Windwitch: You Should Totally Read It Too!

Windwitch by Susan Dennard is the second book in the Witchlands series. Last summer I read Truthwitch and had enjoyed it very much so I was partially hesitant about reading this one. Luckily, I loved it just as much as the first book.

This review will be spoiler-free for both books in the series, so feel free to read it (and learn why you should read this series too!)

Maybe for the first 70 pages or so, I couldn’t quite get into the story. This series has probably the most complex world I have ever read from, so I had forgotten a lot of the terminology, magic, and plot of the previous book. Thankfully, I got a hang of it once again and started enjoying it even more.

This book focuses on Merik–and I love Merik. Whereas in the first book he is mostly seen as a love interest that is kind of bland (I still loved him, but this is what I hear are the opinions of other people as well), in Windwitch, his character is almostly completely transformed. Throughout the book he goes through one of the best character developments I’ve read in a while. (It’s so great that the ending made me even happier). It doesn’t really have as much romance, because the characters are separated, but I thought it was nice to take a break from this.

All of the characters, the new and old ones, are awesome, badass, and three-dimensional. They constantly question themselves, as anyone normal would do, and often times you can’t really tell where the story is headed because they appear somewhat morally ambiguous (which I love).

On top of all the amazing characters and world, the plot was so well written. Susan Dennard cleverly switches between chapter to chapter from character to character so that you don’t get bored reading the same story. Almost all of the time each chapter ends in a cliffhanger and so you want to keep reading. And of course, there are lots and lots of plot twists–and who wouldn’t love plot twists?

Long story short, this series is probably my ideal high fantasy series and I urge everyone to pick them up. They deserve so much more recognition than they get! \

Have you read this series as well? Who’s your favorite character? (Merik is my favorite, but I love all of them).

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10 Bookish Confessions

Hello everyone! I want to quit apologizing for not posting so often anymore, but every time I end up writing a blog post, I say sorry. And the thing is, I am sorry. But I wanted to let you guys know of somethings, hence the ~confessions~ title.

Confession #1: It’s making me really, really sad, the fact that no one ever bothers to comment (or even like!) my posts anymore. May has been an all time low for me in terms of blogging feedback. I mean, I know I’ve been blogging less, but even when I do, I’ve never had this little reaction. And it makes me so freaking sad guys. I can’t explain it properly to you.

Confession #2: I’ve only read 4 books all year. I know. It’s shameful. And again, I hate myself for it. All the books I did read were really good, but it’s depressing. To think that I could read 4 books in two weeks or less in the past makes it even worse.

Confession #3: I get super nostalgic about books. For example, if I see an old book I loved, in that moment I’ll want to reread it and fall in love with it all over again, and sometimes thinking about books I loved makes me sad.

Confession #4: Most people in my day-to-day life don’t know about this blog. My family knows, and so do my close friends, but I don’t publicize it much in real life. It’s too close to my heart and I feel like people will judge me!

Confession #5: I rarely reread books. Then again, I haven’t had much time to read books in general, but I haven’t reread a book in forever. Maybe the last time I did was in 5th grade? I don’t even know. I really really WANT to, but all these new shiny books are too appealing!

Confession #6: I DO reread passages, though. I have this weird thing where I remember which page/where in the book passages I loved were. So occasionally, I’ll pick up the book and reread those scenes that I loved. Even if it doesn’t give the same effect as rereading the whole thing, I still love doing it.

Confession #7: I love recommending loved ones books, but I hate it when people I don’t like read the books I like. It’s like, if you’re my friend, then I will FORCE you to read it. But if I hate you, I will feel like you don’t deserve to read my favorite books, and it’ll really annoy me.

Confession #8: I don’t like fanfiction. Never read it, I don’t think I ever will. I love fan art, but I just don’t like how people may change characters so dear to my heart, and this may therefore ruin my vision of the characters. Also, I just don’t have the time, haha.

Confession #9: I can’t read (or enjoy reading) when I’m sick, tired, or anytime I don’t feel good. I just can’t. And this is why I’ve been reading so little now. Because even if I’m hating a book, I want to read it when I’m actually awake and processing. I can’t enjoy books when I’m tired and it’ll completely ruin my liking of a book if I’m not feeling good.

