The Liebster Award – Thank You So Much!!

Hey friends! Today, I’m doing The Liebster Award which I was tagged in by the amazing Umairah @ Sereadipity. I’m going to also be shortening the questions/nominees to five, so let’s get started!

Thank you so much Umairah!!

The Rules:

(1) Acknowledge the blog who nominated you and display the award.

(2) Answer the 11 questions the blogger gives you.

(3) Nominate 11 blogs.

(4) Notify those blogs of the nomination.

(5) Give them 11 questions to answer.

P.S. I am reducing the number of nominees / questions to 5.

Questions:

(1) How do you choose which books to read?

Most of the times, I read the summary and if it’s interesting or what I’m look for at the moment, I borrow it from the library. I recently did a Top Ten Tuesday post about what draws me to books which you can check out here. Also, if the book has been recommended to me by a good friend, I’ll definitely read it.

(2) Which three book characters do you wish were real? Why?

Aza Holmes from Turtles All The Way Down by John Green. I want to hug her so much, and tell her that she’s worth the world, to support and help her through all her spirals.

Mary DiNunzio from Accused by Lisa Scottoline. This is part of a series, and I love reading about Mary’s family and legal life. I’d love to meet her, and maybe even be her sidekick during one of her cases!

Josephine March from Little Women by L. M. Montgomery. I loved Jo as a kid. Her adventures, quick temper, and aspirations to be a writer were so much fun for me. I’d love to meet her, and have a chat over a nice cup of tea.

(3) Which themes or tropes do you dislike in a book? Why?

I really really don’t like insta-love because most of the time, it is not used right. The characters are usually flat, the romance even flatter, and it can ruin great books.

I also hate it when the good guys are White and the bad guys are Black. It does NOT sit well with me. Thankfully, I’ve only read one book in which something like that happened.

Another theme that I dislike, is when the MC realizes that the organization that has raised him/her his/her whole life is evil, they decide to get revenge. It’s so overused, and I avoid it, unless it seems like there’ll be a unique story behind it.

(4) Who are your top three favorite authors? Why?

Jennifer Lynn Barnes. She is an amazing author and I love most of her female MC’s. They’re strong, sassy and amazing and I really love her mysteries.

Lisa Scottoline. I love her legal mysteries/thrillers and her Rosato and DiNunzio series in particular.

Lisa Jewell. I’ve read only two books by her and I’m loving her work so far. I’m definitely going to explore the rest of her books and read more.

(5) What do you think is more important in a book, well-developed characters or a gripping plot?

I think a gripping plot is overall more important in a book, but both are needed for a good story. If the plot is very good and very gripping, then I can usually overlook or hate the characters less. If the book has no plot, or a very bad one but with well-developed characters, then it’s just blah, slow, and a waste of time. I’ll probably hate that more because I would feel like the characters didn’t get the story they deserved.

Questions:

1)What’s your favorite pastime when you aren’t reading or blogging?

2)What’s your go to genre?

3)How many books do you plan on reading this year?

4)Which three characters would you love to switch places with for a day? Why?

5)Share a fun fact about yourself.

Tagging/Nominating:

The Reading Chemist | Crystal @ Paper Royalty | Xandra @ Starry Sky Books | Sara @ My Year of Reading Dangerously | Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads and Bakes

P.S. No pressure. If you don’t want to do the tag that’s absolutely fine, and if you’ve already done it, please share the link so I can check it out!

Top Ten Tuesday – First Ten Books I Ever Reviewed

Welcome back folks! It is time for Top Ten Tuesday! Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme originally created by The Broke and The Bookish, and is now hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today’s topic is: (First Ten) Books I Reviewed (These do not have to be formal reviews. A small sentence on a retailer site or Goodreads counts, too! Submitted by Rissi @ Finding Wonderland)

I had to dig up my dusty files (of both my brain and computer 😉) to find the oldest reviews that I ever wrote. Many of these were for school and though I’ve read A LOT over the years, I never wrote any reviews because I thought they were a chore. Now that I’ve started blogging, I’m actually starting to enjoy writing them for others to read!

The oldest reviews that I can remember aren’t that many, so you’ll also be seeing some reviews from when I first joined Goodreads and started blogging (I started both in December of last year)

Let’s get started!

All the covers are from Goodreads!

These five books are the only ones that I reviewed that I can remember. I wrote them for my school newsletter and reading my reviews again made me cringe.

*Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary

*The Sign of The Cat by Lynne Jonell

*Thea Stilton and the Journey to the Lion’s Den by Thea Stilton (the actual author is Elisabetta Dami)

*The Canary Caper by Ron Roy

*The Zombie Zone by Ron Roy

The first three books were the first one that I reviewed when I joined Goodreads and the last two were from when I started blogging.

*SYLO by D.J. MacHale

*The Gilded Cage by Lucinda Gray

*A Girl Named Digit by Annabel Monaghan

*The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

*Accused by Lisa Scottoline

That’s it for this Tuesday! What were the first books that you’ve ever reviewed? Share in the comments or link to your TTT’s so that I can check them out!!

