All posts by Emily

the books i need to read

July 24, 2015 Emily 13 Comments

Hey, everyone! It feels like it’s been so long since I’ve blogged, because I usually schedule my posts weeks ahead of time, and I haven’t been scheduling posts in a week or two. I guess to you, you can’t tell the difference (as long as I still have my posts up!), but it’s good to be back in gear and writing posts more regularly. I had something else planned today, but I decided to switch it up because I’ve had a lot of books on my mind lately. Of course, I ALWAYS do, but this time, it feels more overwhelming than exciting.

There are just SOOOO many books. So many. I’ve only read one book this week (Rain Reign, which was a little disappointing), and I’m also having a hard time deciding what to read next. I have several books on hold at the library, plus some school-required reading, plus the books from the library I have out right now… PLUS the towering TBR stack that’s been sitting on my shelf for who-knows-how-long. Yep. I’m telling you, one day I’m going to fall under all the books I need to read and break my neck!

ANY WHO… onto the point of this post. I thought I’d talk a bit about the books I need to read! I have several books some of you (clearly awesome) blog readers have recommended to me, and I’m super-duper excited + anxious to read them! I really hope I like them. These are the books I have out from the library currently:

SO many good ones, am I right?! 😀 I’ve finished Rain Reign, but the others I still need to read. I talked about most of them in my last Stacking the Shelves. As for the books on hold at the library that I’ll be picking up today or tomorrow, I’ve got three:

The False Prince was recommended to me by two commenters (for the life of me, I can’t remember who! Sorry!), and I’m thinking I might try to get my little sister into them as well. It sounds like something she would really enjoy. I’m hoping to get into them, too. Since You’ve Been Gone is something I’ve been wanting to read for a really really REALLY long time, and I know Daisy‘s been wanting me to give it a try. 😉 (wink wink) And finally, The Swift Boys & Me – I saw it on Goodreads and thought the cover is adorable, the plot sounds adorable.. so why not?

Okay, so there’s that. Now for my To-Be-Read pile.

Yeeeeaahhh… pretty tall. Although not as big as SOME bloggers… I’m not proud of it. >_< Dunno when or if I’ll ever get to it, but guys, it’s always hanging over my shoulder! I have a slight problem. And I’m pretty sure there are some books hiding on other shelves that I also haven’t read, so that’s certainly not all of them. (BY the way; mom, dad, grandma, cousins, aunts/uncles, any family reading this… THIS DOES NOT MEAN, by ANY stretch, you do not need to buy me more books. More books are always necessary. I promise I’ll get around to them!) 😀

On a side note, see the two copies of The Huntress Of Thornbeck Forest by Melanie Dickerson hanging out to the right of the TBR stack? I’ll be giving one of those away! Sometime soon! I won one copy in a giveaway myself in May, and then for some reason I got another one in the mail this week. (Which was definitely a nice surprise, so thanks Harper Collins!) 😉 Only I haven’t read it yet, so once I read and review it, I’ll be giving away a copy. Some other “bloggy” surprises will be coming your way soon, as well, SO BE PREPARED.

That’s pretty much it for today, folks. I hope you liked this sort of rambling post, something a little different since I usually save these for the weekends, but oh well. What books do you need to read?? Ohmigosh, completely forgot about talking about my school-required books. Tomorrow? We’ll see! Oh – and on a completely random note, do any of you watch Heartland on Netflix? I’M HOOKED. I’m on season four, and working my way through it quite fast. Those stinkers in Canada get all eight seasons, while we Americans get six, so that’s a little sad, but I’m still watching it! It’s awesome… another thing keeping me from reading more than one book this week, lol.

Until next time!

P.S. Will you help me pick which book to read next in the comments?

guest posts

does commenting back effect your blog-visiting experience?

July 22, 2015 Emily 12 Comments

Hi, everybody! Today, Daisy at A Bookish Flower is visiting with a great question for bloggers and blog visitors alike: does commenting back effect your blog-visiting experience? Enjoy, and be sure read my guest post on Daisy’s blog here. =)

Hey Loves! I’m Daisy @ A Bookish Flower, and I’m so happy that Miss Emily asked me to do a guest post over on her blog! I’ll be having a lovely chat with you all about something that’s on every blogger’s mind. Commenting back. If you have new readers reading your blog, and they take the time of day to say something about your post, don’t you think they should receive a “Hello” from the blogger of the blog they just love so much?

