Reader Rayna

Month: May 2015

  • May 2015 Wrap-Up

    Another month has come and gone and wow, I can’t believe we’re already going to be in June. It’s crazy.

    So, this month wasn’t a horrible reading month as I read most of the books on my TBR for the month, and I completed my TBR Jar Challenge, which was to read a book that’s not a novel. So let’s go over what I read this month:

    • “City of Fallen Angels” by Cassandra Clare. This is the fourth book in The Mortal Instruments series and it follows about two weeks after the events of the third book. I don’t want to give too much away, but we get a lot more Simon page time and we get to see a lot more of the darkness of the world and what’s in it. I did think Jace was super whiny in this book, and Clary wasn’t acting all that smart, either, but I really appreciated Simon and Isabelle. I’ll have a review of it up when I finish the last two books. I rated this 4/5 stars.
    • “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J Maas. This is the first book in a new trilogy by Sarah and it’s about a girl named Feyre who is a hunter for her family. When she accidentally kills a faerie in its beast form, another faerie comes seeking retribution for his friend’s death. But instead of killing her, he takes her back to his lands to live out the rest of their days. But there’s something going on in the Faerie Lands that’s making everything out of whack. I loved this book and rated it 5/5 stars. Read my review!
    • “The Heir” by Kiera Cass. This is the fourth book in the Selection series, but really it’s a companion story. It’s about Princess Eadlyn and how it’s her turn for a Selection to help ease some of the unrest of Illea. But Eadlyn is not for it and it makes things that much more difficult when the thirty-five suitors come to win her heart or the crown. I rated this 3.5/5 stars. Read my review!
    • “The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight” by Jennifer E. Smith. This is a contemporary YA book about a girl who has to go to her father’s second wedding in London, but when she misses her flight, she winds up on a plane next to a guy who is from England and he’s super sweet. When they meet, they really become close and it’s also about family issues and how to come together during a difficult time. I rated it 3.75/5 stars. Read my review!
    • “An Ember in the Ashes” by Sabaa Tahir. This book was super hyped, and I personally think it deserved it. It follows the story of this girl named Laia and how she goes undercover with the help of the Resistance to help free her brother after he is arrested for being a traitor to the Empire. And it also follows Elias, a soldier of Blackcliff Academy, the best they’ve ever had, but he doesn’t want to be a Mask or a soldier and wants to run away. Eventually the two meet and things get complicated. This was definitely worth the read and I highly recommend it. I rated it 5/5 stars. Read my review!
    • “The Assassin’s Blade” by Sarah J Maas. Finally, FINALLY I finished this bind up of five novellas that follow Celaena Sardothian before the events of the first book. Each novella shows a different side of her and I loved how we got to see more of who she is and was before the events of Throne of Glass happened. I rated it 5/5 stars. Read my review!

    The books I started this month but have yet to finish are:

    • “Sabriel” by Garth Nix. This book was super slow for me and hard to get into. The only parts I was really enjoying were the parts with Moggot because we actually had some interaction going on. I managed to get 100 pages in before giving up for now.
    • “Unravel Me” by Tahereh Mafi. This is the second book in the Shatter Me trilogy and I’m really enjoying it so far. I just couldn’t get through it at the time because I just wasn’t in the mood to read. This will probably be the first book I finish in June.

    I also did a few discussions and fun things over the month:

