Life Update

Life Update: heartbreak and asking for book recommendations

Sofia @ BookishWanderess11 Comments

life update 2

Hi guys! I know I haven’t posted in a while, getting back into blogging consistently has been harder than what I thought it  was gonna be.

I’m sorry, because this post is not gonna be very interesting. This past few weeks have been hard because some things were happening in my relationship with my boyfriend and it was a very sad period of time. Last night, we finally decided to break up after a little over two years together and I have been in a cry fest since then. But this post isn’t about that.  I just wanted to ask for recommendations of books that I can read while going through hearbreak. Here are some of the things I’m looking for:

  • Books that made you laugh or made you happy
  • I usually read New Adult when I’m feeling anxious or sad, so if you have New Adult recommendations, those are welcome as well.
  • The easy to read, make you feel better type of YA Contemporary. ( I just finished When Dimple Met Rishi a few minutes ago and it really distracted me and help me stop feeling sad for a little bit).
  • Some fantasy or sci fi that has a good romance and it’s really entertaining may help as well.
  • If you can think of any other things that makes me feel better, go ahead and tell me below.
  • Also, it can be a movie or tv show that made you laugh or made you happy, or that you  think it would be entertaining and it would distract me right now.

That’s it! Thank you for reading this and please let me your recommendations in the comments.

wrap up

May 2017 Wrap Up

Sofia @ BookishWanderess1 Comment

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During the month of May I was doing my last finals of my last semester of Uni (I mean, I still have to do a intership next semester before graduating, but no more classes! Yay!). Because of that, my anxiety was out of control and the only thing that seem to help was reading new adult, so that’s what I did for most of May. Here are the 11 books I read in May:

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas (4 stars)

A Court of Wings and RuinThis was a very anticipated realese for me. Sadly, it wasn’t as good as I expected. Even if I did enjoy it a lot. I think everything went a bit too perfectly for the main characters, I feel like it was easy to tell that this was written in a rush and also there was so many elements of the story that weren’t tied up well enough ( I know there’s more books, but still…). I still enjoyed this book a lot mainly because of the characters and because of Nesta and Cassian (my babies, who need to be the main characters in the next books!)

Books 1 – 3 of the Winston Brothers Series by Penny Reid

Truth and Beard: 3 stars/ Grin and Beard it: 3,6 stars / Beard Science: 3,8 stars

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I want to start by saying that Penny Reid’s books got me through finals and I will be forever grateful.

With that out of the way, I want to start by saying that I didn’t read this series in order. I had heard great things about the second book (Grin and Beard it ) and really bad things about the first one (Truth or Beard). Because of that, I started by the second book,  then read the third (Beard Science) and after enjoying both of them, I finally decided to give the first one a chance.

The second and third book have amazing romances, even if the couple of the third book is my favorite. Also, the dialogue in the second book is especially good, it feels natural and realistic. I liked the couple in the first book the least and I also liked the brother who was the protagonist in that book the least. But I still enjoyed it.

All three books have in common that there’s some really steamy scenes and there is a really interesting family dynamic between the brothers. Each is completely different from the others and that makes the relationships between them complex and captivating. The family element is definitely one of my favorites. I can’t wait to read the rest of the books in this series.

Book 1 -4 of the Knitting in the City Series by Penny Reid (3 stars for all 4 books)

knitting in the city

I didn’t read this series in order either! I started by the fourth book, Beauty and the Mustache, because is about the sister of the main characters in the Winston Brother series. It’s actually book #0.5 of the Winston Brothers series. After that I read book 2 (Friends without Benefits), Book 1 ( Neanderthal Seeks Human) and finally, book 3 (Love Hacked).

About this series, I can say that there are very diferent and unique female characters, and there are incredible female frienships. On the other hand, it’s not as steamy as I thought it was gonna be (not nearly as steamy as the Winston Brothers series) and in some cases the romances weren’t as snoony and incredible as I was hoping.

I’m not sure if I want to continue with this series. If you have read them, do you think I should continue?

