BOOK REVIEW ~ Bloodmark by Aurora Whittet

*I received a copy of this on Netgalley from Wise Ink Publishing in exchange for an honest review!

Bloodmark by Aurora Whittet was released on November 1, 2013. I received a copy as a promotion for the third book, being released this year! It is 333 pages long in hardcover, and 300 pages long in eBook format!

GOODREADS DESCRIPTION:
Sixteen-year-old werewolf princess Ashling Boru is different from other wolves—she was able to shift to wolf form at birth. Rather than bringing pride to her family, it brings fear, and as a result, she is forced to live in seclusion in Ireland’s countryside. Ashling’s reputation is further blackened when she refuses her betrothed and defies the ancient laws. When her pack’s oldest rivals begin hunting her, she finds herself in the small town of York Harbor, Maine—far from everything she’s ever known.

In Maine, she crosses paths with the dark and rebellious Grey Donavan, and something ignites within her soul. There’s just one problem: Grey is human. Their instant connection turns into a passionate romance, and Ashling begins to believe she can create her own life outside of wolf laws. When she begins to uncover long-buried pack secrets—secrets that threaten to destroy all she holds dear—Ashling’s courage and tenacity are tested. Will she choose her deep and enduring love for Grey, or will she follow Old Mother’s path to her destiny? 

REVIEW:

• This book didn't immediately draw me in
• There was good character development right from the beginning though
• I really didn't understand why Ashling was treated with such hate by most of her family
• I feel like this was too fast paced in the beginning and then slowed down too much
• I disliked that this was insta-love
• This book got a bit more interesting after learning about what Grey was
• After that, I started really liking Ashling and Grey's relationship
• The first 2/3 of this book was very hot and cold to me
• The last third was where the book became really interesting!
• The author was very good at making you hate the bad guy
• I ended up really enjoying this book by the end!
• Overall, I gave this book 4/5 stars!
• I am already continuing the series, as book 2 was on Kindle Unlimited! I'm 30% through it, and it is definitely worth reading!

FIND BLOODMARK:

Amazon - $5.99 on Kindle (Not on KU!) $19.99 hardcover

Barnes & Noble - $5.99 on NOOK, $19.99 hardcover

And as always, for full thoughts and feelings, check out my YouTube video review HERE!

Top 5 Series Endings

Welcome to another non-T5W top 5!

Today we shall talk about my top 5 series endings.

Ready? Here we go!

1. Heaven by Alexandra Adornetto
2. Opposition by Jennifer L Armentrout
3. Winter by Marissa Meyer
4. Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs
5. The One by Kiera Cass

And as always, watch the YouTubes HERE for explanations.

PS: sorry for the weirdness of this post, I wrote out 12 other posts before this XD

T5W ~ Worst Love Interests

So this week's T5W ended with some f**kery. Fair warning. I kinda gave up and just made fun of this a little tiny bit....

Goodreads Group

Here are the top 5 worst "love interests" that really turned into the ships I hate:

1. Harry/Ginny
2. Alina/Darkling
3. Jem/Tessa
4. Ron/Hermione
5. Drapple

For full explanations and to find out what the heck I'm talking about, check out my YouTube video HERE!

The How I Read Tag

As always I was tagged by Kristi and you can find her post HERE!

Check out my YouTube video HERE for explanations of my answers!

The "How I Read" Tag:

1. Do you have a certain place at home for reading? - My bed or the couch
2. Bookmark or random piece of paper? - Bookmark! I collect them!
3. Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a certain chapter/point? - I can just stop.
4. Do you eat/drink while reading? - Drinking yes for all type of books, eating with Kindle only!
5. Multitasking? - I watch YouTube while I read
6. One book at a time or several at once? - Several
7. Reading at home or everywhere? - Majority at home but I bring a book everywhere
8. Reading out loud or silently? - Mostly silent.
9. Do you read ahead or skip? - Heck no!
10. Break spines or keep like new? - Like new.
11. Do you write in your books? - I am offended.... 

As always, I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you do this let me know in the comments!

February 22 Weekend Wrap Up

Happy Monday everyone!! Just letting you know here, the weekend wrap up for next weekend will be up on Tuesday, as it is also CasualReadathon!

So here's what I read this weekend:

1. City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (read 131 pages beforehand!)
2. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

And my daily breakdown:

• On Friday, I read 96 pages of City of Lost Souls.
• On Saturday, I read 123 pages of City of Lost Souls.
• On Sunday, I read the last 184 pages of City of Lost Souls, and the first 15 pages of Clockwork Princess! I read a total of 199 pages this day.

