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Giveaway hosted by: Urban Epics & Derek Murphy

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In three weeks I managed to read 11 books. I thought that my August TBR goals of 8-10 books in three weeks (afterbooktubeathon) were stretching it and then I beat my own goals!

Well, I’ve also been experiencing a lack of motivation with a lot of things, including blogging, and that has to do with August marking the one year anniversary of a close friend’s suicide. So, in periods of little motivation, sometimes I end up reading a lot without people knowing.

And today I’m here to discuss the 11 books I read and the several books that I want to read in September. Don’t forget to tell me what’s on your September TBR and what you’ve read in August.

AUGUST BOOK TALK: 

** The Fifth Wave – Rick Yancey || Goodreads

Hey, hey! You might be interested in reading this one soon too. The trailer was recently released for the movie adaptation (or at least a sneak peek trailer).

Anyway, everyone was raving about this book years ago, and I pre-ordered the book but then never got around to reading it (#StoryOfABookHoarder). I recently saw that the audiobook was available on Overdrive, so I decided to try it out, knock a book off the TBR (even if it wasn't the TBR I'd made for August). Y'all, if you're going to read this book, I HIGHLY recommend the audiobook. The narrator does a fantastic job of capturing Cassie's emotions and the atmosphere as she recounts the different waves of the Other's invasion. There's also a narrator for the male characters (the guy who narrated Linger by Maggie Stiefvater), and he's good, but for me Cassie's narrator totally stole the show and made the audiobook worthwhile.

I really liked where Yancey took the story. I have to admit: alien invasion stories are not my thing. Too often I feel icky; aliens vs. humans, and this Othering, makes me think about xenophobia, and anyway, Yancey avoided that. There are obviously some parts that I enjoyed less than others, but it was entertaining enough that it stayed with me, made me curious enough to check out the sequel. Also, I'll probably check out the movie on January 29?, 2016.

** The Infinite Sea – Rick Yancey || Goodreads

This one is a lot more action-packed than The Fifth Wave and the main point of view isn't actually Cassie's. it's another side character from book one, and I've got to say - I liked that character a lot, so I enjoyed the perspective shift. I liked this less than The Fifth Wave, but I am still curious about what Yancey has planned for The Last Star. There were definitely plot twists in The Infinite Sea with huuuuge repercussions for TLS.

** Alanna: The First Adventure – Tamora Pierce || Goodreads

My reaction is pretty similar to what it was in my August TBR post. Which is to say, I'm super impressed thinking about how this was Tamora Pierce's debut novel and how she hadn't had the legions of YA novels before her, and yet she set such a trend! A trend and a legacy that's easily traced in other YA fantasies. I really wish that I'd read this in high school. I enjoyed it now, but I know that I would've enjoyed it even more then (aka when I was less jaded and picky about books).

** Bone Gap – Laura Ruby || Goodreads

This book takes a while to get started, but I almost didn't care because of its fantastic characters. Laura Ruby really does a wonderful job developing the setting and making the people of Bone Gap feel unique to Bone Gap (but also familiar to us). (Side note: magical realism may become one of my favorite genres, especially as it is here, with a character-oriented plot and emphasis on characterization first.)
Most often the complaint about magical realism novels is that they're slow-paced. My reasoning is that readers might be entering with bad expectations if they think a MR novel is supposed to go fast. A friend once said that the good horror novel first establishes the daily reality of the characters for you before adding in the horror elements. That's what makes the horror and creepiness feel real - the sense of it seeping into your daily reality. I'd say the same of magical realism. A MR novel that's fast-paced might not have the time to set up the proper atmosphere and setting. You gotta get the contemporary element in, and then inject the magic slowly but surely....

Anyway. I really did love Bone Gap, and Finn is one of my favorite male protagonists. Loved the way it played with perception, beauty, being lost and getting found.

** The Accident Season – Moira Fowley-Doyle || Goodreads

Wow. What a remarkable debut novel.

