Top Ten Tuesday – Books From My Favorite Genre (Young Adult)

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

My Favorite Books in Young Adult Fantasy and Paranormal

Fair warning, reading lovelies: most of my choices are series. 😀 I’ll include links to all the books in the series where available, just click the covers!

Now, in no particular order…

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

I recently finished this whole series and bawled my eyes out. I was so sorry it was over. I have loved witnessing the evolution of Celaena Sardothien the past couple of years.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

So far, this series has three novels and a novella. According to Goodreads, Maas is working on three more novels and one more novella for this series. I don’t know about you guys, but that makes my heart sing. I love me some Feyre!

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

I’ll be honest. When I first started reading this series, I was not a fan of the protagonist. BUT, bit by bit Laia grew on me. Tahir is masterful at character development. There is supposed to be a fourth book in this series, to be released in 2020. Ugh, I don’t want to wait that long!

Shades of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Such a cool series! A bit of a slow burn in comparison to some of the others on this list, but the imagery really sticks with you.

Caster Chronicles by Garcia & Stohl

This one makes for a perfect summer read. Don’t forget to also pick up the spin-off — Dangerous Creatures 😉

The Legion by Kami Garcia

FYI, we are still waiting on book three in this series because Garcia’s silly publisher didn’t purchase the third book…lame. I’m hoping one day it gets published because I flew through the first two books in two days!

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

I actually didn’t like this series when I first started it, but when I started reading Scarlet, I was hooked!

The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

So many cover options for this series nowadays, but these are the ones I read. If you haven’t read these yet, just do yourself a favor, and do it! Jace and Clary, you guys! Ach, my heart!

The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

The same Shadowhunters world we know and love from The Mortal Instruments, but set further back in time. Tessa’s love story in this is epic!

The Dark Artifices by Cassandra Clare

Again set in the world of the Shadowhunters, this trilogy follows a younger generation of Shadowhunters — teens who look up to Jace and Clary from The Mortal Instruments. I found this series riveting. Even though the books are gargantuan, I still sped through them because I couldn’t bear to put them down. In fact, I loved the main male character so much, Julian, that I’m naming my son after him. 😀

Can you tell I love Cassandra Clare!?

I can’t wait to see what everyone else has listed as their favorites this week. Cheers, reading lovelies!

Sunday Quotables

Dropping a truth bomb…

Happy Sunday!

Top Ten Tuesday – Favorite Book Blogs & Bookish Websites

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Favorite Book Blogs & Bookish Websites

I really like this week’s Top Ten Tuesday. In no particular order, I’m listing my top ten favorite book blogs and websites. Click on the links to take you directly to these resources. Hope you guys enjoy!

1. Literary Hub. This website holds a special place in my heart because it is the very first bookish website I found. It is the best website for finding articles about literary fiction. They also keep on top of new releases, current literary trends, and perhaps the best thing about it, it leads you to other bookish websites! I highly recommend signing up for their newsletter so you don’t miss out on any new happenings in the literary world.
2. Book Marks. This is the review portion of Literary Hub’s site. Is that cheating? Ah well, go check it out anyhow!  
3. The Bibliotheque. I love the aesthetic of this blog! It’s so pretty 😀 It also has a great mix of book talk, lifestyle posts, and helpful tips for newbies on things like Bookstagram.
4. BookRiot. Another bookish website I found early on, and again, I recommend signing up for one of their newsletters. I’m partial to this website’s yearly challenge — Read Harder. I also really like their comics and young adult sections. Their writers seem young and forward-thinking, so I always enjoy what they have to say. 
5. Howling Libraries. I discovered Destiny on Goodreads first, but then HAD to check out her blog. Honestly, it was her amazing pink hair that drew me in. But it was her thoughtful (and frequent) book reviews that kept me coming back.
6. Fiction No Chaser. This one is a new discovery. The blog is run by Jess & Teagan, and what I love about it most is that their reviews come with a “pairs well with” section (for those of you 21 and older!). In their most recent post, they tell you how to make a painkiller to go along with their review of The Ruthless Gentleman. So clever! I ❤ it!: 
7. One Book Two. Two ladies. One book. Two reviews. At least, that’s how it is most of the time. They don’t always get two reviews for the same book. BUT, I just really like that they try to give two points of view. Plus, they usually have a recommendations section at the end of the reviews where you can find similar books that you might enjoy.
8. Simply A Book Drunkard. I’m realizing I may have a thing for literature + cocktail themed blogs…A good place for short, concise reviews. The blogger, Milou, is Dutch, and her reviews are great! I also really like her series Down the TBR Hole. She’s currently on the sixteenth post in that series (as of the time of writing this).
9. CrimeReads. If crime is your thing, I hope you know about this site as it holds a plethora of information on all things crime lit. As you may notice, this is another offshoot of Literary Hub. I think I may be obsessed. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
10. The Walrus. The link provided is to the Books & Fiction section of the website. Just trust me on this one. Most of the articles are thought pieces inspired by books. Check it out!!!

