Hello, bookworms! Long time, no see! You may have noticed that I haven't been super active on my blog this past year. I think I did good in like.. January and that was it. I guess I just wasn't feeling it. I did try out doing booktube instead of blogging this year, but, to be quite honest, I think that I am entirely too boring to be on booktube.

So, if you happened to stumble across my channel at any point, I did monthly wrap ups on there, but I haven't really done any on here. I also haven't written reviews for a few of these, so I decided to do kind of a yearly wrap up for the books that I have read this year if you were curious for any reason.

1. Victor Down and the WWII Ghost Army by Enigma Alberti and Scott Wegener

2. Between the Blade and the Heart by Amanda Hocking (DNF)

3. Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp

4. Shadowsong by S. Jae-Jones (DNF)

5. The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows

6. Broken Beautiful Hearts by Kami Garcia

7. The Mirror King by Jodi Meadows

8. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

9. The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

10. The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco

11. Of Metal and Wishes by Sarah Fine

12. Of Dreams and Rust by Sarah Fine

13. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (DNF)

14. Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

15. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

16. Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

17. Sailor Moon vol. 2 by Naoko Takeuchi

18. The Legend of Zelda: Legendary Edition vol. 2: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages by Akira Himekawa

19. To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

20. The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

21. Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

22. The Rising Dark by Alexandra Bracken

23. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

24. In Time by Alexandra Bracken

25. Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody

26. Seafire by Natalie C. Parker

27. Sparks Rise by Alexandra Bracken

28. Wildcat by JP Harker

29. Over Raging Tides by Jennifer Ellison

30. Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken

31. These Rebel Waves by Sara Raasch (DNF)

32. In the Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken

33. Beyond the Night by Alexandra Bracken

34. The Darkest Legacy by Alexandra Bracken

35. They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

36. Monstress vol. 1: Awakening by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

37. Lengths for Love by CS Patra (DNF)

38. Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic vol. 1 by Shinobu Ohtaka

39. Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart

40. Leaping Wolf by JP Harker

41. Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas

42. Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco

43. Give the Dark My Love by Beth Revis

44. I Hate Everyone But You by Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin
45. Toil and Trouble by Jessica Spotswood
46. White Stag by Kara Barbieri

I didn't really do very well on my challenges for the year. My reading goal was 75 books, as you can see, I didn't hit that. Honestly, I really tapered out at the end of the year because I am entirely too busy binge watching medical dramas right now to read.

I was also going to participate in the Beat the Backlist and Series-A-Month challenges. I started off strong on Series-A-Month, but yeah, that didn't last long.

I also wanted to read more beyond just YA novels. And... I didn't really do a very good job at READING different things, but I did a fair job at BUYING different things. So maybe this will be a better goal for 2019.

Did you accomplish your 2018 goals? Let me know in the comments!

Review // Give the Dark My Love by Beth Revis

Give the Dark My Love by Beth Revis

Give the Dark My Love #1

Publisher: Razorbill

Publication Date: September 25th, 2018

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Source: Purchase from Emma @ Miss Print

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 368

Add it on Goodreads!

Summary (from Goodreads):

When seventeen-year-old Nedra Brysstain leaves her home in the rural, northern territories of Lunar Island to attend the prestigious Yugen Academy, she has only one goal in mind: learn the trade of medicinal alchemy. A scholarship student matriculating with the children of Lunar Island's wealthiest and most powerful families, Nedra doesn't quite fit in with the other kids at Yugen, who all look down on her. 

All, except for Greggori "Grey" Astor. Grey is immediately taken by the brilliant and stubborn Nedra, who he notices is especially invested in her studies. And that's for a good reason: a deadly plague has been sweeping through the North, and it's making its way toward the cities. With her family's life--and the lives of all of Lunar Island's citizens--on the line, Nedra is determined to find a cure for the plague. 

Grey and Nedra continue to grow closer, but as the sickness spreads and the body count rises, Nedra becomes desperate to find a cure. Soon, she finds herself diving into alchemy's most dangerous corners--and when she turns to the most forbidden practice of all, necromancy, even Grey might not be able to pull her from the darkness.

