This is Goodbye.

Hello everyone it's Nicole Henderson here and I needed to write this post to say goodbye. For the past couple of months I have been debating on whether or not I should keep blogging here on Blogger or switch over to Wordpress. And obviously, since I'm writing this post, I am officially switching over to blogging on Wordpress. 

I will keep this short and cut to the chase: I haven't been satisfied with how my blog is and how my posts are turning out. And I feel that I need to a change from this blog. 

I really have enjoyed using this site as it has helped me learn so many things about blogging. I'm so glad that I was able to have my first blog here and share my thoughts with all of you. I will still continue to blog what I already blogged here over on Wordpress (like book hauls, wrap ups, reviews etc.) but I do want to add more content and become more noticed as a book blogger. I want to be able to show my photography skills and be more creative and unfortunately, I can't do that here. 

The main point is that I need a change and I no longer feel satisfied with this website. A new year is already upon us, and so I believe that switching blogging sites will give me the fresh start I need. 

I fully explain my reasoning for switching platforms over on my Wordpress blog. I will be blogging over there for now on with lots of reviews, book hauls, tags, wrap ups and many more. This has been quite the journey, and I'm so glad I can continue it over on Wordpress. 

Happy Reading and goodbye. 

Books I Will Never Read 😕

Hello everyone it's Nicole Henderson here and I wanted to post something different and write about the books I will never read. Now, for most of these books on this list, I will never read them because they just don't interest me and I have no desire to read them whatsoever. I was inspired by a book tuber named ReadLikeWildFire to write this blog post, as it is something not often addressed in the bookish world. But without any further ado, let's get into it. 

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. These books have been so over hyped and I'm completely over it. I absolutely have no interest in reading them now as I pretty much already know what happens in them ('cause I have been spoiled so many times by numerous people). I also have no desire to watch the movies, but I will admit they do look really cool. But it's just not my cup of tea. 

The Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth is another dystopian that I will never read. Dystopian is a genre that I'm not drawn to and since I've been spoiled for the ending of this trilogy, I don't see the point in reading them. For me, it will be a waste of time. Plus the movies have been going downhill and I'm not interested in them to begin with. This trilogy has also been seriously over hyped and like I said for the last one, I'm over it. 

The Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling. I'm not entirely sure if this is going to be on this list forever. But as of now, I have no desire to read this series. This is another series that the over-hypeness (if that's even a word) has ruined it for me. I do understand why people have grown up reading this series (for its fantastical elements with the combination of friendship and romance) but it has never grabbed my interest. But since I'm trying to read more fantasy, maybe (just maybe) I will probably pick this up in the future. 
*I only have the first book pictured here, because there are a ton of books in the series, and I think we all know what there called.* 

The rest of the Delirium trilogy by Lauren Oliver. I've already read this first book which is Delirium, and I really enjoyed it, but now I've waited way too long to read the second book (Pandemonium). I don't remember what happens in the first book and now I have no interest in reading the rest of the trilogy. Like I still haven't read Pandemonium and its been over two years now. Plus there were also some mixed reviews on the last book and how it ended on such a cliffhanger. So I think it's safe to say I'll never be reading the rest of this trilogy. 

The next two books in the Rebel Belle trilogy by Rachel Hawkins. I do have plans to read Rebel Belle because I have heard great things about it. And it seems to be right up my ally. As for Miss Mayhem and Lady Renegades, I haven't heard good things. I hear that the second book is not as good as the first one, but then the final book goes downhill and its even worse than Miss Mayhem. So, after I read the first book, I don't want to waste my time reading the next two books. 
As for Rebel Belle, I'm intrigued and excited to see what this book has to offer. 



Well, those are all the books I can think of off the top of my head right now. I will probably make an updated list in the future. But, I thought this would be a little something different to post. If you guys have any books you'll never read, then let me know in the comments below. I really wanna know. I also want to apologize to you guys about my lack of blogging. I haven't been on my blogging game lately because I've been so busy with school work. And right now, that is my top priority. Don't worry, I will get back into it soon. Happy reading and until my next post. Goodbye for now. 

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Genre: young-adult, fantasy, adventure, romance, fiction 

Published: September 29th 2015 

Pages: 465 

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company 

Synopsis 

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone...

A convict with a thirst for revenge

A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager
A runaway with a privileged past
                                           A spy known as the Wraith
                                                   A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums
                                                           A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes Kaz's crew are the only ones who might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first. (source) 

Thoughts 

I have been extremely hesitant to read this book solely because of the fact that it's not normally a genre I pick up. But there had been so much hype surrounding this book when it first came out and it still continued well into 2016. Since one of my reading goals for 2017 is to read more fantasy, I thought I would give this novel a read. So here I am writing this review. 

*This book does take place in the Grisha universe (the Grisha trilogy), but Six of Crows features completely different characters so you can read Six of Crows first or the Grisha trilogy first if you wanted to.*

I have heard amazing things about this book and I'm so glad I read it. This was my first time reading a book by this author and I really enjoyed it. I loved her writing style, the characters, and the world building within this book and I definitely plan on reading more from Leigh Bardugo in the future (starting off with Crooked Kingdom). 

