Hate-Reading The Selection: Updates & Opinions

Hey, y'all! So today, I'm going to be doing some hate-reading. Just briefly, before I jump into anything else, here's my little disclaimer about hate-reading.

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post on the topic of hate-reading, which you can check out by clicking here. In that post, I discuss what it means to hate-read and include a disclaimer discussing my intentions when hate-reading a book. I won't go into full details, given that I wrote that whole post about it, but the long and short of it is this: hate-reading doesn't have to be malicious, and I don't intend for it to be. I'm not here to bash a book, and I'm certainly not here to belittle anyone for liking this book. My point here is not to offend, but to approach criticism with a snarky, comedic tone; to point out the ridiculousness of a book in a humorous way. So I urge you to remember all of this before leaving an angry comment.

That being said, let's take a look at the book I'm going to be hate-reading. And that is The Selection by Kiera Cass.

By the way, what even is this cover? Like... she looks like she's smelling her armpit. Not to mention the "girl in a dress on the cover" trope. Props for the dress being pretty, though. However, I do have to say that I think that the dresses on the spin-off books (The Heir & The Crown) are absolutely gorgeous and leagues better than the dresses on the covers of the original trilogy.

Anyway, this book has been on my radar for about as long as I've been on BookTube. Quite honestly, I've never really intended to pick it up, simply because it's not really my thing. I'm a self-described reality competition junkie. I can't even count the number of reality competitions I've watched throughout the years. But in that time, I've never watched a single episode of either The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. Ever. It just always seemed too dumb and too ridiculous. But, the temptation is there to watch an episode simply to laugh at it. And that's kinda what I intend to do with The Selection. It has pretty much the same premise as The Bachelor, and from reviews I've read, the writing, world-build, plot, and characters all seem to be on-par quality-wise with what I'd expect from The Bachelor (AKA laughably bad). Because of this, I expect to thoroughly enjoy every second of reading what I expect to be a laughably bad/cheesy book.

Continue reading below to join me on this adventure, as I will be doing updates whenever something stands out, is completely ridiculous, or is just plain dumb. I'm so excited, y'all.

*****

July 5th:

acknowledgement/dedication: So the dedication reads "Hi, Dad! *waves*" and I'm not sure if that's cute or annoying. I'm gonna go with cute for now, but I feel like this is just a little taste of the fluffiness that is yet to come...

pg 1: Starting off strong, y'all. "So far, I had a solid collection of my honest opinions. . . I didn't think there was a single one she would listen to." Someone explain that ellipsis to me. Please. And it's unnaturally spaced out as well. I fail to see how that makes any sense there. 

pg 2: "We did a silent dance through the kitchen and dining room..." There's nothing wrong with this, I just think it's a really weird phrasing, especially since they're mad at each other. Also, we just got an entire paragraph about how her mouth was watering for tea with lemon. Tea is not that dramatic. 

pg 4: Kiera Cass does understand that China acknowledges Jan 1 as the start of the new year, right? They still celebrate it at the traditional time, but the year still starts on January 1st...

pg 8: This dialogue hurts. "I'm so average." "Stop it, you're so pretty." "Am I actually pretty?" "You totally know you're pretty." *dramatization* *but not by much*

pg 12: "Finally the intruder spoke, a sly grin spreading across his face. 'Hey there, gorgeous.'" How is this romantic? This excerpt could easily be inserted into a horror movie and be incredibly creepy.

pg 15: "If only I could sit and patch them up for him. That was my great ambition. Not to be Illea's princess. To be Aspen's." Literally everything about this hurts me. 

pg 27: I love that we just got a quick little run-down of what's happening, in case we somehow didn't understand. Also, yes, I went a whole 12 pages without updating, but only because that whole chapter was cringey and there wasn't just one single moment that stood out. 

pg 33: Just realized that I haven't noted this yet, but the fact that America Singer is a... wait for it... singer is one of the most silly things I've ever read.

pg 45: Side note, the inherent sexism in this society is already about to drive me crazy, and not just toward the women-- America just mentioned that she couldn't see herself with such a "wimp" as Maxon.

July 6th:
pg 50: "America, I'm supposed to be providing for you. It's humiliating for me to come here and have you do all this for me."... "I'm not some charity case, America. I'm a man. I'm supposed to be a provider." Again, with these stupid, seemingly pointless gender norms. First off, she's a class higher than him and has talents, so she's perfectly capable of providing for herself. Also, she literally made you food from the little money that she earned, because she knows you can't always afford to eat, and you have the audacity to be humiliated because of some seemingly arbitrary gender norms? Dude, get over yourself and eat the stupid food. //endrant.

pg 53: UPDATE! They just broke up over the food argument. LOL. That's the silliness I'm here for!

pg 56: y'all, she was chosen for the selection! Didn't see that one coming, did you?

pg 58: Her body now belongs to her country. Literally, her body has now become an object to be possessed by a country. ugh.

pg 64: "This isn't exactly a rule, but it would be unwise of you to ignore it. When you are invited to do something with Prince Maxon, you do not refuse. No matter what it is. Dinner, outings, kisses-- more than kisses-- anything. Do not turn him down." Great, so on top of all the other things that Maxon has control over, he also basically gets to do whatever he wants with her. Fabulous.

pg 76: America, you're in your upper teen years. DO NOT call your father "Daddy." It's just weird.

pg 90: Guys, this makeover scene is literally ripped from the pages of The Hunger Games.

pg 96: "Do you think Maxon will like it?" "Of course! What guy doesn't like a gorgeous blonde?" cringe cringe cringe cringe cringe. This dialogue hurts me. Also, there's a specific "Women's Room." Because even rooms have to be divided by gender in this society! :)

pg 99: So everyone in this society has really out there, unique names, and the maids are called Lucy, Anne, and Mary. It feels like Cass just chose the first 3 basic female names she could think of and was like "OK done!"

pg 102: It bears mentioning, but the entire point of the competition within this novel is to pit women against each other in a competition for a man's affection, which is just so obnoxiously stereotypical and catty that it almost physically hurts. Haven't women been portrayed as catty, gossipy, & unable to cooperate for long enough? I fail to understand why a woman would want to write a series in a world that she created that has such inherent, seemingly arbitrary, sexism ingrained in the society.

