Rebel of the Sands Read-Along & Giveaway!

Hey, all! 

So I'm doing a thing. If you've been following me a while you know that I adore Rebel of the Sands, by Alwyn Hamilton! Well, since the last book - Hero at the Fall- was recently published, I organized a huge read-along! It has already staInstagramnstagram, which I'm happy to see people participate in! Here's what in store for you lovely bloggers and other book enthusiasts! 

                            

1. Reading the Books! 

This is a great opportunity for us to rave about the books! I hope to see some of you add it to goodreads, or maybe start reading it! I'll be doing an entire series review rather than reviews of each book (except for Hero at the Fall!), but I would LOVE to see your reviews, thoughts and opinions on them! 

2. Challenges

While on Instagram I post semi-regular photo challenges, I'm going to create a tag for us bloggers! It's almost done, I just want a few more questions. Everyone who participates will get a little surprise... 

3. Giveaway

I'm organizing a really huge giveaway! I am so honored to be able to work with FaberChildrens on this, who sent me some incredible prizes for you to win! The giveaway linky is below! 

NOTE: every Instagram entry is also worth 1 entry, I will add those in manually :) 

The Large pack includes...

A SIGNED copy of the entire trilogy! All three books are signed by Alwyn! 

A tote bag

Pins

Book Cards

A quote card by Letters and Lights

A bookmark by Oriandle

A candle by Light the Pages

The Medium pack (2 winners!) includes... 

A tote bag

Pins

Book cards

A quote card by Letters and Lights

A bookmark by Oriandle 

The Small pack (2 winners!) includes... 

Book cards

Pins

A quote card by Letters and Lights

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I can't wait to see your entries! There are more ways to enter through instagram. Also, make sure to do the following! (I couldn't add them to Rafflecopter for some reason). For any following points, let me know your handle! 
- Follow me on Bloglovin' 
- Follow me on Instagram
- Tell me your favorite trilogy 



Stay bookish! 

The Life and Death Parade ARC REVIEW, by Eliza Wass

Hey all! 

I just finished reading an ARC of The Life and Death Parade, by Eliza Wass! I received this from Disney Hyperion through Netgalley, thank you! This does not change my opinion of the book in any way. 

"One year ago, Kitty's boyfriend Nikki Bramley visited a psychic who told him he had no future. Now, he's dead.

With the Bramley family grieving in separate corners of their home, Kitty sets out to find the psychic who read Nikki his fate. Instead she finds Roan, an enigmatic boy posing as a medium who belongs to the Life and Death Parade--a group of supposed charlatans that explore, and exploit, the thin veil between this world and the next. A group whose members include the psychic... and Kitty's late mother.

Desperate to learn more about the group and their connection to Nikki, Kitty convinces Roan to return to the Bramley house with her and secures a position for him within the household. Roan quickly ingratiates himself with the Bramleys, and soon enough it seems like everyone is ready to move on. Kitty, however, increasingly suspects Roan knows more about Nikki than he's letting on. And when they finally locate the Life and Death Parade, and the psychic who made that fateful prophecy to Nikki, Kitty uncovers a secret about Roan that changes everything.

From rising star Eliza Wass comes a sophisticated, mesmerizing meditation on the depths of grief and the magic of faith. After all, it only works if you believe it. "

This book was incredible, in a way that I did not expect. I knew it was a magical realism story, but that was it. This book felt like a My Chemical Romance song - dark, twisted and surprising. 

Kitty is a girl who lives with a somewhat foster family in a castle. Her boyfriend, Nikki, died under mysterious circumstances. This death really affects the family, so Kitty does what she can to make them feel better, including hiring Roan, a member of the Life and Death Parade who can talk to ghosts. Through this, she gets more accustomed to the Life and Death Parade, a group of individuals who perform dark magic tricks for tourists, and who can also perform real dark magic, such as fortune telling and raising the dead. Of course, one runs into problems when meddling with dark magic...

What I found incredible is that this book wanted to make you believe in this magic, all while wanting you to doubt it. It played with contrasts a lot. It never fell into the obvious or the cliche - for example there easily could have been a love triangle, yet Wass wrote the potential love interest as gay, making the love story a part of the background of the book rather than its center. And yet again, it was vital to the plot. Wass is a master weaver - pulling ideas back and forth through the novel, creating a beautiful work of art. 

This book is set to be very hyped as soon as it's published. The writing was dark yet elegant and graceful, with intricately woven ideas and metaphors about life and death. The ending was explosive and something I could not have seen coming if I tried. 

I really liked the characters! They were each peculiar in their own way, and made for an odd harmonious cast. Holiday was creepy, Macklin was elegant, Kitty is spirited and Nikki was unusual. They have a strong yet eerie relationship. The characters from the Parade were very original, with just the right dose of creepiness to feel the unsettled atmosphere of the Parade (which was more of a carnival). 

I was amazed by the author's ability to simply use word choice and sentence structure to create an atmosphere of any kind. This book was not about young love, it was about how people react to death, which made for a fascinating read, unlike any YA I have read so far.

