AUGUST 2017 MONTHLY WRAP UP // What I Read This Month

Unlike July, August wasn’t the most eventful month for me. I have been struggling with motivation to write blog posts and read, lets just say I have been in a massive reading and writing slump. There is one thing that I have been absolutely addicted to doing, and that is playing the game Fallout 4. I bought it on the release date almost two years ago, but quickly became bored of it. I don’t know what sparked my interest to pick it up again, but I’m glad I did. It has been so much fun playing that game the last weeks. 

Something I build a long time ago. I just started building a vault.

The day we drove my brother to the city where he is studying.

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I read:

 4 books finished

A total of 1951 pages read this month | A lot of the pages comes from books that I haven’t finished yet.

I rated:

1 book 

2 books 

1 book 

Challenges: None

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Little Monsters by Kara Thomas|Weak 3 stars 

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter #5) by J.K. Rowling|5 stars 

The Fourth Monkey (A 4MK Thriller #1) by J.D. Barker|4 stars 

The Rabbit Hunter (Joona Linna #6) by Lars Kepler|4 stars 

Books I didn’t manage to finish this month: The Book of Strange New Things 86% read – Milk and Honey 56% read – The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women 59% read – Fever by Deon Meyer 29% read – Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations #1-2) by Michael J. Sullivan 70% read

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First We Were IV by Alexandra Sirowy

Because You Love to Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children #2) by Seanan McGuire

The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee

Certain Dark Things: A Novel by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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What have you been reading this month?

❤ -Rakel

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REVIEW: Little Monsters by Kara Thomas // YA – Mystery – Thriller – July 2017 Release

Series: –

Published: 25 July 2017

Genre: YA, Mystery, Thriller

Pages: 336

Language read: English

Format read: eArc, ebook

Rating: weak 3 stars 

Little Monsters Synopsis: For fans of Pretty Little Liars, Little Monsters is a new psychological thriller, from the author of The Darkest Corners, about appearances versus reality and the power of manipulation amongst teenage girls.

Kacey is the new girl in Broken Falls. When she moved in with her father, she stepped into a brand-new life. A life with a stepbrother, a stepmother, and strangest of all, an adoring younger half sister.

Kacey’s new life is eerily charming compared with the wild highs and lows of the old one she lived with her volatile mother. And everyone is so nice in Broken Falls—she’s even been welcomed into a tight new circle of friends. Bailey and Jade invite her to do everything with them.

Which is why it’s so odd when they start acting distant. And when they don’t invite her to the biggest party of the year, it doesn’t exactly feel like an accident.

But Kacey will never be able to ask, because Bailey never makes it home from that party. Suddenly, Broken Falls doesn’t seem so welcoming after all—especially once everyone starts looking to the new girl for answers.

Kacey is about to learn some very important lessons: Sometimes appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes when you’re the new girl, you shouldn’t trust anyone. –Goodreads

I wanted to read this book because I have been in the mood for thrillers this summer. The synopsis sounded intriguing, and anything that says for fans of Pretty Little Liars and psychological thriller really peaks my interests.

I struggled with this book in the beginning. It took me awhile to get into, since I found it a bit slow. I had mixed feelings towards the beginning. I was so eager to jump right into the mystery, but the book took its time with building up the story, the world and the characters. At this point I didn’t even care that much for the characters. I later on appreciated that the book took its time with the character development, because it is very important for the rest of the story. I also had some problems with telling the characters apart in the beginning. I especially got confused when the book jumped into the diary. I thought it was the main character’s for a while. I’m not sure if this was intentional, or if I am really dumb and it went over my head? All of this got better as the book went on though.

This was just some minor problems and not necessary a big reason for disliking the book. Now I’m going to talk about why my feelings for the book really soured. 7% and 13% into the story I found some things I thought was problematic and harmful, especially for younger readers. Now I’m going to talk a bit about what I found.

I hated how the book tried to make fun of people with allergy or intolerance to gluten. It is, and can be, very dangerous for some people to eat gluten. Even just a little bit can be fatal. Eating gluten free food for health reasons are already stigmatized, and a lot of people thinks that it is just some bogus thing that people are making up. The comment in this book enhances that problem. The comment can especially be hurtful for younger readers that are eating a gluten free diet. People who eat gluten free should be taken serious and be believed, especially by sales personnel and cafe waiters.

The other thing I found to be problematic in this could also be harmful to young readers. I wasn’t sure if I overreacted to this so I asked my boyfriend what he thought, and he agrees with me.

