thepemberleyreader-blog

[thepemberleyreader-blog]

Hello everyone!

How is it already 2018? For the last four years, I’ve been looking forward to 2017 because of college graduation, working, and living on my own. It was a year of chaos, but also a year of firsts. This year, I have not planned for. It is the first year of my life that I will not be in school, that I will be working and just trying to better myself on my own. That’s weird.

One of my goals this year is to get through my TBR, which you can read about here.

So, getting a good start on that is important. I would like to read 6 books this month, and they are as follows:

The Bullet Catcher’s Daughter by Rod Duncan

This was a random find at Barnes and Noble, and the title was what caught my eye. I’m about half-way through this one, so far, and though slow-going, it is super interesting. It’s about a young woman named Elizabeth who, to get on in the world, must dress as her “twin brother” to work and make money. This work, a private detective, is unconventional, though, and often finds Elizabeth in crazy situations. So far, I’m really enjoying this one.

        Frozen Tides by Morgan Rhodes

This is the fourth in the Falling Kingdoms series. I love the characters in this series, and there were a few good twists in the last book that make me want to read this one really soon. I’m hoping that some things get resolved/answered in this book, but I know there are still two books left in the series after this one, so I’m sure Rhodes will continue to intrigue with this fourth installment.

        Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

I’ve heard such wonderful things about this collection of essays. I’m not sure what to expect from it, but I have a feeling it will be eye-opening and thought-provoking.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

I have quite a few classics on my shelves, and I need to get through them. This is a shorter one, and I’m hoping it will get me in the mood to read some more, longer classics soon.

The Fire In Fiction by Donald Maass

I’m already about half way through this book. I started it last year, but never finished it. I want to get through the rest of it this month, and finally take it off my list. It has some really good writing tips, and I’m hoping it will inspire me to write some more this year.

The Jumbee by Pamela Keyes

I’ve had this book for years. My copy is actually an ARC I got from the publisher when I was just 15 and participating in a writing program in NYC. I’ve had it all this time and have still never read it. It enticed 15 year old me, so we’ll see if 22 year old me likes it.

***

I am excited about this year and this month’s reading. I’m looking forward to mucking my way through my TBR pile and eventually having a reasonable list of books. Do any of you have crazy TBR piles? Or are we reading any of the same books this month? Let me know in the comments!

  Until next time,

Acacia

January 2018 TBR Hello everyone! How is it already 2018? For the last four years, I've been looking forward to 2017 because of college graduation, working, and living on my own.

[thepemberleyreader-blog]

TBR Takedown Challenge 2018

Last year (which is weird to say), I challenged myself to get down to 20 books on my TBR list. This may not seem like a difficult challenge until I tell you that I started with over 200 books on my TBR list. By the end of 2017, I was down to only about 80 books on this list. I say about, because I know there are books I purchased in 2017 that did not find their way onto this list. Not many, but…

[thepemberleyreader-blog]

Another year, another wrap-up.

A lot happened this year, both in the world and in my personal life. I graduated college, got an awesome new job, started dating my wonderful boyfriend, and I even managed, through all of that, to finish my reading goal of 100 books.

I still have three days left in the year, but I have already completed 101 books. I’m planning on finishing possibly another two before the actual end of the year. So, here’s to hoping for 103 books read this year. You can find all of these books here. I will also, below, be listing my top 5 books from this year.

Before doing this, though, I want to talk about my TBR Takedown Challenge. I had an initial goal to get down to 20 books on my TBR by the end of 2017, and to be frank, that did not even come close to happening. Half way through the year, I said, here, that I would get down to 40 books. This is also not close to happening.

I am still quite proud of what I accomplished with this challenge this year. I started with 221 books. I unhauled a total of 79 books this year and read 62 books off my TBR. I now only have about 80 books left on my TBR. I want, in the year 2018, to get this down to 20, which I think is much more reasonable. I will continue to unhaul books, but I will be focusing much more on reading through these books. I will be posting soon an updated TBR Challenge for the new year, which will go through my rules for myself. So, stay tuned.

Now, I read a lot of books this year. A LOT. I read a lot of good books too! Here, not in any order, are my five favorite books that I read in 2017:

In order from left to right:

Beloved by Toni Morrison

History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

Turtles All The Way Down by John Green

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Each of these books left me with thoughts and feelings that still have not left me. These are the books I found myself recommending over and over again to every once of my friends this year. were impactful in the best way. They spoke to things I care about, things I struggle with, and most importantly, things I know other people struggle with that I can only come to understand and know through books like these.

I really hope 2018 holds more books like these.

Thanks for a great year guys. Here’s to the next!

-Acacia

2017 Wrap-Up Another year, another wrap-up. A lot happened this year, both in the world and in my personal life.

[thepemberleyreader-blog]

Review: Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson

Review: Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Cups of Tea  Genre: Children’s Historical Fiction Summary: Sent in 1910 to live with distant relatives who own a rubber plantation along the Amazon River, English orphan Maia is excited. She believes she is in for brightly colored macaws, enormous butterflies, and “curtains of sweetly scented orchids trailing from the trees.” Her British classmates warn her of man-eating…

[thepemberleyreader-blog]

Review: History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

Review: History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Cups of Tea  Genre: YA Contemporary Summary: When Griffin’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he’s been imagining for himself has gone far off…

[thepemberleyreader-blog]

Review: Matilda by Roald Dahl

Review: Matilda by Roald Dahl

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Cups of Tea  Genre: Children’s Literature Summary: Matilda is a little girl who is far too good to be true. At age five-and-a-half she’s knocking off double-digit multiplication problems and blitz-reading Dickens. Even more remarkably, her classmates love her even though she’s a super-nerd and the teacher’s pet. But everything is not perfect in Matilda’s world. For starters…

[thepemberleyreader-blog]

Review: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

Review: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Cups of Tea  Genre: Italian Literature Summary: A modern masterpiece from one of Italy’s most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense and generous hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante’s inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the…

[thepemberleyreader-blog]

August Wrap-Up

August was a crazy month. My car broke down. My glasses broke. I finished up my internship. I interviewed twice, got my dream job, and am now finishing up my last week at my current job. Plus, I’m in the process of moving. So, needless to say, not many books read this month. It’s been crazy. But, here are the books I did manage to read and start in the month of August: Books Finished Rating: 3.5…

[thepemberleyreader-blog]

Read, Rise, Resist

I have spent most of my life reading books about the lives of others. When I was little, I read books about princesses, castles, adventure. I read these for fun, for entertainment, for escape. Now, I find myself reading books about horrors, Horrors no man should know, yet horrors the world experiences daily. These stories are real, even when fictitious; They shake our souls and claw at the…

[thepemberleyreader-blog]

Review: Prudence by Gail Carriger

Review: Prudence by Gail Carriger

Rating: 3 out of 5 Cups of Tea Genre: Steampunk Fantasy Synopsis: When Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama (Rue to her friends) is given an unexpected dirigible, she does what any sensible female would under similar circumstances – names it the Spotted Custard and floats to India in pursuit of the perfect cup of tea. But India has more than just tea on offer. Rue stumbles upon a plot involving…

[thepemberleyreader-blog]

TBR Takedown: A (Kinda) Half-Way Update

TBR Takedown: A (Kinda) Half-Way Update

For anyone who doesn’t know, I began this year with a problem no reader wants to admit to having. I owned too many books that I had not read. My to be read pile was growing, and growing, and growing, and it took me counting the pile itself for me to realize I had a problem. I began this year with upwards of 200+ books. I’m not sure on the exact number, as there are still some books wandering…

[thepemberleyreader-blog]

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Cups of Tea

Genre: YA Fantasy

Series Order:

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Days of Blood and Starlight

Dreams of Gods and Monsters

Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Book 1) Goodreads Summary:

Around the world, black hand prints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands”, she speaks many languages – not all of them human – and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Things I Loved:

The characters were beautifully crafted. Intriguing, electric, and imaginative. I loved every character Taylor created.

The world building was fantastic. Taylor is one of the better world-builders in the fantasy world. She slips you into belief and inclusion with ease, showing readers her world without explaining it to them.

The way Taylor writes about love make my inner hopeless romantic swoon. Akiva and Karou make me so happy, but Zuzana and Mik are relationship goals. So freaking cute.

There were many threads throughout the novels that Taylor tied together seamlessly. This was especially true in the third novel, Dreams of Gods and Monsters. These threads added so many layers to the triology.

The twist at the end of the first novel. WOAH. Prepare yourselves.

Things I Disliked:

As much as I love Akiva and Karou, their love story was pretty rushed. I just don’t appreciate insta-love. It did get better as the series continued, but I still wish there was a bit more development in certain aspects of there relationship.

The last fifty pages of the series or so was a bit disappointing. I felt like Taylor could have wrapped up the series without the extra plot point that comes in. I understand it, but I just wasn’t invested enough in the plot point to enjoy it.

Recommend to: fantasy-magic lovers; hopeless romantics; anyone looking for a good action/war story.

Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy by Laini Taylor My Rating: 4 out of 5 Cups of Tea Genre: YA Fantasy Series Order: Daughter of Smoke and Bone…

[thepemberleyreader-blog]

(Young) Adult Literature | Pemberley Ramblings

(Young) Adult Literature | Pemberley Ramblings

It is late Thursday night, and fans are lined up outside the local movie theatre in Hogwarts robes and House ties. Teens and adults alike run around with wands in hand, Harry Potter glasses over their eyes, and lightening shaped scars etched with eyeshadow and costume makeup on their foreheads. It is the release day of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, the first Harry Potter-world…

[thepemberleyreader-blog]

“Just because someone says something with passion doesn’t make it true”

[thepemberleyreader-blog]

happy (almost) halloween! 🎃 here are my favorite spooky reads 👻

[thepemberleyreader-blog]

I can’t wait for spring so have a springtime colored bookcase

[thepemberleyreader-blog]

instagram | twitter | goodreads