Book Haul #6

Today I am going to share a book haul with you of the books I bought in the month of May! I got a BN gift card as a wedding gift from my wonderful cousin Mikey so I went a little crazy and bought 4 books from Barnes and Nobel a few days ago. I also bought a book in the beginning of the month as well, so I thought that I would include it in this haul since I have not read it yet.

If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch. This is a newer release book from this year that I thought sounded really interesting. It's about a girl who has lived with her sister and mentally ill mother in a camper in the woods all her life until her mom goes missing. Anything that says or has mentally ill things in it immediately attracts my attention because I find those topics really interesting for some reason. This will be a book that I will definitely do a review on once I read it!

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. I have heard so, so many great things about this book. I have always wanted to pick it up but I have never remembered seeing it in stores and I kept forgetting about it while shopping online. A lot of book tubers on youtube rave about this book so I am really happy that I finally purchased it.

Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan. This is also a newer release book that I am so excited to read. I really loved Andrea Cremer's Nightshade book even though I didn't continue with the rest of the series, and I have always wanted to read more from David Levithan. This book sounds so great and I can't wait!

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins. This is another book that I've heard good things about but kept forgetting to pick it up. I'm glad I finally did because I'm really in the mood for a great fantasy book and this one sounds perfect. I just finished the last book in the Shadowfalls series by C.C Hunter and when I read the description of this one it kind of reminded me of it a little bit so I got super excited.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithian. I know I just said this but I really wanted to read more from David Levithan so that is one of the reasons I picked this one up. I've heard it's really great and I never seen the movie for it either so I'm excited.

That is all for my book haul, I hope you all enjoyed and Happy Reading. :)

Harry Potter Theme Park

Hey Everyone! I mentioned in my last post that I was going to be absent from blogging for the next week or so because I was traveling to Florida. Me and my Husband went to Orlando on our honeymoon, and I also mentioned that we were going to the Harry Potter theme park and I was going to do a blog post on it when I got back. I thought since it was some what book related, I would post some pictures and share my adventures here on my blog!

The Harry Potter park was something that I was really excited about going to. When I first heard of this I always said I really wanted to go there but honestly never thought it was something that I would be able to do. I don't travel much and haven't traveled since I was a teenager so I never really gave a second thought to the park other than just hoping of one day being able to go. I'm was really excited that we decided to go. I do have to say that I really did enjoy the park and I'm definitely happy that I went. The only downfall to the park that it was so crowded that it was almost hard to enjoy at the same time. I did expect it though since Orlando is a huge tourist trap. 

When we were there we rode the simulator ride that you get to by going through the Hogwarts Castle. The ride was fun and even though it was really busy it wasn't a too bad of a wait. We ate a restaurant there, I think was the Three Broomsticks (I can't remember if it was that or the Hogs Head Pub) and we also tried the Butter beers which were so delicious. I looked up the recipe online and I want to try to make them at home too haha. We went into the Zonkos, Honeydukes, and Owl Post shops. The shops were so crowded it was hard to look around and shop. They were also super expensive, however I did grab a few souvenirs including a sorting hat which I put onto of my bookshelf! :)

I'm going to wrap up this post with some pictures that I took while I was there. I hope you all enjoyed and thank you all for reading!

Absent from Blogging- Sorry!

Hey Everyone! I first wanted to apologize to my readers about being absent from blogging. My last post was my April reading wrap up, and I mentioned in there that May was going to be a crazy month for me and I wasn't sure how much I was going to be able to read. I've only read one book so far and I'm working on one right now so I have not been reading much. Thus I haven't had anything to write reviews on and haven't had time/anything to blog about. Sorry! I am also leaving for vacation tomorrow and won't be back for a week so I will still be absent from my blog during that time. BUT I am going to Orlando, so that means I will be going to the Harry Potter Park! Woooo! I will be doing a blog post on the park when I get back since that is kind of bookish related! I'm really excited and sorry again to my readers for the lack of blog posts!!

Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed :)

April 2013 Wrap Up

Hey Everyone! Is it just me or did April go by really, really fast?? April was a fantastic reading month for me and I ended up reading 7 books. All of which I really enjoyed! May will be a busy month for me, but I hope I can find time to read a lot this month too. I'm getting into my busy season at work now so this month (or last) might be my last big reading month for me. So sad lol :) A lot of the books I read in April were parts of series and I also read a lot of fantasy books. This made me really happy because a while ago 99% of the books I read were fantasy books and series, and then I got into kind of a slump and didn't want to read them anymore and switched to reading more contemporary fiction. It felt really nice to read the kind of books that I use to love (and still do!).

The Secret Circle by L.J Smith (book one- The Initiation and The Captive).  This was the first book that I read last month. The Secret Circle is a series about witchcraft and I really love reading books about witchcraft. I find it so interesting for some reason. These books normally have two books in one so thats why the title of this was so long incase anyone was confused. This is a series that I have been wanting to pick up for a while now because I started watching the TV show when it first came out and I really enjoyed it. I ended up enjoying this book a lot and I went a purchased the rest of the series after reading this first one! You can see my review for this book here.