First off, can we talk about the characters for a minute?! All the characters were so diverse and unique and they are legit SQUAD GOALS! They were so well developed and I felt like I knew them on a deeper level. I had such a connection with each character it felt like they were all my friends. I loved getting to know them all as the book progressed, but I wished I got a chapter from Wylan. I wanted to get to know Wylan a lot more than I did as I only got little clips of his past through the other characters. There better be more chapters of Wylan in Crooked Kingdom. 

As for my favourite character, I would have to say Inej takes the cake. I loved how she persevered even when situations got tough. I enjoyed her overall personality and how she was never afraid of a fight. Her character teaches the reader that you should never give up and always keep trying no matter how hard things can get. 

All the other characters were so amazing and they are all different (yet they somehow got along and did not kill each other). 

Secondly, the world building was incredible! Even though it was a fantasy world, it still felt very realistic for me. It felt like I was living in it. To me, Ketterdam is like New York City and Los Angeles combined. Ketterdam is (generally) a place where people go to achieve their dreams and live better lives. (New York and LA are those types of places in the real world). I love Ketterdam and I want get to know more of it, and I think I will get the opportunity to in the second book. 

And lastly, lets talk about the romances. I loved all the couples in this book. Kaz and Inej are like the best couple ever (their not officially together, but Kaz realizes he wants to be with Inej, which I think is absolutely adorable considering Kaz's cold nature). Nina and Matthieus are a great couple as well, which starts off as a love-hate relationship, but it slowly develops into a romance. Jesper and Wylan have something going on, but it's not totally obvious as to whats actually going on but at the same time, we get an idea as to whats happening. Which I totally think is awesome. I also loved how they all don't become couples right away and theres so much angst for every single couple to get together. I'm normally not the biggest fan of angst in romance books (or any kind of book in general), but it definitely works for this story. It just gets me more excited to read the next one and find out what happens next. 

I also loved the combination of the serious and funny moments throughout this book and those moments made it more entertaining to read. I kinda laughed aloud at some parts and I rarely laugh out loud while reading a book. 😊

Overall, this was such an amazing book and I highly recommend you read it if you haven't done so already. Like seriously, go read it. Please go read it. 

Rate 

5/5

January 2017 Haul 📚

Hello everyone it's Nicole Henderson here and I may be a tad late to write this post. But I wanted to show you guys all the books I bought in the month of January. Since it was my birthday month, I thought that it was time to treat myself a little bit and buy the books that I've been eyeing on for awhile. I bought 13 books this month, so without any further ado, let's get into the haul. 

The first book I bought was Another Day by David Leviathan. This is the second book to the Every Day trilogy with the first book being called Every Day. I read the first book back in August and I really enjoyed it. Since reading it, I've been wanting to get this book (in paperback) so I can finally find out what happens next. Every Day is about A who wakes up in a different persons body all the time. But when he wakes up in the body of Rhiannon's boyfriend (who does not treat this girl kindly), A ends up falling in love with her and Rhiannon may feel the same about A. The story continues from there as they try to navigate their relationship (with A being a different person every day) and trying to make it work. This second book is pretty much like the previous book except it's in Rhiannon's perspective. So, I'm really excited to read this soon when I get the chance.  

The second set of books I picked up were the Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. The first book is Shadow and Bone, the second book is Siege and Storm and the final book is Ruin and Rising. I've heard mixed things about all these books and some people have even said that there not worth reading. But I'm still going to give them a chance after reading the Six of Crows duology. If I don't like them, then I will happily get rid of them and never read them again. I've read the synopsis (for the first book) so many times, but I still wouldn't be able to tell you what there about. But it's something about a girl named Alina Starkov whose city gets attacked which results in her friend getting injured. She then develops this power that could save his life (and the cities), and she ends up going to the royal court to be trained to become a Grisha. Anyways, I'm intrigued to read this trilogy sometime this year. 

The third book I bought was Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum. I've heard great things about this stand alone contemporary and I'm so excited to read this in the summer time. It's about this girl named Jessie who moves from Chicago to LA to go to this prep school after her dad gets remarried to a much younger woman. In order to cope with this new transition, she starts messaging this boy known as "Somebody Nobody" (SN for short). SN offers to help her navigate the crazy situations in her prep school. But then Jessie starts to depend on SN and they become her closest ally. But when she wants to meet him in person, that's when everything starts to become complicated. I'm so excited to read this in the summer time, and you know I love me my contemporaries in the summertime. 




The next book I bought was Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley. I've read another book by her called As I Descended and it was such an amazing book. And since I've heard great things about this book in particular, I thought I would pick it up. This story is about two girls living in 1959 Virginia, and one is black is the other is white. Sarah (who is black) goes to the previously all white school and she gets alienated and discriminated as a result of going to this school. Linda (who's white) is the daughter of an authority figure. When Linda and Sarah get paired up to do this school project, they end up developing a friendship that could possibly lead into something more. Anyways, this book deals with the hardships of race and what it was like back then (with the Civil Rights movement and all). I'm so looking forward to reading this very soon. 