In writing that a person can be the town gossip because they struggle with an eating disorder, can be very dangerous for a young person that struggles with the same to hear. It can strike fear of getting sent away if someone finds out into readers with similar problems. The paragraph also insinuates that it is wrong to get professional help, or if the parents are making the child get help. A good parent will help their child with eating disorders, or other problems, this is not something that should be talked down on. The whole page just made me feel sick. Please let me know what you think?

The version of the book I read was an eArc and not the final copy. If anything has changed in the final release, and the things I’m mentioning are gone or changed, please let me know.

The sad thing about this is that these two paragraphs wasn’t necessary for the book at all. I would have liked that the author didn’t include them, because the book would be so much better without.

Two thirds into the story the book flipped 180° and went from meh to I CAN’T PUT IT DOWN. The mystery got real intense and addictive. It wasn’t just the story that grew on me, but I also started liking the characters a bit more.

The book’s strongest feature was the last part. It got real intense and addictive. Plot twists after plot twists shocked me because I didn’t see any of it coming. All in all the mystery was very interesting. I actually ended up liking the book at the end.

Would I recommend this book? Hmm, I’m not sure. I liked the mystery, It was addictive and intense. But the book took its time before it became interesting. Plus it’s the whole problem with the things I found in the beginning that I didn’t like. I don’t want younger readers, or other readers that can be hurt from it, to read anything like that. I was planning to give this book 2 stars, but the ending was so good that I gave it a weak 3 stars.

I received this copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Netgalley, Random House Children’s & Kara Thomas for giving me a copy of this book.

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❤ -Rakel

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3 IN 1 MINI REVIEWS books #32-34 || A Living Nightmare, The Vampire’s Assistant, Tunnels of Blood

A Living Nightmare (Cirque du Freak #1) by Darren Shan

The Vampire’s Assistant (Cirque du Freak #2) by Darren Shan

Tunnels of Blood (Cirque du Freak #3) by Darren Shan

Series: Book 1 – 3 in the Cirque du Freak series | Published: In 2000 | Genre: YA, Middle grade, Vampires, Horror  | Pages: 272, 256, 240 | Language read: English | Format read: Audiobooks | Rating: 3 stars 

This is a mini review of the 3 first books in the Cirque du Freak series by Darren Shan. Instead of writing my thought on the 3 separate books, I’ll just write my general thoughts on all of them.

This is a middle grade series I read as a kid. It follows a kid named Darren Shan, who gets into trouble with a vampire when he steals the vampire’s big and deadly spider. The vampire chooses to turn him into a half vampire and make him into his assistant. He now has to leave his family to live with his master. I remember really loving this series, the books were dark and addictive, and the whole vampire setting just intrigued me so much.

I thought it would be fun to revisit this series and see if it was as awesome as I remember. Sadly I didn’t like it as much now when I’m older. I don’t know what my problem with the books was. Maybe I’m just too old for them? They just didn’t grab me like they used to do.

The books are pretty short, so I smashed through them in just a couple of days. I was hoping for them to get better, but when the 3rd book ended I wasn’t sure I will ever pick up the 4th. This series was unfortunately not for me anymore.

Will I recommend these books? Maybe not for adults, but I think younger readers might find them fun and scary to read. The books are fast paced and action packed, definitely something a lot of kids like.

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❤ -Rakel

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JULY 2017 MONTHLY WRAP UP // What I Read This Month

This month has been one of the busiest months EVER, or at least in a long time. First I had to prepare for my trip and then I went to Croatia for a week. The day after I came home I went straight to west Norway to attend my grandmother’s funeral. The car ride took 8 hours one way. At the end of the month I participated in two readathons and moved some of my things into my BF’s apartment. We are planning on slowly moving in together. I also had one of my most successful reading months to this date. 

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I rated:

2 books  

2 books  

2 books  

2 books  

1 book   

I read:

 8 books read & 1 DNF

A total of 3.508 pages read this month

Challenges:

Beat The Backlist Challenge: The Titan’s Curse

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American Gods by Neil Gaiman – 1 star – DNF @ 18% 

Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2) by Tahereh Mafi – 3 stars   

The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #3) by Rick Riordan – 3.5 stars

The Girls by Emma Cline – 5 stars 

The Color Purple by Alice Walker – 3 stars  

Binti (Binti #1) by Nnedi Okorafor – 5 stars 

Flame in the Mist (Flame in the Mist #1) by Renee Ahdieh – 3.5 stars 

Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children, #1) by Seanan McGuire – 4 stars 

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee – 4 stars 

Books I didn’t manage to finish this month: The Book of Strange New Things 86% read – Milk and Honey 42% read – The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women 59% read – Little Monsters 50% read – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter #5) 84% read

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The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) by Patrick Ness

The Wise Man’s Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle #2) by Patrick Rothfuss

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I finished my Goodreads goal of 50 books, so I bumped it up to 70.

