All the Bookish Things

Hi everyone!

It's been a while. The other day I remembered I once kept this little blog as a small way to share my passion for reading and books. When I decided to revisit, I was surprised that people are still viewing this old thing. It's fun to go back and look at my initial thoughts of books I've read a few years ago (despite gritting my teeth through the grammar and being too excited over books of which I have different views now). Life has been busy, and I don't think I'll make this blog as active again. Maybe an occasional post here and there, but it's safe to say that this blog can rest in peace. The last post I made was in the spring of 2014. It's now 2016. I've still been reading and thought that I would share some memorable books I've read since then (4/5 or 5/5 stars). To see all the books I've read, I have remained active on my Goodreads; you can also find these books listed in order as I will be sharing only small thoughts on each one. (The list is ordered chronologically).

Book Review Mashup! City of Heavenly Fire, Vicious, Throne of Glass

Hey everyone!
Sorry again that it's been so long. But in that time span I've read quite a bit! I'm not going to talk about every book that I have read in the past month; however, I will talk about some of them with short, spoiler-free reviews. I'm not going to give a synopsis for every book, though I will link the Goodreads at the end so you can read them yourselves! Enjoy!

City of Heavenly Fire | Cassandra Clare | 6th book in The Mortal Instruments |  Rating: 5/5 | Fantasy
Of course, we have the finale to TMI. Some of you may know that I liked TMI at first, but didn't love them. Then I read The Infernal Devices, and loved those, then I reread COFA and COLS and enjoyed it more the second time around. So I was more excited to read COHF and thought that it was a fantastic conclusion. Cassandra Clare is amazing at wrapping up series. My favorite scenes involved Zachariah (hehe), but there are so many more awesome scenes. The characters themselves really grew and I liked them more and more. And that thing at the end with our favorite vampire... WHAT. Goodreads

Throne of Glass | Sarah J. Maas | 1st book in series | Rating: 5/5 | Fantasy
This book was so great! I loved the characters and plot line. This story involves magic, romance, assassins, secrecy, and so many amazing things. I read the second book, Crown of Midnight, which I didn't like as much (just because I ship Celaena with Dorian), nonetheless it was still incredibly exciting and action packed. Great start to another great series! Goodreads

Vicious | V.E. Schwab | Stand Alone (I think...) | Rating: 5/5 | Adult Science Fiction
I loved this book. It was so action packed and suspenseful and I was anticipating every second of this book. The whole concept is extremely interesting; I also found how Eli and Victor were best friends but then we see them ten years later as foes. Vicious would make a great movie (as well as Throne of Glass). The character's and their backstories contained such intriguing things. I highly recommend this book! It's a great adult book to read if you like young adult. Goodreads

Thanks so much for reading! -Kait

Getting Ready for City of Heavenly Fire

Hey everyone!
City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare, the sixth and final book in The Mortal Instruments, is due to come out a week from this Tuesday (May 27). If you asked me a year or so ago on how excited I was for this book, when I just read TMI one time through, I would've maybe said a 5 or 6 (1 being didn't care, 10 being like Blood of Olympus). However, if you asked me 2-3 months ago,, I would've said like a 7-7.5. And now, if you ask me, it's more like an 8-8.25 (quite specific, I know). So, if you're personally not super excited for COHF, though you are planning on reading it, I'll share with you the two things I did to get me more excited. Of course, mine was over a year or so, and it might be cutting it close with a week and half, but if you set your mind to it, you might actually be able to get this two things done.
When I first read TMI, I liked them but definitely didn't love them. My average rating for the whole series was about a 3.6/5 (I did math go me). I liked some aspects, but didn't love others.
In late January and early February of this year, I finally came around to reading The Infernal Devices, Cassandra Clare's prequel trilogy in the Shadowhunter world. I enjoyed the first book, but I loved the last two. And no spoilers for the trilogy, though if you read it, you may understand when I say this: I'm excited to see some characters (particularly one jem) in the last book, ones I loved more than some TMI characters. So for that reason, I was excited to read COHF.
Then last week, I reread COFA and COLS numbers 4 and 5 in the series to refresh my memory. Normally I can remember books pretty well, but because I didn't love TMI, some details went askew. Nonetheless, I reread them and really enjoyed them the second time around. And now I really want to know what happens to the characters and the world in which they live.
I can officially say that I am really excited to read this last book.
Thanks for reading, Kait

Book Review: Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins

Hey everyone!I recently picked up and read Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins. I heard really great things about it from BookTube, and thought I would give it a try. And I absolutely loved it! There were many aspects to enjoy about this book: the wit, the characters, the action, and the (small amount of) romance. I gave it 5/5 stars and I cannot wait for the next one! You can find it on Goodreads. This will be a spoiler-free review! (Synopsis and review below cut.)

