Saturday, August 1, 2015

Monthly Releases: August 2015


As of August 2014, Monthly Releases is a way for Heather and Kaniesha to spotlight their anticipated books for the upcoming month instead of the weekly Waiting on Wednesdays.

Kaniesha's:
 

Slow month again for me but exciting, regardless!

Heather's:


I think this is the most I've ever had for a month!  I'm super duper excited for Lair of Dreams and The Shepherd's Crown (but I'm totally holding out for the collector's edition!).

Friday, July 31, 2015

Kaniesha's July 2015 Roundup


Finished:
The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour Rating: 4/5 stars

Started:
Lirael by Garth Nix

Still Reading:
The Infinite by Lori M. Lee

Dropped:
Fire & Chasm by Chelsea M. Campbell
Katya's World by Jonathon L. Howard
When My Heart Was Wicked by Tricia Sterling
 * Will probably pick up the latter two again. Fire & Chasm was just too terrible to continue.

Acquired:

Our posts from July:
Monthly Releases

Reading Challenge Update:
Flights of Fantasy: 15/25
Dive Into Diversity: 5/12
Debut Author Challenge: 6/10
Fairytale Challenge: 2/5

Summary:
Didn't get any reading done at all this month, much to the surprise of no one. I don't know what it is about summers but I just can't focus on anything. Might have to do with me gaining a love interest and being a bit preoccupied.... nevertheless, I just got back from a mini vacation last night that I really enjoyed. I needed the break from work and the sun on my skin! I'm basically golden now. I love it! Will hopefully get back to books soon, but I don't promise anything!

Friday, July 3, 2015

Kaniesha's June 2015 Roundup


Finished:
The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey Rating: 3/5 stars
Uprooted by Naomi Novik Rating: 5/5 stars
Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge Rating: 4/5 stars
Sabriel by Garth Nix Rating: 5/5 stars

Started:
The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour

Still Reading:
The Infinite by Lori M. Lee
Katya's World by Jonathon L. Howard
When My Heart Was Wicked by Tricia Sterling
Fire & Chasm by Chelsea M. Campbell

Dropped:
None

Acquired:
None

Our posts from June:
Monthly Releases: June 2015
Kaniesha's TTT: Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases For the Rest of 2015
Read Play Blog: June 2015
Kaniesha's TTT: Top Ten Books I've Read So Far In 2015
 
Reading Challenge Update:
Flights of Fantasy: 15/25
Dive Into Diversity: 5/12
Debut Author Challenge: 6/10
Fairytale Challenge: 2/5

Summary:
June was kind of a slow month! I was going through some things mentally (another depression relapse, yay!), so I'm just kind of behind and dizzy. From the looks of it, I think I'm going to go ahead and guess that July is going to be a lot better. Fingers crossed! Also definitely check out The Girls of the Kingfisher Club if you like retellings! It's incredible. I need to get more serious about all the challenges I joined in January - I've only hit the half mark on a few even though I've read over 30 books! I can't wait until some more anticipated releases go out this year, ahhhh!!

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Monthly Releases: July 2015


As of August 2014, Monthly Releases is a way for Heather and Kaniesha to spotlight their anticipated books for the upcoming month instead of the weekly Waiting on Wednesdays.

Kaniesha's:
 


Just two for July, both of which I am immensely waiting for! I think I'll go out and get The Heart of Betrayal as soon as it releases!

Heather's:
 

Three again!  I've only just started both the Laundry Files and Newsflesh series, but I'm enjoying them so far.  I read Ready Player One last year, I believe, and liked it enough to await Armada's publication.

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Kaniesha's TTT: Top Ten Books I've Read So Far In 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is a book blog meme created and hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week we're choosing the top ten best books we've read so far this year!



1. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
2. Uprooted
3. The Winner's Curse
4. The Kiss of Deception
5. Everything Leads to You



6. Pantomime
7. Heir of Fire
8. The Sin Eater's Daughter
9. Snow Like Ashes
10. Sinner

A bunch of great books! 2015 has been a great reading year for me! Share any favorite reads?

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Read Play Blog: June 2015

Read Play Blog is a meme about video games and books, posted every 16th of the month. Bloggers are encouraged to answer a discussion question, and recommend a video game that is similar to a book they liked. Hosted by Happy Indulgence & Read Me Away.

Which video game would you want to live in or be the main character of?

I'm going to take this as two different questions, or maybe just discuss the whole thing in general. First thing that comes to mind: Zelda. I love the Legend of Zelda, as you guys might guess by now. I wouldn't mind living in the world of Minecraft either, I mean, you craft tools using a box you can carry around. The world of Skyrim is super scary, but it'd be so cool to be the main character. I could be the Dragonborn. But if I had to narrow it down to just one, it'd be Skyrim.



1. I am the Dragonborn!
You're literally the most important person in all of Skyrim! You're the only person who can truly defeat the dragons. You take their souls!

