Waiting on Wednesday: City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

A weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine

Title: City of Ghosts Written by: Victoria Schwab Published: August 28, 2018 by Scholastic (Amazon / Goodreads) Synopsis: Cassidy Blake's parents are The Inspectres, a (somewhat inept) ghost-hunting team. But Cass herself can REALLY see ghosts. In fact, her best friend, Jacob, just happens to be one. When The Inspectres head to ultra-haunted Edinburgh, Scotland, for their new TV show, Cass—and Jacob—come along. In Scotland, Cass is surrounded by ghosts, not all of them friendly. Then she meets Lara, a girl who can also see the dead. But Lara tells Cassidy that as an In-betweener, their job is to send ghosts permanently beyond the Veil. Cass isn't sure about her new mission, but she does know the sinister Red Raven haunting the city doesn't belong in her world. Cassidy's powers will draw her into an epic fight that stretches through the worlds of the living and the dead, in order to save herself.

 
Why I'm Waiting:

I am a big fan of Victoria Schwab's books. She is an auto-buy author for me. All of her books are dark and mysterious with great atmosphere and a lot of surprises. I am super excited to read a Middle Grade book that she writes. I know she has written some in the past but it has been a long time since she has done that and I haven't read any of them.

But either way, I would be really excited about this book. I don't read a lot of horror but from time to time I like reading books with a supernatural element, especially Middle Grade because I am kind of a wuss, so Middle Grade horror is just perfect for me. Plus the concept is fantastic. The daughter of bad ghost hunters who can actually see ghosts. I love that!

I am definitely going to be picking up a copy of this book. I will more than likely preorder. But I am also hoping there might be copies at ALA or I will request it from Scholastic. It's been a long time since I requested a physical ARC but I think this may be a good one to try again.

What about you? What are you waiting for this Wednesday? Are you waiting on City of Ghosts along with me? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!

Top Ten Tuesday: Great Books with Purple Covers

A weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

1.) The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron - My Review

2.) Ghostly Echoes by William Ritter- My Review

3.) Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner - My Review

4.) A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Grey- My Review

5.) Shadowhouse Fall by Daniel Jose Older - My Review

6.) Gunslinger Girl by Lyndsay Ely - My Review

7.) Calamity by Brandon Sanderson - My Review

8.) Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza - My Review

9.) Jane Unlimited by Kristen Cashore - My Review

10.) Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire - My Review

11.) Prudence by Gail Carriger - My Review

12.) I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest - My Review

13.) Cress by Marissa Meyer - My Review

14.) Geekerella by Ashley Poston - My Review

15.) The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon - My Review

16.) The Smell of Other People's Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock - My Review

There you have it, all the beautiful purple covers for books I read and really enjoyed. Aren't they beautiful? What is your favorite color and what books made your list? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!

Book Review: Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy

Title: Ramona Blue Written by: July Murphy Published: May 9, 2017 by Balzar + Bray (HarperCollins) (Amazon / Goodreads) Synopsis: From Julie Murphy, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin’ and Side Effects May Vary, comes another fearless heroine, Ramona Blue, in a gorgeously evocative novel about family, friendship, and how sometimes love can be more fluid than you first think. Perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell and Morgan Matson. Ramona was only five years old when Hurricane Katrina changed her life forever. Since then, it’s been Ramona and her family against the world. Standing over six feet tall with unmistakable blue hair, Ramona is sure of three things: she likes girls, she’s fiercely devoted to her family, and she knows she’s destined for something bigger than the trailer she calls home in Eulogy, Mississippi. But juggling multiple jobs, her flaky mom, and her well-meaning but ineffectual dad forces her to be the adult of the family. Now, with her sister, Hattie, pregnant, responsibility weighs more heavily than ever. The return of her childhood friend Freddie brings a welcome distraction. Ramona’s friendship with the former competitive swimmer picks up exactly where it left off, and soon he’s talked her into joining him for laps at the pool. But as Ramona falls in love with swimming, her feelings for Freddie begin to shift too, which is the last thing she expected. With her growing affection for Freddie making her question her sexual identity, Ramona begins to wonder if perhaps she likes girls and guys or if this new attraction is just a fluke. Either way, Ramona will discover that, for her, life and love are more fluid than they seem.

I love Julie Murphy’s books. Every book I have read by her I loved. I had wanted to read this book when it first came out but I didn’t get around to it until now. I wish I had read it sooner, because I unsurprising liked it a lot.

