Holiday Hiatus

So...I kind of went on an unintentional hiatus this month. I think this happens to me every holiday season. I travel for the holiday so unless I plan out all my blog posts, I kinda of procrastinate writing any blog posts!

So I hope that for those that celebrate the holiday season, you have a great holiday. If you don't hear from me until the New Year, I'm just eating too many Christmas cookies and I'm too lazy to blog!


Happy Reads Everyone!
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Review: The Sun Is Also A Star

The Sun is Also a Star By Nicola Yoon*
Publisher: Delacourt Press
Release Date: November 1st, 2016
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Summary Via GoodReads

My Rating: ★★★1/3

Goodreads ★ Amazon ★ B&N ★ TBD

Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.

Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?

Nicola Yoon is a new up and coming YA author and has found sucess with her first novel Everything, Everyhing; however reading her second novel is my first experience with her.

I really struggled with this novel and how I should rate it, because to me it was written so well and the characters were so compelling. I just wanted to know more about them and wanted to see where their story went. I found myself whipping right through this book because the writing just wanted me to get to the end. On the other hand, there wasn't really a plot to this other than this being a instalove romance.

This book never really tried to disguise itself as anything more than a romance, but if you're not a fan of instalove or you need something more out of plot, you might want to sit this one out. There is the subplot that Natasha and her family are undocumented immigrants and they are going to be deported to the US. I found all this super interesting to read about, but that plotline doesn't really go anywhere. This story is more about how she meets Daniel and they spend the day together agruing about love and if it is real. I did really like that Natasha was the one into hard data and science, and that Daniel was the hopeless romantic.

Both Daniel and Natasha are fleshed out characters that I found really fun to get to know. I also thought it was super interesting to show the difference between immigrants to America. On the one hand Daniel was born in the country but carried the weigh of being a son of immigrants, and on the other Natasha was not supposed to be in this country but carried the weight of her family's fate in her hands. Even thought the family's deportation wasn't her fault. I was really glad we got to see two diverse cultures in this book. I think it was so refreshing to read about someone that is not like me! Being inclusive of different cultures and POC is something that I really like to see more of in books, so I was really glad to see it in this book.

One thing that did really bother me about the writing is that we get not only Daniel & Natasha's point of view but there was a bunch of interludes from different people that they bump into throughout their day. From their respective parents to complete strangers. I know for some people the writing flowed well enough that this didn't bother them, but for me it really took me out of the story. I really could have done without these interruptions.

If you are a fan of young adult contemporary, especially romance, I would highly recommend this book for you. There is definitely an audience for this novel, I just don't think that it was for me.

*I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review*
Happy Reads Everyone!
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Review: After You

After You By Jojo Moyes
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Release Date: September 29th, 2015
Format: Ebook 353 pages
Summary Via GoodReads

My Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads ★ Amazon ★ B&N ★ TBD

“You’re going to feel uncomfortable in your new world for a bit. But I hope you feel a bit exhilarated too. Live boldly. Push yourself. Don’t settle. Just live well. Just live. Love, Will.”

How do you move on after losing the person you loved? How do you build a life worth living?

Louisa Clark is no longer just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. After the transformative six months spent with Will Traynor, she is struggling without him. When an extraordinary accident forces Lou to return home to her family, she can’t help but feel she’s right back where she started.

Her body heals, but Lou herself knows that she needs to be kick-started back to life. Which is how she ends up in a church basement with the members of the Moving On support group, who share insights, laughter, frustrations, and terrible cookies. They will also lead her to the strong, capable Sam Fielding—the paramedic, whose business is life and death, and the one man who might be able to understand her. Then a figure from Will’s past appears and hijacks all her plans, propelling her into a very different future...

For Lou Clark, life after Will Traynor means learning to fall in love again, with all the risks that brings. But here Jojo Moyes gives us two families, as real as our own, whose joys and sorrows will touch you deeply, and where both changes and surprises await.

A lot of people have a lot of feelings about Me Before You, and I have talked about how I feel about the book already on this blog. So today I want to talk about the sequel After You. I know that some people really did not like this sequel or think it needed to happened. I'll admit, I don't think a sequel was at all necessary, but I ended up really liking this one. I think mostly it's because there is something about Lou that I can relate to so much.

