Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: September 2013

Alright chicos.

I'm trying out a new Monthly Reading Wrap-Up format. Please let me know in the comments what you think! Is it too vertical-like? Hard to understand? Too many pictures? I wanna know! Thanks! :) 

It's autumn now so, unfortunately, my reading habits are slowing down because of the other obligations I have. This September, I read six books, but hey, at least I had time to read at all! Here's a detailed list of those books with my ratings for them. 

Favorite Book of the Month:

Snippet from my mini review: "This book makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and I looooove Caleb and Maggie together."

Read My Reviews:
(Note: I write mini reviews on Goodreads for books that are a part of a series and then write a full review a.k.a. Series Wrap-Up after I've finished the series.)

| Significance | Accordance | The 5th Wave | Spirit Bound | Cat's Cradle 

| Last Sacrifice |

Share what you read this past September in the comments below. :)

Cover Characteristic #1: Yellow/Orange

Look at this new, fun meme I discovered! Hosted by Sugar & Snark, Cover Characteristic is a meme where we judge a book completely based on their cover! Each week, there is a new theme and we share our favorite 5 book covers for that theme (not our favorite stories whose covers match the theme). 

This week's theme:

Yellow/Orange

What I love about the covers:

5.) Halo by Alexandra Adornetto - The sunlight and the contrast between the dark silhouettes and light rays. (Have read, wasn't crazy about.)

4.) Flicker by Kaye Thorbrugh - The artistic mess. (On my TBR list.)

3.) Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson - The hues remind me of water paint. (Click the title to check out my 4.5 star rated review.)

2.) Watch Over Me by Tara Sivec - Designed by Sarah Hansen from Okay Creations. Gives me the FEELS. (On my TBR list.)

My Favorite This Week:

 1.) Becoming More by Bayli Lane - Although Bayli knows I'm not crazy about that hot pink bra peaking out from this girl's tank, heehee, I think the photography is absolutely stunning! Bayli and I both love it! (Click title to read my review.)

UPDATE: New Review Format for Series

Hey everyone! If you are following me on Goodreads, you've probably noticed some books I've finished within the last few months lack reviews! The reason why is that I don't really have the time to write full reviews for all the books I read; especially when they are for books in a series that I read back-to-back, I tend to fall behind in reviewing them and then I have trouble making each review distinct to the specific book in question. So I want to make a quick update explaining the changes I've been making when it comes to series reviews. :)

When I read a book from a series and like it, I will now be writing my initial feelings on Goodreads (not a full review) and I will continue to do that for all the books in the series. At the end, I will make a post called Series Wrap-Ups where I will review all the books. (I plan on keeping them as spoiler-free as possible, but please realize that some spoilers may be inevitable.) 

This will mostly apply to series that are already quite a few books in/have been wrapped up. For a.) companion novels, b.) the first book of a series that I DON'T love, c.) series I plan on continuing but am not sure when, and d.) the ones that still have sequels to be released, I WILL be writing full reviews for those. 

I will make sure to post links on my twitter and facebook accounts to the initial feelings posts I make on Goodreads so you can check out my progress or see what I've been reading. :)

My first Series Wrap-Up will be on Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead and it will be up within the next week hopefully! I hope you guys end up liking these series posts, but be sure to tell me what you think as I post more. Aaand now you are probably wondering why there are picture of Zoey Deutch and Danila Kozlovsky (Rose & Dimitri in VA) in this post. And my 
thought behind that was a.) so you wouldn't be TOOO 
bored while reading this, and b.) just cuz. ;)

Happy reading!

Review: Apollyon by Jennifer L. Armentrout

About the book: 

Fate isn’t something to mess with… and now, neither is Alex. 

Alex has always feared two things: losing herself in the Awakening and being placed on the Elixir. But love has always been stronger than Fate, and Aiden St. Delphi is willing to make war on the gods—and Alex herself—to bring her back. 

The gods have killed thousands and could destroy entire cities in their quest to stop Seth from taking Alex’s power and becoming the all-powerful God Killer. But breaking Alex’s connection to Seth isn’t the only problem. There are a few pesky little loopholes in the whole “an Apollyon can’t be killed” theory, and the only person who might know how to stop the destruction has been dead for centuries. 

