Stacking the shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews to highlight books received each week!

It feels SO good to be able to put up a Stacking the Shelves post! I haven't gotten ANYTHING for the past three weeks! So so sad, but I'm BACK this week with a few goodies I got! Woo hoo!

During the week of December 2nd - January 8th, I got...

NETGALLEY:

The Steep and Thorny Way by Cat Winters

Goodreads

Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor

Goodreads

PURCHASE:

I FINALLY got the illustrated copy of Harry Potter! It was a HUGE headache and that headache isn't over yet at this point, but hopefully Amazon makes good on their promise to refund my money to match my Black Friday price I had. At this point, I spent $70 on this book because Amazon said they'd honor my price of $7.84. If not, I'm returning that book so fast, their heads will spin.

Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard

Super excited to read these novellas. I bought the first one on my Nook, but I haven't read it yet.

TRADE:

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Thank you @AwayToAGreatRead

Black Dove White Raven by Elizabeth Wein

Thank you @ThePaige_Turner!

What kinds of goodies did you get this week?

Review: Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Publication Date: February 9th, 2016

Rating: 4 Stars

Source: eARC from Edelweiss

Pages: 384

Add it on Goodreads!

Summary (from Goodreads):

Blackbeard the pirate was known for striking fear in the hearts of the bravest of sailors. But once he was just a young man who dreamed of leaving his rigid life behind to chase adventure in faraway lands. Nothing could stop him—until he met the one girl who would change everything.

Edward "Teach" Drummond, son of one of Bristol's richest merchants, has just returned from a year-long journey on the high seas to find his life in shambles. Betrothed to a girl he doesn’t love and sick of the high society he was born into, Teach dreams only of returning to the vast ocean he’d begun to call home. There's just one problem: convincing his father to let him leave and never come back.

Following her parents' deaths, Anne Barrett is left penniless and soon to be homeless. Though she’s barely worked a day in her life, Anne is forced to take a job as a maid in the home of Master Drummond. Lonely days stretch into weeks, and Anne longs for escape. How will she ever realize her dream of sailing to Curaçao—where her mother was born—when she's stuck in England? 

From the moment Teach and Anne meet, they set the world ablaze. Drawn to each other, they’re trapped by society and their own circumstances. Faced with an impossible choice, they must decide to chase their dreams and go, or follow their hearts and stay.

Teach has just come back from a year away at sea on a merchant ship. Now that he's had his fun, his father is making him settle down and marry the girl he has been betrothed to since he was sixteen. But he came back a changed man and doesn't want the life that's set out before him. He wants a life of seafaring and adventure. I did like Teach. There were some things about him in this book that bothered me, but I feel like if Teach was someone I knew in real life, he'd be someone that is really hard to dislike. I found him overbearing at times, but he was generally kind and willing to go to great lengths for the one he loves!

Anne has been a maid in the Drummond house for five months when Teach comes home from the sea. She is the illegitimate daughter of a merchant and a slave. She has big plans to save up her pennies to afford passage on a ship to the West Indies, where her mother was from. She wants nothing more than to be free and independent. She feels like a prisoner in the Drummond household, not unlike Teach. They both seek freedom and adventure. I really like Anne. I think that she's really smart, she's not quick to trust people, and she's completely honest. She tells the whole truth in situations where, if I were her, I'd be trying to lie through my teeth! I just really liked her as a character.

I was not 100% sold on Teach and Anne's relationship right away. He showed a lot more interest in her than she showed in him. He seemed to enjoy her company as they seemed to have quite a bit in common, but even when he clearly made her feel uncomfortable, he wouldn't let her decline his requests of doing this or that with him. He would just badger her until she reluctantly agreed. Also, while he was out falling in love with Anne, he was STILL ENGAGED! Which is hypocritical of him because he looked down on another character for doing the SAME THING! But he did eventually grow on me. He cared deeply for Anne and broke down her walls and I think that they're cute together. They really didn't seem to have any real relationship drama. Which I found almost weird, I feel like there's ALWAYS relationship drama in YA books. But I guess it's kind of refreshing to find a couple who seem to always get along and trust each other entirely and without question.