    • Rayna Recommends – Romance – I finally started my own project! This is going to be a monthly (or bi-monthly, I haven’t decided yet) recommendation post where I list books, movies, and/or TV shows that fit the theme for that month. This past month was romance and I gave a list of about eight books, movies, and TV shows that I wanted to share with you all.
    • Shadowhunters Casting: Thoughts So Far – Shadowhunters is underway with filming the first episode right now, but I talked here about the first three main characters that were cast for the show and my thoughts and opinions on them so far. (spoiler: I’m impressed so far) [expect a second cast post soon]
    • #BoutofBooks & #CrushYourTBR Read-a-thons – These were my first ever read-a-thons that I’ve participated in and I had a lot of fun doing so. Though I didn’t get a ton of reading done, I did read some books that I’ve been wanting to get to and I’m excited to try more soon. These were pretty relaxed read-a-thons.
    • #RYBSAT Read-a-thon – Another read-a-thon that took place the week after the other two, it focuses more on picking a spot on your shelf and reading as many books as possible from that point on. I didn’t even get through the first book before giving up (life was kind of crappy that week).
    • Armchair BEA 2015 – Couldn’t attend BEA this year, so I settled for joining in on ABEA, which is essentially sitting at home and talking about books and things related to blogging. Very cool! This was just an introductory post.
    • ABEA Day 2: Social Media – I think that it’s important to incorporate social media platforms along with your blogging because it allows more readership connections and it broadens your network. I have a crap ton of social media pages, so check them out.
    • Reading Slumps & How Much They Suck – No seriously. They suck so much. Haaaaallllppp.
    • ABEA Day 3: Blogging Q&A – I give a bunch of advice about blogging, as well as talk about my journey and th importance of networking.
    • ABEA Day 4: Book-to-Movie Adaptations – They either make it or break it, and sometimes they just really shouldn’t have been made into one.

    Suffice it to say, I had a busy month. I didn’t think I had been this busy on the blog this month, but lo and behold.

  • ABEA Day 4: Book to Movie Adaptations

    Today’s ABEA topic is book-to-movie adaptations. Book-to-movie adaptations are one of those things where they either get it right or it’s completely wrong. Some movies follow through with the book almost to a T, only having to change up a few plot points for movie purposes and really bringing the book to life for the reader. Others… well, they just suck.

    So here I want to just talk about a few of my favorite adaptations, as well as some of my least favorite.

    Favorites

    • The Harry Potter series. Though I’ve only read up to part of book four, the adaptations of the books are really well done. I find that the inner witch in me loves it. Though there’s major differences between book and movie three, I found that the first two really stuck to the story well.
    • The Fault in Our Stars. I found this to be very faithful to the book with a few minor plot points changed or missing. The lines were directly from the book and everything that happened was just wonderful to see. I loved it.
    • Divergent. Despite there being several major things that were changed from book to movie, I really enjoyed the adaptation. I thought it incorporated a lot of elements from the book into the movie and we really got to see what being in Dauntless was like and how living in that society was.

    Least Favorites

    • Blood and Chocolate. It wasn’t even the same story as the book! I could understand making the characters older for movie purposes, but major plot points were changed, there was bad acting, and it was just… ugh. I hated it.
    • Insurgent. Okay, so I did a whole review rant about this movie and how horrible it was. So… go read that if you really want to know my thoughts.

    So, some of these adaptations either hit it and really showed the true nature of the characters, had awesome CGI and storyline, and was as faithful as could be to the book. Others… yeah, no.

    Now, as for books I’d want to be made into a movie or TV show, I believe I did posts on each, here and here.

    As for upcoming shows/movies that I’m excited for:

    • Shadowhunters. This is a TV show based off of Cassandra Clare‘s The Mortal Instruments series. Everything is looking so awesome so far, from the beautiful cast to the set pictures we get every day, everything looks so awesome so far. I’m really excited to see how this adaptation plays out considering the movie was a flop.
    • Mockingjay Part 2. I haven’t read the books yet, but it’s one of my goals this year to read all three before the final movie comes out. I’ve loved The Hunger Games franchise since the release of the first movie and so I am excited to see how it concludes in the last movie.

    I think what makes a faithful adaptation is not only the actor’s portrayal of the character they are playing, but also on the director, producer, screen-writer, etc. They are the ones that make the book come to life, and they have one chance to really impress fans of the book. It’s either a hit or miss, and sometimes it’s on the actors’ part or sometimes it’s the graphics, other times it’s the story and script.

    What are some of your favorite book-to-movie adaptations? What about least favorites? What would you like to see be turned into a TV show or movie? Let me know!

  • May 2015 Book Haul

    It seems like I just can’t stop getting books. And that’s okay.

