Most Anticipated Releases for the Second Half of the Year!

Hey, y'all! So once again, I'll be participating in Top 10 Tuesday, hosted on The Broke and the Bookish! It's been quite a while since the last time that I did one of these, but I wanted to jump back in the saddle and this week was perfect for that because the topic is all about my most anticipated book releases for the rest of the year.

I'm not sure that I have a full 10 books on the list, but I do have a sizeable handful. Also, I've decided not to include books that are continuations of series that I haven't started, thus excluding continuations of the Throne of Glass and Magisterium series (despite how much I want to start both series). That being said, let's just go ahead and jump into it!

1. A World Without You
by Beth Revis

Beth Revis is one of my favorite authors, and when I discovered that she was releasing a new book, it immediately got added to my TBR. This one is especially interesting because Beth Revis has always written dystopia/sci fi in the past, and despite seemingly having some sci fi overtones, this appears to be a darker contemporary. I'm really intrigued to see what a contemporary novel from her is like and how she marries these genres together. 

2. This Savage Song
by Victoria Schwab 

Everything about this book sounds extremely interesting. It's a dark urban fantasy where music plays an integral role and the characters sound really complex. I've read 2 V.E. Schwab novels already and have enjoyed (but not quite loved) both, so I have pretty high hopes for this first installment in a new duology. 

3. Heartless
by Marissa Meyer

This one isn't quite as high on my TBR as the others. I think the main reason that I'm even interested is because Marissa Meyer has proven that she's really great at turning classic fairytales on their head, so I'm interested to see what she does with Alice in Wonderland. That being said, I'll probably wait to see the reviews before actually picking it up. 

4. The Fate of the Tearling
by Erika Johansen

This is one that I'm really excited about. I've only read the first book in this trilogy, but it was really great and I'm hoping to catch up with the second book before the conclusion to the trilogy comes out later this year.

5. Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy
by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan,
Maureen Johnson, and Robin Wasserman

As much as I love The Mortal Instruments, I'm admittedly a bit wary about this. I had mixed feelings about The Bane Chronicles, which were written by 3 of the people who are writing these novellas. I know that the novellas are available in ebook format, but they're all $2/3 and I'd rather not bother with it, since that'll be about the same price as the hardcover (if not more expensive). Either way, I'll probably still end up getting this when it comes out.

6. Gamescape: Overworld
by Emma Trevayne

Admittedly, I just discovered this book while going through lists of 2016 book releases, but it does sound really interesting. The premise gives me Ready Player One vibes, which makes me both interested and a little wary. Yet another one that I'm going to read some reviews for first.

7. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Illustrated Edition
by J.K. Rowling

And finally, of course I'm going to be getting this! The illustrations in Sorcerer's Stone were gorgeous, so I have high hopes for Chamber of Secrets. I can't wait to have all of these illustrated editions. 

So, that's it for my post on my most anticipated releases for the second half of the year. What releases are you really excited about? Do we have any in common? Let me know down in the comments!

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Top 10 Most Read Authors

Hey, y'all! So I recently (as in a few hours ago) discovered that this weekly series called "Top 10 Tuesday" exists. This is a weekly series created by The Broke and the Bookish (link here if you want to check it out!), where each Tuesday has a certain "top 10" topic attached to it. 

This week's topic is Top 10 Most Read Authors, which was actually kinda difficult for me. I'm not sure how this works for y'all, but I definitely get more attached to genres than I do to specific authors. While there are definitely some authors that I get attached to, in general, I tend to focus more upon the book descriptions that interest me or on the genres that interest me than upon certain authors. So, because of that, there are a very small handful of authors who I've read a lot of books from, but past that, my reads are stretched across a very wide range of authors. So because of that, you'll see some authors where I've read a lot of books by them, and a lot where I've only read a handful. That being said, let's jump into the list! 

10. Peg Kehret

# of books read: ???

OK, so I honestly have no idea how many Peg Kehret books I've read. On this list, I tried to exclude authors I read when I was a kid, because I read so many books, and I simply just can't remember all of the books I read. However, I was getting to the point where I'd only read 4 books by an author, and I didn't want to get to any smaller numbers, so I just decided to talk about Peg Kehret. She was one of my favorite authors, and I read a ton of her books. But I just can't remember how many. Oops. 

