Month: July 2016

Pre-Order Priorities [2]

Posted July 27, 2016 in Features, Pre-Order Priorities / 14 Comments

Pre-Order Priorities is a feature that highlights all of the books that I’ve recently pre-ordered and am anxiously awaiting to arrive at my door! Release Date: August 2nd, 2016 I haven’t read a Colleen Hoover book yet, but there’s something about the buzz surrounding this one and the cover is really visually pleasing to me, so I decided to take a risk and pre-order it! Release Date: September 6th, 2016 I don’t think anything really needs to be said about this one. ROWAN+AELINE 4 LYFE. Release Date: October 4th, 2016 I missed this one at YALLWest, but I’ve heard great […]

Viva Las Vegas

Posted July 25, 2016 in Travel / 12 Comments

I’ve always thought of July as marking the midpoint of the summer season. Once the 4th hits, the summer is firmly in swing and warm days and hot evenings give me the travel bug. Every year I try to do a mid-summer vacation somewhere I’ve never been to or haven’t been to in a while. This year Max and I chose to head to Las Vegas for a quick mid-summer vacation. Day 1 We arrived in Vegas Tuesday afternoon and checked into the Bellagio, my favorite hotel to stay at on the Strip (it’s beautiful, classy, has great pools and […]

Summer of Sailor Moon | Swag

Posted July 21, 2016 in Features / 7 Comments

Earlier this year, Alexa of Alexa Loves Books, Cee of The Novel Hermit, Kristin of Super Space Chick, Sierra of SDavReads & I all discovered that we shared a mutual love and appreciation for Sailor Moon! After exchanging plenty of flailing tweets and constantly bringing up our love for this magical and empowering story, we felt it was only right to celebrate it – and that’s what happening this July. Every week will feature a brand new blog post per day from each of us, and we’re so excited to be sharing the Sailor Moon love with all our readers! […]

With Malice by Eileen Cook | Review

Posted July 18, 2016 in Reviews / 7 Comments

Thrillers are perhaps the hardest genre to read and write, because readers are going in with a very specific set of expectations: plot twists, unreliable narrators, dangerous secrets, edge of your seat pacing, and a satisfying conclusion. I’m not sure if this complicated recipe for a good thriller is why they don’t seem to be super common in the YA market, but I’ve noticed a lack of them, which is why With Malice caught my eye. The stunning cover made it impossible for it to escape my notice, and the premise had me clicking “buy” without a second thought, curbing […]

The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes | Review

Posted July 11, 2016 in Reviews / 10 Comments

The Fixer was one of those books that I glossed over SO many times in the course of the past year because the cover does nothing to grab me. I definitely fell victim to judging a book by a cover for this novel, because when my aunt was kind enough to purchase it for me at this summer’s scholastic warehouse sale, I dove in mildly curious and ended up finishing it in less than three days, during a very jam packed vacation. The Fixer brought me back to my earlier reading days when I used to devour political and historical […]

Third Time’s the Charm

Posted July 8, 2016 in Reviews / 14 Comments

“Phones are distracting. The internet is distracting.The way he looked at you? He wasn’t distracted. He was consumed.” By the time I read Anna and the French Kiss, I was pretty much the last book blogger I knew to start Stephanie Perkin’s adorable companion series, and at that time everyone was anxiously awaiting the arrival of Isla. Over the past two years I’ve slowly made my way through the series, savoring each book yet being disappointed that I hadn’t quite found that magic that everyone else seems to see in them. I love the lush settings, the captivating characters, but […]

The Summer of Sailor Scouts: Sailor Saturn Book Recommendations

Posted July 7, 2016 in Features / 5 Comments

Welcome, lovely readers, to the second week of the Summer of Sailor Scouts! I’ve teamed up with Alexa of Alexa Loves Books, Cee of The Novel Hermit, Kristin of Super Space Chick, Sierra of SDavReads to dedicate the month of July to all things Sailor Moon related! This week we’re each featuring our absolute favorite Sailor Scout, and bringing you book recommendations based off of the characteristics, imagery, and story lines associated with our favorites. My favorite scout has always been the elusive Sailor Saturn, who appears the least of all of the scouts in the anime and manga, but […]

Book Buddies Review: Summer Days and Summer Nights

Posted July 6, 2016 in Book Buddies Reviews, Reviews / 8 Comments

Cristina & Lauren Read: Book Buddies is a discussion style review I participate in every other month with my friend Lauren who runs the blog Bookmarklit. We choose a themed book for the month, read it, and the have a discussion where we both discuss themes and aspects that really stood out to us. Book Buddy Reviews are posted during the last week of the month.You can see our review in a Q&A format with half posted here, and half on Lauren’s blog! Since there were twelve stories, Lauren and I will be alternating the reviews between both of our […]