Book Haul Revisited Part 1 | 2018

It’s been some time since I was active on this blog. I just haven’t had the time or want to write and post anything for the past year (might be longer). But I’m going to try this again for a few months and see how I feel about it, starting with this blogpost.

Some time ago I saw a video by Pages and Pens on Youtube where she did a Revisited book haul, which basically is that you go back to an earlier haul and tell viewers or readers if you’ve read a book or not and what you thought about it if you did. I instantly wanted to do the same since I hauled a lot of books during 2016 (when I started this blog), this way I can see how I shop books and how many I haven’t read vs. have read, it might help me purge some of them if I’ve had them for that long without reading them.

I’m also thinking that I might try to read the books I haven’t read yet, or I’m going to unhaul them if I haven’t when this year is over. Don’t know if it’s something I can do at all since reading has taken a backburner place for the past 7 months or so. But we’ll see. In some posts I might have books I want to read sooner or later, but can’t do that at this moment. That’s ok if I know that I’m going to read them some day, if I know they are there just because I can have them, I’ll have to read them, or donate them.

I have no idea how often I’m going to post these but I’ll try at least one each month from now on.

Though it seems like I didn’t buy any books in January, so I’ll just start in February and my Birthday Book Haul.

February and Birthday Book Haul

• Storm front by Jim Butcher – Read
  
• A court of thorns and roses by Sarah J Maas – Read
• In the Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken – Read
• Under the never sky by Veronica Rossi – Read
• The Martian by Andy Wier – Read
• Unforgiven by Lauren Kate – Read
• You by Caroline Kepnes – Read and donated
  
• Requiem by Lauren Oliver – Read
  
• The Delirium Stories by Lauren Oliver – Read
  
• A darker shade of magic by V E Schwab – Read
• Kiss of Deception by Mary E Pearson – Read

This is going really well so far. I hope it continues the same through the February haul.

• Gone girl by Gillian Flynn – Read & Donated
• Paganinikontraktet (the nightmare) by Lars Kepler – Read & Donated
• As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner – Not read
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald – Read & Donated
• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller – Not read
• To the lighthouse by Virginia Woolf – Not read
• Three by Kristen Simmons – Read
• Article 5 by Kristen Simmons – Read
• The girl of fire and thorns stories by Rae Carson – Not read
• Mirakelverkstaden (no English title) by Valérie Tong Cuong – Read
• A Crochet book in Swedish I haven’t even touched since I bought it
• Love Letters: 200 years of Romance by the British Library – Not read
  
• Shopaholic to the stars by Sophie Kinsella – DNF’d & donated
• Berättelser från Engelsfors by Strandberg & Bergmark Elfgren (Graphic novel from the Engelsfors trilogy) – Read
• Stjärnklart by Lars Wilderäng (no english title) – Not read & Donated
  
• United states of cake (cookbook) by Roy Fares – Not meant to read from cover to cover

I’m surprised at how good it went. I have a few more books left that I got during that month. Non of the books I haven’t read do I want to get rid of, I want to read them all sooner or later, but it will happen for sure.

That’s it for the February and Birthday Book Haul Revisited. So, from all the books I hauled then I bought/got 27 books, and from them, I’ve read 17, which is better than I thought it would be.

It seems like I didn’t do a March book haul but then I did an April, May and June one, which I think I’m going to post next, in a week or so. So this is it, for now, I hope you liked it. See you next time.

Read on 🙂

September Wrap-Up | 2017

It really hasn’t been the best reading month, but then again I haven’t really been trying to stress about the amount of books I read. And choosing to read big books takes time for sure, so I’m ok with only finishing 2,5 books this month.

• The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
  I actually never thought I would be able to finish this book, it took me about three weeks, but I did it, and I loved it. It’s seriously one of the best written fantasy books I’ve read this far and I actually loved the Main Character, Vin, and also Kelsier, and all the others. I wasn’t bothered by any of the characters in the Gang. It was simply awesome, except for a few places where I thinked the book dragged a bit, but it wasn’t really a big deal, I wished that some of the longer, more descriptive parts hadn’t been so long, but hey it worked out in the end. 4,5 stars.
• The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket
  I’ve started to get really sick of this series actually. But I’m going to finish the rest of the series too, just because I have 5 books left. I mean, it’s the same damn thing book by book, there’s never something new except the place where everything plays out. 3 stars.

