Top 5 Books I Want to Reread

Lately, I have been staring at my shelf and looking at books or series I have previously read and had a sudden urge to pick them up and reread them. There's not many, but there's still so many pulling at my willpower. So, without further ado, here are a few books I am dying to reread.

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Number 1 is Falling Kingdoms (books 1-4) by Morgan Rhodes.

I rushed through this series because I wanted to 1) add to the number of books I had read in that month and 2) wanted to know what the hype was about. I didn't sit and enjoy them as much as I wished I had. I forced myself to speed read them and they deserve so much more. I am excited to reread them and I want to, but I have so many books on my plate. Hopefully I'll be able to reread them all before I am able to buy Crystal Storm which doesn't come out for 2 more weeks. 

Number 2 is Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

I, again, forced myself to read this book and I didn't enjoy as much as I know I could have. Looking back, this book has many elements and things that I know I would love, but I just have to reread it first. Plus, I have book 2 and I want to read that soon.

Number 3 is The Host by Stephenie Meyer

I love this book so much. It's a big one at over 600 pages, and each time I've read it I've sped through it. The characters are amazing, the writing is phenomenal, and I love everything about it. I love the movie, too. Everything about this book is amazing and I find myself discovering new things and falling even more in love every time I read it.

Number 4 is White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout

A few days ago I found myself seriously missing Roth (and all the other characters). This book is kind of everything I love and I really really really want to reread this trilogy (I actually read this book about this time last year). 

Number 5 is Winter by Marissa Meyer

Cinder and the gang are calling to me. This was my favorite of the series and I loved the number of action events that happened in this one book. It was a clunker, but I loved it. I loved the friendships and pairings and *gasp* lack of love triangles! Everything was awesome and I have had the sudden urge to rip it off the shelf and devour it again.

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Thanks for reading about my top 5 books i want to reread

xoxo

Lauren

Upcoming Books I'm Excited For

There are so many upcoming books that I'm super excited for. I've read new series this month and there's more books to come, and I just can't wait for them! I'm not necessarily gonna talk about releases that are coming during the summer, or super well-known books, but I am going to talk about a few lesser-known books that I am personally invested in (emotionally and financially).

First we have One Hundred Breaths Later by H.B. Stumbo. Many people might know that H.B. Stumbo is one of my favorite authors. I've read all of the books she currently has released and I'd like to think of her as an author friend. This upcoming book is a collection of poetic memoirs, raw and true in their original form. I've read snippets and teasers and am so freaking excited for these. Also, Hayley revealed the cover today and it is STUNNING. Just look:

So. Freaking. Gorgeous. 

I'm also super excited for Lose Her Reap Her by H.B. Stumbo. This is the third and final book in the H.A.S.H. series and I NEED it, especially after that cliffhanger. There is no cover (yet) or official synopsis, but I'm super excited anyway.

Then we have A Portrait of Pain by Jane Washington. This is the 4th book in the Seraph Black series (which I discovered this month, binge read, and absolutely fell in love with). While the 3rd book didn't leave off on a cliffhanger, per say, I am super super excited to read this next one. I read a teaser, and I'm dying for the book to be in my hands already.

Tied with the previous book in my level of excitement is Loving My Pack by Lane Whitt (I believe that will be the title of it). I also discovered this series this month and binge-read the first two books so quick. I absolutely loved them so much and I can't wait for this third book to come out because CLIFFHANGERS HAPPENED. The covers are gorgeous, the writing is amazing, and the boys in it are FLAWLESS. We don't currently have a cover for the third book (sad face) but I'm super excited nonetheless.

Then we have Just Married by Nikki Bolvair. This is the 5th and final book in the Faith series and I'm so excited. It is not a true installment, but rather, a nice little ending book to wrap things up. Most of the plot stuff was finished in the 4th, but I'm super excited for this one. Just more scenes with Faith and her three boys will make me happy. We don't have a cover or a release date (just 2017). Still, I'm super excited and will probably reread the whole series in preparation for the 5th.