9. Stephenie Meyer

# of books read: 4

She's tied with the next person on the list, but I've only read one series by her (Twilight, obvi) so I decided to give her the lower spot. Plus, I don't like her books as much as I like the books by the next person. 

8. Brandon Sanderson

# of books read: 4

This is a recent addition to the list, because until June, I hadn't read any of his books. But I fell in love with his Mistborn trilogy and really enjoyed The Rithmatist, so I completely expect him to move up this list very rapidly. He'll probably be up in the top 5 by the end of the year! New favorite author, for sure. 

7. Beth Revis

# of books read: 5

I've read almost everything (if not everything) that Beth Revis has published: her Across the Universe trilogy, The Body Electric, and The Future Collection (a collection of her short stories). I may be missing a few short stories, but that's it! She's one of my favorite authors, and I can't wait to read whatever she publishes next! 

6. Joe Hill

# of books read: 6

I actually forgot about Joe Hill until I looked at my "most read authors" on Goodreads and saw him on there. The 6 books I've read by him are the 6 books in his Locke & Key graphic novel/comic series. Not sure I'm going to be reading any more books by him, but I did enjoy the series!

5. J.K. Rowling

# of books read: 8

The first seven books that I've read by J.K. Rowling should be pretty obvious: the Harry Potter series. Although I probably should've read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them & Quidditch Through the Ages by this point, I haven't. The only other book I've actually read by her is The Tales of Beedle the Bard. I might read some of her Robert Galbraith books, but those are probably the only other books by her that I would actually read.

4. D.J. MacHale

# of books read: 10

The books I've read by him are the 10 books of the Pendragon series, which is one of my favorite series of all-time. I don't plan on reading any more of his books, mostly because they're middle grade and don't really interest me, but I do really enjoy the ones I have read by him.

3. Cassandra Clare

# of books read: 10

Cassie Clare is most definitely among my favorite authors. I love her Mortal Instruments series and Infernal Devices trilogy, and I also enjoyed The Bane Chronicles... or at least most of it. And I also plan on reading the rest of her books as well. I also plan on reading the first two books from her Magisterium series (cowritten by Holly Black) very soon, so she'll be moving up on this list really soon.

2. Agatha Christie

# of books read: 11

Once again, Agatha Christie is one of my favorite authors. My favorite stand-alone of all time is her book, And Then There Were None, and I've also enjoyed (almost) all of the 10 books that I've read from her Poirot series. And I do plan to read many, many more of her books in the future, so I expect her to stay up high on this list, if not all the way at the top.

1. Lemony Snicket

# of books read: 13

Lemony Snicket is, of course, the pen name of Daniel Handler, but I haven't read any Daniel Handler books, so I decided to name Lemony Snicket. I almost didn't include him in this list, because I consider these books as ones that I read when I was a kid (I think I read them mostly in elementary school). However, I was running low on people, so I decided to include him and he ended up at #1! Now, I'm sure there are authors that I've read more from than Lemony Snicket, but they're all among the authors I read when I was a kid and (as mentioned earlier) I'm not including those on this list. 

So, that's it for my post on my top 10 most read authors! I definitely plan to keep doing the Top 10 Tuesday series in the future, mostly on here, but possibly on my YouTube channel as well if I decide that the topic would work better in video form. My YouTube channel is linked below, so feel free to check that out if you want to!

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Most Anticipated Books of 2015!

Hey, y'all! So I originally was not going to do a post about my most anticipated books of 2015 because I didn't think I had enough to post about, but upon further investigation and after watching a couple "most anticipated books of 2015" videos, I remembered some books that I'd previously forgotten were being released. I also found out about a few books that I'm now incredibly excited about.

I'm going to be talking about these in chronological order by when they're going to be released. A couple don't have official release dates yet, but I have a general idea of what time of the year they're going to be released, so I'll just put them wherever I think they belong.

