Reader Rayna

Month: June 2015

  • Over-Hyped Books

    We’ve all heard of them and how many books that are over-hyped can just let you down because there was so much buzz floating around it.

    But what about the books that were over-hyped and did meet your expectations?

    I’m going to talk about both today and what I expected and what the reality was for each of these books. Now these books may or may not have been published recently, so just keep that in mind. Also keep in mind that this is just my opinion.

    The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth

    divergentThis book series was so driven by the fact that there was a movie about to come out about it that I had to read it and understand just what all the hype was about. I really enjoyed “Divergent.” It had great action, good back and forth with Tris’s inner thoughts, and a subtle romance. “Insurgent” was okay, but it wasn’t as good as the first book. We got to learn more about the Factionless, though, and just what happened to Four’s mom. And then “Allegiant.” Yeah, that was horrible. Not only did the ending rip my heart out, but the plot itself was poor at best and didn’t really follow the theme of the book at all.

    Overall, this series had good hype because of the movie, but the series overall was just a let down for me.

    “Red Queen” by Victoria Aveyard

    redqueen

    So this book was majorly hyped for months and months and it was all because of the cover. Yes, it’s a lovely, simple cover. But did the story and characters deliver on that beautiful cover? Not really. When I read it I felt like there was such disconnection between the characters, and there were a lot of things that didn’t make sense to me at all. And that plot twist? Yeah, not really a twist. It was a let down, unfortunately, but it still held me enough to want to read the second book. Maybe.

    This was another flop for me.

    “An Ember in the Ashes” by Sabaa Tahir

    anemberintheashes

    This book was hyped for months as well, but I think it was more because of the reviews than anything. It was getting tons of positive reviews about it and so I was intrigued to see just what all the fuss was about. Well, when I read it I understood why it got the hype it did. It was dynamic, complex, and grueling, but there was a beauty in the simplicity of the writing that just drew me in. I thought this book really deserved the hype it got and can’t wait to read the sequel.

    “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas

    acourtofthornsandroses

    Okay, this didn’t get a huge amount of hype, but there was still hype surrounding this book on various social media sites, and as she’s my favorite author I was obviously going to read this, regardless. And boy, it did live up to expectations. Though I felt the ending was slightly disjointed from the beginning of the book, I can see the potential it has for the rest of the trilogy and I think that it definitely deserved the hype it got.

    So, though these are just a few examples of some of the books that I thought didn’t or did deserve the hype, each book resonates with someone, somewhere. Just because I didn’t like it doesn’t mean that you didn’t or that someone else did. It’s a strange thing to see how hyped a book can get because of publishers, bloggers, reviewers, social media… But all in all I think that the hype surrounding a book can be good – just as long as it’s not too much.

    What are your thoughts? What are some over-hyped books that you’ve read recently? Did they live up to expectation? Let me know!

  • Cataloging Your Books

    Do you ever wish you knew just how many books you had on your shelf? That sometimes you could just hop onto a program or open a journal and see just how many books you actually have?

    Well, cataloging may be for you!

    Okay, now that I got the infomercial feel out of the way, seriously, cataloging is a really good way of listing your books in the order you want, see just how many you have, and there’s many different ways to do it.

    I just discovered the joy of cataloging (no really, I had fun) and I found that it’s quite helpful to list books and mark whether I’ve read them or not, if I plan on reading them, or if they’re just there for one reason or another.

    Here’s a few ways you can catalog your books:

    • Excel Spreadsheet: This is how I did it. It’s fast, easy, and it keeps track with numbers and columns so you can list the title, author, if you’ve read it or not, and whatever else you want to list beside it.
    • Word Document: This is probably easier in some ways because it’s much easier to rearrange and add titles if you have the same author in a row. You can also use a numbers or bullet system to catalog your books.
    • Pen & Paper: This one probably takes the longest as you have to set up the paper the way you want it and choose if you want a journal or notebook or loose papers. Here’s an example by Sasha Alsberg of abookutopia on YouTube where she shows how she catalogs.
    • Google Docs: You can choose a similar spreadsheet like Excel or Word, and go about doing it that way.
    • Your phone: If you have a Smartphone, I’m sure there’s a bagillion organizational apps that you can choose from to organize your books and have the list right in the palm of your hand.

    I find that it’s relaxing and helpful to know just what kinds of books I have sitting on my shelf, which ones are waiting to be read, and more.

    Here’s how I’m cataloging:

    catalogexample

    • Column A: Title of the book
    • Column B: Author(s)
    • Column C: Format in which I own it (some have multiples)
    • Column D: If I’ve read it, if it’s to be read (TBR), or if I’m currently reading it (this includes books I have not finished yet, such as Stephen King’s “On Writing”).