I love getting comments on my blog. I tend to post in the night time before going to bed, and when I wake up I’ve got a whole lot of lovely comments waiting for me to answer! These comments make me happy because some of you thought, “Imma comment.” And off you went and filled out the comment form and and expressed your feelings on the topic. Comments sometimes help me realize that I’m not the only one completely obsessed with a book, or not the only one who desperately wanted to throw the book out the window and slap the characters with their own book. I just have a lot of feelings, OK!? And it’s good to know that I’m not the only one.

SO, that said, when you loves realize that you’re not the only person who felt a certain way about that book review/discussion post, you happily put in your two cents. You wait patiently for the reply of your favorite blogger and… nothing.

There are various reasons why bloggers don’t comment back. Maybe they procrastinated; Procrastinators! Put your hands in the air, and wave em’ like you just- ….actually maybe later.

Sometimes they have a packed schedule and barely have enough time to post, or maybe they aren’t the commenting back type.

Whatever the reason may be, it can feel pretty lonely on the other end of the one-sided conversation.

Before becoming a blogger, I would comment lots on other book blogs, and never get a response back. Sometimes I would take it personally, which was before I knew how hard it was to respond to every single comment when you had 400 followers and have time to come up with new post ideas. I’d never check the little box that says Notify Me Of New Comments, which looking back, I’m not sure why. Instead I’d check back every day for a new comment, and after maybe a week I’d stop checking and I would gradually forget about that blog. Sometimes, I’d check back and leave a comment and afterwards, seeing that I was having a lovely conversation by myself I’d entirely forget about the blog.

When I have a conversation with a blogger in their comment section, I feel a connection with the blogger. And I swear on the heating keyboard of my laptop that I smile when I read the comments’ responses. So that keeps me coming back for more posts and chats with the bloggers. A comment back can really effect what I think about the blog and whether I should follow and keep coming back for posts.

how about you? does commenting back effect your blog visiting experience?

Thanks so much, Emily, for having me over at For The Bookish! I had a blast writing this up! Let’s talk in the comments! I’ll be commenting back! *Wink Wink*

XOXO

-Daisy @ A Bookish Flower

reviews

better off friends by elizabeth eulberg

July 20, 2015 Emily 6 Comments

That. Was. So CUTE! It was the fluffiest, cutest book I’ve ever read. It was a great contemporary, ~~romantic~~ friendly read. (Har-har.) It didn’t get too mushy for me, it was clean, and I LOVED the main characters.

Title: Better off Friends

Author: Elizabeth Eulberg

Publisher: Point

Publication date: February 25, 2014

Source: library

Synopsis: For Macallan and Levi, it was friends at first sight. Everyone says guys and girls can’t be just friends, but these two are. They hang out after school, share tons of inside jokes, their families are super close, and Levi even starts dating one of Macallan’s friends. They are platonic and happy that way.

Eventually they realize they’re best friends — which wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t keep getting in each other’s way. Guys won’t ask Macallan out because they think she’s with Levi, and Levi spends too much time joking around with Macallan, and maybe not enough time with his date. They can’t help but wonder . . . are they more than friends or are they better off without making it even more complicated?

From romantic comedy superstar Elizabeth Eulberg comes a fresh, fun examination of a question for the ages: Can guys and girls ever really be just friends? Or are they always one fight away from not speaking again — and one kiss away from true love?

Let me just start off by saying that I NEED a Levi. He was so sweet! All thirteen-year-old boys need to take him as an example. Granted, he is a fictional character, but who cares?! I think I’ve fallen hard. 😉

The first thing I loved about the book, right off the bat, is the switching perspectives. It was done really well. The story is told in past-tense, through the eyes of Macallan and Levi, so in between each chapter there’s a conversation between the two, looking back on what happened in the chapters. Their conversations were so funny! They really are adorable together, best friends or more than just friends – either way, I loved their relationship. Read this snippet of one of their (epic) conversations in between a chapter:

Macallan: What is it about guys and having to out-bench-press or outrun one another? Why does everything have to be a comparison?

Levi: I don’t know – testosterone?

M: That’s your excuse for everything.

L: It is? Well, does it at least work?

M: No.

L: Okay, what about you girls?

M: What about us, the clearly superior gender?

L: Yeah, you’re not biased.

M: Of course I’m not. We women are a rational, nonjudgmental breed.

