Bookish

1000 Subscriber Giveaway!!

1000 Subscriber Giveaway Items!
Thank you thank you thank you!!!!
I don’t know how many times I can say thank you for all of your support and subscribing to my ever changing and growing channel. I still want to do more be more and create more and knowing that I have the support and am still making friends in the community, which really keeps me going. My interests change and stay the same, and I’m trying to bring you all along on all of my changes. Sometimes it is hard to bring you into my life because I don’t know how much you want to see, but let’s be honest when I’m on social media I want to see it all. The dirty, the gritty, the expensive, the cheap, the happy, and the exciting. I’m going to try and bring you more!
For right now, I wanted to bring you a giveaway! It’s going to be a good one!
First let’s start with some bookish merch.
Let’s start with the small stuff. I’ve got a lot of magnetic bookmarks, and so I’m giving away these fantastic “Where the Wild Things Are” bookmarks.
We’ve got a pencil pouch with a quote from William Shakespeare, “Virtuous and fair, royal and gracious”
And a beautiful cream and gold pillow case
Now for the actual book related stuff. I’ve been working on myself lately and loving myself, so I’m giving away a signed copy of Puddin’ by Julie Murphy
And for a little added bonus I’m giving away this Kelly Moore bag, The Riva! It is great for mirrorless cameras and small cameras or a DSLR with a lens attached.
You can find the link for the giveaway here! Good luck! Make sure to check out the video for the rules of entry! Until next time,
Keep Turning the Pages
India
Bookish

Favorite Reads of 2018!!

This post is a long time coming and for some reason I just haven’t put it up on my blog. It has been placed on my youtube channel and you can also watch it down below. These books were some of my favorite reads from 2018. I tried to only pick 5 because I read a lot of good books last year and I didn’t just want to gush about all of the books I read during the year. I still kind of cheated though as I made it into two videos. One video for favorites and one video for favorite romance and contemporaries. As someone who self proclaimed as a fantasy reader, I was surprised at the amount of romance and contemporary that I read during 2018, especially towards the end of the year. Anyway, let’s get down to this list, starting with my favorite reads of 2018! None of these books are in any particular order.

My Favorite YA Fantasy books of 2018:

  1.  Three Dark Crowns, Kendare Blake
  2. Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi
  3. Tower of Dawn, Sarah J Maas
  4. Kingdom of Ash, Sarah J Maas
  5. An Ember in the Ashes, Sabaa Tahir

A lot of these books I’ve talked about through out the year, and some of them I have reviews up on my youtube channel of. I will link those above, and I talk about some of these books a lot more in the video!

Next up are my favorite my favorite Contemporaries of 2018:

  1. The Kiss Quotient, Helen Hoang
  2. The Proposal, Jasmine Guillroy
  3. Dumplin, Julie Murphy
  4. Intercepted, Alexa Martin
  5. Curing Doctor Vincent, Renea Mason
  6. Odd One Out, Nic Stone

I kind of cheated on this list and added in a sixth just because I felt like all of these needed to be talked about.

 

What were some of your favorite books of 2018, or maybe you’ve already read some books in 2019 that have blown your mind! Let me know what you’ve been reading because I’m always looking for something new to add to my shelves! Until next time,

Keep Turning the Pages

India

Bookish, Unboxings

July 2018 Litjoy Crate Unboxing

This box was a lot of fun and stayed true to theme! This sci-fi box titled, Warriors of the Stars, is filled with items from some of the classic science fiction adventures, including Star Wars and Marvel’s: Guardians of the Galaxy. Sci-fi is not my favorite genre to read, but I did really enjoy the Illuminae Files Series and I believe if you liked that you will like Sanctuary! There’s a list of items below, and you can find my full unboxing on my Youtube Channel!

 

  • A SIGNED COPY and LitJoy exclusive art of The Young Adult novel: Sanctuary by Caryn Lix
  • Lunar Chronicles Trading Cards (Lihn Cinder and Queen Levana)
  • Firefly quote full-size pillow. “I’m a leaf in the wind, watch how I soar”.  Cuddle up with your pillow and start reading!
  • Guardians of the Galaxy cross body tote bag. “I’m Mary Poppins y’all” This is perfect to wear to transport your favorite reads on the go!
  • Cute Groot cube art holder This mini Cute Groot weighted photo clip is perfect for displaying all of your LitJoy prints!
  • Star Wars “Rebel Scum” enamel pin.  Just as Star Wars had its Rebel Resistance, Sanctuary has its rebel prisoners! Now wear your “Rebel Scum” pin with pride!
  • “Take Me To Your Reader” bookmark.  Enjoy marking the pages of Sanctuary’s alien invasion with this punny bookmark!
  • Aloy Print.  Many of the descriptions of the non-corporate parts of Earth reminded us of the post-apocalyptic world where Aloy lives and fights

 

What did you think of this box? The book sounds really good, but a lot of the other items I could have done without. I do love the books that I get in these boxes though because they introduce me to books I probably would have never picked up! Let me know what you think! Until next time,

Keep Turning the Pages

India

 

Bookish, Unboxings

July 2018 Owlcrate Unboxing

It’s time for another unboxing of my favorite YA Book Box. July’s theme was Strange and Unusual, and it definitely featured some strange and unusual things. I think this was one of the first boxes that I didn’t actually love. It was just filled with some “meh” things. Art prints, stickers, and a small keychain. To me the best part was the special edition cover of My Plain Jane. I think that the cover was awesome! I now actually have 3 copies of this book and I feel like it’s a sign to read it. Everything is listed out below, and at the bottom you can find my unboxing of all of the items! I posted some pictures of the items on my Instagram, so make sure to check it out!

