It's Monday! What are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's a fun meme where we gather to share what we've read last week and our reading plans for this week.

Last Week I Read:

Blood Countess by Lana Popović (ARC)--Review to come later today!

Review That Was Posted:

Bitter Falls by Rachel Caine (ARC) (4 stars)

Currently Reading:

All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace (ARC) 

What I Plan to Read Next:

The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller (ARC)

Other Posts of Interest:

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays 

New Year's Resolution Book Tag 

Waiting on Wednesday 

Random Thursday 

Book Blogger Hop 

Let's Discuss: Book Slumps 

Stacking the Shelves 

 

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! The meme is now hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality.


Another meh kind of week. Nothing really exciting happening. I did have a few phone interviews and one in-person one, so I am hoping that at least one of those will pan out into something positive! Fingers crossed! Other than that it was mostly uneventful, despite some icy weather Friday which made my commute home oh so fun! 😑



The only thing I got this week was my Owl Crate box! I won't share the title but it was one I knew beforehand and decided to go with it since I looooooved the tale it's a retelling of. I'll be interested to see how it will go since it's YA and the character would have to be a teenager, so I know it's not going to be an exact replica, but I'm curious for sure!

The rest of the items in the box were a mix of delights and meh. I know the "box-people" like to say that you can happily use the items even if you're not a fan of the fandom, but I gotta say, that's kind of inaccurate! I mean, would you wear another team's jersey on game day, one you weren't a fan of, just to wear a team jersey? I know I wouldn't.

So other than an item or two outside the book and pin, I might be putting the items up on the trade hashtag eventually. As again, it's a little underwhelming to want to use or keep items from a book that I wasn't a fan of.

 

 

 

What did you all get this week? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let's Discuss: Book Slumps

Today I feel like talking about something that effects most readers. I can't recall if I talked about this before. A quick search through my posts didn't result in anything, so let's discuss:

Reading Slumps

Time and time again, I see some bloggers talking about being in a reading slump. I know we're all different when it comes to our reading passions but I for one have never really understood book slumps. I know sometimes we just might not be "feeling" the book, I've had plenty of those where I had to put it down and move onto the next. But I've never hit the point where I just can't get into a reading groove.

I guess one could call it lucky. And perhaps it is. I'm usually pretty careful in choosing what books I want in my Neverending TBR pile. A good chunk are from favorite authors/series, some are ones that had rave reviews and are ones I feel like I'd love too, and a random few are ones I decided to take a chance with...but you know, haven't read yet! Lol.

So in some way, shape or form, every TBR book I've selected are ones I realllllly want to read. I just need to somehow read faster and lose the need for sleep to actually get to them all.

Here's my question for you guys, how do you get out of a reading slump? What are some of your cure alls?

Book Blogger Hop

This meme is hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addict!

 

 

This week's question is: Do you think that readers make better employees, as opposed to non-readers? Why or why not? (submitted by Maria @ A Night's Dream of Books)

 

 

MY ANSWER: Hmm...I suppose it would depend on the job type. I mean, if you're working in construction, I don't know if reading would make you a better employee vs a non-reader! I know being in an office setting myself I feel like I'm at least better at spelling and whatnot. There was a sign up last month for the holiday party and it had a spelling error that I was soooo tempted to correct! Lol.

Random Thursday

Time to wrap up these Disney Princess Facts I found over at Seventeen Magazine from a few years back! Some of these were new to me and actually interesting to read! I love bizarre Disney factoids like this! Now the last factoid you'll read was one I discovered at Vocal Media Geeks by Karina Thyra, it was a 2017 article but no date was marked.

(image borrowed from The Disney Blog)

The magical moment when Cinderella's rags are turned into a beautiful ball gown was Walt Disney's favorite animation moment.

(image borrowed from The Mirror)

People who worked closely with Walt Disney, said that his favorite princess was Cinderella.

