Me Myself and Books

Hi guys! It's Ana and today I bring my TBR for the month of October.

1. Book out of my comfort zone - For this challenge I pick another adult romance

Josh + Hazel's Guide to not Dating by Christina Lauren

Hazel Camille Bradford knows she’s a lot to take - and frankly, most men aren’t up to the challenge. If her army of pets and thrill for the absurd don’t send them running, her lack of filter means she’ll say exactly the wrong thing in a delicate moment. Their loss. She’s a good soul in search of honest fun.

Josh Im has known Hazel since college, where her zany playfulness proved completely incompatible with his mellow restraint. From the first night they met - when she gracelessly threw up on his shoes - to when she sent him an unintelligible email while in a post-surgical haze, Josh has always thought of Hazel more as a spectacle than a peer. But now, ten years later, after a cheating girlfriend has turned his life upside down, going out with Hazel is a breath of fresh air.

Not that Josh and Hazel date. At least, not each other. Because setting each other up on progressively terrible double blind dates means there’s nothing between them... right?

2. Book starting with each alphabet letter (in this one I will chose a book from the abc book challenge) - For this challenge I pick an historical fiction

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.

Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously - and at great risk - documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives.

3. An "older" book - For this challenge I pick a book from 2015

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

4. A booktuber or book blogger favorite book - For this challenge I pick a favorite book of a booktuber (link) and book blogger (link), Melanie.

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius - his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There's only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex - Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.

Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through?

I already read this book and it's amazing!

What are your reading plans for October?

You can find the books on Wook - Portugal only (affiliate link) and Book Depository!

Kisses,

-A

Hi guys! It's Ana and today I bring my top ten favorite book quotes. Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018!

1. "The moon understands what it means to be human. Uncertain. Alone. With craters of imperfections." - Shatter Me, Tahereh Mafi

2. "In the darkest days you have to look for a point of brilliance, on the coldest days you have to look for a place of warmth, on the darkest days you have to keep your eyes straight and in the saddest days you have to leave them open to leave them, to cry them. Then let them cry. To give them a chance to wash the pain in order to see fresh and clear once again." - Unravel Me, Tahereh Mafi

3. "What keeps you trapped?... What keeps you from living the life you want? What keeps you from being free?" - A List of Cages, Robin Roe

4. "Broken isn't the same as unfixable." - Winter, Marissa Meyer

5. "One must always be careful of books and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us." - Clockwork Angel, Cassandra Clare

6. "This is what I want and what I’ve chosen,” he said. “How dare you tell me it’s a tragedy? Magnus never pretended, he never tried to fool me into thinking it would be easy, but choosing Magnus is one of the easiest things I’ve ever done. We all have a lifetime, Zara, and none of us know how long or short it might be. Surely even you know that. I expect you mean to be rude and cruel, but I doubt you meant to sound stupid as well.”

She flushed. “But if you die of old age and he lives forever—”

“Then he’ll be there for Max, and that makes both of us happy,” said Alec. “And I will be a uniquely lucky person, because there will be someone who always remembers me. Who will always love me. Magnus won’t always mourn, but until the end of time he will remember me and love me." - Lord of Shadows, Cassandra Clare

7. "Many boys will bring you flowers. But someday you'll meet a boy who will learn your favorite flower, your favorite song, your favorite sweet. And even if he is too poor to give you any of them, it won't matter because he will have taken the time to know you as no one else does. Only that boy earns your heart." - Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo

8. "It's not natural for women to fight."

"It's not natural for someone to be as stupid as he is tall, and yet there you stand." - Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo

9. "Besides, she was the Wraith – the only law that applied to her was gravity, and some days she defied that, too." - Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo

10. "No Mourners. No Funerals." - Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo

What are your favorite book quotes?

Kisses,

-A

Hi guys! It's Ana and today I will answer the Thank You, Next Book Tag. This tag was created by thisstoryaintover.

1. Name a book that you said "thank u, next" to, i.e. DNF'd (did not finish).
I started The Hundredth Queen and I'm not interested in continue reading.

2. You can answer the next three questions together OR separately with completely different books:
3. Name a book that taught you love (i.e. a book you loved)
For this one I pick three books. The Sun is Also a Star, A List of Cages and The Flatshare because the sun is also a star and the flatshare has the most beautiful romance in the world and a list of cages has the most beautiful friendship in the world.
4. Name a book that taught you patience.
Shadow and Bone because I thought it would have more action.
5. Name a book that taught you pain.
Queen of Air and Darkness because I start crying with the first chapter.
6. Name a book that you loved at the time of reading but in hindsight you do not like as much anymore but which you still learned some other quality from.
Anna and the French Kiss because I liked when I read it but I don't know if I would like it if I read it again.

