Books | Amy C. Shaw

What I Read in June + I Met Stephanie Garber!

July 2, 2018 • 2 Comments

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!

What I Read in May

June 1, 2018 • 0 Comments

Audiobook reads:

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows (reread)

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Physical reads:

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord (reread)

The Golden Specific by S.E. Grove

OK, I try to never be hard on myself about how much I read in a month, but how I went on a freaking beach vacation in May and still only managed to read three books this past month is beyond me. Especially considering that parts of all three of these books were read on my vacation. So that means that all the time before the trip with The Unexpected Everything and after with The Golden Specific I was apparently reading like a turtle. In some fairness to myself, I technically finished The Fates Divide early in the month, but I read most of it in April and included it in my recap for then, and I’ve started two other books since (which, in other shocking news, I am actually read two books at once which I never, ever do).

Anyhow, I hope I can pick up my pace a little in June. I think I’m going to try to mostly tear through my e-book TBR, both e-books that I own and that are coming from the library.

Also, this was my third time to read The Start of Me and You and I will love it for forever and always.

What did you read in May?

What I Read in April

May 7, 2018 • 0 Comments

Audiobook reads:

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

The Golden Braid by Melanie Dickerson

An Uncertain Choice by Jody Hedlund

Somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of The Radium Girls by Kate Moore: This nonfiction account was feeling very repetitive so I skipped ahead to close to the end to learn the resolution.

Physical reads:

Emily Of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery

100 Days to Brave by Annie F. Downs (Started in January and read one section a day until April 10)

The Glass Sentence by S.E. Grove

The Fates Divide by Veronica Roth (finished May 2)

Everything I read this month took me a long freaking time to read for one reason or another. But my clear favorite was The Glass Sentence, an amazingly unique story with incredible world-building and a loveable, independent heroine. I can’t wait to read the two sequels and I highly recommend it!

What was your favorite read in April?

What I Read in March

April 7, 2018 • 1 Comment

Audiobook reads:

Blessed Are the Misfits by Brant Hansen

Seven Women and the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxes*

*I actually can’t remember if I finished this in March or April

Physical reads:

The Last of August by Brittany Cavallaro

This Tiny Perfect World by Lauren Gibaldi

Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

Lucky in Love by Kasie West

Set aside: Renegades by Marissa Meyer… oh this breaks my heart, but I was not feeling it. I might pick it up again but I’m just not sure. Why can nothing of hers since The Lunar Chronicles compare?

My Favorite Read

100% definitely Letters to the Lost. I had heard a lot of good things about it, but I was still skeptical for some reason, but I finally decided to get it in paperback and WHOA. While I was reading it I was thinking, this is enjoyable but it’s not going to be a favorite or anything, because I didn’t super love the characters (though I did care about them). But I found it highly, highly readable, and then at the end was there wasn’t a neat bow on top but it was hopeful and realistic and poignant I was just like YES, I want to tell stories like this. I’ll probably wait for More Than We Can Tell to come out in paperback too, but I’m definitely planning to read it as well. What was your favorite read in March?

The Top 10 Books That Surprised Me

March 13, 2018 • 7 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is Books That Surprised Me.

Any time I read a book, I want to love it. But sometimes, for whatever reason, I expect to like but maybe not love a book, but read it for one reason or another. Here are some books I hoped to like, but ended up really loving/liking more than expected!

This week’s list is in no particular order.

1. All The Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater