July 2018 Wrap Up

Hello Everyone!

Once again my wrap up for the month is late. August is almost over but here's my July wrap-up anyway. I read 5 books in the month of July and acquired...fifteen. Three came from book boxes and the others were mostly purchased with birthday money. Without further ado, here's the new books!

So of these books, three I received from book boxes. First up I got two books from Bookcase Club. Bookcase Club is a monthly subscription where you choose a genre and receive two books, not necessarily new ones and that's it. It's about $10 a month, less than $15 with shipping. I received two books from them Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis which is a sci-fi retelling of Snow White that sounds very interesting, and Welcome to the Dark House by Laurie Faria Stolarz, a campy sounding YA horror novel. They both sounded pretty good (although I'm more excited about Stitching Snow becasue I do love some retellings, especially fairy tales, plus that cover!).

The other book I got from a book box in July was my normal OwlCrate subscription was My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows. It's a retelling of the novel Jane Eyre with ghosts and more intrigue. I actually started this book yesterday and at 100 pages in, it's a fantastic read so far.

So then there's the never ending list of books I bought myself (I am doing much better at restraining myself in August so far). In no particular order, here they are.

• Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
• The Night Circus  by Erin Morgenstern
• Life in Motion by Misty Copeland
• Eliza and her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
• Reign of the Fallen by Sarah Glenn Marsh
• Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
• The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
• Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard 
• Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller
• The Young Elites by Marie Lu
• Love & War by Melissa De La Cruz
• Wires and Nerve by Marissa Meyer' 

Now on to the books I read in the month of July (not pictured with the others is The Hate U Give since I already loaned that one out). 

The first book I read is The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I finished it on July 1 and gave it a solid 5/5 stars on Goodreads. This book was absolutely amazing. It was powerful and I couldn't put it down. It's about a girl named Starr who is the only witness to the police shooting and killing her friend Khalil. It chronicles her journey as she makes sense of what happens and then has to decide how far she's willing to go to get justice for her friend. Honestly I think this may be one of the best books I've ever read and I think everyone should read it.

The second book I read in July was Alex & Eliza by Melissa De La Cruz. I finished it on July 4 (that's a bit ironic) and gave it a 4/5 stars on Goodreads. It's a fictionalized account of the courtship between Alexander Hamilton and Eliza Schuyler. I love all things Hamilton and I loved this book. It was funny and sweet and a nice light romance after the heaviness of The Hate U Give. It was pure historical fluff, which is the best fluff really. 

The third book I read in July was Dread Nation by Justina Ireland, I finished it on July 14 and gave it a 4/5 stars on Goodreads. It's a Civil War alternate history where the war ended after Gettysburg because the dead started rising and attacking the living. So our main character, Jane, is in a school to learn how to be a companion-a black girl who protects wealthy white people (especially women). She finds out event eh safe places aren't so safe and ends up on an adventure. It's the first book in the series and I really enjoyed it after all the historical and contemporary fiction, plus you can never go wrong with zombies. I'm looking forward to the already promised sequel. 

The fourth book I read in July was A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro. I finished it July 25 and gave it 4/5 on Goodreads. This is the first book in the Charlotte Holmes series which reimagines the classic Sherlock Holmes stories through the descendants of him and Dr. Watson in the form of Charlotte Holmes and Jamie Watson who meet for the first time at boarding school in America. Once they meet they end up in a fantastic deadly adventure right out of one of their ancestor's stories. I enjoyed it thoroughly, it was fun and light and I have always loved Sherlock Holmes. 

The final book I read in the month of July was The Princess Saves Herself in this One by Amanda Lovelace. I finished it on July 25 and gave it a 3/5 on Goodreads. This is a poetry collection and it was okay but not my favorite. I had picked this up at Target because it sounded interesting but it wasn't really my cup of tea so I'll probably not bother with any of her other poetry collections. Just not really my personal style. 

So there's my wrap up for July. This brought my total books read in 2018 up to 26, which is still several books behind my goal of 50 for the year but as crazy busy as I've been, I'll take it. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle and Emma

Short Book Reviews

Hey Everyone!
So here's a bunch of short book reviews for you to try and catch up on all of the books I read and haven't reviewed in May and June. There will be a separate one to catch up on July and hopefully I won't get so far behind again. The list of books covered in this review are:

• Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody (finished May 26, 2018)
• The Finest Hours by Michael Tougias and Casey Sherman (finished June 7, 2018)
• Simon vs.the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (finished June 9, 2018)
• Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli (finished June 10, 2018) 
• Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (finished June 23, 2018)
• Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann (finished June 25, 2018)

So without further ado let's jump on into this. 

