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!!

WWW Wednesday #15

Hello and welcome to WWW Wednesday! WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words.

The Three W’s are:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Let’s get started!

What I Just Finished:

All covers are from Goodreads unless stated otherwise

Last week, I finally finished Vicious (reviewhere) and I really liked it! It wasn’t a five star, but I would still highly recommend it!

Damaged was predictably sweet, while thrilling in some parts. I also really loved the legal aspect in it!

In The Woods was a huge disappointment. The story had great potential, and then the ending had to ruin the book for me. Review will probably be up on Friday!

What Am I Currently Reading:

MY LIBRARY HOLD HAS FINALLY COME THROUGH!!!! I’ve been waiting to read Watching You since December of last year! I’m glad I didn’t buy it yet, and that my patience is paying off. This is okay so far and I’m itching to find out what is truly going on in this secret filled book!

What Do I Plan on Reading Next:

I’m going to be reading Stalking Jack The Ripper as a group read and I’m excited because it’s historical mystery – two of my favorite genres! I’m also in need of something light and happy so I also want to read The Restaurant Critic’s Wife.

That’s it for this Wednesday! What are you reading? Do you have any thoughts on any books that I’m reading, just finished, or want to read next? Let’s chat in the comments below! (Be sure to link to your WWW’s!)

Monthly Wrap-Up: March

Hello friends and fellow bookworms! I am going to start off, by apologizing for disappearing this past week, but I was swamped with school work and I couldn’t make time for blogging. Thank you so much for understanding!

March was a pretty bad month for me overall. I was gone for almost two weeks, and I managed to only read 6 books. I have two overdue book reviews to complete and one tag to do as well! I also had an announcement planned, but that’s going to have to wait.

Anyway, here are the books I managed to complete, the tags that I finished, and some amazing posts by other bloggers around the bookish blog-o-sphere.

Books:

Covers are from Goodreads.

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson // ★★★☆☆ One sentence summary: An okay book with an intriguing mystery, and great characters. (Reviewed)

The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson // ★★★★☆ One sentence summary: A great sequel with an intriguing mystery, amazing cliffhanger, and lovable characters. (Reviewed)

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black // ★1/2 One sentence summary: A very hyped book with one-dimensional characters and a boring plot. (Reviewed)

Vicious by V.E. Schwab // ★★★★☆ One sentence summary: An interesting sci-fi story with fantasy aspects, great characters, and an intriguing plot. (Review To Come)

In The Woods by Tana French // ★★☆☆☆ One sentence summary: A meh book with an okay mystery and a disappointing ending. (Review To Come)

Damaged by Lisa Scottoline // ★★★☆☆ One sentence summary: Interesting plot, great characters, and an exciting legal fight.

Total Number of Books Read This Month: 6

Tags:

Only one. I was tagged by the lovely Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads and Bakes to do:

The 80’s Movie Tag

Thank you so much Meeghan!

Great Posts From Around the Blog-O-Sphere:

The Life of a Bookworm with Dyslexia – An Interview by Evelina @ AvalinahsBooks

Discussions & Rambles // What do you think about spoilers? by Xandra @ Starry Sky Books

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate’s Life For Me // Daughter of the Siren Queen by Tricia Levenseller by Kat @ Novels and Waffles

Privilege in the YA Book Community: Discussing Ways How Some Influencers are at More of a Disadvantage Than Others by May @ Forever and Everly

‘Small Town Hearts’ Blog Tour: Recipe! by Ashley @ Bubbly Booknerd

Anything Else?

Yes! I did a re-branding (I know, I did one in January too) and changed from my pinkish theme, to this vine, flowers, and leaves theme! I hope you like it! I’m probably going to change it in a few months again, lol

That’s A Wrap!

March was not a good month, blogging and reading wise. In February, I hoped to do better, but I didn’t do anything more than I did in February. However, this time, I will hopefully be able to read more books and take less hiatus’ while blogging some more.

How was March for you? How many books did you read? Any opinions on the new theme?Let’s chat in the comments below!

WWW Wednesday #14

Hello and welcome back to WWW Wednesday! WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words.

The Three W’s are:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Let’s get started!

What I Just Finished:

I didn’t actually finish anything recently, but I did write a review for The Cruel Prince which you can read here.

What I’m Currently Reading:

I’m still reading Vicious and it’s very interesting. I’m not a science person, but the ExtraOrdinary theory that Eli created is intriguing (even if it’s crazy). I feel very inclined to go do some research on the topic.

I’m also reading Damaged by Lisa Scottoline. It’s part of the Rosato and DiNunzio Series and I’m loving Mary so much!

What Do I Plan on Reading Next:

Next, I’ll be reading In The Woods by Tana French. I hope I enjoy it.

That’s it for this Wednesday? What are you guys reading? What do you think of the new theme? Let’s chat in the comments!