Category Archives: Books

My Top 10 Hidden Gems

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. The theme for today is top ten hidden gem books, and I’m always excited to share the word about books that I think deserve more love! This list is in no particular order.

1. Rook by Sharon Cameron 

This book almost reads like alternate history, and then you realize it’s actually set in a future in which history repeats itself. It’s a interesting retelling of The Scarlet Pimpernel that I think deserves more love!

2. For Darkness Shows the Stars/Across a Star-Swept by Diane Peterfreund

I really wish there were more of these sci-fi retellings by Diana Peterfreund because I absolutely love these two! The characters, the writing, the world, all so dynamic and underrated!

3. The Fixer/The Long Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

My only complaint about these books is that it’s a duology that seriously needs to be trilogy, because the last book leaves us hanging a little! But JLB is the Queen of plot twists and I love her for it.

4. The Naturals series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Just like the previous books by the same author, this series delivers a lot of twists and turns! I enjoyed them all, but my favorite is the third installment, All In.

5. A Dash of Dragon/A Hint of Hydra by Heidi Lang and Kat Bartkowski

Since I don’t really follow the middle grade world, these might be really popular books there and I just don’t know it, but I think more YA fans should check out these middle grade gems because they’re fantastic!

6. Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg

This one was published way back in 2014 and may have been more popular then, but I think it deserves more staying power as it’s one of my favorite YA contemporaries.

7. Don’t Touch by Rachel M. Wilson 

This was a contemporary I thoroughly enjoyed but seemed to fly way under the radar. It explores mental illness and features a nice guy (AKA my favorite kind of guy).

8. What Light by Jay Asher

I know we’re not all happy with Jay Asher at the moment for various reasons, but this is a very sweet and underrated book in my opinion. I liked Thirteen Reasons Why just fine, but this book is very different, so I wouldn’t let that book alone influence your decision to read What Light. It’s perfect for the Christmas season.

9. Nora and Kettle by Lauren Nicolle Taylor

It’s hard to explain this story… it has parallels with Peter Pan without really being a retelling, and explores the subjects of abuse and of the Japanese internment camps from WWII. I understand this book isn’t widespread since it’s from a small publisher, but I feel it’s beautifully written and packs a punch. I saw the sequel came out recently so I need to check it out!

10. The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

While this book isn’t quite as dynamic as his Mistborn books, I loved The Rithmatist so much more than Sanderson’s other YA series, Steelheart. I love the characters, and this world in which chalk drawings come to life is so interesting! Sadly, we only have book one right now and I DEMAND A SEQUEL, BRANDON.

Have you read any of my top picks for hidden gems? What other books do you feel like are hidden gems?

What I Read in August

Audiobook reads:

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (reread)

You Are Free by Rebekah Lyons

Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill

The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall

Map of Fates by Maggie Hall

Grace Unplugged by Melody Carlson

Physical reads:

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

The Case for Jamie by Brittany Cavallaro

Listen to Your Heart by Kasie West

The Thing With Feathers by McCall Hoyle

My favorite of the month: I think I’m going to go with Second Chance Summer, but Listen to Your Heart and The Thing With Feathers were two more I really enjoyed! I read a lot of YA contemporary in August and it felt like the perfect way to end the summer!

What did you read in August?

What I Read in July

Audiobook reads:

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

The Captive Maiden by Melanie Dickerson

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

Physical reads:

A Wind in the Door by Madeline L’Engle

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

A Hint of Hydra by Heidi Lang and Kat Bartkowski

My favorite of the month: I am pleased to say I ADORED A Hint of Hydra, the follow-up to A Dash of Dragon, which I also adored. I don’t read a lot of middle grade but I really highly recommend this! So excited for a Pinch of Phoenix to come out next year!

What did you read in July?

My Top 10 Books For the First Half of 2018

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl.

It’s been a decent year of reading for me so far with a lot of four star reads, but several three stars as well (thankfully nothing lower yet… errr, unless you count my two DNF’s…). As of the end of June I’ve consumed 37 books, including rereads, but I’m not accounting for rereads when compiling this list because it’s just honestly not fair to the new-to-me-books to be compared to my favorites.

Without further ado, my top 10 books of 2018 through June!

10. Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes

Genre: Young Adult

Source: Bought e-book

Month Read: January

9. Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery

Genre: Classic

Source: Gifted hardcover

Month Read: January

8. The Siren by Kiera Cass

Genre: Young Adult

Source: Library audiobook

Month Read: June

7. Legendary by Stephanie Garber

Genre: Young Adult

Source: Bought hardcover

Month Read: June

6. Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalo

Genre: Young Adult

Source: Library audiobook

Month Read: June

5. Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead

Genre: Middle Grade

Source: Library audiobook

Month Read: January

4. All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater

Genre: Young Adult

Source: Library e-book

Month Read: February

3. The Glass Sentence by S.E. Grove

 

Genre: Young Adult

Source: Bought paperback

Month Read: April-May

2. Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West

Genre: Young Adult

Source: Library e-book

Month Read: February

1. Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

Genre: Young Adult

Source: Bought paperback

Month Read: March

What are your favorite reads of the year so far? Have you read any on my list?

What I Read in June + I Met Stephanie Garber!

June was another month that felt slow for physical reading, and I’m just resigning myself to the fact that this is the pace I am going to read at in my current life phase (which seems to be perpetually busy for unknown reasons). And that’s fine. Audiobooks are helping me read more overall, even if I feel like it doesn’t completely count, even though everyone assures me it does! And it guess I should acknowledge that it really does, considering some of my favorite books so far have been ones I listened to… stay tuned for my top 10 books I’ve read so far this year list next week!

Audiobook reads:

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalo

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalo

The Siren by Kiera Cass

Physical reads:

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Love & Luck by Jenna Evans Welch

Legendary by Stephanie Garber

I enjoyed all of these, with my top two faves being Stalking Jack the Ripper and Legendary, which is great because I got to meet both authors in June!

So Stephanie and I actually go back a little ways, when once upon a time we met through blogging! She hopped onto Heidi Lang and Kat Bartkowski’s blog when the two girls were Stephanie’s Pitch Wars mentees, and we got to know each other online. Flash forward to her selling Caraval (and Heidi and Kat are also published now with the delightful middle grade A Dash of Dragon and upcoming A Hint of Hydra), and it’s been so fun to watch her dream of becoming a published author turn into a reality! So when she announced her book tour for Legendary and I saw Nashville’s Parnassus Books on the list, I was ecstatic that I would have the chance to meet Stephanie in real life!

I have to say, I was really nervous! I think Stephanie knew I was coming, but I still wondered if I needed to be like, “Hey, it’s me, Amy!” or if she would recognize me on her own. Thankfully, it only took her a couple of seconds of looking at me to recognize me and was instantly like, “Can I give you a hug?” Of course! Stephanie is just the sweetest and everything about the evening was so fun. I had just listened to Jack the Ripper on audio the week before when I realized Kerri would be at the event too, and while I’m sad I didn’t have a book for her to sign, I told her I enjoyed it and she gave me an autographed bookmark for Escaping from Houdini, which I am excited for! 

I love how books and writing can bring people together!

Tell me what your favorite book you read in June was!