Finding their way past the barriers that guard the Underworld, searching for one soul among countless millions, and then somehow returning will be hard enough. Alex might be able to keep Seth from becoming the God Killer… or she might become the God Killer herself.

Pages: 343

Published by: Spencer Hill Press (April 4, 2013)

Genre: YA paranormal mythology + romance

PLEASE READ: This review will contain spoilers for the Vampire Academy and Covenant series so BEWARE if you haven't completed the Vampire Academy series or haven't all ready read Apollyon. The Vampire Academy spoilers stop after the numbered bullets if you'd like to read my actual review of Apollyon. Please note that there is a slight spoiler, but I give fair warning before it and you can skip right over it to the next paragraph to continue.

Here's the deal:

 I read Apollyon in June and I wrote a review soon after. I never posted it because my feelings started to change as I thought more about this book; they started to change even more after I heard a rumor that Jennifer L. Armentrout, whom I've grown to admire as a writer, based the Covenant series after the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. I've been skeptical to believe this rumor because I know authors come up with similar ideas all the time. No story is completely original, especially since books tend to follow similar plots and character plots, etc, but no story is the same either. Except, when I started analyzing these two side by side, I was finding way too many comparisons to be--what I think--strictly coincidental.

If you've read the review I wrote for Half-blood, the first book in the Covenant series, then you know I did note similarities between the heroines of this paranormal series. Here are some more:

1. The first book of each series begins with a strong heroine who has been away from their school. They're brought back by a guy who is extremely good looking, older than they are, off limits, and are typically pretty serious, tough guys. Once at the school, rumors fly around them about why they were gone. The heroines are behind in their schooling/training and may not graduate until the good-looking male interest of the story offers to train them individually so the heroine can graduate on time. They have some close encounter/sexual tension moments while they train and the love relationships bud from there. The love relationship is a struggle between what's right and wrong and if you should listen to your heart or head throughout the entire series.
2. The heroines and love interests just know each other in a way no one else could ever understand.
3. The Elements (fire, water, air, earth, and spirit) are used in both series.
4. They both have three different races with a 4th special twist: Moroi/Pures, dhampir/halfs, Strigoi/Daimons, and the spirit-users/Apollyons. (And even though the Covenant series revolves around Greek mythology, the Daimons resemble vampire-like creatures? Are those in Greek mythology?)
5. They have a best friend whose funny and just a great guy. Later on, he is killed by Strigoi/Daimon but he doesn't completely disappear from later books.
6. They have petty enemies that land them in trouble/breaking rules throughout the book and as the series goes on. The enemies' parental figure(s) dies and the heroine and the enemy slowly start to not hate each other--even like each other. 
7. The heroines are natural fighters who are sarcastic and kind of stifle their emotions. become more fierce and badass (although I don't think Alex reaches Rose's level, which I mention in my Half-blood review) with each book.
8. A love triangle sprouts with a guy who handsome, cocky, and makes the heroine form a hate-love relationship with him.
9. A lust charm/drink is used on the heroine and puts her in a compromising position.
10. The heroine turns to a special text to learn more about the special exception to their race.
11. The way Dimitri pulls away from Rose and blames himself after he has been "unawakened" and recalls how he took away Rose's freewill vs. the way Aiden pulls away from Alex and blames himself after taking away Alex's freewill with the elixir.
12. Someone is trying to sabotage the heroine, but I guess there's always someone trying to kill the m.c. in an action series. I'll let that one slide.

Those are the similarities I can rattle off right now without taking time to stop and think of more. So yes, many MANY similarities between the two. I'd be lying if I said these discoveries weren't a turn off for me when it comes to Covenant and Jennifer L. Armentrout.

My Review:

However, I DID still enjoy this book. If you've read my other reviews for Covenant, then you know that I love the mythology, the action, and the characters because they are wonderful and intriguing and funny. The romance and the antagonism were perfect so they kept me wanting more. Those elements have stayed the same throughout the series and that's where I've always come to love the author's writing.

