Sairim: Lustella's Descent (FREE short story) by Angie Anomalous Genre: Scifi/Fantasy Summary: Lustella is a bit of an outsider; she’s the symbol of perfection according to the great laws of the universe with her gentle nature and thousands of miniature stars about her physique, a sign of being blessed by the universe, but her heart is no longer in her home, instead, it’s in that of a faraway world inhabited by creatures that looked like her — Well, the other her. Through the Eyes of Oonai, the very tree that gives life to their world, she watches their day to day lives; living with them from millions of light years away. The more she visited Oonai, the more she longed to go to their world and experience the joys, laughs, and the adventures. She wanted to be a part of that and nothing was going to hold her back. In the tranquil world of Sairim, lies creatures birthed from the stars and marked by their Parent, the star that gave them life. These creatures formed the legend of spirit animals known to mankind today, but something in their world is about to change. Add to Goodreads About the Author Born and raised in New Jersey, Angie Anomalous spent most of her time despising reading and writing. With her head in the clouds, school wasn’t easy and as her parents neared divorce, she looked for escape. Only then, did she one day pick up her first book and immediately fell in love with reading. Using books as a way to escape the reality she lived, she held onto another passion — another way of escape and venting; writing. In freshman year of high school, her writing grew more serious; going from poetry to short stories, and eventually her first short novel not released to the public. During the end of her senior year in high school, her writing flew through, setting new ideas and in 2011, she began writing her first novel, Experiment 6752. In 2012, Experiment 6752 was completed and self-published on sites like Amazon and Lulu. After her former high school English teacher asked how she would top her fantasy-fiction novel, she replied, “don’t worry, I will,” and began writing her second novel. Thriving to provide the same comfort books had given her in her childhood, Angie works hard to capture readers in new worlds with original characters yet to be discovered. Author Links: Website│Twitter│Facebook│Goodreads Cover Reveal Organized by: YA Bound Book Tours So what do y'all think of the cover? I know that I will try to get a copy of the book to review so if you guys want to see that post, let me know! Also go over and follow me on Twitter @BrookeEvans2001 so you can get notified when I post! Let me know all you thoughts in the comments or find my on social media and don't forget to check out the other 2 posts that I have up today!
~Brooke
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Hey everyone! It’s the end of September already, so I’m going to recap some of the amazing things that happened this month! Literally, this month has gone by so fast. I remember so vividly when I was writing last month’s wrap-up. It doesn’t seem like it’s been 4 weeks since then already. ahhhhhhhh! Anyways, get let on with the post!
So school-wise, today wraps up the 1st 6-weeks of the school year (there are a total of 6 6-weeks) so this past week has been a flurry of tests and projects and making sure that my grades stay in the good range. With that, I’m really surprised that I was actually able to keep up with blogging stuff. In other majors news, it was my birthday on the 15th, and I got some new books for that (plus some Barnes and Noble gift cards)!! Of course, because I’ve already planned out most of my October reviews, I will have to wait until November for these reviews. So in terms of blog posts, I’ve had a good mix between memes, reviews, blog tours/spotlights, and cover reveals. I have loved being able to work with a bunch of the lovely people organizing these tours and I think it may be something that I think about doing in the future. (Like wayyyyy into the future, when I get my life together). But in the meantime, I’ve been signing up for a lot more of these tours. There’s just something about being able to know that you are really helping in a positive way that makes me love blogging even more. Let’s see, what else happened this month? I finished 2 books for school. I read Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott, and The Iliad by Homer. I really liked Bird by Bird just because the writing style of Lamott, it’s so chill and it doesn’t take that much effort to process. I think I’m going to write a couple discussion posts about the book, as well as share some writing I did as assignments for the book. The Iliad is another story. Confession time, I really dislike Greek mythology and stuff like that so I’m struggling to understand half of what’s happening in the book. But no fear, I have the trusty Sparknotes to catch me up on the plot. But along with that, I might share some posts on that book as well. I’ve also had Top Ten Tuesday posts and Classic Fridays posts this month. I created a new graphic for Top Ten Tuesday this week so if you want to see that, you can find that post from a couple days ago. And Classic Fridays are super fun so I encourage you all to join in on that. If you didn’t know, I’m the creator behind Classic Fridays so if you have any questions, let me know! I think that’s all I wanted to share for this post today. If you haven’t already, go and check out my Classic Fridays post from earlier today! Be sure to keep an eye out for my October TBR and goals/news that will be posted tomorrow. Until then, you can find me on Instagram @thecozylittlebooknook and on Twitter @BrookeEvans2001 because I post updates and behind the scenes stuff on there all the time and you do not want to miss out! ALSO, what do y'all think about the header for this post? I'm getting super into graphic designing now and it's super fun! Tell me what you want to see this upcoming month! ~Brooke Hey everyone! I am back today with another installment with Classic Fridays. If you don’t know what Classic Fridays is, here is the page on my blog where you can get more information on it: Classic Fridays. A quick rundown of the project is that this is a weekly meme and anyone can join us in it!