First up is one of the books I finished in May. It's Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody. It was the April OwlCrate book and I finished it on May 26, 2018 and rated it a 3/5 on Goodreads. To be perfectly honest, this definitely wasn't my favorite book but it was halfway entertaining. I had really high hopes for it because it gave off a strong Six of Crows kind of vibe (and EVERYONE knows how much I love Leigh Bardugo) but it fell short of the mark for me. It didn't help that I read this book between the first two Lunar Chronicles books which I really did love. My biggest problem with this book is how much I hated the main character, Enne. She was prissy and judgmental and even though she did experience a good amount of character growth and development by the end of it, I don't think there's enough development for her character to make me like her. On the other hand, the male protagonist, Levi, I did like a lot. I was left wanting a LOT more of his story and background than I got in this book. All in all the book wasn't bad but it wasn't exactly great either. Solidly 3/5 and I will probably read the subsequent books in the series as they come out, even if I'm not as rabidly waiting for them like I was with A Court of Frost and Starlight. 

The first book I read in June was the first one I drew out of my book jar and I hated it. I finished it on June 7, 2018 and gave it two stars on Goodreads (I never give 1 star reviews for whatever reason). This book was super boring and for a less than 200 page book it took me FOREVER to read. It's a story about a coast guard rescue off the coast of Cape Cod in the 1950s. It had so much promise to be an exciting daring rescue tale and the parts that were about the actual rescue were good but there was just too much Jules Verne-esque exposition (like the infamous fish lists in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) in the way of filler information about the history of the Coast Guard, the history of fishing in Cape Cod in general and other random tangents which had absolutely NOTHING to contribute to the story. I NEVER say this but.........the movie was better. 

The second book of June (and the second chance for my book jar) worked out MUCH better. I finished it on June 9, 2018 and gave it a solid 5/5 on Goodreads. Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda ranks up there as one of my favorite books of all time. I went out when I was about a quarter of the way through the book and bought the sequel to read as soon as I finished it. This kicked off my Young Adult fluff addiction which lasts until the end of June. It's a sweet little gay love story between a boy named Simon who is having an online relationship of sorts with a boy from his school, codenamed Blue. Neither knows the other's true identity as Simon's being blackmailed by a boy who has found out his secrets: both being gay and his email relationship with Blue. It's adorable adn so relatable for anyone who's ever been a teenager, different, and/or in love for the first time. I want to live in Simon's world and the movie was every bit as good.  

My third book of June is Leah on the Offbeat, the sequel to Simon vs.. I finished it on June 10, 2018 and also gave it a 5/5 on Goodreads. I loved this just as much as I did Simon. It's a book about Simon's best friend Leah, who is a closeted bisexual. Leah covers up her emotions with surly attitude (I can relate to that) and discovers she's in love with one of her female friends who is dating her other best friend. After her best friend and the girl break up, Leah has to come to terms with who she is and how she feels. It's also LGBTQIA fluff with a sweet little happy ending. Like I said, I loved it just as much as Simon and I hope, hope, hope there's more to come in the series. 

Next the book jar gave me Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell which I finished on June 23, 2018 and gave a 4/5. This is also fluff. It's about a girl named Cath who writes fanfiction for her fandom, Simon Snow (which is totally Harry Potter). she's in her first year of college trying to find her voice in creative writing that isn't fanfiction while learning to be independent from her sister Wren and making friends with her roommate and her roommate's ever present, maybe boyfriend, Levi. It's also a love story of self discovery. I loved it but in my opinion Rainbow Rowell can do no wrong. 

The last book I read in June was Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann, which I finished on June 25, 2018 and gave a 5/5 on Goodreads. This book struck a chord with me. The main protagonist, Alice, is a biromantic asexual (just like me! represent!) who has just been dumped by her girlfriend because of her lack of interest in sex. Alice thinks she's done with dating until she meets the new employee at the library where she works, Takumi. Friendship and flirting become the tentative beginnings of a relationship where she has to confess her asexuality to him in the hopes that he won't reject her for it. While she's navigating her newly admitted sexuality (or lack thereof) she's dealing with her two best friends and roommates relationship with each other (that frequently leaves her out) and her parents' expectations for her to be a lawyer (she doesn't want to be a lawyer). So once again another LGBTQIA (can't forget the IA in there guys) with a healthy theme of self discovery. 

