"Get to Know Me" Tag (21 Questions)

So I've seen this tag around a couple places and figured it was about time to get this blog back up and running with a fun tag! My second year of college has been insanely crazy and stressful so I needed to put blogging and reading on the back burner for a while, but hopefully since finals are about 2 weeks away afterwards I should hopefully have more time to blog and read and get back to a normal routine.

**I have no clue who created this tag, so there's no link to the creator, but I think it may have started on Youtube.**
 

This tag is pretty simple, there's 21 random questions that tell you more about me in the form of fun questionnaire!

Let's Get Started....

1. Are you named after anyone? Yes actually, my dad. His name is Eric... add an "a" on the end and Viola!... Erica it is! :)

2. When was the last time you cried? I'm normally not a very emotional person...it's probably been well over a year since I've cried over something serious... otherwise tv shows will sometimes cause that tiny stream of tears to fall...uhh wait...did I really admit that....

3. Do you have kids? No.

4. If you were another person, would you be a friend of yourself? Definitely! I think I'm a pretty cool person to be friends with if I may say so myself!

5. Do you use sarcasm a lot? YES. Guilty. Haha its definitely a part of my personality.

6. Will you ever bungee-jump? UMMM NOOO! I mean I'm all for living life to the fullest... BUT... not exactly to that extent... 

7. What’s your favorite cereal? CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH... that is all.

8. What’s the first thing you notice about people? Their eyes... then their mannerisms and behavior. I'm definitely an observer, so I love to watch people and get an idea of how they are as a person from a far....hope that made sense :)

9. What is your eye color? Brown.

10. Scary movie or happy endings? Happy Endings.... but Scary Movies if I'm not alone....

11. Favorite smells? Coffee... I'm addicted and also fruity or spice- scented candles.

12. Summer or winter? Winter! Or Fall. I love layering and also fall/winter fashion. Boots, Sweaters, Scarves, etc.

13. Computer or television? Computer, hands down! I can do all the things with a computer, INCLUDING watch TV so it's the best of both worlds.

14. What’s the furthest you’ve ever been from home? On vacations I've traveled to South America but that's the furthest.

15. Do you have any special talents? I can roll my tongue into a 3-leaf clover, and I'm also double jointed... if that counts.

16. Where were you born? Mississippi.

17. What are your hobbies? Shopping...compulsively.... organizing and running my Etsy Shop, running my book blog. (readitnoteit.blogspot.com)...shameless plug, painting/drawing, and also I'm getting back into crocheting. 

18. Do you have any pets? No, but I can definitely see a puppy or two in my future!

19. Favorite movie? A couple of favorites.... Deep Blue Sea...Mirrors...Bridesmaids... Dumb and Dumber... The Breakfast Club... and a lot more! 

20. Do you have any siblings? Yes… 3 younger brothers and 1 younger sister, from my parents' separate marriages.

21. What do you want to be when you grow up? For now... a Dermatologist! I really interested in the field of medicine, so I believe my mind is set for now.

 

I tag Anyone and Everyone!! Leave your link in the comments below and I'll be sure to check out your post!

Top Ten Tuesday (TTT, #32)

 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's post is:
Ten Fairytale Retellings I've Read/ Want To Read
In no particular order...

These are some of the retellings that I have read, currently reading, and want to read! :) Goodreads Blurbs below if you want to know more about these books!

Read

Cinder and Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles, #1 and #2) - Marissa Meyer

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

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Beastly  - Alex Flinn

I am a beast.

A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright—a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

You think I'm talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It's no deformity, no disease. And I'll stay this way forever—ruined—unless I can break the spell.

Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I'll tell you. I'll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.

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The Wrath and the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn, #1) - Renee Ahdieh

A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi's wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all.

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Starcrossed (Starcrossed, #1) -Josephine Angelini

How do you defy destiny?

Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.

As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.

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Sweet Venom  (Medusa Girls, #1) - Tara Lynn Childs

Grace moves to San Francisco but fears monsters and girl who looks just like her who shows up to fight them. Orphan Gretchen is tired of battling monsters. Her mentor vanishes. Wealthy Greer has busy social life, no room for joining triplets on her doorstep. Three teen descendants of Medusa must unite and fight monsters only they can see -- or are some good?

