New Books From Books a Million!!

My books came in today!!!! I was so impatient all day long waiting for them to be delivered! And even though they were sent in two different boxes from two different states, they got here at the same time because one arrived a day early! I should not be set free with giftcards to book stores......eleven books in less than a week....XD

On the top left is The Demigod Diaries by Rick Riordan which is a book of short stories and things for the Heroes of Olympus series. I've already read it before a couple of years ago but I definitely plan on reading it again soon because I don't remember it very much....and I just bought it so I kinda have to read it at least once....XD

On the top in the middle is The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan. It's the second book in the Kane Chronicles so I finally have the whole set!!!! I love the colors in this cover! Although my favorite cover is The Serpent's Shadow... Again, I've read this one once before but I plan on rereading the trilogy again soon!

Top right is The Apprentice's Quest by Erin Hunter. This one is the first book in the new Warriors series, A Vision of Shadows, and I can't wait to read it!!! I wasn't expecting another series at all and I was sad because I wanted to know what happens after The Last Hope! And I found it for 10 dollars in hardback and it just came out in March so I'm really happy I found it!

Bottom left is Cinder by Marissa Meyer, the first book in The Lunar Chronicles. I've read this one twice, and since I have to wait a while to get Winter in paperback, I'll probably end up reading it again....there's a short story in the back that I plan on reading soon though! I found this one on sale for 5 dollars and I was so glad! 

Middle on the bottom is Cress by Marissa Meyer, the third book in The Lunar Chronicles! I am so excited for this book!! My friend Sierra has told me how amazing it is so many times, and after Scarlet my expectations are really high now! And I got it for 7 dollars which I was really excited about! 

And finally, on the bottom right, is The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke. I first heard about this book when I found the movie somewhere and thought it sounded really good before noticing it said it was based off of a book by an author that I knew XD I've been wanting to read this book for a while now and every time I've looked for it at my library it's always checked out so I found it on Books a Million's website and went ahead and bought it! It's smaller than I expected, but I still can't wait to read it!!! 

Okay, that's it for this one, but my review of Scarlet will be up soon!! 

New Books From Barnes and Noble! With a Slight Rant at the End...... (Newly Updated)

Okay, so as the name of the post says, this is part partying and part ranting...... My cousin Lainey gave me a 20 dollar Barnes and Noble giftcard for my birthday and since Barnes and Noble is pretty far away from us, I went online and picked out five books - two books and a box set with the first three in the series. The box set came in on Friday and the other two books came in yesterday! 

I bought Rogue Wave by Jennifer Donnelly, which is the second book in the Waterfire Saga, and I can't wait to read it! I loved Deep Blue so much! I also got The Unwanteds, Island of Silence, and Island of Fire by Lisa McMann, books 1-3 of the Unwanteds series. The Unwanteds was a suggested book in a book club my friends and I used to do, but we ended up choosing another book and I was really interested in this series! 

 Finally I got Inheritance by Christopher Paolini which is book 4 in the Inheritance Cycle. I still have the entire series to read before I reach this one.....XD Unfortunately, when I opened the box that contained Rogue Wave and Inheritance (The Unwanteds was shipped seperately), there was absolutely no packaging to keep the books from being tossed around during shipping (they were shipped to Georgia from New Jersey) and Inheritance's cover was cut, along with the first three pages having an indent from whatever cut it. It looks like they cut it with a box cutter or something when opening the box of books and they paid zero attention to the fact that this one was damaged when they packed it. I was so angry yesterday...... I've bought books from Amazon and received them slightly damaged (to the point where I doubt I'll be ordering books from Amazon again as both times the books were presents) but this is a bookstore. I expect a bookstore to package their books correctly so that they won't be damaged during shipment, and to make sure they're not damaged when they put them into the box. I plan on going to the Barnes and Noble store sometime this week to take this copy back and get a new copy. 

In order to end this post on a happier note, I still had my 50 dollar Books a Million giftcard from my birthday last month, and I ordered six books on their website yesterday!! Hopefully these are all delivered safely!! I can't wait to get them!! I'll also be posting a review sometime this week! Maybe even tonight if this storm keeps up...... 

