Let's Discuss: Remembering Books

 

So I was trying to think of a post idea as I feel like my February wasn't as active as it should've been. I blame an amazing January (in terms of posts!), lol! But then I had an idea that I thought I would pose as a question for a discussion!

How Do You Remember Books?

Okay, so this is more for series and trying to remember details from the past book before picking up the newest book! This is of course if you read them spontaneously or right as they release. Binge reading, while preferred doesn't always happen with ongoing series!

So basically I want to know, do you have like the perfect memory? My memory is pretty shoddy these days! If you asked me what happened in a book I read last year, I might be able to give you some details and whatnot. I could probably do better to remember if I read over my review real quick and even pull up a spoiler or two. If you asked me about a book I read 5 years ago...whoo boy, that might be more difficult!

When it comes to series and whatnot, I've been trying to take notes on the plot, basically bullet points on what happened, spoilers and all and set them aside for when the sequel comes out! I basically have 2 notebooks now, one for "ongoing" series and one that's not! Like right now I'm reading a duology that I've been meaning to start so I will just jot down enough notes for my review in the "toss it" notebook. Now when I pick up a book that is apart of a series that's ongoing, I will write out (very small so I can try to fit it on one page!) all the details of what happened in the book and its ending so I can read over my notes before I pick up the next book!

I found while it's not the best kind of recap, it does well enough to jog my memory of things, or to the point that when I pick up the new book and they mention "event X" I will have enough reference to remember what that event was in the smallest of detail.

I was wondering though what do other readers do? Do you have time to reread books in a series before diving into the latest addition? Do you have an insanely good memory that I just need to be envious of, of were you like me before my exact note-taking and just had to roll with the memory gaps? I still have a few series I need to finish where I will be in a pickle where I will either have to start all over or just roll with it. Not sure what I will do at this point with those series...so yeah. I used to have time to reread the books before the newest one! Those were the days...but I also remember those were days where I went weeks or months without a "new" read. I also look for other bookish recaps online but I think most of those blogs have dispersed since the blogging community is slowly withering away.

So back around to my question...how do you remember the books you read for ongoing series? Do you take notes? Do you just reread the books? What's your method?

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:

For the Throne by Hannah Whitten (4 stars)
Pieces of Me by Kate McLaughlin (ARC)--Review to come at a later date

 

Currently Reading:

Skyhunter by Marie Lu

 

 

What I Plan to Read Next:

Steelstriker by Marie Lu

 

 

Other Posts of Interest:

The Anti-Valentines Book Tag
Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays
Can't Wait Wednesday
Books from the Backlog #19
Book Blogger Hop
Stacking the Shelves--The Preorder Palooza Edition

Stacking the Shelves--The Preorder Palooza Edition

 

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 Reading Reality.

 

Well it was another boring week. It dragged by so slowly I wasn't sure if the weekend would ever get here! Then it did and then it was over! Typical, right? Lol. This week it seemed the mail was a mass of preorders! Special editions I preordered over a cross of book boxes and they all came trickling in this week! AND I finally got one of my November preorder incentives! As it looked like all three books I preordered and submitted by receipts too for said incentives all got lost or something! All November books! Totally weird, but I reached out to each publisher and hopefully the other two will be along shortly!

 

Here's what I got:

First up is the Illumicrate editions of:

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

Then my Illumicrate of Holly Black's book showed up:

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black--I had the special editions of The Folk of Air Trilogy so I decided to add this one to the mix! Though it did come with the book cover, but I never got the matching ones for the original trilogy. So not sure what to do with that since I like the naked cover look!

 

Then my Fairy Loot of Defend the Dawn arrived:

 

Defend the Dawn by Brigid Kemmerer

Then I started adding to my Stephanie Garber collection--no surprise there! I have a few other editions I'm trying to order, but needed to wait until the next paycheck before going crazy!

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber--Romanian edition! I mean, it's an actual heart there!!

 

Then I played the most dangerous reader game ever: buy a used book online! I could not find these in any of the used bookstores near me and I decided it was time to just buy online and hope for the best. Well...1/2 "As new" books arrived in the promised condition.

 

Hard as a Rock by Christine Warren--this one actually came in pretty decent condition! It was clean, no hard wear on the cover or spine, pages looked good. I was pleased.
Touch of Darkness by C.T. Adams & Cathy Clamp--this "as new" book arrived in the absolute WORST condition I have ever seen! First off the book was dirty as sin! The cover was covered in some sort of sticky residue. The pages all along the edges had spotting on them...I don't want to know what it is because there is NO way it's "age" AND the title page is not the cleanest. I was able to wipe down the cover to help with the stickiness and it's at least somewhat normal now. If my other two copies I found of this series weren't already beaten used copies I found at a church sale, I would be PO'd! As it is I'm miffed that they called this "as new." Yuck.

Then my next book was a preorder, so thankfully that was fresh, clean, and new!

Murder at Haven's Rock by Kelley Armstrong
Dead Letter Days by Kelley Armstrong--received for free for preordering the above!

Then I received my latest A Touch of Magic Designs order and it happily came with my missing prints from the past two orders!

I bought the next picture album as I used the first volume for Caraval/OUABH prints! Yes I am THAT dorky! Lol! Then I got two from Belladonna, the "make it fashion" OUABH, the ACOTAR world cast and another OUABH print! The first two after the album were freebie prints I got Rhun, who I still need to meet in HOSAB and a Jude print! Very happy with all of these and thrilled to finally get to see them in person since my original orders went missing. 

Then I spontaneously bought this pin from The Scripted Letter Co. on Etsy! I bought the one that was made for OUABH so I had to get the one for TBONA! Still need to rearrange my pin collection as I think I'll move my Caraval one to a banner and then use the hoop that I've had for years for OUABH...I just worry about all the pin holes as I've had to rearrange the pins frequently as I added more over the years!