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Currently Reading

Splintered  (Splintered, #1) - A. G. Howard

This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence.

Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.

When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

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Want to Read 

Cruel Beauty (Cruel Beauty Universe, #1) - Rosamund Hodge

 

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle—a shifting maze of magical rooms—enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

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Cress and Winter  (The Lunar Chronicles, #3 and #4) -Marissa Meyer

 

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A Court of Thorns and Roses

(A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1) -Sarah J. Maas

A thrilling, seductive new series from New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas, blending Beauty and the Beast with faerie lore.

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

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The Madman's Daughter (The Madman's Daughter, #1) -Megan Shepherd

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father's madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island's inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius—and madness—in her own blood.

Inspired by H. G. Wells's classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman's Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we'll do anything to know and the truths we'll go to any lengths to protect.

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What Are Your Picks?

"Waiting On" Wednesday (WoW, #46)

 "Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine that highlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly awaiting!

This week's selection is:

Legacy of Kings

Author(s): Eleanor Herman

Series: Blood of Gods and Royals, #1
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Expected Publication: August 25, 2015

Pre-Order Now!: Book Depository

 Goodreads Blurb:

Imagine a time when the gods turn a blind eye to the agony of men, when the last of the hellions roam the plains and evil stirs beyond the edges of the map. A time when cities burn, and in their ashes, empires rise.

Alexander, Macedonia’s sixteen-year-old heir, is on the brink of discovering his fated role in conquering the known world but finds himself drawn to newcomer Katerina, who must navigate the dark secrets of court life while hiding her own mission: kill the Queen. But Kat’s first love, Jacob, will go to unthinkable lengths to win her, even if it means competing for her heart with Hephaestion, a murderer sheltered by the prince. And far across the sea, Zofia, a Persian princess and Alexander’s unmet fiancée, wants to alter her destiny by seeking the famed and deadly Spirit Eaters.

Weaving fantasy with the salacious and fascinating details of real history, New York Times bestselling author Eleanor Herman reimagines the greatest emperor the world has ever known: Alexander the Great, in the first book of the Blood of Gods and Royals series.

What books are you "Waiting On" this week? "

Weekly Reading Update (WRU, #11)

This week I'm currently still reading The Young Elites by Marie Lu. So for about 3 weeks I haven't read much of anything *sighs* :(  Buuuutttt, hopefully this next week all that will change, I need to get through about 5 books in the next 8 days before they are due back to my library! Plus they are all great books that I've been wanting to read. Let's do this! :)

The Young Elites (The Young Elites, #1)

Author: Marie Lu
Pages: Currently reading on page 56 of 355
Acquired: Library
Published: 2014


Goodreads Blurb:
I am tired of being used, hurt, and cast aside.

Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.

Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it’s Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all.

Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen.

Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side, and that Teren is the true enemy. But the lives of these three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle. But of one thing they are all certain: Adelina has abilities that shouldn’t belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her.

It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt.

***** 

Tell me what you're currently reading or what you've read this week!

Weekly Reading Update (WRU, #10)

This week I'm currently still reading The Dream Thieves since my week has been busier than I anticipated. I plan to finish this and possibly either Conversion by Katherine Howe or The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson before they are due back to my library. 

The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle, #2)

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Pages: Currently reading on page 186 of 439
Acquired: Library
Published: 2013


Goodreads Blurb:
If you could steal things from dreams, what would you take?

Ronan Lynch has secrets. Some he keeps from others. Some he keeps from himself.

One secret: Ronan can bring things out of his dreams.

And sometimes he's not the only one who wants those things.

Ronan is one of the raven boys—a group of friends, practically brothers, searching for a dead king named Glendower, who they think is hidden somewhere in the hills by their elite private school, Aglionby Academy. The path to Glendower has long lived as an undercurrent beneath town. But now, like Ronan's secrets, it is beginning to rise to the surface—changing everything in its wake.

***** 

Tell me what you're currently reading or what you've read this week!

