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! 

book club babble #1: aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe

Hello all, and welcome to the first instalment of book club babble! If you didn't see my last post, I briefly introduced you to the tiny book club I'm a part of, and now I'm back to discuss the book, as you do. What I forgot to mention in the last post was the journal the three of us are using as a sort of guide to our reading and discussion - Well-Read Women: A Reader's Journal. It really is a gorgeous little book and I highly recommend it for anyone who likes to keep track of their thoughts and favourite quotes while reading. 

Our first read was the highly acclaimed Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. If you haven't heard of this book, here's the synopsis from Goodreads: 

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

new series | book club babble

Hi all! 

So, recently I, along with two of my best friends,  have embarked on a magnificent and wondrous journey: a book club. Granted, it probably is the tiniest book club in the world, but I love it. Each month, we collaboratively choose a book to read and do so at our own pace. So far we've all completed one book and are working through the second. 

My goal here is to start a new kind of series on this blog, tentatively titled book club babble because how adorable is that? Basically, this is just my chance to revisit my thoughts for each of the books we've read and share them with anyone who is interested. One of the other members of the book club, Gini, also has a blog where she will be doing similar monthly updates on what we're reading. 

My first post/review on our first group read will be coming up very shortly, so keep your eyes peeled! 

(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.