    • “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J Maas. This is the first book in a new trilogy that Sarah’s writing and it’s about a girl named Feyre who accidentally kills a faerie in wolf form. For retribution, Tamlin, a fae from the Faerie Lands, comes to seek justice, but instead of killing her he offers to her to go with him and live in his home the rest of her days. There’s elements of the original Beauty and the Beast fairy tale retelling, as well as other elements thrown in.
    • “The Heir” by Kiera Cass. This is the fourth book in the Selection series and it follows Princess Eadlyn, who is the first female heir in Illea’s history. When unrest in the kingdom starts to threaten their way of life, King Maxon and Queen America decide to have another Selection – only this time it’s Eadlyn who gets to choose from thirty-five suitors.
    • “Magonia” by Maria Dahvana Headley. It’s a story about a girl who is allergic to almost everything in our world; she can barely breathe down on the ground, but when she sees a flying ship in the sky, she goes on an adventure that she never thought she’d be able to have – and she can breathe again, as well. The cover is gorgeous on this one and I’m excited to read it.
    • “The Assassin’s Blade” by Sarah J Maas. I already owned this book in ebook form, but I decided to get it in hardcover because I need its presence in my life. It’s the compilation of five novellas from events taken place before the “Throne of Glass” story begins as they follow Celeana through many trials and different scenarios in Erelia.

    So those are all of the books I got this month. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

    Let me know if you’ve read any of these books and what your thoughts were, or if you are excited/interested to read them.

  • ABEA Day 3: Blogging Q & A

    Today’s ABEA topic choice is one in which was difficult for me to choose from, but I decided to go with talking about blogging and my journey and some tips up to this point. Let me just state now that I am by no means an expert as I’m still growing and learning and expanding in my own blogging techniques. But I have learned several things over the years I’ve been blogging (on this and another blog) and so I’m just going to chat about that now.

    My Journey

    I’ve tried blogging on several platforms and for various topics, from school required blogging to my writing blog to this one I have here. I’ve used Blogger, Wix, Tumblr, WordPress, and (a very long time ago) LiveJournal. So I’ve been on and off in the blogosphere for several years now.

    But nothing really ever stuck for an extended period of time until my writing blog, and even now I rarely post there anymore.

    I have fallen in love with this blog, though.

    I love talking about reading, discussing topics and issues that pop up in the community, showing my hauls and just having a fun time with books. This has been one of the best ideas I’ve had and I’m glad I’ve stuck with it because I will always love reading and there will always be books out there.

    I’ve gained followers and awesome people I can talk to about the things I love who have a common interest, and I love that. It makes me so, so happy to be able to have such a large community I can branch out to and learn from and just talk to about books.

    Blogging Tips

    Okay, here’s where it may become a little bit fuzzy with advice because even though I’ve been doing this on and off for a few years, I’m still learning. Blogging is an ever changing entity and everyone has their own flair and tastes, so just remember that this will be my own experiences and personal advice.

    1. Have fun with your blog. Whether you’re talking about books, crafts, art, or fishing, you need to have fun with the content you’re producing. If you’re not having fun, why are you doing it? If you don’t have the passion behind it, take a step back and evaluate to see if there’s something that needs to change.
    2. Produce your best quality content. Okay, this one even I feel like a hypocrite about, but it’s true. When you post you want it to be some of the best of your own writing and thoughts about your given topic. Of course when you’re first starting out your content may not be up to par, but the more you do it the better your content will become. I mean, if you check out my last year’s posts, they were really, really bad. I cringe when I look at them, but they were a starting point and now I’m becoming proud of what I post.
    3. Don’t let what other people are posting pressure you into doing the same thing. There’s so many different styles of reviews, so many varieties of memes, so many different experiences out there on the Internet that it can all blend together and make a new blogger – and even an experienced blogger – confused about where to even start. I do a couple memes (Top Ten Tuesday & Top 5 Wednesday) every week if I can because I find them fun and I’m able to share some thoughts on books I may or may not have talked about before.
    4. Keep your blog clean and organized. It’s so much easier to track what post is where if you have dedicated subjects at the top of your blog. Have drop down menus and links referring back to your posts so that they’re easy to find. I find a cluttered blog to turn me off real fast because there’s so much to look at when all I’m looking for is the content. But that doesn’t mean you can’t design it how you want it, just make sure you have navigation somewhere.
    5. Try to post regularly/what fits your schedule. Some people are able to post every day, multiple times a day, and that’s okay. But some people can only post once or twice a week; that’s okay, too. Just be sure to set a schedule for yourself and try to stick to it to the best of your ability.