UPDATE : The only had three copies of Inheritance at the store and they were all banged up and I wasn't about to have them order it again, I just got my money back..... which means no Inheritance for a little while.....

Review! Zodiac by Romina Russell (Zodiac - Book 1)

Oh my gosh I haven't written a review since January...... 0.0 I need to actually get into writing these again! So anyways, I borrowed Zodiac from my friend Shelby about 3 or 4 months ago and I finally got into the mood to read it about two weeks ago.... After reading this book in a week, I felt like it really deserved a review since I had so many different emotions about this book....to the point where I'm going to try a new setup using pros and cons this time (I actually made a list for this book)... XD 

About the book - In a galaxy where your sign determines which planet you call home, Rho, the young Guardian of Cancer, must find a way to unite the divided Houses of the Zodiac before an ancient evil destroys them all. 

But who will believe anything this young novice says? Whom can Rho trust in a universe defined by differences? And how can she convince twelve worlds to unite as one Zodiac? 

Pages - 439 plus 9 pages of the second book (Wandering Star)

Genre(s) - Young Adult, Science Fiction

Age range - 16+ (for adult content and violence)

POV - First person - Rho - Age 17 - Main character

Stars - 4/5

Pros

• I loved the personalities of the characters that you really get to know, and even some of the ones that you don't get to know too well. 

• It was really interesting learning about the different ways that each Zodiac runs, (Ex. democracy, monarchy, etc.), and learning about the way the people look and act. I liked that each Zodiac had a different way of greeting each other! 

• Can I just point out a single character as a pro? Cause if so, Mathias Thais. That's all I'm saying. Hysan is nice too, but Mathias is amazing! 

• I loved Hysan calling Mathias names... I'm pretty sure "lady of robes" was my favorite....XD 

•  This may be a really weird pro, but I was really amused by Hysan and Mathias pretty much hating each other the entire book.... XD 

Cons

• I've gotta say that this book started out with a really strong Divergent feel.....Rho said some things that reminded me of Tris, Mathias reminded me (and still does) strongly of Tobias (not to mention their names rhyme...), and at first the different planets reminded me slightly of the factions or maybe even the districts from The Hunger Games as they each represent a different thing. However, as the book went on, it gave me less and less of a reminder of Divergent.

• There are multiple references to drugs and a few references to drinking throughout the book.

• Throughout the book, it seemed as if it barely went a few chapters without people dying....it did help the story line progress, but there were multiple times when I texted Shelby with the words "So. Much. Dying." XD 

• Finally. there was an adult scene for about 3 or 4 pages which I skipped because I don't feel comfortable reading that type of scene. I also didn't feel like it was necessary to have this scene in the book....there are multiple other ways to comfort someone....

Complete Review

Even though there were some parts in this book I wasn't a fan of, I fully intend to read Wandering Star as soon as I can borrow it from Shelby (she's currently reading it) and I'm hoping to get it within the next coming month or so! I honestly really need the second book because of certain events close to the end of Zodiac which I (for the moment) refuse to acknowledge as true......XD 

Mid Year Freak Out Tag!

I just realized I have a post to do this weekend!! ^-^ My friend Sierra tagged me on her blog 26 Countless Possibilities and I'm determined to actually do this one this time!!! 

Best Book Read in 2016?

Hmmm....So many options....I'm gonna go with Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan though!

Best Sequel You've Read In 2016? 

New Release You Haven't Read Yet, But Want To?

Technically I don't even own it yet but I'm going to!! I am determined!

Most Anticipated Release(s) For Second Half of 2016?

 

Biggest Disappointment? 

I was hoping this was going to be better than it was.....but I kinda knew it wouldn't be....

Biggest Surprise? 

I can usually foresee certain things happening in books, but I didn't expect the ending in this book at all...

Favorite New Author? 

Terri Farley, author of the Phantom Stallion series! The series is older, but new to me! 

Newest Fictional Crush? 

I'm going with Hysan from Zodiac even though I haven't finished this book yet..... I'm going to finish it tonight or tomorrow though! 

Newest Favorite Character? 

I'm gonna "steal" Sierra's answer because I certainly can't pick just one!!

Book That Made You Cry? 

While I didn't actually cry, I can honestly say I came very close to it during the endings of both of these! 