(image borrowed from Disney Wiki)

Aladdin was actually meant to look a little shabbier than he turned out. It was after Jasmine's character was created that the producers had the artists re-draw Aladdin completely. They didn't feel like their chemistry would've felt right with Jasmine looking "too flawless."

I tried to find some of these sketches online and while I did see some, I'm not convinced that it was 100% THAT sketch because in one Aladdin looks the same except more hair on top. Lol.

(image borrowed from Wikipedia)

Cinderella was the first princess who wasn't from royal descent.

Though since she was only the second princess in the lineup, this isn't really worthy news. The next princess of non-royal descent would be Belle and the other one is Tiana, for I don't really consider Mulan & Pocahontas official princesses, even though they are in the "royal lineup."

(image borrowed from Disney Wiki)

Enchanted's Giselle was almost inducted into the official Disney Princess lineup but Disney had to pull her back because then they'd have to pay Amy Adams royalties every time they used her likeness in promo products and merchandise. That can get pricey, even for Disney!

The same was said for Nancy Tremaine aka the stepmother who almost was that ended up marrying Prince Edward herself. They'd have to pay Idina Mendez royalties for using her likeness as Princess Nancy--because she is a princess by all rights! Giselle even comments that not all stepmothers are evil, so Nancy wasn't necessarily the wicked stepmother people may have thought of her as.

Though ironically, Idina Mendez turned herself into a Disney Queen with her portrayal Elsa! But even more ironic, as previously mentioned, Elsa and Anna haven't been inducted into the official lineup as of yet, even with two movies down!

(image borrowed from Disney Wiki)

One last little factoid: Princess Melody from The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea is so far the ONLY progeny from a Disney Princess. Yet, Melody is also yet another princess not included in the lineup. It's possible because she was a "direct-to-video" release princess and not a "theatrical" princess.

 

 

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine. 

Set in a kingdom where danger lurks beneath the sea, mermaids seek vengeance with song, and magic is a choice, Adalyn Grace’s All the Stars and Teeth is a thrilling fantasy for fans of Stephanie Garber’s Caraval and Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series.

She will reign.

As princess of the island kingdom Visidia, Amora Montara has spent her entire life training to be High Animancer—the master of souls. The rest of the realm can choose their magic, but for Amora, it’s never been a choice. To secure her place as heir to the throne, she must prove her mastery of the monarchy’s dangerous soul magic.

When her demonstration goes awry, Amora is forced to flee. She strikes a deal with Bastian, a mysterious pirate: he’ll help her prove she’s fit to rule, if she’ll help him reclaim his stolen magic.

But sailing the kingdom holds more wonder—and more peril—than Amora anticipated. A destructive new magic is on the rise, and if Amora is to conquer it, she’ll need to face legendary monsters, cross paths with vengeful mermaids, and deal with a stow-away she never expected… or risk the fate of Visidia and lose the crown forever.

I am the right choice. The only choice. And I will protect my kingdom.

I have this one in my review pile to read, but since I'm still a book or two away, I decided to WoW it! Lol! This one sounds incredible and I can't wait to read it!

TITLE: All the Stars and Teeth

AUTHOR: Adalyn Grace 

PUBLISHER: Imprint

GENRE: YA Fantasy

RELEASE DATE: February 4, 2020 

 

New Years Resolution Book Tag

(image borrowed from Forbes)

So I saw this fun tag over at JennReneeRead and thought it looked like fun especially for this time of year! Jenn saw it over at The Book Nut, so I'm giving credit to both of them!

An author you’d like to read (that you’ve never read before)

Shelby Mahurin! I had heard so many good things about Serpent & Dove that I am hoping to make this one a priority after my review books are done!

A book you’d like to read

Shades of Wicked is at the top of the list post review books! Followed by its sequel and then Serpent & Dove! Lol!

A classic you’d like to read

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is still on that list, though I can't say it will happen this year. Who knows though!

