A Million Books in August 2016 - Wrap-Up!

AAAH! It's my first monthly wrap, so please excuse me if I get this wrong!

Before I get on to the actual Wrap Up, I just wanted to tell you guys about the TWO Empire Of Storms (Throne of Glass #5) (AKA THE BEST SERIES EVER) Giveaways happening on Twitter and Instagram. Both of them are open INTERNATIONALLY and is for only my MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK IN EVER, and I am so excited for it to reach the world!

I also reach 1,000 followers on Twitter AND 100,000 Pageviews on the blog THIS MONTH! It's humbling and awesome and I LOVE ALL OF YOU!
I have read a WHOOPING TWELVE books this month! I'm also falling over myself in an attempt to make SOME headway on my TBR and all the #reviewcopies but I keep requesting more because I LOVE BOOKS, OKAY?  and the pile just keeps increasing.



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Like I Said, I'm only SLIGHTLY addicted to requesting Review Copies, and buying books (DUH.)
For Review:

1. My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga
2. The Fall of Butterflies by Andrea Portes
3. Rune of the Apprentice by Jamison Stone
4. With Malice by Eileen Cook
5. The Boyfriend List by E. Lockheart
6. Poison Princess by Kresley Cole
7. Endless Knight by Kresley Cole
8. The Elite by Mercedes Lackey
9. Gilt Hollow by Lorie Langdon
10. The Girl in the Picture by Alexandra Monir
11. The Weight of Zero by Karen Fortuni
12. Game on by Michelle Smith
13. The Gender Game by Bella Forrest
14. ReMade (Season 1) Episodes 1, 2 & 3
15. Beautifully Burned by CJ Burright
16. The Fading Dusk by Melissa Grigorio

BOUGHT:
1. Happily Ever After by Kiera Cass
2. Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard
3. Harry Potter and The Cursed Child by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany
Bookstagrammin' is SUCH A FUN THING TO DO! I adore sitting around and taking pictures, and attempting to make things look pretty! Don't forget to enter my INTERNATIONAL Instagram Giveaway!




The WONDERFUL Shannon over at It Starts at Midnight started ROUND TWO of the Shattering Stigmas with book bloggers talking about Books That Shatter Stigmas!

That's about it! Link me up to your Wrap-Ups or Posts, and I will be visiting them ALL!

Wonderfully Written // The Fall Of Butterflies by Andrea Portes

Title: The Fall of Butterflies
Author: Andrea Portes
Publication Date: August 22nd 2016
Publisher: Harper Teen (Harper Collins)
Part of a Series?: No, Standalone
I Got A Copy Through: Harper Collins India (THANK YOU!) 
Buy Links: Amazon IN || Amazon US || Amazon UK || Wordery || The Book Depository || Barnes and Noble || Flipkart
Blurb Description: Willa Parker, 646th and least popular resident of What Cheer, Iowa, is headed east to start a new life.
Did she choose this new life? No, because that would be too easy—and nothing in Willa’s life is easy. It’s her famous genius mother’s idea to send her to ultra-expensive, ultra-exclusive Pembroke Prep, and it’s only the strength of her name that got Willa accepted in the first place.
But Willa has no intentions of fitting in at Pembroke. She’s not staying long, she decides. Not at this school—and not on this planet. But when she meets peculiar, glittering Remy Taft, the richest, most mysterious girl on campus, she starts to see a foothold in this foreign world—a place where she could maybe, possibly, sort of fit.
When Willa looks at Remy, she sees a girl who has everything. But for Remy, having everything comes at a price. And as she spirals out of control, Willa can feel her spinning right out of her grasp.
In Willa’s secret heart, all she’s ever wanted is to belong. But if Remy, the girl who gave her this world, is slip-sliding away, is Willa meant to follow her down?
Andrea Portes’s incandescent, heartfelt novel explores the meaning of friendship, new beginnings, and the precarious joy and devastating pain of finding home in a place—a person—with wings.

“Remy smiles at me with a twinkle in her eye. I smile back, but I can’t help but wonder, what’s the price this time? What’s the price for this ride?”

