Title: Thomas Wildus and the Book of Sorrows Author: J.M. Bergen Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy Trigger Warnings:   My Rating: 4 Stars Release Date: February 2, 2019 Synopsis Magic is real, Thomas. No matter what happens, always remember that magic is real. Seven years have passed, and Thomas hasn't forgotten. He hasn't forgotten the blue of his dad's eyes either, or the tickle of beard on his cheek as they hugged goodbye. Last moments with a parent are memorable, even if you don't know that's what you're having. Now, with his 13th birthday rapidly approaching, Thomas's search for magic is about to take a radical and unexpected turn. At an out-of-the-way shop filled with dusty leather books, a strange little man with gold-flecked eyes offers him an ancient text called The Book of Sorrows. The price is high and the rules are strict, but there's no way Thomas can resist the chance to look ...

Title: Second in Command Author: Sandi Van Genre: Young Adult, Poetry, Contemporary Trigger Warnings: deployment of a parent, drugs, underage drinking, bomb threat My Rating: 5 Stars Release Date: February 1, 2019 Synopsis Sixteen-year-old Leo dreams of becoming an Eagle Scout and, someday, a police officer. He makes sure to always do the right thing and be responsible. With his mom deployed and his dad constantly working, Leo is often left in charge of his two younger siblings. Then Leo's brother, Jack, gets caught up in a dangerous plot that rocks the community. Can Leo keep his promise to stand by his brother no matter what, or will he stand on the side of justice? Review A special thank you to Netgalley and West 44 Books for a free advance digital copy in exchange for a honest review. I love verse novels and the raw emotions explored in this one make it a definite 5 star read. Leo is the eldest chi...

Oh my gosh, 24in 48 is over and I actually won! I ended up going with the official time zone, so that means that this is going from 11 pm my time on Friday night to Sunday night at 11 pm. I managed to get about 2 hours of reading done before I fell asleep, which was unintentional. My lights were still on and everything, but I woke up at 7:30 ready to go. I read until about 3 am and woke up around 9:30 am. No one showed up to my SI session so I read the whole time. I managed to win this challenge at an Ultimate Smash Tournament. I also won my first match ever at the tournament. I would have tried to finish this afterwards but I hung out with my friends there until way too late. The 24 hours of reading was just absolutely insane. Last time I only hit 9 hours, but the 24 was both so extreme and so awesome at the same time. I absolutely adored it. It was exhausting and wonderful at the same time. Next time, I really need to work on staying organized because as I am writing this, I...

It's 24in48 readathon time and I am super excited! I love week long readathons with challenges, but these super short super intense readathons are a great way to manage to get a lot of reading done. In case you have never heard of 24in48, the goal is to read for 24 hours in a 48 hour period, running from midnight on Saturday to 11:59 PM on Sunday night (Officially in EST). These hours can be split up however. You can sign up at 24in48.com or find them on twitter at @24in48readathon . It's always a lot of fun, even though I have never actually managed the 24 hours. I kind of hope to change that streak this year. It's a lot of fun to participate and interact. There are updates and challenges on the blog every 3 hours. I really want to hit that 24 hour mark this year. I got 9 hours and some change last January and wasn't able to do this in July. I think I participated January 2017. I do have plans on Sunday afternoon and early evening that I can't get out of, so it...

The Readathon: Bout of Books Books Read: 4 Pages Read: 1370 Challenges Done: 3 Success?: Definitely Yes Hey everyone! Bout of Books 24 was an absolutely crazy one for me. I am a little disappointed that I did not manage to post a daily post, but I kept up with it for longer than I even managed to post these challenges on twitter. Next time, hopefully I will do better but I am definitely happy enough with how I did concerning challenges, and reading as well even though it was not exactly what I expected. Part of the reason this post is going up so late is because I moved back to school and started classes. Really, the main reason is that I haven't felt much like writing this. I have been procrastinating like crazy on most things. For example, I was going to write this when I was working the desk at my job but I read an entire book instead. Good, but maybe not exactly what it was that I should have been doing. Anyway, I'm writing this now. Here's my tbr fo...

Title: Vampire Academy Author: Richelle Mead Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural Trigger Warnings: Torture, Blood, Alcohol, Kidnapping Rating: 4 stars Synopsis Only a true best friend can protect you from your immortal enemies . . . Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires - the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa's best friend, makes her a dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them. After two years of freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir's Academy, a school for vampire royalty and their guardians-to-be, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. But inside the iron gates, life is even more fraught with danger . . . and the Strigoi...

In 2018, I managed to read a total of 67 books. When I told my sister this, she frowned and told me that that seemed awfully low. While I set my goal for one book higher than this for the new year (link to goals post here), I also read some incredible books in 2018. These are all found on my favorites books on goodreads, but I only included the ones that I read in the first time in 2018, which totaled to 9 books. While I would have preferred a top 10 list, a top 9 list will just have to do. These books are all books that made my feel. Most of them had tears and gasps, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of them and knew that they had to go onto my favorites shelf. I am likely to reread all of them (at least two this year because of series). Anyway, here goes top 9 books of 2018. 9. The Problem With Forever by Jennifer L. Armentrout This book features a girl going to public school for the first time since being adopted two years ago after living in an abusive foster home, where she ...

Title: Fish in a Tree Author: Lynda Mullaly Hunt Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary Trigger Warnings: learning disability, bullying Rating : 4 stars Synopsis "Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid.” Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there’s a lot more to her—and to everyone—than a label, a...

Title: Always Forever Maybe Author: Anica Mrose Rissi Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary Trigger Warnings: domestic abuse, toxic relationships, physical abuse, gaslighting, abuse, emotional abuse My Rating: 2 Stars Synopsis When Betts meets Aiden at the candy store where she works, their connection is like a sugar rush to the heart. Betts already knows the two of them are infinite. Inevitable. Destined to become an us. Betts has only ever kept one secret from her best friend, Jo, but suddenly there’s a long list of things she won’t tell her, things Jo wouldn’t understand. Because Jo doesn’t see how good Aiden is for Betts. She finds him needy. Possessive. Controlling. She’s wrong. With a love like this, nothing else matters. Review Anica's Mrose Rissi's Always Forever Maybe is about a toxic high school relationship that turns abusive. Rissi does an admirable job chronicling the relationship a...

It's the halfway point! Day Four is here, so here's my day three wrap up. If you want to know what I was planning to read, check out my tbr  here. Day Three Challenge was Six Degrees of Separation, to connect the words "bout" and "books" through six books.  How Bout Them Cowboys? by Gary Myers One Cowboy Summer by J.M Nash The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (Lightning Storms) The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak The Instagram challenge for this day was a highly anticipated read for 2019. I chose Hero at the Fall by Alwyn Hamilton. I absolutely adored the first book in this series and while I have been slacking on reading Traitor to the Throne , I still am really excited. I love this series and the magic created within. This book is set to come out on March 12, so I have two months to read the first two books. Today I managed to liste...