Top Ten Tuesday- Book Worlds I Would/ Would Never Want To Live In

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.  This week's topic is: Bookish Worlds I'd Want to/ Never Want to Live In.  I've picked three bookish worlds I would want to live in and three worlds I wouldn't want to live in.

I WOULD Want to Live In:

Warcross by Marie Lu - I was torn between putting this or Ready Player One on this list.  I chose Warcross because the virtual reality has a more modern feel to it, and I really liked the VR in it.

The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare - I really like the Shadowhunter world that Cassandra Clare has established and I think it'd be great to be a shadowhunter.

Harry Potter by J.K Rowling - How can this list be complete without Harry Potter? I think everyone, no matter what age, has probably imagined themselves living like a Hogwarts student.

I WOULD NEVER Want to Live In:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - An obvious pick for this topic because, seriously, who would want to live in this world?

Unwind by Neal Shusterman - A world where teenagers get harvested for their body parts is a very scary world.  It really chills me to imagine living in this world.

The Passage by Justin Cronin - A post apocalyptic series where humanity is on the brink of extinction because of a deadly virus that turned people into these rabid vampire things.  This would be another scary world to live in. 

What book world would you want to live in? Or what one would you never want to live in? 

Friday Book Excerpts: To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

Today I'll be sharing some book excerpts with these bookish features:

➢Book Beginnings is a weekly feature (hosted by Rose City Reader) where you post the first sentence of the book you're currently reading. 

➢The Friday 56 is a weekly feature (hosted by Freda's Voice) where you get a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on ereader) then post a interesting sentence from that page with no spoilers. 

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

Blurb:

Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most—a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.

The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?

Beginning:

I have a heart for every year I've been alive.

Friday 56 (page 56 on my ereader):

"Look at you," he whispers. "My monster, come to find me."

My Thoughts:

The opening line definitely hooked me into this book, it's so intriguing.  I'm currently around halfway through this book and I like it so far.

Have you read To Kill a Kingdom? What are your thoughts on the quotes from it?

Top Ten Tuesday- Book Titles With Character Names In Them

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.  This week's topic is: Best Character Names.  I decided to put my own spin on the topic by doing Books With Character Names in the Title. 

Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer book 1) by Laini Taylor

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles book 1) by Marissa Meyer

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

State of Sorrow (Sorrow book 1) by Melinda Salisbury

Thinking of the books for this topic made me realise there are a lot of book titles that feature the character's name.

What do you think of these book titles with the characters names in them?

Friday Book Excerpts: Omens by Kelley Armstrong

Today I'll be sharing some book excerpts with these bookish features:

➣ Book Beginnings is a weekly feature (hosted by Rose City Reader) where you post the first sentence of the book you're currently reading. 

➣ The Friday 56 is a weekly feature (hosted by Freda's Voice) where you get a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on ereader) then post a interesting sentence from that page with no spoilers. 

Omens (Cainsville book 1) by Kelley Armstrong

Blurb:

Twenty-four-year-old Olivia Taylor Jones has the perfect life. The only daughter of a wealthy, prominent Chicago family, she has an Ivy League education, pursues volunteerism and philanthropy, and is engaged to a handsome young tech firm CEO with political ambitions.

But Olivia’s world is shattered when she learns that she’s adopted. Her real parents? Todd and Pamela Larsen, notorious serial killers serving a life sentence. When the news brings a maelstrom of unwanted publicity to her adopted family and fiancé, Olivia decides to find out the truth about the Larsens.

Olivia ends up in the small town of Cainsville, Illinois, an old and cloistered community that takes a particular interest in both Olivia and her efforts to uncover her birth parents’ past.

Aided by her mother’s former lawyer, Gabriel Walsh, Olivia focuses on the Larsens’ last crime, the one her birth mother swears will prove their innocence. But as she and Gabriel start investigating the case, Olivia finds herself drawing on abilities that have remained hidden since her childhood, gifts that make her both a valuable addition to Cainsville and deeply vulnerable to unknown enemies. Because there are darker secrets behind her new home and powers lurking in the shadows that have their own plans for her.

Beginning:

Prologue - Eden crawled into the living room, the rough carpet burning her chubby knees and hands.  As boots slapped the hall floor, she went still, holding her breath. Had he heard her?

Friday 56:

I needed to make choices for me, whoever I was.  I'd say I needed to find myself, if that didn't sound like I was heading into the Himalayas, taking only a backpack stuffed with angst and clean underwear. 

My Thoughts:

I first read Omens a few years ago and recently I decided to reread it to refresh myself on the details of it before I continue with the rest of the series.  The first lines are intriguing and make you wonder: Why's she hiding? And who exactly is he? 

Have you read Omens? What do you think of the excerpts from it?

Book Review: The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven

Book: The Exact Opposite of Okay
Author: Laura Steven
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Feminism

Izzy O'Neill here! Impoverished orphan, aspiring comedian and Slut Extraordinaire, if the gossip sites are anything to go by . . . 

Izzy never expected to be eighteen and internationally reviled. But when explicit photos involving her, a politician's son and a garden bench are published online, the trolls set out to take her apart. Armed with best friend Ajita and a metric ton of nachos, she tries to laugh it off - but as the daily slut-shaming intensifies, she soon learns the way the world treats teenage girls is not okay. It's the Exact Opposite of Okay. - Quoted from Goodreads

My Rating: 5/5 STARS

My Review: 

I loved The Exact Opposite of Okay and it's now one of my favourite books of the year.

