Stacking the Shelves #2

Stacking the Shelves is a book haul meme by Tynga's Reviews that showcases books you have bought, borrowed, or received for review.

Hey lovelies, it's been a while! I explained a bit of this in another post but I graduated and I trying to sort through everything in my life. So it has indeed been a while. But even then I still found time to read and buy books. Utterly shocking! Also I am very excited to be going to the Bay Area Book Festival next weekend! Sounds like it is going to be a bookishly good time. And then that makes me remember that Comic Con is in less than 40 days! Let this awesome summer begin!

Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine via Penguin FirsttoRead

Bream Gives Me Hiccups by Jesse Eisenberg via NetGalley

End of Days (Penryn & the End of Days #3) by Susan Ee

Mitosis: A Reckoners Story by Brandon Sanderson

Legion by Brandon Sanderson

The Novice by Taran Matharu and Nimona by Noelle Stevenson!!! (If you didn't know, I am disgustingly obsessed with her artwork and comics. One day I am going to make a post of my Noelle Stevenson comics, posters, and prints, and you will just be like "Woah there. Calm down, girl.")

Material Girls by Elaine Dimopoulos

Excited for or read any of these books? What books have you gotten this week?

Stuff and Things: Graduation and Moving

Hey lovelies! I have been a bit MIA for the last two weeks. Busy and exciting things going on! Saturday before last, I graduated from college, and it was amazing and so rewarding! For the last few months, even days before, it never really feel like I was about to graduate. Really it wasn't until I was actually there with my friends waiting for the grad ceremony that it hit me that this was the last time I would see a lot of these people. I was going to miss these intelligent, obnoxious sweethearts of English majors who talked through entire ceremony, decorate our caps with dozens of lit and movie references, sent screaming monkey toys into the air instead of caps, and who put middle names such as "danger" and "bonerjams" in their announcements. It was an amazing day, and I am going to miss those punks. But I am excited to move on to the next part of my life adventure.

In non-sentimental news, I have moved back home for the summer, and I have been going through all my stuff and spending time with my family. And I have been going through A LOT of stuff. I didn't realize home much stuff I accumulated over the years, and because I can't take it over to Scotland for grad school, I have been trying to get rid of everything that is unnecessary. And maybe some necessary things. It's been rough. Also how did I get so many more books?! I have had to pile books on the floor. So I either have to go through books or by yet another books shelf... I have 5. Oh boy.

Well that is all, folks! I will be posting again starting a little later today, and I have a lot of backlogged reviews to post. Whoops! So have a good day!

Waiting on Wednesday #2- Silver in the Blood

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly book meme hosted by Breaking the Spine, which spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Title: SIlver in the Blood

Author: Jessica Day George
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Chrildrens
Release Date: July 7, 2015
Pages: 358

Society girls from New York City circa 1890, Dacia and Lou never desired to know more about their lineage, instead preferring to gossip about the mysterious Romanian family that they barely knew. But upon turning seventeen, the girls must return to their homeland to meet their relatives, find proper husbands, and—most terrifyingly—learn the deep family secrets of The Claw, The Wing, and The Smoke. The Florescus, after all, are shape-shifters, and it is time for Dacia and Lou to fulfill the prophecy that demands their acceptance of this fate . . . or fight against this cruel inheritance with all their might.

With a gorgeous Romanian setting, stunning Parisian gowns, and dark brooding young men, readers will be swept up by this epic adventure of two girls in a battle for their lives

Why I'm Waiting

That cover! I mean look at that gorgeous, mysterious, fairytale charmer. It suckered me in at first sight. And then I read the synopsis and SHAPE SHIFTERS! That is one of the magic words to get a book to magically appear in my TBR pile. Plus historical settings of New York City and Romania sound so amazing. I am psyched to read this book.

Are you curious about reading Silver in the Blood? What book are you waiting on this week?

Ten Authors I REALLY Want To Meet

Top Ten Tuesday is a blog meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Ah yes. Meeting the people behind the books we know and love. Now when I read this week's topic I took the "REALLY" really seriously. Because these are authors that I don't just want to have a fly-by book signing chat. Honestly with a few, I have "met" at signings. I awkwardly grinned goofily without actually speaking as they made small talk with a deranged looking me in front of them. Needless to say, it was great and I have awesome social skills when it comes to authors I admire. But I want to REALLY meet them. I want to get a coffee and talk about the weather, the latest episode of something, and of course their books. 

Meeting Neil Gaiman is a dream of mine. It would probably be the biggest fangirling moment of the bunch. I just appreciate his work so much, and it would be an honor to grab coffee with him. Plus I don't know what it is about his calm voice, but I would probably fall asleep happily listening to him read a receipt or something. His audiobooks are a go-to thing to make me happy.