  

Book That Made You Happy? 

Most Beautiful Book You Bought So Far This Year?

What Books Do You "Need" To Read By The End Of The Year?

1. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer 

2. Wandering Star by Romina Russell

3. Dragonspell by Donita K. Paul

4. The Illiad by Homer

5. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

6. The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

7. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

8. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare 

9. Four by Veronica Roth 

(Books 1 and 4-9 are all books for my monthly reading challenge this year ^-^) 

Okay, that's all!! This one was really fun! The only people I have to tag are anyone who wants to do it! So feel free to do it if you want to! 

 ~Allie~

Ilyon Chronicles!!

My books are finally in!!!! Technically they came on Monday (the day they were supposed to) but I'm just now getting the chance to show them off! I love these books so much!! The outside has that amazing waxy feeling that I love! I wasn't expecting them to be as big as they are! (I've only read Resistance so far and that was on Kindle so I had no idea how big it actually was...) Resistance and Samara's Peril are almost 500 pages long! My friend Sierra and I are planning on reading them together once she buys Resistance and King's Scrolls! I'm not sure if I can wait that long though....I may have to read Resistance and then read it a third time when she's ready...XD I've been in an Ilyon Chronicles mood ever since I bought these books! 

 Oh my gosh I'm so happy to have books signed to me!! And I was so happy when I saw that Resistance actually has a short message in it! I don't think you can read it in the picture, but it says "Thank you for joining me on this adventure!" and they all also say Ps. 46:10 beneath her name. :) I also really like that each book is signed in a different color so it's not exactly the same...XD

Resistance (Book 1)

Half Blood (Book 1.5,
even though I'm gonna read it first
when I read the entire series since
I've read Resistance already and I
know the character... *cough* my
favorite baby *cough*)

                                 

The King's Scrolls (Book 2)

Samara's Peril (Book 3)

In each of the books there was a bookmark either advertising a book, or an author! In Half Blood there was one for Dare by Tricia Mingerink, Resistance had Jaye's bookmark (it's my favorite and says "Faith, fantasy, adventure, and finding light in the darkness"), King's Scrolls had one for Melody Jackson (it says "These dragons are nothing like your storybooks say"), and Samara's Peril had one for A Mighty Fortress by Faith Blum! 

Okay, I think I have officially gotten over my fangirling for the day......or moment.....or few measly seconds......anyways, that's it for now!

~Allie~

May Wrap-up!

Wow! I'm actually on time with this post!! And I actually have time to do things such as this now that I am officially done with school for the summer! (Woot woot!!) 

So I read 13 books this month!! I'm really happy with that amount... I was determined to finish the book I was reading last night and I did! And I read and finished another one today! (It was only like 60 pages, but still!) 

Out of the 13 books I read one 3 star book, five 4 star books, and seven 5 star books! I own 5 of them, I borrowed 4 of them from my friend Shelby, and the other 4 were library books! 

May's reading challenge was "A Book Published This Year" which I succeeded in doing by reading the amazingness that is The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan! (OH. MY. GOSH. THE. ENDING!) Anyway, June's reading challenge is "A Book Chosen For Me By A Friend" and I'm going to be reading Scarlet by Marissa Meyer which my friend Sierra has been trying to get me to read for months! Although, I just realized Zodiac will also apply because I borrowed it from my friend Shelby (who loved it) months ago and am just now reading it....XD 

• April 30th/May 6th - Little Blog on the Prairie by Cathleen Davitt Bell. So I really did enjoy this book for the most part.... I did give it 4 stars, although I almost gave it 3 stars for the fact that after the entire book I honestly wasn't expecting the kind of intense kissing scene between a 13 year old girl and a boy at least the same age if not a couple of years older..... the whole rest of the book is clean, and then that scene was just all of a sudden there... I decided to give it 4 stars anyway since that was really the only thing and I did enjoy the book....

• 7th/9th - Who Do You Want To Be? (Shugo Chara - Vol. 1) by Peach-Pit. So, if you couldn't tell from my little collage, I decided to try out Manga....XD My friend Shelby is a big fan of manga and anime so I borrowed the first three volumes of Shugo Chara (along with Wolf Children). It's actually pretty good, once you get used to reading from back to front and right to left..... I might borrow more of this series from Shelby, but I'm not sure yet... This one did get 4 stars though! 

