Top 5 Vacation Reads

Since summer vacation is finally here, I thought it would be appropriate to list the top five books I’m looking forward to reading on my trip to Asheville, North Carolina this summer. Let’s be real, I’m probably going to be exploring the city and the forests around the area and not getting any work done, but I always make it a priority to bring at least a few books with me…. I also always end up taking a trip to one of my favorite indie bookstores, Malaprops, located in downtown Asheville. Like last time, I’m going to include the book I’m currently reading. This time, however, I thought it would be fun to also include the one book I purchased from Malaprops, plus five of the books I think would make great vacation reads, or would like to read myself on vacation!

Currently Reading: Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken

            This is the second and final book in her Passenger series. All you really need to know is that it’s time travel and has really great characters. Passenger, the first book in the series, was a really fun National Treasure-esque treasure hunt through time. It’s taking me awhile to read this, but only because I’m on vacation in the city.

Bought from Malaprops Bookstore: A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab

            This is the third book in her A Darker Shade of Magic series, which follows Kell as he traverses through four different versions of London. The catch with this series is that all of these versions have varying levels of magic. I haven’t actually read them, but I saw that Malaprops had autographed copies, and I tend to read trilogies all in one go, so I bought it so I wouldn’t have to wait to get a copy from my library or wait for it to come in the mail.

Top Five Vacation Books:

Human Acts by Han Kang:

            This author might sound familiar if you read their debut novel, The Vegetarian. This follows a student uprising in South Korea, and the consequences of what happens when a young boy is murdered in the midst of it. This noel is super slim, so if you’re a fast reader you could probably read it in one or two sittings at your hotel or on the beach.

My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella

            Sophie Kinsella is the author of many light, fluffy romance reads. If you’re looking for something refreshing, any of her books are perfect for this. My Not So Perfect Life follows the main character Katie Brenner as she has an Instagram account that may not be as perfect as her followers thinks her life is. I’m super excited to get my hands on a copy and tear through this novel.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

            I’m not much for thrillers, but I read The Husband’s Secret by her a year or so ago. I flew through this in one or two days. All I really know about Big Little Lies is that there is now an HBO series based off of it. I tend to like to go into thrillers knowing as little as possible, because the summaries on the book tend to give away spoilers.

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

            This seems like a really cute contemporary about an Indian-American girl who is ready to make her own future, separate from what her parents want. But then she meets Rishi, who is all for arranged marriages and thinks that they are the best way to honor his culture and his parents. This seems like a super fun read that I’m excited to get my hands on. Many of the reviews I’ve read have been positive, so that makes it top priority in my book.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

            This is such a great book. I recommend anything by Becky Albertalli because I read both her books in a few hours. You can pack this in your beach bag and have it read by the end of the day, or take it with you camping. It’s about a boy named Simon who is blackmailed at the beginning of the book by one of his classmates who wants to get closer to one of the girls in their school. The catch is, Simon isn’t out yet and he’s navigating being blackmailed, while at the same time desperately trying to keep his emailing pen pal’s identity a secret. This book is full of shenanigans, and is being turned into a movie very soon, so I’m excited to see that when it comes out in theaters.

These are my current reads/purchases/vacation recommendations! I hope you find something on this list to pick up on vacation, or just in your every day life. If you’ve read any of these, or decide to read them because of this post, let me know why in the comments!

Lady Midnight review

I did it. I finally finished it—and a week before Lord of Shadows comes out, too. Reading Lady Midnight took me about a week and a half, but it’s nearly 700 pages so I’m going to think it’s okay that I took my time with it. The fact that I hadn’t been in this world for so long has blown my mind. I’ve been reading Cassandra Clare’s books since I was in high school, which was now five years ago. I can’t believe that. Her books have been there for me during a lot of dark times during my life. Reading Lady Midnight, the first book in The Dark Artifices series felt a bit like coming home. Some people have Harry Potter (and I do too, it will always be there for me and I’m grateful for it) but Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter books have been there for a large chunk of the short twenty-three years I’ve been alive. Lady Midnight was just as exciting, funny, and gut wrenching as I remember her previous books to be. If it’s possible, Lady Midnight was a cut above her previous books. I think it’s shown how she’s grown as a writer.