July 7th:
pg 104: "He is someone in this room's future husband, after all." A few girls sighed at the thought. Excuse me while I vomit. This is about as cliche as it gets.

pg 118: Currently LOLing at the scene that just happened in the garden. As usual, the dialogue is just uncomfortable. America is unnecessarily obnoxious and whiny. Maxon is rigid and awkward. Hooray. (Side note: If Maxon doesn't promptly stop saying "my dear," I'm gonna lose it.)

pg 123: "Tsk-Tsk. A lady never raises her voice above a gentle whisper?" Oh yeah, lady? Since the whole room just heard you, I'm going to assume you said that above a gentle whisper.

pg 125: Image that, guys! Prince Maxon has taken a liking to our little special snowflake! I'm so surprised! And when he smiled at her, she completely changed her mind! How romantic.

pg 136: I'm sorry, but that just seems like the silliest way, plot-wise, to create a way for America to have alone time with Maxon. Some weird, random bet? Shouted across the room for almost no reason? It's so ridiculous and just... weird.

pg 141: She's getting nervous about being with Maxon alone, and doesn't know why! What could it mean?! (obviously you're beginning to develop feelings, dummy.)

pg 159: Ooh, Prince Maxon has some theories no one will listen to! Given how this book has been going so far, he's probably right. #basic.

pg 178: Literally every time "King Clarkson" is mentioned, all I can think of is Kelly Clarkson. #sorrynotsorry. Also, America is now excited by the idea of Maxon visiting her that night. Shocker.

pg 197: Wow, she's starting to like him! Didn't see that coming! Also, I know that I haven't had snarky things to say for the last ~40 pages but that's mostly because it actually hasn't been that bad. Maybe it's that I'm getting used to it, but there haven't been as many cringey, awful moments. Sure, it's still incredibly cheesy, and the dialogue is mostly just ... ugh. But it hasn't been quite as awful. Actually, it's been almost sweet. Almost.

July 8th
pg 200: Here we go again with everyone telling America she's amazing and her feeling uncomfortable and unworthy.

pg 207: And now we have girls actually slapping each other. Lovely.

pg 212: So we just got a scene that was obviously meant to be for world-build. The Selected girls are being quizzed on their knowledge of Illea's history, which serves to inform the reader of the history. This is problematic on so many levels. First, this scene is just very clumsy. Given that they're going to be selected on their personality and looks, their knowledge of the country's history doesn't seem like it's going to pop up anytime soon. So this is a rather clunky attempt at masking world-build for something that's actually important to the plot. Second, this is a really flimsy world build. Third World War, China invading, attacking Russia, these are all the easy explanations. It's just so baseline and surface level that it seems boring and unoriginal.
Also, this whole no written history thing-- clearly they're trying to hide something. If that was meant to be a subtle hint that something suspicious is going on, it's not. It's really obvious. And if this is a dead end, then she wasted our time with something meaningless and pointless.
One last note before I continue: At this point, a US history book would be hundreds of years old. And yet America's dad just happened to have one lying around the house? Really?

pg 218: What? Her feels are getting stronger and she thinks it's just nerves? I'm shocked.

pg 257: Ok, so now that she's finally realized that she has feelings for him (only because he kissed her), she's convinced that she's now the one. Like... slow your roll. 5 seconds ago, you were telling him you just wanted to be friends.

pg 262: Guys. There's literally a place called Honduragua in this story. Cass literally just created a super-country by creating a ship name for Honduras & Nicaragua. What even?

pg 264: "Why don't you run along?" And here, everyone, we have an example of a cliche line. America is annoying. Blahblahblah nothing new here.

pg 268: "I looked beneath my eyelashes at Maxon and smiled." I'm sorry but what does that even mean? That phrasing is just... what? Like yes, America, your eyes are under your eyelashes. Proud of you. Unless this is talking about her bottom lashes? This just makes no sense.

pg 289: So America and Maxon have been all buddybuddy for more than half of this book and suddenly she disagrees with him and he pulls out the "I am lord and master of this country" stuff and calls her "Lady America" again? I'm so over this. He was becoming vaguely likable and then goes and pulls something like this. That's one thing Kiera Cass is really good at-- making characters overreact.

pg 290: Ok, so America has been tossing and turning "for hours" and then out of nowhere, Aspen opens the door and comes in? That's creepy. Like, she didn't even indicate that she was still awake, but here he comes barging in. Not cool. Also, she's had mixed emotions about him for the entire book, and suddenly now that he barges in and practically forces himself on her, she's glad to make out with him? Even while saying she hates him? Really?

pg 297: So, that girl that America's been freaking out about the entire book? She tripped, and Aspen caught her. I swear, there needs to be an award for how many coincidences create a plotline, and it needs to be handed directly to Kiera Cass. Like, there are so many things that happen on this novel just because of sheer coincidence. That's not how to craft a plot.

pg 313: Also, just another quick note, but isn't it just so convenient that the girls America is the most familiar with/ get mentioned the most are the ones who keep staying? Even her mortal enemy Celeste is still here, despite being completely awful. With the exception of Ashley at the beginning of the book, everyone America interacts with has stayed. Imagine that.

pg 325: Ah, the line I've heard so much about. "I'm not choosing him or you. I'm choosing me." Cliche, cringy, and overall... not the truth that she says it is. Sure, maybe she hasn't chosen either yet, but she's still making up her mind. That's not choosing herself. That's being wishy-washy.

