For a long time I was debating wether  I should start making videos on youtube or not. But last week my boyfriend told me, that if I want to try something I should definitely give it a try. He also told me that it will give me more confidence in myself and you know what? I believe him.

So....Last week I attempted to do some videos and here is one of them. It is a short review of The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes. I know that it is not perfect, that it is so much I have to learn, I know that I have a strong accent, but I hope that you give me a chance to improve. 

If you have time, could you please check it ? 

HUGE news! I am going to be in a book! Specifically, I’m participating in the YA villain-themed anthology, Because You Love to Hate Me curated by Ameriie, which is being published in July 2017 by Bloomsbury simultaneously in the US and UK, and as an audiobook in the US and UK. I’m not participating as an author but as a booktuber/blogger. More information below the cut! Aaaah!

You can check out Ameriie's announcement video here (and the others at their individual channels & spaces). Also theofficial Publisher's Weekly announcement here.

Add Because You Love to Hate Me to your Goodreads shelf here.

THE AUTHORS INVOLVED:

Even though I'm moving in a couple of months, I seem to have a penchant for buying books. I mean, my bookshelf is teeming with books that I still haven't read and WHAT DO I DO? I BUY EVEN MORE BOOKS. Ugh, I dread when I'll have to lug these sluggers with me to the Post Office for shipping. BUT ANYWAY LET'S BE CHEERFUL. LET'S LOOK AT THE AWESOMENESS I BOUGHT AND HAVE READ!

The Books That I've Read:

1. The Winner's Kiss - Marie Rutkoski

I LOVE the Winner's trilogy. The Winner's Crime was on my Best Books of 2015 list, The Winner's Curse was onmy Best Books of 2014 list. I nominated The Winner's Crime in the Epic Reads Book Shimmy Awards and probably have mentioned these books at multiple points, in multiple posts in this blog (5 Fantasy Authors I Fangirl Over,Preview of 2015 Books, Review: The Winner's Curse, TBR: Releases to Watch Out For, Review: The Winner's Crime, My Reading Profile, & more). It should thus come as no surprise to you that I pre-ordered The Winner's Kiss and spent the 29th reading that book. Also spent the weekend and week before trying to sneak peeks at the book through Amazon excerpt, which is an obsessive habit I have when I reaaaaaally want to read a book (until I shake and distract myself by doing something else).

Ahem, anyways. This book surprised me in a lot of ways, all of them good. I also understand why they changed the covers -- the girl in the ball gown no longer fits the horrific scenes of war. If the first book set the grounds for the differences between the two countries and the romance, establishing our link with Arin and Kestrel; and if the second book delved deeper into strategy, games, political intrigue, alliances and quiet rebellion amid heartbreaking loss; then the third book was about all of that coming to head. War. Violence. The consequences of the politics between these three major countries. The differences in beliefs and how they've shaped our characters' attitudes and hopes but how there's still common ground to be had. The power of love and stories, forgiveness and new life amid an onslaught of death. As always, lots of character development, beautiful writing, romance, political intrigue, strategy, intriguing world-building, and more. Yes to these books.

Wow, it's been a really long time since I did a recap post. In October, I wrote a book talk, but I didn't even mention my blog posts. The last time I did a recap, then, was in September! So much has happened here on the blog, I've read so many books and gone to some great book launches, and I've received and purchased quite a few books as well!

Ah, well. This post was supposed to go up two weeks ago, along with a video that I had recorded in the usual recap way. :/ But basically I'm still trying to catch up with the posts that were scheduled for my time off but didn't go up.

 

On the blog, I have been maintaining my bookish rounds posts, which are round-ups of the latest MG/YA/NA book news in terms of book deals, cover reveals, discussions in the book community, tv and movie adaptations, and new YA releases. Since September, you'll findedition 88, edition 89, edition 90, edition 91, edition 92, edition 93, edition 94, edition 95,edition 96, edition 97, edition 98, edition 99, and edition 100. And, in fact, in terms of the book news, I gathered half of last year's adaptation news for a round-up post, and I made a calendar with 2016 Adaptations relevant to the YA community, so we could keep track of them. I discussed Mockingjay Part II, my New Year's Bookolutions for 2016, 2016 YA Debuts on my TBR list, 2016 YA Books (Non Debuts) on my TBR list, blogging and booktubing, the effect of awards in the YA community, my reading profile, reader loyalty, and 5 fantasy authors who I fangirl over. I reviewed Dreamstrider by Lindsay Smith, the Eon duology by Alison Goodman, the Mapmaker's trilogy by S.E. Grove, Passenger by Alexandra Bracken, and The Mirror King by Jodi Meadows, and gushed about my Epic Reads Book Shimmy Award Nominations and the best books that I'd read in 2015. I also asked for read-along buddies, and answered 15 weird questions about myself so that y'all could get to know me better.