The Mime Order

by Samantha Shannon

Release Date: January 27th, 2015

The first book on this list is also my most anticipated book of the year. I want this book in my hands like right now. The Mime Order is the sequel to The Bone Season, and is the continuation of The Bone Season series, which is supposed to be 7 books long. I read The Bone Season at the end of November, and I fell completely in love with the world and characters. I can't wait to see what happens next, because I was a bit worried about how it ended.

Playlist for the Dead
by Michelle Falkoff

Release Date: January 27th, 2015

First of all, can we just look at this cover?! So gorgeous. Anyway, I'd actually forgotten about this one and saw a Booktuber talking about it and had to go ahead and add it on this list. The premise of this book reminds me a lot of 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher, which is one of my all-time favorite books. Basically, the book centers around the suicide of the main character's best friend and a playlist that the best friend left, with the note "listen and you'll understand." Part of me feels like this is going to be a not-as-good 13 Reasons Why, but I'm still intrigued and want to pick it up.

A Darker Shade of Magic

by V.E. Schwab

Release Date: February 24th, 2015

First of all, can we just talk about how absolutely gorgeous this cover is? I just sat frozen, staring at it, the first time that I saw it. So prettay! Anyway, this book just sounds amazing. Parallel Londons, magicians, and worlds that sound like they have a dystopian feel? Sign. Me. Up. This book sounds absolutely incredible. 

Instinct

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Release Date: March 31st, 2015

If I were to rank these books by my excitement, this one would probably be lower on the list, simply because I haven't read anything from the series yet. I've been collecting the books and obviously plan to read them at some point, but since I haven't read the other books, my excitement for this book is currently at "oh cool, new book!" and not "I MUST HAVE THIS BOOK NOW." That aside, this series does sound really interesting. It's pretty underrated, but anytime I see someone talking about it, they liked it. Plus, Sherrilyn Kenyon is one of the biggest fantasy writers right now. She knows how to write fantasy.

Stiletto

by Daniel O'Malley

Release Date: June 30th, 2015

This is the second book in The Checquy Files, and the sequel to The Rook. I'm really excited for this book, even though I haven't read The Rook yet. It's one of the first books I plan to read in 2015, so hopefully I get to that soon and can get really excited about this book. The series sounds really interesting, and right up my alley. So I'm really looking forward to getting into these books.

Lair of Dreams

by Libba Bray

Release Date: April 14th, 2015 July 7th, 2015

This one's pretty high on my excitement meter. I absolutely loved the first book in this series (trilogy? IDK) and I cannot wait to read this one. Especially since it's even longer than the first one. Yay, big books! Anyway, I wasn't super excited about how the romance left off at the end of the first book, so I hope that it gets fixed in this book. Also, up until recently, the release date was in April, and now it's been pushed back until July. I am not happy.

Armada

by Ernest Cline

Release Date: July 28th, 2015

Once again, I love this cover! It makes me think of book covers from back in the 70s/80s. Anyway, I absolutely loved Ernest Cline's first novel, Ready Player One, and it sounds like this one is going to have the same vibe. Sci-Fi, video games, dystopian worlds, what more could I ask for? So excited!

The Rest of Us Just Live Here

by Patrick Ness

(No Cover Yet)

Release Date: August 28th, 2015

Patrick Ness seems like such a unique writer. He has a really interesting writing style, and he seems to come up with so many incredibly interesting concepts. In The Rest of us Just Live Here, the main character is just a normal person who lives in a world with crazy paranormal creatures. But he/she (I haven't seen anything saying one way or the other) isn't one of the people fighting these creatures, but rather just a normal person who knows people who fight the creatures. That just sounds really unique and cool.

Lady Midnight

by Cassandra Clare

(No Cover Yet)

Release Date: September, 2015

I love Cassandra Clare. I love the Shadowhunter world. I really wish that she would release The Last Hours first because the characters seem more interesting to me, but I'll read absolutely anything that she releases that's in the Shadowhunter world. 

