March 2016 Recap

Hello, my friends! Here we are at the end of another month and the end of the first quarter of the year. A quarter of 2016 is already gone!

I hit the reading and blogging doldrums a bit this month; sometimes I feel like no matter how hard I try to put aside some dedicated reading and blogging time, it just gets eaten up by everything else in life. There are times when I'm weaker than others in letting this frustrate me; this was one of those times when I let frustration get the better of me. I also just felt really uninspired—in writing reviews, in coming up with ideas for discussion posts, and even in commenting. The words just refused to flow.

It's almost a new month, though, and April has lots of good stuff on the horizon, like a new season of Game of Thrones and THE RAVEN KING. There will be a Raven Cycle Week #2 here on the blog, and anybody who's also a fan of the series is welcome to join in! I'll be making a post with further details very soon.

Ally and Melissa are still in the thick of homework hell, so I'm announcing the addition of a new member to their family on their behalf:

This is Daisy! She's a puppy, and she loves stealing socks, eating shoes, and being ridiculously adorable!

Getting back to more bookish topics, my favorite read for March was:

Shimmer was a fantastic sequel—it was a nearly two year wait for this book but definitely worth it!

My favorite quote of the month comes from Julie Cross's Whatever Life Throws at You, in which my favorite sport, baseball, plays a very big part:

"Everyone forgets about '95. You know why? We didn't make it to the World Series that year. But I'll tell you what, that September was some of the most amazing, crowd-pleasing baseball I've ever seen."

This quote made me feel incredibly sentimental because the team referenced in the quote is my beloved New York Yankees, and I still remember watching them play in the 1995 playoffs. They got knocked out early on, but they got it right the next year when they won the World Series. :)

Reviews Posted:

• Shimmer by Paula Weston
• Truthwitch by Susan Dennard
• Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

Featured Posts:

• When Your Favorite Series End

ARC Review: Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

Tell the Wind and Fire
By Sarah Rees Brennan
Publisher: Clarion Books
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Publication Date: April 5, 2016

To Sum It Up: New York is divided into two cities: the Light, which the wealthy and privileged call home, and the Dark, whose citizens live in stark contrast to their Light counterparts. Lucie Manette has known both halves of New York, having been born in the Dark but now a famous political symbol residing in the Light and connected to the Light’s powerful Stryker family. No one would dare associate them with Dark magic, but when a figure emerges from the Dark city with an obvious tie to the Strykers, Lucie finds herself caught between trying to protect the boy she loves and showing compassion for someone who, like her, comes from the Dark.

Review: Sarah Rees Brennan’s Gothic-tinged The Lynburn Legacy managed to both make me cackle like a madwoman with its sparkling wit and harpoon my heart with its more agonizing moments. Sometimes these emotions came over me within mere pages of each other. So when I found out that SRB had a new book coming out, of course I said, yes, please sign me up for more hilarity and heartache!

Tell the Wind and Fire is a retelling of Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, which, alas, I have not read and know but a handful of details about. I didn’t feel that reading Dickens’s original was necessary in order to follow Tell the Wind and Fire, though; the latter read like a self-contained story.

Instead of Paris and New York, the two cities here are Light and Dark New York. Light magicians live very comfortably, and even luxuriously, in their part of the city while Dark magicians are kept downtrodden under the thumb of the ruling Light Council. Unrest is spiking among the buried, as the Dark city’s denizens are called, and the novel’s protagonist, Lucie Manette, is a key figure to both sides.

It’s the social divide between the two New Yorks that lies at the heart of Tell the Wind and Fire, with the magic woven subtly throughout the story. Readers expecting epic magical showdowns may be a tad let down because this isn’t that type of book. Although I didn’t mind too much that magic wasn’t the book’s primary focus, I still wished for a bit more world-building. This world of a split New York with two types of magic just didn’t feel entirely fleshed out and immersive.

