So I substituted a Sunday Summary for a Monthly Wrap Up last week and I’m sure you all missed my lovely rambling post about my comings and goings of the week. I can’t say I’ve done much. I’ve been waiting around for a book order to come in all week and it hasn’t been delivered yet, which is annoying, but I’ll give it until Monday. I’ve bought some fairy lights for my room, to get some pretty lighting for when I’m watching films. And I’ve binge watched The 100, I’m four episodes away from being all caught up with the series so far. All I can say is why on earth has no-one been shouting louder about this show? It’s amazing. I am now a massive Bellarke shipper, they are so cute and adorable, and Bob Morley? Yum. It’s kind of why I haven’t been around here so much posting things this week, my social life got in the way (I know, like I have a social life?) and I’ve been absorbed in TV watching. I was excited to have gotten the first Author Addiction post up, but then I wasn’t home to be able to be all excited about it.
New To Me
Touch Of Power – Maria V Snyder (I love this woman’s books so I hope I like this series)
A Court of Thorns and Roses – Sarah J Maas (Thank you Bloomsbury for approving me on Netgalley, this is my book for next week)
What I’ve Been Reading
Lola and the Boy Next Door – Stephanie Perkins (after getting recommendations to read it on my TTT I figured why not?)
Sorry I don’t have more to say this week, but I’ve got a ton of things to do at home so I feel all up in the air, but then I wanted to give you an update and promise I’ll be back next week (hopefully) with a few more posts, I’ve got a ton of reviews written (I know, am I the same person, I never post reviews) and I’ve got a few ideas for ramblings from me so see you soon.
I like it when books and music are brought together. I know plenty of people that don’t like to listen to music when reading, they say it’s too distracting. Others, I know, like to listen to instrumental music, so they have background noise, but nothing to distract them. Then there are some who like to have the TV on or the radio, something that they can tune out but they like the sound of something around them to help them concentrate. Then there are people like me that love to have their iPod blasting when they’re reading because tunes are what I need to read. Sure, it means sometimes I’m completely distracting singing at the top of my voice to one of my favourite songs, but I treat such moments as a reading break, it’s even better when I can get my groove on to a particularly good song, but it does occasionally lead to embarrassing moments of people walking in on me dancing around the room, but it’s totally worth it.
I find music and reading to be closely linked, there are still songs that I completely relate with a certain book, be it from playlists I was listening to or because they were playing at a pivotal scene when I was reading, or simply because the song was mentioned that one time. Music and books are related for me. I know there are blogs which feature playlists for songs and I love that, because I love music that can make me think of a book, if I was better at it I might try and do the same thing. Maybe I will one day when I’m a bit more confident in my music picking ability.
Anyway, it was Since You’ve Been Gone that got me thinking about books and music because playlists were a feature in this books, the music sort of ran alongside the book. I found myself creating playlists featuring the songs in the book and became just as obsessed with the music in the book as the story itself. Then, when I was reading Amy and Rogers's Epic Detour I did the same thing, the music was a big thing in this book too. I found myself creating playlists, searching out songs from old CDs to be able to play tunes, it was a thing I had to do. I like when books and music are linked, when I read Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover and found out it had a soundtrack to go with I was thrilled, I love that about books. I love searching out fan playlists for books to listen to when I’m reading. When I visit author blogs and discover their own playlist for a book I’m instantly there listening to it and trying to picture how it fits in with the book. Are the songs meant to set the tone for a scene or are they simply a song the author pictured one of the characters listening to. I like both a thematic playlist and character playlists because both help me get into a book, either into the mood of it or into the mindset of the characters themselves. I don’t know if I’m unusual in my music searching was but it’s who I am. I’m the person that needs that song that was playing in a pivotal scene of a TV show or movie. I will search out music whenever I hear it and am continually paying too much money to buy an album when I’ve only heard one song by a band.
I am continually amazed at how music can transport you. I can listen to a song and have it invoke memories of a book for me, be it from a playlist that I found online for a book, or just because that song was playing when I was reading a significant scene in a book. I’ll hear that song and instantly be transported to the pages of that book. I love how music can do that, not just for books, but for everything. It can so easily transport you to a different moment and invoke memories for you. I love that I can have that link between books and reading.
Do you feel the same way, are books and music intrinsically linked for you? Do you feel the need to have a certain playlist for reading, or are you one of those people that needs absolute silence, or the hum of the everyday to truly get swept away in a book? And do you feel the need to listen to music mentioned in a book, or do you just brush past it as you read? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and this weeks theme is all about the books that I can’t believe I haven’t read from a genre, and the genre I have chosen is contemporary young adult fiction. Not all of these books are necessarily classics of the genre, but they are books which I see mentioned a lot on other blogs, or simply books which I've been dying to read which make up the YA contemporary genre. I thought I might get more general and just pick the YA genre, but that is such a broad spectrum of books with numerous subgenres making it up that it would be impossible to limit it down to just ten books.
How To Love – Katie Cotugno
The Infinite Moment of Us – Lauren Myracle
Cherry Money Baby – John M Cusick
The Disenchantments – Nina LaCour
Everything Leads To You – Nina LaCour
Nantucket Blue – Leila Howland
The Summer I Turned Pretty – Jenny Han
In Honor – Jessi Kirby
Lola and the Boy Next Door – Stephanie Perkins
The Secrets of Lily Graves – Sarah Strohmeyer
And those are my picks for the week. I hope to eventually read some of these books, but with my never-ending list of books TBR who knows when I’ll find the time.