Confession #10: The book blogging community has grown so much, I sometimes wonder if my blog even matters. I especially feel this way when I’m feeling down, but I remind myself that my blog is for me and everyone contributes to the blogging world.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading all my “confessions”! I’m going to try to continue blogging at least every week from now on, since school is *slightly* calming down (and when I feel better. I’m super sick.)

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The Midnight Star | Mini-Review

Hey everyone! I was just looking at the number of blog posts I published this month…and I only published three. I’ll talk more about this in my wrap-up, but needless to say, I’m ashamed of myself because this month I had a lot of breaks. Anyways, here’s a quick review of The Midnight Star by Marie Lu! 🙂

a picture of places marie lu toured, including va where i met her!!

*Note: do not continue reading unless you would like to be spoiled!

“…These are only rumors, of course, and make little more than a story to tell around the fire. But it is told. And thus they live on.”

I’m not crying, you are.

But in all honesty, I’m so sad. This was probably one of the most bittersweet endings to one of my favorite series. The Young Elites trilogy is one of the few YA series I anticipated from start to finish for each book: I was excited for TYE, then TRS, and now this one. This book isn’t perfect—it’s my least favorite out of the three—but damn is it good.

There is something about it, something about the way it’s written that makes it so special for me. It’s different: there are dark characters, but you don’t know a truly dark character unless you’ve read this series. Adelina is…me. She is me if I had the powers, if I didn’t control myself, and I love that about her. She’s so unstable. She’s evil. She enjoys the feeling of being better, of being above, and no one says it, but it is true. We all savor things like that, that doesn’t mean we’re terrible, but we do. She’s jealous and petty and greedy and all the things we all are inside but are too scared to say.

As I said, this book was not perfect.

In fact, for a majority of the book, I wasn’t even enjoying it so much. I was disappointed, either because my expectations were so high, or because I wasn’t reading it at the right time. But then I sat down and read the last 70 pages and…I remembered why I loved this series so much. And how much it impacted me emotionally. How much I felt for Adelina and her relationships with everyone. The ending? The ending was precisely what I was looking for.

[If it had ended happily, I would not be satisfied this right now. In fact, I’m not even giving it five stars because it just wasn’t THAT good. The others were definitely better…but my heart aches thinking about it and it’s sentimental value for me is too much.

I am so happy with the ending. It wasn’t extremely sad, but it was the perfect amount. If Adelina and everyone else came out unscathed, that would be unrealistic considering the circumstances they were in. So I like how she died, and how Violette made a deal and how she came back as a star and met up with Magiano. Oh, that was perfect. I can’t explain how much I adore that. (hide spoiler)]

I just…

I…

I don’t know what to say. The definition of this book for me is: bittersweet. I am for sure going to miss this world and these characters and the craziness of it all. :’)

4 stars. (Though I’m still indecisive, honestly).

Have you read this series? (Or this book?) How did you like it? Do you agree with my opinions? Let’s talk!

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Books I’d Really Like To Read Before 2017

Hey everyone! So first I would just like to say once again that I am sorry for being so inactive. This time, not only was it school and my mental health, but the election and everything…

That being said, let’s get onto a lighter mood, shall we? Since September, I’ve only finished one book so far, and started three others, sadly. This weekend, though, I hope to finish two of the books I started already, and then read a book from this list. It won’t be long just because I don’t think I’ll be able to read more than seven books, but here here it is!

The first book I’d like to finish is The Midnight Star by Marie Lu. I’m over halfway done so I believe I will be able to. 🙂

That’s ^ the second book I hope to finish by the end of the year–which I am flying through right now and loving more than I thought I would, so hopefully I’ll finish it soon.

And finally, the third book I want to finish is Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. I actually checked this out from the library and read 300 pages, but I had to return it and so now I’m stuck. 😦 Hopefully I’ll be able to finish it before I forget where I was at!

Now onto the books I want to read from the start…

1. Kids of Appetite by David Arnold–Last year when I read Mosquitoland, I fell in love with it. It was amazing in all the weirdest ways and I’m super pumped to buy and read this.

2. The Odds of Lightning by Jocelyn Davies–I picked this book up randomly at Barnes and Noble’s and started reading it when I realized…I really liked it, and I hope to actually read it by the end of 2016!

3. Heartless by Marissa Meyer–I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK IT SOUNDS SO GOOD AHHH I HOPE I CAN GET TO IT ❤

4. And last but not least, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling. I’m too lazy to link a cover right now, but I hope to read this during winter break although it’s really long so honestly I don’t know…

That’s it for this post! I hope you enjoyed reading it–let’s talk! I know this wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, but I want to know your opinions on these books. What books do YOU want to read before 2016 ends?