Lastly for this post, we have Black and Green by C.L. Stone. This is the 11th (wow) book in the Ghost Bird series and I am so excited. I've been waiting on this book for MONTHS and I've read 2 teaser chapters and I just can't wait. We don't have a cover yet but I am so freaking excited for this next book. There was a cliffhanger at the end of the last and I really need more of Sang and her guys. Plus, I think this is either Owen or Sean's book. I've been waiting for this! AHHH!

Alright, I think that wraps this up. These are just a few underrated books that I'm really looking forward to. 

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As always, thanks for reading

xoxo

Lauren

Let's Talk: Empire of Storms

Title: Empire of Storms
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: "Throne of Glass" #5
Genre: YA High Fantasy
Page Length: 689 pages
Publication Date: September 6, 2016
Date Started: September 5, 2016
Date Finished: September 9, 2016
Rating: Infinity Squared

I'm not even sure how I'm going to be able to write this review...

*NON-SPOILER SECTION*

Okay, let's just get into this. I can really only sum this up by saying that I loved this book. Words cannot describe my love for it. There's not much I can say without spoiling the other books in the series, but I can say that this book blew me away. All of these books get better and better as the series continues. In this installment, the world expands quite a bit. We see new places and go on new adventures as well as revisit some. It was a little mind blowing if I'm being truthful.

When I first read Heir of Fire, I wasn't a big fan of multiple POV books. But I started loving them last book and I was addicted to them in this novel. There was never once a time when I was bored reading from someone's perspective. I loved reading from everybody's POV and getting to experience not only their adventure but also their thoughts. The characters matured and grew in this book and it's interesting to go back and read the first book and see how far they've come.

That's all I'm gonna say in this section so if you haven't read EoS or the other books in the series, turn away now or forever hold your peace.

*SEMI-SPOILER SECTION*

Alright. Wow. This book. This f*cking book.

I bawled in this book. There were multiple times that I cried. Multiple times where I was reading in class and freaking out internally and having to grip my friend's hand so that I wouldn't yell at the book. I loved it.

We got to see 3 different storylines but there were sometimes multiple perspectives in each storyline. I thought that was excellent and I absolutely loved that I got to read from both sides of a pairing (*cough* Rowaelin *cough*)

I think that the world building was excellent. I loved revisiting places from past books and I loved seeing new places. I feel like such an experienced traveler just from reading about Aelin's travels. I loved it.

That's all I'm gonna say for now before I jump into the spoilers.

*SPOILERS*

Oh my god, I bawled like a baby at the ending of this novel. I just needed to get that out before I went in order of the stuff I need to talk about.

First of all, the opening scene with Elena and Gavin was amazing. In the first book we meet Elena, but not Gavin. She's different in the two books and we got to see the contrast of an older Elena and a younger Elena. I was awed by the fact that we got a chapter from her perspective. I loved it.

Something that surprised me was Lorcan and Elide. I didn't expect them to be meeting up and actually working together (seeing as Lorcan is kinda a giant raging douche). What I definitely didn't expect was to start shipping them together. Elide was able to make Lorcan open up and start caring for someone. He defends her. He essentially sacrifices himself so that she can live. And that just shows how good Elide is for him and I pray to the gods that Lorcan is able to make it up to her in the next book. I really really want them to work things out and be together.

Next, Manon. OH MY LORD YES. She finally turned against her Grandmother (I hate that b*tch). I love how in the past three books she has slowly been developing into a person that cares and she finally did something to prove it. Just yes. And she saved Dorian's life (#shipit) by killing a witch and then she ends up with Aelin and Rowan and Dorian and all of them when she fights her grandmother and is injured. I was so excited and so happy.