Overall Total: 1 book finished, 418 pages read

Check out my YouTube video HERE!!

Top 5 Books I'd Like As Movies

Hello everyone! As always, I have another list for you!

Here's the top 5 books/series I want as movies!

1. The Lux Series by Jennifer L Armentrout
2. The Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J Maas
3. The Shatter Me Series by Tahereh Mafi
4. The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo
5. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

I think a few of these have picked up movie or TV rights, but I'm not sure.

And again, as always check out my YouTube video HERE for explanations!

BOOK REVIEW - Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate

I received a copy of Seven Ways We Lie on Netgalley from Amulet Books in exchange for an honest review!

Seven Ways We Lie will be released on March 8, 2016, and is 352 pages long.

As always, for my full thoughts, check out my YouTube video HERE.

DESCRIPTION (from Goodreads):
Paloma High School is ordinary by anyone’s standards. It’s got the same cliques, the same prejudices, the same suspect cafeteria food. And like every high school, every student has something to hide—whether it’s Kat, the thespian who conceals her trust issues onstage; or Valentine, the neurotic genius who’s planted the seed of a school scandal.

When that scandal bubbles over, and rumors of a teacher-student affair surface, everyone starts hunting for someone to blame. For the unlikely allies at the heart of it all, the collision of their seven ordinary-seeming lives results in extraordinary change.

REVIEW:

• This book started off pretty interesting
• The POV changes were done really well
• I didn't understand why a few of the beginning POVs were there until further into the book
• I felt like the first POV was interesting, but the next few were really slow, and maybe weren't needed
• Juniper's first POV really sucked me back in fully
• I really liked how diverse the characters were in this!
• There was some amazing character building
• I had quite a few flashbacks to high school while reading this
• I was really drawn to the characters after a while, and became really invested in the story
• Some parts of this book really surprised me
• Matt and Olivia were definitely my favorite characters in this book
• Overall I really enjoyed this book, and will definitely pick up a physical copy!
• I rated Seven Ways We Lie 4/5 stars!

FIND THE BOOK:

Amazon - Kindle is $9.99, Hardcover is $17.95

Barnes and Noble - NOOK is $10.49, Hardcover is $17.95

Top 5 Authors I'd Like to Meet

So usually these top 5 posts go up on Fridays with my Weekend Reads videos, but yeah. I kinda had to switch this with the CasualReadathon announcement!!

So welcome to the only non-T5W top 5 that's on a Wednesday!!

Here are the top 5 authors (and one honorable mention) that I'd love to meet!

1. Kiera Cass
2. Sarah J Maas
3. Cassandra Clare
4. Marissa Meyer
5. Sherrilyn Kenyon
6. Leigh Bardugo again (hence the honorable mention)

As always, check out my YouTube video HERE for more info, and let me know down below who you'd choose!

T5W ~ Books Recommended and You Loved

Here was are with another T5W! T5W was of course created by Lainey over on goodreads!

Goodreads Group

You can find my YouTube video where I explain my choices HERE!

So here's the top 5 books (series) that were recommended to me that I loved!

1. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
2. The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo
3. The Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J Maas
4. The Shadowhunters Series by Cassandra Clare
5. The Remnant Chronicles by Mary E Pearson

Let me know down below what you guys picked for this topic!

The Bedtime Book Tag

As always, I was tagged by Kristi! You can find her post HERE!

Check out my YouTube video for full explanations HERE!

The "Bedtime" Book Tag:

1. A book that kept you up all night reading: There are so many! 
2. A book that made you scared to go to bed: Slasher Girls and Monster Boys.
3. A book that made you go to sleep: Days of Blood and Starlight
4. A book that left you tossing and turning all night in anticipation of its release: I tend to just stay up all night!
5. A book that has your dream boyfriend: Eric from Divergent.
6. A book that would be your worst nightmare to live in: The Hunger Games.
7. A book that reminds you of the night time: The Dark-Hunters Series
8. A book that had a nightmarish cliff-hanger: Can't think of one
9. A book you actually dreamed about: I don't really dream a lot
10. A book monster you would not want to find under your bed: The "March Hare" in Slasher Girls & Monster Boys.

As always, I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you do it let me know in the comments so I can check it out!

February 15 Weekend Wrap Up

Happy Monday everyone! As always, you can see my YouTube video HERE and there is drama this week ;)

Here's what I read over the weekend:

• Evernight by Claudia Gray
• Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

And my daily breakdown:

• On Friday, I read the last 77 pages of Evernight, as well as 25 pages of Glass Sword. My total was 1 book finished and 102 pages read!
• I did not read on Saturday. See my video to find out why!
• On Sunday, I read 32 pages of Glass Sword.

