Ebookathon

Hello! I’ve been avoiding Twitter and neglecting my blog because I had decided to participate in 3 readathons this month and committed to so many books. One of them is the Ebookathon hosted by @ebookathon taking place May 12 to May 18. Here is a list of my TBR. Some of these books are already on my TBR for the other readathons.

A book set in the future – Day Zero by Kelly DeVos

Nonfiction – Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball

Romance – Bring Me Home by Bree Howland

A book with a lot of buzz – Wilder Girls by Rory Power

A book that will help you grow (I’m cheating a bit with this one and choosing a book that will help me grow…my TBR. I couldn’t find a book that I thought would influence my emotions that strongly, to help me grow as a person.) – Golden Curse by M. Lynn

A short story – Blood Drops by WB Welch

A book with a yellow cover – Recursion by Blake Crouch

Read a book in one day – Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

Are you participating? How many books are you aiming for?

Thanks for reading!
-V

#Lostathon Readathon

I’ve decided to participate in ANOTHER readathon. The #Lostathon Readathon hosted by @OurLostLibrary. Here’s the link to the prompts and original announcement blog post. https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/106925953/posts/1434

lostathon
Here is my TBR!

Good vs Evil:
No Time for Romance – The Pluto Files by Neil Degrasse Tyson
Stand Alone – Blind Date by Frances Fyfield
Responsible: Bargain Book – Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich
Caring About Others – Hide With Me by Sorboni Banerjee
Friendship: Buddy Read – Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Sacrifice: Quick Read – Animal Farm by George Orwell
Hero Story – The House of Hades by Rick Riordan
Kid Saves the World: Middle grade book – The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
Dream – Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Good in the Title – The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter
Outside Comfort Zone – The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco
New To You Author – Sugar by Deirdre Riordan Hall
Free Space – Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
Thriller/Mystery – They Did it with Love by Kate Morgenroth
Romance – Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Lusted: Romance – Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Gluttony: Book in a Series – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J K Rowling
Greed: Expensive book – The Killing Joke by Christa Faust and Gary Philips
Pride: Autobiography – Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball
Envy: Book about envy – Fairest of All by Serena Valentino
Sloth: Longest Book You Own – 11/22/63 by Stephen King
Wrath: Villain Story – Poor Unfortunate Soul by Serena Valentino
Monsters, Oh My! – The Beast Within by Serena Valentino
Nightmare: A book that will scare you – Blood Drops by WB Welch
Evil in the Title – The Evil Queen by Gena Showalter

Will you be participating?

Last Woman Standing by Amy Gentry

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Last Woman Standing by Amy Gentry
320 pgs
4 Stars

Overall, I did enjoy this book. I liked the protagonist and became invested in her story. Dana Diaz is an aspiring stand-up comedian. During one of her shows she befriends Amanda Dorn, a computer programmer. They both have been harassed and assaulted by certain men and Amanda convinces Dana that they should go after each other’s assailants.
The story was engaging and the overall story was interesting. My only issue was that I felt it was a little busy. A lot was happening and the story was a little all over the place. I feel some parts could have been left out, or at least written in a way for it to flow better.
I enjoyed the feminism component of the story and the fact that both MCs are women in male dominated fields. The ending was a little unexpected, but in a good way.
As I mentioned, I enjoyed this story overall and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys thrillers.

Thanks for reading!
-V

I’m Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I’m Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal
272 pages
5 Stars

There wasn’t anything about this book that I didn’t like. We alternate between two POVs, Campbell’s and Lena’s. One being a white girl, new to the school and town. The other being a black girl who has style and popularity. Their lives begin to intertwine when they’re both attending a school football game. When a fight breaks out and leads to shots being fired, they both work together to figure out how to escape the danger. On their way to meeting up with Lena’s boyfriend, Black, to get a ride home, they get mixed up in a protest turned riot downtown.
The whole story is fast paced and action packed. I also became invested in the characters and was curious to see how their stories progressed. This story does a great job holding it’s own amongst other great YA books addressing race relations.
I enjoyed that they had two different POVs from two different girls experiencing the same thing. I liked how their friendship blossomed under the circumstances. I was also satisfied with the conclusion of the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed or is planning to read Dear Martin or The Hate U Give.