So those are my quick little reviews of my books through the end of June, leaving us with just July to contend with which is five books (maybe six depending on how fast I read my current book). 

Anyways Happy Reading!

-Richelle and Emma

Nerdy Post Hamilton Unboxing!

Hello Everyone!
So this is a very special unboxing of a special edition of Nerdy Post that I ordered way back at the beginning of June that got shipped out in the middle of July. It's all HAMILTON stuff! If anyone out there is still unaware, I adore Hamilton. I have multiple books about Alexander Hamilton, his wife, and even the one about the musical so when I heard about this special edition box I knew I had to get one of the full ones that includes the t-shirts and everything. Nerdy Post is primarily a subscription box that sends out fandom merch, mostly art prints, bookmarks and mini posters to do with a theme although they've done a couple of these special theme boxes separate now and you can buy a lot of things separately on their website as well as build your own boxes which I've done before. So without further ado...HAMILTON!

So right under the layer of bubble wrap is my t-shirt. The design was revealed in the teaser for the box and I love it. The t-shirts they have are so soft and so cleverly designed and this one is no exception.

It has a representation of an American flag in the background and says "If you stand for nothing, what'll you fall for" which is from the second song in the musical, Aaron Burr, Sir.

Next in the box was a wrapped object that turned out to be a plastic cup shaped like a pint glass (so nice that it's plastic since I have a tendency to drop things). It's blue and the quote on it is "Raise a Glass to Freedom" from the song The Story of Tonight. Which I love on a glass.

Inside the cup were a couple other items, the first of which is a candle designed by Novelly Yours, called "Oceans Rise, Empires Fall" which is from the King's songs in the musical (You'll Be Back, What Comes Next, I Know Him). It smells like tea, gunpowder, and ocean mist. I like it, it's a very clean masculine kind of scent which is nice considering most of my candles from boxes smell very fruity or floral. It's a yellowy/gold color almost like parchment paper.

Also in the cup was an enamel pin that looks like a book and says "Who Tells Your Story" which is a quote in several songs in hte musical. I love pins of all kinds so I'm definitely not complaining about this one.

Then  there's a little packet of tea that has the Hamilton star logo and is called "Rise Up" which is also featured in several songs (namely My Shot and Right Hand Man). The label on the back says this tea contains: apple pieces, hibiscus petals, rosehip, dried orange, dried berries, cornflower petals, sunflower petals, calendula petals, black tea, Ceylon tea, and elderberries.  It has kind of a weird fermenty fruit kind of smell. I'll give a try but it smells kinda weird so I might just display the package somewhere. The tea blend is made by Flick the Wick who primarily do candles which I love.

There's this little sticker next which says "History has it's eyes on you" which is from the song of the same title. I love it, it's very simple and elegant. I have put it on my bookcase with the rest of my stickers.

Next was the bookmark. I love Nerdy Post's bookmarks! They have a kind of matte feel to them and they're just the perfect size for pretty much all of my books, plus they're gorgeous! This one has a Schuyler sisters thing going on. The horizontal side has the quote "You want a Revolution, I want a Revelation" which is a quote by Angelica in the song The Schuyler Sisters. The vertical side says "You built me palaces out of paragraphs" which is a quote by Eliza in the song Burn. Both are great quotes for a bookmark and this is joining the rest of my collection to go into the rotation.

The first art print is one of my favorite quotes from the musical so that's exciting. It's rainbow colors on a black background and says "Love doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints", it's from the song Wait For It, which is my favorite song in the musical so that's very cool.

The second art print (and the spoiler card) is actually from the same song as the other one. This one says "I am inimitable, I am an original" and this might be my favorite art print I've ever gotten in any box hands down. I am definitely framing this one to put it on the wall with my other prints. I love the font and the background and absolutely everything about it.

So tucked in the bottom of the box is a little quill pen (it's a ballpoint pen that looks like a feather pen) and I love it. There's such a great theme regarding Hamilton's writing prowess and how he writes like he's running out of time which I think is a great thing to include in a box like this.

The last item in the box is the 8x10 mini poster. It says "I'm passionately smashin' every expectation, every action's an act of creation" which is from My Shot and I love the inclusion of this in an art box which is nothing but creations paying tribute to other creations.

