July Wrap Up!

This month was pretty busy, since we're moving and such, so I didn't get to read as much as last month. But here's the list of everything I got to read! I got to knock off a few books that have been on my TBR pile for ages, so that was exciting!

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith
Dune by Frank Herbert
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Started- Eldest by Christopher Paolini
Started- 1984 by George Orwell

So what books did you read this month? Have any good recommendations? Let me know in the comments!

Updated TBR List

It's been a while since I've done one of these, and my list has changed a bit! These are the books that I've been itching to get my hands on recently!

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Al the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blackman

Eon by Alison Goodman

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

Just One Day by Gayle Forman

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Eldest by Christopher Paolini

1984 by George Orwell

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

     126 years after the fourth World War, the earth is united in a race to discover the cure for the plague that is taking over the planet. The day after the emperor of New Beijing is taken by the Blue Plague, the Evil queen of the savage citizens of the planet Luna arrives on Earth to arrange a supposed "peace treaty", but the leaders are walking on hot coals because the smallest thing could set her off, and the whole planet would be plunged into war.
       Add in Cinder, part mechanic, part cyborg, who is forced to live under the same roof as her horrible stepmother, and two sisters. Cyborgs are generally looked down upon, so Cinder tries to hide her mechanisms when one day the Prince of New Beijing walks into her mechanic booth asking her to fix his android- an android that contains something of national importance.
     All Cinder wants to do is escape. Escape from her stepmother who blames her for the family's illness, and from the constantly scrutinizing eyes of the public, who will always see her as inferior. But now she finds herself stuck as parts of her past come to light that she never could have imagined.
     The story of Cinderella is taken to a whole new level in this fast paced, unique retelling.

I loved this book so much more than I thought I would, it's easily earned a spot as one of my favorites. I could not put it down. I finished it in one siting! I loved Cinder, Kai, and her quirky droid, and Meyer did a wonderful job at making me properly revile the Queen and the Stepmother. This book is very well written, and was incredibly enjoyable to read. I was captivated from the very first page! The plague, androids, cyborgs, and Luna really added for a fantastic new twist on an old classic. I would much rather have grown up with this version of Cinderella than the Disney one! I seriously loved every part of this book. I can't think of one thing I didn't like! I'm very much looking forward to continuing this series, and seeing what else is in store!
5 out of 5 noodles all the way!

Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Cath and Wren are twin sisters. Sisters that, until recently, Cath thought were inseparable. But when their freshman yeah of college starts, and Wren doesn't want to room with Cath, everything seems to go wrong. When the girls were kids, their mother left them. Their dad couldn't provide much solace, as he was a broken down mess. All the girls had was each other.
And Simon Snow of course. The girls were completely obsessed with the fandom. Fangirls in every sense of the word. But as the years went on, Wren grew out of it and became "the independent one" and Cath was left behind, preferring the fictional world over the real one. Cath shuns interaction with pretty much everyone. Content to stay in her room writing fanfiction for the rest of her life. She doesn't want to face her actual problems, so she won't. But what she doesn't realize is that eventually, your problems will find a way to face you.

Fangirl has been on my TBR pile ever since it came out. As a pretty big fangirl myself, how could I pass it up? I was planning on waiting for it to come out in paperback, but when I saw it at half price books in hardcover for only eight dollars, I had to get it!
When I finally started reading it, I wasn't disappointed. It was your stereotypical cutesy contemporary, just a little nerdier. There were times when I didn't like the main characters, Cath, or her sister Wren, very much at all. Wren was mean and Cath was obsessively anti social. But as the book progressed, they got a little better. I didn't care much for the actual fanfiction part of the book, so I usually just skipped over it. I did like how there were more serious life problems in the book, because it's all too often in contemporary books these days that they have no real pot and the character doesn't grow at all. We definitely see a lot of growth in these characters, as they learn to face their problems, and mature. All in all, this was just a light, fun read, but nothing spectacular.
3.75 out of 5 noodles!