Rebel Belle (Rebel Belle, #1)

 

Author:Rachel Hawkins
Series: Rebel Belle, #1
Pages: 345
Challenge: Goodreads Challenge 2015
Genre: Fantasy
Acquired:Library
Rating: ★★★★

*****

Goodreads Summary:

Harper Price, peerless Southern belle, was born ready for a Homecoming tiara. But after a strange run-in at the dance imbues her with incredible abilities, Harper's destiny takes a turn for the seriously weird. She becomes a Paladin, one of an ancient line of guardians with agility, super strength and lethal fighting instincts.

Just when life can't get any more disastrously crazy, Harper finds out who she's charged to protect: David Stark, school reporter, subject of a mysterious prophecy and possibly Harper's least favorite person. But things get complicated when Harper starts falling for him—and discovers that David's own fate could very well be to destroy Earth.

With snappy banter, cotillion dresses, non-stop action and a touch of magic, this new young adult series from bestseller Rachel Hawkins is going to make y'all beg for more.

  *****

 My Thoughts:

Harper Jane Price is the perfect student, friend, and girlfriend. Her life is great right up until she finds out that she is destined to protect the one guy in the world that she hates most, David Stark.

Harper is the picture perfect girl, she gets straight As, is involved in nearly every organization known to Pine Grove, and has the hottest- most sought out guy on her arm. Life should be great, but that was until she got thrust into the world of a centuries old prophecy that deems her sole protector of the one guy she likes least on the planet.

I found Harper to be smart, determined, and extremely stubborn! It was great watching her character understand her responsibility and to make the difficult choice of protecting her nemesis and never having a normal life again.... orrrrr trying to put it all behind her and attempt to act like nothing ever happened to assume her normal life again. I really loved that she reacted to the situation as a normal person would react. I feel that sometimes in books like these you get characters that are all TOO willing and calm to assume certain responsibilities, and Harper was definitely not one of those characters!

I liked that this book surprised me a little, I didn't expect to get the action- packed and interesting storyline that I got! From the cover I was expecting something lighter with maybe a bit of magic or a secret spy/assassin type of book, but what I got was definitely more intriguing and it worked because I really enjoyed the back story and overall setup of this book!

Liked Most: David and Harper's snarkyness and their witty and sarcastic comments to each other
Liked Least: I wasn't a huge fan of the ending actually, I liked the whole set up, but I thought the execution of some of the scenes lacked the punch it could've had. I wanted it to either blow me away with the events of the climax or to be left in more of an interesting cliffhanger, sadly I felt I got neither :( Nonetheless, I was content with what I got.

This was really enjoyable, it was medium-paced throughout... but slower in some parts of the book. Read this in 2 sittings.

I will say that in the beginning I saw a couple of things coming, but near the end, a couple of events surprised me so it was an okay balance in that aspect. The plot was interesting with the historical bits (fiction) thrown in about the Paladins and its connection to the story and the characters. I'm a sucker for good back story, and well thought out "historical" aspects (whether true or fiction)!

Ending: I was content with it. Could it have been better?... yes....but I was satisfied with how it ended. I do plan to continue on with this series/trilogy. :)
Cover: 7/10... I love now that I've read the book, I understand the cover better!
Rating: 4/5.... Overall I really enjoyed this book's plot and characters, it was a really good book!
Recommend: I would recommend to those who like fantasy books not so heavy on the fantasy with elements of magic, prophecies, and light romance

I hope to continue on with Miss Mayhem as I found this to be a very enjoyable read! I also want to try out Rachel Hawkin's Hex Hall series to see her take on witches.

If you have read this book, let me know your thoughts below!!

*****

"Waiting On" Wednesday (WoW, #45)

 "Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine that highlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly awaiting!

This week's selection is:

The Leveller

Author(s): Julia Durango

Series:The Leveller, #1
Publisher: HarperCollins
Expected Publication: June 23, 2015

Pre-Order Now!: Book Depository

 Goodreads Blurb:

Nixy Bauer is a self-made Leveller. Her job? Dragging kids out of virtual reality and back to their parents in the real world. It’s normally easy cash, but Nixy’s latest mission is fraught with real danger, intrigue, and romance.

Nixy Bauer is used to her classmates being very, very unhappy to see her. After all, she’s a bounty hunter in a virtual reality gaming world. Kids in the MEEP, as they call it, play entirely with their minds, while their bodies languish in a sleeplike state on the couch. Irritated parents, looking to wrench their kids back to reality, hire Nixy to jump into the game and retrieve them.