Settling Up by Eryn Scott (3 stars)settling up

This was just ok. I liked the main characters and I liked the way their relationship developed. This was more on the cute side than the steamy side and maybe that’s why I was disappointed, because it was not what I was hoping for.

The Da Vinci Code ( 4 stars) & The Lost Symbol (3 stars) by Dan Brown 

Robert Langdon

I had big expectation for this books and even it didn’t completely met those expectations, I still found it fascinating. I feel like I learned a lot of cool things from reading it and I liked the interactions between Robert and Sophie, I think they made a good team.

I think the Lost Symbol is my least favorite of this series so far. There were a lot of parts that I found boring and it was not as interesting as the other, I think that’s because in this one Robert Langdon resists to believe the entire book and so all the knwoledge that he usually transmits wasn’t there. The thing I like the most about this book were the bits about noetic science, I found them fascinating.

  Have you read any of these books? Did you enjoy them? Do you want to read any of them? Let me know in the comments! 

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5 Villains I Wish Would Get Their Own Books

Sofia @ BookishWanderess4 Comments

five villains i wish would get their own books

I’m one of those people who are really intrigued by villains and that’s why when I found a villain that I’m captivated by or particulary interested in, I end up wishing that I could get a book about them. In this post, I want to talk about 5 villains I wish would get their own books.

The Bonner Girls  (When the Moon was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore)

The Bonner Girls definitely inspired this post. I would love to read about what happens to them after When the Moon was Ours, but also I would love a prequel about the period of time leading up to the ‘big event’ that changed their dynamic from what they used to be to what they are during When the Moon was Ours. I would love to get to know each one of the girls a lot more, understand who they are and what are their motivations,  and I would like to explore more the magic that seems to surrounder them.

Voldemort (Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling)

Since I reread the Harry Potter books last year, I have wanted a Voldemort prequel. It’s just that I’m not entirely sure about him as a villain and exploring his past may help him become a more complex and interesting character to me.  I want to know how did he get his power and his followers and how did he find out about the horocruxes. Basically, I want to know what happened in the period between the time that he left Hogwarts and when he came back looking for a job as a teacher. That means the period in which he changed from Tom Riddle to Voldermort.

Keris Veturia (An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir)

I haven’t read  the second book in this series, so I don’t know if we find out about The Commandant’s backstory. Nonetheless, I would love to read a book about  her time training, everything that happened leading to Elias’ birth, and also, how did she ended up working with the Nightbringer. She is this cold and seemingly heartless characters that intrigues me.

villains

Athos and Astrid Dane (Shades of Magic series by V.E. Schwab) 

I honestly would want a prequel with them mainly to explore White London a little bit more. It’s such a twisted and dangerous place and I think a whole book set there would be interesting. I  would also love to know how did Athos and Astrid became the cruel and vicious characters they were and I would like to know more about their relationship with each other.

The Court of Nightmares (A Court of Thorns and Roses Series by Sarah J. Maas) 

I know this is not technically a villain, buuuuut since in my mind, everyone in the Court of Nightmares is a villain, I’m gonna count it in this list. I think it would be so interesting to read about a place where evil villains live together and read about all the horrors that situation can entail. It would be a really dark and twisted book.

Do you enjoy reading books from the POV of a villain?  What villains do you wish would get their own books? Let me know in the commets! 

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How to Fall Back in Love with a Genre

Sofia @ BookishWanderess10 Comments

how to fall back in love with a genre

For as long as I can remember Fantasy has been my favorite genre, especifically, Young Adult Fatansy. Nonetheless, I have not been reading that much YA Fantasy in the last couple months, because it got to a point in the middle of 2016 where I felt like I was reading the same book every single time I picked up a YA Fantasy book. There were a lot of aspects of the books that felt repetitive to me. That, off course, is totally a personal feeling and I’m not implying that they aren’t unique books in the genre.

I know that falling out of love with a genre is something that happens to a lot of people. Because of that, I decided to put together a list of things I have been doing to try and fall back in love with fantasy and that I think can be applied to fall back in love with any genre you used to love and now you don’t. 

