Reader Rayna

Month: August 2015

  • August 2015 Wrap-Up + Giveaway Winner

    In the month of August I read and completed two books. This summer has been really difficult in terms of reading and finishing books, but I’m trying my best!

    The two books I completed this month are:

    I also read several other books this month, but I have yet to complete them for one reason or another (the main reason being I’m stuck in a slump and can’t find my way out), and they are:

    Yeah, I started all of those, but haven’t finished them… I think reading multiple books at once is what’s stopping me from reading, really. It’s difficult to retain everything that’s happening because I don’t want to confuse one plot with another.

    So it’s been a productive month for reading, but not a fruitful month, you know? I want to finish what I’m reading and find out what happens!

    As well as that, I did some discussions and other things this month:

    • Shoutouts (Part 1) – I did some shoutouts to various book people! I think everyone deserves recognition for what they do, and I’m going to do this as much as I can.
    • How I Organize My Bookshelves – I talked about how I do my own shelf organization. This will probably change over time, but I think one constant I’ll always have will be my “favorites” shelf.
    • Let’s Talk Shadowhunters – The show has a full cast and production is well under way. I talk a bit more about the cast and how excited I am for this show!
    • Book Clubs: Yea or Nay? – The pros and cons of book clubs are discussed here. Would you join one?
    • Rayna Recommends: High Fantasy – In hindsight, I wish I had done a broader topic of fantasy and then narrowed from there, but here I recommend some high fantasy books and movies!
    • Bout of Books 14 Readathon + My Birthday – I participated in Bout of Books 14 and it was also my birthday this past month! It was a fun time and I’m proud of what I accomplished.
    • Reading Tastes – I talked about how reading tastes change over time and how you can love one thing one year and completely change your views in the next.

    So it’s been a productive month and I’m happy to have had all the talks and whatnot.

    But now it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for! The giveaway winner!

    Thank you to everyone who participated and joined in! I’m very happy and I hope to see more of you around in the years to come.

    And the winner is…

    Bianca @ The Ultimate Fangirl

    Congratulations! You’ve already been contacted by email, but I wanted to give a shoutout here, too! Thanks all and look forward to the next giveaway!

    Let’s see what the next month has to bring. What did you read this past month? Let me know!

  • August 2015 Book Haul

    Another month, another haul! This month has been great for this kind of thing because I had my birthday earlier in the month and so my husband spoiled me with books and bookish things. So today let me tell you all of the books I got:

    Physical Books

    • “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern. I’ve been wanting to get this book for years, but as it’s an adult book, it’s more expensive than YA books, so I always put off getting it. But I couldn’t resist anymore and so I went ahead and got it. I’m really excited to see what it’s about and how I’ll like it.
    • “Attachments” by Rainbow Rowell. My Rainbow collection just keeps growing! This is her first novel and it’s well loved by others, and from what I hear it’s kind of like a rom-com (romantic comedy) in book form, so I’m excited to get into it more! I did start it, but I haven’t continued yet.
    • The Kate Daniels series, books 1-7, by Ilona Andrews. My husband spoiled me and got me all of the books that are out so far, except for the eighth book, which is in hardcover and I want all of my books to match. I started this series already and did a review on the first book, and so far I’m enjoying it. I really want to see what happens next.
    • “Ruin and Rising” by Leigh Bardugo. Again, my husband spoiled me and got me the third book in the Grisha trilogy in paperback. I haven’t even started the trilogy yet, but I know I’ll enjoy it. Magic, power, romance… I mean, yes please!

    E-books

    • “Forbidden” by Kimberley Griffiths Little. I started this book for the Bout of Books readathon but I haven’t completed it yet. I am interested to see where the story goes and how the romance blossoms and all of that, plus I love the fact that this takes place in ancient Mesopotamia.

    Well, I got eleven books this month! Not too shabby, if you ask me. I’m definitely excited to continue reading everything, it’s just going to take me a while because I’m kind of in a slump still. No energy after work and all of that, you know?

    Let me know if you’ve gotten any of these books and which you’d recommend to me to read sooner rather than later! I do plan on marathoning the Grisha trilogy soon, but for now let me know what you think! What books have you acquired this month?

