RBD Review #7 | Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4) by Marissa Meyer

Book info:
Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4) by Marissa Meyer | 824 pages | Published 2015 Rampion Books | Teen Sci Fi/Fantasy (external image)

Summary:
Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters? (ourtesy of Goodreads)

My thoughts (minor spoilers):
Read February 22-March 02, 2016 | 5 stars

Oh my stars. It’s over. It’s all over. How am I supposed to go on now? I guess I have Stars Above left, but I don’t know if that’s going to help.

RBD Review #6 | Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles #3.5) by Marissa Meyer

Book info:
Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles #3.5) by Marissa Meyer | 220 pages | Published 2015 by Feiwel & Friends | Teen SciFi/Fantasy (external image)

Summary:
In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told.

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now.

Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from Winter, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series (courtesy of Goodreads).

My thoughts:
Read February 21-22, 2016, 5 stars

RBD Review #5 | Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer

Book info:
Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer | 552 pages | Published 2014 by Feiwel & Friends | Teen SciFi/Fantasy

Summary:
Even in the future. there are damsels in distress...

In the third installment of the Lunar chronicles, Cress, having risked everything to warn Cinder of Queen Levana's evil plan, has a slight problem. She's been imprisoned on a satellite since childhood and has only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress a great hacker. Unfortunately, she's just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue of Cress involving Cinder, Captain Thorne, Scarlet, and Wolf goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes as a high price. Meanwhile, Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has (courtesy of Goodreads).

My thoughts:
Read February 19-21, 2016, 5 stars

*NEW* RBD Review #28 | The New Hunger (Warm Bodies #2) by Isaac Marion

Book info:
The New Hunger (Warm Bodies #2) by Isaac Marion | 170 pages | Published October 2015 by Atria/Emily Bestler Books | Horror, Zombies, YA, SciFi, Dystopia
Summary:
The end of the world didn’t happen overnight.

After years of societal breakdowns, wars and quakes and rising tides, humanity was already near the edge. Then came a final blow no one could have expected: all the world’s corpses rising up to make more.

Born into this bleak and bloody landscape, twelve-year-old Julie struggles to hold on to hope as she and her parents drive across the wastelands of America, a nightmarish road trip in search of a new home.

Hungry, lost, and scared, sixteen-year-old Nora finds herself her brother’s sole guardian after her parents abandon them in the not-quite-empty ruins of Seattle.

And in the darkness of a forest, a dead man opens his eyes. Who is he? What is he? With no clues beyond a red tie and the letter “R,” he must unravel the grim mystery of his existence—right after he learns how to think, how to walk, and how to satisfy the monster howling in his belly. The New Hunger is a glimpse of the past and a path to an astonishing future… (Goodreads)

My thoughts:
Read September 16-19, 2016 | 5 stars

RBD Review #4 | Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2) by Marissa Meyer

Book info:
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer | 454 pages | Published 2013 by Feiwel & Friends | Teen SciFi/Fantasy

Summary:
Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner (Goodreads).

My thoughts:
Read February 18-19, 2016, 4/5 stars

Big Ol' Display | National Batman Day, September 17

National Batman Day is September 17th this year. Since my coworkers were focusing on The Bat himself, I thought it would be fun to look into Alfred's filing cabinet of other characters and write case files on some of them. I ordered about 45 books from other libraries and I still don't feel like I have enough.

RBD Review #3 | Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Book info:

Cinder by Marissa Meyer | Published January 3, 2012 | 390 pages | Teen Science Fiction/Fantasy (external image)
Summary:
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future. (Goodreads)

My thoughts:

Read February 16-17, 2016 | 4 1/2 stars
I AM IN LOVE! It’s been so long since I’ve fallen for a teen series. Not including The Hunger Games, it must have been the Great and Terrible Beauty Trilogy by Libba Bray back in 2003. The first few notes I made are simple: set in New Beijing, easy to read/get into, a little confused about the Moon people (or Lunars, if you prefer), but the more I read, the deeper I got and I suddenly realized I had read 100 pages. I loved all the references to the classic tale: the foot, the car, no human friends... Since I’m reading this after the rest of the series is out, I’m aware of the titles and can guess who they represent, and I really appreciated the subtle and not so subtle hints about how they will all tie together. I think it’s really important to do early on in a series with so many characters. This is such an easy read, and I don’t mean that like the writing is simple, it just flows so well; like it’s a third-person stream of consciousness. So easy to fall in without knowing it.