1. Give it a bit of time

This may seem a bit obvious but I definitely think that if you are feeling frustrated, bored or disappointed with a genre, the best thing you can do is stop reading that genre for a little bit. I think this aplies especially to genres that you love a lot, because it gives you time to miss what that genre made you feel or think or whatever that genre gave you and that way you remember the things that you used to love about it.

2.Try reading diverse books in that genre

I feel like the reason we fall out of love with books a lot of times is because we feel like the books in that genre become repretitive and I think that happens because most books are told from the same perspective (a white, straight, able-bodied, cisgender character). In that sense, reading a book that has diverse main characters or was written by diverse author gives you a chance to explore different perspectives. You get to read from the point of view of someone who thinks, feels and experiences the world in a different way.

3.Try reading books in that genre directed to other age ranges

My favorite genre is YA Fantasy, what I have been doing is reading new adult and adult fantasy, because those books are directed to other age ranges or have main characters in other age ranges, which means that- a lot of the time- they bring new elements to the genre  and that stops me from feeling like the books are repetitive.

If you like YA contemporary, YA historical fiction or any other genre, try reading the middle grade, new adult or adult version of that genre. That can help you if you are feeling bored, frustrated or  like the books are repetitive. The same things goes for any of the other categories: middle grade, new adult or adult. If you like a genre in any of those categories try to read that genre directed to any of the other age ranges.

4. Re-read your favorite book or series in that genre

I think that re-reading your favorite book or series in a genre reminds you of the reason you love that genre, what it makes you feel, what it makes you think about, what that genre means to you. For me, remembering all of that makes you more willing to give a genre another chance.  It spotlights the good and it makes you focus on that, instead of being focused on the things you are bored with or frustrated with or disappointed about.

5. Follow other bloggers that love that genre

Reading about someone else’s love and excitement about books or series in a genre that you used to love is a great way of getting excited about that genre again. You may feel disappointed about it, but if someone else points out the positive things about that genre or about a particular book in that genre that may motivate you to start reading it again.

Have you ever fell out of love with a genre? Do you want to fall back in love with a genre? Do you have any advice to someone who wants to fall back in love with genre? Let me know in the commets! 

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wrap up

April 2017 Wrap Up

Sofia @ BookishWanderess10 Comments

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This wrap up post is very late and I’m really sorry! It’s just that April and May were not good months for me in terms of my anxiety, my school life and blogging. But as a way to cope with all that I did manage to read A LOT (at least for my standars). Today, I want to talk about the books I read in April.

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1. Queen of Geeks by Jen Wilde (4,5 stars) 

I loved this book, not only did it have so many geeky references to books, tv shows and movies; it also had great representation. The main characters in this book were Taylor, who is in the autism spectrum and has severe anxiety,  and Charlie, who is bisexual and chinese. All these diferent identities were very well represented. Also, Taylor and Jaime are the best thing ever,  I shipped them so hard throughout this book.

2. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (3,8 stars) 

I read this book, because I watched the HBO series and loved it. I feel like the tv show made some really good changes and that made me like it more, but I still really enjoyed the book.

During April, I had a week off from school and I made a TBR for that week that I posted (5 Books 1 Week: My very Ambitious TBR) . I ended up reading 3 books:

3. Better at Weddings than You by Mina V. Esguerra (3,8 stars)

I really liked the main characters in this book. The main male character was defenitely a bit too perfect and that wasn’t really realistic, but I didn’t really mind that much. And the main female character was definitely not perfect, but her POV was really enjoyable and I found her realistic and complex. Also, this book takes place in the Philippines and that gave the whole wedding planner storyline a more interesting background.

4. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab  (4,6 stars)

This year  have been in a fantasy reading slump, but I was finally able to go back to reading this genre and it’s all thanks to this book. It had amazing characters and I shipped Kell and Lila so much. I know a lot of people think that the characters are not unique, especially Lila, but there’s still the kind of characters I really enjoy. Also, the world building and magic system were interesting and captivating.