2. If you know where to go, anything is possible!
The sheer amount of possibilities in Skyrim is phenomenal -- you can become a Thane, become a thief, become a professional thief, become a werewolf, go to a giant magic tree, fight dragons, learn magic and go to a magic college, fight giants, craft armor, weapons and jewelry, save people, make potions and poison.. *whispers* So many things to do!

3. Scenery
Skyrim is absolutely beautiful, and so is the sky.



4. Armor, Weapons, Jewelry
Whether we're talking vanilla or not (I mod, a lot..) the options for in-game customization is awesome.

5. Companions
You can ask people to follow you around and carry your stuff at any time :D

Currently playing & Recommendation: H1Z1



H1Z1 is yet another zombie crafting survival game that I've gotten addicted to. It's available on Steam, of course and is currently $9.99 for another 12 hours or so. Then it'll go back up to $20!

I didn't answer May's, but I just have a pretty basic ASUS laptop, the Logitech G602 mouse and the Turtle Beach Z11 gaming headset!

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Kaniesha's TTT: Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases For the Rest of 2015

Top Ten Tuesday is a book blog meme created and hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week we're choosing the top ten books we're most anticipating to be published for the rest of 2015!



1. Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray
2. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas
3. The Immortal Heights by Sherry Thomas
4. Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch
5. The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson



6. Of Dreams and Rust by Sarah Fine
7. Drift & Dagger by Kendall Kulper
8. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
9. Beastly Bones by William Ritter
10. Madly by Amy Alward

I did get these in order more or less for how much I want them. But don't get me wrong -- even if we went back to January these would be in the top 20 or so. I can not waaaaaaaait for Of Dreams and Rust. And of course Queen of Shadows. I'm so excited!! Share any books with me?

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Monthly Releases: June 2015


As of August 2014, Monthly Releases is a way for Heather and Kaniesha to spotlight their anticipated books for the upcoming month instead of the weekly Waiting on Wednesdays.

Kaniesha's:

Edited! Just checked and the book I chose for June isn't even being released until July.. wow :( None for me!!

Heather's:
 

While I haven't read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society yet, I have plans to and I saw this book when I was browsing through GoodReads giveaway section, read the synopsis, and added it to my to-read pile.  I'm excited for The Long Utopia, but I don't exactly know when I'll get a copy for multiple reasons, chief being that, while it's true that I loved The Long Earth, the sequels haven't grabbed me like the first did.  However I do really love the concept...  The Book of Speculation was another book I found browsing the giveaways and, again, I added it based on how interesting the blurb sounded.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Kaniesha's May 2015 Roundup


Finished:
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli Rating: 6/5 stars (new ultimate fav!!)
Sacrifice by Brigid Kemmerer Rating: 5/5 stars
The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski Rating: 5/5 stars
The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker Rating: 4/5 stars
Shadowplay by Laura Lam Rating: 4/5 stars
Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater Rating: 5/5 stars
The Walled City by Ryan Gaudin Rating: 5/5 stars

Started:
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
The Infinite by Lori M. Lee
The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey
Katya's World by Jonathon L. Howard
When My Heart Was Wicked by Tricia Sterling
Fire & Chasm by Chelsea M. Campbell

Still Reading:
None

Dropped:
Rush by Silver Eve Rating: 2 stars
Just too uninteresting. Main character is conveniently part Japanese and took Kendo as a kid. It's constantly brought up throughout the story because ~that's where she got her skills~ but there's no substance to it. All she does is talk about a boy. Every other page is about the boy, or her being in this situation she doesn't understand but THE BOY must know. She must get THE BOY to tell her everything, but she's got to be tricky about it.. because why would the boy know she wants to know.. like HOW could he POSSIBLY guess that other people want information? Who knows!

Acquired:
When My Heart Was Wicked by Tricia Sterling
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge
Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Our posts from April:

Reading Challenge Update:
Flights of Fantasy: 15/25
Dive Into Diversity: 5/12
Debut Author Challenge: 5/10
Fairytale Challenge: 1/5

Summary:
I have surprisingly read less fantasy than I thought I would. I've read 28 books but only 15 have been fantasy? I mean that's over half by fantasy is my thing! I'm getting behind in the diversity and debut author challenges but I am confident that I can catch up soon. 

I've also been reading way more than normal even though I thought I got into a slump this month. 7 books is crazy for me. Like, unheard of. I struggled with a lot of books the end of the month, that's why it says I've started like five more. I don't know if I want to read any of them! Fire & Chasm isn't bad, The Girl at Midnight is kind of annoying but I'm actually almost finished, The Infinite is depressingly bland... sighs. Books!

Besides that, I've been gaming and working as usual! I've got a new coworker so I might be reading less, since I've been doing all my reading at work. Who knows though, only time will tell.