Fall 2015 & Winter 2016, I didn't blog or booktube more frequently because in the fall, I’d been applying to graduate schools, and then there were the holiday breaks (aka laziness at home), and throughout February, I had a bunch a few graduate school interviews to attend (aka why you didn't hear from me much on social media then either). Maybe one day soon, I'll have actual big news to celebrate on that account. (Pray for me! Cross your fingers! Whatever you do.). In January, I attended the book launches for Truthwitch by Susan Dennard/Passenger by Alex Bracken and This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp. I appreciated Marieke’s discussion on how the story was inspired, in part, by a yellow school bus, and the discussion of American gun culture vs. in the Netherlands. I appreciated the easy banter between Susan and Alex, and their personable approach to describing their writing styles and their experiences (e.g. researching ships in the eighteenth century). I loved how both events were moderated by other YA authors as well (Sona Charaipotra (Dhonielle Clayton was supposed to be there but I forget what happened) and Erin Bowman). And I ended up purchasing all three books for the book launches, as well as books by the author hosts. Here's to hoping grad school fares well too, so that I can say the season was an all around success :D.

 

In terms of what I've read this past fall and winter.... oh, what a varied list. I’m going to just list them out, and say a few things at the end!

Middle Grade:

1. The Golden Specific - S.E. Grove (review here).

Young Adult:

1. Passenger - Alexandra Bracken (review here)
2. Dreamstrider - Lindsay Smith (review here)
3. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs
4. Eon - Alison Goodman (review here)
5. Eona - Alison Goodman
6. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Newt Scamander
7. All of Rosamund Hodge's listed short stories.
8. The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
9. Vengeance Road - Erin Bowman
10. Glory O'Brien's History of the Future - A.S. King, audio
11. A Creature of Moonlight - Rebecca Hahn
12. Wink Poppy Midnight - April Genevieve Tucholke (review to come!)
13. The Star-Touched Queen - Roshani Chokshi (review to come!)

Adult Romance:

1. Wallbanger - Alice Clayton
2. Rusty Nailed - Alice Clayton
3. Screwdrivered - Alice Clayton
4. Mai Tai'd Up - Alice Clayton
5. A Lady of Persuasion - Tessa Dare
6. Goddess of the Hunt - Tessa Dare
7. Surrender of a Siren - Tessa Dare
8. The Rogue Not Taken - Sarah MacLean
9. A Gentleman in the Street - Alisha Rai
10. Once Upon a Marquess - Courtney Milan

Adult Fantasy

1. Feverborn - Karen Marie Moning
2. Captive Prince - C.S. Pacat
3. Prince's Gambit - C.S. Pacat
4. Kings Rising - C.S. Pacat

Nonfiction:

1. The Silk Road: A Short Introduction - James A. Millward.
2. The Madame Curie Complex - Julie Des Jardins
3. Bossypants - Tina Fey, audio
4. Yes Please - Amy Poehler, audio

What’s the deal with all the romance novels? Well, I’ve mentioned this before, but I share my Kindle account with my mother. You’d think this means she’d be more willing to read YA novels—alas, those are all just mine. Anyway, she loves contemporary and historical romance. The majority of the romance novels I read this past fall/winter, I read when I was at home with her. Usually when we’re together I remember that oh shit, I’m supposed to buy more romance novels for her to read. But it doesn’t feel right to just buy her anything out there – in some ways, I get caught too because then I want to make sure I’ve gotten her books that she’ll like. Like Alice Clayton. I read Alice Clayton’s book because I’d posted her cover reveal sometime ago, and I remembered writing that this was a new NA series for her, or she was continuing on Wallbanger, and it was pretty popular. So I tried the books out – I liked them, and my mom loved them. My mom also loves Tessa Dare, and Sarah MacLean and Courtney Milan are automatic pre-orders for her as well.

The young adult and middle grade books went pretty well, and I looooooove the Captive Prince trilogy, so yaaaaaas. And hey, look, I read about 32 books from late November to the end of February. Not too shabby, eh? And now interviews are over… :D :D

In terms of the books I received:

1. The Voyage to the Magical North by Claire Fayers
2. The Treasure of Maria Mamoun by Michelle Chafoun
3. The Wrong Side of Magic by Jannette Rallison
4. Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke, which was in my 2016 YA Books on My TBR List (and which I now read -- expect a review soon!)