I also started A Conjuring of Light by V E Schwab, but I haven’t been able to finish it. It is however the first book I’m going to finish in October for sure

*****

Goals Update:

• I read 2 books, so I’ve read 58 books in total this year and have 0 books left to read to reach my goal of 40.
• Read 0 books in Swedish. I’ve reached the goal of finishing 5 books already.
• I’ve bought 11 books in September.
• I finished 0 series this month, so I’m still at needing to finish 5 series to finish my yearly goal.
• I read 1 books off my TBR list that I haven’t bought this year and 1 that I did get this year. From last months 95 books on my TBR I went up to 102 TBR books.
• I didn’t read a single Classic, so I’m still at 4 to read to finish the goal.
• I read 0 books of the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge. My goal was to read 5 this year, I still have 4 books to read to finish this goal.

What BookTube Has Brought Me | 2017

Source: Epicreads

In this blog post I want to give my gratitude to BookTube, since it has changed my reading life immensely since I discovered it, I won’t be able to tell you enough, how it has changed my reading life, but I’m sure going to try.

If you don’t know what BookTube is, it’s a community on YouTube where bookbloggers post their bookish videos, sharing them with viewers and then discussing topics in their comments and so on.

Before I found BookTube I wasn’t reading very much to be honest, maybe 20 books a year at the most, not even that actually. So the first thing BookTube has brought me is, the Want to read more even thought I’ve always wanted to read a lot. Since finding BookTube I’ve read somewhere between 60-90 books a year for the past 3 years.

The second thing BookTube has brought me is the variety of books and genres to read. I have everything from non-fiction to childrens books to high fantasy on my Read shelf and it still amazes me that there are so, soo many books out there I haven’t read and want to read after finding them.

The third thing BookTube has brought me is the feeling of belonging somewhere, that knowing that there are a lot more people out there, who loves reading just as much as me, and might (or might not) have the same feelings about books or characters as me.

The fourth thing is that I have found my favorite (or rather prefered) genres (YA contemporary, dystopian and fantasy), but still gets me to read other genres, even those I wouldn’t have chosen otherwise.

The fifth thing is all the new books and authors I’ve discovered through BookTube, some which have become favorites throughout the years. I’ve discovered books I’ve loved more than books I thought was true love, and I’ve found books I’ve absolutely hated. I have discovered so, so, so many new books and authors of different genres I can’t begin to describe my gratitude toward BookTube.

The sixth things would probably be, A never ending TBR list. For me it’s a good thing, since I’ll never be bored. The negative side of it is that I’m never gonna be done with having a TBR list, I’ll always have a reading list, until the day I’m gone.

The seventh, new adventures to discover every day of my life. I’m never going to have such an adventurous life as I’m having right now because of books, and it doesn’tbother me too much, I travel when I can, when I can’t I use books. I love it.

The eight, a neverending list of Book Boyfriends. There are soo many wonderful male characters in the books I read (not all of them), there’ll always be a new book boyfriend for me in one book or another, no doubt about it. To feel that crush on a fictiona character every now and then lifts my spirit and makes me feel more alive somehow. I love it so much.

Well, that’s it for my second post for the day. I’ve been gone from the internet for about a week and a half and haven’t been able to post a single post, so today you get two of them 🙂 See you next week. Read on! 🙂

Goodreads Tag | 2016

Again, I wanted to post another tag (I have plenty of those saved for rainy days).

Original tag was created by SpiralBookmark

QUESTIONS:
1. What was the last book you marked as ‘read’?

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

2. What are you currently reading?

Just picked up The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket.

3. What was the last book you marked as ‘TBR’?

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

4. What book do you plan to read next?

Don’t know which one but it’ll definitely be one of the books mentioned in question 8.

5. Do you use the star rating system?

Yes, I do, but I would love to have a half-star option.

6. Are you doing a 2017 Reading Challenge?

I did, it was to read 40 books this year, which I’ve exceeded by 17 by now (I think!)