So all in all, I'm EXTREMELY happy with this box like I expected I would be. I immediately put on my t-shirt to  go up to the mall to get my phone fixed and got multiple compliments on it (one girl at Hot Topic was particularly excited about it). So I'm definitely going to use and display all my pretties.

Until next time, Happy Reading!
Richelle and Emma

July OwlCrate Unboxing

Hey Everyone!
Here I am with another OwlCrate unboxing. OwlCrate is a monthly YA subscription box that features an exclusive, signed edition of a newly released hardcover book along with a variety of bookish goodies related to a theme. It's my very favorite subscription box that I've gotten and I've never been disappointed with it yet. So without further ado, July's OwlCrate.

 

So this month's theme was Strange and Unusual, which I was very excited about. First up in the box is the spoiler card and pin. I happen to love the buttons they give in these boxes and have quite a collection of similar ones. This month's card is particularly cool.

It's a kid of doing some kind of fortune telling, it looks like he's got tarot cards along with his skull and candles and behind him (I think he looks kinda like Mike from Stranger Things personally) are three people who I think are the spirits he's summoning to talk to which is definitely Poe on the far right, maybe one of the Brontes on the far right, and I'm not so sure about the one in the middle. Anyway I love the creepy vibe of it.

Next up was this little pennant flag. It's based off the book series Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs . It says Stay Peculiar and has a little pocket watch and a bird on it. I think it's adorable and quirky and it's definitely going on my wall. The spoiler card says it was designed by Risa Rodil who designed the zipper pouch we got in a previous box (February's I think).

This was the item that they heavily teased both on the preview card in June's box and in the sneak peak emails. They said that there would be a Stranger Things licensed item as well as a Funko pop key chain. I was pretty sure that they were the same item and I was right! According to the spoiler card you could've got Dustin or Eleven. I'm super excited I got Dustin, he's one of my favorites! If you haven't watched Stranger Things yet, you need to go straight out and DO IT NOW.

So this one I thought was amazingly hilarious. They're mints in a Ouija board tin! AND the mints look like planchet that's used to play with the Ouija board. I think this is super cute and the mints are actually pretty good. I'll definitely keep these in my purse.

OwlCrate has the best and most unusual exclusives sometimes! I love these little pushpins in their little test tube bottle packaging. The little skulls with their little green star eyes are super cute and I'm definitely going to have to figure out somewhere to use them in my room.

So this is a super nice hinged wallet with a little detachable wrist strap and I love it! The quote on it says: "The head is too wise, the heart is all fire" which the spoiler card says is from The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. It's designed by Reverie and Ink and I think it's gorgeous. I'm definitely going to get good use out of this one.

This is my favorite sticker I've gotten in any box so far. It's Luna with her Spectrespecs from Harry Potter with the quote "You're just as sane as I am". As a fellow Ravenclaw and lover of Luna, I was super excited to put this one on the side of my bookcase with the rest of my stickers.

The last item before the book and it's related items was this cute little art print. It's a whale flying through space with tea things and books on its back. It's not from anything in particular and was designed particularly for OwlCrate by Aun-Juli Riddle. It kind of reminds me of a Doctor Who episode from early on in the 11th Doctor's tenure with the Star Whale. It's definitely going up on my wall with the rest of my art prints as soon as I get some more frames.

So the book this month was My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows. It's a retelling of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and its the second installment of sorts in the Lady Janies series by this trio of authors. I haven't read the first book in the 'series' but they're all stand alone books retelling the stories of famous women named Jane, the first being My Lady Jane, which is a retelling of the story of Lady Jane Grey. Like all OwlCrate books recently this is both an exclusive edition and came signed by the authors. The original cover is light blue and yellow instead of purple and green and I must admit I like the purple and green better, it seems more Gothic horror to me.

Like every month this came with a letter from the authors and an extra goody related to the book of the month. In this case it's a paper diorama craft you can color and put together inspired by Thornfield Hall of Jane Eyre. I'm definitely going to have fun coloring this (I love coloring).

The last thing in every OwlCrate box is a preview card for the next month's theme. August's theme will be Ruthless Royals and the back of the card says there will be an exclusive item from Craftedvan and a quick google search says they make magnetic bookmarks, magnets, and greeting cards so that should be fun!

Anyway that was everything in July's OwlCrate! I still adore this box and I'm definitely going to keep getting it. So until next time, Happy Reading!
-Richelle and Emma