The Voyage to the Magical North is about a girl and her friend who join a pirate’s quest to find the Magical North, which sounds like a place of secrets and myths and lots of fun. The Treasure of Maria Mamoun is an island adventure about a girl from the Bronx on a journey of mystery and discovery. The Wrong Side of Magic is a modern-day retelling of The Phantom Tollbooth, and all three are Middle Grade titles. I haven’t requested many ARCs as of late, and well, I’ve been more in the mood to read MG, as if it’s easier to review MG because I’ve read so much YA at this point, I almost feel saturated. Have you ever gotten that feeling? Do you think that that’s just a part of a reading slump or something more lasting? I was excited for Wink Poppy Midnight, and it was great – the book was also my first ARC from Penguin Random House. I’m a kind of a passive blogger uninterested in emailing publishers for ARCs, but if I’m sent the request form, I do look through the catalog. It’s always unexpected for me when any of that turns out, and I was doubly excited for Wink Poppy Midnight since it was in my 2016 YA Books on My TBR List. Did not disappoint!

That’s what I read, received, and blogged about in fall 2015 / winter 2016. How were these past couple of months for you? Did you read a lot or find a lot of new favorites? Have you been on your blogging/booktubing game?

There are a bunch of hashtags out there for wishlists – agents have their manuscript wishlists, and my brain is currently freezing so I can’t remember what the hashtag for reader wishlists was, but that exists too. Lately I found myself thinking about some of the characters I’d like to see in more YA novels. Consider this the first of many posts on the kinds of characters I wish populated more YA novels. (I’m sure I’ll think of more characters in the future!)

1. Badass Females Who Aren’t Badass B/C of Traditionally Masculine Things

Think of your favorite or at least the most popular SFF “strong female characters.” (I feel like people use badass to describe their friends or SFF characters; for some reason I can’t picture with contemporary??? Does anyone feel this way?). How many of them have power because they’re considered ruthless or they’re given a weapon? (It’s usually the weapon thing that bugs me – as if the only way to power is to have some fighting skill). I’d really like to see some magic system or just a character whose compassion, sensitivity, and conscientiousness is what gives her power. Like Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore. Bitterblue knows how to defend herself because she’s a queen, but that doesn’t much enter the equation. Her power stems more from being a compassionate queen – her compassion helps her country heal from the wrongs inflicted by her psychopathic father (who was the former king).

2. The Girl in the Arranged Marriage Actually Accepts Or Change Her Background a Bit?

Okay, so if you’re going to have the arranged marriage trope, I’d like some girls to be a.) actually happy or accepting (if my parents wanted to set me up on a blind date, I would accept, but I’ve also been raised by Lebanese immigrants. I think that American culture is so individualistic, it doesn’t want to accept the very idea of arranged marriages despite the fact that there is a huge precedent in history and this is *actually* happening in places today) or b.) making the most of the situation like Elisa in The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson or c.) accepts the marriage because arranged marriages were historically ways that women could get more power, and the woman wants to be more empowered. I’d also like to see more books that shake up that character more! So, I’m excited to read Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst because the character ends up falling in love with someone else too, so there’s a conflict between duty and love. I’d love to see an arranged marriage that makes homonormativity the default in the way C.S. Pacat’s Captive Prince series does. Also, why do so many arranged marriages end up focusing on teen girls? They weren’t the only ones either forced or asked to marry other people. Put more diversity in these arranged marriages! Use them to challenge concepts of privilege and racism and so much more.

3. The Chosen One Who’s Not Actually the Chosen One:

Okay, so actually there is a fantasy series out there right now that deals with the concept of the person who is raised as the Chosen One not actually being the Chosen One. I won’t say what that book is because that’d be a spoiler, but I want more characters like this and fewer actual Chosen Ones. I think that fantasy reflects reality with different symbols, so I’m going to talk about a personal story. In high school, I was at the top of my class. I was used to things feeling easy if I put in some work. When I got to college, I was no longer special; I was in a group of really intelligent people who thrived on challenges, and I needed to get on board and try harder. I see this as sort of relating to this “you think you’re special, but you’re not *that* special” and I think that how people react to that situation is interesting and shows a lot of their character. So if you have a character that’s been raised to think one way, and the carpet is swept out from under their feet – what happens to them? Do they become a villain? Do they fade into nothing? Etc. It's like imagining Neville if he'd actually known about the prophecy.

4. Villains!

Stories with villains at the forefront (e.g. The Young Elites)! Complex, complicated villains who aren’t only evil for evil’s sake but who are fully fledged characters are ALWAYS! Appreciated.

(And of course more diverse characters ALL AROUND will always be welcome with me too. I was considering including that on the list but then I don't know that I want to encourage non #ownvoices people to be writing some of the character types, etc.)

So that’s the first of many “reader character wishlists.”

Would you like to read any books with these kinds of characters? What characters would you like to see more of?