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What have you been reading this month?

❤ -Rakel

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Mid Year update – All The Books I Have Read So Far In 2017

In December last year I did a post on every book I have read in 2016. I thought it would be fun to do a mid year post about all the books I have read so far in 2017. As of 30. May I have read 41 books, that is 17 books ahead of my Goodreads goal of 50 books. I will finish my goal way before the end of the year, so I might have to bump it up a bit.

Here are some stats on the books I have read:

Favorite Books Read:

The Republic of Thieves (Gentleman Bastard #3) by Scott Lynch

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1) by Brandon Sanderson

Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Longest Book Read:

The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch – 650 pages

Shortest book Read:

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – 49 pages

2017 Releases Read:

7 books

Big Books Read:

10

Audiobooks:

21 books

Books DNF:

3 books

Books Bought:

Physical books: 11

Ebooks: 15

Star rating:

3 books rated 5 stars

4 books rated 4.5 stars

8 books rated 4 stars

7 books rated 3.5 stars 

11 books rated 3 stars 

1 book rated 2.5 stars 

3 books rated 2 stars 

1 book rated 1.5 stars  

2 books rated 1 star 

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January – LINK TO WRAP UP

REVIEW – Deadlight Jack (The Faceless One #2) by Mark Onspaugh – 3.5 stars 

REVIEW – We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – 5 stars 

Stalking Jack the Ripper (Stalking Jack the Ripper #1) by Kerri Maniscalco – 3 stars 

Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven – 4.5 stars 

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen – 1.5 stars – DNF 

Heartless by Marissa Meyer – 4 stars 

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February – LINK TO WRAP UP

The Miserable Mill (A Series of Unfortunate Events #4) by Lemony Snicket – 3 stars 

The Austere Academy (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #5) by Lemony Snicket – 4 stars 

The Ersatz Elevator (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #6) by Lemony Snicket – 3.5 stars 

The Vile Village (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #7) by Lemony Snicket – 3.5 stars 

The Girl From Old Nichol by Betty Annand – 2 stars DNF 

The Republic of Thieves (Gentleman Bastard #3) by Scott Lynch – 5 stars 

Final Girls by Riley Sager – 3.5 stars 

Morning Star (Red Rising, #3) by Pierce Brown – 4 stars 

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking – 4.5 stars 

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March – LINK TO WRAP UP

The Hostile Hospital (A Series of Unfortunate Events #8) by Lemony Snicket – 2.5 stars 

The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events #9) by Lemony Snicket – 3 stars 

Starflight (Starflight #1) by Melissa Landers – 3 stars 

REVIEW – One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus – 4.5 stars 

Shatter Me (Shatter Me, #1) by Tahereh Mafi – 3 stars 

The Magicians (The Magicians #1) by Lev Grossman – 3 stars 

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April – LINK TO WRAP UP

#famous by Jilly Gagnon – 2 stars 

Grave Peril (The Dresden Files, #3) by Jim Butcher – 3 stars 

The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1) by Brandon Sanderson – 4.5 stars 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – 3.5 stars 

Blankets by Craig Thompson – 3.5 stars 

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō – 4 stars 

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey – 1 star DNF 

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May

MINI REVIEW – Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel – 3 stars 

MINI REVIEW – American Street by Ibi Zoboi – 4 stars 

MINI REVIEW – Stalker (Joona Linna #5) by Lars Kepler – 4 stars 

A Living Nightmare (Cirque du Freak #1) by Darren Shan – 3 stars 

The Vampire’s Assistant (Cirque du Freak #2) by Darren Shan – 3 stars 

Tunnels of Blood (Cirque du Freak #3) by Darren Shan – 3 stars 

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn – 3.5 stars 

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June

To Søstre by Åsne Seierstad – 4 stars 

I Am Pilgrim (Pilgrim #1) by Terry Hayes – 1 star 

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli – 4 stars 

An Introduction to the Lightning Process by Phil Parker

The Thief (The Queen’s Thief #1) by Megan Whalen Turner – 2 stars 

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami – 5 stars 

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-Tell me your favorite reads so far this year. I would love to know! 