Bookspiration: Colorful Bookshelf Tour

Hey everyone!
I recently rearranged my bookshelf based on color, and I really like the way it turned out. It's a great way to get in the mood for spring, so I thought I would share it with you all. I feel like a bookshelf tour would be quite lengthy since I have more books now, and I can't tell you all the titles, series, and authors, so I thought making a "Bookspiration" post might be better. Hopefully, this could inspire some of you to rearrange your bookshelf in  a new way, whether it be color, or height, or something random.


Pink-White-Black

The first shelf originally was white to black, but now it's light pink to white to black, because Rebel Belle didn't look good with the reds, and I already had Delirium up there. This shelf has some series like Hush, Hush and The Infernal Devices, as well as some adult books like 1984by George Orwell.


Black-Brown

The next shelf continues with black to brown. This was a bit harder to do, but I think I pulled it off. I have my LOTR bind up (from Amazon), as well as THG, and The Book Theif on this shelf, as well as Riordan.

Red-Yellow

The third shelf starts the color, from red to yellow. It starts with the fourth PJO book and Catching Fire, and ends with Beautful Chaos. This shelf also has some great books, from Harry Potter, to some Riordan, and the first and third book in the Chaos Walking trilogy.


Green-Blue

After that shelf, we have the green to blue shelf, probably my favorite one. It starts with City of Bones and end with The Fault in Our Stars, with some Harry Potter, Riordan (again) and the last two Shatter Me books by Taherah Mafi.

Blue-Purple

 
The last shelf with books goes from medium blue to purple. This has more Riordan (of course), Divergent, and Cress.

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you do this! -Kait

Spring Collective Book Haul (and Mini Reviews)

Hey everyone!
Long time, no talk! (SORRY!) Ever since the middle of March, I have collected quite a few books, three being ARCs (Advanced Reading Copies). It was also my birthday recently, so I'm planning on ordering a few more, which I'll list at the end, though I do not own them yet or have even bought them. Click on the links to visit Goodreads for a synopsis (not affiliated).
The first book I got was 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad. I gave this book a 5/5, it was quite scary (which I usually hate) and scientific, the pace was extremely fast, and not to say the aura of mystery kept  me intrigued. And that ending!! No spoilers, but man, that was insane, and definitely not what I expected. At all.
Then I picked out an ARC (my local bookstore has this event and talks about upcoming YA releases and we get to pick an ARC-ended up with three!), my first one ever (however, it was not my first choice, the three copies were taken). It is A Creature of Moonlight by Rebecca Hahn. I gave it 3.5/5; I thought the writing was really lyrical which matched the tone of the book, and the book just had this mystical feeling towards it. Personally, the plot was a bit slow and I didn't love the characters, but I did like them. I do recommend it for a short read if you like medieval, dragon stories. This comes out May 6th.
The next ARC I picked out was Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige, which I gave a 4/5. I really liked the characters and plot, though I felt like this book could've been a stand-alone. It's a Wizard of Oz retelling, and I do really recommend it if you like the Lunar Chronicles (though, personally, it's not as good!). This came out April 1st.
The last ARC I picked out is Deception's Princess by Esther Friesner. I'm currently reading this (only 5% through, wooh!), it's pretty interesting and I'm really excited to get into it more! This came out April 22nd.
The next book I bought is Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge. I gave this a 4/5 (maybe like 4.25), it's a Beauty and the Beast retelling, and the way she did it was really interesting! I really enjoyed finding out the secrets behind the story we're all told. I didn't love the main characters, but the plot was really intriguing.
After that, I bought Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins. I am very excited to read this! I've heard nothing but great reviews saying that it's funny and filled with a bunch of action.

The rest of the books I haven't bought, ordered, but just considered getting with my giftcards. The first three are preorders, but the rest are otherwise possible purchases for me.

• The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (Mara Dyer #3)
• City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare (TMI #6)
• Dangerous Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (#1)
• The Daughter of Smoke and Bone Box Set by Laini Taylor (#1-3)
• Vicious by V.E. Schwab
• Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Thanks so much for reading! -Kait

February Wrap Up and March TBR

Hey everyone!
This past month was a great reading month for me. I read seven books and I really enjoyed all of them! Since I didn't get to do book reviews on all of these books, I thought it would be a good idea to just generalize my thoughts on each of these books.