This week is all about Favorite Characters! So let’s get started! Who’s your favorite character of all time? Why do I do this to myself? I can’t decide on just one character. But one that’s been on my radar for a long time is America Singer from The Selection. I’ve mentioned time and time again how much I love her. Share something you want to know more about this character. There was a huge gap between the ending of America’s story and the start of her daughter’s story, so I really want to know what happened in those 20 years, as well as more about her, during Edelyn’s story. Would you recommend this book based on the characters? OMG totally. I love The Selection and I’ve been know to push it onto people who haven’t read it yet. (If you haven’t read it yet, and I haven’t tried to convince you to read it, I’m just warning you, I will try in the future). All the characters are so well developed and the author knows just how to leave the ending of the book so you want more. The romance is just so swoon-worthy and I absolutely love it. What is a character you think is a total bad ass, not afraid to do anything? Another character, other than America Singer, is Sloane, from Summer of Sloane by Erin L Schneider. Sloane starts off the book by punching her boyfriend, or should I say, ex-boyfriend in the face and it only gets better from there. What character do you most connect with? Why? One character that I connect with is Lara Jean, from Jenny Han’s To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, just because of the culture, and the restrictions she has in her family. What’s one character in your most recent read? I’ve been trying to get ahead on my TBR list so I’ve been reading a lot recently, but one of the characters in my most recent read is Jessa from Through The Lens by Shannon Dermott. What’s 3 words you would use to describe your favorite character? Who is your favorite book couple? Oooh, this is a hard one, as most of the books I read are romance novels. But I have got to say, America and Maxon are the best there is. Of course there are lots of other ones, but they are the ones that have stuck with me for years now. Going back to a topic we had a couple weeks ago, who you would cast as these characters? I would love to see Audrey Hollister as America, just because she is the model on the covers for the books, and she’s the one who I have envisioned as America. It just fits so perfectly. Do you tend to like the main characters, the supporting role, of the villains better? It usually depends on the book. Sometimes I love the main character, but then there are times where the best friend is better as a characters, but then you also feel for the bully or villain. That’s it for the post today! Don’t forget to go and check out the posts from everyone else who posted Classic Fridays posts today! (The links are on the Classic Fridays page) :) Also if you have any suggestions for future week’s or just questions you think would be good, please email them to me at [email protected], including your name and any information so I can be sure to credit you! So what did you think about my answers? Share with me your answers to these questions as well! I can’t wait to read them all! That’s it for this week! Don’t forget to check back on that page and find out more information if you are interested in joining us next week! As always, I will have more posts coming up this week so keep an eye out for that! I also have a cover reveal coming a little later today so go over and see this amazing cover, and I have a monthly wrap-up up today as well!! ~Brooke Twitter: @BrookeEvans2001 Instagram: @thecozylittlebooknook Facebook: Brooke Evans The Season by Jonah Lisa Dyer and Stephen Dyer Genre: Contemporary Romance Publication Date: July 12, 2016 Format: I bought a copy from Barnes and Noble with my own money. You can purchase the book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016VRFTME/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 Summary: In this hilarious reboot of Pride and Prejudice, Megan McKnight is a soccer star with Olympic dreams. When her Southern belle mother secretly enters her as a debutante for the 2016 deb season