I sometimes became frustrated with the main character, Lucie. She makes a really, really big mistake early on in the novel, one that keeps the consequences rolling throughout. While she owns up to what she’s done—repeatedly—she’s also occasionally critical of other characters’ actions when she herself has demonstrated a pretty serious lapse in judgment. Lucie’s narrative voice also fell kind of flat for me, with quite a lot of self-reflection that looped around in circles after a while. Sometimes you just can’t seem to form a connection with a protagonist, and that’s what happened here.

The character who really livens up this book is Carwyn, a doppelganger from the Dark city with an ultra secret connection to the family of Lucie’s boyfriend, Ethan. Doppelgangers are created from illegal Dark magic and believed to be soulless. Judging from the number of sarcastic comments Carwyn cracks, doppelgangers are also snarky! One of the things I loved most about The Lynburn Legacy was its riotous humor, and I’d hoped for similar laugh-out-loud moments in Tell the Wind and Fire. The tone here is more serious, though, and the wittiest lines of dialogue belong to Carwyn. What also makes him the novel’s most intriguing character to me is his unpredictability. He doesn’t always act like the evil twin everyone expects him to be (although there are plenty of occasions when he does). I’m endlessly fascinated by morally ambiguous characters, and it’s the fact that Carwyn isn’t without faults, unlike Lucie’s almost too perfect boyfriend Ethan, that I found compelling. Yes, I have a thing for the bad boys and the sorta bad boys, and Carwyn defies fitting neatly into one category, which in turn keeps you the reader wondering what he’ll do next.

It’s taken me a few days to write this review and hash out my overall feelings about this book. Lucie wasn’t an especially engaging narrator, but Carwyn kept me invested in the story, even though he’s off page at times, building suspense around what he’s up to. I also have to praise Sarah Rees Brennan’s prose, which is as pretty as ever. There are some very beautiful yet heartbreaking quotes that got an additional half star all on their own. Tell the Wind and Fire may not be the book you’re looking for if you seek a read heavily focused on magic, but you may want to hang around for the smart-alecky doppelganger.

All in All: Obviously, the doppelganger story line was the highlight for me. I wasn’t as crazy about Lucie’s character, but the caliber of the writing kept me reading. And this book has definitely made me curious about its inspiration, A Tale of Two Cities.

Fandom Mashups (47)

Fandom Mashups is a feature hosted by Lunar Rainbows Reviews. There's a different scenario each week, and you choose a "dream team" of five characters from five different fandoms whom you think are best suited for the situation.

This week's topic is:
You've discovered that you have the unique ability to learn and practice MULTIPLE different kinds of magic. Choose 5 mentors to teach you the ways of their world.

1. Harry Potter: How could I NOT want to learn from The Boy Who Lived, the wizard who defeated the Dark Lord? Siriusly.
2. Rowan Whitethorn (Throne of Glass): I admit that this guy intimidates me a little, but he's been successful at training a certain stubborn pupil of his *cough* Aelin *cough*, so clearly he's very good at what he does.
3. Kell (A Darker Shade of Magic): I think Kell would be an amazing, patient teacher, and I'm absolutely asking him if he has another, impossibly many-sided coat like his that I could borrow. XD
4. Aang (Avatar: The Last Airbender): For elemental magic, Aang would get the call for sure!
5. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars): OK, I know that The Force is its own thing and not magic per se, but I just want to learn how to use The Force, all right? The desperation is strong with this one!

Review: Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

Truthwitch (The Witchlands #1)
By Susan Dennard
Publisher: Tor Teen
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased

To Sum It Up: Safiya and Iseult’s friendship can withstand anything, including life on the run when the ladies find themselves pursued by multiple parties. Safi’s Truthwitch magic, unknown to most, makes her the perfect political asset in a world that’s about to reach the end of a twenty year truce between empires. Prince Merik Nihar knows all too well the destruction of war, and his efforts to restore vitality to his ravaged homeland put him directly in Safi and Iseult’s path. Although they’re fiercely independent and used to relying only on each other, this time Safi and Iseult may need the outside help, as their current predicament is far from being one of their typical brushes with danger.

