Best of the Bunch #1 - June 2015

Best of the Bunch #1 - June 2015

Best of the Bunch is a monthly meme hosted over at A Cocoon of Books. What it is is that you give the Best of the Bunch award to one book which you have read in that month.

I am new to this, so here is my first ever Best of the Bunch!!

In June I read a total of 5 Book, 2 of which got a 5 star rating from me. But for this prize I can only choose one and the book that is getting he Best of the Bunch award is......

I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

From the author of The Sky Is Every­where, a radiant novel that will leave you laughing and crying - all at once. For fans of John Green, Gayle Forman and Lauren Oliver. Jude and her twin Noah were incredibly close - until a tragedy drove them apart, and now they are barely speaking. Then Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy as well as a captivating new mentor, both of whom may just need her as much as she needs them. What the twins don't realize is that each of them has only half the story and if they can just find their way back to one another, they have a chance to remake their world.

I must admit that I was skeptical going into this one because of the fact that I hadn't enjoyed Jandy Nelson's previous book and also because the synopsis/blurb was quite vague. But am I glad that I did take the leap of faith and read this one. It was truly amazing and I would dearly recommend it to everyone.

June 2015

June 2015 Book Haul / Wrap Up / July TBR

And here rolls the end of June. My God, this year is really going fast...

June 2015 Book Haul

I bought 3 books this month and they were 3 books that I was highly looking forward to too. Without further a due the books were:

• Conversion by Katherine Howe
• Cress by Marissa Meyer
• A Storm of Swords Part II by George R. R. Martin 
• Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
• I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson
• Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider

June 2015 Wrap Up

Here is my recap for June!! :)

What Was Read:

• The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood - 2 Stars
• I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson - 5 Stars
• Blood Red Road by Moira Young - 1 Star (DNF)
• A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas - 5 Stars
• Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson - 4 Stars

All Reviews will be posted up soon. I'm having a backlog but my ratings of each book can be seen above!!

Project Sarah Book Ban!!

I am feeling quite accomplished with my new rewarding system!! It seems to be working fairly well :P I may have already purchased some extra books but I have added them in :P So my progress as follows is this:

Phase 1 - COMPLETE
1. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (12/5)
2. Insurgent by Veronica Roth (17/5)
3. What's Left Of Me by Kat Zhang (20/5)
Reward - I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

Phase 2 -
1. Parasite by Mira Grant (25/5)
2. The Ruby Circle by Richelle Mead (31/5)
3. The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood (1/6)
Reward - Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

Phase 3 -
1. I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson (13/6)
2. Blood Red Road by Moira Young (17/6)
3. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (21/6)
Reward - Conversion by Katherine Howe

Phase 4 -
1. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson (27/6)
2.
3.

Reward - Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider

Phase 5 -
(Reward - A Storm of Swords Part II by George R. R. Martin)

Phase 6 -
(Reward - Cress by Marissa Meyer)

Other News:

Book Reviews which were written this month area all linked below:
What's Left Of Me by Kat Zhang

I also participated in an awesome read-a-thon called Crazy For Summer read-a-thon and you can find my final wrap up here!!

I also had two discussion posts, linked below:
- BEA and Bookcon - How it affected me!!
- Personal Project - Defeating my TBR!!

And lastly, I participated in three of the fiveTop Ten Tuesdays for the most. You can find those linked below too:
- Top Ten Tuesday #9
- Top Ten Tuesday #10
- Top Ten Tuesday #11

I also participated in my first Best of the Bunch hosted by A Cocoon of Books!!

Challenges Progress:

A - Z Challenge:

12/26

10 From The List Challenge:

5/10

Goodreads Challenge:

24/60 (5 Books Behind Schedule)

July TBR

I have 9 books scheduled for July, most which are actually buddy reads and they are as follows:

1. Cress by Marissa Meyer
2. Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
3. The Young Elites by Marie Lu
4. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
5. Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider
6. Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor
7. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
8. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
9. Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr

And that is it for my wrap up :) How did your June go??

Top Ten Tuesday #11

Top Ten Tuesday #11

Top Ten Books I've Read So Far In 2015.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish and consists of them picking a topic each week for us bloggers to list our Top Ten.

Ohhh this is gonna be a good topic!! So far this year I have rated 12 books as 5 stars so I'm just going to list the Top Ten right here, right now!! In no particular order....


1. I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson
Oh my my my!! I was slightly apprehensive going into this book because I had not enjoyed the authors previous book 'The Sky Is Everywhere' but I am so damn glad that I read this because well, it made it to my favourites of 2015 list!!

2. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
I nearly read this whole book in one sitting. If that's not an indication of how I fell head over hells for this one, I don't know what is. An absolutely amazing sequel!!

3. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Lesly Walton 
This is the first book that I have read from the magic realism genre and it was absolutely beautiful. A stunning debut! 






4. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Ohh Ohh, this book was just bliss. I really enjoyed this one!!

5. More Than This by Patrick Ness
This book left me in a book hangover. Complete shock I was left in with this book and that's what made it fabulous!!

6. Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
The book that made me start reading Contemporary. Need I say more??






7. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
A monster of a book but everyone was talking and hyping this book and well I agree with the hype. It was about time I joined the bandwagon...

8. Parasite by Mira Grant
I loved her book Feed and who doesn't need a good horrific tapeworm fix?? :P

9. Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
I completely enjoyed this historical fiction. I enjoyed it so much that Ruta is now on my auto-buy list and I'm going to be getting her other novel soon - Between Shades of Grey.






10. All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
A heart-breaker of a debut, but absolutely fabulous all the same.





Have you read any of these books?? Have they made your list?? What is on your list?? Let me know below :)

Crazy For Summer Read-A-Thon (Last Line Challenge)

Crazy For Summer Read-A-Thon (Last Line Challenge)

I've been extremely busy these last few days and I was unable to participate in some of the challenges or post wrap ups but I really wanted to do this challenge so here it is!!

I am going to post up 5 book titles and 5 book endings and what you do is match the book to the ending practically :P Because I thought it would be a bit hard if I just posted the last line :P

Books:

1. I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson
2. More Than This by Patrick Ness
3. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
4. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
5. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

Last Lines:

• "But, mostly, I like to think that Jack Griffith, my father, smiled as I let go of the railing behind me and, stretching my wings to that star-studded sky, soared into the night. 
• And he says, "I'm ready."
• "Let's go home," I said, and took his hand.
• That this was not the end.
• Remake the world. 

And there they are!!! Best of luck guys!! :D And look out for my answers in my final wrap-up post :D

Crazy For Summer Read-A-Thon (Final Wrap-Up)

Crazy For Summer Read-A-Thon (Final Wrap-Up)

Here is the final wrap-up. For some reason this week just flew by and I got extremely busy during the middle of the week, meaning that I didn't get to read as much as I had hoped. But alas, the read-a-thon is now over and here is what I did get read...

My Progress:

Books Finished:

2/6

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

Pages Read:

Total - 594 pages

Answer To Last Line Challenge

1. "But, mostly, I like to think that Jack Griffith, my father, smiled as I let go of the railing behind me and, stretching my wings to that star-studded sky, soared into the night.  - The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

2. And he says, "I'm ready." - More Than This by Patrick Ness

3. "Let's go home," I said, and took his hand. - A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

4. That this was not the end. - Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

5. Remake the world - I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

Crazy For Summer Read-A-Thon - Day 4 (Summaries)

Crazy For Summer Read-A-Thon - Day 4 (Summaries)

Today's challenge is simple. You can use 140 words or less to summaries books!!

These are the books that I have been reading so far in the read-a-thon.

A Court of Thorns and Roses:

A different universe. Bad-ass heroine. Steamy love. Good guys. Bad guys. Epic fight. The End. #ACOTAR #sassy #lovin'

Second Chance Summer:

Girl does something bad. Has to face what she does and learns all about second chances. #summer #beach read 

Crazy For Summer Wrap Up - Day 3

Crazy For Summer Wrap Up - Day 3

Here is my progress for Day 3. I'm in a bit of a rut at the moment, slowing down on my reading :"(

My Progress:

Books That I Was Reading Today:
Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

Pages Read:

Second Chance Summer - 60 pages 

Total - 60 pages
Complete Total - 343 pages

Books Finished:

1/6

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Crazy For Summer Wrap Up - Day 2

Crazy For Summer Wrap Up - Day 2

Day 2 is now done and dusted!!

My Progress:

Books That I Was Reading Today:
Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

Pages Read:

Second Chance Summer - 78 pages 

Total - 78 pages

Complete Total - 283 pages

Books Finished:

1/6

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Crazy For Summer Read-A-Thon - Day 2 (Poetry)

Crazy For Summer Read-A-Thon - Day 2 (Poetry)

Today's the second day of the Crazy For Summer Read-A-Thon and today's challenge is to write a poem in the style of George Ella Lyon to express your feelings and thoughts about reading, blooging and books and how they have affected you in your life. 

I'm not the best with poetry, but I'm giving this challenge a go so here it is!! :)

I am from books, from walker and bloomsbury.

I am from the land like no other, where people live a thousand lives through the eyes of others.

I am from the trees, the breathing pulp that creates the soft, comforting feel of the pages between my fingers. 

I am from reading before bed and turning the lights down low, from dreaming of Will, Karou and Snow.

I am from getting lost in the words and forgetting about reality. 