This book is about Izzy who has had her privacy violated when pictures of her having sex with a senators son go viral.  This book is about the double standards in society and how the world treats young girls.

I loved Izzy so much.  Her humour is exactly the kind of humour I get and love, it made me laugh so many times throughout this book.  Izzy is a teenager who likes to have sex.  I know that shouldn't be a shocker but considering a lot of YA books out there, it kind of is.  As much as I love YA, there is definitely a lack of female characters who embrace their own sexuality and are confident about it so it was really refreshing to read about a character like Izzy.

Izzy is such a strong character and that's why it was heart breaking to read her having doubts about herself.  From the very beginning of The Exact Opposite of Okay Izzy is sure of her decisions and knows she did nothing wrong but because of the pressure of other people's judgement she does start to doubt herself and I felt so angry at the characters in this book who made her feel that way.

I loved Ajita and Izzy's friendship.  I liked how they supported each other and I loved their witty banter with each other.  I love books about strong female friendships and The Exact Opposite of Okay is one of them.  I also liked Izzy's relationship with her grandmother, it was an interesting relationship dynamic.  

Overall I loved this book.  Izzy is an unforgettable character and The Exact Opposite of Okay makes you really question things that need to be questioned.  There is many different topics raised in this book and it really leaves a lasting impression on you.  The writing is very quotable and I would highly recommend reading it.

Top Ten Tuesday - Books With My Favourite Colour On The Cover

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.  This week's topic is: Books With My Favourite Colour On The Cover.  

My favourite colour is: 

So here are eight books with the colour pink on the cover.

Dreamin Sun vol 1 by Ichigo Takano

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

Sand Chronicles Vol 2 by Hinako Ashihara

The Iron Queen (The Iron Fey book 3) by Julie Kagawa 

The Shadow Reader (Shadow Reader book 1) by Sandy Williams

Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky book 1) by Veronica Rossi

Pretties (Uglies book 2) by Scott Westerfeld

The Haunted (The Hollow book 2) by Jessica Verday

What is some of your favourite book covers that include your favourite colour?

Friday Book Excerpts: The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven

Today I'll be sharing some book excerpts with these bookish features:

➣Book Beginnings is a weekly feature (hosted by Rose City Reader) where you post the first sentence of the book you're currently reading. 

➣ The Friday 56 is a weekly feature (hosted by Freda's Voice) where you get a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on ereader) then post an interesting sentence from that page with no spoilers. 

The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven

Blurb:

Izzy O'Neill here! Impoverished orphan, aspiring comedian and Slut Extraordinaire, if the gossip sites are anything to go by . . . 

Izzy never expected to be eighteen and internationally reviled. But when explicit photos involving her, a politician's son and a garden bench are published online, the trolls set out to take her apart. Armed with best friend Ajita and a metric ton of nachos, she tries to laugh it off - but as the daily slut-shaming intensifies, she soon learns the way the world treats teenage girls is not okay. It's the Exact Opposite of Okay.

Beginning:

Look, you probably bought this book because you read the blurb about how I'm an impoverished orphan and also at the heart of a national slut-shaming scandal, and you thought, Oh great, this is just the kind of heart-wrenching tale I need to feel better about my own life, but seriously, you have to relax.  I am not some pitiful Oliver-Twist-meets-Kim-Kardashian-type figure.  If you're seeking a nice cathartic cry, I'm not your girl.

The Friday 56 (56 % on my ereader):

Maybe it's because it perpetuates that uncomfortable sensation of being watched and judged by a faceless entity.

My Thoughts:

I was intrigued by the first line of this book because it opens up with the main character speaking directly to the reader which really drew me into the story.  I'm still currently reading this book and I have to say so far I'm really loving it and think it will be one of my favourite books of the year.  

  

Have you read The Exact Opposite of Okay? What do you think of the excerpts from it?

April 2018 Wrap Up

Obsidio (The Illuminae Files book 3) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff - 5/5 STARS

This is such a great action packed and amazingly formatted series.  Obsidio was a great finale to the series and I'm really sad it's over.

Out of the Blue by Sophie Cameron - 3/5 STARS

I found this book to be just okay.  I was interested enough in the plot to finish reading it but overall I thought it was a bit lackluster.  It wasn't as emotionally impactful as I thought it would be but I did think the ending had a lot of emotion in it and I liked that the characters were so diverse.

Silence Fallen (Mercy Thompson book 10) by Patricia Briggs - 4/5 STARS

This was another great instalment in the Mercy Thompson series.  In Silence Fallen Mercy gets kidnapped and ends up in Prague separated from Adam and the rest of the pack.  I liked how we got to read about both Mercy and Adam on their own and I found some of the new characters introduced in this one interesting.  

State of Sorrow (Sorrow book 1) by Melinda Salisbury - 4/5 STARS 

I'd heard some mixed things about this book before reading it so I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it.  I thought the political aspect of the story was very interesting and there were some twists that were really surprising.

Here are some of my bookstagram pictures for April.  You can find me at: xo_reader_kyla

What books did you read in April?