The cover and summary of this book make you think that this is more of a pirate book. That is not so much the case. I spent this whole book waiting for trouble on the high seas and there was none to be found. This book is all about the events that lead up to Teach becoming Blackbeard the pirate. That's not to say that this book isn't good. Because it is. It's just not as pirate-y as one would have you believe.

I felt like there was plenty going on in this book so it never felt boring. I did find it to be pretty predictable and there was one scene in the beginning that I felt just dragged on. But other than that, I don't think I can complain about the writing. When I was reading it, I could totally picture this being a TV drama because I felt like it was written exactly the way it would be narrated on a show. Random, but I couldn't help thinking that when I was reading.

The ending of this book is most definitely a cliffhanger. Nothing is resolved at all. So I am HOPING there will be a sequel because that ending is just mean. I really don't have any kind of hope for a positive ending if there was a sequel, but it can't just end like this!!

Overall, I do recommend this book. It's more of a romance than anything, but with a promise of pirate shenanigans in a sequel. I'm not one that just loves plain old romance books, but I did really like this one. So I would recommend this book to people who like historical fiction or romance.

Discussion: Preparing for my first bookish event!

This week for my discussion post, I am not feeling particularly interesting so I'm just going to talk about my thoughts and feelings going into my FIRST BOOKISH EVENT!

Next Wednesday (weather permitting) I will be heading to St. Paul, Minnesota to go to a PassTruth Tour stop! I'm SO EXCITED! I hope that the weather cooperates because it's a 10+ hour drive for me! On Tuesday, when I get off work, I'll be driving four hours to my dad's house and then bright and early the next morning I will be driving the next 4-5 hours to the cities with my sister and my grandma! And then when we get there, I have a cousin who will drive us around the cities. I think it will probably take another hour or so to get from her house to St. Paul so yeah, it's gonna be a long trip! But it will be SO worth it in the end!

Because I get to meet Alexandra Bracken! And SHE IS MY FAVORITE EVER!

So I've never been to any kind of bookish event before. I'm not good at talking to new people so I'm kind of hideously nervous. It's a bit better now because I was talking to Tamara from tamaraniac.com and I kind of got the rundown of what to expect. It makes me SO nervous to not know what I'm doing when I go to things like that, but Tamara was super helpful.

I called the bookstore a couple days after I found out about the tour and got my books and tickets. And lucky me, I was one of the first people to get tickets so I should be right in front of the line! Sweeet! I didn't know that was how it worked until I asked, but that's relieving because I don't have to worry about my ride getting impatient waiting for this all to get over. Shouldn't be a problem now! 

I think my main problem is going to be talking to Susan and Alex. I have no idea what to say! It makes me so nervous! I mean, I can't just smile and nod and move on with it! I have to say something! I'm sure that I'm just majorly overthinking this, but I think that's my main problem.

I bought a cute tote bag from EvieSeo's society6 store just for this occasion! Since I see that everyone brings fun tote bags to events like this, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. I'm really excited about the tote.

So yeah, this is probably a really lame discussion post, but I don't wanna start 2016 off poorly with my discussions!

So, to discuss, were you nervous before your first bookish event? What was your first bookish event? Was it as nerve wracking as you made it out to be before hand? I know I'm just being a baby, but I'M SO NERVOUS! Are you excited to read my future discussion post on what the event was actually like for me?

Waiting on Wednesday (#30)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm waiting on...

The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye

The Crown's Game #1

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Publication Date: May 17th, 2016

Pages: 416

Add it on Goodreads!

Summary (from Goodreads):

Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the Tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.

And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the Tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.

Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has?

For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with—beautiful, whip smart, imaginative—and he can’t stop thinking about her.

And when Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love . . . or be killed himself.

As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear . . . the Crown’s Game is not one to lose.

This book sounds so good! What books are you guys waiting for this week?

December 2015 Wrap Up

Review

This is the second book in the Their Dead Lives series by Zack Scott. This book really impressed me! The first one started to feel like it was dragging because it was so long. This one was probably equally long, but it never felt like it was dragging. And my least favorite character got what was coming to her. YES! If anyone out there reading this is interested in books about the zombie apocalypse, let me know! The author is looking for more people to review the books! I don't think that you'll be making a poor decision by reading them!