    So there are five tips that I think are broad enough to fit everyone somehow. Blogging is an interactive, engaging experience. Make it your own, though; you don’t need to follow the pack.

    Networking

    I think it’s very important to network as a blogger. If you want more people to see your content, you need to be willing to branch out and extend to other media. Now I already discussed what my various social media are, but here’s why I personally think that it’s worth while to connect with some of the bigger ones:

    • Twitter: It’s fast, it’s super social, and you can get your content out quickly. So many websites, including WordPress, allow you to link up to your Twitter account so your blog posts automatically post on your feed. I use this one the most in terms of reading and writing related things because there are different hashtags you can use to connect with others who will also potentially follow you and check out your site. Some various hashtags I frequently use are: #amreading #amwriting #booknerdproblems #bookbloggers #writerproblems
    • Facebook: Using a page or personal account can connect to even more people. I mean, Facebook kind of turned into a phenomenon over the last few years and has grown so big that you’re bound to get people to follow or friend you there. Now this can be tricky to use, though, because many people will only follow if they see your link on your personal account or from your blog page. I use it in case anyone on Facebook who isn’t on Twitter or follow my blog can see my posts still.
    • Tumblr: It’s another blog for your blog! Okay, well, this may seem redundant, but there are SO many teens that use Tumblr and who love books that just by connecting your blog posts to tumblr (or actually using the platform itself) can get you a bunch of people to follow and talk with you about books.
    • The comments on your blog: the best place to engage in readership and fellowship. Seriously, there’s no better place to find others who enjoy your content or blog more than in the comments. When it comes down to it, be sure to reply to every comment until you feel that there doesn’t need to be a response anymore. Initializing that first contact with people can make them come back every time, and that’s really what we’re aiming for here, isn’t it?

    Don’t be afraid to branch out and let other people into your small world. There’s so many people I have come to enjoy talking to about books that it makes me smile whenever I see them comment or when I see on Twitter that people are engaging in conversation with me or are talking about the same topic.

    It’s really great to have all of this blogging community around. I find it to be fun and something I can see myself doing for years to come.

    What about you? How do you like to blog? Any tips or advice you want to share? What’s your favorite form of networking? Let me know!

  • Reading Slumps & How Much They Suck

    We’ve all had them, unless you’re some super human who can just read and read and read without ever having this problem (in which case, I hate you [not really, let me just be jealous]). Reading slumps are some of the worst things ever. They hit you at some of the most inopportune times and it can drive your crazy. But not only can reading slumps come unexpectedly, they can last for a long time.

    Seriously, think about it: when was the last time you were in a slump? How long did it last?

    I’ve been in a slump for about two weeks now, all through the read-a-thons I was participating in, bout of books/crush your TBR & RYBSAT. I’m so ashamed of my lack of progress I don’t think I’m even going to do a wrap up post for the read-a-thons because, well, I didn’t do so hot (or as well as I was hoping). Well… I might do a wrap-up, but anyway. It was hard to just sit down and enjoy what I was reading because I felt like I was forcing myself to do it. But I thought it would be a challenge and fun, but it was… difficult, at best.

    And it’s not that I don’t want to read – I do – but there’s just this feeling I’ve been having lately of wanting to do everything all at once and just giving up and not doing any of it (like reading, writing, walking, watching Netflix, etc.). It’s driving me up a wall.

    It’s also not because of the books I’m trying to read either; I’m very interested in the books I’m choosing, as most of them are sequels of some kind at the moment, and I’m enjoying them so far.

    I can’t figure out what it is.

    What about you? Do you ever get into a slump and have to drag yourself through the mud to get out of it? Or do you just ride it out and hope for the best?

    I don’t want to wait too long in case I lose interest in the books I have (because, let’s face it, it can happen), but I also don’t want to keep forcing myself to stare at the pages when I’m getting nothing from them and I’m not enjoying myself.

    What are some recommendations for getting out of a slump? Do you force yourself to keep reading, find something else to do, or do you perhaps switch it up and try to read a completely different genre than you had been before? Let me know!