Top Ten Tuesday – Favorite Characters in Books

Hi friends and welcome to Top Ten Tuesday! Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme originally created by The Broke and The Bookish, and is now hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today’s topic is: Favorite Couples in Books

However, I’m gonna be a rebel this week. Instead of the topic that was chosen, I’m going to do Favorite Characters in Books.

Let’s get started!

*Tess. I’ve already elaborated on my love for Tess Kendrick. Her sassy behavior, confidence, and take-charge personality is so amazing. Read it all here! Book: The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

*Anne. Someday, I need to go to PEI (Prince Edward Island in Canada) and hunt down Green Gables and Anne’s room. I loved this series and Anne so much. Her confidence, mischief, boldness, and her wonderfully feisty personality are to die for. I mean, she takes it as an insult when someone misspells her name (without an E at the end), and literally smashed a slate over Gilbert’s (I LOVE HIM SO MUCH TOO) head when he called her ‘Carrots’. That is my favorite scene from that book. And as she matures, it’s all better because even though she doesn’t have a serious temper (she controls it better), she still makes hilarious mistakes and loses her temper sometimes at times. Book: Anne of the Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

*Mary. I loved Mary’s character. She’s a warm, loving woman who tackles any and every case. She’s a champion for those who are wronged and doesn’t care about money. She’d rather help an old friend for free than bleed their accounts dry. Her Italian family are also very hilarious and it was a refresher to see how much they loved her. Book: Accused by Lisa Scottoline

*Nancy. The very first heroine that I sincerely loved. Her adventures had me turning page after page after page. She introduced me to the world of mysteries and I’ve been hooked ever since. Book: Nancy Drew Mystery Stories by Carolyn Keene

*Mary. This Mary is from The Agency series by Y. S. Lee. Mary is fiesty, determined, and very unlike any lady that you’d find in Victorian England’s society. The mysteries she solves are all engrossing and I really loved her relationship with James. Book: A Spy in the House by Y. S. Lee

*Jane. Jane is like all the other girls/ladies on this list. Feisty, determined, and a serious reader just like me!. Her determination, and passion is unmatched and she is very modern for her times. (It’s the 1300s/1500s or something around or in between that?) She’s a feminist in a time when women were considered nothing more than just another pawn in a game. Book: My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

*Cammie. Her series are amazing! I’m sooo heart-broken that it had to come to an end, but I love you Cammie. I loved you, I still love you, and I will forever love you till the end of time. Book: Gallagher Girl Series by Ally Carter

*Lia. The Naturals is one the best psychological mystery series that I’ve read and one of the side characters, Lia, is amazing. She’s bold, she’s manipulative, sweet, caring in her own way (aka she hates you everyday until you realize she secretly fiercely loves you and would protect you forever and ever), and one of the best side characters I’ve ever encountered. I love how one of the books centered around her past (I’m sorry, it’s been a while and I can’t remember which one…). Book: The Naturals Series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

*Sammy. Sammy Keyes is the very definition of sarcasm and humor. I’m pretty sure a picture of her would show up in Merriam Webster’s definition of the words. Eighteen books of Sammy being a relate-able 13-14 year old, sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong, and getting into all kinds of trouble (with the bad guys, good guys, and her arch-nemesis at school) will have you in stitches and wishing there were more books. The books are all light and humorous and I highly recommend them! Book: Sammy Keyes Series by Wendelin Van Draanen

*Will Robie. He’s a calculated assassin who has made his personal life very detached from his professional one. He’s never let himself love anyone and doesn’t have any family to speak of. I loved his simplicity, no-nonsense manner, and sympathized with him a lot over the course of the series. Warning: There’s a considerable amount of violence and death in the series. Book: The Innocent by David Baldacci

UPDATE:

*Jo. I just realized that I forgot to add Jo from Little Women… (why am I so scatter-brained?) She’s an aspiring authoress (like me), has a hot temper (like me), loves her family fiercely (like me), and she also broke my heart later on in the novel (something to do with Laurie in case you are wondering). But I still love her and will forever do. Book: Little Women and Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott (The one I read incorporated Little Women and Good Wives into one, but they are sometimes separate books.)

That’s it for this Tuesday!

Who are your favorite characters/couples? Let’s chat in the comments! (Be sure to link to your TTT so I can check it out!)

Accused by Lisa Scottoline – Review

J R Lynn @ Eternity Books
Book: Accused (Rosato and DiNunzio)
Author: Lisa Scottoline
Rating: ★★★★☆
Summary: Mary DiNunzio has just been promoted to partner and is about to take on her most unusual case yet, brought to the firm by a thirteen-year-old genius with a penchant for beekeeping. Allegra Gardner’s sister Fiona was murdered six years ago, and it seemed like an open-and-shut case: the accused, Lonnie Stall, was seen fleeing the scene; his blood was on Fiona and her blood was on him; most damningly, Lonnie Stall pleaded guilty. But Allegra believes Lonnie is innocent and has been wrongly imprisoned. The Gardner family is one of the most powerful in the country and Allegra’s parents don’t believe in reopening the case, so taking it on is risky. But the Rosato & Associates firm can never resist an underdog. Was justice really served all those years ago? It will take a team of unstoppable female lawyers, plus one thirteen-year-old genius, to find out.

 


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