Review

Oh. My. God. I was SO pumped to have gotten my hands on this one! I couldn't believe it! It didn't wow me as much as I thought that it would (but it was my #1 most anticipated book of 2016 and I totally hugely hyped it up to myself way more than it was already hyped), but it was still SO ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! The detail and world building was so completely awesome. I am so excited that I get to go meet Alex Bracken in St. Paul at the PassTruth Tour stop! SO EXCITED!!

Review

I FINALLY got this one read! I can't believe it took me so long! I wish I would have gotten to this one sooner! I really enjoyed it! I love me some Nina and Matthias! I can't wait for the sequel to this book to come out!

Review to come

This book was a lot less pirate-y than I was led to believe, but I really enjoyed it! The ending is kind of a brutal cliffhanger and as far as I know there isn't a sequel. Hopefully that changes because mean.

DNF Review

I did not finish this book. I liked the idea of it, it sounds like a fantastic book, but the romance made me cringe and I just didn't want to continue. I might continue at a later time, but not anytime soon.

Review to come

I was super excited about this book. I was even more excited when I scored an ARC! I enjoy reading books about rape culture, and that is what I thought this one would be about, but really, this book supremely disappointed me. It wasn't a HORRIBLE book, but really, it wasn't what I thought it would be at all and I didn't really care for any of the characters except really one. 

I started Arrows in December, but there isn't anyway that I'm going to end up finishing it! I have spent the past week cleaning my house because I'm having company this weekend! So this will end up being my first read of 2016!!

That's what I managed to read this month! I think I could have done better, but this month was also pretty busy! I started watching Game of Thrones! It's SO GOOD!!! I borrowed seasons one and two from a friend. I also borrowed seasons one and two of Arrow, but ugh, I can't even bring myself to watch it because I want it to be more Game of Thrones! I was going to try and borrow more seasons when I went home for Christmas, but I forgot the first two seasons at my house. :( I need more of that even though I'm confident it will just end in heartbreak!

I have totally added the Game of Thrones books to my TBR after watching that!

Christmas was awesome! I was supposed to stay at my house with my boyfriend this year since we spent Christmas with my family last year. But my mom came home for Christmas for the first time since 2006. So on Christmas Eve I got to leave work early and make the four hour drive home to my dad's! I went to my grandma's shortly after I got home and got to see my dad's side of the family and got another one of my grandma's completely random gifts! She got my sister and I each some fancy clothes hangers, one random tupperware container, and a pair of knitted/crocheted slippers. The next day I got to go to my other grandma's house and see my mom and the other side of my family. It was so nice to see everyone.

I got one book for Christmas and it was a Barnes and Noble leather-bound edition of Grimm's Fairytales. Other than that I didn't get any books, but I did get a whole lot of Harry Potter and Yoshi goodies which is just as good! Because I love me some Yoshi! I got Yoshi's Wooly World, a Yoshi pillow pet, and a pink Yoshi amiibo.

Then for New Year's my dad and my sister came to my house to exchange Christmas gifts with my boyfriend since he didn't go home with me for Christmas. Overall, it was pretty much awesome.

***

I'm really excited for 2016. I have already made a post on my personal resolutions for the year, but I didn't even think about making blogging goals until I saw everyone else doing it! So here are a few things that I came up with off the top of my head that I actually want to do blog-wise in 2016.

I think that I am going to do away with Waiting on Wednesday. I saw Nori's poll on twitter and it seemed that most people didn't read them so I guess I could probably come up with something more worthwhile to post. I might not do away with it right away, but eventually I think I'm going to.

I want to post more reviews. I already post reviews for all the books I read. I guess I just need to get reading so I can get those reviews built up and I won't have to worry!

I want to host a blog event. I have an idea for an elaborate read along that I want to do with ways to participate so that people who maybe don't have time in their busy schedules to read the books can still join in the fun. I hope it all works out because it already feels like a lot of work and I'm only thinking about it.

I want to make more blog friends. I feel like I just lurk on twitter and don't really talk to people much. Like even during twitter chats, I half feel like I wait for people to reply to me. But in my own defense, I ALWAYS seem to be doing something else during chats. I'm doing Nori's commenting challenge so I think that that will help out with this goal! 

What are some of your blogging goals for the new year? And what was your favorite book that you read in December? PASSENGER!!! <3