(kind of) review: the heir

From Goodreads: 

Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon—and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she'd put off marriage for as long as possible.

But a princess's life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can't escape her very own Selection—no matter how fervently she protests.

Eadlyn doesn't expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn's heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her . . . and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought.

top ten books for readers who like character driven novels

Hi, guys! Sorry I've been so MIA lately, school has been absolutely crazy and I haven't had any time to read for fun, let alone blog about it. Sadface.  But I have a bit of a break for a week or two, so I'm hoping to at least get a couple smaller posts up! 

As you all know, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely people over at The Broke and the Bookish. This week, we're talking about character driven books - the ones that don't really focus on plot as much as the people within the story. 

1. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart - This book.  Such a good job of really getting into Cadence's head and showing how she learns the truth. 

2. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton - I feel like I'm cheating a bit because I just read this book for one of my classes, but hello. 

3. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson - I mean, I think we can all agree that Morgan Matson is the queen of heartstring-tugging, tear-inducing stories. And the way she revolves the plot around the characters rather than the other way around just makes it even more effective.

4. Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson - Ditto. (Yes, I just said ditto. Yes, I mentally live in 2004. Get over it.) 

5. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell - I MEAN. Does this even need an explanation? Really? 

 6. Just One Day by Gayle Forman - For me, the most interesting part of the book is the last two-thirds that don't include Willem. I just really loved seeing Allyson come into her own and grow up. 

7. Paper Towns by John Green - If Morgan Matson is queen, let's make John Green king. All his novels are very character driven, but I recently reread Paper Towns and it really resonated with me how much  Q grows throughout the course of this book. 

8. The Torontonians by Phyllis Brett Young - This book is totally the ugly duckling of the list, but oh well. I'm sure most, if not all, of the people reading this won't have heard of this book, but I read it for my Canadian Prose class and figured it was a good fit since the whole thing is totally introspective. 

9. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - I know, I know, this book does have an extreeeeemely fast plot. But I'm thinking of the series as a whole, and how much Katniss grows internally during all the shit she goes through.

10. If I Stay by Gayle Forman - Duh. (Update: Still living in 2004.) 

So, there's my list! Let me know if I missed any you guys would have added, or if you agree with any of my picks!

liebster award aka i'm basically famous

I got nominated for the Liebster Award! Thanks to Anna for nominating me, definitely check out her blog.

So, since I had no clue what this award was about when I got nominated, I'm just going to assume a good amount of people don't know either. Basically, the point of the Liebster award is to spread word of new and relatively unknown bloggers. Which is awesome.

Here are the rules:
1. Link and thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Answer the 11 questions they asked. 
3. Pick 1-5 other bloggers with no more than 200 followers to nominate.
4. Ask them 11 questions and let them know you nominated them by commenting on their blog. 

Let's get started! These are the questions Anna asked.

1. Paperback or hardback? 
It depends. I usually like paperbacks better just because I find them easier and don't have to worry about dust jackets and stuff like that, but if I get a series that isn't finished yet and some are out in paperback but the newer ones are hardback I'll go with the hardback versions because I like my series to match all pretty. :) (holy run on sentence, by the way)

2. Do you ever write in a book?
Ugh. No. Unless it's a book for school and I know I'm never ever going to read it again. But even then, it physically pains me to ruin the book. I'm cringing just thinking about it. Ugh.

3. What is the best book you have read this year?
So many. This one was best at fucking with my emotions. This one was best at making my heart smile and poop butterflies. This one was best at making me fall in love with a preteen.

4. How would you describe your favourite book series of all time in an ice-cream flavour? 
So, my favourite series is Harry Potter. And I'd probably say the ice cream flavour for that would be bubblegum. Not what you expected, right? Well, hear me out: When you start reading the series it's all sweet and relatively simple, just a good book to get lost in. BUT THEN. Eventually you get the little gumballs that make it more complicated, more substantial. And you have to be careful when you eat those gumballs because you might choke on them and not be able to handle how intense it gets.