7. Name a book you're currently talking to, i.e. have the hots for.
I recently read Six of Crows and I need to read Crooked Kingdom asap.
8. Name the book that gon' last - the book of you - the book that helped you love yourself a little bit more.
City of Bones because it's the book that introduce me to fantasy books.

I Tag:

Bookish Rita

Pages & Plots

Shades of Paper

Kisses,

-A

Hey guys! It's Ana and today I bring my top 3 books I read in June, July and August.
In June I read The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon, Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller and Shadow Me by Tahereh Mafi.
In July I read The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary, A List of Cages by Robin Roe and Snow like Ashes by Sara Raasch.
In August I read Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo.

The Sun is Also a Star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

After reading Queen of Air and Darkness I was in a reading slump and to try to read again I started The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon and I am glad I did it because I loved the book and it is one of my favorite.

What made me love the story was natasha and daniel. From the synopsis we realized it was going to be insta love and the author managed to make it real.

Natasha is intelligent, independent, funny, sarcastic. Daniel is a dreamer, funny and intelligent.

She is the kind of person who believes in statistics and science, while Daniel is the typical poetry boy who believes in fate. What made them complete each other, as Daniel says is meant to be.

One thing that I found interesting was that the author included the perspective of some characters that appear throughout the book.

The novel was written in a way that didn't seem to happen in just one day.

The author's writing is not complex what made it a quick read.

One of the things I liked the most was the ending and I wish the book had more pages.

I loved the book and recommend it to anyone who likes romance.

A List of Cages ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Before I talk about this amazing book I want to warn you that this book talks heavily about child abuse.

The plot talks about serious topics and there were times when it's not easy to read but it's important to talk about and is also about friendship and how important friends are.

This book follows two perspectives, Adam and Julian, and they have the most beautiful and precious friendship. Adam is the most amazing friend you can have, he is kind and Julian is shy and the most precious character in the world.

My favorite parts were the friendship between Adam and his friends.

The writing style is beautiful and I want to read more books by Robin Roe.

I recommend this book if you want to read a book with the most amazing and beautiful friendship and also talks about important topics.

Shadow Me ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Shadow Me is a novella from Kenji point of view and I wish the book was bigger.

What is your top 3 books that you read this summer?

Kisses,

-A

Hey guys! It's Ana and today I bring my TBR for the month of August. Last month I create a TBR challenge and I complete three of four challenges, click here to read my July Wrap Up, and in August I gonna try to complete all challenges.

1. Book out of my comfort zone

For this challenge I chose a mystery.

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

The last thing Jamie Watson wants is a rugby scholarship to Sherringford, a Connecticut prep school just an hour away from his estranged father. But that’s not the only complication: Sherringford is also home to Charlotte Holmes, the famous detective’s great-great-great-granddaughter, who has inherited not only Sherlock’s genius but also his volatile temperament. From everything Jamie has heard about Charlotte, it seems safer to admire her from afar.

From the moment they meet, there’s a tense energy between them, and they seem more destined to be rivals than anything else. But when a Sherringford student dies under suspicious circumstances, ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Jamie can no longer afford to keep his distance. Jamie and Charlotte are being framed for murder, and only Charlotte can clear their names. But danger is mounting and nowhere is safe - and the only people they can trust are each other.

2. Book starting with each alphabet letter

In this one I will chose a book from the abc book challenge.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn't mind - she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse's fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.

After Vasilisa's mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa's new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.

And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa's stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.

As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed - this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse's most frightening tales.

3. An "older" book

Siege and Storm (Grishaverse Book 2) by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone (Grishaverse Book 1) by Leigh Bardugo

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life - a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha... and the secrets of her heart.

4. A booktuber or book blogger favorite book

For this one I chose a book blogger and is Catarina from Pages & Plots.

Sadie by Courtney Summers

Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water.

But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him.

When West McCray - a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America - overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie's journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it's too late.

What are your reading plans for August?

You can find the books on Wook - Portugal only (affiliate link) and Book Depository!

Kisses,

-A

Hey guys! It's Ana and today I bring my July wrap up.
In July I read three books. I read The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary for the challenge a book out of my comfort zone, A List of Cages by Robin Roe for the challenge a book starting with each alphabet letter and Snow like Ashes by Sara Raasch for the challenge an "older" book.

