UNRELEASED 2016 BOOKS THAT I WANT TO GET MY HANDS ON

"Top Ten Tuesday" is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish to share lists (because we love them) about books and bookish things. 

*photos will take you to the Goodreads links, so that you can add these books to your TBRs*

*also, when I made this list, I completely forgot about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which I have obviously already preordered and will cry over when it appears on my doorstep, but know that Cursed Child is obviously #1 most anticipated because . . . it's Harry Potter, of course it's number one*

Spindle by E.K. Johnston
Expected Publication: 6 December 2016 (but let's face it, we know publishing, it will probably be pushed to 2017)

This is the companion to the 2015 release A Thousand Nights that I will admit I haven't read, but that's what companion series are all about, right? I recently read and loved Exit, Pursued by a Bear by this same author, so the author was definitely what piqued my interest with this one.

Also, this is a retelling that I haven't read. (I want to say that it's Sleeping Beauty.) Additionally, Johnston answered a question about this book on GR and said "SPINDLE is definitely about the OMG THINGS ARE CHASING US." so, um, I'm very interested in this.

And I Darken by Kiersten White
Expected Publication: 28 June 2016

I'm very worried about the hype with this one, as I have already heard such amazing things about it. Gender-bent Vlad the Impaler.

That's all I would like to know, thank you.

Replica by Lauren Oliver
Expected Publication: 4 October 2016

It's a flippy book. (Like Life and Death, but not a book parading as Midnight Sun.) If you watch BookTube at all, then I'm sure you've seen about 20 people tell you how to read this in their BEA book hauls, but I would like to tell you again because it's a flippy book and I am ridiculously excited.

This will be my first Lauren Oliver, and I normally have little interest in reading her books. However, when I heard her talking about this book in March at SEYA Bookfest, then I knew that I wanted to read it (if only because how excited she was about the book).

I am super excited to jump into Oliver's work with this unique piece.

The Muse by Jessie Burton
Expected Publication: 26 July 2016

List of buzz words hit
- Immigrants
- Spain
- London
- illegitimate children (not really a "buzz word" but these always make for very interesting and complicated characters, so I'm counting it)

From the Goodreads synopsis: "tale of desire, ambition, and the ways in which the tides of history inevitably shape and define our lives."

I'm so here for this.

The Last One by Alexandra Oliva
Expected Publication: 12 July 2016

This is classified as being for readers of Station Eleven, which I recently inhaled and absolutely loved with all my heart.

It's described as a thrilling psychological suspense, and it's a debut which is always exciting! A few things about The Last One: 1) our main character's name is Zoo, how cool (and odd) is that?! and 2) it talks about reality TV and how the media very heavily plays a part in what we perceive as "real" (or not real).

From the Goodreads synopsis: "Sophisticated and provocative, The Last One is a novel that forces us to confront the role that media plays in our perception of what is real: how readily we cast our judgments, how easily we are manipulated." Yes, please.

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
Expected Publication: 5 July 2016 (Already released in the UK - lucky bastards)

I will forever be in love with Schwab's elevator pitch of this book:

"Sin City PLUS Romeo and Juliet MINUS romance PLUS monsters.

It's the story of two teens in a broken world, where violent acts breed actual monsters. Some are shadows with teeth that feed on flesh and bone. Some are corpses that feed on blood. And some can pass for human. Those feed on souls.

It's the story of Kate Harker, the only daughter of a crime boss, and August Flynn, the son of a man trying to hold his city together. She's a human who wants to be a monster, and he's a monster who wishes he were human."

Also, it's Victoria Schwab, and she is queen of all so here . . . no, please I want you to take my money.

Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) by Leigh Bardugo
Expected Publication: 27 September 2016

I feel blasefemous having this so high on my list because I haven't finished the Grisha trilogy nor have I read Six of Crows, but I have until September and it's going to have blood-red stained pages. I need no more information.

Futhermore by Tahereh Mafi
Expected Publication: 30 August 2016

A cute middle grade book by one of the cutest authors in the world about a colorless girl in a colorful world who is going on a fun adventure and has the WhittyNovels stamp of approval? Done. I'm there. 

But really, though, our main character--Alice--is in fact colorless and does in fact go on a dangerous adventure through Furthermore to go and rescue her father with a boy named Oliver, who is basically MG Loki (AKA he has the "magical ability based in lies in deceit").

I think this a book about the lengths people go to for love, and I am so excited.

Gemina (The Illuminae Files #2) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Expected Publication: 18 October 2016

The sole reason this is number 2 and not 1 is that this has a later publication date, so I have more time to fangirl and sit in horrible anticipation.