So I have met Pierce Brown. He signed my book and talked about his friendship with Teen Wolf actress Holland Roden when he saw my Teen Wolf shirt, and it was awesome. He just seems like such a cool dude, and it would be awesome to hang out and talk with him. And maybe I would try to convince him to giving me a copy of Morning Star right now... Maybe?

Who won't want to meet the person who seriously defined their childhood and created some of the best characters ever? I'm sure she gets asked about her characters and the creation of the Harry Potter world all the time, but I would love to talk about it with her. Particularly everything Remus and Neville.

Have you seen Vlogbrothers? He just seems like such a genuinely nice guy. I would love to kick back and listen to his views on life and laugh at his quirkiness. Which I could just do by watching his vlogs...but in person is better!

I met her for like half a second at a signing, but wow she seems like a person that I would love to chat with! Holly just seems like a fun person with such an amazing imagination, and I was pretty much obsessed with her in high school. I read Tithe sooo many times that my copy is pretty much worn out. Not that I would mention that, because I would want to appear at least a bit cool.

So I am reading The Wrath and the Dawn right now, and what I really need is for Renée to describe people and food to me. It's a weird request but I love her descriptions of those two things. Wecould people watch in a coffee shop and she could describe the barista's eyes and the muffins. I will be the one sitting in giddy awe.

Purely selfish I-love-your-books-tell-me-everything reasons. I would just really love to pick her brain about how she came up with everything. 

I would just love to meet him. I would even a fly-by signing at this point! I just love his books, and I would love to sit and talk with him about them. I would probably bother him about Shade's Children so much that he would hate me.

Any person who creates books as hilarious as the Ashbury/Brookfield books has to be amazing! The Year of the Secret Assignments is one of my favorites since I was in high school, and I would love to meet the women who created all of the books!

To write a book like Ready Player One, you have to be this biggest nerd ever, and I would love to talk with the nerd and just, well, nerd out together. He brings the old school video games, and I will bring 80s movies. It would be amazing!

Now I am going back to working on a final paper! Who are some authors that you want to meet? Would you want to meet any of these authors? What would you talk to them about?

Stacking the Shelves #1

Stacking the Shelves is a book haul meme by Tynga's Reviews that showcases books you have bought, borrowed, or received for review.

Hey guys, here is the first post of Stacking the Shelves on my blog. Actually been doing a lot of first posts this week. Woo making an effort at semi-consistency! Last weekend I went on a field trip with my Shakespeare class to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The plays were fantastic but the most fun was being able to hang out with my English major friends. We went shopping, walked around town, went to bars, ate good food, talked a lot on the bus ride. It was a blast. This week was dead week (the week before finals), and I spent a lot of time researching for a final paper and finishing stuff up for work. Also I have been trying to squeeze in some last good times my friends before I graduate next week. Even though I am pretty psyched about the next phase of my life, I am going to miss my friends here. Well, enough sentiment! Bring on the books from the last two weeks!

A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz

Alive by Scott Sigler

Inherit the Stars by Tessa Elwood

The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker

Everything, Everthing by Nicola Yoon

Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir and Across the Universe by Beth Revis

On May 2nd, it was the Free Comic Book Day! Yet sadly, I wasn't able to make it to the comic book shop because I had a crazy day of work and then going on a field trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. So I was pretty bummed about that because who doesn't love free comics. But luckily while I was in Ashland the next day, I stumbled on a comic shop and got some free comics that they still had leftover! And I may have grabbed a few more non-free ones too...

All-New All Different Avengers, Secret Wars #0, Divergence #1

All-New Hawkeye #1 Variant (This variant is so cute!), Young Avengers #6, Ms Marvel #7, Ms Marvel #13 Variant (Drawn by Noelle Stevenson who I am a huge fan of!)

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Excited for or read any of these books? What books have you gotten this week?

RRWC Challenge #1: Life Soundtrack

Rosie Reads Weekly Challenge is a new weekly challenge game hosted by Rosie over at Rosie Reads. 

I was so excited to see this week's challenge is a life soundtrack. I am a sucker for making playlists and was psyched to have a better excuse other than "Well it's a Thursday. How about a new playlist?"

Now I'm not sure whether I am lucky or not in this challenge that my name is so long because wow that was a ton of letters to fill, 30 to be precise. But even with all those letters, I still had trouble narrowing it down! I like a lot of music and have so many that remind me of my life or different memories. I could do I playlist just from S alone! Also I didn't feel completely comfortable sharing my full name, so instead I chose to use my first name and come up with a kind of odd anagram with all the letters in my middle and last name. Stephanie Relax A Glaring Declarer? Honestly, it was the least crazy sounding one of the bunch. You should have seen the others...