So, that's it for my updates while reading The Selection. Here are my very brief opinions, if you haven't seen my little discussion at the end of my video: 

I think that this is the first time I will ever give 2/5 stars to a book that I really enjoyed reading. Let me clarify. This book was insanely fun to make fun of, despite the numerous problems I had with this book. That's probably incredibly evident from these updates. I thought that the writing wasn't that great, the dialogue was pretty cringey, the plot was a bit of a mess (and rather dependent on coincidence), the world-build was pretty flimsy, and that the problem with gender roles within this book was frustrating. At its root, this isn't the dystopian novel it purports itself to be-- it's a plain ol' contemporary. It's made to be fluffy and cute, and in some ways I was definitely pulled into that a bit. I enjoy fluff and cuteness in moderation, but this book was pretty much no substance and all fluff. One genuine, interesting moment would be followed immediately by more cliches, insufferable dialogue, and general cringing. So, overall, I didn't think that this was a very good book. However, I had a great time reading it and intend to continue the series, because I want to see this train-wreck keep on going.

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The Leveller by Julia Durango [SPOILER FREE REVIEW]

Hey, y'all! I recently read The Leveller by Julia Durango, and despite having a lot of feelings about the book, I didn't want to devote an entire video to reviewing it. So, I decided to do a full written review on here instead. Despite the fact that I'm reviewing it quite soon after its 6/23 release date, I did NOT receive this for review, it's a book I purchased for myself.

Nixy Bauer is a leveller, a pseudo bounty hunter inside of the virtual reality game called MEEP. Because MEEP is a fairly new technology, the government limits how much time people can spend within it per day. When a kid is spending too much time in MEEP, their parents call on Nixy to pull them out, and she's known for being able to pull kids out of MEEP extremely efficiently.

One day, however, she gets a job from the game's creator. His son, Wyn, has blocked himself into MEEP and has left behind a suicide note. It's now Nixy's job to go in after him and retrieve him. However, when Nixy reaches Wyn, she discovers that things are not quite as they seem, because he reveals that he has actually been trapped inside MEEP. Nixy and Wyn must fight their way out if they ever want to get back to the real world.


That concept sounds really intriguing, right? Doesn't it give you Ready Player One vibes? I'll be honest, that's the biggest reason that I picked this up. I've been in the mood to re-read Ready Player One for quite a while, but can't really justify the re-read when I have a reading challenge going on. And I hoped that this would at least be a decent stand-in for Ready Player One. Unfortunately, though, this was just overall disappointing.

My first major problem with the book was the writing. This may sound strange, but I don't typically notice how good or bad the writing is unless I really enjoy it or really dislike it. And in this case, I really disliked it. Everything came across as very juvenile and sometimes reminded me of the way that I worded things when attempting to write stories at the age of 13. Nixy and Wyn were supposed to be 16, but they often spoke and acted like 13 year olds. On top of this, there were some words that were just extremely over-used. Specifically, the word 'truly.' It got to the point where I was going to throw the book if a character said 'truly' ONE. MORE. TIME.

Unfortunately, the problems don't stop there. Overall, I didn't find the plot that intriguing. In fact, it was only vaguely there. After Nixy got into MEEP to rescue Wyn, nothing really happened until the very end, apart from some instalove and some aimless wandering around. Speaking of which, the instalove in this book was really painful and cringe-worthy for me. I don't know how else to describe it except that I was physically cringing at some of the dialogue between Nixy and Wyn within approximately 10 minutes of meeting each other.

I also kind of expected some of the things that I think were supposed to be a surprise. This is generally to be expected, because I've mentioned many times that I can usually guess twists. Durango tried to surprise the reader with the villain reveal, but the foreshadowing was too heavy pretty early on, and she practically blatantly revealed it a while before the official reveal.

However, despite the many problems I had with it, I didn't hate it. I do see potential in the story and the world based on the way that the story ended. I think it will be really interesting to see the real-world implications of the things that happened within the game. I'm assuming that this will be a trilogy (because series apparently just means trilogy in YA anymore), and I hope that the next two books are a little longer and better written so that we can dive a little deeper into this game.

I found it very hard to come up with a rating for this one. Based just on my criticisms alone, it would seem that this book should get an abysmal rating. But for some reason, I somewhat enjoyed it. I would say that my dislike of the book didn't outweigh my like of the book. There's something oddly intriguing and charming about it, and enough loose threads left that I'm curious about what will happen next. I think I would have given this a slightly lower rating if not for the potential that I see in this series. Durango definitely has room to delve deeper into some of the issues that were raised very late on in this first installment, and I hope for everyone's sake that she does, or else the rest of the series will be as bland as this book was.

In the end, I gave The Leveller 6 stars out of 10. I think I would've gone with a 5.5 if not for the potential that I see, but I can only hope that Durango takes this series in a slightly better direction than she took this first book.