We Were Liars is probably a fair comparison, but it also doesn't quite capture the beautiful atmospheric tension of this novel. WWL's prose was more focused on emphasizing Cady's brokenness, I think, whereas the prose in The Accident Season seems more akin to Nova Ren Suma's. Here's a better explanation: WWL is described as a modern day suspense novel, but The Accident Season is described as a sexy magically realistic YA. If you're a fan of Nova Ren Suma's or Maggie Stiefvater's writing, this could be right up your alley.

I'm definitely coming back for more from this author.

The Accident Season is much more plot-oriented than Bone Gap. My favorite element of Bone Gap was the characterization. My favorite part of The Accident Season was the writing style. Ohhhhhhh, wow, the climax was stretched on and Fowley-Doyle captured the atmosphere and setting and this dreamy, what-is-going-on feeling for all of it. I could picture the entire book as a movie. Same with Bone Gap. Which is why I thought that magical realism might become one of my favorite genres.

** Court of Fives – Kate Elliott || Goodreads

No wonder Kate Elliott was a World Fantasy Award Finalist. The world-building is SO extensive, and the plotting does well to highlight different aspects beyond the core "Fives" game concept.

"Court of Fives is inspired by Little Women, by epic fantasy which I’ve written for years, by my wanting to write a story that’s also a love letter to female athletes, by the history of Hawaii, and by my husband’s work at an archaeological site in Egypt dating from the Greco-Roman period, a period when first Macedonians/Greeks and after them the Romans ruled over the Egyptian population." 

-Kate Elliott in her Book Smugglers post, which is well worth reading if you have the time.

That's also a good summary of this book. A love letter to Little Women, female athletes, and epic fantasy set in a Greco-Roman inspired world rife with colonial class warfare. If you wanted more focus on the world-building in The Winner's Curse, Court of Fives is your novel (though in general, definitely expect an overlap of fanbases here).

(P.S. Bonus points for Jessamy. She's going on my favorite heroines list.)

** George – Alex Gino || Goodreads

I'm really glad this is being published. It's wonderful to think that discussions will start across the country because of George. I was trying to think of when someone had ever really discussed gender identity with me when I was growing up, and I couldn't think of a single time. In fact, the first time I had ever even heard of the concept of personal gender pronouns was my first day at college. I should've done better, and we can all do better, and this is a really important book.

Something I also really appreciated about this book were the cringe-worthy comments from different characters that might seem innocent except that we're in Melissa's PoV (i.e. things like "you'll turn into a fine young man"). A nice reminder of how important our word choice is. And how the casting of the play went! I remember the parents and the people in charge of my elementary school plays specifically making up *girl* characters (e.g. Janet, Jim's twin sister in Huckleberry Finn) or changing boy characters to have "girl" names (i.e. probably ending in a vowel; e.g. "Quincey" instead of "Quince" in A Midsummer Night's Dream) - what is the deal with girls playing boys or boys playing girls?

Anyway, it's a good starter point for discussing gender identity with your kids. Some moments reminded me of this NYT article. Read that against this novel, or read the novel on its own -- whatever you decide, you should have some discussion at hand. Plus, the way the novel is written makes it really easy to sympathize with Melissa (see above).

** Sunshine – Robin McKinley || Goodreads

I was at the Strand the other day and found this one in the YA section. Remembered how much I'd enjoyed The Hero and the Crown and decided to give this book a shot.

Haha, this book was originally published as adult UF and republished as YA. That made me think that YA is really just at the publisher's discretion. Because there were definitely explicit terms you don't normally see in a YA novel: labia, the feeling of a hard-on going soft in your body, etc. But explicit terms aside, there aren't many explicit scenes, so it also makes sense that the book got published as a YA novel.

Anyway, it's a vampire faery tale, and I have some unanswered questions, and I may or may not go hunting on the author's website. I'd definitely read more from her in the future. Definitely one of the master story-tellers...

And the romance novels that I read when I fall into that lack of motivation mode...

** Slave to Sensation – Nalini Singh || Goodreads

Sarah J. Maas mentioned this book when she came to my college to give a SFF world-building workshop (before the publication of Crown of Midnight - aka when such things were still possible without costing too much money). She highly recommended it despite the old cover.

And ever since then, I've seen it on so so so many different UF and romance readers' radars. It seems to be a really popular series, the Psy-Changeling series, so I decided to try it out for myself. I enjoyed it well enough. Maybe will try her other books in the future?