There is so much about this book that I loved, and so much that could have been done so much better that I don’t know where to start.

Last year, Andrea Portes’s debut, Anatomy of a Misfit, was one of the (many) books I got for my birthday. While I remember LOVING that the book stood for individuality and doing the right thing, I forgot how erratic the protagonist (and by that the author) had been. It is only slightly distracting to read as someone whose thoughts are all over the place while she was trying to make a point.

Willa Parker was more grounded than Anika Dragomir (the Anatomy of a Misfit MC) – A LOT MORE – but it did take me a few chapters to get used to Portes’s writing style.

After the gorgeous cover, The Fall of Butterflies promised an antisocial freak with a suicide plan and the ‘perfect’ girl with a drug problem, and I couldn’t WAIT.

Willa Parker has a famous economist mother who walked out on her father with his best man, and is now sending Willa to a snobby prep school on the Eastern Seaboard. She doesn’t plan on staying there long though, for Willa intends to end it all.

In the world of the rich, Willa meets Remy Taft. Popular, aloof and the girl everybody wants to be friends with, she picks Willa out of her obscurity and into the shin of her own spotlight.

I feel like I NEED to address the suicide aspect of this book.

It was a PLOT POINT, and nothing more. There was not one moment or ONE LINE where I felt Willa was being serious about what she was thinking of doing to herself, nor did I believe she could voluntarily HURT her father, who she loved most in the world.

We also NEVER got a WHY Willa wanted to commit suicide, except the fact that her mother was a human pressurizer and she was a loner BUT SO WHAT? She didn’t seem sad, or depressed, but just a slightly strange girl that wanted to fit in.

I also feel like I HAVE to APPLAUD the drugs aspect of this book.

While suicide is what I got from the blurb and did not expect drugs to be involved in this novel, I ADMIRE THE WAY Andrea Portes handled it.

She showed us the highs and lows of drugs, and showed us what too much could do. It was beautifully written, and it felt like all the reasons why teenagers or anyone uses contraband was WONDERFULLY written, even the highs and the lows. I loved this.

Strangely enough, I both liked and disliked Remy and Willa as friends.

While the beginning was rocky, a few chapters after their first interaction, I could see the friendship and the bond and the reckless attitude and the need to impress your new cool friend! They were contrasting personalities clashing and I loved it.

The ending, however, was too drama filled with Remy upping and leaving and then returning, and just TOO melodramatic for my taste. In my experience, friendship doesn’t work like that. There was no cellular contact when Remy LEFT, but LOADS of it when they were kidding around in the SAME ROOM.


All in all, The Fall Of Butterflies is a BEAUTIFUL novel on drugs and has its moments, but it could have been so so SO much more!

3.75 Stars.
What books that tackle the drug problem would you recommend? Which was the last suicide or mental health book you read? 

Please do link up your blogs, I can't WAIT to visit them!

I NEED MORE // The Mirror King (The Orphan Queen #2) by Jodi Meadows

Title: The Mirror King
Author: Jodi Meadows
Publication Date: May 5th 2016
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Part of a Series?: Yes, Book 2 of The Orphan Queen Duology
I Got A Copy Through: I bought it~
Buy Links: Amazon IN || Amazon US || Amazon UK || The Book Depository || Wordery || Barnes And Noble
Blurb Description: Wilhelmina has a hundred enemies.
HER FRIENDS HAVE TURNED. After her identity is revealed during the Inundation, Princess Wilhelmina is kept prisoner by the Indigo Kingdom, with the Ospreys lost somewhere in the devastated city. When the Ospreys’ leader emerges at the worst possible moment, leaving Wil’s biggest ally on his deathbed, she must become Black Knife to set things right. 
HER MAGIC IS UNCONTROLLABLE. Wil’s power is to animate, not to give true life, but in the wraithland she commanded a cloud of wraith mist to save herself, and later ordered it solid. Now there is a living boy made of wraith—destructive and deadly, and willing to do anything for her.
HER HEART IS TORN. Though she’s ready for her crown, declaring herself queen means war. Caught between what she wants and what is right, Wilhelmina realizes the throne might not even matter. Everyone thought the wraith was years off, but already it’s destroying Indigo Kingdom villages. If she can’t protect both kingdoms, soon there won’t be a land to rule.
In this stunning conclusion to THE ORPHAN QUEEN, Jodi Meadows follows Wilhelmina’s breathtaking and brave journey from orphaned criminal on the streets to magic-wielding queen.
SOMEBODY PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW I HAD THIS BOOK FOR MONTHS AND DID NOTHING WITH IT?