I think it’s clear I love Macallan, too. She’s also someone I wish I could be more like. Even after losing her mom in the fifth grade, she had a “quiet strength” about her (to quote Levi.) She stood up for her friends and thought things through carefully… and she was super quick, and witty. (small spoiler) And she also had the guts to punch a football player in the face! I was rolling laughing! 😀 (spoiler over)

Even though the book was a great example of how girls and boys CAN, indeed, be the best of friends and not have to date… being that Macallan was a girl, and Levi a boy, there are just some things the opposite gender doesn’t understand. But it made for some pretty funny chapters!

Both Levi and Macallan were both very distinguished. I’m not quite sure if that’s the word I’m looking for, but what I’m trying to say is that their personalities were very uniquely written, and they were hilarious! As a whole, the book was swoon-worthy, and incredibly funny.

I liked the time span of the book, as well. The good first bit of the book was brief, important moments in Levi and Macallan’s friendship that led up to the big question – should they be more than friends? It started off when the two first meet, at eleven, and ends when they’re sixteen. It kind of dragged out for a little bit… I got kind of tired of the whole “boy likes girl/girl’s not interested/girl likes boy/boy’s not interested/girl and boy both like each other/now they don’t” kind of thing.

Buuuut for all the ups and downs of the book, the ending was smooth and easy. Plus, it left room for a sequel… and if Elizabeth Eulberg decided to do that, I would be all for it! 😉

[box type=”warning”] There were a few parts that included some kissing. It didn’t bother me too much (in fact, the few times Macallan herself walked in on her friends kissing, she referred to it as “face sucking.” It totally grossed me out, but I had to laugh!) but I thought I should give some of you a heads-up. Also, there was one scene on page 206 where there was a not-so-nice word used. Other than that, there wasn’t anything too inappropriate. [/box]

So here are my initial thoughts:

The FLUFFY adorableness that is Levi & Macallan made the book so, so cute.
The humor was a riot. I cried laughing. 😀
There were some great lessons in the book. For me, I don’t think dating should just be “something you do” when you like someone in middle and high school, so I really liked the point Better off Friends made – that guys and girls really can be “just” friends. Even though there was some romance in the book, I loved that.

[learn_more caption=”(Small spoiler)”] And more importantly, the lesson that instead of falling for a friend AS you date, if you take time to be friends first, then you fall for your best friend. And THEN date, and it’s even better. (Sorry for getting kind of rant-ish here, but I really do feel strongly about that.) ;)[/learn_more]

Four stars for this book! I’m thinking I’m going to buy a copy of my own, since I liked it so much. 😀

so have you read/heard of better off friends? what do you think?

stacking the shelves

stacking the shelves #18

July 18, 2015 Emily 3 Comments

Hey, everyone! Well, here I am today with my usual Stacking the Shelves. It’s all about sharing the books you’ve gotten this week – physical, e-book, from the library, or book store, hosted by Tynga’s Reviews. This week, I got five books from the library (with about four more on hold…) You know me, haha!

the stack

Magic In The Mix by Annie Barrows: In fifth grade, I read The Magic Half by Annie Barrows and loved it. (My younger sister, Anna, did too – it was her favorite book at the time.) When I found out there was a sequel last year, I couldn’t wait to read it! I finally got it from the library, after a year of wanting to read it. It looks super cute. 🙂

Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan: I’ve heard a lot of great things about this one, and I loved another of Sarah Crossan’s books, The Weight Of Water, so I’m excited to see how this one goes. Plus the cover is gorgeous.

Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin: GYGLYURYUR:)*)(*GJAOI:IW …. that’s how I feel about THIS book! I’m a HUGE Ann M. Martin fan, OK?! I’ve been waiting to read this for so long. It looks amazing.

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs: I’ve been wanting to read this for a little while; but I have to admit, I’m a little nervous about reading it. I honestly have NO idea what to expect, and I’m not even 100% sure it’s something I’d be into. And I’ve heard several mixed reviews about it… buuut they’re making it into a movie this year, and I can’t resist. And the cover and photographs are just so intriguing! So we’ll see. But I am excited about it. That counts for something. Have any of you read it??

I also ended up returning a book to the library that I got this week (and DNF’d). Take A Bow, by Elizabeth Eulberg. After reading Better Off Friends by Miss Eulberg, I was super excited about her other books. (I’m a sucker for a cute, fluffy romance.) But I wasn’t comfortable with one of the characters being homosexual, so I decided to put it down. It seemed like a great book, but it’s not something I want to read. I’d still like to read her other books, though. Sadly, my library doesn’t have them right now, so I might see if I can borrow them from my library on my Kindle. Have you read any of her books? They all sound cute! I especially want to read Prom & Prejudice… 😀 You’ll be getting my review for Better Off Friends on Monday.