❤ -Rakel

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May & June 2017 Monthly Wrap Up

The end of June is here, and it is time for yet another wrap up. Buuhuu, I don’t want the summer to end, I’m starting to dread it already. Since I had my big blog pause in May I didn’t do a wrap up for that month, so I’m including the books I read in May in this post.

The format of this post will be a bit different from how I used to do my wrap ups. Instead of writing my thoughts on every book I have read that month in one long post, I will do a summary of my month. My thoughts on the books I read will be in separate posts called 3 IN 1 MINI REVIEWS, that means I will post a blogpost of my thoughts every 3rd book I read. You can read my first 3 IN 1 post HERE.

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In May I had my big blog pause. I only wrote 1 post on my blog to let you know I was ok. Even though I was in a blogging slump, I did quite a bit of reading. 7 books isn’t that bad for me. This was also the month I went on vacation to the West of Norway to visit my grandparents and other family. I celebrated 17th of May, Norway’s constitution day, with my family on the West side. It was such a fun day. I wore my Bunad and ate lots of good foods.

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Reading Stats:

I rated:

2 books 

1 book 

4 books 

I read:

Ca 2.297 pages

Since I didn’t take any notes from this month, I can’t add the pages I read from books I didn’t finish.

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Books I read:

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel – 3 stars 

American Street by Ibi Zoboi – 4 stars  

Stalker (Joona Linna #5) by Lars Kepler – 4 stars 

A Living Nightmare (Cirque du Freak #1) by Darren Shan – 3 stars 

The Vampire’s Assistant (Cirque du Freak #2) by Darren Shan – 3 stars 

Tunnels of Blood (Cirque du Freak #3) by Darren Shan – 3 stars 

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn – 3.5 stars 

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This month has been a roller coaster of anxiety and problems with my chronic illness. The start of the month was absolutely horrible, but thankfully it is better now. Besides not feeling great, I have prepared for my trip to Croatia next month. I have dragged my mom and my brother to the mall to buy things I need for the trip. I have shopped A LOT, and spent so much money. The weather has been absolutely beautiful this month and a lot of my time has been spent on the porch tanning and reading.

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Reading Stats:

I rated:

1 book 

2 books 

1 book 

1 book 

1 I don’t want to star rate

I read:

Ca 2.885  pages

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Books I Read:

To søstre by Åsne Seierstad – 4 stars 

I Am Pilgrim (Pilgrim #1) by Terry Hayes – 1 star 

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli – 4 stars 

An Introduction to the Lightning Process by Phil Parker

The Thief (The Queen’s Thief #1) by Megan Whalen Turner – 2 stars 

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami – 5 stars 

Books I didn’t manage to finish this month: Unravel Me 13% read – The Book of Strange New Things 86% read –  American Gods 11% read – Milk and Honey 30% read – The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women 59% read

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Books Bought:

I have been really good with my book ban so far this year, but in June I got really shopping mad and bought so many things, including books. Here are the books I bought this month.

The Ravenclaw editions of the new 20th Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, in both hardback and paperback.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

Every Heart a Doorway By Seanan McGuire

We Are the Ants By Shaun David Hutchinson

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Flame in the Mist (Flame in the Mist #1) by Renee Ahdieh

The Republic of Thieves (Gentleman Bastard #3) by Scott Lynch

The Girls By Emma Cline

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Books received:

Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker

Little Monsters by Kara Thomas

The Fourth Monkey by J.D. Barker

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I hope you liked the new monthly wrap up layout. And I’m sorry it got so long,I had to include May. What have you read this month?

❤ -Rakel

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3 IN 1 MINI REVIEWS books #29-31 – Station Eleven, American Street, Stalker

This is the first post in my new category 3 in 1 mini reviews. Instead of doing a monthly wrap up with thoughts on all the books I have read that month, I’ll write a blog post every 3 books read. I will still do a monthly wrap up, but it will be more like a overview and not a big post with all my thoughts. I hope you enjoy this new idea, and I hope it will be easier for both you and me. 

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Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

I had really high hopes for this book, since I have heard great thing about it and the synopsis sounded intriguing. I really thought this would be a great book for me. Unfortunately this book wasn’t what I thought it would be. I liked some part of it and found them interesting, but overall it wasn’t my favorite. What really throw me off was all the different point of views and stories. It just felt messy at times and not cohesive, even though everything connects at the end. I wished we got to see more of The Traveling Symphony and The Museum of Civilizations, and not all of the focus on Arthur and his life. 3 stars

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American Street by Ibi Zoboi

This is a great diverse 2017 release that I think every YA contemporary reader should read, or at least know about.