Particularly for Apollyon, Alex's insensibility in the beginning made me really dislike her; despite that, I must say that Alex has made a considerable amount of growth and it's especially visible in this book. Seeing that sense of wisdom and strength in her, seeing the maturity was so lovely! 

(This paragraph contains slight spoilers) Speaking of maturity: Alex and Aiden. Anyone wanna shriek with me? Eeeeeeeep!!! Jennifer's wonderful craft of sexual tension between Alex and Aiden throughout the entire series results in perfection in this novel. I couldn't smile larger at their growth. *Sigh + love-sick grin* 

(Spoiler-free!) Apollyon took me a while to get through (set it down multiple times and picked up another book instead) because it was slower paced and kind of boring at times. I mean, they're at the edge of war and I should have been on the edge of my seat the entire time, but apart from Alex's little stunt around page 100 and the very end, there really wasn't much action. After 4 books previously chalked full of action, this was a bit of a let down. However, everything the characters were trying to accomplish in order to prevent further chaos from happening made me nerve-wracked in a way that almost hid my disappointment at the lack of action. Everything about the ending had my muscles tense and I was NOT expecting the book to end where it did! Cliffhanger? Yeah, I'd say so!

So... final thoughts for the series? Comparisons aside, Covenant is truly amazing. The characters, the mythology, the action, the sexual tension: all wonderfully done. It gives me the feels and the suspense. 
Rating for Apollyon? I'm going to go with 3 stars. I did really like the book, but the slowness damped the plot and I'm also still very conflicted with the VA vs Covenant issue. :(
Will I read the sequel? Yes, because the ending of Apollyon (the last two chapters) was really good and it was a cliffhanger so I must know what happens next!
Would I recommend these books? If you are looking for a great paranormal/mythological-themed book with a love triangle and plot twists, this is what you are looking for! But if you are a Vampire Academy fan like myself, or you have strong feelings about copycat books, then I'd be very hesitant. If anything, I'd recommend you read VA first, then try Half-blood and see how you feel afterwards.

Sexual content: medium-high (sexual references and a few love scenes, but they're very mild on the description.)

~

Have you heard of Jennifer's Lux series? It's about aliens. But they're hot aliens. Check out my reviews for the first two in the series HERE. 

Review: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Official Synopsis:

The Passage meets Ender’s Game in an epic new series from award-winning author Rick Yancey.

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

Pages: 457

Published by: Putnam Juvenile (May 7th, 2013)

Genre: YA science fiction/dystopian

My rating for The 5th Wave:

3.5 rounding to 4 great stars!

When I found out this was a book about aliens invading earth, I was dead set on loving this book! Aliens is one of my favorite sci-fi elements. Although I definitely loved a lot of this book, I can't say it satisfied all those reading hot spots for me.

The 5 Star elements of the book:

-Creativity/Concept/Apocalyptic World: Aliens taking over earth and eliminating humanity in waves. 1st: Turn off the electricity. 2nd: Wipe out all coastal cities. 3rd: Spread an illness that will take the population down to 2% of humanity. 4th: Send out the Silencers. 5th? To come... Brilliant! Being introduced to this world messed with my mind like no other! Their was kind of an info dump on the Waves during the first 100 pages, but I found it necessary to build the setting and give me a feel for what living then was like--which I most definitely did! As I imagined putting myself in Cassie's shoes, I seriously got the heebeegeebees and had to set the book down 10 pages in! At the same time, the world entranced me to read more.

-Cassie: Her voice/the author's voice is so strong! It's sarcastic and funny and quite frankly, I haven't felt an author's voice as strong as Rick Yancey's when he is writing from Cassie's POV. Cassie was a good balance of mental and emotional strength as well as weakness. She wasn't a total kick*** and she also had many moments of doubt, but her will power is extraordinary. I loved reading a character like her, someone who isn't always confident, but clearly does what she believes is right.

"Well that's good, we thought. This silence is deafening. Why did they come billions of miles just to stare at us? It's rude."

-Yancey's writing: He put some great humor into this dark and dooming book perfectly.

"Speaking of fruit, I'm down--I mean, he's down--to his underwear."