Right now, I’m reading Rain Reign, since I’ve wanted to read it the longest. I’m only on chapter two, but I loved the first chapter so far. 😉

books i read this week

I read four books this week! Not bad, if I do say so. I finally read the first book in the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace, and loved it. It reminded me of an older Ramona book (by Beverly Cleary.) Of course, I already told you how much I loved Better Off Friends – you’ll be getting my complete review on Monday! Fish In A Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt was wonderful, as well. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as One For The Murphys, but I did give it four stars. And finally, Eight Keys. It wasn’t as good as I was expecting… overall, I liked it, but there were several KEY flaws. (What?! I couldn’t help it!! 😀 ) That one gets three stars.

what happened on the blog

I reviewed not one, not two, but THREE books on Monday.
On Wednesday, I opened up about my issue with YA & MG books, and my solution for it.
I did the ultimate book tag yesterday, on Friday, tagged by the lovely Daisy.

coming up this week

a 4-star review of Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg
a guest post swap with Daisy at A Bookish Flower
and an (undecided) list on Friday! Any ideas for what list I should do?

so what books have you read/acquired this week? anything exciting happening on your blog? i’d love to hear all about it!

blog segments, discussions

the ultimate book tag

July 17, 2015 Emily 5 Comments

I love book tags. I do awards and tags a lot on FTB, but I just LOVE THEM so much. They’re a ton of fun. ~~(Not mention easy to do when I run out of post ideas.)~~ Miss Daisy over at A Bookish Flower has tagged me to do The Ultimate Book Tag, and that’s just what I plan to do! Ready?

You know the drill! Here are the questions:

do you get sick while reading in the car?

It depends. If I’m in the car for a long period of time (2+ hours), then yes. I can handle reading in the car for twenty… or thirty minutes? (For example, when I’m tagging along with my mom, running errands, I can handle reading in the car for a bit.) But on long trips, (UNFORTUNATELY), no. That’s where audio books come in handy.

which author’s writing style is completely unique to you and why?

Elizabeth Wein and Markus Zusak are both incredibly unique, fantastic authors. (Shout out to their books, Code Name Verity and The Book Thief. You must. Read. Them. Now.) Their perspectives on WWII are both very different, and unlike any other historical fiction I’ve read before. Also – Ann M. Martin. Every one of her books is so different from the other. (Check out my reviews for two of her books, A Corner of the Universe, and Home is the Place.) LOVE LOVE LOVE her.

harry potter or the twilight saga?

I have no intention of reading either of those books, sooo… >_<

do you carry a book bag? if so, what is in it?

Yes! I have one bag my mom got me from North Carolina I use to carry books in. (Actually, I have a lot of bags I use for books!) I use the bag most often in the summer time, when I go to the pool or the beach. (Two of my favorite places to read books.) I also use it when I go to the library (carrying books to and fro.) Isn’t it adorable?!

emily — It says, “I often daydream that my life is just as it is now… Only I have well-behaved hair and I live in Paris.” That is SO me. 😉

As for what’s in it… it changes all the time! Most recently, I’m reading Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer (and love it!) But most likely, by the time you’re reading this, that’s changed!

do you smell your books?

How could I not smell my books?

books with or without little illustrations?

I love books with details like illustrations – particularly in YA. For example, even though I DNF’d Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson… the pictures were awesome touches! (Like receipts or post cards from their road trip.) And the book I’m reading now – Between the Lines, has really cute touches, too. I also love maps of the character’s worlds or towns, and small pictures at the beginning of each chapter. I’m all for it!

This is one of the pictures in "Between the Lines." — This is one of the pictures in “Between the Lines.”

which book did you dislike that everyone else loved?

I’m gonna have to go with Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. It’s a shocker I even finished it. Just… nope.

do you have any funny stories involving books from your childhood? please share!

I consider myself to have always been a bookworm. I used to sit in my “book basket,” make up stories to go with the illustrations in picture books and “read” them to my stuffed animals… and by the time I was three or four, I had If You Give a Pig a Pancake and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie memorized. Oh – and I can’t forget about Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Those books were (and are) on my favorites list!