But when the game’s billionaire developer loses track of his own son in the MEEP, Nixy is in for the biggest challenge of her bounty-hunting career. Wyn Salvador isn’t some lazy kid looking to escape his homework: Wyn does not want to be found. And he’s left behind a suicide note. Nixy takes the job but quickly discovers that Wyn’s not hiding—he’s being held inside the game against his will. But who is holding him captive, and why?

Nixy and Wyn attempt to fight their way out of a mind game unlike any they’ve encountered, and the battle brings them closer than either could have imagined. But when the whole world is virtual, how can Nixy possibly know if her feelings are real?

Gamers and action fans of all types will dive straight into the MEEP, thanks to Julia Durango’s cinematic storytelling. A touch of romance adds some heart to Nixy’s vivid, multidimensional journey through Wyn’s tricked-out virtual city, and constant twists keep readers flying through to the breathtaking end.

What books are you "Waiting On" this week? "

Top Ten Tuesday (TTT, #31)

 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's post is:

Top 10 Book on My TBR for Summer 2015

In no particular order...

These are some of the books that I have had on my TBR for a LONG time and it's about time to hopefully get to them this summer! :) Goodreads Blurbs below if you want to know more about these books!

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
The Evolution of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer, #1 and #2) - Michelle Hodkin

Mara Dyer believes life can't get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed.
There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.
She's wrong.

***************************************

The DUFF  - Kody Keplinger

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.
Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

***************************************

 

Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy, #1) - Pierce Brown

The Earth is dying. Darrow is a Red, a miner in the interior of Mars. His mission is to extract enough precious elements to one day tame the surface of the planet and allow humans to live on it. The Reds are humanity's last hope.

Or so it appears, until the day Darrow discovers it's all a lie. That Mars has been habitable - and inhabited - for generations, by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. A class of people who look down on Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought.

Until the day that Darrow, with the help of a mysterious group of rebels, disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their command school, intent on taking down his oppressors from the inside. But the command school is a battlefield - and Darrow isn't the only student with an agenda.

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The Bone Season (The Bone Season, #1) -Samantha Shannon

The year is 2059. Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of Scion London, based at Seven Dials, employed by a man named Jaxon Hall. Her job: to scout for information by breaking into people's minds. For Paige is a dreamwalker, a clairvoyant and, in the world of Scion, she commits treason simply by breathing.

It is raining the day her life changes for ever. Attacked, drugged and kidnapped, Paige is transported to Oxford – a city kept secret for two hundred years, controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. Paige is assigned to Warden, a Rephaite with mysterious motives. He is her master. Her trainer. Her natural enemy. But if Paige wants to regain her freedom she must allow herself to be nurtured in this prison where she is meant to die.

The Bone Season introduces a compelling heroine and also introduces an extraordinary young writer, with huge ambition and a teeming imagination. Samantha Shannon has created a bold new reality in this riveting debut.

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Hopeless  (Hopeless, #1) - Colleen Hoover

Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies…

That’s what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she’s never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of just one encounter, and something about the way he makes her feel sparks buried memories from a past that she wishes could just stay buried.

Sky struggles to keep him at a distance knowing he’s nothing but trouble, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. After finally caving to his unwavering pursuit, Sky soon finds that Holder isn’t at all who he’s been claiming to be. When the secrets he’s been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky’s life will change forever.

 *************************************** 

Splintered  (Splintered, #1) - A. G. Howard

This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence.

Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.

When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

 *************************************** 

Seraphina (Seraphina, #1) - Rachel Hartman

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die, #1) -Danielle Paige

I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado - taking you with it - you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little bluebirds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still a yellow brick road - but even that's crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm - and I'm the other girl from Kansas.

I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.

I've been trained to fight.

And I have a mission.

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A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1) -George R.R. Martin

Summers span decades. Winter can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun.

As Warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must … and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty.

The old gods have no power in the south, Stark’s family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, the vengeance-mad heir of the deposed Dragon King has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities. He claims the Iron Throne.

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Harry Potter (Harry Potter, #2, #3, #4) - JK Rowling

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What Are Your Picks?

Weekly Reading Update (WRU, #9)

This week I managed to read two books and start one more.