    Now this is very basic in its own way, and I can add or subtract as I see fit. I like this method as I can change whether or not I finished the book.

    If you haven’t cataloged your collection, what’s stopping you? Give it a try and see if it helps organizationally or anything.

    Do you catalog your books? What are your methods? Would you consider doing it? Let me know!

  • P.S. I Still Love You Book Review

    psistillloveyou

    Title: P.S. I Still Love You
    Author: Jenny Han
    Series: Book #2 in To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before duology
    Publisher: Simon & Schuster
    Publication Date: May 26, 2015
    Genre: Young Adult – Contemporary, Romance
    Pages: 337
    Format: Purchased Hardcover

    “P.S. I Still Love You” by Jenny Han is the sequel to “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” and it’s a continuation of the story of Lara Jean and Peter, and how they want to make their relationship real. But when a boy from Lara Jean’s past comes back into her life, so do her feelings for him. Can she love two people at the same time?

    Spoilers to come as this is a sequel!

    This book was both parts adorable and heartbreaking. But mostly adorable.

    In this sequel we got to see Lara Jean and Peter interact differently than before. After the whole ordeal with word of the two of them having sex with each other spread (when they didn’t), and the kiss between them, and their growing feelings for each other, they decide to try to really start dating. They want to give it a go, and seeing the two of them together was some of my favorite parts in the book. I felt that seeing the dynamic between them grow and change was something that was really wonderful to see.

    Not that it wasn’t without its complications, of course. It wouldn’t be much of a story without its troubles.

    So let me first talk about some of the main characters:

    Lara Jean isn’t much different from the first book except that I think she allowed herself to be worried about comparing herself and her relationship with Peter with his and Genevieve’s prior relationship. She also cares a lot about what others think of her because she’s never really been in the spotlight before she started seeing Peter. When a video of the two of them goes viral and she’s being called a slut, she gets worried, but I’m also glad that it doesn’t get her depressed to the point of serious depression or anything. I thought that she handled it better than Peter, actually. Eventually.

    Also, I found her to be, well, a typical teen of sixteen going on seventeen. I don’t expect her to have all the answers, but what I do expect is what I saw in her: a fickle heart, a complicated relationship, fears, hopes, and more. I loved that about this book that we could see a real representation of teens (because let’s face it, we’ve all been there, done that, at one point or another).

    As for Peter Kavinsky, my goodness. Okay, so I thought that he was totally himself and he was starting to show his feelings a bit more to Lara Jean, but I also think he sensed the distrust from her when it involved Gen. He said nothing was happening, and she didn’t believe him, though he said she was his number one girl. I thought he was telling the truth, but I was unsure at some points, too. But I thought he grew a little in this book in that he just wasn’t this “high and mighty” jock type that was just going along with some sort of elaborate plan. Rather, I felt that he was really developing feelings for Lara Jean and really trying his best to protect her. Like he said, he enjoys feeling “needed.” I think a lot of males have that desire because it’s just in their DNA, you know?

    Anyway, Kitty. Kitty, Kitty, Kitty. She is such a little sassypants. I love how she think she knows it all, and really, you can get some of the best advice from little kids. I thought she had plenty of great pointers for Lara Jean, and I also thought her intuition about Peter and John and the situations around her were spot on. She’s one of my favorites.

    John Ambrose McClaren. Okay, really, his full name did not need to be said as much as it was in the book (which was my biggest pet peeve when it came to page time for him), but his character overall was charming. Yes, he sort of had a hidden agenda (sorta, kinda, not really) when it came to Lara Jean, but the chemistry between them felt natural and nothing felt pushed or rushed. I liked that about these characters: they don’t force anything on anyone. I thought John to be very respectful and a good part of the story, but I also wished he hadn’t been there in a way so we could get more Lara Jean and Peter time.

    The plot, well, it was kind of foretold in the synopsis, wasn’t it? Lara Jean does have feelings for both guys at once, but I don’t believe it was love on John’s part. I knew she would wind up with Peter just because of what they had been through, and the fact that they just… I don’t know, they go together. They’re like two pieces of a set, you know?

    I felt the main part of the plot was between Lara Jean and Peter. They went through ups and downs in this book and how they overcome it in the end. But I also saw the plot of how John figured into the picture, about the girls trying to set up their dad with their neighbor, about love in general. This book was very focused on love, and frankly, I loved it.

    There’s just a few things that I didn’t like, but they were minor in the scheme of things:

    • Some parts felt like filler. Eh. I dunno.
    • Long descriptions of desserts. I mean, I like dessert as much as the next person, but maybe that was just me wanting more romance.

