Gift Guide for Book Lovers!

It's that time of year, and if you're anything like me the only thing you can think of for your Christmas list is books, books, and more books. Well, if you're looking for a little variety this year, here are some awesomely nerdy but still somewhat book related that any bibliophile would love!

Artfolds Foldable Book

You've probably all seen those awesome books on pinterest and such where the paged are folded to make out a word and look generally awesome, but have no idea how to do it. Well look no further! Barnes and Noble sells a diy version of these where you buy the book and every page is marked where you should fold and it turns into a word! These are made in some of our favorite classics like Jane Eyre, Ann of Green Gables, and others, and come in several different words.

Harry Potter Special Edition US Paperbacks

Any Potterhead will love these beautiful new covers for our favorite books. I can't wait to get my hands on them, I love the new look! And who cares if that means I'll have three different sets of the HP books? The more the merrier!

P.S.-They're half off on Barnes and Noble's website!

Hobbit Inspired Door Necklace

With the last Hobbit movie just around the corner, this little LoTR inspired locket will be great for all the hobbits you know. A daily reminder that adventure is just on the other side of the door! 

Ideal bookshelf art print

These awesome art prints create your "ideal bookshelf" so you can hang up a beautiful picture of some of your favorite books! There's a ton of premade sets to choose from, or you can make your own special request! I'm in love with the style of these, and would so love to have one of my own!

Custom Book Scarf

This scarf is amazing. It's an infinity scarf printed with passages from your favorite books. I think it looks amazing! There are tons of options for what to get printed on it, and I think any book lover that happens to go out in public every once in a while (rather than just stay in bed reading for all eternity) would love this!!

Litographs

Of course I couldn't do a bookish gift guide without mentioning Litographs, an awesome website that sells posters, shirts, and bags with art prints made of every word from the book they're depicting! This one is an Agatha Christie one, and I just thought it looked awesome. But this site has SO many options to choose from, and they all look amazing! 

So if there are any book worms on your list this year, or you're still just wondering what to ask for, I hope you've found this guide useful! Happy holidays everyone!

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Marie-Laure and Werner Pfennig live in two very different worlds.
     Sightless Marie knows has known only the streets of Paris her entire life. Having memorized her way around by a model of the city that her father built for her, it is a huge shock to her when her and her father are forced to relocate to the tiny town of Saint Malo during the German occupation of Paris. They go to live with her great uncle who hasn't stepped out his front door in 20 years. Trapped in a strange house in a new place during some of the most brutal years in history, Marie-Laure lives with a unquenchable curiosity that just might save her life.
     In a children's home in a small mining town in Germany, Werner grows up with his little sister in the years before the second world war. One day he discovers an old radio, seemingly broken, that draws them in. Werner has always had an inventive mind, however, so when he fixes the device, he discovers he has a strong talent for working with wires and electricity that gets him a spot in an ominous military academy and enrolled in the Hitler Youth.
     Beginning in the early years of their childhoods and following them into adulthood, All the Light We Cannot See follows Marie-Laure and Werner as the path of the war changes them in ways they never imagined. Taking place over ten years, and told in different timelines, this story seamlessly tells the story of two young people whose lives changed course forever during those fateful years. Werner and Marie-Laure live two different lives during the same time until the day they meet, when their worlds collide.

Let me start off by saying that I have been waiting to read this book for SO LONG. The plot immediately intrigued me, and I ran to my library some three months ago to check it out. When I looked it up in the system however, I was very sad to see that there were about 30 people in front of me that had it on hold. I waited for what felt like forever, and when I finally got the email last week that said it was MY turn to read the book, I was stoked. And, ladies and gentleman, this book did not disappoint.
  This book is adult historical fiction, and unlike anything I had ever read. The writing was absolutely beautiful, and left nothing to be desired. The author did an amazing job with going back and forth between the two timelines, and the two characters. The story goes back and forth between 1934 and 1944 until they catch up to each other, and it was so well done that you really feel the passage of time in the pages.
  Folks, I'm even going to go out on a limb here and say that I might have a new all time favorite book. Seriously. I loved every minute of reading this. I can't fully describe the experience, you'll just have to go read it for yourself. 5 noodles!

Slump?