The dialogue was always purposeful and I love this particular description:

"It's been a long time since humans were prey animals. A hundred thousand years or so. But buried deep in our genes the memory remains: the awareness of the gazelle, the instinct of the antelope. The wind whispers through the grass. A shadow flits between the trees. And up speaks the little voice that goes, 'Shhhh, it's close now. Close.'"

The Lower-star elements:

-POV changes: At one point, there were 5 different POVs. They were disconnecting me from the story a bit because the first 100 pages is ALL Cassie, then other POVs were thrown into the book. I became a little impatient, wanting to read more from Cassie's POV since I connected with her in the beginning. The last half of the book only alternates between 2 POVs so those sections were a lot smoother and kept my interest better.

-Grammatical errors: Throughout the first couple chapters, as I was still trying to wrap my mind around this world, there were a couple instances where I was confused on what tense the book was in. I caught some past tense sentences in there every now and then, along with what I thought were incomplete sentences. But the incomplete sentences may have just been the way Cassie speaks, so after the beginning, I didn't notice sentence structures anymore.

-Pacing of the plot: This one is a tough one for me because I'm really not sure how I feel about the pacing of the story. It was definitely slow in a lot of parts. I don't think it was unnecessary; however, that doesn't exclude the fact that some chapters were a little boring. In the end, I didn't really mind the pacing, especially because it ended fast-paced, but I wouldn't say the pacing deserves 5 stars.

~~~~~~~

Although sometimes slow-going, the plot was great with twists and reveals. The romance was satisfying and the characters and how they acted in the apocalyptic world intrigued me. When I think of the book as a whole, I think, "That book was really great!" but even the best aspects of the book are tainted for me by those moments that I was a bit bored, noticed errors, and felt disconnected from the story. I hope to see more world-building, more aliens, more romance, and more reveals in the sequel, The Infinite Sea, which I am very excited for!

BOOK TAG: Seven Random (Book) Facts

This is an older tag, but tags are fun no matter how old, so here I am doing it for the first time! Zees are zee rules you must follow OR ELSE you shall be expelled from your blog (heehee!):

• Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
• Share seven random and/or weird book facts about yourself.
• Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
• Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

#3

1. Some statistics: 1 of every 4 books I've read this year I have rated 5 stars. 4 of every 10 books I've read this year I have rated 5 OR 4 stars. It takes a certain criteria for me to LOVE a book/give it 5 stars. I'm not saying that the books I don't love are bad or that the books I do love are fabulous, but simply stated, I do not fall in love with individual books easily.
2. I am the president of my school's book club. Last year, I organized a book drive at my school for the CAN (Child Abuse & Neglect) Council for the children and teens who are assisted by this organization. I hope to do a similar book drive this year.
3. Twilight was the series that put me on the hunt for more great books. I love Twilight. I was a Twihard. I am not ashamed.
4. I love books about aliens. The actual universe is THE definition of MIND BLOWING. Seriously, think about how far of a distance you'd be covering if you traveled our world by boat. Then look up how big Earth is compared to Jupiter; look up how far away Pluto is; look up how long it would take for one of our spaceships to travel to the closest planet outside our solar system; look up how many solar systems are in our Milky Way galaxy, look up how many galaxies are in our Universe. FREAKING BILLIONS OF LIGHTYEARS is the answer to most of these questions. Then think about how there's bound to be other life forms on one of those trillions of trillions of planets out there...and how one day they had the advanced capability to come to our planet. I can't even wrap my simple mind around something so beyond LARGE. Yeah. Mind. Blown.
5. I have never met an author of a book I've read. It's pitiful and non expressive of my gratitude and feelings toward my favorite authors and their books. For a fangirl, this is problematic.

   

   #6

6. The first book I remember reading in my kindergarten class (as a test to see if I could read without struggling) had a light blue cover and a rabbit blowing bubble gum on the front.
7. I only buy books I know I will reread. I borrow books and if I fall in love to the point where I can't stop thinking about the them, I then will buy them. Because of this, I only own 75 physical books, 3 shelves full.

Now, I tag:
Trina @ Between Chapters
Becca @ Pretty Little Memoirs
Sabrina @ i heart y.a. fiction
Bayli Lane, 