Dorian, oh, Dorian. He is a freaking beast in this book. In the first book, he's a player prince. In the second book he's not as much of a player prince but there's nothing too special about him. In the third book he develops a relationship and finally defies his father (only for his love to get murdered and him get enslaved). In the fourth book, he's enslaved and when he gets free, he takes out his father and his castle and it was amazing. In this book, he's a kinky amazing beast. He kills enemies with a wave of his hand. He gets Manon, Manon freaking Blackbeak to submit to him. He's got that kinky domineering power in the bedroom that was just amazing to read. I loved everything about him. He's just so freaking amazing in this book that it hurts.

Onto Chaol. Not much to say, as Chaol wasn't in this book. To be perfectly honest, I'm not too angry about that. Chaol pissed me off in the last book (I still love him, though), and in the previous two. He's a great, flawed character and I love him. However, his storyline would not have fit with what was going on in this novel. He's on his way to the Southern Continent to get healers to fix him, and that had NOTHING to do with what was going on with everyone else. Plus, he's getting his own novella (which I've already preordered) in June. So I'm okay with him not being in this book. He will most definitely be in the next one, I hope.

Aedion kinda annoyed me in this book. Not all the time, but a few instances just made me want to punch him. Whenever he got pissy at Aelin or started questioning her about her plans (because she makes secret plans), I got annoyed. He should just trust her and follow her lead and wait for her to open up to him. She spent years alone and has spent all that time making plans on her own, so he should have just waited a little for her to open up to him. If he needed to know, she would have told him.

Throughout the book, however, Aedion and Lysandra's relationship continued to grow. I loved it, especially when he said to her "one day I'm gonna marry you". I almost cried. It was beautiful. At the end, though, it all was tossed out the window when Lysandra agreed to impersonate Aelin until they found her and Aedion blew up.

Lysandra is such a badass in this book. She turns into a freaking sea dragon for crying out loud! That was such an intense and beautiful scene. I thought she was gonna die and I was gonna end up crying my eyes out. She didn't though! But honestly, she's such a badass and amazing friend for Aelin. I am so happy that she has evolved from the bitchy courtesan in the novellas. I love her to death and I can't wait to see her in the next book.

I'm so glad that in this book, Rowan and Aelin aren't denying their feelings anymore (*cough* Rowan *cough*). Every single time Rowan would jump in front of Aelin or do something to protect her I just got hit right in the feels. I would squeal in happiness every single time they did something cute together. And their smut scenes or undercurrents of sexual tension in conversations just made me flushed and happy. But more on that later.

After the ending, we learned that Rowan and Aelin were not only mates, but had secretly gotten married. And then they were separated because Maeve stole Aelin and Rowan was just so freaking heartbroken. I was nonstop crying...

Maeve made me hate her more than I hate Umbridge, and that is hard to do. If you put 12 Umbridges in a room it still wouldn't equal my hate for Maeve. She is such a sadistic manipulative b*tch (pardon my language). For thousands of years she has been playing with Rowan's feelings and then Aelin's when she arrives. She made Rowan think that he had a mate when it was all a lie. She kept Rowan from Aelin and beat him. And now, she had Aelin tortured in front of her friends by a sadistic bastard named Cairn and shoved in an iron coffin so that she couldn't heal and kidnapped her from her mate. If she does not die in the next book, I will flip out. I hate her so much, and whatever torture Cairn inflicts on Aelin, Maeve deserves so much more.

Especially because her actions split up literally ALL of my ships. Elide is furious at Lorcan for leading Maeve there and won't talk to him. I can't remember if Dorian goes with Manon in the end, but I don't believe so. They're split by distance in the end. Aedion and Lysandra is just a hot mess. Lysandra is impersonating Aelin (a deal the two had if anything happened to Aelin) and Aedion is mad and being a downright d*ck about it and saying he wants nothing to do with her. And then there's my babies, Rowan and Aelin. Aelin is on another continent being tortured, and Rowan doesn't know where she is. AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Okay, I'm calm...maybe. But let's be real, the smut scenes in this book gave me life. Not only did Rowan and Aelin (finally!) do it, but so did Manon and Dorian. Dorian transformed into this dominant kinky lover and it was amazing to see what he did to this cold-hearted witch. Rowan and Aelin had such an amazing scene on the beach. It was fabulous for me to read. I also think that because this book transitioned from YA to NA with the in-depth sex scenes, it opened the door for Sarah's characters to curse a little bit more. Which I noticed they did in this book. 