5. Do you own any autographed books?
Yes! I own two, and both of them were super duper cheap from Target. I got this one a couple months ago for I think 25% off, and then. YOU GUYS. The other day I was at Target and they had a buy one get one free sale on books, and I got a signed copy of this one for free! I know, right?

6. Who is the character you want to kill the most at the moment? 
Probably Angie from Seventeenth Summer. I had to read it for one of my classes and oh my god, she is so irritating.

7. Do you ever read all night? 
That's basically how I live during school.

8. What's your favourite casting for a character in a book to movie adaptation?
I'm just gonna go with the first one that popped into my head, which is Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson. Not because of its accuracy, but just because I have a teeny tiny crush on Percy, and the fact that Logan isn't a twelve year old makes me feel a bit better about that.

9. A song to fit your fictional crush? 
I can't think of a song right now. But Percy Jackson.

10. A place where you want a book to be set in? 
I think it would be awesome to read a book set in North-Western Ontario (where I live). I know Anna Dressed in Blood  is actually set in my town, so that's awesome. I really want to read a book that captures how gorgeous this area of the world is.

11. Do you ever have book related dreams? 
Only every day of my life. I actually had a Nyquil-induced dream last night which involved Voldemort kidnapping me out of loneliness. So, yeah, that happened.

I'm going to nominate the lovely Erin @ Book Voyageur, Kay @ It's A Book Life, and Erin @ The Hardcover Lover. Here are your questions:

1. What is your all time least favourite book?
2. Do you read every day?
3. What's your favourite book cover?
4. Do you read fanfiction?
5. Have you met any of your favourite authors?
6. What's the next book you plan on reading?
7. If you could pick one character to push in a pit of lava, who would it be?
8. Who is your favourite fictional pet?
9. Do you ever prefer the movie over the book?
10. Who's your favourite book couple?
11. Ebooks or physical books?

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 books i want to read but don't own yet

It's time for another Top Ten Tuesday! This week, The Broke and the Bookish is asking us to talk about books on our wish lists - which is a very fitting theme, since my birthday is next week. (Hint hint, any friends/family that read this). Basically, this whole post is going to be filled with me lusting over pretty books, so let's just prepare ourselves early on, shall we? 

1. Unravel Me  and Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi - Shatter Me was just amazing, and I read it a few months back. The fact that I haven't picked up these two yet is just unacceptable. NEED. 

2. Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira - I've wanted this book for sooooo loooooong. Look at the cover. Look at the description. I just. UGH. The concept is just so intriguing to me, I feel like I won't physically be able to feel happiness until I get my hands on this beautiful specimen. 

3. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey - I'm kind of slowly getting into a bit of a post-apocalyptic kick right now. Or maybe it's just my obsession with this book that's making me think about aliens and the end of life as we know it constantly. I feel like I'll be completely terrified after I read this but we're just gonna roll with it. 

4. Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler - Do you ever have those books that you just obsessively look at, pick up, and then put down whenever you go to the bookstore? That's this book for me. I discovered it when it first came out a couple of years ago and for some reason, didn't buy it. And I still haven't. And every single time I go to Chapters, I pick it up and decide against it. The ratings aren't even that great. I just want it, okay? 

5. Is Everyone Hanging Out WIthout Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling - This is basically the same thing as Why We Broke Up. I just eternally love Mindy Kaling. I just want her to be my best friend. I just want to read this book and hug it forever. 

6. The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith - I read her other two books at the beginning of summer and absolutely loved them. Jennifer E. Smith just does so well with cutesy contemporary YA. Honestly, the only thing holding me back is the fact that it's still in hardcover and I'm too cheap to pay for it. 

7. Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins - First of all, this cover! Perfect blend of girly and badass. To be perfectly honest, I'm not 100% sure what this is all about aside from the Goodreads description, but it just sounds like such a fun read. 

8. Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid - It wouldn't be a books-I-want list without a road trip story. That's all there is to it. 

9. Cress by Marissa Meyer - Just because I have Cinder and Scarlet and I really want to binge read the series. But again, full-price hardcovers are so expensive it hurts. 