Pardon me while I roll my head across the keyboard while I sit in agonywsswedrtyhjhyrtrfdcfvgttghjkuyhgbvc.

A flailing review of book one in this series.

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
Expected Publication: 9 August 2016

I have no idea how to put my thoughts about this book into coherent words other than I believe someone has described this book as if Hogwarts was filled with murder instead of magic?

I don't even know.

*flails and runs around in circles* *heavy breathing* I'm just so excited for this book.

Are any of these on your list? Tell me down below! Also, share your list with me because a TBR is only a problem if it's not rapidly growing. (Wait. I don't think that's right . . .)

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A COURT OF MIST AND FURY BY SARAH J. MAAS | Book Review

Well, that was a ride, amirte?

*this post will have a MARKED spoiler/discussion section for ALLEGIANT by Veronica Roth when I talk about my theories for the third book*

This is the second book in Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy (I'm like 80% sure it's a trilogy), and I have a review of the first book HERE if you haven't read the first book yet!

Believe you me, if I rated this book on how many feels I had alone, then this would have gotten 6 out of 5 stars for a number of reasons.

1) MY SHIP HAS SAILED. (kind of, sort of)

2) All of the other ships that I didn't know existed before this book are all there and beautiful AKA: the romance in this book is done really, really well and I'm a tiny bit in love. 

I am an absolute sucker for amazing side characters. I will fall over myself searching for them, and I have to admit that the side characters in ACOMAF are amazing. While Maas did an amazing job creating side characters that I am absolutely in love with, she almost got to an Eclipse-like problem. Every time that Feyre got one on one with a character, the plot would just come to a rapid halt so that we could get their tragic backstory, an info-dump of character history that wasn't needed to develop the character but contains one tiny snipet of information that we see later in the book.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good tragic backstory, but it just got repetitive and annoying.

We get a ridiculous amount of character development in this book, something that I felt was very lacking in the first book. Like, it was almost ridiculous how much character development. She almost made a complete 180 degree turn at one point in the novel, and while I do see why that happened, I would have liked to see more of a struggle to change because of how stubborn Feyre is as a character (this was a product of forcing the ship, in my opinion).

Either way, I was really happy with Feyre's development aside from the fact that all development (emotional and otherwise) came from other characters, especially from the men. I would have loved to see more self-empowerment and female-empowerment from a NA fantasy series.

Another smaller problem that I had was that there is a female friendship that ends up just getting tossed aside for the sake of the ship.

And as with my last ACOTAR review, we come back to my main problem with Maas and the reason that the only other book I will ever read from Maas is the last ACOTAR book, and that is her writing. It's one of the most important things to me when I am reading because it's the medium through which the story is being told. I'm spending my time reading words on a page, so I usually expect the words to be put together in a sensible fashion. I'm going to list the main problems I have with Maas's writing . . . now.

1) So many unnecessary ellipses (. . .) and hypens (--) that the prose doesn't even make sense half the time.

2) She tries to make it "stream of consciousness" and, for the most part, I think it works; however, at times that style of writing really hindered my comprehension of the story, especially when Feyre is in the Spring Court. 

3) Maas can vividly describe sex, breasts, and fingering, but she can't describe a) what "vulgar gesture" Feyre makes repeatedly throughout the novel or b) blood and guts and fighting. You gave me one, but I'm "too sensitive of a reader" to understand war? No, thank you. 

4) The info-dumps in this novel are absolutely ridiculous. There are two (Chapter 16 & pages 517-528, for those of you who doubt me) 10 PAGE INFO-DUMPS IN THIS NOVEL. This is simply unacceptable, lazy writing, and I demand better as a reader. 

5) Her character descriptions make 0 sense half the time. Try to exhale while talking. I'll wait.
Pretty impossible right? Well, somehow the people in ACOMAF do it regularly. Also, the amount of times that characters "bare their teeth" at each other had me LOLing.

I hate ending on a bad note; however, this book pissed me off quite a bit. 

 0.75

Okay, I think Rhysand is going to die in the third book. I don't want him to die because he is my baby, and I love him. However, I think that he will, and that is going to be my first thought if the book is in dual perspective. We all know how Allegiant turned out, and that is honestly where I am drawing this from. As soon as I opened Allegiant I knew (I mean, I didn't really know but there was immediate gut feeling that didn't go away) Tris would die because it was written in dual perspective. 