  The Ring and the Crown (The Ring and the Crown, #1)

Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Pages: 372
Acquired: Library
Published: 2014
Rating: 3.5/5

Goodreads Blurb:
Princess Marie-Victoria, heir to the Lily Throne, and Aelwyn Myrddn, bastard daughter of the Mage of England, grew up together. But who will rule, and who will serve?

Quiet and gentle, Marie has never lived up to the ambitions of her mother, Queen Eleanor the Second, Supreme Ruler of the Franco-British Empire. With the help of her Head Merlin, Emrys, Eleanor has maintained her stranglehold on the world's only source of magic. She rules the most powerful empire the world has ever seen.

But even with the aid of Emrys' magic, Eleanor's extended lifespan is nearing its end. The princess must marry and produce an heir or the Empire will be vulnerable to its greatest enemy, Prussia. The two kingdoms must unite to end the war, and the only solution is a match between Marie and Prince Leopold VII, heir to the Prussian throne. But Marie has always loved Gill, her childhood friend and soldier of the Queen's Guard.

Together, Marie and Aelwyn, a powerful magician in her own right, come up with a plan. Aelwyn will take on Marie's face, allowing the princess to escape with Gill and live the quiet life she's always wanted. And Aelwyn will get what she's always dreamed of--the chance to rule. But the court intrigue and hunger for power in Lenoran England run deeper than anyone could imagine. In the end, there is only rule that matters in Eleanor's court: trust no one.

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  Can You Keep A Secret?

Author: Sophie Kinsella
Pages: 357
Acquired: Library
Published: 2004
Rating: 4/5

Goodreads Blurb:
Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets: Secrets from her boyfriend: I've always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken. Secrets from her mother: I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben-Hur. Secrets she wouldn't share with anyone in the world: I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is. Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger.…Until Emma comes face-to-face with Jack Harper, the company's elusive CEO, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her...

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The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle, #2)

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Pages: Currently reading on page 37 of 439
Acquired: Library
Published: 2013


Goodreads Blurb:
If you could steal things from dreams, what would you take?

Ronan Lynch has secrets. Some he keeps from others. Some he keeps from himself.

One secret: Ronan can bring things out of his dreams.

And sometimes he's not the only one who wants those things.

Ronan is one of the raven boys—a group of friends, practically brothers, searching for a dead king named Glendower, who they think is hidden somewhere in the hills by their elite private school, Aglionby Academy. The path to Glendower has long lived as an undercurrent beneath town. But now, like Ronan's secrets, it is beginning to rise to the surface—changing everything in its wake.

***** 

Tell me what you're currently reading or what you've read this week!

Starcrossed (Starcrossed, #1)

 

Author: Josephine Angelini
Series: Starcrossed, #1
Pages: 487
Challenge: Goodreads Challenge 2015, Fairytale Retelling Challenge 2015
Genre: Paranormal, Retelling
Acquired: Bought
Rating: ★★★★

*****

Goodreads Summary:

How do you defy destiny?

Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.

As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.

  *****

 My Thoughts:

Starcrossed tells the story of a sixteen year old Helen Hamiliton who finds out she is destined to reenact an age old Greek tragedy. Can Helen break the curse before she loses those she loves most or will the destiny of the Fates be too strong to overcome?

I found Helen to be an okay character throughout this book. She was annoying at some (most) points. I wanted more from her, more determination and less "I can't do this" attitude. I definitely liked the overall plot and dare I say it.... literally every other character 10x more than I liked Helen. Ehhh... she was really a piece of work!

Speaking of other characters, I loved Lucas and his family! <3 His personality and protectiveness over those that he loves made him even more amazing for me! Also Creon and his connection to everybody was interesting as well as Daphne and her story definitely made the plot more intriquing towards the middle/end of the novel. Their stories gave the story that extra jolt of action and mystery to add interest that kept me entertained!

I really liked the retelling aspect of this story, but with a twist. I liked that even though I knew the most basic points of the retelling, the book wasn't predictable for me, which is great!

Liked Most: the magical powers the characters had from the Gods
Liked Least: Helen's personality/ let's just say her whiny attitude wasn't my favorite
Favorite Scene(s): Learning more about Lucas and his family's history, they were all so interestingly connected and different. Loved how despite their differences they all meshed well together and complemented each other.

Problems?:.... in some parts the story suffered from info dumping also the overall pacing of the story was slower than I was expecting.

Ending: was OK, it ended in a good place for the next book to pick up and continue. I obviously still have questions and confusion, but that's expected and should be answered in the next books.
Cover: 6/10... I love that it fits the storyline and its mood well
Rating: 4/5.... Overall I really enjoyed this book's plot and characters, it was a really good book!
Recommend: I would recommend to those who like retellings and mythology, paranormal romance, and magic/powers!

I hope to continue on with this trilogy and someday know how everything wraps up and ultimately ends!

If you have read this book, let me know your thoughts below!!

*****

"Waiting On" Wednesday (WoW, #44)

 "Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine that highlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly awaiting!

This week's selection is:

Every Last Word

Author(s): Tamara Ireland Stone

Series: none
Publisher: Disney- Hyperion
Expected Publication: June 16, 2015

Pre-Order Now!: Book Depository

 Goodreads Blurb:

If you could read my mind, you wouldn't be smiling.

Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off.

Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn't help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she'd be truly crazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam's weekly visits to her psychiatrist.

Caroline introduces Sam to Poet's Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more "normal" than she ever has as part of the popular crowd . . . until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear.

What books are you "Waiting On" this week? "

Top Ten Tuesday (TTT, #30)

 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's post is:

Top 10 Most Anticipated For the Rest of 2015

In no particular order...

Here are some releases that come out in the next half of the year that I cannot wait for! (July 2015- November 2015) :) Goodreads Blurbs below if you want to know more about these books!

Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1) - Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Expected publication: October 20th 2015 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded. 

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

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Dreamstrider  - Lindsay Smith

Expected publication: October 6th 2015 by Roaring Brook Press

A high-concept, fantastical espionage novel set in a world where dreams are the ultimate form of political intelligence.

Livia is a dreamstrider. She can inhabit a subject's body while they are sleeping and, for a short time, move around in their skin. She uses her talent to work as a spy for the Barstadt Empire. But her partner, Brandt, has lately become distant, and when Marez comes to join their team from a neighborhing kingdom, he offers Livia the option of a life she had never dared to imagine. Livia knows of no other dreamstriders who have survived the pull of Nightmare. So only she understands the stakes when a plot against the Empire emerges that threatens to consume both the dreaming world and the waking one with misery and rage.

A richly conceived world full of political intrigue and fantastical dream sequences, at its heart Dreamstrider is about a girl who is struggling to live up to the potential before her.

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Hunter (Hunter, #1) - Mercedes Lackey

Expected publication: September 1st 2015 by Disney-Hyperion

Centuries ago, the barriers between our world and the Otherworld were slashed open allowing hideous fantastical monsters to wreak havoc; destroying entire cities in their wake. Now, people must live in enclosed communities, behind walls that keep them safe from the evil creatures constantly trying to break in. Only the corps of teen Hunters with lightning reflexes and magical abilities can protect the populace from the daily attacks.

Joyeaux Charmand is a mountain girl from a close knit village who comes to the big city to join the Hunters. Joy thinks she is only there to perform her civic duty and protect the capitol Cits, or civilians, but as cameras follow her every move, she soon learns that the more successful she is in her hunts, the more famous she becomes.

With millions of fans watching her on reality TV, Joy begins to realize that Apex is not all it seems. She is forced to question everything she grew up believing about the legendary Hunters and the very world she lives in. Soon she finds that her fame may be part of a deep conspiracy that threatens to upend the protective structure built to keep dark magic out. The monsters are getting in and it is up to Joy to find out why.

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A Thousand Nights - E. K. Johnston

Expected publication: October 6th 2015 by Disney Hyperion

Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon, she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next.

And so she is taken in her sister's place, and she believes death will soon follow. Lo-Melkhiin's court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments. She sees everything as if for the last time.But the first sun rises and sets, and she is not dead. Night after night, Lo-Melkhiin comes to her and listens to the stories she tells, and day after day she is awoken by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unlock years of fear that have tormented and silenced a kingdom. Lo-Melkhiin was not always a cruel ruler. Something went wrong.

