2020 Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge

Another year—and another decade—is almost in the books, so to speak, which means it's time to start thinking about reading goals for 2020! My never-ending TBR is loaded with backlist titles, which is why I'm joining Novel Knight's Beat the Backlist challenge again.

It's a bit sad to admit this, but several of the books I'd hoped to read for this year's challenge are making return appearances on my list of planned reads for next year's challenge because I'm just not going to get to them in 2019. Oh well, lol. So here's what I'd really love to read in 2020:

I'm also joining the team mini challenge. I am ALWAYS adding books to my TBR even though it's already impossibly long, so it's The TBR Stackers team for me, lol!

Are you joining any reading challenges for 2020?

Book Loot (39)

Hello, friends! We're getting closer and closer to the end of 2019, and, the end of another decade—EEK!

For my part, it looks like I'm trying to amass as many new books as possible before 2019 ends, lol. Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Cycle is one of my favorite series ever, so of course I HAD to get a copy of the first book in the spin-off Dreamer trilogy.

Neal Shusterman's Scythe is one of my favorite 2019 reads. I've already started Thunderhead, and I'm loving it just as much as Scythe so far!

What books have you added to your shelves recently?

Won:

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner
Miss Austen by Gill Hornby
Thanks so much to St. Martin's Press and Flatiron Books!!

Bought:

The How and the Why by Cynthia Hand
Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater
Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman
The Toll by Neal Shusterman

Adventures at YALLFest 2019

November has become one of my favorite months because it means it's time to go to YALLFest again! This was the fifth trip for Ally, Melissa, and me to Charleston for the two day young adult book festival, and it was just as much fun as the first year we attended.

After the requisite stop for coffee before hitting the road, we were on our way by around 3:45AM. It's about a 6 hour drive from Central Florida to Charleston, and for us, a big part of the adventure is the road trip itself. Will we have enough room in the car for our book hauls? What item did Lee forget to pack this year? Who will get hangry first? (It's usually me, Lee, but this year it wasn't me haha!)

Friday is YALLCrawl, which features some author signings and events. Jenny Han was signing as part of YALLCrawl again, so I got my copies of P.S. I Still Love You and Always and Forever, Lara Jean signed:

While I was at the signing, Ally and Melissa headed off to check out the official YALLFest merch. We learned the hard lesson in our first year at the festival that we must buy our T-shirts and any other YALLFest goodies on Friday or they will be sold out by Saturday.

Since some of us had been awake since 2:30 in the morning, we opted for an early dinner again and then took our exhausted selves to the hotel to get a good night's sleep in preparation for a very, very busy Saturday.

We usually grab bagels for breakfast, but this time we tried a charming café called La Pâtisserie that we'd passed while browsing King Street on Friday. I had a ham and cheese croissant, and it was amazing! The delicious coffee also hit the spot on a chilly morning.

After breakfast, we headed towards the Charleston Museum, where the line to pick up tickets for the Fierce Reads ARC giveaways already wrapped around the corner. We happily each received our tickets to return later for the ARCs and then got down to the business of running from line to line.

I've collected Shadowhunter posters from the Riveted/Simon Teen booth for the last 3 years, so I was thrilled to add another, this time of Matthew Fairchild from the upcoming Chain of Gold:

Here's one of the better pics of us, lol, taken at the Pique booth during their ARC giveaway of Jordan Ifueko's Raybearer:

L to R: Lee, Melissa, Ally

Nic Stone was signing ARCs of her upcoming Shuri at the I Read YA/Scholastic booth, and she noticed the Marvel sweatshirt I was wearing and said it was perfect!

Around 4PM, we realized that we were starving and practically sprinted to Five Guys to grab dinner. Back at the hotel, we collapsed for a bit and then organized our goodies to make departing in the morning a bit easier.

Once again, the weekend flew by in a blur of books. I can't wait to start reading these!

Blood Countess by Lana Popvić
Rogue Princess by B.R. Myers
The Iron Will of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee
The Last Confession of Autumn Casterly by Meredith Tate
The Stars We Steal by Alexa Donne
The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett
Most Likely by Sarah Watson
Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales
We Are the Wildcats by Siobhan Vivian
Between Burning Worlds by Jessica Brody & Joanne Rendell
The Small Crimes of Tiffany Templeton by Richard Fifield
Rules for Being a Girl by Candace Bushnell & Katie Cotugno
Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko
Shuri: A Black Panther Novel by Nic Stone
You're Next by Kylie Schachte

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Bookmarks

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's topic is:
Favorite Bookmarks

I LOVE collecting bookmarks, probably as much as I love adding books to my shelves, lol! And just like choosing my favorite books, it was also tough to choose my favorite bookmarks. Quite a few of them, like the Lisa Simpson bookmark in the photo below, have grown in sentimental value over the years because I've had them for so long. Often I'll try to find bookmarks of my favorite characters, and not just from books, but from movies and TV, too, as you'll also see from the photo. :D

1. The Millennium Falcon
A Star Wars bookmark is an absolute must have for this fangirl.

2. The Avengers
This bookmark was a tie-in for Endgame. It's currently holding my place in Neal Shusterman's Scythe.

3. The Raven Cycle
I got these adorable bookmarks of the characters from Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Cycle from Happy Hello.