First, I'm not sure what people thought this book was going to be about, and maybe that's why so many gave up on it. This is a book about what happens to Lou after the events of the first novel. This is a novel about grieving and loss and how sometimes it's different for everyone. The first part of the novel is mostly about Lou wallowing in her sadness and that did get to be a little annoying, but as the book went on and events unfold I was invested.

Lou does get closure from what happened in the previous novel, especially when she meets Will's daughter (whom he never knew existed). His daughter was a seriously troubled kid and I thought it was rather sweet of Lou to try to help her. I think this also showed that Lou is a caregiver through and through. This girl always puts others before herself and she is constantly sacrficing what she wants because she feels like she has responsiblities to other people. I think that is what I like about her, but I also think it's what bothers me about her. She never gets to really live for herself if she is always living for other people and their needs.

I did really like that Lou is still friends with Nathan and they still talk on a regular basis. He's actually the one that pushes her into a new career, and gets her a job offer. Moyes makes us believe that Lou is not going to take this job, which she is so qualified for, and I think I would have been really mad if she just decided to stick with what she had been doing. So I was really glad she got out of her period of wallowing and tries to do something more with her life.

I really connected with Lou in the first book, so that's why I really stuck with and enjoyed this sequel. I don't think we need to hear from Lou again, and I don't think we really needed this book, but I found it super interesting to read about what people go through after they have endured a great loss.

Have you read this sequel? What are your thoughts?

Happy Reads Everyone!
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Deanna Listens: My Favorite Murder

Deanna Listens is a monthly feature on the first Monday of every month (sometimes) I created to showcase some of my favorite podcasts. This month I'm talking about My Favorite Murder.  So some of you might be like okay, "Deanna is a freak" but hear me out. If you are a fan of true crime and are interested in stories about different murders this is a podcast for you. But if you care about facts...maybe listen to a different podcast. Don't worry that's what the hosts of this podcast both say.

So this podcast is techically under the comedy section even though it is about a serious topic. The hosts Karen and Georgia are pretty funny, and I don't think they try to make light of murder, just that they try to piece together how things like that could happen. I also find it super interesting that they are both terrified of murder and this is a way that they cope with it. 

One of my favorite things about this podcast is that they ask for listeners to send in stories of their hometown murders and they will periodically do minispodes where they read a bunch. These are interesting because you learn about new stories that you might not have heard about before.

I think if you like shows like Criminal Minds this might be a podcast for you. Stay sexy, don't get murdered!

Got a great podcast you love? Give me a recommendation in the comments. No serious, please help, I'm running out of podcasts to listen to!

Happy Reads Everyone!
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Sci-Fi Month Wrap-Up

IT'S OVER!!! 😞

I'm so sad that yet another Sci-Fi Month has come and gone. Sci-fi Month created by Rinn Reads and cohosted by Effing Rainbow has always been a fun thing I've done with this blog. This year was actually my third annual year participating and I am definitely excited to see what happens next year. 

I love this event for a few reasons. One, it forces me to focus on what books I want to review and other topics, that I actually plan ahead on this blog. It's been really great, because this is the most I have actually blogged on here in many months. The other reason I love this event is because I love networking with other bloggers that love this genere. I love discovering new blogs from all these cool people, and learning about new sci-fi books that I have never heard of so I add them to my never ending TBR pile. 

Every year I feel like I don't have enough time to do everything I plan out to do. I mostly did a lot of book reviews and focused less on discussions. So that is definitely something I want to try to do more of next year. There are even a few books that I just didn't get around to reading and I feel really guilty about that. 