Far away, in their village, her sister is mourning. Through her pain, she calls upon the desert winds, conjuring a subtle unseen magic, and something besides death stirs the air.

Back at the palace, the words she speaks to Lo-Melkhiin every night are given a strange life of their own. Little things, at first: a dress from home, a vision of her sister. With each tale she spins, her power grows. Soon she dreams of bigger, more terrible magic: power enough to save a king, if she can put an end to the rule of a monster.

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Con Academy  - Joe Schreiber

Expected publication: August 4th 2015 by HMH Books for Young Readers 

 

 

 

It's his senior year and Will Shea has conned his way into one of the country's most elite prep schools. But he soon runs into Andrea, a fellow con-artist. With the school not big enough for the both of them, they make a bet that whoever can con Brandt Rush, the richest, most privileged student in the school out of $50K, gets to stay at the school. Will starts setting up his con (an online poker scam) with his uncle who's one of the best grifters in the business, but also with the unwanted help of his father.. The plot thickens as Will starts falling for fellow student Gatsby, and some of Will's lies start to catch up with him. In this twisty tale of scams, secrets, lies and deception, it hard to figure out who's conning who!

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The Body Institute - Carol Riggs

Expected publication: September 1st 2015 by Entangled: Teen

Meet Morgan Dey, one of the top teen Reducers at The Body Institute.

Thanks to cutting-edge technology, Morgan can temporarily take over another girl’s body, get her in shape, and then return to her own body—leaving her client slimmer, more toned, and feeling great. Only there are a few catches…

For one, Morgan won’t remember what happens in her “Loaner” body. Once she’s done, she won’t recall walks with her new friend Matt, conversations with the super-cute Reducer she’s been text-flirting with, or the uneasy feeling she has that the director of The Body Institute is hiding something. Still, it’s all worth it in the name of science. Until the glitches start…

Suddenly, residual memories from her Loaner are cropping up in Morgan’s mind. She’s feeling less like herself and more like someone else. And when protests from an anti–Body Institute organization threaten her safety, she’ll have to decide if being a Reducer is worth the cost of her body and soul…

Are we our minds...or our bodies?

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Court of Fives (Court of Fives, #1) - Kate Elliott

Expected publication: August 18th 2015 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

In this imaginative escape into an enthralling new world, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott begins a new trilogy with her debut young adult novel, weaving an epic story of a girl struggling to do what she loves in a society suffocated by rules of class and privilege.

Jessamy's life is a balance between acting like an upper class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. But at night she can be whomever she wants when she sneaks out to train for The Fives, an intricate, multi-level athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom's best competitors. Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an unlikely friendship between a girl of mixed race and a Patron boy causes heads to turn. When a scheming lord tears Jes's family apart, she'll have to test Kal's loyalty and risk the vengeance of a powerful clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death.

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Legacy of Kings (Blood of Gods and Royals, #1) -Eleanor Herman

Expected publication: August 25th 2015 by Harlequin Teen

Imagine a time when the gods turn a blind eye to the agony of men, when the last of the hellions roam the plains and evil stirs beyond the edges of the map. A time when cities burn, and in their ashes, empires rise.

Alexander, Macedonia’s sixteen-year-old heir, is on the brink of discovering his fated role in conquering the known world but finds himself drawn to newcomer Katerina, who must navigate the dark secrets of court life while hiding her own mission: kill the Queen. But Kat’s first love, Jacob, will go to unthinkable lengths to win her, even if it means competing for her heart with Hephaestion, a murderer sheltered by the prince. And far across the sea, Zofia, a Persian princess and Alexander’s unmet fiancée, wants to alter her destiny by seeking the famed and deadly Spirit Eaters.

Weaving fantasy with the salacious and fascinating details of real history, New York Times bestselling author Eleanor Herman reimagines the greatest emperor the world has ever known: Alexander the Great, in the first book of the Blood of Gods and Royals series.

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Stand-Off (Winger, #2) - Andrew Smith

Expected publication: September 8th 2015 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stand-Off will focus on Ryan Dean's senior year, in which he becomes captain of the rugby team.

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Winter (The Lunar Chronicles, #4) - Marissa Meyer

Expected publication: November 10th 2015 by Feiwel and Friends

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend–the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

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What Are Your Picks?