17 year old Fabiola is moving with her mom from Haiti to Detroit USA to live with her aunt and her cousins. The move doesn’t go as planned when her mom is detained in the airport, and isn’t allowed into the country. Fabiola is now on her own without her mom and it cause a lot of stress. She has to get used to living in a new country, with family she doesn’t know well. This book is a really good book about immigration, family, race, a community full of drugs and violent, and the journey to get settled in to a new place far from home. I love this book, and I fell in love with all the characters. It definitely made my emotions rise in me. 4 stars

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Stalker by Lars Kepler

Book 5 in the Joona Linna series

This is the 5 book in a popular Scandinavian crime series. I don’t read a lot of Scandinavian crime books, this was the first in many years. One day I randomly wanted to pick one up, so I choose the most popular one on a list, and this was it. I have previously read the first book in this series many years ago, and I wasn’t over the moon with it. So my expectations wasn’t the highest. To my surprise I really liked this book. It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time, and I devoured the 14h long audiobook in under one week. If you are looking for a Scandinavian crime book, I recommend this one. I will read other books by the author in the future.

Even though this is book 5 in the series, you don’t have to read the previous ones to read this. I have only read book 1 and 5. 4 stars

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-How do you like my new idea?

❤ -Rakel

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Weekly Update #10 | Preparing For My Croatia Trip |

Currently Reading:

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber – On page 430 of 500

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore – On page 275 of 480

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur – On page 62 of 204

American Gods (American Gods #1) by Neil Gaiman – 0h30m of 16h41m

Recently finished:

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami – 5!!!! stars

The Thief (The Queen’s Thief #1) by Megan Whalen Turner – 2 stars

Reading next:

Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2) by Tahereh Mafi

Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children #1) by Seanan McGuire

Sunday: Weekly Update #9 | A Better Sunnier Week |

Wednesday: 2017 YA Releases I’m Dying To Read But Haven’t Yet!

Saturday: Mid Year Freak Out Book Tag 2017

Other than my weekly appointment and a trip to the doctors office (everything is fine, I just needed a note from my doctor), this week hasn’t been the most eventful week. But that is fine, the week was so much better than the two previous ones. I still struggle a little bit with anxiety and the problem with my chest, but thankfully it is a lot better.

I’m going on a family trip with my BF’s family to Croatia in 2 weeks. I have been preparing for the trip this week. On Tuesday I dragged my brother to the mall to buy things that I need for the trip. This might be a bit TMI but I bought things to shave my legs. I have sensitive skin so I usually get itchy and sore from regular razor. Since I’m chronicle ill and don’t have that much hair on my legs, I usually don’t bother with shaving, but I want to look nice now that it is summer. I bought shaving cream and razor for sensitive skin and a cream to put on afterwards, and it has really helped. Now I don’t dread shaving my legs. Ok enough with talk about shaving, no one cares Rakel. I also bought some other things, a new shorts, t-shirt, BB-cream, aloe vera gel, toilet bag and a box with some pore strips.

The only thing that is left now is to buy a bikini. I hope I find a cute one, that is comfortable and hold the girls in place. I’m dreading it, but I need a bikini for my vacation.

Pic of me and my brother trying out the pore strips, I didn’t really work. Robert don’t look amused, haha. 

Random little thing. I never eat fast food, but when I heard that McD was coming out with sweet potato fries, I had to try them out. They tasted ok, but homemade are so much better. 

All in all this has been an ok week. I’m really happy that things are getting better. For a while there I thought I had to cancel my trip.

I wish you all a great week!

Tell me about your week, what have you been up to?

❤ -Rakel

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Mid Year Freak Out Book Tag 2017

I rarely do tags, but I thought this one would be fun to do.

1.BEST BOOK YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2017?

The Republic of Thieves (Gentleman Bastard #3) by Scott Lynch

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber

The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven

I LOVE these books ❤

2.BEST SEQUEL OF 2017 SO FAR?

Morning Star (Red Rising #3) by Pierce Brown

I haven’t read that many sequels this year, but this series was FANTASTIC.

3.NEW RELEASE YOU HAVEN’T READ YET, BUT WANT TO?