4. Lisa Simpson
I've been a Simpsons fan from the beginning, and I love the inspirational quote on this bookmark.

5. YALLFest
I just picked this up over the weekend during YALLFest 2019, and this bookmark features this year's artwork for the festival.

6. Ron Weasley
How cute is this bookmark of Ron?!

7. Keep Calm and Read On
What I tell myself all the time. :D

8. Dumbledore
I know I included two Harry Potter-themed bookmarks, but this is my favorite Dumbledore quote and one of my favorite quotes from the whole series.

9. The Infernal Devices
Another set from Happy Hello, featuring Will, Jem, and Tessa.

10. New York
I got this at The Cloisters museum a few years ago during a trip to New York to always remember my hometown. ♥

What are your favorite bookmarks?

Book Loot (38)

Yikes—it's another Book Loot post already! I've dubbed this my Pre-YALLFest Haul because I'm taking some of these to hopefully get signed at YALLFest in Charleston this weekend. :D

I'm about halfway through Neal Shusterman's Scythe, and all I can say is: why didn't I read this book, or any of Neal Shusterman's books, sooner?! It's definitely going to be one of my 2019 favorites.

What books have you added to your shelves lately?

Won:

Angel Mage by Garth Nix
Much thanks to Epic Reads!

Bought:

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo
P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han
Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson
Reveal Me by Tahereh Mafi

October 2019 Recap

Wow! There's actually a recap this month because . . . there's some stuff to recap, lol!

Last week I got to see the touring production of Les Misérables at the Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando. I first saw the show about 20 years ago on Broadway when I was living in New York. I'm a bit of a Les Miz nerd, lol; I've watched the anniversary concerts and the movie adaptation of the musical with Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway more than a few times. ;) When I found out that the current tour was making a stop in Orlando, I jumped at the opportunity to see the show again.

I admit that I got chills when the orchestra began playing the opening notes! This was a wonderful production; everything from the performances to the sets was amazing! If you're a Les Miz fan and have the chance to catch this tour, don't miss it!

On the bookish side, I read 2 books this month, and both were 4 star reads. I'm trying to keep that momentum going and am currently reading Neal Shusterman's Scythe, which has been very, very good so far.

Yesterday the temperature here in Florida was 90 and felt like 97. Um, hello? Tomorrow's November? We're hoping to finally experience some sweater weather when we head to Charleston next week for YALLFest.

How was your October?

Reviews Posted:

• Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
• To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Top Ten Tuesday: Spookiest Books I've Read

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

It's a Halloween Freebie this week, so I've made a list of the spookiest books I've read. My list is actually a little short because I'm such a wimp when it comes to reading horror or anything close to it, lol.

1. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

It's a really good thing that the protagonist, Cas, is hilariously snarky because this is one scary book, and I probably would've been too much of a chicken to read it otherwise.

2. The Diviners by Libba Bray

I do most of my reading at night, and when I read this, I couldn't go to sleep right away because I was afraid of having nightmares from it, lol.

3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

The scene where Harry and Dumbledore fight the Inferi creeps me out more than anything else in the series, including any scene with Voldemort.

4. Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

This falls under mystery, but the sense of foreboding that pervades the book is as chill-inducing as a horror story.

5. Sabriel by Garth Nix

The title character is a necromancer, and although she's a heroine, this book is still filled with plenty of scary moments.

6. The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

This novel about a changeling features some very creepy supernatural beings.

7. The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

Another Maureen Johnson title, this one about a Jack the Ripper copycat terrorizing modern day London. The paranormal element gives the book an eerie twist.

What are some of the scariest books you've read?

Review: To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before #1)
By Jenny Han
Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased

To Sum It Up: Lara Jean’s life is about to change in some big ways—the start of a new school year and the departure of her beloved older sister for college abroad in Scotland. Nothing can prepare Lara Jean, however, for the horror of seeing the secret letters she’s written to every boy she’s loved somehow mailed out to the recipients. In an equally bizarre twist, Lara Jean finds herself pretending to be the girlfriend of one of the addressees, Peter Kavinsky. At first she thinks she’s long over him, but as their supposedly fake relationship continues, Lara Jean realizes that she just might want it to be real.

Review: Once again, I’m way behind the curve in reading a massively popular book, in this case Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. This book had been on my radar even before the release of the equally popular Netflix adaptation, in part thanks to the gorgeous cover. I don’t read much contemporary and so didn’t make this much of a priority read until Twitter exploded with all the love for the film. And then it still took me a while to finally read the book.