And if that doesn't get the point across, then tell me this is not foreshadowing:

"You think I don't know how stories get written--how this story will be written?" Rhys put a hand to his chest, his face more open, more anguished than I'd seen it. "I am the dark lord, who stole away the bride of spring. I am a demon, and a nightmare, and I will meet a bad end. He is the golden prince--the hero who will get to keep you as his reward for not dying of stupidity or arrogance." (421-422)

Um. Okay. *dusts hands and walks away* 

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas (ACOTAR #2)
Published: 3 May 2016 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Format - Length: Hardback - 624
Source: Library
Genre: New Adult Romance, Fantasy
Goodreads | My Goodreads Rating

“Tell me what you see.” “A world divided in two.”

Feyre survived Amarantha’s clutches to return to the Spring Court—but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can’t forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin’s people.

Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms—and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future—and the future of a world cleaved in two.

HAVE YOU READ THIS? Tell me down below what you thought of the book if you have!

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Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell | Mini-Review & Gilmore Girls Contrast

The amount of trouble that I went to in order to get a physical copy of this . . . let me tell you.

Living in America, there is no such day as World Book Day--as much as I wish that there was. Naturally, as soon as I heard that Rowell was going to release a story for WBD (which takes place in March), I immediately ordered a copy from Book Depository. Then, Book Depository decides to send some people like 50-100 copies of this book when they ordered 1, thus depleting their stock rather rapidly. 

I wait for about a month to get my copy in the mail. It never comes. 

I contact them and they're all "Well, we have no more in stock, sorry." I wonder why?

Finally, after weeks of stalking the Amazon page, I found a copy for about $2 + shipping, so I just buy it because heaven knows BD won't comply.

Then it arrived and it was glorious, and (you can buy the e-book from Amazon) let me tell you all of my feels. 

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Our main character, Elena, is a total Star Wars nerd. It's beautiful. (Except don't ask her about the prequels because reasons.) Being a complete and utter nerd, she decides (for some ungodly reasons that I will never understand) to sit outside the theater for four days prior to the release date of the movie, despite having already purchased her tickets. 

It's the principle of the thing, ya know?

But the thing is, it's December. I mean, it's not December in Wisconsin or Canada, it's--you guessed it!--Omaha, Nebraska. Still, it's December and cold and who in their right mind would sit outside a theater for four days in the middle of December?

Three lovable nerds that's who.

Have you seen Gilmore Girls? Please say yes. For those of you that have, I felt like I was watching a Lane Kim-centric episode (ft. Mrs. Kim, Zach, Gill, and Taylor).

It's basically an episode of Gilmore Girls set in an alternate universe where Zach, Gill, and Lane are all super-big Star Wars fans; Mrs. Kim is slightly less possessive; Taylor manages a movie theater; and Stars Hollow is Omaha, Nebraska.

Saying that, it was of course lovely and quirky and nerdy in Rainbow's usual fashion. It definitely housed Rowell's signature humor that I love and adore. If you're a fan of Rowell, this is a must-read. Elena is a great character, her mom definitely is realistic and protective and great, Troy and Gabe (Gill and Zach, respectively) are great characters with depth and humor and stories.

All around, it was a great read, and in true Rainbow Rowell fashion, you want more of the story after it's ended.

Quotes

Elena couldn't remember the first time she saw a Star Wars movie . . . in the same way she couldn't remember the first time she saw her parents. Star Wars has just always been there. There was a stuffed Chewbacca in her crib. (page 5)

"I'm a nerd, right? Like obviously. Classic nerd. [. . .] I don't know how to talk to most people. I'm probably going to get a job in computer science. I know those are all stereotypes, but they're also true of me. That's who I am. And the thing about nerd culture being mainstream culture now means that there's no place to just be a nerd among other nerds--without being reminded that you're the nerd." (page 31)

GOODREADS

Have you read this yet? Are you going to read it now? If you have read it, did you see the Gilmore Girls or is it just me? (Let's be real, it's probably just me.)

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June TBR | 2016 (ft. #TomeTopple)

The Stack

Ahhh. It's ambitious, I know, but what am if not over-ambitious?

Tome Topple

This is a readathon that will take place from June 5th (midnight) to June 19th (11:59pm) and is all about big books (500+ pages)! There are a few challenges, but none of the challenges are required, just there for a little extra fun or inspiration.

1. Read more than one tome (500+ pages) 

2. Take a graphic novel break (doesn't need to be over 500 pages!)

3. Read a tome that is part of a series 

4. Read over 500 pages in one week 

5. Read an adult novel

For this readathon, I am planning on reading The Name of the Wind and The Unexpected Everything as both of them are over 500 pages, and they will fulfill challenges 1, 3, & 5! I also have quite the collection of All-New X-Men/Guardians of the Galaxy comics out from the library right now, so I will probably end up reading those at some point during the two weeks, which will meet challenge number 2!