Books I Read In One Sitting [Top 5 Wednesday]

Hey, y'all! So for Top 5 Wednesday this week, the topic was books you read in one sitting (or close to). I had so many books that I wanted to mention that I decided to do a blog post just listing (and briefly discussing) all of the books that I could think of that I'd read in one sitting or close to one sitting.

So, since the list is so long, let's just go ahead and jump into it!

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

by J.K. Rowling

This is still the only book that I've ever been able to get at its midnight release, and I dove into it as soon as possible. I probably had to set it down a few times to do chores and such, but I pretty much read it in a single sitting. 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

by J.K. Rowling

I've mentioned this several times, but I was on vacation when this book came out and instead of waiting until I got home to get the copy I reserved, I bought this at the airport and spent the entire day on the plane reading it and once again finished it in a day.

City of Bones

by Cassandra Clare

This book was my introduction to the Shadowhunter world, and I was hooked right from the start. I remember discovering it and being completely unable to put it down. And ever since, I've loved Cassie Clare and her books.

City of Heavenly Fire

by Cassandra Clare

I read this Cassie Clare novel really quickly for a very different reason. Last May, I was doing a reading challenge where I read all of Clare's books in one month. This was the last book I had to read for the challenge, and I had only one day left to read it, so I buckled down and read the entire thing in a single day.

Clockwork Princess

by Cassandra Clare

Similar to the last one, I was reading this for my challenge, and I was getting a little behind, so I really wanted to get it done quickly. However, that quickly changed when I got so pulled into the book that I couldn't put it down, and I fell in love with it.

13 Reasons Why

by Jay Asher

This is one of my all-time favorite books, and the first time I read it, I was so drawn in that I read it all in a single sitting. I just wanted to find out everything about the story, and couldn't put it down.

Divergent

by Veronica Roth

For this one, I read about 50 pages before going to sleep. When I picked it up the next day, I got pulled in and couldn't put it down. Like with Clockwork Princess, I got so invested in the story, I just had to keep reading and reading. 

The Shadow Throne

by Jennifer A. Nielsen

With this one, I'd been reading the trilogy for a while and just really wanted to figure out how it ended, and so I buckled down and read the whole thing in one sitting.

And Then There Were None

by Agatha Christie

I've obviously read this one in a single sitting multiple times, but I'm pretty sure that the first time I read it, I also either read it in one or two sittings. It's just too good. 

The Future of Us

by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

Like with Jay Asher's other book, 13 Reasons Why, this book had a really intriguing concept and I eagerly anticipated its release. When it finally came out, I bought it and was so intrigued that I just sat down and read the whole thing. Although the book didn't live up to my expectations, it was at least good enough to keep me interested until the end.

Ten

by Gretchen McNeil

This quick read was actually due more to a time constraint than to actual interest, even though I was curious about what was going to happen. I read this in the month where I had to read 6 books, and I was getting down to the end and just needed to fly through books, so I just sat down and got through this one in a couple hours.

Wildflower

by Janine Carbone

Just like with Ten, I read this in February where I had to read 6 books in a month. Plus, this book is really short and fast-paced, so I probably would have read it in a single sitting either way.

Evil Under The Sun

by Agatha Christie

This is another February, 6-books-in-a-month book. But this one was the last one of the month, so I was under even more of a time crunch. I definitely wouldn't have gotten through it as quickly without the time constraint though, because this is (so far) my least favorite book that I've read this year.

Horrorstor

by Grady Hendrix

I read this in October as a horror marathon, and was so intrigued by the concept and the very interesting and unique format of the book that I just wanted to see what would happen. It wasn't an amazing book by any stretch of the imagination, but it was intriguing enough that I finished it in one sitting. 

Ignite Me

by Tahereh Mafi

This was another reading challenge one. Otherwise, I don't think that I would've read it in a single sitting like I did. Definitely the best book in the Shatter Me trilogy by far, but still not anywhere near being one of my favorite books.

The Body Electric

by Beth Revis

This book was just so good. I couldn't put it down. The world was so cool and the story was so intriguing, and I just kept reading and reading. 

The Fault in Our Stars

by John Green

I was actually on a trip when I read this. It's a pretty short book, so it wasn't hard to finish it in a single sitting. And after this one, I actually continued right on to...

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky

...this one! Which I also read during that same sitting. Probably not the best idea to read both of these books in the same day, but oh well. They were both really good. 

Whodunnit? Murder on Mystery Island

by Anthony E. Zuiker

Murder mysteries are really quick reads for me because I just want to know what's going to happen. And these books are particularly quick reads because of the way that the murder investigations are conducted, so I just flew through this. 

The Twilight Saga (except Breaking Dawn)

by Stephenie Meyer

Yep, I read the first three books in the Twilight Saga in about 6 days. Two sittings per book, even though they're massive. I almost want to go back and reread them just to see if I actually enjoy them now. Breaking Dawn, however, took me a really long time to read because I hated Jacob's POV (even though he was one of my favorite characters in the series).

So, those are all of the books that I can think of that I read in (pretty much) one sitting! Let me know down in the comments what books y'all have read in one sitting!

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Book Discussions #2

Hey, y'all! Back in June, I did a post where I did short discussions about some stand-alone books that I'd read recently and said that I might make it a series... and that's what I've decided to do! In these posts, I'm going to be doing discussions for every single book I read. This was going to be just for stand-alones, but I realized that (even though I wish I could) I can't marathon every series that I read. So single books within series will be included within these as well. If I read 2+ books of a series back-to-back, they'll get their own posts. I plan on including 6-7 books per post, so new discussion posts will be up after every 6-7 books I read, give or take a few.  These discussions will be entirely spoiler-free and fairly short.