As always, let me know your thoughts on the best book blogs or websites in the comments section. Or, link me to your TTT. Happy reading, loves!

Sunday Quotables

Has anyone been on any wild adventures this summer — literary or otherwise? I haven’t taken a vacation this year, but I have had my head stuck in books, which is kinda the same thing. Right?

Happy Sunday!

#TopTenTuesday – Books with Sensory Memories

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Books with Sensory Memories

Oooo, this is a juicy topic!

Okay, now that I’ve distracted us all with that Emma Stone gif…. back to it! Sense memories! You know, things you see or feel or taste or smell that remind you of such-and-such time that your brother’s sister’s mother’s uncle did that one thing and everyone was like…

You get the idea!

The first book that popped into my head was Eclipse (Twilight #3). I was on a vacation with my parents and my sister when I was reading this. And, if I remember correctly, we were in an area where the only activities were 1) go out on the lake or 2) go shopping. So, I was able to do a LOT of reading! Anyhoo, I was on Twilight 3 and I devoured it and #4 in like a day and a half. So now anytime I see these books I’m reminded of that vacay!

This next book was a bit harder to come up with. Which books did I associate with other sights, sounds or smells!?!? I yelled at myself. Enter:  Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. You know those little tabby sticky notes, especially yellow ones, yeah. Those are what I associate Great Expectations with. When I was reading it in high school, like the little precocious thing that I was, I kept sticking those little yellow tabs (on nearly every page!) in the book so now anytime I see a package of them, I think of Dickens. Weird, right?

This next sense memory is NOT so pleasant. Roach spray. Yep, you saw that right. Roach spray. When I was living in Texas those things were the scariest, hugest, bane of my existence ever! And when I was trying to read The Hunger Games, those MFers just kept coming at me. The odds were NOT in my favor. I really hope my books don’t smell like roach spray now… 😦 Stupid Texas cockroaches!

Uuuuh, uuuuh, apparently I don’t have many sense memories.

Any time I smell hot cocoa or feel the warmth from my gas fireplace it reminds me of when I was reading Queen of Shadows by SJM. There’s actually a photo of the particular night this whole sense memory came together on my IG. I was in my jam-jams. It was cold out so I had on my fuzzy booties too. I turned the fire on low, got my cup of cocoa and just read all night. Of course, that’s not the first time I had done that (book, cocoa, fire), but for some reason (maybe because there’s a picture of it) Queen of Shadows is what I associate with those smells and feels now.

Salty tears remind me of when I was reading Ned Vizzini’s It’s Kind of a Funny Story. Terrible movie by the way! Just awful, but the book really got me in the feels. I read it after I’d gone through a really hard time, and I will probably always associate it with salty tears on my cold cheeks on a hot summer day.

Lumberjanes vol. 1 is the next thing that comes to mind. My old office, think dungeony and soul-sucking, is what I associate with this delightful girl-power romp. Weird juxtaposition that!

All right. Made it to six! Now for four more…

Here’s another not so fun one. Period cramps. I had a particularly bad case when I was on vacation in Florida one year, which happened to be the same year that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was published. So, now I associate period cramps with defeating Voldemort. I think that’s fitting.

The first year of college is always full of memories, sense and otherwise. I think maybe our senses go into overdrive that year. Or maybe that was just me. Anyway, I still remember the way my room smelled (like hairspray and mold GROSS), and the feel of the cold tile floors on my bare feet, and my soft, fuzzy blue blanket on my way-too-tiny twin bed, and on and on. My RA that year invited several of us to read a book with her. It was my first foray into fantasy, and I will never forget it, The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon.

Bubble baths and witches. Those obviously go together right? Well, for me they do. The scent of lavender bubble bath brings me back to when I was reading Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older. Also, whiskey. I was inspired by the cover art and spent one very interesting evening thinking I could be an artist. Silly ole liquid!

Iced coffee and Barnes & Noble Starbucks = Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum. That may have been the only day I actually enjoyed this book. Hmmm.

Let me know about your bookish sense memories in the comments, or point me to your TTT.

Happy reading, loves!