All of the side characters were amazing. We had the pirate lord Rolfe for most of the book, Fenrys and Gavriel (members of Maeve's cadre), Elena, and a few more at the end. I loved Aedion and Gavriel's meeting. I loved how that went down, and it happened exactly as I thought it would for Aedion. I was in love with Fenrys. He has this crush that's not a crush on Aelin and I'm so excited that he's one of the people going to find her and get her back from Maeve. I just am so excited. All of Elena's plans and past were revealed at the end and I am just too full of feels to even get into that. Ansel and Aelin's cousin and others also came to the aid of Aelin at the end (even though she had already been kidnapped) and that just brought me so much happiness. My thoughts about all the characters (except Maeve and Carin)...

But honestly, Sarah gets an A++++++ for her plot skills and foreshadowing. There were things foreshadowed in the first book or the prequels or even the last book that all made sense in this one. Like why Aelin used Ansel's name when she was fighting in QoS. Or foreshadowing from Assassin's Blade when she was dancing at that party and said she had no name to a man who wanted to dance with her. "Nameless is my price," and that was Aelin! Sarah actually blew my mind with how she brought everything together in this book. I was stunned for so long.

So my feels were pretty much destroyed at the end of this book (they still are). I actually finished the book, curled up in a ball while clutching it to my chest, and cried for a solid 7-8 minutes. Then I put it on my bookshelf and went to eat dinner, came back, saw the book, and cried some more. When I was laying in bed about to go to sleep, I thought of the ending and cried some more. I cried while writing this review because Rowaelin and ahhhh. Yeah...ahhh!

Words cannot describe how excited I am for the next book in the next year. I think the only thing tiding me over is knowing we get another ACOTAR book (and a coloring book) halfway through PLUS Chaol's novella in June! So excited for that one and to see a part of the world we haven't ventured to yet.

Well, there you have it. I finally posted my review for EoS. It took me forever, but at least I did it. Sorry if it's a bit long but with Sarah J. Maas books, I have a lot to talk about.

ONE MILLION OUT OF 5 STARS

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Thanks for reading

xoxo

Lauren

NaNoWriMo 2016

I wasn't sure if I was going to participate in NaNoWriMo this year as I just wasn't feeling up to writing anything in the months leading up to it. However, the day before it started (literally the day before) I got a great idea in my head and just had to throw it up onto a word document. Thus, how NaNoWriMo 2016 was born.

My book this year is entitled Chocolate and it is an unconventional romance story about a girl and two guys:

Chocolate 

Before meeting Jax and Ashton, Hallie was just going through the motions of life. Not really enjoying it, not really living it, and certainly not really caring about what happened to her. Meeting Jax and Ashton changed that all. Suddenly Hallie wanted to live. Not survive, but live. 

Four years later and things are different. Hallie has people who care about her. People who want her to be happy. No one ever said life was perfect, though. They definitely get in arguments. They definitely aren't always happy with each other. But as relationships progress, so do they.

Vanilla monogamy is not for everyone, and certainly not for Hallie...

It's a bit different than my previous two books and it is definitely not YA. But I'm enjoying writing whenever I want to. I'm not putting a lot of pressure on myself as I have done in past years and this year, I'm just writing when I want to and when I enjoy it. If I finish, fine. If I don't, fine.

But I'm already ahead of my word count (and have been since day 1). I actually wrote so much in the first few days that I have a little breathing room (a couple days worth of it) in case I don't want to write a certain day.

If you wanna be my NaNo friend, here's the link to my page.

I'm pretty excited about this year and I hope y'all are too.

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Thanks for reading

xoxo

Lauren

Let's Talk: Finding My Pack & Keeping My Pack

I've never done one of these before, but I'm doing a SERIES review of the first two books in the "My Pack" series by Lane Whitt. 