Here I am reading when I was two or three. :) — Here I am reading when I was two or three. 🙂

what is the tiniest book on your shelf?

Flash of Freedom by Dakota Lee – that’s a pretty short book.

what is the thickest book your shelf?

The Bible! … And in second place, Pride & Prejudice. 😉

do you write as well as read? do you see yourself in the future as being a writer?

Yes, and YES. I started writing “novels” (although I would call them reallyreallyreally long stories… not quite novel-length), when I was seven or eight, after reading Beverly Cleary’s Ramona books. (Anyone else a huge fan of Ramona and Beezus? More like “Anna and Emily…” those books are so me and my little sister.) I’ve had this quote from Beverly Cleary memorized for years, because it sums up why I want one of my books published:

“If you don’t see the book you want on the shelf, write it.” – Beverly Cleary

when did you get into reading?

Well, like I said, I’ve been a bookworm for almost fourteen years now… 😉 But the books that got me into the genres I still read today (Sadly, I haven’t re-read If You Give a Pig a Pancake in a while!) I read when I was seven or eight – that would be the American Girl books (historical fiction gives me life, okay??!) and Beverly Cleary’s books… also The Boxcar Children. And thanks to my mom, aunt, and grandmother (scratch that, my entire family) I’m a huge fan of classics.

what is your favorite classic book?

I’m a big Pride & Prejudice fan, but Little Women and Anne of Green Gables are also my favorites. <3

since some of the questions are kind of unanswerable for me… I’m going to write them all below, with my (brief) answers. 🙂

What is a series you know of that is similar to Harry Potter or The Hunger Games? Like I said, I have no intention of reading Harry Potter, so I can’t answer for that. I might give The Hunger Games a try someday, though.

Vampires or fairies? Why? Fairies. Because they don’t suck my blood…?

Shapeshifters or angels? Uh.. no clue what “shapeshifters” are… guess I’m out of the loop on that one, but either way, I’m pretty sure I’d choose angels.

Spirits or werewolves? Neither.

Zombies or vampires? Okay… just scratch all of my answers for the last three and put in “Jesus.” Just sayin’… 😉

if you were given a book as a present that you had read before and hated, what would you do?

I’ve been given plenty of books I’ve already read, and plenty I have no interest in reading… but none that I’ve read before and disliked. I guess I would do the same as when I’ve received books I’m not interested in: smile, thank the person, think “it’s the thought that counts” and donate the book, or see if my little sister wants to read it.

in school, what is your best subject?

English. History. Geography. Math. Science. (In order of best to worst.) And to quote Daisy, who tagged me in this tag, “I’m Valedictorian, voted best dressed, perfect attendance, A+’s in all my classes, best friends with the teacher, principal, P.E teacher and cafeteria lady, but that’s mostly the perks of being home schooled.”

what is a bad habit you always do while blogging?

Getting distracted, or rambling and getting totally off-subject. (Oops, you already knew that last one.) 😉 Actually, I end up deleting half the post before publishing it JUST because I get all rambl-y. Ha!

what is your favorite word?

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

are you a nerd, dork, or dweeb? or all of the above?

Um… nerd. I guess? Not so sure about ‘dork’ or ‘dweeb,’ but my mom and I agree that there is a clear difference between a ‘geek’ and a ‘nerd.’ I am a nerd.

love triangle or forbidden love?

Ooh. Love triangle… I think? I like choosing between which guy I root for, but then again, I hate it when the main character ends up with the person I DON’T like. So then I’d choose forbidden love. But then again, I’m not a rebellious person and if the love were forbidden because he/she’s parents don’t approve, I honestly wouldn’t like the book. So there’s that.

and finally: full-on romance books, or action-packed with a few romance scenes mixed in?

I tend to read the latter, just because full-on romance books tend to get a little too mushy for me. BUT if I can find a full-on romance book that’s still clean and everything, then go book!

Whew! That was a TON of questions! Did you like? As for who I tag: YOU! If you liked this tag, feel free to do it on your own blog and let me know, so I can check it out.

Thanks again, Daisy, for tagging me! Oh, and please answer some of these questions in the comments below. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts, as always.

discussions

my problem with middle grade & young adult books… and my solution

July 15, 2015 Emily 14 Comments

If you’ve followed my blog for some time, you probably know by now that I review both Middle Grade and Young Adult books. While MG is geared towards kids ages eight-twelve, YA is typically for teenagers and older. They’re both great, and their age suggestions aren’t limited to those in the age group. I know of adults who read MG and YA (after all, they write most of it!) and teens who read MG. (And review both YA and MG, like myself.)