So, Give the Dark My Love is a book that I was really looking forward to because I have relatively recently just fallen in love with books that deal with necromancy. I feel like it was maybe a little bit disappointing, but I still enjoyed it.

Basically Give the Dark My Love is about a girl named Nedra who comes from the poorer side of Lunar Island. She receives a scholarship to study medicinal alchemy at the prestigious Yugen Academy. She wants to help stop the Wasting Death, a plague that has been sweeping through poorer areas of Lunar Island. When normal channels don't work in the slightest to help stop the plague, Nedra turns to necromancy to find the cure.

Let's start with the characters. I am definitely a character driven reader and I feel like the characters in this book kind of left a lot to be desired. I don't feel like I really knew any of the characters in this book. Nedra has such a single minded focus on researching the plague and trying to find a cure that it doesn't feel like there is anything else to her personality. When she is with her family or reminiscing on things she did with her family, she definitely feels like more of a whole person, but the times in this book where she gets to be with her family are so scarce that it doesn't really matter.

The other POV character (and the love interest) is Grey. He is also kind of a boring character and I also feel like I don't really know anything about him. I know he doesn't really want to be anything like his father. And that's really all I could tell you about him.

There are a couple other characters I want to talk about. One is Grey's friend Tomus. I think he's actually like his cousin or something. From Nedra's first day in Yugen, he has something against her and is always mean to her. I feel like the only reason he doesn't like her is because she's poor and because she didn't know where everyone sat when she first showed up to class. And he is just kinda vicious to her every time he sees her and there really isn't ever a reason. Nothing ever comes of it so it feels completely pointless to include him being SO rude at every turn? Maybe something will come of it in the future of the series? I don't know.

Finally, the villain. I will admit that I was reading this book fairly late into the night when I figured out who the real villain was in the book so I might have forgotten, but I don't remember if the book ever stated their motivation for why they were doing what they were doing? Maybe it was related to the rebellion against the Empire that seemed to be gaining steam (but also didn't feel very important to me in this book?). I don't remember, I don't usually stay up that late reading.

Now, let's move onto the romance. It definitely felt like instalove and I honestly don't know what Nedra and Grey saw in each other? Their relationship just felt weird to me. They don't really ever seem to learn anything about each other or know anything about each other? I don't know why they like each other. I literally did not care one bit about the romance.

Other things I noticed, I have absolutely no idea how much time passed in this book. I think that kind of quite a bit of time may have gone by, but it didn't really feel like that long? 

Regarding the plague, it shows all these people dying of the plague and mentions that people CAN survive it, but I feel like there is one random person that is mentioned that survived it and they're not an important character. I feel like there should have been more people that survived. Also, it seems like sometimes people can have this plague and last AGES, other people seem to be almost fine one minute and dead the next. I don't know, it just didn't feel consistent??

Okay, and here is the last thing that I can think of that I don't know if I really liked. I have only read two other stories that deal with necromancy, but I feel like I didn't really like how Nedra viewed the people she raised? Granted, she only raises people that want to come back, but it seems like she views them as her property. ***Spoiler-y content (highlight to view): I think that when she raises the dead, they still have their souls, but when her sister dies and she's trying to finish her iron crucible, she accidentally uses her sister's soul as a sacrifice to create it. So when she raises her sister's body, that's all it is. It's basically just a body that she can control and heal through alchemy. It feels selfish to me that she would keep her sister's empty shell around like that. I didn't like that.*** I guess all of this could just be the extent of necromancy in this world, but in the other stories that I know of, the dead still have some kind of autonomy. But in this story, like they can roam around and what not, but when she wants to, Nedra can control them like robots programmed to do her bidding as she wills.

I am interested to see where this series will go because I did enjoy the story. I just feel like there needs to be a lot more. I need to know more about the characters and their motivations. I feel like the only basis for a sequel is a weak rebellion brewing and the fact that Nedra won't return from the dark side now that the plague is figured out because she got a taste of necromancy and doesn't want to give it up. But dang it, I want to know what Nedra is going to do with her army of plague victims.

