Monday, November 28, 2016

"The Telling": Book Review





"Lana used to know what was real.


That was before when her life was small and quiet.
Her golden step-brother, Ben, was alive, she could only dream about bonfiring with the populars, their wooded island home was idyllic, she could tell the truth from lies, and Ben’s childhood stories were firmly in her imagination.



Then came after.



After has Lana boldly kissing her crush, jumping into the water from too high up, and living with nerve and mischief. But after also has horrors, deaths that only make sense in fairy tales, and terrors from a past Lana thought long forgotten: Love, blood, and murder."

The Telling by: Alexandra Sirowy is probably one of my favorite books I have read this year! The Telling is a thrilling and chilling ride, with twists and turns that you never see coming. This book follows Lana who previously lost her step-brother, Ben. Lana used to be an outsider, a goody two shoes and she only had one friend, her best friend Willa. After her step-brother died, her whole world shattered, and the girl who planned every step of her future dies along with him.
Lana starts hanging out with the popular crowd at her school, "the core". One day, when they are swimming in a spring, they find a dead body. They become suspects in the detectives' eyes and they also become the killer's pawns.
This book was a mixing pot of a horror, thriller and mystery. Some Young Adult books with elements of mystery in them seem to be very predictable, but this book had me constantly turning the pages to see what will happen next. I was hooked to this book from the very first page and I tried to figure out what would happen next or who the killer was, but every event would be a surprise to me.
This book really brought me back to what high school was like. Lana is just like every other teenage girl dealing with constant humiliation from other teenage girls and trying to find her place in the world. Except, her life isn't normal at all and there is a murderer that has her and her friends on a thread. 
I found Lana's character very unique. She wanted revenge from all of the people who did wrong to her and her step-brother Ben and she keeps on saying that they deserved to die because how horribly they treated her and Ben. However, I think no one deserves to be brutally murdered, no matter how much of a horrible person they are. I still rated this book 5 stars, because I thought the vengefulness of the main character, Lana, really helped to add suspense and mystery to the plot.
I also found it amazing that Lana became friends with "the core", who spread rumors about her and made her first years in high school a living hell. One of the main themes in this book was forgiveness and I think this comes to show that Lana is capable of forgiveness, and that every teenage girl wants to belong in the crowd.
I didn't see the ending of this book coming and I didn't even see the events that happened in the distance. I was so shocked and literally read the same words on the same page about five times. I kept on thinking, "Did that really just happen? No way that happened".
I felt like after I read the last words on the last page of The Telling, that I was in shock and denial. A good and unpredictable suspense, thriller or mystery, always leaves you in shock. This book was different threads of the elements you need to have a good book, woven together. If you want a thrilling ride, that is also a coming of age story, and that will constantly surprise you, I highly recommend The Telling to you!

My Rating: 5 Out Of 5 Paw Prints 

Monday, October 24, 2016

Spookathon 2016 Update for Days 4-7

Day 4
Time Read: 1 hour
Currently Reading: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by: Ransom Riggs
Pages Read of Current Book: 24 pages 
Total Pages Read: 263 pages 
Books Read: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by: Ransom Riggs

Day 5
Time Read: 1 hour and a half
Currently Reading: The Telling by: Alexandra Sirowy
Pages Read of Current Book: 31 pages
Total Pages Read: 294 pages 
Books Read: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by: Ransom Riggs


Day 6
Time Read: 3 and a half hours
Currently Reading: The Telling by: Alexandra Sirowy
Pages Read of Current Book: 95 pages
Total Pages Read: 389 pages 
Books Read: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by: Ransom Riggs


Day 7
Time Read: None
Currently Reading: The Telling by: Alexandra Sirowy
Pages Read of Current Book: 0 pages
Total Pages Read: 389 pages
Books Read: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by: Ransom Riggs

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon 2016 TBR

I am so beyond excited because this morning starts the Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon, and after participating for more than a few years now, this is something that I look forward to! Not only do I knock off a lot of books on my TBR for the month and get a lot of reading done, but I also meet a lot of people with the same love for reading that I have! This time around I got one of my friends at my college, McKenna to participate with me and I am so beyond ecstatic!

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon is where you read as much as you can for 24 Hours. Some people read for 24 hours in a row and some people just read as much as they can, around their daily lives and work and such. It is also a whole day where you can connect with book worms like you, participate in challenges, and knock some books off of your TBR pile! What more could a book worm want?!

It is unfortunately too late to officially participate this year, but if you want to find out information here is the link!






Books I Am Also Reading for The Spookathon:





 I can't wait to get a lot of reading done during this readathon! I hope to at least finish "The Telling", read "The Vines" and read another book as well. However, if I just read two books I will be happy, that's more than I normally would read in a 24 hour period! If you are participating good luck! Also, if you are participating comment down below what you are planning on reading during Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon! Good luck lovely readers and happy reading!

Thursday, October 20, 2016

"Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" : A Really Unique World To Live In






"A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive." 