            Instead of the ‘regular girl enters fantasy world’ trope, she throws us right into the action. This is because most of her readers have already been in this world for nine books already (albeit in different time periods) but we know how it works. She doesn’t have to waste time on world building and telling us how their weapons work. Lady Midnight is also very different from the others because it is, essentially, a murder mystery. Since the events of her first six book series, Emma Carstairs has been researching the murders of her parents in what these characters call the Dark War. The higher ups basically wrote it off as more aftermath from the war, but Emma’s been hell bent on revenge since her parents’ bodies were discovered.

            That is essentially where the plot of this book takes off. I don’t want to spoil too much of the plot because even though I thought I had it figured out, mostly I was guessing until the last page. This book is also a retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s Annabel Lee. Cassandra Clare tackles newer kinds of magic—she introduces necromancy and we get to see more of the Faeries of this world (I’m still confused as to why Faeries are such a popular thing to write about nowadays? Like they always bored me whenever I read Faerie books as a kid). But Cassandra Clare makes them at least a tad more interesting in this one because they have direct ties to the family who runs the L.A. Institute (the Blackthorns) and she throws in a jealous Faerie prince to the mix, we have for some very interesting character dynamics. I also love the way she wrote the Blackthorn family. The eldest child struggles with taking care of his younger siblings while battling his growing for Emma. I’ll try to explain why this is a problem in this next bit.

            The other intriguing part of this story was the parabatai dynamic. Parabatai are essentially two Shadowhunters that go through a ritual to make their magic stronger than just regular Shadowhunters. There’s a catch though—you absolutely cannot fall in love with whomever you’ve chosen. The people who are in charge of this world forbid it, but Cassandra Clare gives a pretty decent explanation about why this is near the end of the novel.

            My only complaint about this book is that it was so long… I don’t think it really needed to be close to 700 pages. I couldn’t put it down, but still. I feel like I could have read a million other things in the amount of time it took me to read this. Large fantasy novels like this kind of take up my life when I’m reading them and I just feel like I should be doing other stuff while I’m reading. But other than that, I really enjoyed it. The second half of the book especially picks up pace. I sped through the last half in a couple of days. I don’t recommend reading this if you haven’t read all of Cassandra Clare’s previous books, but if you have, this will feel like coming home. I gave this book 5/5 stars on my Goodreads account, which I’m constantly updating. Have you read any of Cassandra Clare’s books? If so, which is your favorite? If you’ve read Lady Midnight, let me know your theories for Lord of Shadows!

Summer To Be Read (Top Ten)

I love making lists. Even though I might not stick to them, they help me catalogue everything that I know about. I’m really bad at following lists at any kind, but they do help me keep my thoughts organized. Most of my lists are my “top ten” or “top five” books to read in a season or a genre. This time around it’s going to be what I’m anticipating most this summer—and why you should too! Some of these may be series or just authors in general that I’m excited about making time for. I’ll include a bonus and insert the book that I’m currently reading.

11. Currently Reading—Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

            This book is so cool. I thought I might have gotten over the Cassandra Clare hype train after I finished the last book in The Mortal Instruments series back in high school. When I saw reviews of this book flooding in (most of them positive, except for the people who have just decided to hate on Cassandra Clare for no reason), and all of them were mostly positive, I decided I wanted to read it still. And still it took me maybe a year after it’s release date to actually pick it up but I love it. It’s a retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s Annabel Lee and it’s also a murder mystery with some supernatural elements thrown in. I forgot how much I loved living in this world until I picked this book on a whim (I think it’s because I knew that the second book, Lord of Shadows is coming out very soon). I don’t recommend reading this if you haven’t read her first two series. There are some major spoilers from the aftermath of the plots in the first series and characters pop up that have been featured in previous books. Cassandra Clare does a really good job of just sucking you in to the story. I highly recommend this one!