7. Do you have a wishlist?

Yes, but it’s not updated.

8. What book do you plan to buy next?

A bunch of 2017 releases and also some LGBTQIA+ books (I have a list but it’s so long that I’m not going to list them here) + American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.

9. Do you have any favorite quotes, would you like to share a few?

I have but I don’t have any market or written down so I can’t share any right now. I might have to start writing them down in my journal or mark them with post-its or something in the future. Otherwise, the quote under my blog name is a favorite!

10. Who are your favorite authors?

There are quite a few of them, but V E Schwab has definitely become one of them just these past few months.

11. Have you joined any groups?

It’s been a while but I think there are a few I’m a member of.

Bonus Questions:

1. How many books do you have on your TBR shelf?

On the genral Goodreads To Read Shelf I have 1349 books. And on my owned books TBR shelf I have 105 books.

2. What would you like to change?

As I mentioned above, the rating system should have a half-star rating. I don’t think I have anything else.. Or maybe increase the amount of friends you can have. Can’t think of anything else at the moment.

That’s it for today. I hope you liked this tag. See you next week again with a new blog post. Read on! 🙂

Summer Book Haul | 2017

So, I’ve started doing this thing on my blog, seasonal book hauls instead of monthly ones since I’m not buying as many books this year (read 5, buy 1 resolution). So, in this blog post I’m going through what I bought in June, July, and August.

June

I didn’t buy a single book this month. YAY!

July

I actually didn’t buy any books for the the entire month, but I did get 1 books for free (well 4 but three I’ve already gotten rid of) from our recycling centre where they have a small garage kind of building where you can leave things you don’t want but are whole and still usable, and take things for free if you find anything. All the books were in Swedish and three of them from Swedish authors. I forgot to take a photo of them (of course). But this is the one I kept of the four.

• Playground by Lars Kepler (same name in English)

August

I was really good for the first half of the month (mainly because the trains into town weren’t going), and my parents were on vacation. But when they got home for a couple of days I went a little crazy when we went to my favorite second hand store and got 7 books for about $13.

• I found the white edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and just had to have it. It’s just so beautiful and I never thought I would ever see one, even less in a second hand store here in Sweden.
• Lejontämjaren by Camilla Läckberg (The Ice Child in English)
• Den Osynlige Mannen från Salem by Christoffer Carlsson (The Invisible Man from Salem in English)
• A Feast for Crows by George R R Martin
• Twenties Gil by Sophie Kinsela
• Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
• The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

That’s it for this seasonal haul. I’m actually really surprised that I haven’t gotten more books than I did, especially bought books. But in September I bet I’m going to crack completely, I can feel it coming and it wouldn’t surprise me since it’s been so long (apart from my August haul) since I bought books, I already have a cart wainting for me to confirm my order 😉

August Wrap-Up | 2017

Not really sure what I think about this reading month. Of all the books I’ve read this month, I only liked/loved one or maybe two of them. The rest I could have been without for sure. I hope September will be a much better reading month.

I’m going to try something new on my wrap-ups. Whenever I read a Swedish book that hasn’t been translated to English, I’m going to review it in Swedish instead of in English. I mean, what’s the point in writing about a book in English when no English speaking person can read it. So, I’m going to try it out for a couple of months at least to see how I like it.