Kelly @ Effortlessly Reading
Shelby @ Gobs and Gobs of Books
Bethany @ The Reading Vixens
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Sarah @ The Book Life. 
Aaand I tag YOU!
So, yes I tagged more than 7 people. Expel me. ;) (Also, no one tagged me to do this, that's why I didn't credit a tag.)

Top Ten Tuesday #7: My Fall TBR list!

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. You can find more TTT lists from book lovers and bloggers by clicking their blog name. 

This week's topic:

Top Ten Books On My Fall  TBR List

I haven't been doing TTT memes for a while now, but I saw this topic and I knew I had to do it! Thinking about the books I'm going to read next make me so excited! This list is a mixture of fall releases, fairly new releaeses, and older books.

(I don't have a picture for Homecoming because it's just a short story.)

#1 & 2 (plus some): Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy, #5), Last Sacrifice (VA, #6) & Homecoming (VA #6.5) by Richelle Mead: I'm rereading this series with a friend who is reading them for her first time! I love this series and it's been a lot of fun reading and discussing them with someone else. I'm behind so I hope to catch up by next week! :)

3.) This Girl (Slammed, #3) by Colleen Hoover: My paperback arrived in the mail a few weeks ago and I was planning on sitting down right then and there and crack it open, but one thing after another has made me put it on hold. If not this month, I will read it right before...>>>

4.) Losing Hope (Hopeless, #2) by Colleen Hoover releases in paperback October 8th! Then I'll be able to read TWO CoHo books back to back! How glorious does that sound? Sounds pretty bad ace to me.

*Aaand just to emphasize my excitement for these books, these are my reaction pictures when my This Girl paperback and Hopeless/Losing Hope dooodle came in the mail!! Dooodle courtesy of Dooodles by Christina via Colleen Hoover!

5.) Greed (Seven Deadly, #2) by Fisher Amelie: This one I have been highly anticipating for months now because I love Fisher Amelie's Vain (Seven Deadly, #1). I was a part of the Greed cover reveal and will be participating in the blog tour and I am STOKED! It releases October 29th so keep an eye out.

6.) Tandem by Anna Jarzab: I received an eARC of this about a month ago but have had no time to read it! It releases the same day as Losing Hope so I will probably make this a priority to read after I finish VA.

7.) The Universe Versus Alex Wood by Gavin Extence: Another eARC I have. I got it a few months after it released though so I'm not on a crunch of time to get to it.

8.) A Matter of Fate by Heather Lyons: Have heard great things, got it for free on Amazon, really excited to read!

9.) Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller: I think this is going to be a book I read for a guest review soon...I hope so at least! :)

10.) Dare You To by Katie McGarry: I say I will get to this book but never do...maybe this fall? Or this year? Or...some day? I need to some day at least! I loved Pushing the Limits!

As always, leave a link to your TTT list in the comments below so I can check it out and let me know if you've read any of these books. Hope you have a great week. Happy reading!

My Book Jar!

My friend Berna was telling me about this thing that she does to choose some of the books that she reads, and it's called a book jar. Quite a few Booktubers (Katytastic and mothereffingbooks) and bloggers (Alex in Leeds) have made book jars as well! I thought it was a super fun way to mix things up when it comes to reading and I wanted to share it with you!

So, what is a book jar?

If you are how I was, having no previous knowledge of these things, a book jar holds a list of books. Particularly for me books I want to read and have been on my TBR (To Be Read) list for a while, the ones I've forgotten about. If you are one of those readers who have an overflowing TBR list or one who has a tough time choosing what book to read next, this is perfect for you!

How does it work?

On small pieces of paper, write down the name and author of the books you want to be in your jar, litter your jar with them, and then YOU decide the rest! It all depends on what you want to get out of your book jar. Do you want to challenge yourself to read one of those books a month? Every other month? Do you want the books in your jar to specifically be series that you've yet to finish? Series you've yet to begin? Only stand-alone novels? Books you want to read that month but have trouble deciding which to read first? A certain genre? Maybe you just suck at deciding what to read next and you decide to use this as a game of surprise! I've also seen people who put themselves on book-buying budgets use this to decide what book to buy next. You ultimately decide the terms of use (heehee!) for your book jar. But whatever you do, make it FUN! I know reading challenges can sometimes put unintended pressure on people and in the end, they make the whole experience burdensome. This is just supposed to be something fun to add to our reading routine. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are a few pictures of my book jar! I decorated the jar with ribbons and yarn, and I wrote the books on pretty scrapbook paper. :) I'm really excited to use it within the next few months. If you are inspired to make one too, I'd love for you to send me a link to the photo in the comments below or tweet me a picture @hollysbooklove !

