Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Date Published: September 22, 2015

Published By: Tor

Pages: 96

Edition Read: ebook

Dates Read: 8/16/17

Rating: 

 

Synopsis: Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.

Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti’s stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.

If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself – but first she has to make it there, alive. 

 

My Thoughts: I read this for the challenge of reading a Hugo winner/nominee for my reading challenge this year. I had heard a few people talking about it and giving it high praise so I thought I’d give it a chance as well. I liked it for the most part, however, I was confused a lot of the time. I know this is an extremely short novella, less than 100 pages, but there wasn’t a ton of information given in terms of certain words or things just not being explained enough for them to make sense. I liked the main character though and the plot line was interesting enough. I do have plans to pick up the next installment in the series but I’m not in a hurry to do so.

Hunted by Megan Spooner

Date Published: March 14, 2017

Published By: Harper Teen

Pages: 384

Edition Read: hardcover

Dates Read: 8/7/17-8/11/17

Rating: 

 

 

Synopsis: Beauty knows the Beast’s forest in her bones—and in her blood. Though she grew up with the city’s highest aristocrats, far from her father’s old lodge, she knows that the forest holds secrets and that her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering them. 

So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters back to the outskirts of town, Yeva is secretly relieved. Out in the wilderness, there’s no pressure to make idle chatter with vapid baronessas…or to submit to marrying a wealthy gentleman. But Yeva’s father’s misfortune may have cost him his mind, and when he goes missing in the woods, Yeva sets her sights on one prey: the creature he’d been obsessively tracking just before his disappearance. 

Deaf to her sisters’ protests, Yeva hunts this strange Beast back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of creatures that Yeva’s only heard about in fairy tales. A world that can bring her ruin or salvation. Who will survive: the Beauty, or the Beast?

 

My Thoughts: I went into this without any real expectations, and I ended up enjoying it for the most part. I liked Yeva as a character. While you can tell that this is a retelling, the story is very much it’s own thing. I liked that the beast was an actual beast. The way things ended up going in the later half of the book I really enjoyed. I liked the pages we got from  Beasts’s point of view. I really like that this is a stand alone and that everything wrapped up at the end of the story. I recommend picking this up if you like retellings!

Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

Date Published: June 13, 2017

Published By: Tor

Pages: 187

Edition Read: hardcover

Dates Read: 7/30/17-8/6/17

Rating: 

 

 

 

Goodreads Synopsis: Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were packed off to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children.

This is the story of what happened first…

Jacqueline was her mother’s perfect daughter—polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it’s because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline.

Jillian was her father’s perfect daughter—adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you’ve got.

They were five when they learned that grown-ups can’t be trusted.

They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretense of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices. 

 

My Thoughts: I loved Jack in Every Heart a Doorway so I knew I wanted to find out what their story was before they came to the house. I loved this book so much. Seanan McGuire has the most stunning writing I have ever seen. I will read anything else that she puts out in terms of these stories and other characters. I definitely prefer Jack over Jill. Jill is very braty and feels like she is entitled to things and treats people pretty crappy. I like the transformation that Jack went through while in the Moors. I will say that this book addressed something important and that is how parent expect their children to be a certain way and force their expectations on their children. It was address very well in this story. I highly recommend reading this if you have read Every Heart a Doorway.

A Million Worlds With You by Claudia Gray

Date Published: November 1, 2016

Published By: Harper Teen

Pages: 419

Edition Read: ebook

Dates Read: 7/31/17-8/3/17

Rating: 

 

 

 

Synopsis: In the conclusion to Claudia Gray’s Firebird trilogy, fate and family will be questioned, loves will be won and lost, and the multiverse will be forever changed. It’s a battle of the Marguerites…and only one can win.

 

My Thoughts: This was my favorite book in the trilogy hands down. There was so much action and I was never bored. Even in the slower spots, you were still learning about the wolds and getting new information. I love that we got to go back to some of the worlds we had been in before. My favorite world has to be the Russiaverse. There’s a scene in this book (can’t say what it is cause..spoilers!) that had me on the edge of my seat. I love the relationships in this, family and otherwise. Claudia Gays writing is so engaging and you can’t help but get sucked into the story and just want the best for the characters. WE got an epilogue which made me so happy because we got to see what our characters ended up doing after the events of the last chapter. More books need to have these if you ask me! There’s also a ton of science in these books and I thought all that information was so interesting. I highly recommend this trilogy to everyone because there is something in it for everyone. Also, these covers are stunning!!!!