• The Strange Power by L J Smith
  I needed to read something that didn’t take me too long and I didn’t have to think too much. This was the perfect book for it since it was an easy read and it just flew by. The story in itself wasn’t anything special for me. It contains a lot of YA tropes I don’t really care about (insta love, something really good is too good to be true, etc.). The main character I didn’t like at all, to me she was just a clueless bimbo without a brain of her own. 3,5 stars.
• The Possessed by L J Smith
  I seriously don’t even know why I’m reading this trilogy any more. Sure, it’s an easy read since it’s written in that way, except for some weird Big Words placed regularly throughout the whole book, that didn’t need to be there, the language in itself otherwise is very simple so why use those big words when the rest of the books is so simple?? I don’t get it. The story in itself isn’t much to keep in the bookshelf really, it’s like any other YA Paranormal story except it’s worse. There’s no character development at all, and the voices in the book are just… flat. I’ll read the last book too but I’m not having any high hopes at all, I’m only going to read it just because I want to know how it ends. 3 stars.
• The Passion by L J Smith
  It was an ok ending to the trilogy. Very predictable, yet it wasn’t. I was surprised at some of things that happened, but other things, not so much. I was still bothered by the Big words used for no good reasons because the language otherwise was quite simplistic. I’m just glad this trilogy is over and I don’t have to care about it any longer, not that I cared much about it while reading it either. 3,5 stars.
• Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
  I have read and heard very mixed things about this book, but I was pleasantly surprised since I liked it a lot. I had heard that it was a lot of info-dumping and world building, but I actually didn’t think it was too bad. It never made me loose interest at least, and I enjoyed the story and the writing more than I thought I would. The only thing I was a little disappointed about was that everyone made it to be a story about pirates, which it is, but nearly not as much as it should have been, I was simply expecting it was all going to be about piracy. Either way I Loved it! 4 stars.
• Livet, motorcyklar & andra omöjliga projekt by Katarina Bivald (no English translation available)
  En härlig feel-good som var precis vad jag behövde efter månadens alla tidigare böcker. Det var bara slutet som kändes forserad, men det var definitivt en av de bättre böckerna jag har läst den här månaden. Hade det inte varit för slutet hade den fått högre betyg än den 4a jag givit den.
• Rosengädda nästa! by Emma Hamberg (no English translation)
  Jag gillade verkligen början av boken och karaktärerna med, men ju mer berättelsen utvecklades desto plattare kändes den och jag tappade intresset mot början av den sista 1/4 av boken, men eftersom det bara var ett fåtal sidor kvar läste jag ut den. 3,5 får den i betyg.

I didn’t finish anything else, but I did pick up The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson, which I’m 167 pages into so far, probably will be at 185 when August is over, and will finish in the beginning of September for sure. So far, I’m liking it a lot and I’m looking forward to see where the story will go. And I’m going to continue listening to A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin on audiobook as well.

***

Goals Update:

• I read 6 books, so I’ve read 56 books in total this year and have 0 books left to read to reach my goal of 40.
• Read 2 books in Swedish. I’ve reached the goal of finishing 5 books already.
• I’ve bought 7 books in August.
• I finished 0 series this month, so I’m still at needing to finish 5 series to finish my yearly goal.
• I read 0 books off my TBR list that I haven’t bought this year and 5 that I did get this year and 1 that I borrowed from my mom. From last months 103 books on my TBR I went down to 95 TBR books, bought books included, plus I got rid of 5 or 6 books as well during the month.
• I didn’t read a single Classic, so I’m still at 4 to read to finish the goal.
• I read 0 books of the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge. My goal was to read 5 this year, I still have 4 books to read to finish this goal.

Mid-year Goals Check-In/Freak Out Tag | Better Late than Never | 2017

More than half the year has gone by like it was just yesterday 2017 began. But here it is, the second half of the year, and it’s time to check in and answer som questions.

Mid-year Freak Out Tag

1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2017.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E Schwab

2. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2017.

A gathering of shadows by V. E. Schwab.

3. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to.

I don’t think I can choose just one, but I can maybe narrow it down to my top 5.

• A Conjuring of light by V E Schwab
• When dimple met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
• The upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli
• A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas
• Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.

Wow, I kid you not, almost all of my most anticipated books I have on my shelf on Goodreads have already been released, and those I have left is definitely not Most anticipated. But I found one I kind of anticipate.

• The Ship of the dead by Rick Riordan

5. Biggest disappointment.

I have a couple of books to choose from, I have no idea if I could choose just one.

• Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt
• Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
• This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen
• Sandmannen (The Sandman) by Lars Kepler
• The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

6. Biggest surprise.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. It had such an impact on me, I still think about it even though it’s been almost 2 months since I read it, in a good way I should also say.

7. Favourite new author (debut or new to you).

V. E. Schwab, for sure. I’ve read 3 books of hers this year and she has sure become my new favorite author.

8. Newest fictional crush.

Kell from the Darker Shades of Magic Trilogy by V E Schwab.