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Book 1:

Title: Finding My Pack

Author: Lane Whitt

Series: "My Pack" #1

Genre: NA Paranormal Reverse-Harem

Page Length: 430 pages

Publication Date: February 25, 2016

Date Started: November 3, 2016

Date Finished: November 4, 2016

Rating: 5/5 stars

I loved this book. I read through it so fast. I could not put it down. Lately that's been a problem for me: I haven't been able to get into books. But this book pulled me in from the first sentence. I was enraptured, I was enthralled, I was in love. 

I love Kitten, and I love all 8 of her boys: Remy, Ash, Jace, Kellan, Finn, Reed, Tristan, and Logan. They are all amazing. I love the dynamics between them and I especially love how things played out in this first book. I was so excited halfway through that I had already bought the next book by the time I had finished this one. 

There were times when I was smiling, times when my chest was hurting, and times when I was yelling at the book (in a good way). All the adventures that Kitten went on with her boys were so heartwarming and just raised the boyfriend bar even higher. I love how the boys are always there to support her. And I especially love the character development that happens with a lot of them (*cough* Jace *cough*). 

The ending slayed me and if I hadn't been at school then I would have been crying openly. I loved it, but it made my feels hurt so bad. I was so lucky that the second book was already out and I could go straight into it. 

All in all: this book was flipping amazing! 

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Book 2:

Title: Keeping My Pack

Author: Lane Whitt

Series: "My Pack" #2

Genre: NA Paranormal Reverse-Harem

Page Length: 196 pages

Publication Date: June 24, 2016

Date Started: November 5, 2016

Date Finished: November 6, 2016

Rating: 5/5 stars

Oh lord. I loved this book just as much as the first. The beginning started where the first left off and it was so sad and killed me. Everything Kitten has gone through has just brought me heart-wrenching pain. Her guys are always there for her, and I love them to death. At a certain level I want them to be mine but I also ship them and Kitten so hard and I don't want to take away from her. If that makes sense, seeing as these are fictional characters that I could never be with anyway.

But man, this book was a lot steamier than the first. I loved it (especially when it was two of the guys at once). The scenes didn't feel overdone or forced like some scenes in other books that I've read. These felt right. I am so excited for more scenes like these in the next book.

I love how Kitten has started taking charge in this book. In the last book she was a little shy and in this book she's fighting a lot more for what she cares about and what is right. I love her character development and I can't wait to see what she does in the next book.

This book also ended on a cliffhanger, but a different kind. However, I am left needing the next book just as much as I was the first time, if not more. I am so excited for the next and I am religiously following any news about this series through Facebook and Twitter. 

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Both Books:

I loved both of these books to no end. In fact, I bought these on Kindle, but I love them so much that I will be buying both books in paperback. I can't wait to buy them and I can't wait to have them sitting on myself with the rest of my favorite books. 

Kitten and the guys are some of my favorite characters/romances I've ever read. It's cute, steamy, and overall amazing. I love what the author has done with the romance and I am so freaking excited for the next one. Hopefully it will come out soon (or at least a title?). 

P.S. These covers are GORGEOUS! I'm in love!

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Thanks for reading my first ever series review. If you liked, please comment down below :)

Another thing I am going to start adding is a "Related Books" option at the bottom of my reviews. 

xoxo

Lauren

Related:

"The Ghost Bird Series" by C.L. Stone

*Book 1 always free on Amazon*

A New Obsession

So about a year ago, I stumbled across The Ghost Bird series by C.L. Stone. I binge-read the whole thing in about a week and I eagerly anticipate the releases in the series. One of the unique things about this author's books is that they all have Reverse Harem in them. It took me a little bit to understand what Reverse Harem was, but I have come to find out that I love it.

Essentially, Reverse Harem is exactly that. Harems are technically a part of Muslim households for wives, concubines, and female servants of a man. Many people nowadays talk about Harems as a bunch of females to one man. Reverse Harem is the opposite. It is a group of men and one female.