Also, all but one of these were written within a day of finishing the book. so even though it's been a few months since I've read many of these, the discussions were completed when the book was still fresh in my mind. I was waiting for one more book before posting this, but I decided I'd rather get it up before the end of the year instead of waiting for one more book. So here we go!

Looking For Alaska 
by John Green

So, I actually read this all the way back at the beginning of March and forgot to add it in my first Stand-Alone Discussion's post. Oops! But I had a lot of opinions about this book, so I just had to talk about it. I'm probably going to get a lot of hate for this, but... I wasn't impressed. I didn't like it. First off, I didn't like the characters. I couldn't empathize with them because I didn't care about them. Maybe it's because I'm a boring adult, but I found their constant drinking/smoking/rule-breaking to just be stupid, immature high school students trying to be cool and just wasn't impressed. I kinda-ish ended up liking The Colonel, but don't even get me started on Pudge. If you want to know why, ask and I'll explain why I don't like Pudge, but it's a long explanation so I won't discuss it right now. I also felt like John Green wanted to make Alaska this very deep-thinking philosophical character, but she came off as someone trying too hard to pose as a philosophical person. Like she was trying to be the stereotype. Another problem that I had was that nothing about this book kept me guessing or surprised me. I saw the twists coming. All of them. To me, that's a sign of a plot that is way too predictable. Overall, I just didn't like it. Sorry, not sorry.

I gave it 2/5 stars on GoodReads, so I'll give it 4 stars out of 10. Please don't hurt me.

And Then There Were None 
by Agatha Christie

This was not a first-time read for me. If I'm being realistic, it's closer to the 10th-15th read. If you saw my Top 15 Stand-Alones post (Check it out here) then you'll know that this is my all-time favorite stand-alone novel. After all of those challenges and after that huge reading marathon, I just wanted to curl up with my favorite book. So that's exactly what I did. It was a great choice. I read it in just a few hours and really enjoyed reading it again. It was very comfortable and familiar. And great. Philip Lombard will forever be one of my favorite literary characters. It's just a very well concocted mystery and I just love it.

It's my favorite book! How could I give it anything but 10 stars out of 10?!

Ready Player One 
by Ernest Cline

I knew going into this that I was going to enjoy it. Although I didn't grow up in the 80s and I'm not an expert on the decade, I do have a pretty high interest in the decade. Most of my favorite movies are from that decade, and I really enjoy a lot of the rock music from the 80s. Even more importantly, I love dystopians, and I love video games. If you've read anything where I've talked about dystopian novels, you know that when I read a dystopian, I want world building out the wazoo. This book has all the world building I could ever hope for. It made my little curious heart sing. But it didn't suffer because of it. It was still extremely action-packed and really awesome. A lot of the video game references went over my head, since I'm not well-versed in older video games, but the book did a great job explaining things. Honestly, this book just had everything I could want from a book: action, adventure, magic, a fantastic world, a fantastic plot, mystery, etc. it was just all great. 

Overall, I had to give it 10 stars out of 10. 

Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore 
by Robin Sloan

I'm not quite sure what I expected going into this book, but it wasn't really... this. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book! But it took a really weird turn that I totally wasn't expecting. I knew that there was something weird and mysterious going on with the bookstore based on the synopsis, but I was thinking that it would be something illegal or something like that. Either way, I didn't love this book, but I did like it. There were several things that I thought could have been explained better. There were a few parts where I found myself having to try a little too hard to understand what was going on, because something hadn't been explained enough. Aside from that though, this book was pretty enjoyable. Overall, it was likable but unimpressive.

I decided to give it 7 stars out of 10. 

Fangirl 
by Rainbow Rowell

I went into this book not knowing a ton about the plot or characters... except the main character. When I heard that the main character was an introverted girl who wrote fanfiction and was going to college for the first time, I knew I had to read it because that was me 2 years ago. I feel like a large percentage of young adult readers will be able to relate to Cath. I know I definitely did. This book was completely adorable. I laughed out loud and said "Aww" more times than I could count. It was so cute. It was realistic and believable, and even had some deep moments. But overall, this is light contemporary at its finest, and I loved it.

I think I'm going to go with 9.75 stars out of 10. Almost perfect.

The Bone Season

by Samantha Shannon

Y'all. Y'ALL. So, I had high expectations for this book. It's the first in a new series, it's a fantasy and dystopian mix, it's got a main character who's close to my age, it's set in England... the list goes on and on. The point is, this book had absolutely everything I love in books... and it did not disappoint. The main gist is that our main character, Paige, is clairvoyant. In this dystopian future, being clairvoyant is a crime and clairvoyants are hunted down and killed. There are many many many different types of clairvoyants, and Paige is one of the rarest. She works for a voyant (slang for clairvoyant) gang in London. A lot of people weren't huge fans of this book because they didn't like the info-dumps and they found it hard to keep up with the different types of voyants. But I loved all of that. When I'm introduced to a new form of 'magic' or a new world or a dystopian version of my own world, I want to learn all of the information. And I definitely got that. And loved every second. 