in their hometown of Dallas, she’s furious—and has no idea what she’s in for. Megan’s attitude swiftly gets her on probation with the mother hen of the debs, and she’s given a month to prove she can ballroom dance, display impeccable manners, and curtsy like a proper Texas lady or she’ll get the boot and disgrace her family. The perk of being a debutante, of course, is going to parties, and it’s at one of these lavish affairs where Megan gets swept off her feet by the debonair and down-to-earth Hank Waterhouse. If only she didn’t have to contend with a backstabbing blonde and her handsome but surly billionaire boyfriend, Megan thinks, being a deb might not be so bad after all. But that’s before she humiliates herself in front of a room full of ten-year-olds, becomes embroiled in a media-frenzy scandal, and gets punched in the face by another girl. The season has officially begun…but the drama is just getting started. Find out for yourself why this pitch-perfect blend of scandal, romance, and humor is being hailed as the best Austen adaptation since Clueless. My Thoughts: Hey Everyone! Today’s post is another Top Ten Tuesday post and the prompt this week is Books on my Fall TBR list. This is an amazing prompt, especially for this week because I have so many books that I need to read and review for October. Also for those who don’t know, this weekly meme is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!
Also, what do you guys think about my logo? It took me a while to finally get it to what I like, but I still want to hear your thoughts on it! Anyway, without further ado, here are some of those books:
These are just 10 of the 15 books that I plan on reading for the month of October. Of course as the month progresses, I will have more and more books to read. This upcoming month is the busiest I will be for a long time, but I hope that y’all enjoy it all! Tell me in the comments below, what books are on your fall TBR list! As always, let me know what you thought and all your thoughts in the comments section or find me on Social Media: @BrookeEvans2001 on Twitter and @thecozylittlebooknook on Instagram. ~Brooke Glitter [ARC Review] by Aprilynne Pike Genre: YA Dystopian Publication Date: October 25, 2016 Format: I received an ARC of the book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Summary: From #1 New York Times bestselling author Aprilynne Pike comes a truly original new novel—Breaking Bad meets Marie Antoinette in a near-future world where the residents of Versailles live like it's the eighteenth century and an almost-queen turns to drug dealing to save her own life. Outside the palace of Versailles, it's modern day. Inside, the people dress, eat, and act like it's the eighteenth century—with the added bonus of technology to make court life lavish, privileged, and frivolous. The palace has every indulgence, but for one pretty young thing, it's about to become a very beautiful prison. When Danica witnesses an act of murder by the young king, her mother makes a cruel power play . . . blackmailing the king into making Dani his queen. When she turns eighteen, Dani will marry the most ruthless and dangerous man of the court. She has six months to escape her terrifying destiny. Six months to raise enough money to disappear into the real world beyond the palace gates. Her ticket out? Glitter. A drug so powerful that a tiny pinch mixed into a pot of rouge or lip gloss can make the wearer hopelessly addicted. Addicted to a drug Dani can sell for more money than she ever dreamed. But in Versailles, secrets are impossible to keep. And the most dangerous secret—falling for a drug dealer outside the palace walls—is one risk she has to take. The Sophisticates Trilogy (box set) by Christine Manzari Genre: YA Dystopian Release Date: October 17th 2016 Summary: After a terrorist attack that caused more than 29 million deaths in the US, the government created the Sophisticates—genetically modified children designed to become the perfect soldiers. The Sophisticates were given abilities that made them faster, smarter, and stronger. The only thing they weren’t given was freedom. But is anything ever truly perfect? Seventeen-year-old