When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she doesn’t think it’s love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her.
Never ask about the past.
Don’t expect a future.
They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all.
Hearts get infiltrated. Promises get broken. Rules get shattered. Love gets ugly.
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My Rating: 4/5 (Really Good)
Book Information
Publisher: Atria Books
Genre(s): Romance, New-adult
Page Count: 322
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 1476753180
This was used for the Popsugar challenge: A book with antonyms in the title.
I’ve heard so much about this book in the past couple of months. I’ve read so many glowing reviews on this, talking about how emotionally heartbreaking this book is. How much it impacted them. Naturally, I was curious to see what exactly the hype is all about. And so I finally read it!
Quick Summary
When Tate Collins moves into her brother’s apartment, she finds herself immediately attracted to her brother’s friend and neighbor, Miles Archer, and soon finds out he’s attracted to her as well. As a result, they get into a deal to have a no-love, sex-only relationship. Miles only has two rules for Tate: Not to ask about his past or expect a future. But when rules are broken, things get ugly.Read More »
Beautiful, clever, rich – and single – Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others. But when she ignores the warnings of her good friend Mr. Knightley and attempts to arrange a suitable match for her protegee Harriet Smith, her carefully laid plans soon unravel and have consequences that she never expected. With its imperfect but charming heroine and its witty and subtle exploration of relationships, Emma is often seen as Jane Austen’s most flawless work.
My thoughts on this were pretty conflicted after finishing it; on one hand the main character really bugged me, but on the other hand I liked the story and once I got past Emma’s flaws, liked her as well. Which is why I rated this 4 stars in the end, although at first I might’ve gone with a 3.5 or 3 star rating. Read on for a full review! 🙂
Quick Summary
Emma Woodhouse had never been interested in her own marriage. She has no need for it, after all, she is well cared for without the help of a man’s fortune. She does, however, take pride in her matchmaking skills and spends a lot of time in interfering aiding the love lives of others, which she finds throughout the book to have severe consequences. A story of social status and matchmaking troubles, Emma
Plot
I did like the plot, although I suppose it didn’t blow me away. There was nothing wrong with it, I guess it just didn’t interest me as much as, say, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice’s plot. But don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, and it’s one of the reasons I gave this book 4 stars. The plot was tactfully created, I just kind of flowed with it all and enjoyed it. Does that make sense? Point being, I liked the plot.
Characters
This is where most readers have issues. Emma is a very flawed character. I will tell you that right off the bat, and I’m sure most of you know that, if you’ve heard even a bit about this book. She’s naive, meddlesome, stubborn, and is quite vain; all in all, not very likeable. That being said, it was refreshing and interesting to see through the mind of such a character, despite the fact that I often felt like shaking Emma or slapping her so she would awaken and smarten up. I am happy to say, however, that even though Emma was hard to like, I still enjoyed the book. Sure, she got on my nerves, but she was still an enjoyable character, if that can be said about a person like Emma. After all, Emma isn’t a bad person, simply… needs to be more educated and less of a vain, stubborn and meddlesome character. She did have her good qualities though; I appreciated her compassion and patience with her father, she was relatively good-humoured, and she is in some ways, mature (as she should be). By the end of the book I appreciated the development her character goes through, so all’s good. 🙂
Writing Style
Like with Pride and Prejudice, I like the writing style, but it does take some time to get used to. If you’re new to classics, I wouldn’t say I completely recommend this one as the writing style can be hard to decipher sometimes, but if you think you can understand the writing style, and enjoy the writing style, you should be able to enjoy the story overall. Otherwise you kind of might just skim stuff, or read and not understand fully what you’re reading. 😉
Movie Trailer
I haven’t watched any adaptations of Emma, but here’s a movie trailer of the 1996 one!
Overall…
I really liked this book! I honestly wasn’t expecting to, especially with Emma as the protagonist, but I ended up liking this. I praise Jane Austen for creating a not-so-likeable character, it was at the very least a good portrayal that humans are flawed. If you tend to dislike annoying, stubborn and meddlesome characters, then Emma will most certainly get on your nerves, but if you can look past all that, and understand the writing style, then this novel truly isn’t that bad.
Before Liz Lemon, before “Weekend Update,” before “Sarah Palin,” Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV.
She has seen both these dreams come true.
At last, Tina Fey’s story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon — from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence.
Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we’ve all suspected: you’re no one until someone calls you bossy.
I know lots of people who loved this book might be looking at my rating and be like, what?? But unfortunately it’s not a mistake. I wanted to like this book, and I thought I did while reading it, but now, I’m more like, meh. It was okay. It was mostly a disappointment. So let me get onto the review to explain more in depth why this book didn’t cut it for me. Oh, by the way, I’m going to be skipping the quick summary for this book.