Since it is the first book of a series, there is a lot of world-building and character development, and I really enjoyed it. Another of the key characters, Warden, is especially interesting. I won't go into detail to avoid spoilers, but if you've read the book, you know what I mean. I did find it a bit difficult to keep up with the characters, because nearly all of them have 2 names, and they're used interchangeably, and sometimes it's hard to keep up with which 2 names refer to the same person. But honestly, that's the only criticism that I have about the book. I loved all of it. It was incredible. The Mime Order comes out in late January and I really just don't want to wait two whole months for that book. NOW. NOW. Please, NOW. 

This is an easy 10 stars out of 10. This was amazing.


So that's it for the last Book Discussions post of the year! I hope you enjoyed this! Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Let me know 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. 

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!

28 Day Would You Rather Challenge (Times 2!)

Hey, y'all! Today I'll be doing my first One Day Tumblr Challenge post of the month! I actually decided to do two challenges within this post because they go together and each one is fairly short. So here we go, the two 28 Day Would You Rather challenges!

1) Live without music or live without TV?

Well, this one is fairly easy for me. Nearly all of the shows that I actually watch, I watch on Hulu or on Netflix. So I don't really watch actual TV very often. And I'm a music major. So I'd rather live without TV.

2) Eat a bar of soap or drink a bottle of dish washing liquid?
My thought process behind this is that regardless of how fast you can chew, it's going to take a long time to eat soap, and you'll be tasting it the entire time. With the liquid soap, you can just chug it and hopefully barely taste it. So I'm going to choose drinking a bottle of dish washing liquid.

3) Hold your pee forever of have an uncontrollable bladder?

It would be really uncomfortable, but I guess I would have to hold my pee forever. I mean, an uncontrollable bladder would be incredibly embarrassing. Unless I wore adult diapers or something.

4) Be called a racist or a traitor to your country?
I guess a traitor to my country. I can always move!

5) Be trapped in an elevator with wet dogs or with three fat men with bad breath?

Wet dogs. They might smell bad but they'd probably at least be cute.

6) Lose your legs or lose your arms?

I would definitely rather lose my legs. Feet don't have the same fine motor skills as hands and fingers, so I would be losing much, much more by losing my arms. I could get prosthetic legs that would do most of my legs' job for me. And probably wouldn't tire as quickly.

7) Have a beautiful house and an ugly car or an ugly house and a beautiful car?

A beautiful house and an ugly car. I spend much, much more time in my house than in my car, so I'd rather it be nice. I don't care if anyone else thinks my car looks stupid.

8) Be blind or deaf?

I've thought about this a lot and still have trouble deciding. I guess I would go with deaf because first off, I could function without a ton of assistance. I could watch shows using (admittedly terrible) captions. Additionally, doctors have begun being able to give deaf people devices to hear, so I might not even have to deal with actually being deaf.

9) Live in Antarctica or Death Valley?

Death Valley. I'd rather be too warm. I hate the cold.

10) Find true love or 10 million dollars?

A few years ago, I think I would have answered with find true love rather quickly, but at this point, I don't think I would say that. I very much like being myself, and honestly wouldn't mind if I ended up single for my entire life. So I think that at this point in my life, I would prefer the 10 million dollars.

11) Always say what's on your mind or never speak again?

Always say what's on my mind. It would suck, but the alternative is much worse.

12) Have pom-poms for hands or glow sticks for fingers?

Glow sticks for fingers. That would be super cool. Only a cheerleader would prefer the pom-poms.

13) Be able to hear any conversation or take back what you said?

Be able to hear any conversation. I'm not one to dwell on the past or worry about anything I said or did. I am however, one of the most curious human beings on the face of this planet, and I would love to know what other people are talking about.

14) End hunger or hatred?

Ooh, this one is a toughie. I think I would rather end hunger. I feel like that could serve to alleviate the hatred problem just a smidge.

15) Always lose or never play?

I wanted to say always lose, but honestly, I'd say never play. If I'm going to constantly put effort into something and constantly fail, I'd just rather not put the effort into it. What can I say, I'm lazy. Sorry, not sorry.

16) Fly when you fart or pee when you laugh?

Fly when I fart. That's at least fun. Peeing when laughing would be embarrassing, especially since I laugh so much.

17) Know it all or have it all?

Know it all. No question. I'm an insatiably curious person and I want to literally know everything. 

18) Give bad advice or take bad advice?

Give bad advice. That's basically how my life works right now, and it's working pretty well for me. Eventually people will/ would stop asking me for advice.

19) Have a mansion in the middle of nowhere or an apartment with 10 friends?

A mansion in the middle of nowhere sounds absolutely perfect. As long as that "middle of nowhere" is grassy and pretty rather than like a desert or something. I like being by myself, so living with 10 friends sounds terrifying.

20) Be forgotten or hatefully remembered?

That's basically like asking whether I'd rather be Hitler or some random unknown person. So I'd rather be forgotten. 

21) Not be able to use your phone or your email?

My email. I use my phone all the time, and only really use my email for school and blog stuff, so it wouldn't be completely disastrous if I didn't have it. I'd just have to call a lot more than I do now.

22) Be rich with an unhappy job or make less money with a job you like?

I'd rather make less money with a job I like. This is also basically my life. I'm going to do a job I really want to do, but it's not the best paying thing in the world.

23) Be able to read everyone's mind all the time or always know their future?

That's a toughie. I think it would be cool to read minds, but I'd also have to be able to filter out the really random stuff and the stuff the fleeting thoughts that they didn't actually mean. So I think I'd rather always know their future just because that's at least a little more concrete.

24) Eat a handful of hair or lick three public phones?

Eat a handful of hair. It would be gross, but I could just eat my own hair, knowing I wouldn't get any sort of weird diseases or get sick or anything.