I posted last week about starting a new feature called Author Addiction and, as I mentioned, the first author Kaja and I are featuring is Jennifer l Armentrout, also known as J Lynn. She is an author that people often have differing opinions about, she is a bit like Marmite, you either love her or you hate her.
She is divisive because of her writing style, she keeps things simple in her writing, but that can often be too simplistic. Her tendency to feature popular culture, such as popular TV shows, and she includes phrases used across the internet which can make her writing feel a bit like a tumblr users fan fiction. But it’s not all doom and gloom for Armentrout, after all, there is a reason I adore her writing and often rave on about her to others. I simply felt it necessary to point out the flaws in her writing, because I am aware of her writing and flaws and love her books despite all that. I'll be answering three questions to help fully explain why j love Armentrout and you should give her a chance too.
When did you first discover this author?
The first Armentrout book I read was actually one she wrote under the pen name J Lynn, back when I was first getting into the New Adult genre. It was Wait For You, I was a bit wary going in because, from what I had seen, the storylines of NA books were always so dramatic, and this one was doubly so. It was all about a girl who had a big trauma in her past and was reluctant to get to close to anyone. I have to say, I didn’t think I was going to like it, but I ended up enjoying it and buying the second book in the series, which I think I enjoyed a bit more because it was a bit less dramatic (not that much less dramatic, but you know). I think it was the Wait For You series which made me fully embrace the New Adult genre, the books were dramatic and over the top, and they got steamy, and they were exactly what I was looking for in a romance novel which I could relate to.
I didn’t realise, to begin with, that it was Jennifer L Armentrout writing under a pen name, I’d heard about her on a couple of blogs, but hadn’t been too interested, but after reading that series I later searched out more of her writing, eventually venturing to her YA reads, seeing what she’s written. I wasn’t too fussed with her other writing though, I was on a NA binge, with YA writing boring me for a bit. It was only later in the year I read others series and truly became addicted to her writing.
What's your favourite book by them?
My favourite books is Wicked and it is simply for the fact it is set in New Orleans. There are other reasons for me loving this book, like the whole fae thing and the magic and fantastical elements of the book. And the snark and banter as well. But its mostly the setting that did it because Armentrout was so good at genuinely creating what new Orleans is like. Her writing took me back to New Orleans, and when i book can transport you so completely it’s easy to understand why I loved it.
It was so much fun to read a book set in a place I’ve visited and feel myself be transported back there to how it was. It is well written in the fact it truly tells you what New Orleans is like and the characters are great. Sure, some of the banter and snark and references can get a bit much, but this is a fun easy read that you will enjoy, I am sure. And it’s a girl who can totally kick some ass, I just wish that Armentrout wasn’t so insistent on ending a book with a cliffhanger. They are the worst, but also totally effective because it practically guarantees you’ll buy the next book in the series.
Which book by this author would you recommend to others and why?
You might think I would recommend my favourite book to the unfamiliar with Armentrout's writing, but you'd be wrong, I would recommend The Dark Elements series because it is that series that led me to become addicted to her writing and to want read more of what she's done. I picked up the first book in the series, White Hot Kiss on a whim because it was on offer for kindle and it was that book which reminded me urban fantasy and paranormal romance series are my jam, also Armentrout writes the best cliffhangers. You don't have a mega one in the first book, but the second one the cliffhanger is mega. If you enjoy romance and urban fantasy in your YA fiction then this is the series for you and the third book is put this year, all the better really.
I hope you have enjoyed reading my love Jennifer L Armentrout, she is really an excellent author with books that leave you wanting more, and sweep you into a binge read of all her books. I hope you do pick up a book by her an d give her a go, she is not to everyone’s tastes, but she knows how to write an addictive read. If you feel like participating please leave a link in the comments, we were thinking about creating a linky for you all, but given it’s the first month, we thought it best to leave off this month and just see what happens, we only came up with the idea a couple of weeks ago so this really is a dry run for us.
And if this hasn't been your onth, you've not read Armentrout's books, then join us next month as we fangirl over Sarah J Maas, an author most, if not all, of you will have read.
January was an excellent reading month for me, but I have to say that not all the books I read gripped me. Normally when I read I feel myself become fully absorbed in that bookish world and I am often unwilling to leave when real life requires m involvement, not all of my reads this month invoked such a response from me, but that is neither here nor there I suppose. I did enjoy all my books, there was no book that invoked major disappoint me and I had to stop reading. I did occasionally get tempted to stop reading, but I think that was just romance fatigue on my part.
I also did a lot more posts this month than I thought I had, my posting schedule has being a bit more solid than it was last year, but I still forget to get my posts up when I intend. Maybe I’ll start scheduling them, but I don’t like to release a post out into the world without checking it, or skim reading it. I am surprised I’ve only posted two book reviews in January! I won’t to try and post more, never shall I review all the books I read because I’ve read 25 this month, started two more than that, and at the rate I read the time required to then review all those books, I dread to think. It would be a full time job.
January Reads
January Posts
Reading Challenge Round Up
Flights of Fantasy: 17%
Fairytale Retelling: 8%
Dusting Off The Shelves: 13%
That is January for me. Here’s hoping February is just as productive a month.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
Social Icons