One thing that it seemed like a lot of people really enjoyed was my Guess The Sci-Fi Book giveway. A winner has already been picked and emailed. Since it looked like I stumped a few of you I wanted to give you all the answers to my quiz. I really enjoy doing these type of giveways, so I think it will be something I do next year too. Maybe I'll just make it a little easier. 😛

1. Matched : Girl finds out that the "society" that tells her what to eat, think, and who she should be matched with does not have her best interest at heart
2. The 100: Teens are cast out of space onto a planet thought inhabitable to see if it's safe to go back there. Left to their own devices they have to figure out how to survive on their own.
3. Little Brother: Teenage boy is illegally arrested by government organization and fights for his freedom of privacy to not be constantly moniotred once he is released. 
4. Interworld: Teenage boy starts walking and gets lost. Finds himself many different times and in different forms
5. A Thousand Pieces of You: Girl travels to different parallel worlds to figure out who killed her father. Gets stucks in Imperial Russia for a long time, before jumping to another universe. 
6. Armada: Gamers find out that they were not just playing video games, they were training to fight a war against an alien threat. But who are they really fighting?
7. Under The Never Sky: Sheltered girl is exiled outside of her society's dome. She has been told she will die on the outside, but to her surprise she doesn't.
8. Star Wars: Lost Stars: Star crossed lovers fight on different sides of a space war from the time they are children to the time the evil Empire is taken down by a group of rebels.
9. Red Rising: Miner on Mars discovers that his life has been a lie, and joins a rebellion to take down his people's oppressors
10. Alienated: Aliens have made contact, and teen participates in an exchange program to host one of them.

A LOT of you got #6 wrong and guessed Ender's Game, but I won't fault you for that, because the two books are very similar. How many did you get right? 

Are you sad that sci-fi month is over? What was your favorite part about it? 

Happy Reads Everyone!
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Audiobook Review: Across the Universe

Across the Universe
Publisher: Penguin Audiobooks
Release Date: January 1st, 2012
Format: Audiobook narrated by Carlos Santos & Lauren Ambrose
Summary Via GoodReads

My Rating: ★★★ 1/2

Goodreads ★ Amazon ★ B&N ★ TBD

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.... 

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, 300 years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end 50 years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules. 

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone - one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship - tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next. 

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

One of the things I loved about this novel was the concept of people being frozen on a ship and having to rely on other people living on that ship to take care of them for generations. It seems like such a common Sci-Fi trope, but I think it might actually be the first Sci-Fi book I have read like that. So the concept of this novel was super cool, especially since I knew something was going to go wrong.

The novel tells the story back and forth between Amy, a frozen girl that has been woken up on this ship, and Elder, a boy who was born on the ship and is destined to be the leader of the next generation. I was glad that the audio version of this book had two different narrators to tell the story from both of their perspectives. At times I thought the female narrator's volume was too loud, so it made it annoying to have to keep adjusting my sound, but it was something I could live with.

I liked this novel, but I found that it was a little predictable. Maybe this is just because I read way too much sci-fi but I had a feeling I knew what was really happening. Like I wasn't that surprised when we find out about Elder's parentage. I also had a feeling I knew who was killing all the frozen people. Although, I did start to think that maybe it was the ship itself, but as the book progressed I could see that my initial thought was correct. So at times it didn't surprise and wow me because I had already guessed what was going to happen. I don't think this is a mar to Beth Revis' writing or this plot she created, I think it's just a problem when you read a lot of one genre and you get used to the same types of tropes happening.

At times I seriously disliked Amy, she came off as really bratty, especially in the opening of this novel. However, once she had woken up on this strange ship, I started to put myself in her shoes. I think maybe I would have lashed out in anger like she did, especially when people are threatening her just because she exists. Also everything they think is SO WRONG so I get that she wanted to be like, "No, that's that what happened, I was there." I don't know how I would react in the same situation, maybe I would be like Amy, so I started to think maybe her deposition wasn't that bratty.

Apparently this is the first in the series, but I'm not sure yet if I want to continue with it. I do kind of what to see if they ever get to the planet they were trying to go to, but I kind of liked how this book ended. If you are interested in reading about "generation ships"I would suggest giving this one a try.

Have you read this book? Have you finished the series? Should I continue with it?

Happy Reads Everyone!
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Audiobook Review: Stars Above

Stars Above By Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Release Date: February 2nd, 2016
Format: Audiobook narrated by Rebecca Soler
Summary Via GoodReads

My Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads ★ Amazon ★ B&N ★ TBD

The Keeper: A prequel to the Lunar Chronicles, showing a young Scarlet and how Princess Selene came into the care of Michelle Benoit.

Glitches: In this prequel to Cinder, we see the results of the plague play out, and the emotional toll it takes on Cinder. Something that may, or may not, be a glitch….

