waiting on wednesday - everything, everything

Happy Wednesday, all! Today is going to be my first Waiting on Wednesday in almost a year. As you probably know, it's a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, and it's all about the books we just can't wait to get our paws on. This week, my pick is.... 

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon 

307 pages

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Publication date: September 1, 2015 

from Goodreads: 

This innovative, heartfelt debut novel tells the story of a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world. When a new family moves in next door, she begins a complicated romance that challenges everything she’s ever known. The narrative unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, texts, charts, lists, illustrations, and more.
My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.
But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.
Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Why I'm Waiting: 

It's not too often I get this excited about a debut release, but the premise for this one just sounds astounding. I know the whole "YA romance, one or both of them have some crazy disease" thing is a little overplayed at this point, but I've never read anything about this particular disease. I'm fascinated to see what the author does with it - not only how she approaches the romance aspect of it, but how she deals with the actual disease itself, its effects on the protagonist's mindset and all that cool stuff. And judging from the reviews of ARCs I've seen so far, it's going to be a good one! 

What are you anticipating in the coming months? Sound off in the comments! 

birthday book haul!

I love my birthday. Seriously, if you know me at all you're probably SO tired of me talking about my birthday by this point. You probably want to come to my house and punch me in the throat just for bringing it up again. I'm sorry. I just love it. 

I'm going to just put a little disclaimer out here now that I know I got super spoiled this year, and I'm really not trying to brag or anything, I'm just really excited and want to share how happy I am! If you're a friend who I saw on my birthday or who wished me a happy birthday, I love you! Let's get into the haul.

top ten characters i'd want on a deserted island with me

Let's just get this out of the way before we start: I suck. I know it, okay? I really did plan on posting daily, or at least every-other-daily BookTubeAThon updates, but the whole work/school/social life thing got in my way. I'll be posting a recap for the week tomorrow (hopefully) and until then, here's a little something to make me look like less of a failure. 

This week's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish is all about being stranded on a deserted island and dragging some poor, unfortunate fictional characters along with you. I feel like a lot of these could solve everything realllly quickly so I'm gonna be creative with this. 

For Survival: 

Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games) - Girl can hunt, okay? And if I'm stuck on an island for God knows how long, I'm gonna need some food. 

Molly Weasley (Harry Potter) - What's the law about how creating food out of nothing is magically impossible? I feel like Molly's the kind of person who can pretty much make a delicious meal out of anything, and the magic helps, too. Plus: she can put up all kinds of protection spells and clean up with just a wave of her wand! Yes, please. 

Hermione Granger (Harry Potter) - With Hermione's brains, I'm sure we'd be home safe in about 3 seconds. Even if we're not, she'd figure out a way to make life on the island awesome, not to mention her never-ending pouch that WE COULD FILL WITH ALL THE BOOKS!

Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) - She's just a total badass and if any supernatural beings tried to mess with us, she'd be on that. 

For Getting Off the Damn Island: 

Neville Longbottom (Harry Potter) - Because ACCIO GILLYWEED. See ya never, island. 

Percy Jackson (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) - I'm pretty sure the whole breathing underwater thing would come in handy when you're stuck on an island. He could just swim over to the nearest boat or wherever civilization is and get someone to come save us. Or better yet, get his dad to split the water so we can walk home. 

Galen (The Syrena Legacy) - I mean, he's a hot mermaid. He's got this.

Elsa (Frozen) - She could just turn the ocean into ice and problem solved, just like that. 

Just Because: 

Audrey and Victoria (Audrey, Wait!) - I'm 1000% sure that these girls are my fictional soul sisters. And if we were on an island together I'd definitely join their best friend group. 

Etienne St. Clair (Anna and the French Kiss) - He's my book boyfriend forever, okay? He needs to be there. 

Who would you want to be on a deserted island with you? Let me know in the comments!

booktubeathon tbr!

I decided to take part in this year's BookTubeAThon to get me a little bit more involved in this little community here. This year's BookTubeAThon is hosted by a lovely bunch of Booktubers and challenges us to read a shitload of books in one week! YAY. 

 There's a few challenges set in place for the week, so here's how I'll be fulfilling these challenges.

1. A book with pictures.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery 

2. Start and finish a series.

Just One Day & Just One Year by Gayle Foreman 

3. A book with red on the cover.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (it has a little bit of red on the flowers, okay?)

4. A book someone else picks out for you. 

The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger 

5. A book from the genre you've read the least this year. 

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (I haven't read any classics yet and this one's been laying around for about a year, so it's a perfect opportunity)

6. A book to movie adaptation. 

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (bonus points because I need to read this for school anyway!) 

7. Read 7 books (or 300 pages a day). 

If all goes well, this'll be 7 books! Fingers crossed, guys.