My Review
So, the plot, or, I don’t know, whatever you call the story in an autobiography, was alright, but not the best. I mean, first of all, for a comedy, I did chuckle or smile a few times, but nothing struck me as particularly hilarious or that funny. Also, a lot of the parts I felt like skimming, and often I was just reading simply for the sake of finishing the book faster. I wasn’t truly interested in it much. Maybe because I prefer to listen and watch Tina Fey’s humour in action than read it? I don’t know. All this to say, the reason I didn’t enjoy this stems from the fact that I’m not a huge fan of biographies, and that I didn’t find anything substantial to keep me interested in the book.
I did like the writing style though, it had a pretty light and easy feel to it which I enjoyed amidst it all. Sadly, it wasn’t enough to have me enjoy the book. I will probably try re-reading this someday. Maybe my perspective will change then, who knows?
This is definitely one of my shortest reviews for a full-length novel, but there really isn’t much else to say.
Overall…
I didn’t particularly enjoy this book. Mostly due to the fact that I hardly ever read and enjoy biographies, I think. This just wasn’t my kind of book, and that’s basically all there is to it. That isn’t to say you won’t enjoy this book; if you like biographies/nonfiction novels, and comedy, by all means try this out. This book did have Tina Fey’s signature humour and style, I guess it just didn’t affect me much in writing, but who knows? Maybe it will be what ticks for you!
Did you read this book? Let me know your thoughts on it—I’d love to know if you enjoyed it more than I did! (In fact, I hope you did!) And if you didn’t read this book, but have it on your TBR, please don’t be discouraged by my rating! I wouldn’t want you to miss a book you might enjoy because of my review.
This wasn’t too tasty for me, but maybe it will be for you! In which case, happy eating!
Hi! Just a quick update on this week’s Popsugar Challenge progress! I read one more book throughout this week, which puts me at 33/52. (Week 1: 5 books,Week 2: 4 books, Week 3: 7 books, Week 4: 3 books, Week 5: 9, Week 6: 3, Week 7 & 8: 1) The books I’ve read so far:
A book with more than 500 pages: Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern
A book that came out the year you were born: Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
A trilogy: (Penryn & the End of Days by Susan Ee) Angelfall, World After, End of Days)
A book with a love triangle: Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout
A book set in the future: Flash Point by Nancy Kress
A book set in high school: The DUFF by Kody Keplinger
A graphic novel: Sisters by Reina Telgemeier
A book by an author you’ve never read before: Animal by Nikki Rae
A book you own but have never read: Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi
A book that was originally written in a different language: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
A book you started but never finished: Wicked by Sara Shepard
A banned book: The Giver by Lois Lowry
At this rate I’m gonna be trying to complete this challenge for another year. But this week I’m going to be trying harder! I have my fingers crossed to read more Popsugar books this week. I’m actually on my way to finish another one, and I’m planning on actually reading the Popsugar books I’ve been telling myself I’d read for the past weeks. 😉
How are your challenges going? Are you struggling to keep up like me? Doing great? Let me know in the comments below!
On her birthday, Zaria Fierce finds her usual path to school blocked by an ugly river-troll. At first she’s surprised and curious, but then Olaf threatens to eat her, which is an act Zaria could not in good conscience consent to, so Zaria counteroffers. A deal is struck and she goes to school, but Zaria is about to learn the hard way that one does not trick a river-troll and expect to win.
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My Rating: 4/5 (Really Good)
Book Information
Publisher: Keira Gillett
Illustrator: Eoghan Kerrigan
Genre(s): Middle Grade, Young Adult, Fantasy
Pade Count: 224
Format: E-book
This book was used for the Popsugar challenge: A book set in a place you always wanted to visit.
Note: I received a free digital copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Hi! I have another review for y’all, this time on Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomswood Forest by Keira Gillett, in case you haven’t already figured that out. It’s a middle-grade fantasy novel with a great plot and writing style! The characters were also very interesting. All in all, a solid 4 stars.
Quick Summary
13 year-old Zaria Fierce has always loved to read fantasy novels. Fantasy becomes reality when she meets a river troll, Olaf, who she finds to have taken her best friend Cristoffer. In order to get him back, she agrees on a risky deal to get him back, and she and her friends set off.Read More »
Hey there everyone, I skipped last week’s update so I’m going to mix it in with this week’s one. I didn’t have much progress last week (or this week, for that matter) but here is how much I’ve read so far:
So, in these two weeks, I read 1 book for the challenge, so it puts me at 32/52. (Week 1: 5 books, Week 2: 4 books, Week 3: 7 books, Week 4: 3 books, Week 5: 9, Week 6: 3) Yeah… not the progress I was looking for. In my defence, I was reading other books. But still. I’m aiming to finish more Popsugar challenge books this week and afterwards. Obviously I’m going to need more time than my planned goal of approximately end of June/start of July, but oh well. Fingers crossed!