Untitled (Ms. Peregrine's Peculiar Children #3)

by Ransom Riggs

(No Cover Yet)

Release Date: September, 2015

Originally, this wasn't on my list because Goodreads said it wouldn't be released until 2016. But I checked back the other day and it said September 2015! Yay! I'm not sure if this will be the conclusion of a trilogy or the continuation of a series, because Ransom Riggs hasn't exactly made that clear, but whichever it is, I've enjoyed the series so far and can't wait to see what happens next!

Carry On

by Rainbow Rowell

(No Cover Yet)

Release Date: October 6th, 2015

When I heard that Rainbow Rowell was releasing this as its own book, I got so excited. I'm assuming that since it's actually titled Carry On, it will be Cath's fan-fiction, but I've also heard people saying that they thought it was going to be a "canon" Simon Snow novel. I'm just going to stick with the "Legit Carry On" theory, and hope that's what it is, because I would absolutely love to read that. So excite!

Winter

by Marissa Meyer

(No Cover Yet)

Release Date: November 24th, 2015

I haven't read The Lunar Chronicles yet, but it sounds like something I would absolutely love, and it's really high up on my TBR. I'm definitely going to be finished with the first three by the time this comes out, and maybe even with Fairest, the prequel. I'm just beyond ready to get into this series.

Passenger

by Alexandra Bracken

(No Cover Yet)

Release Date: 2015 (probably late fall)

This is the first book in a new duology about a teenage girl who accidentally discovers that she can time travel and goes on a treasure hunt across continents and time. And that just sounds really epic.

So, those are my most anticipated books of 2015! What books are you looking forward to in 2015?! Let me know down in the comments!

I've started doing Booktube a little as well, so if you want to check that out, you can click HERE. I plan to post most of my videos to my blog, but just in case I miss one or decide not to post it on here, that will keep you up-to date. 

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Top 10 Most-Owned Authors!

Hey, y'all! I've seen several booktubers posting videos listing the 10 authors that they own the most books from. Originally, I didn't do this one because I didn't think that I had enough authors to make a full list. However, upon reflection, I realized that I had more repeat-authors than I originally thought, so I decided that this would be fun. Plus, I think it's really interesting to see who will end up on the list.

Before I get into this, some ground rules for counting of books:
- Each book counts once, even if I have duplicate copies.
- Novellas in bind-up form (ex: Unite Me by Tahereh Mafi) count as one single book.
- However, novels in bind-up form count as their own separate entities. (AKA, if I own a bind-up of two novels, that bind-up counts as two books.
- Ebooks will also be included, but not if it's a duplicate.

Although I didn't include duplicates in the official count, I did note underneath what the count would be if I did count duplicates as separate books. It's a bit ridiculous on a couple.

10) Lloyd Alexander- 5 books

Adjusted for duplicate copies: 5
Read: 0 

Right off the bat, we have a four-way tie. Lloyd Alexander gets the last spot between the four because I own the entire Chronicles of Prydain series by him, but I haven't read it yet. I bought it because I love the Disney movie, The Black Cauldron, that is based off of the series. I got halfway through The Book of Three, and couldn't really get into it, so I just put it down. I'll get through it eventually, I just wasn't feeling it in that moment. 

9) Stephanie Meyer- 5 books

Adjusted for duplicate copies: 5
Read: 4 

Of the four-way tie, Stephanie gets the third spot because I've read most of her books, but don't plan on reading any more. I haven't read The Host, and I'm not sure I want to anymore, but I have read the Twilight Saga. Several times. 

7) Scott Westerfeld- 5 books

Adjusted for duplicate copies: 5
Read: 4 

I totally forgot about Scott Westerfeld and didn't even consider the fact that he could make it onto this list, because the only books on my bookshelf by him are Pretties and Specials, books 2 & 3 from his Uglies trilogy. However, I forgot that I had Uglies, the 1st book in that trilogy, in e-book and books 1&3 from his Midnighters trilogy (The Secret Hour and Blue Noon, respectively) on my bookshelf at home. Of the 5 I own, the only one I haven't read is Specials. But it's been so long since I read the other 4 that I can't remember much about either series. I plan to change that soon!