  • My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows and Brodi Ashton (signed, exclusive OwlCrate Edition)
  • Raven Boys-inspired Wallet (designed by Reverie & Ink)
  • Stranger Things POP Keychain (Funko)
  • Miss Peregrine’s-inspired Felt Pennant Flag (designed by Risa Rodil)
  • Ouija Mystifying Mints (Boston America Corp)
  • Skull Push pins (OwlCrate Original)
  • Luna Lovegood-inspired Vinyl Sticker (designed by TJ Lubrano)
  • Whale Art Print (designed by Aun-Juli Riddle)
  • Exclusive OwlCrate “Skull” Button
  • Exclusive My Plain Jane Author Letter & Thornfield Hall Craft Diorama.

What do you think of this box? Any items you really liked? Have you read My Plain Jane? Feel free to subscribe to my channel where I tend to put these things out a little more consistently. I’m trying I promise! Until next time,

Keep Turning the Pages

India

Book Reviews

Tower of Dawn, Sarah J. Maas

— Short Story–

The Glass Castle has been shattered. The King of Aderland is dead and Chaol Westfall and Nesryn Feliq find themselves crossing oceans to find a way to save their country. Chaol has sustained a spinal cord injury, which has him paralyzed from the waist down.  It is their job, as the new Hand of the King, and the new Captain of the Guard to bring back support to continue fighting this war that is waging between Duke Perrington and basically the rest of the world. It is also to try and help Chaol find a healer at the Torre Cesme to help him walk again. While spending time in another leaders court, Nesryn and Chaol both have their tasks that they need to get accomplished, and both of them start to find their ways back to themselves and who they are to the core. Chaol, with the help of Yrene, finds that he needs to heal in more ways than the physical sense, and Nesryn finds what her soul has been missing. Both are still fiercely loyal to their country, but Antica has made them stronger in who they are in so many ways that they would not have felt in Antica. This story is about rediscovery of ones self and a willingness to keep going forward through the darkness.

— My Thoughts —

Omg omg omg omg I’m glad that I read this book. There’s something about Sarah J Maas books that are starting to feel like home to me. When I started listening to it on audible I immediately felt less stressed and ready to get back into this world. I never thought that the stories of Chaol and Nesryn were what I needed until I really got into it. I have never been a huge fan of either of them, but I through their journey in growth, I grew with them too. This book touches on the topic of what it’s like to go through a massive trauma and not have time or take the time to heal. Not just the physical parts, but the mental parts as well.  As someone in healthcare I fell for Irene’s story a lot. Irene herself has been through a lot of things in her life and has not dealt with them, but she finds joy in helping others and has a passion for it. In healthcare there are so many of us, if not everyone, who finds joy in helping others, but we often times let our own lives get the better of us because we don’t seek the emotional help that we need. Often times we let ourselves succumb to anxiety and depression because we believe there’s no one to help us, but enough about my, I mean our, problems let’s talk about this book.
I loved it!! It gave such great information that is going to be necessary in Kingdom if Ash, the final installment of Throne of Glass.  It introduced some new characters and a whole land that we can now visualize and understand as we go into the next book. Without this book she would have had to do a lot of back telling of places, events, and characters.  I thought that it was interesting getting to know Nesryn so much more and being able to understand and see what it is like to be a part of two worlds, but not feel wholly a part of both. To finally feel the freedom and enjoyment of ones own culture and heritage without judgement or persecution.
Some people believed that this book was not wholly necessary, and I disagree with that. I think that we needed some parts to better understand the last installment in Kingdom of Ash. I also believe once again people went in reading a Sarah J. Maas book with a lot of misconceptions on what the book was even though it was explained long before the book came out last year. Go into it with an open mind and remember that it is a PARALLEL to Empire of Storms, so while all of those events are happening, Chaol and Nesryn are in Antica. It is literally the next book after Queen of Shadows. You can go straight from that book to this one, the references made by Hasar during the book to Aelin’s doing and whereabouts will still make sense.
Now for another fun part! Over on my Instagram page I am doing a GIVEAWAY of Tower of Dawn! It is a signed copy and it is yours if you win the Giveaway. It is in no way sponsored! I got the book last year at SJM event for the book and I’ve been meaning to give it away for a long time now, I just wanted to read it first. The rules of the giveaway are this:
  1. You must be following me on Instagram
  2. You must like the picture
  3. You must tag a friend who you want to take to Antica with you
And that’s it! I’ll be choosing a random winner on Labor Day, September 3rd. The picture you’re looking for is the one at the top of the post, or click here!
What do you think of the Throne of Glass series? Have you read Tower of Dawn? What did you think? I’ll be posting a review on my Youtube channel soon, so be on the lookout for that!! Until next time,
Keep Turning the Pages
India