowing that though it's a lighter issue, the legend of Aang still isn't over.  Plus there's more Kataang so yeah.



And here's some books I wish there was a graphic novel for!  And yes, I do realize that Legend is coming out with one!



Finally, we transitioned into the main event, BOOK BOYFRIENDS/ GIRLFRIENDS (but I am a girl so BOYFRIENDS).  First of all, I have to have a special thank you to my amazing friends, Mally and Emily for photoshopping these pictures for me.  They're kind of great.  Mally took care of one of the pictures for me and dear old Emily spent 5 hours and $.99 just to take care of the other 4.  Either way I love them and don't deserve them.  Anyway, the thing about book boyfriends is that you can't just have one.  So I chose 5 and used my fancasts/ actual actors playing the actual characters.

Mr. and Mrs. Peeta Mellark

Mr. and Mrs. Etienne St. Clair

Mr. and Mrs. Maxon Schreave

Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy

Mr. and Mrs. Will Herondale 

my personal fave really ♥


And the question of the day (or was it week)!  

If you could choose a book series to turn into an amusement park, what would it be?

After much thought, the only one I could think of that would be absolutely brilliant is The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer.  It could have a DisneyWorld or DisneyLand feel to it, like the characters can come out and take pictures with people, there would be Prince Kai's Palace (like Cinderella's castle), Cress's satellite (like Tomorrowland), Scarlet's Grandmother's cottage, maybe one of those live shows where they have Wolf street fighting?  IT WOULD BE SO AWESOME I WANT TO GO THERE SOMEONE MAKE THIS HAPPEN OKAY? OKAY.

Honestly this was one of the most fun posts I've ever put together and I hope all of you enjoyed my rambled thoughts and be sure to follow Epic Reads on twitter and Instagram (@EpicReads) and of course follow me on this blog if you want more rambled thoughts and what not.  And follow Emily and Mally too for their super awesome phot editing skills (@Emilydances5678 & @imfinecas)!  That's it for this week's Tea Time Rewind #70!  How about you?  How would you answer all of these questions?  Favorite opening lines/ ominous opening lines?  Favorite graphic novels?  Book boyfriends/ girlfriends?  Book themed amusement park?  Let me know below!  

And just some blooper pictures my friend sent me while in the process of making these, for your viewing pleasure :)

Until next time :)

Top Ten Tuesday #7: Authors I Own the Most Books Of

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 Authors I Own the Most Books Of!

The truth is, my bookshelf isn't that awesome, and most of the books I own are either from thrift stores or Half Price Books.  Yet, there are some authors that have taken over my bookshelf one way or another...

UPDATE:  After looking at my entire bookshelf, I have narrowed it down to the top ten (FINALLY).

IN TENTH, NINTH, EIGHTH, SEVENTH, SIXTH, AND FIFTH PLACE...

Melody Carlson, Cassandra Clare, Robin Jones Gunn, Stephanie Meyer, Rick Riordan, and Veronica Roth!

(in order)

Serenity manga

Deep Blue

City of Bones

City of Ashes

City of Glass

City of Heavenly Fire

Clockwork Angel

2 copies of Clockwork Princess

Christy Miller Collection Volume 1 (3 books)

Christy Miller Collection Volume 2 (3 books)

Starry Night

all books of the Twilight  series

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

2 copies of The Host

The Lightning Thief

Sea of Monsters

The Last Olympian

The Lost Hero

The Mark of Athena

The House of Hades

The Serpent's Shadow

2 copies of Divergent
2 copies of Insurgent

2 copies of Allegiant
Free Four

IN FOURTH PLACE...

Suzanne Collins!

5 copies of The Hunger Games

3 copies of Catching Fire

4 copies of Mockingjay

Gregor the Overlander

IN THIRD PLACE...

J.K. Rowling!

4 copies of HP1

2 copies of HP2

1 copy of HP3

2 copies of HP4

1 copy of HP5

2 copies of HP6

1 copy of HP7

IN SECOND PLACE...

C.S. Lewis!

2 sets of the whole series (in addition to)

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

Prince Caspian

AND OUR GRAND WINNER IN FIRST PLACE...

Erin Hunter!