I’ve been into Middle Grade books since I was seven or eight. I’m very familiar and comfortable with this section. If you give me a name of a book in MG, most likely I’ve either heard of it or have read it – or have read other books by the author. I want to be an author myself someday, and I definitely see myself writing in MG.

Middle Grade books certainly have safer content than Young Adult, but the main problem I have with it is this: the books are for 8-12 year-olds, so most of the main characters are around that age, as well. For kids, what their parents or guardians do or say affects them in everything – how that kid lives, what their story is like. So it makes sense for lots of Middle Grade books’ main plots be something circling around the main character’s parents. But that means that in MG books, there’s adult content written from a more innocent perspective.

I’ve gotten into Middle Grade books before that has foul language, or issues such as a child being abused, shootings, alcoholics, nasty divorces… inevitable things that happen in today’s world. But at eight years old, I wouldn’t understand a book like that. In my reading group in elementary school, my mom said “no” to many books I was required to read for this reason. This is marketed to kids from eight to twelve years old?

As for Young Adult, I’m thirteen, so it’s only been within the past year or two that I’ve branched out and stepped into this section. However, I’m definitely not as comfortable with YA as I am with MG. For one thing, Middle Grade is for younger kids (“tweens”), so I know that most of the books will have cleaner, less mature content. At least for me, I’ve found that YA books have more sexual content than anything. I feel a lot safer picking out a book in MG, so I tend to gravitate towards that area more than I do Young Adult. In fact, I rarely walk into my library or bookstore and pick up a YA book without having checked out the content on blogs I follow beforehand.

That’s not to say that all of Young Adult is inappropriate or unclean. There are lots of great books in this section. Actually, there are several YA books I thought I wouldn’t like, only to find how much I loved them. (I doubted The Selection series for a long time before giving it a try – and if you know me, I love this series!) The issue for me is that books within this section are everything from border-line Adult books (which I had to learn the hard way) to border-line Middle Grade books… and for a bookworm with high standards for “clean” and “unclean” books, it can be tough to differentiate between the two, at first glance.

My issues with Middle Grade and Young Adult books has a simple fix. If there are border-line YA books in MG, and border-line adult or MG books in YA, why can’t there be another section in between these two? A section for 8-12 year olds, a section for 12-year-olds and younger teens (like myself), and a section for older teens. Another thing I would love to see happen is books be rated just as movies are, but that’s a whole other post. 😉 (For more thoughts on that, I really loved Ana’s post on it here. You should definitely check it out!) But I think that adding another section would be really helpful, and an easier way to find good books for my age group.

I love MG & YA books, and I will continue to read and review them. Thankfully, I’ve found a great community of bookworms who are “in between” sections and content, like myself. There are still lots of great books that are right in my comfort zone when it comes to the content I read. This post was a sort of venting-session with my frustration for the types of books that are set out for each age group. But I really do hope something can be done about it, eventually.

what about you? how do you feel about mg & ya… and the content that comes along with them? i would really love to read what you have to say!

reviews

three mini reviews

July 13, 2015 Emily 14 Comments

I’ve been a bit behind in writing up my reviews these days, and since I’m on a book high this week (remember hearing about those in my book slumps post? I sure hope this doesn’t put me in another reading slump!), I thought I’d go ahead and do another mini reviews post. So without further ado, I bring you three easy reads that I definitely loved!

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer

I saw and an ad on Goodreads for the sequel to Between the Lines and immediately wanted to read it! It looked hilarious. I mean, why WOULDN’T I want to read a book about a girl’s fictional crush who comes to life?! I really enjoyed the first book… it dragged on for a bit, and I thought it could have been shorter, but that’s really my only downer. I loved the switching perspectives, and the chapters where we could actually read scenes from the book Prince Oliver is stuck in. The pictures were incredible, as well. The ending felt a little unfinished, but it does leave plenty of room for a sequel – which I’m excited to read!

4 stars!

emily emily emily emily

The Wish by Gail Carson Levine

The Wish was a tad cheesy, and I didn’t enjoy all the “spooning” that went on (aka kissing 🙂 ), but overall it was a cute, quick read. I was expecting there to be a moral lesson at the end (a girl who desperately wishes to be popular and finally gets her wish? Something will definitely be learned), and there was, but it was different than the lesson I was expecting. I loved it, though. The character development felt natural, and significant, and all of the characters were very unique.