I have a confession. I think I've been in a reading slump of sorts lately. It seems like the last few books I've picked up just haven't been doing it for me, and I've found myself not wanting to read as much. However, I think my addiction to Gilmore Girls has a lot to do with that... I have been doing little more than watching that show these last few weeks, and I've loved it! I've become pretty obsessed with it. Sadly though, I have finished all seven seasons so now it's back to to the real world.
I SO wish that this show was based off a book series. How perfect would that be?! I would be all over that. I'll admit to having sobbed like a baby in that finale though. I've just been so hooked that whenever I picked up a book recently it was only because I felt bad about how little I was reading, like my books missed me or something. But in the true Rory spirit, I'll get back to my regularly scheduled self, which means a lot more books and a lot less TV. Now that I'm finished the show though, I hope to crack open a lot more amazing books to review for you guys! Hopefully I'll get back into the habit of loving a book so much that I want to review it on here immediately, so more posts soon! Here's to hoping that I'll get out of this rut of choosing the wrong book soon!

October Recap!

Aaaand October has come and gone! The weather in Texas has finally started to cool off, and I'm loving it! It's finally starting to feel like fall, which means Christmas is just right around the corner! I've been counting down the days since summer, people. I get a little bit excited if you couldn't tell! But I'm all for snuggling up in some fuzzy socks and pajamas all day with a book and a hot cup of tea! Anywho, today's post is going to be a recap of this last month (and a little of the one before it because is forgot to do one!) and I'm goingto try and do it a bit differently!

Last month:

I read waaaay less last month than I usually do. Reading was kind of put on the back burner for a while...But hold on, I can explain myself, I promise! See, Netflix added a very addicting show to their instant view this month. Some of you probably already know what I'm talking about. It's Gilmore Girls, friends. I began watching at the beginning of the month, and let me tell you, I'm obsessed. I'm already halfway through season 5 and it's just so stinking good! I can't stop watching. So naturally, this led to many binge watching Gilmore Girls filled days, and my huge TBR pile was pushed aside. But I have no regrets! 

I read:
Someday, Someday Maybe By Lauren Graham
Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi
Sold by Patricia McCormick
The Empress Chronicles by Suzy Vitello

I plan to read:
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Night Film by Marisha Pessl
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keys

Books I bought:
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hossenini
Eon by Alison Goodman
So B. It by Sarah Weeks

I posted:
BLOG TOUR: The Empress Chronicles
Series Review: Shatter Me Trilogy
The Kiss of Deception
The Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge
The Book Spew

I'm Looking forward to this month:
Finishing all 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls, duh!
Finally moving into our new house!
Mockingjay comes out in theaters!!
THANKSGIVING

So how was your month? Read or do anything exciting? Let me know in the comments, I'd love to hear from you!

BLOG TOUR: The Empress Chronicles

Hello everyone! Today I have the privilege of participating in a blog tour with a bunch of other bloggers, for a really cool book that came out recently, The Empress Chronicles, by Suzy Vitello. Without further ado, here we go!

     Liz was sent to live with her father and his new hippie girlfriend on their tiny farm. Her mom was hoping it would help her. In other words, this is Liz's worst nightmare. She has severe OCD. The thought of all the germs running rampant on that farm petrifies her. Liz has to learn to cope though, so she doesn't have a repeat of the painful incident that sent her there in the first place...
     150 years earlier, duchess Sisi of Austria is having her own problems. The Emperor is supposed to marry her older sister. And Sisi has fallen hopelessly for the mysterious Count S. When the cunning and deceptive Lola Montez gets involved, everything goes wrong. The thing Sisi really needs id a do over, but that's impossible right?
     When present day Liz find an old diary, and an ancient locket, these two characters will meet in a seemingly impossible way. 150 years ago, these two items held a curious sort of magic. Could it still be alive today? Liz's life-and therefore Sisi's- changes forever when she discovers that she has the power to rewrite history... And maybe give the young Empress a second chance, to get away.