Be creative and happy reading!

With love,

Review: The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

About the book:

"I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk." 

Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay. 

Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space. 

Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to. The Sea of Tranquility is a rich, intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.

Pages: 448

Published by: Katja Millay (September 5, 2012), Atria Books (ebook November 13, 2012...paperback June 2, 2013)

Genre: YA contemporary romance (mature)

My rating for The Sea of Tranquility:

***I won the paperback of The Sea of Tranquility on Goodreads in June, so I'd like thank Hillary Tisman from Atria Books for sending me this beautiful copy! Disclaimer: All these words are my own thoughts and opinions, and I have not been compensated in any other way for this review.

This is one of those books that I've been meaning to take the time to write a well thought-out review, but whenever the mere thought of writing it comes to mind, I go blank. I don't even know if I'm going to end up writing anything past this sentence here because I pretty much just want to say, "I have no words for this novel other than 'you need to read it for yourself.'" But here goes nothing. (Definitely a possibility.)

The writing style is one of my favorites. I love the way Katja Millay writes TSoT, dropping hints as to what the main conflict is throughout the novel. I love the slow build of Nastya first encountering Josh Bennett, to seeing each other at school, to a questionable non-friendship, and on. The little by little is done so well, giving me just enough to entertain me and then having me want more. When I write, I try to channel Katja Millay; I just love how this book was written.

And the moments Nastya and Josh had! Every one was special! If I had read this story on my kindle instead of in my precious precious paperback that I won from Atria (THANK YOU!! You have NO idea how much this story means to me!) then I would have highlighted, noted, or, bookmarked every moment Nastya and Josh shared. I'm so appreciative that they got to know each other slowly, unlike so many other romance novels these days where the characters are all over each other in a heartbeat. There was a mystery to both characters that made each other curious but hesitant and it set the perfect pace. And Nastya & Josh together? GOLD.

I love the subject matter. I've learned that I LOVE books that evoke all the emotions out of me and fill me back up in one swoop! Without giving anything away, this story intense/difficult material played with my emotions. (Note: I always struggle with verb tense in reviews because I DID _______ as I was reading the book, but I STILL love, hate, etc now..So please pardon my verb tense.) Along with intense/difficult subjects, the characters dealing with them typically go through a huge change, typically for the better, and that is what I LIVE for when I read a book. I don't care if the character is a bitch or slut or is whiny or naive throughout most of the book, because as long as something sparks a positive change in the heroine/hero and there is learning and growth on their part, I love the character; and wow did I love Nastya and Emilia. ;)

I really connected with Nastya on one level: that one event changed her whole life and she could no longer physically do something that she loved with all her being. I know what that feels like because received a sports injury that caused me to quit all the sports I loved, left me with years of pain, and it's something that I will never fully recover from... I empathized with Nastya to the point where I started crying at one point. I know how she feels. Also, another small, lighter thing I love about Nastya is that she loves names. Being a name freak myself, it felt like I was meeting one of my long lost sisters. I supposed Katja loves names herself, so that's awesome!

I love both covers for this book too! Both covers portray significant scenes of the story...they warm my heart. :) I really don't know what else to say other than I love this book so much. When it was over, my heart ached more than I thought it ever could on behalf of a fictional piece of work. It's just.. THOSE WORDS. Those two. simplistic. words. They did me in. That was just one instance where this book evoked everything I had from my body and filled my heart right back up. <3 Those words make me cry just thinking about them.

A-Z Book Survey!

This survey was created by Jamie from The Perpetual Page Turner. It looked super fun! Here are my A-Z bookish answers!