Have you read this book yet? What did you think of it?

Review // I Hate Everyone But You by Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin

I Hate Everyone But You by Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Publication Date: September 5th, 2017

Rating: 3 Stars

Source: Purchase

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 344

Add it on Goodreads!

Summary (from Goodreads):

Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin’s I Hate Everyone But You is a hilarious and heartfelt debut novel about new beginnings, love and heartbreak, and ultimately the power of friendship.

Dear Best Friend,

I can already tell that I will hate everyone but you.

Sincerely, 

Ava Helmer

(that brunette who won’t leave you alone)

We're still in the same room, you weirdo.

Stop crying.

G

So begins a series of texts and emails sent between two best friends, Ava and Gen, as they head off to their first semesters of college on opposite sides of the country. From first loves to weird roommates, heartbreak, self-discovery, coming out and mental health, the two of them document every wild and awkward moment to each other. But as each changes and grows into her new life, will their friendship be able to survive the distance?

I Hate Everyone But You is the only book that I read in November and also I basically read it by complete accident. I had been kind of curious about this book since I heard about it because it's told entirely through emails and text messages between best friends who are going to college on opposite coasts. Not curious enough to buy it full price, but I found it for $2 at a thrift store so I picked it up.

I wasn't intending to read it anytime soon, I picked it up to flip through the pages and then put it in its eternal resting place on my bookshelf. But I flipped through the first few pages and got sucked into it.

That's not to say that I loved this book or anything, but I was interested to see how this story went. 

The story follows two best friends, Ava and Gen, who are going to college on opposite sides of the country. It basically tells of their adventures with making new friends and exploring new romances and what not.

Ava has some kind of mental illness, I think the book said that she has OCD, but I don't remember because I was rocketing through this book so fast. She's getting used to a new therapist at college and dealing with new problems and what not. She isn't as open to making new friends in college, she seems to cling as best she can to Gen through their digital correspondences. I don't really know what I  thought of Ava, but I think that getting to know her through what she writes back and forth to Gen wasn't the best way. She was kind of needy and I feel like it wouldn't have come across so much if this book was told in a different way.

Gen seems to be really blossoming in college. She's making lots of new friends in college and going to parties. A big part of her college experience is exploring her sexuality. It's also a thing that causes a lot of problems in Ava and Gen's relationships because as she is telling Ava about her romantic and sexual partners, Ava is continually trying to give Gen a label. Gen doesn't know what to label herself as, at this point she's just trying to figure herself out and have fun. But Ava needs things to be more black and white and it causes several fights between them because Ava won't stop labeling Gen and asking insensitive questions/making insensitive comments. It's pretty much always called out by Gen, but still, it got old.

There is a lot of romance in this book. Gen has several intimate partners throughout this book, but I feel like the main one is with her TA/professor, Charlotte. I feel like this isn't a super appropriate romance and neither does Ava. And Charlotte has been intimate with at least two other students. Ava's disapproval of this relationship is also a catalyst for several arguments. The other prominent romance for Gen is with her rival at the paper, Alex. Alex is trans and is the other person competing for the job at the school paper that Gen is trying to get. So, this is kind of a hate to love relationship. I'm not really sure what I think about this relationship. I feel like I liked Alex more than I liked Gen?? I don't know.

Ava is out there at her own college, having her own romances, but I also don't really like her romance. I feel like she just wants a boyfriend to have a boyfriend and makes herself like the first boy that shows any interest in her? And nothing that they do together feels like something that she actually wants, but something that she does because it's something that you're "supposed" to do in a relationship. Like, he doesn't force her or anything, but it doesn't feel romantic at all. I feel like she needed to work on some things in her life before she went looking for romance.

It was interesting to see these girls try to maintain the same level of friendship over long distance and I feel like I was interested in their lives in the same way I'm interested when I come across reality tv. I was kind of just in it to see what kind of drama ensued.