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My Emotional Story With the Throne of Glass Series + EoS Stuff

You all probably already know about EoS, but if you want to read something a little emotional and bittersweet, I’d read this 🙂

Ohmygod.

I honestly had very low expectations for Empire of Storms, and I was ready to be once and for all let down by this series. I had basically given up; I only had a ounce of hope that this series would still remain as one of my favorites. I am so happy I didn’t give up, and for those of you who were let down by the last books: don’t give up. Seriously. This is such a big improvement, especially compared to Queen of Shadows.

Right now, rather than give you my thoughts on this book specifically, I’m going to talk about my emotions for this whole series.

I read Throne of Glass initially over two years ago, before I had even started 8th grade. It was my first high fantasy book, and it was back when there was some hype for ToG across bookstagram, but not too much. Definitely not as much as now. It was mostly just well known for being really good, but the fanbase was not as big as it is now. I thought it was really good, but not super amazing, and I probably would have enjoyed it even more had I read it later on. (I was young and confused, and I didn’t have much experience with YA, either.) A year later, once ToG started becoming more popular, I decided to read The Assassin’s Blade, Crown of Midnight, and Heir of Fire back to back, before Queen of Shadows came out.

Unfortunately, I was a little let down again because a) I had been spoiled, and b) I expected much more. But still, Heir of Fire became one of my favorite books, and I still love it but I don’t love it as much as I thought I did. Then Queen of Shadows came out September of 2015, and I read it. I thought I enjoyed it, and I did…but ultimately, as time passed…I realized it really wasn’t as good as I thought it was. I had a huge problem with the characters (Aelin and Rowan) and from September 2015 to September 2016 I kind of dreaded the release of this book, EoS.

I became annoyed with the fandom, and I hated Rowan with a passion. On top of all that, with the drama about Sarah not including diversity, I was, in some way, dreading reading EoS. My bar was set really low and I was ready to be disappointed once again.

About 200 pages into the book, I was let down. I was kind of bored, and I forgot a lot of the characters. Also, I read 200 pages in two weeks because I did not have the time. That is, until I sucked it up and decided I would try to finish it within a week, and I am so happy I did. Once I got into the story, I was hooked. I couldn’t stop reading or obsessing about the characters. And I know, oh dear God do I know, how many problems this series has. Because it does.

The characters are kind of messed up, the lack of diversity is very much real, and so many other things. But you know what? I realized, I don’t really give a shit anymore.

I mean, I do, but for my enjoyment? This series is freaking awesome. It has almost everything I look for. Plot twists, romance, strong characters. So I’m overlooking the bad parts and just taking it as or what it is: a book with flaws written by a flawed human being. We often forget that authors are human too. And I think it is very important to realize that in the end, these things are flawed. Nothing is perfect. Yea, it could be better. At this point, though? This was effing amazing. And realizing that–that I can still love something AND accept it has flaws–made me enjoy it even more.

Which now connects to how I am so emotionally attached to this series. I grew up with Percy Jackson in my childhood, and now I’m transitioning to a more mature person with this series. I read Throne of Glass when I was a pre-teen. When this series ends next year, I’m going to be a junior in high school. Three years of obsessing, critiquing, loving, hating, this series. It may not be as long as everyone, but three years is a long time. And realizing that this series is flawed, like me, makes me so emotional. Because I became more mature with these characters. I did new things, I was put in places–luckily not Endovier–that weren’t so great for me. And the fact that it is ending next year makes me really sad. And if I ever do meet Sarah, I will tell her this. I will tell her that her series made a big impact on me not just because everything was perfect–but because it was not. Because somehow, I got more attached to it because I hated some parts and loved others.

And that, my friends, is why I love this book even more. Of course I love the romance, and I even hate Rowan a little less. Of course I love the plot twists and the beautiful writing and Manorian and the heartbreaks and everything. But what I love the most is it’s flaws, and how I can still love it DESPITE the flaws.