From 'You have too many books' and 'Don't spend all day reading'.

I am from a complicated relationship, that makes me jump for joy and breaks me into pieces. 

I'm from a different world, a different time, past or future.

From the no more room on my shelves to the having too much room.

I am from a world like no other and one I will never leave. 

And click here for the template that I used also :P      

Thank you!!

Crazy For Summer Wrap Up - Day 1

Crazy For Summer Wrap Up - Day 1

This post is my wrap up for the first day of the Crazy For Summer Read-a-thon and I can tell you that I had a blast!! I had so much fun today, reading my books and with a very eventful twitter chat with Tessa @ Crazy For YA and Adriana @ She's Got Books On Her Mind. It was such a productive chat that we even scheduled a buddy read for Dreams of Gods and Monsters!! So I can finally read this book and finish up this awesome series, it will be sad though :'(

Now down to my progress for Day 1!!

My Progress:

Books That I Was Reading Today:
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

Pages Read:

A Court of Thorns and Roses - 126 pages (finished book)

Second Chance Summer - 79 pages 

Total - 205 pages

Books Finished:

1/6

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Answer To Two Truths and A Lie

Dun, Dun, Dun, my lie was that 'I live in the city.' 

I actually live in a quite remote area out in the countryside with farms and stables as my neighbours and a mountain just a couple miles away, quite a stunning view from my kitchen window actually. 

But yes I actually do have 6 pets, 2 dogs, a cat, a leopard gecko and 2 goldfish and I also don't know how to ride a bike, which may be shameful, but the situation never arised after I left stabilisers :P

Congrats to everyone who got it right!! :)

Crazy For Summer Read-A-Thon Day 1

Crazy For Summer Read-A-Thon Day 1

Today is the day!! It's the start of the Crazy For Summer Read-a-thon and I am extremely excited!! For this read-a-thon I am really pushing to complete my set tbr because I have not done this yet for any read-a-thon that I have participated in so far.

Anyhoo, there are all different challenges each day as well as Twitter chats and overall challenges too, so yay!! excitement ahead.

For Day 1, there are 3 different challenges /  things to do and they are as follows:

1. Get To Know You Questions

1. What is your favourite thing about reading?

I just love reading, as I'm sure you can all guess, and the reason I love reading is to get away in a different world, a different story. I just love the escape and adventure part of reading. 

2. What is your favourite thing about blogging?

My favourite thing about blogging is getting to express myself and talk about what I have a passion for with all of you very passionate people too. 

3. What is your favourite thing about Summer?

Summer, Summer, Summer!! Hmmm my favourite part of Summer would be the vacation mostly :P

4. If you could take a summer vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go??

Honestly, I have this whole list of places I would like to go, it's practically everywhere in the world. But for summer,I wouldn't want to go somewhere too hot. I know, summer is all about the heat but the truth is I'm not a fan of it. After all, I come from Ireland and when the temperature push above 20 degrees it is too hot. So round about answer I would go to Venice or Prague :P

5. What is your favourite book of the year so far?

So far this year I have rated 11 books with full 5 stars and to say which one is my favourite is extremely difficult, too difficult so here are just a few:

- I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

- The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender

- More Than This by Patrick Ness

- Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

6. Coke or Pepsi?

Neither I only drink water :P

7. Fantasy or Sci-Fi?

Both!!

8. Hardcovers or Paperbacks?

Paperbacks!! I just love them a lot more. They are cheaper, look great and easier to hold while reading it.

9. Chocolate or Vanilla?

Hmm, this really depends on what you're referring too. For ice-cream it's vanilla cause I hate chocolate ice-cream but for everything else chocolate rules!! :D

10. What is your favourite tv show at the moment?

My favourite tv show right now is Pretty Little Liars!! I started watching it a few days ago on Netflix and have just been hooked since. Currently I'm watching Season 1 Episode 13!!

2. Two Truths and a Lie

This one is simple!! I state three facts about myself and you have to decide, or figure out which one is a lie!!

Here are my facts!!

1. I have 6 pets.

2. I live in the city.

3. I don't know how to cycle a bike. 

3. My Crazy For Summer Read-A-Thon Goals

My goals for Crazy For Summer Read-A-Thon are as follows:

- To finish A Court of Thorns and Roses

- To finish The Luxe series (Rumours, Envy, Splendour)

- To read Second Chance Summer

- To finish The Darkest Powers series (The Reckoning)

This way I get to accomplish some of the set goals for the read-a-thon such as:

- TBR Tackler

- Series Smasher

- Summer Sensation

- Genre Guru 

- Rapid Reader

Read-A-Thons

Read-A-Thons

Hey everyone!! This is a little update on the read-a-thons I ma participating in this month. 

