Hey guys!!
How has your month been?
I’ve read only 5 books this month, although I must say… I did find some amazing ones!!
Check out what I’ve read this month:
Month: August 2018
Owlcrate August 2018 Unboxing
Hey guys! Time for another Owlcrate unboxing!!
August’s box theme is Ruthless Royals and it’s awesome!
Owlcrate is an amazing YA bookish subscription box that I would highly recommend getting. Plus, if you live in Europe like me, it still arrives incredibly fast and somehow (for me) it doesn’t get more expensive than any other box coming from Europe – although obviously, it changes from country to country…
I’ve been loving every single box, and I loved the theme of this one but it was even better than I expected! It’s so well themed and balanced!
If you wanna check out what this box included, just keep reading! I will show photos of all the items, information on them and some of my thoughts!
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Series: N/A
Publisher: Square Fish
First published October 22nd, 1999
Genres: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, YA
Pages: 208
Format: Paperback
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon
The first ten lies they tell you in high school.
“Speak up for yourself–we want to know what you have to say.”
From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication.
In Laurie Halse Anderson’s powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself.
Speak was a 1999 National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature.
A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab
A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab
Series: Shades of Magic #3
Publisher: Tor
First published February 21st, 2017
Genres: YA, Fantasy, Magic
Pages: 640
Format: Paperback
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon
Witness the fate of beloved heroes and notorious foes in the heart-stopping conclusion to V.E. Schwab’s New York Times bestselling Shades of Magic trilogy.
As darkness sweeps the Maresh Empire, the once precarious balance of power among the four Londons has reached its breaking point.
In the wake of tragedy, Kell–once assumed to be the last surviving Antari–begins to waver under the pressure of competing loyalties. Lila Bard, once a commonplace–but never common–thief, has survived and flourished through a series of magical trials. But now she must learn to control the magic, before it bleeds her dry.
An ancient enemy returns to claim a city while a fallen hero tries to save a kingdom in decay. Meanwhile, the disgraced Captain Alucard Emery of the Night Spire collects his crew, attempting a race against time to acquire the impossible.
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Andrews McMeel
First published November 4th, 2014
Genres: Poetry, Feminism, Nonfiction
Pages: 204
Format: Paperback
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon
Milk and Honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. About the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity.
The book is divided into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose. Deals with a different pain. Heals a different heartache. Milk and Honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look.
Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
Series: Pandava Quartet #1
Publisher: Rick Riordan Presents
Published March 27th, 2018
Genres: Middle Grade / YA, Mythology, Fantasy
Pages: 355
Format: Hardback
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon
Twelve-year-old Aru Shah has a tendency to stretch the truth in order to fit in at school. While her classmates are jetting off to family vacations in exotic locales, she’ll be spending her autumn break at home, in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, waiting for her mom to return from her latest archeological trip. Is it any wonder that Aru makes up stories about being royalty, traveling to Paris, and having a chauffeur?
One day, three schoolmates show up at Aru’s doorstep to catch her in a lie. They don’t believe her claim that the museum’s Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare Aru to prove it. Just a quick light, Aru thinks. Then she can get herself out of this mess and never ever fib again.
But lighting the lamp has dire consequences. She unwittingly frees the Sleeper, an ancient demon whose duty it is to awaken the God of Destruction. Her classmates and beloved mother are frozen in time, and it’s up to Aru to save them.
The only way to stop the demon is to find the reincarnations of the five legendary Pandava brothers, protagonists of the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, and journey through the Kingdom of Death. But how is one girl in Spider-Man pajamas supposed to do all that?
Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert
Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert
Series: N/A
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
First published August 8th, 2017
Genres: YA, Contemporary, LGBT, Mental Illness
Pages: 325
Format: Paperback
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon
When Suzette comes home to Los Angeles from her boarding school in New England, she’s isn’t sure if she’ll ever want to go back. L.A. is where her friends and family are (as well as her crush, Emil). And her stepbrother, Lionel, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, needs her emotional support.
But as she settles into her old life, Suzette finds herself falling for someone new…the same girl her brother is in love with. When Lionel’s disorder spirals out of control, Suzette is forced to confront her past mistakes and find a way to help her brother before he hurts himself–or worse.
Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture
Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture edited by Roxane Gay
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published May 1st, 2018
Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Essays
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon
Edited and with an introduction by Roxane Gay, the New York Times bestselling and deeply beloved author of Bad Feminist and Hunger, this anthology of first-person essays tackles rape, assault, and harassment head-on.
In this valuable and revealing anthology, cultural critic and bestselling author Roxane Gay collects original and previously published pieces that address what it means to live in a world where women have to measure the harassment, violence, and aggression they face, and where they are “routinely second-guessed, blown off, discredited, denigrated, besmirched, belittled, patronized, mocked, shamed, gaslit, insulted, bullied” for speaking out. Contributions include essays from established and up-and-coming writers, performers, and critics, including actors Ally Sheedy and Gabrielle Union and writers Amy Jo Burns, Lyz Lenz, and Claire Schwartz. Covering a wide range of topics and experiences, from an exploration of the rape epidemic embedded in the refugee crisis to first-person accounts of child molestation, this collection is often deeply personal and is always unflinchingly honest. Like Rebecca Solnit’s Men Explain Things to Me, Not That Bad will resonate with every reader, saying “something in totality that we cannot say alone.”
Searing and heartbreakingly candid, this provocative collection both reflects the world we live in and offers a call to arms insisting that “not that bad” must no longer be good enough.
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
Series: Shades of Magic #2
Publisher: Tor Books
First published February 23rd, 2016
Genres: YA, Fantasy
Pages: 509
Format: Paperback
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon
Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell’s possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland’s dying body through the rift, and into Black London.
In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games-an extravagant international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries-a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.
But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life, and those who were thought to be forever gone have returned. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning, and so it seems Black London has risen again-and so to keep magic’s balance, another London must fall…in V.E. Schwab’s “A Gathering of Shadows.”
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Series: N/A
Publisher: Canterbury Classics
First published in 1844
Genres: Classics, Historical Fiction
Pages: 1055
Format: Leather-bound Paperback
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon
Best-selling author Alexandre Dumas–who also wrote The Three Musketeers–tells this heartbreaking yet heroic tale of Edmond Dantes who takes revenge on the men responsible for his unjust fourteen-year imprisonment, keeping him from the woman he loved and the life he was supposed to live.
– This chic and inexpensive edition comes with a heat-burnished cover, foil stamping, luxurious endpapers, and a smaller trim size that’s easy to hold.
– This widely popular classic, originally written in French, tells a tale of devastating consequences for the innocent as well as the guilty.The Count of Monte Cristo is a must-have for any home library or literary aficionado.
Overview
“Alexandre Dumas’s novel of justice, retribution, and self-discovery – one of the most enduringly popular adventure tales ever written – appears here in a newly revised translation.” “This novel tells the story of Edmond Dantes, wrongfully imprisoned for life in the supposedly impregnable sea fortress the Chateau d’If. After a daring escape, and after unearthing a hidden treasure revealed to him by a fellow prisoner, he devotes the rest of his life to tracking down and punishing the enemies who wronged him.” “This newly edited version of the original nineteenth-century English translation speeds the narrative flow while retaining all the essential details of Dumas’s intricately plotted and thrilling masterpiece.” The classic nineteenth-century translation has been revised and updated by Peter Washington, with an introduction by novelist Umberto Eco.Sent to prison on a false accusation in 1815, Edmond Dantes escapes many years later and finds a treasure which he uses to exact his revenge.
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