25) Be schizophrenic or have amnesia?

Amnesia. I'd rather forget stuff than not be able to be a functioning adult.

26) Talk like Yoda or breathe like Darth Vader?

Breathe like Darth Vader. That might actually be cool, but talking like Yoda would just be annoying.

27) Marry a vain person or a person with poor image?

I would much rather marry a person with poor image. Vanity in a person is one of the least attractive traits ever. Even more unattractive than being physically unattractive.

28) Eat 30 pounds of cheese in one sitting or a bucket of peanut butter without water?

A bucket of peanut butter without water. At least I wouldn't get sick by doing that. I would vomit several times if I had to eat 30 pounds of cheese in a single sitting.

1) Get Fridays off or get Mondays off?

I would prefer to get Fridays off. That would be a dream come true.

2) Find true love or 10 million dollars?

Oops repeat question from the first. Like I said on the other one, I'd choose 10 million dollars.

3) Lose half of your hair or lose half your hearing?

Half of my hair. It could be like spread out throughout my hair and not just in one place, so it wouldn't be as bad. Plus, I could totally just get hair plugs or something like that.

4) Be poor and work at a job you love or be rich and work at a job you hate?

This is pretty much like the question from the other one. I would rather be poor and work at a job I love.

5) Go without the internet or a car for a month?

Go without a car for a month. I have a roommate who could drive me around if I needed her to. I don't know what I'd do without the internet.

6) Have to sit all day or stand all day?

Have to sit all day. That's basically how I spend my life right now anyway.

7) Dump someone else or be the person getting dumped?

Dump someone else. Yes, you're the bad guy, but it hurts less.

8) Drink a cup of spoiled milk or pee your pants in public?

Ooh, this one really sucks. I guess I'd rather pee my pants in public. I could pretend I sat in water or something.

9) Have your flight delayed by 8 hours or lose your luggage?

Have my flight delayed by 8 hours. I could use some free wifi and just use the internet, per usual. Losing my luggage would really suck, because I tend to take my favorite stuff with me on a trip.

10) Be in your pajamas all day or in a suit all day?

Is this even an actual question? I'd rather be in my pajamas all day. Duh!

11) Have a missing finger or have an extra toe?

An extra toe. As someone who plays a stringed instrument and does a lot of typing, losing a finger would take a long time to recover from. Having an extra toe would probably not be too much of a hassle.

12) Never use the internet again or never watch TV again?

Never watch TV again. I spend much less time watching TV, and could totally watch TV shows online. So that's kinda the obvious choice.

13) Be invisible or have super speed?

I'm assuming that this means I could become invisible whenever I wanted, not that I would be in a constant state of invisibility. In that case, I'd rather be invisible. 

14) Have an extra hour every day or have $40 given to you free and clear every day?

An extra hour would definitely be really handy, but I think that $280 dollars a week would be even more handy. So I'd rather have $40 given to me free and clear every day. 

15) Have a photographic memory or be able to forget anything you wanted?

I think I would prefer to have a photographic memory. I'm not one to dwell on the negatives of the past, so while it would be nice to forget some stuff, I feel like it would still come back to haunt me, and nothing in my past is really haunting enough to upset me too much.

16) Able to lie without being caught or always be able to tell when someone is lying?

Always be able to tell when someone is lying to me. I feel like this would be more handy to me in my life because I tend to not get into situations where lying is necessary.

17) Be a clown that distracts the bull or the bull rider on the bull?

The bull rider on the bull. I think that would be kinda cool to do just once.

18) Be known as a drug dealer or be known as a liar?

Be known as a liar. Because I could use that to my advantage. Being known as a drug dealer might get me killed.

19) Eat only KFC for a month or eat only Taco Bell for a year?

Only KFC for a month. I like Taco Bell, but it gets old really quickly. I could eat fried chicken forever though.

20) Be your favorite video game character or be your favorite movie character?

Well, my favorite video game character is probably Spyro. I'm not sure I have a favorite movie character. I really like Emma Stone's character in The Rocker, and it would be really cool to have her life, so I guess I'd rather be my favorite movie character. 

21) Run 26 miles or swim 5 miles?

Swim 5 miles. I like swimming more than running. I would probably get kinda tired, but I think I'd survive. Running 26 miles would be terrible.

22) Hold your pee all day or go pee every 5 minutes?

I'd probably prefer to go pee every 5 minutes. Holding pee is one of those all-consuming thoughts and I'm not sure I could get anything done if I had to do that all day.

23) Be a famous rapper or be a notorious mobster?

I don't really like rap and this isn't even a thought. I'd rather be a famous rapper. If I were a notorious mobster, people would probably be after me to kill me!

24) Be eaten by a zombie or be burnt at the stake?

Ooh, this one is a toughie. I guess I'd rather be burnt at the stake. Burning sounds slightly less painful than being ripped limb from limb.

25) Never drink soda again or never eat pizza again?

Well, this sucks because these are two of my favorite things ever. However, I drink somewhere around 30-50 oz of soda in any given day, and only get pizza occasionally, so I'd have to choose to never eat pizza again.

26) See everything blurry or see everything in black and white?

I guess it depends. Seeing everything blurry would basically be like having bad eyesight, right? So I guess I could just get glasses/ contacts to fix that and it wouldn't really have much of an effect on my life. However, if it was too bad to fix with glasses, then black and white wouldn't be bad at all. So I guess I'd say see everything blurry unless it couldn't be remedied with glasses.