9. Newest favourite character.

Alucard from a Conjuring of Light by V E Schwab. He is such a character, I loved him from the very beginning.

10. Book that made you cry.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. I cried like nobodys business through some of the things that happened throughout the book, especially in the end.

11. Book that made you happy.

Änglarna dansar i gryningen by Camilla Davidsson. It was such a feel-good story, and I have loved the previous books in the series just as much.

12. Favorite book to film adaptation you saw this year.

Beauty and the Beast, though I haven’t read the story.

13. Favorite review you’ve written this year.

I haven’t written even one this year, sad but true.

14. Most beautiful book you’ve bought this year so far (or received).

I actually think most of my books are beautiful, I can’t choose just one, but 90% of them are just so beautiful 😛

15. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

There are many of them I need to read before the year is over, I hope I even get to a couple of them. I can’t even list them all but I’ll list a couple I know I’ll get too, and there’s the list of my most anticipated books, also.

• A conjuring of light by V E Schwab
• Our dark duet by V E Schwab
• A court of wings and ruin by Sarah J Maas
• The hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan
• The ship of the dead by Rick Riordan
• The heart of betrayal by Mary E Pearson
• The beauty of Darkness by Mary E Pearson

I’m sure there are some other books I need to get too before the year is over, but these are priorities just because I get to finish some series.

***

Update on The Goals I wrote for 2017:

• Read 40 books – I’ve read 52 so far this year, so. Finished!
• ONLY read books I own (I’m going to attempt to make my TBR bookshelf MUCH smaller) – I’ve managed to keep this up quite well, I’ve gone from 131 books on my TBR shelf down to 101, with bought books included. And of the 50 books I’ve read, 33 of them I didn’t get this year.
• Read 5, buy one. Last year I did read one, buy one and it went better than expected, but since I’m attempting on emptying my TBR shelves as much as I can, I needed to go extreme on this one to keep myself from buying more books than I can read. – I did well until May when I bought 13 books without having read the amount to actually be allowed to get them. I was allowed to get 2 and I read 5 more books to get a third one, so ten of those weren’t included. I still need to read about 32 books to get to buy another book after that binge. But I’m not going to be able to wait until I’ve read them all because there are books I need to get to be able to finish some other goals this year. So I’m already counting this one as a fail.
• Read 5 classics – So far I’ve read 2.
• Read 5 books in Swedish – This one I’m done with. I’ve read 5.
• Read a Children’s Classic – This, I’ve finished too.

*****

This goes with the Read 5, buy one goal. There are a couple of things I’m going to focus on whenever I actually buy books during the year. Since I’ve decided that I need to read five books before I can buy one, the number of books I’m buying is really limited and reserved for a couple of the goals I have for the year.

• Finish 10 series – these are series I started in 2015 or 2016, that I know for sure I’m going to try to finish. (I’m not counting novella collections). Here’s the series I’ve started:
  – The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (3 books left to buy)
  – Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (3 books left)
  – Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas (2 books left) – not gonna be done this year since a new book was added.
  – Partials by Dan Wells – finished
  – Article 5 by Kristen Simmons – finished
  – Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo – finished
  – Nattens Barn by Benni Bödker (2 books left)
  – Under Vintergatans Alla Stjärnor by Camilla Davidsson – finished – although the author added a 4th book to the series this year.
  – Red Rising by Pierce Brown (1 book left)
  – Lumikki Andersson by Salla Simukka (2 books left)
  – Night World by L J Smith (2 binds up left)
  – Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson (1 book left) – DNF’d this dulogy or trilogy.
  I finished 4 of these and DNF’d one.
• Read the Harry Potter series in English – I still need the last four books in the series, just like the beginning of the year.
• Read 5 books from the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge – If there are a couple of books I don’t own and can’t get from the library I’ll need to buy it/them.
• Don’t start a new series/trilogy if I can’t finish it during the year – There are a few sequels in trilogies or series I don’t have but own the first book off and might need to get if I decide to start reading them during the year, and I know there are a couple of complete duologies I could read if I want to. – So far I’ve started like 10 and I’ve finished exactly 1 of them so far. This is not going well at all