    Today is the last day to enter the giveaway for one book up to $15USD from Book Depository! Be sure to get your entry in by midnight! The winner will be announced in my wrap-up post tomorrow, as well as contacted via email!

  • Reading Tastes

    So I got the idea of this topic from Riley over on YouTube and thought I’d talk a little bit about reading tastes and how they can change over time.

    Now this has happened to all of us at some point in our lives. Many of us started out with picture books and easy to read books, but now, as we’re older, there’s such a vast array of genres and age groups to choose from.

    I remember loving simple books as a kid, and now that I’m older I am much more into YA and adult reads, but lately I’ve noticed something: my tastes are changing. I’m definitely over the whole dystopian genre, though I do have a few books I want to get into a see what they’re about; I want to get into more sci-fi kinds of things; I want to read more adult books and see if I can relate more to the characters and their situations or not.

    I still highly enjoy and love YA, don’t get me wrong, but there’s something refreshing about reading adult books as an adult. The content is usually a bit more mature, the characters are around the same age, if not older, and the length of descriptions are usually much longer and of better quality.

    Notice I keep saying “usually.” Not all adult books are like this, and even YA books can fit the mold.

    So what is it about reading tastes that change so much?

    I think part of the reason is because as you grow and experience more, you want to experience those same kinds of things through books. To be able to read something and relate to it on a mental, spiritual, and/or emotional level is exhilarating.

    I’m not saying that you have to change your tastes to fit your age group, your friends’ taste, what teachers think you might need, or anything like that. But I have noticed that for myself, personally, it’s been a gradual occurance that’s been quite the experience to learn about.

    How have your reading tastes changed? What are you into now that you weren’t into a year ago? Have you changed at all? Let me know!

    P.S. Don’t forget about the giveaway I’m hosting! It ends August 31st!

  • Magic Bites Book Review

    magicbites

    Title: Magic Bites
    Author: Ilona Andrews
    Series: Book #1 in the Kate Daniels series
    Publisher: Ace – an imprint of Penguin
    Publication Date: April 1, 2007
    Genre: Adult – Urban Fantasy, Romance
    Pages: 260
    Format: Gifted Paperback

    Synopsis from Goodreads: Atlanta would be a nice place to live, if it weren’t for magic…

    One moment magic dominates, and cars stall and guns fail. The next, technology takes over and the defensive spells no longer protect your house from monsters. Here skyscrapers topple under onslaught of magic; werebears and werehyenas prowl through the ruined streets; and the Masters of the Dead, necromancers driven by their thirst of knowledge and wealth, pilot blood-crazed vampires with their minds.

    In this world lives Kate Daniels. Kate likes her sword a little too much and has a hard time controlling her mouth. The magic in her blood makes her a target, and she spent most of her life hiding in plain sight.

    But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, she must choose to do nothing and remain safe or to pursue his preternatural killer. Hiding is easy, but the right choice is rarely easy…

    At first this book really confused me. It introduced characters that I had no idea who they were right away without much backstory as to how our main protagonist knew them, and it had a lot of situations and phrases that I was unsure of what exactly was going on in the book. I thought that the plot was kind of slow as a result and I wasn’t sure that I would actually enjoy the book.

    But then things started to hit the fan more and more and I found myself completely compelled by what was going on. This didn’t happen until close to 100 pages into the book, but at least I started to enjoy it more!

    In this world of magic and creatures we have Kate, who is a twenty-five year old mercenary for hire who is just surviving in her day to day life in Atlanta. She has a bit of a tongue on her and she uses sarcasm and humor to help her release any sort of nervousness she has in her. A lot of the times the joke flies over the person’s head to whom she was saying it to, but a few times I snort-laughed because I thought it was funny. She definitely has the makings of a strong female lead and I am looking forward to seeing how her character develops and where she goes from here because through the first half of the book, Kate was trying very hard to be the “tough one,” but as the book progressed I could see hints and glimmers of her vulnerability and how killing and losing people was taking a toll on her emotions. It was very subtle, and I wish there was a bit more development emotionally, but it was there.