The Secret Circle by L.J Smith (book 2- The Captive part 2 and The Power). I enjoyed the second book in this series more then the first one. There was a lot more going on, and a lot more exciting action in it!

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare. I can't even explain how much I
loved this book. It was such a perfect ending to the trilogy. I absolutely love this author and the world and characters she creates. Reading this book really made me want to go a re read The Mortal Instruments series because I forgot what happened in them and I just needed to keep reading from this amazing world. I'm really sad that this series came to an end, but this ending was so perfect that it makes it okay.






City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. This is the first book in the Mortal Instruments series, and like I said before I had to re read this series after finishes it's prequel. It was just as great reading it the second time around and it just reminded me how much I loved this series. I can't wait for the movie to come out!!









City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare. (2nd book in MI series) After reading City of Bones, I continued reading the series with City of Ashes.










Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. This was a cute contemporary that I picked up last month. I really loved everything about this story and I read it all in almost one sitting because I couldn't put it down. You can read my review for this book here.








Legend by Marie Lu. I kept hearing really great things about this book and I was in the mood for a Dystopian so I decided to give this one a go. I enjoyed reading it but it was a little hard to get into. Once I got past that point though, I couldn't put it down! I can't wait to read the next book in the series! You can read my review for this book here.








That is all for my April Wrap up post! This month I plan on finishing the rest of the books in the Mortal Instruments series and maybe eventually re read the first two in the Infernal Devices as well. I'm currently reading a book called Lessons from A Dead Girl by Jo Knowles, but I'm not too sure if I will be reviewing it yet or not.

I hope you all enjoyed and Happy Reading!

Book Review: Legend by Marie Lu

Today I am going to share my review for Legend by Marie Lu. I kept hearing really great things about this book and I saw a lot of great reviews on it as well. I was in the mood for a Dystopian book so I decided to pick this one up at Barnes and Noble. I had a lot of mixed feelings about this book but over all I ended up enjoying it. I'm going to post the summary below and then get started on my review.

Summary from Goodreads:

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills.

So the two main characters in this book are June and Day and the chapters alternated POVs from them. They are both 15 years old and live very different lives. June's home is in the Republic and she has a lot of military training and such. She lives with her older brother who is also works for the Republic and is a top soldier (or whatever, I'm not exactly savvy on my military terms). Her parents are dead, but she comes from a pretty wealthy family. Day is the complete opposite of June. His lives on the streets and is the most wanted criminal. His family all thinks he's dead with the exception of his older brother and they all live in the poor sector of the area. Day has been on the run for about 5 years but he keeps in contact with his older brother and tries to keep an eye on his family. Basically Day is the most wanted criminal but no one really knows who he is. No one knows what he looks like so the military and Republic really don't' know who they are looking for. There is some sort of plague going around too, and everyone in the Republic or people who a wealthy get vaccinated for it but everyone else who gets it basically dies. Day tries to break into the hospital one day to try to steal some medicines for his younger brother who has the plague ,and in the process June's brother Metias gets killed and Day is the suspect of his murder. June goes on a hunt for Day to try to avenge her brothers death.

At first I had a really hard time getting into this book. It didn't hold my attention very well and I found myself having to re read a lot because I wasn't paying attention to the book. Once I got about half way through the book though, I couldn't put it down. There is a lot of action in this book, which is fine but I didn't really enjoy the military feel to the book. I'm not too interested in things like that but I'm glad I got past that and got into the book. Once Day and June finally meet, the story gets a lot better and more exciting. Even though I wasn't sure if I liked the book at first, I really did like the writing style. This book is very well written and developed, along with the characters.

I really liked the characters in this book. Day and June are both really great, strong main characters. I really couldn't find anything that I disliked about either of them and I enjoyed reading from both of their point of views. I think Junes character especially grew a lot during this book. She learns a lot about what's right and wrong and she's not afraid to take action. I really loved Day because he's not the criminal everyone thinks he is. The republic basically screwed him over, and he is doing what he can to survive. He cares a lot for his family and his friend Tess, and even June.

Other than the story being too military-ish for me, the story line was pretty good. There were a lot of twists and turns in this book, some of which surprised me and some didn't. I did find the story to be a little bit predictable though, and that bothered me a little bit. There were some things that were going to happen that I figured out earlier on in the story. With stories like this, I like to be surprised more because it makes reading more fun for me. I also really liked the romance in this book. It's not too out there and it's a very subtle one so it was enjoyable.

That is all I really have to say about this book, so this review is kind of short. After I finished reading, I immediately ordered the second book, Prodigy, so I can't wait to read that one too! I herd its a lot better than Legend so I'm really excited. I ended up giving this book a 4/5 stars on goodreads because over all I enjoyed reading it.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed my review!