This book is a historical fiction/magical realism/coming of age book. And somehow, the author managed to make it all work! The history buffs will be pleasantly surprised to see just how historically accurate this book is (I know I was!). Having known next to nothing about Empress Sisi before reading this book, I did some research when I finished and discovered that most of the details, except for the magic part of course, were totally correct! This made me very happy. Liz and Sisi are both very similar, in that they both had some of the same issues. Sisi was known for being exceptionally thin, and pretty much anorexic. And Liz, couldn't stand the thought of the germs that could be in her food, so she struggled with that as well. I thought Liz's OCD/annorexia provided a very interesting character, that we don't often see, especially in YA. And usually, with books that have dual point of views, it can be hard to tell one voice from the other. But I'm happy to say that this book didn't have this problem at all! Liz and Sisi's voices were always easy to distinguish, and each had their own tone, which I loved. This book was very well written, and very well researched, which are two thumbs up for me! I really liked this book, and plan on buying my own copy soon! 4 out of 5 noodles, and I cant wait for the rest of the series!

Series Review: Shatter Me Trilogy

Juliette has a deadly touch. Anyone that comes in contact with her lethal skin dies. Juliette has never known the loving embrace of another human being, or the basic feeling of human contact. The last time she mistakenly touched someone resulted in her being thrown in a cell and shunted from insane asylum to insane asylum. But the new government that has ruined the dying world has taken an interest in Juliette's unique situation. And she's not so sure she want's to be their weapon.

Beware: RANT AHEAD
So, I just recently finished this trilogy. I didn't read the books in a very timely succession, so I don't remember much about the first book. I do remember that I really liked it and I finished it in a day though! However, the series did not follow through. At all. The second book was alright, and the third book was just... awful. And I feel bad saying that because I really love the author! But the main character, Juliette, was one of the most whiny, annoying, unlikable characters I've ever read. She spent the entire trilogy wallowing in the biggest pool of self pity I've ever seen. She even said at one point that "I never stopped to consider that someone could have it worse than me." I mean COME ON! The Earth is almost literally falling apart and she's been safe in a cell while the entire world starves and dies from diseases and harsh climates, etc. I was okay with it the first book, the second book I was annpyed, and the third book I barely even made it through. If I weren't so interested in seeing how one of the supporting characters ended up, I wouldn't even have bothered. She's supposed to be this warrior, but she didn't grow a spine until the last hundred pages! I'm not going to get into any spoilers here, but the third book was probably one of the worst I've read this year. I honestly just flipped through the last 10 chapters to get the gist of what was going on because I just wanted to be done with it! UGH. I wanted so badly to like this trilogy, but I just can't. And it's not just Juliette that's wrong with these books. I could go on and on, but I can't really mention anything else I didn't like without giving away spoilers. Which, in spite of how much I didn't like this trilogy, I still don't want to do in case there are any of you out there who are still reading or want to read this. I will say though, the writing in these books was beautiful. Tahereh Mafi has a very unique way with words! That's partly why I feel s bad about not liking these! However, I would give this series probably... 3 noodles overall. And that's probably generous.

Review: The Kiss of Decption

Princess Lia is being faced with a fate that so many before her have had to succumb to, an arranged marriage forged to try and make peace with a neighboring country. But Lia has never been one to just sit down and take it. So she does the unthinkable- She runs away on her wedding day. Now marked as a traitor to her kingdom, her enraged father sends an assassin after her to make her pay.  And what of the prince? Well, he's intrigued by the girl who had the guts to do what he's been itching to do all this time, so he goes after her too. Lia, the Prince, and the Assassin have hopelessly entwined themselves in an ever growing web of mystery and lies, where no one is who-or what- they say they are.

    Before you go running away, thinking that this book sounds exactly like every other cheesy arranged marriage/runaway bride/unsuspecting lover story out there, let me stop you! This book has a very interesting twist that completely sets it apart from all the others.
    You already know that our story follows the runaway princess Lia, the prince, and the Aassissin. BUT, what you don't know, is that throughout the book, you don't know who the assassin is, and who the prince is. EEEP! I know, exciting right? Lia unsuspectingly interacts with them through the book, but you don't find out until the very end who's out to kill her, and who wants to marry her. We get 5 point of views throughout the story line: Lia, the prince, the assassin, and then the two people that each guy tells her they are. I know it all sounds very confusing, but trust me, it works.
   I have to admit, when I first heard about this book, I didn't know how the writer was going to pull it off, but let me tell you-she definitely did. The story was really well written, and kept me guessing until the very end! And I'll just say that my suspicions were completely wrong. It just made it more fun! I really liked this book, the only problem I have is that it's the first in a series so I don't know how the author will think up another way to make this story unique, but I'll definitely continue on with it when the second one comes out! 4 noodles!