3 stars!

emily emily emily

Rapunzel: The One With All The Hair (Twice Upon A Time series #1) by Wendy Mass

I’ve been wanting to read Wendy Mass’ Twice Upon A Time series for a while now, and I love how she writes the classic fairy tales with middle-school age kids… and they’re so realistic! Rapunzel certainly sounds like a twelve-year-old to me. The first sentence of the book had me laughing. “I seriously CANNOT BELIEVE what has happened to be today.” I’m a big fan of switching perspectives, especially boy/girl perspectives (Between the Lines was similar in that matter). I also liked that the romance is as borderline as Middle Grade “romance” needs to get, in my opinion. There’s the “oh, I’ve never thought a girl is pretty before… hm. This is weird” kind of thing going on, but no smooching. (Unlike in The Wish.) The ending is well-written, in the fact that the book is finished, but there’s still a lot left for the characters in the story-realm. Rapunzel was short, easy, funny, and… well, really adorable! ♥

Rapunzel gets 3.5 stars. (I hate giving books .5 ratings, but I really couldn’t choose between 3 or 4 stars!)

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So have you read any of these books? Do they sound like something you’d read?

stacking the shelves

stacking the shelves #17

July 11, 2015 Emily 4 Comments

Hi, everybody! Today’s Stacking the Shelves is a short one, but I’m super-duper excited to read both of these books! (You have no idea!) I’ve heard fantastic things about both of these. I have high expectations. In case you’re not familiar with Stacking the Shelves, it’s all about sharing the books you’ve gotten this week – physical, e-book, from the library, or book store, hosted by Tynga’s Reviews.

the stack

There’s the stack! Like I said, pretty short, but I got a lot of books from the library last week that I’m still not through with. Fish in a Tree, by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, has been recommended to me by several of you, including Miss Erin E. Moulton, who I had the pleasure of interviewing last month. And after reading Miss Hunt’s first book, One for the Murphys (which I rated five stars!) I’m sure I love Fish in a Tree. As for Better off Friends, I’ve heard several bloggers say they enjoyed it, and it sounds like a really cute contemporary book. I finally get to cross both of these off my TBR list!

books i read this week

I read three books this week: The Wish by Gail Carson Levine, Rapunzel: The One With All the Hair by Wendy Mass, and Ship of Dolls by Shirley Parenteau. You’ll be getting reviews of both The Wish and Rapunzel this Monday, along with Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer. The first two books I read this week were great, but I LOVED Ship of Dolls! It’s based on a little-known true event in 1926 – and the story was incredible! I just happened to find this book in the library, and it was fantastic! I’ll probably be posting this review on the 20th. Keep your eye out for it. 😉

what happened on the blog

On Monday, I shared pictures with you of my family’s last-minute trip to Florida
Wednesday, I talked about book slumps – something I’ve been meaning to talk about for a while.
And on Friday, a wonderful commenter and my favorite pen pal, Brooke, shared some tips for organizing bookshelves

what to look forward to this week

Not one, not two, but THREE mini reviews this Monday
The ULTIMATE book tag, which I’ve been tagged to do by Daisy!
And I’m not sure what’s happening on Friday… I guess I’ll leave you in suspense! 😉

so what exciting things did you do this week? (online or off?) what books have you read/are going to read?

guest posts

tips on organizing books // guest post featuring brooke!

July 10, 2015 Emily 11 Comments

Hello, everyone! I have a very special guest visiting today with some tips (and pictures!) on how to organize your books. Miss Brooke is a wonderful commenter on For the Bookish and my pen pal! So without further ado… here’s Brooke!

Hi, everyone! Today I will be talking about different ways to organize your books. We all struggle with this at one point in our bookish lives. There are a ton of different ways to organize books. I prefer to mix it up and do all my shelves different ways. Anyways, here are a few of my favorite ways to organize my books.

Organizing by series and by author are two of my favorite ways. When you put them by series it looks very organized and it’s easy to find your books. I always feel bad if I take a book away from the rest of its series/family. And when you put them by author the height of the book and publishers symbol usually line up giving it a cool look.

Another cool way to organize books is by color. When you organize your books by color, it gives your shelves an artistic feel. I’ve always found this way to make your shelf look very pretty. The only downside is that if you organize all your books by color it may be hard to find your books at first.