Review: With the massive marketing campaign that preceded its release, it was nearly impossible not to have heard about Truthwitch. What really sold me on needing to read this book, though, was its being compared to Avatar: The Last Airbender. You had me at Avatar: The Last Airbender because I. Love. That. Show. So the expectations were high for this one, and try as I did to keep them within reason, I think it’s always a bit of a challenge to not anticipate perfection or something very close to it from ultra hyped books.

Truthwitch wastes no time cutting straight to the action. Best friends Safiya and Iseult become wanted young women almost immediately after we meet them when their little attempt to recoup some gambling losses goes awry. This puts a mercenary monk named Aeduan hot on their trail with Javert-like doggedness, a chase that persists for the rest of the novel but for motives that shift over the course of the book.

While I loved the whirlwind pace of Truthwitch and the relentless action, I also found myself wishing for more exposition. Other readers have mentioned that the world-building was a bit lacking for them, and I’m afraid I agree. This world is busy, with quite a lot to absorb from the get-go regarding elemental magic and the politics of the Witchlands. I struggled to add everything up and often felt like I had plenty of puzzle pieces to work with but no matter how I arranged them, I couldn’t assemble a full picture.

As with Rebel of the Sands, I also wondered about the overall story arc for Truthwitch. The twenty year truce between the empires of the Witchlands is about to end, and war could be on the horizon. The potential for conflict eventually gathers steam, but for most of the book, it takes a backseat to Safi and Iseult’s adventures. Truthwitch is very much Safi and Iseult’s show, not that this is entirely a bad thing, but every time the pair wound up in a new predicament, I couldn’t help thinking, but where is this going? How does this latest narrow escape figure into the broader story?

My difficulties fully grasping the world aside, there was still much to enjoy about Truthwitch. Safi and Iseult’s friendship is by far the book’s highlight. These two share an utterly unbreakable bond; there’s absolutely nothing one wouldn’t do for the other. Readers whose hearts melted over the epic brotherhood between Will Herondale and Jem Carstairs in The Infernal Devices should be very happy here.

Truthwitch also boasts some witty dialogue exchanges, particularly those between Safi and Prince Merik, a Windwitch with a temper that ignites as easily as Safi’s does. They bait each other frequently, usually to hilarious effect. Merik’s aunt, Evrane, a Carawen monk like Aeduan but unlike Aeduan, not a threat to Safi and Iseult, was one of my favorite characters. Evrane is as badass a fighter as Safi and Iseult, and her relationship with her nephew kind of reminded me of Uncle Iroh and Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Aha—I’ve made my AtLA connection!

The characters are what made this book for me, and I definitely have enough investment in them to continue with the series. I do hope, though, that the sequel provides some more backstory to the world, especially the inner workings of the magic. If that happens, this will be a knockout of a series.

All in All: While Truthwitch was a solid read overall thanks to the wonderful friendship, the strong female characters, and the clever banter, the world-building left me with more than a few unanswered questions. This may not be a big deal for some readers; I just happen to like my fantasy reads highly detailed, and this one was a tad light with the explanations in my opinion.

Fandom Mashups (46)

Fandom Mashups is a feature hosted by Lunar Rainbows Reviews. There's a different scenario each week, and you choose a "dream team" of five characters from five different fandoms whom you think are best suited for the situation.

This week's topic is:
ZOMBIES! The dead have risen and are trying to take over the land of the living! Who do you want to help you send them back to where they came from?