A book you’d like to re-read

I'd like to hopefully re-read The Named and subsequent books in The Guardians of Time series since Marianne picked it back up two years ago. I am still THAT behind!

A book you’ve had for ages and want to read

There's OH-SO-MANY books that can fit that prompt! But I'll go with one of the books that literally started the TBR pile wayyyyy too long ago and that's Night World Vol 1 by L.J. Smith! Yeah, I've had that as long as I've been blogging! Whoops!

A big book you’d like to read

 Many many titles can fit that too! Let's go with Renegades by Marissa Meyer...and the rest of the trilogy at large as well as Thundehead by Neal Shusterman and, you guessed it, the final book of that trilogy too!

An author you’ve previously read and want to read more of

Victoria Aveyard! I still need to finish her series!

A book you got for Christmas and would like to read

The interactive edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is just begging to be read! I love these! I still need to finish the Hans Christian Andersen one though! 

A series you want to read from start to finish

As previously mentioned this is still a series I need to start! I intentionally waited for it to be finished before I could start it. Now it's just a matter of time!

A series you want to finish that you’ve already started

The horrible shame is that I started the Broken Destiny series wayyy back when the first book was an ARC in 2014!! I'm definitely going to need to reread that one before I can even finish the rest! 

Do you set reading goals? If so, how many books do you want to read in 2020?

Because life keeps getting in the way and I need to find a better job, I am once again aiming lower than my usual goal and am shooting for 50 books!

Any other reading goals?

To attempt to read more of the books I own...but yeah, those new releases call to me too, especially the ones that continue series I'm 1000% invested in!

 

   

   

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Purple Princess of The Purple Booker. 

Here are the rules:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a page
3. Pick out 2 lines that are SPOILER FREE
4. Name the title, author, etc.


And a hint of the monster is born....

"'It is meant to be the sanguine humor, robust and enduring, is it not? But perhaps that is why his cheeks glow so brightly.' She tilts her head speculatively. 'How strange, that such a taint could bring an even greater beauty to him. I would not have thought that possible.'" p 24*

*Quote comes from the ARC, therefore it and its page number are not final









TITLE: Blood Countess
AUTHOR: Lana Popović
PUBLISHER: Harry N. Abrams
GENRE: YA Historical Fiction
RELEASE DATE: January 28, 2020

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

 This week's topic is: Top Ten Bookish Discoveries I Made In 2019

*in no particular order

10. ERIN A. CRAIG--her debut House of Salt and Sorrows was one of my favorite reads last year and I cannot wait to see what else she'll write!

9. SARA FARING--her debut The Tenth Girl was eerie and weird and my kind of read! Looking forward to more of her books! 

8. KATE ALICE MARSHALL--another debut author who wrote a pretty chilling read that's being optioned for film!! Hope she writes more horror stories! We need more YA Horror in the world--especially ones that tie to the paranormal!

7. THE DOLLHOUSE MURDERS by Betty Ren Wright--after growing up with the movie as a kid, I thought it was finally time to read the book since it was always challenging to find a copy!

6. THE EYES OF TAMBURAH by Maria V. Snyder--yet another delightful fantasy read from Maria that I can't wait to read more of!

5. ELISSA J. DESIGNS--an etsy shop with bookish inspired jewelry.

4. BRIO & BRANDISH--another delightful Etsy shop with more bookish inspired goodies like jewelry and enamel pins!

3. BOOKISH SIGNS AND MORE--you guessed it, another Etsy shop I stumbled upon this year! I got myself some Caraval signs! 

2. PAGES OF THE NIGHT--a bookish Funko Pop shop! How did I not know about this site until this year!! Where have I been?! Lol.

1. BOOK WEIGHT--yes, it's weird I know! But I quickly fell in love with this nifty device because omg, trying to hold your book open and turn the page all while on a lunch break is extremely difficult if the book is one that doesn't like to stay open or if the pages aren't quite evened out yet! Very helpful and a new fave for me!