The Queen’s Army: In this prequel to Scarlet, we’re introduced to the army Queen Levana is building, and one soldier in particular who will do anything to keep from becoming the monster they want him to be.

Carswell’s Guide to Being Lucky: Thirteen-year-old Carswell Thorne has big plans involving a Rampion spaceship and a no-return trip out of Los Angeles.

After Sunshine Passes By: In this prequel to Cress, we see how a nine-year-old Cress ended up alone on a satellite, spying on Earth for Luna.

The Princess and the Guard: In this prequel to Winter, we see a young Winter and Jacin playing a game called the Princess and the Guard…

The Little Android: A retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” set in the world of The Lunar Chronicles.

The Mechanic: In this prequel to Cinder, we see Kai and Cinder’s first meeting from Kai’s perspective.

Something Old, Something New: In this epilogue to Winter, friends gather for the wedding of the century…

Stars Above is a short story collection to go along with Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles. Due to this, I'm going to spend some short paragraphs talking about each story individually. First, I do want to say that I love Rebecca Soler as the narrator for this series. I listened to both Scarlet & Winter on audiobook and I was really glad to hear the same voice in my head. I think she does a good job with this world, and I definitely want to  hear more of her in other audiobooks. Fair warning there are some spoilers for the series below. So if you haven't read it yet, maybe skip this review.

THE KEEPER: This was a strong story to start off with, because it gives us a little more insight into Scarlet's grandmother. She was a total BAMF and it makes me so sad she no longer with us. It's clear that her independent spirit rubbed off on Scarlet A LOT! The one thing that did bother me was, how the hell didn't Scarlet find Cinder in the hangar? I think that was a touch unrealistic.

GLITCHES: I liked this story because it shows how Cinder starts to adjust to her new life as a Cyborg. At first she doesn't even realize that she is using technology to help her figure out how to fix Iko, or learn that Adri is a terrible person. It's also sad because you know that Garan is going to die of the plaque.

THE QUEEN'S ARMY: If you forget how much Levana is a terrible Lunar, this story will remind you. This jerk took CHILDREN from their home and had her army genetically modify them to fight for her, just because she wanted supreme power. Oh...I hate her so much, she's one of the best villains I've read in awhile.

CARSWELL'S GUIDE TO BEING LUCKY: As much as I love Carswell, I think this short story was a miss. It does show us how his home life is a little rocky, but I just didn't find it all the interesting.

AFTER SUNSHINE PASSES BY: I kind of forgot how naive Cress was, and this story shows that she was even more naive than I remember. Cress is too pure for this world, but she is also smart as a whip on the computer and it's one of the reasons she's keep alive. This story is just a short little thing to explain how she got up in that satellite in the first place.

THE PRINCESS AND THE GUARD: This story was really sad, because we finally understand why Winter allows herself to go mad with Lunar Sickness by not using her gift. Winter, like Cress has a pure heart and all she wants to do is help people. She plans to help them feel better with her gift, but when she tries to stop a servant girl from killing herself she actually does more harm than good. It also shows us why she just goes along with everything that Levan says, which still makes me mad!

THE LITTLE ANDROID: Unlike the other stories, this one has nothing to do with the characters from the series. Perhaps that's why I had a harder time with it. The concept is pretty interesting, but since I was expecting this to relate back to the other characters I wasn't that interested in it.

THE MECHANIC: So this short story wasn't bad but it felt like I had read it before...It seems like a first draft of when Cinder and Kai meet for the first time when he goes to her to get his android fixed. I assume most people are reading this collection after reading the series, so I thought it was really unnecessary.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW: The final story ends on a good note, by telling us what happens after the end of Winter. However, Meyer teases us with a wedding but it's not Kai & Cinder's wedding, it's Wolf & Scarlet's. It's a cute story, and I think it was a nice way to finish out this collection.

I am glad I read this collection, because I really did enjoy The Lunar Chronicles. I enjoyed getting more insight on some things that weren't really explained in detail from the series. I don't think you have to read this book if you liked the series, but if you can't get enough of it and you want more, I would recommend reading this collection as well.

What are your thoughts on this collection? Do you have a favorite story from it?