I DON’T KNOW HOW TO EXPLAIN THIS BOOK, BECAUSE THERE ARE NO WORDS FOR IT. I just sped through it, not knowing what was happening around me and not processing any of the heart-breaking reveals in it because it was ALL TOO MUCH for one simple Book-Dragon to bear. I think I’ll still live in my happy little denial place because I NEED MORE and there isn’t any.

If you have read The Orphan Queen, and haven’t read The Mirror King for some reason YET, then let me tell you THERE IS NO TIME BETTER THAN THE PRESENT, for this does not let you down! Jodi Meadows makes you fall – and I mean REALLY REALLY FALL – for all of her characters that you met in The Orphan Queen, more than you ever thought possible.

This book starts off exactly where The Orphan Queen left off, and I have no idea HOW I SURVIVED for so long.

In the Inundated City of Skyvale, Prince Tobias has been shot. Wilhelmina has been exposed as the person she really is – Flasher, Imposter and a Queen with a pet wraith on her leash. The Ospreys are divided, Patrick Lien is out of control, claiming to carry out assassinations on Wilhelmina’s behalf but more importantly, the Wraith are coming, and they’re coming now.

Since I’m not going to tell you the story, here are my reasons why you must read this series:

1.    The Multiple Identities: I ADORED HOW EVERYONE WAS ACTUALLY SOMEONE ELSE, AND SOMEONE WAS ALWAYS PRETENDING AND SOMEONE ELSE ALWAYS KNEW. It made it so intriguing, the game of keeping up pretenses and all the secrets within each pretense and I LOVED IT SO MUCH AHOIHAFOIDH.

2.    The Plot: This was such a cool, VERY WELL EXECUTED plot with so many twists that even if you saw one coming, the next one was IMPOSSIBLE. I love that there was so much actual GOVERNING as much as the dances and the angst, because being a monarch means GOVERNING, okay? Also, the magic, the wraith and the Kingdoms AAAAAAH.

3.    The Characters: THEY WERE ALL SO BEAUTIFUL, OKAY? Including the Wraith. And Tobias. And James. But especially Wil! Oh how I LOVE my flawed mistake causing babies, and there imperfect decision making and their passion and bravery. PERFECT. I love that there were so many secondary characters that were given importance!

4.    The Chemistry: I will admit, this took a while to grow on me, but I was sitting in the middle of the BEAUTIFUL GIANT that is The Mirror King and I realised I was shipping it ALL. ALL OF IT, I TELL YOU. *dies*

So that’s about it. If you haven’t read this book, it is SO WORTH IT! 5 GOLDEN STARS.
HAVE YOU READ THIS SERIES? *Uses Cait (from Paper Fury's) book thumping method until you begin! Have you read any more Jodi Meadows books? 
What is your favourite fantasy novel? Any recommendations for me?