Overall total: 1 book finished and 134 pages read

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#CasualReadathonF Announcement!!

It's that time guys!!

#CasualReadathonF or #CRFeb will be taking place Friday, February 26 through Monday, February 29!!

We only have 3 challenges for you guys this time around, as mostly everyone who is in school will be fairly busy! (Not that people who work won't be!)

So here are the challenges!

1. Read 2 books!
2. Read a Contemporary!
3. Read a book with blue on the cover!

Fairly easy challenges!

Check out Meg's announcement video HERE and mine HERE!

As always, I will have a TBR up later!

BOOK REVIEW ~ City of Legends by Cheyanne Young

I received a copy of City of Legends on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

City of Legends is a re-release of Powered by Cheyanne Young, which was self-published, after being picked up by Alloy Entertainment. This new edition was released on February 2, 2016.

DESCRIPTION (from Goodreads):
Maci Knight has grown up in the shadow of legends. Her father and her brother, Max, are Heroes, worshipped by humans and Supers alike for their strength and valor. All she’s ever wanted is to follow in their footsteps, to fight villains and protect humankind. But Maci has a secret—one that could change everything. 

Maci had a twin sister who died the same day they were born. In their world, one twin is always good, while the other always eventually turns evil. There’s no way to tell which twin will go rogue . . . which means no one knows if Maci will suddenly become a villain. 

The closer she gets to her eighteenth birthday, the more she has feelings she can’t control: Violence. Rage. Revenge. Maci wants to be a Hero. But she may not have a choice . . . 

The first in a trilogy, City of Legends introduces a new superhero mythology and an unstoppable heroine.

This is a new edition of the previously self-published novel Powered.

REVIEW:

• This started out alright, but didn't draw me right in.
• I felt like there wasn't a lot of explanation at the start
• There was almost no world building or character development though the entire book. 
• This really needed some backstory, I was fairly confused through a majority of the book
• I really disliked not being able to picture the characters or the world due to the lack of detail
• I felt like it was a bit fast paced, and also found Maci to be really whiny for a majority of this
• It was pretty all over the place and made almost no sense through the first half to three-quarters of the book
• Overall, while the plot was okay, as a whole there was nothing there.
• I gave this book 2/5 stars, and only for the fact that I ended up enjoying the ending.
• I will not be continuing with this series.

You can find City of Legends on amazon, where is is 99 cents for the kindle version or free for Kindle Unlimited Subscribers.

It is also on Barnes & Noble for $11.99 for the paperback, but is the old edition, Powered.

As always, for full thoughts, see my YouTube review HERE.

Would You Rather Book Tag

As always, I was tagged by Kristi! You can check out her post HERE!

As always, check out my YouTube video HERE for explanations!

The "Would You Rather" Book Tag:

1. Rather read only a series or stand-alone books? - Definitely a series!
2. Rather read a book who's main character is male or female? - I don't have a preference.
3. Rather shop at Barnes & Noble or Amazon? - Barnes & Noble!
4. Rather all books become movies or TV shows? - TV shows.
5. Rather read 5 pages a day or 5 books a week? - 5 books a week of course!
6. Rather be a professional reviewer or author? - Book reviewer!
7. Rather only read the same 20 books for life or read a new book every 6 months? - Can't choose.
8. Rather be a librarian or own a book store? - Own a books store. See my video for a giant rant! 
9. Rather read only your favorite genre or author? - Genre!
10. Rather read only physical or Ebooks? - Depends. See video!

So that is my "Would You Rather" tag. As always, I'm not tagging anyone, but if you do it, let me know in the comments!

January 2016 Book Haul

Here is all of the books I hauled in January! To hear where I got them, and see the editions I got, be sure to check out my book haul video on my channel HERE!

1. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
2. Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken
3. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
4. Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen
5. The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien (Finally got my own physical copy!)
6. The Prophecy of Stones by Flavia Bujor
7. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle (To replace my beat up copy)
8. Mister Monday by Garth Nix
9. Tithe by Holly Black
10. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
11. Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead
12. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (Paperback. Had ebook)
13. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
14. Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
15. The Heir by Kiera Cass
16. The Rose Society by Marie Lu
17. The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson
18. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
19. Buzz Books 2016 Spring/Summer YA Sampler
20. Halfway Bitten by Terry Maggert
21. City of Legends by Cheyanne Young
22. Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

February 8 Weekend Wrap Up

Here's everything I read this weekend! Sorry there was no Weekend Reads video, I was really sick!

As always, I have a YouTube companion to this HERE!