Other than the fact that I could call the plot twists/surprises, I’m really looking forward to the rest of the series. I hope they keep me wanting more.

4 1/2 stars from me! (I’m leaving room for the others!!)

Scarlet | Cress | Fairest | Winter

Find it:
Goodreads | Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

*NEW* RBD Review #27 | The Alienation of Courtney Hoffman by Brady Stefani

Book info:
The Alienation of Courtney Hoffman by Brady Stefani | 282 pages | Published June 2016 by Spark Press | YA , Sci Fi, Coming of Age

Summary:
Fifteen year old Courtney wants to be normal like her friends. But there’s something frighteningly different about her—and it’s not just the mysterious tattoo her conspiracy-obsessed grandfather marked her with before he disappeared. She's being visited in her bedroom at night by aliens claiming to have shared an alliance with her grandfather. And imaginary or not, they're starting to to take over her mind. “Mental illness is a slippery slope,” her mother warns her.

The last thing Courtney wants to do is end up crazy and dead like her grandfather did. But what about the tattoo? And the aliens trying to recruit her? With her new alien-savvy friend Agatha and her apocalyptic visions, Courtney begins connecting the dots between the past, present and future—of her bloodline, and the ancient history that surrounds it. Is she going insane, like her family claims her grandfather did, or is she actually a "chosen one" with ancestral connections to another world? Either way, Courtney has a mission: untangle her past, discover the truth, and stop the apocalypse before it's too late for everyone.

My thoughts:
Read July 28-September 12, 2016 (DNF at 20%) | 1.5 stars (2 on Goodreads)
---I was given a digital copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review---

I was not into this book. I don't really know how I made it to chapter 14 because it frustrated me to no end.

I don't know what I thought when I decided to request this book. I think the summary is quite appealing, but I don't think that came across in the writing. In all of my notes, I don't have much that's a true, positive comment. I have lots of thoughts about where I think it might be heading, but that's really it.

I see that the rating on Goodreads is quite high. I think that this may just be a case of "not for me," but I'm going to explain what I saw wrong with it and what I didn't like.

RBD Review #2 | We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi

Book info:
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi | Published July 29, 2014 by Vintage | 49 pages | Nonfiction, Essay

Summary:
What does “feminism” mean today? That is the question at the heart of We Should All Be Feminists, a personal, eloquently-argued essay—adapted from her much-viewed TEDx talk of the same name—by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the award-winning author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun. With humor and levity, here Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century—one rooted in inclusion and awareness. She shines a light not only on blatant discrimination, but also the more insidious, institutional behaviors that marginalize women around the world, in order to help readers of all walks of life better understand the often masked realities of sexual politics. Throughout, she draws extensively on her own experiences—in the U.S., in her native Nigeria, and abroad—offering an artfully nuanced explanation of why the gender divide is harmful for women and men, alike. Argued in the same observant, witty and clever prose that has made Adichie a bestselling novelist, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman today—and an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists (courtesy of Goodreads).

• “Gender matters everywhere in the world. And I would like today to ask for a different world. A fairer world. A world of happier men and happier women who are truer to themselves. And this is how to start: we must raise our daughters differently. We must also raise our sons differently.” 
• “The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are.” 
• “I have chosen to no longer be apologetic for my femininity. And I want to be respected in all my femaleness. Because I deserve to be.”

My thoughts:
Read February 9, 2016 | 5/5 stars
I thought this speech-turned-published-essay was awesome. Adichie says what we all wish we could say, and she says it eloquently and professionally. I think it could be very hard to be offended by this work. She sheds light on the fact that, no matter what country you’re in and no matter what race, men and women are treated differently, and that needs to change. She also gives what needs to be done to change it.

When I first saw it, I ordered it from my library and when it came in, I was surprised at how small it was. It only took me about 30 minutes to read. I was hoping for more, but when I was done, Adichie made her point loud and clear and there was no need or desire for more. I will definitely recommend this to anyone interested in thoughts on feminism, positive or negative. Maybe it will give some insight.
Find it:
Amazon | Goodreads | The Book Depository | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

RBD Review #1 | The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

***This is my first review ever. I promise they get better.***

Book info:

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin | Published April 1, 2014 by Algonquin Books | 272 pages | Adult Literary Fiction

Summary:

On the faded Island Books sign hanging over the porch of the Victorian cottage is the motto "No Man Is an Island; Every Book Is a World." A. J. Fikry, the irascible owner, is about to discover just what that truly means.

A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island—from Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who’s always felt kindly toward Fikry; from Ismay, his sister-in-law who is hell-bent on saving him from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who keeps on taking the ferry over to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.’s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, A.J. can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly.

And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It’s a small package, but large in weight. It’s that unexpected arrival that gives A. J. Fikry the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. It doesn’t take long for the locals to notice the change overcoming A.J.; or for that determined sales rep, Amelia, to see her curmudgeonly client in a new light; or for the wisdom of all those books to become again the lifeblood of A.J.’s world; or for everything to twist again into a version of his life that he didn’t see coming. As surprising as it is moving, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is an unforgettable tale of transformation and second chances, an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love.

My thoughts:
Read February 6-8, 2016 | 5/5 stars

First Official Blog: HOW DO I DO THIS?!

Hi, everyone! This is my first ever legit blog post. I mainly use tumblr and I finally decided I needed to buckle down and start to review in a "real" blog. For the first few weeks, I'm going to be transferring all of my book reviews to here. Not just links, but whole posts, along with updating the reviews in the process. 

I have no clue what I'm supposed to blog about, so I'm just going to wing it.I guess we should start with some introductions.  I'm Allie. I'm 26, a Hufflepuff, library employee, and fiercely (but somewhat quietly) feminist. I love YA fiction, Urban Fantasy, Literary Fiction, Memoirs and Biographies, and most of all, Horror.

I started low-key book-blogging on tumblr in February this year as a way to keep up on critical writing and thinking until I go back to school, but it turns out I kinda like it. I've been working on keeping my tumblr busy, but I'm very bad at posting original content, mostly because I don't know where to start. I thought it was high time I gave real blogging a chance. 

I'll mostly be posting book reviews, but I'm going to work on some recommendation posts and updating the progress on the teen displays I do at my library. I do them monthly but work on them for a long time before it's time to put them up.

Since I started in the booklr community, I stumbled upon a Discord server that's focused on books and reading. I lurked for a few days, and finally introduced myself. Now I've got a whole host of book-loving friends! If you're interested in joining or would like to learn more, please check out my friend Lauren's post over at Booksandtea about our chat, and come say hi! Someone is always around and we have tons of read-a-longs and read-a-thons, and even traveling book projects going on all the time. Honestly, this server is one of the best things to happen to me this year. 

I think I'm going to schedule to post twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays starting today, with the first book review I ever wrote. Keep in mind, I'll be updating them a little while I make the transition from tumblr to here, so don't be upset with my if they're late or off schedule in the beginning. While I'm moving all the old reviews here, I'll also be writing and scheduling new reviews and posts (moving all the old posts here is just to give me time to come up with content XD). 

If you have any suggestions for things you'd like to see, please let me know, I'm very very open to suggestions!

Feel free to check me out at the usual places!!
Goodreads | Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter 
Thanks for reading,
-A