Glimpses Of My Books

Savana's Instagram pic of the  prize won from  Glimpses's of Me  giveaway Hello sunnies 😎 Another Sunday another wonderful guest blogger! who is excited? I am!  Our Guest Blogger this week is the lovely Savana at The Biblio Life ! I met this wonderful girl after she won a giveaway I hosted on my bookstagram. After that we started chatting and I have grown to love her as a person and as a bookstagramer. Her feed is stunning!  Savana's favorite read in 2017 was Caraval by Stephanie Garber  and she has kindly agreed to share her review of it here in Glimpses of my Books. One of the many beautiful things about books is that there is a book for everyone. As the saying goes "If you don't like reading you haven't found the right book yet".  I say that because although I don't think Caraval was terrible, I did no love it. I gave it an average 3 stars. If you would like to read (reread) my review click  here   pic ...

Wicked like a wildfire revolves around twin sisters Iris and Lina, brought up by their single mother. They have magic, or 'gleam' as they call it for the most part. All the woman in their bloodline can manipulate beauty. Their mother makes them hide theirs because of a curse. But one day she is struck down and the girls must now go and find out the truth and a way to bring their mother back. I am going to be honest and say that even when I read the blurb I was already thinking it sounded far to generic. Change the 'gleam' for a different sort of power, twin sisters to just sisters or friends, and there is a long list of books that follow that exact same story. That in itself is not bad, 'common stories' are popular because they work. People like them. I like them... Wicked like a wildfire is one of those books that is, as the saying goes, 'neither here nor there' for me. It was nice, but there was nothing special about it.  The main ...

I read this book (audiobook) because I needed something to listen to while working on my paintings and a friend I trust (Erin  Instagram  ) really liked it. I had my doubts going in, contemporaries really are a hit or miss for me. And I wasn't sure about it at the beginning either, it was coming across a tad juvenile for me.  But as the story progressed I started to really enjoy it and connect with it.  Geekerella is a really sweet romance story, but it is also a 'love letter' to all of us who are a part of a fandom. Considering my obsession with Throne of Glass, The Infernal Devices and Falling Kingdoms I felt very protective of the characters fandom as well 🙂  The book is also a  Cinderella retelling, something I should have figured out by the book's name I guess... But in a way it is good I didn't know anything about the book before reading it. One because I might not have read it, and two because it would have made it all rather predictable....

I am so so so so excited to have this wonderful person here with us!  Our Guest Blogger this week is Ashley Townsend! yup! That's just for you Ashley 💗 One day (feels like forever ago now) I received this random message on my Instagram of a writer asking me if I would like to read her book. I don't often accept e-books but it sounded good, so I made an exception and said yes. A few days later the new bookish love of my life was dead 😭 I love Ashley.  I hate Ashley. Both those statements are accurate! 🤣 I am kidding... I obviously love her. But I shall remind her at every opportunity for the rest of our lives that she broke my heart 😄 The book in question on Goodreads:  Defying Shadows Her Favorite read in 2017 was Blacksouls by Nicole Castroman, and Ashley has kindly agreed to share her review of it here in Glimpses of my Books. But before we get to her review, here is a little Q&A with her and the many ways in which you can go ...

I am a big fan of Marissa Meyer and bought this the second I discovered it!  It is a graphic novel focused on our Lunar Chronicles' crew shortly after the end of Winter. The main character here is Iko, charming as well as blunt, fashion obsessed, and bad ass. As per usual! 😉 It was a wonderful and sweet read. All the characters we have grown to love make an appearance. Iko sets out to hunt the rogue wolf hybrids on earth and is darn good at it. But, even though she is good at it, she is just a droid. All her friends are seen as heroes and she is never remembered. Her feelings are often seen as a malfunction on her system. I cannot give the book a 5 though. It was too short, the story not developed enough. I felt connect to our old crew but detached from the new story line.  But... that is why I usually dislike graphic novels. This one only works for me because there are 4 books behind it giving it a solid background. 

Because I am a librarian I get asked this question a lot: What is the YA age bracket? MY answer as someone that works with kids and parents is 15+ ... but the full answer is not that straight forward. The term Young Adult means one thing in everyday society and another in the publishing world.  In psychology, young adults are anyone between the ages of 18 to around 25.  In the publishing world, young adult is a marketing term (not a genre as we often call it) and is geared to slightly older teens. Let's face it, it's a clever marketing term, not many teens like to be called a teen (because we usually refer to teens as immature and confused), so the term 'young adult' is much friendlier. It also works for older people (like myself) that enjoy that type of literature, hence YA literature does not have a maximum age. In fact, adults make up well over 40% of the YA market.  In book publishing though, the marketing categories often are:    children's...

I cannot believe the Fallen series by Lauren Kate is 8 years old already. Has it really been that long since the first book come out? Goodness... it makes me fell old 👵 I dedicated my very first blog post to this series as it was the series that got me into reading ya fantasy/supernatural, but I haven't yet read Cam's story. Between book box subscriptions, new releases, arcs, etc Cam's story (that is now two years old) was kept unread. Well, this week I finally got to it! It isn't really the 5th book in the series, it is a stand alone book on Cam. I knew that before going in, so it wasn't a surprise. It is set many may years after the Fallen series, Daniel and Luce are long gone... The story is mostly set in the present. Cam finds out that the love of his life is in Hell and he bargains with the Devil to set her free. Every now and then there are glimpses to the past, to when they met, fell in love, and Cam broke her heart.  The Fallen series is ra...