Happy Reads Everyone!
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Audiobook Review: Little Brother

Little Brother By Cory Doctorow
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: April 8th, 2008
Format: Audiobook narrated by Kirby Heyborne
Summary Via GoodReads

My Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads ★ Amazon ★ B&N ★ TBD

Marcus, a.k.a w1n5t0n, is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works - and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school's intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.

But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they're mercilessly interrogated for days.

When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

I was totally ready to not enjoy this book, because I wasn't really into the last Cory Doctorow book I read. Little Brother; however, made me feel a lot of things. Mostly anger...which I think was the point.

The gist of this story is that Marcus gets mistaken for a terrorist and when he is finally let go he starts an uprising of computer nerds to try to beat the government at their own game. This book is very heavy-handed with the politics, so if you don't want that, I would suggest passing on this one. I'm usually not one that is really into that sort of stuff, but maybe it's because of the state of my country right now that I really needed to read this book. This book is basically talking about the Patriot Act, and how we just allowed the government to take away some of our freedoms in the name of the war on terror. It's pretty messed up, and the more I read this book and what was happening in Marcus' world the more I got angry.

I think it's also a shot at the media, and how they twist things around to make the wrong type of story. At one point in this book Marcus has an interview with some reporters to set the record straight so they can answer why his group is trying to disrupt what the DHS was doing. What he says is perfectly reasonable, but the quotes that get taken out of context and put into news reports paints him as a straight up terrorist. It made me so freaking angry, and I think that was exactly the rise that Doctorow wanted to get out of me.

I'm not really tech savy, so some of the stuff in this novel went over my head. It does explain in great detail about about online security and why it's important to keep your stuff secure. There were a lot of things that I didn't really know about, so I found getting educated on this to be super interesting.

This is a pretty realistic dystopia that could be a plausible future us, so for that I really appreciate this book. If you are looking for a new dystopia book, I would recommend this one. It feels more like 1984, but with a different twist to it. I also think most readers would find it more relatable, because they could see this world actually come to fruition in their lifetime.

Have you read this book? What are you thoughts?

Happy Reads Everyone!
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Audiobook Review: Matched

Matched By Ally Condie
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Release Date: November 10th 2010 
Format: Audiobook narrated by Kate Simses
Summary Via GoodReads

My Rating: ★★★1/2

Goodreads ★ Amazon ★ B&N ★ TBD

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate ... until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow. 

I actually have paperback copies of this entire trilogy, but I was afraid I wasn't going to like this one so I decided to try the first book on audio. I wasn't completely wrong, because this book just didn't blow me away.

So let's get started with the negatives first. One of the criticisms I heard about this book was that the plot isn't all that original, and it sounds a little too much like Lois Lowry's The Giver. I have to say that I agree with that. I feel like I had read this plot before, however I did find it interesting to watch as this one girl slowly realizes that the society she believed in her whole life was really just a sham. It was just a series of people in charge experimenting on the masses.

What I found unique in this novel was that it didn't seem like Cassia was supposed to be "the chosen one" (at least not yet)and based on the new restrictions that were happening in The Society it was clear that a revolution was already in progress. So I did find it interesting to watch from the other side as the system was fighting back against the people they were oppressing.

This was a hard book for me to deal with because the way the people just blindly followed The Society made me so angry. These people had no real thoughts on their own, so I was glad in the end that Cassia decided to fight for her individuality.

I'm not sure yet if I want to continue with this trilogy, but I did find this was an enjoyable read. It's a little predictable, but I didn't find it a bad book. Just not a book that makes me want to shake the person next to me and yell, "Read this book!!"

What did you think about this book? Do you think I should continue with this trilogy?

Happy Reads Everyone!
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Review: Bloodline

Bloodline By Claudia Gray
Publisher: LucasBooks
Release Date: May 3rd, 2016
Format: Hardback, 332 pages
Summary Via GoodReads

My Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads ★ Amazon ★ B&N ★ TBD

When the Rebellion defeated the Empire in the skies above Endor, Leia Organa believed it was the beginning to a lasting peace. But after decades of vicious infighting and partisan gridlock in the New Republic Senate, that hope seems like a distant memory.