The Flatshare ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Tiffy and Leon share a flat
Tiffy and Leon share a bed
Tiffy and Leon have never met…

Tiffy Moore needs a cheap flat, and fast. Leon Twomey works nights and needs cash. Their friends think they’re crazy, but it’s the perfect solution: Leon occupies the one-bed flat while Tiffy’s at work in the day, and she has the run of the place the rest of the time.

But with obsessive ex-boyfriends, demanding clients at work, wrongly imprisoned brothers and, of course, the fact that they still haven’t met yet, they’re about to discover that if you want the perfect home you need to throw the rulebook out the window…

The Flatshare is an adult romance and the author includes some topics, like psychological manipulation, emotional abuse and stalking.

When I pick this book I didn't know what to expect because it is far away of my comfort zone and I end up loving the characters, the story and the whole book.

What makes me love this book were Tiffy and Leon because they are so funny and real and I love the romance. I also love Tiffy friends and Leon brother.

My favorite parts were when they use post-it notes to talk with each other and their sense of humor.
The author has a simple writing and make a fast read. This book made me want to read more adult romances.
I recommend this book for fans of adult romance and chick lit books.

“Being nice is a good thing. You can be strong and nice. You don’t have to be one or the other.”

- Beth O'Leary

A List of Cages ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he’s got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn’t easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can’t complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends. Then the doctor asks him to track down the troubled freshman who keeps dodging her, and Adam discovers that the boy is Julian - the foster brother he hasn’t seen in five years.

Adam is ecstatic to be reunited. At first, Julian seems like the boy he once knew. He’s still kindhearted. He still writes stories and loves picture books meant for little kids. But as they spend more time together, Adam realizes that Julian is keeping secrets, like where he hides during the middle of the day, and what’s really going on inside his house. Adam is determined to help him, but his involvement could cost both boys their lives…

Before I talk about this amazing book I want to warn you that this book talks heavily about child abuse.

The plot talks about serious topics and there were times when it's not easy to read but it's important to talk about and is also about friendship and how important friends are.

My favorite parts were the friendship between Adam and his friends.

The writing style is beautiful and I want to read more books by Robin Roe.

I recommend this book if you want to read a book with the most amazing and beautiful friendship and also talks about important topics.

“What keeps you trapped?... What keeps you from living the life you want? What keeps you from being free?” - Robin Roe

Snow like Ashes ⭐⭐⭐

Sixteen years ago the Kingdom of Winter was conquered and its citizens enslaved, leaving them without magic or a monarch. Now, the Winterians’ only hope for freedom is the eight survivors who managed to escape, and who have been waiting for the opportunity to steal back Winter’s magic and rebuild the kingdom ever since.

Orphaned as an infant during Winter’s defeat, Meira has lived her whole life as a refugee, raised by the Winterians’ general, Sir. Training to be a warrior - and desperately in love with her best friend, and future king, Mather - she would do anything to help her kingdom rise to power again.

So when scouts discover the location of the ancient locket that can restore Winter’s magic, Meira decides to go after it herself. Finally, she’s scaling towers, fighting enemy soldiers, just as she’s always dreamed she would. But the mission doesn’t go as planned, and Meira soon finds herself thrust into a world of evil magic and dangerous politics – and ultimately comes to realize that her destiny is not, never has been, her own.

The plot of Snow like Ashes isn't as original as it looked in the first part of the book. I really like the world but in the rest of the book there were some similarities with Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas and made the plot twist at the end predictable.

I like the characters. Meira is sarcastic and funny. I also like Mather but I like Theron more.

There are times that nothing really happens and some chapters for me were to long and made the book a bit slow.

I read this book in the format of an audiobook narrated by Kate Rudd and I like the away she narrated the book.

The author has a simple writing and I don't know if I will continue reading the rest of the trilogy.

If you like some plot points of Throne of Glass (not being to specific because of spoilers) you may like Snow like Ashes.

“Even the strongest blizzards start with a single snowflake.” - Sara Raasch

What did you read in July?

Have you read any of the books I mentioned above?

You can find the books on Wook - Portugal only (affiliate link) and Book Depository!

Kisses,

-A

Hi guys! It's Ana and today I finally bring my June wrap up. In June I finished The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon and participated for the first time in a readathon called The Game of Booksathon. In my TBR I had 6 books and just read one book, Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller.

The Sun is also a Star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.

Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store - for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?