Thanks for reading!
-V

#FiveOnFriday Contemporaries

Today for my #FiveOnFriday post, I’m talking about 5 contemporaries I loved! I actually usually try to avoid contemporaries. I’d actually much rather have my nose buried in a fantasy or scifi novel. So without further ado…

First up is All the Rage by Courtney Summers. TW for sexual violence.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. It sounded good in theory, but I was nervous I was going to be disappointed by the execution. This was not the case. This book made me FEEL so many feels. I could totally relate to the MC, Romy. She accuses the sheriff’s son of sexually assaulting her and becomes an outcast at school and in her own town. All her friends and the community shun her, not believing her. When another girl goes missing after a party, the town is unsure what to believe.
This book was so well written. I did enjoy Sadie by Courtney Summers (except for the ending :(), so I shouldn’t have been surprised that I enjoyed this book.

Next, I loved Odd One Out by Nic Stone. This book is about three friends exploring their own relationships and sexuality. The book starts by introducing Coop, a straight male, and his best friend Jupiter, his lesbian best friend. We eventually meet Rae and between the three of them, their relationships grow and evolve. Jupiter and Rae start questioning their sexualities and both explore different paths.
I think this book is a must read for teens. There is so much hatred and bigotry in the world, I think teens these days need to see representation of themselves and their friends. I feel like as a straight female I still questioned a lot of things that occurred in my life. Being a teenager and just life in general is difficult without forcing people to choose labels or sexual preferences, if they’re not ready. I feel, in this world today, it is so difficult to find genuine love and friendship without forcing people into boxes and categories.

Third, I really enjoyed Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu. This is the essential feminist read. The MC, Vivian, is frustrated with her small-minded town and school that never hold the males responsible for their actions. Viv starts a zine that focuses on feminism and taking down the patriarchy. She ends up uniting the female population of her school who start demanding changes to the school and how males and females are treated differently. I loved this book because I’m a feminist and a strong believer that women should have equal opportunity and be treated the same as their male colleagues.

Another contemporary I really enjoyed was When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon. I thought I wouldn’t enjoy this book because I thought it was going to be a mushy gushy kiss kiss teen romance. Boy, was I wrong. We follow Dimple, who wants to focus on her career before getting married. For her traditional parents, the “Ideal Indian husband” should be her main priority. To her surprise, they agree to allow her to end a summer program for aspiring web developers. Little does she know, her parents conspired with Rishi’s parents to get the two to meet at this summer program. Rishi is under the impression Dimple knows what is happening and is shocked to find out Dimple has no idea who he is or why he keeps trying to engage her in conversation. The story continues with Dimple and Rishi being partners for the web developer program and we watch as their relationship grows. I love the concept that Dimple can be serious about her career and still develop a relationship with Rishi. The romance was subtle without being the main focus of the story.

Lastly, I loved The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. If you haven’t picked up this book, yet, you need to. I feel as if police brutality is still somewhat of a taboo subject. A lot of society is still in denial that POC are discriminated against just for walking down the street. This book is written from the perspective of Starr who witnesses a fatal police shooting of her best friend at the hands of a police officer. I think this book finally forces people to open their eyes and understand what is happening in the world around them. Police brutality in the country is a problem. I am a strong supporter of THE IDEA of law enforcement. I think a lot of us can’t imagine what some police officers go through on a daily basis. Even more so, so many of us white people can’t even imagine what POC go through just trying to live their lives. This is a very powerful read and hopefully it is one of the first steps of bringing awareness and change to a very serious problem in American society.\

Thank you so much for reading my Five On Friday post! What are some of your favorite contemporaries? What are some of your recent reads that have had a strong influence on your emotions?
-V

#AvengersReadathon19 TBR

Yahoo!! I will be participating in the Avengers readathon hosted by The Perks of Being Noura (@NunuKz). Check out her blog announcement! https://theperksofbeingnourablog.wordpress.com/2019/04/11/readathon-announcement-avengersreadathon19/

This readathon will run from April 14 to May 31.
Here is a link to the prompts: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1clT4nOqlP7NdQ6IV0-VGIVByLnFjx0yU9rmUdx12MD8/edit

I will be taking the Iron Man and Captain Marvel challenges! I chose these because they have the most prompts and I’m a masochist. With that being said, I have a few more OWLs I need to finish, so I will be reading a few books for both readathons.