I haven’t been good at reading new releases so far this year. I blame it on my book buying ban, and that I have been focusing on my TBR mountain. I need to buy some of the new releases because there are so many I want to read, they all sounds so good. I couldn’t choose just one book, so I made a separate post earlier this week dedicated to this question. Here is a link to the post: 2017 YA Releases I’m Dying To Read But Haven’t Yet!

4.MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASE OF THE SECOND HALF OF 2017?

Warcross (Warcross #1) by Marie Lu

27 Hours (The Nightside Saga #1) by Tristina Wright

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

Because You Love to Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy

First We Were IV by Alexandra Sirowy

5.BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT?

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

My expectations for this book was really high. I liked some parts of the book, but it wasn’t what I expected it to be. I ended up giving it 3 stars.

6.BIGGEST SURPRISE?

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

I received this book as a birthday present 1 ½ years ago from a friend. The person who gave it to me loved the book and thought I would too. I was very skeptical to pick it up because I didn’t want to hate it. I had also previously read Norwegian Wood by the same author, and I didn’t care for that book. I’m actually currently reading this book now, I have about 80 pages left. I love this book and I already know it will be one of my favorite reads of 2017. Even though it have some scenes that are problematic that I didn’t like (the woman in the woods), the book speaks to my heart. It’s just so weird and interesting and captivating.

7.FAVORITE NEW AUTHOR (DEBUT OR NEW TO YOU)?

This is hard because I feel that you have to read more than one book from an author to call them your favorite. Here are some new to me authors that I have read and really enjoyed this year. 

Michel Faber author of The Book of Strange New Things

Jennifer Niven author of Holding Up the Universe

Karen m. McManus author of One of Us Is Lying – This book is also a debut. 

Brandon Sanderson author of The Final Empire (Mistborn #1)

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie author of We Should All Be Feminists

8.NEWEST FICTIONAL CRUSH?

I don’t get fictional crushes, but the closest to a fictional crush I have right now is Oshima from Kafka on The Shore. It’s weird because he is a know it all type of person.

9.NEWEST FAVORITE CHARACTER?

Oshima and Nakata from Kafka on The Shore

Molly and her moms from The Upside of Unrequited

10.BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY?

I don’t think I have cried from a book this year. Hmm maybe I cried at the end of American Street by Ibi Zoboi. Really good book.

11.BOOK THAT MADE YOU HAPPY?

Holding up the Universe by Jennifer Niven

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

12.FAVORITE BOOK TO MOVIE ADAPTATION YOU’VE SEEN THIS YEAR?

I rarely watch movies. I can only remember that I have watched 2 movies this year, and that is Zodiac and Inside Out. But there is one series that I really liked called Big Little Lies, and that is a book to series adaptation. I haven’t read the book yet, but I might do it in the future. Really good and intriguing series that keeps you guessing until the end. Let me know if you have watched the series.

13.FAVORITE REVIEW YOU’VE WRITTEN THIS YEAR?

This is a hard question because I’m a perfectionist and hard on myself. I have to go with my latest review: One of us is lying.

14.MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK YOU BOUGHT OR RECEIVED SO FAR THIS YEAR?

This has to be the new Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone books. THEY ARE SO BEAUTIFUL and I want them all! I contained myself and only bought the hardback and paperback of in Ravenclaw editions. 

15.WHAT BOOKS DO YOU NEED TO READ BY THE END OF THE YEAR?

All of the books. If you combine my TBR and the new releases I want to read, you have the answer. I think this question will be too much. I might do a separate post on this as well soon.

-I’m tagging you, and if you have already done it leave me the link and I’ll check it out 🙂 

❤ -Rakel

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2017 YA Releases I’m Dying To Read But Haven’t Yet!

II was working on my Mid Year Freak Out Tag blogpost, that is going up sometime this week or the next, when I came to question 3: NEW RELEASE YOU HAVEN’T READ YET, BUT WANT TO? Since there is so many new releases I haven’t read yet (so many books, so little time, jadajada), my list got way too big for that tag. Here is my list:

Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2) by Cassandra Clare

Caraval (Caraval #1) by Stephanie Garber

27 Hours (The Nightside Saga #1) by Tristina Wright

The Boy on the Bridge (The Girl With All The Gifts #2) by M.R. Carey

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson – I failed and this book actually came out in 2016. Keeping it on the list because I want to read it.  

A List of Cages by Robin Roe

At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Want (Want #1) by Cindy Pon

Which 2017 releases to you want to read?

❤ -Rakel

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