February 2018 Wrap Up!

Predict My Life In Books Tag!

Hello! February was a rather short month but I’m glad to say I was able to read 8 books this month which is quite good as I’ve been very busy with school.

I am at 19/100 for my reading challenge for the year, so I’m on track and I am currently reading Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West which is quite entertaining so far.

Anyways, let’s get right into the wrap up!


First up this month I read some YA fiction: Saving Hamlet by Molly Booth and the Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Image result for saving hamlet Image result for the vanishing season by jodi lynn anderson

I discovered SAVING HAMLET through the Teenreads review list and added it to my TBR. It was a good book and I loved the plot, having read ‘Hamlet’ last year for my English class it was fun to actually understand the references to the book. I gave the book a 4 star rating on Goodreads.

THE VANISHING SEASON has been on my TBR for a while now and I’m so happy I finally read it! I also gave it a 4 star rating.


I also read some YA fantasy books: Illusions of Fate as well as And I Darken, both by Kiersten White

Image result for illusions of fate Image result for and i darken by kiersten white

These two books were my favorites of the month for sure! ILLUSIONS OF FATE is my favorite of 2018 so far I think! I gave it a 5 star rating because I was gushing all over the place with the plot and the characters as well as the romance. I haven’t read a book in a while with actual chemistry between the main characters and I relished in that.

AND I DARKEN was equally amazing however it was such a long book I thought that it dragged in some placed. I’m giving it a 4.5 star rating and I can’t wait to read more of Kiersten White’s books!


The books I reviewed for teenreads.com this month were Votes for Women! and Eat Your Feelings

Image result for votes for women by winifred conkling Image result for eat your feelings by lindsey smith

Both of my reviews for these books should be up on the teenreads.com site or going up soon. I enjoyed both books and gave them both a 3.5 star rating.


Lastly I read a nonfiction book as well as an erotica, Because I was a Girl and Say My Name

Image result for because i was a girl by melissa de la cruz Image result for say my name book

I haven’t read a book like BECAUSE I WAS A GIRL ever and I found it to be such an empowering read. Some of the stories were more entertaining than others and I would give this book a 3.5 star rating.

I was in the mood for an erotica and so I picked up SAY MY NAME after DNF-ing another erotica book a few chapters in. I’ve read great things about this book from other Goodreads users but I really couldn’t get into it. Maybe because it’s a spinoff series? Anyway I would give this book a 2.5 star rating.


Thanks so much for reading! Link me up with your February Wrap Ups and I’ll be sure to check them out!

-Calliope

January 2018 Wrap Up

January 2018 Wrap Up!.png

Hello everyone, I’ve survived another month of school and am that much closer to graduation. Senioritis has arrived very swiftly and I find myself very unmotivated especially since I’ve gotten into college now.

However, my reading definitely has not suffered and I’m happy to say I’ve set my goal for my 2018 reading challenge of 100 books! I’ve also read 11 books this month despite midterms…maybe I was reading instead of studying? Probably.

Anyway, let’s get into the wrap up!


First up I read some YA: Dividing Eden, Turtles All The Down, and Top Ten

32051572 35504431 33799302

I found the first half of DIVIDING EDEN very satisfying and I was so upset when the second half fell short of my expectations. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating because the first half was truly good!

TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN was a very real and raw book and usually John Green’s books are a hit or miss for me and with a 4.5 star rating for me I’m glad to say this one was a hit!

TOP TEN was interesting but also long and the story dragged on. While the dual perspective and top ten moments were an interesting way to structure the story at times it took away from the plot. I gave this book a 4 star rating on Goodreads.


I also read Kiss me in New York, It’s Kind of a Funny story and Seven Ways We Lie

34220850 248704 26240663

KISS ME IN NEW YORK was as very cliche and predictable and despite the cute plot and storyline, I did not feel emotionally connected to any of the characters. I gave this book a 3 star rating on goodreads but it’s really a 2.5 for me.