Iron Man prompts:
Book with a red cover – Spellslinger by Sebastien de Castell
Sci-Fi book – Recursion by Blake Crouch (eARC)
Award Winning book – The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Mental Health – All the Rage by Courtney Summers
Book with Robots or Artificial intelligence – Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel

Assignment from Captain America:
White, Red, and Blue – a book with one of these colors on the cover – Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab
Assignment from Black Panther:
Black Panther – A book with a black main character – I’m Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal (eARC)

Assignment from another character (1):
Hulk – Intimidating book – The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Assignment from another character (2):
Black Widow and Hawkeye – Mystery – Black Water by T. Jefferson Parker

Captain Marvel prompts:
Feminist Read – Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson and Ellen Hagan
Book set in a different universe – The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie
Book with red, blue, or yellow – Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen (eARC)
New release – The Promise by Teresa Driscoll (eARC)
Badass Female Character – Wilder Girls by Rory Power (eARC)
Written by a female author of color – Odd One Out by Nic Stone

Assignment from Black Panther:
T’Challa – Book by a black/ African author – American Street by Ibi Zoboi
Assignment from Guardians of the Galaxy:
Groot – Book with Nonhuman Character – This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
Assignment from any character:
Captain America – 1941 – Book Released before 2000 – Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich

A few of these may change depending on if I can get them from the library on time! Are you participating in the Avengers Readathon?

 

#FiveOnFriday Series I won’t finish

Bonjourno everybody! We made it to another Friday. This week for my #FiveOnFriday, I will be listing 5 series I started, but probably won’t finish.

First, the ACOTAR series by Sarah J. Maas. I CANNOT believe how many people love this series. For this reason, I MAY read the rest of the books someday. After finishing the first book, I realized I CANNOT stand Feyre. I think she’s whiny and indecisive. I don’t think she’s brave, I think she is stubborn in a negative way. I’ve also very much started disliking the “prisoner falls in love with their captive” trope. I finished the first book specifically so I could have the right to b*tch about it. I can’t even say how badass she was during the trials because she literally had help with every single one. I don’t know if this book just caught me on an off day (week?), but my dislike of Feyre is so strong, I don’t even want to waste my time with the second book (or the rest). I HAVE heard the other books are much better, so MAYBE I’ll try them, but probably not anytime soon.

Next, is The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. I read Eragon and I just didn’t like it. I don’t know if I’m just too old to relate to the protagonist? I thought Eragon was a little full of himself and I believe at one point he basically threw a tantrum? (If I remember correctly) I enjoyed the general story overall and rated the book 3 stars. The world building was decent and I liked the adventure aspect. With all the books out there in the world, I just didn’t feel the series was worth pursuing.

Another series I probably won’t finish is Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart. As a feminist, I just don’t have it in me to deal with most patriarchal fictional worlds. I enjoyed most of the story from Serina’s perspective in prison. I understand the direction of the story and why a lot of things happened the way they did. It’s just, once again, there are so many more books that I think I would enjoy more.

One more series I won’t continue or finish is the Women’s Murder Club by James Patterson (probably). I recently read an article that stated that James Patterson doesn’t even write most of his books anymore. (This isn’t the article I read, but basically says the same thing. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/10711191/James-Patterson-how-the-bestseller-factory-works.html)
Every single one of Patterson’s books that I’ve picked up I feel are just poor quality. Whether because it was hastily written, or he has someone else write them, or because he just knows if his name is on it, it’ll sell. My mom and I classify these types of books as “easy reads”. This description is for Mass Market paperbacks that you can pick up and read in an afternoon without putting too much thought into what you’re reading. Some people are into that. There are other series by other authors that I can classify as an “easy read”, but I just feel they do it better.

Last, I won’t be finish the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown. I actually really enjoyed the first three book of this series, I just felt it ended well in the third book. Naturally, there were just so many other books on my TBR, that I just didn’t feel the need to continue. Maybe someday I’ll get the urge to read them all from the beginning and just continue with the rest of the books. For now, I’m just trying to reduce my TBR list. If you enjoy sci-fi and/or dystopian novels, I do recommend this series.

Well, that is all for this week. I realize there are going to be many people that don’t agree with me for some of these opinions. Thank you for reading my blog anyway.
-V
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