I've finally had a successful reading (and watching) month! I've read 10 books in total. These are all the books I've read:

• Carrie by Stephen King 4.5/5 ★ review
• City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2) by Cassandra Clare 4/5★
• Rite of Rejection by Sarah Negovetich 4/5★ review
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy 1.5/5★ review
• City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments #3 by Cassandra Clare 4/5★

• Confess by Colleen Hoover 3/5★review
• Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie 4.5/5★ review
• The Changeling (The Changeling #1) by Philippa Gregory 1.5/5★ review
• Essays collection by George Orwell review
• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

I technically did not finish Anna Karenina and The Changeling to I marked them as dnf-ed because I don't want to finish them. I also haven't read all of Orwell's essays but yea. I got to page 140 out of 508 of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, so I will try to finish this one this weekend so before #booktubeathon starts.

As you can see I didn't participated in the TBRTakedown read-along as I planned to. When that read-along started I still hadn't finish Purple Hibiscus and George Orwell's essays so I really wanted to finish those two before the end of the month and I did start The Changeling but I didn't like that one at all. I couldn't do most of the challenges anyways and I wasn't in the mood for those books so I decided to leave it for it was and read Great Expectations instead.

I also listened to three fairy tales of the brothers Grimm on PodCast: Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White and Rapunzel. The last two are on the Rory Gilmore reading list so at least I've read them now. I still want a bindup of all of Grimm's fairy tales, but that's a start.

When it comes to tv shows and movies I watched more than usual. I've rewatched the entire first season of Gossip Girl and Gilmore Girls (I only have 2 episodes of Gilmore Girls season 1 left to watch).I also watched the first few episodes of Suits season 3, but for some reason I can't get into it and I'm not liking that season so far. Should I continue watching it?

And last but not least I've watched four movies:

• Fifty Shades of Grey 2/5 ★ trailer
• Carrie 2013 5/5 ★ trailer
• Laggies 4/5 ★ trailer
• You Again 4/5 ★ trailer

So this was a pretty good month, right?! I also wanted to mention that I've (finally) passed my driving test so now I can finally drive around!

August will be the last month I don't have to do anything school related, so that will be a pretty good month as well.

What books have you read in July and which one was your favorite?

*I received this book from the author in return for an honest review*

Summary:

"Before you stands the future."

Straight-laced, sixteen-year-old Rebecca can't wait for her Acceptance. A fancy ball, eligible bachelors, and her debut as an official member of society. Instead, the Machine rejects Rebecca. Labeled as a future criminal, she's shipped off to a life sentence in a lawless penal colony.

A life behind barbed-wire fences with the world's most dangerous people terrifies Rebecca. She reluctantly joins a band of misfit teens in a risky escape plan, complete with an accidental fiancé she's almost certain she can learn to love.

But freedom comes with a price. To escape a doomed future and prove her innocence, Rebecca must embrace the criminal within.

My opinion:

I was in the mood for a dystopian and this one was the only one (besides George Orwell) that I own and haven't read yet.

This book was really entertaining! I read it in 24 hours (which is a big thing for me) and I just kept reading.

Then why gave I this one 4 stars instead of 5? There were three things that bothered me:

1. The way women were treated and the seperation things between men and women. A dystopian is a genre takes place in the future, so by now you'd think that those things will be already gone.

2. Raping. Just no.

3. Rebecca falls in love with this guy in the middle of the book when an other guy kisses her. We get to know that in the middle of the book, even though she thought about that as soon as she gets there (well not that soon, but in the beginning). It was so suddenly that I thought: what?!

I really like the story though and it was great there was a minor lesbian romance in it as well (even though it's a minor thing, yay for variety!)

If you're in the mood for a dystopian and you want to read something that isn't hyped up (yet): it's worth the read!

Are you going to read Rite of Rejection?

Rebecca can't wait for her Acceptance. Because, as a good civilian, there's no way she'll fail Acceptance. The machine doesn't make mistakes. It filters the good people from the future criminals. So, when Rebecca gets Rejected, she keeps asking herself one question: why?!

