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

Halloween Reads

Hey everyone!
Today I'll be sharing some Halloween reads. Personally, I am not a fan of horror movies and am hesitant about books. I'm also very sorry about the lack of posts. Everything has just been crazy! But I still hope you enjoy this one! I didn't forget about you guys! These books are mostly supernatural or paranormal. They contain varying degrees of creepy or spooky, and like I said, I hate horror stuff so some of these books may not be that bad at all. Some of them aren't really scary, but they fit into the supernatural theme (i.e. The Mortal Instruments with vampires and werewolves, etc.)  If you want to hear what I personally thought about them, you can search them on my blog (Top left or on the right) or click on one of the labels below of the book's title!

• The Diviners by Libba Bray
• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin'
• The Mortal Instruments (series) by Cassandra Clare
• Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
• Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Thanks for reading, Kait

Book Overviews: Beautiful Creatures Series

Hey everyone!
A little while ago, I read the first book in a series, Beautiful Creatures- the first book in the Caster Chronicles by Kami Garcia and Marga Stohl. I loved the idea behind the book and our main character, Ethan, was great! I got the box set for my birthday and finished up reading the rest of the series. (Spoiler free!)

April Wrap Up and May TBR

Hey everyone!
As May begins, it means a new wrap up and TBR post! This is a little more productive, for lack of a better word. I hope you all had a great April and are looking forward to May.

APRIL WRAP UP
I reread three books: Percy Jackson and the Olympians 1-3: The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, and The Titan's Curse. I read four new books this month as well.
The first book I read was Unravel Me by Taherah Mafi- the second book in the Shatter Me trilogy. You can read more of what I have to say here, but overall I enjoyed it!
The next book I read was a stand-alone: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I also have have a review here, so I'm not going to go in detail. To be honest, I was expecting more of this book, but I still loved it!
After that, I finally got around to reading Rise by Anna Carey which is the third and final installment of the Eve trilogy. Coming from a point of view where this trilogy isn't my favorite, I did enjoy Rise. I think Eve is still my favorite, but I liked it more than Once. And the ending- I had to look it up on Goodreads to make sure I wasn't inferring the wrong thing!
The last book I read was Cinder by Marissa Meyer- the first book in the Lunar Chronicles. I loved the concept of this book, with all the fantasy and sci-fi mixed! I definitely recommend it!

MAY TBR
I planning on finishing the Beautiful Creatures series. I'm currently reading the second one, but I've been having no time to read lately! I loved Beautiful Creatures- I read it in two days. I'm really excited to see where this series goes!
Next, I'll be reading Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, the second book in the Lunar Chronicles. I'm also excited to see where this series will be turning to and about our "Red Riding Hood" this time!
I'm not planning on thinking about what book I'm going to read next. When the time comes, I'll probably pick one. But I think I'm going to try to get to The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken. I hear amazing things about this book and I can't wait to read it! If I still have a lot of reading time, I'll probably start the Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan! Thanks for reading! -Kait

Book Haul (16 Books) Birthday Addition

Hey everyone!
As some of you may know, my birthday recently passed and I was fortunate enough to be able to buy some books with gift cards to Amazon (I also purchased two at the bookstore :)). I'm really excited to read all of these books so I'm just going to list them instead of gush over my excitement with every book. Two things though: I'm not tyring to brag and some of you may realize I already read Beautiful Creatures so why did I get it? I originally had it on my phone, so I thought it would be nice to obtain a physical copy as well as the rest of the books- in hardcover!

• Beautiful Creatures Complete Collection (Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl)
• The Kane Chronicles Box Set (Rick Riordan)
• The Darkest Minds (Alexandra Bracken)
• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Michelle Hodkin)
• The Evolution of Mara Dyer (Michelle Hodkin)
• Rise (Anna Carey)
• Cinder (Marissa Meyer)
• Scarlet (Marissa Meyer)
• Across the Universe (Beth Revis)
• A Million Suns (Beth Revis)
• Shades of Earth (Beth Revis)

Many book reviews coming soon! Comment down below to tell me what books you want to see reviewed! Also, quantity vs. quality? Would you like book reviews on all these books, but more general, or more in depth but less? -Kait :)

Birthday Wishlist

Hey everyone!
My birthday is in a little less than a month (April 23rd) and I'm planning on asking for books-in a way. Really what I'm asking for are the following:

• Ipsy Subscription Service (where you receive monthly beauty products!) (Website)
• Amazon Giftcards
• Local Bookstore Giftcard
• iTunes Giftcard

If you noticed, I have Amazon Giftcards where as iTunes and my local bookstore are both giftcard (not plural). You may be saying, WE DON'T CARE. But I'm hoping to get mostly Amazon giftcards because there are two box sets that I'm planning on getting. No matter what I want to get this box set:

• Beautiful Creatures Complete Collection

I read Beautiful Creatures on my phone, so I don't physically have the first one in the series. I thought this way, I could get all four in hardcover for half the price! The other box set I want it the Infernal Devices. I read TMI, but I haven't read TID yet. Just this two together adds up to about $70 for seven hardcover books. My question to you is should I get TID series? I somewhat liked TMI, but I don't know if I should spend $30 on it.