10. The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson - Everyone has been going nuts about this book lately. And it sounds awesome - runaway princess, mystery, assassins... It's got all the makings of a great story. Plus, I'm trying to expand away from my little contemporary comfort zone, and this seems like a good transition!

I mean, feel free to buy me any of these books. If you want. Just sayin'. ;)

waiting on wednesday - i'll give you the sun

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is all about upcoming releases! This week's pick is... 

I'll Give You the Sun  by Jandy Nelson 

384 pages

Publisher: Dial 

Publication date: September 16, 2014

from Goodreads: 

A brilliant, luminous story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell
Jude and her brother, Noah, are incredibly close twins. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude surfs and cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and divisive ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as an unpredictable new mentor. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world. 
This radiant, fully alive, sometimes very funny novel from the critically acclaimed author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.

Why I'm Waiting: 
First of all, THAT COVER. Have you ever seen such beauty? I think not. It's absolutely stunning. Apart from the outside, I really love the fact that this is a sibling story, and a story with a gay main character - these are both things that we really don't get to see a ton of in the YA world, especially not together. I'm so excited to see what Jandy does with it. Also, I read The Sky is Everywhere a couple years ago and it was absolutely beautiful, so I have high hopes! I'm definitely going to buy a couple boxes of Kleenex in anticipation of this book. 

Let me know what you're looking forward to this fall! 

top ten books people have been telling me i MUST read

Look at me, actually doing Top Ten Tuesday on the right day. Do I get a prize for this? 

Anyway. 

This week's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted as always by The Broke and the Bookish, is all about books people have been telling me I have to read. Now, seeing as I don't have a ton of book-loving friends, a lot of these are going to be indirect recommendations - from bloggers, BookTubers, all those kinds of things. Books that seem really popular and awesome, but for some reason I haven't picked up yet. A lot of these are series, too, so we're just gonna go ahead with that. 

1. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton - I feel like everyone read this in high school or middle school except for me. And I know there's a movie, too, and I haven't seen that. It's just one of those books that everyone needs to read, I guess? 

2. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson - When my best friend found out I hadn't read this, I swear she wanted to punch me in the face out of pure shock and disgust. I'm only exaggerating a little bit.  

3. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo - I'm slowly trying to get more into fantasy and everyone on booktube is obsessed with this series. Might as well jump on the bandwagon. 

4. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak - I know. I know. Let's just leave it at that and agree that I suck. Okay? 

5. All of Cassandra Clare's books - Because duh, they're EVERYWHERE. I read City of Bones a few years ago and really liked it but just never started the rest of the series, or the Infernal Devices. Gotta get on that. 

6. The Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout - I read Obsidian, loved it, then got distracted by other books. This is how it goes for most of the things I read. Also, the copy I have of Obsidian is the old cover so I've been trying to decide how to go about getting the rest of them. I think I'm just gonna splurge on day and buy the whole series in the pretty bind ups. 

7. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken - I feel like this series has been getting enough hype lately that I don't even need to go into detail about it. 

8. Cinder by Marissa Meyer - This is a story about me being cheap as hell. Basically, I found the hardcover on sale for $6 a couple years ago and picked it up because obviously. Then I didn't read it for some reason. And a couple weeks ago, I found Scarlet also on sale. And now I'm waiting for Cress to be cheap, too, before I read them because I kind of want to marathon the whole series. But I definitely intend to read it!

9. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas - Again, super hyped up and also ASSASSINS. Need I say more? 

10. The rest of the Hunger Games and Divergent trilogies, because I AM SO INCREDIBLY OUT OF THE LOOP I DISGUST MYSELF. I've read the first books of each but just didn't continue. And also I really want to see the movies but refuse to until I've read the books. 

So, there we have it. Now we all know how behind I am on every single series. I've basically been stuck in contemporary since Twilight stopped being cool so I've been missing out on all these cool books, it's really depressing. 

What should I read first? Make my decision for me please.:)