Ewwww—zombies! They're my least favorite paranormal creatures; they're just so . . . gross! I don't watch The Walking Dead and have only ever read like two zombie books, so I thought about characters who have either battled zombie-like beings or are just ace at fighting in general to assemble this team:

1. Celaena/Aelin (Throne of Glass): Aelin has fought all sorts of nasty creatures, so zombies shouldn't be much of a problem for her. Plus she has her fae magic to light those suckers up!
2. Albus Dumbledore: Dumbledore igniting that scary ass cave to drive back the Inferi in the Half-Blood Prince movie is one of my favorite scenes across all of the HP films. He'd be able to handle zombies, and with any luck, in a similarly epic manner!
3. Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender): Because more firepower (literally) wouldn't hurt.
4. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars): OK, so Jedi mind powers probably won't work here, but with any luck, a light saber will. XD
5. Lisa Simpson: In the Dial "Z" for Zombies story from Treehouse of Horror III, Lisa helped Bart send the zombies that he accidentally conjured back to their resting places after a trip to the library (of course, lol) to find the counterspell. She'd be our researching expert once again!

Harry Potter Moment of the Week (121)

Harry Potter Moment of the Week is a meme hosted by Uncorked Thoughts and Lunar Rainbows Reviews. The aim of this meme is to share with fellow bloggers a character, spell, chapter, object or quote from the books/films/J. K. Rowling herself or anything Potter related! A list of upcoming topics can be found here.

This week's topic is:
Who Would Your Best Friend Be at Hogwarts?

I really think it would be Hermione. First, we both love books and the library! XD We're also both perfectionists, so we'd be great study buddies, encouraging each other to work hard and ace our O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s!

Book Loot (22)

So far, 2016 has been killing me with so many must-have new releases! In the interests of budgeting, I've been weighing the necessity of new books with extreme care, limiting myself to the ones that I really feel I need more than food or oxygen. And still this haul ended up bigger than I would've liked, lol. But seriously—new Shadowhunters novel? Cannot do without. A finished copy of a book that I still haven't recovered from almost 3 months after reading the ARC? Cannot do without. The sequel to last year's phenomenal A Darker Shade of Magic? Cannot do without. And so forth. XD

NetGalley:

Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

Bought:

These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker & Kelly Zekas
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman
Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

I also received these amazing character cards for pre-ordering
A Gathering of Shadows:

And finally, because I love the Funko Pop! figurines, Marvel, and jigsaw puzzles, I wasn't leaving Target without this:

Shimmer Blog Tour: Review

I'm so, so excited to once again be part of the blog tour for Paula Weston's fantastic angel series, The Rephaim. Today I'm reviewing Shimmer, the third and penultimate book in the series. You can check out the other stops on the tour by clicking here or on the banner above.

Shimmer (The Rephaim #3)
By Paula Weston
Publisher: Tundra Books
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Publication Date: March 8, 2016
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Synopsis: Gaby thought her life couldn't get more complicated.

She's almost used to the idea that she's not the teenage backpacker she thought she was. She can just about cope with being one of the Rephaim—a 139-year-old half-angel—whose memories have been stolen. She's even coming to grips with the fact that Jude, the brother she's mourned for a year, didn't die at all.

But now Rafa—sexy, infuriating Rafa—is being held, and hurt, by Gatekeeper demons. And Gaby has to get the bitterly divided Rephaim to work together, or Rafa has no chance at all.

Review: As has become traditional with The Rephaim series, I must first take a moment to show some love for the cover. Every book in the series has sported a beauty of a cover, and the one for Shimmer is no exception. Even if I hadn’t already come across the positive advance buzz for the first book in the series, Shadows, back in 2012, I still would have picked it up because the cover is such an eye-catcher.

It’s been a bit of a wait here in the U.S. for Shimmer, a wait made all the more torturous by the cliffhanger ending of book two, Haze. Rafa, my favorite character thanks to his endless supply of snark and high likelihood of causing swoons, has fallen into the hands of demons. Of course I already knew going into Shimmer that the fates of Rafa and Taya, another of the half-human/half-angel Rephaim, weren’t going to be revealed straightaway, but I also wondered how much of a presence Rafa would have in the book. I’m pleased to say that was a non-issue because our amazing protagonist/narrator Gaby continues to anchor the series, even when Rafa isn’t around to supply his usual acerbic (and amusing) commentary.