At first this book was really hard for me to get through, for the first few chapters or so. However, when I finally read 50 pages or so of the book, I kept on turning the pages and it became an addiction. I have been in a really bad reading slump for the past four months or so, where I didn't feel like reading ever and I always wanted to go on a Netflix binge. However, this book totally got me out of my reading slump and now all I want to do is read.  This book at first didn't have me hooked and I almost gave up reading it, but I am glad I kept on pushing through, because sooner or later it had me hooked. For the past few days I didn’t have a life. I couldn't put the book down and I kept reading page after page. After page 50 or so, it’s kind of like candy, once you read one page, you have to read another and another and another.

This book wasn't really a horror book to me, but I don't get scared very easily so it could be to you.  This book to me, was such a mysterious and really thrilling read.  It reminded me of "X-men" in a way because of all of the children with magical and peculiar powers. It also reminded of "Narnia" in a way because of the magical island. However, this book has its own story and is unique from anything I have ever read before. Every page turn brought a new surprise and I never saw the surprises coming. This book wasn't predictable at all and was a non-stop roller coaster, with a lot of twists and turns. 

I also love the wonderful character development. Each character and each ward has their own back story, their own flaws, their own streaks and some of them even have their only magical powers. The Ransom Riggs describes his bizarre, unique and peculiar characters in a way that makes you feel like they are your friends and like you know them personally. The pictures of each of the characters also helps bring the characters to life and helps you to imagine them better.

Also I adore the world, on this creepy little island, in this magical little world. I could see myself living in the world because of how well it was described. Even though the creepy, weird pictures helped me to imagine the world and the characters even more, with Ransom Riggs' writing style I felt like I was living in the world with the characters, and experiencing what they were experiencing.  

The world of "Miss Peregrine's Home for Children" is a unique, creepy, magical and (a little) weird world that I love to live in! I highly recommend it if you want a paranormal and magical read that you won't want to put down once you start reading it. It is definitely the perfect Halloween read!

Paw Prints: 4.5 out of 5



Spookathon 2016 Updates for Days 1-3


Day 1
Time Read: 2 hours
Currently Reading: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by: Ransom Riggs
Pages Read of Current Book: 62 pages
Total Pages Read: 62 pages 
Books Read: None


Day 2
Time Read: 2 hours
Currently Reading: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by: Ransom Riggs
Pages Read of Current Book: 65 pages
Total Pages Read: 127 pages 
Books Read: None


Day 3
Time Read: 4 hours and 10 minutes
Currently Reading: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by: Ransom Riggs
Pages Read of Current Book: 112 pages
Total Pages Read: 239 pages 
Books Read: None



Saturday, October 15, 2016

My 2016 Spookathon TBR

I am so beyond excited to announce that I will be participating in the Spookathon hosted by Paige's Pages, BooksandLala and Bookerly on YouTube. It starts on October 17th and it will end on October 23rd. The goal of this read-a-thon is to read horror and thriller books. There are also five different reading challenges you can participate in. The only challenge I am not doing is the challenge "read a book with a spooky word in the title", since I don't currently have any books that would fit that challenge in my dorm room. There is also a read-along for the book "The Telling" by Alexandra Sirowy going on during this readathon that you can also participate in! Most of my books I have on my tbr are relatively shorter, so I hope I can get through all of them during this readathon, but if I get through at least half of them I will be happy. 

Click the following links to learn more:




1. Read a Thriller

2. Read a book with red on the cover

 4. Read a 2016 Release

 5. Read a book with a paranormal character/ creature


I can't wait for the Spookathon this coming week and I can't wait to read all of these scary and thriller books! I will be doing daily reading updates on my blog, so follow my blog if you want to know how I am doing during the readathon. Are you participating in the Spookathon? If so, what are you planning on reading? 




Sunday, July 10, 2016

BookTube-A-Thon 2016 TBR


I am so stoked to get tons of reading done in July before I go back to school in August and the BookTube-A-Thon is the perfect way to achieve that and to read some amazing books in July. The BookTube-A-Thon is from July 18th - 24th and is hosted by Ariel Bissett on YouTube. The main goal of this Read-a-thon is to read 7 books in a week (that is about one book a day), but there are also both video challenges and reading challenges you can participate in too. However, I will be focusing on the reading challenges as I am not an active YouTuber. This will be the perfect week to complete all of these reading challenges, because I will be on vacation at the beach and I normally read a lot of books while I am at the beach! Here is the link if you want to participate! 


Here Is My TBR:


The First Reading Challenge: Read a book with yellow on the cover!


The Second Reading Challenge: Read a book only after sunset!



The Third Reading Challenge: Read a book you discovered through booktube!



The Fourth Reading Challenge: Read a book by one of your favorite authors!




The Fifth Reading Challenge: Read a book that's older than you!



The Sixth Reading Challenge: Read and watch a book-to-movie adaptation!



The Seventh Reading Challenge: Read seven books! 


Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Summer Biannual Bibliothon 2016 Updates

Day 1 

Time Read: 1 hour and 18 minutes
Currently Reading: Everbound By: Brodi Ashton
Pages Read of Current Book: 14
Total Pages Read: 222
Books Read: Through The Woods By: Emily Carroll

Day 2 

Time Read: 30 minutes
Currently Reading: Everbound By: Brodi Ashton
Pages Read of Current Book: 10
Total Pages Read: 232
Books Read: Through The Woods By: Emily Carroll


Day 3 


Time Read: 3 hours 
Currently Reading: Everbound By: Brodi Ashton
Pages Read of Current Book: 76
Total Pages Read: 308
Books Read: Through The Woods By: Emily Carroll

Day 4 

Time Read: 20 minutes
Currently Reading: Everbound By: Brodi Ashton
Pages Read of Current Book: 10
Total Pages Read: 318
Books Read: Through The Woods By: Emily Carroll


Day 5

Time Read: 2 hours
Currently Reading: Everbound By: Brodi Ashton
Pages Read of Current Book: 59 pages
Total Pages Read: 377
Books Read: Through The Woods By: Emily Carroll


Day 6 

Time Read: 2 hours and 30 minutes
Currently Reading: Everbound By: Brodi Ashton
Pages Read of Current Book: 51 pages
Total Pages Read: 428 pages
Books Read: Through The Woods By: Emily Carroll


Day 7 

Time Read: 2 hours and 13 minutes
Currently Reading: Everbound By: Brodi Ashton
Pages Read of Current Book: 82 pages
Total Pages Read: 510 pages
Books Read: Through The Woods By: Emily Carroll and
 Everbound By: Brodi Ashton

Monday, July 4, 2016

Summer Biannual Bibliothon 2016 TBR

1. Read The Group Book - The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson




2. Free Choice/ Wild Card Book





3. Read a Book Off of the Host’s List of Recommendations 






4. Read a Book With Your Favorite Mythical Creature





5. Read a Book You’ve Been Putting Off Picking Up






6. Read a Book from an Author You’ve Never Read Before




7. Read a Book in a Different Format than You Usually Read






"Me Before You": A Very Realistic Love Story



"Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick. What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane. Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that. What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time."
"Me Before You" by Jojo Moyes is the most realistic book about a love story I have ever read. Will Traynor had everything, he had a successful job, a beyond beautiful way too perfect girlfriend, he was a daredevil who did everything from bungee jumping to skydiving, and he traveled around the world. One day however, Will lost everything a long with his desire to live when he is hit by a motorcycle. Louisa Clark, on the other hand loved her life working at The Buttered Bun tea shop and felt content with her relationship with her boyfriend, until a tragic turn of events crosses the paths of both Louisa and Will, and Louisa's purpose and view of life totally changes. 
This book had funny moments, heartfelt moments, romantic moments, and tragic, but very realistic moments. The interaction between the characters and the building of their relationships was both very realistic and very relatable. There was no falling head over heels for each other after just meeting each other and there was also no love at first sight. Louisa Clark and Will Traynor at first couldn't stand each other, Will thinking Louisa was not very responsible and that she was unable to do any task at all, and on the other hand, Louisa thinking Will was an arrogant, selfish, rich jerk who got everything he wanted. The two of them to even stand being in the same room together, or start having more than a sarcastic one word hostile conversation, took almost half way through the book. The growth of Louisa and Will's relationship took a while to bloom just like a relationship in real life, whether it be a romantic relationship or friendship.
Overall this book was filled with times that made you laugh, times that made you cry, times that made you have butterflies and times where you just wanted to throw the book at the wall because of the characters' decisions (even though these decisions made the book seem truer to real life). "Me Before You" will remind you what the true meaning of life is and will show you that you should live everyday to the fullest and that even if the situation is hard, sometimes you have to make sacrifices to do what is best for the people you love. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a book that is filled with love and romance, but also is very realistic at the same time!


My Rating: 5 Out Of 5 Paw Prints

Monday, May 30, 2016

May Book Haul 2016 Part 2




I already bought enough books this month with all of my birthday money, but then one of my best friends TaCora gave me a Barnes and Noble gift card, so I bought three more! 
Thank you so much TaCora! You are beyond amazing for thinking of me!









Signature Fonts

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

May Book Haul 2016

I have decided to start doing book hauls on my blog either every month or every few months, depending on how many books I accumulate. This month I have accumulated about 31 books. I have either bought these books or received them from other people. It is yard sale season so I bought about  8 books at yard sales and I only spent about a few dollars on them all together. I also visited the used bookstore in my college town before I left to go home for the summer and purchased two Stephen King books for really cheap. It was also my birthday this month, on May 15th so I received one book from a friend and bought about 13 books with birthday money I received from my relatives. I am so grateful and thankful for everyone who was so generous and kind to think of me on my birthday!!! Lastly, my Mom bought me 3 books at an Estate Sale and I also visited the bargain section at 
Books-A-Million. Yayyy cheers to so many more awesome books to add to my collection!


Books I Purchased At Used Bookstores:






Books I Purchased At Yard Sales:











Books I Received As Birthday Gifts:






Books I Purchased With The Money I Received For My Birthday:
















Books My Mom Purchased For Me At An Estate Sale:








Books I Purchased From The Bargain Section At 

Books-A-Million:




Signature Fonts

Contact Me!

foxyform