I made some cover art from one of my beach picnic adventures, and there is a Spotify playlist if you want to listen to my life soundtrack. So here it is: my life in soundtrack form!

That was a lot of fun to do! Do you like any of these songs or bands? Did you discover anything new from my playlist or have any suggestions for me? What is your life soundtrack?

Waiting on Wednesday #1 - The Rest of Us Just Live Here

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly book meme hosted by Breaking the Spine, which spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Title: The Rest of Us Just Live Here
Author: Patrick Ness
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Contemporary
Publisher: Walker Books
Release Date: August 27th, 2015
Pages: 352

What if you’re not the one who’s so often the hero in YA fiction; who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death? What if you were like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again. Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life. Even if your best friend might just be the God of mountain lions...

Why I'm Waiting

I have been waiting for a book like this. So many times I have talked with my friends about what it would be like to be the girl just trying to finish her chem test while zombies attack outside or the man just working in his office but can never get anything done because superheroes keep breaking through the windows while trying to fight aliens. What if you were normal--like really normal--while everything else was the crazy world changing heroics we are so used to reading in YA? This looks like that in a book, and I am just so pumped for it! Plus I have yet to read Patrick Ness, and I have only heard good things.

Also look at these covers! Aren't they both awesome. I don't know if they are going to be using both or maybe one is the UK cover, but I know I just want both. I really can't even tell you which one I like better. 



Not too shabby for my first shot at Waiting on Wednesday I'd say. Which cover do you prefer? What book are you waiting on?

Ten Books I Will Probably Never Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a blog meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Hard theme this week: Ten Book I Will Probably Never Read. Even with the "probably" added in there, I still struggled. It just seems so finite, and I would think one and go, "Well, actually what if I...." So it was a struggle because I am willing to give most books a shot at least, but there are some books that I can admit that I will never read.

Ain't Nobody Got Time (or Patience) for That

Some series are just so long. I don't really have the will power to do that. 

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
It's just so long. My sister has been working her way through them, and I just don't have the patience to do that. Do they sound like great books? Yes. Am I really going to make the commitment? Very unlikely.

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
When I was a kid, these books were super popular, yet I never read them. Now the idea of trying to get through all those books seems like an olympic worthy event. Just too many!

I Shed Enough Tears Thanks

I already cry so much reading books. Even the happiest books leave me silently crying. But sad books are not my thing. If a book has a sad part, okay that's fine, but if the goal of the book seems to be getting me to dehydrate my body through hours of tears, I will not read it. Ever.

Absolutely anything by Nicholas Sparks

I'm sure Nicholas Sparks is a good writer, but he seems to write a lot of sad books. Since I avoid sad books like the plague, I probably won't pick up on of his books. Same with Jodi Picoult. If you specialize in books that make people cry, I'm going to look somewhere else for entertainment.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

This doubles up as a super long and also super sad book. Maybe if I never watched the movie, I might not have known how sad it was. But I did. The sad secret is out, and now it's very unlikely that I will read this book.

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

This book is infamous for its level of surprise sadness. Nope, never, nunca, no, nein.

Well Because...

The rest of the Ender Quintet or The Ender's Shadow series by Orson Scott Card
So Ender's Game has to be one of my top 20 favorite books of all time. It had such an incredible impact on me. Same with Ender's Shadow because they are parallel stories. But I am never going to read the rest of that series. I appreciate those books so much, but the idea of trying to force a continuation would be a bit much. Also not a fan of Orson Scott Card as a person. His book is engrained in my soul and I would never change that, but I also think he is awful and I don't want to support him.

On the Road by Jack Kerouac
I feel ashamed to admit this, but it's probably not going to happen. I have tried about three times to start this book, and I have barely made it to 20 pages each time. The words are amazing, but the slow stream of consciousness kind of makes me lose focus.

Fifty Shade of Grey by E.L James
Yeah, not in a million years. Not of fan of ridiculously awful writing, almost hilariously bad smut, and abuse disguised as misinterpreted BDSM. I read a lot of fan fiction, and the fact that people think of this when they think of "fan fiction to books" makes me cringe. I don't understand how it became so popular.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
I can't even explain how I just am not interested in this book. It kind of resurged in popularity and hype during my sophomore year in high school, and everyone was talking about how it was a book every girl should read. And maybe it's the fact that when people tell me I should read something that I lose interest. It is supposed to be good, but I'm not going to read it.

Internet Girls series by Lauren Myracle
I have never been a huge fan of chat speak. Yes I grew up with it, and yes I actually have a shower curtain of ridiculous chat speak (My mom got it). But without getting too into it, I just don't get it. So I can honestly say that I will never read this book. I just wouldn't handle it.



Are these books on your "Probably Won't Read" list too? Or do you think I'm crazy for never reading them? What books are on your list?