The story of Rite of Rejection is remarkably similar to that of Branded that I read last year, only I liked this one a lot better. Okay, the story might not be the most original out there, like all YA dystopians that flood the publishing world lately, I did really enjoy myself and finished this book almost in a single session (except for the first 10% or so which I read months ago).

I'll admit that Rebecca starts as a whiny character, but for once I had to agree that this was indeed logical. She has been spoiled all her life and almost shell-shocked into being labelled a criminal. She's hopelessly naive though (and some very convenient plot points help her out a lot). It didn't bother me a lot though.

I started sighing at the first signs of the love triangle, but although it was completely unnecessary and added nothing to the plot it didn't last too long. The side characters were better than most other books I recently read.

The story had it's moments and some nice twist. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I received this book via NetGalley to give an honest review. 3.5 rating


While I started to enjoy this book I felt as though some parts reminded me of another book I just finished a while back. So because of that I did have to drop my rating.

Rebecca or Becca as she is called at times, is a normal teenage girl who is waiting to attend the Acceptance ball. Now I know you are wondering what the heck is this Acceptance ball? Well it is a group of guys and girls who have reached a certain age go in front of a machine and it picks if they are going to the Pit or will be accepted into society. Pretty much it picks if you are going to be a criminal, even if you have never committed a crime before.

Rebecca is with her best friend trying on dresses having a good time, kind of nervous of course. When she ends up meeting this nice guy name Eric. And then we fast forward to where Rebecca is standing inside the machine and that is where her fate lies.

Well the story wouldn't be a good story if Rebecca ends up being accepted right? So we all know she goes to the Pit. And it is not a fun place to be, they are secluded from the world and it is full of so called criminals.
While in the Pit Rebecca ends up finding a group of people she can later on call her friends and someone she has met before. Now the question sets will they ever escape? Do they have any plans to end the terror of the Pits? Who will Rebecca end up with?

Now in the Pit of course there is going to have to be some kind of romance and there was nothing major but it was a big ole' I like him, but he is with her and someone else likes me and how do I tell him without hurting his feelings. And that bothered me with Becca. I just wanted her to tell this guy I DO NOT WANT TO BE WITH YOU.

I could see this being a good and decent Dystopian story that the YA will for sure enjoy. I do find myself wanting to read book two if there is going to be one. As after the ending I want to know what is going to happen next. Will whatever Rebecca has planned work or will it backfire?And how exactly does the machine pick who is good and who is labeled bad, by this I know how it is done, but exactly how. I know they put their hands on this umm I want to say ball or something to that effect. I hope these questions are answered in book two.

Moonlight Reader started the TBR Thursday, and I think it's a good way to a) show what new books I've got and b) confront myself with my inability to lower my TBR. In fact, since I started recording it, it has risen significantly. I get the feeling I'm doing something wrong here...

It's been such a busy week for me. Next week - to complete my Christmas feelings, ahum - I've two important exams all the while I also need to write an article about my research-internship and some genius decided that December 26th (which is a holiday where I come from; and my little sister's birthday) is the perfect day to hand in the final review of my internship. While also studying for three major exams in January.

Anyway, what it bottles down to is: I'm stressed.

Reading however is a good way to set my mind at rest sometimes. I'm especially glad I finished the 840(!) pages long biography of Ivan Pavlov (the Russian physiologist known for his experiments on dogs with bells buzzers. They make a great deal about that 'mistake' in the book. The book biggest mistake is that, while interesting, it's also a couple of hundred pages too long.)

(I'd also bought some AC games, from Steam's Black Friday sale, but I don't get Uplay to work. Which is quite a downer because especially since I paid for the games I want to be able to actually play them. They are not installed to look pretty and take up space).

But back to books. It might have been too good a week as there are so many new additions. I've heard on a lot of my requests so I got loads of new ARCs. Well, perhaps it's almost Christmas after all...

TBR pile currently stands at 249. (+13)

(Netgalley ARCs at 85 (+8))

All new additions are ARCs I hope to be able to read soon!