Tell Me Tuesdays #8!!

Tell Me Tuesdays is a meme/feature created by the awesome ladies of Please Feed The Bookworm and La La In The Library where we can share how we choose the book we are currently reading from our TBR pile!

I'm always curious about that, cause as much as I tend to make myself a rough schedule for books to read and the like, I'm quite a mood reader and sometimes I just HAVE to ignore my schedule and read something else!

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley



 In 1959 Virginia, the lives of two girls on opposite sides of the battle for civil rights will be changed forever.

Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on and tormented daily.

Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town’s most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept “separate but equal.”

Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power and how they really feel about one another.

Boldly realistic and emotionally compelling, Lies We Tell Ourselves is a brave and stunning novel about finding truth amid the lies, and finding your voice even when others are determined to silence it.

 Mortal Danger by Ann Aguirre

Edie Kramer has a score to settle with the beautiful people at Blackbriar Academy. Their cruelty drove her to the brink of despair, and four months ago, she couldn't imagine being strong enough to face her senior year. But thanks to a Faustian compact with the enigmatic Kian, she has the power to make the bullies pay. She's not supposed to think about Kian once the deal is done, but devastating pain burns behind his unearthly beauty, and he's impossible to forget.

In one short summer, her entire life changes, and she sweeps through Blackbriar, prepped to take the beautiful people down from the inside. A whisper here, a look there, and suddenly... bad things are happening. It's a heady rush, seeing her tormentors get what they deserve, but things that seem too good to be true usually are, and soon, the pranks and payback turns from delicious to deadly. Edie is alone in a world teeming with secrets and fiends lurking in the shadows. In this murky morass of devil's bargains, she isn't sure who—or what--she can trust. Not even her own mind...


I got approved on NetGalley for Lies We Tell Ourselves and I'm doing a buddy read of it with my bloggy friend and awesomely talented Becca of Pivot Point Reviews and Pivot Book Totes! And I'm also finally reading Mortal Danger, after I got the sampler with the 5 first chapters and read some really great reviews from some of my bloggy friends!


So what are you all guys reading and how and why did you decide to pick up that book? Shiny new ARC? Comfort read? Scheduled for review? Must have new release? Tell me!!

Showcase Sunday #44!!

Showcase Sunday is a weekly feature hosted by Vicky of Books, Biscuits, and Tea where all book lovers can share with others what bookish goodness we got this week, be it purchased (physical or eBook), won, gifted or for review!

It's been a pair of weeks at least till I managed to work on a SS post and I have waaay to many eBook accumulated (SO MANY PREORDERS for August 5th and also for this past Thursday!!) so instead I will be focusing on all the amazing physical books and swag and other awesomeness that I picked up yesterday at the post office!!

Purchased (via The Book Depository)

I got 4 lovely books that I will be giving away, GoTaS giveaway will be up tonight itself and the other three will be part of my birthday giveaway!

The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M Lee

A Mad Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller

Won In A Giveaway

I have been so very lucky as of late, winning giveaways and a few of the prizes arrived this week! I picked them all up at the post office yesterday. I won Guy in Real Life from Adriana at Reading Fictional and Unravel from its blog tour hosted by The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club. Thank you so much ladies!!

Unravel by Imogen Howson

Guy In Real Life by Steve Brezenoff

For Review (via the author)

I was also quite lucky to be sent the ARC of her upcoming new book by LeighAnn Kopans for review and I loved it to bits! Cannot wait for my signed copy to arrive!

First World Problems by Leigh Ann Kopans

For Review (via NetGalley)

A big thank you to Algonquin Young Readers and Spencer Hill Press for the approval for these one via Netgalley!

The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma

Between by Megan Whitmer

Damsel Distressed by Kelsey Macke

Bookish Swag won in a giveaway

I was extremely lucky to win an international giveaway at The Midnight Garden for a Throne of Glass tote and a ton of swag! Some signed, some not and some super adorable TMG buttons and bookmark! Thank you SO MUCH Wendy!!

Purchased on Etsy

I've already told you about the very awesome hand painted bookish totes from Pivot Book Totes, and I want to show off the latest ones I got this week!

And this is all for this week! I was quite overwhelmed when I went to pick up everything at the post office, and I'm still missing some of my preorders, mainly Dangerous Boys by Abigail Haas.

What all did you guys get this week?

Friday Reads: Hexed by Michelle Krys!!

Hello guys! Welcome to this week's edition of Friday Reads!

Today's book is a debut mix of contemporary setting with paranormal witchcraft related issues, and I was super lucky to win a preorder for it on Nova's blog Out of Time during one of her giveaways (thank you, Nova & Michelle!). It's also been by first buddy read with the awesome Becca of Pivot Book Reviews, but I'm sure it won't be the last! Do check out Becca's review of Hexed on her blog too!