Gaby always seems to have a full plate of problems to cope with, and Rafa’s capture weighs it down tremendously. She’s only just reunited with her twin brother, Jude, whom she believed had died in a car accident, and now the siblings are scrambling to assemble a plan to bust Rafa out. Gaby and Jude are also still simultaneously working through memory loss, including the circumstances that led them both to be nearly killed. In their previous lives they had a falling out, with Jude and some of the other Rephaim, Rafa among them, splintering off into their own group and becoming known as the Outcasts. All present day Gaby and Jude know is that they’re together again, and their protectiveness of each other after each thinking the other lost forever is especially moving.

As devastated as Gaby is by what’s happened to Rafa and the horrors the demons are very likely subjecting him to, she doesn’t fall apart. Instead she tries to organize a rescue mission, not an easy feat at all when the Rephaim who didn’t walk out with Jude continue to remain loyal to their angelic leader, Nathaniel, a fallen angel with his own agenda. Nathaniel won’t budge on going after Rafa and Taya, even though Nathaniel counts Taya among his faithful Rephaim, unless he literally receives a sign from heaven. The majority of Shimmer takes place at the Sanctuary, home to Nathaniel and his followers, and when the Outcasts arrive there, tensions shoot into the stratosphere. Gaby refuses to allow Rafa and Taya to get lost amidst all of the messy Rephaim politics, though, and she really emerges as a leader here. With the support of Jude and a few other friends, Gaby realizes that they may need to take charge of this situation without the Sanctuary’s backing.

Paula Weston writes wonderfully throughout Shimmer, with the fight scenes especially well done. Sometimes I’ll read a fight sequence and after maybe the third exchange of punches and kicks they all sound the same to me. That’s not the case with this book, however. You truly feel like you’re right there, watching the action play out in front of you. It’s a completely immersive experience, made even more intense by how scary the Rephaim’s demon adversaries are. They’re as terrifying as the hell they were spawned in, but if there’s a single thing the Rephaim, including the Outcasts, agree on, it’s that they’re fierce, formidable warriors and can take on anything that hell throws at them. Seriously—they carry swords around the way regular humans carry cell phones.

I had a very strong feeling that I was going to love Shimmer not only based on how much I’d enjoyed the previous two books but also as soon as I started reading the Rephaim Who’s Who at the beginning of the novel. The descriptions of the characters are so witty, and a few of them are even sarcastic and sound like things Rafa would say. So I was hooked before the story even got underway, and once it did, I became totally lost in this world of angels, half-angels, and demons all over again. There’s zero question that Shimmer was more than worth the wait. Gaby has been a strong heroine from the outset, but Shimmer sees her character development ascend even higher. I’m so thrilled to be back among these characters, and the good news is, the series finale, Burn, is only a few months away!

All in All: We have another winning installment in this series here! If you haven’t checked out The Rephaim yet, I urge you to do so. I’ve read quite a few angel books that just didn’t do anything special with such a rich mythology, but Paula Weston has created a thrilling, compelling series that I will miss very much once it’s concluded.

Fandom Mashups (45)

Fandom Mashups is a feature hosted by Lunar Rainbows Reviews. There's a different scenario each week, and you choose a "dream team" of five characters from five different fandoms whom you think are best suited for the situation.

This week's topic is:
A seriously important baddie has gone into hiding and you need to find him/her at all costs - who do you want to help you with the finding?