Organizing your books by genre is another great way to shelf your books. It’s an easy way to arrange them. Plus, you could organize each genre a different way (by color, size, favorite, ect!) It could be hard to separate each genre, and it wouldn’t work well if you didn’t have a variety of different genres.

The last step in organizing your books is keeping them organized. It’s surprisingly hard! When I get new books, my bookshelves tend to get disorganized quickly. I like to keep books I haven’t read off my shelves; I put them in a stack on my desk or on the floor next to my desk. This way I can keep track of books I haven’t read and when I finish them I can put them where they belong on my shelves (this is especially helpful if you organize by genre.)

Another thing that helps me is to put my books away as soon as I finish them. That way, the book is fresh in my mind and it’s easier to decide where to put it. I also like to go through my books about once or twice a year, and see if there are any books I didn’t particularly like or that I have grown out of that I can get rid of (this also opens up spots on my shelves for new books!) Then, I either give them to people who I think will enjoy them or donate them to my library.

I hope you enjoyed reading this! How do you organize your shelves? What way is your favorite?

– Brooke

discussions

book slumps // a bookworm’s worst nightmare

July 8, 2015 Emily 8 Comments

I know I’m not the only bookworm who has faced the horribleness that is a book slump. In fact, in all my bookworm days (that is, going on fourteen years now), I have never faced anything worse than a book slump. (Okay, okay, that might be a bit dramatic, but come on. You’ve been there! You understand, right?) And if, in the rare case you don’t understand (oh, how I envy you), it usually goes like this:

As far as my book slumps go, it’s usually when I’ve read 5 or 6 books in a week… a supreme book high, which is AWESOME. Then… I read nothing. Usually as long as two or three weeks, I might get through one or two books. (Example A: when I read three books in the entire month of June.) I average about one book a week, even though, like I said, I’ll read 5 or 6 in a week. It all evens out when I don’t read but one every two-three weeks.

I think the length of a book slump depends on the reader. For example – Cait, at Paper Fury, is THE definition of a SPEED READER. She’s read over 150 books. SINCE JANUARY. Does she even GO through book slumps?! Agh. I’m so jealous! What I’m trying to say here is that book slumps can affect how many books you read, and how many books you read affect the length of your book slumps.

Just like in the video above, my TBR (To Be Read) stack is huge! (I won’t even bother counting the books I haven’t read that I own.) That’s not including the library books I check out and don’t read, only to re-check them out months later and love them. I’m pretty sure most of you can relate. As far as DNF’ing books go, most of the bookworms I’ve heard from either do, or don’t. (Sadly, I do.) (A whole other post on that is coming soon.)

My point is, usually when I’m in a book slump, the problem IS NOT that I don’t have enough reading material. There are several reasons I just end up not reading, really with no excuse. But I can tell you how I end up in this horrible situation.

Another thing that will get me into a book slump is being super busy with other things (school, extracurricular activities, trips, camps, you name it), and not reading for a little while – which is okay! Reading is a HUGE part of my life, but… it’s not everything. I (try, HA), to make time for other things, too, but often times I’ll go through a period of time where I have a lot on my plate, and then nothing at all. That leaves PLENTY of time for reading, right?! Wrong. The only thing I can gather from this scenario is I’ve forgotten the thrill of a book high. I don’t even know. I just don’t feel like reading. Typically, I don’t feel like doing anything after this happens, but it all depends. Thus, “The Busy Worm Who Is A Lazy Bookworm Syndrome.”

The third thing that will put me in a slump is reading THE BEST BOOK EVER, and afterwards wishing I’d never finished the book. I call this a severe “book hangover.” Clearly, there is no other book as good as this one, and I just can’t bring myself to read any other book. If I do try to pick up another book right away after reading a fantastic one, I end up giving the book a lower star rating than I would under other circumstances. Which stinks, because each book deserves a fair trial. I simply can’t compare any book to the one I had just read! I had a really bad case of this after reading The Heir and Code Name Verity.

So how in the world does one get OUT of a book slump??! Unfortunately for me (and thousands of book lovers all around the world), there’s not an official cure for this. (And if there IS, bloglings, DO tell. I’m dying to hear.) Eventually, I pick up a book and start reading, and BOOM. I’m back in my usual routine before I even realize it. I can’t really explain how I pull myself out of a reading slump, I just… do. (?)

There’s a lot more I could say about book slumps, but I’ll leave that to you. What else is there to add? I’d love to hear in the comments!