5. When the Moon was Ours  by Anna-Marie McLemore (4,2 stars)

The writing in this book was amazing, the representation in this was outstanding and I was so intrigued by the plot of this book. I really, really liked this book. Also, the villains of this story were so fascinating that I would love to read an entire book about them.

After my week off, I still was in a reading mood and I ended up reading 7 more books. 

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6. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (4,3 stars)

This was definitely a quiet book, there was action but it wasn’t the main focused of the book. It was definitely character driven and all the main characters are amazing and they have wonderful relationships with each other. Also,  this book addressed very important subjets like gender, race and sexuality.

7. Animal Farm by George Orwell (3,2 stars)

I think this book was clever but that’s it. Which means that I think the way the nazi propaganda was presented was really interesting and it’s one of the few things that I really appreciated about this book, but the writing was just ok and I was bored for the majority of the book. The only thing I absolutely loved about it was last few lines.

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8. A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab (4 stars) 

After finishing the first book, I was obsessed with the main characters of this series and I wanted to know what was gonna happen with Lila and Kell, so off course, I picked up this book soon after finishing that one. I just love binge reading series!

This second book was definitely a filler book, one that I still enjoyed a lot, but it did got to a point where I started to feel like  it was dragging a bit. Nonetheless, the ending of this was amazing! It did make up a bit for the fact that nothing happened for a big part of the book.

9. A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab (4,6 stars) 

I was so glad I had this book after finishing the second one, because I honestly don’t know what I would have done otherwise. I really liked this book! All my ships sailed and that made me so happy. The ending of this series wasn’t a 100% what i wanted, but it was close.

10.Royally Screwed by Emma Chase (3,2 stars)

Before this book, I had not read a book about royalty outside of fantasy. After reading this, I found that it’s quite an interesting subjet to me, the idea of weight and the responsabiliy of royalty in a contemporary setting. I really liked the main female characte, but in terms of the male character, I can say that I had a few issues with him. I still enjoyed their relationship and the steamy scenes.

11. Royally Matched by Emma Chase (3,2 stars)

I liked the main couple in this one more, I felt like I could related to the female character. Also, I think  I liked this because I’m always interested in book that has a reality show component to it.

12. The Melody of You and Me by M. Hollis (2,8 stars)

This book got that rating because it had amazing representation, but honestly if it wasn’t for that I would have given it a 1 star. This book had a pansexual main character and a lesbian filipino love interest, which was amazing. The problem was the writing, everytime that there was suppost to be tension or attraction, it wasn’t there. Honestly, I don’t know how to explain it, but the writing was so week.

  Have you read any of these books? Did you enjoy them? Do you want to read any of them? Let me know in the comments! 

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Blog Update · Life Update

Life and Blogging Update

Sofia @ BookishWanderess14 Comments

life and blogging update

Hi guys! I have been gone for the last three weeks and I wanted to talk about why. I will begin by saying that this is my last semester of classes at uni, I still have to do a 6 month intership and I need to finish my thesis, so I have one semester left after I finish this one in around three weeks. Having said that, one of the main reasons I haven’t been posting that much is because I’m turning in papers for the six courses that I’m currently taking, I have been doing prep for interviwes and I have been working on my thesis.

Well, that’s not actually the reason why. Having so much to do and everything being so urgent made my anxiety so bad that I haven’t sleeping, I have been worring non-stop, I have not been eating that much at times and binge eating at other times, I have been restless, I have been crying a lot, my back has been hurting so much, my chronic digestive problems have been out of control and so many other things.  What I’m trying to say is that my anxiety has been terrible. 

In the middle of april, my ‘solution’ for my anxiety was reading. I know that doesn’t seem so bad! But I was reading books and that made me forget for a little bit and allowed me to ignore a lot of the pressure and most of my responsabilities. The problem was that the fact that I was ignoring that responsabilities didn’t not mean that they disappered. So after two weeks or almost three of ignoring everything, I have spent the last two weeks trying to catch up with everything, which means I have spent two weeks where my anxiety has been so bad that I can barely function and do everything I have to do.