• The Infernal Devices

This are the two main things that I want, but I have a few others. If you see anyone that you loved, please leave it down in the comments!

• Unravel Me
• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
• Cinder
• Starcrossed
• Rise

Hope you enjoyed! -Kait

Movie Review: Beautiful Creatures

Hey everyone!
Yesterday, I went to see Beautiful Creatures for the first time and I loved it! Overall, I thought it was great, and although they had to cut a few things, I thought they did a great job following the book.
To find out more about the cast, writers, director, and movie, you can go to here (IMDb).
One thing I loved about the movie was the acting. I thought Alden Ehrenreich portrayed Ethan really, really well. Alice Englert also did a wonderful job as Lena, too! So all in all, the acting, personally, was one of the best parts!
Like I mentioned above, I also thought they did a nice job at following the book's plot line. If someone were to watch the movie and then read the book, they should be able to follow the movie along in their head as they read the book. For instance, I saw the Percy Jackson movie before I read the book, and when I read the book I knew Luke stole the Lightning Bolt the whole time, but I never expected Ares!
Overall, I really just about liked everything. One of the bigger things I wasn't a fan of was the ending. First of all, did Sarafine really die? I haven't read the other books yet, but I assume she will show up in them. So if they make a sequel... Another thing about the ending that I was on the edge of my seat about until the last second was the whole Lena erasing his mind thing. I just hate when a character forgets the whole other supernatural world they live in. But then he remembered! We hope.
And no Boo Radley, Marian, or Ethan's dad. I still thought that how they did Amma wasn't that bad. I'd prefer Marian and how Amma is in the books. All in all, I recommend the movie A LOT.

Current Book-Related Favorites (February)

Hey everyone!
I thought it would be an interesting idea to do a twist off the familiar favorites I'm used to doing in the beauty community! Instead of sharing beauty products, I thought it would be cool to make things book related!
 
My favorite book series of the month has been the Heroes of Olympus! I reread it, and if anything, love it even more! Rick Riordan is an amazing writer, and if you read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, I really recommend this!
 
My favorite movie this month has to be Beautiful Creatures. Before you go, "KAIT, I NEED A MOVIE REVIEW!" I am actually seeing it tomorrow! Now you may be confused. Yet, I can not wait, and from what I see in the trailer, it makes me pretty excited! I also saw Perks of Being a Wallflower this month and enjoyed it too, but I haven't read the book so I can't compare.

My favorite website this month is Etsy, which you can visit here. If you search The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Divergent, etc. they have a bunch of jewelry and wall art and so so many amazing things!

I know it's not much, but if you having any other things you want me to include in these posts, let me know! -Kait

Beautiful Creatures: Book vs. Movie Trailer

Hey everyone!
Beautiful Creatures the movie is coming out this week and I'm so excited! If you want to see a review of the movie, comment down below! Anyways, I loved the book and after seeing the trailer, I'm very excited to see the movie. Click here to see the trailer that I'm using to compare it with the book. Beforehand, I'm pretty leniet with book-to-movie adaptations. I know some people compare it to Twilight, which is really annoying, but personally, I think it doesn't look bad at all! The book definitely is a lot better than the trailer, though.

• Let me just say, Seven Devils by Florence and the Machine.... yup.
• I love how they showed the whole classroom and the thoughts of what the students think of her because although they are prejudging her, for those who didn't see the movie, it gives a platform about Lena.
• The whole window breaking. It's a good sign they're following the book and the affects are pretty good!
• "You don't know anything about me." :) ...
• The Ravenwood Manor looks as how I pictured it to be. Which is to say, dilapidated.
• About Macon. I think Jeremy Irons is a good choice, but can't he not go out in sunlight because of what he is?
• Yay! Writing on the wall in her bedroom, another good sign.
• I think they made Ridley really well! I love the whole scene in the trailer where she screams and gets flown out of the house.
• The scene with Macon and Sarafine was not in the book, or at least we didn't see it, so I'm intrigued to see what happens there.
• They make Lena look like she's slowly turning dark, which I'm not a huge fan of, but we'll see.
• Lena controlling the weather... looks good.

So I think it's looks pretty well done and I can't wait to see it! Let me know you're thoughts below! -Kait

Christmas Wishlist: Books I'm Asking For

Hey everyone!
So sorry about the irregular posts, I have been super busy in school. However, today I decided to share the books that I am asking for for Christmas. You can find all of them on Amazon which is where I'm asking to get mine from. I'm not going to get all of them, but I am excited to share them with you all.

1. The Hunger Games Collectors Edition Is it not beautiful? No, I am not joking. Yes, I probably have something wrong with me when I say I want to display it. Haha, but yes, I am asking for it.
2. Beautiful Creatures Box Set I really have been wanting to read the first one, and since I normally continue the series even if the fist book was okay, I thought I would ask for this. (Also, I didn't know the order.)
3. Crewel This book seems very interesting and I already read the first chapter and I enjoyed it.
4. Article 5 Same thing with Crewel (and pretty much all the other books I will be listing.
5. Breathe
6. Under the Never Sky
7. Enclave

Those are all the books I'm asking for! If you read any of them let me know what you think in the comments! -Kait

Pictures from here and links above and Google (background).

Collage made here.

Not sponsored or anything!