Like all of Julie’s books, this is a great coming-of-age story. Ramona is a small town girl who has already experienced a lot of adversity before we even meet her. She’s working two jobs just to have money to help pay the bills and save up for her move away some day.She lives in the Gulf region of Mississippi, in a town that is still dealing with the effects of Hurricane Katrina ten years later. Julie did a great job of showing the impacts of the storm on the people who are living there and that things were never really the same. It was poignant and made you think, while being an interesting setting for this book.

But much of the plot was about Ramona and her personal struggles to find out who she is and where she fits in the world. The impetus of me reading this finally was that I just read Leah on the Offbeat and I wanted to read another book with a bisexual character. And while Ramona isn’t really bisexual, or well she doesn’t want to label herself as one, the way that sexual identity is handled in this book was really interesting. For Ramona, someone who had come out when she was much younger, liking a boy is a strange thing. I liked the way Julie did that, making the heterosexual relationship the one that felt odd. And Ramona dealing with her sexuality and trying to put a label on it was a compelling and relatable subject matter. I can’t speak to whether or not the rep is realistic but the struggle to figure out your identity felt genuine and relatable.

The other fantastic and relatable thing in this book was the familial relationship. Ramona lives with her Dad and pregnant sister who she loves a lot. But her Dad, like her, is working two jobs and still struggling to make ends meet. He’s not around a lot but when he is, he’s kind of distant. But you can tell that he really cares about her and her sister. Speaking of Hattie, she and Hattie have a really good relationship. They are so close that they are almost like friends. They don’t always get along and they fight like actual sisters during the book, but they would also do anything for each other. I really liked the way that the family relationships were handled in this book. They were imperfect and realistic and gave the book a lot of heart.

The other thing I think gave this book a lot of heart was the friendship. I can sit her and talk about the romance, and my thoughts on that, but really the more interesting thing here was the friendships. Ramona had a great group of friends in Ruth and Saul. They were loving and supportive and so fun. Then when Freddie comes back to town they are able to become friends again as if nothing had changed between them. I really liked that. As someone who isn’t great at keeping up with people, I feel like this is a true and compelling thing. With true friends, it doesn’t matter how long it’s been since you last talked. And I loved Ramona and Freddie together. Not even romantically. They were just so sweet and nice with one another. They made each other so happy and I liked being there for that.

On the whole, Ramona Blue was a great read. It was engaging and poignant. It made you thing but didn’t beat you over the head with a lesson. It was a fun and sweet coming-of-age story and I’m glad I read it. It’s kind of a slower read in terms of pacing but still it’s incredibly readable. I didn’t think it dragged at all, and to be honest I wanted to keep reading it and I was sad when it was over.

I give Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy 9 out of 10 stars

Buy/Borrow/Bypass: Buy. If you liked Julie’s other books then definitely check this one out. If you are looking for a sweet and interesting coming-of-age story with a character dealing with their sexual identity then I would definitely recommend this one. I really enjoyed it is only solidifying the fact that Julie is one of my favorite writers of YA contemporary.

Have you read Ramona Blue? What did you think? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!

Book Review: Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

Title: Leah on the Offbeat Series: Creekwood #2 Written by: Becky Albertalli Published: April 24, 2018 by Balzar + Bray (HarperCollins) (Amazon / Goodreads) Synopsis: Leah Burke—girl-band drummer, master of deadpan, and Simon Spier’s best friend from the award-winning Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—takes center stage in this novel of first love and senior-year angst.  When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.  So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.

I loved Becky's first two books so I was really excited for her next one. Not to mention it is a sequel to Simon Vs with Leah as the protagonist. And while I enjoyed catching back up with these characters and seeing Leah get her own love story, I didn't like it as much as the other two books.

One of the things that I did enjoy about this book was the voice. With three different books, Becky has managed to create three different voices. You can hear Leah while you are reading this book. She's sometimes snarky, sometimes aggressive, and sometimes vulnerable or insecure. In this book you get to see the Leah you fell in love with in Simon Vs. but in her own words. And I loved being in Leah's head. There were a lot of times where I related to her so much throughout the book, and honestly those were problem the moments where she was her weakest. Because the thing about Leah is, she's not always very nice. But I loved that Becky gave her room to be vulnerable and unlikable. Leah was a great character with a distinct and engaging voice.

It's a good thing that Leah was such a good character because so much of the plot of this book hinged on Leah. This is a coming-of-age story which is something that Becky does so well. So much of this book was about Leah figuring out who she is, who she wants to be, and how she expresses that to the world. If you asked Leah though she'd probably tell you she knew exactly who she is at the start of this book, but she still had some tremendous development. I loved seeing Leah grow and develop in this book.