*****

Top 5 books of this year so far

1. Before I fall by Lauren Oliver
2. A Darker Shade of Magic by V E Schwab
3. The Kiss off Deceptions by Mary E Pearson
4. Änglarna Dansar i Gryningen by Camilla Davidsson
5. The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

Honorable mention: Eldvittnet (The Fire Witness) by Lars Kepler

July Wrap-Up | 2017

It hasn’t been the best reading month of the year, but I have figured out that it takes me a long time to get through Fantasy novels, usually between 2-3 weeks, so I’m fine with it, I just have to plan my reading a little better if I want to be able to read more than this. Even though I haven’t been able to read very much, all of them have been awesome books, so I don’t have a problem at all with it taking a bit longer to finish some books.

• Impulse by Ellen Hopkins
  I’d heard so many great things about Hopkins’ books that I had very high hopes for them. I can safely say that it exceeded my expectations BIG f*ing time! I loved it, even though there were a lot of triggers in it. I could see myself in two of the three characters, and it felt really good to read something like that, to kind of know that I’m not alone even though these are fictional characters the problems are real, and to read something that someone has written about something so ”mundane” as depression and self-harm. There were a few minimal things that dragged down the rating half a star, but it’s still one of the best books of the year for sure. 4,5 stars.
  Trigger Warning for; depression, self-harm, suicide attempts, drug use, sexual abuse, suicide, abuse and neglect within families, etc, etc.
• A Gathering of Shadows by V E Schwab
  There wasn’t a lot going on in this second book, but I’m sure that the few things that did happen are going to go somewhere, and I’m really looking forward to reading the third and final book in this trilogy. The writing was of course exquisite and I’m loving every moment of reading these books, even though it takes me forever to get through them. 4,5 stars.
• Holding up the Universe by Jennifer Niven
  It was a really good story about what matters and what doesn’t in a human being. That it is possible to look and see beyond the outer shells we have. I loved it even though it took me some time to get through it. 4,5 stars.

I didn’t get to finish more books, but I continued with Golden Son by Pierce Brown, which for some reason takes me foreever to get through. And I also started the first book in the Dark Visions Trilogy by L J Smith, but didn’t get to finish until on the first day of August.

*****

Goals Update:

• I read 3 books, so I’ve read 50 books in total this year and have 0 books left to read to reach my goal of 40.
• Read 0 books in Swedish. I’ve reached this goal already.
• I’ve bought 0 books in July, but I got 4 for free.
• I finished 0 series this month, so I’m still at needing to finish 5 series to finish my yearly goal.
• I read 0 books off my TBR list that I haven’t bought this year and 3 that I did get this year. From last months 103 books on my TBR I went down to 102 TBR books.
• I didn’t read a single Classic, so I’m still at 4 to read to finish the goal.
• I read 0 books of the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge. My goal was to read 5 this year, I still have 4 books to read to finish this goal.

 

June Wrap-Up | 2017

June was an ok reading month. I read quite a lot of books, but not many really good ones. But hey, at least I read a lot, that’s good enough for me.

• Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
  It was a good beginning of the month, even though the story in itself contained too much, I would have liked it even more if there wasn’t so much going on. I mean, it was Naomi’s amnesia, James’s depression, and Will, and Naomi’s dad, and her mom and everything else. Sure, I understand that there was supposed to be a lot going on but it would have been better if James’s depression wasn’t part of it since Naomi has plenty going on already. 3,5 stars.
• Going too far by Jennifer Echols
  Not the best contemporary YA I’ve read, but it was light and (kind of) fluffy, enough for me to like the book for what it was. And it had something I hadn’t read before, so it was kind of new to me, and it made me like it even more, and that’s the bad girl instead of bad boy. 4 stars.
• Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
  This is the book that’s probably gonna be THE most eye-opening book that leaves an impression, of the year, if not of all read books ever, for me. It made such an impression that I even dreamt about it the night efter I finished it. I just can’t get it out of my head, in a good way. The writing was really beautiful and lyrical. I had some problems with it after finishing the first day in the book since I really wouldn’t believe I would be able to finish it if all the days were gonna be the same, and living through the same day over and over again, I just couldn’t see it. But I got hooked, real bad, and I didn’t want to put the book down, and I didn’t want to finish it. I loved it, more than any other book this year (at least). 5 stars.
• Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
  This wasn’t very good to be honest. The writing was very immature and didn’t have much of content really. I had high hopes for this book after reading Memoirs of a teenage amnesiac by Zevin, but I was very, very disappointed. I kind of had hopes that it would be a deeper and something like Before I Fall, but I wasn’t so lucky. The humor I didn’t even understand, it was supposed to have humor, but I didn’t detect any of it. 2,5 stars.
• Pretty Girl-13 by Liz Coley
  This was so not was I was expecting. Yes, I knew it was a kidnapping story, but other than that everything was a complete surprise. Sure, sometimes it was very predictable. I mean halfway through the book I figured something out that was revealed in the next to last chapter or so. I should also say that this has some trigger warnings of abuse, rape, incest and mental health issues. 4 stars, though I should say it’s more toward 4,5.
• This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen
  I have never (I believe) thought a YA contemporary book to be bad, before. But this sure was. I didn’t feel anything for the characters, I felt detached during the entire book and I didn’t feel anything between the main character and the love interest, nothing what so ever. 2,5 stars (the .5 stars just because it made me smile a couple of times because of Monkey – the dog- and one of the smaller characters).
• Just listen by Sarah Dessen
  I have only just started this book but already I can feel that Sarah Dessen is not for me. This is the second book I’ve read and it’s just not for me. First of, there’s so many infodumps/flashbacks that I have totaly forgotten what the story was really about and what happened during the ”today” parts.
  Continuing with the book it actually got good for the most part of the book, I loved the chemistry between Owen and Annabel, I loved Clarke. The only thing, I really didn’t like Sophie, I disliked her from the core of my being form the very begining.
  But then the story crashed and the whole story was kind of done for me then, but since there were only a few of chapters left, I finished the book. I mean it was way better than This Lullaby, and I’m glad I’m giving authors (well, most of them) second chances. 3,5 stars (even though I wanted to give 4 stars, I just couldn’t).
• Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt
  I had hoped for a cute road tripstory (Like Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson) but it wasn’t as good, at all. I found myself rolling my eyes a lot and getting annoyed at all the repetatives throughout the book. I didn’t like the Courtney one bit, she was way to annoying and childish for my liking. 3 stars.
• The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger
  I loved The DUFF way more than I thought I would. It was solid, the story was better than I believed it would and I didn’t get annoyed at anything at all. I loved Bianca as a main character, she was so kick-ass and sassy, she kind of reminds me of myself in a lot of ways. 4,5 stars.

I’m pretty happy with what I read, even though many of the books weren’t that good. But they were books I’d wanted to read since I found BookTube. So I’m pretty satisfied with the books I read.

*****

Goals Update:

• I read 9 books, so I’ve read 47 books in total this year and have 0 books left to read to reach my goal of 40.
• Read 0 books in Swedish. I’ve reached this goal already.
• I’ve bought 0 books in June.
• I finished 0 series this month, so I’m still at needing to finish 5 series to finish my yearly goal.
• I read 1 books off my TBR list that I haven’t bought this year and 8 that I did get this year. From last months 114 books on my TBR I went down to 103 TBR books.
• I didn’t read a single Classic, so I’m still at 4 to read to finish the goal.
• I read 0 books of the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge. My goal was to read 5 this year, so I still have 4 books to read to finish this goal.

Take care and Read on! 🙂

May Wrap-Up | 2017

I would say this has been one of the better reading months since January. I managed to read 11 books, sure there was a novella, a collection of novellas and two mangas, but I’m happy either way. And I’ve read quite a variation of genres as well, which I’m more than happy about.