    But there were also some things I was really grateful that they were in there:

    • The fact that Jenny pointed out several times how there’s a double standard against woman: if something goes viral and it involves both a male and female, there’s a certain stigma placed on both; the man will be cheered while the woman is looked down upon. LOVED that she pointed this out. Thank you, Jenny.
    • The fact that Jenny (while talking through her character Stormy) stated that your body is your own. If you’re not ready to have sex or go through with something that someone wants you to, then don’t do it. You control your body. Not anyone else.

    Other than that, I really enjoyed it. It may have had it’s duller parts and more exciting parts, but I think that’s what makes a good plot based on real life: there’s going to be not as exciting times. And that’s what makes the story that much better.

    Overall, I rated it 4/5 stars and highly recommend it for those who read the first book.

  • Springtime Read-a-thons Wrap-Up

    Okay, so as you may or may not know I participated in several read-a-thons over the past several weeks. From #RYBSAT to bout of books 13 to crushyourTBR to #TBRTakedown, I’ve participated in all of them. Does that mean I was successful in achieving what I had hoped to read during those times? No, no I was not.

    BUT that doesn’t mean that I didn’t have fun or enjoy myself – I did! I just have this sense of guilt when I don’t read for days on end during even the most relaxed of read-a-thons.

    With all that said, let me jump into what I read during the various read-a-thons and how they went and all that.

    My first ever read-a-thon was bout of books 13, which was round 13 of this fun read-a-thon. It ran from May 11-17 and was full of fun challenges hosted on other blogs that were optional to participate in for prizes.

    For this read-a-thon, I was hoping to read four books for the read-a-thon. Here’s what I did read:

    I did not finish:

    Now, crushyourTBR also coincided with bout of books as it ran from May 15-17. My goal was to just finish Ember, but I didn’t.

    Moving on, #RYBSAT was immediately after these read-a-thons, running from May 18-25. This particular read-a-thon consisted of picking a spot on your shelf and reading as many books as possible from that spot on.

    I finished “An Ember in the Ashes” before starting anything, but I did start reading “Unravel Me” by Tahereh Mafi. I didn’t finish it until last week.

    But I did finish reading “The Assassin’s Blade” by Sarah J Maas, even though it was on my TBR for bout of books. So yay for that!

    And lastly, #TBRTakedown ran from June 1-7, and I only ended up finishing “Unravel Me.”

    Suffice it to say: I suck at read-a-thons. To put it shortly:

    • Amount of books I was hoping to read through all of these read-a-thons: 13
    • How many I actually read: 5

    Okay, so that’s not horrible, really, but if I had read all of the books I was planning to, my TBR would be 13 books lighter. So close and so far away.

    Does this mean I’m going to give up participating in read-a-thons? Nope. I’m still going to participate in them even if I fail. They’re fun, engaging, you meet new people and make new friends, and you get to read. It’s awesome.

    Have you participated in any of the above read-a-thons? Or have you participated in any this year that weren’t mentioned? How did you do? Would you be interested in participating? Let me know!

  • Rayna Recommends: Dystopian

    Hey guys! Welcome to another recommendation post where each month (or every other month – I still haven’t decided), I’ll be talking about some books, movies, and/or TV shows that fit the theme for the month. This month’s topic is dystopian.

    Now we’ve all heard of or read dystopian books, am I right? (Divergent and The Hunger Games being the big ones right now.) So I figured that I’d recommend some things that I enjoy and that I think others that follow me will enjoy, too.

    Books

    • “Divergent” by Veronica Roth. I enjoyed this book the most of the trilogy. If you don’t read any of the other books she writes, at least read this one because it is good and it has some decent politics and plot going on.
    • “The Selection” by Kiera Cass. Didn’t expect to see this one on the list? Despite it mainly being a romance, it does take place after World War IV and so, technically, it is in the society’s future.
    • “Shatter Me” by Tahereh Mafi. It’s got a lot of romance, but it’s also very much a part of a dystopian world as the Reestablishment is set out to make things run their way in the world and Juliette is probably the only one who can change that.

    Movies

    • The Hunger Games movies are some great films that have great actors, and from what I hear they do really well at depicting the books (I haven’t read the books yet…I know, I know). It shows the world and how its caste system is really taking its toll on the citizens and how the Games are really not in the best interest of those who participate. I enjoy the movies, really, and think others will, too.

    Okay, honestly, this was a hard topic to choose from. I don’t read a ton of dystopian, but there are the few that I do recommend you checking out.

    What dystopian books are your favorites? What movies have you seen that are dystopian? Let me know!