Howling for Books

3 August 2016

Wrapping the Month: July

What's greater way to start new month than taking a look at previous one?

July was mostly wonderful month, even if I managed to read only four books and blogging was left a bit on a side. A huge part of the month I spend utterly fascinated by the TV series Downton Abbey, which I watched from the beginning until the very end. I might be a bit obsessed about it right now, but how can one not to be when there's such great characters as Violet, Tom, and Thomas?

The last week of July I spend travelling to London and the Young Adult Lit Con there. It was so amazing, my third time in London and first time in YALC. I met some lovely people, met many brilliant authors and got tons of books.

Yes, all these books I got while I was in London. I'll do a recap and book haul of YALC but here's my overall book haul for July - including the freebies of YALC, books I bought there, and the books I bought from London's amazing bookstores. And of course, The Cursed Child which I got from the Midnight Launch Party.

July's reviews:

Playing for Keeps (4 stars)

During July I finished total of four books. I blame Downton Abbey of that because I watched six seasons of it within a week. However, here's the books in the order, which I read them:

August will be last summer holiday month for me so let's hope that I can read a bit more then before the uni starts again in September.

Hugs,

Henna

(I got inspiration from Saruuh @ Syntax Reviews to display the covers of books I read instead of listing them. So all the credit for her for inspiring me.)

Waiting on Wednesday #37

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's cannot-wait book is:

History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera!

History Is All You Left Me

by Adam Silvera

Published by Soho Teen

Expected publication: January 17th, 2017

YA, LGBT, contemporary

OCD-afflicted Griffin has just lost his first love, Theo, in a drowning accident. In an attempt to hold onto every piece of the past, he forges a friendship with Theo's last boyfriend, Jackson. When Jackson begins to exhibit signs of guilt, Griffin suspects he's hiding something, and will stop at nothing to get to the truth about Theo's death. But as the grieving pair grows closer, readers will question Griffin's own version of the truth both in terms of what he's willing to hide and what true love means.

The worst things of really early synopses and covers are that the wait seems longer. There's so much given and I want to know the rest - I can't wait for this!

2 August 2016

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I'd Buy Right This Second If Someone Handed Me A Fully Loaded Gift Card

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week participating bloggers can create lists of topic given by the host, and share them with others!

This feels a bit greedy of me, because I came back from London and YALC yesterday with a large book haul. But there's still lots of books that I yearn for so here we go!

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
I saw the book trailer at YALC and I need it right now.

The Sidekicks by Will Kostakis
Just sounds so intriguing.

Game by Barry Lyga
I need more Jazz in my life!

Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke
I liked the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, and this sounds so deliciously twisted that I need it.

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
I have needed this my life for over a year and I don't know why I haven't gotten it yet.

Percy Jackson and the Greek Heroes by Rick Riordan
Well duh, it's Percy Jackson.

The City of Woven Streets by Emmi Itäranta
I liked Memory of Water, and I really like how Itäranta's writing has do distinct Finnish melancholy feel.

Scardust by Suzanne Van Rooyen
The cover is gorgeous and this far I have enjoyed greatly of Rooyen's books.

Stars Above by Marissa Meyer
I NEED MORE SCARLET AND WOLF! The wedding of the century better be theirs or I'm going to flip.

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
It should be about the time I read this one.

1 August 2016

Cover Reveal: Infinity by Jus Accardo

Let us know what you think of the cover for Infinity (The Infinity Division, #1) by Jus Accardo!

Infinity releases on November 1, 2016

This cover reveal & giveaway is brought to you by Entangled TEEN and YA Interrobang!

A Note from the Author:

So… The cover of Infinity… I have 9+ books with Entangled Publishing, and they’ve always blown me away when it comes to their covers. But this bad boy? I love it so hard—for so many reasons. Infinity is a story of possibilities. Of hope. To me, Hope is something so simple—yet incredibly potent. When I first saw the cover, I thought, this is perfection. Simple, yet powerful. To me, it was meaningful. Almost exactly a month before Infinity sold, my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Treatment was rough, and very, very long, but she is currently cancer free and doing well. I remember one of her nurses had a tattoo. An intricate infinity symbol done almost like the staff of Asclepius. Underneath, it said, "Infinite hope." It became our thing. Infinite hope. We’d joke about finding the infinity symbol in everyday objects. Like Kori, the main character in the book, just seeing that symbol lifted our spirits. It gave us hope. I like to think that this was the Universe's round about way of telling us to keep on fighting. I’m so excited to share this book with you guys!

And Now Without Further Ado...