• 10th - Friends in Need (Shugo Chara - Vol. 2) by Peach-Pit. Well, this one was obviously pretty good considering I apparently couldn't put it down....XD This one got 4 stars as well! 

• April 7th/May 12th - The Wild One (Phantom Stallion - Book 1) by Terri Farley. So my friend Sierra and I decided to read the Phantom Stallion series together because I've had the 1st and 4th ones on my bookshelf forever and never got to reading them and it's also one of Sierra's favorite book series and she was willing to reread them! Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish this one at the same time as her because I fell out of the mood to read it for a little while before I finally finished it like a month later... I was really upset with myself too because it's so much fun reading with someone! 

• 12th - Can A Bad Guy Turn Good? (Shugo Chara - Vol. 3) by Peach-Pit. Okay, this one was really really good! I think it's my favorite so far! It still got 4 stars like the others, but I really liked it!

• 6th/12th - Hunted (Spirit Animals - Book 2) by Maggie Stiefvater. I really liked this one!! This one was a 5 star book! (This one was a library book!)

• 13th/17th - Deep Blue (Waterfire Saga - Book 1) by Jennifer Donnelly. Oh my gosh this book was amazing! I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did, but it was so good and I can't wait to read the rest of the series! I still have my giftcard to Books A Million from my birthday and I fully plan on using it to buy the last three books some time in June once the last book comes out! 

• 18th/20th - Blood Ties (Spirit Animals - Book 3) by Garth Nix. So, I've read books 1-4 in this series before, but I completely forgot an extremely important event in the ending of this book.....and it was like I was surprised all over again....and when you're a person who imagines what happens after the book you just read, it's very surprising to have to rethink things....XD I still loved this book of course and it got 5 stars! (Another library book!)

• 19th/25th - Mustang Moon (Phantom Stallion - Book 2) by Terri Farley. I really really liked this book!! I actually think I may have liked it just a little better than the first one.....And I actually finished it on time this time!! This one got 5 stars as well! (Yet another library book!)

• 21st/28th - The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo - Book 1) by Rick Riordan. Oh. My. Gosh. This. Book!!!!! The ending topped off everything perfectly and if I could give the ending 10 stars, I would!!! What was revealed in this last few chapters made me so happy and excited and I need the second one so badly but it hasn't even been a month yet!!!! I definitely see myself rereading this one in the near future.....XD In case you couldn't tell, this one got 5 stars! 

• 28th - Wolf Children: Ame & Yuki by Mamoru Hosoda. So this is another one that I borrowed from Shelby. She is absolutely in love with the movie and this manga and she showed me the movie awhile ago and I really liked it! The story is wonderful, but the ending made me want to cry!! It's actually about 550 pages and I read it in about 40 minutes.....(manga's are extremely easy to read!) This one got 4 stars! 

• 29th/30th - Fire and Ice (Spirit Animals - Book 4) by Shannon Hale. So along with the first book (Wild Born), this has got to be my favorite book so far in the series! I love Rollan so much and it went much further into his past and his story and by the end of the book I was so happy and sad and I wanted to hug him so badly!! I can't wait to read the next book! Thankfully I have the rest of the series (along with two bonus stories and the first three books in the second series from the library already! ^_^) Of course this one got 5 stars!

And finally......

• 31st - Elaine and the Flying Frog by Heidi Chang. So this was a little 60 page book that I've had on my bookshelf forever and have never read so I put it in my book jar and decided to read it today! It was a very cute story! My only complaint was that I had trouble with a few of the names and one of them did take away a bit of the ease of reading whenever this character was mentioned. This book got 3 stars. :) 

Well, that's it for my May Wrap-up! I love doing these posts....and now I have to wait a whole month to do it again! But I will make sure to actually post more often now that I'm off of school! I have some unfinished posts that I found so maybe if I can't think of a post, I'll finish up one of those.... 

Oh! And I also ordered a set of books all signed to me by the author and according to the post office website they'll get here next Monday and I am soooo excited!!!! 

~Allie~