Author you’ve read the most books from: 

Sharon M. Draper, at 11 books! I haven't read her books in a long time and they haven't been on my mind so I wasn't expecting her name to pop up on Goodreads when I looked this up!

Best Sequel Ever: 

Hallowed by Cynthia Hand. (I took this question as best SECOND book in a series.)

Currently Reading: 

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey. Not very far into it, but I'm loving it....and it's messing with my mind!

Drink of Choice While Reading: 

No preference. I drink water most often.

E-reader or Physical Book? 

Physical book by a revolution around the earth!! After four months of having an e-reader, and 10 months of using an e-reader period, I'm just barely starting to be OKAY with reading from a screen. I really dislike not physically turning the pages, seeing my progress; mentally remembering what page number I'm on, etc.

Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated In High School:

Henry from Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson.

Glad You Gave This Book A Chance:

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. The plain cover repelled me from reading it at first. Then as I heard more whispers about the book and as those turned into raves, I picked it up from my library on a complete whim. Now it's one of my all-time favorite books.

Hidden Gem Book: 

Dreamhunter by Elizabeth Knox. One of the best random book selections I made at the library.

Important Moment in your Reading Life:

Discovering Vain by Fisher Amelie. This work of fiction has completely taken hold of my life and has made me feel more than I ever have.

Just Finished:

East of Eden by John Steinbeck--it was really great!

Kinds of Books You Won’t Read: 

Mystery/thriller, high fantasy, erotica, most New Adult.

Longest Book You’ve Read:

Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix (870 pages) P.S. I have the page counts for the H.P. series memorized. (Easy way to find this out. Go to your Goodreads “read” list, don’t scroll down but where you are on the screen there will be this little tab on the bottom that lets you choose how you want to scroll or how many books you want display. There is also a sort option with a drop down and you can sort by page.) 

Major book hangover because of: 

The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay. The last two words in the book. Oh my god. So beautiful; I loved it all; too beautiful not to leave me in heartache.

Number of Bookcases You Own:

Two, but only one set (3 out of 6 shelves total) have books on them. I only own books I KNOW I will reread.

One Book You Have Read Multiple Times: 

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. (11 times. Yes. You read that correctly. There are two "ones" right there. Fun fact: 9 of those 11 were within 6 months of each other.)

Preferred Place To Read: 

Outside or my bed.

Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you’ve read: 

"Your garage." -Emilia, The Sea of Tranquility
This will not make sense to those who have not read the book, but I cry when I think about this quote. Just WOW do I get the feels from this quote!

Reading Regret: 

Not picking up Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck when I first saw it in B&N in 2011. I completely overlooked it and misjudged the cover (I know, scold me for my sin.) and instead read it 22 months later when a friend recommended it to me. Now it's one of my favorite series!

Series You Started And Need To Finish(all books are out in series): 

Summer series by Jenny Han. (There are a lot of series that I haven't started period and really need to begin too!) 

Three of your All-Time Favorite Books: 

Vain by Fisher Amelie, The Host by Stephenie Meyer, Harry Potter & the Dealthy Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Unapologetic Fangirl For: 

Fisher Amelie. I am not someone who holds celebrities or famous people up on a pedestal and idolize them, but I sweat to you, if I ever meet Fisher Amelie. I will be so overcome with emotion that I will ball my eyes out. That's how much her novel VAIN means to me. 

Very Excited For This Release More Than All The Others: 

Greed (The Seven Deadly, #2) by Fisher Amelie

Worst Bookish Habit: 

I actually tend to fantasize about reading and books more than I ACTUALLY read them. I know, it doesn't make sense, but I guess the anticipation of reading is just as enjoyable for me.

X Marks The Spot: Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book: 

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Your latest book purchase:

E-books don't count in my mind for this one, so the last paperback was This Girl by Colleen Hoover.

ZZZ-snatcher book (last book that kept you up WAY late):

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson. I stayed up until 4am. Bawled. My. Eyes. Out. 

If you want to do this too, I would LOVE to see your answers! Please link back to Jamie's original post, and leave the link to your suvery in my comments below so I can check it out!

Happy reading!