Yeah don't ask me to name all of the books just know that I own 30 of (t)he(i)r books with no duplicates how about that

Go ahead and judge me cause I know I'm a packrat and I know I'm pretty crazy.  What's your TTT?

Book Review: City of Heavenly Fire

Title/ Author:  City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

Publisher/ Year:   Margaret K. McElderry, 2014.

How I Read It:  Kindle Edition

Why I Read It:  I WAS NOT GOING TO NOT READ IT.

Rating: 5+ stars out of 5

This is the last book of The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare & I have been waiting for this book for two years & let me just say it was perfection.

Summary from Goodreads:  

Sebastian Morgenstern is on the move, systematically turning Shadowhunter against Shadowhunter. Bearing the Infernal Cup, he transforms Shadowhunters into creatures out of nightmare, tearing apart families and lovers as the ranks of his Endarkened army swell.

The embattled Shadowhunters withdraw to Idris - but not even the famed demon towers of Alicante can keep Sebastian at bay. And with the Nephilim trapped in Idris, who will guard the world against demons?

When one of the greatest betrayals the Nephilim have ever known is revealed, Clary, Jace, Isabelle, Simon, and Alec must flee - even if their journey takes them deep into the demon realms, where no Shadowhunter has set foot before, and from which no human being has ever returned...

Quick Summary for those who have not read it yet:
Well first of all, before you even get close to reading this review or the spoilery one, you should go and read the first 3 book of the TMI series, then go ahead and read Clockwork Angel, then City of Fallen Angels, then Clockwork Prince, then City of Lost Souls, then Clockwork Princess, then you can look at this :)  But anyway, this was very very hard to get through, mostly because it was long & I'm a slow reader.  But when I got to the last 25% of the book I could not put it down and I was up until 4 am reading and finishing and ultimately crying.  It wasn't my favorite of the series unfortunately, but overall, I feel it was a great ending.

The Review (Many spoilers ahead!): 
After having plenty of time to recuperate after this book, I think I can write an insightful review, while still keeping my fangirling alive.  I read this about a couple weeks after it was released due to the fact that school was just in the process of ending.  This book.  JUST WOW.  I couldn't believe what was going on.

Coming into this book, I've heard so many theories about who will die, what will happen, and while some were right, I was surprised by others.  Mostly, it was the people who died that surprised me.  Except for Jordan.  I figured it would either be Jordan or Maia who would bite the dust, or even both.  I have to admit that a lot of this book was fairly predictable:  a boyfriend or girlfriend would die, a couple would do it. something bad would happen to one of the main main characters which would rip your heart to pieces.  Regardless of the book's predictability, it had its high points.

My high points of the book actually had nothing to do with the original characters of The Mortal Instruments series.  While I love Clary, Jace, and the others, I was more interested in Emma and Julian's journey and their amazing friendship and Brother Zachariah (and for those of you who have read Clockwork Princess you know exactly why)!  For a 12 year old, Emma is pretty bad-a.  She truly was a fighter and all she wanted to do was help.  And considering her only family that she knew was left was Julian and his family...I mean her parents were murdered by Sebastian and the Endarkened...and she's still one of the most stubborn, persevering characters in the book.  If I could compare her to any other fictional character out there, Katniss would fit the bill.  What made it even better was her friendship with Julian.  It reminded me so much of Will and Jem's relationship which is one of my favorite pairings to ever exist in the fictional world.  Emma and Julian depended on each other, and not just on one of them.  It completely destroys the typical gender roles you would expect from well, reality.  While not realistic, I greatly appreciated it.  When Julian couldn't bear the weight and pain of the Mortal Sword, Emma was willing to take it, to share his burden.  You could tell she loved him.  And while showing her outstanding courage and bravery, Clare did not forget the fact that she was a girl.  Before she decided to say "yes" to being Julian's parabatai, she had a second of hesitation, and in that second, the reader knew that she was a girl like any other, with budding feelings, but at the spur of the moment, being his parabatai was the decision she knew was best.