A book with more than 500 pages: Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern
A thrilling, seductive new series from New York Timesbestselling author Sarah J. Maas, blending Beauty and the Beast with faerie lore.
When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.
As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.
Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down!
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My Rating: 5/5 (Outstanding)
Book Information
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children
Genre: Young-adult (verging on new-adult) fiction, fantasy, romance
Page Count: 416
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 1619634449
This book was used for the Popsugar challenge: A book by an author you love but have never read.
Hi! I recently (or not-so-recently, I can’t remember) finished reading this book, for #JuneAndRosesReadAlong (a June read along hosted by Josie’s Book Corner & Bibliophile Gathering). I’ve been wanting to read this book for a long time, so I’m so glad I finally got to read it! It definitely did not disappoint!
Quick Summary
A retelling of Beauty and the Beast, A Court of Thorns and Roses follows Feyre, a nineteen-year-old huntress who, one day, as a consequence of killing a wolf in the forest, is taken to Prythian, a dangerous, magical land, by a beast-like creature. Finding out soon enough that her captor was an immortal fae named Tamlin, Feyre finds that the icy feelings towards fae she once had had become into a fiery passion, even love. Now there is a much larger threat looming ahead of them, and if it isn’t contained and stopped, could destroy the faerie lands and the faes, forever. Can Feyre find a way to stop it?Read More »
The end of the world came fast. Between the time the warning had sounded on the TV, till when 16-year-old Paige O’Connor awakened sometime later, civilization had been crushed.
The attacks had come by “them” – those things in the ships in the sky that had appeared suddenly, and without warning.
And as Paige would soon discover, the attacks had only been the beginning.
Aftermath is the first book in the new After the Fall dystopian action series, which follows a young girl’s struggle for survival in the wake of civilization’s collapse, and humanity’s domination by an alien race of beings.
Used for the Popsugar challenge: A book with a one-word title
Note: I received a free digital copy of this book thanks to Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.
Hi! I’ve read this a while ago (or so it feels like) and I’m finally getting to the review. Woo-hoo! Anyway, without further ado, my review on Aftermath by Tom Lewis.
Quick Summary
Paige’s world is turned upside down when one day, she finds that another race of beings attacks the human population. Now there are people under the control of the beings, and there is no one you can trust. Will Paige be able to survive?Read More »
Hey there, this is a day late from last week’s update, but oh well. I’ve been quite out of it recently. So, I read another 3 books for the challenge, so it puts me at 31/50. (Week 1: 5 books, Week 2: 4 books, Week 3: 7 books, Week 4: 3 books, Week 5: 9) Technically it would be out of 52 because of ‘A trilogy’ but whatever.
A book with more than 500 pages: Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern
A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit: Zaria Fierce & the Secret of Gloomswood Forest by Keira Gillett
A trilogy: (Penryn & the End of Days by Susan Ee) Angelfall, World After, End of Days)
A book with a love triangle: Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout
A book set in the future: Flash Point by Nancy Kress
A book set in high school: The DUFF by Kody Keplinger
A graphic novel: Sisters by Reina Telgemeier
A book by an author you’ve never read before: Animal by Nikki Rae
A book you own but have never read: Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi
A book that was originally written in a different language: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
A book you started but never finished: Wicked by Sara Shepard
A banned book: The Giver by Lois Lowry
So that’s it for this week’s update! This is honestly so messed up; the most I’ve read for the challenge was in the week I had exams, and the least amount of books I’ve read for the challenge was in the week I had no exams. (Yes, they’re finally finished! Yes!) Talk about terrible timing.
Anyway, how have your challenges been going? Good? Bad? Let me know in the comments below!
-A
NOTE: As of today, there will only be monthly Exploring My Bookshelves posts. I will not be posting it weekly as I had been doing.