The good news is that I have officially catched up with uni stuff, I went to an interview for an intership that I really want to get last week and it went great (please send me good vibes, they let me know on monday if I got it or not!) and I’m slowly advancing on my thesis (which is better than not advancing at all). I have been doing some things that help with my anxiety like yoga and writing a lot of list and even if it has been terrible, I managed to survive the last couple of days.

So, what does this mean for the blog? Well, I do have finals for the next two weeks. My last finals! Which is exciting even if I want to be done with them. But I feel better and I’m gonna start posting again because I miss it a lot. Actually, I have written this post in my mind a few times, but I haven’t been up to actually typing it thanks to my anxiety and the one time I actually tried to write this, I saw that my last post was published so long ago and that made my feel awful and suddenly I couldn’t bring myself to writing it. I’m so happy of finally writing this!

Thanks for reading it! I know it’s not book related but I just wanted to share this with you guys.

Review

Book Review: Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

Sofia @ BookishWanderess3 Comments
Stalking Jack the Ripper

Title: Stalking Jack The Ripper

Author: Kerri Maniscalco

Published by: Jimmy Patterson

Publishing date: September 20th 2016

Genre:  Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Mystery

Pages: 326

Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord’s daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life.

Against her stern father’s wishes and society’s expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle’s laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world.

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A little story about me and this book

I recieved this book in exchange for an honest review a long time ago, I was supposted to be part of the blog tour that took place like 9 months  ago. A lot of things happened in my personal life at that time and they made it impossible to read and review this book. I actually read the first two pages and I didn’t enjoy them, but I didn’t know if it was me because I had so much going on or if it was the book.

This January I finally decided to give this another try and I ended up really enjoying this book. It actually has one of my new favorite ships, which is one of the main reason that I enjoyed this book so much. I didn’t post my review back in January because I was gonna wait until the release date of the second book was closer, but since the arc copies of book 2 are starting to make it to readers, I feel like this is a good time to help increase the excitement for this series.

Without further ado, here’s the review!

The review

Stalking Jack the Ripper is set in 1888 and it’s based on the murders commited by Jack the Ripper, who terrorized London with his brutality during this time. The author takes full advantage of this premise and she makes this a very atmospheric book, with fog, a mystery vibe and a eerie feel to it. At the same time, there’s a lot of grusome scenes and imaginery, there’s blood and organs and this is very descriptive when it comes to how the victims were murdered.

In the midst of this background, there’s Audrey Rose, the main character, an extremely intelligent girl that spends the book struggleling and defying the gender restrictions of her time. She is definitely not, what in her time would have been considered, a proper lady,  she spends her days opening dead bodies and she is fascinated by anatomical dissection.  It’s amazing to have a main female character in a YA book that it’s into science or a science related field, because it doesn’t happen that often. Going back to Audrey, for someone so intelligent, she is incredibly reckeless and impulsive, and in her desire to not conforme to society’s gender ideas she puts herself at risk repeatedly throughout this book.

On the other hand, there’s Thomas, the other main character in this book, he’s also incredibly intelligent and has really good deduction skills. Another very important thing about Thomas is that he’s a complete flirt and his responses are always witty and sarcastic.  Also,  he is really arrogant and he doesn’t try to hide it. Both  Thomas and Audrey are very strong-willed, and that makes the dynamic between them incredible, they work well together but there’s also a lot of chemestry that goes beyond crime-solving partners. There’s banter and bickering but also smart conversations. Honestly, this is a swoon worthy romance.

The problem with this book is that the mystey aspect is a bit a predictable, really early on is easy to tell who Jack the Ripper is.  Nonetheless, the book keeps you wondering when the main characters are gonna realise who the culprit is and that manages to keep the suspense alive.  Another minor issue with the book, is that  Audrey and Thomas do a lot of ‘stalking’’ throughout the story and that ends up helping little to solve the crimes. The ‘stalking’ is a bit pointless and it reveals to be more reckless than courageous.

Rating: 4,2 stars

Have you read this book? Did you like it? Do you have it on your tbr?

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