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Now that my emotional little session is over, I want to talk about this book itself. (This part is going to be short because I’m trying to condense everything) Okay so first off: Manorian is my life. I love them so much and even though I did think their romance developed really quickly it was in a good way. THEY’RE SO HOT I CAN’T. Second: plot twists. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Third: all the characters. Heck, I even don’t hate Rowan now. I realized that he’s better now and the last few heartbreaking chapters really affected that. I also love the new characters’ relationships, like Elide and Lochan which broke my heart. I love the Thirteen, especially Asterin, and I actually loved Gavriel and Fenrhys. Lysandra and Aedion also broke my heart at the end…

Basically, I love all the characters and how of course Aelin managed to deceive everyone though of course the end KILLED me. It made me respect Aelin so much more because I had been annoyed with her and now she redeemed herself to me again. Right now I am an emotional ball but if you guys have read this book then you probably know what I mean. Anyways, yea. I think that’s all I want to say right now. Summary? I loved it.

Did you guys read all this? How did you guys like Empire of Storms? Are you as emotionally attached as I am? Let me know!

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my social medias: // goodreads // studygram // tumblr // questions? contact me: aloofbooks@gmail.com

September 2016: My Month in Review | Wrap-Up & Highlights

Once again, I’d like to apologize for posting so infrequently. Alas, there’s nothing I can do, as you will see below…

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what’s been happening in my [real] life?

Well, as I’ve been ranting about, school started. And it has definitely been going much better than last year. My grades are better (compared to how hard my classes are) and I’m overall emotionally better. Although sophomore year is much, MUCH harder, especially since I’m taking AP bio, I’m better. I’m happier, I guess. Last year, I’m realizing now, I was really in a bad point in my life. I was actually really depressed which is obvious by my posts last year around this time.

Nothing really exciting happened, though my birthday was on the 21st so I turned 15. But other than that, it was pretty boring haha! I counted, and last month I had 11 quizzes and 5 tests. AND IT’S JUST SEPTEMBER!

*cries in the background*

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what’s been happening on my blog?

This was not a good blogging month, even with all the scheduled posts. Yikes. Here they are:

• 3 Star “Meh” Books and My Problem With Them
• It Could’ve Been Better: Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
• Fun, Easy-To-Read Book Recommendations?
• Finding Time To Read: My Constant Struggle
• Why Were My Expectations So High? Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White

All of these posts were SO mediocre and not creative…Ugh. I hope I can bring better content to you guys next month.

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what about bookish updates/wrap-ups?

Okay so first let me tell you about the good thing: I went to the National Book Festival and met two authors–Kiersten White and Patrick Ness! They were both super nice and the event was just so much fun. I’m going to hopefully write a post about my experiences there, but yea.

Now the bad part…

I didn’t read any books this month.

*gasps*

Now let me rant. I’M SO SAD I COULDN’T READ ANY AND I AM SO, SO SO SO  DISAPPOINTED IN MYSELF. Even last year, I read at least two books per month so not being able to finish any is a huge disappoint for myself. Now, I did read 400 pages of a book, but since Empire of Storms is 700 pages long I couldn’t finish it. So technically I read one book but still…I feel terrible. And I honestly have no idea when I will be able to finish EoS because I have so much work to do and it’s so damn long.

😥

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september highlights

My favorite part of the month was meeting Kiersten White for sure! And overall, September was pretty good. It would actually be REALLY good if I had finished a book but…

How were your months? Did you read a lot? Or little to none, like me? Talk to me about it!

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my social medias: // goodreads // studygram // tumblr // questions? contact me: aloofbooks@gmail.com

#ReadThemAllThon TBR Pile

Hey guys! I’ve been having some blogging slump syndromes: I’m not really sure what to blog, etc., and lately…no one’s been commenting or anything on my blog. Everyone’s so inactive, and its been making me really sad because this started happening with my Instagram and then caused me to fade away from it. So let’s talk! (Seriously!)

Anyways, I found this read-a-thon #ReadThemAllThon and its, like, perfect for me. Shameless fact: I actually have never played Pokemon Go, and I probably won’t just because it doesn’t interest me. However, I have been trying to motivate myself to read more these past few days and this read-a-thon is in the PERFECT timing! Three weeks, eight books, and right during my summer vacation. Plus, I probably won’t be able to read this much because school starts right after! So I decided, why not?

If you want to learn more about it, you can go here 🙂 I highly recommend you check it out because I’m not even a Pokemon Go lover and I’m still doing it! (All graphics belong to Read At Midnight) Also, just wanted to point out that I’m not playing with the points. 🙂

*This read-a-thon is from Sunday 14th August to Sunday 4th September.*

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes: Pretty self explanatory, haha. Its the first book in a series and its about time I start reading it. And its also going to be the first book I’ve read in months that I checked out from the library!