I don't want to give away too much about this book, as I really think that it is something you should fully discover for yourself once it is released, in July of this year! 

I'm giving this a 4.5 / 5 feathers!  

Stay bookish,

Chemistry Lessons, by Meredith Goldstein ARC

Hey all!

I recently finished reading Chemistry Lessons, by Meredith Goldstein!

Oh look, I finished this book right on time for Valentine's day

Note: I received this book as an eARC from NetGalley! This does not affect my opinion on the storyline, plot, writing, or any other point of interest. Thank you for sending it to me!
This will be published on June 19th, 2018 

"For seventeen-year-old Maya, the equation for happiness is simple: a dream internship at MIT + two new science nerd friends + a perfect boyfriend = one amazing summer. Then Whit dumps her out of the blue. 

Maya is miserable until she discovers that her scientist mother, before she died, was conducting research on manipulating pheromones to enhance human attraction. If Maya can finish her mother’s work, maybe she can get Whit back. But when her experiment creates chaos in her love life, she realizes that maybe love and loss can’t be understood using the scientific method. Can she learn to trust the unmeasurables of love and attraction instead?"

This book was not what I expected, in any way! You have Maya, a student working on her internship before joining MIT to study epigenetics. Her mother died and dedicated her laboratory research to her - using a love interest's genes to alter your own genes to increase attraction via pheromones. Maya continues on this work on her own, testing the formula on three test subject - her friend, a stranger, and her ex. This secret project makes her realize the value of personal relationships of all kinds, and tests her in many situations that may happen to anyone.

This book was easily readable - it was smooth, there were no empty chapters, and the scientific ideas were easy understandable and well explained. Easy-reading contemporaries make for really nice summer reads!

I did have a little problem when it comes to the plot of the book, at first. It struck me as odd that the main character saw nothing strange in altering her own chemical signature in order to see if unknowing test subjects would feel any unusual romantic attraction to her. As someone who even finds online dating to be an uncomfortable idea, her lack of realization in the ethics of the experiment surprised me. Not only that, but as a scientist, it was obvious to me that the experiment had many flaws, namely the lack of regularity in the experiments. Her friend Bryan often had the same mindset as I did throughout the book, regarding Maya' s actions and decisions. However, Maya realizes all of this by the end of the book, and makes it up to everyone in various ways. This redeemed the book for me, however did not get rid of the fact that the first 90% of the book seemed odd both ethically and scientifically.

The book was overall a very light read. Where some contemporaries are heavy on mental illness or other topics, this was simply a college girl science-ing the hell out of trying to get back with her ex, and growing on the way. It was a cute, light read, good for anyone who wants to read something that is technically a science fiction but is disguised in a contemporary form. The mix of sub-genres including science, family, theater, love and growing up was a lovely blend that showed that anyone can find themselves in this story.

Finally, I appreciated the realism of the side characters in this book - they were a good representation of the people you may meet in college. Diverse characters, the best friend, the flamboyant guy who doesn't mind who he spends time with at a party, the unrealized crush, the one having a hard time getting over their ex, the ambitious one... it made it easy to find a place in the book as a reader!

I'm giving this book a 3.5/5 Feathers! 

Stay bookish! 

Just Some Discounts and Announcements!

Hey, all! 

I'm sorry I haven't been online in a while, guys. To make it up to you, I have some fun little things for you. 

1. Magic Chest Subscription box 

I recently became a rep for Magic Chest! This is a European YA subscription box that I found to be absolutely beautiful! The owner is the sweetest and puts a lot of effort into making each Chest as magical as possible. 

The February box has a Fairy Tales theme and I cannot wait for it! 

The book is a new fairy tale style story & the book is yet to be released!

In this box are all items except one Magic Chest item are exclusives made by small businesses. One of those is a magnetic bookmark by @idlestuff.

There will be even more Disney and ACOMAF items! 

If you are interested, I have a rep code for you that'll give you a discount on any subscription to the boxes! 

Code: CAROLINE

2. Letters and Lights

I adore bookish candles, so I was super happy when I was chosen to be a rep for Letters and Lights! 

They make handmade candles, soaps, and beautifully drawn cards and posters! Emmy lives in the Netherlands but ships worldwide. 

There are now 3 boxes available for order as well - their themes are Harry Potter, Sarah J Maas, and Superheroes. 

Interested? Use my code for a discount!

Code: JustAnother10

3. 3-years giveaway! 
So, on April 23rd, I would have been blogging and in the bookworld for 3 years! To celebrate, I am organizing an international, multi-fandom giveaway! More details will be posted later, but this will be big. I'll include my blog, goodreads and instagram, a book and possibly some collaborations? We'll see how that plays out with my thesis starting next week... 

I know I haven't posted reviews lately, but I've been re-reading books I enjoyed when I was little that I have either already reviewed once (or twice ^^), or books that are more comfort reads than good reads. It doesn't make sense to review them. But I will be back soon with Hero at the Fall! :D 

Stay bookish!