Over-The-Top Yet Hilarious // The Boyfriend List by E. Lockheart

Title: The Boyfriend List (Ruby Oliver #1)
Author: E. Lockheart
Publication Date: July 14th 2016
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Part of a Series?: Yes, Book 1/4 of the Ruby Oliver Series
I Got A Copy Through: Bloomsbury India (THANK YOU!)
Buy Links: Amazon IN || Amazon US || Amazon UK || The Book Depository || Wordery || Barnes&Noble
Blurb Description: 5 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver
From E. Lockhart, author of the best-seller We Were Liars, and the highly-acclaimed The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, comes this hilarious and heart-warming series. 
Ruby Oliver is fifteen and has a shrink. But before you make up your mind about her, you should know that she has had a pretty awful (and eventful) past ten days. She has: * lost her boyfriend* lost her best friend (Kim)* lost all her other friends (Nora, Cricket)* did something suspicious with a boy* did something advanced with a boy* had an argument with a boy* drank her first beer (someone handed it to her)* got caught by her mom (ag!)* had a panic attack (scary)* lost a lacrosse game (she's the goalie)* failed a math test (she'll make it up)* hurt Meghan's feelings (even though they aren't really friends)* became a social outcast (no one to sit with at lunch)* and had graffiti written about her in the girls' bathroom (who knows what was in the boys'!?!).
But don't worry, Ruby lives to tell the tale. Through a special assignment to list all the boys she's ever had the slightest, little, any-kind-of-anything with, comes an unfortunate series of events that would be enough to send any girl in a panic. 

Truth be told, the only other E. Lockheart book I’ve read is We Were Liars which COMPLETELY blew my mind. I adored everything – EVERYTHING – it had to offer and so, I had HUGE expectations going into The Boyfriend List.

In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have, but can you really blame me?

Ruby Oliver is just your normal standard high school girl. She wonders if her face looks ugly in her glasses, if she’s pretty enough and just like everyone else, she’s looking for her Mr. Right (The One or Tommy Hazard)

Well, maybe she was a normal girl.

In the last few weeks, relatively normal Ruby Oliver with her popular boyfriend and awesome circle of friends has become a social leper. With her panic attacks, her boyfriend dumping her for her best friend and all her best friends dropping her like a hot potato, the only place left for Ruby is on her therapist’s couch.

Oh, and, there’s a list that Ruby wrote that aided her fall – no, crash – down the social ladder.

A Boyfriend List. A List of ALL the boys she’s ever been associated with, ever liked or ever done anything with.

And it’s public.

There are a lot of things I liked and disliked about this book, so let’s go.

What I DID NOT Like about The Boyfriend List:

1.       RUBY’S TERRIBLE “FRIENDS”: When you’re growing up, you make a lot of friends, dump a lot and find the few special ones that you keep. I GET that Ruby is still in the first and second phase BUT I HATED THESE GIRLS. OH GOD. Their friendship moral compass and their decent human being compass were so off, I WANTED TO STRANGLE THEM.

2.       THE RANTING: There were SO MANY important messages this book had to give its readers, and they COULD have been properly delivered IF there wasn’t SO much of Ruby Rants. Some of them were funny, but in some, she blabbered on and on so much I had to forced myself through them. Sigh.


3.       THE FOOTNOTES: For some reason, I’ve never been able to appreciate footnotes. They pull me away from the point that was being made in the actual story and IT MAKES IT SO HARD TO CONCETRATE. I didn’t like the footnote format of the book, ESPECIALLY IN RANT FORM. SIGH.

Ruby Rant Exhibit 1
     4.       Ruby’s Parents:  I have SEEN not so strict parents, and parents involved in theatre but they are NOT LIKE THESE. I SERIOSULY think that Ruby’s parents were THE BIGGEST reason she was having panic attacks because they were so all over the place, and they NEVER listened to Ruby or ANYTHING. I really did not like them

What I LOVED about The Boyfriend List:

1.       Noel, Gideon, Angelo & Shiv: YES, I’M TALKING ABOUT BOYS! This is, after all, The Boyfriend List. I went in hoping I would find at least ONE boy that I liked, but instead, I FOUND FOUR SWOONY BOYS! *Throws party* Each of them had their positives and negatives, but I really really liked them!  #swoon

2.       DON’T BE A PUSHOVER: I have seen so many people be pushed over (I will sadly admit that I’m one of them) and this was one of the BIGGEST lessons that Ruby learnt. If you’re waiting for someone to call, or wondering why a guy kissed you, asked you out and never spoke to you again and waited and waited for THE OTHER PERSON to do something, then you’re like Ruby (and me.) I loved how this was put across, and just the general importance of teenage girls receiving this message.