About Infinity:

Jump dimensions. Save the world. Don’t fall in love. Nobody said being the daughter of an army general was easy. But when her dad sends a teenage subordinate to babysit her while he’s away? That's taking it a step too far. Cade, as beautiful as he is deadly, watches Kori with more than just interest. He looks at her like he knows her very soul. And when he saves her from a seemingly random attack, well, that’s when things get weird. Turns out, Kori's dad isn’t just an army general—he’s the head of a secret government project that has invented a way to travel between parallel dimensions. Dimensions where there are infinite Koris, infinite Cades…and apparently, on every other Earth, they’re madly in love. Falling for a soldier is the last thing on Kori’s mind. Especially when she finds herself in a deadly crossfire, and someone from another Earth is hell-bent on revenge…

Want to Read More? Pre-order Infinity (The Infinity Division, #1) Today!

Add on Goodreads.

Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | Amazon.co.uk |Amazon.ca Amazon.ca

About the Author:

Jus Accardo spent her childhood reading and learning to cook. Determined to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps as a chef, she applied and was accepted to the Culinary Institute of America. But at the last minute, she realized her true path lay with fiction, not food. Jus is the bestselling author of the popular Denazen series from Entangled publishing, as well as the Darker Agency series, and the New Adult series, The Eternal Balance. A native New Yorker, she lives in the middle of nowhere with her husband, three dogs, and sometimes guard bear, Oswald.

Find Jus Accardo Online:

Enter to Win:

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26 July 2016

#FreeReadsWeek Wrap Up

Oh well. I failed completely as I managed to read only one book during the week for free reads. I'm happy that I read it as I enjoyed it a lot, and it inspired me to focus a bit more on those books on my Kindle app which I usually tend to ignore.

The reason why I failed so majorly is simple: drama in life. An unexpected thing demanded my attention, and it couldn't be avoided. I was also way too hooked up on Downton Abbey so I marathoned it a lot while I could have been reading. Oh well. I'm still happy that I participated because I managed to read that one free story and now I have a desire to read more of them so I'd say the challenge did something good for me.

What I read:

My review of Playing for Keeps.

And here's a link for my original sign up post.

Review: Playing for Keeps by Avery Cockburn

Playing for Keeps (Glasgow Lads, #1)
by Avery Cockburn
Self-published
Ebook (Kindle freebie)
Adult, LGBT, contemporary, romance

Rule One: No Drama!

Fergus Taylor is damaged goods. Reeling from a brutal breakup, he’s determined to captain his LGBT soccer team out of scandal and into a winning season. For that, he needs strict rules and careful plans. He does NOT need a brash, muscle-bound lad messing with his head and setting his body afire.

John Burns has a rule of his own: Don’t get attached. Boyfriends are for guys with nothing to hide. Nobody—not his university mates, not the men he beds—knows his family’s shame. Now his double life is starting to unravel, thanks to a certain Highlander whose storm-riddled eyes turn John inside out, who wears a kilt like he was born in it.

Fergus is the first man John wants to share his secret with—but he’s the last man who could handle it. John knows the truth would shatter Fergus’s still-fragile heart. But how can he live a lie when he’s falling in love?

I'm not a football fan, in fact, I'm not sure if I have ever even watched a whole match. However, I simply couldn't miss out when the story was about Scots and such diverse subject - I had never even heard about LGBT football team! I'm very pleased I didn't pass Playing for Keeps just because it was about football.

Playing for Keeps is fast paced and despite Fergus number one rule, there's bound to be drama when it's about falling in love, coming in terms who you are and how your life is, and forgiving those who have hurt you. The story kept me on the edge of my seat as Fergus and John's relationship deepened and the obstacles seemed to pile up. I loved how John's secret was tied up to the history of Scotland and how it was a legit secret to keep. It was both a pleasure and agony to follow John and Fergus struggle with trust, falling for each other, and trying not to get hurt. And of course, the story had plenty of steamy scenes between the two hot Scots and I dare say, a kilt got even hotter than it was before.

Fergus and John were both interesting main characters and I liked each of them own, although I fell for Fergus a bit more. He was vulnerable and strong at the same time, which I liked a lot. The various side characters, mainly rest of the football team, Fergus and John's families were all different, and the Scottish culture came through them very well, especially the diversity among them, and how the environment they grew up affected them (mainly the economic situation because there were characters from all sides of the wealth spectrum).

I'll definitely read more of this series because the characters were intriguing and I'm yearning to learn more of several of them, especially of Lord Andrew (who, I believe, stars the second book) and Liam (who stars the third book if I'm not mistaken). And I need more books about Scotland in my life.

If you're up to some diverse contemporary romance, then I'd recommend Playing for Keeps.