Cleo has been a Sophisticate her entire life. When she begins to exhibit the ability to cause things to explode with merely a thought, she’s sent to the Academy to develop her deviation. She soon learns that there are other Sophisticates like her, Deviants with lethal skills. Immersed in a deadly game of supernatural powers and dubious motives, Cleo doesn’t know who to trust. Ozzy, the golden boy of the Sophisticates program, insists that Cleo should abandon training her deviation. His fierce interest in Cleo only makes her more determined to avoid him. As Cleo is pulled deeper into her role as a human weapon, all she truly wants is to be free, but there's more danger than she ever realized. There are some things that even the government doesn’t know and when the mistakes of the past are revealed and the Deviants start fighting back, no one is safe. Fans of X-men and The Darkest Minds will enjoy this dystopian trilogy. Add to Goodreads About the Author The first thing Christine does when she's getting ready to read a book is to crack the spine in at least five places. She wholeheartedly believes there is no place as comfy as the pages of a well-worn book. She's addicted to buying books, reading books, and writing books. Books, books, books. She also has a weakness for adventure, inappropriate humor, and coke (the caffeinated, bubbly kind). Christine is from Forest Hill, Maryland where she lives with her husband, three kids, and her library of ugly spine books. Author Links: Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook│Pinterest│Instagram Cover Reveal Organized by: YA Bound Book Tours So what do y'all think of the cover? I know that I will try to get a copy of the book to review so if you guys want to see that post, let me know! Also go over and follow me on Twitter @BrookeEvans2001 so you can get notified when I post! Let me know all you thoughts in the comments or find my on social media and I'll be back tomorrow with another review!! (Also, doesn't the synopsis of the book remind you of the Disney XD series Lab Rats??)
~Brooke Hey everyone! I am back today with another installment with Classic Fridays. If you don’t know what Classic Fridays is, here is the page on my blog where you can get more information on it: Classic Fridays. A quick rundown of the project is that this is a weekly meme and anyone can join us in it!
This week is all about my opinion on Diverse Books. What’s your definition of a diverse book? My definition of diverse books is pretty vague. To me, it’s not so much diverse book, but the need for diversity in the book community. I think that each person should be able to find a book they can connect with, that they feel represents them. It’s a lot, but as a kid growing up and not being able to find books about my culture or ethnicity, or etc… I feel that this is super important. What should a diverse book include/not include? Why or why not? In a diverse book, it is definitely important to me that it doesn’t represent the diversity in a negative way, especially with ethnicity, culture, sexuality. The last thing you want is to use stereotype and give the reader the wrong idea. Is your current read diverse? Oh my god, this is such a hard question, especially because I’ve been reading so much lately and I’m currently in between books. But aside from my current one, a diverse book is definitely Summer of Sloane, just because of all the culture with Sloane and in Hawaii. In what way is your book diverse? Again, I just love reading a good book with characters I can connect with, and feel like my culture is being represented in books. Do you think there is enough diversity in books published nowadays? If you asked me this question 3, or even 2 years ago, I would’ve said no. But with the publishing world growing so fast, we are definitely making progress, and I would love to see it expand even more in the future. In what way do you think the book community has grown to accept and promote diverse books? There are now websites and blog and social media accounts dedicated to promoting diverse reads and I just think that in such a short amount of time, diverse books have reached such a wide audience and continues