Day: July 24, 2017

A Personal TBR of Books You Might Not Have Heard of

Hello, lovelies! I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about today, so thanks to those of you who voted in my Twitter poll and decided you wanted to hear more about my underrated TBR list.

As I was putting all of my books up in my new shelves a few weeks ago, I noticed how many books on my TBR shelf that I owned but haven’t really seen mentioned anywhere else. I know we all tend pick up books that we see on blogs, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube. It’s easy to get your interest piqued by seeing a book somewhere. I tend to buy popular books too sometimes, instead of taking the time to just browse the racks. However, there are still some days where I just spend hours browsing the bookstore or BookOutlet. This ends with me finding some hidden gems that I might not normally have heard about and now I have way more unread books than is probably healthy, haha! But I can say that I cannot wait to finally pick these beauties up!

P.S. I only included the books that I already own and only chose a handful from my shelves. Maybe I’ll post another list at a late date! 🙂

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The Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Lindsey Lee Johnson

I received this book in my Book of the Month Club box back at the beginning of the year. I think it’s basically about a rich school where all of the kids are horrible and torture a new teacher. I’m really interested in seeing how dark this one gets.

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The Child Thief by Brom

Think pyscho evil child-snatcher Peter Pan, and you basically have this really dark retelling of the boy-who-never-grows-up. This one has been tempting me a whole lot lately and I may have to bump it up to my TBR for next month. And yes, I know I’m a scaredy-cat and don’t usually read horror. I’ll be sure to only read this one during the day!

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Shadow Run (Kaitan Chronicles, #1) by Adrianne Strickland & Michael Miller

Y’all know I can’t resist a good novel set on a spaceship. SIGN ME UP.

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Newt’s Emerald by Garth Nix

A mystery romance set in the Regency but with magic, yes, magic. I feel like this will be a nice fluff book, perfect for a day when I’m feeling something light and cute. This will be my first Garth Nix book and I’m interested in seeing how I feel about his writing.

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A Song for Ella Grey  by David Almond

This one is a contemporary retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice. If you don’t know that myth, it’s a tragedy. I expect a lot of tears to be shed during this one.

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Where Futures End by Parker Peevyhouse

From the synopsis of this book, I’m getting some serious YA version of Cloud Atlas vibes. While I absolutely hated Cloud Atlas (I shudder just thinking about it), Emily Henry recommends this book and I’m kind of obsessed with her books so I hope this one doesn’t disappoint.

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The Cutting Season by Attica Locke

This is a murder mystery set on an old plantation in southern Louisiana. I think this book is also a commentary on modern politics and race relations, and if that’s the case, count me in. This is also a #ownvoices novel too, which makes me even more excited!

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Age of Myth (The Legends of the First Empire, #1) by Michael Sullivan

This epic fantasy novel has really awesome rating on Goodreads right now, which makes me really excited to hear. I think the sequel was actually released recently too, so I may end up binging them sometime soon. I cannot wait!

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Every Man a Menace by Patrick Hoffman

This book sounds like such a trip (pun intended!), as it follows a shipment of MDMA from the making of it to its distribution in the United States. This is a straight crime novel, where no one is the hero. I don’t usually pick up books like this so we’ll see how it goes.

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The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates

I’ve never actually read any of Oates’ book (I know, I know!!), but this one sounds incredibly intriguing. It’s set in 1905 Princeton, New Jersey where a bunch of real-life famous people get caught up in curse and fall under the control of a paranormal force. Sounds intense, right?

What books do you have that might be under-the-radar of the book community? Have you read any of the books on my list? If so, what did you think of them?

24in48 July 2017 Readathon Wrap-Up

This weekend was the 24in48 Readathon and y’all, it went so well! I didn’t complete the full 24 hours because Larkin likes to take breaks and sleep (I’m old, I can’t help it!). However, I did complete every single one of my goals that I set in my TBR post on Thursday! And isn’t that what these readathons are all about?

Total Hours Read

  • 15 of 24 hours – I was really hoping to read the full 24 hours, but things happen and that’s okay. I still think 15 hours is pretty damn good. I also go to see Dunkirk during one of my breaks and that movie was freaking amazing, so I think it was time well spent.

Books Read

  • A Million Junes by Emily Henry – 350 pages
  • The Mime Order (The Bone Season, #2) by Samantha Shannon – 510 pages
  • Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman – 281 pages

Goals

  • Read at least 600 pages. – FREAKING NAILED IT. I ended up reading a total of of 918 pages. Yes, you read that right! I actually almost 1,000 pages in 15 hours and that is way cool to me. I would’ve even hit the 1,000 mark if I hadn’t started A Million Junes Friday night before the readathon started. But sue me, I was eager to get to it!
  • Read 3 different books. – You bet your ass I did! I was a little worried that I might not make it to even picking up my third book, as I’ve been reading a tad slower than usual lately. However, not only did I make it to the 3rd book, I finished it! I gave myself a little pat on the back for that one.
  • Complete the Hype or Like Friday July BOTM, A Million Junes. – As I mentioned a moment ago, I was able to finish all three books on my TBR, including this one! If you haven’t read this book yet, I really encourage you to do so. This book is definitely one of my favorites of 2017 so far, and is certainly the most beautiful. It broke my heart but in the best way possible. I could go on and on about how much I loved it, but I think you just need to read for yourself and I’ll save my gushing for the review.

Now, I’m sure that tons of people were able to read more hours, books, pages, etc., but I’m not going to compare myself to anyone else. I completed the goals that were important to me and I hope that everyone else who participated was able to achieve that as well. And if you had a great time this weekend, then I think that’s all that matters.

Everyone should give themselves a round of applause for having such a fun weekend of reading! I hope to see all of you during the next readathon!

Did you participate in this round of 24in48? What were some of your goals? Did you complete them? Did you enjoy the books that you read? Will you be participating in future readathons?