Sam's Video & Blog Post

The Rest

• Everland by Wendy Spinale: This came in the May Owlcrate! It sounds like absolutely nothing I've ever read before, so I really want to give this one a shot!
• The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater: It is absolutely ridiculous that I haven't finished this book yet. Ridiculous, I say! I love TRC, and I got this book the day it came out. If I don't finis this book by the end of June, I will be ashamed of myself. 
• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon: This book has so many of my buzzwords that I find it insane that I have put off reading this for so long. It's a book set in 1940s Barcelona, and someone is slowly destroying an author's entire works. Again, no excuses.
• Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo: I got this book from the lovely Rachel @ NerdHerdReads as part of a Bookish Secret Santa exchange. I read and enjoyed the first one, and I really want to finish the trilogy this summer so that I can get to Six of Crows before Crooked Kingdom releases. 

What books are you reading this month? Are we reading any of the same books? Tell me down in the comments!

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Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare (SPOILERS) & Jemma Soap Box

*builds fortress to protect self from raging Cassie Clare fans*

All the Disclaimers

These are my opinions on the book. Please do not feel like you have to tell me all of the reasons that you loved this book, and in return please do not attack my opinions. I would love to discuss with you, just please do it in a civil way. Thank you! 

As you can see above, this post contains SPOILERS for Lady Midnight. There are NO PLOT spoilers about story; however, the spoilers are contained to my feelings on the Julian and Emma relationship. There will also be TID spoilers and slight TMI spoilers. 

Continue with caution (and please don't kill me).

This is honestly such a hard review for me to write for a couple of reasons:

1. I was expecting to love this book. So many people who have read this book have called it the best book Clare has published. With the new perspective of a girl who was raised a Shadowhunter wasn't something we had seen from Clare before, so I was excited to see how she tackled it. 
2. I was--and still am--a huge fan of The Mortal Instruments series. I also loved The Infernal Devices, but I definitely had my problems with that trilogy. This is the first really overly critical review I've had to do of Clare's work, apart from Clockwork Princess but I still overall really enjoyed the book. Every book of hers has been 3 stars or above for me. 
3. I can understand why people love this book. I can see it, and I also hate confrontation and Clare fans are kind of scary when they want to be. 

I also want to state a few things before jumping into my review and discussion of this book:

1. I started this book when it first came out, and then put it down. Around May 13th, I started the book over again at page one with help from the audiobook. 
2. At page 313 (approximately 50%) I was about to quit reading the book for good, put it down and never look back because I couldn't stand it (more on this later). However, because of all the rave reviews, I really wanted to continue the story because what if got better? So I tried to continue reading and couldn't force myself to, so I watched a couple of spoiler YouTube discussions to understand things that don't get explained until 30 pages to the end of the book. Without watching those videos, I would have quit reading the book. 
3. Even though I spoiled myself for the ending, this in no way effects my thoughts and feelings on the book other than I was more aware of the literary devices (and lack thereof) that Clare was using for this build up. 

Okay. Let's start with my main issue with the book and the reason that I almost quit reading multiple times. I was never able to understand Emma and Julian's relationship. Most of the selling point of this novel is that parabatai are forbidden by Clave law to fall in love. Since that was such a big selling point, I expected to know why by the end of the book. There is a small explanation; however, it is not in my opinion sufficient. 

Literally no one in the novel knows why parabatai can't fall in love (except for the Silent Brothers and the Consul) and neither does the audience. The romantic love between Emma and Julian didn't feel forbidden to me because I couldn't understand why it was forbidden. We, the readers, go without explanation, for 658 pages. For 658 pages, I was supposed to trust Clare that there was a big reveal explaining to me--the reader--why Emma and Julian can't fall in love.

When the reason is revealed to both Emma and the readers, there are only ten pages left in the book. Ten. Her parents' murders have been solved, and the killer is presumably dead (but I don't believe it for a second), so that means that the main story arc of the trilogy isn't finding out who killed Emma's parents, it's this parabatai thing. (It's Clary and Jace, first three TMI books all over again.)

I would have found the story much more dramatic and gripping if we, the audience, could see why they can't fall in love. I'm talking a Spinner's End Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince chapter at the beginning of the novel that is from Jem's perspective when he was a Silent Brother being told the story of what happens to parabatai. It could have been a vague third person narrative from describing what happens without explicitly stating anything so as to keep an air of mystery. It could have been a lot of things, but the dramatic irony that I needed to understand the story was completely missing.