Overall, I feel like this book had it's ups and downs. I feel like there was a lot of representation in this book. There was at least mental illness and queer rep (I think at one point Gen went with queer as her label, but I don't remember if it stuck or if I'm making this all up). I can't speak to whether it's good or not. I do know that when I was perusing Goodreads reviews, someone (who never finished the book so idk if this ends up "ok" or not) said they were pissed that the trans character was made out to be the villain in the story because he is Gen's rival at the paper. I liked Gen a lot more than I liked Ava, but I loved how strong their friendship was being able to endure the changes going on in their lives and the long distance.

Have you read this book yet? What did you think?

Review // Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco

Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco

Stalking Jack the Ripper #3

Publisher: JIMMY Patterson

Publication Date: September 18th, 2018

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Source: Purchase

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 416

Add it on Goodreads!

Summary (from Goodreads):

In this third installment in the #1 bestselling Stalking Jack the Ripper series, a luxurious ocean liner becomes a floating prison of scandal, madness, and horror when passengers are murdered one by one…with nowhere to run from the killer. . 

Audrey Rose Wadsworth and her partner-in-crime-investigation, Thomas Cresswell, are en route to New York to help solve another blood-soaked mystery. Embarking on a week-long voyage across the Atlantic on the opulent RMS Etruria, they’re delighted to discover a traveling troupe of circus performers, fortune tellers, and a certain charismatic young escape artist entertaining the first-class passengers nightly.

But then, privileged young women begin to go missing without explanation, and a series of brutal slayings shocks the entire ship. The strange and disturbing influence of the Moonlight Carnival pervades the decks as the murders grow ever more freakish, with nowhere to escape except the unforgiving sea. It’s up to Audrey Rose and Thomas to piece together the gruesome investigation as even more passengers die before reaching their destination. But with clues to the next victim pointing to someone she loves, can Audrey Rose unravel the mystery before the killer’s horrifying finale?

So, I'm going to start this review off by saying that I absolutely adore this series with my whole heart. But this one was not my favorite. I feel like this is the book in the series that is suffering from sequel slump.

This book picks up shortly after the end of Hunting Prince Dracula. Audrey Rose, Thomas, and Audrey's Uncle are on the RMS Etruria on their way to America to solve a case. But on their trip, they wind up with a new case to solve as the bodies of young women start turning up during the evening carnival performances. And it looks like someone in the carnival is the killer, but they have to figure out who it is before they arrive in America and the killer gets away.

I am not 100% sure why this book didn't so much do it for me like the other two did.

I feel like Audrey Rose taking Mephistopheles up on his midnight bargain was really out of character for her. The only things that she seemed to truly think through in this book were in dealing with the bodies and sorting through the evidence and clues they found.

I feel like Thomas was just really unimportant in this book? Like, I feel like he didn't offer anything serious in this one? I don't remember the first two books super well, but I don't remember thinking that he was basically just comic relief in them. Because of Audrey Rose's bargain with Mephistopheles, she couldn't really hang out with him all that much and it seemed like when she got a moment with him, Mephistopheles showed up and took her away for something or other.

Now, let's get to the romance. I went into this book thinking that Audrey Rose and Thomas were a ROCK SOLID PAIR. I saw people talking about how there was a love triangle in this book and I was like..

What is your definition of a love triangle, people?!

But holy crap, there was a love triangle in this book. Like, in all reality, I can see why Audrey Rose felt the way she did in this book. But at the same time... No. I feel like she never should have ended up in the situation to begin with because it just seemed so... wrong for her to do. Also, they are perfect together. Like, honestly, Thomas deserves more than this.

Beyond that, some of the thought processes in this book felt repetitive to me. I feel like there were parts where I was confused on what exactly was happening, but that could be because I was reading this book so fast because I wanted to finish one of my spookathon books DURING spookathon.

But on the plus side, Audrey Rose was still her badass, feminist self. I loved seeing her and her cousin Liza interact. I liked seeing her working her magic. Thomas was still his same shamelessly flirty, ridiculous self. The mystery was interesting and it was interesting to see how it all connected in the end.