But the thing I didn't love was the romance. Now don't get me wrong, I did really enjoy a bisexual character. I think this may have been my first book with an out bisexual character, which in and of itself is cool and also sort of embarrassing (note to self: read more books with bi MCs). The thing is, however, there really was no contest when it comes to Leah's relationships. This wasn't really a love triangle, but there were elements of that. Instead it was one of those books where the character clearly favors one person over the other. Which would have been fine, if I didn't feel like she was leading the other person on. But I should take my adult goggles off and probably realize that this a realistic teen relationship. I just didn't like it as much as I would have liked.

But of course the best part of this book was the secondary characters. Being that this is a book that takes place in the same location as Simon Vs and about the same characters we got to check back in with our favorites from that book. Besides Leah we also get see Simon and Bram, who are as adorable as ever, Nick who is having a rough go in this book, and Abby who is still fun and sweet. Plus we get more from Garrett which I really liked as well as Morgan and Anna who I liked learning more about even though they were kind of jerks sometimes. But I think the secondary character I liked the most was Leah's mom. She and her mom had such an engaging relationship. It was far from perfect but you could tell they loved one another which made it all the more realistic.

I sincerely hope that this isn't the end from the Creekwood gang. I loved reading Leah's story and hearing more from everyone who we fell in love with in the original book. But I'm not ready to say goodbye. I'm personally hoping for a Nora book. We got a little bit of Nora here but I want more. Maybe in a year or two.

All in all this was a good read. It's a good contemporary coming-of-age story that handles some serious issues gracefully and has fantastic characters. I just wish I had enjoyed the romance a little bit more.

I give Leah on the Offbeat 9 out of 10 stars

Buy/Borrow/Bypass: Buy. If you like Becky and her writing, definitely check this book out. If you are looking for a swoony romance with a bisexual character this may not be the right book, but who am I to say. My romancephobic heart wasn't won over but then again, I'm hard to please.

Have you read Leah on the Offbeat? What did you think? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!

April Wrap Up and May TBR

Read in April: Contemporary

Remember how last month went well and I thought things are looking up. Well, I had a massive backslide and had a terrible reading month in April. I read a total of 8 books, and if I'm being entirely honest it really should be seven because I didn't finish the 8th one until yesterday. But it was a book I planned to read this month and so I am counting it. I NEED THIS!

For challenges, this year I'm sort of only low key doing challenges. I set a Goodreads goal of reading 120 books in a year. I am a little behind on this one with 38 books total for the year. I definitely need to start picking up steam. Maybe a few more audiobook rereads will be helpful. For the rest of the challenges I only low key set them. I want to read 20 debuts this year. I read one this month so I'm at 6 total for the year which is kind of behind but not too badly. I want to read 36 books from Netgalley and Edelweiss and I read 2 this month which brings my total up to 8 for the year. I haven't really been reading e-books lately so I am still behind on this one but we'll see. I also want to read 20 backlist books. This month I read one which brings my total to 7 for the year so I'm doing okay on that.

The Books

1.) In Her Skin by Kim Savage Rating: 8.5 out of 10 [My Review]

2.) Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young Rating: 9.5 out of 10 [My Review]
3.) Bad Moonlight by R.L. Stine  Rating: 8 out of 10
4.)  Defy the Worlds by Claudia Grey Rating: 9 out of 10 [My Review]
5.) Not if I Save You First by Ally Carter Rating: 9 out of 10 [My Review]
6.) This Darkness Mine by Mindy McGinnis  Rating: 8 out of 10 [My Review]
7.) Circe by Madeline Miller Rating: 8.5 out of 10 [My Review]
8.)Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli 
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars [Review to Come]

To Be Read in May: ??? 

My goal was to read ten books in May. I read a dozen in March and eight in April so let's meet in the middle. This way I can get back on track for my goal of reading 120 books in 2018. Plus not that I am starting my new job I won't have a commute which presumably means more time to read and blog. At least that is what I am hoping.

Books for Review

Furyborn by Claire LeGrande  - Add to Goodreads

I am super excited to read this book. I loved Winterspell and I really want to read more of Claire's books so I was pumped to get an e-ARC. I'm probably going to try and read this sooner rather than later.

Pacifica by Kristen Simmons - Add to Goodreads

Maybe this will be the month that I finally read a Kristen Simmons book. Not only have a been putting off this one but I also put off Metaltown for a very long time.