Now a respected senator, Leia must grapple with the dangers that threaten to cripple the fledgling democracy — from both within and without. Underworld kingpins, treacherous politicians, and Imperial loyalists are sowing chaos in the galaxy. Desperate to take action, senators are calling for the election of a First Senator. It is their hope that this influential post will bring strong leadership to a divided galaxy. 

As the daughter of Darth Vader, Leia faces with distrust the prospect of any one person holding such a powerful position — even when supporters suggest Leia herself for the job. But a new enemy may make this path Leia’s only option. For at the edges of the galaxy, a mysterious threat is growing.

I'm a huge fan of the old Star Wars Expanded Universe books, and since LucasFilms decided to create a new continuity I've been having trouble with the new canon. I feel like some of the books have been hit or miss, however, Claudia Gray's books thus far have definitely been a hit. She wrote Lost Stars, which I adored so I was super excited to see that she was writing a SW book about Princess Leia. For me I think the problem with the new canon is that some of the authors just don't get the essence of what a Star Wars book should be like, but I think Gray does it pretty well. She could write all of the other books and I think I would be happy.

So let's talk about how Leia Organa is one of the most powerful of the original trio. Girl gets shit done as a teenager, so of course she is not going to let bureaucracy get her down. This is why I loved that we get to see Leia doing senator things and how she completely disobeys orders by going on covert missions. Like Leia is so like Padme in so many ways, but she also has the anger that was in Anakin so this book made me appreciate the prequels and what they did for us.

I did hear one negative comment that, "if you didn't get enough of the senate in the prequels, you get it here," but that was something that I found so enjoyable. I liked seeing how the senate worked and how it was crumbling because they had a great leader that was able to unite them but now there is so much infighting that they can't get anything done. It was a nice foil to our world.

I think one of my favorite parts about this book is how happy Threepio was just being Leia's receptionist. He excels at it and it seems exactly where he should be. Which actually makes me laugh so much since we now know that his creator was Leia's father Darth Vader! Leia's parentage is a major plot turning point in this novel, and one of the things that made me so mad. It gets out who her father was and it seems like everyone turns on her, even though she was tortured on the first death star...by her own father...and she led the rebellion to stop him and his master, like come on people Leia is not evil!! This bothered me, but it wasn't because I found it unbelievable, it just annoyed me that every good thing she did before was erased in her colleagues eyes just because her father was a terrible sith lord.

This book is a precursor to the newest film, so it tries to fill in the missing pieces between Return of The Jedi and The Force Awakens. There still is a lot of things we don't know, but this shows us how the seed of the New Order was sown and why Leia is a General. I definitely want to know more!

Definitely read this if you liked Lost Stars, or are really interesting in what exactly Leia does as a Senator in this strange universe.  I really hope Gray gets contracted to write another SW book. I think she does a really good job of it.

Happy Reads Everyone!
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Series Review: Black Mirror

Moving away from books, today I wanted to talk about a sci-fi show that I really enjoy. And that is Black Mirror!

One Scifi-ish show I've gotten into recently is Black Mirror. It was a british show that was bought by Netflix and they recently released the third season with a few more episodes than we are used to. I say it's Scifi-ish because it just primarily deals with technology and not how it destroys us, but by how we as humans let it make us do terrible things to each other. Yup, it's a pretty uplifting show! [sarcasm font]

The show has been hailed as the Twilight Zone for the new era, but I don't think that's necessarily true. The main reason I think it gets labeled that is because it's an anthology series and we haven't seen a show like that in a very long time. It's one of things I really like about it, because all the episodes are different, with a new cast and story line. I really enjoy this because not every episode is great. Sometimes it can be hit or miss, which I absoultely love! If I watch an episode that I didn't really like, I know that I can just try the next one and see if I like that better. Unlike a normal show where I would just quit watching the show.

Like I said, some of the episodes can be hit or miss, and I think the very first episode of the first season is a miss. Every time I actually recommend this show to people I say, "okay, but like maybe don't watch the first episode." The premise of the first episode is really gross and I think it puts people off from the show and they don't want to continue. Which I think is a huge shame! Especially since I think the episode that follows is really good. 