4 of 5 stars.

On Goodreads.

21 July 2016

NY Times By the Book Tag

The tag was originally created by Marie Berg, and I found the existence of this tag from Helene Jeppesen.

1) What book is on your nightstand right now?

This romance with gorgeous Scots:

2) What was the last truly great book that you read?

I have read some truly great book this year but the latest has to be Winter by Marissa Meyer.

3) If you could meet any writer - dead or alive - who would it be?
I'd really like to meet both J.K Rowling and Rick Riordan, because their books made my childhood and I still enjoy immensely of their books. So meeting them would be a dream come true.

4) What books might we be surprised to find on your shelves?
I'm not secretive about the consistent of my shelves so I don't know if there's any surprise finds. It's mostly various genres of YA books, some adult fiction, lots of LGBT themes, classics, history books and dictionaries of various sort.

5) How do you organize your personal library?
I'm afraid I don't have any logical way of doing it. I still have a bookshelf full of books back in Finland and it's disorganized at the moment. My book collection here in Scotland is organized by size mostly, however I have a favourites shelf and a classic shelf plus my history books for university has their own shelf.

6) What books have you always meant to read and haven't gotten around to yet?
Oh boy, there's a lot of those. Just to name a few;

7) Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel you were supposed to like but didn't? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?

8) (1) What kinds of stories are you drawn to? (2) Any you stay clear of?

(1) I'm drawn to anything that's either LGBT or unique in some manner - even better if the books is both.

(2) I steer clear of stories I have heard contains love triangle - which is the reason why I'm still so hesitant reading anything written by Sarah J. Maas because apparently she's big on love triangles, and I can't stand them. I also mostly steer clear of plain heterosexual contemporary romance because I feel like after reading a lot of them, they all start to seem the same. However, if the premise sounds unique, then I'm always willing to give it a chance.

9) If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be?
It would depend some on which country's president we are talking about. But it would probably be Atonement by Ian McEwan because I think it shows perfectly how wrong accusations can ruin multiple people's lives, and how perspectives are just that, perspectives, and not the ultimate truth. I think both of those are lessons that everyone should learn, especially world leaders if they haven't learned those things yet.

10) What do you plan to read next?

I plan on reading Vicious by V.E. Schwab before attending the YALC next week. So it'll be my next weekend read.

20 July 2016

Waiting on Wednesday #36

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's cannot-wait book is:

Heartless by Marissa Meyer!

Heartless

by Marissa Meyer

Published by

Expected publication: November 8th, 2016

YA, retelling, fantasy, romance

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland — the infamous Queen of Hearts — she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the yet-unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend and supply the Kingdom of Hearts with delectable pastries and confections. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next Queen.

At a royal ball where Cath is expected to receive the king's marriage proposal, she meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the King and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship.

Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

I loved the Lunar Chronicles so I can't wait to read this one!

19 July 2016

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Set Outside The US

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week participating bloggers can create lists of topic given by the host, and share them with others!

I have twelve books set outside of the US that I want to mention so instead of ten, here's twelve books.

Half Bad trilogy by Sally Green

Takes place in: England, Wales, Switzerland, all over Europe

The first book takes mostly place in England and Wales but the sequels have variety of settings. I love to have a vivid fantasy world that's focused on Europe instead of US.

The Blackhouse by Peter May

Takes place in: Western Isles, Scotland

It's a crime/thriller which is something I don't usually read but I liked this a lot, especially since it was set in Isle of Lewis and the description was so vivid that I felt like I was there.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Takes place in: Ancient Greece, Troy

This was my favourite read last year and it's one of my favourite books. It also gives a perfect description not only of Ancient Greece and Troy, but also how lives was back then.

Queen of Someday by Sherry D. Ficklin

Takes place in: Russia

I think this is one of the only books I have read that takes place in Russia but oh boy, does Ficklin give us such a good description of Russia's court life.

Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta

Takes place in: Future Scandinavia, majorly nowadays Finland

I love how for once a dystopia was set in somewhere else than in US, especially since Itäranta managed to create a vivid world that focused on Finland. It was unique read in many ways.

Down London Road by Samantha Young

Takes place in: Scotland (Edinburgh)

This was actually first book I read that set in Edinburgh and it really made the city live in my eyes. I still think this book at times when I visit Edinburgh.

And now, few books set in England which I have enjoyed

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Takes place in: England

Such a vivid image of life in an English town.

Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman

Takes place in: England

I think that with this book, it's more about the British culture that's prominent. There's not too much description of the setting but the British culture shows in everything I rather like that. You can really see that it is written by British author.