Kaniesha's Post: Half Year Mark!

As I sort of promised in my welcome back post, I really want to get the blog caught up with all the things I've read so far this year! (The images below are random selections).

According to Goodreads, I've read 28 books this year:

I re-read The Hunger Games. Still 5 stars. Will adore the trilogy until forever.
I started re-reading the Shiver trilogy with Heather. I liked it a little bit less than I did the first time, but Sam will be my book boyfriend also forever.
I read The Wrath and the Dawn and The Rose and the Dagger duology. I haven't read the novellas in the series yet but oh my GOD I love these books so much. I haven't bought them yet but it's on my todo list. I will buy them as soon as I've got some spare money.
The Serpent King. Broke my heart. Would read again.
Finished the Cinder series! LOVE! So happy I won the series from the Cuddlebuggery blog a while back.
The Winner's Kiss. LOOOOOOOOOOVE. In love. So brilliant, so amazing. My heart!
I read a handful of contemporary books (besides TSK): Dumplin (wonderful), A Step Toward Falling (a definite eye opener), My Heart and Other Black Holes (very important) and The Wrong Side of Right (very interesting, a great read). The great thing about contemporary books is that they're easy to read because they're super mundane but they teach you so much about the people around you if they're written right and ALL of these were!
Unfortunately, I didn't like/dropped a bunch of books too.

The Queen of the Tearling which bums me out a lot because I see it all over the place. But I got nearly 30% in and I just couldn't stand the pacing.
The Archived did not work out for me at all. I think I had it in my currently reading shelf for months before I finally decided I didn't care about it.
Air Awakens has SUCH a gorgeous cover and all the reviews gush about it but again, another book I got 25/30% in and didn't care at all.
Finished The Fire and Thorns series out of spite. I don't know how you can take such an amazing main character and make these plots the way they are. Did I really read a book that was almost entirely wonderful characters just traveling? I did. I don't know why I did but I DID.
Assassin's Heart. I think I said the same thing in my Goodreads review but if you manage to make assassins boring, there's a problem. This book has a whole lot of problems. But I'll stick to boring and move on.
A Darker Shade of Magic. Nope, nooooooope. I can't even remember 50% of the plot of this book. The immense hype of this book is almost insane and I despised it. So did Heather, actually. We hope to get into details one of these days.
I actually really enjoy a handful of books by Kelley Armstrong but Omens.. is pointless? It reads like a spooky contemporary. I'm not into mystery though, so that might be the problem. Oh well, I guess...

Okay though, let's talk about An Ember in the Ashes. Beautifully written book. Emotionally moving, mentally gripping. But I can't say it's one of my favorites. I don't know, I think I just don't connect with the characters as much as I usually do. It is entirely worth checking out though.
Ice Like Fire was very well written for a debut trilogy sequel. That's weird wording, but you can totally tell that the author is new to publishing books. But this series has SO much going for it, I just wish it weren't so political sometimes :( But we've got a magic QUEEN as a main character and you're not getting much better than that in YA.