I love Matt! I fell for him in Loving Bad, needed more of him in Surviving Slater, and was very much looking forward to a book on him.  I think that if you read this as a standalone, not because you want more of Matt, you will rate it higher than I did. It was a very good New Adult book.  The main character in the book is not Matt though, and there lies the problem for me, a Matt fan... Towards the end of the book you know as much about him as you knew in the beginning. He is a tough bodyguard with a heart of gold... even though towards the end she kind of writes him a little mean. I get it though, who wouldn't on his shoes? The main character is Sarah. She is a spoiled rich girl who does't believe in love and will pretty much use boys to satisfy her needs. Her internal monologues through out the book for the most part drove me nuts. It is only towards the end, when she is miserable, that I start to like her. Maybe because she is miserable? I am heartless like th...

A Darker Shade of Magic Hello🌞 Sunnies ! In today's post I am just sharing with you all a few pics of what I do when I am not reading or working at the library! It will be one year in January! Time flies... It all started with one set of wooden letters that read 'READ'. I wanted to decorate my own bookshelves. So I painted either book covers or bookish quotes on them and it didn't take me long to realize you all love them too. Most of my orders are custom made, everyone one wants their own favorite book (understandably so). Here area  few I have made so far Shop Link : My ALL time favorite: Immortal Reign by Morgan Rhodes  Harry Potter letter's take the longest! The best sellers to date: Sarah J Maas book covers on mini's or regular size letters

OMG!!! I LOVED THIS BOOK! Let me just fangirl here for a moment before we get to the nitty-gritty: This books had one of the hottest scenes in YA without anything actually happening. It will leave you breathless. It's epic! (and I mean ya people... not books we call YA but aren't- thinking SJM here) I enjoy reading other people's reviews before writing my own, to get a little extra perspective I suppose. Not this time! What is wrong with you people? I had to turn away...  There is no girl on girl hate! The book reminds me of the Jane Austen novels, of a time where marriages were arranged and woman could not choose their path in life. A time where social status was more important than intelligence. Yes, most of the girls do not like Sage, but it is a class issue. Sage is seen as a poor commoner that does not deserve to be with the noble girls. It was a reality of our society, why shy away from it? It's part of our history, not a girl on girl hate thing. Mo...

Screen Shot of a @writing_is_hard insta pic  Hello sunnies 🌞 Our Guest Blogger this week is the lovely Katelyn! I met her a few months ago via bookstagram and quickly grew obsessed with her feed, her blog, her personality... Seriously, her Insta feed is goals!  Aaaaaand she is a writer too! How fabulous is that? Her Favorite read in 2017 was Rebel of the Sands and she has kindly agreed to share her review of it here in Glimpses of my Books.  Before we get to her review, here is a little Q&A with her and the many ways in which you can go follow her after we are done! Hi Katelyn! - Tell us a little bit about you 🙂 Hey Anne! Thank you so much for allowing me to guest on your blog! I live in a tiny western suburb of Chicago IL (Brrrr) I’ve lived in the Chicago area for about six years. I’m 29 (yikes!) and while my primary hobby is reading, I am also an aspiring writer and bookstagrammer.  - When/What got you into reading?...

Hey Hey sunnies 🌞 I am sorry there has been no reviews this week. Decembers are just crazy! I have managed to read 15 pages this week. That is it! How sad is that? As soon as I am done with this post I have some house chores to do and then I am finally sitting down and reading for at least two good solid hours. Gosh I miss my books... Anyway...it is the end of the year, a time when we reflect on all the great books we have read! I am still hoping to finish two more books this month so I can't do that post just yet. So I though... not many people share the books they didn't love... Why not do that instead? And since I know some of you loved some of the books I didn't too, I decided this would be a fun conversation topic (yes Hannah, I am thinking of you. Bring it on!) Here are my "Middle of the Road" and "Did not like" lists for 2017. Drop me a message if you want to discuss any of them, there are reviews on my blog for all of them, or at the...

Screenshot of one of our lovely guest's Instagram pics Hello Sunnies 😎 It is Sunday! So it is time to introduce you all to another wonderful book lover.  Our Guest reviewer this week is the lovely Maria. I have been following her its been quite sometime on Instagram and it is a pleasure to have her here with us!  Her favorite read for 2017 was Our Dark Duet and she will be sharing with us her review of the book after a quick Q&A. Hi Maria! Tell us a little about yourself! Hi!!!! I feel so happy and honored to be here with you!!! So aside from books I am 21 years old, I live in Greece and yes I have always lived in Greece even though I hope to change that in the future! I am a university student, I am studying Economics! Besides reading my second big love is painting! I usually like painting with oils but if I’m in the mood I do also sketch! Also in terms of hobbies I’m thinking about taking up dancing…more specifically Pole dancing but we’ll see about th...