Lines That Linger: Dune by Frank Herbert

-"Fear is the mind killer. I will face my fear. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn to see fear's path. Where fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

-"If wishes were fishes we'd all cast nets."

Dune

Frank Herbert

Dumbledore's Army... After the Epilogue?

If you haven't seen it all over the internet in the past few weeks, the wonderful JK Rowling has chosen to shed a little more light on the futures of our favorite "golden trio" and some of their cohorts in a short story released on her website, Pottermore. It took all I had not to jump up and down screaming like the huge fangirl I am when this came out!
     This new story takes place during the Quidditch World Cup Final, (probably not too long after the 19 years later) written as a news article from Rita Skeeter. Skeeter follows and reports on all the hubbub surrounding the reunion of the Wizarding World's greatest heroes of the age, Dumbledore's Army. We hear news about Harry, Ron, and Hermione, of course, but Also about Neville, Luna, and even a peek at Viktor Krum! Enough with that, I'm sure you want to know what happened!
   Harry is now 34 years old, and it is confirmed that he has indeed become an Auror, when questioned about a "nasty cut" to accompany his famous scar. Is there fresh trouble in the wizarding world?
     We also see Harry and Krum reunite, maybe for the first time since the Triwizard Tournament. (That Krum is aware of, Harry was a bit preoccupied during the wedding!)
     Ron and Hermione are said to "have always refused to talk to the press" about Harry. Still as faithful as ever! We learn that immediately after the Battle, Ron went into Auror training with Harry, but left two years later to help with the "highly successful wizarding joke emporium, Weasley's Wizarding Weezes"
     Hermione became the Deputy Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She is mother to their son Hugo, and daughter Rose.
     Nevvile is the Hogwarts Herbology teacher, (no surprise there!) and we also find out that he's married to Hannah Abbott!
     And of Luna, we learn that she married someone named Rolf Scamander, has twin sons, and is just as eccentric as ever!
     Percy is head of the Department of Magical Transportation, but really, we always knew he'd end up doing something at the ministry!
    Last but not least, we hear about Teddy Lupin, who has "bright blue hair", has been seen together with Victoire (which we saw in the 19 years later!) who behaves "in a way unbefitting of wizarding royalty" but I think that's just good old Rita going on again.

I don't know about you, but all this has really got me missing the wizarding world! We could all use a little more magic, I think. I'm still holding out hope that one day she'll release another book! I'd love to read something like that... to read the full story, head over to Pottermore and sign up and find a lot more stories like this one!

Lines That Linger: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

“But Hadley understood. It wasn't that she was meant to read them all. Maybe someday she would, but for now, it was more the gesture itself. He was giving her the most important thing he could, the only way he knew how. He was a professor, a lover of stories, and he was building her a library in the same way other men might build their daughters houses.”

-Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight 

Stacking the Shelves! (#1)

tyngas reviews

Hello again lovely Readers! Today I'm doing a different kind of post, called Stacking the Shelves. Stacking the shelves is a meme in the book blogging world hosted by the blog Tynga's Reviews. (Click the link under the picture to check her out) This is the gist of it: I just write a post telling you about all the books I've gotten to add to my shelves recently, whether physical or virtual, and let you know about them! Simple enough, right? Lets get started then!
(Disclaimer: I didn't buy all of these! I love books. My boyfriend loves books. We share a dream of one day having a home library. We decided to get an early start. Thus, lots of books! Whenever we buy books, there's kind of an unspoken agreement that they'll be shared. It's awesome.)

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
The Aviary by Kathleen O'Dell

June Wrap Up!

I'm actually pretty proud of the number of books I read this month, 10 books, even though I was at camp for on of the weeks! Go me! So here's a list of all the books I was able to read in June, and some of the books I hope to read in July!

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Johnathan Safran Foer

The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska by John Green

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

City of bones and City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Winger by Andrew Smith

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour

To Be Read in July:
Eragon by Christopher Paolini

The Aviary by Kathleen O'Dell

Cress by Marissa Meyer

and more!