**Luck Be a Lady – Meredith Duran || Goodreads

Meredith Duran is my go-to historical romance author. Especially when I'm in a funk.

** When Beauty Tamed the Beast – Eloisa James || Goodreads

I think a popular Goodreads reviewer might have tipped me off to this, but I was in the mood for a Beauty and the Beast retelling... I liked this. Probably just as much as Slave to Sensation, both good, and maybe I'll try more from those authors in the future.

Currently Reading:

** Slasher Girls and Monster Boys edited by April Genevieve Tucholke || Goodreads

I've only read the first story by Nova Ren Suma, but I enjoyed that so much! Her writing style seems particularly suited to short stories, and the magical realism elements fit well with an anthology comprised of horror and thriller stories.

September TBR:

All the books from my August TBR that I didn’t read including:

• Shadowshaper – Daniel Jose Older || Goodreads
• More Happy Than Not – Adam Silvera || Goodreads
• The Golden Specific – S.E. Grove || Goodreads
• The Wild Ones – C. Alexander London || Goodreads
• A Curious Tale of the In-Between – Lauren DeStefano || Goodreads

All of these books have actually been released by now, so if you're interested in them, you can grab a copy too. And hopefully I'll be able to read them soon, and catch up so I don't continue to fall behind on my TBR and push books back... back... back... Hah.

Also, books releasing in September and/or purchased:

** The Killing Moon – N.K. Jemisin || Goodreads

• I don't read enough adult fantasy, and I've heard such good things about Jemisin's work, so I'm really looking forward to diving into this book. (Though I think her other series won the Hugo and Nebula awards? Not this one? But still.). I also read a small excerpt about Jemisin's characterization skills on io9 and I loved them.

 

"The last month has seen the release of multiple heartbreaking videos regarding Planned Parenthood and abortion. How did the country get to this point from a legal standpoint?

Compelling Interest audiobook offers original transcripts, actual recordings, and fascinating details of the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade."

unrestricted. available worldwide. offer expires Aug. 31, 2015

get it HERE

You might remember that I was participating a challenge aka BookTube-A-Thon whereupon I was supposed to read seven books in seven days. Did I succeed?

Maybe... maybe not o.O.

So, from my BookTube-A-Thon List:

1. Venetia by Georgette Heyer || Goodreads

Did I finish this? Well, I DNFed at 35%.

This is written in a style similar to how Jane Austen writes, but for me it didn't have the same social satire element. Similarly, the author was clearly poking fun at the other two romantic interests Venetia has - the same way Austen shows you that Mr. Collins in Pride & Prejudice is an absurd character - but in a romance novel, I want to know more about the main character's relationship. Not these misogynistic douches. And instead of the hate turned love of Pride and Prejudice, the main character falls into an easy friendship with the main romantic interest and... there's not much tension. I read a lot of Regency and historical romance novels. This shows me how much things have changed in the writing styles and general outlook. This book, everything has been pretty chaste and doesn't have the same tension of other Regency romances (published nowadays) since the styles are so different. So essentially this makes me think: this book is not for me. There's nothing bad about it, but my expectations have been changed based off what I've read. If I'm reading a Jane Austen like style, I want more of her work; if I'm reading a Regency romance, I want something more similar to what I've already read. The amount of literary references though is really impressive.

If you want a Jane Austen styled romance, Georgette Heyer is your author.

2. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews || Goodreads

Did I finish this? YES!

A funny, frank book about death (though if you get easily offended, perhaps this book's humor is not for you). Wasn't sure that a comedic book about death was possible, and for so long the MC tells you that the book is about nothing, but then there's the gut punch and realizations and oooh, I want to see this movie. Also, I usually dislike when the main characters break the "fourth wall" and essentially tell you that they're writing the book you're reading because it makes me too aware that I'm reading the book and gets me all analytical and bleh. But I actually really enjoyed how Jesse Andrews used that technique in this book.

The Fault in Our Stars is a pretty comparison title in terms of plot, but the voice in Me and Earl and The Dying Girl is very distinctive, and I would suggest you read an excerpt if you're uncertain.

3. Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne || Goodreads

Did I finish this? YES!

I have conflicting thoughts about this.

First: cool concept. I mean, c'mon, who doesn't want to have enough money to travel around the world? And traveling around the world in 80 days or less! Talk about temporal tension in the story... I like the idea of a cool, reserved Englishman who puts this bet about being able to travel around the world in a limited time frame just for honor's sake. I like the writing style. And I like the epic adventure aspect of the book.

This is sort of a book I would fully like if I could dissociate it from its... context. All the racism (greedy Americans, pillaging Sioux, Indians who are in the middle of performing human sacrifice, etc.), the sexism (the only female character of note gets very few lines and is essentially the damsel in distress who'd been rescued by the cool, reserved Englishman and now felt "gratitude" (or more) to him), the colonial superiority (this review discusses that). If I could forget all that existed, maybe I'd have liked this more.

I would SO be down for a retelling, though, that wasn't racist/sexist/colonially superior.

4. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon || Goodreads

Did I finish this? YES!

Maddy and Olly are so cute together. This is a book written with heart and written in an easy to read style. A page-turner of adorable proportions; and I particularly loved how the illustrations and other formats (e.g. vignettes, the short reviews since Maddy has a book review tumblr) were incorporated. In the above video, I discussed / showed one of the illustrations of Maddy in outer space while Olly was on Earth. Everything, everything is going to be a big fall title. It already has 2,000+ ratings on Goodreads. What are you waiting for?

And...

5. The Golden Specific by S.E. Grove || Goodreads

6.  More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera || Goodreads

7.  Court of Fives by Kate Elliott || Goodreads or The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle || Goodreads

Did I finish these? Nope!

My excuse?

 

I was annotating a copy of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas as a gift for a friend's birthday. That, I finished. So that was a reread + annotation. REALLY THAT SHOULD COUNT AS TWO BOOKS. Do you know how LONG it takes to annotate a book? But annotated books are so much fun to read! It's like your friend is right beside you as you're reading. It reminds me of when I was reading the seventh Harry Potter book with my friend in our hotel lobby, and she was about twenty pages behind me, and so whenever she made a noise, I was like did you get to X part yet? Oh, yeah, Fred's joke was so great.

ANYWAY, even if you don't count that as 2 books, it's still either 5/7 or 6/7 which is a GOOD RESULT. *pats self on the back*. As for those other books, okay, so they'll get pushed off onto my August TBR. Court of Fives and The Accident Season are actually being released in August, so it's my goal to review them before their release date! Hopefully. As for The Golden Specific, well, that one is OUT, my friends. If I have somehow interested you in the awesomeness that is The Glass Sentence and its sequel, you may purchase these at a bookstore of your choosing.

Currently Reading:

I am currently reading Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness #1) by Tamora Pierce with Nicole of the Quiet Concert!

When I was in high school, people recommended Tamora Pierce, specifically the Alanna quartet, to me, along with something by Amy Tan. I didn't follow either rec. Some years later, I read the first 20 pages in a used bookstore. I still didn't buy it (I thought it was MG, actually!) until I was in the Strand last year. Man, I wish I had followed this recommendation earlier. High school me would've eaten this up! Alanna's struggles to be taken seriously and treated as an equal in a male-dominated world, while she is training to be a knight and thus dressing as a boy -- totally my thing then. Also my thing now, though I'm more comfortable with myself now haha. I'm loving seeing how other YA fantasy authors have been inspired by Tamora Pierce and I'm looking forward to being enveloped in the Tamora Pierce fandom.

For August:

I have a couple more books to add to my August TBR. Namely, MG books that are being released this month and that you should be excited for too!

1. George by Alex Gino || Goodreads

2. The Wild Ones by C. Alexander London || Goodreads

3. A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano || Goodreads

A non-MG title that I purchased and that I'm hoping to read is Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older. Do I think that I'll be able to read ALL these books in August? Uh, well, probably not. But then they'll roll into September.... and so it goes.

What did you read last week? Did you participate in BookTube-A-Thon and how successful were you? What are you planing on reading this month? Have you read any of the above books? Let me know :).