Hiya! Time for another Popsugar Reading Challenge Update, this time for week 5! I’m happy to say this week has been quite productive! Since my last update, my challenge now stands at: 28/50 (Week 1: 5 books, Week 2: 4 books, Week 3: 7 books, Week 4: 3 books, Week 5: 9)! A bit more than halfway through, yes! 😀
A book with more than 500 pages: Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern
A trilogy: (Penryn & the End of Days by Susan Ee) Angelfall, World After, End of Days)
A book with a love triangle: Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout
A book set in the future: Flash Point by Nancy Kress
A book set in high school: The DUFF by Kody Keplinger
A graphic novel: Sisters by Reina Telgemeier
A book by an author you’ve never read before: Animal by Nikki Rae
A book you own but have never read:Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi
A book that was originally written in a different language:Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
A book you started but never finished: Wicked by Sara Shepard
A banned book: The Giver by Lois Lowry
9 books in one week! Definitely my best. (The fact that Sisters is graphic novel and Aftermath was really short will be ignored…) I would love to celebrate my progress, but as a result of all this reading, my studying has been… procrastinated. I will most assuredly not be getting good grades this year… Oops! Better get to it. Exams almost over, though, woo-hoo! Hopefully I’ll be able to finish up the many rough drafts of my reviews that I have pending soon.
How are your reading challenges going? Let me know in the comments below!
I was planning on doing a mini-reviews for this trilogy on one post, but in the end (with the help of Casey‘s opinion) I decided against it. Now I have the chance to ramble and fangirl for a longer period of time! 😉
Quick Summary
When angels capture her crippled younger sister, Penryn Young will do whatever it takes to get her back, and that includes teaming up with one of the enemy: the wounded angel Raffe. The angel agrees to take Penryn to the aerie where her sister was taken as he’s headed there to get his wings back and in search of revenge. But will Penryn be able to survive the oncoming war and save her sister at the same time?Read More »
It’s always been just Kate and her mom – and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate’s going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear that her mother won’t live past the fall.
Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld – and if she accepts his bargain, he’ll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.
Kate is sure he’s crazy – until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she’ll become Henry’s future bride and a goddess.
If she fails…
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My Rating: 4/5 (Really Good)
Book Information
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Genre(s): Young-adult fiction, fantasy (mythology)
Page Count: 293
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0373210264
As I have finished and will be reviewing The Goddess Legacy, book #2.5 in the Goddess Test series (for the Popsugar challenge), I of course have to start off with a review on the first book! So let’s get to it.
The Goddess Test is a re-telling of Persephone’s Greek myth (you know, with the whole Hades-kidnaps-Persephone-and-she-eats-pomegranate-seeds-which-force-her-to-have-to-stay-in-the-Underworld-and-be-Hades’s queen thing). I would say Cassandra Clare described it quite accurately: “A fresh take on the Greek myths adds sparkle to this romantic fable.”Read More »
Published: October 2nd 2012 (first published November 15th 2011)
Synopsis:
Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.
The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.
The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.
Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.
I finished Shatter Me… I don’t even remember anymore, which is a clear sign that I should’ve posted this review way before.
Anyway, I really enjoyed Shatter Me! I’ve heard a lot of hype around this book for a while now, and in case you didn’t understand from my rating, my expectations have been met. 😉
Quick Summary.
Juliette has a power. A curse. A gift. Whatever you want to call it. Whenever she touches someone, the worst pain beholds the person, or even worse, they die. So she’s been locked up, isolated from people. Then one day, she has a cellmate. From there on, everything Juliette thought she knew is being questioned, and she’s faced with a choice. A choice that will shape her future.Read More »
Every Day meets Cloud Atlas in this heart-racing, space- and time-bending, epic new trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray.
Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.
Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.
A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure.
Hi there! I finished this book a while back, and was supposed to have finished and posted this review long before now. But, I haven’t, and as I absolutely loved this book, I’m excited to finally post my review on A Thousand Pieces of You!
Quick Summary
So basically, the main character, Marguerite, and her friend Theo, goes off in a search of vengeance for a friend of the family, Paul, who she believes to have killed her father and stolen her parents’ most important creation, the Firebird (which allows the wearer to travel to different dimensions). In those different dimensions she encounters obstacles that prevent her from leaving the dimensions, and faces even more obstacles, while getting nowhere with the whole revenge thing. When she starts to question everything she knew, she finds that the mystery surrounding her father’s death was even more malevolent than she thought.Read More »
A trilogy: (Penryn & the End of Days by Susan Ee) Angelfall, World After, End of Days
A book with a love triangle: Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout
A book set in the future: Flash Point by Nancy Kress
A book set in high school: The DUFF by Kody Keplinger
A banned book: The Giver by Lois Lowry
I was hoping for more progress this week, but right now, eh, not the best. But to be fair, I read other books in between reading books for the challenge, which explains the low number of books this week. Hopefully I will do better next week! I really want to be able to finish this challenge max by the end of June. That gives me around 6 weeks to complete this challenge, which I’m hoping will be enough. ❤ I’ll be aiming for an average of 5 books/week. 🙂 Wish me luck! Gonna be tough to reach this goal what with school and stuff, but who knows?
How are your reading challenges going? Let me know in the comments below! ❤
4/5 (Really Good)
Book Snacks 