Thursday, September 29, 2016

On Reviewing Books...

I've burnt myself out. Let me just start by saying that. Writing a review for EVERY. SINGLE. BOOK. you read is exhausting. This is especially true when you are writing one for a book you don't feel passionately (whether good or bad) about.

Between school, swim team, and everything else going on in my life I barely have time to read, let alone write reviews for every single book. With that being said, I mostly wrote reviews for other people, not myself. I'm realizing that I could have a lot more fun with this blog if I wrote what I wanted to write and nothing more. If writing a review feels like a chore for me, then I'm not going to write it.

I will still write reviews. I will still talk passionately about the books I read. The difference is that now I will not write full reviews for all books. If I don't write a review for one, however, I will put a couple sentences of my thoughts in my monthly wrap-ups.

There will be lots of exciting content coming, but as for right now, I just wanted to get that out there. When writing a review starts to feel like a chore, I stop enjoying it.

~

Thanks for reading
xoxo
Lauren

Monday, September 5, 2016

Let's Talk: Half-Blood

Title: Half Blood
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: Convenant #1
Genre: YA Paranormal/Mythology
Page Length: 281 pages
Publication Date: October 8, 2011
Date Started: August 28, 2016
Date Finished: September 2, 2016
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is probably my least favorite Jennifer L. Armentrout book I've ever read, but it's still damn good. I went into this book expecting awesome, and I got it. To me this was like a mix of Percy Jackson and Vamp. Academy with a little bit of Armentrout's hot guys.

I loved the main character, I loved the small action scenes, I loved pretty much all of it. However, I still had a couple things I noticed.

Yes, it seems to parallel Vamp. Academy, but I enjoyed that novel so I enjoyed this one. I know it's rude to rip of someone's story, but to be honest right now I really don't care. All I care about it is that I enjoyed reading this story.

I was engrossed from page one. I was thinking about this book when I was doing my homework. I wanted--no, needed--to know what happened next. And I was not let down.

There's not much I want to say without spoiling it. Plus, I'm just staring at my bookshelf thinking about the book I'm going to read next. But this book was very good.

I am very excited to continue on with the next novel and I do recommend this series to anyone who likes Greek mythology or Jennifer L. Armentrout books.

~

Thanks for reading
xoxo
Lauren

Let's Talk: Marked

Title: Marked
Authors: P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
Series: "House of Night" #1
Genre: YA Paranormal
Page Length: 306 pages
Publication Date:
Date Started: August 12, 2016
Date Finished: August 14, 2016
Rating: 4/5 stars

Wow, it's taken me forever to write a review for this book. Hopefully I remember everything that I wanted to say.

This was a reread for me. I read this book when I was about 12 or 13 and I really loved it. I loved the entire series. Reading it again made me feel so nostalgic and fuzzy on the inside. It's a book about vampyres, but just rereading it makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

There were hot guys, action scenes, sarcasm, and just a lot of overall goodness. There's not really much else I want to talk about, most likely because it's been so long since I finished it that all my fresh review-writing words have long since gone.

I do recommend this series for middle schoolers, readers who want a nice light read, or someone who just loves vampires and boarding schools.

~

Thanks for reading
xoxo
Lauren

Friday, September 2, 2016

August 2016 Wrap-Up

1.
Title: Gemina (ARC)
Author: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Publication Date: October 18, 2016
Days Spent Reading: 1
Rating: Infinity
Book Talk: http://laurensboookshelf.blogspot.com/2016/08/lets-talk-gemina-post-on-october-18.html

2.
Title: Queen of Shadows
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publication Date: September 1, 2015
Days Spent Reading: 9 days
Rating: Infinity
Book Talk: TK

3.
Title: Marked
Author: P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
Publication Date: May 1, 2007
Days Spent Reading: 3 days
Rating: 4/5 stars
Book Talk: http://laurensboookshelf.blogspot.com/2016/09/lets-talk-marked.html