What I read:

• Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
• Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi
• The Rose Society by Marie Lu
• City of Legends by Cheyanne Young (Review ARC)

And the daily breakdown:

• On Friday, I read 92 pages of Clockwork Prince.
• On Saturday, I read 37 pages of Ignite Me, 89 pages of Clockwork Prince, and 145 pages of The Rose Society. My total for this day was 271 pages read!
• On Sunday, I read the last 45 pages of The Rose Society, all 262 pages of City of Legends, and 116 pages of Clockwork Prince! My total for this day was 2 books finished and 423 pages read. I was very happy!

Overall Total: 2 books finished, 786 pages read

Stars Above by Marissa Meyer Breakdown Review

I decided to do a post about my breakdown of Stars Above by Marissa Meyer. There is 8 different novellas in this bind-up, so I'm going to write out my star rating and review of each novella! The new novellas written exclusively for Stars Above were very short compared to the already written ones, so they have shorter reviews.

The Keeper: I loved getting to see Michelle's perspective on Cinder coming to be in her care. 5/5 stars

Glitches: I loved getting to see Cinder meeting her step-family. I could easily picture the whole thing, and felt pretty bad for her sisters and mom towards the end. However, I still hate her step-mother. 5/5 stars

The Queen's Army: I loved this glimpse into how Ze'ev was chosen and trained to become the ruthless soldier we first met. This was very interesting! 5/5 stars.

Carswell's Guide To Being Lucky: This was a very cute glimpse into Carswell as a teen. I really enjoyed this, but honestly would have preferred seeing him getting the ship instead. This was still awesome though. 5/5 stars

After Sunshine Passes By: I felt so bad for Cress while reading this one. It was really nice to see what had happened to her though. 5/5 stars.

The Princess and The Guard: This story made me hate Levana even more than I already did. It was a great story and made me understand what Winter went through under Levana's care even more. 5/5 stars

The Little Android: This was a retelling that, while I felt wasn't very needed, was still incredibly interesting! It was very well written, as is expected when Marissa Meyer does a retelling! 5/5 stars.

The Mechanic: I really liked getting to see Cinder and Kai's first meeting from Kai's POV! 5/5 stars

Something Old, Something New: THE WEDDING!!! OMG!!! It was definitely not the wedding I was expecting that we were going to get, but it was awesome! I was very happy after reading it, and having everything come together. Amazing epilogue to The Lunar Chronicles! 5/5 stars.

So obviously, I rated Stars Above 5/5 stars!

Now can we please talk about THE GRAPHIC NOVEL THAT WAS ANNOUNCED???? I'm so excited for that to come out, and get something in Iko's POV!! I think it's going to be amazing, and I'm highly anticipating the release!

January 2016 Wrap Up

Here is a complete list of books I read this month and their star ratings! As always, check out my wrap up videos for my thoughts on the books!

1. Hades by Alexandra Adornetto ~ 4/5 stars
2. The Dark-Hunters Manga Vol 1 by Sherrilyn Kenyon ~ 5/5 stars
3. The Young Elites by Marie Lu ~ 5/5 stars
4. Heaven by Alexandra Adornetto ~ 5/5 stars
5. Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson ~ 5/5 stars
6. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead ~ 4/5 stars
7. The Starlight Barking by Dodie Smith ~ 4/5 stars
8. Tithe by Holly Black ~ 4/5 stars
9. Hooked by Catherine Greenman ~ 5/5 stars
10. Slasher Girls and Monster Boys by April Genevieve Tucholke ~ 4/5 stars
11. Night of Cake and Puppets by Laini Taylor ~ 4/5 stars
12. Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier ~  4/5 stars
13. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell ~ 5/5 stars
14. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi ~ 5/5 stars
15. Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi ~ 5/5 stars
16. Buzz Books 2016 YA Spring/Summer Sampler ~ 5/5 stars
17. Halfway Dead by Terry Maggert ~ 4.5/5 stars
18. Soundless by Richelle Mead ~ 3/5 stars
19. A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole ~ 3/5 stars
20. Halfway Bitten by Terry Maggert ~ 5/5 stars

Wrap Up 1

Wrap Up 2

BOOK REVIEW ~ Halfway Bitten by Terry Maggert

I was introduced to Halfway Bitten by the author himself. Terry contacted me on twitter asking if I'd like to review this book, and of course I said yes!! HALFWAY BITTEN COMES OUT FEBRUARY 9TH!

I have a video review posted HERE where you can find some more explanation to the review.