How was everyone's May? :D

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Kaniesha Mini Reviews: Rush, Sacrifice, The Witch Hunter


I haven't done mini reviews in a while but here are three! The problem with my thoughts on these: I don't feel passionately enough about them to elaborate more. Trying to come up with 600+ words for them is nearly impossible for me. I really like the latter two but they're pretty solid minus a few discrepancies I have with them. Read on, my friends!

Title: Rush
Series: The Game #1
Author: Silver Eve
Release date: June 11, 2013
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Genres: action, dystopia, aliens
Rating: dropped
Goodreads

As it tends to go with me, I’ve wanted to read Rush since I first saw the cover. I love it! My favorite color is blue, of course I was drawn to it. Unfortunately, a majority of reviews I saw for it were not nice. I’ve been avoiding it for that reason entirely. I kind of wish I had continued to avoid it, because it’s really disappointing.

At no point did I begin to like any of the characters in the story. I understand they’re under a lot of pressure but passive aggressive arguments and humor laced with anger don’t make a good story. One second she hates everything that’s going on and wants nothing to do with it, and then the second she’s glad to be there because it ~makes her feel something~. All the elements of the story just don’t add up for me and it’s annoying.

The main character’s mother died, so she’s suffering from depression. That makes sense. It’d be more odd if she wasn’t. But it’s such an odd detail/characteristic and I can never figure out what Silver wants to focus on. They’re in a weird game where they’re fighting for their lives. They’re in groups of teams but they’re supposed to only be looking out for themselves. They have some idea of what they’re doing, but not much. Apparently only the love interest knows what’s going on. He’s special, with his aviator glasses. The other two boys are there as comedic relief and potential love triangle add-on respectively. The main character is semi-okay with all the things because she doesn’t have a choice, plus she might be special like love interest.

I don’t know. It’s such an odd book and I really couldn’t get into it. Rating: dropped. I got about halfway through and I didn’t find out anything interesting. Last thing I read, they were crawling through tunnels for 37 hours or something.

Title: Sacrifice
Series: Elemental #5
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Release date: September 30, 2014
Publisher: Kensington Teen
Genres: action, urban fantasy, supernatural
Rating: 4.5 stars
Goodreads

I received a copy of Sacrifice from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!
As with Rush, I’ve been avoiding reading this one. But for a near exact opposite reason. I really didn’t want to finish the series. Just plain didn’t want to finish it. I didn’t want to let go of the Merrick brothers. But all good things must come to an end!

In the end, I was kind of underwhelmed by Sacrifice. I don’t know if it’s because I took too long waiting to read it or if the story just didn’t end with quiet enough bang, if you get what I mean.

The whole series is done so well in this high school drama sort of way, which is awesome because so much YA doesn’t have the intense emotional current underneath the way these do. It’s kind of emotionally exhausting to read these but not in a bad way, it’s just so weird. I might’ve already mentioned this in my Secret review.

Even though Sacrifice follows the format of the rest of the series - with it only following one Merrick brother - it just feels like the ending shouldn’t have been the same, or that another book should be following Sacrifice with all of the Merrick brothers having a POV in it. Hearing all of their voices for the ending would’ve made it amazing because there was a huge lack of all of them together in the story. Great ending but definitely not as stunning as it could’ve been.

Title: The Witch Hunter
Series: The Witch Hunter #1
Author: Virginia Boecker
Release date: September 30, 2014
Publisher: Kensington Teen
Genres: action, witches, magic, high fantasy
Rating: 4 stars
Goodreads

I also received a copy of The Witch Hunter from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review. Thank you!

I absolutely enjoyed The Witch Hunter. I just love books like this where there’s a combination of castles, fighting, kick-ass girls and romance. Not that this one only contains those things, there’s also magic and corrupt wizards! As you might’ve guessed by the title.

Based upon the description and the cover, I was honestly prepared for this one to be a lot darker and a bit more tragic. It’s got that whole dark persona thing going on. It’s actually not like that at all and it’s kind of refreshing. The tone of voice that the main character has is kind of light and fun, even if a bit whiny at times. The whole story is more amusing than it is serious and intense. Of course, It does have its somber moments - complex stories really can’t not have them - but they’re smooth and don’t stick out too bad.

I’m not sure if I have a problem with the main character, Elizabeth, but sometimes she comes across flat. I really don’t mind her voice/tone but a lot of the time it feels like she’s letting everyone else come up with the ideas of what to do. It’s really just up to whether or not she agrees. There’s nothing wrong with being passive, but I wouldn’t peg that characteristing onto the main character.

All of the side characters are nice but if you’re hoping for more than a few of them to have significant roles, slow down. A lot of them get pushed off by the end of the story, or they just help Elizabeth out with this or that. It really is the Elizabeth Show so get your tickets!

Riveting story though, and light enough to not feel like you’re getting yourself into something too deep. I really look forward to continuing the series!