I liked the carnival aspect of the book. I liked the performers. It took me a bit to warm up to Mephistopheles because he was always in the way of my ship. I feel like based on the name of this book, Houdini should have been a bigger part of the story. Like Stalking Jack the Ripper was about the Ripper murders, Hunting Prince Dracula was a good name for a book that took place in Dracula's castle and was about murders reminiscent of a vampire attack. But Escaping from Houdini just doesn't seem super fitting after finishing the book.

Overall, I did enjoy this book, I loved seeing Audrey Rose and Thomas again and seeing them work their magic to solve a case, but this was definitely my least favorite in the series so far. I will definitely revisit that thought next year when the last book comes out and I do a full reread though! Maybe if I take more time to read it, it will turn out better for me.

Have you read Escaping from Houdini yet? What did you think of it?

Review // Leaping Wolf by JP Harker

Leaping Wolf by JP Harker

Caledon Saga #2

Publisher: JPH

Publication Date: June 9th, 2017

Rating: 4 Stars

Source: Author

Format: Paperback

Pages: 604

Add it on Goodreads!

Summary (from Goodreads):

Lepidus is defeated and Rhianwyn’s precious Caledon is at peace, but still Gawan of the Gorvicae is troubled. What future is there for men like him in a world with no more need for warriors? With his tribe saved he knows that he ought to be contented, but more and more he finds himself dwelling on his past, and the life he abandoned for what he thought was a greater duty. Though amends for that will have to wait as, even as the alliance of tribes is formed, the Caledon seems ready to collapse. Rhianwyn is struggling for control, Gawan’s own tribe is leaderless, and with unexpected enemies arising from the south, Gawan suspects the time for warriors may not be over yet...

Leaping Wolf picks right back up where Wildcat left off. The battle at Second Nantwyn is over and Lepidus is defeated. The warriors of the Caledon are headed back to Bryngarth to deal with funerals, picking new Chieftains, and worrying about what they're going to do with themselves if they can't fight each other anymore.

They don't have to worry about this for long though because the Chieftain of one of the Caledon tribes is murdered and the warriors are needed once again.

Where Wildcat felt like it dealt more so with Gaian politics, this book seems to focus more on tribal and intertribal politics. You get to see how the Caderyn hold trials for people accused of crimes and how they decide things. You get to see the Gorvicae hold a moot to choose a new Chieftain. Since the Caledon is such a new thing, you get to see how they kind of try to include other tribes in their decision making now. It was all very interesting.

There is so much more to this book than what you get in the synopsis. It's so vague! I feel like I got to the end of what I was expecting to find in this book and there was so much book left! And I didn't know what to expect from it. Not a complaint, more of an observation. I personally prefer to not know too much about the book I'm going into.

This book mostly follows Gawan. I wasn't really sure how I felt about this in the beginning just because I didn't particularly like him that much in the first book. I thought he was kind of a grumpy butthead, but he really grew on me throughout this book. He's really reasonable and values honor. He is dealing with a lot of feelings in this book. I liked understanding what was going on in his head.

There is still a lot of Rhianwyn in this book, which I liked. I really liked Rhia and how she always tries to make the best decisions for her tribe and for the Caledon as a whole. She makes some tough decisions in this book.

There is a bit of romance in this book, but it either ends poorly or is unrequited. I am not hopeful for happily ever afters in this series at this point. I just hope that the characters I like come out alive! D:

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I feel like it was a solid sequel. Once again, there was a lot of internal stuff going on with the characters, which made it feel a bit slow just because I feel like that isn't something I notice in the books I usually read.

It made me like characters I didn't particularly care for, which always feels like a big plus to me. I kind of predicted which of the potential Gorvicae Cheiftains was working with the shady guys. I'm really excited to read the next one because I want to know what kind of shady business these guys are up to.

Also, this book hurt my feelings twice. I got a little teary-eyed a couple times and honestly, it's so unfair. Marius deserves better than this!

If you haven't read Wildcat yet, you totally should and then you should come and talk to me about it!