27) Be stuck in a room with dead bodies or eat 5 spiders?

I guess that all depends on how long I was stuck in that room. If it wasn't for a terribly long time, I'd rather be stuck in a room with dead bodies. 

28) Be deaf and have no legs or be blind with no arms?

Be deaf and have no legs. Losing my eyesight and arms would each be more devastating than their counterparts. 

So there we go, those are the 2 Would You Rather challenges! I hope you enjoyed this! I thought it was pretty fun.

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!

July Book Haul [Book Haul #3]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with my July book haul! I bought 14 books this month, which was more than I wanted to buy, but I don't really feel bad about it because several are books I have already read, and several are ones that I plan on reading this month.

Anyway, enough rambling. On to THE BOOKS.

Amazon Purchases

I bought all of these books off of Amazon at different times throughout the month, some just from Amazon, and some from their third-party vendors.

Project Runway: The Show That Changed Fashion

I actually already owned this book. I bought it right when it came out two years ago. However, if you remember from my bookshelf tour (Click here for part 1), I had this sitting on my windowsill. Well... apparently, we had a leaky windowsill and my copy was ruined. So I found a new copy from a third-party vendor on Amazon for only like $5, so I went ahead and got it and tossed the ruined copy.

Literary Listography

This is the most recent in a series of Listography books. I actually pre-ordered it so that I could get it this month on the day it came out. Each page has a different list for you to fill out. Since this one is all about books, there are lists to fill out such as "Favorite books of all-time" and "Favorite fantasy books." I also have the Music Listography and the original Listography. So far, I'm really liking this one!

The Shadowhunter's Codex 

by Cassandra Clare and Joshua Lewis

I own and have read all of Cassandra Clare's books, so I really wanted to get this one. I found it for only $5 from a third-party vendor on Amazon, so I snagged it. I plan on reading it this month, so it's not really adding anything to my TBR.

172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad

I've been eyeing this one for a while. A horror novel set on the moon sounds extremely intriguing, and when I saw it for only $7 on amazon, I went ahead and bought it. I'm hoping that I get to read this in October with my horror TBR!

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

This. Book. I've been wanting to read this for so incredibly long. This is actually the book I'm reading right now, but I'm not too far into it. Anyway, I picked it up right at the beginning of the month when I saw it for $7 on Amazon. It was also the best place to find it in paperback, and for once I significantly preferred the paperback cover, so I was glad to find it pretty inexpensively.

Unite Me by Tahereh Mafi

Yet another one I've been eyeing for quite a while, and it was $6 on Amazon. You know the drill by this point. I'm also not adding anything to my TBR, because I've already read it!

Four by Veronica Roth

I found this one one day at Target. I knew that she would be releasing a collection of novellas told from Four's POV, but I thought they were going to be separate and that they were going to be published as ebooks. So when I saw this sitting at Target, I just decided to pick it up.

Book Outlet

As usual, I made yet another Book Outlet purchase. Although this time I tried to keep it relatively small!

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

This was the book that prompted the Book Outlet purchase. I had seen this on Book Outlet off and on, but every time I found it, there weren't other books on there that I really wanted, and each time I went to go make a larger purchase, it was never there. And it would be pointless to buy it on Book Outlet without anything else, because then I would basically be paying full price. Either way, I plan on reading this within the next couple weeks!

Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake

I saw that it was only about 3 dollars, and had been wanting to read it, so I went ahead and grabbed it. This may be included in my October horror TBR, but at the same time, I'd probably want to read the sequel immediately after and I have a very long list of books I want to read in that month already... so maybe not. Either way, this sounds like a really interesting take on a ghost story, and the text is a very subtle shade of red, which is super cool. 

The Travelers Books 1 & 3

These two books are the first and last books in a trilogy based off of the Pendragon series by DJ MacHale. Each book has 3 stories, each one about one of the 9 travelers (except Bobby Pendragon) prior to the Pendragon series. I just recently found out that these are not actually written by DJ MacHale, which bums me out just a little, but it will still be nice to read stories about my favorite travelers. And since my two favorites are the ones featured in the middle of these two covers, I'm hoping their stories are longer and more intense than the others. 

HARRY POTTER!

This month, I was finally able to find the last two books I needed to complete my hardcover Harry Potter collection!

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

This may be my least favorite book in the Harry Potter series (check out this series post and this video to learn more about my Harry Potter rankings) but I still wanted a pristine copy of it, and for an inexpensive price. And I finally found one! 

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Even after re-reading the Harry Potter series in June, my rankings of the books didn't really change. Apparently, I've got a pretty good grasp on which are my favorites and which aren't. What did change, however, is the gaps between each ranking. Previously, I'd had Order of the Phoenix (5th fave) and Goblet of Fire (4th fave) mostly tied, with Goblet of Fire getting a slight edge. After this read, however, Goblet of Fire is almost tied with Prisoner of Azkaban, which is my 3rd favorite. Either way, it went from getting 4 stars on GoodReads to 5, which is an extremely rare occurrence for me. 

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Finally, I also found The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which I still hadn't purchased for some reason. I borrowed my friend's copy years ago, but hadn't ever bought it myself. Thankfully, my favorite used bookstore had it for $4, so I got it along with the other Harry Potter books I found that day!

So there we go, those are the 14 books I bought this month! Like I said, I didn't plan on buying very many this month, but since I've already read several and plan to read several this month, I don't feel bad about it. I do still plan on trying to buy very few books, so I'll probably only be allowing myself to purchase books that I have on my TBR for the rest of the year. 

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!