    Curran is the Lord of the Beasts. The Free Beasts, that is. He’s probably in his late twenties/early thirties and he got to his position because he’s the strongest. He is a werelion – meaning he has a human form, a beast form (a massive white/gray lion), and a mid-form (a form between human and beast). And he’s kind of kickass. Well, I liked him. He was kind of mysterious at some points, but he has a really strong temper on him. He can control himself sometimes, but other times Kate just gets under his skin and he attacks her – and she’s not afraid to attack back. He was definitely a character I found intriguing and I am interested to see how he develops. We got to see a bit more emotionally from him in that we got to see how he reacted in certain situations, putting others before himself, and how the Pack always came first. He took a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders, but I think he did so willingly.

    There were several side characters with prominence, such as Crest, Bono, Mahon, Derek, and a few others, but I think if I explained too much about them that it might give too much away. Just know that I am definitely excited to see where Kate goes with the Pack, even though she’s not a part of it or anything. I can see her definitely developing friendships there and probably have a lot of involvement together, too.

    I personally loved the different kinds of “factions” that lived within this world.

    • You’ve got the People, who are necromancers and kind of human. They can control vampires and the undead. They’re kind of creepy, in my opinion.
    • Then you’ve got the Shapechangers, who are a large group and there’s different kinds: werecats, werewolves, lynxweres (they were animal first, then turned human-ish), etc. These were the most fascinating to me.
    • Then you’ve got your normal humans, and some humans have magic. And it’s just really cool. These are the mercenaries, the cops, the citizens, etc.

    I think that this book was a good start, albeit a confusing start, to this adult urban fantasy series, and I am definitely excited to read it.

    I would recommend this book to people looking for a strong heroine in adult fantasy – and a slow burn romance, because that’s what I’ve heard about it. It’s fast paced and the story does pick up after the first 100 pages, I promise! The world is interesting because there’s a lot of modern references, even though it seems to be placed about 200 years from now, I think, and it has characters that you can love, hate, feel for, and points in the plot that make you laugh, smile, shudder, and more.

    I gave this book 4/5 stars and recommend it!

  • Bout of Books 14 Day 7 Wrap-Up

    Well, Bout of Books wrapped up last night and I had a really good reading night. Heck, I had a decent reading week!

    Last night I read:

    • Magic Bites: 131 pages

    Yup, I was on a roll. I would’ve finished the book last night, but alas, I had to sleep. So I finished the book today (expect a review tomorrow!).

    I also participated in the challenge that took place, which was to recommend three books for everyone. Here’s what I recommended and why:

    • Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor. This book is the first in the trilogy, and the only one I’ve read so far, but there is just something about the writing style and the way Taylor writes the characters that draws you into the book. It’s engaging, beautiful, full of romance, and I just think everyone should read this.
    • Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. This book will make you laugh out loud, squee in glee, and just overall have all of the emotional feels possible. It’s a great story about accepting who you are, about friendship and the importance of it, and how love can come from the least expected place.
    • The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. I haven’t finished this book yet, but I am currently reading it, and I already highly recommend this book. It’s an adult fantasy novel that’s the first book in the Mistborn trilogy and it’s just phenomenal so far. It has action, a slow building plot, characters that you can relate to, and a magic system unique to the world. I think that this is definitely a book people should pick up and check out, for sure.

    Alright, now let show you my overall progress for this readathon!

    My original goals were:

    • “to read at least one chapter from at least two of the books listed below per day.”

    Well, it started out that way. As the week progressed, though, I only read one chapter from one book per day, but I still tried to read at least one chapter! So that totally counts!

    Here’s my overall reading progress for Bout of Books:

    • The Final Empire: 28 pages
    • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: 39 pages
    • A Thousand Pieces of You: 11 pages
    • A Game of Thrones: 10 pages
    • Forbidden: 18 pages
    • Magic Bites: 204 pages

    For a grand total of: 310 pages read! Woo!

    Hey, that’s not bad considering it was spread between six books. Yeah, I read more in some than in others, but I still enjoyed what I read. And hey, it was a blast. This round of Bout of Books was much better than the last.

    So I didn’t quite reach my goals, but I was close enough! I’m proud of the amount I’ve read, but now I’m ready to just sit down and finish one book at a time again.

    How has your reading week been? Have you finished any books? Met your own personal reading goals? Let me know! Also let me know if you plan on participating in the next Bout of Books taking place in January 2016!

    Don’t forget about the giveaway I’m hosting for one book up to $15USD from Book Depository! It ends on August 31st!