I highly recommend this show if you are a fan of scifi and you are interested in the pyschology of humans and how we use tools that are supposed to better our lives in destructive ways. I love the concept so much, and I am total fan.

Have you watched any Black Mirror? What's your favorite episode?

Happy Reads Everyone!
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Audiobook Review: InterWorld

Interworld By Neil Gaiman & Michael Reaves
Publisher: Harper Collins
Release Date: June 26th, 2014
Format: Audiobook narrated by Christopher Evan Welch
Summary Via GoodReads

My Rating: ★★★1/2

Goodreads ★ Amazon ★ B&N ★ TBD

Joey Harker isn't a hero. In fact, he's the kind of guy who gets lost in his own house. But then one day, Joey gets really lost. He walks straight out of his world and into another dimension. Joey's walk between the worlds makes him prey to two terrible forces—armies of magic and science who will do anything to harness his power to travel between dimensions. When he sees the evil those forces are capable of, Joey makes the only possible choice: to join an army of his own, an army of versions of himself from different dimensions who all share his amazing power and who are all determined to fight to save the worlds.

Master storyteller Neil Gaiman and Emmy Award-winning science-fiction writer Michael Reaves team up to create a dazzling tale of magic, science, honor, and the destiny of one very special boy—and all the others like him.' 

So Interworld was super weird, and I'm not even sure where to start with this one. I added this book on my "Wishlist" on the Overdrive app through my library just because Neil Gaiman's name was attached to it. I don't think I even read the summary, it was just one of those books I went into blindly.

Unfortuantely it was just another one of those books that I just didn't totally love. Don't get me wrong the plot kept my interest and by no means was it a bad book, it was just okay. It was an enjoyable read but nothing that would make me want to shake someone and say "READ THIS BOOK!"

The plot of this novel was that Joey gets so lost that he walks into a differnt dimension where different versions of himself (all from different universes) are waging war on evil magicians and machines that want to take over all the different universes and rule. I think what distracted me with this novel was the fact that there were two different adversaries that Joey had to fight, but this novel really leaned heavier on the magicians, and we only saw the machines (the binary) a few times. I know this is a series so I'm sure we learn and see more of the other villians in the other books, but I think there should have been a focus on one instead of two.

I found the concept of this novel really cool. Getting to meet yourself as different people of what you could have been is so cool. What if you were a different gender? Or if your culture was so advanced you were almost part computer? Or part wolf? Meeting all the different Joeys was the best part about the novel for me.

The narrator did an okay job in this one, except when it came to female voices. This is a problem I have with a lot of male voiceovers. I think he went a little too over the top with female voices, that I had some issues with it.

I don't think I'm going to read the rest of this series, but I do think the plot was interesting and I would recommend it for anyone that really likes the topic of multiverses or parellel worlds.


Happy Reads Everyone!
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Top Ten Tuesday: New Sci-Fi Books Added to my TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the bloggers over at The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is new books that I added to my TBR recently. So since it's Scifi Month I'm going to be talking about the recent Sci-Fi books I've added to my TBR. ...and there are a lot of Star Wars books on here, no surprise there.

I read the first book from this series and absolutely loved it, but I haven't read the second one yet because I asked my brother to get it for me for christmas. 

I actually am currently reading this book, but I haven't gotten that far into it yet. Like I'm literally 5% done, so I think that counts as still "TBR".

Miller is a great Star Wars writer, and I love Kanan & Hera. Really interested in reading about these two.

I saw another blogger post a review about this book so I added it to my list, but never got around to it. 

I've heard mixed reviews about this one, but I think the experiemental way it was written really makes me want to read it.

I don't know if I want to read this or listen to the audio, since the woman who does Ahsoka's voice is going to narrate the audiobook. Ahsoka is so cool, I love her.

I am so glad that Disney is recognizing how much fans of the EU love Thrawn, so I'm really glad they added him to Rebels and that they let Zahn write another book about him. I'm super excited about this one. 

Um...yeah I still haven't finished The 5th Wave series, so I definitely want to do that soon!

Okay, I just recently bought this on my kindle, so it's definitely something new I want to read. 

Technically I am currently reading the audiobook, but I'm still counting this one as "TBR". 

What books are on your list this week?

Happy Reads Everyone!
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