For this one, I’m reading Thicker Than Water by Kelly Fiore. I actually met Kelly and got my copy signed back in March, but I was never able to read it and I’ve heard it was really sad and gritty.

I know this isn’t out yet…but A Torch Against The Night by Sabaa Tahir. Even now I can tell how excited everyone (including me) is excited for it! It comes out August 30th and I hope to buy and read it then, so it’ll probably be one of my last books. 🙂

I’ve heard that both the characters and the story of Nimona by Noelle Stevenson is diverse, and I’m super curious as to how I’m going to like it because I usually don’t read graphic novels. Also, I might be able to meet the author so it’ll be great if I read it by then. Plus, it’ll be easy to read as well!

It actually took me a while to come up with this book, but I’ve finally decided on Compulsion by Martina Boone. I just realized that I don’t really read that much “romance” especially not strictly romance but I know romance plays a big part on this book so yea 🙂 I might also read These Broken Stars but I’m not sure…depends on my mood, really.

For this I choose Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White. Last month I read Kiersten’s new book, And I Darken, so now I MUST read all her other books, haha.

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab–pretty obvious, eh? Also, I NEED TO GET MY HANDS ON A COPY OF THIS BOOK ARRRGH.

Finally, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. I realized that I don’t really like post-apocalyptic/dystopian books anymore, however my sister bought me a copy of this book and its the only one left that I really want to read. I *may* also read These Broken Stars, but yea.

And that’s my TBR for this read-a-thon! I might switch some of the books up accordingly, and I may also double up on some challenges. (E.g: read This Savage Song as the book for thunderous hype as well, or something like that.)

Are you guys joining this read-a-thon? Do you like all the books I’ve chosen? Please let me know!

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July: My Month in Review | Wrap Up & Highlights

Usually I’m waiting for the months to pass by–if it’s the school year–but right now, I want time to stop because minute by minute by summer break is slipping away. 😦 We’re going into August, and I just want time to kinda freeze. Anyways, here’s my wrap up for the month!

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what’s been happening in my [real] life?

My school has been out for over a month now, and I am so so happy. I went to Turkey for three weeks because of my uncle’s wedding, and it was fun but also very stressful. You all probably already know about it, but after the coup and stuff, well…Turkey was in a really stressed mood. I’m glad to be back home in the US, though I did have some fun there! I sure ate a LOT of kebabs haha.

Because I didn’t have school, I obviously read and blogged much more than previous months, however still not as much as I would have liked. But its okay, since I was travelling and jetlagged so its understandable. Right now I’m pretty much not doing anything at home (its great though!) so I don’t really have much to write about.

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what’s been happening on my blog?

I wrote a bunch of blog posts; some of which kind of flopped because no one saw them (I was really upset about it) and some others that actually attracted a lot of people. Here they are!

• Reading Wrap Up of 2016 // Some of my favorites!
• July TBR
• One of the most beautiful books ever: The Night Circus
• My Newest Obsession: And I Darken by Kiersten White
• What I Look For In Books
• My All Time Favorite Authors (Updated Part One)

So in total 7 posts including this one!

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what about bookish updates/wrap-ups?

This month, I read 6 and ALMOST 7 books. I’m going to count it as seven because I have 50 pages of the book I am currently reading, Uprooted by Naomi Novik. It isn’t an overly huge number, but its really good for me considering I read at most three books per month during the school year.

• On Two Feet and Wings by Abbas Kazerooni (4 stars, no review will be coming)
• And I Darken by Kiersten White — ALL THE STARS. GUSH HERE.
• Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke — 2.5 ish stars. I wrote a review, I just have to post it on my blog so look out for that!
• The Crown by Kiera Cass — 3 stars. Review to come as well!
• The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury — 4 stars. I wrote a review for this one as well, just need to post it.
• Caraval by Stephanie Garber — 4.5 ish stars (Review will be posted soon!)

Obviously, my favorite book was the only one I gave five stars (or all the stars) to: And I Darken by Kiersten White. Seriously. I can NOT stop gushing about this book. Please read it. ❤

I was also super excited to receive my first physical ARC that I especially requested: Caraval. I will post something about it soon, but it was REALLY good. It was so exciting to receive it in the mail. *teary-eyed*

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june highlights

• Reading And I Darken ❤
• Having all the time off, with no stress was definitely a huge plus for me.
• I can finally have time to draw! I’m not really a professional artist but I do love drawing occasionally, and now I finally have the time for that.
• Did I talk about And I Darken?

How did your months go? Hopefully you guys had lots of fun too! Let’s talk, please comment below!

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Reading Wrap-Up of 2016 // Some of My Favorites!

Can you guys believe it? Its JULY. The seventh month of the year, which means we already went through six months. HALF THE YEAR PASSED OH MY GOODNESS. This also means…its time for a wrap-up, of half the year. First, I want to talk about my reading goals.

My goal this year is to read 35 books. I know, its a tiny number, but I’m struggling to do even this because of school. As of right now, I have read 14 books, and I am 3 books behind schedule. However, I plan on coming right back on track because its summer so let’s just ignore that fact, shall we?

One thing I’d like to say is that, even though I read a very little amount of books, most of the books I read I gave 4 or 5 stars. This is not because I’m a terrible reviewer (I hope not!) or that I just mindlessly give five stars away, but rather because I choose what I think I will love. I don’t pick up random books, or controversial books. I research before buying my books, and make sure I have heard a LOT of good opinions on them so I enjoy them. This is because I barely have any time and I don’t want to waste my time reading bad books. Just wanted to let that out there.

This is also why although I rated some of these five stars, they aren’t my favorites. In my eyes, my favorites deserve all the stars, so yea.

Anyways, here are all the books I read so far:

1. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh–5 stars. I LOVED this book. I actually read most of it in 2015, but since I finished it in 2016 I’m counting it as one of the fourteen books I read this year. It was so beautifully written, and even though I have yet to read TRATD, its sequel, I can not wait.
2. The Martian by Andy Weir–4 stars. Review here. I’m a nerd. This book was nerdy. Hence, I ended up enjoying it
   very much despite the fact that some parts were super long and scientific. The humor was amazing though.
3. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo–5 stars. I gushed about this book a lot, and for a reason. This is a really clever book. Because I have a long review I’m really proud of, I won’t say anything else. Just click here.
4. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo–4.5 stars. I loved this much more than its predecessor, Shadow and Bone. I still need to finish this series but I hope its as good as this sequel. You can find my full review here.
5. Passenger by Alexandra Bracken–3.5 ish stars. This was actually really good, but not necessarily my cup of tea. I think Alex’s writing is too slow even for me. Though I enjoyed it, I think there are books that deserve more hype than this one. Here’s my review!
6. Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch–4 stars. A really fun, unique fantasy read! Even though I didn’t fall head over heels in love with this book, I certainly enjoyed reading it. You can find my full review here.
7. Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare–ALL THE STARS IN THE UNIVERSE. I think this was my favorite of the year so far. Anyways, I’ll be talking about this soon. [You can find my review here]
8. Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi–3.75 or 4 stars. I was a bit disappointed in this book, sadly. Not because it was bad, but I guess everyone had hyped it up so much that I expected to be obsessed with it but then I ended up only…liking it, sadly. You can find my review for it here.
9. The Winner’s Kiss by Marie Rutkoski–4 stars. I never ended up writing a review for this one, but like Ignite Me, this one was just a bit disappointing. It may be from the fact that I expected so much, or from the fact that I was so busy with school that I rarely had time to read it, but something was just MISSING and I can’t give it the five stars that I wanted to.
10. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater–5 stars. I loved this book. When I first read it I was certain it would be in my favorite reads of the year, but I’m not sure yet. I do know that I loved it, but I only want to say “this book is my favorite” if it has stayed with me. So I’ll wait a little longer before declaring this one a favorite book of mine. You can find my review here.
11. The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson–5 stars. Again: loved this book. When I first read it, it was the only thing I thought about. But again, I don’t want to say its a favorite book of mine too early. You can read my review for it here. ❤
12. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas–5 stars. Do I actually have to describe this book to you? I think everyone knows about it. Its like the biggest, most hyped book of the year–for a reason, of course.
13. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern–ALL THE STARS. I think this is another favorite of mine, so I’ll describe it later.
14. And finally, Summer Days and Summer Nights by Stephanie Perkins–3.5 stars. I ended up disappointed in this one, but I still did enjoy it. My full review can be found here.