1. Celaena/Aelin (Throne of Glass): As if I wouldn't ask the greatest assassin ever for help on this? She'd be mad if I didn't. XD
2. Harry Potter: Harry had practically nothing to go on finding some of the Horcruxes and still got them all (with help from Ron and Hermione, of course). Consider this villain found!
3. Valek (Poison Study): Another expert assassin/spy, Valek knows how to find someone who doesn't want to be found.
4. Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender): Remember how relentless Zuko was when he was trying to find Aang? Well, now that Zuko's a good guy, he can put all of that persistence to good use helping to find a bad guy. Plus: FIREBENDING.
5. Gansey (The Raven Cycle): Here's another guy who defines "persistent," with the countless hours he's put into researching the possible whereabouts of the sleeping Welsh king, Glendower. Gansey's brilliant analytical mind would be very useful here in pinpointing the baddie's secret lair.

The Reading Games: February Excuses Post/March Reading Goals

So we decided to hold a little contest among ourselves to each set a number of books we'd like to read every month. Anyone meeting her target number would receive a sticker on our poster board tracker. Well, here's what the board looks like after updating for February:

That's right. Still no stickers on the board for anyone, plus we're a little late posting this update, lol. And so we all find ourselves writing another excuses post for February.

Ally: Another month, another failed attempt at my reading challenge. It's sad to say that I failed my set goal of reading one book for the month of February. Besides the typical and probably expected excuses of college, work, and other life responsibilities, I am seeing that I have a hard time finding the motivation to read. I'm in a sore spot right now, where reading isn't the escape that it used to be for me. I think a large part of that is because of the time commitment you have to put into reading. If you're reading, you aren't doing anything else—the book has your complete attention. I feel super guilty if I spend my time doing anything that I can't multitask with another project. Life is so stressful and busy right now but reading is something that I loved, so hopefully March will be a better reading month for me.

Lee: Once again, I came very close to making my goal and fell 1 book short—GRRRRRR!!! I went into February still reading a book I'd hoped to finish in January, so that already put me a little behind for February. I'm confident that I'm going to read these 2 books in March AND get my first sticker on the board!

Lee's March Reads:

Shimmer by Paula Weston
Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

Melissa: Well, this is awkward . . . I’m ashamed to admit that I did not complete my monthly challenge for the second time. I really thought I would be able to handle one book, but this month was pretty eventful. On top of my awful homework load and depressing work schedule, I finally bought my first car! Whoop whoop! I named her Lucy (and yes, that is a Beatles reference! XD). This upcoming month, I hope to get around to reading The Girl From The Well because it looks soooooo good! Happy reading! ;D

We'll report back next month with how we did and what we hope to read in April (*ahem* The Raven King *ahem*)!

Harry Potter Moment of the Week (120)

Harry Potter Moment of the Week is a meme hosted by Uncorked Thoughts and Lunar Rainbows Reviews. The aim of this meme is to share with fellow bloggers a character, spell, chapter, object or quote from the books/films/J. K. Rowling herself or anything Potter related! A list of upcoming topics can be found here.

This week's topic is:
Would You Want to Be a Parseltongue? Why/Why Not?

Um, no. I like snakes about as much as Indiana Jones does, which is to say, not at all. I definitely would not want to be able to talk to them; I'm quite happy having zero communication with them and keeping as much distance between us as possible. XD

When Your Favorite Series End

Today marks the release of Lady Midnight, the first book in a new Shadowhunters series, and while I'm thrilled to be returning to that world, I'm also eager to see how The Dark Artifices ties into my beloved The Infernal Devices. It's been almost three years since the latter came to an end, which kind of blows my mind. Has it really been that long? We did a little TID-themed week back when Clockwork Princess released, including a TID-inspired background, which I dug out for today and will probably leave up for the next few days. What can I say? I'm feeling a little nostalgic this week.

I'm still not over TID. For me it's one of those series that's always lingering at the back of my mind because of its epic-ness. You know those series: the ones that keep you up into the wee, wee hours of the morning reading, and you don't even mind the sleep deprivation. The ones that you think about when you're not reading them. The ones that you wish you were reading instead of being at work, school, etc. The ones that make you laugh your ass off one minute and ugly cry your eyes out the next and you love every minute of it. The ones that inspire you to write posts like this one.