Now, some novels, like The Ghost Bird series, do not have sex involved but still have Reverse Harem. In these cases, the main character (usually these are told from a female's point of view) still forms an emotional connection to each male. Some novels do have sex involved. I won't go into details, but generally the males in these stories are also described as sexy and powerful.

Don't get the wrong idea from this. Some people immediately think bad things about reverse harem novels because many societies focus on monogamy. Some people even insult readers of these stories. This is not okay. There are people who actually live like the characters in these stories. There are people who want this. There are certain societies where this is okay. This is not a radical idea. It is normal in many places. I think that needed to be established before this went any farther.

But why am I talking about this? Well, I became obsessed with the Ghost Bird series (still am) and stumbled across a Facebook group for the series. I joined it, and that led me to another FB group for Reverse Harem stories. And I have found a lot of stories that sound AMAZING through this group.

Also, it made me realize that I'm kind of writing a story like this. Now, it's not 8 guys and 1 girl. It's only 2 guys and a girl. But finding this group made me feel even more comfortable writing what I want to write. For this story, having just one guy did not seem right. There needed to be another guy involved. And I kind of love my story right now.

I am currently obsessing over this genre (theme? trope?). I've bought three kindle books and searched Amazon high and low for more to add to my wish list. This is such a unique idea, reverse harem, and I am so excited to continue reading more and more books.

I think I just needed to write this discussion for myself, even if nobody else cares. I did want to talk about it, and maybe help others discover RH.

~

Thanks for reading

xoxo

Lauren

October 2016 Wrap-Up & Haul

Okay, so October wasn't the best reading month for me. But every book I did read was a high rating book. I don't have reviews for all of these, but I will say a sentence or two about my thoughts if I don't.

1. Title: Stalking Jack the Ripper
    Author: Kerri Maniscalco
    Rating: 5/5 stars

This is one of my absolute favorite books of this year. It had my attention since I first heard the title of it and I sped through reading this. I loved the characters, I loved the setting, and I loved the mystery. I'm so excited this is a trilogy so that I can have more of these characters.

2. Title: Keleana: L'assassineuse

    Author: Sarah J. Maas

    Rating: Infinity Stars

I read ToG in French for my AP French class and absolutely enjoyed it. I love seeing my favorite book series in a language I'm trying to learn. And just rereading this book was fun in itself.

3. Title: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

    Author: Ransom Riggs

    Rating: 4/5 stars

I buddy read this with one of my teachers in preparation for the upcoming movie. I really enjoyed this book, but I did think that some things could have been different. I am planning on seeing the movie and reading the rest of the trilogy.

4. Title: Gemina

    Author: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

    Rating: Infinity Stars

    Review: http://laurensboookshelf.blogspot.com/2016/08/lets-talk-gemina-post-on-october-18.html

I did really enjoy the books I read this month. I wish that I had been able to read more, but my life is so busy and I'm lucky to have had time to read these. But anyways, now onto all the books I hauled this month...

I only bought 3, and they were all preordered. I'm pretty proud of myself, but at the same time, I know it was because I don't have a new job yet and I only budgeted up to this week. I have to save my money until I get another job. So for now, I'm only buying preorders until Christmas or I have a new job. 

The first book I bought this month was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Illustrated by J.K. Rowling and Jim Kay. 

It's absolutely gorgeous. I don't know if I like the first or second illustrated edition better, but I love them both. I am so excited to reread HP through these illustrated editions every year.

The next book I bought was Midnight Hour by C.C. Hunter. 

This is the last book to be released in the Shadow Falls world. I am so excited to finish reading all the books in this world and the cover for this one is stunning!

The last book I bought was Gemina by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff.

This was my book of the month for October and I loved it. I had actually read from an ARC that I got at BookCon, but of course I had to have the finished edition with all the completed art. This book killed my feels and I am so excited for the next one. All the art in it was amazing! 

~

Thanks for reading

xoxo

Lauren