After finishing Clockwork Princess and seeing all of the COHF snippets up and about, I was excited to see how Brother Zachariah would become a beautiful, 19 year old, healthy Jem Carstairs again.  The way it all fit together with Jace's heavenly fire and how all that was connected made me smile.  It was the Herondale and Carstairs bond, that legacy, that made me smile, how they were still connected even when Will has passed and a different generation was running things.  It was hard to see him as the same Jem, but throughout the rest of the book, I saw the aspects that made me fall in love with him again, and it was so worth it.  It was also refreshing to see Tessa again, although I would have been happier if she and Jace met properly.  I've had so many daydreams about the day they meet and I had a whole conversation in my head between them.

Anyway, one thing that I found beautiful and sad at the same time was something I didn't expect, but it was Sebastian at the end of the book, when he became the son and brother that Jocelyn and Clary never had.  His development from City of Glass to this book was incredible, and I actually felt sorry for him.  And Clare made sure he would be a character meant to be remembered in a good way, which made his death sad.  His last words... "I feel light."  This had so much meaning to the book and really accentuated the battle between light and darkness, and how finally, a ruthless murderer, became someone who finally saw the light, because the darkness was gone.  It was just a chilling way to end the saga of Sebastian...or should I say Jonathan...

I loved the action and suspense throughout the novel, even though I didn't find myself completely invested until the last quarter of the book where crap went down.  When they were trapped in Edom and the only way out was through Magnus's demon father, I was so nervous.  I didn't want Magnus to be gone.  That would have meant the end of the only character that has been consistent in every series as far as I know, who has seen firsthand the stories of these characters.  It would have broken my heart.  But then Clare does the second worst thing.  SHE MESSES WITH SIMON.  NO ONE MESSES WITH SIMON.  Needless to say, the tears were too real and everyone else I could have talked to about it was asleep.  But the Epilogue made up for it, and for everything that happened during this series.  It truly wrapped everything up, and I had many flashbacks of these characters in the first book and how they turned out to be.  I was content with how it ended, but I was in a major book hangover after finishing.  Especially after reading this huge book through my kindle.  When I decided to read a hardback as my next read, I kept tapping the page when I was trying to turn the page.  Look what COHF had done to me!  Haha!

Overall, so glad I read this, and I can't wait for the Dark Artifices!

Book Blitz Tour: A French Princess in Versailles by Anna Adams - Giveaway & Excerpt

Series: The French Girl #3
Release date: June 30th 2014

Add here on goodreads!

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Determined to escape her failed pop career and focus on her classical training, Maude Laurent moves back to France and enrolls at the prestigious National Academy of Arts. 

Between balls, charity events, concerts, and navigating in the French elite, Maude has to prove she’s cut out to become a professional opera singer in a world where pop music is regarded with disdain. 

Though she fights it, her past catches up with her when she meets an English teacher who forces her to see a world beyond the safety of the Academy and takes her down an unusual musical journey where the risk is great and the reward uncertain. And when a chain of events bring her and Matt back in the same town, Maude will learn that music can bring people closer or tear them apart forever.

About the Author:

Born in France, raised partly in the United States and in France, Anna Adams grew up loving stories in French and English. 

Anna currently lives in Paris where she studies at la Sorbonne as a Law Student. 

She's the author of the French Girl series for which she is writing the the third installment. 

When she isn't writing, Anna likes to travel in Europe and dreams of going to Asia and Africa.

Strolling in Storyland | Anna Adams (ADAMSANNA1) on Twitter

Excerpt:

Prologue 

 “I’ve decided to move back to France.”
When she spoke the fatal words, silence filled the room, and Maude enjoyed the savory sense
of satisfaction to its fullest. Her glass was half raised and half full with clear, icy, mineral
water, transparent and brilliant as the truth.
The glass slipped from her fingers, and as easily as crystal explodes in a million pieces, the
shocked silence shattered and the reporters craved for every detail of the decision, details
Maude refused to give.
She grabbed a tissue and rubbed her dark pencil skirt furiously. She’d worn that precise skirt
because she associated it with seriousness. Solemnity was required of her in the midst of a
scandal. Her natural dark hair tied into a tight bun, very little makeup on her smooth chocolate
skin. Just enough foundation to hide that she’d barely slept a wink the night before.
She’d weighed the pros and the cons. But it all came down to one thing: her love for music.
Her passion for classical music had helped her years ago when she lived in a basement in the
north of France. In those days, she’d dreamed of becoming a concert pianist or an opera
singer.
Dreams, like nature, change over time. When she’d been discovered by James Baldwin almost
two years ago and whisked off to New York, she’d fallen in love with pop music and her
ambitions grew as did her love for music.
She wanted to show the world that classical and pop could make a wonderful combination.
This ambition had given birth to her first self-titled album. Success, praise, fame. All had
ensued with impeccable timing.  How had her dreams turned into frightful nightmares? She’d lied, unwillingly to be sure, but
the consequences had been disastrous. She’d lost her way.
She thought about this as her uncle led her out of the crowded room, the sound of her heels
muffled by the wool carpeting. His grip tightened around her elbow. Security guards
surrounded her every side, but as they rushed outside to the dark sedan waiting for her, a
crowd had gathered. Maude’s tenacious bodyguards contained a vocal, vociferating mob with
difficulty. They held cardboard signs instead of pitchforks, yet their intentions weren’t so
different from that of angry villagers in medieval times. The focus of public outrage may
differ through time, but its force rarely alters.
“Liar!”
“Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Faking a relationship just to sell more albums?”
She might’ve argued she wasn’t the first to do so and probably wouldn’t be the last. Did it
matter? She’d been caught, no one else had, and that remained the only difference.
The origin of the leak remained a mystery although she had a pretty strong hunch it was
Lindsey Linton, the blonde beauty who saw in Maude an unprecedented rival.
“Duck!” yelled James. Too late, much too late.
Splat!
A ripe tomato landed in her dark mane and oozed down her neck, leaving a reddish trail of
slime. Maude continued to advance to the car, swallowing repeatedly to push down her
disgust. Her heart stopped when she noticed a girl, not much older than twelve, clutching her
music album. Tears were streaming down her face as she squeezed the album against her
chest, biting her lip with an unsettling fierceness.
Incomprehension, disappointment, accusation. Her eyes were the accumulation of all the
feelings Maude’s scandal had unleashed. The little girl’s expressive distress tormented Maude
more than any of the cardboards or edibles thrown at her. She faltered at the car’s door, one foot inside, one foot out, prompting a bodyguard to push her head inside, entangling her hair
with the tomato further. His grip hurt, and she caught one last glimpse of the girl before he
slammed the door in her face. A rotten banana hit the window.
It was high time to go, and Maude was keener than ever to escape public fury.
While the pop world no longer wanted her, the classical world greeted her with open arms.
After her performance in Aida a couple of days ago, in which she’d played the devious
Egyptian princess intent on thwarting the purest love of all time, her talent had been
recognized by the National Academy of Arts, the most prestigious French music school based
in the Parisian area.
They wanted her.
No paparazzi, no scandal, just music. Going back to her classical roots. So what if her dream
of bringing classical to the pop world was to be ignored henceforth?
The pop world didn’t want her. And as much as it hurt, as much as the crashing sales hurt and
the dreadful names she was being called pained her (“a conniving little Frenchie”), she
needed to step away from it all. To go back to a peaceful existence in France where no one
had really heard of Maude Laurent anyway. Forget launching her international career.
She would live in blissful anonymity.
That was Maude’s plan. And she honestly hoped everything would go smoothly.

*** 

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Insurgent Movie News: Uriah Has Been Cast!

Typically I wouldn't make too many posts like this, but this is different.  The person who got cast as Uriah for Summit's YA Sequel to the movie Divergent happens to be from one of my all time favorite TV shows and honestly, words can't even begin to describe how happy I am.  They really can't.

Our Uriah, as confirmed very recently today is Australian Actor Keiynan Lonsdale.  If he looks familiar, you may recognize this guy from the popular Australian show Dance Academy.  He was not in the first season, but he made some appearances in the second season and became a main character in the third and final season.

I was just minding my own business writing my Top Ten Tuesday, when my friend texts me the picture of Keiynan officially confirmed for Uriah and I was screaming.  She watches the show as well so you can tell we were both really excited.  The entire DA fandom was excited as well as the Divergent fandom.