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian  - Add to Goodreads
I wanted to read this last month but I couldn't get into it. But I do still want to read, I just think I should pick up the audiobook. If I like the narrator I think this will be a better audiobook.

New Releases

 

People Like Us by Dana Mele - Add to Goodreads
I wanted to read this last month but I did not get the chance. But I placed a hold on the audiobook at the library here now that I have a library card and so I am planning to finally read it.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi - Add to Goodreads

I have been wanting to read this but I was hoping for the hype to die down. But I think I need a great book in my life and so I think I should finally read this one.

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson - Add to Goodreads

I have read Lily's two previous books and really enjoyed them so I am excited to read her next book. But even if I wasn't excited about the author I would still be pumped about this book.

Puddin by Julie Murphy - Add to Goodreads
I loved Dumplin so a companion novel is absolutely a book I want to read. This comes out next week and I will probably buy it as an early birthday present to myself.

L1FEL1K3 by Jay Kristoff - Add to Goodreads
I've loved every Jay Kristoff book I have read so far. This one sounds like a really fantastic science fiction book and I know Jay will write an amazing one.

Backlist Books

The Wrong Side of Right by Jenn Marie Thorne - Add to Goodreads
I once again put off reading this book but now that I am working for a more political non-profit again, I am much more motivated to read it. Maybe I'll even bring it with me when I go to DC this month.


Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy - Add to Goodreads
After finishing Leah on the Offbeat it made me want to read more books with bisexual protagonists. I bought a copy of this recently because the e-book was on sale and I think I should read it finally.

Tash Hearts Tolstoy by Katherine Ormsbee - Add to Goodreads
Reading Leah on the Offbeat also made me want to read more books with asexual protagonists. I have been wanting to read this one for a long time.

There you have it. Some of the books I hope to read in May. As always, these are subject to change. I may read all of these or I may only read a few and then read a bunch of different ones. But honestly I think this list I can stick to. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Would Slay a Lion To Get Early

A weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

1.) Smoke in the Sun by Renee Ahdieh
Release Date: June 5, 2018
I know this book comes out in about a month but I loved Flame in the Mist and I am super excited to find out what happens next in the series.

2.) Smoke and Iron by Rachel Caine
Release Date: July 3, 2018
I am a huge fan of this series. It's absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to find out what happens in the next book. I've read advance copies of the first three books in this series and I'd like the trend to continue.

3.) The Darkest Legacy by Alexandra Bracken
Release Date: Release Date: July 31, 2018
This was my Waiting on Wednesday post last week. I want to read it immediately because grown up Zu and finding out what happens in this world.

4.) City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
Release Date: August 28, 2018
I love Victoria Schwab books and this one sounds truly fantastic. I'm sure it will be dark, mysterious, and just as brilliant as all her other books.

5.) Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco
Release Date: September 18, 2018
I am a big fan of this series and the next book sounds absolutely amazing! I have ARCs of the other two books and as much as I want on for this one as well, I heard the ending will be different so I want a finished copy ASAP.

6.) Vengeful by V.E. Schwab
Release Date: September 25, 2018
I am so unbelievably excited to read the sequel to Vicious. That was my first Schwab book and it will always hold a special place in my heart. Plus this is a sequel we didn't even know that we were getting.

7.) The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White
Release Date: September 25, 2018
I have not read as many Kiersten White books and I would like and this one sounds totally up my alley so I really want to read it. I love Frankenstein retellings and this one sounds really fantastic.

8.) Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor
Release Dates: October 2, 2018
I have also not read as much Laini Taylor as I would like. But I loved Strange the Dreamer, the audiobook was amazing and I would definitely slay a lion for an advance copy of the audio.

9.) Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
Release Date: October 2, 2018
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue was my favorite book of 2017 and I was over the moon when I heard there was going to be a companion novel from Felicity's perspective. I can't wait to read it!

10.) Grim Lovelies by Megan Shepard
Release Date: October 2, 2018
I have not read any Megan Shepard books but I have heard good things about her books and they seem like the kind of YA books I would read. This one sounds fantastic so maybe I will start there.

11.) Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J Maas
Release Date: October 23, 2018
I know a lot of people are over the Throne of Glass series but I am one of those people who are still on the train. I would love to get the final book in the series, STAT!

12.) King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
Release Date: January 29, 2019
The cover for this book just came out and it is BEA-U-TI-FUL. I am nervous and excited to find out what happened to Nikolai and to return to Rafka.

There you have it. All the books I would destroy an animal's life to get an advance copy of. I'm hoping some of these will be at ALA but we shall see. What books made your list? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!