Had the story been a first person narrative, I would have understood and accepted Clare's decision without a second thought (well, maybe not, but anyway). However, she wasn’t using the perspective she chose--and the perspective she's been writing in for now 10 books and 2 series of novellas--to the best of her ability.

In addition to the lack of dramatic irony, there are more reasons I couldn't get on board with Emma + Julian. This is a dialogue between Maddie and Bee @ Heart Full of Books that perfectly sums up my feelings about this couple:

Maddie: This could be quite controversial, but we felt Emma and Julian's relationship felt more incestuous than Clary and Jace's did.

Bee: I never really got behind it. That was the main problem. If you can't ship the ship that you're supposed to ship, then it's kind of a sunken ship.

With the strange mix of parabatai, parents, adopted siblings, and best friends that Emma and Julian act as throughout the novel, the couple just felt out of place and uncomfortable to me. As Bee states in their review, "It would have been as if Jace and Isabelle from the Mortal Instruments had gotten together." I could never get behind the relationship. I also felt that it progressed too quickly, and the pair weren't healthy together as they would go from fighting a screaming one minute to kissing the next.

EMMA + JULIAN SOAP BOX: OVER 

ADDITIONAL THINGS AND FEELINGS ABOUT THE STORY: 

• The plot, and lack thereof. I felt that the core story of finding the people behind the murders of the faeries and Emma's parents definitely got underwhelmed by the subplot of Emma and Julian's relationship. There were times when I noticed the plot altogether not going anywhere just so that Emma and Julian could have cute fall-in-love scenes. 
• As much as I adored all of the Blackthorne kids, I felt that they were mainly plot devices. While there were a few scenes at the beginning where we just got to hang out with the whole family, after the investigation really started moving forward, they were mainly written off as "researching" until Clare needed the plot to move forward. 
• Christina is a really interesting character. I love her story, and I love that we are seeing more racially diverse characters in addition to finally seeing a character with a strong faith! 
• I definitely felt that a lot of Christina's development and story was stunted a lot by Emma and her "We must go smite the thing! Right this very instant, Christina, let's go!" attitude. I am excited to see where the whole her story goes. 

CAN WE TALK ABOUT MARK?

Mark is my absolute favorite character in the entire book and most of the reason I kept reading the story. Until he came, the humor that I love Clare for so much was scarcely there, and when Mark came he brought in so much of the humor that I know and love. He was my absolute favorite (and he is the only reason I'm considering continuing on with this trilogy).

I do really appreciate that we get a complete plot arc in this story, and how this feels like a complete story with a little teaser of things that are to come. This is definitely a vast improvement in Cassandra Clare's writing that I was a big fan of! Also, one of my biggest complaints with the last TID/TMI books was that there was so much perspective switching at annoying moments, so I appreciated the smoother and less often perspective switches.

Maybe. I definitely am not going to buy the next books before I read them. I will probably check the second out from the library once the initial release hype has died down. If I end up liking the books, I may buy them.

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare (The Dark Artifices #1)
Published: 8 March 2016 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
Format - Length: Hardcover - 668
Source: Amazon
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy, Romance
Goodreads | My Goodreads Rating
Buy it! Amazon | Kindle | Barnes and Noble

In a kingdom by the sea…

In a secret world where half-angel warriors are sworn to fight demons, parabatai is a sacred word.

A parabatai is your partner in battle. A parabatai is your best friend. Parabatai can be everything to each other—but they can never fall in love.

Emma Carstairs is a warrior, a Shadowhunter, and the best in her generation. She lives for battle. Shoulder to shoulder with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, she patrols the streets of Los Angeles, where vampires party on the Sunset Strip, and faeries—the most powerful of supernatural creatures—teeter on the edge of open war with Shadowhunters. When the bodies of humans and faeries turn up murdered in the same way Emma’s parents were when she was a child, an uneasy alliance is formed. This is Emma’s chance for revenge—and Julian’s chance to get back his brother Mark, who is being held prisoner by the faerie Courts. All Emma, Mark, and Julian have to do is solve the murders within two weeks…and before the murderer targets them.

Their search takes Emma from sea caves full of sorcery to a dark lottery where death is dispensed. And each clue she unravels uncovers more secrets. What has Julian been hiding from her all these years? Why does Shadowhunter Law forbid parabatai to fall in love? Who really killed her parents—and can she bear to know the truth?

The darkly magical world of Shadowhunters has captured the imaginations of millions of readers across the globe. Join the adventure in Lady Midnight, the long-awaited first volume of a new trilogy from Cassandra Clare.

Have you read Lady Midnight yet? Tell me what you thought of the book down below! 

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