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

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.

Book Review: The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare (Spoiler-Free)

Hey everyone!
Sorry for not posting in a while! But since I've last talked to you guys, I read the Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare which includes Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince, and Clockwork Princess. This is a spoiler-free review of the trilogy.

Christmas Book Haul

Hey everyone!
I hope you enjoyed the holidays! For actual Christmas,  I received two books (kind of... you'll see!) and I also got some gift cards that, yes, I've already used. So I have eight books to share with you all!
First, I got the 50th Anniversary Edition of Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. It's absolutely beautiful and long, so hopefully I'll get around to reading this soon! Since the picture won't work, you can see and buy it from Amazon.
 
Next, I am so excited because I finally got my own Harry Potter series. My brother owns 2-6, I own the 7th, and we lost the first. I've been wanting to reread them for a while, and now I can that I finally have the first book!
 
With my gift card, I got six books. The first one I already started reading, and I'm enjoying it a lot! It's Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (perfect for me). It's a coming-of-age contemporary story about a fangirl of the "Simon Snow" series, similar to Harry Potter. Goodreads.
I also got another book I've heard about called Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. A boy is sent off to an island off of Wales and finds these photographs from Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. It sounds a tad creepy, but really interesting. Goodreads.
The next book I got is one that I've been wanting to read. I thought about getting the box set, but I just saw it there, sitting alone. I bought the first in the Infernal Devices trilogy, Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. I'm looking forward to reading the prequel to the Mortal Instruments. Goodreads.
Finally, I decided to buy this trilogy I've been really wanting to read. I got all three of the Chaos Walking books: The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer, and Monsters and Men by Patrick Ness. It's a dystopian society set in a town where you can hear everyone's thoughts. I've heard nothing but great things, and I can't wait to start it!
 

      

Thanks 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

Important Dates for Readers

Hey everyone!
In the upcoming month and beyond, I feel like there are many new book sequel releases and movie adaptations coming out. So I decided to help myself and hopefully you, too, with these dates. These are all from Goodreads for the books. Also, these are all the books I've read and heard of, so there's a high possibility that a book you read is not on here. (I also couldn't find the date for the TFIOS movie.)

House of Hades, Rick Riordan   | Oct 8, 2013
Never Fade, Alexandra Bracken | Oct 15, 2013
Allegiant, Veronica Roth            | Oct 22, 2013
Altered, Gennifer Albin              | Oct 29, 2013
Champion, Marie Lu                  | Nov 5, 2013
Unsouled, Neal Shusterman       | Nov 7, 2013
The Book Thief (Movie)            | Nov 15, 2013
Catching Fire (Movie)               | Nov 22, 2013            
Cress, Marissa Meyer                 | Feb 4, 2014
Ignite Me, Taherah Mafi            | Feb 4, 2014
Divergent (Movie)                     | Mar 21, 2014
Lair of Dreams, Libba Bray       | Apr 22, 2014
City of Heavenly Fire, Cassandra Clare | May 27, 2014
The Retribution of Mara Dyer, Michelle Hodkin | Jun 3, 2014

So these are just a few of the many releases coming out. I'm excited for them all! Thanks for reading, Kait

August Wrap-Up and September TBR

Hey everyone!
Since August is almost over, you know it's time for a wrap-up! I didn't read a lot this month (5 books, 3 being for school). I'm saving my money for October for all of the new sequels, so I haven't bought any new books. Anyways, here are the five books I read this month and my thoughts!

Uncompleted Series Tag

Hey everyone!
Two posts ago I did the Completed Series Tag but I realized I had many uncompleted series as well. So here I am, doing this post for you all! Like last time, I'll be listing all the book series I haven't finished- and I believe for most of them, it's because the additions in the series are not out yet. This time, I'm providing links to my reviews, too!

• Mara Dyer series | Michelle Hodkin
• A Crewel World | Gennifer Albin
• The Darkest Minds | Alexandra Bracken
• Legend series | Marie Lu (Prodigy Review)
• Divergent series | Veronica Roth
• The Heroes of Olympus | Rick Riordan
• Shatter Me series | Taherah Mafi (Unravel Me Review)
• Unwind series | Neal Shusterman
• The Lunar Chronicles | Marissa Meyer
• The Diviners | Libba Bray
• The 5th Wave | Rick Yancey
• The Mortal Instruments | Cassandra Clare (reread CoB! Liked it more!)

Those are all the uncompleted series that I have! I'm excited to finish all these series. I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading! -Kait

June Wrap Up & July TBR

Hey everyone!
Today I'll be sharing the books that I read in June and what I'm planning on reading for this month.

JUNE WRAP UP

• The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken (review here)
• The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan (review here- for whole trilogy)
• The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan
• The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan
• Across the Universe by Beth Revis (review here)
• A Million Suns by Beth Revis (Do not have a review for this one and Shades of Earth, if you would like to see one, let me know!)

I just finished Shades of Earth yesterday, but since it was July, it doesn't count! Just to let you all know!

JULY TBR

• The Diviners by Libba Bray (Goodreads link here)

REREADS:

• City of Bones
• City of Ashes
• City of Glass
• City of Fallen Angels
• City of Lost Souls

      All by Cassandra Clare. Yes, I'm planning on rereading TMI this month. I might stop after the first three because I have a lot of other books I want to reread, but I'll see how far I get. The Diviners might take a while- it's thick, and I have read books this thick in two days, but I'm not sure how much the story will capture me! It's kind of intimidating!

Thanks for reading! -Kait

Book Review: The Mortal Instruments "City of Bones"

Hey everyone!
Today's book review is on the City of Bones by Cassnadra Clare, the first book in her Mortal Instruments series. I read this book a little less than two months ago, but I thought it would make a great first book review. First I'm just going to go through my overall thoughts and what's it about, however then I will get into further spoilers if there's something that really stood out to me.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I find that some people either love it or hate it, but I find I'm in the middle, and then maybe a little over to the love it side. Here's the book's synopsis:
"When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . .

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end."

When I first read this I thought it sounded very... weird, these people called Shadowhunters that rid the earth of demons? Sounds strange to me. Next time I went to the bookstore, I decided I might as well try it. Well I read, still thought it was strange, but definitely enjoyable. Not my favorite book by far, but I do recommend it. I gave this book a 3/5 stars on Goodreads.

SPOILERS!