My Most Anticipated Reads for 2018

Hello everyone,

Last week I shared My favorites of 2017, and now I want to talk about books I am excited to read in 2018. 2017 was a great reading year for me and I hope 2018 will be the same.

Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston

Its described as Anastasia in SPAAAACEEEEEE! Her words not mine. I was a huge fan of Geekerella and I want to see what she could do with a Sci Fi.

A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir

I loved both An Ember in the Ashes and A Torch Against the Night. Also how A Torch Against the Night ended made me very excited to read the next book, also the wait is just killing me right now.

Obsidio by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman

Why do most of my favorite book series always has long waits in between books. I loved the first two books and I am very excited to read this series.

The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzie Lee

A sequel to the Gentlemen’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, one of my favorite books of 2017. This time Felicity tells her story and I already loved her character and want to see how she does especially with piracy in the title.

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

Another sequel to one of favorties of 2017. The way the book ended I wanted to see where the characters go, and just judging by the premise it could be even better.

Zombies and the Civil War, of course I am excited for this book. I also would love to read more diverse books.

Vengeful by V.E. Schwab

Vicious was one my favorite books of 2016, and learning that a sequel was going to happen made me excited.

 

Those are some of the books I am very excited to read in 2018. I know there’s a ton of other books coming out in 2018, and I may read them. What books are you excited to read in 2018? Let me know in comments below.

 

Best Reads of 2017

Hello everyone,

I know this is suppose to be a Top 5 Wednesday, but I realized I can’t fit all of the great books I read this year in just 5 spots.

These are my best reads of 2017, some of the books may have been released in another year so these are the best books I read this year.

The Hate U Give by: Angie Thomas

One of my first 5/5s of the year this is a very important book, but it was also very riveting  from start to finish. I could not put this book down.

Scythe by Neal Shustermann

A world without diseases, and death is controled by Scythes. I really loved this book, which really took advantage of a great premise.

The works of Adam Silvera

I read three books by this author and all three were amazing. Even though well all of his books are sad (I almost had to fight back tears reading TBDATE on the train). Each story is also very unique as well. All dealing with real issues, I don’t usually pick up contempory but Adam Silvera made it worth it.

Truthwitch/Windwitch by Susan Dennard

Had to include both of these books in here. I read both of these this year and loved both of them. Truthwitch was a great first book with excellent world building and characters and Windwitch expanded a lot of world and developed the charcaters. I can’t wait to see how this series goes.

Want by Cindy Pon

Last year I read Serpentine and it was one of my favorite underrated books I read. Want did sometime different from what I previously read from Pon. While Serpentine was based around Chinese mythology, Want had a more Sci Fi vibe and it was amazing. Loved the setting and the two main characters and I can’t wait to see how this series continues.

Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab

Such a great and emotional ending to a great duology. This Savage Song was one of my favorites of last year and this year I read the epic conclusion. August and Kate are some of my favorite characters and it was another trying to fight back tears while reading on the train.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

This is the all-female Lord of the Flies, I want to see on the big screen. This was on my TBR for years and I finally got around to reading and loving it. It wasn’t just a stranded on a desert island story, it had a lot of commentaries about feminism and “girly” culture. I also had the pleasure of meeting her at Boston Book Festival and she was amazing in person.

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao

This was one of my marathon reads that I read in a day, and it was such a page turner. This was a retelling of the Evil Queen from Snow White set in Asia. Since it was told from Xifeng’s perspective and it you really saw her dark decent through the pages.

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu

A nice kick-ass feminist book which is about young girls fighting back against their schools sexist policies. It was inspired by the Riotgirls of the 90s. I also like that it had young girls working together.

The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed

Another girls fighting back against their schools and this mainly deals with the rape of another student. While Moxie is told through mostly one POV, this one has multiple POVs, which really gives it a more ensemble feel to it and the Us chapters really makes the book stands out. Also part of me would love to see a crossover with the Moxie girls meeting the The Nowhere Girls and kicking ass.

Geekerella by Ashley Poston

The story of Cinderella set in a Sci Fi convention, of course I will read this. This was another nice contemporary read, which is a retelling of Cinderella. While the story of Cinderella has been retold multiple times, this one had a nice spin to it. Complete with a food truck named the Magic Pumpkin. While I don’t read a lot of contemporary this one was a great read.

Invictus by Ryan Graudin

This had me at the crew from Firefly in a Tardis, and it didn’t disappoint. I am always a sucker for time travel stories. The characters were fantastic in every way. I really wish this wasn’t a stand alone book and a full fledged series.

Warcross by Marie Lu

Marie Lu is one of my auto buy authors. She wrote two series that I really love; Legend and The Young Elites. She is also not afraid to write different genres. This one is a futuristic Sci Fi, which also incorporates the world of video games. Had so much engaging characters and a great setting.

Renegades by Marissa Meyer

This had me at superheroes. I was such a fan of the Lunar Chronicles and Renegades didn’t disappoint. It had such a great character driven story, that included engaging characters, and it has an ending that makes you want to see what happens next.

Those are my favorite reads of 2017. I feel like I may have left some books out but I think it was a good reading year. What are your favorite books you read this year? Let me know in the comments below.

 

 

Top 5 Wednesday: Characters on the Naughty List

Happy Wednesday everyone,

Here is something I haven’t done in a while which is Top 5 Wednesday, and the topic is:

December 13th – Characters on the Naughty List
–These can be villains or just characters you don’t like!