The BookTubeAThon is running from July 14-20. What will you be reading?

bookshelf scavenger hunt

My creativity is lacking today and I'm still working on a review so here, have a tag! I'm not sure who started this but it was fun and I know it's kind of an older tag but you should do it too.

top ten books on my summer tbr list

Hi, guys! Sorry about how late this post is, I've been super busy with work and everything this week. Obviously this blog isn't completely up and running yet, so I gave myself a little bit of leeway in getting  myself organized. But anyway, here we are.

This week's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, is all about books I want to read in the summer! Some of these have already been released and some are summer releases, so I kind of have a mix of everything in here. 

1. The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith - I absolutely adored the other two books I've read by her, and I'll definitely be picking this one up next time I hit the bookstore. 

2. The Museum of Intangible Things by Wendy Wunder - a) THIS COVER OMG I LOVE IT, and b) friendship-summer-roadtrip stories always have my heart. And again, the cover is just perfect and beautiful. 

3. My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick - I have this book sitting on my shelf just waiting for me to pick it up. It'll probably be the next one I read, and I have a feeling I'm going to love it. 

4. Open Road Summer by Emery Lord - What can I say, I just love friendship stories in the summer. I've heard from a lot of people that the relationship between these two friends is amazing, and I can't wait to experience it for myself. 

5. #scandal by Sarah Ockler - I just love Sarah Ockler, okay? 

6. Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes - It's described as a mix between The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Mean Girls, which sounds awesome. 

7. Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins - If you saw my Waiting on Wednesday from last week, this is an obvious one. Stephanie Perkins' books are just perfect summer reads, and we'll leave it at that. I'm so excited. 

8. The Merciless by Danielle Vega - This is not my usual type of book at all, and to be completely honest, there's a very good chance I'll have nightmares for a month after reading this. But the whole concept of a group of girls performing an exorcism is really intriguing to me. Maybe I'll get too scared and leave this one, but who knows?

9. Falling into Place by Amy Zhang - Again, not exactly a lighthearted summer story, but the Goodreads description says it would appeal to fans of Jay Asher, Lauren Oliver, and Gayle Foreman. Since I love all of them, I think I'm in pretty good hands! Also, the author is apparently in high school and I'm going to go re-evaluate my life now. 

10. Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid - Another road trip story, but not quite the best friend type of story this time. Four strangers, only sharing one thing in common: this girl named Leila. I really want to see how this plays out, and how all these strangers are connected. 

What books are you looking forward to reading this summer? 

top ten books i've read so far this year

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week is all about my favourite books I've read so far in 2014. To be honest, I just got back into reading a lot after I finished school in May, so most of these books are ones that I've flown through in the last couple of weeks, and others are from late 2013. Cheating, I know. 

1. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - I could relate so much to Cath, it was insane. Not that I write fanfic or anything, but I totally get the devotion she felt toward the Simon Snow universe. The fact that it was basically an alternate version of Harry Potter didn't hurt, obviously. Just all around smiles for this one. 

2. This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith - This book was just so cute. That's all I can say. It's one of those books that leaves you with a smile on your face and a nice feeling and happy thoughts all around. I loved the whole emailing-a-stranger-and-falling-in-love thing, too. Screw stranger danger. 

3. The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith - I want this lady to write my life, okay? It really is that simple. This books takes place over a 24-hour period, and makes you think about fate, family, and things to come. Loved it. 

4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling - Maybe this one's cheating a little bit since I've already read it more times than I can count, but it was one of the required texts for my Children's Literature class this year. And let's be honest, Harry Potter is always a favourite for me. 

5. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins - I honestly didn't expect to like this book as much as I did, but it kind of stole my heart. I obviously have a thing for sappy, contemporary YA, and this one completely fits the bill. I also love stories that take place in cities I want to visit, it's like taking a trip for free! 

6. The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan - I loved how unique this book was. The story is told completely through dictionary entries, and it doesn't go in chronological order so you get to see different parts of the relationship, including the outcome, in a different order than you normally would. It was a really interesting concept! 

7. The Book of Broken Hearts by Sarah Ockler - If we're being completely honest, I picked up this book without even reading the back of it just because I love Sarah Ockler so much. This one definitely did not disappoint. It had just the right amount of everything, and really sheds light on the reality of a certain disease, without being overly serious. And Jude's attitude is just the best. And motorcycles. 

8. The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour - Best friends, music, summer road trips, and unrequited love.  I mean, seriously, what more could you ask for?

9. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - Again, I'm kind of cheating because: a) I read this when it first came out, and b) Everyone and their dog has read it by now. But I wanted to read it again before seeing the movie, and already having read it did not change the fact that there were tear stains all over my copy when I was finished with it. Okay? Okay. 

10. The Distance Between Us by Kasie West - The protagonist, Caymen, is totally the kind of girl I'd want to hang out with if I knew her in real life. Total friend crush. 

What's the best book you've read this year?