Seeing all of that love for the movie on social media made me feel like I already knew Lara Jean and Peter Kavinsky before reading a single page. It took reading maybe five pages to fall in love with MC Lara Jean’s narrative voice. It was instantly engaging, and I also loved the immediate sense of closeness between her and her sisters. When the novel opens, eldest sister Margot is preparing to head off to college in Scotland, leaving Lara Jean to step up to being a mother figure for their younger sister, Kitty. Margot took on the role of looking after her sisters and their father a few years before after the death of their mother. Taking on more family responsibilities, having her sister in another country, and starting a new school year end up being the least of Lara Jean’s worries, though, when something unthinkable happens. The letters she’s written to every boy she’s loved and keeps hidden in a hatbox her mother gave her somehow get mailed to each boy.

Enter Peter Kavinsky, a past love of Lara Jean’s and therefore the recipient of one of her letters. In order to do damage control with another letter recipient, Lara Jean enters into a pact with Peter to fake being a couple, an arrangement that benefits Peter, too. At first Lara Jean finds him to be true to his reputation around school—arrogant, egotistical, and the kind of guy who eats the last slice of pizza. Peter is also pretty unfiltered and unapologetic about it, which may not appeal to everyone, but which I often found hilarious.

Part of Lara Jean’s growth in the novel is discovering that there’s more to Peter K.’s handsome face and too-cool-to-care attitude. He does, in fact, care about a lot of things. I thought that Lara Jean’s character development was well done. She can be petty and even mean at times and makes some less than wise decisions, but she has the self-awareness to call herself out.

I was very much enjoying this book until the end. I have to say, I was a bit disappointed with how things were left. I’m not into Hallmark Channel Christmas movie-perfect endings, but I felt this one could have some more closure, even if it is the first book in a series. On the upside, now I absolutely have to read the sequel to see if my questions are answered.

All in All: I typically don’t go for contemporary YA romance, but this was a sweet, winning read. Perfect if you love breezy novels like Stephanie Perkins’s Anna and the French Kiss.

Review: Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

Truly Devious (Truly Devious #1)
By Maureen Johnson
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased

To Sum It Up: True crime buff Stevie Bell has been admitted to Ellingham Academy, an ultra-exclusive school with a tragic history. Its namesake and founder, Albert Ellingham, was a wealthy industrialist whose wife and daughter were kidnapped. Although someone was arrested and convicted of the crime, Steve doubts his guilt. So she’s at Ellingham to solve the case and finally discover the real identity of Truly Devious, the author of a threatening letter that Albert Ellingham received shortly before his family was taken. Soon, however, Stevie finds herself with two possible cases to investigate when another death occurs at Ellingham Academy and the clues increasingly point towards murder.

Review: Having very much enjoyed Maureen Johnson’s Shades of London books, I was eager to check out Truly Devious, the first novel in a new series. I’m not a huge mystery reader, but after finishing this expertly plotted book, I have a new appreciation for the genre.

Truly Devious follows Stephanie “Stevie” Bell, a true crime fan who is about to begin her first year at the super exclusive Ellingham Academy, a private school that was once the scene of an infamous crime: the kidnapping of the wife and daughter of the school’s wealthy founder, Albert Ellingham. While an arrest was made and the case seemingly closed, Stevie is among those who do not believe that the authorities found the actual Truly Devious, the author of a threatening letter that Ellingham received days before the abduction of his family. Stevie arrives at the school ready to solve the case and uncover the real identity of Truly Devious.

The book shifts between the present, where Stevie’s story takes place, and the past, where we witness firsthand, sometimes in agonizing detail, Albert Ellingham’s life unravel from the moment he receives the terrifying phone call that his wife and daughter have been taken. Johnson intertwines the two timelines brilliantly. Both Stevie’s sleuthing, which is the real thing and not amateurish at all, and the backstory behind her whole reason for applying to Ellingham Academy in the first place are equally compelling. If the entire book had been set during Albert Ellingham’s time, I still would have read it.

As much as Stevie is driven to solve the Ellingham case, she also finds herself dealing with adjusting to a new school that her parents don’t exactly approve of as well as managing her anxiety. The latter was something that I could absolutely relate to, and I thought it was portrayed very realistically.

Another layer is added to the plot when death strikes Ellingham Academy again, and Stevie starts to suspect that it wasn’t accidental. As she tries to piece together the full picture of the victim’s life, both Stevie and the reader learn that not everything is at it appears with her classmates. I love how the tension and suspense build around both cases. Who’s responsible for this latest death? Could one of Stevie’s own classmates be the culprit? Who was really behind the kidnapping of Iris and Alice Ellingham back in the 1930s? Could the two crimes possibly be related?

The answers to these questions are not fully resolved by the end of Truly Devious. I wasn’t disappointed by this, however. Quite the opposite—I liked that there were no easy solutions wrapped up in a bow here. One minor thing that I wasn’t so keen on was the romance. It felt rushed, and I wasn’t as invested in it as I was in seeing all of Ellingham Academy’s dark secrets revealed. I’m definitely hooked on this series now and can’t wait to dive into the sequel, even if it only deepens the mysteries surrounding this seemingly unfortunate school.

All in All: An absorbing mystery/thriller with just the right amount of suspense. You can really feel the ominous shadow of Truly Devious that hangs over Ellingham Academy. Highly recommended!