IT’S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY was such a relevant book in terms of teen stress and standards for school and college. I gave it a 4 star rating on goodreads and also watched the movie which obviously could not compare to the book but was decent!

Similar to DIVIDING EDEN I thought that the first half of SEVEN WAYS WE LIE was slow but the second half really picked up. I gave it 4 stars!


I read Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe, What a Goddess Wants, and The School for Good and Evil 

33602143 9675439 16248113

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND MISTLETOE was a beautiful disaster that I flew through and liked in terms of the cute hallmark factor. However, this was not a hallmark movie, it was a novel that I was expecting a lot more from, especially from author Melissa de la Cruz. From the cringe of the main character to how unlike Pride and Prejudice is in terms of romance and character development this book was a flop. Seriously, the personality of the characters was like that of a limp tissue. I gave it 2 stars on goodreads but it’s a 1.5 star rating from me.

WHAT A GODDESS WANTS was my erotica/romance for the month. I originally wanted a different book but live-brary/overdrive didn’t have so I settled for this one. I mean sure it was a fun read and the first quarter was promising but then it kind of fell apart for me, it was semi enjoyable though so I gave it 3 stars.

I’ve been meaning to read THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL for so long now ever since it was recommended to me by a mom at taekwondo several years ago and I’m so happy I finally got to it! It was a pretty big book and I’m quite proud that I read it, it is middle grade I’m pretty sure but it reads almost like a YA novel. I liked it and gave it a 4 star rating!


My books for teenreads this month were Zenith and Busted, and I was so lucky to get the ARC of Zenith!

31394234 21825764

Ok let’s talk about ZENITH. I didn’t really include this in my ZENITH review on teenreads but this book is extremely controversial. There are so many one star ratings bashing this book and I don’t understand why. The bitterness and jealousy of the success of ZENITH really is astounding. Sure it had a lot of flaws but so do most books. Because Sasha is a booktuber obviously getting ZENITH published was easier for her but I don’t think her books deserves negative reviews for that. It should be judged on the content. You can definitely disagree with me on this but overall I’m satisfied with ZENITH and will be reading the next book. 4 star rating.

BUSTED was a strange one but also entertaining and I gave it 3 stars on goodreads but it’s more of a 3.5 for me.


Thanks for reading! Link me up with your January Wrap Ups and be sure to tell me what you read in the comments!

-Calliope

December 2017 Wrap Up!

Copy of December Wrap Up!.png

Hello! I can’t believe 2017 is over! It’s so scary how fast time flies! This month I read 8 books and beat my 2016 Goodreads Reading Challenge by exactly 1 book! That’s right, this year I read a grand total of 113 books! Wooh!


So first up this month I read a book for school, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys as well as Earth Hates Me by Ruby Karp.

Image result for wide sargasso sea Image result for earth hates me by ruby karp

I thought Wide Sargasso Sea was okay for a school mandated book. If I read it for fun I probably would not have liked it as much. I did find it cool to read about such a well known English classic character, the mad woman in Rochester’s attic from Jane Eyre. I gave this book 3 stars and out of the 2 books I’ve read for English so far, this one was my favorite.

Earth Hates Me was so on point and relateable at some points and totally off kilter and strange with other parts. I totally agreed with the FOMO thing however! I ended up giving this one 4 stars.


I also read some contemporaries, If There’s no Tomorrow by Jennifer L. Armentrout and A Short History of the Girl Next Door by Jared Reck.

Image result for if there's no tomorrow Image result for a short history of the girl next door

I thought that both of these books were very typical YA contemporaries with nothing too special. I was rather bored by both of them in fact, so I gave If There’s no Tomorrow 3 stars and A Short History 4 stars because I related hardcore to the whole teen angst and hating everyone and being the protagonist to your own story kind of thing.


I finally read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie! It’s about time! And then I read Because You Love to Hate Me finally as well.