to reach more and more people. What are some of your favorite diverse books? (Optional Bookstagram prompt) Some are To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, a couple of memoirs I read a while back, and as mentioned before, Summer of Sloane. Why do you think it’s important for there to be diverse books? I feel that it’s important for younger readers especially to read more diverse book, because they are at the age where they take in everything, and don’t have previous ideas of stereotypes. When did you start enjoying more books that are diverse? Coming from an asian heritage, it’s been hard for me growing up find books that felt like represented me but over the years, I’ve found more and so it’s not so much an exact time as a gradual process. Explain your perfect scenario/plot of a diverse book that you wish would be written. Ahhh there’s so many that I was would be written. I don’t want this post to get extremely long so I’ll have that in a separate blog post sometime in the future :) That’s it for the post today! Don’t forget to go and check out the posts from everyone else who posted Classic Fridays posts today! (The links are on the Classic Fridays page) :) Also if you have any suggestions for future week’s or just questions you think would be good, please email them to me at [email protected], including your name and any information so I can be sure to credit you! So what did you think about my answers? Share with me your answers to these questions as well! I can’t wait to read them all! That’s it for this week! Don’t forget to check back on that page and find out more information if you are interested in joining us next week! As always, I will have more posts coming up this week so keep an eye out for that! I also have a cover reveal coming a little later today so go over and see this amazing cover!! ~Brooke Twitter: @BrookeEvans2001 Instagram: @thecozylittlebooknook Facebook: Brooke Evans Forgetting Yesterday by Ava Wood Genre: YA Romance Release Date: October 28th 2016 Summary: Missy Shaw thought she had her life planned out perfectly; do well in school, take her basketball team to state, and get a free ride to college. Her life wasn't perfect, but it was constant. With her best friend Karley at her side, she could handle anything. After the death of her mother, however, her dad had other plans. Moving Missy from everything she knew in Kansas to the great unknown created a new set of problems. Attending a new school, all she really wanted was to be invisible, but that simple feat proved difficult when she had a run-in with the school's basketball star, Adam Miller, on her very first day. Adam is every girl's dream; charming, sweet, and gorgeous. And for some reason, he's very interested in Missy. His attentiveness is unnerving as Missy does everything in her power to evade his interest. Living with secrets she's not willing to share, Missy works to push Adam away in order to keep her family safe. But will keeping secrets really keep her safe? Add to Goodreads About the Author Ava Wood is an insomniac who writes to calm the voices. When the voices get too loud, stories are formed. Ava was born and raised in Texas but got to Florida as quick as she could, enjoying the fresh sea air and summer storms. She believes there is nothing more beautiful than an evening summer light show. She’s married to the love of her life whom she shares two beautiful daughters and four sweet fur babies. Their marriage is the perfect “North-meets-South” pairing. When she’s not writing, Ava can be found chasing her children all over the county, snapping photos of any and everything, visiting one of her local theme parks, or just spending quality time with her family. Author Links: Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook Cover Reveal Organized by: YA Bound Book Tours So what do y'all think of the cover? I know that I will try to get a copy of the book to review so if you guys want to see that post, let me know! Also go over and follow me on Twitter @BrookeEvans2001 so you can get notified when I post! Let me know all you thoughts in the comments or find my on social media and I'll be back tomorrow with another review!!