• The Kiss of Deception by Mary E Pearson
  This was one of the better books I read this year. Even though I think it was very slow at times I didn’t want to stop reading it. The main character was badass, which I loved. The only thing bothering me was that I always kept guessing at who was who of the prince and assassin (I was wrong btw), but that was my own fault. 4,5 stars.
• Sandmannen by Lars Kepler (English title: The Sandman)
  Not the best book in the Joona Linna series by Kepler. I was actually a bit disappointed after reading the 3rd book in February(?) which was so, so good! I was expecting creepy, eerie and crazy, but that wasn’t what I got, unfortunately. I mean, I still liked it a lot as with the other books by Kepler, but I just had too high hopes after reading the 3rd book. 3,5 stars.
• This Savage Song by V E Schwab
  It was a good enough book, it wasn’t what I was expecting and a bit too slow most of the story for my taste. The writing was of course exquisite. I liked the story enough and the characters, though I didn’t really care about the female lead, I don’t even remember her name. So yeah, don’t know if I’m going to read the sequel to this duology, I’ll just have to wait and see. 3,5 stars.
• The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket
  One of the better books in the series so far, but not my favorite. I actually enjoyed this book more than I thought I would even though I still wanted to strangle some of the characters, as with almost all the other characters. 4 stars.
• Alex (Delirium novella at the end of Requiem) by Lauren Oliver
  
  Don’t know really what I was expecting but it was a good enough novella telling what happened between the first and second(?) book in the Delirium trilogy. Most of it I’d already guessed at and it wasn’t really a necessary story. 3 stars.
• Delirium Stories (Delirium novellas) by Lauren Oliver
  I liked this novella collection which tells three different stories about three different characters from the Delirium trilogy. I also liked the extra content at the end of the book, such as the list of Banned literature, and also the test: ”What kind of Fighter are you?”, they were very entertaining together with the novellas. I’ve rated the novellas individually and given the collection a ”total” rating. The total rating for this collection is 4 stars.
  – Hana – 3 stars. I’ve never really cared about Hana as a character and didn’t really care about this novella at all.
  – Annabell – 4,5 stars. It was very interesting reading about Lena’s mother and her journey. I liked it a lot.
  – Raven – 4 stars. I haven’t really cared about Raven either but it was interesting to read the parts about where she came from and how she got to be a part of the resistance.
• Deathnote Vol 1 by Tsugumi Ohba
  I didn’t know what to expect of this. I mean, I’ve seen an episode or so of the Anime but it was so long ago I couldn’t even remember almost any of it. I liked the story and it was an easy and interesting read. 4 stars.
• Scottish Ghosts by Lily Seafield
  Meh. It was an okay book telling you about the different haunted places and ghosts in Scotland, as well as other creatures like fairies for example. I had thought it would be more of a ”fairy tale” book with stories and stuff but it was only a lot of facts and it dragged on for the entire book. Some of the stories were good enough to continue reading the book but I skipped all the intro texts after a new chapter was presented because I just couldn’t get through them. At the end of it all I couldn’t continue reading the book but included it here since I got almost halfway through the book. DNF’d at around 40%, 1,5 stars.
• Deathnote Vol 2 by Tsugumi Ohba
  It’s starting to get really interesting. I’m really enjoying this story so far, It’s too bad I don’t have the rest of the books or at least the next two books. I gave this one 4,5 stars.
• The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
  I was very surprised by this book, it wasn’t at all what I expected, in a very god way. I’ve seen the movie more times than I can count, but I could actually see this as its own book, without a movie based on it. It was so clever and witty and with a strong female character I could see myself in. I loved it so much and couldn’t help but give it 5 stars.
• Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
  I was happily surprised when I finished this book. I actually didn’t have very high expections for some reason. But I’m definitely going to continue this series since I really want to know how it will go. 4,5 stars.

*****

Goals Update:

• I read 11 books, so I’ve read 36 books in total this year and have 4 books left to read to reach my goal of 40.
• Read 1 books in Swedish. I’ve now read 4 books and 1 left to reach the goal of 5.
• I’ve bought 13 books in May.
• I finished 0 series this month, so I’m still at needing to finish 5 series to finish my yearly goal.
• I read 8 books off my TBR list that I haven’t bought this year and 3 that I did get this year. So from last months 116 books on my TBR I went down to 103 TBR books, and since I got 13 books I went up to 114 instead.
• I didn’t read a single Classic, so I’m still at 4 to read to finish the goal.
• I read 0 books of the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge. My goal was to read 5 this year, so I still have 4 books to read to finish this goal.

That’s it for the month of May. Let’s see how June will be like. Read on 🙂