July 2017 Wrap Up!

I was shocked when I sat down to get my stats for this post and realized that I had read 9 books this month! I guess it’s safe to say that my reading slump has finally gone away! HOORAY!!!!! I didn’t buy any books this month which isn’t that abnormal. I haven’t been buying a ton of books this year because I have been using my library a lot more. I did manage to complete 7 of the challenges on my list this month so I am happy with that. Let’s jump in and see what I managed to read this month!

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4. A title that doesn’t contain the letter “e”
9. A book in the middle of your tbr list
14. A book with a strong female character
18. A really long book (600+ pages)
22. A  book by an author you haven’t read before
29. A book published outside the main 4 publishing houses
30. A book from the Goodreads Top 100 YA list

 

 

 

June 2017 Wrap Up
The Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag
If I Was your Girl (review)
Under Rose-Tainted Skies (review)
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (review)
Every Heart a Doorway (review)
Highly Illogical Behavior (review)
A Thousand Pieces of You (review)
Lord of Shadows (review)
Ten Thousand Skies Above You (review)

Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray

Date Published: November 3, 2015

Published By: Harper Teen

Pages: 424

Edition Read: ebook

Dates Read: 7/27/17-7/31/17

Rating: 

 

 

Synopsis: The second book in the Firebird trilogy, Ten Thousand Skies Above You features Claudia Gray’s lush, romantic language and smart, exciting action, and will have readers clamoring for the next book.

 

My Thoughts: I liked this book more than the first book in the trilogy. I ended up liking it more than I was expecting to actually. There were a few parts where things slowed down a little bit and I didn’t enjoy those parts as much. When there was action though it was good and it just sucked you right in. I still love our three main characters so much. I think that Marguerite is such a badass and is one of my favorite female characters of all time! I liked that we got to see some new dimensions as well as return to one from the first book. Things started to really get a little crazy in the last half of this book and because of that I jumped straight into reading the final book in the trilogy the second I finished this one. These books also have some of the prettiest covers I have ever seen! I wish more people knew about this series because it really is fabulous and more people need to read it! If you haven’t given it a chance yet I highly suggest you do!

Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare

Date Published: May 23, 2017

Published By:  Margaret K. McElderry Books

Pages: 699

Edition Read: hardcover

Dates Read: 5/31/17-7/29/17

Rating: 

 

 

 

Synopsis: This is the second book in the Dark Artifices trilogy. You can learn about the first book Lady Midnight by clicking here to go to my review, or click here to go to the Goodreads page for it.

 

My Thoughts: This was one of my top two anticipated books of this year and it didn’t disappoint. It did take me a long time to get through this book and that’s simply for the fact that I am still recovering from my surgery back in May and reading such a heavy huge book wasn’t what I was focusing on. However I sat down last night and powered through the last half of the book. I love these characters so damn much and the fact that family is such an intricate part of the story and almost always the main focus is one of my favorite things. There was a lot of foreshadowing in the story as well that I was picking up on in the second half of the story. I think that a romance is blooming between two of the characters and I can’t wait to see where things go with that relationship. I was expecting there to be a bigger battle than there ended up being, but that’s okay because the fight scenes were still fantastic. Cassandra’s writing is always beautiful and I always get sucked right into the story no matter what what it is. We got to see some of Alec and Magnus in this which was great. There were some things that happened in the last ten pages of the book that I still haven’t accepted yet. I’m extremely mad that we have to wait two year to get the next book because that ended destroyed me and I need to know what happens next. I loved that there is a good amount of diversity in the story as well. We have a few gay characters, different ethnicity’s, and a transgender character as well. I fell like the book was well written and I would highly recommend this trilogy to anyone who has read the Mortal Instruments because you have to have read those first or you will be insanely confused. This is making my favorites of the year list for sure!