Top 5 Wednesday is a group in Goodreads and was formerly created by Lainey at gingerreadslainey and is now done by Sam from Thoughts on Tomes. It is open to everyone.

Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones

With the TV series almost coming to a close Cersie Lannister has proven why she is the baddest bitch of Westeros. The reason she is on the naughty list is mainly all the killing and murdering she did in order to become Queen again.

Elle’s stepmother from Geekerella

All Elle does is to go the ball, i mean Sci Fi convention, and she always belittles Elle with every chance she gets. She also puts down her father and the convention in the process.

Hailey from The Hate U Give

 

A classmate of Starr’s who is basically a racist. She tends to downgrade a lot of Starr’s tumblr posts featuring Emmett Till and also belittles the shooting and basically assuming that Khalil was a thug or drug dealer.

The Boys from the Nowhere Girls

Okay, while there are a few boys who are nice, most of the boys in that high school were mainly misogynist who viewed all of the girls like objects and also lead a gang rape of one girl, Lucy, and would harass all the other girls at the school.

Littlefinger from Game of Thrones

I know, another person from Game of Thrones, but while it was nice to see him scheme his way through Westeros, he is of course not to be trusted. He even tried to manipulate Arya and Sansa but of course failed to do so. He basically started the entire conflict set up in Game of Thrones.

Those are characters who will be getting coal in their stocking. What characters are on your naughty list? Let me know in the comments below.

Hype or Like Friday: Coming to a close

Happy Friday everyone,

Here is a Hype or Like Friday, sorry I haven’t done these in a while.

The theme for December is Outta This World and the Book of the Month is

Hype or Like Friday is a meme created by Jillian, Larkin, and Britt to discuss about hyped books and see if they’re hyped up or not. There would be book of the month that you can read, and the post your review for it on the end of the month, then rate it whether it’s a hype it or like it.

December 1st – Coming to a Close… What book(s) do you hope to read before the end of the year?

A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab

Earlier this year I read the first two books of this series, A Darker Shade of Magic and A Gathering of Darkness and loved them both. She is one of my new auto-buy authors and I can’t wait to read how this series ends.

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

After reading The Hate U Give, I was recommended this book. It sort of deals with same issues of race in America. I also met the author Nic Stone at Boston Book Festival this year and I was meaning to buy the book there, but it was sold out.

Hunting Prince Dracula by: Kerri Maniscalo

A few months ago I read Stalking Jack the Ripper and loved it. So of course I was excited to find out about a sequel and it deals with Dracula which makes me even more excited to read it.

Before She Ignites by: Jodi Meadows

That COVER! and the premise, but mainly that cover. I am of course a sucker for good fantasy. I also heard great things about this book and I hope I could read before the end of the year.

Hunted by: Megan Spooner

A Fairy Tale retelling of Beauty and the Beast with hunting. Sold. As most of you should know I love fairy tale retellings. I heard some great things about this book and I really hope to read this by the end of the year.

Those are the books I hope to read before the end of the year. What books do you hope to read before the end of the year. Let me know in the comments.

Renegades by: Marissa Meyer

Summary:

The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies—humans with extraordinary abilities—who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone…except the villains they once overthrew.

Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice—and in Nova. But Nova’s allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.

The Review:

If you have been following my blog you should know that I am a HUGE fan of the Lunar Chronicles, so of course I was very excited about the fact that Marissa Meyer is writing a new series, and this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2017.

The book is mainly told through two POVs, Nova or Nightmare; she has the power to put people to sleep just by touching them. After her family was killed, she always has had disdain for the Renegades because she felt that they didn’t save them. She was a well developed character, she really did bring out a lot of the moral grayness with bringing out the differences between the Renegades and the Anarchists.

Adrian or Sketch, has the power to bring his artwork to life. His mother was killed in the battle of Gatlin and was adopted by two other superheros who are on the council. He also has an arc that deals with trying to get justice for his mother. He deals with a lot of pressure as being the son of two famous superheroes and he always wants to be more than a patrol hero and do some real work as a Renegade. He also deals with some of the issues that the Renegades deal with.

The relationship between both Adrian and Nova was also really fleshed out. It was basically a hero and a villain falling in love but they don’t know who each other are. It added some depth to the story and made it seem like both sides have good points. It reminded me a lot of the X-Men comics, mainly the X-Men vs. The Brotherhood. Both are contentiously combating each other but also has great points.

The world building was very well done. Marissa Meyer introduced us to a world where superheroes are already established in world and they are called Renegades, who are those with powers. I also felt that there was some back story I actually wanted to see more fleshed out. Mainly the Age of Anarchy and the Battle of Gatlin, I feel that could have been a series of books on their own.

The supporting characters were good as well, mainly the group of Anarchists who work with Nova. They had their own distinct personalities to them. I just wish they were a bit more fleshed out. Hopefully the second book will do that. I also felt the villain was a little thinly developed, mainly because Queen Levena was such a great villain I kinds wish the villain was on that level.

The ending I also felt was a tad rushed. I know the book was over 500 pages but I would have liked the ending could have also been a bit more fleshed out and hopefully a sequel will better continue the story.

In the end, Renegades did not disappoint. Marissa Meyer wrote another great book and she wasn’t afraid to explore other genres. Nova and Adrian are great characters, and the world involving superheroes was great. While I felt the ending could have been fleshed out, I want to see the story continue.

Grade: 4.3/5