As excited as I am to read highly anticipated series finales, I also always feel a sense of dread because this is it. The end. I get torn between wanting to devour the concluding book in a favorite series because I NEED to know how it all ends but at the same time, I'm not ready to say goodbye. And then there's usually a vicious book hangover once you're done reading, made even worse when you remember that there aren't any more books to wait for in that series.

In addition to The Infernal Devices, I still very, very, very much miss these series that are complete:

Without a doubt, this is the series that I was the saddest to see come to an end, at the time:

When I reached the last word of Deathly Hallows, I was nowhere near ready to let go. So I did the only thing I could: start DH over from the beginning! This is still the only book I've ever read twice in a row, but I needed a second read to even begin processing everything that happened. We'll see if Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will also require an immediate reread when it releases later this year.

And lest I forget, I know, with 1000% certainty, that I'm going to need intense therapy once I read the conclusion to this series:

Which completed series do you still find yourself missing? Do you read series finales extra slowly to savor them? How do you cope with series hangovers?

Fandom Mashups (44)

Fandom Mashups is a feature hosted by Lunar Rainbows Reviews. There's a different scenario each week, and you choose a "dream team" of five characters from five different fandoms whom you think are best suited for the situation.

This week's topic is:
Who run the world? Girls! Pick your 5 leading ladies to rule the world!

1. Celaena/Aelin (Throne of Glass): I think this fire-breathing bitch queen could handle the running of the world all on her own, lol. She could take it over single-handedly AND rule it!
2. Hermione Granger (Harry Potter): Hermione would excel at logistics and planning and keeping everything operating efficiently.
3. Rey (Star Wars: The Force Awakens): Because you can't have enough badasses in this group.
4. Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender): Katara is kindhearted and a voice of reason, but at the same time, she won't hesitate to waterbend your ass if you get out of line, so a perfect combination of compassion and strength here.
5. Brienne of Tarth (A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones): So far, Brienne has survived the brutal Westerosi politics, which is really saying something. She'd have lots to contribute to this group, including her mad skills with a sword, if needed.

Harry Potter Moment of the Week (119)

Harry Potter Moment of the Week is a meme hosted by Uncorked Thoughts and Lunar Rainbows Reviews. The aim of this meme is to share with fellow bloggers a character, spell, chapter, object or quote from the books/films/J. K. Rowling herself or anything Potter related! A list of upcoming topics can be found here.

This week's topic is:
Favorite Quote from Chamber of Secrets

It's been far too long since I've read all of the books, so I'm going with one of the few CoS quotes that I can remember off the top of my head, lol. But I also love this quote because it's quintessential Dumbledore:

Dumbledore had not taken his bright blue eyes off Lucius Malfoy's cold gray ones.
"However," said Dumbledore, speaking very slowly and clearly so that none of them could miss a word, "you will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me. You will also find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."

February 2016 Recap

Happy March, everyone! Wow, we're already into month #3 of 2016! Even with an extra day this leap year, February still flew by!

I read 3 books last month, a small improvement over January's total of 2, lol. Real life has just been taking up most of my time lately, and it's been tough squeezing in reading and blogging. I caught up on some blogging over the weekend, though, which was awesome.

My favorite read for February was, without a doubt, this lovely:

I gushed about this book quite a bit in both the review and the blog's first NYC Reads post. I'm especially proud of the latter, because it's been something that I've wanted to do for ages and it finally happened!

My favorite quote of the month comes from Susan Dennard's Truthwitch, which I just started reading at the very end of February:

"I know," he gritted out, "how a button operates." He knocked Safi's wrists away. "And I don't need advice from a woman with bird shit on her shoulder."

BAHAHAHA! I love Merik already! ♥

Reviews Posted:

• Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
• Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor
• Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

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