~Brooke Don’t Call Me Kit Kat by K. J. Farnham Genre: YA Contemporary Publication Date: April 20, 2015 Format: I received a copy of the book from Lola’s Blog Tours in exchange for an honest review. You can purchase a copy of the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Call-Me-Kit-Kat-ebook/dp/B00XFKMG0O/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1474337024&sr=8-1#nav-subnav (It’s also free with KindleUnlimited so if you have that, you get to read it for FREE!!) Summary: Junior high is where things really start to happen. Cliques form and break apart. Couples are made and destroyed. And a reputation is solidified that you won’t ever be able to escape. Everything you do and say, and everyone you spend your time with, matters. Katie Mills knows that. She gets it. That’s why she tried so hard to get in with the cool girls at school. And why she was so devastated when those efforts found her detained for shoplifting and laughed out of cheer squad tryouts. But Katie has more to worry about than just fitting in. Her parents are divorced and always fighting. Her sister never has time for her. And her friends all seem to be drifting apart. Even worse? The boy she has a crush on is dating the mean girl at school. Everything is a mess, and Katie doesn’t feel like she has control over any of it. Certainly not over her weight, which has always topped out at slightly pudgier than normal—at least, according to her mother. So when she happens to catch one of the popular girls throwing up in the bathroom one day, it sparks an idea. A match that quickly engulfs her life in flames. Is there any going back once she gets started down this path? And would she even want to if she could? My Thoughts: This book is one that is longer than the other books that I’ve been reading recently. Also, this book hit deep, like I honestly could relate to most of the book. Katie is starting her 8th grade year, and more than anything else this year, she wants to fit in and be part of the popular girls cliques. After being caught shoplifting in attempts to be ‘cool’, she’s basically on house arrest until school starts. Her family situation isn’t too great either. Her parents are divorced and she finds out that she was a final attempt at making the relationship work, which is not something every kid wants to hear. When everything else fails, she finds that one of the popular girls makes herself through up to stay skinny and Katie thinks that she’s found a way out. One thing that really bugged me was that this all took place in a junior high school. (This isn’t a diss to the author at all, this is purely constructive thoughts and my opinion). I feel like it’s too young for all this to happen, half of these things are events that I personally feel like would be better in a high school setting, just because of the more mature content. Eating disorders can start super easily, and this is how most of the book starts. Kat feels peer pressure, from her own MOTHER about losing weight, so when she see a popular girl that she wants to fit in with, throwing up to lose weight, Kat feels like she’s find an out to her problems. The book is divided up into 4 sections, Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer. I’m still not sure how I feel about these divisions, but I guess it gives sort of a timeline to the entire book so it’s beneficial. It did annoy me a little on how the last two sections were significantly shorter than the first two section. Reading the book, made me really feel and connect with the character. You feel the heartache when her parents are yelling at her, and when she’s hanging out with her friends. Every time that she makes herself throw up, you feel like you are right beside her, knowing what she’s feeling, but unable to stop or do anything. One scene that I found particularly interesting was the one when Katie is at the treatment center. Oh and also her later interactions with Amy Bowie, the girl who more or less put the idea into Katie’s brain. Anyway, back to the treatment center. I don’t have any background knowledge of these treatments so I don’t know how accurate it is but I really like the interactions she has there, the activities she does, and her one-on-one as well as family therapy sessions. We really get to see more of her deep inner thoughts that we probably wouldn’t find out anyway. I liked the ending, probably because it was super happy ending. Like one of those “yay, everything is solved and back to the way it should be” which might annoy some people but I really enjoyed that. Ok, now this is usually the time where I talk about the cover but instead, i’m going to talk about the title and how incredibly clever it is. I love the ties from the title with the rest of the book, and how it was one of the many causes that started it all. There was a couple mistakes that I caught, like a couple wrong names and inconsistencies in the writing but overall, it was pretty good. I liked the writer’s style of writing and I will definitely be reading more if she comes out with more books. Overall, I give the book a 8/10 (4/5 stars). This book was definitely one with a lot of emotional ties, and I really enjoyed that. There was a couple of times that I had to go back and re-read a page but other than that, the book was well written and relatively easy to follow. There were a couple mistakes that I think should have been caught in the editing process but it wasn’t too hard to figure out who they were talking about. I am looking forward to reading anything else the author writes! What did you think about the review? WIll you go and pick it up? Leave me all your thoughts in the comments below or find me on social media, @BrookeEvans2001 on Twitter and @thecozylittlebooknook on Instagram. Don’t forget to check out my other psot for today, a cover reveal (I’ve been doing a lot of those lately) and I’ll be back tomorrow with a Classic Fridays post! ~Brooke |
About me!Brooke's a high schooler who loves to read all sorts of books. She's happy to be able to share all the books she's reading with all of y'all. Archives
June 2020
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