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Okay, so now for my favorite reads…

This was definitely hard to pick, but I boiled it down to two books for half the year. The main way I chose this was for how the books stayed with me. If you didn’t realize, books staying with me after I read them is one of the most important aspects of books for me. Even if I loved a book while I’m reading it–which happened with A LOT–of these books, if I close it and then don’t think about it…I don’t want to call it a favorite. My most favorite books are books that I think about randomly.

And those two books are…

This one is a no-brainer. Everyone knows about this book. Then, the second book is one I actually read less than a month ago, but I’ve been thinking about it nonstop ever since, so I think it very much deserves its place on here:

I thought this book was absolutely stunning. The writing, the metaphors, the meanings, the characters. I’ll post a review for it soon, but yes. Definitely deserving of the word “favorite.”

And that’s it for this post! I hope you enjoyed! Which of the books you read so far are YOUR favorites? Please let me know!

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June: My Month in Review | Wrap-Up & Highlights

Another month gone…whoosh! Suddenly, half the year has floated away…Before I begin, I’d just like to ask: does anyone actually read these posts? Or are they just there? I mean, I certainly enjoy writing them, but I rarely ever get feedback so I’m curious. Please let me know if I should continue writing these!

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what’s been happening in my [real] life?

SCHOOL’S OUT. Most of the month was full with school and fasting, so it just passed by really quickly. Even though I was stressed, I think I learned to cope with all of the tests and finals and everything and I somehow…made it through. I can’t believe I did it. I finished my freshman year at the nation’s hardest high school. I JUST WANT TO SCREAM I DID IT EVERYWHERE!!! And I somehow made it out alive! With mostly As, only 2 Bs on my final report card. I am SO proud of my grades. Whereas in middle school I would lay around for all of my As, I worked my ass off for these grades.

And yea, they’re not as good as everyone else’s (my school is extremely competitive) but they’re such an improvement from the beginning of the year. Not only were my grades better, my whole morale was better which I think shows a direct correlation between how I do in school and my happiness. Also, I blogged more, and read more. ❤

As some of you may know, it was also Ramadan which made it…extra challenging. Somehow, though, I made it through most of Ramadan which was during school. (We have to fast from sunrise to sunset, which is like 16 hours here in Virginia.)

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what’s been happening on my blog?

As I said, I blogged more this month, even though most of it was this week. (Since for two weeks during Finals I didn’t even open my laptop besides school related stuff.) Here are all the posts I wrote:

• Quite Possibly My Weirdest Review Ever: The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
• Sequels: Good and Bad (Discussion!)
• Things In Books I NEED More Of
• My Summer Aesthetic
• New York Times by the Book | Book Tag
• Summer Days and Summer Nights | Review

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what about bookish updates/wrap-ups?

Even though I technically didn’t read a lot, I read much more than I usually do and it was a stress-less reading experience since school ended. So..I read three books this month, and LOVED two of them and was disappointed by one. Anyways, here are the books:

1. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas (5 stars)–this was SO amazing. Even though I only got enough time to read it over the course of three weeks, I ended up loving it and I’ll for sure be talking more about it in future posts.
2. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (5 stars)–I picked this up randomly, and ended up falling in love with it. I’m not sure which one I loved more, ACOMAF or this ❤ (A review will be posted on here shortly.)
3. Summer Days and Summer Nights (3.5 stars)–disappointed, but still a fun read!

One exciting thing for me was that my dad bought me two books. I don’t know if you know, but my parents have always been not very welcoming about my extreme love for books. Especially my dad. Whenever he caught me reading books, he’d always say something, and he never appreciated the fact that I loved buying books either. But this month, he asked me which books I wanted and I swear I could have flown from happiness. Rather than the books I bought, it was the fact that he’s finally accepting my love for books and is willing to buy them. This was DEFINITELY a highlight for me. (I bought And I Darken by Kiersten White and Uprooted by Naomi Novik.)

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june highlights

• What I said above about my Dad ^-^
• The Night Circus and ACOMAF were both so so amazing.
• I’m just generally happier and less stressed as I said. Since school calmed down, I actually had time to myself which was amazing. Its really obvious, I think, how much school affects my mood. So far, this is the best month I’ve had in the year and I can only hope the rest of the year will be this way. 🙂

How did your months go? I hope they went as well as mine! Please please please talk with me! Love you guys ❤

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my social medias: // goodreads // instagram // tumblr // questions? contact me: aloofbooks@gmail.com