Image result for the absolutely true diary of a part-time indian Image result for because you love to hate me

Funny enough, A Short History has references to The Absolutely True Diary and I was reading both at the same time and I really loved knowing exactly what the references were talking about. I would give The Absolutely True Diary 4.5 stars because it was so heartwarming, but I felt a tad disconnected from the narrator.

I liked Because You Loved to Hate Me! I gave it 4 stars and though I extremely disliked the booktuber input, I loved all of the other stories so I’ve chosen to pretend that the booktuber input does not exist.


And lastly I read That Inevitable Victorian Thing by E.K. Johnston as well as Warcross by Marie Lu.

Image result for that inevitable victorian thing Image result for warcross

The first half of That Inevitable was very slow and boring and I almost DNF’d, but I pushed through and I’m glad I did because the second half was a lot better! I did end up giving the book 3 stars because of how complicated and unnecessary most of the first half was.

I also really liked Warcross! It did remind me of other books I’ve read like Ready Player One, however I really did like it though some elements of the game were confusing. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads, but it’s probably more of a 4.5 star book for me!


How was your year in reading?! Link me up with your December and yearly wrap ups!

-Calliope

November 2017 Wrap Up aka I’m stressed out

What Did I Read This Month

Whoever said senior year of high school was easy has clearly never taken IB. College can’t possibly get any harder than this.

So yes I’m stressed out and have not been blogging…like at all…but I have read 12 book this month and have smashed my 100 book goal for 2017. I’m at 105 right now and will hopefully surpass last year’s final of 112? Maybe, we’ll see.

Let’s get started!


I read some books for a book trivia competition that I do every year called Battle of the Books!

Image result for highly illogical behavior Image result for tell me three things Image result for starflight melissa landers

It’s funny, usually I’ve already read two out of the three battle books but this year I’ve never heard of any of them. I liked all three and if I had to choose one to study for the competition I would say probably ‘Tell Me Three Things’ because it’s the most contemporary and easiest to memorize, unlike ‘Starflight’ which is very intense and would be a pain to memorize facts and the little obscure things about it.


I read some random books that are all from different genres and authors as well!

Image result for there's someone inside your house Image result for without merit Image result for they both die at the end

I know that ‘Without Merit’ and ‘There’s someone inside your house’ are controversial but I think that they were both okay books. I definitely see both sides of readers’ arguments and I agree with a lot of the negative but also the positive things about them. I really liked ‘Renegades’ as well as ‘They Both Die at the End’.

Image result for the borden murders sparknotes Image result for renegades marissa meyer

All of these authors except the Lizzie Borden book I’ve already read and loved so though these latest books did not match up to my already set expectations of them through their other books I still liked these books. I actually almost DNF’d the Lizzie Borden book because it was so boring but I pushed through it in the end.


Lastly, I finished the Sinners on Tour series!

Image result for sinners on tour rock hard

I read the first book last month so it doesn’t count, this month I read books 2-5, but I just didn’t feel like cropping the first book out of the picture so here it is.


In others news my first college app is due tomorrow so yay, I’m slowly crawling through the year.

What did you read this month? Link me up with your November Wrap Ups!

-Calliope

 
https://calliopethebookgoddess.wordpress.com/page/2/
calliopethebookgoddess.wordpress.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2021-31
109329
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:S3LSBEZSI7YKMHWJ3UGUQAKFUN7A4LCM
<urn:uuid:f4f5b8fb-593b-44fb-ad0b-2bb5e36ebaf0>
2021-07-26T18:48:24Z
192.0.78.12
text/html
sha1:M233MA7H4QQN3MFXNUF74YXK5H26FQ6W
<urn:uuid:d0158797-28b9-4713-a2a4-5b2681e0ba61>
https://calliopethebookgoddess.wordpress.com/page/2/
response
<urn:uuid:cf39ef00-d77a-472d-97d8-f0aa271a57a7>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2021-31
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for July/August 2021
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-204.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.18 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.2-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: https://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/