7) Rick Riordan- 5 books

Adjusted for duplicate copies: 5
Read: 3 

Finally, rounding out the 4-way tie, Rick gets the top spot because I plan on buying more of his books fairly soon. I've only read the first 3 Percy Jackson books, but I do plan on finishing the series and continuing on to The Heroes of Olympus. 

6) Stephen King- 6 books

Adjusted for duplicate copies: 6
Read: 1 

 

I'm laughing at the 666 action going on with this one, especially since it's Stephen King, the KING (LOL bad pun) of horror. As you see from the pictures above, I own Carrie, Under The Dome, and the first two books in The Dark Tower series. At home, I also have The Shining and Everything's Eventual, which is a compilation of short stories. But I've only read Carrie all the way through. I almost got through The Shining but put it down for some reason. 

5) J.K. Rowling- 8 books

Adjusted for duplicate copies: 20
Read: 8 

As an avid Harry Potter fan, I probably should own Quidditch Through The Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but I don't. Eventually. But I do, of course, have the entire series, as well as The Tales of Beedle the Bard. I re-read the series for the millionth time over the summer as part of my Summer Reading Challenge, and you can click here to check that out, if you'd like.

Explanation for duplicate copies: I have all the Harry Potter books in e-book form and in hardcover. When I first got the books, I got the first 5 in paperback. So 7 + 7 + 5+ Tales of Beedle the Bard= 20. I feel no guilt or shame for this.

4) D.J. MacHale- 10 books

Adjusted for duplicate copies: 16
Read: 10

We have another tie with 10 books apiece. DJ got the lower spot because the author at #3 has a new book coming out next month that I'm definitely, without a doubt, getting. Anyway, I love the Pendragon series. It was also part of my Summer Reading Challenge this summer, so you can click here to check that out. This series isn't super well-known, but it's one of my absolute favorite series of all-time. It's so beautiful.

Explanation for duplicate copies: I originally had books 1-6 in paperback, and re-purchased them in hardcover.

3) Cassandra Clare- 10 books (11th coming soon)

Adjusted for duplicate copies: 15
Read: 9 

Basically, I have all of Cassandra Clare's books. I would show pictures of my actual copies, but they're scattered between home and school. Like I said in DJ's explanation, he and Cassie are tied, but since The Bane Chronicles is coming out soon, and there is absolutely no way that I'm not buying that, I put her in the higher spot. Also, I read all of these except The Shadowhunter's Codex this summer, so if you wanna check out my Summer Reading Challenge, you can click here.

Explanation for duplicates: I originally had Clockwork Angel in paperback and found an inexpensive hardcover. I have e-books of City of Bones, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, and City of Lost Souls because my copies are at home. 

 

2) Lemony Snicket- 13 books
Adjusted for duplicate copies: 13

Read: 13

I have all 13 books in the Series of Unfortunate Events. I kinda want to re-read these sometime soon, but I don't want to end up changing my opinion on them, because I'm worried I won't like them as much now that I'm older. So, I dunno. Maybe they'll get re-read soon, maybe they won't.

1) Agatha Christie- 25 books
Adjusted for duplicate copies: 26

Read: 9

These are not all of my Agatha Christie books, but it's the majority of them. If you'd like a full run-down of the books in this picture and whether or not I've read them, you can click here to check out my home bookshelf tour. There are 20 books in the picture above, but one is a duplicate. I also have And Then There Were None, Evil Under The Sun, and a bind-up of Sleeping Murder and Murder at the Vicarage in physical form, as well as ebook copies of The Mysterious Affair at Styles and Secret Adversary. Of these 25, I have read 9. But since I paid like $1 for most of them, I don't feel too bad about them. I can afford to take a while with these. She has a lot of books.

Explanation for duplicates: A lot of her books have been re-named in the years since their release, so I accidentally picked up 2 copies of After The Funeral/ Funerals are Fatal.

So, there you go, those are my top 10 most owned authors! A couple of them actually surprised me! This list will probably be out of date fairly soon, so maybe I'll make another one sometime. Not in the near future. At least 6 months from now. 

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading! If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow so that I know you're enjoying what I'm posting! See y'all soon!