DESCRIPTION (From Goodreads):
When clowns, vampires, and corpses start piling up in town, Carlie has to break away from her boyfriend, Wulfric, to bring her witchy skills to the table- or grill, as the case may be.
When the body of a young woman washes up in the lake, it unleashes a spiral of mystery that will bring Carlie, Gran, and Wulfric into a storm of magical warfare. 
Spells will fly. Curses will rain. Amidst it all, Carlie will make waffles, protect her town, and find out if a man from the distant past can join her in happy ever after.
With love and honor at stake, Carlie has no peer.

REVIEW:

• Immediately, I could easily picture everything that was going on!

• I was sucked right in again, only this time through the suspense instead of action

• I'm glad that there was a bit more explanation of where Halfway was situated at the lakes, since they are about 2 and a half hours away from where I live!

• There was a lot better development of Carlie in this book

• I loved how you still couldn't predict what would happen next! It kept me sucked in the entire time.

• There was definitely a good amount of action in this one, and it was very enjoyable

• Carlie was a huge badass in this one. I mentioned this in my T5W video and post as well!

• I liked the introduction of new characters and creatures. It makes it so you don't get bored seeing the same characters over and over again!

• I liked how there was a good amount of detailing with Carlie's spells if there was more to it than a few words.

• The humor was definitely there again, I was laughing so much at points!

• The plot just kept getting better and better

• Some of the chapter titles in both this and Halfway Dead made me crack up! I loved them!

• I really wish one of my grandma's were as cool as Carlie's grandma is in this book

• Overall, I loved this book so much, and was so sad when it ended! I need Halfway Hunted (book 3) so bad! I can't wait to see when it will be released!

• I will definitely be getting myself physical copies of both Halfway Dead and Halfway Bitten as soon as possible!

• OVERALL RATING: 5/5 stars

Take a bite out of evil.
The circus came to Halfway, and they brought the weird.

Here is where you can find Halfway Bitten:

Amazon - Kindle is 99 cents (free for Kindle Unlimited) and $11.99 for paperback

Goodreads

As with Halfway Dead, this book is not currently on NOOK devices. I have no idea if he is planning to put these on NOOK.

T5W ~ Biggest Badasses

Here are my picks for the biggest badasses in the books I've read lately! For full explanations, watch my youtube video HERE!

Goodreads Group

5 Biggest Badasses:

1. Carlie McEwan from Halfway Bitten by Terry Maggert
2. Hermione Granger from Harry Potter by JK Rowling
3. Alina Starkov from Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo
4. Celaena Sardothien from Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
5. Merry & Pippen from The Lord of The Rings by JRR Tolkien (come on, you can't split them up!)

Let me know in the comments who you think are the biggest badasses!

February 2016 TBR!

Here is my long list of books I'd like to read in the coming month! There's no way I'll get through them all, but at least I have some options!

My monthly goal is to finish a series!

1. Stars Above by Marissa Meyer
2. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
3. City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare
4. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
5. City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare
6. The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare
7. Outpost by Ann Aguirre
8. Horde by Ann Aguirre
9. Bloodmark by Aurora Whittet (ARC)
10. Evernight by Claudia Gray
11. The Gunslinger by Stephen King
12. The Martian by Andy Weir
13. Wicked by Gregory Maguirre
14. Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
15. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas
16. Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas
17. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas
18. The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J Maas
19. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies by Jane Austin & Seth Grahame-Smith
20. Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes
21. Gathering Darkness by Morgan Rhodes
22. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
23. Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken
24. Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
25. More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
26. The Rose Society by Marie Lu
27. Oblivion by Jennifer L Armentrout
28. City of Legends by Cheyanne Young (ARC)
29. Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate (ARC)

And listing these all out made me crack up because I totally didn't pick 29 books for 29 days on purpose!! Guess it just worked out that way!

As always, I also made a youtube video for this, and it would be so helpful if you check that out HERE!

Weekend Wrap Up - February 1

What a way to end the month!! I managed to finish 2 books this weekend, and I'm pretty happy!!

This weekend I read:

1. A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole
2. Halfway Bitten by Terry Maggert
3. Oblivion by Jennifer L Armentrout

And here's my daily breakdown!

• On Friday, I read the first 40 pages of A Hunger Like No Other, as well as 3% of Oblivion. I am not even going to try to estimate the exact number of pages there, but it's around 30 I think.
• On Saturday, I read 110 pages of A Hunger Like No Other.
• On Sunday, I power read my butt off! I finished the last 206 pages of A Hunger Like No Other, plus the last 85% of Halfway Bitten, which I estimated to be around 277 pages worth of the book!

So my overall estimated totals for this weekend are 2 books finished, and around 663 pages read! Not bad for having our new upstairs neighbors move in. That is explained a bit more in my video up on my channel HERE