And THEN I got some preorder incentives in the mail:

First was my pin for These Infinite Threads! It's so cute! But of course THAT pin banner is somewhere in my storage unit in in a box. A task for the future! Lol.

THANK YOU Epic Reads!

And then at last, my preorder gift for Saint showed up! The first one must have gotten lost or something as it never showed up! I was gutted since I was super psyched for this coin! As you may know, I have a weird obsession with non-monetary coins! ESPECIALLY if they are book related because OMG! Lol!

THANK YOU Wednesday Books!

And that, my friends, was it for me! What did you get this week?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Blogger Hop

 

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

 

 

 

This week's question is: What is the significance of your blog header? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews)

MY ANSWER: Ironically, I was just wondering if I ought to get a new webdesign created for my blog! I've had this one for sooo many years now. Honestly, at the time I wanted a darker color vibe as too many other blogs had white and lighter colors. Personally, it kind of hurts my eyes to have so much light colors going on, so I went for the extreme opposite and chose darker colors. The header itself was simple in essence. Just basically reading. And I like starry night skies...so yeah. Not much significance.

If I were to do a new one, I am not even sure what I want to go with. I like the cartoon-y like people I see on a few headers, but then I wouldn't want to be just another one of them. Maybe an animated desk with a pile of books and a laptop...basically my blogging environment? It will take some thinking I guess!

Books from the Backlog #19

 

Books from the Backlog is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your bookshelf unread.  If you are anything like me, you might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in your stacks. This is a fun meme hosted by Carole @ Carole's Random Life in Books.

 

Ava Markham is beautiful, savvy, chic, and more at home with Kate Spade than with the idea of fangs and fur. She can't get quite used to the fact that some of closest friends have crossed over to the Other side. Then one night she is attacked by a rogue vampire, and her deepest fears are realized when her body begins a dangerous transformation from human to immortal--a change she cannot survive without the help of an alluring stranger who comes to her rescue...

Vladimir Rurikovich, an elite member of the European Council of Vampires, is on the prowl for a murderous vampire fugitive on the night he saves Ava from the clutches of death. It takes just one look for Dima to know he cannot live another eight centuries without the stunning and seductive Ava--until he discovers a secret about her bloodline that could change everything...
 

 

 

Yet another The Others book from Christine Warren! You're So Vein is #14 of the series out of 15! So yup, you know what's next week already! I think I will definitely like this one because of its punny title and VAMPIRES! This one was added to my TBR in late April of 2013. Same time as the entire series pretty much as I bought the bulk of them at once...but then had to wait for 2 of them to release so I could read them in the suggested series order vs their publication order.

 

 

 

 

 

Review--For the Throne by Hannah Whitten

 

The First Daughter is for the Throne
The Second Daughter is for the Wolf...

Red and the Wolf have finally contained the threat of the Old Kings but at a steep cost. Red's beloved sister Neve, the First Daughter is lost in the Shadowlands, an inverted kingdom where the vicious gods of legend have been trapped for centuries and the Old Kings have slowly been gaining control. But Neve has an ally--though it's one she'd rather never have to speak to again--the rogue king Solmir.

Solmir wants to bring an end to the Shadowlands and he believes helping Neve may be the key to its destruction. But to do that, they will both have to journey across a dangerous landscape in order to find a mysterious Heart Tree, and finally to claim the gods' dark, twisted powers for themselves.

 

 

 

 

For the Throne is Hannah Whitten’s conclusion to For the Wolf duology! I found my focus was much better this time. Whether that’s because I was already somewhat familiar with the world or if the storyline was more enticing is hard to say.

This time around we get quite a few points of view. It was mainly Neve and Red, with Neve having more chapters this go around. Neve was a confusing character the first time around, but ultimately she did what she did to save her sister. But this time, Neve is the one who will likely need saving for she is trapped in the Shadowlands…with Solmir.

Neve is anything but happy about her predicament, trapped in a hell with a devil. But then Solmir tells her he needs her help to in killing other beings of power in the Shadowlands so that he can kill the other four kings.

Neve is reluctant to trust him but the alternative is letting the kings get to these power sources first and basically breaking free of the Shadowlands for good. So she and Solmir reluctantly work together.

Meanwhile, we are seeing Red trying to find a way to rescue her sister. She and Eammon will do whatever it takes to free her from the Shadowlands, even if they have to ask the dreaded Kiri how to do it.

I will say that I was able to follow this story a lot easier than the first one. Perhaps it’s because I had grown somewhat familiar with the world. I found Neve to be a likable character! I wasn’t sure how I would feel since she did seem to be a little more commanding than her sister. Her nature was definitely more domineering but she was honestly a terrific character here. We see her deal with her past actions and how she feels she needs to make it up to Red and Eammon if ever given the chance.

I felt like the pacing was easier going in this one as well. The story seemed to flow easier with a clearer plot. The added points of view seemed to help fill in holes here and there, it made for a very engaging read.

As far as romance goes there was naturally some sparks going between Neve and Solmir. The heroine and the once villain! Definitely made for some intriguing moments between them. It was a very slow burn romance as Neve still hated Solmir in the beginning. I honestly loved the dynamics between them!

All in all, For the Throne was a very entertaining read! It had mystery, magic, romance, and action, you couldn’t ask for more really! I enjoyed that despite the characters being separated for largely the whole novel that they came together in the end to do what needed doing! There were a few surprises there at the end too and I quite enjoyed the ending and where everyone was at! A marvelous read indeed!

Overall Rating 4/5 stars