Top Ten Books on My Summer To Be Read Pile:

10. Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare

            If the book I’m currently reading didn’t tip you off that this was going to be on my list, now you know! It’s the second book in The Dark Artifices, the newest trilogy about Shadowhunters, who are essentially supernatural police. I’m excited for this and I haven’t even finished the first one!

9. A Court of Mist and Fury and A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

            These are the last two books in her A Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy. I read the first book, I think maybe last spring or summer. I can’t exactly remember. I also can’t exactly remember what happens in the first so I’m going to have to track down reviews to remember what happens (I can’t stand rereading books, I don’t know why). The first book in this series is a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I thoroughly enjoyed it, while I acknowledge that there are some problematic elements in there. It’s kind of my guilty pleasure read. If you like faeries, or even Cassandra Clare or Holly Black’s books, you might enjoy this trilogy. I’m excited to binge these two when I get back to my childhood home this summer!

8. Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken

            I have a feeling this list is going to be mostly sequels. I’ve been reading lots of series lately, and I had forgotten how much fun it was to be just completely lost in a fantasy world. Fantasy is my favorite genre, but when you’re in college there’s not much time to sit down and read a 700+ page book. Thankfully, Passenger and Wayfarer lean on the shorter side. They’re a lot of fun too. I got some National Treasure vibes, but Alexandra Bracken also weaves in time travel and a whole lot of swashbuckling. The essential plot for the series is this—Etta is a musical prodigy. She plays the violin. One night one of her performances doesn’t end up the way she expected it too. She finds out that she’s a part of a family with a time travel gene. Soon it’s a race against time to get back an ancient artifact that the family that her family has been at war with for so long to obtain it. I’m not sure if that made sense. But if you like time travel and historical romance, this is definitely for you. I’m eager to see how it ends.

7. Strange the Dreamer and The Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor

            People really seem to love Laini Taylor’s books. I now have all four that she’s published, and yet to read any of them. I’m trying to read all of them this summer. Her plots sound so complicated that I generally tend to not want to know about them going in. All I know about Strange the Dreamer is that there is a lost city that the main character is trying to find. The Daughter of Smoke and Bone series is about Kaoru, who has blue hair and collects teeth, but I don’t know why. I want to keep it simple so I don’t want to know much more about the plots of these. The covers of all her books are stunning though.

6. Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith

            The tagline of this book is “let luck find you.” I don’t read very much contemporary, but when I do it’s normally in the summer. This is a story about a girl named Alice who buys a lottery ticket for her best friend’s birthday as a joke. The next day they find out he wins. The book sounds like it’s going to follow the consequences of having so much money suddenly dropped on you. I don’t know much about lotteries, but I think it’s going to be interesting to follow these characters. I also had the privilege of meeting Jennifer E. Smith this weekend, and she’s lovely. This is the book that has seemed the most interesting to me.

5. Caraval by Stephanie Garber

            This is supposed to be The Night Circus but for a young adult audience. The cover of it is stunning and I can’t wait to sit down and read my copy. Caraval’s tagline is “Remember, it’s just a game.” That just sounds so intriguing to me. I love twisty fantasy books like this, and game type plots so I’m interested to see how this plays out.

4. Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

            Leigh is one of my all time favorite authors. I absolutely loved her Six of Crows duology. It was so dark and intense. My love for the characters in that series is endless. Leigh’s next book doesn’t come out until the end of August, but I am eagerly anticipating it. The only reason this book isn’t higher up on my list is that I’ve never been a big fan of D.C. comics, in general. But I’m planning on seeing the Wonder Woman movie when it comes out next year, and I’m very excited that a female superhero is being highlighted.

3. Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh

            I read Renee Ahdieh’s first series, The Wrath and the Dawn and really loved it. It was an ethereal desert romance that retold One Thousand and One Nights. Her writing is so dreamy. I get lost in it very easily. I finished the series in probably a couple of days, and I am very excited to get my hands on the next book. It is retelling of Mulan, set in a feudal Japan inspired fantasy world. It sounds fantastic, and the early reviews have all been very positive.

2. The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich

            I don’t know much about this one, but it’s been on my radar because people who are getting early copies have been raving about it. It’s about two boys who have to get the same girl to follow them. I think they go to a spy school and this is an LGBTQ YA novel that I’m very excited to get my hands on. I’m trying to read more diversely, just in general. This one sounds super fun, but I am horrible with trying to give synopses.

1. Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

            I have been very excited for this book for a long time. Many reviewers whose opinions I trust have been giving it glowing reviews. I read Blake’s Anna Dressed in Blood series back in high school, and it stuck with me for a long time. I didn’t get around to her Greek Gods series, though I’m still interested in it. This one, however, seems more up my alley. It’s about triplets who are born into a queendom. On their sixteenth birthday’s they have to fight to the death in order to obtain the throne. Each of the sisters has a specific power. One of them can inject poisons, one is an elementalist, and another is a naturalist (which means she can essentially control plants and animals). I’m very excited to get to this one, and I think it’s probably next on my reading list.

So that wraps up most of my summer to be read pile. Let me know what you’re excited to read in the comments! Do you know about any of these? If so, which one are you most excited for?

Books As Events

Top Five Wednesday is actually a Youtube tag that happens every week. Sam from the YouTube channel Thoughts On Tomes is the host, and I’ll link her video for this week here. Essentially, there is a specific topic where you choose five books that fit with the topic of that week. This week, the theme is Books as Events. So, what books do you think would make a good themed party? I’m not very good at hosting themed parties, but I’ll start with an obvious bonus, because I’m sure we all know at least someone who has been to a party with this theme—Harry Potter. It’s such a classic and I myself have been to multiple parties of this theme. You can’t really go wrong. I guess I’ll start with the books that I would think would make a really cool party theme.

5. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

            It’s been so long since I’ve read this book, but it’s still one of my favorites. It’s about a magical black-and-white circus where magicians have magical battles and—to be honest I don’t particularly remember much of the plot. It might be time to re-read this soon. But just think of a party that was inspired by this world. It would just be magical.

4. Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

            Something about a Sherlock Holmes party would be just so much fun to me. I’ve always been a fan of the books and the movies (the Robert Downey Jr. ones). It would be so cool to have some kind of mystery dinner with all the characters of these books and short stories featured in some way. It would be so cool to be in the middle of one of these mysteries ‘come to life.’

3. A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas

            I just think it would be so much fun to pretend to be a part of any of the high courts in this series. Faeries have always fascinated me, and they’re such party animals anyways that this would be so much fun. It would probably be more of a formal party but I would just love seeing all of the outfits that people would show up in.

2. Heartless by Marissa Meyer

            This is an Alice in Wonderland retelling. Technically it focuses on the Queen of Hearts, before she became the Queen of Hearts. But an Alice in Wonderland party is always fun. Cath, the main character in Heartless only cares about baking, so the deserts of this party would have to be top notch. Now I want to throw an Alice in Wonderland party. Those are always so much fun!

1. The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare

            I think that any of the Cassandra Clare books that are published would be fun, but The Infernal Devices takes place in Victorian London. I love reading about this era, and I think that it would be really fun to have everyone come in the gowns and suits that they wore. Maybe it would be a kind of ball, but I think it would be fascinating to have a mix of Victorian Era clothing and Shadowhunter (the supernatural police of this world) attire in the same room.

These are all of the books that I think would make really fun events. I’m sure there are others that I’m missing, but these are the ones that came to mind first. Let me know of any others you guys think would make fun events in the comments! I’m going to leave a link to the YouTube video here, so you can go check out the original post.

Books as Event Themes/Top 5 Wednesday