Hexed by Michelle Krys

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The first moment I heard about Hexed, I was quite intrigued, even if I'm not usually big on stories about witches, so when I a preorder for it in a giveaway, I was rightly chuffed!

Hexed is a good mix of contemporary setting with paranormal aspects of witchcraft, even if we don't get that many answers about the witchcraft world, it is quite different from the usual view of witchcraft. There are no potions or wants, but more using your inner power and using spells only to channel that better.

Indigo, or Indie, our main character is one of those characters that can be a lil polarizing. You might like her with a few reservations and enjoy her growth (even if you feel like shaking her on occasion), or you end up disliking her. I felt that Indie was a character with flaws but ultimately likeable, and I was glad to see her grow into herself and out of her "popular" persona. Sometimes her treatment of Paige, her neighbour and childhood friend or her interactions with Bianca and Devon made me want to shake her, but she always felt like a very real character to me.

Paige was a very sweet girl, one of those genuine good people that don't care much about appearances or what the "in crowd" think and go their own way and I was glad that she was there for Indie, even when she wouldn't deserve it.

Devon and Bianca... they seem to be typically cut "popular" kids, and it might be playing into stereotypes, but I think that with some hints to a barely scratched depth in their characters, they can be realistic enough and fulfill their role. They are who they are, and make no apologies for it, so you don't feel that bad disliking them. And despite how easy it would have been for Indie to be sucked back in into their "popularity" and expectations, I'm glad that she took a stance and kept herself strong.

Bishop... well, Bishop is an interesting character, he's full of snark and mystery but half the time can be an arse, and the other half he seems to be rather stingy when it comes to providing information. He ended up growing on me, but he was someone I felt like smacking in the back of the head on occasion in the first half of the book!

There are two factions in the magical world of Hexed, The Family that are supposed to be the good guys (but sound like the mafia with a name like that) and then The Priory (which sounds like monks, but nope nothing contemplative about them). The Priory are clearly the bad guys, if nothing else cause they seem to kill without remorse and enjoy torture, but The Family seem to be too high and mighty to really qualify as good guys. They fail to intervene properly to protect their own and they seem to have a big disregard for regular, non-magical, humans. I have a feeling there's more to these two groups that what we've learnt so far, and I hope we'll get more answers in the sequel.

The book has a rather good pace, intermixing regular life with witchcraft related elements, with twists, emotional wrecking moments and even a dragon! That might have added half a star to the book right there, dragons are always awesome! If there's a way to add a dragon to a book, always do it! I liked that although Indie was a bit whiney on occasion, she always ended up facing things, fighting to the best of her abilities and not backing down easily at all! Some of the twists I didn't see coming at all, and that ending and epilogue?? Horrible cliffhanger alert! Charmed cannot come out soon enough!

All in all, a great debut well deserving of 3.5 (4 if you count the dragon!).



View all my reviews

Introducing a new feature: Ink & Batter!

Hey guys! Welcome to the official introduction of what will be a regular (every other week, but I don't think I will manage to have it weekly) new feature in the blog!

Some of you might know of my love for baking and decorating cupcakes, and I've even made book inspired cupcakes before but it was not till Becca from Pivot Book Reviews saw them and completely started squealing and demanding I made more that I decided I needed to make it a regular feature on the blog!

I asked a few of my good blogger friends over Twitter for suggestions and Sam from Realm of Fiction sent me a huge list full of great ideas via e-mail! After pondering about all the suggestions and a few ideas of my own, I chose Ink & Batter (from Sam's list, thanks a lot for all the suggestions, Sam!).

Then it was just a question of getting a banner made (ain't it pretty) and I was all ready to debut the feature! This week I will be showing the first two proper examples of book inspired decorated cupcakes that I made, and hopefully for next Thursday or the one after I'll have some new book inspired cupcakes to show off!

The first inspired cupcakes were made for a contest on CJ Redwine's blog to win an ARC of Deception, and I was so inspired that I made Defiance inspired cupcakes and on a whim also made Incarnate & Asunder by Jodi Meadows inspired cupcakes!

DEFIANCE CUPCAKES

INCARNATE & ASUNDER CUPCAKES

Now I have a huge list of books that I'm super inspired to make decorated cupcakes about like Splintered & Unhinged by Anita G Howard, Deliverance by CJ Redwine, Infinite by Jodi Meadows, The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare by M.G Buehrlen, The Ring & The Crown my Melissa de la Cruz, A Mad Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller, the Selection series by Kiera Cass ( I need to decorate cupcakes inspired by each of the dresses in the covers!)...

Do you guys have any suggestions? Let them in the comments, I'm always happy to add more books to my list!