3.       The Ending:  There was this note of maturation that hit Ruby at the ending, which completely changed the tone of the book for me. I WAS SO GLAD she was taking charge of her own life and PUTTING HERSELF FIRST and realising some people just WEREN’T WORTH THE TROUBLE and I was so proud of her.

Will I read the next book? I honestly don’t know yet.

Ruby Oliver is your everyday girl, which also makes her pretty special. Ruby Oliver is learning things that every teenager should be learning too, and her story is DEFINITELY WORTH READING!

3.5 Stars!
What important messages have books given you? Have you read any E.Lockeart books? Have you read THIS series and if yes, should I continue?

I can't wait to hear from all of you! (Don't forget to leave your blog links so I can pop by!)

Ten Books That Have Been On My Shelf From Before I Started Blogging That I STILL Haven't Read Yet (TTT #14)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely ladies over at The Broke and The Bookish.

This week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt is: Ten Books That Have Been On My Shelf From Before I Started Blogging That I STILL Haven't Read Yet (TTT #14)

I would like to start off with:

For the LONGEST TIME EVER, like all Book Dragons in the world, I've BOUGHT ALL THE BOOKS, and don't read them ASAP. I will definitely get to them, just as I conquer my current TBR, I'll jump back to that one, (#lies)

IT IS A THING TO JUST WANT TO OWN ALL THE BOOKS THAT YOU CAN AFFORD WITH THE PENNIES IN YOUR POCKET.

Since I started blogging two years ago, here are some books that I OWN, but haven't read in TWO YEARS!

THIS SOUNDS AMAZING, OKAY? And I will read it, I swear, I just need to actually get around to buying the next two books so that I can fully binge the series without dying in wait and THEN I WILL READ IT. 

I got the won the second book, Astray, in a YASH Prize Pack, and then when I visited Australia last year, I found Gated at a PayLess store for only $6 and I HAD TO HAVE IT. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to this cult story yet, but I hope to very soon!

I was sitting around in the bookstore, when I stumbled upon these books! I decided to read the first few chapters (OR WHATEVER I COULD) and I really liked and bought the first two books. Unfortunately, IT HAS BEEN TWO YEARS, and I haven't gone past what I read in the bookstore.
I won this as a part of YASH as well, and well, I JUST HAVEN'T GOTTEN TO IT, okay? *hides in shame under bookshelf*

Also, I don't have the sequel*sigh*
I BOUGHT THIS BOOK YEARS AND YEARS AGO, but I still haven't read it. I EVEN SAW THE MOVIE, because I was interested, but well, haven't gotten around to this one yet. #shame #shame

I LOVE LOVE LOVE REVENGE PLOTS! I love SECRET SOCIETIES! I love Secret Societies whose priority is to make bullies learn their lesson THE BEST, but despite having this book for TWO YEARS, I haven't started read it. Sigh.

ALRIGHT, This is ONLY because I don't have (and cannot afford to import) books TWO, THREE AND FOUR. 

Also, It is SO SO BEAUTIFUL, I can't even give it away. Also, it is personalized to me!

This awesome book was sent to me by Gina over at Behind The Pages, and despite opening the book, I've never gotten past the first chapter. This is mostly because I read SO MANY negative reviews about it, it has throughly ruined it for me. 
Here originated my rule of NEVER READING NEGATIVE REVIEWS of a book before I read the book. 

Another YASH Win, I've been obsessed with this series since I saw it for request on NetGalley the day I joined, but because I dont have the others, I HAVEN'T READ this gorgeous specemin of a book yet. 

THIS IS THE BOOK I'M SADDEST ABOUT. I should have read it before Queen Of Shadows, but I just DIDN'T FIND THE TIME TOO. The plan is to read it before Empire of Storms (AAAACK! TWO WEEKS!) and then die once I speed read through EoS because I'm sure that ending is going to be brutal.
How many of these books have you read? Did you like them? Am I being a complete IDIOT in not reading them even now? How many of these have you NOT read? 

What are the books you have on your shelves that you haven't read? Link me up to your beautiful blogs!