Firstly there is:

1. #Rainbowthon - I is currently Day 3 of #Rainbowthon and well I ain't doing so well. I'm just 100 pages into my first book. But anyhoo here is a picture of the books that I am hoping to read but probably won't get to...

• Red - Rumours by Anna Godbesen
• Orange - A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
• Yellow - Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider
• Green - The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury
• Blue - Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
• Purple - Splendour by Anna Godbersen

2. Crazy For Summer Read-a-thon - This doesn't have any particular books that you have to read so I'll just be reading as a go with this one.

3. #CrushYourTBR - This 24hr read-a-thon, I hope to finish 1 book, whatever that will be I don't know..

You can look out for a full wrap up of all read-a-thons towards the end of the month :)

Are any of you guys participating in any read-a-thons this month?? :) If so, let me  know below!!

Top Ten Tuesday #10

Top Ten Tuesday #10

Top Ten Books On My Summer TBR.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish and consists of them picking a topic each week for us bloggers to list our Top Ten.

Well this post is going to be something like my summer reading plans post, but instead I'm just going to pick 10 books!!




1. Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor
I bought this book on it's release date over a year ago and I just loved the predecessors of this book, so why I haven't read it yet is beyond me, but this summer I will!!

2. The Young Elites by Marie Lu
I absolutely loved Marie's Lu 'Legend' Trilogy and just can't wait to read her new book. This summer, The Young Elites, I promise... 

3. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
I read and loved both Throne of Glass and The Assassin's Blade. With me currently reading A Court of Thorns and Roses I hope to read Crown of Midnight this summer too. I can't wait to get back to Celaena. 




4. Empire of Night by Kelley Armstrong
This is the sequel to Sea of Shadows which I absolutely loved last year and I cannot wait to see how it's sequel will compare!!

5. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
This may take me the whole summer but damn, I need to get back to this series!! Besides #ASummerOIAF is on too from June to September.

6. The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
Everyone just loves this book and I want to see why.




7. Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
This book is actually a re-read because I loved it so much!!

8. Cress by Marissa Meyer
I just received this gorgeous book in the mail the other day so I can definitely read it now during this summer!!

9. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
I adored Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson nd just wanted to get my hands on the newly released cover (pictured above) Besides it is Month of Matson!!




10. An Ember In The Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
This book just sounds amazing!! And amazing reviews have been coming through since its release also but I currently do not own this book so I'm going to have to wait and see can I get to this one..

What is on your list??

Personal Project - Defeating My TBR

Personal Project - Defeating My TBR

I have been in a war with my TBR since I became a reader, yes, even before I discovered BookTube or Blogging. So you can imagine how the war is going now. I honestly can't even remember a time when I didn't have a TBR.

But even though I said I am in a war, I really don't want to get rid of my TBR either. I just want it to become manageable. Manageable being having a TBR of a number between 10 and 20 books. That is manageable. For me anyway. Unfortunately I am no where near this number as many of you may know already. 

As of right now, I have 129 books on my TBR. This number has been staying the same for the last year simply because for the amount of books I read, I buy new books and suddenly the number is the same again.

I have really tried many things to cut down on my TBR though. I have went on the dreaded book buying ban (which have all failed miserably), I have sorted out my shelves, I have done challenges to motivate myself to keep reading but no solution seems to be getting my TBR down... (you can keep an eye out for later discussions about tbr's, book buying bans and unhauls in the future). But for now, yup, none of those means have worked.

I have started a new ritual though. It is of sorts a book buying ban but it is more easier for me and more tailored to suit my means. For anyone who read my wrap-up you know what I'm talking about for those of you who haven't, here's what it is:
From phase 1 - 5 for every 3 books I read, I get to buy a book, then from phase 6 - 10 for every 5 books I read I get to buy a book and this continues along until the maximum for every 10 books I read I get to buy a new book.

Therefore if I keep to this schedule by the end of the year my TBR should be 100 books, as I should be able to finish Phase 10 by the end of he year.

It'll be nowhere near my goal of between 10 and 20 but it would be a massive improvement on how things are currently.

So that is it for this post, and look out for future posts and updates either in my wrap ups or in an individual post of it's own. (I haven't decided yet...)

Top Ten Tuesday #9

Top Ten Tuesday #9

Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases For The Rest of 2015.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish and consists of them picking a topic each week for us bloggers to list our Top Ten.

2015 is a great year for book releases!! In the beginning it was marvelous and the last end of the year is going to be even better. So let's get this list started:




1. Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider
2. The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes
3. The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich



4. Legacy of Kings by Eleanor Herman
5. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
6. Walk On Earth A Stranger by Rae Carson



7. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
8. The Rest Of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
9. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff



10. Soundless by Richelle Mead

And that's a wrap!! What are your most anticipated reads for the rest of the year??