The seventh book I bought was Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira. I've been eyeing this book so such a long time now and I'm so glad I finally have it in my possession. I've heard some really good things about this book. And it's about a girl who ends up writing letters to famous dead people as an assignment for her English class. But she never turns them in. She first writes a letter to Kurt Cobain because they have one thing in common. Her sister loved the artist and she died young, just like Kurt Cobain. So she ends up writing other letters in order to cope with the situations going on in her high school and what has happened to her sister. So, like I previously mentioned, I've heard great things about it and it seems like such a moving and wonderful read. 




The next book I bought was On The Fence by Kasie West. I haven't read anything by this author in such a long time and so I thought I would pick this one up. It seems like such a cute contemporary read that's perfect for the summer. It's about this girl named Charlie who has always been like the guys. She doesn't really know how to act like a girl. However, when she gets a speeding ticket, she has to pay it off by working at this girly-type boutique which introduces her to this whole new world that she's never been exposed to. She also meets this boy who she may or not have feelings for. Then there's her next door neighbour Braden in which they have these "fence chats" and she knows she's falling for him hard. So, I definitely see a love triangle vibe going on here and hopefully it's done well. Therefore, it seems like its going to be this really sweet, fluffy contemporary perfect for the spring/summer months. 


The ninth book I picked up was Replica by Lauren Oliver. I've read books by this author before and I really enjoyed them. But I haven't read anything by her in awhile so this seems like a great book to get into. There was a lot of hype when this book was first released, but I was so hesitant to buy it. And since it was my actual birthday when I got this, I thought I would treat myself to a book. What's so cool about this book is that it's in two different perspectives but you can read one side (which is Lyra) and then flip the book over to read Gemma's side. I thought this was such a unique concept to any dual POV book I've ever heard of. This one is kind of a complicated plot to explain but it has a lot to do with these two girls (Lyra and Gemma) who cross paths with one another, as one escapes and the other is on a quest to find out the truth about her life. This also has a ton of science fiction elements which is really cool because I've been meaning to read a lot more sci-fi this year. 

The next book I bought was The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. This is the first book to the Raven Cycle saga. A lot of people have been talking about this book all over Goodreads and in the book tube community so I thought I would give this book a try. This author also wrote the Shiver series which I've heard good things about, but I'm way more intrigued to read The Raven Boys to be honest. I'm gonna go into this series not knowing a lot about this book and we'll see how I like it. This was also an impulse buy but it has been on my radar for a little while now. 

The next book was The You I've Never Known by Ellen Hopkins. This is her newest YA novel and I'm actually really excited for this book. I didn't even know this book existed until I saw it at the bookstore (on the day it was released, which I had no idea until I got home). I've read Tilt and Rumble by her and they were such amazing reads I highly recommend them. This book is in dual perspectives about two girls named Ariel and Maya. Ariel has been raised by her dad moving from place to place, and when she's finally settled down at her new home and school, Ariel finds out some very shocking news about her childhood. Meanwhile, Maya is pregnant with her child and she runs away from her abusive mother. So, Ariel and Maya cross paths and everything changes. Ellen's books are usually written inverse, but this time around she's also adding in journal entries. Maya=journal entries and Ariel=inverse. I feel like I'm going to really enjoy this book and it will be a super quick read despite it being over 500 pages. I am reading this book this month so hopefully I'll really enjoy it. Also, can we talk about how creepy this cover is?! She looks like Natalie Portman from The Black Swan. Or is that just me?! 

 The second last book I bought this month was By Your Side by Kasie West. This book just came out earlier this week which I already started reading it and I'm really enjoying it so far. It's about this girl named Autumn Collins who ends up getting locked in a library for the long weekend. But she's not alone. A boy named Dax, who also goes to her school, is locked in with her. Dax has a bad boy reputation but Autumn realizes that there is more to him than meets the eye. The two develop a friendship which ultimately leads into a romance. This is honestly the perfect contemporary to read in February since it is the month of love and it talks about books. I'm more than halfway through and it is amazing. Nice romantic development and there's depth to the main characters and the overall story. I'm excited to finish this one and see how it ends. 

The last book I bought this month was Caraval by Stephanie Garber. This book has been getting a ton of hype when it was released and even before it was released. Which means I have heard such amazing things about. The fact that it has movie rights attached to the film, the book must be that good. Anyways, this book revolves around a girl who wants to go to Caraval, an interactive show very much like a circus, and her sister manages to get tickets. But when they go to this show, her sister gets kidnapped and that ends up becoming part of the show. Its whoever finds the sister first wins, or else she's gone forever. This honestly sounds like such an intriguing, mysterious and whimsical book that I'm looking forward to reading very soon. 




So that is it for this very long haul, I hope you all enjoyed  What books did you end up buying this month? Let me know in the comments below. Once I'm done with the books By Your Side and The You I've Never Known I will have full reviews up. Happy reading and until my next post, goodbye for now.