If you don't know who Uriah is, he was mentioned in the first book, Divergent as a Dauntless-born Initiate who befriends Tris throughout the book.  He is also close with other Dauntless-born initiates like Lynn and Marlene, who were also recently cast as well.  Rosa Salazar as Lynn and Suki Waterhouse as our Marlene.

Uriah is described like this in Divergent:

tall, bronze/brown skin, dark eyes, handsome, snake tattoo behind his ear (tail curls around his earlobe), tattoo at his waist (Ch. 21, p. 272)

As far as I can see, definitely tall.  Got the brown skin down.  Has the dark eyes.  Obviously handsome.  And I can see him rocking a snake tattoo behind his ear.  If he doesn't already look dauntless to you, well I can't wait to see him in all black.  

In my opinion, I think he fits the bill for Uriah.  Not just because I already love him, but seeing him act already, I know he's gonna do a fantastic job.  I think he can bring the sass and smarts of Uriah to life on the big screen & do it with style and flair.  He has all the attitude that reflects the spirit of Uriah already.  I just want to see what he'll do with what he already has.  I also want to hear him talk without his Australian accent.  That'll be fun.

Good luck, Keiynan.  This is your chance.  

*if you got my reference there, 10 points to Gryffindor

Top Ten Tuesday #6: Books I've Read So Far This Year

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 I've Read So Far This Year!

*goes to goodreads*

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han:  I just very very recently finished this book and I read it all in one sitting.  I can't stop thinking about this book.  Lara Jean is such an amazing protagonist & heck yes she is half Asian.  She relates to me especially on that level.  But it was one of the cutest books I have read so far this year & most definitely deserves that number one spot. (expect a review soon!)

Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg:  This book made me smile in so many ways I couldn't even count.  Macallan and Levi were absolutely adorable & I love how the book started off as awkward best friends in the 7th grade.  And it got all the way until they were near my age.  It was so perfect and my heart melted.

The One by Kiera Cass:  I've already written a review for this, but as I've said before this had one of the most perfect endings for a trilogy ever.  Usually when it comes to dystopian trilogies, I love the first book, and the books get decreasingly worse.  NOT IN THIS CASE!  The last book was most definitely the best and I really want a a Maxon Schreave.

Last Sacrifice  by Richelle Mead:  After Twilight  I refused to give into another vampire book.  But, after finishing the first book, I knew I was hooked & I knew I had to finish.  As the last book in the Vampire Academy series, this truly was a book series that ended so darn beautifully and everything was just great and massive Romitri feels cause you know.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen:  This was my first Austen novel and I just wish I could have read her sooner.  Words can't describe how much I love this book.  It may have taken me a while to read (& at Christmastime to be exact!)  but I thoroughly enjoyed it and wouldn't mind reading it again soon.  I kinda wanna do that thing where you get multiple different copies of the book where they're all different covers.

Christy & Todd:  The College Years by Robin Jones Gunn:  This series has been part of my life since I was a wee little 6th grader.  It's taken me a while to get back to this series because after 8th grade, I went to a public school where this book was nowhere in sight.  My own library didn't have it.  But seriously, Christy Miller has helped me through a lot in my life.  And this was a good ending to it.  And a great new beginning for my OTP.

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare:  All the feels and all the tears.  Yes I did cry during this book.  Overall such a breathtaking and spectacular ending to an amazing series.  I swear, when I finished this book (which I read on my kindle), I started reading my book hangover book and was tapping the page like I was still reading COHF.  That's how much of a book hangover I had.

Cress by Marissa Meyer:  This book was so much better than I expected and it had all the adventure and action and I just fell in love with the characters all over again.  I was just waiting for the time when Cinder and Kai would reunite!  Sorry.  I'm a hopeless romantic.  

Every Day by David Levithan:  Compared to other books I've read, this was unbelievably different.  But it was a good different.  So incredibly intriguing and sad and beautiful and I did not want this book to end.  I need to read more books by David Levithan, because if I loved this, I'm pretty much bound to love his other books.

United We Spy by Ally Carter:  Fantastic end to a fantastic series.  I got way too sentimental looking back at Cammie in the first book where her troubles were concerned with a boy who knew nothing of the spy world or who she really was.  And now, she's in like huge spy problems with the government and actual bad guys.  This book was too great for words.  This goes down in my favorite series of all time by far.